e-paper pakistantoday 20ht June, 2012

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rs 15.00 Vol ii no 354 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition

Wednesday, 20 June, 2012 rajab 29, 1433

pakistantoday.com.pk

SC says Yousaf Raza Gilani ineligible to hold Prime Minister’s Office and be member of the National Assembly ISLAMABAD sTaff reporT

HE Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Yousaf Raza Gilani ineligible to hold the office of the prime minister, pushing the country into a new political turmoil with the nation already facing acute power shortage resulting in violent demonstrations across the country.

Gilani can file a review appeal against the verdict within 30 days.

A three-member bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain issued a short order, asking President Asif Ali Zardari to take “necessary steps” under the constitution to ensure continuation

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of the democratic process.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry read out the order, saying, “The Election Commission shall issue a notice of disqualification and the president is required to take necessary steps to ensure continuation of the democratic process.”

The court order said a bench of seven judges vide its judgment dated April 26, 2012 followed by detailed reasons released on May 8, 2012 had found Yousaf Raza Gilani guilty of contempt of court under Article 204(2) read with Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance, 2003 and it had sentenced Gilani to undergo imprisonment until the rising of the court under Section 5 of the said ordinance. The court order added that since no appeal was filed against the judgment, the conviction had attained “finality”.

“Therefore, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani has become disqualified from being a member of parliament in terms of Article 63(1) (g) of the constitution on and from the date and time of pronouncement of the judgment of this court dated April 26, 2012 with all consequences, i.e. he has also ceased to be prime minister with effect from the said date and the office of the prime minister will be deemed to be vacant accordingly,” the order said.

Earlier, Attorney General Irfan Qadir said in his arguments that under the constitution, the immunity provided to Gilani could not be withdrawn and parliament was not answerable to any court.

However, the bench asked the attorney general to assist the court proceedings rather than defending the PM. “The contempt of court law was made in the colonial

era when the subcontinent was operating under the British rule,” said the AG, accusing the sevenmember bench which issued the previous judgment against Gilani on April 26 more inclined towards disqualifying him, rather than ascertaining whether any contempt was committed. The chief justice said the court respected parliament and the parliament should do its job as the court did its own.Qadir said that if the court took a decision against the NA speaker’s ruling, it would create a conflict between two state institutions. However, the chief justice rubbished his argument, stating that there was no conflict between the institutions.

Next PM will be from South Punjab Hina Khar and Makhdoom Shahabuddin frontrunners for top slot g PML-Q strikes down Mukhtar’s nomination g Gilani opposing Shahbuddin’s nomination g Allies authorise President Zardari to name new PM g

ISLAMABAD Tayyab Hussain

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and former textiles minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin have emerged as strong candidates for prime minister’s slot, as President Asif Ali Zardari has decided to nominate a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader from South Punjab to the top post, Pakistan Today has learnt.

According to a source in the ruling party, Zardari is keeping his cards close to his chest and nobody is sure who would replace Yousaf Raza Gilani, who was declared

disqualified by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday. However, according to the source, Hina was a bit ahead of Shahabuddin in the race for prime minister’s post, as Gilani was also supporting her nomination while opposing Shahabuddin as his replacement.

The coalition partners met late Tuesday night to evaluate the situation in the wake of the apex court’s decision and finalise a replacement for Gilani, but after failing to evolve consensus on the next would-be prime minister, authorised Zardari to make the nomination. The source said

earlier in the day that the party’s core committee had resolved to appoint Ahmed Mukhtar as the new premier, but the nomination was trashed after Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Secretary General Mushahid Hussain objected to the idea during the coalition heads’ meeting.

“However, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat told President Zardari that he had no reservations over Mukhtar’s nomination,” said the source, adding that after Shujaat’s statement, Zardari said the new prime minister would be from southern Punjab – the only area of

Punjab where the PPP had strongest support in 2008 elections.

“Though Hina and Shahabuddin are in the run, Hina is better placed as she has Gilani’s backing, while the president also has an obsession with nominating women against important slots,” the source said.

“And women have also never disappointed him. Just take the example of National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza who stood by the president and the party even when her husband Zardari’s and close companion Dr Zulfiqar Mirza had ditched him,” the source added.

During the meeting, the coalition

partners empowered Zardari to name the new prime minister besides convening a National Assembly session on Thursday evening in this regard, the PPP insider said, adding that Zardari, who is also the cochairman of the PPP, held a detailed discussion with the party’s Central Executive Committee on naming the new premier.

Continued on page 04

related stories | pages 02 & 03

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02 News Today’s

wednesday, 20 June, 2012

iSlamabad

newS

residents bearing the brunt of dilapidated roads

school headmaster among six killed across balochistan

Story on Page 10

Story on Page 05

cartoon

Quick Look

SC upheld constitution

SC decision commendable

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan

The Supreme Court has upheld the constitution and rule of law by disqualifying Yousaf Raza Gilani as prime minister.

In a brief talk with reporters in Lahore after the SC verdict, Shahbaz said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s “Go Zardari Go” movement would continue. He ruled out the possibility of the PML-N fielding a candidate for the post of prime minister.

The decision of the Supreme Court to disqualify Yousaf Raza Gilani as the Prime Minister is commendable. Imran said the decision had come about on a petition filed by the PTI. Khan said once Gilani had been held in contempt, the NA speaker had no authority to question the decision, he said. “Her role was simply to transmit the superior court decision to the Election Commission, which she refused to,” he added. Khan said it was a historic decision.

Verdict vindicates PML-N stance

It’s a landmark verdict Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan

Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan The disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gilani by the Supreme Court had vindicated the stance of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. In an interview with a private TV channel, Nisar said had Gilani went home after the April 26 verdict by the seven-member bench of the Supreme Court, it would have added to his reputation. Nisar said the SC verdict had fulfilled an “old wish” of Yousaf Raza Gilani.

The Supreme Court’s judgment disqualifying Yousaf Raza Gilani is a bold and landmark verdict.

Munawar called upon President Asif Ali Zardari to announce fresh election along with nominating a new PM and ensure fair, free and impartial polls under an agreed caretaker government. He said the Supreme Court had finally compelled corrupt rulers to surrender and hoped it would keep up on its track.

ECP issues notification of Gilani’s disqualification ISLAMABAD sTaff reporT

HE Election Commission of Pakistan has issued a notification regarding the disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gilani as member National Assembly of Pakistan with effect from April 26, 2012.

As a result, the Notification No F 2(4)/2008-Cord dated the March

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1, 2008 to the extent of declaring him as returned candidate from National Assembly Constituency No NA-151 Multan-IV stands rescinded with effect from April 26, 2012.

The notification was issued as a result of disqualification of Yousaf Raza Gilani from being a member of parliament by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, vide Order dated June 19, 2012

passed in Constitution Petition No 40/2012 (Muhammad Azhar Siddique Vs Federation of Pakistan etc.) and other connected matters in terms of Article 63(1)(g) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on and from the date and time of pronouncement of the judgment of the Supreme Court dated April 26, 2012.

Page 13

ISLAMABAD: An activist of the Pakistan People’s Party protests against the Supreme Court’s verdict against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesday. afp

The Prime Minister may change but challenges remain the same

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NEWS DESK

HERE can be few countries in the world where a prime minister can be barred from office – yet so very little actually alter. In Pakistan, lurching from crisis to crisis, chaos is the only sort of normal anyone knows and Tuesday’s decision by the Supreme Court to disqualify Yousuf Raza Gilani means more of the same, according to The Daily Telegraph.

According to the Telegraph, Pakistan is a country that faces threats on every front.

There are the al-Qaeda and Taliban gunmen who cross back and forth into Afghanistan, killing Pakistani soldiers and civilians in suicide attacks on one side and international troops on the other. The economy is in danger of collapsing if commodity prices weaken, while inflation rampages through family incomes. And with temperatures edging close to 50c it looks like we are in for a long, hot summer of power cuts. No wonder that Tuesday brought the third consecutive day of violent protests at electricity black-outs.

In short, there is plenty for Pakistan’s civilian government to get its teeth into.

But for most of this year what we call the governing coalition has been focused more on the “coalition” bit than the “governing” bit. This government – trying to become the first in Pakistan’s short, coupriddled history to hand over power in a democratic transition – is locked in battle

with the Supreme Court, which is intent either on ensuring Pakistan’s political leaders abide by the constitution or on destroying an administration it doesn’t like, depending on your point of view.

Whatever happens in Pakistan next, one thing is certain. This government will stumble and struggle on with its eyes fixed on elections due in the next six months or so. It will be focused on its own survival, which is bad news for Pakistan and not great for the rest of the world either.

Who will have time to fix relations with the US or at least work out a way to allow Nato supplies to resume? How about forcing through unpopular tax reforms to enable the country to invest in its crumbling infrastructure? Forget it.

One prime minister may have been ousted but the strategy will remain the same. Gilani’s successor will try to muddle on just the same as the last one by ignoring the big questions and focusing on keeping the coalition together. And the first thing in his inbox will not be flood defences, electricity generating or reform of the country’s shambolic tax structure, it will be an order from the Chief Justice asking him to reopen corruption proceedings against President Zardari – the very same issue that led Mr Gilani into his long-running court battle and eventually to disqualification.

And the whole sorry business will start all over again.

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wednesday, 20 June, 2012

News 03

foreign newS

artS & entertainment

SPortS

un to weigh mission in syria, civilians trapped

Will it be third time lucky for atiqa odho?

iCC suspends Misbah from Galle Test on over-rate offence The ppp remains calm:

comment Till they run out of prime ministers.

overstepping: Baton charging a peaceful rally.

Dr Hasan askari rizvi says;

No easy solution: The emphasis should be on a shared and joint action.

ali aftab saeed says; The concept paper: And a do it yourself guide, just for you.

Dr James J Zogby says; Giving in: The US is failing to protect Arab Americans’ rights.

Story on Page 14

Story on Page 17

Story on Page 18

articles on Page 12-13

‘Last minute message’ compels PPP to rethink strategy g

PPP, PML-Q, JUI-F bow down to Gilani’s disqualification order g Mukhtar, Shahab and Khar in run for next PM ISLAMABAD Tayyab Hussain

T may come as a surprise for many, but the ruling coalition and top leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has accepted the apex court’s verdict that disqualified Yousaf Raza Gilani as the prime minister. Following Gilani’s ouster, Water and Power Minister Ahmed Mukhtar, Textiles Minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin, Religious Affairs Minister Syed Khusrhid Shah and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar have emerged as strong candidates for the country’s top slot.

However, the leaders of coalition partners would take a final decision in this regard.

PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman announced to accept the court order, while the PML-N, PTI hailed the landmark decision. Immediately after the court verdict, the top decision-making body of the ruling party – PPP central executive committee (CEC), decided to avoid a head-on collision with the apex court and accept the court decision after formal consultation with the coalition partners.

Sources in the PPP, however, said the party leadership had earlier decided to confront the court decision, but a last minute message from the powers that be made President Asif Ali Zardari review his strategy and it was decided to accept the court order and bring in a new prime minister to carry forward the democratic process. A PML-Q leader said Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani, in his meeting held in Saudi Arabia, had clarified that the army wanted the government to accept the court orders as the army wanted continuity of the democratic process. The first hint about the change of strategy from the Presidency came with the cancellation of a scheduled press conference of Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira at PID. Later, Kaira addressed a joint press conference at the party’s central secretariat along with Jahangir Badr and Raja Parvez Ashraf. After the CEC meeting, which

I

tle of i t s e s o l i Gilan ng PM i v r e s t s e long prime his post as

es losing took SK: Besid tion also NEWS DE sday’s disqualifica as ry to is h ue e in minister, T Raza Gilani’s nam y 27, Gilani, a saf away You erving premier. On M two months , s t rs s a e e g y n in the lo for four g in office new record of in y a ta d s r te e a ft a re c re d u a n h te the ays, and two d ry while surpassing , Liaqat Ali y to tr is n h u l o a c n o e ti 8 na ter of th is in rch 25, 200 m a M e n m first pri power o me d ri e p g m u in s s rv a e ni ts Khan. Gila sday was the longes d remained ue ha n a h K . y and until T tr day. e coun th f s and one o th r n o te m o e minis tw , re rs p a e Su m r four ye erdict of th e minister v premier fo ’s y a d s Tue a prim However, est ies him as h disqualif im the second long e ic h w rt u o h C c n s o e k a re e m 26, y, wh from April the countr in r ie m re f the day. serving p the order o coups were

HOw PPP LOST ITS PRIME MINISTER NEWS DESK The Supreme Court on Tuesday disqualified Yousaf Raza Gilani from holding the office of Prime Minister after a long legal battle. Here are the details of the case and why the court has taken such a drastic decision. g 2009: The Supreme Court struck down the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), which granted immunity to politicians and bureaucrats in corruption cases. 2009: The court sought to reopen the cases closed under the NRO and ordered the government to seek details of cash and other assets illegally stashed abroad by politicians and bureaucrats. g 2009-2011: The court pushed for action

against President Asif Ali Zardari, who had earlier been accused of corruption but was granted amnesty under the NRO in 2007 by then-president Pervez Musharraf. g 2011: The court warned the government of consequences if it failed to act on its ruling on the NRO and Zardari by January 10, 2012. g Jan 16, 2012: The court issued a contempt notice to Prime Minister Gilani for not acting against President Zardari. g Jan 19, 2012: Gilani appeared before the court and reiterated that the constitution provided immunity to the President. Gilani maintained that he acted to defend the Constitution of Pakistan. g Apr 26, 2012: Gilani convicted on charges of contempt of court, becoming the first Prime Minister to receive such a severe verdict from a court while holding

was jointly chaired by the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and President Asif Ali Zardari, Gilani left the Presidency without the country’s flag on his car, clearly hinting that he was no more in the saddle. The ECP also held an emergency meeting and issued a notification disqualifying Gilani as MNA from NA-153, Multan constituency. Kaira and Jahangir Badr later told reporters that the PPP CEC had reviewed in detail the apex court verdict on disqualification of Gilani and authorized party cochairman Asif Ali Zardari to adopt a future course of action to deal with the situation emerging following the court verdict. Badr, Kaira and Raja Parvez Ashraf said the PPP CEC also decided to continue its consultation process to deal with the situation. “We have taken ahead the democratic process despite many hurdles and we will also make utmost efforts to safeguard the democratic process,” Kaira said. He said no decision was made in isolation in politics, therefore, the party had decided to start consultation process and a meeting with the allies had been convened for Tuesday night. Kaira said that the party’s leadership had directed its workers not to stage demonstrations against the court verdict to avoid any deterioration of law and order. “The Punjab government is already involved in provoking the people of Punjab to hold demonstrations against the federal government, which is tantamount to rebellion against the federal government,” Kaira said. He said if the PPP workers

office. The Supreme Court sentenced him to be held in custody till the rising of court, a symbolic punishment lasting 30 seconds. Gilani decided to appeal the verdict and refused to step down as PM. g May 28, 2012: It seemed Gilani’s future as PM had been secured when the speaker of the National Assembly decided not to send a disqualification reference against him to the Election Commission of Pakistan. Following this, Gilani decided not to appeal the Supreme Court verdict. g Jun 19, 2012: The Supreme Court disqualified Prime Minister Gilani sighting the earlier conviction on April 26, 2012.

The court, in its orders, said that Gilani was ineligible to hold the PM’s office after the day of his conviction. The court added that all orders given by him since his conviction would stand null and void.

had also opted for holding demos, it could lead the country towards anarchy. “It has been decided that legal consultation would be made with the legal experts while political consultation would be made with the coalition parties of the government to adopt any future strategy,” Kaira added.

To a query, Kaira said following the court verdict, technically, Gilani was not the prime minister and when there was no prime minister, there was no cabinet. Kaira added that though the members of the PPP CEC had reservations over the court order, the body empowered the party’s co-chairman to devise a strategy keeping in view the opinion of legal experts as well as the allied parties. “We have made sacrifices for the democratic process in the past and we will sacrifice in the future as well,” he asserted. Asked what would be the fate of the decisions adopted by the federal cabinet after April 26, including the passage of the Budget 2012, Kaira said the court may issue direction about the matter in its detailed judgment. To a question whether the PPP leadership was considering issuing a presidential ordinance to set aside the court judgment or if the president could pardon Gilani, Badr said no such proposal was discussed during the CEC meeting.

The PPP leaders said a meeting of the parliamentary party of the PPP had also been convened today (Wednesday) to discuss the situation.

Kaira said Zardari had cancelled his visit to the Russian Federation in view of the evolving situation.

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04 News

wednesday, 20 June, 2012

UN investigator decries US use of killer drones GENEVA

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Teknaf: a rohingya Muslim from Myanmar, who tried to cross the naf river into bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, cries near his family in a bangladeshi Coast guard station on Tuesday. AFP

Suicide attacks on Afghan, NATO bases in Kandahar KANDAHAR afp

Eleven Taliban suicide attackers struck two Afghan and NATO bases in Kandahar province on Tuesday, after gunmen in police uniforms killed a coalition soldier, officials said.

Seven insurgents stormed a joint AfghanNATO base in Shah Wali Kot district at around 3.30 am (2300 GMT Monday), sparking a 30-minute gun battle that left all the attackers dead, Kandahar governor’s spokesman Jawed Faisal said.

NATO’s US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the attackers breached the outer perimeter of the base but no

following Sc ruling, US hopes Pakistan will solve internal issue justly WASHINGTON speCial CorresponDenT

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling that Yousaf Raza Gilani has ceased to be prime minister of Pakistan, the United States on Tuesday expected Islamabad to resolve “any of these internal issues in a just and transparent manner and in accordance with Pakistan’s own laws and Constitution.” “Well, we have said all along that we expect that Pakistan will resolve any of these internal issues in a just and transparent manner and in accordance with Pakistan’s own laws and own Constitution, “ State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland said. “Our understanding is that the Pakistani government itself is meeting now to decide how it goes forward from here,” she added, in response to a question at the daily briefing.

coalition soldiers were killed.

But Faisal and provincial police chief General Abdul Raziq both said a foreigner had been killed and two wounded, with Faisal describing the fatality as a civilian contractor. Their nationalities were unclear.

Hours later, four gunmen wearing police uniforms struck a police and NATO base in Kandahar city, triggering a firefight in which four officers and the attackers were killed, Raziq told AFP. Nine police were wounded, he said.

Police witnesses said the attackers all had the uniform and equipment of regular officers, and were led into the base by a police cap-

tain who fled afterwards.

Two other officers were arrested over the assault.

Tuesday’s attacks came a day after men wearing Afghan police uniforms opened fire on NATO soldiers in Kandahar, killing one before fleeing.

That incident brought to 23 the number of Western troops killed in 17 so-called green-on-blue incidents so far this year in Afghanistan, where 130,000 foreign soldiers are helping Kabul fight a Taliban insurgency.

“The International Security Assistance Force confirms that three individuals in Afghan police uniforms turned their weapons against coalition service members in southern Afghanistan yesterday,

killing one ISAF service member,” the alliance said.

A police official in Zhary district said the dead soldier was American, but there was no immediate confirmation.

ISAF gave no further details of the incident or the soldier’s nationality, though most coalition forces in Kandahar are American.

An increasing number of Afghan troops have turned their weapons against NATO soldiers as the decade-long insurgency has progressed.

Some of the assaults are claimed by the Taliban, who say they have infiltrated the ranks of Afghan security forces, but many are attributed to cultural differences and antagonism between the allied forces.

inp

RITICISING the Obama administration’s reliance on drones, a UN investigator has asked the US government to clarify its procedures on compensation to the families of innocent victims of the strikes, besides steps taken to prevent civilian deaths.

Christ of Heyns, UN special rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions, urged Washington to clarify the basis under international law of the policy, in a report issued

egypt’s mubarak is clinically dead CAIRO afp

Egypt’s ex-president Hosni Mubarak was declared clinically dead after he was transferred to hospital from prison on Tuesday, state media reported, after his heart stopped beating.

“Hosni Mubarak is clinically dead,” the official MENA news agency reported. “Medical sources told MENA his heart had stopped beating and did not respond to defibrillation.”

Next PM Continued from page 1 “During the meeting, around half a dozen party leaders advocated for nominating Ahmed Mukhtar as the next PM,” the source said, adding that Gilani opposed the nomination of Makhdoom Shahabuddin on the pretext of his health problems and his poor performance during the past four years as minister and as the president of PPP South Punjab chapter.

“Gilani said that an effi-

cient, young and dynamic parliamentarian should be appointed as the PM keeping in view the challenges posed due to power shortage, declining economy, and the difficulty in Pakistan-US relations and the complexities in war against terrorism,” the source added.

Reportedly, Gilani’s arguments were well received

by Zardari who is likely to give preference to Hina instead of Shahabuddin.

The source said that the ruling party had decided not to file an appeal with the apex court against the Gilani’s disqualification, as it was not expecting a favourable decision.

Later, Zardari also phoned Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain and expressed his reservations over the coalition partner’s statement, which welcomed the court’s verdict.

However, another source said that Altaf Hussain said that his party stood by the PPP, but it also was against any sort of confrontation between the state institutions.

The source said the MQM chief also lodged his party’s concerns about unabated target killings of its workers in Karachi and said that the Sindh government seemed paralysed, and that it was not taking any action against rampant killings in Karachi.

overnight to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The 47-member Geneva forum is to hold a debate later on Tuesday. The US military has conducted drone attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, in addition to conventional raids and air strikes, according to Heyns, a South African jurist serving in the independent post.

“Disclosure of these killings is critical to ensure accountability, justice and reparation for victims or their families,” he said in a 28-page report. “The (US) government should clarify the procedures in place to

ensure that any targeted killing complies with international humanitarian law and human rights and indicate the measures or strategies applied to prevent casualties, as well as the measures in place to provide prompt, thorough, effective and independent public investigation of alleged violations.”

Citing figures from the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, he said US drone strikes killed at least 957 people in Pakistan in 2010 alone. Thousands have been killed in 300 drone strikes there since 2004, over 20 percent of which are believed to be civilians.

Pakistan-India agree to find amicable solution to Sir Creek NEW DELHI app

Pakistan and India on Tuesday reiterated their desire to find an amicable solution to the Sir Creek issue through sustained and result oriented dialogue process.

The two countries held talks on this important dispute in New Delhi from June 18-19 under the resumed dialogue process between the two countries and discussed the issue in detail.

The Pakistani delegation was led by Ministry of Defence Additional Secretary Rear Admiral Farrukh Ahmad while the Indian side was led by Surveyor General of India Dr Swarna Subba Rao.

According to joint statement issued following these two days talks held in New Delhi, the talks were held in a friendly and cordial atmosphere.

Both sides discussed the land boundary in the Sir Creek area and also delimitation of International Maritime Boundary between India and Pakistan.

They reiterated their desire to find an amicable solution to the Sir Creek issue through sustained and result oriented dialogue.

Pakistan and India also agreed to hold the next round of the talks on Sir Creek issue in Pakistan at mutually convenient dates, to be determined through diplomatic channels.

Punjab govt has failed to protect people’s life, property: interior ministry ISLAMABAD: Following directives of Interior Adviser Rehman Malik, the interior secretary has written a letter to the Punjab government accusing it of failing to protect the life and property of the people. The federal government has offered the services of Rangers to assist the local police in Punjab. The adviser on interior had also directed the secretary to meet Punjab chief secretary for deployment of Rangers across the province. According to the law, the Punjab government is required to ask for the services of Punjab Rangers. inp

PAC declares PML-N govt’s decision ‘wrong’ ISLAMABAD online

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday declared “wrong” a decision taken by the government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) in 1999.

The cabinet of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif cabinet approved 18 projects launched by the Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) involving 4,564 apartments, considering them commercially viable and spending a sum of Rs 31.765 million on design, consultancy and other

basic functions.

After observing an unhighlighted audit paragraph, the PAC directed the Housing Ministry to conduct an enquiry and fix the responsibility in one month.

The PAC also directed the auditor general of Pakistan to take special care while categorising the highlighted and un-highlighted audit paragraphs.

The PAC met in the capital with Nadeem Afzal Gondal in the chair to review audit observations about the financial accounts of the Ministry of Housing and Works and its at-

tached departments during fiscal years 2004-05 and 2006-07.

The officials of the Auditor General’s Office told PAC that the financial statements along with receipts and outflow of funds had only been discussed once in last 60 years by the PAC during the 70s, and the then PAC chairman decided not to discuss them again.

The committee decided to hold internal meeting with the AGP on the issue of reviewing financial accounts and statements of Ministry of Finance after June 29.

Ministry of Housing and

Works Secretary Kamran Lashari briefed the committee that government employees were given plots in Islamabad under Prime Minister’s programme as well as a special programme for government employees of grade-22.

The PAC sought a detailed list of those officers who received two plots in Islamabad along with a copy of the summary approved by former premier Shaukat Aziz, allowing officers to get two plots of land in Islamabad by June 25.

However, the members of the committee declared allotment of plots only to officers of

higher grades as injustice towards the employees of lower grades.

Saeed Zafar, a member of the PAC, moved documents to the committee about non-implementation of directives of the prime minister on execution of projects involving amounts of more than Rs 100 million.

Lashari, while explaining the case before the committee, said that development funds of Rs 100 million lapsed due to a lie told by an XEN who said that the issue was sub judice.

The auditors apprised the committee that non-imposi-

tion of liquidated damages at a rate of 10 percent from contractor accumulated a loss of Rs 1.3 million. The secretary explained that 40 percent receivable amount had been recovered while remaining 60 percent would be recovered from the final bill of the contractor. The PAC directed to get the received amount verified in three days and report back to the committee.

The PAC also directed the Pakistan Housing Authority (PHA) to submit accounts to the AGP along with fixing responsibility for not submitting accounts in 14 days.

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Kabul accuses Pakistan of Shia attack KABUL afp

Afghan authorities on Tuesday said “regional spy agencies” were behind a rare suicide attack targeting Shia Muslims that killed more than 80 people, in a veiled reference to Pakistani intelligence. Attorney General Eshaq Aloko said two men had been arrested over the December attack, which struck a crowd of worshippers on Ashura, the holiest day of the Shia calendar, in Kabul. President Hamid Karzai blamed Pakistani sectarian extremist outfit Lashkare-Jhangvi for the atrocity, which was unprecedented on such a holy day, and urged Islamabad to act. Aloko said the attack was planned in Pakistan’s city of Peshawar, by “regional spy agencies” aimed at “provoking sectarian violence”. “Although the Jhangvi group claimed responsibility, it was masterminded by some spy agencies in our neighbouring countries,” Aloko said.

Afghans blame Pakistan for fuelling much of the violence in their country, where the Taliban are leading a 10-year insurgency against the government and 130,000 Western troops. The prosecutor said one of those arrested came from Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan’s militant-infested tribal belt, and was paid 10,000 Pakistani rupees ($100) to bring two suicide attackers to Kabul. “One attacker blew himself up, the second fled the area,” Aloko said. He said the two arrested men both confessed over the plot and the case was now closed. The explosion happened at the entrance to a riverside shrine, where hundreds of Shias had gathered with men whipping their bare backs as part of the traditional mourning ritual. The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in the Afghan capital in three years. When the Sunni Taliban ruled from 1996 to the 2001 US-led invasion, minority Shias suffered brutal persecution, but in recent years sectarian violence has been rare. Sectarian attacks are nonetheless common in neighbouring Pakistan. “The case is closed for us now. We have completed our investigation, and the case will be sent to the court,” Aloko said.

Pakistan wants nothing less than an apology from US: fo ISLAMABAD aGenCies

Foreign Secretary Jaleel Abbas Jilani said on Tuesday that Pakistan would not accept any short of an apology from the United States over the Salala incident. US aircraft bombed two Pakistani border checkposts last November and killed 24 soldiers. Pakistan angrily closed NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. Talking to reporters after a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Standing Committee, Jilani said that US congressmen had started accepting Pakistan’s stance. He said the Pakistani government would neither budge from its stance nor would it accept any argument to avoid an apology. He called for a comprehensive strategy to avoid any future attack similar to Salala.

islaMabaD: lawyers flash victory signs after the supreme Court disqualified yousaf raza Gilani as prime minister and member of the national assembly on Tuesday. ONLINE

School headmaster among six killed across Balochistan QUETTA sHaHZaDa Zulfiqar

A

senior school teacher was among six people killed across Balochistan on Tuesday.

Police said Nazir Marri, headmaster of Government High School Killi Shiekan and a close associate of separatist Baloch leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri, was on his way to school when two armed men riding a motorcycle opened indiscriminate fire on him and fled.

As a result, Nazir received fatal bullet injuries and succumbed to injuries before being take to a hospital. Police rushed to the site and moved the body to a hospital where the doctors declared Nazir dead.

After hearing about the murder, students of the school turned violent and took to the streets, blocking the main road and pelting stones on vehicles.

They later marched towards the main Jinnah Road and blocked the Imdad cross section. However, police baton charged the protesters and used tear gas to disperse them when they did not agree to end the demo.

In other incidents, at least three people, including a child, were shot dead and 12 others injured in a clash between two rival armed groups in Chashma Achozai area, police said.

In Rakhani area, a passenger van traveling towards Loralai from Rakhani plunged into ravine while taking a sharp turn, killing two people and injuring eight others.

Record 800,000 people became refugees in 2011: UN UNITED NATIONS app

A record 800,000 people were forced to flee across borders last year, more than at any time since 2000, according to the United Nations.

The new refugees are part of a total of 4.3 million people who were displaced last year, owing to a string of major humanitarian crises that began in late 2010 in Cte d’Ivoire, and followed by others in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and elsewhere, according to Global Trends 2011, issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner

for Refugees (UNHCR).

“2011 saw suffering on an epic scale. For so many lives to have been thrown into turmoil over so short a space of time means enormous personal cost for all who were affected,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said in a statement.

“We can be grateful only that the international system for protecting such people held firm for the most part and that borders stayed open. These are testing times,” he added.

Some 42.5 million people ended 2011 either as refugees (15.2 million), internally displaced

(26.4 million) or in the process of seeking asylum (895,000), according to the report, which is UNHCR’s main publication on the state of forced displacement.

At the same time, 2011 saw some 3.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) return home “the highest rate of returns of IDPs in more than a decade. Among the “worrying” trends noted in the report, UNHCR said that forced displacement is affecting larger numbers of people globally, with the annual level exceeding 42 million people for each of the last five years.

JcSc satisfied with forces’ readiness ISLAMABAD: The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) meeting was held at the Joint Staff Headquarters on Tuesday with General Khalid Shameem Wynne, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, in the chair. “Issues related to national security and emerging regional environment along with the progress on the agenda points of last meeting came under discussion. Participants expressed their satisfaction over the standard of preparedness of armed forces to take on the upcoming challenges being faced by the country,” an ISPR statement said. “The JCSC is a quarterly moot of senior military leadership to assess and evaluate the operational preparedness of the armed forces,” it said. The meeting was attended by Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt, the defence secretary, defence production additional secretary, Chief of General Staff, Joint Staff director general, Inter-Services Intelligence director general, Strategic Plans Division director general and other senior military officers from the three services. sTaff reporT

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06 News

wednesday, 20 June, 2012

Imran Khan says politicians know vote bank belongs to him

‘i’m an honest businessman’

NEWS DESK

“P

NEWS DESK “Whatever I have earned, it’s all black and white. I’m an honest businessman and I pay my taxes and I will prove this, God willing,” Arsalan Iftikhar, the central character of a graft scandal allegedly targeting the Chief Justice of Pakistan, told Shirin Sadeghi of The Huffington Post, adding that he has never bribed or blackmailed anyone. “My conscience is clear,” he said, “and by the Grace of God, with a period of time, I will prove myself.” Chaudhry also denies knowing his accuser, Malik Riaz Hussain. “I do not know this man, Malik Riaz, or his son-in-law, or his daughter. I never came across… never seen them in my life.” He says Hussain’s claims are rubbish because “Nobody can influence my father, the whole world knows this. If anybody thinks that being cozy with me can influence my father, they are totally wrong.” On June 12, Hussain filed a statement in the Supreme Court claiming that some Rs. 342.50 million was paid over three years to Chaudhry, who was allegedly blackmailing him. The court has asked the attorney-general to verify Hussain’s claims and has charged him with contempt. The 32-year-old Chaudhry dismissed the documents provided by Hussain to the court and media that chronicle alleged payments made by Hussain’s son-in-law and daughter to cover Chaudhry and his family’s vacations in London and Monte Carlo in 2009, 2010 and 2011. “These documents have no authenticity,” said Chaudhry, adding that the trips were organized by his friend Ahmad Khalil—“a friend who ended up like a Brutus” but one he trusted enough “to not think anything of borrowing money from”— and Khalil’s cousin Zaid Rehman. (Khalil is also an associate of Hussain’s.) “I always paid back,” said Chaudhry. “I paid [Khalil] and I told him that if there are any other payments to be made from my side, please let me know. He said ‘no.’” Chaudhry, a newlywed, was also offended by insinuations about him and a female companion who accompanied him and Khalil on their 2010 Monte Carlo trop. “That’s totally rubbish and bullshit,” he said of the companion, who is Khalil’s wife. “She’s like a sister.” Citing unspecified security threats, Chaudhry had asked the court for protection. He now lives in Balochistan House in Islamabad, away from his parents.

A K I S T A N I politicians have realised that the vote bank belongs to me now and that is why they are joining my party,” Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan has said in an interview.

Speaking during his interview for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s talk show “The World Tomorrow”, Khan explained the recent surge in his popularity in Pakistan.

Acknowledging that things changed drastically for the PTI after two massive rallies in Lahore and Karachi, Khan, however, linked his rise to the exposure given to him by the burgeoning Pakistani electronic media during Pervez Musharraf’s tenure, especially during the emergency.

Khan said that since he was at the forefront during the Lawyers’ Movement in 2007, “my party started taking off.”

He also mentioned that he had boycotted the elections held under Musharraf, because he believed they were rigged by the “Americans” and were meant to bring the corrupt politicians back in power.

“[The elections are] going to be a disaster for the people of Pakistan,” Khan had said then. The PTI chief said his graph started to go up also because people realised he was right about boycotting the last election.

Alleging that all other political par-

pesHaWar: Traders in qissakhwani bazaar celebrate the disqualification of prime Minister yousaf raza Gilani by the supreme Court on Tuesday. STAFF PhOTO

Balochistan Assembly approves budget for FY 2012-13 QUETTA app

The Balochistan Assembly on Tuesday unanimously approved the provincial budget for the fiscal year 2012-13.

Finance Minister Mir Asim Kurd moved total 51 demands for grants of next year’s budget 2012-13, including 42 pertaining to non-development expenditures and nine to the annual development programme. The total amount of 42 demands for grants pertaining to non-development expenditures was Rs 114.42 billion and the amount of nine other relating to development schemes was Rs 35 billion.

The house unanimously granted approval to these demands for grants of the next provincial budget.

A huge sum of Rs 22.45 billion was

ties were conspiring against the PTI, Khan said even though the parties criticised each other in public, “They have this understanding now that, whatever happens, my party should stay out.”

Saying his opponents were scared of his growing popularity, Khan said,

“They’re petrified because the last time in Pakistan we saw rallies as big as the two I took out, one in Lahore and one in Karachi, was 40 years ago by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.” “He swept the election, he just swept… and he was an underdog and all the status quo parties were blown away,” he added.

Commenting on the Osama bin Laden raid in 2011, the PTI chief said the unilateral action by the US forces created “a very strong reaction born out of a feeling of humiliation”.

He said Pakistan’s ally did not trust it and instead came and killed someone on our own soil.

Bashing the US drone strike policy as always, Khan said the attacks carried out by the unmanned predators violated human rights.

“Which law allows you to be a judge, jury and executioner? And this on information which could be flawed? They have these spies roaming around there, who then just send them a message that ‘look, here are some militants’ – bear in mind that every man in the Tribal Areas is armed. It’s the most unique place on Earth, where every man is a warrior, carries a gun and this is for time immemorial. People have always carried weapons,” Khan said.

allocated in the next financial budget for the non-development expenditures of the education sector. This money would be spent for renovation and construction of buildings of the Education Department. Rs 13.17 billion were earmarked for general administration, including organs of state, fiscal administration, economic regulation, statistics and publicity and information. Another amount of Rs 7.50 billion was allocated for pensions and Rs 5.94 billion were earmarked for Balochistan Police. The Levies Force was given Rs 3.66 billion and civil works and establishment charges, Rs 5.91 billion. Rs 2.18 billion were allocated in respect of public health services and Rs 3.4 billion for dealing with disasters caused by natural calamities.

The Balochistan government ear-

marked Rs 5.21 billion for agriculture sector and Rs 6.71 billion for rural development. The energy development sector was given Rs 4.7 billion. The demands for grants of development expenditure include Rs 5.36 billion for General Public Services, Rs 20.8 billion for Economic Affairs, Rs 2.7 billion for Environment Protection, Rs 2.95 billion for Housing and Community Amenities and Rs 2.35 billion for Educational Affairs and Services.

The house also gave exception to Nawab Ghaus Bakhsh Raisani Memorial Hospital Bill 2012 from the Balochistan Assembly Rules and Regulations 1974. The legislators expressed their satisfaction and happiness over approval of next fiscal budget for 2012-13. Later, the house was adjourned until June 20.

india to launch awacS project to catch up with china, Pakistan NEW DELHI aGenCies

With Pakistan stealing a swift march in the “eyes in the sky” arena and China already way ahead, India is now going to launch its own AWACS (airborne warning and control system) programme.

“Clearances are underway” to initially develop two AWACS aircraft, with four more to follow at a later stage, under the new AWACS-India project to be executed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and its Bangalore-based Centre for Air Borne Systems (CABS), Times of India reported on Tuesday. “Under it, 360-degree AESA (active electronically scanned array) radars will be mounted on large aircraft like IL-76, Boeing or Airbus,” TOI said, citing its sources.

Potent force-multipliers like AWACS or AEW&C (airborne early warning and control) systems have changed the entire nature of air warfare because they can detect incoming aerial threats, ranging from fighters to cruise missiles, much be-

fore ground-based radars.

They also serve to direct air defence fighters during combat operations with enemy jets and also help in tracking troop build-ups.

Pakistan already has four Swedish Saab-2000 AEW&C aircraft, with four more Chinese ZDK-03 AWACS in the pipeline. China has around 20 AWACS, a mix of new and old systems, sources say.

But India has only three Phalcon AWACS mounted on IL-76 aircraft, under the $1.1 billion tripartite agreement among India, Israel and Russia finalised in 2004, despite being confronted with two potentially hostile fronts, the newspaper said. The case for two additional “follow-on” Phalcon AWACS, with a range of over 400-km and 360-degree coverage like the first three, has run into some rough weather due to sharp cost escalation. Moreover, DRDO’s ongoing mini-AWACS project, under which indigenous AEW&C systems are to be mounted on three Embraer-145 jets obtained from Brazil for $210-million, has also slipped after being approved in October, 2004, at a cost of Rs 18 billion.

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wednesday, 20 June, 2012

gang of car snatchers busted; arms and car seized ISLAMABAD sTaff reporT

islaMabaD: pakistan Tahreek-e-insaf leader and renowned lawyer Hamid khan talks to journalists outside the supreme Court. ONLINE

ict finalises plan to counter floods ISLAMABAD sTaff reporT

Deputy Commissioner Amer Ali Ahmed reviewed and finalized the flood contingency plan in view of the upcoming monsoon rains, at a high-level meeting.

The meeting was attended by the officials of departments concerned, including, Rawal Dam and Simly Dam management, CDA, assistant commissioners, DHO, ICT, Civil Defence, traffic police and the Met office.

The deputy commissioner said that the officials concerned have been directed to upgrade the level of their preparedness to meet any likely flood situation in view of the forecast of more rains and ensure effective coordination during the rains. He said that the control room would remain functional round the clock. It was decided that relief and rescue teams headed by the assistant commissioners would visit low-lying areas, including, Rawal Dam, Simly Dam, Korang river area and other tributaries and would ensure protective arrangements prior to rains and shifting of people to safer places in case of heavy rains. The managements of Rawal Dam and Simly Dam of CDA would announce the gradual release of water in advance, giving time to the people to move to safer places.

DC directs CDA, IESCO to solve traders’ problems ISLAMABAD

I

sTaff reporT

SLAMABAD Deputy Commissioner Amer Ali Ahmed held an important meeting with the representatives of traders’ community and officials of the CDA and IESCO to resolve the problems of water supply and electricity in some markets.

The meeting was also attended by the ex-president of ICCI, Munawar Mughal, Traders’ Action Committee, president, Ajmal Baloch, Khalid Mahmood, Kashif Chaurdhry and Mian Farid.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of a protest call given by the traders. The representatives of traders told the participants that the business community and residents of sectors I-10, I-8 and G-8 are facing load shedding and acute water shortage. There is discrepancy in the dis-

tribution of water supply and electricity in some sectors as compared to the others, they added.

The deputy commissioner directed the officials to take immediately corrective steps and ensure equal distribution of water supply and load management. He directed the officials of CDA and IESCO to remove any discrepancy in distribution in this regard and solve the problems at once.

The officials of the CDA and IESCO assured the participants that all possible corrective measures would be taken to solve the problems of these sectors. The traders’ community said that they are voluntarily willing to cooperate with the officials if the electricity is provided at least 12 hours in 24 hours. Deputy Commissioner, Islamabad directed the officials of The CDA and IESCO will hold meetings with the assistant commissioners and traders to solve the problems.

pBM DIStrIButeS 70,000 wheeLchAIrS AMong SpecIAL perSonS: Pakistan Bait ul Mal has so far distributed over 70,000 wheelchairs among special persons, Pakistan Bait-ul-Maal Managing Director Zamurrad Khan said.

Addressing a reception hosted in honour of visiting Indian Handicapped Cricket Team, he said China has gifted 40,000 wheelchairs.

Welcoming the Indian team the MD said, a number of projects have been initiated for the welfare of the handicapped persons. The special persons are also being provided white cane, artificial limbs.

Chairman Pakistan Handicapped Cricket Team Abbas Hashmi speaking on the occasion said games are the best source to promote cordial relations between the two countries. Indian players are our guests and they would be taken care of during the visit.

The Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of Islamabad police have busted a gang of car snatchers in a raid on their hideout at Kirpa in the area of Koral police and recovered weapons as well as a car from their possession, a police spokesman said.

On a tip off, In-Charge CIA Bashir Ahmed Noon constituted special team under his supervision and raided a hideout of car snatchers and arrested them red-handed when they were planning to commit another dacoity.

The nabbed persons were identified as Ismail, Nishat Kiani, residents of Harnot, Islamabad, Aslam of Peshawar, Adnan of Islamabad and Amaar Yaseen of Jung Saidan. The CIA police also recovered four pistols and a car during the raid. Further investigation is underway. During the preliminary investigation, they confessed to 10 car-snatching incidents in the area of Shehzad Town, Nilore and Secretariat.

487 BottLeS of LIquor, weAponS SeIzeD: Islamabad police have arrested seven outlaws from various areas of the city and recovered 487 bottles of liquor, two 12-bore rifles and a 30-bore pistol from their possession, a police spokesman said on Tuesday. On a tip off, Assistant Sub-Inspector Tariq Rauf from Crime Investigation Agency of Islamabad police apprehended two bootleggers, Asif Munawar and Nadeem during patrolling and recovered 487 bottles of liquor from them.

fake pesticides factory sealed ISLAMABAD sTaff reporT

Assistant Commissioner (Industrial Area) Islamabad, Imran Ali Sultan, during a surprise raid in Tarnol area, sealed a fake factory involved in manufacturing spurious pesticides.

The AC said that he seized all the fake material recovered from the factory and initiated legal action against the offender under the relevant law. A heavy contingent of police took part in the raid.

CDA gets its land director back ISLAMABAD kasHif abbasi

Bowing before political influence, the top management of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has restored the director land who was removed on Thursday for his alleged involvement in fake file plots scam, Pakistan Today has learnt.

The CDA’s director land , Fariduddin Mustafa, resumed his charge. The land director land who is a District Management Group (DMG) officer was repatriated to his mother organisation by the CDA chairman for his alleged involvement in fake file scam worth Rs 400 million.

However, within two days, the sacked officer managed to get his seat back. Sources in the CDA told Pakistan Today that a political personality resolved the issue between the land director and the CDA chairman.

Last month Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) sent 40 files of Sector F/11/2 and told the authority that all the files seeking compensation or alternative plots are fake as majority of applicants’ names did not even exist in the award list.

CDA Chairman Farkhand Iqbal constituted a facts-finding committee.

The inquiry committee summoned the land director with all relevant records, but he didn’t turn up.

Later, the inquiry committee sent a reminder to him, but he again avoided to appear before the committee. Subsequently, the committee brought the matter into the notice of the CDA chairman who repatriated the services of the director to the Establishment Division.

After showing the door to the director land, Chairman CDA, Farkahand Iqbal reportedly said that the director land was removed as despite reminder and his phone call he didn’t appear before the committee.

The chairman reportedly also said that it came to his notice that the director land was trying to declare the files legal.

islaMabaD: a view of amaltas flowers blooming and flourishing on the greenbelts of the capital. SAjjAd QUREShI

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weather UPdateS

42 °c high 0c 24 low

Sunny

thUrSday

friday

SatUrday

44°c i 25°c

44°c i 25°c

43°c i 26°c

Prayer timingS fajr Sunrise 03:24 04:59

zuhr 12:00

asr 15:40

maghrib 19:00

isha 20:36

city directory emergency helP reScUe edhi control motorway Police Police goVernor’S hoUSe chief miniSter’S hoUSe fire brigade bomb diSPoSal mcl comPlaintS lahore waSte diSPoSal

1122 115 130 15 99200081-7 99203226 16 99212111 99211022-29 1139

hoSPitalS mid city 37573382-3 SerViceS 99203402-11 mayo 99211100-9 general 35810892-8 SheiKh zaid 35865731 Sir ganga ram 99200572 Uch 35763573-5 ittefaq 35881981-85 cmh 366996168-72 ShoUKat KhanUm 35945100 Jinnah 111-809-809 adil (defence) 36667275 children’S 99230901-3 defence national hoSPital 111-17-18-19

blood banK fatmid iSlamic alliance

35210834-8 37588649/37535435

comPlaint waPda SUi gaS

111-000-118 1199

railwayS city Station (enqUiry) reSerVation railway Police

117 99201772 1333

raWalpinDi: firefighters extinguish fire which erupted in a warehouse of electronics in afandi Colony, sadiqabad area. ONLINE

Call for promoting sustainable tourism through devolution ISLAMABAD

S

app

PEAKERS, including policymakers, at a daylong conference here Tuesday called for promoting sustainable tourism though devolution of the sectors to the provinces and devise a strategy for the promotion of domestic and international tourism for the benefit of the country.

The Ministry of Tourism, Sports and Youth Affairs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa organised the conference entitled ‘Promotion of Sustainable Tourism in Pakistan’ here at a local hotel.

Malik Azamat, State Minister for Inter Provincial Coordination (IPC), Syed Aqil Shah, Minister for Tourism, Sports and Youth affairs Khyber Pakhtukhwa (KP), Muhammad Ali Malkani Provincial Minister for Tourism Sindh, Abdul Salam Bhutt from Azad Jammu Kashmir, Senate Standing Committee on Inter Provincial Coordination Farah Aqil, Secretaries of Tourism from Punjab, Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan, President Pakistan Association of Tour Operators (PATOs) Amjad Ayub and other representatives of tour operators attended the conference.

The speakers highlighted the importance of developing awareness and educate

masses on issues related to sustainable tourism; to assist in policy and programme development and to facilitate monitoring and evaluation.

They also called for devolution of tourism sectors in its letter and spirit for the promotion of sustainable tourism in the country.

Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development.

A suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability, they said.

Ecotourism is a well-known term around the world, and more recently the importance of sustainable tourism has been gaining recognition.

Ecotourism and Sustainable Tourism are closely related as ecotourism rests within the scope of sustainable tourism.

Syed Aqil Shah on the occasion said, Pakistan offers opportunities for the tourists due to its cultural places, scenic beauty places, picnic spots and high mountains in the country.

The forum discussed the key challenges for the promotion of sustainable tourism in the country while important stakeholders such as Pakistan Association of Tour Operators, Pakistan Hotel Association also partic-

ipated in the event.

The participants of the conference put forward recommendations to the government for sustainable tourism development for the prosperity of the country.

They said media campaign is necessary for promoting tourism in the country and visa policies should be softened for attraction of foreign tourists.

Sustainable tourism in its purest sense is an industry which attempts to make a low impact on the environment and local culture, while helping to generate income, employment and the conservation of local ecosystems.

Sustainable tourism activities have minimal impact on the environment and culture of the host community.

It leads to the management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems.

The promotion of sustainable tourism can provide long-term economic operations, socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income- earning opportunities and social services to host communities and contributing to poverty alleviation.

airPort flight enqUiry Pia reSerVation

114 111-786-786

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YOGA AND MEDITATION CLASSES

DANCE FACTORY - LADIES

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date: march 31 to december 29, 2012 VenUe: haSt-o-neeSt centre, lahore hast-o-neest centre for traditional art & culture invites you to its monthly Saturday Sitting with Janab ahmed Javed Sahib (director, iqbal academy Pakistan) on 100 ghazals of maulana rumi 3:30 to 5:00 pm, last Saturday of every month

date: aPril 01 to december 30, 2012 VenUe: faiz ghar, lahore a unique blend of yoga, meditation, neuro-linguistic Programming, Sufism & more. achieve self-insight, mind-body harmony & better health. yoga master Shamshad haider

date: march 19 to aUgUSt 29, 2012 VenUe: the Knowledge factory (tKf) bored of usual dance routines? fitness workouts come with a 'yawn'?! whether you know how to shake or not, this's the place to bring your groove! learn to follow the rhythm, let loose, how to catch new steps and master old ones. mondays and wednesdays: 7-8pm, Per Session: 500 only!, monthly: PKr 2,500/-

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wednesday, 20 June, 2012

Islamabad 09 Residents spending sleepless nights due to load shedding RAWALPINDI app

U islaMabaD: out-of-order speed meters at 7th avenue need the attention of the authorities. STAFF PHOTO

daycare kids more impulsive, bigger risk-takers: study ISLAMABAD app

A slight behavioral difference is found between teens who once spent long hours in child-care centers and those who did not.

Since its inception in 1991, the largest and longest-running study of American child-care has generated plenty of controversial and. to many working parents, infuriating conclusions about the effects on kids of early care outside the family, Mail Online reported. The latest findings of the federally funded Early Child Care Research Network are certain to be no exception.

At the age of 15, according to a study in the journal Child Development, those who spent long hours in day care as preschoolers are more impulsive and more prone to take risks than are teens whose toddler years were spent largely at home.

The differences between kids who logged long hours in daycare and those who did not were slight. When answering questions that measured their impulsiveness, teens rated themselves about 16% rasher in their behaviours for every additional 10 hours they spent per week in a daycare centre as a pre-

schooler.

In terms of risk-taking, the link to time spent in day care was more marginal: Ten more hours a week in day care prompted the average teen to answer one out of 30 questions with an admission of more risky behavior.

But the study’s authors defended the findings as significant and, in some ways, surprising. For starters, the behavioral differences between day-care veterans and those who spent more time in the care of a parent appeared across the income and class spectrum.

Those differences were evident even at 15 years of age - more than a decade after Mom or Dad had picked them up at daycare for the last time.

And the effects are spread across vast swaths of the American population: Some 2.3 million children under age 5 go to day-care centers – about a quarter of preschoolers whose mothers are employed, according to the U.S census.

About 17 percent are in the care of a nonrelative in family day-care settings and other, less formal arrangements.

That, says psychologist Jay Belsky, an author of the latest study, makes small behavioral shifts potentially farreaching, especially as preschoolers mature into adolescence and as peers

become the preeminent force in a child’s life.

In classrooms and peer groups populated by kids who may be just a little more impulsive or risk-taking, “these small effects end up being spread and bounce off each other,” said Belsky in an interview. “The dynamic becomes, ‘I dare you to take a risk, you dare me to take a risk.’ “Nobody knows what the threshold here is, when the little becomes a lot,” he added.

Earlier such warnings from Belsky and other child-care researchers have stirred anxiety and guilt among parents - especially mothers, whose large-scale entry into the workforce spurred an epochal shift in child-care patterns starting in the 1970s. Belsky said he had been crucified’ for sounding the alarm about the Early Child Care Research Network’s earlier findings, which revealed a link between the amount of time a child spent in day care and an increase in aggressive and disobedient behavior throughout elementary school.

He acknowledged that delivering such unwelcome news “can be very politically incorrect” but added that the research, carried out at 21 academic institutions across the country, had gleaned important insights.

NSCHEDULED and prolonged power loadshedding in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad has made hot weather unbearable for the residents.

The residents of the twin cities complain that they are spending sleepless nights due to hours-long power outages in rising temperature. Duration of loadshedding in most of the areas was 15 to 20 hours per day.

A number of people told APP that long duration and unscheduled load shedding has disturbed their routine life and it is very difficult for them to actively work in the offices after spending sleepless nights.

They demanded of the government to take immediate steps to end the loadshedding as in the coming days, according to Pakistan Meteorological Department, “sever heat wave” would continue to prevail in most parts of the country.

Muhammad Afzal, a resident of Model

FjWU holds workshop on GSM Specification- SMS Services RAWALPINDI app

Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) on Tuesday held a one-day workshop on GSM Specification-SMS Services aimed at helping the students in developing relevant software as part of their thesis.

The workshop was organized by the university’s Department of Software Engineering in collaboration with the Pakistan Engineering Council. Speakers at the seminar he said that GSM Specification comes under the category of mobile communication and it’s a 3rd generation mobile system.

They explained the whole mechanism that how a short message is delivered from one user to another user.

The speakers also discussed the methods, techniques and implementations of the short message service in GSM.

Living alone may shorten lifespan: study ISLAMABAD app

A recent international study has found that people who live alone and suffer from a heart disease mostly die sooner than those who have been living with others.

In previous studies, the researchers related social isolation to several ailments ranging from heart attacks to weakened immune system.

However, the current study, which looked at over 44,000 people, only focused on people with heart disease or at high risk of it, Press TV reported.

While, the reasons for the gap were not clear, Dr Deepak Bhatt, the lead researcher, said that access to regular medicine might be among the reasons. “The patients living alone may have more difficulty getting their medications refilled and taking them regularly. They also don’t have anyone at home to call the doctor’s office or emergency room if they are not looking well,” said Bhatt from Harvard Medical School.

Town Humak, who was sitting outside of his house at midnight of Monday said, “I am sitting here and waiting for electricity for the last two hours. There is no electricity in the area and I have no knowledge that when the quarters concerned will understand the miseries of people.” Zaheer Ahmed, another resident of Rehmanabad severely criticised the quarters concerned for not evolving an effective strategy to tackle the situation, saying the policymakers cannot realise the problems of the common man by sitting in air-conditioned rooms.

Suleman, a resident of Adiala Road, said, “We are paying huge electricity bills, but the government still states that a huge amount is still pending for IPPs.” He questioned that why the government is not taking action against the concerned quarters that are not paying bills and create problems for the whole country.

Muhammad Hanif Khan, a resident of Shalay Valley, said that power supply remained suspended for several hours without any schedule which has paralysed the routine life besides affecting business activities.

The researchers studied over 44,000 people, aged 45 or older, from different countries during four years. During the study, some 7.7 percent of the patients who were younger than 65 and lived alone died, compared to 5.7 percent of the participants who were not living on their own.

The difference, however, was smaller for participants aged between 66 and 80.

The study was statistically reliable even after considering age, sex, employment, ethnicity and country.

Bhatt and his team estimated that for the people under 80, living alone could cause psychological and social problems including job loss or loneliness.

However, very old people who live alone could be healthier and more independent than those who live with others.

Meanwhile, Bhatt called on cardiologists to routinely ask elder patients if they live on their own, adding, “If the answer is yes, that might be a red flag and they should make sure the patients have a way to get their medicine regularly.”

The seminar was also attended by Department of Software Engineering Chairperson, Department of Software Engineering Dr Shamim Akhter, Department of Software Engineering Tahira Mahboob, Lecturer, and expert Farooq Arif.

A question-answer session was also held in which a number of solutions related to different software problems were discussed with students.

Tahira Mahboob thanked speakers for sharing their valuable thoughts and experience with the faculty and students. Certificates were distributed among the participants.

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10 Islamabad

wednesday, 20 June, 2012

Residents bearing the brunt of dilapidated roads ISLAMABAD

T

app

HE residents of Model Town, Humak, have appealed to Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and the National Highway Authority (NHA) chairman for immediate repair of Swan-Kak bridge area of Kahuta Road to end their three-year ordeal.

Most of the vehicles are driven on the road in zigzags to avoid rough patches and commuters fear that the dilapidated condition of the road is a threat exposing commuters to accidents can lead to fatal accidents.

The usual practice of filling the cavities with mud did not work as cracks

emerged again within a couple of days, making the journey more miserable.

“This part of Kahuta Road shares major burden of vehicles as its one end touches the Grand Trunk Road and the other links Islamabad Highway. It also links Azad Kashmir with other parts of the country,” Muhammad Tahir, a resident of the area told APP. Another resident Zaheer Ahmed said, that Member National Assembly Dr Tariq Fazal Chudhary is well aware of the issues but after his election he never paid any attention to this problems.

He said time and again the MNA was approached, but he never gave any importance to problems of model town residents.

Resultantly, the residents ex-

pressed their wrath and distress by protesting against the MNA. Now any passersby can know that voters were looking for their elected representative by displaying that their “MNA is missing”.

“We will be thankful to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif if he fulfils our demand as people living in the area are facing difficulties due to the road condition,” he said. The road was repaired about 20 years ago and afterwards no attention was paid to it, he said.

Agpr eMpLoyeeS enD StrIke: The employees of Accountant General of Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) have ended their strike and assumed their duties on the promise of meeting their demands by the concerned authorities.

Muhammad Naeem, spokesman of

the AGPR, when contacted told APP that they have suspended their strike temporarily and resumed the work on the promise of the concerned authorities to meet their demands accordingly.

He said the concerned authorities has assured us that their demands will be met soon. He, however, warned of going on strike again if their demands were not met.

Spokesman for the Ministry of Finance, Rana Asad Amin, also said while talking to APP that the staff of the AGPR has stopped its strike and started its routine work.

Muhammad Naeem said it was the old demand of the AGPR employees to give them audit allowance that is equivalent to 100 per cent of basic pay. He said the Audit department helps the

government in huge recoveries worth billions of rupees annually.

He said during the year 2010-11, the Audit department of the country recovered about Rs 71 billion. “We want some relief against huge recoveries in the shape of audit allowance”, he said adding that in other such departments of the government, the employees are enjoying attractive allowances and bonuses.

It may be mentioned here that the AGPR Joint Action Committee had started its strike about 15 days ago which caused delays in release of development and non-development funds and the budget funds that were due to lapse on June 30 to the ministries and divisions at a time when the current fiscal year was about to end.

green tea may block lung cancer ISLAMABAD app

Smokers and non-smokers, people who do not drink green tea are five times more likely to get lung cancer than those who drink at least one cup of green tea a day.

Drinking green tea may offer some protection against lung cancer as it is the poly phenols in green tea that may make it beneficial, BBC health reported.

Researchers from medical university, Taiwan studied smokers and non- smokers who drink at least a cup a day cut their lung cancer risk significantly. Protection is greatest for people carrying certain genes and it was found out that particular beverages have anti-cancer powers.

Green tea is made from the dried leaves of the Asian plant camellia is drunk widely across Asia. The rates of many cancers are much lower in Asia than other parts of the world, which has led some to link the two. Laboratory studies have shown that extracts from green tea, called polyphenols, can stop cancer cells from growing. The best thing a smoker can do to reduce their risk of lung cancer, and more than a dozen other cancer types, is to quit. Researchers then analysed the DNA of people in the study and found certain genes appeared to play a role in the risk reduction.

Green tea drinkers, whether smokers or non smokers, with certain types of a gene called IGF1, were far less likely to develop lung cancer than other green tea drinkers with different types of this gene.

Unhcr to help repatriate 150,000 afghan refugees this year ISLAMABAD app

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has planned to help repatriate 150,000 Afghan refugees from Pakistan during the current year.

According to a private news channel report, the United Nation’s Regfugee Agency (UNHCR) has established four Voluntary Repatriation Centers in Pakistan to help as many Afghans return home as possible. The Afghan refugees in Pakistan are well aware of conditions back in their home communities through their networks of friends and family and a decision to return is usually only taken after weeks of discussions. Nearly 70,000 Afghan refugees returned home in 2011.

Meanwhile, Ministry of States and Frontier Regions (SAFRON) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have planned to implement a new strategy, aimed at supporting repatriation of 1.7 million documented Afghan refugees in Pakistan. According to the UN estimates, Pakistan and Iran are main host countries of Afghan refugees in the world.

islaMabaD: pTi Chairman imran khan addresses a rally in favour of Chief Justice iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry at D Chowk.

STAFF PHOTO

PPP custodian of constitution, democracy: Gondal ISLAMABAD app

Federal Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division Nazar Muhammad Gondal on Tuesday said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was the custodian of the Constitution, democracy and people’s rights.

Talking to APP, he said PPP leaders, including Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, have sacrificed their lives for the democracy and people of the country.

He said PPP’s founder Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had given a unanimous constitution to the country in 1973 and the present government has restored tit in its original form.

Gondal said Asif Ali Zardari is the

only president who returned his powers to the Parliament. He said PPP has always considered people as the real power and with their support it will resolve the problems of masses. ghAzAL SInger BArkAt ALI khAn reMeMBereD: Great ghazal singer Barkat Ali Khan was being remembered on his death anniversary Tuesday.

Barkat Ali Khan was one of the greatest ghazal singers of his time.

His style was strongly influenced by the Patiala Gharana with its abundance of classical overtones and polyrhythmic nuances. He left a lasting impression on various genres of Hindustani light classical music.

He was younger brother of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. After partition of India, Barkat Ali Khan mi-

grated to Pakistan and concentrated on the lighter aspects of Hindustani classical music.

Barkat Ali made a great contribution to North Indian light classical music. He was acknowledged as one of the greatest Thumri, Dadra, Geet and Ghazal artists.

He captured the audience all over India and Pakistan with his unique style of music that has been widely acknowledged and emulated by the likes of Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali after him. He died on 19th June, 1963 at Lahore. gpoS get counter coMputerISAtIon fAcILItIeS: Around 100 general post offices, including renovated post offices, throughout Pakistan have been provided with counter comput-

erization facilities for the better service quality to the customers.

Talking to APP an official of Ministry of Postal Services, said that this computerisation facilities would further improve the credibility of the post office.

To a question, he said over 1.4 million civil and military pensioners are being served by Pakistan Post about 1.3 million pensioners have been disbursing pension from Pakistan Post.

The pensioners are receiving the pension in a hassle-free environment.

He said Pakistan Post is also disbursing pension to over 40,000 Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) pensioners and it has also developed a separate system for PTCL pension disbursement.

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wednesday, 20 June, 2012

Editor’s mail 11

of elite sons and fathers There is no system of governance, including democracy, which can work without moral code providing welfare to most deprived sections of society and submitting themselves to transparent accountability. This is the basic difference between democracy and dictatorship, where in the latter an individual’s order assumes force of state authority, while in former elected executive has no absolute powers and is always subjected to checks and balances built into the system and judicial review.

Today in Pakistan there is neither an independent NAB, nor a powerful Auditor General, nor an Attorney General seen to be doing their jobs

we should forget without executive interference. Mere process of elections does not make a democracy, it is the deliverance of good governance and its focus on collective welfare of a people in accordance with objectives laid down in constitution that makes it democratic. In any other democratic government it is top elected public office holders who lead by example. The manner in which our PM has accepted that expensive branded suits, ties, shoes and watches he adorns, are gifted to him by his friends would be enough to disqualify him.

On a recent TV talk show two anchors, who like few others working in print or electronic media, are alleged to

have received expensive gifts and assets from big business cartels, including real estate tycoon who allegedly has showered similar favours to son of our Chief Justice, like he has for sons and daughters of other important public office holders, it is ironic that they were pontificating on what they consider kosher for themselves. When public office is used to reward cronies and self with lucrative LPG quotas or RPP projects and expensive real estate, than culture of corruption thrives like it has in Pakistan.

In developed democratic world the onus is on an individual to account for assets that he owns and not for the state

to prove him wrong. Even in rare case where dictatorships have delivered like in Singapore and China, it is the leadership that sets the trend by following a strict moral code of ethics and neither they nor their family are ever seen to be receiving favours. We are talking of gifts such as Brioni suits worth upwards of $5000, watches worth $20,000, limousines, villas etc worth millions of dollars. All this constitutes bribery. The Chief Justice has taken a moral high ground by putting his son in the dock, while the PM, president and others like Ch Shujaat did not.

ANEELA CHANDIO Sukkur

Judicious use of funds It is an established truth that various public and private sector universities in the country every year collect handsome amount under the head of “Students’ Welfare Fund (SWF) and Development Fund”, of course, from students along with their fees, but how that amount, estimated to be in millions of rupees per annum, is spent on the campus by the administration has become debatable in different education and student-friendly circles across the country.

When I was student at my alma mater, Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro, some three decades ago, the erudite vice chancellors used to be particular about the judicious use of these funds. Those vice chancellors used to utilise every single paisa of those funds to improve the welfare of students at the varsity. It was from these funds they used to support financially distressed students who had lost their father or guardian and had no means to continue studies, among others.

During the past dictatorial regime of Gen Pervez Musharraf, when political appointees and mercantile minded people, instead of academicians and educationists, were thrust upon various varsities, those myopic men started a massive misuse of these funds and that dirty practice still continues even by now in many public sector varsities across the country. However, the time has come to make changes to this practice.

For fair and transparent use of the SWF, I appeal to the President of Pakistan to direct the Auditor General of Pakistan to probe into the utilisation of these funds and take stringent action against those who have used these funds for other purposes.

HASHIM ABRO Islamabad

the many conspiracies?

The PM vowed to thwart all conspiracies against democracy. The Honourable Chief Justice of SC accused the media of hatching a conspiracy to undermine the judicial component of the state. The army establishment thwarted a conspiracy to undermine the national interest by the former Pakistani ambassador to the US. One TV channel blamed another channel for airing its two anchors’ dubious manners during commercial breaks of a planted interview with the biggest business tycoon currently present in the country.

Every thoughtful Pakistani is now wondering what will happen to ‘the land of the pure.’ Why the national institutions instead of solving problems faced by the common man are fighting for power. The common man on the other hand is left to suffer increases in electricity shortage and price inflation under a deteriorated law and order system and collapsing state machinery.

People are losing hope while those in positions of authority are busy saving their personal interests. To whom should the people of Pakistan turn to for a better standard of living? What hope can a citizen have when the Chief Justice of SC is unaware of his son’s involvement in illegal acts? Should such PMs and CJs be allowed to hold public offices whose sons are being investigated upon for taking bribes and misusing their father’s authority? Are state institutions and actors not bound by the Constitution to work for the welfare of the people? What sins have the people of Pakistan committed to deserve such suffering from a few men holding public office?

S T HUSSAIN Lahore

power riots and kbD The situation regarding power supply i the country is not that good. In fact, as summer heat goes up, our electricity generation capacity goes downwards, because of low hydel energy output and increased demand.

The desperate situation of power outages in the hot summer has brought unruly people on road creating a serious situation of mobs attacking residents of federal ministers. PPP leader Raja Riaz says that government is producing power at Rs 20 per unit and paying Rs 10 subsidy per unit. What steps the government has taken to build KBD post haste to produce energy at Rs 1.25 per unit? KBD could work as fire extinguisher if the PPP government announces

respect the army This is with reference to Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani’s statement (19 Jun) while inaugurating Sainkai Ragi Cadet College in the South Waziristan that the Pakistan Army was forced to launch operation in Wazirstan and didn’t want to fight with its own people. If we critically analyse the use of force against militants, 90 percent was in aid of civil power by the democratic governments. In the process many precious lives have been lost in bringing peace in this area and other areas. Therefore, army deserves appreciation and not criticism for the sacrifices rendered to safeguard the frontiers of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, internal political developments have led to creation of an atmosphere in which Pak army/ISI have been targeted and are being dragged in to the courts on the issue of missing persons leading to the discovery of dead bodies of those claimed to be in official custody. The situation in Balochistan is being exploited by certain elements having vested interests and malicious designs. The major root cause in Balochistan is poverty and ignorance about the ground realities. The ordinary Baloch, distressed by poverty and poor quality of life, are easily motivated to join criminal outfits. All Baloch are patriotic.

What they need is economic relief and jobs and that has to be attended by the provincial as well as federal government.

Pakistan army is doing its best to carry out development works in FATA and Balochistan to give relief and job opportunities to the unemployed. The construction of 105-kilometre road in

to build it and steal the show against its adversaries but the party keeps on blaming former governments for stopping rental power units.

The rulers have no clue for solving the acute power shortage except KBD which is kept on back burner against vital interests of Pakistan. PPP and ANP are guilty of criminal neglect in not solving the twin problems of water and power shortage at the earliest and merely tinkering with the issue by building mini dams that would not take us anywhere. The solution is KBD post haste if the rulers are listening.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI Lahore

Waziristan has been funded by the USA to improve infrastructure. Likewise, in Balochistan, development works including the establishment of cadet college and inducting over 5000 youth in FC and army is a matter of pride.

The provincial government needs to take responsibility and initiate development works in FATA and Balochistan at district level where hospitals, schools, roads need to be made to cover all local areas.

The media and political leadership must draw a line where to stop. Some of these elements directly question the goodwill and esteemed status of military leadership during TV talk shows/focus group discussions. Thrilling exhilaration felt on open criticism of top military leadership needs to be stopped and sense of reverence must prevail showing respect to our traditions that has remained part of our culture. Any matter in the court should not be made a topic of discussion until and unless the judgment has been delivered. This is our army, bad eggs will always be there but as an institution it must be respected.

MUKHTAR AHMED Karachi

the two look-alikes Whenever I watch Misbahul Haq leading the Pakistan side, I can’t help thinking of Yousaf Raza Gilani leading the Pakistani nation. The two even look alike, at least in so far as the expression-less and vacuous looks they present in public.

The cricketer says I am the captain, people have chosen me, no court holds jurisdiction over me, and only the chairman of the board can remove me.

Being the chosen one I am not pushed to perform. That is for the likes of Umar Akmal and others. I just trot along nicely at the heady pace of a few singles every now and then.

Even with only 10 overs left, the thought does not cross his mind that it is high time he delivered or quit. That Afridi and his merry band of tail-enders are sitting in the pavilion all padded up and raring to go, is of no concern to him.

No sir, I am the captain, no one tells me when to deliver or when to quit, I will be the longest serving captain, I will carry my bat and to hell with the nation.

Whether they look alike or not, they certainly think alike.

KHURSHID ANWER Lahore

computerised land record Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Chairman Imran Khan has always said that PML(N)’s jalsas are attended by patwaris at the orders of the Punjab government.

People are annoyed by these patwaris as they take bribes in property deals.

Now that Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has inaugurated a computerised land record service centre in Lahore, he claims that a computerised land record service would end the complicated era of ‘patwaris’.

It looks that PML(N) has realised that these patwaris will hurt their vote bank and they need to get rid of these patwaris. It is also a success of Tehreeke-Insaf that without being in Punjab Assembly, they have pressurised the Punjab government in doing its bidding.

MUBASHIR MAHMOOD Karachi

I think, all said and done, we should forget about nationalism, patriotism and the love of motherland. These terms never meant anything nor do they mean now to us. All institutions in the country are collapsing or have collapsed or have become doubtful of their character.

Trust, faith and confidence have given way to hypocrisy, lies, pretence and selfishness. We do not even love and respect our professions. Uniformed personnel are found frequently indulging in heinous crimes like rape or extortion.

The law enforcers are committing things which they are supposed to prevent. The law advocates are behaving like street hooligans.

Politicians, the supposedly fathers of the nation, blatantly lie and distort situations publicly. Media, the fourth pillar of the nation, is proven corrupt up to their necks. The social fabric, down the line, the common man has lost all moral values to continue mere survival. Youth have lost faith in religion, principles and ethics. Long Power outages in this heat have completely jeopardised family life in that temperaments are running out of control and peaceful and simple lives have turned to daily battle fields. Even decent and cultured language is lost between husband and wife.

Last week when I was delivering a lecture on ‘Importance of Services in Marketing’, a girl student got up to say this to me, ’Sir, please don’t give us this cock and bull story; people don’t have products or money to buy products, why would they bother for services’? I had no answer. In short, the integration of our society is tattered in pieces. We are making efforts to find the reasons behind this breakdown; hence busy publicly and through TV channels justifying and rationalising corruption and innocence.

But I think let us forget all this. As the crystal breaks it turns into small pieces hence no genius can put them together to give it a shape unless melted and recycled. We are like that. We cannot put pieces together on TV talk shows by apologies and clarifications and swearing by holding Quran to prove innocence. Too much water has flown under the bridge.

Let us leave it like this and be ready to undergo drilling of one type or the other.

AMJAD H MIRZA Lahore

deep rooted corruption Why blame the two anchors alone, each trying to score brownie points, in a competition to win favours of a man, who has almost the whole establishment including elected public office holders, khakis, senior bureaucrats and media tycoons feeding out of his hand. This should explain the moral bankruptcy which years of non-accountability, martial law and rampant abuse by our bureaucracy, has landed this country into. This is a country which nominates ambassadors to represent this country knowing fully well that their loyalty to Pakistan is compromised by their commitments to countries where their assets are located and a country of which their spouses and children have pledged an oath of loyalty to.

It is common knowledge that a facilitation centre is being run by family of a VVIP in Lahore who puts wheels on files. It should not come as a surprise when PML(Q) leader calls this sleazy ponzi real estate broker and land grabber a philanthropist, because after all this state’s resources have only been used for welfare of its paid servants, political rogues and all those whose hands are tainted with plunder of tax payers money.

This is a man who chartered a PIA aircraft loaded with habitual free loaders to perform Hajj last year, well past the dead line on embargo of such flights by Saudi authorities, for which cash starved national airline paid huge penalty.

When we talk of lack of integrity just imagine that a politician embarks on a private visit accompanied by his family to India, to fulfil a commitment for performing a ritual at mazar of Ajmer Sharif and doles out $ 1 million from state exchequer as nazrana. The rot has just not set in, but the shit has hit the roof as they say and this abuse and institutionalised corruption must stop, the culprits given exemplary punishment to serve as deterrence for others.

MALIK T ALI Lahore

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

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12 Comment the PPP remains calm Till they run out of prime ministers

O

ne might disagree with the Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify the premier but to say that the judiciary shouldn’t have given the judgment on account of the rather sensitive situation in the country is incorrect. It is not the court’s job to be circumspect when it goes about giving decisions.

It has to apply the law. And that is what it feels it did.

God knows the judiciary had other options. The most lenient option was accepting the Speaker’s decision and settling for the symbolism it had struck with the initial contempt notice. A slightly tougher approach would have been to circumvent the speaker’s ruling and directly send a reference to the Chief Election Commissioner. The latter would probably have taken a leaf out of the speaker’s book.

No, the courts wanted to knock this one out of the park. And that they did.

If the PPP follows the path of least resistance, all it would have to do is to bring in another prime minister.

The whole process of the letter to the Swiss authorities can start and even the new prime minister would face the same trial but if the government sits that out completely in the same manner, by the time the wheel moves back to where we are now, it would already be time for the next elections.

The PPP has, indeed, followed the path of least resistance and isn’t bringing things to a boil. As opposed to the relationship between the League and the loadshedding rioters of the Punjab, the party has instructed its activists not to get worked up. What many forget is that – hate them or love them – the PPP is the largest political party in the country with some of the most spirited political activists found in the country. And, as a result of the “manufacturing defect” that the PPP’s workers have, according to the now former prime minister, they have better when they are in the opposition. They could wreak the sort of havoc they have to potential for.

Be that as it may, the PPP could probably get the political martyrdom that it presumably sought. Mr Gilani certainly does go several notches higher in the jiyala firmament.

The king is dead. Long live the king!

overstepping baton charging a peaceful rally

I

mran Khan has held rallies, walks and public meetings all over the country. Despite being regarded an unforgiving political rival, he has not hindered from conducting normal political activity.

The PPP leadership has in fact frequently taken credit for not gagging or arresting its opponents. The baton charge on the PTI’s rally in Karachi on Monday, the resort to water cannon and tear gas shelling, however, brings to question the claim. The action is highly condemnable. When the rally was completely peaceful, as brought out by media, there was no need whatsoever to take recourse to repressive measures.

The arrest of the party’s secretary general and a number of party leaders of its Sindh chapter is equally regrettable.

The Sindh government’s claim that the situation in Karachi being unusual, rallies cannot be allowed is unacceptable. Why didn’t Karachi administration obstruct the two rallies organised in May by the activists of Mohajir Suba Tehrik (MST) in support of the division of Sindh?

Did these rallies not amount to exacerbating the ethnic differences and causing mischief? Why are other parties holding different political views are debarred from conducting normal political activities? Last month “Mohabbat-e-Sindh” rally was attacked by goons with sophisticated weapons while the government machinery looked the other way. This led to the killing of several participants in the rally. This time the police was ordered to disperse a peaceful procession organised by the PTI. People from all over the country have contributed to the development of Karachi which is a multi-ethnic Sindhi city. It would be setting a dangerous trend to debar parties from interior Sind and those led by leaders from other provinces from conducting political activity in Karachi.

The PTI has thrown a challenge to the two mainstream parties. Only time will show if its claims of winning the next elections are realistic or mere pipe dreams. It goes to the credit of the ruling parties in Punjab, KP and Balochistan that despite Imran’s acerbic criticism of opponents, they have borne with him. That this should not be the case with the Karachi administration is worrisome.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor

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

wednesday, 20 June, 2012

No easy solution The emphasis should be on a shared and joint action

I

t is a positive development that the Supreme Court (SC) has stepped back from the case regarding the alleged money transactions between Arsalan Iftikhar, son of the Chief Justice of Pakistan, and Malik Riaz, a real-estate business tycoon. The federal government has been directed to investigate the matter in accordance with the relevant laws.

The SC had taken up this case on its own (suo motu) which generated controversies in political and legal circles and the media because of the personalities involved in this matter.

The winding-up of the suo-motu activism in this case may be a departure from most suo motu cases taken up by the SC but it has dampened the debate on this issue. This also provided an opportunity to the parties in the case to rethink the whole issue. Though the SC views all this as a conspiracy, the questions raised in the debate on the alleged money transactions to the advantage of the son of the Chief Justice (CJ) require clear answers in view of the periodic complaints of the unwarranted behaviour of the family members, especially sons, of the people holding the key state offices.

Some commotion and partisan polemics will continue with reference to the

By Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi latest controversy about the role of some anchor persons and the media houses as well as the politically loaded cases that are currently before the SC. These include the Speaker’s ruling on the disqualification of the prime minister, the memo issue and the Mehran Bank/Asghar Khan case.

These cases have a divisive impact in the socio-political domain.

The legal community is divided on the question of disqualification of the prime minister.

A section of the lawyers, especially those affiliated with the PML(N), Jamaat-iIslami (JI) and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), view the Arsalan-Malik case as a conspiracy against the CJ and the SC. If some lawyers are raising pro-CJ slogans in their meetings and outside,

others are expressing reservations on the handling of the political cases.

A similar division has cropped up in the political domain. The PML(N), the JI and PTI support the CJ. The PPP and its allies have varying degrees of reservations on the handling of the political cases by the SC. There is a widespread perception in the PPP circles that the SC is interfering in the domain of the federal government to keep it under pressure.

The major political forces are at war with one another. They judge the performance of the superior judiciary with reference to their partisan interests.

They also view the judiciary as a convenient arena for political contestation.

The judiciary has to deal with the issues that should be settled in the parliament or through the dialogue among the political forces.

The SC may assert its constitutional authority by disqualifying the prime minister but it will not change Pakistani politics. The PPP-led coalition will elect a new prime minister who will carry on with the same policies. Perhaps tension between the executive and judiciary will increase.

In the past, the military, a nonelected state institution, assumed power for rectifying the ills of Pakistani politics and society. Now, the superior judiciary, another non-elected state institution, is attempting to cleanse Pakistan politics tainted by corruption and mis-governance.

Pakistan’s experience shows that civilian institutions, processes and leaders cannot be refined, improved or removed from the political scene permanently by non-political administrative-military or judicial means. They need to be dealt with only by political means.

If the expanded role of non-elected institutions offered a credible solution, Pakistan’s politics should have been very organised and systematic after four periods of direct and indirect military rule. The military regimes failed to remove the causes that weaken political institutions and processes.

If the current political trends of multiple conflicts among the political parties, state institutions, the media groups and societal entities, continue unabated, no government, whether by this or that political party, will be able to pull in one direction. The situation will become anarchic in many parts of the country and the state affairs will become unmanageable.

There is a likelihood of moving in the direction of salvaging the current socio-political and economic degenera-

tion. It requires cooperation among the state institutions and the major political parties. Both the SC and the military will play a role but in cooperation with the political forces.

The SC may put on hold the politically loaded cases. There is nothing unusual in it. Many cases stay pending for years. The postponement of the current political cases will ease tension in the political system. The PPP-led federal government will overcome its insecurity syndrome and come out of its defensive mould. The opposition will no longer hope or try for removing the government through court’s action or by military’s direct and indirect pressure. The PML(N)’s agitational zeal will be dampened.

This should be accompanied by an arrangement among the major political parties to appoint an acceptable chief election commissioner, followed by a consensus on the caretaker federal and provincial governments for the election period. The federal and provincial elections should be held before the end of the year. The military should, like the 2008 elections, maintain a neutral position, and provide security during the elections period, if needed.

The new elections under mutually agreed arrangements that enjoy the blessings of the military and the superior judiciary offer some hope for coming out of the current predicament.

Meanwhile, Pakistan should seek peace on its border. It should defuse tensions with India and Afghanistan.

The latter should be viewed as a neighbouring state rather than Pakistan’s problem. Pakistan should also normalise its relations with the US by allowing transit of its goods to Afghanistan under new arrangements.

The new mandate and related steps increase the probability of the new government moving in the direction of resolving the present day crises. However, if the political and societal leaders are not willing to change their ways and Pakistan continues with internal turmoil because of multipronged power struggle involving political parties, state institutions and non-state players capable of using violence, there is no way to stop Pakistan’s downward slide. No single party or a state institution can stop Pakistan’s drift towards anarchy. The above formula emphasises a shared and joint action. This may be based on some wishful assumptions but it offers some hope. There is no precise and clearly cut-out solution of Pakistan’s current predicament.

The writer is an independent political and defence analyst.

foreign press

Shattered Spring The Daily Star – Lebanon

E

gypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces promised Monday they would transfer power to the new president by the end of June, following the decree it issued Sunday under which it maintains significant powers until a new constitution is written, limiting the power of that president.

Inspection of SCAF’s decree reveals that the military has not only given itself power to potentially form the committee that will write the constitution, but also legislative power until a new parliament is elected.

It has mandated its head as the head of the army, rather than the president, until a new constitution, clauses of which it has given itself veto power over, is written.

This decree will heavily circumscribe the power of the future president, and is being seen by many as a pre-emptive coup to ward against the possibility that Egypt’s Islamists will triumph in elections. It follows the military’s decision Saturday to dissolve the parliament, in which the Muslim Brotherhood gained a majority in elections six months ago.

SCAF’s pledge Monday was made without naming the new president, evidence that SCAF agrees with those who say the vote can still not officially be declared, despite the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammad Mursi having claimed victory.

Meanwhile, those around Ahmad Shafiq, once a prime minister under Hosni Mubarak, are accusing Mursi’s side of attempting to hijack the election.

The figures on the election so far suggest that those who were actually willing to vote are split in half between Shafiq and Mursi.

An Islamist president seems a real possibility, but if they lose their parliamentary majority, given SCAF’s latest maneuver, that president will be paralyzed, forced to turn to the military to make any major decisions.

The country’s Islamists are already reacting to challenges to their claims of victory as though the past few months have not happened, threatening to send their people to Tahrir Square to protest.

This situation does not bode well for a country that’s in dire need of, firstly, security and stability so that people can return to work and the government can begin attempts to revive the dying economy, bridge the country’s deficit and attract investors.

Egypt’s spring revolution may yet turn into an autumn for the country, thanks to the immature and undemocratic manner in which political matters have been carried out, whereby hopes for a smooth transition to civilian rule have not only been dashed, but have created a deadlock, the end of which nobody can foresee.

The priorities of the military should be focused on redirecting democratic operations onto the right track in order to create the state that everybody has been dreaming of since the first days of last year’s revolution.

To continue on the current path creates a real threat of violence, which many fear certain parties would like to see erupt in Egypt. The price of that will be colossal for all.

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wednesday, 20 June, 2012

Comment 13

The concept paper

Giving in

and a do it yourself guide, just for you

The us is failing to protect arab americans’ rights

By Ali Aftab Saeed

Y

ou will find that people who work for TV channels are always praying for more channels to open up.

That’s mainly because it is the only time these moral and ethical institutions offer a raise.

With money comes great responsibility, so as soon as one hears about evaluations, the shah ke wafaadar executive producers and departmental heads tell the poor staff to submit concept papers since that is the time to prove supremacy over others and preferably to put a dent in somebody else’s career. For some a concept paper is a piece of cake, although they later screw up by writing columns like this, or by doing something worse.

For some, however, it is a big deal. Worry no more; until the time my self-help book appears on bookshelves, make do with this: To start off with the format, while you give the project specifics i.e., ‘Working title’, ‘Language’, ‘Duration’, etc, write your name as the proposed producer and not as the one who came up with the concept. That will save your department head the trouble to edit the document if the idea is good and he feels like sending it to the CEO. Always remember you never came up with any concept in your entire career; it’s always your executive producer who does that (he has to justify his job too).

Also, even if the programme is meant for everybody, never write ‘all’ or ‘universal’ in the ‘Target audience’ field; gives a bad impression. Instead, write ‘adult’, ‘children’, or ‘housewives’, and

in parentheses give age, for example (20-65); looks cool.

Once you are done with one-liners, it’s time to get down to the prose part. The first customary heading is ‘Objectives’. Write at least a paragraph, if not more. Like the Pak Studies test, content doesn’t matter – nobody reads it. Just in case somebody happens to read it, you can never go wrong with something like: ‘the objective is to highlight social issues while giving information in an entertaining way’.

The second heading, since posterity, is ‘Concept’. Coming up with one is no issue; watch famous US and Indian shows, tweak a little, and explain clearly how yours is different from the show(s) you got ‘inspiration’ from. Make sure you mention all the shows that ‘inspired’ you – executive producers and department heads get very excited when they get to know about shows running around the world. That’s what they sell when they meet the saith (owner or the real boss) to prove they are monitoring everything under the sun.

Make sure you know the names by heart because the chances are that your boss will not read anything; instead, he will just keep on staring at the paper and will ask you to tell what it is.

The third heading should be ‘Treatment’. From helicopter shots to vacating the whole 5-star hotel to shoot an action sequence, put in everything.

Nobody will read it, but if the show actually goes on air and doesn’t get the desired ratings, you can always blame the management for not providing you with required resources. If it doesn’t work out very well, remember that it’s your idea after all.

And now we come to the all-important ‘USP’ (unique selling point). If your concept paper reaches the saith, this is something he will read despite hearing the whole concept from someone else – most probably your immediate boss. So make pointers and

keep it short and crisp. Give it some time, and for this part use some brain as well.

You can always give a proposed guest list or proposed episodes run-down, but the most important heading at the end is ‘About the host’. Even if the show has a well-known host, give the impression that you don’t know her. If you are passionate about the project and really want to do it yourself, it is very important for your boss to know that you are not friends with the host, in fact you dislike her/him. The hosts are notorious for taking over shows, and along with the saith making all the decisions, and informing the producer (potentially you) about those decisions. If the producer doesn’t begrudge the host, the department head faces the prospect of getting confined to his lonely cell with nobody to have creative meetings with, nobody to talk to, and with having absolutely no idea what is happening around. Therefore, if you don’t want him to give the show to someone else he trusts, your boss must believe initially that you will keep him in the loop in the not-sounlikely event of the host hijacking the show.

Other than the evaluation stage, where you must submit something to achieve the goals set for you in the last evaluation cycle; if you have an idea you think is good, somehow take it directly to the saith.

Wait for him to come to the office even if it takes six months or a year instead of giving it to your department head, who will make sure to sit on it long enough for you to forget about it before pitching it in his name. Disregard the evil image your boss has painted of the saith to keep you away from him; saiths are generally great people interested in money-making ideas, so go to him if you have one. He will love you for it, and might even give you a raise. Although your immediate boss will hate you for it and will stop ‘patronising’ you, that will actually be very good riddance.

Washington Watch

By Dr James J Zogby

A

few weeks ago a PalestinianAmerican woman, Sandra Tamari, traveling to the West Bank to visit her family was stopped

by Israeli airport officials and ordered to log on to her email account and provide her password so that the Israelis could read her private communications. They insisted this be done before they would allow her to enter the country. From reports we are receiving, this practice has become routine.

Disturbing? You bet it is. But even more upsetting was what happened when Ms Tamari spoke to a US official. As she relates their conversation: uS official: Hello. I got your number from_____. You are being questioned by Israeli authorities, I understand.

Sandra tamari: They are threatening to deport me. uS official: Are you Jewish?

Sandra tamari: No. uS official: Have you been in contact with the Israeli government or military before?

Sandra tamari: No. uS official: Have you been here before?

Sandra tamari: Yes, several times. I am a Palestinian with family in the West Bank. uS official: Oh, you have family in the West Bank. Then there is nothing I can do to help you. In fact, if I interceded on your behalf, it will hurt your case with the Israelis.

Sandra tamari: I don’t understand. You are saying you can’t speak with them. You have no influence.

They are demanding to access my Gmail account. uS official: If they have your Gmail address, they can get in without your password.

Sandra tamari: What do you mean? How? uS official: They’re good!

Sandra tamari: This is crazy.

You mean you know about these requests to access emails and you have no problem with it. uS official: It is in our travel warning. They won’t harm you.

You will be sent home on the next flight out...

This story is infuriating on many levels. Israeli treatment of Americans of Arab descent is demeaning and disgraceful – though it pales in comparison with the daily humiliation endured by Palestinians at checkpoints and borders. More disturbing is the acceptance of this behaviour and the cavalier disregard some American officials have displayed to these violations of the rights of their own citizens.

I have been dealing with issues of this sort for 35 years. And I have, myself, been personally subjected to hours of frustrating and humiliating interrogations by Israeli officials.

Since the 1970s we have logged with the State Department the complaints of hundreds of American citizens of Arab descent traveling to or within Israel and the Occupied Territories who were detained for hours of humiliating questioning; denied entry, turned away at airports and made to buy tickets to return home; forced to surrender their American passports and to secure, against their will, a Palestinian ID document; denied permission to exit; strip searched; or had property stolen or deliberately destroyed by airport inspectors. The stories are hurtful and have caused great distress to many. There are many Palestinian Americans who, because of their concern with this treatment, have simply stopped going to visit their families.

We have called successive US administrations to task for failing to hold Israel accountable for these behaviours which are in clear violation of their treaty obligations to the US. In the 1951 US-Israel Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, Israel pledges to permit US citizens “to travel freely, to reside at places of their choice; to enjoy liberty of conscience” and guarantees them “the most constant protection and security”.

We have also questioned why American officials have failed to deliver on the assurance implied on the opening page of every US passport: “The Secretary of State of the United States of America hereby requests all whom it may concern to permit the citizen/national of the United States named herein to pass without delay

or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful aid and protection.”

Sadly, instead of protecting its citizens, the US has all too often feigned powerlessness, thus enabling Israel to continue to violate the rights of Arab Americans with impunity.

This is unconscionable since it relegates Arab Americans to the status of second class citizens.

Does the US “special relationship” with Israel cancel out the right of American citizens of Arab descent to equal protection by their own government? From the comments of the US official to Ms Tamari, that would appear to be the case. The “travel warning” he pointed out to her specifically notes that “US citizens with Arabic or Muslim names, those born in Muslim or Middle Eastern countries “can be expected to be treated differently by “Israeli border authorities”. To understand just how infuriating this warning is, substitute “Jewish” for “Arabic” and “Jordanian border authorities” for “Israeli border authorities”. Then ask yourself what the reaction of the State Department and Congress would be if that were the case? Would they merely issue a “warning” or “advisory” to American Jews – as if this behavior were some “act of nature” to be lamented but accepted? And yet this is exactly what happened to Sandra Tamari and it is what has happened repeatedly for decades to countless other Arab Americans traveling to and within Israel and the Occupied Territories.

I have been assured by many Secretaries of State that there is but one class of US citizenship, that our rights, as Arab Americans, will be protected and that this matter will be taken up with Israeli authorities.

They have done so and yet the systematic discrimination against and harassment of Americans of Arab descent by the State of Israel not only persists, it has worsened.

This is because after the initial protest is ignored by Israel, our government shrugs its shoulders as if to say “there is nothing more we can do”. Well there is something more they can do. They just either cannot or will not muster the political courage to protect the rights of my community when Israel is involved.

And they admit as much with their pathetic travel warning.

The writer is President of the Arab-American Institute.

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wednesday, 20 June, 2012

KATY PERRY

IN LIMELIGHT

smacks Prince Charming in 'Wide Awake' LOS ANGELES

K

aGenCies

ATY Perry’s latest single, ‘Wide Awake’, is certainly pop delight, even if its lyrics are generic and could easily apply to nearly anyone’s life or situation. But Perry claims the video

for the song — which she’s using to promote her 3D movie, ‘Part of Me’— is nothing short of autobiographical and explains the journey she’s been on for the last two years. “It’s kind of like the labyrinth of my life in the last two years,” Perry said of the video. “I just wanted to tell a story about myself kind of going through this journey, maybe sometimes

SINGAPORE afp

Panasonic’s first Android-based computer tablet designed for tough environments such as battlefields was unveiled Tuesday at a major regional telecom fair

in Singapore. It was the first time the “Panasonic Toughpad A1” was showcased in Asia, where company officials said there is a huge demand for such a rugged device. It has already previewed in the United States and production will start later this year, company executives

said. Satoshi Mizobata, a director at Panasonic’s Toughbook Asia Pacific Group, said the device is the firm’s first rugged tablet computer using the Android operating system. Previous Panasonic “toughpads” use Windows. “It’s military-type,” Mizobata told AFP at the Panasonic booth at the CommunicAsia telecom trade expo that opened Tuesday. “It is water-proof, dust-proof and shock-proof.” The device weighs 0.97 kilogrammes and its 10.1-inch LCD display allows the user to read even under the sun while it is tough enough to withstand being dropped from a height of four feet (1.21 metres). It also has a nine-hour battery life. Amos Tio, Southeast Asia general manager for Toughbook Asia Pacific Group, said the gadget will launch in the region in September and in the United States in August. The rugged tablets are popular in industries such as defence, utilities and construction, as well as by workers in Asia’s vast palm oil plantations, company executives said.

GISELE BUNdCHEN is world’s highest-paid model neW york: gisele bundchen is the world’s highestpaid model, according to forbes magazine. the 31-year-old brazilian bombshell who is married to new england Patriots quarterback tom brady, earned an estimated $45 million in the past year, thanks to contracts with esprit, Pantene and Versace, amongst others. british supermodel Kate moss is a distant second on the forbes list with estimated earnings of $9.2 million between may 2011 and may 2012. russian natalia Vodianova is third with $8.6 million. the top ten highest-paid models raked in a combined total of just under $100 million. bundchen and brady were also named forbes‘ highest-paid celebrity couple last august, with brady bringing home $31 million worth of bacon. brady signed a $72 million fouryear contract with the Patriots in September 2010. aGenCies

LAHORE: An exhibition showcasing summer designs from Zara, H&M, Mango, Promod, Bershka and XXI was held at Coffee Planet.

1

Photos by Murtaza ali.

Panasonic’s first android-based ‘toughpad’ unveiled in asia

trying to get out of the maze. There’s good parts, there’s bad parts, and the whole time there’s the younger version of me leading me through.” Naturally, Perry referenced the struggle that’s outlined in ‘Wide Awake’, and alluded to the fact that much of the song describes her feelings about her recent divorce from comedian Russell Brand. “Of course there’s been a lot of things that went on last year that I had to get through and overcome and obstacles that I had to, you know, go through,” Perry explained.

“I think what kept me going is just, like, the purity of my belief in music and my love for music.” Whether or not you buy into the platitudes that Perry is selling — sure, she’s had a rough year, as a divorce is a disaster for anyone — the video for ‘Wide Awake’ seems to be just what her fans might want from her at this point in time. There’s a fantastical, whimsical vibe to it that finds Perry teaming up with her own self as a child.

There’s a genius moment where the princess-esque Perry emerges from darkness to find Prince Charming — and she promptly smacks him. The only thing that would have made the moment better was if the guy had looked a little bit more like Russell Brand. You just know that’s who she was envisioning when she smacked the guy.

1 mUmbai: naseeruddin Shah, neha dhupia and Sonu Sood pose for a photo during the music launch of their film ‘maximum’. afP 2 loS angeleS: Steve carell arrives for the premiere of ‘Seeking a friend for the end of the world’. afP 3 loS angeleS: Keira Knightley arrives for the premiere of ‘Seeking a friend for the end of the world’. afP

3

Will it be third time lucky for

George Clooney

ATIQA OdHO?

to produce another play-based movie

neWs Desk: the ravishing 44 year-old Pakistani actress atiqa odho is going to marry for the third time. atiqa odho will tie the knot with famous architect Samar ali very soon in Karachi. the details of the wedding ceremony of atiqa odho and Samar ali have been kept very secret and will be attended by close friends and family only. the venue is also not disclosed yet. it will be the third marriage for atiqa odho whereas the second for Samar ali. they both also belong to two different political parties. atiqa odho is a member of all Pakistan muslim league whereas Samar ali is member of the Pakistan tehreek-e-insaaf.

ISB 20-06-2012_Layout 1 6/20/2012 5:20 AM Page 15

15 Porn as old as 28,000 years!

E

NEWS DESK

XPLICIT scenes depicted in Australia’s cave paintings dating back 28,000 years have proved that pornography is certainly not a modern thing.

Archeologists have found a series of drawings on the roof of caves in the inaccessible wilderness in Arnhem Land, in the country’s north, which clearly shows a couple having sex.

Other sections of the wide-ranging artwork in white and red shows other figures engaged in some form of prehistoric porn, the Daily Mail reported. Archeologist Bryce Barker, a professor at the University of Southern Queensland, said that irrespective of the rather racy subject matter above - it’s what he and his team have been finding underneath the erotic art that ranked among rock art sites such as France’s Chauvet caves, dated at older than 30,000 years, and caves in northern Spain now thought to be 40,000 years old. One section of artwork they have excavated, a stone with patterns drawn in charcoal, has been dated to 28,000 years old making it one of the oldest artworks in the world. “One of the things that makes this little fragment of art unique is that it is drawn in charcoal, which means we could directly date it. The fact remains that any rock art

WASHINGTON aGenCies

that is older than 20,000 years is very unique around the world,” Barker said. “It is amongst some of the oldest art in the world. And we’re convinced that we’ll find even older art and the reason is that the site this comes from, we know that Aboriginal people started using it 45,000 years ago,” he added.

The find was made at a massive rock shelter named Narwala Gabarnmang, which is covered on its ceiling and pillars with rock art, and only accessible by a 90-minute helicopter journey from the outback town of Katherine. Archaeologists were first taken to the site five years ago by its Aboriginal custodians, the

Jawoyn, who wanted to preserve the art and at the same time unlock some of the secrets of its history.

“We’ve only excavated a tiny fraction of the site and we expect there will be art older than 28,000 years in the site,” Barker said. He added that the fragment, which likely fell from the rock’s ceiling shortly after it was drawn and therefore preserved in the soil, could have been part of a human figure drawn in action, such as throwing a spear.

Aboriginal rock art is dotted throughout the vast nation, much of it undocumented, and some have speculated that the images could date back 45,000 years.

Students left in ‘mass hypnosis’ after demonstration goes awry NEWS DESK

2 los anGeles: actor george clooney will produce movie adaptation of the award winning play ‘august: osage county’ along with business partner grant heslov. tracy letts' play won the tony award and its movie version will see meryl Streep and Julia roberts as mother and daughter, reports contactmusic. the movie will be directed

by John wells. clooney and heslov have previously tasted success with the movie ‘the ides of march’, which was an adaptation of willimon's 2008 play ‘farragut north’. aGenCies

A group of young students at an all girls school were left in "mass hypnosis" after a demonstration from a fledging hypnotist reportedly left them locked in a trance.

Maxime Nadeau was forced to call on his mentor for assistance after the hypnotist could not reverse the condition of several 12 and 13year-old girls at the Collège du Sacré-Coeur private school in Quebec. One of the girls was re-

KAREENA OUT, Deepika steps in as Emraan's new heroine MuMbai: So who's afraid of emraan hashmi? not deepika Padukone, who has reportedly given her nod to the ambitious ekta Kapoor- Karan Johar venture. dippy in fact picks up where Kareena had left off. despite agreeing to do the film when it was first announced, Kareena had politely bowed out when it became obvious that emraan would be playing the male lead. though no official reason was ever cited for her walkout, it has been rumoured that bebo was not comfortable sharing screen space with hashmi, who is fast gaining currency as one of the most unlikely heroes. dippy however seems to have no such qualms. if at all, she seems to be keen on getting out of her comfort zone. a source close to the balaji-dharma project revealed, "it is strange Kareena was not happy with her role. She also told ekta and Karan that her wedding would be around the same time they wanted to start shooting for the film. it's a heroine-oriented film and emraan is not the mainstay of the project. deepika was so excited about her role that she agreed to it a couple of days before boarding the flight to turkey, where she is currently shooting for ‘race 2’." according to the source, later, Kareena had a change of heart and expressed a wish to return to the project. but it was too late by then. "it would have been unethical to show deepika the door then. moreover, they were unanimous in their opinion that deepika could pull off the role as efficiently as Kareena would have." aGenCies

White House forgets to pay Father’s Day lunch tab

portedly left in a trance for five hours. "Being in a trance is a state of well-being," Nadeau told said.

"I wasn't stressed. I knew they would get out of it." Still, Nadeau eventually called in his mentor and trainer Richard Whitbread to reverse the effects. "There were a couple of students who had their heads lying on the table and there were others who, you could tell, were in trance," Whitbread said.

"The eyes were open and there was nobody home." In order to re-

verse the effect, Whitbread says he convinced the girls he was "rehypnotising" them and them brought them out of the trance "using a stern voice." "I don't know how to explain it. It's like you're no longer there," student Émilie Bertrand told the CBC about her experience. "You're spaced out." Interestingly, Whitbread said the girls may have been especially vulnerable to Nadeau's suggestions because of his young age and "good looks."

Amid the bustle of President Obama’s surprise stop for barbecue Wednesday the White House apparently overlooked one key detail: the bill. Celebrating Father’s Day early, the president had lunch with two service members and two local barbers at Kenny’s BBQ on Capitol Hill. As the group chatted about fatherhood, the president enjoyed a steaming plate of pork ribs with hot sauce, collard greens, red beans and rice and cornbread. The bill for the president and his four guests was $55.58, but was left unpaid at the point of sale, according to pool reports. The White House corrected the oversight and settled up the tab by the end of the business day.

Man freaks out over not getting a manicure NEWS DESK When Charles Swinney flipped out after he couldn't get a mani-pedi, he got nailed by police. One of the customers at Asian Nails in Mentor, Ohio said Swinney came into the salon demanding service. The salon was about to close, employees told Swinney to come back later. "He went to every technician saying I need a pedicure -- I need a pedicure," said Dionna Logarde.

"After he left me he walked to his duffel bag and started riffling through it. I didn't want to wait and see what he was going to pull out." Inside Swinney's bag were wads of cash. He offered handfuls of bills to anyone who would help him cross off getting his nails done from his bucket list. Police were unsure why the spa treatment seemed urgent to 43-year-old Swinney. "He's not dying that I know of," Mentor Police Lt. Tim Allen said. He might not be dying, but Allen said Swinney did admit to police that he downed 12 beers before going to the salon. Swinney was given a 90-day jail sentence with all but two days suspended.

‘TERI MERI KAHANI’S sequel on the anvil? neWs Desk: filmmaker Kunal Kohli, who is looking forward to the release of ‘teri meri Kahani’ next week, says he might come up with a sequel to the love story if it becomes a hit. ‘teri meri Kahaani’ featuring Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka chopra is set in three periods 1910, 1960 and 2012. "with all your love and support if ‘teri meri Kahani’ turns out to be a superhit then we will have four periods in part two of the film," Kohli said at a promotional event. among three eras depicted in ‘teri meri Kahani’, the first saga unfolds in lahore in 1910 where Priyanka plays a Punjabi girl aradhana in love with a muslim boy Javed, played by Shahid. in the 1960 story, Shahid plays a struggling music director in mumbai who falls in love with a successful actress. in 2012, they again fall in love as radha and Krish, this time in england. the chemistry of Shahid and Priyanka in this film has become the talk of the town after the duo shared the screen space in ‘Kaminey’. ‘teri meri Kahani’ is set to release on June 22 and is distributed by imgc global in Pakistan and Pr is handled by encyclomedia Pr.

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16 Foreign News

wednesday, 20 June, 2012

eU launches strategy to fight human trafficking BRUSSELS afp

The European Commission launched a strategy Tuesday to combat the trafficking of hundreds of thousands of adults and children who are sold for sex, servitude or other crimes. While police across Europe say the smuggling of humans is on the rise, the number of convictions in trafficking cases has decreased in recent years, from 1,500 in 2008 to 1,250 in 2010, the EU’s executive said.

“This is a real scandal,” European Union Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstroem said as she presented 40 new measures to battle the scourge.

“Unfortunately slavery hasn’t yet been left to the history books. It is appalling to see that in our times human beings are still being put up for sale and being trafficked into forced labour or prostitution,” she said.

The commission’s five-year strategy includes the creation of national law enforcement units specialised in human trafficking and joint European investigation teams to prosecute cross-border cases. An estimated 20.9 million people, including 5.5 million children, are exploited for labour and sex worldwide, according to the International Labour Organization.

cinera: Spanish miners fire homemade rockets towards Spanish civil guards on tuesday. Spanish coal miners burned tyres and blocked roads during a mass strike to protest against subsidy cuts that they say threaten tens of thousands of jobs. AFP

Threat to ‘web of life’ imperils humans, UN summit told RIO DE JANEIRO

A

afp

feared mass extinction of wildlife also endangers billions of humans who depend on them for food and livelihood, according to a new assessment of species loss issued Tuesday at the Rio+20 conference.

Experts presented a grim tableau of the planet’s biodiversity as world leaders were to arrive for a three-day summit on Earth’s environmental problems and enduring poverty. Out of 63,837 species assessed, 19,817 run the risk of following the dodo, they said.

At threat are 41 percent of amphibian species, 33 percent of reef-building corals, 25 percent of mammals, 20 percent of plants and 13 percent of birds, the update of the prestigious “Red List” said.

Many are essential for humans, pro-

viding food and work and a gene pool for better crops and new medicines, it said.

The findings are “a clarion call to world leaders gathering in Rio to secure the web of life on this planet,” said Julia Marton-Lefevre, head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which compiles the benchmark.

“Eighty percent of our calorie intake comes from 12 plant species,” said Professor Stephen Hopper, head of Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, London.

“If we care about the food we eat, and the medicines we use, we must act to conserve our medicinal plants and our crop wild relatives.”

Around 100 heads of state and government are expected to attend the summit-level part of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, starting in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.

Widely respected, the Red List looks in detail at a small fraction of the

world’s known species in order to get a benchmark of biodiversity health.

UN members pledged under the Millennium Development Goals to brake the rate of loss in species by 2010, but fell badly short of the mark.

After this failure, they set a “strategic plan for biodiversity” under which they vowed to prevent the extinction of “most known species.” The Red List assigns surveyed species to one of eight categories.

Out of 63,837 species it assessed for its update, 27,937 were in the “of least concern” category or were “near threatened,” and 255 were considered at “lower risk.” Another 3,947 were critically endangered, 5,766 were endangered and 10,104 were vulnerable, making a total of 19,817 species at threat.

Sixty-three species have become extinct in the wild and 801 have become completely wiped out. The remaining 10,497 species in the survey lacked data

to make a judgment. An American river mollusk called the ovate club shell is among four species that have sadly joined the list of the extinct, according to the Red List experts. The good news, though, is that two species, including an amphibian called the hula painted frog (Discoglossus nigriventer), which is only found in Israel’s Lake Hula marshes, have been rediscovered.

Species loss is often the result of habitat destruction. But invasive species and, increasingly, the suspected impact of climate change, are also factors.

The report placed the spotlight on reckless exploitation of oceans, lakes and rivers. “In some parts of the world up to 90 percent of coastal populations obtain much of their food and earn their primary income through fishing; yet over-fishing has reduced some commercial fish stocks by over 90 percent,” the IUCN warned.

turkish feminists fight bill to curb abortion rights ISTANBUL afp

Thousands of feminists and activists sent a petition to several Turkish government ministries on Tuesday to protest a bill that would ban abortions beyond the first six weeks of pregnancy.

“To prohibit abortion or introduce limits making it de facto impossible violates women’s right to health and life,” reads the petition, signed by 55,000 people and 900 organisations. The bill is “a new display of conservative policies that do not regard women as equal” to men, it says.

The legislation proposed by the ruling Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) would require all abortions to take place between the fourth and sixth weeks of pregnancy, down from the current 10. Some 50 activists rallied at the Istanbul post office where they mailed the petition, waving placards reading “AKP, Get Your Hands Off My Body” and “Abortion Is not a Crime, Banning It Is”.

asian leapfrogs hispanic immigration to US: study WASHINGTON afp

Indian father beheads daughter over ‘affairs’ JAIPUR afp

An Indian father cut off his daughter’s head and paraded it around his village after becoming enraged over her relationships with men, police in the western state of Rajasthan said Tuesday.

Oghad Singh, a marble mine worker, used a sword to behead his 22year-old daughter Manju, who was married three years ago but had become estranged from her husband.

“The accused was disturbed with his daughter’s extra-marital affairs so he took this extreme step,” Rahul Katkey, superintendent of police in Rajsamand district, 330 kilometres (200 miles) from Jaipur, told AFP by telephone.

Singh walked out of his home on Sunday evening holding his daughter’s

head in one hand and the bloodied sword in the other before a neighbour persuaded him to give himself up in the remote village of Doongar Ji Ka Gurha.

Police said that in his statement Singh said he had repeatedly pleaded with her to end her affairs and stay at home, and that he showed no remorse after killing her.

Katkey said Singh, who was immediately arrested, told officers that he had murdered his daughter in a fit of anger as she was “causing insult to him in society”.

In another case in the western Indian state of Gujarat, a father burnt alive his 20-year-old daughter because she had eloped with her boyfriend, the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency reported on Tuesday.

london: former bbc world Service presenter dave lee travis kisses the hand of myanmar democracy icon aung San Suu Kyi during her visit to bbc broadcasting house on the first day of a four-day visit to britain on tuesday. AFP

Asians recently passed Hispanics as the largest group of new immigrants to the United States, according to a survey Tuesday predicting a demographic trend bringing powerful economic, social and political changes.

The survey by the Pew Research Center found that the ranking switch of the two largest groups of newcomers to the United States started in 2009.

It said the change is largely due to declining numbers of people arriving from Mexico, the source of more US immigrants than any other country, amid weakness in the US job market and a crackdown on illegal immigration. At the same time, the number of Asians arrivals has remained steady or increased slightly.

The study found that Asians are three times more likely to be admitted on work visas, and 61 percent of adult Asian immigrants (over 25 years old) in recent years had at least’s a bachelor’s degree, double the share of other arrivals, making them “the most highly educated cohort of immigrants in US history.”

Pew also estimates that 13 to 15 percent of Asian immigrants are undocumented, versus 45 percent of Hispanic immigrants.

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UN to weigh mission in Syria, civilians trapped DAMASCUS

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he UN Security Council was to examine the future of its observer mission in violence-wracked Syria on Tuesday as civilians remained pinned down by regime shelling of rebel strongholds.

The mission’s leader Major General Robert Mood, whose 300 unarmed monitors suspended operations on Saturday because of escalating bloodshed, was to brief the Security Council.

More than 3,300 people have been killed in violence across Syria since the observers were deployed in the strife-torn country in mid-April. Their 90-day initial

mandate runs out on July 20.

With civilians trapped by regime shelling of rebel bastions such as the central city of Homs, Mood has urged the government and opposition to let “women, children, the elderly and the injured to leave conflict zones.”

And UN rights chief Navi Pillay has demanded a halt to government bombardment of populated areas. “Such actions amount to crimes against humanity and possible war crimes,” Pillay told the UN Human Rights Council.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 1,000 families are stranded in Homs, while the opposition Syrian National Council says Homs is under siege by thousands of soldiers and pro-regime militiamen.

The authorities on Tuesday said they had been working for the past week in coordination with the UN observers to arrange an evacuation but charged that “armed terrorist groups” were keeping civilians hostage.

They also urged “all those who can press the armed groups not to target innocent civilians” accusing the gunmen of using the civilians as “human shields.”

Latest fighting between rebels and soldiers was centred on the Homs district of Baba Amr, which the regime captured in March, the Observatory said, adding that columns of black smoke were seen above the area and a pipeline blasted.

It said one soldier was killed and reported “intermittent shelling” of several neighbourhoods of the flashpoint city,

while a civilian was shot dead overnight in the northern city of Aleppo during an anti-regime demonstration.

The Britain-based watchdog also reported similar clashes in the Idlib region near the border with Turkey where the army was using tankfire.

Government troops shelled the northern Damascus suburb of Douma, killing five people, and pounded the Qalamun district of the province, the watchdog said, as at least 14 people were killed across Syria on Tuesday. US President Barack Obama and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday called for an “immediate cessation of all violence.”

“In order to stop the bloodshed in Syria, we call for an immediate cessation of all violence,” the two leaders said

in a statement after meeting on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Putin told reporters that he and Obama had found “many common points” on the 15-month-old uprising against President Bashar al-Assad that monitors say has cost more than 14,400 lives.

But there was little sign they had agreed on concrete means to end the conflict, following US frustration at Russia’s blocking of Security Council moves against Assad.

Washington, London and Paris are working on a new UN Council resolution in which they want to threaten sanctions against Assad. But Russia, Syria’s main international ally, and China have already previously blocked two resolutions.

french court agrees permit for marseille mosque MARSEILLE afp

An appeals court granted permission Tuesday for the building of a multimillion-euro mosque in the city of Marseille that has been touted as a symbol of Islam’s growing place in France.

The court overturned an October ruling by Marseille’s administrative tribunal that cancelled the project’s construction permit for supposed failures to meet urban-planning requirements.

A community association led by a local butcher had filed a complaint against the building permit, saying the mosque project did not fit with the surrounding urban environment.

The project was granted a permit in September 2009 but construction was suspended following complaints from local residents and businesses.

The 22-million-euro ($28-million) project would see the Grand Mosque, boasting a minaret soaring 25-metres (82-feet) high and room for up to 7,000 worshippers, built in the city’s northern Saint-Louis area.

Muslim leaders in the Mediterranean city had hailed the approval of the project as a key step in recognising the importance of Marseille’s large Muslim community.

cairo: egyptian men enter into a heated political debate outside the heavily-guarded parliament on tuesday after the Supreme council of the armed forces issued a constitutional declaration on June 17, claiming legislative power after a constitutional court ruling ordered parliament dissolved. AFP

hamas militants fire rockets at Israel after strikes kill 6 GAZA CITY afp

The armed wing of Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement on Tuesday said it fired 10 Grad rockets at Israel in a rare show of force after three Israeli air strikes killed six Palestinians.

The claim came shortly after Israel Tuesday afternoon staged another air strike over Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, injuring two men on a motorcycle, one of them critically, medics said.

Such fire by the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, which generally maintains a tacit truce with Israel, is very rare.

“This is our answer to the Zionist crimes. It will continue if they carry out

more strikes on Gaza,” a statement said, with a spokesman confirming it was the first time they had fired such longerrange rockets at Israel since April 2011.

The Israeli military confirmed that 11 rockets had hit southern Israel since midnight, but could not say whether all of them were Grads. Another three rockets were fired on Monday.

A military spokesman also confirmed there was “a targeted strike” on Deir al-Balah but did not have any further information about the target.

Army figures show that since the start of 2012, Gaza militants have fired more than 290 rockets into Israel.

Earlier Tuesday, the bodies of two Palestinian teenagers were recovered by

medics after an early morning air strike, also in Deir al-Balah.

This raised to six the number of Palestinians killed in a series of Israeli strikes since Monday, all carried out just hours after a deadly ambush along Israel’s southern border with Egypt.

Israel has said the sudden spike — three deadly air raids in just over 12 hours — was “in no way related” to the border incident, with the military saying the air force targeted militants planning or engaged in anti-Israeli attacks. The overnight strike which killed two 17year-old youths took place shortly after midnight but their bodies were only recovered after dawn “when an ambulance could get to the scene,” medics told AFP.

Hospital staff named the pair as Mohammed Bassem Abu Mealiq and Yusef al-Talbani. Witnesses said they had been trying to breach the fence bordering Israel when they were hit. The military said it had targeted “a terrorist squad handling an explosive device” near the security fence in central Gaza.

On Monday, four Palestinians were killed in two Israeli sorties over Beit Hanun in northern Gaza that also wounded three other people, medics said. One of those killed was identified by the Qassam Brigades as one of its militants: 23-year-old Jihad Abu Shbab.

The second victim, Mohammed al-Zaanin, 25, was not affiliated with any armed faction.

Iran, world powers struggle to end nuclear stalemate MOSCOW afp

Iran and world powers on Tuesday failed to make headway in a second day of bruising talks in Moscow aimed at breaking an increasingly risky deadlock in the crisis over Tehran’s nuclear drive.

With the United States and Israel refusing to rule out military action and Tehran facing severe economic sanctions, the price of failure in the Russian capital could be high but there was no sign of progress after five hours of talks.

Negotiators from the six world powers asked Iran to scale back its enrichment of uranium, a process which can be used to make nuclear fuel but also the explosive core of a nuclear bomb.

But Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili appeared more interested in winning a pledge from the world powers guaranteeing its right to uranium enrichment and the two sides were increasingly talking at cross purposes.

“We believe we are at a crossroads.

And today the opposite side has to choose a path,” said a member of the Iranian delegation, asking not to be named.

“One direction is an exit from the deadlock that has existed for the last 10 years. We have been fully transparent about the detailed steps needed to take this path.” The diplomat complained that the world powers’ responses in talks the day earlier had been “superficial” but did not give any comment on the progress of negotiations so far Tuesday.

The two sides opened their first plenary session after the Iranian team had bilateral discussions in the morning with the Russian delegation and the world powers held their own internal meeting to coordinate strategy.

After a pause for lunch and prayers, a new plenary session started in the afternoon. The Russian host delegation and Jalili’s team then held another bilateral meeting — whose purpose was not explained — in his hotel room. With time running out to make progress in the twoday Moscow round, Iranian media speculated that a new session of talks could be held at a different venue in the next weeks, possibly Beijing or Astana.

“It is possible that the talks be resumed between the two sides in another

place, another time,” an Iranian source told the state IRNA news agency.

The world powers are the so-called “P5+1” — permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany — with their negotiating team led by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

EU delegation spokesman Michael Mann said that world powers had on Monday repeated the demand at the last session of talks in Baghdad last month that Iran stops enriching uranium to 20 percent, a degree approaching the level required in nuclear weapons.

The Islamic Republic however “brought up lots of questions and wellknown positions, including past grievances,” he added.

tymoshenko faces murder charge: Ukraine prosecutor KIEV afp

The legal problems of Ukraine’s jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko mounted on Tuesday after a top prosecutor said he was planning to charge her over the murder of a lawmaker in 1996.

Deputy Prosecutor General Renat Kuzmin said in a newspaper interview the only obstacle in the way of charging was Tymoshenko’s current hospitalisation for severe back pains but expressed confidence the case would come to court.

Ukrainian MP Yevgen Shcherban was gunned down along with his wife at Donetsk airport in 1996 in a contract killing the Ukrainian legal authorities have also linked to ex-prime minister and former Tymoshenko ally Pavlo Lazarenko.

“We have enough proof confirming Tymoshenko’s implication in this murder and we are intending to present her with charges,” Kuzmin told the Ukrainian edition of Kommersant in comments published on Monday.

“We have enough information confirming her interest in the removal of Shcherban, there is information confirming the transfer of money from accounts that she controls, there is direct testimony from witnesses who say she was the organiser and financier of the murder,” he added.

He said that Shcherban had been in conflict with Tymoshenko who at the time headed a major gas utility United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU) and had been to persuade businesses in his Donetsk region to buy its energy resources.

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balotelli magic gets italy place in quarters Page 21

Need to start Test series afresh: Misbah LAHORE

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OOKING forward to the upcoming Test series, Pakistani skipper, Misbah-ul-Haq, wants his side to forget about the disappointment suffered during the recently concluded ODI series against Sri Lanka, where his side was defeated by a 3-1 margin.

According to a website, the Men in Green have endured a patchy time on their travels to the Lankan Island where they came unstuck against a resolute host. While their record going into the tour was impressive, and the early signs depicted that, their inability to shore up their batting and fielding eventually cost them dearly.

After losing the opening match of the tour, T20, the visitors fought back to draw the series, courtesy of an all-round performance by Shahid Afridi. The limited-overs series began promisingly, owing to the team’s bowlers, who kept the Lankans to a minimal score.

However, their batting frailties flared up in the recent matches, which eventually saw the local side take a 2-1 lead after four matches (third ODI was a washed out affair). Going into the final onedayer, the tourist’s batters showed significant improvement but were undone by some lacklustre fielding display, which were duly capitalized upon by a resurgent Lankan side, headed by Mahela Jayawardene. With the focus now shifting on the Test series, which begins at Galle on June 22, Misbah was keen to move on from the ODI debacles. The Green Shirts have an impressive record in the longer version over the past 12 months, where they have defeated the likes of Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and most recently England, the no.1 ranked Test side in the world, whom they inflicted a 3-0 whitewash at UAE. Their last Test series’ defeat came

wasim ready to train young Pakistani fast bowlers LAHORE

ICC suspends Misbah from Galle Test on over-rate offence LAHORE sTaff reporT

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq has been suspended from this week’s Galle Test after his side was found guilty of a serious over-rate offence during the fifth and last ODI against Sri Lanka at R.Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Monday.

The Pakistan side was ruled to be three overs short of its target at the end of the match when time allowances were taken into consideration.

As this was Pakistan’s first serious over-rate offence in the past 12 months, Chris Broad of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees handed Misbah two suspension points while each of his players received a 40-per-cent fine (10 per cent for each of the first two overs and 20 per cent for the additional over), as required by Appendix 2 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel which deals with minimum over rate requirements, calculations, reporting, disciplinary process and sanctions.

According to Articles 7.4.1 and 7.5.3 of the Code, the imposition of two suspension points means that Misbah will now miss Pakistan’s first Test against Sri Lanka which starts in Galle from Friday, since such suspension points are to be applied to the subsequent international matches in which Misbah is most likely to participate on a chronological basis immediately following the announcement of the decision.

The offence is contrary to Article

2.5.2 of the Code which relates to serious over-rate offences only and reads: “where the actual over rate in any Test Match or any other International Match of at least four days in duration is more than five overs short of the Minimum Over Rate, or, in any One Day International Match, Twenty20 International Match or any

other International Match of fifty (50) or twenty (20) overs per side, is more than two overs short of the Minimum Over Rate, such an offence shall be considered a ‘Serious Over Rate Offence’.”

The charge was laid by on-field umpires Paul Reiffel and the home country umpire Ranmore Martinesz, both from

the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires, as well as third umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge and fourth umpire Nilan de Silva.

Misbah pleaded guilty to the charge and the subsequent penalties were accepted without the need for a formal hearing.

back in 2010, where they lost away to England, suffering a 3-1 drubbing. Having squandered the opportunities so far,

the upcoming bouts will give the visitors a final chance to ensure that they don’t return home empty handed.

"We need to forget about the onedayers and start afresh. We have done well in Test matches in the last two years.

We need to recall those performances and start afresh," said the skipper after the final ODI game.

We handled pressure better in series: jayawardene

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Colombo

Legendary fast bowler, Wasim Akram, has expressed that he is always ready to help the young fast bowlers of his country, if the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) invites him properly.

The 46-year-old is considered to be one of the greatest left-arm fast bowlers to have played the game as he has more than nine hundred wickets at the ultimate level of the sport.

Earlier this month, former Pakistan captain and PCB’s Director of International Cricket, Intikhab Alam, expressed in the media that the board is interested in acquiring the services of the great bowler for a camp for young and upcoming cricketers, which is scheduled to be held later this month in Lahore.

"We hope Wasim will take out some time to mentor the talent as his experience will be very helpful," Alam had said.

Akram, however, claims that he has not been contacted by anyone in the PCB as yet but said that he would love to help out the Pakistani youngsters.

The former Pakistan captain works for an international sports channel and is also the bowling coach of Kolkata Knight Riders, which won the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). This is the reason why Wasim wants PCB to cooperate with him while scheduling the event, so that his other commitments are not hurt. "I have no idea as no one has contacted me from the PCB yet. I’m ready if properly invited. I’d love to work with young talent. I think I can be really helpful but the PCB has to ask me first so that I can work around my schedule," the legendary fast bowler expressed.

aGenCeis

Sri Lanka's first series triumph in 15 months was a credit to its ability to handle pressure against Pakistan, said captain Mahela Jayawardene. Sri Lanka beat Pakistan by two wickets on Monday to wrap up the five-match one-day international series 3-1 with one game abandoned due to rain. The series win was Sri Lanka's first win since beating West Indies at home in February 2011.

Sri Lanka came from behind to win this series, which seemed sure to be Pakistan's in the final game at Premadasa Stadium where the home side was 138-6 and requiring 110 runs to win off 94 deliveries. That's when Angelo Mathews showed composure to lead Sri Lanka over the line. Continue reading below In the fourth ODI on Saturday, Pakistan was 166-2 and required 78 runs from 75 balls, but collapsed losing seven wickets for 13 runs to concede a 2-1 series lead to Sri Lanka. Man of the series Thisara Perera starred with a hat trick.

"We knew we would be put under pressure and I thought throughout the series, all the guys showed a lot of composure in handling situations. That probably was the difference in the series.

The way we handled tough situations than Pakistan was better.

Our fielding standards were much

Sri lanka include mendis in test squad COLOMBO aGenCies

Sri Lanka's cricket selectors included uncapped all-rounder Jeevan Mendis in the 15-man squad to play the first Test against Pakistan starting this weekend. The 29-year-old Mendis has appeared in 20 ODIs and Twenty20 games but is unlikely to make the final XI as the spin department appears to be firmly booked by Rangana Herath and Suraj Randiv.

Thisara Perera, after his heroics in the one-day series where he became the fourth Sri Lankan bowler to achieve an ODI hat-trick, may still find himself left out of the final XI . The first Test starts in the southern port town of Galle on June 22.

SquAD: Mahela Jayawardene (c), Angelo Mathews (v-c), Tillakaratne Dilshan, Tharanga Parnavithana, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Dinesh Chandimal, Prasanna Jayawardene (wk), Chanaka Welagedara, Suraj Randiv, Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara, Nuwan Pradeep, Thisara Perera, Jeevan Mendis. better as well and I am proud about that," Jayawardene said.

In contrast, Pakistan was sloppy in the field in the fifth ODI, dropping two catches, and missing two run outs, plus there were numerous misfields.

"Again there were too many fielding lapses and in my opinion this was the difference. Throughout the series our fielding has hurt us," Pakistan captain Misbah-ulHaq said.

Jayawardene was pleased to end Sri Lanka's dismal run over a 15-month period in which the team suffered four bilateral ODI series losses, lost in the World Cup final, failed to qualify for the

Asia Cup final, and lost the finals of the Australian tri-series. In that period, Sri Lanka also lost four straight test series.

"We had a big challenge against a good side. We worked hard in winning this series," Jayawardene said. "As a captain I am very pleased and we need to move forward from what we have learned. This win means a lot for the team and the country. We have played good cricket and there has been a lot of hard work put in and hopefully we will keep improving and be consistent in all forms of the game," added the captain.

The first of three tests with Pakistan starts on Friday in Galle.

damien duff becomes centurion S.PERVEZ QAISER Damien Duff became Ireland's fifth and 234th player overall to complete a century of international soccer matches.

The European Cup match between Ireland and Italy at Municipal Sradium. Poznan, Poland on Monday (June 18) was 100th international match for the Fulham winger.

Damien Anthony Duff who made his international debut against the Czech Republic on March 25,1998 took 14 years and 86 days to complete the century of international football matches.

The 33-year old winger also led Ireland for the first time in his 100th international match. Ireland Manager Giovanni Trapattoni said that usual skipper Robbie Keane has asked for the wide midfielder to lead out the side against Italy. The Fulham FC player has scored eight goals in his 100 games for Ireland, who finish their EURO 2012 campaign with a 0-2 defeat.

Damien Duff – a hurler, a jockey and a rugby player. Then again, the Fulham FC winger has done so throughout his career.

The winner of two Premier League titles and as many League Cups, his consistent standards reflect the fact that he has appeared in the English top flight for all bar one of his seasons as a professional.

Shay Given (125 matches), Robbie Keane (120 matches), Kevin Kilbane (110 matches), Steve Staunton (102 matches) are the other Ireland players to complete a century of international football matches before Damien Duff who was born on March 2,1979 at Ballyboden, Ireland 100 or More MaTCHes for irelanD player period Matches Goals Shay given 1996-2012 125 robbie Keane 1998-2012 120 53 Kevin Kilbane 1997-2012 110 8 Steve Staunton 1988-2002 102 8 damien duff 1998-2012 100 8

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Sports 19

‘Team need to work on defence’ LAHORE

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SIF Bajwa, Secretary Pakistan Hockey Federation has termed the Pakistan team’s performance in the tour of Europe as unsatisfactory and has called for working on defence to stop conceding goals on penalty corners. “It was not a satisfactory performance in the tour of Europe where we conceded a dozen of goals off the short corners which is an alarming sign and we must address to this issue if we want to achieve some good results in the London Olympics,” he told newsmen here on Tuesday after his return from Europe where he watched all the matches of the team.

Pakistan lost to Belgium 6-1 in the opener and beat Germany 4-3 in the second match. The green shirts were beaten 20 by Germany in third match and managed a 3-3 draw against Holland in the last match of the tour. Bajwa said Pakistan team conceded as many as a dozen of goals in four matches off short t corners which due to errors on part of the entire defence line. Belgium scored four goals off the short corners, Germany struck five goals in two matches and Holland hammered three

goals to highlight flaws in the poor planning of the defenders and the goal keeper Imran Shah. ‘It is one hundred percent penalty corner conversion rate against us which is not acceptable in any way as team’s playing against us in the Olympics will be looking forward to similar scoring opportunities”, said the PHF official.

He said Pak teams needs to re-structure its entire defence while defending a

penalty corner and special drills are needed to stop conceding that high number of goals off the short corners.

Bajwa urged the team management to look into this aspect and must come up with a solution to beef up the defence to deny space to the opponents during penalty corner drills.

Bajwa said the team is in final phase of its training for Olympics and it must lift the

level of its performance before its participation in Olympics, during the last leg of training at home at a training camp to be established at Abbottabad from June 26.

“PHF is concerned about the team’s performance in the back drop of Azlan Shah and European tour and we are aiming to bring improvement to field a balanced team in Olympics to put up a good show” said PHF official.

To a question, he said, the fitness level of layers is at top as they played two back to back events, Azlan Shah and Europe tour as the team played four matches in five days with 12 players as Farid got injured in the first match and three senior players could not accompany the team after not getting visas. Bajwa praised the hard work and spirit of the players , specially junior players in the team and said they have the will and commitment to surge ahead which was a plus point.

To a question, Secretary PHF said they will be receiving the recommendations of the management of the back up camp in a couple of days to know the exact fitness level of the players including Rehan Butt.

Bajw said the final trials for the selection of the teams for Olympics will be held in first week of July and 16-member squad and two reserve players will be named.

hosting odis in extreme Uae heat dangerous for players: aca MuMBAI: Australian players may refuse to play three ODIs' against Pakistan in the extreme heat of UAE in August. Instead, they may insist to play six T20 if the PCB decides to host "home" series in UAE. “At this stage the venue for the series between Pakistan and Australia hasn’t been confirmed, nor has the schedule. We do, however, understand that the preference of both the PCB and CA is to play a six match T20 series in the UAE," Paul Marsh, Australian Cricketer's Association chief said.

“The ACA has genuine concerns about the temperatures in the UAE at the proposed time of this series," he added.

"Our concerns would be reduced if the PCB and CA proposal to play six T20 matches and no ODIs was agreed. Playing ODIs in the expected heat is potentially dangerous to the health and safety of the players of both the teams. T20 matches are obviously shorter in length, can start later at night and therefore the risks to players are lessened."

Former Pakistani Captain Asif Iqbal also expressed the same views. He said that he was stunned to know that PCB is preparing to hold this series in UAE in the months of July, August or September. This will be highly unfair to the players and the spectators. bipin Dani

England seal series win over Windies LonDon: England beat the sCoreboarD West Indies by eight wickets to win the second one-day inter-

garhi KhUda baKhSh: chairman Pakistan cricket board chaudhry zaka ashraf and members of the bog visiting garhi Khuda bakhsh cricket Stadium.

fake club officials creating confusion LAhore: President, Shah Faisal Cricket Club, Amir Ilyas Butt has said that the elections of his club were held last year and now some people are trying to create confusion by introducing themselves as the office-bearers of the club. “It is a very unfortunate situation, harmful not only for our club but also for the cause of club cricket as some selfish individuals are coming up with baseless allegations against us and Lahore Region Cricket Association”, he said in a statement here on Monday. Amir a patron of veteran cricket was elected as President of the club on August 18, 2011 at the general council meeting in place of Asim Raza for five years while Nadim Zafar was elected as the Secretary. He said the negative campaign launched of former president of the club was serving no purpose as people related to club cricket are known to the bitter reality that the club ground was utilized for commercial uses instead of cricket activities. “Lesser cricket activity took place during under the previous regime of the club and ground was used as a marriage garden and after we took over we generated a lot of cricket activity to revive activity in our club”, he said. Amir said some ex office bearers were introducing themselves as the current office-bearers of the club and they are aiming to disrupt the smooth running of our club.

He appealed to the Pakistan Cricket Board, President Lahore Region Cricket Association and President West Zone Cricket Association to look into the matter to take action against fake office-bearers of Shah Faisal Club. sTaff reporT

Summer cricket camp LAhore: The summer camp of cricket for females will start from June 20 at Kinnaird collage cricket ground . According to Ms Nooshin Haneef the camp will start at 2.30 pm to 6.30 pm, from Monday to Saturday. Javed Ali, secretary Lahore Region Cricket Cricket Association the girls will be coached by professionally qualified coaches and for details contact sports office (04237521039) from 10am to 5 pm. sTaff reporT

national at The Oval here on Tuesday and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the threematch series. England, set 239 to win, finished on 239 for two with five overs to spare. Alastair Cook, the England captain, made 112 and shared a firstwicket stand of 122 with Ian Bell (53). Jonathan Trott was 43 not out and Ravi Bopara 19 not out. Earlier Dwayne Bravo top scored for the West Indies with 77 in a total of 238 for nine after they'd collapsed to 79 for four following a blistering fifty from opener Chris Gayle. West Indies were 79 for four, when Bravo was joined

by Kieron Pollard, who made 41, with both batsmen then on nought. However, with England giving Bravo and Pollard a reprieve apiece, the pair shared a fifth-wicket stand of

WesT inDies l. simmons run out (Cook) 12 C. Gayle lbw b swann 53 D. smith c kieswetter b broad 0 13 M. samuels c bresnan b broad 77 D. bravo c bopara b anderson k. pollard c anderson b bresnan 41 D. sammy c Morgan b finn 21 D. ramdin c kieswetter b anderson 2 7 T. best not out 2 s. narine run out (kieswetter) r. rampaul not out 1 extras (lb3, w5, nb1) 9 Total (9 wkts, 50 overs) 238 fall of wickets: 1-63 (Gayle), 2-63 (bravo), 3-79 (simmons), 4-79 (samuels), 5-179 (pollard), 6-220 (sammy), 7-223 (ramdin), 8-232 (bravo), 9-237 (narine) bowling: anderson 10-2-38-2 (1w); finn 10-1-48-1 (3w); bresnan 10-1-54-1 (1w); swann 10-1-49-1; broad 9-0-43-2 (1nb); bopara 1-0-3-0; england 112 a. Cook c simmons b sammy i. bell c Gayle b sammy 53

exactly 100 as the West Indies made 238 for nine. Earlier, opener Gayle made 53 in just 51 balls with five sixes and three fours before he fell lbw to

43 J. Trott not out r. bopara not out 19 extras (lb3, w8, nb1) 12 Total (2 wkts, 45 overs) 239 fall of wickets: 1-122 (bell), 2-203 (Cook) Did not bat: e Morgan, C kieswetter, T bresnan, s broad, G swann, s finn, J anderson bowling: rampaul 7-0-29-0; best 7-1-400 (5w); bravo 4-0-24-0 (1w); narine 10-1-54-0 (1nb, 1w); samuels 1-0-11-0; sammy 10-0-46-2; smith 3-0-22-0 (1w); pollard 3-0-10-0 result: england won by 8 wkts series: england lead three-match series 2-0 remaining fixture Jun 22: 3rd oDi, leeds previous result Jun 16: 1st oDi, southampton: england won by 114 runs (D/l method) Toss: england umpires: Tony Hill (nZl) and rob bailey (enG) TV umpire: kumar Dharmasena (sri) Match referee: Jeff Crowe (nZl)

off-spinner Graeme Swann as England, who won Saturday's opener at Southampton by 114 runs, looked to go 2-0 up in this three-match series. afp

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london: the england and west indies cricket teams line up for a minute's silence in memory of the death of Surrey cricketer tom maynard before the start of their second one-day international at the oval. AFP

maynard family seek privacy after 'devastating' blow

Kvitova, Radwanska out of Eastbourne Fighting Indian players pull out of Olympics doubles

LONDON afp

The family of Tom Maynard asked for privacy on Tuesday following the "devastating blow" they'd suffered after the death of one of English cricket's most promising batsmen at the age of just 23.

Maynard, the son of former Glamorgan and England batsman Matthew Maynard, was killed after being hit by a London Underground train early on Monday morning, the day after playing for Surrey in a 40-over match against Kent.

In a statement issued through the British Transport Police (BTP), his family said: "The Maynard family would like to thank everyone for the many messages of support following Tom's tragic death in London yesterday (Monday) morning.

"As you can appreciate, the news has come as a devastating blow and although the family is grateful for all the kind messages of sympathy, we would ask that we can be left to grieve in private at this very difficult and sad time for us."

Maynard's Surrey team-mate Kevin Pietersen was among several England players who posted their condolences on Twitter on Monday.

"So unbelievably sad!! The Maynard family is so special!! Thoughts are with this special family!! Loads of love guys!! KP xxx ÂŁRIPTom". Tom Maynard had only been with Surrey for 18 months after joining from Glamorgan when the Welsh county sacked his father as their coach. Former England wicket-keeper batsman Alec Stewart was convinced Tom, a batsman for the England Lions, the national A team, could have gone on to the senior side, arguing decent career statistics of 2,384 runs in 48 first-class matches at 32.65 with four hundreds did not reflect the depth of his talent.

PU inter-collegiate final on 20th LAHORE sTaff reporT

The Punjab University Teaching Department will take on Punjab university Hailey Collage of Commerce in the final of the PU Inter-Collegiate Championship on June 20 (Wednesday) at the New Campus ground. DR Professor Mahuid Kamran, Punjab University vice chancellor will be the chief guest of the final match.

NEW DELHI afp

Indian tennis officials on Tuesday criticised two players for refusing to team up with Leander Paes, the country's top doubles seed, at the Olympics.

Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhupathi have both turned down the offer to play with Paes, with the All India Tennis Association (AITA) facing a deadline to name its final pairings by Thursday. Paes and Bhupathi have represented India at four previous Olympics, but fell out in a public row.

Bopanna and Bhupathi want to play together but the AITA said in a statement that it was wrong for them to reject the chance to play with the higher ranked Paes.

"Two players cannot make a pact with each other to keep the number one player out," it said in response to criticism from the sports ministry over the selection dispute. "It would be meaningless to send Leander with a junior player... Leander being the best player must be paired with either Rohan Bopanna or Mahesh Bhupathi." Paes' number seven doubles world ranking gives him direct entry to the London Games and allows him to play with any ranked player.

Bhupathi and Bopanna also make the cut as a team, but if AITA insists on pairing Bhupathi with Paes, then Bopanna cannot make it to the Games with any other Indian player. If Bhupathi and Bopanna combine as a team, Paes would have to play with a lower-ranked and inexperienced player.

roSmalen: belgian tennis player Kim clijsters looks on after playing a return against Ukrainian Kateryna bondarenko during the Unicef open wta/atP tennis. AFP EASTBOURNE

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afp

ETRA Kvitova will kick off the defence of her Wimbledon title next week without a win on grass this year after losing 7-5, 6-4 to Ekaterina Makarova in her opening match here in Eastbourne. The second seed was joined on the sidelines on the English south coast by top seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who lost to Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 6-4.

"I had nothing to lose, so I just tried to play my best game," said Pironkova.

"She's a really tough opponent and is playing unbelievable on grass. "I was just really enjoying it and wanted to show my best tennis - that helped today."

Meanwhile, a stunned Radwanska could offer little insight into her firstround loss.

"It was not my day today, that's for sure," said the Pole. "I've had a lot of matches this year and I'm a bit tired. I was trying everything, but she is playing really well on grass."

Kvitova, the Czech who beat Maria Sharapova in last year's Wimbledon final, was humbled at Devonshire park in 91 minutes by Makarova, who benefited from six Kvitova double-faults and broke the second seed five times.

Russian Makarova's win allowed her to take revenge for a defeat to Kvitova here in the second round a year ago.

Makarova, ranked 48th in the world, won the Eastbourne title in 2010 and was also impressive on grass last week in Birmingham when she reached the semi-finals.

Elsewhere, German fifth seed Angelique Kerber rallied past Elena Vesnina of Russia 3-6, 6-0, 7-5, Czech Klara Zakopalova beat China's Zheng Jie 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 while Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Hsieh Su-Wei as the Taiwan player retired trailing 6-2, 3-0. On the men's side, Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan upset French fifth seed Julien Benneteau 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4).

Belgian Steve Darcis put out Australian Matthew Ebden 6-2, 6-4 and Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan beat Michael Llodra of France 6-4, 6-3.

eaStboUrne: ekaterina makarova of russia returns against Petra Kvitova of the czech republic during their first round women's singles match of the aegon international tennis. AFP

Gambia govt dissolves 21 sports associations BAnJuL: Gambia's sports ministry announced on Tuesday they have dissolved 21 sporting associations for failing to comply with local and international standards. A statement from the ministry said the bodies, including those for volleyball, handball, table tennis, cycling and rugby, were dissolved for "non-conformity with national and international rules, regulations, norms, standards and codes of conduct governing the particular sport". "Any individual or group that deal with these associations mentioned are doing it at their own risk," the statement continued. "The Gambia wants to have very effective national sports associations that will represent the will of the Gambian people, not personal interest." Out of a total of 31 sports associations, only 10 are now allowed to operate in the country, pending what the ministry said was "an inquiry into the dealings of the dissolved associations".

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Sports 21

Balotelli magic gets Italy place in quarters POZNAN aGenCies

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Pak-india series revival need of hour: qadir LAHORE sTaff reporT

Former Pakistan Test cricketer Abdul Qadir has stressed the need to revive the stalled Pak-India cricket series stating that it is imperative to hold the matches on a regular basis.

"Pak-India series is one of the greatest cricket events at international level which has more importance than the Ashes played between arch-rivals England and Australia. The series will help the cricket in many ways, by identifying new stars of the game, lure sponsors and generate the interest of millions of people on both the sides," Qadir said.

"Pak-India cricket events have their own significance to foster relations between the two countries, bringing closer people on both sides. These series should take place on regular basis, no matter Pakistan play in India or India visit Pakistan or both the countries play at a neutral venue," he added. He said it is a positive sign that both the countries are showing seriousness in resuming cricket ties.

"The more Pakistan and India play, the better it will be for the cause of cricket in the sub-continent and will help both the countries remain among the top teams of the world," he said.

ARIO Balotelli served up a moment of magic and mayhem as Italy booked their place in the quarter-finals. The colourful Manchester City striker started on the Azzurri bench but entered the fray determined to prove a point. And when a 90th-minute corner came over, he did just that.

John O’Shea was tight on him, pushing into his back and holding his shirt — but it was not enough to stop the man they call Super Mario.

Falling over and with his back to goal, Balotelli executed a superb volley that left keeper Shay Given with absolutely no chance. Of course it would not be Balotelli if some sort of histrionics did not follow.

He ‘celebrated’ by walking away head down, the victim — evoking memories of his ‘Why always me?’ T-shirt jibe from last season. But suddenly he grew angry and launched a verbal volley in the direction of manager Cesare Prandelli. It was stifled only by quickthinking team-mate Leonardo Bonucci, who clamped his hand around Balotelli’s mouth. In the end there were three of them trying to keep him calm. Even at the final whistle, as Balotelli walked towards the bench, Gianluigi Buffon sensed trouble and stopped him in his tracks.

The 34-year-old keeper quickly hugged the tempestuous 21-year-old and offered some words of advice.The whole incident summed up Balotelli. He has all the skill in the world but loves to make life difficult for himself. He had hardly done much in the first two games to justify his place in the third.

Subbed in the 56th minute against

watch it Live ESPN Sportscentre 07:30PM

ottey, 52, heads to european championship LJUBLJANA afp

Poznan: irish forward Kevin doyle (c) tries to score against italian defender andrea barzagli (r) and italian goalkeeper gianluigi buffon (l) during the euro 2012 football. AFP Spain and 69th against Croatia.

He had also been suffering with a knee problem. Yet he still felt it was an injustice to be on the bench, not coming on until the 74th minute.

Prandelli said afterwards that Balotelli needed to start acting more like a team player rather than thinking only of himself.

How many times could that have been said of him with City last season, with boss Roberto Mancini claiming he was simply not a player he could trust.

Balotelli could be a star of the tournament but we all know there is an equal chance of him going home in disgrace. Ireland, meanwhile, are heading home with little to be proud of — pointless, having conceded nine goals and scored just one.

Striker Robbie Keane said: “It’s a shame the team has not performed as well as we can and we didn’t get a result for the fans, as they have been fantastic for the three games.

“If anyone deserves it, they do. We played well without creating too many chances either and are extremely disappointed not to get something out of the group. “The lads are down but we have been beaten by better teams.

“It was set-pieces again. That’s been the same for the last few games.

It’s one of those things as, in previous games, we have been solid in that department.” Asked whether it was the end of the road for him and some of his team-mates, 31-year-old Keane added: “We’ll have to see.” Republic manager and proud Italian Giovanni Trapattoni was a tad more positive after ending with a gutsy display.

He said: “We played much better than against Spain and Croatia.

“We played with more personality, ability and commitment.”

Led by Damien Duff, who was collecting his 100th cap, the Irish had Italy worried for a tense period during the second half too.

Former Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey, 52, will race next week for her adopted country Slovenia at the European Athletics Championship in Helsinki, Slovenia's athletics federation said Tuesday.

Ottey, who claimed her first Olympic medal at the Moscow Games in 1980 in a distinguished career at 100m and 200m, will be one of six athletes going to Finland for possible inclusion in the 4x100m women's relay team.

It is however seen as unlikely that the former Yugoslav Republic's team will be fast enough to be able to compete in London this summer for what would be Ottey's eighth Olympic Games.

Her many achievements include having attended seven Olympics and winning nine medals although she never managed the dream of gold. Her closest was in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics when she was just beaten by Gail Devers.

Controversy at the 2000 Sydney Olympics over claims she was only included in the Jamaican team because of her name led her to quit and she began competing for Slovenia.

top seeds move into next round of Junior ranking tennis LAHORE sTaff reporT

Nava lifts Spain to top of the group GDANSK aGenCies

Spain's Jesus Navas grabbed a dramatic last-gasp winner to send Spain top of Group C of Euro 2012. But the Spanish fans were left hailing keeper Iker Casillas as their Messiah for a string of saves when a huge shock looked on the cards.

In the end, the Croats crashed out but they came agonisingly close to dumping the reigning champions from the competition. Super sub Jesus Navas pounced for the only goal two minutes from time. But there was no doubting who was the man of the match in the eyes of the Spanish fans as they chanted the name of Captain Marvel Casillas at the whistle. England manager Roy Hodgson will be praying his side now finish top of Group D tonight in a bid to avoid Spain — but even then, that would leave a tough clash with Italy, the runners-up in Group C. Slaven Bilic’s Croatia did show England how to get at Spain. The champions will still be a monstrous prospect of course. But they have problems, mostly of their own making, as boss Vicente del Bosque keeps insisting on playing with-

out a striker. Although he started Fernando Torres last night, the two-goal hero of the win against Ireland was hauled off after just 60 minutes for Jesus Navas, a move that angered his own fans. All the talk of a “fix” came from paranoid Italy — a country whose game is currently beset with match-fixing problems.

There certainly did not appear any signs of collusion — that would have guaranteed both sides passage into the quarter-finals — between two of Europe’s best teams.

Italy had angered both camps by suggesting they would cook up the mutually convenient result to advance at the expense of the Azzurri. A 2-2 draw would have been enough for that to happen and there were many chances for that to happen. Bilic switched his regular 4-4-2 formation to a 4-23-1 shape to stem the passing flow of Spain.

It worked as keeper Stipe Pletikosa only had to make comfortable saves from David Silva and Torres when the Spaniards managed a shot on target.

Xabi Alonso tried from 35 yards and Gerard Pique from 30 yards and that was indicative of how the Spanish were struggling to find a breakthrough.

All the top seeded players of the country participating in the 1st National Junior Tennis Ranking Championship has entered into the pre-quarter-finals here at the PLTA's coaching centre courts on Tuesday. on day two of the event, 13 matches in under-18 category and six in under-14 class were held while the the under12 and under-10 categories matches will be played today. In under14 class, top seedHashim Javed beat Mohamamd Hamza, Humail eat Shahzaib Mir, , Mohamamd Bilal beat Ali Aziz and Nausher Ali beat Ali Zubair.

In under-18, Faisal Aibal beat Waleed Khan, Ahmed Waqas beat Akbar Tiwana, Hashim Khan beat Hamza Akbar, Amad Amer beat Hamza Bin Asi, Saad Noor beat Hashir Farooq, Aram Khan beat Jibran Haider, Emanual Anwar beat Hafiz Sheraz, Abdal Haider beat Abdul Wahab, Hussain Yaqob beat Irfan Azhar, Talha Zubair beat Muzzamil, Ahmed Imran beat Zaka and Mohammad Mudassar beat Subtain Bokhari.

7-a-side Girls Youth School Football concludes KARACHI sTaff reporT

The colorful ceremony of the final competition of “Karachi 7-A side Girls Youth Football School Championship” concluded in Karachi the other day. SMB Fatima Jinnah Girls High School lifted the Karachi 7-A Side Girls Youth School Football Championship trophy after edging out Agha Khan Girls High School Karadar, Karachi in the final played at Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Football Stadium, Karachi. The final was really a treat to watch between two top youth U-16 teams of the event. The match started in a very positive manner and both the teams started to attack each other’s goal post from the beginning. The match ended in the favour of SMB Fatima Jinnah Girls High School 1:0, when Striker Humera netted the ball at 16th minutes of second half.

Syed Khadim Ali Shah, President Sindh

Football Association (SFA) was the chief guest of the final accompanied by Lt. Col. ® Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi TM (I), General Secretary, PFF. Winner Trophy along with Rs. 12,000/- was awarded to SMB Fatima Jinnah Girls High School by chief guest, runner up trophy and Rs. 8, 000/- were given to Agha Khan Girls High School Karadar, Karachi. Infaq Foundation CDSS got third position trophy and Rs. 5, 000/-. Fair play trophy was given to SMB Fatima Jinnah Girls High School. Humera of SMB Fatima Jinnah Girls High School snatched best players’ trophy. Shaheera declared best Goal Keeper with trophy. Lt. Col. ® Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi TM (I), General Secretary, PFF, thanked the Australian Government for their interest in the development of football at youth level in Pakistan. While talking about the Australian Sports Outreach Programme (ASOP), Mr. Lodhi has expressed his deep gratitude for their support which will go a

long way in producing talented football player in Pakistan. This is a highly systematic program to coach our young football players not only theoretically but by also arranging matches between the students of the school.

PFF is taking keen interest for the promotion of football among the women football players by arranging National Woman Championship as well as Women inter club tournament which have given great confidence among the girls. Mr. Lodhi added.

The purpose of ASOP program is to complement larger community development schemes, especially for youth and women worldwide through sport and physical activity. The ASOP is funded by AusAID and managed by Australian Sports Commission (ASC). This event is a part of the Youth Football Development Project in Pakistan being funded by the Australian Sports Commission of Australian Government through its Australian Sports Outreach Program (ASOP).

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Public fury knows no bounds Violent protests intensify against long power cuts in Punjab g three killed, more than 50 injured g

LAHORE/FAISALABAD/MULTAN

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sTaff reporT/aGenCies

HE violence and the protests remained unabated for the fourth day running – if anything their intensity and strength fiercer by a few notches. Like the day before, Tuesday also saw deaths, with three killed in a mob attack on the house of MNA Riaz Fatyana. There were other casualties at some places, their cumulative number reportedly around 50, and arson and tyre-burning was a sight quite common, cutting a vast swathe across Punjab, mirroring the people’s discontent with the federal government’s management of the agonisingly long hours of load shedding at the height of summer for the fifth year on the trot. The mercury’s rise has been relentless, hitting upper end of 40s Celsius, and with it the severity of the crisis has enhanced. So has the temper of a people enraged.

In Islamabad when a beleaguered prime minister who was sent packing by the Supreme Court in the afternoon along with his cabinet, seemed desperate to find a solution in an energy conference, a few miles across on

Rawalpindi’s Murree Road protesters were going berserk, tearing down and burning whatever caught their fancy.

Reports of violent clashes kept pouring in from Faisalabad, Burewala, Gujranwala, Multan, Khanewal, Bahawalpur, Chakwal, Chiniot, Kamalia, Rawat and several other cities and towns on Tuesday. The angry protesters, especially the power loom workers rendered jobless in Faisalabad, continued to pelt stones at vehicles and damaging public and private properties.

In Chakwal, load shedding of up to 22 hours caused a shortage of drinking water.

The situation in Chakwal and Talagang was even worse because of power outages. In Toba Tek Singh, at least three people were killed and several others injured in indiscriminate gunfire by PML-Q MNA Riaz Fatyana’s guards when the enraged people protesting against unusually prolonged duration of load shedding besieged his residence located in Kamalia. The infuriated demonstrators, running berserk after reckless firing by Fatyana’s guards that resulted in three deaths, set six police vans on fire. The situation was so bad that an additional contingent of Elite Force had to be rushed to Kamalia from Toba Tek Singh.

Ministry given 10 days to generate 13,500MW ISLAMABAD aGenCies

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high-level meeting on Tuesday directed the Ministry of Water and Power to increase power generation to 13,500MW during the next 10 days for which the Ministry of Petroleum will supply207 mmcfd of gas to the power sector and ensure requisite fuel supply to power plants.

The Ministry of Finance was directed to provide sufficient funds for the purpose.

It is expected that the power generation will increase by 40 percent from the present level of 10,500MW. It was also

decided to set up a Crisis Management Cell in the Ministry of Water and Power to monitor the situation on a permanent basis to preempt the crisis situation. The cell will work under the supervision of the Cabinet Committee on Energy.

Distribution companies were asked to ensure equitable distribution of electricity, especially to far-flung and the less-developed regions of the country. For the purpose of equitable distribution, it was also decided that the distribution network must ensure transparency so that all the regions of the country get fair share of electricity and equal load shedding.

It was also decided in the meeting that lift irrigation

and agriculture tube wells would continue to be the priority of the government as the major population of the country depended on the sector.

It was also decided that NEPRA will pursue on proactive basis the upfront tariff for the electricity generated by using bagasse. The meeting was informed that the Planning Commission approved a project of 4,000 solar powered tube wells with 50 percent subsidy in the provinces and 100 percent subsidy in Balochistan at a total cost of Rs 13 billion, with a subsidy element of Rs 8 billion.

This will release about 60MW of power for the national grid.

The project, according to the Planning Commission, will commence from July 1.

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

Editor: Arif Nizami, Resident Editor: Rana Qaisar