Isb 14 11 2013 layout 1

Thursday, 14 November, 2013 Muharram 9, 1435 Rs 17.00 Vol IV No 137 16 Pages Islamabad Edition

Security forces attacked in Bannu, Jamrud, peshawar At least three explosion took place on Wednesday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu, Jamrud and Peshawar districts, injuring two policemen and as many Khasadar force personnel. Two members of the Khasadar force were injured in an explosion that occurred near a security checkpost in Takhta Beg area of Khyber tribal region’s Jamrud tehsil. In another incident, two policemen were injured when militants attacked a police checkpost in Bannu. page 02

STory on page 02

JI writes letter to pM, criticises army’s statement The Jamaat-e-Islam (JI), whose chief is at the centre of a controversy over his remarks on martyrs, on Wednesday came down heavily on the Pakistan Army for publicly denouncing Munawar Hassan in a press release. JI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch wrote a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, stating that all institutions, including the armed forces of Pakistan, should work within the constitutional ambit. page 02

3 Kp ministers sacked over corruption, poor performance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Wednesday sent three provincial ministers packing for alleged involvement in corrupt practices, poor performance and a fake degree. The suspended ministers are Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Yousuf Ayub Khan and Qaumi Watan Party’s (QWP) Malik Ibrar Hussain Khan and Bakht Bedar. The PTI minister was also declared ineligible by the Supreme Court. page 03

STory on page 02

Fazl to convene jirga to re-initiate talks with TTp In a bid to break the impasse in the peace talks between the government and the new leadership of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday announced to form a broad-based jirga comprising of tribal elders and top leaders from all political parties belonging to FATA including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to convince the Taliban insurgents to agree on peace talks. page 04

STory on page 02

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind ― Bernard M. Baruch

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N NEWS

SC allowS eCp To revISe lg pollS’SChedule polls in punjab to be held on January 30, in Sindh on January 18 and in Kp and cantonment areas in February g eCp secretary asks candidates to submit nomination papers afresh g

ISLAMABAD

Thursday, 14 November, 2013

Sartaj meetS manmohan, StreSSeS good tieS with india

T

KASHiF ABBASi

HE Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to the Election Commission of Pakistan’s proposal to delay the local bodies (LB) polls in Punjab and Sindh.

According to the ECP’s new proposed schedule, polls in Punjab would be held on January 30; in Sindh on January 18; and in KP and cantonment areas in February. The flexibility on the part of the SC came after thousands of candidates suffered in the name of filing of nomination papers.

“Since, in Punjab we have to hold elections on party basis, so defiantly, those who have submitted nomination papers

they would have to file their nomination papers afresh. As earlier, there were some lacunae in the nomination papers, which were issued in haste,” says ECP Secretary Ishtiak Ahmed Khan.

He, however, said the candidates who had already filed nomination papers were not required to deposit security. A threemember SC bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, while accepting the ECP’s application allowed it to hold elections in accordance with the new schedule.

Earlier, on Tuesday, the SC registrar had rejected the ECP’s petition, saying that the court had already disposed of the case, but things changed late night. Sources in ECP said that the acting chief election commissioner asked the registrar to hear the petition, as holding the LB polls in the

line of SC orders was impossible for the ECP. The SC had directed the ECP to hold polls in Punjab and Sindh on December 7 and in Balochistan on November 27. However, the ECP, on account of certain practical and technical difficulties, showed its inability to hold elections in given time.

Sources said the ECP sent a letter to the registrar highlighting all difficulties being faced by the ECP and proposing new dates for Punjab, Sindh, KP and cantonment area, this letter was converted into a petition. In the letter, the ECP told the SC that the commission was all set to hold polls in Balochistan on December 7. The court order said, “It is obligation of the government to adhere to the constitution in letter and spirit and no one can be allowed in any manner, to deviate from any of its provi-

Three ‘Taliban’, Rangers official killed in Karachi raid KARACHI STAFF REPORT

NEW DELHI AgEnciES

Sartaj Aziz, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s foreign affairs adviser, on Wednesday met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and reaffirmed Islamabad’s desire to have “good neighbourly relations with India”.

The meeting was held at the prime minister’s official residence and “it lasted for half an hour”, an informed source told IANS. According to a statement by the Foreign Office in Islamabad, Aziz conveyed to Manmohan Singh the greetings of Nawaz Sharif and “reaffirmed the desire of Pakistan to have good neighbourly relations with India”. The FO statement said that Aziz paid a courtesy call on the Indian prime minister and took the opportunity to convey the greetings of the prime minister of Pakistan to him and reaffirmed the desire of Pakistan to have good neighbourly relations with India.

The need to address all outstanding issues through dialogue process was also affirmed. The meeting with Manmohan Singh took place a day after Aziz met External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon in Gurgaon.

Three militants allegedly associated with the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and one Rangers trooper were killed when a shootout took place during a targeted operation conducted by the paramilitary force in the Gulshane-Buner area on Wednesday.

A Rangers spokesman said that the suspected Taliban militants were plotting attacks to be carried out during Muharram and opened fire when the

Rangers team arrived in the vicinity to conduct a targeted operation. He further said that the three suspects were killed in retaliatory fire by the raiding team. The spokesman confirmed that one of the Rangers man, belonging to the Anti-Terrorist Wing, was killed and another injured during the clash, adding that a huge quantity of weapons, including hand grenades, were also recovered from the killed suspects. The suspects were also said to be involved in the attack on an imambargah in Karachi’s Quaidabad area in September

this year. The bodies of the suspected militants were handed over to the police for completion of legal formalities.

Gulshan-e-Buner lies in Karachi’s Landhi district near Quaidabad area.

Gulshan-e-Buner is considered a particularly lawless area which even the police usually avoid entering. It has a known Pakistan Taliban presence. In December, a polio worker was shot dead there. If the Rangers and police have now have managed to penetrate the area, it reflects their determination to neutralise militant strongholds.

JI writes letter to pM, criticises army’s statement LAHORE AgEnciES

The Jamaat-e-Islam (JI), whose chief is at the centre of a controversy over his remarks on martyrs, on Wednesday came down heavily on the Pakistan Army for publicly denouncing Munawar Hassan in a press release.

JI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch wrote a letter to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, stating that all institutions, including the armed forces of Pakistan, should work within

the constitutional ambit.

The JI leader said though there were no two opinions with regard to martyrdom of military personnel, Pakistan Army’s direct address to a religious and political party seemed an unconstitutional act. He said that an artificial and complicated atmosphere was created on the basis of two statements of Syed Munwar Hasan.

Baloch said the party had always held the military in high esteem and offered condolences over the deaths of

senior military officials, even visiting their homes on occasions. He said since a political government was at the helm of affairs, the armed forces had no right to serve a notice to the head of a political party. Asking for a full review of policies, the JI leader said the rulers had chosen a wrong path (war on terror), which had led to dreadful results for the nation. Baloch said the nation stood united against the drone strikes but the ‘US stooges’ were trying to provide a legal cover to these attacks.

Security forces attacked in Bannu, Jamrud, peshawar g

Two Khasadar personnel injured in Jamrud, two policemen injured in attack on Bannu checkpost PESHAWAR STAFF REPORT

At least three explosion took place on Wednesday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Bannu, Jamrud and Peshawar areas injuring two policemen and as many Khasadar force personnel. Two members of the Khasadar force were injured in an explosion that occurred near a security checkpost in Takhta Beg area of Khyber tribal

region’s Jamrud tehsil.

Political administration official Ghyas said that unknown persons had planted an explosive device near the Takhta Beg checkpoint in Jamrud which exploded on Wednesday morning with a huge bang. He added that two personnel of the Khasadar force were injured in the blast and shifted to Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar.

Fear and panic gripped the area after the blast whereas a contingent of security men reached

the site and cordoned off the area as a search operation went underway in the area. In another incident, two policemen were injured when militants attacked a police checkpost in Bannu. According to sources, militants fired 12 rockets at the police checkpost in Bannu.

Police retaliated and managed to repulse the attack. Two police personnel, however, sustained injuries. At least, 20 police personnel were present at the checkpost at the time of the attack. Bannu has witnessed a number of

attacks and was the scene of a massive jail break in April 2012 during which 384 prisoners escaped from its central prison.

Moreover, an explosion took place near Achini Bala area on Peshawar’s Ring Road. There were no casualties in the blast.

A security forces convoy was travelling on Peshawar’s Ring Road when a roadside planted bomb detonated in Achini Bala area. Security and rescue teams reached the site of incident.

sions particularly in view of the fact that the Constitution is a binding document as it has been given by 18 crore people of this country to themselves. Therefore, its provisions particularly relating to the general public empowering them politically, administratively and financially through their chosen representatives by establishing the system of the local government in terms of Articles 32 and 140A of the Constitution should be strictly observed. However, preceding to the above observations, orders were repeatedly passed by this court calling upon the provincial governments as well as the federal government to hold local bodies elections as early as could be possible as it is the command of the constitution and no deviation from the constitution is possible.”

Twin blasts in Karachi’s North Nazimabad injure at least 15 KARACHI: At least 15 people, including children, journalists and security officials, were injured in two explosions near an Imambargah in Karachi’s North Nazimabad area on Wednesday. Initial reports suggest that an Imambargah near Pahar Ganj area was the apparent target of the attack. The deafening blasts were heard far away, and shattered windows of nearby buildings. A vehicle was reportedly destroyed in the first explosion which took place at 9:40pm. But even after a clearance signal by the Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) and security forces, a second blast occurred at the same location at around 11pm. According to police, around half a kilogramme of explosives were used in the blasts. However, nature of the explosions was yet to be ascertained.

The injured were rushed Abbasi Shaheed and other hospital in the surroundings.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan ordered security to be put on red-alert across the city on account of Ashura. AgEnciES

Mobile phones to go silent in 25 cities on Ashura!

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has decided to shut down cellular phone services in 25 cities on Thursday and Friday for security reasons in connection with Yaume-Ashur. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has sent the list of cities to the mobile phone companies. According to sources, mobile phone services will remain shut in Karachi, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Sehwan, Nawabshah and Larkana for two days. In restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, there will be no mobile phone service in Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Hangu, Lakki Marwat, Bannu and parts of Peshawar.

In addition, the mobile phone companies have been asked to block services in Faisalabad, Sargodha, Rahimyar Khan, Bhakkar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Muzffargarh, Pakpattan, Multan, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi, Jhang and Attock.The mobile phone service would also remain off on routes of Muharram processions in specific cities, the sources added. inP

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When it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, then I'm already better than them ― Marilyn Monroe

NEWS

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Thursday, 14 November, 2013

Kp MInISTerS SaCKed over

CorrupTIon,

poor perForManCe PESHAWAR SHAMiM SHAHiD

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak on Wednesday sent packing three provincial ministers for alleged involvement in corrupt practices, poor performance and a fake degree. The suspended ministers are Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf’s (PTI) Yousuf Ayub Khan and Qaumi Watan Party’s (QWP) Malik Ibrar Hussain Khan and Bakht Bedar. The PTI minister was also declared ineligible by the Supreme Court for holding a fake degree, which ostensibly led to his removal from the government office. Yousuf Ayub was the minister for communications and

works, Bedar was minister for industries, commerce and technical education and Malik was minister for environment.

Earlier on November 8, PTI Chairman Imran Khan had urged Khattak to investigate corruption in the province.

Investigations against other ministers, including Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai and Education Minister Atif Khan are underway. According to PTI’s sources, QWP’s Malik Ibrar and Bakht Bedar were sacked over the corruption charges. “The ministers belonging to allied parties were sacked over poor performance and involvement in illegal practices,” the sources said, adding that the PTI minister was expelled due his fake degree.

n (QWP) Malik Ibrar Hussai However, Bakht Bedar rejected the allegation saying there was no evidence against him for alleged corruption. QWP chief Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao in a statement said that they were not taken into confidence by PTI leaders in this decision.

“If they (PTI leaders) having some proofs then they need to share with us. In such a case, we will become part of the decision,” he said, adding that the QWP high command would discuss the matter and future course of action in a meeting.

SC DISMISSES PLEA: Meanwhile, the Supreme Court dismissed a plea filed by Yousuf Ayub against his disqualification.

The Election Tribunal had declared Yousuf Ayub ineligible over his fake degree. The

(PTI) Yousuf Ayub Khan

Bakht Bedar (QWP)

PTI announces end of alliance with QWP PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf on Wednesday announced an end to its alliance with the Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with an immediate effect. According to the PTI media cell, PTI Chairman Imran Khan made this decision after the QWP failed to take action against two of its ministers involved in corruption. The cell claimed that the party

contacted the QWP leadership and pressed for action against the two ministers, but the QWP ministers boycotted the cabinet meeting. So far the QWP leadership has not issued a statement in this regard. However, Sikandar Hayat Sherpao in his statement said, “They have not yet been taken into confidence regarding corruption charges against the ministers. SHAMiM SHAHiD

PTI’s MPA had filed a plea in the SC against the decision of tribunal. The apex court on Wednesday upheld the verdict of

ET and dismissed the petition of Yousuf Ayub. Yousuf Ayub was elected as an MPA from PK-50 Haripur-II.

Kerry To warn uS SenaTe oFF new Iran SanCTIonS WASHINGTON AgEnciES

US Secretary of State John Kerry faces a potentially hostile reception Wednesday when he urges skeptical US lawmakers not to proceed with proposed new sanctions aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear drive. Senate Republicans and Democrats who are convinced that tighter sanctions against Tehran could bring about a long-sought resolution to its disputed atomic program bristled when the White House warned Tuesday that such action could trigger a “march to war.” The administration’s remarks Tuesday marked a significant toughening of President Barack Obama’s stance towards Congress on sanctions as Washington prepares to resume high-stakes nuclear diplomacy with Iran later this month. Obama has vowed he will not allow Tehran’s leaders to develop an atomic weapon. But last week’s Geneva negotiations between Iran and six world powers failed to reach an interim deal to halt its program. Key senators from both US parties, some responding to Israel’s savaging of the proposed agreement, are proposing stiffer sanctions or may curtail Obama’s power to ease current measures, which have crippled the Iranian economy.

But the White House said any new sanctions could scupper the diplomatic process and leave little option but the use of military force against Iran. “The American people do not want a march to war,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters, saying US citizens “justifiably and understandably prefer a peaceful solution that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.” “This agreement, if it’s achieved, has the potential to do that. The alternative is military action,” Carney added. The White House believes in offering Iran some “modest” and “reversible” steps to ease the pain of some sanctions as part of an interim deal to bolster Tehran’s negotiators against hardliners who are skeptical of new President Hassan Rouhani’s diplomatic opening. But many US lawmakers believe tightening sanctions will give the administration more leverage — and doubt Tehran is serious about standing down its nuclear program.

Republican Senator Mark Kirk maintained that sanctions are the best way to avoid war.

“The American people should not be forced to choose between military action and a bad deal that accepts a nuclear Iran,” he said.

KARACHI: Rescue worker looks at the dead body of an alleged Taliban militant killed during an operation. inP

Commonwealth to become stronger under Mahinda Rajapaksa, says Nawaz ISLAMABAD inP

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has congratulated the government and people of Sri Lanka for hosting the important Commonwealth Summit in their beautiful country.

In his address on the occasion of Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Nawaz Sharif expressed his confidence in the astute leadership of Srilankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and said that the Commonwealth will become a stronger and more cohesive organisation under his leadership.

Nawaz Sharif will be arriving in Colombo today (Thursday) to

represent Pakistan at the Commonwealth Summit. His delegation includes Begum Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Syed Tariq Fatemi, Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rahman Khan and Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani.

The prime minister reaffirmed that Pakistan being a democracy and a responsible member of the global community subscribes to the work of the Commonwealth for promoting peace through international co-operation and poverty alleviation through sustainable economic and social development.

The theme of this year’s summit ‘Growth with Equity-Inclu-

sive Development’, is therefore, highly relevant, he added. Nawaz Sharif fondly recalled that he represented Pakistan in the Harare Summit in 1991, where the landmark declaration was adopted setting out the core principles and values of the Commonwealth, commonly known as the “Harare

Principles”, these values and principles encompassing democracy, freedom, peace, the rule of law, respect for human rights and opportunity for all, serve as a binding force amongst its member states, he added. Pakistan is one of the eight founding members of the Commonwealth, which signed the London Declaration in April 1949.

Pakistan makes annual contributions to five heads of the Commonwealth namely Commonwealth Secretariat (COMSEC), Commonwealth Foundation (CF), Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC), Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP) and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL).

nisar briefs pM on security measures during Muhurram ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan on Wednesday met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and briefed him on the security measures taken in the country during the month of Muharram. According to reports, the interior minister called on Nawaz at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat and took him into confidence on security issues with special focus on Muharram 9 and 10 besides the overall security situation in the country.

Nisar also stressed the need for better coordination between the police and Rangers during Muharram in order to protect the lives of the residents. OnLinE

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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe ― Albert Einstein

NEWS Thursday, 14 November, 2013

521 Top oFFICerS FaCe rISK oF deMoTIon!

Fazl To BreaK The ICe In TalKS wITh TalIBan g

Announces forming jirga comprising tribal elders and top leaders from FATA including the PTI

ISLAMABAD

ISLAMABAD

TAHiR niAZ

As many as 521 officer of BS-21 and BS-20 belonging to different occupational groups are facing a risk of demotion to their previous scales as the Senate body on cabinet secretariat and Capital Administration and Development (CAAD) believes that the law division gave ‘wrong’ interpretation of the Supreme Court judgment in Orya Maqbool Jan case.

According to details, the meetings of central selection board (CSB) held on 11-14 and 27 in February, 2013, recommended the promotion of 601 officers of various occupational groups and excadre posts from BS-20 to 21 and BS-19 to BS-20 including the 80 BS-20 officers of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) Group. The promotion case of Orya Maqbool Abbasi, commonly known as Orya Maqbool Jan, a BS-20 officer of the PAS, was deferred in the said meetings due to his not earning the mandatory performance evaluation report for the year 2011, as he was superseded in the CSB meetings held on 3 October and 23-24 October 2011.

MiAn ABRAR

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N a bid to break the impasse in the peace talks between the government and the new leadership of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman on Wednesday announced to form a broad-based jirga comprising of tribal elders and top leaders from all political parties belonging to FATA including the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) to convince the Taliban insurgents to agree on peace talks.

The move reflects that the gov-

ernment has sought help from Maulana to break the frozen dialogue. Fazl, surprisingly, has announced to include PTI elders in jirga to send a goodwill gesture to Imran Khan whose relations have not been good with Maulana in the recent past. In a statement, Maulana Fazl said the JUI-F would soon reconvene tribal jirga of FATA to help government jump start peace process stalled in the wake of US drone attack. However, no specific date has so far been fixed for the jirga. Fazal said the drone strike halted peace process with the Taliban, however,

(eCC MeeTIng)

no ban on exportS of onion, tomato ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

With the hope of reduction in prices of commodities like onion and tomatoes after arrival of fresh crops in the country, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Wednesday decided not to impose a ban on the exports of such items. The meeting of ECC was held under the chairmanship of Federal Minister for Finance Senator Ishaq Dar

at Prime Minister’s office here on Wednesday. Senator Dar expressed satisfaction over the positive development as the large scale manufacturing increased by 12.8 percent during the month of September. This sector has experienced a growth of 8.4 percent during the first quarter of the financial year 2013-14, mainly because of the proactive approach of the government in liquidating the circular debt resulting in increase genera-

there was a dire need to seek new ways to resume the dialogue process.

“The tribal jirga convened in February 2013 in Islamabad was backed by the national leadership. This time round, we will go back to the jirga to take its members into confidence and seek new ideas for moving forward,” said the statement.

He said without involving the people of FATA, there could be no effective mechanism for talks with the Taliban. He said the jirga would help the government guide its efforts for reconciliation. A third party would not be allowed to hijack their

tion. Consequently, growth in the large scale industrial sector experienced an increase of 6 percent in June 2013 which gradually increased to 12.8 percent in September because of the addition of 1700 MW in the national grid.

The meeting was informed that foreign remittances have reached $5.2 billion in the first quarter of the FY 2013-14, 6.3 percent more than the corresponding period last year and the foreign direct investment has increased by 85 percent in the first quarter of this financial year. “This speaks volumes about the seriousness of the PML-N government in the economic uplift of the country,” the finance minister said.

Senator Dar, expressing concern over the inflation and

national bid to seek peace and reconciliation, he added. In an exclusive talk with Pakistan Today, JUI spokesperson Jan Achakzai said the jirga was being convened to break the ice in the dialogue process.

Achakzai said new ideas would be explored during the jirga which would later contact the Taliban for taking into consideration their concerns,” he added. Asked if it was a step back or a step forward in talks, Achakzai said the government had used couriers to convey its message to the Taliban leadership.

“A messenger can only convey

price-hike in the country, said: “it was mainly due to increase in international fuel prices and expressed the hope that there will be lesser adjustments in the future. The government is sensitive to the hardships of the people of this country and was on average providing a subsidy of around Rs 2.2 billion every month just to lessen the burden of the rise in fuel prices on the common man.

The ECC also decided to appoint ADB as the transaction adviser (TA) in the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project. The finance minister said that “involving a credible financial institution as the transaction adviser will ensure greater transparency in the deal”.

a message and anyone has a right to refuse any messenger. But no one can refuse regarding anything to a jirga which is our tradition,” he added. When asked, Achakzai said the federal government was fully on board over the jirga. “We are very much a part of the government, so the jirga is being convened by the government,” he added. He said the move was aimed at resolving all differences between the government and the Taliban for which all tribal elders besides political parties, especially PTI, would be a part of the jirga.

no peace talks till Taliban ‘cool down’ ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanvir Hussain said Wednesday the government will wait for an appropriate time to restart peace talks with Pakistani Taliban which he said could take a few months. “Taliban are angry at the moment.

Therefore, peace talks are not possible until they calm down,” he said while speaking to BBC in an exclusive interview. Tanvir said he looks forward to an attempt to be made in a couple of months. “Military action will be used as the last option as we want to give peace a chance,” he said.

“Despite the Taliban’s

rejection, we will continue pursuing the path of negotiations.” The statement came after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday told the National Assembly that the government virtually shelved, for now, its plan to revive a disrupted peace effort with Taliban insurgents. Replying to a question, Rana Tanvir said the new TTP chief is a man with a reputation of having extremist views but let us hope peace talks with him are productive this time around. He also said extremist groups support talks with the government, adding that they wanted to be inducted in the national mainstream. AgEnciES

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Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. –Martin Luther King, Jr.

ISLAMABAD Thursday, 14 November, 2013

WeAtHer UpdAteS

200C High

080C

SUNNY

Low FrIdAY

SAtUrdAY

SUNdAY

19°C I 08°C

19°C I 08°C

18°C I 09°C

PRAyER TiMingS

Fajr

Sunrise Zuhr

Asr

4:22

5:45

3:39 6:24

12:06

Maghrib

Isha 7:49

beware: a camera maY be watching You RAWALPINDI inP

In order to ensure foolproof security of the religious processions and congregation on Youme Ashur, City District administration has installed 119 close circuit TV cameras in the city. According to the administration officials, 27 CCTV cameras are installed on the routes of religious processions for surveillance. They said that the cameras are set up on secret places, while law enforcing agencies personnel will be monitoring the marches and remain on duties round the clock.

Heavy contingents of police and Rangers will also remain on high alert on Muharram 9 and 10. Moreover, in order to ensure law and order during Muharram, orders to tighten the surveillance of persons on fourth schedule list has been issued.

The individuals included in fourth schedule list are also directed to keep in regular contact with the concerned police station and not to leave city without prior permission. According to reports, activities of 25 fourth schedule persons of Rawalpindi district are being monitored. Meanwhile, pillion riding, unnecessary use of loudspeaker and distribution of provocative material has been banned in Rawalpindi on Muharram 9 and 10, while strict security arrangements for the religious processions and congregations have been made.

You are free to carrY out Your ritualS! ISLAMABAD OnLinE

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UNJAB Chief Minister (CM) Mian Shahbaz Shairf has assured Allama Sajid Naqvi head of Milat Jafferiya Pakistan (MJP) that government has imposed no restriction on traditional ‘Majalis-Aza’ during Muharram. Sources said that on Wednesday, Punjab CM made a telephonic contact with MJP chief and discussed the overall security situation of the country during Muharram.

During conversation, Sajid Naqvi expressed concern about the speculating news that restriction is being imposed on the traditional ‘Majalis Aza’.

CM Shahbaz Sharif denying the rumors said that no such restriction could be imposed

because all religions and creeds have full right in Pakistan to perform their religious rituals.

CM also informed Sajid Naqvi about the security measures that government has taken to counter any unpleasant incident. He said Sajid Naqvi or his party can approach him any time and their problems will be resolved on priority basis. Few days back, Allama Sajid NAqvi and Shia Ulema Council (SUC) Secretary General (SG) Allama Arif Hussain Wahidi had expressed their concerns over the restriction on traditional ‘Majalis-Aza’.

Talking to media, SUC secretary general had also said that no restriction will be tolerated on ‘Majalis-Aza’. Federal minister of state of religious affairs Pir Aminul Hasnaat had also assured SUC SG that government will provide every facility to Shia school of thought.

thiS countrY iS Safe for minoritieS! ISLAMABAD: Minorities in Pakistan enjoy all fundamental human rights and no discrimination is made on the ground of religion. This was said by Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf on Wednesday while talking to Ambassador of Japan Hiroshi Inomata. He said the rights and privileges of minorities are fully protected and reserved in the 1973 Constitution. The minister and ambassador discussed the matters of mutual and bilateral interest with special reference to inter-faith harmony.

The minister thanked the government and people of Japan for providing generous support to the victims of earthquake in 2005 and said that so many NGOs arrived from Japan to Mansehera and helped the victims in distress. The ambassador of Japan thanked the government and people of Pakistan for providing assistance during Tsunami in Japan. APP

Teach classes without students?

Holidays of school teachers cancelled RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Education Department has cancelled Muharram 9 and 10 holidays of government run schools teachers in Rawalpindi district. The teachers have been directed to remain present in their respective schools on the eve of Ashura. Rawalpindi district education officer (Secondary) has given verbal orders to the heads of the schools to ensure presence of teachers in the schools on Muhar-

ram 9 and 10. However these holidays have not been cancelled for the students.

Teachers from Shia community will also have to give application for obtaining leave during these two days. All the teachers unions have denounced the decision of cancellation of the two holidays by Rawalpindi Education Department and appealed to DCO to intervene and ensure withdrawal of these orders. OnLinE

ONE IS BETTER THAN TWO

Pillion riding banned in federal capital ISLAMABAD OnLinE Pillion riding will be banned on Muharram 9 and 10 in several areas of the federal capital. The decision

has been made while keeping in view the security situation during Muharram. The deputy commissioner has imposed a ban on pillion riding in highly sensitive areas of the federal capital from 8 to 11

Muharram, the DC’s office said. The deputy commissioner, imposing Section 144 through a notification, said that pillion riding would not be allowed for next four days. The pillion riding will be banned in Sector G-9 on Muhurram 8, in Sector G-6 on 9th, in F-11 on 10th and on Muharram 11 in Nurpur Shahan by the orders of district magistrate under Section 144.

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ISLAMABAD Thursday, 14 November, 2013

milk turnS Sour!

Rawalpindi Cantt board asks cattle owners to leave the area RAWALPINDI inP

The Rawalpindi Cantonment Board has given two days time to the owners to remove cattle farms from the Cantt jurisdiction. The Cantt board warned the owners of the cattle farms that in case of failing in complying with the orders, strict action will be taken against them.

According to the board authorities, establishing cattle pens in residential areas was already banned but some people were not complying with the ban. They said the

authorities now decided to launch a campaign to purge the city of cattle as they cause sanitation problems. This step is being taken to curb the increasing threat of dengue threat in the area.

On the other hand, the owners of the cattle farms said that they will move the court against the step of the authorities.

They said that they have been providing milk and meat to the residents since long and now they were asked to leave the areas, which was unfair. They said that they would take stay orders against the operation of the Cantt Board.

labour union barred from carrYing out itS activitieS

down and out!

ISLAMABAD

Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of Islamabad Police has busted six criminal gangs involved in snatching valuables at gunpoint besides recovering twelve 30-bore pistols and other valuables worth hundreds of thousands of rupees from them, a police spokesman said. As per details, Islamabad Senior Superintendent of Police Muhammad Rizwan directed all police officials to launch effective crackdown against criminal elements.

Following his directions, SP (Investigation) Muhammad Ilyas constituted special police teams under supervision of CIA DSP Basher Ahmed Noon. These teams worked aggressively to curb criminal activities and succeeded to arrest 27 criminals of six various gangs during the last 30 days besides recovering snatched valuables worth hundreds of thousands of rupees from them.

OnLinE

CDA Labour Union activities have been banned in parliament house in the light of decision taken in a meeting held under National Assembly (NA) Speaker Sardar Ayyaz Sadiq.

CDA Parliament House Director Coordination Sohail Anjum has stopped CDA union from conducting activities in parliament house. It has been made clear on CDA if union activities are not stopped then the action will be taken.

CDA Labour Union General Secretary Chaudhry Muhammad Yasin has voiced protest over banning of labour union activities in parliament house. He in a letter addressed to NA deputy speaker has said labour union activities are legally protected and if union is restrained from continuing its activities then he will resort to the court.

6 gangs busted, ammunition and cash recovered ISLAMABAD APP

Fair and square!

CDA chairman assures transparent auction of plots

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT A delegation of Khyber PakhtoonKhawa Chamber of Commerce led by Saleem Saifullah visited the headquarters of Capital Development Authority (CDA) on Wednesday in connection with upcoming auction of commercial plots being held in Islamabad on November 18, 19 and 20, 2013. The delegation was briefed in detail about the commercial plots being offered for auction in conference room of CDA. Chairman Nadeem Hassan Asif, Board members and other senior officials of Capital Development Authority were also present.

The visiting delegation was informed that Capital Development Authority (CDA) is in process to auction 56 commercial plots. The commercial plots being offered are located in busy business centers of the Capital with tremendous future prospect. All basic utilities including roads, electricity, parking, water, sewerage etc are available at sites. Capital Development Authority is taking all possible steps to make this auction process friendly for investors.

Capital Development Authority Chairman Nadeem Hassan Asif on the occasion said that in line with policies of fairness, openness and transparency of present government CDA will ensure that the auction process is hassle free. Auction of these

commercial plots will mark the beginning of a new era of development in the city. The conditions for auction of the commercial plots are very much conducive for business community, the chairman added.

The chairman also said that CDA is going to transform Islamabad into a commercial hub with the national objective of accelerating overall commercial activities in the country.

Capital Development Authority has planned to initiate many more projects with objective to create more business opportunities in the Capital in days to come. Along with creation of new business opportunities in the Capital, CDA will further facilitate the existing businesses. The objective of this meeting is to have suggestions and proposals from the business community to make auction process more investor friendly and transparent. To develop deep understanding among business community about auction of commercial plots Planning Member Waseem Ahmed, Environment Member Ahsan Ali Mangi and Finance member visited Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) and Azad Kashmir Chamber Commerce and Industry (AKCCI) respectively, the chairman added.

Saleem Saifullah on the occasion said the steps being taken by CDA to attract the investors for the upcoming auction of commercial plots are indeed encouraging.

Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed. –Mao Zedong

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NEWS

violence acroSS iraq killS 23 on eve of aShura BOMBINGS MOSTLY STRUCK NORTH AND WEST OF THE IRAQI CAPITAL CITY BAGHDAD BAGHDAD AgEnciES

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IOLENCE across Iraq, including bombings against Shias killed 23 people on Wednesday as worshippers massed in a shrine city on the eve of major commemoration rituals often targeted by militants. The bloodshed was the latest in a months-long surge in unrest that has forced Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to appeal for Washington’s help in combating militancy as Iraqi action has failed

to stem the unrelenting wave of attacks.

Bombings on Wednesday mostly struck north and west of Baghdad, targeting Shia Muslims and members of the security forces. On the outskirts of Baquba, north of the capital and one of Iraq’s most violent areas, three coordinated bombs struck a gathering of Shia pilgrims marking Ashura. Overall, eight people were killed and 25 others were wounded in the blasts, security and medical officials said. Millions of Shia from Iraq and around the world mark Ashura, which this year climaxes on Thursday, by setting up procession tents where food is distributed to passers-by and pilgrims can gather, or by walking to Karbala, which is home to a shrine to Imam Hussein.

Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH), was killed by the armies of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD and his death in Karbala has over time

come to symbolise the split between Islam’s Sunni and Shia sects.

Tradition holds that the venerated imam was decapitated and his body mutilated, and throngs of modern-day Shia beat their chests and self-flagellate during Ashura to show their historic guilt for not coming to Hussein’s aid.

Sunni militants linked to al Qaeda, who regard Shia as unbelievers, often step up their targeting of Iraq’s majority community during Ashura and the subsequent rituals of Arbaeen. In past years, pilgrims have been targeted by bombings, including a string of attacks the day before Ashura in 2011 that killed 28 people.

As a result, security measures are stepped up with more than 35,000 soldiers and policemen currently deployed to Karbala and surrounding areas, with concentric security perimeters barring vehicles from entering the city while

helicopters hover overhead.

TWo MILLIon PILgRIMS: Provincial authorities expect two million pilgrims — Iraqis as well as foreigners — will have visited Karbala in the 10 days leading up to Ashura, with all of the city’s hotels fully booked.

“I carry these iron weights every year, since I was 16 and until now,” said Shawkat Hussein, a 60-year-old pilgrim visiting Karbala from Pakistan, referring to heavy iron chains hanging around his neck. “What I am carrying does not compare to what Hussein did for his religion.”Shia make up about 15 per cent of Muslims worldwide.

They represent the majority populations in Iraq, Iran and Bahrain and form significant communities in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. Elsewhere in Iraq on Wednesday, bombings targeting security forces killed 15 people, while police gunned down three militants in a raid.

ALPURAI: A view of the first snowfall of the season in the valley. inP

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Thursday, 14 November, 2013

top indian investigator under fire for rape remark

NEW DELHI AgEnciES

Rights campaigners on Wednesday demanded that the head of India’s top investigation agency resign after he said during a panel discussion on sports ethics that “if you can’t prevent rape, you enjoy it”.

Ranjit Sinha, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which tackles corruption and other high-profile cases, apologised for the remark, but it was roundly criticised. The issue of sexual violence has been in the spotlight since the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a Delhi bus last year sparked nationwide protests. “Do we have the enforcement?” Sinha said at a CBI conference in New Delhi on Tuesday about whether sports betting should be legalised. “It is very easy to say that if you can’t enforce it, it’s like saying if you can’t prevent rape, you enjoy it.” Sinha sought to explain his comments, which civil campaigners and opposition politicians said risked trivialising rape and raised questions over the CBI’s ability to investigate serious sexual assault cases. “I regret any hurt caused,” Sinha said in a statement after the original remarks dominated news channels. “I gave my opinion that betting should be legalised and that if the laws cannot be enforced, that does not mean that laws should not be made,” he added. “This is as erroneous as saying that if rape is inevitable one should lie back and enjoy it. I reiterate my deep sense of regard and respect for women and my commitment for gender issues.” Kavita Krishnan, an activist with the All India Progressive Women’s Association, called for Sinha to step down. “How can he remain the head of India’s premier investigation agency?” she said. Nirmala Sitharaman, spokeswoman for the main opposition group, the Bharatiya Janata Party, called the remarks “shocking”. “Wonder if his colleagues in the Bureau, his family and well-wishers approve of his view,” she wrote on Twitter. There were more than 24,000 reported rapes in India in 2011, but activists say the real number is many times higher. Following a public outcry over the Delhi attack, India introduced tougher rape laws in March, which include the death penalty for repeat offenders and for those whose victims are left in a “vegetative state”. The row comes at a bad time for the CBI, widely accused of acting as a tool for the government to pressure political rivals. Its very legality is also being challenged in court.

afghan opium crop hits record high pakistanis to run philadelphia marathon for peace ahead of western withdrawal: un REPORT SAYS EXPANSION OF POPPY TO 209,000 HECTARES TO EMBARRASS AFGHANISTAN’S AID DONORS KABUL AgEnciES

Afghan opium cultivation has hit a record high as international forces prepare to leave the country, the United Nations said on Wednesday, with concern that profits will go to warlords jockeying for power ahead of a presidential election next year.

The expansion of poppy to 209,000 hectares will embarrass Afghanistan’s aid donors after more than 10 years of efforts to wean farmers off the crop, fight corruption and cut links between drugs and the Taliban insurgency. “The short-term

prognosis is not positive,” said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Afghanistan. “The illicit economy is establishing itself, and seems to be taking over in importance from the licit economy.” Afghanistan is the world’s top cultivator of the poppy, from which opium and heroin are produced. Last year, it accounted for 75 percent of global supply and Lemahieu had previously said this year it might supply 90 percent.

The increase in the crop was caused by various factors including greater insecurity as foreign troops pull back in preparation for withdrawing next year, a high opium price last year and a growing lack of Afghan political will to tackle the problem. That will is particularly weak as an April presidential election approaches, Lemahieu said. President Hamid Karzai cannot stand again, leaving the field open to a range of rivals, some linked to

power-brokers who have profited from poppy in the past. The area under poppy is 36 percent higher than in 2012, and eclipses the previous record set in 2007, when 193,000 hectares were cultivated, the UN anti-drugs agency said in a report.

Total output is estimated at 5,500 tonnes of opium, up 49 percent from 3,700 tonnes in 2012. Farm-gate profits are expected to approach $1 billion, or 4 percent of gross domestic product.

Some of those profits will be funnelled off by the Taliban to fuel their insurgency. Western officials privately accuse senior members of the Afghan state of also profiting. The new figures are part of an annual assessment of opium production by the UNODC and the Ministry for Counter-Narcotics. The report revealed that two northern provinces, Balkh and Faryab, were again growing poppy after being deemed poppy-free last year.

Eradication fell by almost a quarter.

Overseas Pakistani Runners Agha Nusnaain Qazilbash, Ryan Masih and Mudasar Haidat will run the Philadelphia Marathon on Sunday November 17, with an inscription on their Tshirts “PAKISTAN for PEACE and PEACE for PAKISTAN.” This is to show to the world

that Pakistani expatriates are greatly distressed over the bombings and killings in their motherland Pakistan by both the Taliban and the drones. “The world must know that if a culture of peace is not achieved in Pakistan, the rest of the world will not sit in peace either,” claims Azmat Masih

and Salma Peter John, the two coordinators in this peace movement.

It is a mere coincidence that one Christian and two Muslim runners, a team of three, very well represent the flag of Pakistan being two third green for majority and one-third white for minority. PR

In order to become the master, the politician poses as the servant — Charles de Gaulle

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NEWS Thursday, 14 November, 2013

pakistan wants kashmiri leaders included in india dialogue FO SPOKESMAN DEFENDS SARTAJ AZIZ’S TALKS WITH KASHMIRI LEADERSHIP IN NEW DELHI ISLAMABAD MiAn ABRAR

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AKISTAN on Wednesday said it wanted resumption of dialogue with India for the resolution of all outstanding issues including Kashmir.

Foreign Office Spokesman Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry in his weekly briefing said Kashmir is the core issue between the two countries and its solution lies in the dialogue process. However, the spokesman urged that the Kashmiri leadership should also be part

SAYS DGMOS OF BOTH COUNTRIES HAVE MADE A NUMBER OF CONTACTS ON LOC SITUATION of the dialogue. The comments from the Foreign Ministry spokesman comes after Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz met Hurriyat leaders on his visit to the Indian capital.

The meeting largely irked New Delhi, prompting Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid to say that if Pakistan was serious about having a meaningful dialogue, it would be necessary to respect “India’s sentiments, point of view and sensitivities of our country.” Not naming the meeting per se, Khurshid said: “The events in recent times are not seen by us or indeed by anybody in

India as encouraging events, I think they are counter-productive.” Chaudhry, however, defended Aziz’s meeting, saying it was not the first time Pakistan had met with Hurriyat leaders in India. The spokesman told reporters today that Islamabad has always extended moral, diplomatic and political support to the Kashmiri people for their right to self determination. Regarding Aziz’s official meetings with his Indian counterparts, Chaudhry said the advisor held talks with the Indian external affairs minister and national security advisor on all issues including the situation at the Line of Control.

DgMos MEETIng: He said the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of both countries have made a number of contacts on the LoC situation and agreed to normalise the situation at the working boundary.

He said that the ceasefire agreement of 2003 should be respected for a peaceful environ-

ment between the two neighbors. He said Sartaj Aziz also paid a courtesy call on the Indian prime minister today and affirmed the desire of Pakistan to have friendly and peaceful neighborly relations with India.

The advisor also expressed Pakistan’s desire for resumption of dialogue process, he added. He said that the ongoing repression of Indian security forces in the Kashmir valley is a matter of grave concern for Pakistan. He said that not only Pakistan but several human rights organisations have also raised voice against the human rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir.

‘AfgHAn SoIL USED AgAInST PAKISTAn’: Replying to a question about Mullah Fazalullah, the new chief of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group, the spokesperson said Pakistan has made it clear to Afghanistan several times that it should not allow the use of its territory

against Pakistan. He expressed the confidence that Afghanistan would take the required steps in this regard. He said a visit by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to Kabul is on the cards but no dates have yet been fixed.

Answering a question about the whereabouts of Mullah Baradar, the spokesperson said that he is in Pakistan and can contact his family members. He said Pakistan had released Mullah Baradar to advance the Afghan peace and reconciliation process. He said Pakistan would continue to play a positive role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process. Answering a question about the recent drone attack in North Waziristan, the spokesperson said, the protest on it was conveyed to the US Ambassador to Pakistan. “We have also briefed the five permanent members of the UN Security Council about the drone attacks which are illegal and carry human rights and humanitarian implications.”

pakistan urged to vaccinate against polio UnITED nATIonS: Pakistan is being urged to vaccinate all of its children against polio amid a dangerous outbreak that has reached Syria and neighbouring countries.

The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday that 21 nations from the Middle East and surrounding area signed a joint declaration on eradicating the disease, pointing to Pakistan as a key part of the problem. The UN’s health organisation said earlier this week that the polio virus had been confirmed in 13 of 22 children who became paralyzed in a northern Syrian province. The WHO said the Syria outbreak comes from a strain that originated in Pakistan, where, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, it is endemic - and has been spreading across the Middle East. It says the virus has been detected in Egypt, and closely related strains of Pakistani origin turned up in sewage samples in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but higher immunisation rates in those places have helped keep the virus in check. Pakistan approved the resolution, which the WHO says includes Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the UAE, and Yemen. Pakistan’s efforts to vaccinate children against the disease are often frustrated by attacks by fighters, including those from organisations such as the Pakistan Taliban, who claim the programme is a Western front to undermine them. AgEnciES

MULTAN: A policeman stands alert near a huge taazia prepared in connection with the Ashura procession. OnLinE

govt to appoint seasoned diplomats to FM SADIQ KHAN IS BEING MADE NSC SECRETARY ISLAMABAD AnWER ABBAS

As the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from Afghanistan is nears, Pakistan is taking measures in to appoint seasoned diplomats in the Foreign Ministry (FM).

According to a source, senior diplomat and Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan M Sadiq Khan, who had already served as a spokesman to the Foreign Office, is being made secretary to the National Security Council. The council will be supervising the decision

ABDUL BASIT KHAN IS BEING MADE FOREIGN SECRETARY making in the post-US Afghanistan scenario. The motive behind Khan’s induction is that he had served as the FO’s spokesman and is serving as envoy to Afghanistan.

Due to his recent job he holds first-hand knowledge of Afghanistan’s situation and that has made him a perfect choice for the NSC secretary’s slot. In December, Pakistan’s Envoy to Germany Abdul Basit Khan is being called back and being made the foreign secretary. Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani will be appointed as Pakistan’s envoy to the US.

Basit, considered experienced in dealing with Indian affairs, would be taking charge of the new office where majorly he would be handling the Foreign Ministry’s affairs with the Indian Ministry for External Affairs, especially in connection with the Pakistan-India composite dialogues resumption.

Asif Durrani, a journalistturned-diplomat from Quetta, has been appointed as envoy to the United Arab Emirates.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Italy Tehmina Janjua will take charge of her new office as Pakistan’s permanent representative for the United Nations in New York. A majority of these shuffles will be completed by December, whereas these diplomats have already met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

political chiefs take a breather!

LAHORE nADEEM SyED

Political leadership across the country has expressed its appreciation for the SC’s reconciliatory approach and decision to extend the LB polls dates but doubts still persist over the future of these elections - whether the polls will be held at all with a new schedule with a perception that some political forces are least interested in organising the LB polls. At the same time, there is also a palpable sense of relief among the political leaders over the new dates of LG polls, especially in the wake of recent outburst in the National Assembly.

The apex court in response to the ECP petition has agreed to give more time to the latter for holding the polls.

Now the polls in Punjab will be held on January 30 as opposed to December 7.

Similarly, the date for polls in Sindh has also been changed.

With the new dates for LB polls, it appears that the schedule issued earlier by the ECP has become redundant and with that the entire nomination process witnessed so far is no longer valid. After the revision of election dates, now the ECP will issue new schedules for which new nomination papers will also be provided.

The SC has constituted a new three-member bench which will further deal with the ECP petition. Showing the urgency once shown by the apex court is no longer there especially after the reaction and attitude from the political leadership. Moreover, the fresh dates of election come after the retirement of incumbent chief justice who, so far, has shown extraordinary interest in holding the elections.

Some political quarter still believe that the governments in Punjab and Sindh have little interest and urgency to hold LB polls and devolve power at the lowest level.

PPP Secretary Information Qamar Zaman Kaira has said that the SC had given time to the ECP up to January 30 next year to hold election as per its request and now the commission should focus on the issue of delimitation of constituencies and voters’ list to ensure in absolute term the credibility of LB elections.

He recalled that most of the political parties had raised serious reservations over the May 2013 elections. However, he expressed his satisfaction over the holding of election in Punjab on partybasis as per the decision of LHC on a petition filed by the PPP. PML (Q) senior leader Raja Basharat welcoming the decision of SC condemned the role of Punjab government.

He was of the view that the government should have come forward to clear doubts on the fate of polls but, unfortunately, it did not happen.

09

The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it. –Henry David Thoreau

C

COMMENT Thursday, 14 November, 2013

averting the clash LG Polls: ECP given some more time but…

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HE Supreme Court has succeeded in awakening the provincial governments to their long forgotten responsibility to hold the local government polls. The process has now been initiated though it is taking longer than initially conceived by the administration. All the four assemblies have got the relevant laws passed but have yet to complete the delimitation of constituencies, update the local government rules and laws and prepare the lists of polling stations. The Punjab Local Government law which envisaged holding the elections on non-party basis was amended through an ordinance when the LHC ordered the polls be held on party basis. The amendments now need to be passed by the provincial Assembly.

While the provinces were yet to complete the required formalities, the ECP announced the schedule for elections for Sindh and Punjab under pressure from the SC. Soon after the Commission discovered that it might not be possible to hold the polls on prescribed dates on account of technical difficulties. The most challenging task was the printing of around 500 million ballot papers. The government printing presses expressed inability to perform the task within weeks.

Similarly the PCSIR maintained that 4.4 million magnetized ink pads could not be provided in less than four months. In case the elections are held without fulfilling the legal and procedural requirement, doubts are bound to be created about their fairness.

While the SC rejected the ECP’s appeal for more time, the NA passed two unanimous resolutions within a week asserting that elections in a hasty and nontransparent manner would undermine their credibility. The NA urged the Election Commission to fix a practical date for holding the elections after ensuring that all legal and administrative arrangements are in place. Fears were being expressed that the stands taken by the SC and NA might lead to confrontation between the two institutions. Thankfully this has not happened. The SC has granted a request of the Election Commission to hold the elections in accordance with a new schedule which stretches the election period to February which is however less than four months considered necessary for holding the polls. Hopefully the provinces would work hard to do their bit of job while the ECP would act more efficiently than it has in the past.

Storm in a teacup But July 3 court order haunts government

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ORMER military dictator Pervez Musharraf came back to fight in the May 2013 national elections. He saw no welcoming crowds and he capitulated or was captured by the courts. He must have known that his overthrow of a democratically elected government in 1999 and the other excesses of his prolonged rule had made him many enemies (a dubious art at which he rather excelled) and that the courts would readily take up cudgels on their behalf both on the basis of their earlier decisions and the fresh petitions lodged against him.

Perhaps he thought of clearing his name while the going was good.

One rather suspects that he may also have imagined that his parent institution would never allow its former head to be publicly humiliated beyond a certain limit. And, lo and behold, the general was acquitted in all the high profile cases of serious nature pending against him, despite all the politicians’ vows, the media frenzy and the public’s tall expectations, save the High Treason case, in which the apex court had already passed an order on July 3 putting the onus of pursuing it on the government. The general’s counsel has since filed a petition for removing his name from the Exit Control List to enable him to fly to Dubai to be at the bedside of an ailing close relative. Simultaneously a former president of the Rawalpindi High Court Bar has also petitioned the court to prosecute the prime minister for not following up the case under Article 6 and to restrain the former strongman from leaving the country. The court has sought the official position in the matter on November 18, but then hardly anyone is likely to take a rigid position on such an emotive issue, and one rather feels, if past experience be any guide, that a caged bird would soon be on the wing to freer climes. As with all other issues of national import, there was much hue and cry, much raving and ranting in parliament and on the television channels and much hope about a general paying for his crimes this time, but nothing of substance emerged from all the hype. With a huge question mark hanging over the government’s performance so far and problems galore, the latter is not going to ruffle any plumed feathers at this stage.

No doubt, when all is said and done, the entire affair would turn out only to be a storm in a teacup.

book review: ‘i am fazlullah’ An inspiring tale of ambition, activism and radio jihad

KunWAR KHuLDunE SHAHiD

‘I

am Fazlullah’ is the story of a brave young boy Fazal Hayat from Swat and his courageous fight that transformed his native town. It narrates the boy’s valiant journey from being Fazal Hayat to becoming Fazlullah and tells us about the global rude awakening that he conjured by taking a stand against Pakistan’s biggest militant organisation, Tehreek-e-Malala Pakistan (TMP). Fazlullah’s bravery meant that the world stood up and took notice of his noble fight for terrorism.

The book, co-authored by Christinullah Christina, begins with Fazlullah being born to Biladar Khan, “a Pukhtun of Babukarkhel clan of the Yusufzai tribe of the Swat District”.

From an early age Fazlu aspired to be in the jihad business, and his first step in the right direction was marrying the daughter of TNSM head Sufi Muhammad – considered to be among the best career moves of all time in the jihad sector. And fittingly an entire chapter of the book is dedicated to narrating how young Fazlu kidnapped Sufi Muhammad’s daughter from his Madrassa.

Seeing Fazlu’s ambitions the then president Pervez Musharraf banned TNSM and had Sufi Muhammad arrested, which meant that Fazlullah began living his childhood dream of leading a banned terrorist organisation.

Fazlu has led TNSM, collaborated with the TTP, established parallel governments, developed a $2.5 million Madrassa and enjoyed jihadi success in Afghanistan but his biggest achievements are in the field of activism and entertainment.

Fazlu’s passion for radio jockeying and social activism combined as he started his own FM channel broadcasted exclusively in the Swat Valley.

Fazlullah won the Best Male RJ award in Annual Pakistan Media Awards for his exclusive coverage of assassinations and beheadings, and his shows “Midnight with Mullah”, “Maulana Mornings”, “Jihad Jockeys” and “Wajib-ul-Qatal Weekends” received soaring ratings as well as critical ac-

Editor’s mail Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad Joint Editor Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230 Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208 Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273 Fax: 051-2818125 Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

claim.

Just when one thought our pioneering RJ (radio jihadist) had found his niche, an epoch-making event changed not only Fazlu’s life but that of budding jihadists and terrorists in Swat and around the globe.

As TMP militants increased their stranglehold over the Swat Valley and started spreading the propaganda of education and tolerance, Fazlu protested peacefully by closing girls’ schools, burning CDs, DVDs and computers, killing female dancers, massacring polio workers (despite suffering from polio himself) and assassinating people refusing to pull their shalwars above the ankle. But when the TMP paid no heed to the protests, Fazlu bravely began audio blogging anonymously. His blogs were played on his FM channel and in almost every mosque in Swat.

However, when the TMP – blindfolded by the venom of education – had had enough of Fazlu’s “dramatics”, the brave young boy was attacked by the TMP militants. Miraculously Fazlu survived the enlightenment attempt, and the only wounds that were caused were merely inkblots and paper cuts. This led to Pakistani liberal fascists launching their propaganda on social media questioning how Fazlu wasn’t enlightened despite being attacked by education from such a small distance. Having been attacked by the educatory arsenal of books and pens from such close proximity, Fazlu had to be sent to the northwest of Afghanistan for proper treatment.

The enlightenment attempt sparked an international outpouring of support for Fazlullah. Fazlu’s story spread like fire as the world became aware of the menace of TMP and their perverted interpretation of education, and realised the struggle that a young boy has to face as he endeavours to become a terrorist.

Fittingly Fazlu was invited to speak at the UN, where he delivered an invigorating speech the most touching quote of which was: "Let us pick up our guns and bombs. They are our most powerful weapons. One child, one terrorist, one suicide jacket and one detonator can change the world.

Terrorism is the only solution."

Also rather appropriately Fazlullah was also shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize, with the gamblers betting heavily on him. It was thought that since President Obama won the award while American troops wreaked havoc in Iraq and Afghanistan and EU won it when euro debt crisis plagued global economies in the recent past, Fazlullah was a shoo-in for the prize. But it was the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that eventually won the award for letting chemical weapons spiral out of control in the

Middle East.

‘I am Fazlullah’ has received acclaim from all the proverbial corners of the world, despite some quarters criticising Christinullah Christina for failing to conceal the co-author’s wellknown bias against education and tolerance. The book is a bestseller in Pakistan already, despite threats by TMP against its purchase.

Leading journalist Ansar Abbasi gave the book five stars out of five, solely for the number of times Fazlullah wrote PBUH in the book – 137 times, according to Abbasi’s count.

Other leading journalists Talat Hussain and Orya Maqbool Jan praised the book for doing nothing but “depicting true Muslim sentiments”, which according to them was the sole purpose of writing a book. O.M.J. was particularly ecstatic about reading Fazlu’s opinion about Ahmadis and Salman Rushdie, which he confessed were the only two paragraphs he had read from the book, but insisted that they were enough to justify the 10/10 he gave ‘I am Fazlullah’.

Liberal fascist Pervez Hoodhbhoy however condemned the book for being pro-jihadists in an altercation with Abbasi and Orya Maqbool on a live television show.

After witnessing the warm reception that ‘I am Fazlullah’ got, All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association decided to make the book mandatory in private schools’ curricula. And not only did the book replace the Islamiyat books being taught at the schools, chapters from the book were also added in the science and social studies curricula to teach the children about the construction of suicide jackets and jihadist terrorism.

The chairman of the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation particularly praised the book for its clarity of thought that according to him would ensure that the children are no longer confused by the ideas of tolerance and secularism.

‘I am Fazlullah’ is a rousing tale of ambition, activism and radio jihad. It’s a story of bravado and struggle. Simultaneously it is also an ideological book and one that would help young professionals mould their budding careers into illustrious ones.

It can also be read as a marketing book about how one could brand products that influence the lives of millions of people. However, most importantly the book gives us all the insights that we need into the life of a brave, young boy who is destined to become the leader of Islamic Republic of Pakistan in the very near future.

Kunwar Khuldune Shahid is a financial journalist and a cultural critic.

Email: khulduneshahid@gmail.com, Twitter: @khuldune.

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

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poverty alleviation More than 200 million people are living below the poverty line in Pakistan. To help them out, we have just one programme, Income Support Scheme, which has been broiled in various scams. The scheme is used for political purposes while the money is usually given to those who have political affiliation to certain party. The party workers demand share from the scheme. Almost 70% of the fund disappears in the pockets of politicians and the party workers.

India has launched a “Food Security Scheme” in which a poor family can get wheat at Rs2 per kg, rice at Rs3 per kg and coarse grain at Rs1 per kg. This scheme

is for the people living below poverty line and in slums (jhuggi). Food security cards have been issued to these people. They have been asked to send their children to the school where they are served healthy meals along with minor financial aid.

Our government must learn from their experience and start a scheme similar to that rather than an income support scheme whose results are doubtful. Our scheme makes them lazy, sit back and wait for the aid. The Indian scheme helps in many ways. It makes them productive, increases child literacy, gives them food at discounted prices and helps the country in the longer run.

NAYYAB FATIMA Lahore

I am not in this world to live up to other people's expectations, nor do I feel that the world must live up to mine. –Fritz Perls

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COMMENT

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Thursday, 14 November, 2013

time to strike back for peace If US unwilling to take him out, Pakistan should

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dream and reality

SyED AFSAR SAjiD

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SAD Muhammad Khan’s collection of short stories titled Ghussay ki Nai Fasl (2nd edition) and Akhtar Raza Saleemi’s Khwabdaan, lately appearing in succession, seem to have instantly engaged the attention of the discreet reader of literature for the quality of their form and substance.

Ghussay ki Nai Fasl Asad Muhammad Khan’s credentials as a fiction writer and poet are widely acknowledged in the literary circles. Ghussay ki Nai Fasl is his third collection of fourteen short stories, having first appeared in 1997.

Twenty-one of his stories have also been translated into English and published under the title of The Harvest of Anger and other

Ghussay ki Nai Fasl Author: Asad Muhammad Khan Publisher: Ilqa Publications/Readings, 12-K, Gulberg II, Lahore Pages: 194; Price: Rs.245/-

Stories. In addition to Tamgha-i-Imtiaz(2009), he has also won the Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi Award Barai Fiction (2004), Aalami Faroghe-Urdu Adab Award, Doha, Qatar (2007), and Sheikh Ayaz Award Barai Adab (2007), in recognition of his literary excellence.

Muhammad Salim-ur-Rahman is of the view that Asad Muhammad Khan has a true knack for perceiving the reality as manifest from his keen observation and retentive memory reproducing dialogues from actual life.

The similitude in his fictional work artistically combines reality and imagination, suspension of disbelief notwithstanding.

Some of the implicit themes of these stories are social imbalances, human values, the ironic gap between appearance and reality, thesis and anti-thesis, colloquialism, hypocrisy, and vanity. The writer treats his subjects in the manner of a realist and his discourse is mainly focused on the exploration of the human psyche vis-a-vis a hostile sociocultural milieu.

The style of the writer is another marked feature of the book. Being a mix of irony, idiomatic felicity, and syntactical precision, it has an explicit slant toward impressionism (cf. Toofan kay Markaz May). Other stories in the collection also illustrate the niceties of his art as a story-teller, characterization being one of them. Most of the characters in the instant stories are types representing vices and virtues peculiar to their own trade and status in life. Kishwar Khan, Hafiz Shukrullah Khan, Laji, Hitler, Khosa, and Darya Khan are some such characters who seem to dwell on the timelessness of time.

The book is thus bound to agitate the minds of the readers who, aside from capitalizing on its entertainment value, also regard reading of fiction as an educative pastime.

Khwabdaan Akhtar Raza Saleemi is a recognized poet of both ghazal and nazm. Khwabdaan is his third verse collection with nazm as its exclusive content. Qazi Javed, Nasir Abbas Nayyar, Danyal Tureer, and Zia-ul-Mustafa Turk have highlighted the broad features of Saleemi’s verse in their introductory remarks about his present work. Besides, opinions of Shahzad Ahmad, Dr Tauseef Tabassum, Fehmeeda Riaz, Mansha Yaad, Muhammad Izhar-ulHaq, Waheed Ahmad and Yusuf Hassan on his poetic art have also been summarily inserted into the epilogue of the book.

Saleemi’s nazm is an apt expression of ‘the ideal possibilities of human life’. Reading his verse between the lines, one gains an impression that the poet is overly conscious of poetry’s responsibilities and prerogatives in the world in a post-modernistic context. The poet in him, as Seamus Heaney would have us believe, seeks to evolve a synthesis of his innate urge for creative freedom with the sense of social obligation felt by him as a vocal member of the community he lives in.

Viewed in this perspective, Saleemi’s nazm would seem to engage the reader on a cerebral plane dotted with signposts of somnolent reveries, irate interpretations, wistful monologues, and mesmeric self-delusions.

His persona is probably ‘one of us’ with whom one can share their pleasures and pains, gains and losses, and hopes and despairs. The all-pervasive element of contemporaneity tends to transform his nazm into a global narrative relying on the communicative power of poetry with regard to the actual quality of experience, with a subtlety and precision unapproachable by any other means.

The themes of these poems (fifty-seven in number) converge on life in its existential diversity touching the extremities of truth and untruth, reality and illusion, faith and scepticism, indulgence and asceticism, time and eternity, transparency and symbolism, and dream and disgust. Nevertheless in a few poems the poet gives powerful expression to the division in the modern consciousness caused by the contrast between the development of the moral sense and the dehumanized world picture provided by the scientific discoveries of the age.

In poems like Na’waqt may Isbaat-e-wujood, Daaira, Barzakh Yak Khwab, Bayha’iti ki Ha’it, PanchwaN Bu’d, Hairat Zindagi Hai, Event Horizon, Koi Sharay bhi Sharay Aam Nahi Hai, and Safar Hai Shart are some poems denoting 'reflective writing of high order turned into vision by imagination'.

Lastly, the book is sure to receive responsive readership whose belief is that the function of poetry is not self-expression, but the proper fusion of meaning in language.

Khwabdaan Author: Akhtar Raza Saleemi Publisher: Sanjh Publications, 46/2, Mozang Road, Lahore Pages: 124; Price: Rs.200/-

AKIMULLAH Mehsud’s death in yet another American drone strike resulted in serious haggling over his successor within the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) ranks with some sources claiming Fazalullah’s group going to the extent of threatening to disassociate in case of him not been the successor. That alone cannot be the deciding factor for the TTP OMER ZAHEER MEER with mostly tribal fighting force but Fazalullah did succeed in replacing Hakimullah.

It is indeed true that the US has violated Pakistan’s sovereignty by its constant drone attacks –which the US claims have tacit approval by the Pakistani executive. Whether it’s still in place is another question requiring detailed study as it changes the whole narrative of sovereignty violation.

However, showing blatant disregard for the mandate given to the Nawaz government by the All Parties Conference for peace talks with the TTP, the US chose a time to eliminate Hakimullah just when these were to begin.

It is indeed a severe setback to this peace-process as unfortunately US has not shown any more regard for Pakistan’s Constitution, democratic norms and sovereignty than the TTP. It’s also quite perplexing that despite Fazalullah organizing amongst other barbaric acts, the infamous attack on Malala from Afghanistan right under the nose of Americans, he hasn’t been touched by those championing Malala.

Having humble origins, Fazalullah became son-in-law of Sufi Muhammad, the head of Tehrik-e-Nifaz e Shariyat Muhammdi and later merged his forces with the TTP becoming their chapter head in Swat post the LalMasjid fiasco orchestrated by Gen Musharraf. He shot to fame with his fiery radio-sermons playing on people’s genuine love for Shariah as well as the belief that timely and cost-effective justice has evaded them ever since the inception of Pakistani legal system in Swat which brought with it the kind of corruption plaguing the rest of the country. This gave rise to the popular demand of a return to Shariah-based jirga-system.

Amid growing public pressure a peace accord was brokered which was broken by two major events. One was the reported advances of the Swat Taliban into neighboring districts. But what really swung the public opinion against Taliban was a video of a female getting lashed publicly. By then people of Swat had largely turned against the rule of Fazalullah too, owing to some brutal tribal customs having been implemented in the name of Islam. An interesting point is that the infamous video turned out to be a fake, sponsored by an NGO claimed to be funded by the US but by then the damage was done.

An intense army operation ensued which flushed out the militants.

Friends within army shared stories of finding Indian Servicemen’s identity cards on dead militants besides finding out some of the militant Imams to be non-Muslim during their burial process. Several pictures found their way onto the internet while more sensitive proofs were presented to the US and Indian governments through official channels. The non-existent informant network in Swat led to innocent lives being lost with people settling scores by identifying innocents as Taliban, aware of the lack of an effective mechanism to verify. The Army gave many sacrifices against the brutal tactics of Mullah Fazalullah’s gang using beheadings and mutilations to stir-up terror.

Despite all, overall the operation was termed a huge success looked at in awe by even the American forces dreaming to repeat the feat in Afghanistan.

Fazalullah though managed to escape to Afghanistan where he has been provided sanctuary by the Afghan intelligence at the behest of India’s supreme intelligence agency RAW. Surprisingly the US has preferred to turn a blind eye to this despite having thorough knowledge and evidence.

Afterwards, a popular narrative was formed in Pakistan that Fazalullah and by that definition the TTP too, were sponsored by and at least at the leadership level, working for foreign powers unlike the Afghan Taliban fighting a just jihad for their freedom against the US led invaders.

Over time, it seems like the TTP has been able to forge closer ties with the Afghan Taliban amidst claims of Mullah Omar supporting Fazalullah as the latest amir of TTP. If true, this changes the whole scenario.

Fazalullah vehemently opposed peace talks with Pakistan and when Hakimullah decided in its favour, he launched a gruesome attack killing a Major General. Besides, the TTP had been carrying out a campaign against Pakistani civilian population as well as targeting the armed forces. While they justify attacks on the later citing Pakistan’s alliance with the US in the so-called war-on-terror, it cannot find many backers in the mainstream for its attacks on civilians as Islam strictly prohibits targeting civilians even during a war with non-Muslims.

The possible repercussions of Fazalullah’s nomination as the new TTP chief are dire for Pakistan’s security, economy and society. With nothing to lose and scores to settle while been controlled by anti-Pakistan powers he’s extremely dangerous for Pakistan. Fazalullah’s first order as TTP chief is to decline negotiations.

With the TTP still unnerved with Hakimullah’s elimination and Fazalullah taking the helm, the affairs being a non-Mehsud chief of the overwhelmingly Mehsud TPP while sitting across the border, it is high time that Fazalullah is eliminated. This will open up doors for a comparatively moderate and independent successor that we might be able to deal with.

For those who cite repercussions, we’ll be facing much worse if Fazalullah is allowed time to take control of the TTP. If the US is not ready to eliminate Fazalullah with a drone strike inside NATO-controlled Afghanistan, it will raise serious questions as to its intentions while confirming the strike on Hakimullah was indeed to derail the peaceprocess. In such a scenario, Pakistan would need to sends out its own team to eliminate the foreign-controlled terrorist in Afghanistan. If the US can justify the strike to target OBL, Pakistan too can for elimination of Fazalullah.

Omer Zaheer Meer is a leading Economist who is also a qualified Chartered Accountant, Financial Analyst and Anti-Money Laundering Expert. He can be reached on Twitter @OmerZaheerMeer, or on mail at: omerzaheermeer@hotmail.co.uk.

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I'm sorry, if you were right, I'd agree with you. –Robin Williams

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arTS Thursday, 14 November, 2013

mileY cYruS inveStigated over dopeY Stunt

Miley Cyrus is being investigated by Dutch health authorities for violating a smokefree zone after apparently lighting up a joint onstage. In the latest in a series of attention-seeking stunts, the 20-year-old took what appeared to be a half-smoked cannabis cigarette from her bag and smoked it during the MTV European Music Awards live show at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome. It's unclear whether she inhaled. ‘‘We received complaints about smoking which was also seen on television. We have to investigate,’’ Tjitte Mastenbroek of the National Food and Consumer Authority said. ‘‘We will shortly be meeting the Ziggo Dome’s management to check what exactly happened there.’’Advertisement Cyrus, 20, was accepting the best video award for her hit single Wrecking Ball. Although cannabis is technically still illegal in the Netherlands, the country decriminalised possession of less than five grams in 1976. Mastenbroek said the consumer watchdog was investigating why Cyrus lit up in a smoke-free area. ‘‘There is a smoking ban in public places in the Netherlands. Employees have the right to a smoke-free environment and this includes camera and sound personnel,’’ he said. ‘‘After meeting the Ziggo Dome’s management we will decide whether possible steps will be taken.’’ Later, Cyrus added fuel to the controversy, tweeting: “So much fun last night! Amsterdam you're the dopesssst thank you for always being so good to me” and “last night was a blurrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”. nEWS DESK

Miley Cyrus dresses as Strawberry Sexycake to perform "Wrecking Ball" on German TV's Wetten Das!

LI Zafar’s latest venture into the Indian film industry is all set to tickle the audience’s funny bones by bringing to light the evercontentious Pakistan-India rivalry. The tremendously talented, emerging director Eeshwar Nivas of De Taali and My Name is Anthony Gonsalves fame brings together renowned and beloved actors like Ali Zafar, Anupam Kher and Kiron Kher in this film, which has been rechristened “Total Siyappa” from its earlier title, “Aman ki Asha”. The film tells a touching and humorous tale of Aman, a Pakistani Muslim boy based in London who falls in love with a Hindu Indian girl, Asha, played by Yami Gautam. The story kicks off with Asha taking Aman home to meet her parents, which marks the beginning of the roller coaster ride of laughter interspersed with heart-rending scenes as a chain of hysterical errors is set into motion.

While remarking about the movie with great enthusiasm, Ali stated that “This is a story that people from both sides of the border will be able to relate to. The trailer is coming out soon and I cannot wait to see how audience from the sister states react to it. The venture is the first of its kind, making it an exhilarating project to work on. I am also excited about it because I have written composed and sang for the soundtrack myself. So now, all my fans who had been waiting for something new finally have the movie to look forward to.” Commenting on the experience garnered, he commented, “It has been fascinating and a great chance to learn new things and perspectives. Also, it was a rewarding experience working with Kiron Kher and Anupam Kher, who play the girl’s parents.” With a star studded cast, a story to kill for, and music by Pakistan’s very own beloved crooner, the film is all set to cause mass excitement. nEWS DESK

Sailor attackS cab with didgeridoo

A Southern California man has been arrested after police say he whacked a taxi with a didgeridoo in an argument over the fare. U-T San Diego says the 31-year-old man and a woman were picked up Sunday night in Chula Vista then fell asleep during a 20-minute ride to a home. Police Lt. Phil Collum says when they arrived, the man got into an argument with the cabbie over the fare. Collum says he went into the house and came out with a didgeridoo — a long, wooden instrument from Australia.

Collum says the man threatened the driver with it. The cabbie drove off, but the man allegedly chased the cab and whacked it several times with the didgeridoo, denting the vehicle. Arriving police arrested the man on suspicion of vandalism. nEWS DESK

NEW BLACK HOLE NEGATES THEORY, BAFFLES ASTRONOMERS HE most luminous objects in the universe keep getting more mysterious. Astronomers have discovered a new type of quasar — an incredibly bright galactic core powered

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by a supermassive black hole — that current theory fails to predict. Models predict that a quasar's light and heat should push nearby gas out from the center and toward the fringes of the

alI zaFar’S upCoMIng FIlM ‘aMan KI aSha’ renaMed

host galaxy. The newly found quasars do demonstrate this behavior, but, surprisingly, some of the gas also appears to be falling back to the center, researchers said. "Matter falling into black holes may not sound surprising," study lead author Patrick Hall, an astronomer at York University in the United Kingdom, said in a statement.

"But what we found is, in fact, quite mysterious and was not predicted by current theories." So far, astronomers have found 17 of these objects, which are thought to make up just 0.01 percent of all quasars. Gas flow in and around quasars can be calculated by examining its Doppler shift, or the change in the wavelengths of light that are produced as the gas moves. On Earth, humans can hear the Doppler shift in action when a car toots its horn as it zooms by. As it comes towards you, the sound waves are compressed and the horn's pitch sounds higher. After it passes, the sound waves lengthen and the pitch drops.

Particles of gas in a distant galaxy emit light at expected wavelengths.

This changes as the gas moves toward Earth or away from it. Gas receding from Earth is shifted to the red edge of the light spectrum (which has longer waves), while gas moving toward Earth appears more blue. Quasar light is easy to track because it is astonishingly bright, producing "enough light to be seen across the observable universe," York University officials said in a statement. The appearance of these

newfound quasars, however, generated a mystery. "The gas in the disk must eventually fall into the black hole to power the quasar, but what is often seen instead is gas blown away from the black hole by the heat and light of the quasar, heading toward us at velocities up to 20 percent of the speed of light," Hall said. "If the gas is falling into the black hole, then we don't understand why it's so rare to see infalling gas," he added.

"There's nothing else unusual about these quasars. If gas can be seen falling into them, why not in other quasars?" One theory suggests the gas is not descending into the black hole but instead is circling it after the quasar pushes it away. This means that some particles of gas in the galaxy would be moving toward Earth, while others are moving away.

"To MAKe AN ANALogy: Imagine an ant on a spinning merry-go-round, crawling from the center to the edge," Hall said. "You will see the ant moving toward you about half the time and away from you about half the time.

The same idea could apply to the gas in these quasars. In either case, the gas in these quasars is moving in an unusual fashion." Astronomers found the quasars using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III), which examines large swaths of the sky. Scientists expect quasar models will have to be revisited, so the researchers plan follow-up surveys using the Gemini Observatory. nEWS DESK

Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye. –H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

ARTS Thursday, 14 November, 2013

patrick Swayze’s film ‘ghost’ to be made into series

T won two Oscars and a legion of fans mesmerised by the supernatural love story between Patrick Swayzee's Sam and Demi Moore's Molly. But now, fans of the 1990 film Ghost can expect a new version coming to the small screen. It was announced on Tuesday that Akiva Goldsman and Jeff Pinkner will write a pilot for a prospective television series based on the movie.

'We are thrilled to collaborate with Akiva and Jeff, two deeply creative and accomplished talents, on the television adaptation of this classic supernatural drama,' Amy Powell, president of Paramount Television said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Goldsman's previous screenwriting credits include A Beautiful Mind and I Am Legend, while Pinker has substantial television experience on shows Fringe and Alias. The film follows Sam, a murdered man who, after becoming a ghost, teams up with Oda Mae to avenge his death and communicate with his fiancé Molly.

However, it is not yet clear how the beloved film's story, will be effectively adapted into a TV series spanning a number of episodes.

Ghost became famous for its erotic pottery scene between Molly and Sam to the tune of Unchained Melody, along with

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Taylor Swift heads in to rehearse for the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

medium Oda Mae Brown's (Whoopi Goldberg) memorable sassy lines. 'We wanted the love scenes not to be about sex but to be about the communication and connection with another human being through the eyes, and I think that came off, Swayze once told Entertainment Tonight. 'I was thinking about being a young actress and getting this script that Joe Rubin had written and finding it so fascinating and different,' Moore said about the film earlier this year. 'It’s a love story, and it’s a guy - a dead guy - trying to save his wife - and there is a comedy part, but really it’s a love story.

'And I thought, "Wow, this is really a recipe for disaster. It’s either going to be something really special, really amazing, or really an absolute bust."' Ghost grossed more than $500 million at the worldwide box office on a budget of $22 million. 'What’s interesting is that I learned one really big lesson on this film, which is that I went to see it and everyone was moved,' Moore added. 'It's something that touches people's heart, it transcends and has comforted people's soul in great loss and it has instilled a sense of hope and magic that those we love are always still with us. The film also inspired a stage show - Ghost: The Musical premiered back in 2011. nEWS DESK

THE WORLD’S OLDEST ORGANISM 507 YEAR OLD SHELLFISH A

clam named 'Ming' has been confirmed as the world’s oldest animal at 507 years old. Ming saw off Queen Elizabeth I, the English Civil War, the entire Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and two World Wars. But its life came to an abrupt end seven years ago when scientists from Bangor University dredged the seabed near Iceland as part of a study into climate change. Not knowing the long life of the mollusc, researchers at Bangor University opened its shell for analysis, killing Ming in the process. By counting the number of rings visible on the inside shell of the mollusc, they initially calculated that Ming was an incredible 405 years old. Scientists have now admitted they made a mistake- and now believe it to be 100 years older than first thought. ‘We got it wrong the first time and maybe we were a bit hasty publishing our findings back then,’

ocean scientist Paul Butler from Bangor University told ScienceNordic. ‘But we are absolutely certain that we’ve got the right age now.’ The problem with the original calculation was that some of Ming's growth rings on the inside of the shell had become too compressed to be seen. The researchers have now recalculated the age of Ming by looking at the growth rings on the outside of the shell. The ‘new’ age means that the mollusc was born in 1499. By examining the oxygen isotopes in the growth rings, scientists can find out the sea temperature at the time when the shell came into being. What’s even more fascinating, however, are the lessons that the Ming could teach scientists about ageing. A few years ago, charity Help the Aged, gave the marine biologists from Bangor University £40,000 to investigate why this animal lives so long. nEWS DESK

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franciS bacon painting SellS for $142 million, SetS record

“I went to $101 million but it hardly mattered,” Larry Gagosian told the Times after last night’s Christie’s auction, likely the first time those string of words have ever been uttered. Yes, Gagosian—bidding against six others—could only watch as dealer William Acquavella took home this Francis Bacon triptych of his “friend and rival” Lucian Freud for $142.4 million, which makes it the most expensive piece of art ever sold at auction.

The previous record had been held by Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” which sold at Sotheby’s last year for $119.9 million. “This is the most important painting to come to auction for a generation,” Francis Outred, Christie’s postwar-art director, told the Post.

“It’s not just one of Bacon’s greatest triptychs. It’s also a very careful study of one of his best friends and a painter who would come to rival him as one of the greatest figurative painters of the 20th century.” But who was Acquavella’s “unidentified client”?

Could it have been noted art appreciator Leonardo DiCaprio (perhaps as a birthday present to himself)? Was it one of the partners of one of Freud’s 14 children, looking to surprise his or her loved one with a thoughtful anniversary gift? Or was it Lady Gaga and James Franco going halfsies? (Seems like something they’d do, right?) nEWS DESK

aShlee SimpSon voiceS joY of being with roSS

Ashlee Simpson and Evan Ross' summer fling has turned into the real thing! After the couple posed for pictures at the BandFuse: Rock Legends video game launch party in West Hollywood on Tuesday, Nov. 12, the "Bat for a Heart" singer opened up to E! News exclusively about her love life. "I am really happy," the 29-year-old pop star said during the event, held at House of Blues Sunset Strip. Once the pair made their way inside, they mingled with former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash and Relativity Media founder and CEO Ryan Kavanaugh. Simpson and Ross also tried out the new video game, which will be made available to the public on Tuesday, Nov. 19. Simpson said she'll be celebrating Thanksgiving with her 4-year-old son, Bronx (with ex-husband Pete Wentz).

"I'm spending the holidays with him. His birthday is coming up on the 20th, so we're in birthday mode. He's got the best birthday because it's right before the holidays, so it's like extra gifts!" The single mom said Bronx has been asking for the Skylanders SWAP Force video game.

"That's kind of his favorite thing," Simpson explained. "Also, [he loves] any kind of bouncy house or trampoline." nEWS DESK

One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it — Knute Rockne

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SPORTS Thursday, 14 November, 2013

Sa seamers set up crushing win DUBAI

ScOREBOARD

AgEnciES

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OUTH Africa rode to a comfortable nine-wicket win over Pakistan in the first T20 encounter at Dubai on Wednesday. The visitors won with 33 balls in hand after Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis put on an unbeaten stand of 83 runs for the second wicket. Pakistan were earlier restricted to 98 for nine in their 20 overs after Dale Steyn struck thrice in his four overs. However, their chase received an earlt jolt as opener Hashim Amla was bowled by Sohail Tanvir for 13.

Earlier, electing to bat first, Pakistan made a horrendous start to their campaign, losing two wickets with only four runs on the board as South African pacers created lot of trouble for their batsmen. It was due to lower order batsman Umar Akmal that Pakistan was able to inch close to the 100-run mark. Umar scored runs from balls with the help of four boundaries and a six in a bid to bail his side out of trouble. For South Africa, pace spearhead Dale Steyn and Lonwabo

PAKiSTAn Ahmed Shehzad c Amla b Tsotsobe 0 Sohaib Maqsood c †de Kock b Steyn 4 10 Shahid Afridi c McLaren b Tsotsobe 0 Mohammad Hafeez* c †de Kock b Steyn Shoaib Malik st †de Kock b imran Tahir 12 umar Akmal† run out (†de Kock) 49 Abdul Razzaq c Miller b McLaren 10 0 Sohail Tanvir st †de Kock b imran Tahir Abdur Rehman not out 7 Saeed Ajmal b Steyn 0 6 EXTRAS: (lb 1, w 5) 98 TOTAL: (9 wickets; 20 overs) DiD nOT BAT: Mohammad irfan FALL OF WicKETS: 1-0 (Ahmed Shehzad, 0.5 ov), 2-4 (Sohaib Maqsood, 1.4 ov), 3-4 (Mohammad Hafeez, 1.6 ov), 4-21 (Shahid Afridi, 6.4 ov), 5-41 (Shoaib Malik, 9.5 ov), 670 (Abdul Razzaq, 14.5 ov), 7-72 (Sohail Tanvir, 15.3 ov), 8-98 (umar Akmal, 19.5 ov), 9-98 (Saeed Ajmal, 19.6 ov) BOWLing: LL Tsotsobe 4-2-9-2, DW Steyn 4-0-15-3,R

Tsotsobe produced a stunning spells of to put their side on top. Steyn returned with the figures of 4-0-15-3, whereas Tsotsobe claimed two wickets for just nine runs off his four overs.

Early in the innings, Pakistan lost their opener Ahmed Shehzad on the fifth ball of the first over off Tsotsobe, and in the second over, Steyn got Sohaib

McLaren 4-0-29-1,WD Parnell 4-0-27-0, imran Tahir 4-0-17-2 SOuTH AFRicA HM Amla b Sohail Tanvir 13 48 Q de Kock† not out 37 F du Plessis* not out EXTRAS: (lb 1) 1 TOTAL: (1 wicket; 14.3 overs) 99 DiD nOT BAT: jP Duminy, AB de Villiers, DA Miller, R McLaren, WD Parnell, DW Steyn, LL Tsotsobe, imran Tahir FALL OF WicKETS: 1-16 (Amla, 2.2 ov) BOWLing: Mohammad Hafeez 3-0-24-0,Mohammad irfan 2-0-7-0,Sohail Tanvir 2-0-21-1,Saeed Ajmal 4-0-12-0,Shahid Afridi 2.3-0-16-0,Abdur Rehman 1-0-18-0 MATcH DETAiLS TOSS Pakistan, who chose to bat SERiES South Africa led the 2-match series 1-0 uMPiRES Ahsan Raza (Pakistan) and Shozab Raza (Pakistan) TV uMPiRE Zameer Haider (Pakistan) MATcH REFEREE RS Madugalle (Sri Lanka) RESERVE uMPiRE Ahmed Shahab (Pakistan)

Maqsood caught behind the wickets for four. Pakistan slipped further when their captain Mohammad Hafeez was caught behind one ball later after Maqsood’s dismissal for a duck. The hosts could never recover from the early blows as the middle order failed to put up a strong fight against the South African pacers.

unhappy whatmore not to renew contract with pCB LAHORE STAFF REPORT

The Pakistan cricket team’s Australian coach, Dav Whatmore, decided against renewing his contract after being left upset with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi’s statements regarding his future.

A reliable source in the board told PTI that the PCB was forced to issue a press statement on Tuesday regarding Whatmore’s future with the national team after he informed them he no longer wanted to continue as head coach.

“Whatmore was not happy with a statement from the chairman, Najam Sethi in Abu Dhabi that the board would

be reviewing contracts of the coaches,” the source said. “Whatmore was also not comfortable with the presence and growing influence of manager, Moin Khan in the team in recent times,” the source added. The PCB confirmed in its statement that Whatmore had asked to be released from his contract when it came up for review in February next year.

“Earlier this month Mr Whatmore informed the PCB that he would not be seeking a renewal of his contract due to his personal and family reasons,” the statement said.

Interestingly in a recent interview on Geo Super channel before the team left for the series against South Africa, Whatmore had said he would like to see

Pakistan win the World Twenty20 next year and also hinted he would be interested in continuing as head coach.

In a related development, Mohsin Khan — the man Whatmore replaced as head coach in 2012 — on Tuesday came out with a statement that he would be interested in working as head coach if the PCB asked him to do so.

“I have served my country in any role they have wanted me to take up and there is no reason why I would turn them down if they approached me again. Yes if the PCB asked me to take up the role of head coach then I would accept the offer and I would be very happy to take up the role provided it was at the right time,” Mohsin told a cricket website.

Imran Khan lambasts pakistan cricket set up ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistani cricketer-turned politician Imran Khan on Wednesday lambasted the cricket set up in the country saying “ghost” clubs existing on papers are being promoted.

Khan accused that successive governments have used the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) top slot as a means of political patronage and of rewarding cronies, including the latest chairmanship awarded to Najam Sethi, “a man with no cricketing or any sporting credentials but merely as a reward for politically aiding the ruling party”.

The result has been a complete collapse of cricket in Pakistan despite the enormous talent that exists, he insisted. Khan said that he had travelled all around the globe playing cricket and the profusion of talent that he had seen in Pakistan is far greater than anywhere else in the world. He regretted that Pakistan had not been able to harness the talent because no proper institutionalised structure was allowed to built. Fraudulent “ghost” clubs existing only on paper have been encouraged, while there has been no facilitation of genuine clubs, no support for administrative infrastructure and genuine elections at all levels, a statement released by

his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said.

Khan demanded that all this “wilful destruction of cricket” must end immediately.

He sought an end to fraudulent clubs, demanded proper institutionalised restructuring of national cricket so genuine clubs can flourish and identify national talent to give it proper opportunity. Khan called for institutionalised regional bodies who should elect their office bearers as well as the Chairman of the PCB. He felt the PCB should make policy decisions while cricketing affairs should be managed full time by a professional Chairman through a clear institutionalised cricketing set-up. “This is how it happens all over the world,” Khan said. State patronage should be for discovering cricketing talent not as a means of political reward for cronies, Khan asserted.

Taimur hassan elected as secretary general of apgC LAHoRE: Pakistan earned a huge honor as Taimur Hassan,Vice President of Pakistan Golf Federation was elected as the Secretary General of Asia Pacific Golf Confederation in the election held,yesterday in the city of Changrai in Thailand. A total of 38 countries took part in the election and Taimur Hassan’s success brings good tidings for golf in Pakistan and in the Asia Pacific region. Taimur Hassan will be

responsible for golf development and promotion in the Asia Pacific and he will hold this portfolio for a period of two years.Speaking on the phone,Taimur Hassan said that “this is actually an honor for the country that I represent and will endeavour to bring international golf to Pakistan”. David Cherry of Australia was elected as the President of Asia Pacific Golf Confederation. STAFF REPORT

You can’t put a limit on anything.

The more you dream, the farther you get. — Michael Phelps

14 S

SPORTS Thursday, 14 November, 2013

the mumbai that made tendulkar A MUMBAI

AgEnciES

S the cricketing world goes into a farewell frenzy, the city’s humble maidans and school playgrounds that moulded Sachin Tendulkar into the cricketer he is today remain as simple and unpretentious as ever They’re naming gymkhanas after him, they’re minting gold coins with his face on it, politicians are falling over each other to honour him, jealous administrators are trying to pull the rug out from under each other’s feet, but thankfully they have left alone the places that made Sachin Tendulkar, some of which were made by Tendulkar. More than any other cricketer of his era, Tendulkar has been about his fans. How nice it would have been had the politicians, businessmen and administrators running Indian cricket sent some of them to visit these places in the weeks leading up to his farewell.

The unkempt maidans (fields), the unassuming school, the residential buildings, they all have something genuine to say about Tendulkar. Mumbai cricket even. Mumbai even.

They don’t stand out or lose their simplicity just because Tendulkar was there. In the week in which Tendulkar will end his international career, it is business as usual in the places where Tendulkar has spent most of his life outside international cricket.

Shivaji Park in Dadar has kids playing even at 11am because the Diwali holidays are on. Different clubs, teams and individuals own plots here, as on other maidans, where they hold their nets sessions, training and games.

Some parts of the ground are bald, some have long, untended grass, and some are well taken care of. There is no boundary rope, and no white-paint markings anywhere, though. The young Tendulkar’s coach, Ramakant Achrekar, used to teach at the Kamat pitch. Not all the players here can point to it.

It is not a patch of great interest.

The Kamat pitch is close to the centre of the ground, leaning towards the northeast.

Next to it, a serious match of cricket is on.

The whites worn by the kids - no older than 15 - are immaculate, there is no sightscreen, the umpire moves to the other end at the end of the over, and the keeper wears a helmet.

The field is pretty attacking, but there is no boundary here either. That’s the Mumbai way: you don’t think of hitting boundaries, you just bat. You have to run your runs, and are not allowed to hit in the air. “Hawet maaraycha nahee.”

f1 will crack america: lewiS

These kids have picked up a lot of mannerisms from televised cricket, but the coaches here are making sure they play proper cricket, at least in their formative years. The Bombay school of batsmanship lives on, at least for the time being. There is something peaceful about Shivaji Park despite its being bang in the middle of busy mid-town Dadar. You get to watch innocent cricket, sit in the shade of the many trees, eat sing dana(peanuts) and wonder what others whiling away their time here are up to. Some of them are fast asleep on the benches.

About three kilometres to the southeast is Shardashram, Tendulkar’s school since 1984. Except you can’t spot it without having gone past it two or three times. The Shardashram residential society opposite the school is more prominent. The school doesn’t have a single photo of Tendulkar. The only signs that he - and others like Chandrakant Pandit, Pravin Amre, Vinod Kambli, Ajit Agarkar and more than 100 Ranji cricketers - studied here are the trophies in the cabinet in the principal’s office. The board outside is small, the front of the building is rented out to a bank and a gym, and its simple colour scheme makes it look every bit like a school meant for, as principal Krishna Shirsat puts it, the “lower-middle and middle class”.

Shirsat used to teach maths and chemistry when Achrekar brought Tendulkar here in 1984. Cricket was the sole reason for his move from a school in his suburb, Bandra.

Shardashram would even move its internal exams when they clashed with the cricket.

And cricket was all Tendulkar did.

“We used to win everything,” says Shirsat. “Harris Shield, Giles Shield, Vinoo Mankad, Matunga Shield… And because we won everything, there would be a first round, second round, third round, and so on. So as soon as the cricket season started in July, you would rarely see Sachin in school.” Shisrat would always be available to help Tendulkar, should he need help with maths and chemistry after school hours. When he was selected for Mumbai in 1988-89, the match clashed with a prac-

tical b o a r d exam, and Shirsat tried to use all his influence to make a special allowance for Tendulkar so he could take the exam after the match.

About two years after Tendulkar enrolled, along came Ragini Desai, a physical training and Hindi teacher, a jovial woman with an expressive face and constantly moving eyes. Achrekar was Shardashram’s cricket coach, she

the building a day in advance for him to even point to the window of the Tendulkars.

A stone’s throw away, MIG is more open to intruders. A huge Tendulkar mural has come up only a couple of days ago on its main wall. So close to his childhood home, in a city with houses with no outdoor spaces to play sport in, MIG has been Tendulkar’s personal laboratory. Over the years - 25 to be precise - MIG has fulfilled his odd wishes, says Aashish Patnakar, the club’s secretary.

Before going to Australia, Tendulkar would practise on half-pitches with rubber balls; he got that here. Before going to England he wanted to bat against wet balls on moist, grassy pitches; he got that here. When he was recuperating from a back injury, he wanted to jog here, but not during the day; they would open up for him at 4.30am. During the busy season when all grounds are occupied, Tendulkar can come to MIG and expect to get a proper facility during the lunch break, which is extended to one hour for his benefit.

It is here that Tendulkar and his friend Atul Ranade used to do what technology has just started doing: simulate different bowling actions and release points on a bowling machine. Ranade was a master at doing impressions, and he would run in imitating different bowlers and help Tendulkar prepare for different actions. Even when Tendulkar moved to Bandra West - closer to the sea, posher he would come here to practise.

In Bandra West, Shirsat went to meet Tendulkar about five years ago at his residence in his new building, La Mer. “I told his PA I wanted to meet Sachin,” Shirsat says.

“His PA said I would have to wait for 15 minutes. Fifteen minutes later, he came and told me Sachin was too busy. I got angry, and asked the PA to tell Sachin that Shirsat sir has come, does he want to meet him?

“And Sachin came running like a fourfive-year-old kid comes running to his parents. And then we spoke for 15 minutes with him looking down. Even in school he would look down after say-

i n g something “ Te n d u l k a r has now given up that apartment for a bungalow of his own, not too far away, in the same suburb.

A police van outside the bungalow is a permanent presence nowadays. He is also a member of parliament, although the other day he drove himself far into the north of the city, to the suburb of Kandivli, for a Mumbai Cricket Association function.

The bungalow now looks like a fortress.

When he was desperate to move in here, he got the workers to do double shifts. The noise in the night obviously disturbed the neighbours. The neighbours were each given a handwritten letter from Tendulkar, asking for their co-operation with the Tendulkars who needed to shift there as soon as possible.

No one complained after that.

It’s back in south Mumbai that the boy became a man in the world of cricket, playing Kanga League matches in senior sides on wet pitches at Oval Maidan, Cross Maidan and Azad Maidan. His debut as an 11-year-old came for a side housed at Azad Maidan, which is equally well known for being a venue for strikes and agitations. Two days before Tendulkar starts his final Test, about three kilometres from here, fasts until death are being observed for 100% subsidy by the higher-secondary school committee, for railway admissions under notification 1/2007; and an indefinite protest - among others - for an 8% reservation for a particular community. Big photos of Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Che Guevara abound.

Many such protests would have been on when Tendulkar went into the tent of Jolly Bright Club in 1984. These maidans are all heritage sites, so no club can build permanent structures here. The notices outside clearly ban any kind of commercialisation in the form of posters, banners or advertisements on the fences of the maidans; cooking, hawking, peddling et cetera are outlawed; water connections can only be used by proper authorities for “in general, only cricketing activities”.

Tendulkar’s next club, SF Sassanian, is like Jolly Bright in betraying no signs that Tendulkar was first seen by the cricketing world while playing in the Kanga League for them. All it has for a dressing room is six ramshackle benches and a few cupboards.

All this, Tendulkar’s world before he scored a century on first-class debut, hasn’t changed much over the years.

Everywhere you go, Shivaji Park, Oval Maidan, Azad Maidan, Cross Maidan, you can imagine that curly-haired boy squeaking away - he was quiet only while teachers were around, every teacher of his says - from net to net, from maidan to maidan riding pillion on Achrekar’s scooter, having fun with not a bother in the world, eating vada-pavs, going to school once in a while.

You can find a bit of Tendulkar all over Mumbai. And you don’t need plaques, commemorative coins or extravagant felicitations to establish that bond.

Champ snubbed by Khan says he would have beaten Briton NEW YORK AgEnciES

nEW YoRK: Lewis Hamilton is confident Formula 1 “will succeed in America” ahead of the second running of Austin’s grand prix this weekend. Although F1 has a regular history of staging grands prix in the United States dating back to 1959, the general perception inside F1 is that the sport needs to do more to infiltrate the large American sports market. Last year’s inaugural race at Austin’s Circuit of the Americas - the country’s first purpose-built F1 facility was regarded as a positive renewed first step in that direction with an attendance of 117,000 on race day. Plans have also been afoot to again hold a second U.S. round, although the proposed New Jersey event for 2014 now looks likely to drop off the provisional calendar. Still Hamilton, who won last season’s event and the previous U.S. GP at Indianapolis in 2007, reckons there is sufficient support for F1 to increase its influence Stateside. AgEnciES

was the team’s manager. She was present when Achrekar blasted Tendulkar and Kambli for batting on and on and putting on a 664-run partnership against a weak team. She knows of all the vada-pav(a street food) escapades of the two friends, and she has a valuable notebook titled “Cricket”.

When she went to matches with the team, Desai recorded brief scores in this notebook. She added clippings from newspapers next to the scores as the kids became more and more famous. She has preserved that notebook, and would love to show it to Tendulkar, but she hasn’t ever had the opportunity to meet him after he left school. She hasn’t tried to do so either. She would love to go to the Wankhede Stadium for Tendulkar’s last match, but she is not complaining about how the chances of getting a ticket are minimal. This school-playground duo is complemented by the tag team of Sahitya Sahawas and MIG cricket club, further north, in Bandra East. Along the way you pass two other influences on Tendulkar’s life: the Siddhivinayak temple where he sneaks in to pray late in the night, and St Michael’s church in Mahim, where his wife, Anjali, lights a candle for him every week.

Sahitya Sahawas literally translates to “literature living together”. A building in Worli where Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Dilip Vengsarkar and Ajit Wadekar lived is named Sportsfield. Sahitya Sahawas is the Sportsfield of Marathi literature. It is where Tendulkar lived as a child. The Tendulkars have neither sold their house here nor rented it out. The guard stern but n o t rude says it will take an application to the secretary of

Britain’s Amir Khan snubbed world welterweight champion Devon Alexander for a title fight next month as speculation continues that Khan will be the next opponent for unbeaten Floyd Mayweather in May. Now International Boxing Federation champion Alexander, a 26-year-old US southpaw, has fired back at Khan ahead of his December 7 title defense at Brooklyn against unbeaten compatriot Shawn Porter.

“They felt I was a big risk, that I was too much for him right now,” Alexander said Tuesday of Khan’s camp. “I was ready to fight him. He pulled out so it didn’t happen that way. “You have to be a true champion and true fighter. I’m an old school fighter. I will fight anybody. I know that fight would have given me the notoriety I need that I’m one of the best in the welterweight division.” It was the second major bout this year against a British fighter that fell through for Alexander, who was to have fought Kell Brook until the British fighter suffered a broken leg.

Britain’s Lee Purdy was a late replacement challenger but failed to make the weight and was stopped after seven rounds last May, but Alexander said he would have beaten

Brook, and Khan as well. “Of course I want the big names, the big wins, so I can get the notoriety,” Alexander said. “Those fights fell through. They would have been great wins for me. If they don’t want to get in the ring with me, what can I do?

“When I’m focused and mentally prepared, can’t nobody beat me.”

While the chance of a big payday against Mayweather could spark such a snub, both Khan and Mayweather camps have said no such deal is in place, although it remains the subject of much talk in boxing circles.

Alexander, 25-1 with 14 knockouts, won the IBF crown in October of last year at Brooklyn with a unanimous 12-round decision over compatriot Randall Bailey.

“I’m going into this fight like I’m fighting Floyd Mayweather,” Alexander said.

“He’s going to be ready, but it’s not going to be enough.” Should he dispatch Porter, 22-0 with one draw and 14 knockouts, then Alexander is more likely to fight the winner of the Zab Judah-Paulie Malinaggi bout on the same card than Mayweather, at least for now.

Porter suffered the only blemish on his record in a 10-round draw last December with Mexico’s Julio Diaz, whom Porter defeated in September by unanimous decision in a rematch.

“When Amir stepped down, a lot of excitement built up in my body and I can’t wait to let it out,” Porter said. “I have way more to bring to the ring than Devon thinks.”

Alexander dismissed Porter, saying his skills are limited and citing an amateur victory in Ohio when both were children.

“I remember going three one-minute rounds throwing pillows at each other. We’re grown men now. I’m hungry and I’m up for

the challenge,” Porter said.

“That gives me confidence he doesn’t know what he’s up against. He won’t be 100 percent ready for this fight.

“I can match his speed. I’m more powerful than he is. You’ll see me rough him up.”

Porter touted his experience as a sparring partner for Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao ahead of the Asian star’s 2009 win over Miguel Cotto and a 2011 victory over Shane Mosley.

It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf. — Robert Wilson Lynd

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Thursday, 14 November, 2013

lambert hits at chile meulenSteen named fulham’S head coach

LONDON

R

AgEnciES

ICKIE Lambert has told Chile’s Alexis Sanchez that he will regret claiming England are too soft to win the World Cup. The England striker hopes to face his counterpart on Friday and suggested the reported jibe at Roy Hodgson’s side will add an edge to the friendly game.

“You can’t buy motivation like that,” Lambert told Sky Sports News. “It’s his opinion and we will take it on board and be looking forward to the game on Friday.”

Barcelona forward Sanchez has been reported as claiming the luxuries of life in England have restricted the drive and desire of their players.

The 24-year-old said: “We are a tougher team than England. Everything is so easy for them. They join these academies at maybe 10 or 11 years old and everything is done for them.

“I used to wash cars for such little money just so I had enough money to buy my football boots. When you are at academies like Manchester United and Arsenal,

then everything is just given to you.

“With countries like England, if you don’t make it as a professional football player then there are still many other opportunities, and you still have a chance to live a good life.

“My family was so poor that football for me was about survival.”

In English terms, at least, Lambert has had a far from cosseted ride to the top. The 31-year-old only broke into the national team in August and has spent most of his career in the lower divisions with teams such as Blackpool, Macclesfield and Stockport.

Now leading the line for Southampton in the Premier League, he is looking to establish himself in the England team before next year’s World Cup. “This is another opportunity to impress, without a doubt,” Lambert said. “In training I will try to continue to impress and if I get a chance on Friday or Tuesday, whether I am starting or coming on as a sub, I will be determined to do well.”

So, too, will Lambert’s Southampton team-mates, Adam Lallana and Jay Rodriguez. The pair are also in the squad for Friday’s game against Chile and next Tuesday’s Germany friendly.

uci to make lance contact

The International Cycling Union (UCI) will ask Lance Armstrong to testify to an independent commission about doping in cycling, a spokesman has confirmed. New UCI president Brian Cookson last month announced the organisation would establish a commission to investigate drug use in the sport and the conduct of his predecessors, Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen. The move follows years of doping scandals and persistent allegations of corruption within the UCI. There was speculation that Armstrong, who confessed in January to doping on his way to his seven Tour de France wins, had already been contacted with a view to contributing to the commission, but Cookson later confirmed that had not been the case.

STAR SPORTS IND V INDIES 2ND TEST DAY 1

9:00 PM

jamaica doping ‘tip of iceberg’

LonDon: Fulham have announced the appointment of Rene Meulensteen as head coach alongside manager Martin Jol. The Dutchman, who spent over a decade working at Manchester United, joins the struggling Premier League club with immediate effect. Meulensteen worked for United as youth team and reserve coach before being promoted to assistant to Sir Alex Ferguson. The 49-year-old left the Premier League champions in June when David Moyes succeeded Ferguson and brought in his own coaching team. Meulensteen joined Anzhi Makhachkala in July as assistant to Guus Hiddink and was promoted to head coach when his fellow Dutchman quit after two games. However, Meulensteen was sacked after just 16 days in charge of the Russian Premier League club and has now taken a role alongside Jol. Meulensteen said in a statement: “I was impressed by the vision of Shahid Khan and Alistair Mackintosh. “I have spent many hours talking with Martin Jol and we share a vision of how football should be played and how players should be developed. It is our job to make sure we can bring this vision to life on the pitch for the fans.” Fulham FC chief executive officer, Alistair Mackintosh said: “We are all delighted to welcome Rene to Fulham. “There was always going to be a battle for Rene’s services and, with the assistance of our chairman Shahid Khan, we have been able to bring one of the best coaches in the world to Fulham.” AgEnciES

LONDON AgEnciES

Their chances of featuring have improved after Michael Carrick and Danny Welbeck pulled out of the squad injured and Lambert says they have earned whatever opportunities come their way.

He said: “They deserve to be there, the

way they have performed. All the English lads in the Southampton team have done well but especially Adam and Jay. “I hope there are openings for them and I am sure they will get a cap sooner or later.”

Bay head Hennessy weights big gunS in newcaStle entrY

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The Paul Nicholls-trained stalwart put up a sterling effort in this valuable staying handicap chase when failing by just three and a quarter lengths to give 6lb to Bobs Worth, who went on to lift the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Tidal Bay went on to gain handsome compensation with a last-gasp triumph in the Lexus Chase but did not run again last term.

However, the 12-year-old showed there is plenty of life left in him when he won the bet365 Hurdle at Wetherby for the second autumn running recently.

Nicholls fields a strong list of possibles comprising Rolling Aces (10st 11lb), Unioniste (10st 7lb), Rocky Creek (10st 6lb), Poungach (9st 12lb) and Aiteen Thirtythree (9st 8lb) as he seeks to win this famous race for a fourth time.

Bobs Worth gave Nicky Henderson a second success in the Newbury feature and the Seven Barrows trainer has three possibles in Roberto Goldback (10st 6lb), Triolo d’Alene (10st 2lb) and Hadrian’s Approach (10st 1lb).

Invictus (10st) is the ante-post favourite and his trainer Alan King also has Walkon (10st 6lb) and Godsmejudge (10st 3lb).

David Pipe’s three-strong party is headed by Our Father (10st 2lb). The Nicholashayne handler also has Goulanes (10st 1lb) and Buddy Bolero (9st 10lb).

There has been no Irish-trained winner since Michael O’Brien’s Bright Highway in 1980, although Willie Mullins’s Be My Royal was first past the post in 2002 only to be disqualified after testing positive for a prohibitive substance.

Mullins bids to get on the roll of honour with Prince

Zarkandar, The New One and My Tent Or Yours are the star names in the StanJames.com Fighting Fifth Hurdle after 22 entries were revealed for the Newcastle showpiece on November 30. The Paul Nicholls-trained Zarkandar only met with defeat once last season, when fourth in the Champion Hurdle, and regained the winning thread in beating The New One at Aintree. Nicholls has plenty of options for the first Grade One hurdle run in Britain this season with his classy fouryear-olds Far West, second in the Elite Hurdle last weekend, and the money-spinning Ptit Zig, winner of a valuable Grade One in France recently. Completing the Nicholls team is Caid Du Berlais, second to Jezki at Down Royal last time out. Nigel Twiston-Davies has entered The New One, currently ante-post favourite for the Champion Hurdle, but he is more likely to head to Cheltenham for the International Hurdle next month. My Tent Or Yours, second to Champagne Fever in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, may represent Nicky Henderson. Melodic Rendezvous, so impressive in the Elite Hurdle at Wincanton, has the race as a target, as does John Quinn’s mare Cockney Sparrow. SPORTS DESK de Beauchene (10st 10lb), Terminal (9st 13lb), On His Own (9st 13lb), Vesper Bell (9st 11lb) and Themoonandsixpence (8st 12lb).

Other Irish-based horses are Jim Culloty’s RSA Chase hero Lord Windermere (10st 9lb), Tony Martin’s Dedigout (10st 5lb), Tofino Bay (10st 4lb), Tom Taaffe’s Argocat (10st 4lb) and Whodoyouthink (9st 1lb) from Oliver McKiernan’s stable.

Failed drug tests by high-profile Jamaican athletes could represent “the tip of the iceberg”, according to a leading antidoping official from the country.

Former men’s world record-holder Asafa Powell and women’s Olympic relay goldmedallist Sherone Simpson are among the sprinters who have failed tests in recent months.

Dr Paul Wright, a senior official with the Jamaican Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO), says he fears that a recent visit to Jamaica by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) will reveal that doping practices have become widespread.

“The results are not good. This year alone the results really point the finger,” he told the BBC. “Remember, all of these results except one were caught by JADCO. The problem is these people were tested positive in competition.

“What that means is months before, you know the date of the test and the approximate time of the test. This could be the tip of the iceberg to have so many positives coming in competition.”

Jamaica’s testing procedures are due to be discussed at a WADA executive board meeting in Johannesburg later on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the outgoing president of WADA, John Fahey, has called for his organisation to be granted greater powers of investigation.

He cited recent events in Jamaica and Kenya, whose government has belatedly announced an investigation into the suspensions of 17 Kenyan athletes for doping violations since January 2012.

“We do need a greater power to undertake an investigation when we see there are potential difficulties in both Jamaica and Kenya,” Fahey told BBC Radio 4 from Johannesburg.

“There is no power whatsoever for WADA under our code to comply anyone to do certain things and there are sanctions that can ultimately be imposed by those who control sport; that is not WADA. “With the code review there is a likelihood by the end of this week for there to be a much better emphasis on investigation and a capacity, where investigations are not conducted by countries like Kenya, for WADA to instigate the investigation themselves.”

On Jamaica, Fahey said WADA was concerned “that they had lost their way”.

“We have been aware of difficulties in Jamaica for some time,” he added.

“We have gone to them, we’ve assisted them, we have given them some support.

We have indicated they need to make some improvements.”

BACK PAGE

Thursday, 14 November, 2013

Shahbaz urges police to promote religious harmony PUNJAB CM SAYS ALL POSSIBLE STEPS HAVE BEEN TAKEN FOR MAINTENANCE OF LAW AND ORDER LAHORE STAFF REPORT

p

UNJAB Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday directed police and agencies concerned to perform their duties diligently for promoting brotherhood and religious harmony during Muharram and remain fully alert on Yaum-e-Ashur.

He said that no negligence could be tolerated. The CM said efforts have been made to maintain peace during the holy

month. Shahbaz was addressing a meeting of nine divisional commissioners and regional police officers of the province through videoconference for reviewing the implementation on the plan evolved for security arrangements on Yaum-e-Ashur.

Ministers Rana Sanaullah and Shuja Khanzada, the chief secretary, the inspector general, the home secretary and officials concerned attended the meeting at the central control room of the Civil Secretariat.

Shahbaz said that all possible steps have been taken for the maintenance of law and order during Muharram. He said that all required resources have been provided to the police and it was need of the hour that every Pakistani should fulfill his or her national responsibility and cooperate with the government. He said that instructions have already been issued to police officers to ensure implementation of security plan at all costs, remain

present in their respective areas, carry out spot checking and ensure implementation of the law. He said that in case of any violation, strict action should immediately be taken against the persons without any discrimination. He said that there should be no hindrance in the route of the processions. He directed the officials that processions should be monitored through CCTV cameras and best arrangements of light should be made. He said that police should remain present at the culmination of the procession of Ashur until leaving of the last mourner. The CM said that the staff deputed on anti-dengue duty in Lahore, Sheikhupura and Rawalpindi should continue performing their duties. Ministers, commissioners and RPOs performing their duties in various districts informed the meeting about the security arrangements in their respective areas. The IG briefed the meeting regarding security arrangements for Yaum-e-Ashur.

mob storms philippine rice store killing eight MAnILA: At least eight people were crushed to death as a huge crowd of typhoon survivors stormed a rice warehouse near the devastated city of Tacloban, a Philippine official said on Wednesday. “One wall of our warehouses collapsed and eight people were crushed and killed instantly,” on Tuesday, Rex Estoperez, spokesman for the National Food Authority, the government’s rice trading agency said. Police and soldiers were guarding the warehouse in Alangalang town, 17 kilometres from Tacloban, but were overpowered by the crowd, who carted off more than 100,000 bags of rice, Estoperez added. “There must have been so many people to carry away so many bags of rice,” he said, adding that each bag weighed 50 kilogrammes. “Our staff was there but they could not do anything without risking their safety.” The United Nations fears that over 10,000 people may have died in Tacloban alone when Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms ever recorded, smashed into the Philippines’ central islands on Friday. The typhoon left huge areas isolated and hundreds of thousands homeless and hungry. AgEnciES KAMRA: Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt being briefed during his visit to Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra. OnLinE

Saudi arabia officially obama popularity at all-time low: survey rejects unSC seat POLL SAYS 54 PERCENT PEOPLE DISAPPROVED UNITED NATIONS AgEnciES

Saudi Arabia officially told the United Nations on Tuesday that it would not be taking up a UN Security council seat — opening the way for Jordan to take the place.

Saudi envoy to the United Nations Abdullah Al Muallimi wrote to UN leader Ban Kimoon to inform him of the move and reaffirm a Saudi protest over the way the council has acted over the Syria conflict. UN spokesman Martin Nesirky confirmed that a letter had been received about the Security Council seat, but did not give details. “The matter is now one for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Security Council and the member states to consider,” he said. Saudi Arabia won a seat on the Security Council for the first time last month. But the following day the Saudi government stunned leading powers by announcing it

would not take up the place.

Western diplomats now say Jordan will take up the seat. Jordanian officials have confirmed that the move is being discussed but they have not confirmed the country will take up the seat.

Jordan did however withdraw its candidacy from the race for a UN Human Rights Council position so that Saudi Arabia was guaranteed a place in an election held on Tuesday. Jordan is believed to be wary of taking up the seat because of its sensitive position on the frontier of the Syrian civil war. A new UN General Assembly election will have to be held to allow a new country to take up the two year seat that Saudi Arabia should have started on January 1. “I wish to inform you that the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has decided to advise you that Saudi Arabia will regrettably not be in position to assume its seat in the Security Council to which it was elected,” Al Muallimi wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

JOB OBAMA’S DOING AGAINST 39 PERCENT WHO ARE IN HIS FAVOUR WASHINGTON AgEnciES

US President Barack Obama’s popularity has slumped to an alltime low, with a majority of Americans for the first time believing him to be dishonest and untrustworthy, a new survey showed Tuesday.

The respected Quinnipiac University Poll found that Obama’s approval rating had nosedived to the level of unpopularity faced by Republican predecessor George W Bush at the same stage of his presidency.

Overall, the poll said 54 percent disapproved of the job Obama was doing against 39 percent who approved.

The findings mark a significant downturn from an October 1 survey which put Obama’s disapproval rating at 49 percent to 45 percent approval.

It caps a turbulent few weeks for

Obama, whose administration has come under heavy fire for the chaotic roll-out of his signature health care legislation, the Affordable Care Act. American voters had also reacted strongly against Obama’s misstated pledge to allow voters to keep the health care plans they already had, the survey revealed.

“Like all new presidents, President Barack Obama had a honeymoon with American voters, with approval ratings in the high 50s,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

“As the marriage wore on, he kept his job approval scores in the respectable, though not overwhelming 40s. Today for the first time it appears that 40 percent floor is cracking.”

Malloy said the plunging approval amongst women voters was also a concern for Obama.

Only 41 percent of women approved of the job he was doing against 51 percent who disapproved.

The survey indicated that most Americans remain deeply pessimistic about the effect the Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare” as it has become known, will have on their health care choices.

Only 19 percent of voters expect the quality of care to improve in the next year as a result of the legislation, 43 percent expect it to get worse and 33 percent say it will make no difference.

Obama’s image had also taken a battering after he said people could keep their existing health insurance plans if they wished.

“President Obama’s misstatement, ‘If you like your health plan you can keep it,’ left a bad taste with a lot of people,” Malloy said. “Nearly half of the voters, 46 percent, think he knowingly deceived them.”

The poll was conducted amongst 2,545 registered voters nationwide between November 611, with a margin of error of plus-minus 1.9 percentage points.

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

tariq jamil takes charge as kp info secretary PESHAWAR: Tarik Jamil (PAS-20) has assumed the charge of the post of secretary information, public relations and culture department government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said an official handout issued on Wednesday. Jamil is serving as secretary sports, tourism & archeology department secretary before this appointment. APP

egypt’s morsi to sue rulers over ‘coup’ CAIRo: Egypt’s deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi intends to sue the army-installed authorities over his ouster in July, his lawyer told reporters on Wednesday. Mohamed al-Damati and a team of lawyers visited Morsi in jail on Monday, where he is awaiting the next hearing in a trial on charges of involvement in the deaths of protesters during his presidency. “The president plans to take legal measures against the coup, and this will be up to the defence team in the near future,” Damati said. “There are complaints which will be presented to the prosecutor general (to say) that what happened was a crime,” he said. Damati also said complaints could be filed to the administrative court to annul “the move to

by General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi” to topple Morsi. Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically elected president, was removed from office by the army on July 3 after mass protests calling for his resignation. AgEnciES