E-paper Pakistantday 24 December, 2011

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Nawaz ready to eliminate army’s political role

World Bank to provide up to $5.5b to Pakistan

Bells ring out for Velvet revolution icon Vaclav Havel

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PROFIT | PAGE 01

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pakistantoday.com.pk

rs15.00 vol ii no 177 22 pages Karachi edition

Javed Hashmi looks set to join PTI PML-N efforts to keep Hashmi from leaving party fail as he turns down a visit to meet Nawaz at Raiwind

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LAHORE YASIR HABIB

Despite the Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N)’s many reconciliatory efforts, disgruntled central party leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi looks set to join Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaaf (PTI) at its public rally in Karachi on Sunday, December 25.

Unrest ripped through the PML-N camps on Hashmi’s possible departure and tension burgeoned after the enraged leader turned down a visit to Raiwind to meet Nawaz Sharif, repelling

restless efforts launched by the party delegation to mollify him at the residence of Khawaja Saad Rafiq on Friday.

However, suspense remained and climaxed as Hashmi, vice president of the PML-N, left Rafiq’s residence without sharing anything with the media about his political future. Later Rafiq ruled out Hashmi leaving the PML-N. According to sources privy to the development, Hashmi has made up his mind to switch over to Imran Khan’s party. His confirmed ticket to Karachi, Continued on page 04

Apex court questions Haqqani’s resignation if he was not guilty Rejects PM’s reply over contemptuous press conference by incumbent ministers g

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MASOOD REHMAN

With the government and the army facing off, the Supreme Court also jumped in the fray on Friday, throwing its weight behind the democratic system as Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, heading a nine-member larger bench hearing the memo case, made a categorical statement that the question of a military takeover was out of place as the judiciary would never endorse any such unconstitutional step.

The chief justice said gone were the days when unconstitutional governments used to get extensions from the court. “There is no question of a takeover,” the chief justice remarked after Syed Ghous Ali Shah, a petitioner,

There will be no military coup, assures Kayani g

SC will not endorse military takeover ISLAMABAD

saturday, 24 december, 2011 muharram-ul-haram 28, 1433

argued that after the May 2 Abbottabad raid, an impression was created that the army was behind it and wanted to take over the country.

The chief justice also noted that there was no question of any military takeover, adding that after passing a restraining order on November 3, 2007, the court had declared all actions taken by adventure as void and illegal. He said now the constitution prevailed in the country and there was rule of law and supremacy of the constitution, which was a great achievement.

He said there was no authority except the constitution and it would be implemented at all costs. He said everyone, including the army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chiefs and former ambassador Husain

Haqqani, was in favour of the investigation of the memo issue.

“It is because of lawyers, people and parliament that institutions are getting stronger,” the chief justice said, adding that in the Karachi case, the Rangers director general (DG) appeared in court while the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and other political forces also showed trust in the court. He said the constitution would prevail, the system would run and good times would come.

The court also questioned Haqqani’s resignation if he was not guilty. The court noted that four meetings between the top political and military leadership had taken place over Continued on page 04

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Army chief terms speculations an attempt to divert attention from ‘real issues’ Says no compromise on national security ISLAMABAD

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SHAIQ HUSSAIN

day after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani talked about a conspiracy to send his government packing, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani denied plans for a military coup on Friday but said there could be no compromise on national security, clearly suggesting the continuation of the standoff between the government and army over the memo issue.

“Pakistan Army has and will continue to support the democratic process in the country,” General Kayani told troops during a visit to the forward posts in Mohmand Agency and Kurram Agency. Though he assured support Continued on page 04

army, isi have done nothing illegal | page 03

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02 News Today’s

Saturday, 24 December, 2011

LAHoRE

NEWS

WoRLD viEW

Energy-less fort Road food Street still possible?

Haqqani’s plight reflects decline of US-pakistan ties

Why North Koreans cry for Kim Jong Il

Story on Page 08

Story on Page 09

Quick Look

Six months on, Punjab Energy Department yet to spend a penny Department was allocated Rs 9 billion for new power projects in ADP g Energy dept official says six months too short, looking at setting up 3500 MW of projects

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LAHORE

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UMAIR AzIz

HE Punjab Energy Department has not spent even a single penny on any new power generation project, despite a lapse of six months when the new department was created to meet the energy requirements of the province, Pakistan Today has learnt. The 18th amendment empowered provinces to set up own power generation units beyond a production capacity of 50 MW. The Punjab government took a special initiative and created a new Energy Department out of the already established Irrigation and Power Department and earmarked Rs 9 billion for new power generation projects in the Annual Development Plan (ADP) this year. However, the Finance Department has not released even a single penny for any project so far.

NothiNg speNt: A senior Finance Department official said that the Finance Department only releases cash on requests from departments concerned, while the Planning and Development (P&D) department deals with the ADP and so far “we have not received any request for any project from them so far.” A senior P&D official concerned with the matter said they did not have the requisite manpower to compile feasibility reports in the field and the work is being done by the Energy Department. He said the amount mentioned in the ADP was block allocation and not earmarked for specific schemes. P&D sources however revealed that no new proposal has been received from the Energy Department, while work has been underway on five hydel power projects on different canals in the province, but “the projects are funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and these are ongoing projects from previous years and not something new proposed by the Energy Department”. They said the projects would cost Rs 10 billion and generate only 24MW after completion in 2013.

Not much poteNtiAl either? As per details, Punjab consumes 60% of the country’s energy, amounting to almost 9000 MW. Sources further revealed that Punjab did not have much capacity to build power generation units on its own. Sources said the focus of power projects shall be on bio-mass and bio-fuel, with small coal and hydel projects, at a total maximum generation capacity of 600MW combined. Talking to Pakistan Today, Energy Department Additional Secretary Nadeem Mahbub said the department had done a lot of spadework and had issued letters of interest to more than 40 investors from the private sector, which has shown great interest. He said it involved a long process involving the completion of feasibility reports, negotiating tariff with NEPRA and other complexities. “Even by international standards, six months is a very short time in terms of power generation. We have begun working on more than 40 proposals and plan to set up power generation projects producing around 3500MW for Punjab,” Mahbub added.

‘US backs Pak democratic process’ WAshiNgtoN: A day after Premier Yousaf Raza Gilani warned that “conspiracies” were being hatched to “pack up” his government, the United States has said it supports the democratic process in Pakistan. “As we’ve always said, that we support the democratic process in Pakistan,” State Department Spokesman Mark Toner said. The US, Toner said, hopes the NATO supply routes would be reopened by Pakistan which were closed in the aftermath of NATO attacks on Pakistani border posts that killed 24 soldiers. The crucial supply route has now been closed for nearly four weeks. INp

Story on Page 15

Gas protesters block Expressway for 4 hours RAWALPINDI StAff REpORt

The capital police Friday resorted to baton-charge and teargas shelling to disperse the protesters who were staging a demonstration against gas outages and had blocked the Islamabad Expressway for over four hours. They also set on fire two police armored personnel carriers (APCs).

The gas supply in all different localities of twin cities decreased causing problems for the residents who are holding protests almost daily and blocking major roads including Kurri Road and Islamabad Expressway. On Friday, hundreds of angry residents including women and children, young and old, took part in the protest. The protesters were holding placards and banners inscribed with “restore the gas immediately”. They were also chanting slogans against Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL). Heavy contingents of police were deployed to tackle the crowd and the policemen on duty resorted to baton-charge and tear-gas shelling when the protesters refused to end the Islamabad Expressway blockade and instead set two police APC on fire. The protestors burnt tires and used stones and sticks to confront policemen and block the traffic. Hence hundreds of vehicles remained stuck on both sides of the busiest artery between the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

LANDIKOTAL: Residents gather at a boys' school which was hit by a bomb on Friday. REUTERS

‘Politicians must sit together to save democracy’ LAHORE StAff REpORt

Although chief of army staff has been denying the option of imposing Martial Law, the marshals do not come with permission and the country’s political leadership must sit together to save democracy and country, PMLN leaders said in a seminar, “Threats to Pakistan and Responsibilities of Leadership”, held in connection with 39th death anniversary of Khwaja Muhammad Rafique at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Friday.

PML-N leaders Javed Hashmi, Khwaja Muhammad Asif and Khwaja Saad Rafique, JUI-F leader Hafiz Hussain Ahmad, Jamaate-Islami leader Liaqat Baloch and Marvi Memon were amongst noted speakers.

Hashmi said the leadership of the country, including Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif, should sit together to find a solution to the problems created by the incumbent government and President Asif Ali Zardari.

Khwaja Asif said the mandate given by the masses in 2008 elections was misused by the government and it should resign immedi-

ately.

Contrary to Hashmi, he criticised Imran Khan for taking in old politicians in his party.

Khwaja Saad Rafique said his party had supported the government for the supremacy of parliament only, but Asif Ali Zardari betrayed them. He appealed to the president and the prime minister to resign from office.

Hafiz Hussain Ahmad demanded the Punjab government arrest President Zardari, Babar Awan and Rehman Malik. He said decisions for Pakistan were being taken in Abu Dhabi.

Qazi also came hard on Imran Khan, saying he did not have the sense to use words in their right meanings. “Tsunami brings disasters, not progress,” he said.

Marvi Memon said they were the politicians who supported military dictators, but they had now understood their mistake and would not support any unconstitutional step.

She said those talking about tsunamis should fear its aftermaths, as it would not be easy to cope with them.

The speakers also demanded the government hold fresh elections immediately as it had lost its mandate.

Shahbaz blasts PPP leaders for criticising army LAHORE StAff REpORt

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday lashed out at the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership, saying the government figures who had criticised Pakistan Army had betrayed their oaths. “It has happened for the first time in the history of Pakistan that the government has bashed its own army and the rulers are using the enemy’s language,” he said before leaving for Dubai on an unscheduled two-day private visit. According to sources, the chief minister’s visit to Duabi carried a lot of importance and was being made in the backdrop of strained relations between the government and the army. Shahbaz is likely to meet leading Arab dignitaries and government officials and would discuss the political situation in Pakistan, a leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said. He confirmed that Shahbaz had visited the United States in 1999 to seek help against a possible military coup. He said his current visit to Dubai was of similar nature.

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

foREiGN NEWS

ARTS & ENTERTAiNMENT

putin response to protests ‘shameful’: gorbachev Madonna’s new song leaked!

SPoRTS

News 03 CoMMENT

A flurry of denials: England series would be our real test: Misbah But they don’t put any worries to rest. the enquiry report Their version is here.

Arif Nizami says: Take-no-dictation moment?: Has the civil and military setups reached a point of no compromise?

White Lies: The Punjab Assembly has a major problem on its hand. It rarely has a quorum to pass legislation. This time, by some miracle, there was a quorum for a space of two days. The ruling party jumped on the opportunity and put up all the 21 bills it had on its agenda. 20 were passed at the speed of 10 a day like an assembly line.

Story on Page 19

Story on Page 16

Story on Page 20

Articles on Page 12-13

PM’s anti-army outburst bid to sabotage memo case: Opp Ji senator says Gilani’s statement against army just to confuse and complicate things in PPP’s favour g PPP, allies urge state institutions to remain within their constitutional ambit to avoid any mishap g Treasury, opposition lawmakers welcome Gen Kayani’s statement ruling out military coup g

ISLAMABAD

T Passport fee goes up by 50 percent ordinary passport to cost Rs 3,000 and urgent passport Rs 5,000 g

LAHORE YASIR HABIB

The New Year will bring a 50 percent increase in passport fee, Pakistan Today learnt on Friday.

The Passport Department has jacked up the ordinary passport’s fee by Rs 900, bringing the new fee to Rs 3,000 from January 1, 2012.

Similarly, the fee for urgent passport has also gone up by Rs 1000, raising it to Rs 5,000.

Rs 1,000 have also been added to the fee for the 72-page passport and Rs 2,000 to the fee for urgent passport of the same kind. The ordinary fee for the 100-page passport has been increased from Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000, and in the case of an urgent passport, the fee has gone up from Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000. The department has increased the fees to achieve a new revenue target of Rs 14 billion as compared to Rs 11 billion.

Irshad Bhatti, director at the Passport Department headquarters, told Pakistan Today that the increase in fee would enable the department to meet the set target.

Sources in the department said the government was planning to increase the passport fee since 2010 but could not materialise the idea. “It decided to raise the fees by 100 percent in July 2010,” sources revealed. “Even the Interior Ministry had ordered to increase the normal passport fee to Rs 4,100, and the urgent passport fee to Rs 8,000 from Rs 4,000. The included bank fee had to be raised to Rs 100 from an existing Rs 25,” the sources said.

They said the increase in fees may also apply to Pakistanis residing abroad. However, they added that the government had stopped the Interior Ministry from increasing passport fees at the eleventh hour to avoid public anger.

StAff REpORt

HE opposition parties firmly believe that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s rant against the army is a calculated move of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to sabotage the memo case hearing in the Supreme Court while the parliamentarians from the PPP’s allies, including the PML-Q and the ANP, have urged all state institutions to remain within their constitutional ambit to avert any mishap.

Lawmakers from both treasury and opposition benches also welcomed Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani’s statement in which he ruled out a military coup.

Commenting on Thursday’s speech of Prime Minister Gilani, Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) said it was “uncalled for” and was aimed at sabotaging the hearing of the memo case. “It seems that the government is caught in an in awkward position over the memogate … now they want to spoil the investigations into memo case,” he said.

Ahmed said top government functionaries were aware of the fact that the army would not takeover “but the premier made the statement against the army just to confuse and

complicate things in PPP’s favour”.

PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan said the prime minister’s statement was inappropriate, provocative and untimely. “Why is the government asking about Osama Bin Laden now…why had it ignored the issue when it happened, why did they not take action on the issue of PNS Mehran… you cannot ignore the issue of memogate just by saying it is a nonissue… the PM’s tirade is PPP’s plan to sabotage hearing in the memo case in the apex court,” he said.

Khan said the prime minister always made contradictory statements.

“Sometimes he says that democracy is under threat… and sometimes says that the army and the civil government are on same page,” he said.

Reacting to the statement of General Kayani, the PML-N senator said the COAS was right that the government should not divert the peoples’ attention from real issues. The COAS also ruled out any possibility of a takeover.

PML-Q Information Secretary Kamil Ali Agha said in his opinion all state institutions should exhibit patience to resolve the crisis emerging from the “memogate”. “I think all institutions are crossing their limits… the executive, the military and the judiciary should remain in their constitutional ambit as a confrontation

between the institutions will ultimately harm our national interests,” he added.

Asked to comment on Gilani’s statement regarding ‘a state within the state’, the PML-Q leader said, “Everyone has its own state in Pakistan for the last 64 years… everyone in the country has been crossing its constitutional limits,” he added.

Senator Haji Adeel of the Awami National Party (ANP) said he and his party fully supported Gilani’s statement and would stand behind him.

“There is no doubt that parliament is sovereign and every institution is answerable to it,” he added.

He said there was no doubt that investigations into the memo scam should be done, which were being carried out by the Parliamentary Committee on National Security and the Supreme Court.

Adeel said according to his view, Thursday’s speech of the prime minister had nothing to do with the memo case investigations.

Zahid Kazmi, central leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and former spokesman to PTI Chairman Imran Khan said the PPP government was trying to sabotage transparent investigations into the memo issue.

“Now, after failing to resolve people’s problems, they are seeking martyrdom to win sympathies of

Army and ISI have done nothing illegal: jurists ISLAMABAD StAff REpORt

Top jurists of the country see nothing illegal or unconstitutional on part of the army or the ISI in reference to the memo issue that gives the impression of the army being a state within the state.

Asked to comment on the prime minister’s remarks against the army, Justice (r) Saeeduz Zaman Siddiqui said the army had not taken any illegal step.

“The Supreme Court ordered them (army) and they just complied with the SC orders in the memo case under the constitution, everybody is bound to do that,” he said. The armed forces of the country are performing their duties per constitution and the prescribed rules, he added.

He was of the view that no one else but the government itself was involved in such matters which generated the impression of the government being a state within the state. The government’s policies had led to an imbalance between

the state institutions, he said.

Justice (r) Wajihuddin Ahmad said the army’s stance on the memo issue had led the government to conclude that the army was a state within the state. He rejected the impression being infused among the masses by the government, saying there was nothing objectionable on part of the army.

He disagreed with the government’s conclusion, saying it (government) wanted no one to check its corruption and misdeeds. He said the government failed in delivering to the masses during the last four years, adding that the allegations against the army seemed to be an attempt on part of the government to regain the lost electorate.

Senior lawyer, Anwar Mansoor called the PM’s statement more of a rhetoric. “There is nothing objectionable on part of the army or the ISI that may lead to the conclusion,” he said, adding that the prime minister tried to create hype on the memo issue by giving the statement.

Prominent lawyer Ikram Chaudhary, however, expressed a different point of view and blamed both the government and the army for the crisis that had led to a situation where the government was levelling allegations against a prestigious institution.

He said the army had taken a stance on the memo issue which the government wanted to avoid, at least at the judicial forum.

He said the government was involved in corruption and least interested in public welfare, adding that the public also had grievances against the army, particularly on its policy pertaining to the missing persons and Balochistan issue. He said the common man felt that state institutions had collapsed and when the people have been left with no option but to commit suicide, the government must step down. “The government should announce fresh election as early as possible to avert military intervention and put the country on path of law instead of creating confusions,” he said.

the masses… but the people have understood PPP’s dirty politics and they will reject incompetent and corrupt rulers in the next elections,” he added.

He said the prime minister’s tirade against the army was mocking his previous statements in which he had been saying that the executive and the military were on the same page.

PPP-Sherpao President Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao said the statement of the army chief did not signify anything new and simply reiterated the army’s previous position again.

“But it could mean that confrontation was escalating and would result in casualty in one way or the other… the confrontation is still there. It is escalating and will certainly claim a casualty in one way or the other.

But we will not support any extra-constitutional or unconstitutional step”, Sherpao added.

Senator Zahid Khan said Gen Kayani’s statement was positive and it certainly addressed the apprehensions which Gilani had expressed on Thursday. He said no one wanted a compromise on national security.

MQM’s Abdul Qadir Khanzada welcomed the army chief’s statement, terming it positive. He said the statement also accorded highest priority to national security.

Saima Masood passes away Saima Ammar Masood, the visuallyimpaired activist for the blind people, passed away on Thursday after a long struggle with multiple sclerosis.

Messages from across the globe poured in expressing condolence and sharing the pain with the bereaved family. A large number of visually-impaired people, friends and admirers of Saima started turning up at her residence. Saima’s father Brig Niaz along with his father-inlaw Anwar Masood, a famous Punjabi poet, was seen sharing their grief with the well-wishers. Saima completed her studies from Quaid-e-zam University and London. She was a source of inspiration and motivation for people with disabilities all over the world. She started a project named Audio World.

Audio World is a studio that records book of all genres for visually challenged people. MONItORINg DESK

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04 News Javed Hashmi Continued from page 1 where Khan is going to hold a public meeting on December 25, is sufficient to give credence to stark reality, sources added. Hashmi has been continuously criticising the policies of the Sharif brothers since their return to the country from almost a decade in exile, and he expressed his discontentment openly many times. Last ditch efforts intensified on Friday to pacify the disgruntled leader and barricade his step to abandon the PML-N and embrace the PTI. The attempts began after Hashmi attended the 39th death anniversary commemoration of Khawaja Rafiq at Aiwan-e-Iqbal on Friday. Before his speech, party leaders including Rafiq and Khawaja Asif met Hashmi and tried to reconcile. Soon after, an enraged Hashmi concluded his address and sought to leave the gathering but was besieged by party stalwarts who begged him never to part ways with Nawaz. Another attempt resumed at Rafiq’s residence where Hashmi was driven to change his mind. PML-N vanguards including Khawaja Asif, Tehmina Daultana, Rafiq and Zaeem Qadri continued requesting him to remain in the party, hailing his role and services to the PML-N and his personal political acumen.

In a dramatic development, unconfirmed reports said Nawaz’s wife Kalsoom Nawaz also reached Rafiq’s

residence without any protocol and joined the full-scale reconciliatory move. However, the PML-N’s efforts were all in vain, as Hashmi avoided entertaining any phone calls.

After the meeting, Rafiq denied any such reconciliatory meeting had taken place. He said that it was a dinner reception where political issues were also discussed. On the occasion, PML-N Deputy Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal said Hashmi was a party asset and people should avoid speculation. The PML-N senator and a close aide of Nawaz Sharif said Hashmi would never think of ditching the party, and would remain with it until the last breath. “In the last meeting with Hashmi, I smelled no rat,” he added. The PML-N information secretary said he had called Hashmi but received no response. “I believe that Hashmi will not leave the party as Nawaz Sharif, being a great admirer, cared for him a lot as compared to anyone else in the party,” he added.

“Logically, it does not suit Hashmi to join the PTI in the presence of Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who is second to Imran Khan. Qureshi and Hashmi are election rivals in the same constituency, how can both survive under this obvious reality?” he said.

However, he also said he sensed something was wrong as Hashmi was not answering the calls of the party leadership.

According to some uncon-

Saturday, 24 December, 2011

firmed reports, the PML-N delegation had gone to Hashmi to hash out an exit strategy in order to leave the PML-N with him and join the PTI. Rumours were amok that Rafiq was also ready to embrace the PTI. A few days earlier, Hashmi had held a meeting with Khan in which matters regarding him joining the PTI were discussed, and sources said a formal announcement was expected in the coming days.

Conflicts between Hashmi and the Sharifs first broke to the surface when the former stated in the National Assembly that the Sharif brothers should apologise for accepting exile in Saudi Arabia in exchange for a pardon from former president Pervez Musharraf, and in response he faced scathing criticism from party leaders and – living up to his reputation – handed in his resignation from the PML-N. But Nawaz rejected the resignation, saying there was no parallel to Hashmi’s services to the party.

On April 12 2004, he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for inciting mutiny in the army, forgery and defamation, by circulating a letter written by military officers calling for an investigation into alleged corruption in the armed forces and criticising Musharraf and his relationship with US President George W Bush. imrAN cAlls hAshmi: According to Geo News, PTI chief Imran Khan called Hashmi on the phone late on Friday night to discuss the meeting at Khawaja Saad Rafiq’s house.

Govt opts for safe route Continued from page 24 it would be more advisable to issue a notice to the defence secretary, who had stood by the army leadership in the memo case.

“Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani also supported this idea and said under the law, the defence secretary was responsible for adhering to the orders of the chief executive but he did not follow his orders, so he should face the music first,” said the source.

The source said most of the leaders agreed to Rabbani’s proposal. “In view of the proposals, the Core Committee authorised the president and prime minister to give final shape to its recommendations in consultation with the leadership of the coalition parties,” the source added.

A participant quoted President Zardari as telling his colleagues that after the prime

minister’s hard hitting speeches, despite recovering from illness, he had slept well on Thursday night.

Following the meeting, Pakistan Muslim LeagueQuaid (PML-Q) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Senior Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi joined the president and shared their views about the situation. Another source said both PML-Q leaders advised the president to resolve the situation with political acumen and avoid any head-on collision with the army. “Shujaat told the president that the army was a strong institution and any animosity against the institution may damage the PPP-establishment relations, which may take decades to repair,” the source added.

Awami National Party (ANP) President Asfandyar Wali Khan and leader of FATA parliamentarians group Munir

Khan Aurakzai also met the president separately and shared their views on recent political developments.

Briefing reporters about the meeting, Presidential Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said the PPP leaders’ meeting that lasted for about two hours reviewed the overall political situation in the country with special reference to the most recent developments. The prime minister gave a comprehensive briefing on the overall situation. He said the meeting reiterated its unswerving commitment to the principles of parliamentary sovereignty, constitutionalism and rule of law and said the party and the government would uphold these principles under all circumstances. The meeting also reiterated that all institutions of state had to work within the ambit of the constitution without trespassing into the domain of others.

Hoti, Tareen resign from NA ISLAMABAD StAff REpORt

Khawaja Mohammad Khan Hoti and Jahangir Tareen on Friday resigned from their seats in the National Assembly (NA) on Friday. Hoti had won elections from the Awami National Party’s (ANP) platform, while Tareen was successful on the ticket of the Pakistan Muslim LeagueFunctional (PML-F). Both the politicians have recently joined the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI). Tareen was elected from the NA-195 constituency in Rahim Yar Khan in 2008 elections and was the parliamentary leader of his party until he announced to join the PTI. PTI sources said that more parliamentarians were likely to resign from the National Assembly in the next few days and announce their entry into the PTI.

20 troops abducted Continued from page 24

SC issues notices to PPP chairman in plea against electoral rolls ISLAMABAD StAff REpORt

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three-member Supreme Court bench on Friday issued notices to PPP’s incumbent chairman and general secretary over a pending petition by late Benazir Bhutto against bogus electoral rolls.

The bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry in its detailed verdict over a petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan seeking preparation of electoral rolls after eliminating all 37 mil-

over the progress on preparation of new electoral rolls. The court also clubbed a pending petition of late Benazir Bhutto filed in 2007 over the same matter with the petition of Imran Khan. The chief justice pointed out that in response to Benazir’s petition, the ECP was directed to complete preparation of transparent electoral rolls within one month, however, even after four years, the electoral rolls were still incomplete. He said if the forthcoming elections were held through the old electoral rolls carrying 44 percent (37 million) bogus votes, there would be bloodshed, for which the ECP would be solely responsible.

There will be no military coup Continued from page 1

entrance - a rocket attack on which killed Sentry Yaseen Malogoree on the spot – and holding up the personnel inside at gunpoint. Tank District Police Officer (DPO) Ijaz Abid later told reporters that the militants came on two vehicles and their number could not be determined exactly, but locals said the militants were on five double– cab pickup trucks. He said the attack was stiffly resisted for half an hour by FC personnel, who were not more than 30 in number. He added that the militants took the entire contingent hostage and fled with 16 of the personnel along with them towards the semiautonomous region of FR Tank. The DPO also said the attackers also took with them a huge quantity of arms and ammunition from the FC Fort, which they drenched in petrol and set on fire before escaping.

A TTP spokesman, who identified himself as commander Asmatullah Shaheen, told reporters from an undisclosed location that the fresh attack was a reaction to the drone attack on October 26, 2010, which claimed the life of their commander Taj Gul. Ironically, Shaheen had announced reconciliation with the government and security forces some two years ago. He has also remained in custody of the security forces for a couple of months in 2009 and 2010.

lion bogus votes, also directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to positively complete preparation of transparent electoral rolls by February 23, 2012. The court also issued notices to about 28 members of the National Assembly and provincial assemblies elected in by-polls when the ECP was incomplete under the provisions of the 18th Amendment, directing them to file their reply by January 10.

The court made it clear to the ECP that the deadline set for preparation of new electoral rolls would not be extended at any cost. The court directed the ECP to submit with the registrar’s office fortnightly reports

to the democratic process, he did not commit his institution’s support to the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led dispensation.

As relations between the civilian and military establishment remain tense, General Kayani’s absence at a reception hosted by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani for visiting Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo was conspicuously noted. However, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) Chairman General Khalid Shamim Wyne and Air Chief Rao Qamar Suleman attended the reception marking the 60th anniversary of Pakistan-China diplomatic relations.

While the government quarters, particularly the prime minister on Thursday, created an impression that conspiracies were being hatched to oust the politically-elected government and that any undemocratic move would be resisted, General Kayani strongly dispelled speculations of any military takeover and said: “These (speculations) are misleading and are being used to divert focus from the real issues.” The army chief’s reference to real issues unambiguously referred to the memo controversy besides other such matters that continue to dog the government and his assertion that there would be no compromise on national security also

made it clear that the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) would not backtrack from the position they had taken on matters related to national security with the memo remaining a central issue. An official statement from the prime minister’s office after his meeting with some parliamentarians on Friday once again said the legislators extended full support to the prime minister on his clear message that “a state within a state” was not acceptable and all institutions should perform their responsibilities in accordance with the constitution. In a clear snub to the civilian rulers, General Kayani said: “The army is fully cognizant of its constitutional obligations and responsibilities.” This was to reiterate that the army was not stepping out of its constitutional domain but it was fully cognizant of its responsibilities and obligations, which are open to interpretation under the umbrella of national security. He emphasised that the issues of national security needed to be considered on merit alone and he concluded by saying that “irrespective of all other considerations, there can be no compromise on national security”.

General Kayani said the men and women of Pakistan Army were performing their duty of defending Pakistan in accordance with the oath they had taken. “They will continue to do so with the support and

prayers of their countrymen, regardless of the cost,” he said.

Tensions between the civilian government and army leadership have risen since the emergence in October of an alleged memo purportedly handed over by President Asif Ali Zardari to the US administration through former ambassador Husain Haqqani asking for help in averting a military coup in May in the wake of a secret US raid in Abbottabad that killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. Husain Haqqani, who is considered a close aide of President Zardari, resigned last month over the memo issue under reported pressure from the military leadership to face an enquiry into the memogate controversy. The issue is, however, in the Supreme Court where Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif and other petitioners have sought an enquiry into the matter, which they believe is aimed at undermining the country’s security. In the evening, the prime minister, at a reception he had hosted for the Chinese state councilor, avoided journalists when they tried to seek his comments on the statement issued by General Kayani in which he rubbished the speculations that the army would take over. However, the prime minister’s body language suggested that the situation was tense.

SC will not endorse military takeover Continued from page 1 the memo issue, Haqqani was called back and then his resignation had been handed in. The court said if Haqqani was not guilty, his resignation had come without proper procedure or enquiry.

On the contention of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) Senator Ishaq Dar that the issue of whether the memo was written was not controversial anymore because almost all of the petitioners and respondents were agreed on the fact that the memo was written, the chief justice noted that it was yet to be decided. On another contention of Dar’s that the ambit of the Parliamentary Committee on

National Security was limited and it could not probe the memo-like issues as it was formed through a parliamentary resolution, Justice Mia Saqib Nisar observed that parliament was performing its duties and the court could not be barred from performing its constitutional functions.

Dar stated that not only the parliamentary committee but even the entire parliament could not collect forensic evidence in the memo issue. He said so far, not even a single document over the memo issue was submitted to the parliamentary committee by the government. He said four resolutions passed by parliament had not been im-

plemented yet and there was no law that could punish the government for not implementing the parliamentary committee’s resolutions or orders.

Meanwhile, the court rejected the prime minister’s reply over the assertions made by incumbent ministers in a press conference on December 1, 2011, ridiculing the judiciary and criticising the court’s orders to form a commission to probe the memo issue. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had stated in his reply that the point of view taken in the press conference was not of the government, but of the PPP in the historical perspective.

When the court asked what the ‘historical perspective’ was, the attorney general stated that it was, over the period of time, what the party said inside and outside court.

“We want a simple and clear reply of the prime minister,” Justice Jawwad S Khawaja said, adding that the PM’s statement showed that whatever the party leaders said in the press conference was right. “The PM cannot blame his party, but if he does so, he should know the consequences,” the chief justice remarked.

Justice Khawaja said if it was the point of view of the party, then according to the principles set by the constitu-

tion, no party could utilise public buildings. He observed further that the party should have arranged the press conference at private premises such as hotels.

“The reply purportedly filed by Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq on behalf of the prime minister is evasive because there should be a categorical stand taken by the prime minister or the federal government in this behalf instead of shifting the burden upon the political party under the garb of historical perspective,” the court ruled.

The court told the attorney general that contrary to it, the president, who himself was the co-chairman of the

ruling PPP, while submitting a reference under Article 186 of the constitution to revisit the case of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had recognised and accepted that the judiciary in Pakistan was independent and playing a proactive role in the cases of public importance, which suggested that instead of making an ambiguous statement, the federal government ought to have taken a clear stand.

“The reply so filed is not acceptable,” the court said and directed the attorney general to seek fresh instructions from the prime minister and file a comprehensive and clear reply by December 27.

“We are of the opinion that government premises

could not be allowed to be used for holding a press conference wherein, prima facie, the judiciary was ridiculed and insulted,” the court ruled.

The court also issued notices to the president, prime minister, ISI chief and all other parties to submit their replies over a constitutional petition filed by Shafqat Ullah Sohail, a Canadian citizen of Pakistani origin. The court also sought contentwise comments of the federation on the reply of Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, ISI DG Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha, Haqqani and Mansoor Ijaz.

Later the hearing was adjourned until December 27.

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

All’s not well when ‘Working With Sharks’ Book launch 07

City’s youth pinning hopes on Imran ■ Youngsters gear up for PTi’s show at Mazar-e-Quaid KARACHI AAMIR MAJEED

We never participate in political gatherings, but Imran Khan’s revolutionary approach won our hearts and minds, compelling us to come to the airport to receive the youth’s future leader, who cannot be ignored,” said a group of students from College of Business Management (CBM) while talking with Pakistan Today.

The group had gone to the Jinnah International Airport Karachi on Friday to greet the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman.

“We were busy in group studies for our semester examinations when we saw the news slide on a private television channel about the arrival of Imran Khan at the Karachi airport, and immediately left for the airport,” said Salman Shahid, a student of accounts and law at CBM. “We cancelled al-

most every gathering during the semester exams, but we cannot keep away from Khan, who has given us a hope to change Pakistan.”

To a question, the visibly excited youngster said that Khan is the true leader of youth and is honest with Pakistan, particularly the youth. “We have our mathematics paper on December 26 (Monday) but we have decided not to sleep in at night and cover the course of study as we will not miss the PTI’s National Unity Convention (NUC) on December 25,” Shahid said.

Another group member, Sajeel Faisal, told Pakistan Today that they have prepared 300 shirts with a picture of the PTI chairman printed in front and plan to sell out the shirts during the public gathering.

“Everyday some politician or government official comes to Karachi, but for the first time, I have come to the airport to receive any politician,” he said. “Khan had proved his credentials by first winning the

cricket world cup and then establishing the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre.”

“We cannot neglect his services for the masses of the country. He is the only one who can turn our dreams into reality,” Faisal said.

“Khan is sincere with Pakistan,” proclaimed another youth – a student of University of Karachi (KU) – Mussavir, anxiously waiting to see the PTI chairman.

“My BCom Part-I papers will start from December 24 (Saturday) but I cannot miss to see him [Khan] in person,” he said. “I will also attend the PTI’s convention on Sunday.”

On being asked why he had put his studies on the backburner, Mussavir replied that he was there to witness the future of Pakistan and “I am ready to sacrifice my future for the Khan’s cause”. Talking with Pakistan Today, Sindh PTI Youth Wing President Iqbal Khan Niazi said was of the view that the province’s youth is actively participating in motivating their peers for a change.

“The youth has taken over the responsi-

In memory of BB, 2-month remission for Sindh’s prisoners ■ Chief minister inaugurates NADRA CNiC mobile service and phone facility at central prison

KARACHI RAzzAK ABRO

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah announced on Friday a two-month remission for prisoners throughout the province in memory of Pakistan People’s Party’s assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto.

The party will commemorate her fourth death anniversary on December 27 in Naudero, Larkana district.

He made the announcement following his visit to the Central Prison Karachi, where he inaugurated the NADRA CNIC mobile service for prisoners.

He also inaugurated the telephone facility inside the jail premises so that prisoners can contact their families.

“The use of unauthorised cell phones has been banned in all jails of the province and jammers have been installed there,” he said. “The illegal use of cell phones at prisons was resulting in an increase

in the crime rate in the province,” he added.

Shah said the government is paying attention towards providing health, educational and other facilities to prisoners and also promote cultural activities among them under the social reformation programme.

“All efforts are being made to turn prisoners into reformed citizens of our society,” he added.

The chief minister also visited various sections of the prison including the bakery, wards, the school, the computer laboratory, the handicraft ward and the fine art centre.

He also saw the paintings made by prisoners and one of them presented him with a portrait of President Asif Ali Zardari.

Later while talking to the media, the chief minister announced a two-month remission for all prisoners of Sindh except those punished for

heinous crimes.

He said the government has taken various measures to improve the conditions in jails including better hygiene, provision of medical treatment, educational facilities and religious guidance so that prisoners can be converted into useful and lawabiding citizens of the society.

He said the prisoners are also being provided with quality food, clean drinking water, fans and charpoys. gilANi: Responding to a question, the chief minister said he completely supports Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s recent statement.

“Any conspiracy against the democracy or the electedgovernment, as pointed out by the prime minister, would not be accepted,” he added. “The people must strengthen democracy and democratic institutions in the larger interest of country,” he added.

bility of preparations for NUC at the Quaid’s mausoleum,” he said, adding that the youngsters have even been handed over the security matters, as they are performing well from the onset of the movement.

“The PTI will not only bring about reforms but also bring a revolution in the country,” Niazi said, referring to the ‘tsunami’ repeated many times

by Khan in his last a d dress.

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PakistaN today

06 karachi

Saturday, 24 December, 2011

ANP New park at Clifton beach to open on 26th Sindh spokesman resigns KARACHI App

The inauguration of a newly constructed park at Clifton beach, named after Capt Farhan Ali Shaheed, a martyr from Karachi,

KARACHI StAff REpORt

Awami National Party (ANP) Sindh chapter spokesman and Pakhtoon Rabita Council chairman, Qadir Khan, resigned from all offices of the party on Friday.

“The ANP is now engaged in linguistic politics and distanced itself from national level politics,” he said. “The party has started supporting capitalism and organised itself on linguistic lines,” he added.

“I have left the ANP, but not Pakhtoonwali. I will always remain a follower of Bacha Khan, who taught brotherhood and peace to everyone.”

Khan also clarified that he has not left the ANP to join the Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf.

“I will disclose the names of the opportunists within the ANP when the time is right,” he said.

KU BCom exams start from 24th KARACHI App

The University of Karachi (KU)’s BCom Annual Examinations 2011 for regular candidates would commence from December 24, the university’s spokesman said on Friday.

The KU has established more than 58 centres for the examinations and more than 40,000 candidates will appear in them.

Afaq’s security: notices issued to home secy, Rangers DG KARACHI StAff REpORt

The Sindh High Court on Friday issued notices to the Sindh home secretary and Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) director general on the request of Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi chief Afaq Ahmed.

A division bench including Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Ahmed Ali Shaikh was hearing an application filed by Iqbal Kazmi, Ahmed’s counsel, seeking the court’s directives to the Rangers director general for provision of security at the Haqiqi chief’s residence.

would be held on December 26.

DHA Administrator Brig Aamer Raza Qureshi would be the chief guest at the ceremony.

According to a DHA statement issued on Friday, the new park is spread over an area of six

acres at the beach. It has four large grassy plots, five sitting platforms, a kiosk and marbled walk ways. Four high mast LED lights have been fixed at the park and adequate parking facilities at the venue have also been

provided.

The park is named after a valiant officer, Capt Farhan Ali of 26 Punjab Regiment, who embraced martyrdom on April 3, 2011 in operation “Rah-e-Nijat” against terrorists at Darra Adam Khel.

Capt Farhan Ali, despite heavy odds and having been surrounded by terrorists, fought dauntlessly against them and thus wrote a golden chapter of courage and bravery in the annals of history.

Capt Farhan Ali was the son of Lt Col (retd) Nasrullah Khan, staff officer to the DHA administrator.

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karachi 07 All’s not well when ‘Working With Sharks’ Saturday, 24 December, 2011

Authorities at work

PakistaN today

KARACHI tEXt AND pHOtO BY fIzzA HASSAN

Malir District Administrator fareed Ahmed Magsi and Municipal Commissioner Dr Mukhatr Ali Palijo inspect the streetlight and sanitation work near St Thomas Church.

Baldia District Administrator Mohammad Raeesi and Municipal Commissioner Nauman Arshad inspect road carpeting near churches.

Qaim holds video conference with commissioners KARACHI StAff REpORt

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah held a video conference with divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners of the province on Friday at the Chief Minister’s House.

He discussed issues pertaining to various development schemes and directed the officials present at the meeting to make concerted efforts to provide relief to the masses.

“Maximum number of schemes under the Annual Development Programme, special packages and under the MPAs’ programme will be completed by the end of June 2012,” he said. “The government wants prompt and early development with quality standard within the stipulated time and those found involved in negligence or delaying tactics would be taken to task,” he added.

The divisional commissioners of Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Larkana and Mirpurkhas divisions and deputy commissioners of Hyderabad, Larkana, Khairpur, Matiari, Tando Allahyar and Tando Muhammad Khan pointed out various hindrances and issues regarding the opening of district accounts and release of funds. They assured the chief minister that the directives of the government would be complied with and the schemes would be completed on time.

Shah said the issue of nominating elected representatives in People’s District Development Committees as well as the problems of assistant commissioners and other staff would be resolved soon.

H

ARASSMENT – sexual or not – is a serious problem in a society regardless of gender and it is the collective responsibility of both men and women in a living sphere to address the issue.

This was agreed upon unanimously by speakers at the book launch of Dr Fouzia Saeed's autobiographical case study on harassment faced by women at workplaces titled ‘Working With Sharks’ at a hotel on Friday.

The guest speakers at the event included Sindh assembly member Sharmila Farooqi, distinguished singer Tina Sani, veteran actor and director Sahira Kazmi, and renowned director Adnan Malik.

Complimenting the author for sharing her experiences and personal sufferings about an issue that the women living in a patriarchal society like Pakistan face on regular basis, the MPA said: “Reading the book, I kept on remembering that even as a woman with legislative powers, I have also gone through some of the situations [described in the book] like the

Court issues notice in CNG kits plea

KARACHI StAff REpORt

The Sindh High Court issued notices to the federal and provincial governments on Friday in a petition filed against the use of substandard CNG kits in public transport vehicles.

A division bench including Chief Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Ahmed Ali Sheikh was hearing petition filed by a citizen, Israr Ahmed.

Citing federal and provincial authorities as respondents, the petitioner submitted that due to the installation of substandard CNG kits in public transport vehicles, many people have died in cylinder blast accidents.

The counsel for the petitioner appeared before the bench and stated that the respondent authorities are ignoring the issue.

The petitioner prayed the court to direct the respondents to order removal of these kits from vehicles.

He also asked the court to order formation of an appointment committee including CNG sector experts to review the existing laws and regulations on the use of CNG kits and propose amendments.

social scientist [author].”

Citing the example of a gang rape victim, Farooqi expressed annoyance about the media's obsession with viewer ship ratings rather than addressing the “real issues”.

Congratulating the author on her courageous step to pen her personal encounters with male chauvinism, Sani lamented that despite legislation preserving rights of women, implementation of laws is not be witnessed.

Stressing on following up cases of human rights violations, she said that the media touches such cases once they spring up, but does not keep track of the cases afterwards. “The perpetrators are never caught and I think the larger share of responsibility

lies with the media,” she added.

Expressing satisfaction over the recently-enacted laws against women harassment, Kazmi also rued the fact that reports about sexual harassment against young girls and boys keep on surfacing in rural and urban locale.

The veteran actor wished that the men start working besides their female counterparts and with equal enthusiasm.

Blaming the women partly for being harassed and victimised without any confrontation, Saeed said that some women are courageous enough to speak out against the harassment but unfortunately speaking out is not the solution to the problem.

Explaining the matter, she said

that it is the whole mechanism in which complainant, courage to speak out, legislation against the act and punishment are key factors. “But, firstly, the society has to be supportive of victims of harassment speaking out against the act.”

“Similarly, sexist jokes have to be discouraged as harassment is not a trivial joke,” the writer stated.

At the forum, it was agreed that training for interaction between genders can be effective to end harassment of women.

Saeed – a PhD from the University of Minnesota – is well-known in the activist circles of Pakistan’s social movement, having worked for decades on women’s issues especially those linked to violence against women, prostitution, women in the entertainment businesses, and women’s mobility and sexual harassment.

Her work on violence against women spans over 20 years and includes founding the first women’s crisis centre in Pakistan in 1991.

Her earlier work with the Folk and Traditional Heritage Institute (Lok Virsa) led to the book, ‘Women in Folk Theatre’.

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PakistaN today

08 karachi WEATHER UPDATES

27°C High

Clear skies

13°C Low

Saturday, 24 December, 2011

In Karachi, 16,562 more vehicles hit the roads each month

16% Humidity

SUNDAY

MoNDAY

TUESDAY

27°C i 14°C

28°C i 15°C

28°C i 16°C

PRAYER TiMiNGS fajr 5:52

Sunrise 7:13

Zuhr 12:32

Asr 3:30

Maghrib 5:49

isha 7:11

Starting time in Karachi

CiTY DiRECToRY EMERGENCY HELP PoLiCE 15 BoMB DiSPoSAL 15, 99212667 fiRE BRiGADE 16, 99215007, 99215008 EDHi 115, 32310066-2310077 KHiDMAT-E-KHALQ foUNDATioN 36333811 RED CRESCENT 35833973 GovERNoR’S HoUSE 136 CHiEf MiNiSTER’S HoUSE 99202051 MoToRWAY PoLiCE 130

HoSPiTALS ABBASi SHAHEED CiviL JiNNAH NiCvD AGA KHAN TABBA

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

BLooD BANK HUSSAiNi fATiMiD PWA

32238405-8 32225284, 32258656 99215740, 32735214

CoMPLAiNT KESC PTCL KWSB CDGK SUi GAS

118 1218 1339 134 1199, 99231603

RAiLWAYS iNQUiRY CiTY STATioN CANTT STATioN

117, 99213565-6 99213538 99201118

AiRPoRT fLiGHT iNQUiRY PiA RESERvATioN

114 111786786

CoLLEGES / UNivERSiTiES KARACHi UNivERSiTY NED UNivERSiTY fUUAST DUHS SMiC fAST-NU SZABiST ioBM iBA ivS

99261300-06 99261261-8 99244141-9 99215754-7 99217501-3 111128128, 34100541-7 111922478 35090961-7 111422422 35861039-40

B

EING Pakistan’s largest city and its financial and manufacturing capital, Karachi is also the transport hub of the country.

The total length of road network in the city is more than 9,500 kms that accommodates about 1.81 million vehicles. This number is increasing by 16,562 per month. That is why the travel speed in most parts of the city is 30 to 40 km/h. Peak travel speeds in the core areas can be 15 km/h or even lower, while daily traffic volumes on major arteries are generally between 70,000 and 180,000 vehicles. Every working day, 24.2 million person-trips are taken in the city. Public transport (buses) is thought to provide between 50 and 60 percent of all trips and private transport account for the remainder.

There is exasperating disparity between the number of seats available in buses and the passengers, as indicated by the current passenger seat ratio of 1:34.

Unfortunately, there are up to 600 fatal road accidents in the city each year, most of them involving pedestrians and motorcyclists. However, accident severity index has risen to 45 percent.

Although, the maintenance of Karachi’s roads has been poor and problematic until the late 90s, the situation substantially improved after the introduction of the new local government, which built flyovers and underpasses, remodelled intersections and revamped roads. To accommodate the heavy traffic to and from the Karachi port, two logistic bypasses were completed, and for the

same purpose, the Lyari Expressway is being constructed. These would well serve an integrated logistic system. There were no expressways in operation in early 2007, but the construction of the Lyari Expressway has almost completed. The road begins at the north of Karachi Port and west of the central city and runs northeast between Lyari and SITE areas, crossing other populated areas.

However, the Lyari Expressway is about 17 kms in length. Similarly, the Northern Bypass Road forming a wide semi-circle beyond the north of urban Karachi has completed. It connects the RCD Road at the north of Baldia with the NBP interchange

KAHAANI tIME

on the Superhighway, north of Cantonment. The RCD Highway, if often constrained, provides an important link to the Karachi Port Trust.

Three national highways connect Karachi to the northeast (Super Highway to Hyderabad and Punjab), southeast (National Highway to Badin) and northwest (RCD Highway to Quetta). All these terminate at the Karachi Port Trust.

Karachi has two major seaports: Karachi Port trusts in the south and Bin Qasim in the east of the core area of Karachi. All major international trade is done through these ports. The Quaid-e-Azam International Airport is one of the

tHE 1971 DIARIES

largest airports of South Asia, with an average use of 10 million people per year. Karachi is connected with railways up to the northern areas and operates a comprehensive railway network that connects Punjab with Sindh. There are about 13 stations in Karachi accommodating the flow of up to 50,000 people daily.

Extract from Salman Qureshi’s research paper, “The fast growing megacity Karachi as a frontier of environmental challenges: Urbanisation and contemporary urbanism issues”, published in the Journal of Geography and Regional Planning Volume 3(11).

CASE Of DARA SHIKOH

STORYTELLING ON DECEMBER 25 AT 12:30 PM VENUE: T2F 2.0

CONVERSATION ON DECEMBER 27 AT 07:00 PM VENUE: T2F 2.0

LECTURE ON DECEMBER 28 AT 07:00 PM VENUE: T2F 2.0

‘Kahaani Time with Sania Saeed’ on December 25 at The 2nd Floor. Call 35389033 for more information.

‘The 1971 Diaries: A Conversation with Hamde Ali Bogra’ on December 27 at The 2nd Floor. Call 35389033 for more information.

Dr Munis Faruqui’s ‘New Perspectives on the Mughals: The Case of Dara Shikoh’ at The 2nd Floor. Call 35389033 for more information.

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

MPs vow to support PM in dismantling ‘state within state’ ISLAMABAD ONLINE

Parliamentarians on Friday extended their support to Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on his stance on dismantling what he called a “state within a state”, the Prime Minister’s office said.

They also agreed with Gilani’s stance that all institutions should perform their responsibilities in accordance with the constitution The parliamentarians stood firmly behind him for “safeguarding and promoting democracy which is the essence of the ideology of Pakistan”.

They also expressed satisfaction over the fact that all political leaders were pro-democracy and opposed any unconstitutional move.

MNA Sajjadul Hassan requested release of funds for the Interchange and Okara Bypass. Gilani approved the projects and said he would lay the foundation stone at his earliest convenience.

Fauzia Wahab, in the context of the current political situation, asserted that the prime minister’s speech in the National Assembly was an excellent exposition of the position of the state institutions and the government led by Gilani under the parliamentary system of democracy.

Chaudhry Saeed Iqbal said encroachers had occupied state land for several years. “It should be vacated by the Evacuee Property Trust Board and brought under public use,” he said.

Javed Iqbal Warriach requested for release funds for the Allama Iqbal University Campus in Rahim Yar Khan. Gilani accorded approval and asked the MNAs to complete the other projects in time.

News 09

Haqqani’s plight reflects decline of US-Pakistan ties g

Philadelphia inquirer report says Haqqani not a traitor, ‘he understood the need to prevent a US rupture with Pakistan’

T

MONITORING DESK

HE scary decline of relations between the United States and Pakistan is illustrated by the perilous plight of one man, a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer states.

Husain Haqqani was, until recently, the savvy and energetic Pakistani ambassador to Washington, dubbed by Bloomberg “the hardest working man in DC”. His job was thankless: trying to maintain ties between two countries that deeply distrust each other. According to the paper, the military disliked Haqqani because of his long-standing opposition to its ties with Islamist groups. (He wrote the best book on the subject.) He was also regarded as too “proAmerican”. But the generals apparently recognised that only someone like Haqqani could ease tensions with Washington and keep the US aid flowing.

So they let him keep working to prevent US-Pakistani ties from breaking. Until now.

Haqqani has resigned and returned home. He’s accused by the military and the media – no formal charges – of drafting an unsigned memo asking Washington in May to help block a military coup in Pakistan. In return, the government supposedly would

have cracked down on its military and the ISI. Haqqani is forbidden to leave the country, and could be charged with treason. But the “Memogate” affair is so bizarre, one has to ask whether it’s merely a pretext for the military to unseat the government and rupture ties with the US. The more details that emerge about this alleged scandal, the more fishy it looks. A Pakistani American businessman named Mansoor Ijaz passed the memo to President Obama’s former national security adviser, Jim Jones, in May 2011, Jones gave it to Adm Mike Mullen, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Ijaz ignited the firestorm by writing about the memo in the Financial Times in October. He says he was following Haqqani’s instructions to convey a message from President Asif Ali Zardari, he claims he has text messages that back up his story.

But the tale is full of holes.

Haqqani denies he had anything to do with the memo. Jones denies Ijaz ever mentioned Haqqani. And Mullen says he paid the unsigned document no attention. But even putting all that aside, the story makes no sense.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer report, for one thing, Zardari had tried once before and failed miserably to gain control

of the ISI, neither he nor Haqqani would have been likely to court another failure.

Moreover, the memo was passed just after the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden, which left the military weakened and unlikely to make a coup.

Most telling, the well-connected Haqqani had no need to use an unreliable cutout to deliver messages. Which brings us to the central weakness of the story: the credibility of Mansoor Ijaz.

Ijaz, who once managed an investment

Nawaz, Saifullah demand snap polls ISLAMABAD ONLINE

Railways’ disconnected numbers not of PTCL ISLAMABAD pRESS RELEASE

The Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has rejected a report with regards to suspension of outgoing telephone facilities to Pakistan Railways Headquarters and Punjab division offices owing to nonpayment of dues.

In a statement issued here today, PTCL authorities said that Pakistan Railways’ disconnected numbers are not PTCL numbers. In fact, these numbers belong to and are charged by a different telecom corporation, which only uses PTCL infrastructure to provide its services.

firm, had cultivated well-placed political friends in both parties. He seems like a clone of Walter Mitty, the Thurber character who had heroic daydreams and tried to convince others they were true.

This month Ijaz claimed, in a Newsweek interview, that the United States told Haqqani and Zardari in advance about the raid on bin Laden. Given the intense secrecy in which this raid was held, such a claim is ludicrous. It undercuts everything else Ijaz has said.

Yet the military and intelligence leaders are fanning the Memogate furor, which further inflames anti-Americanism in their country. They seem unaware that their hot pursuit of Haqqani (and Zardari) is likely to boomerang against their own interests, and their country’s interests as well.

Pakistan needs to maintain its ties with the United States, no matter how fragile. If they break, Pakistan loses military aid that won’t be replaced by China. Without strategic cooperation between the two countries, neighbouring Afghanistan will collapse into chaos after US troops leave, a chaos that will blow back into Pakistan.

Haqqani was no traitor, he understood the need to prevent a US rupture with Pakistan. His forced resignation could bring that rupture closer, the report says.

ISLAMABAD: Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Chaudhary pervaiz Elahi called on president Asif Ali zardari on friday. INP

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) chief Nawaz Sharif and PML Likeminded President Senator Salim Saifullah on Friday demanded the government announce general election after senate election under an impartial caretaker set up.

A PML Likeminded statement said the two leaders believed that the rulers had brought the country on the verge of disaster and if they continued to be in power, they would throw the country into a quagmire.

Both the leaders discussed in detail the alliance of various factions of the PML and hoped that very soon the PML-N, PML LM and PML-F would make an alliance and fight election from a single platform.

They also discussed the country’s political situation and expressed support for democracy. They were of the view that the rulers were not innocent, and if they were, they should announce election to know their acceptance among the public. Saifullah urged the rulers to quit the government as they were not capable to run it further.

After Sharifs, Gilani too falls to ‘Imranophobia’ ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

Following PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif, it seems Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has also been caught up with “Imranophobia”, as the chief executive of the country has been hurling indirect criticism against the Imran-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) during the past fortnight.

During an interaction with a select group of reporters on Saturday, the prime minister had made indirect attacks on the PTI, which is fast emerging as a political force to be reckoned with as influential “electables” are joining Imran’s bandwagon.

Surprisingly, the PM for the first time hit out at Imran Khan’s party, terming it an “old wine in a new bottle”, claiming the politicians joining Khan “were rejected by the people” and had been “associates of dictators”.

Gilani has time and again said that the PML-N leadership was afraid of the rising popularity of Imran Khan during the months of September, October and November. However, soon after the joining of former PPP leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the PPP leadership realised that Imran was not only a blow to the PML-N, but to the PPP also.

Political analyst Hassan Askari Rizvi said Gilani perhaps was perturbed about the PTI due to two major factors - the foothold of PTI in south Punjab and the impression of Imran’s support by the establishment.

“Though there is no circumstantial evidence about the support of establish-

ment to Imran, such rumors might have been created to keep pressure on the government regarding the memo controversy,” Rizvi said.

He said Gilani’s tirade against Imran was also an expression of solidarity with PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, as many rebel Q leaguers have joined ranks with the PTI. Moreover, what the prime minister forgot to tell the media was that those joining Khan were not the major supporters and comrades of dictator Pervez Musharraf and rather they were actually sitting along the prime minister, including senior minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, who had claimed publicly in year 2007 to “get elected General Musharraf in uniform even ten times”.

During his one-and-a-half hour long interaction with the media, the PM, visibly perturbed with the popularity of Imran Khan, tacitly criticised the PTI.

“Those talking about bringing a change are actually old wine in a new bottle. Opportunists are joining a new party.

But let me tell you that in next elections, no party would have an absolute majority and situation would remain the same as it persists today. Those who are calling each other thieves would have to form a coalition government after next elections with the very people. Such people should realise this fact,” the prime minister had said.

During the interaction, the reporters got a clue of the worries of the chief executive about the rising popularity of Khan’s party. When a journalist asked the prime minister about his comments over an incident in which an ISI officer had allegedly contacted a minister of state and asked him to join the PTI, Gilani said he had no knowledge about such an incident.

He said change would be possible

through a sustainable political process and continuity of elections. “Whatever big public meeting he (Imran Khan) holds in Karachi, I challenge you that his party can’t win even a single provincial assembly seat from the city,” he claimed.

Coining a new phrase for caretaker setup, chair-takers, Gilani said, “These people to which I call chair-takers can’t bring change overnight. Today those joining a specific party had also joined Musharraf. We resisted such temptations and did not seek plea-bargains and rather fought against the dictator. We are committed with an ideology. The PPP is a federal party. Those joining the new party are mostly people rejected by the masses,” he said, but forgot to note that at least three sitting MNAs and two senators had joined the PTI, besides some provincial ministers, while many ministers are in close contact with PTI chief and would join him soon.

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10 News

Saturday, 24 December, 2011

Yousaf Gilani a ‘remote-controlled’ PM: Sheikh Rashid

GUJRANWALA StAff REpORt

Calling Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani a “remote-controlled prime minister”, Awami Muslim League (AML) President Sheikh Rashid Ahmad on Friday said Pakistan had never experienced such a corrupt and neglected chief executive.

Addressing party workers at the inaugural of AML office here, the former minister said that Gilani had tried to provoke the military in his recent gathering in Karachi, but Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani responded in the best possible way.

The AML chief said the prime minister was trying to provoke the army so that it could go back to the people as a “martyr of democracy”. He added that after the army chief’s statement that there would be no coup, the government would have to face a totally different scenario. He said the Supreme Court was hearing cases on Rental Power Projects, Railways, Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Haj scam, and several other acts of corruption done during the four years of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government. He hoped that the judgement on these cases would expose the real face of the “corrupt government”.

PM’s adviser takes notice of reported threats to Asma, Haqqani PRESS RELEASE Advisor to the Prime Minister on Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar has taken serious notice of a news item appearing in “Dateline Islamabad” on Friday captioned “Asma, Haqqani threatened”, wherein Asma has been quoted that she was being threatened along with her client Hussain Haqqani.

According to a press release issued on Friday, the advisor took a serious notice of the report and asked the interior minister, the Punjab chief minister, and police chiefs of Punjab and Islamabad to thoroughly investigate the matter in order to provide foolproof security to Asma and the former diplomat.

pESHAWAR: Students look at research poster seminar at the University of peshawar on friday. STAff PHoTo

‘People looking towards army, judiciary for relief’ SWAT

P

HAROON SIRAJ

AKISTAN Muslim League-Quaid Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Amir Muqam on Friday said the people of the country would not have been looking towards the army or judiciary for relief had those in the government realised their responsibilities earlier.

“If the country’s president visits America to sell out his integrity by letting them attack his state’s sovereignty…” it was only logical that the country was passing through such a critical stage, he said.

“Had they honestly ruled, the people of Pakistan would have supported President Asif Ali Zardari and his Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, but they have failed to provide relief to the already stressed masses and jobless citizens, who were running after basic ne-

cessities of life,” Muqam said while addressing a massive public gathering in Besh Bund area of Swat.

He said the incumbent government had broke all previous records of cor-

ruption and the rulers were still busy looting the national exchequer by planning embezzlements in every government institution without showing mercy to the people, who were already facing a number of hardships.

“I am worried about the poor masses, how will they manage to spend their life in Pakistan if this government prevails?” he said. Muqam said a majority of people was moving from Pakistan to other countries and many were planning to settle in foreign countries because they have been exhausted by the conditions in the country.

He criticised the ANP’s government for spending public funds for their political campaigns.

“The ANP government is making a fool out of the people of Malakand division who have been deprived of their rights. The provincial government had destroyed all institutions and embezzled a major portion of public funds,” Muqam added.

Reports of would-be suicide bomber panic people in Swat SWAT HAROON SIRAJ

The people of Charbagh tehsil of Swat were forced to say weekly Friday congregational prayers inside their homes following the breaking out of news that a suicide bomber had entered the area and could target any local mosque during Friday prayers. The locals received information from intelligence agencies that a suicide bomber had entered the area or was planning to do so, forcing scores of peoples to say Friday prayers at home. Organisers of a rally to be addressed by PML-Q KP President Amir Muqam also abandoned work and vacated the area after the news and Muqam had to postpone the gathering after receiving information about the suicide bomber.

Security forces also closed road for all kinds of traffic for some time, but later reopened them for traffic. The forces and police also cordoned off the area and launched a search operation, however, they found no suspect. A senior police officer told Pakistan Today that the “presence of the would-be suicide bomber was yet to be established”.

Top Chinese diplomat on Pakistan visit Malik asks NADRA to BEIJING REUtERS

China’s senior diplomat Dai Bingguo arrived in Pakistan on Friday for talks with the country whose relations with key backer, the US, have gone from bad to worse, state news agency Xinhua said.

Dai will meet Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a daily briefing.

Dai is a state councillor who steers foreign policy for China’s top leaders. He outranks Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, who answers to Dai. The visit is meant to mark 60 years of diplomatic ties and will “take relations to a new high”, Liu said.

Both sides will use this visit to “discuss the future development of practical cooperation and exchange views on other issues of mutual concern”, Liu said, without elaborating.

“China is satisfied with the present course of bilateral relations and has total confidence in prospects for future cooperation the future,” Liu added.

Liu did not give other details on Dai’s trip.

Beijing has voiced support for Islamabad during months of worsening Pakistani-American relations, which were shaken by the US incursion in May that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden near a Pakistani military base, and a cross-border attack by US forces that mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers last month.

Pakistan has been trying to move closer to Asian powerhouse China as ties with the United States have suffered.

China and Pakistan call each other “all-weather friends” and their close ties have been underpinned by long-standing wariness of their common neighbour, India, and a desire to counter-balance US influence across the region.

China invested more than $200 million to help build the deep-sea Gwadar port on Pakistan’s Arabian Sea coast, partly with a view to opening an energy and trade corridor from the Gulf, across Pakistan to western China.

China also helped Pakistan build its main nuclear power generation facility at Chashma in Punjab. Two reactors are in operation and two more are planned.

fire its corrupt officials islAmABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday asked the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to identify and expose corrupt officials within its ranks in order to rid the organisation of corruption. Chairing a high-level meeting at his office, the interior minister told the NADRA chairman to review the authority’s work procedures, and point out the grey areas being exploited by criminals. The meeting was attended by the federal Interior secretary, NADRA chairman and deputy chairman in addition to several other senior officers of the ministry and NADRA. The interior minister also reviewed the ongoing process of registration of voters. He praised NADRA for issuing 89 million computerised national identity cards and registering 95 percent of the adult population. He further directed the NADRA chairman to ensure that the remaining five percent were registered before the 2013 election. He told the NADRA chief to fully assist the Election Commission of Pakistan in completing the voter list under the Supreme Court’s orders. StAff REpORt

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

Editor’s mail 11 Dear Mr imran Khan

More about power, less about education For all intents and purposes, the devolution of the Federal Ministry of Education is being regarded as an attempt to merely insert the word 'education' on papers in the provinces. Skepticism still abounds on the devolution process with the centre being criticised for its reluctance to cede control.

Meanwhile, independent experts opine if the process is not smoothened out, the quality of education will tumble tremendously and will also affect commitments made with international donor agencies. Technically, the 18th Amendment did not require a complete abolition of the Federal Ministry of Education.

It simply stopped the federal government from undertaking any legislation relating to education. The Ministry of Education could have been retained as a platform for the provinces to share views and voluntarily harmonise their policies, and this would not have been against the spirit of 18th Amendment.

In fact, even now, the provinces have not been given control of the federal min-

istries' various departments and sections.

They have only been given powers to deal with the educational matters of kindergarten to grade 12.

Provinces would have to start from the scratch. For development of strong educational mechanisms for the provision of basic education at the elementary level, provinces have to rebuild everything from policy level to human resources and institutions. On the other hand, future of the employees of Federal Ministry of Education is unsure at best.

One province may decide to review and raise the level of its standards or modernise its curricula. On the same pattern, another province may follow a more liberal policy and may either simplify its curricula or may decide to keep them static. This may result in variations among the terminal competencies of matriculates from different provinces, and widening of development gaps between different areas.

Since there will be no uniform curriculum in the country, the provinces are

likely to go for their own independent curricula thus creating a hotchpotch affecting the quality of education as well as uniformity in the subjects. This will raise complications relating to equivalence.

Many officials are worried about coordination of education departments with the international bodies. A UN official said that achievement of Millennium Development Goals and Education For All have received constitutional support through the newly-inserted Article 2S-A (Right to Free Education), but if there is no monitoring mechanisms in place, progress towards these targets would be affected because of the devolution.

Who will take care of the international commitments like MDGs and EFA since federal government would need quantitative data and qualitative information on various indicators and issues for preparation and presentation of reports? The federal government was supposed to annually provide educational data to international organisations which is then used for Human Development

Index and for other global instruments.

However, no agency was given the task to compile and provide this data to international organisations.

The donor coordination, specifically with respect to United Nations agencies working in education sector, has already been affected since it has to approach every province separately now. The provinces may not spend more on education during their annual budget allocations thus leaving the subject on the backburner and ultimately affecting the educational system of the country.

What role can the federal government play after the 18th Amendment?

Which organ of the state will monitor the provision of this constitutional right to all children of age 5 to 16 in Pakistan?

It's these issues that should be sorted out before the devolution progresses further as there is more at stake than a mere ministry or department – it's the future of millions of children across Pakistan.

ZAINAB JAVED BUTT Lahore

Privatise Wapda Since 2008, Wapda has continuously under-performed. In the past three years, they have not been able to supply us electricity 24/7. With loadshedding of more then 12 hours and Wapda screaming about shortage of production capacity, we only find out in 2011 that the shortage of production capacity was created by Wapda, when they failed to pay relevant dues for fuel imports. With hundreds of cases of corruption, mismanagement and just plain laziness of Wapda employees, the government has finally decided to privatise the whole department.

I request the federal government and the politicians not to give in to Wapda employees’ pressure. They should privatise the organisation within six months.

To make matters simple, Wapda should only be involved in licensing and with maintenance of the national grid. Private companies should be allowed to produce and sell electricity through the Wapda grid and Wapda, for which Wapda will get a fixed monthly rental payment.

Countries like Canada and UK have adopted similar technique and this has created a competition among various energy providers, helping the consumer get the lowest competitive price for their electricity.

At least it would stop the unprecedented, unethical and immoral monthly price increases of Wapda and Nepra.

AZKA JUNAID Lahore

Despite hurdles Fighting a disease and yet performing at the best possible level is really something only champions can do.

Though suffering from a rare disease ‘Duchene Muscular Dystrophy’, my son Ali Bashir has maintained excellent record throughout his school and college life. He has written papers, done research work and won acclaim in debates and seminars. He is an honours student in an American university now.

I want to take an opportunity and congratulate him that he despite his hardships, he has never let us down; rather, he has made us all Pakistanis proud with his achievements.

JAVAID BASHIR Lahore

Dual nationality bar The Election Commission has banned the dual nationality holders from contesting elections. This is a good decision, but more is needed in this regard.

The ECP must scrutinise the assets and income of politicians. Those politicians that are involved in corruption or criminal activities should be banned for life.

Parliamentarians should assist the ECP in this regard. There should also be a bar on the politicians doing politics from abroad. Those politicians, who change the party for personal gains, should also be banned because these politicians are maligning the image of the country. The ECP should make necessary changes in election procedure with the help of parliamentarians and judiciary.

TARIQ HUSAIN KHAN Karachi

I was at Minar-e-Pakistan on 30 October with a bunch of my lady friends, none of whom had ever dreamt of attending a jalsa without a chaperon in Pakistan. My husband went with his friends, and we actually left a will behind as our four-year-old was being watched over by my parents.

Words cannot describe what we experienced at the jalsa. I speak for all of us when I say that we witnessed history and felt a new-found hope rising in a nation that we thought had given up.

However, the real test of PTI’s credibility started post-30 October. PTI stands for the ideology of freedom of expression, justice and rejecting status quo.

I am taking this opportunity of using the first one here to talk about the other two.

The ideology can come true with fresh faces, not the old tried and tested ones.

Yes, PTI needs polished politicians to understand and help with the political scenario, especially the rural areas. No one can be stopped from joining a political party. But their overnight switch in ideology from another one to yours should not be rewarded with positions of top rank.

They do not represent the true spirit of PTI. The old PTI patriots, who have faced the music and ridicule but stood fast; those who have given their heart and soul in bringing PTI where it is today, represent the true spirit. The new members need to first prove themselves and earn that position.

Sir, I don’t see Bilawal Bhutto or the Gillanis in the PM House bringing a change in Pakistan. I don’t see the Sharifs managing to change anything while pulling the strings from their mansion. I don’t see Altaf Hussain bringing a change over a telephone call. But I do see the hopeful common man, the passionate youth, the true Pakistan we saw at Minar-e-Pakistan, bringing a real change from your platform. If the PTI is not capable of considering and revising a decision that is causing unrest and anxiety among its loyalists, I fear the ideology of justice, freedom of expression and rejecting status quo may lose its true essence sooner than the critics have forecasted.

MAIRA OMAIR RANA Lahore

Ban on porn websites

growing resentment among the public on this issue. Such a move on part of the government creates a paradox that while on one side the public is being asked to cut down their budgets, save energy and other resources, the country’s money on the other hand is being spent lavishly on the decorum and maintenance of places that are under the personal use of high government officials.

Perhaps yes, it might be important to maintain the outlook of certain arenas up to the international standards, but isn’t it the roots of the country we need to focus on first? In a state like Pakistan, torn by

an economic crisis, suffering from natural calamities, victimised by terrorism and marked by poor infrastructure and educational standards, there is a dire need on part of the authorities to set their priorities right.

For a huge proportion of our population, whose entire day’s efforts circle around the acquisition of a decent ‘onetime’s meal’, what benefit can a kitchen renovation project offer to them, even if it acquires the capacity of serving 600 VIPs at a time?

WAJIEHA WAHEED LUMS, Lahore

It is good to know that Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has taken an action to curb immoral material on the internet because now our youth and kids could be saved to visit such websites that are harmful for them.

Parents are very much conscious of allowing their kids to use the internet for long hours despite the fact that it is vital due to its beneficial aspects. However, it has disadvantages as well.

But as it is witnessed traditionally, rules and regulations are not followed in our country. There are many ISPs who are still providing access to websites which should have been banned after issuance of such an order. Surprisingly, PTCL has not blocked websites on its internet service as it was confirmed by media reports as well which is a condemnable act.

I request the PTA to enforce ban on all websites having indecent content forever and check all internet service providers for strict censorship on their networks.

AMNA KHAN Lahore

social customs, traditions, moral degradation etc.

Women are mostly suffering from economic vulnerability. Economic dependence at times puts many a female fall an easy prey to malicious traps set by criminal agents. Domestic oppression is the most common form of injustice against the female gender. A female may be denied the right to get due education or the right to marry a suitable partner according to her liking. Similarly, work pressures, oppressive demands upon a female to perform well in every corner of life can also be put in the category of violence against her.

Honour killing is another of the primary forms of violence existent in our society against our womenfolk. Though primarily prevalent in urban masses, this form of oppression previously went un-

noticed. Illiteracy, gender discrimination, religious alienation, stagnant and stale moral values are some of the triggering factors behind this atrocious practice.

Flesh trade is another example of an equally oppressive and shameful practice against women. It exists and flourishes in our society. Many criminal agents with mercenary and untamed sensual motives abuse the fairer gender through this dirty practice.

Marriage issues make up another variety of an oppressive channel against women. Despite social advancements and progress, a woman faces much acridity once she stands for any issue regarding her marriage right or any separation issue.

Khula, property issues, child claim rights and many others lead many a woman to suffer even after being hurt

emotionally as well as mentally. When the religious doctrines secure a female’s right to make her decisions regarding her future life, then why should cruel social practices plague her happiness?

The need of the hour is to strengthen religious moral frameworks of our society. In this way, we will not only protect the females but our future generations will also be able to breathe freely and exuberantly in a more comfortable relaxed atmosphere. No form of violence can be justified against her outside any religious or legal framework. Her tenderness if employed correctly can provide nourishing benefit, not only to one individual but to the whole society. For, this is her innate nature to groom and nurture the other beings.

NOOR-UL-AIN Kinniard College, Lahore

2012 BC No gas, no electricity. It seems Pakistan is on the path of regression instead of progress. One of the biggest issues of our governance is that adhoc and short-term measures are preferred instead of long-term measures. Take the gas load for instance. The conversion of vehicles was touted much by the previous governments without paying any heed to what would happen a few years down the line. Similarly, the load shedding

Renovating a kitchen The project for the renovation of the presidency kitchen is likely to get approved with the allocation of 260 million rupees as proposed by the Capital Development Authority. The very proposition of such a plan is striking in itself given the high amount of budget that is expected to be allocated for this project and the likelihood of its acceptance despite the already high expenses of the Aiwane-Sadar.

Moreover, as portrayed on television and forums on net, there has been a

crisis is also being managed on an adhoc basis. When the people rioted, funds were released on an emergency basis but we’re back to square one now that those funds have been used up. If we do not fix the structural problems that beget these crises, then we’ll surely be sending ourselves back to the stone ages.

ADIL HASEEB Lahore

The second sex “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety”.

Many centuries back, William Shakespeare paid a rich and an equally honest tribute to the fairer creature of our Lord i.e., the woman. In the same vein, this praise holds true not only for present times but for all times to come.

Violence is perhaps the most shameful and appalling human rights violation and it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. Sadly enough, though, this fair creature suffers much despite her tenderness.

She is made a victim of oppression, torture and injustice. The principles of morality and ethics have not been adopted in order to protect women in our society. Consequently, women undergo inhumane treatment due to prevalent ill

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 A flurry of denials But how to make that smell go away?

C

onventional wisdom says that if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, talks like a duck, one should go out on a limb and call it a duck. But we could hold out passing a judgment on the story that Reuters filed the other day about the military wanting the president out of the current dispensation, though without a coup.

Immensely respected a news agency it might be, one not known to be lax with journalistic standards and protocols, it is still not above making a mistake or even having malafide intent. If the army denies it, who is to arbitrate on the matter?

The veracity of the story notwithstanding, it does represent the deep rooted malaise present in the republic at the moment. And the whole thing does sound familiar (the slew of “minus one” conjectures from 2008, anyone?)

The news item speaks of a “legal” way to oust the president. That would be a bit of a problem. Because even if they manage to stick something on to the president, there is the issue of his immunity, a bulwark that will come in handy even in case of an unsavoury verdict in the memo case. The only legal way of removal would be impeachment. That is not going to happen. True, the ruling coalition (specially the PML-Q and the MQM) are a jagged alliance, but the PPP legislators are more than one-third of the parliament even without the steadfast ANP. The statements from both the military and judicial top slots rubbishing talk of a coup were in response to the premier’s uncharacteristically unrestrained outbursts from the day before. Both the institutions seem to have been caught off-guard by the nature of the language used.

It is unlikely the aforementioned responses are going to put anyone at ease in the government. Because they deny possibilities of coups and military rule. What are allegedly being contemplated here are not the gardenvariety martial laws of yore but neither-fish-nor-fowl mutant models of government. A consensus government (an oxymoron if there ever was one) has always been a penchant of many. Many within the government fear that the powers that be are infatuated enough with the idea to take a crack at it.

The enquiry report Sharing blame?

T

he Pentagon enquiry into the deadly Nato strike on Salala military posts inside Mohmand Agency last month has been finalised. The tragic incident which led to the killing of 24 Pakistani troops naturally caused a strong reaction in Pakistan. The government banned trucks carrying vital supplies for Nato forces fighting in Afghanistan. The US was told to vacate the Shamsi Airbase from where the US had operated its drones. Upping the ante subsequently, Pakistan army bolstered its air defenses along its Afghan border, including deploying shoulder-to-air missiles. Gen Kayani told commanders along the border that they could return fire without awaiting permission from central command, as had been the case in the past.

The Pentagon report has concluded that mistakes by both American and Pakistani forces had led to the airstrikes. While acknowledging for the first time some American responsibility for the clash, the report maintains that the air-strikes were conducted in selfdefense. According to the findings, Pakistani soldiers were the first to open fire on a joint team of Afghan and American special operations forces operating along the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan. As opposed to the position taken by Pakistan’s DGMO that the attack was a pre-planned conspiracy, the report maintains that there was “no intentional effort to target persons or places known to be part of the Pakistani military.”

A statement by the ISPR has however rejected the conclusions of the investigation for “being short on facts.”

As Pakistan had declined to be associated with the probe, some of the vital facts might have escaped notice of the Pentagon team. With the American side not totally exonerating itself, the possibility of reconciling the positions taken by the two armies cannot altogether be ruled out. There is need on both sides to resolve the issue.

With a virtual end to the exchange of information between the two sides, militants are having a field day as the Friday TTP attack on a paramilitary fort in Tank, killing a soldier and kidnappings 15 others amply indicates.

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

Saturday, 24 December, 2011

Take-no-dictation moment?

Now, eyeball to eyeball

P

By Arif Nizami

rime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani – usually soft spoken and compromise-seeking – thunderously declaring “there can be no state within a state” has raised alarm bells. Has the military and the civilian setup reached a point of no compromise? An elected prime minister having the audacity of telling an increasingly obtrusive military and the ISI leadership to fall in line has few precedents in our chequered political history.

Has the ‘take no dictation’ moment arrived for Gilani as it did for Nawaz Sharif who took on a meddlesome President Ghulam Ishaq Khan in April 1993 by taking the nation on board in a hard hitting nationally televised speech? Sharif was dismissed the same evening by a president armed with Article 58-2(b) of the Constitution.

Not quite the same thing is bound to happen now. At that time, the military establishment and the president, both tired of Sharif’s shenanigans, were on the same page. Quite the opposite situation now. This time around, contrary to speculations, the president and the prime minister are on the same page regarding the military.

The minus one formula that was being touted in some circles is not going to work. If the war gamers are hoping that the Supreme Court will wash their dirty linen by moving against Zardari and paving the way for his dismissal, it is not going to easily happen.

The PPP, after kowtowing to the military establishment to the point of being accused of obsequiousness, has decided to fight back politically. Babar Awan’s (the official court jester) fulminations against the apex court are part of a bigger game plan. The situation will be clearer on Tuesday when President Zardari is expected to go public at late Benazir Bhutto’s fourth death anniversary at Naudero.

There is no easy way of ousting Zardari and Gilani and keeping the constitution intact. In the good old days, all army chief General Waheed Kakar had to do was

to call on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif giving him a polite ultimatum to resign and advising the president to do the same. The matter was resolved within forty eight hours. Both the president and the prime minister sent packing, a new caretaker government under a US citizen was formed and engineered elections heavily loaded against Sharif were held.

Things are no longer that simple. At that time, politics was a zero-sum game with the opposition willing to get rid of the sitting government even if it meant sleeping with the enemy. No longer so.

Zardari is defiant and not quite ready to throw in the towel and go home. He will play the Sindh card if he is forced to. As for Sharif, he does not trust the military, nor is he their favourite horse, as he was once upon a time.

The question which begs an answer however is why did Sharif append his name to a petition in the Supreme Court which is being blatantly used as an instrument to nail the PPP government. Is it another example of the PML(N) supremo never thinking through the consequences of his actions? A PTI leader close to Imran unconvincingly claims that the petition had been lying with them a few days. After their refusal to file it, Nawaz was chosen for the job.

The leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has announced his party’s support for Gilani in the parliament, declaring that the PML(N) would oppose any undemocratic move against the government or the parliament. Sharif will have to decide quickly where does he stand? Whether he is with the democratic forces or against them.

It is obvious that his political interests and that of the military establishment coincide where the Senate elections not being held on PPP’s watch is concerned. These elections, like in the past, have been made into an unnecessary watershed.

The PPP and its coalition partner’s majority in these elections is not assured. Even if it is able to eke out a majority, in this age of a fiercely independent superior judiciary and an intrusive media, the coalition government is in no position to bring about any unilateral change in the constitution.

PML(N) wants early elections before Imran Khan further erodes into its constituency. On the other hand, the PTI chief

thinks he is prime minister in waiting. He needs more time to get more electable candidates on board and elections under fresh electoral rolls to co-opt fresh voters.

It is axiomatic that the interest of the mainstream parties lies in maintaining the status quo. None of them would want the apple cart to be upset by an ISI engineered change directly or indirectly. This does not of course include the religious right recently re-launched by the establishment.

With the affidavits placed before the apex court by Generals Kayani and Pasha, it has become amply clear that the military and civilian leadership are not on the same page on the Memo issue. The DG ISI has denied having visited some Arab capitals to pave way for a coup against Zardari. The information is based on a BBM whose author is the same Mansoor Ijaz who claims that Haqqani dictated the memo to him on Zardari’s orders. It is being said that efforts are afoot to turn Haqqani into a Masood Mehmood but that is a far cry from reality.

The times are different now and Mr Haqqani is no Masood Mehmood.

Judging by his past record and purely on the basis of his credibility, Mansoor Ijaz’ claims are dubious to say the least. It is for the apex court to decide whether they can withstand legal scrutiny.

The Supreme Court has also to deal with the defence ministry’s written reply in the memo case in which it has stated that it has no operational control over the military or the ISI. As the ultimate interpreter of the constitution, the exalted judges should give a verdict: Who is supreme? The military or the civilian government and the parliament?

Under a democratic dispensation, the answer is (or should be) obvious. But ground realities in Pakistan are different where the military has perennially suffered from a messiah complex bordering on Bonapartism.

As is evident from Memogate, the malaise has become more acute. The memo case has opened a can of worms pitting the military and the civilian dispensation in an eyeball to eyeball confrontation. If not arrested, this will have unpredictable but definitely unfortunate consequences. Perhaps our honourable judges can play an honourable role, a clear break from the past!

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today

whiteLIES T

By Ess Aich

he Imran Khan cum Khurshid Kasuri jalsa last week made it abundantly clear that while politicians rant about caretakers and takeovers, it is the chair takers that are grabbing the spotlight.

Last week Kasur, that home of Bulleh Shah proved to be home to some of the most skilled looters. This lot barely waited for Imran Khan and Kasuri to get out of the way before they unleashed a dangal of their own, the prize being the thousands of plastic chairs laid out for participants, all this caught on camera. If the embarrassed organisers are to be believed the whole episode was part of a charitable act where chairs were gifted away after the show but than comes the counter charge: it was a really a rent-a crowd, the rent being as many chairs as you can grab at the end of the jalsa.

Whatever the explanation, the jalsa may be a trend setter of sorts. In future, organisers will have to hand out little gift boxes and have thousands of security personnel to guard their equip-

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pparently, The Punjab Assembly has a major problem on its hand. It rarely has a quorum to pass legislation. The parliamentary secretary spends his life enticing people to come. The problem is they rarely listen to him. This time, by some

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ment and that is an added expense. Politics for the richer, no doubt about that.

miracle, there was a quorum for a space of two days.

The ruling party jumped on the opportunity and put up all the 21 bills it had on its agenda. 20 were passed at the speed of 10 a day like an assembly line. This we hear

t seems that impressed by the way her Filipino nanny managed to make her case against her and spurned by a young politician from the Raiwind clan, a lady called Ayesha Malik has taken things into her own hand.

She has opened an NGO for the protection of women’s rights and hired a journalist to make sure she and her cause get ample projection in the media.

Unfortunately, though, the first instalment of 15 lakh rupees has been paid, the lady has not become a star nor has any awareness programme been launched by the baby NGO. The lady we hear is now complaining incessantly that there is no work done by the hired hand. Well she can always fire the help but then remember the case of her Filipino nanny.

is a new record for this parliament or any other. Of course, the speed was such that it did not allow time for discussion. But, then, who cares? Except those who cry hoarse that the National Assembly has become irrelevant owing to non-performance.

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at whitelies@pakistantoday.com.pk

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

our political puppeteers they run the show still…

By Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

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hat the armed forces and the ISI constitute a state within a state is no secret. That they intend to remain so has also been made abundantly clear by them during the past four years. Unhappiness has been shown whenever the elected government has tried to assert itself even though half-heartedly and with no preparation. Gilani knew this very well when he occasionally mouthed phrases like ‘complete harmony’ existing between the civil government and the military or spoke about ‘all institutions of the state’ being ‘on the same page.’

These were hollow words meant only to keep up appearances and paper over the cracks.

These cracks have always existed. This time again, the army leadership is determined not to allow the civil government to make any inroads into the fairly expansive turf they have carved out for themselves on issues like Kashmir, nuclear weapons, Afghanistan, Balochistan and several other matters. Zardari’s desire expressed soon after the PPP victory in 2008 to resolve the issue of Kashmir after improving economic relations with India was strongly resented. So was the announcement to send the DG ISI to India after the Mumbai terror attack and the move to bring the ISI under the control of the interior ministry.

The clause in the Kerry Lugar Bill that required the government to bring the army under civilian control made the military high command furious.

The attempt by the government to probe the Abbottabad shame was considered an unpardonable act. A need was felt to create a ruse to get rid of the

meddlesome government.

This led to the creation of the memo affair which was blown out of proportion. There is hardly any military government in the past which has not conspired with the US to deprive Pakistanis of their basic rights. In return for US support, Ayub, Zia and Musharraf gave the superpower concessions with grave implications for national security. At times, civil governments were dismissed after an understanding with the US or at its instigation. Another civilian government is now being threatened on the basis of a claim by a foreign citizen who has frequently maligned the army and the ISI in the past.

It goes to the discredit of the PPP government that it never made any serious attempt during its tenure t to contain the army within its sphere. The best way was to concentrate on improving the economy and the wellbeing of the people. This would have created a groundswell of public goodwill for the government besides providing it sufficient prestige. This is how Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) consolidated the civilian hold in Turkey where there has been a long tradition of military rule.

The PPP instead relied on keeping in power through dependence on thoroughly unscrupulous allies like the MQM and PML(Q). This was bound to lead to bad governance and make the party unpopular. The PPP leadership evolved the idea of reconciliation with all political and non political forces on the basis of live and let live. In practice, this meant giving the allies a freedom to indulge in all sorts of illegalities provided they continued to support the government.

The army will not remove the government through a coup this time for a number of reasons: a backlash of hostile public opinion, the fear of the opposition joining hands with the PPP and rejection by the SC of any unconstitutional act.

The idea behind Memogate was to create a conducive atmosphere before administer-

ing the coup de grace. The memo affair is supposed to create hostile public opinion. It is like the artillery barrage softening the enemy’s position before the foot soldiers come in.

The PML(N) leadership was the first to take the bait.

While professing to be opposed to any military coup, the party is bent upon getting rid of the PPP government before the March Senate elections.

PML(N) leaders took the memo issue to the SC. The party is bound to find soon that it has been complicit in the overthrow of a civilian government.

The government need not fear the SC which despite the haste shown in launching an enquiry into the memo affair is bound by constitutional considerations. This shows why it has again reiterated its opposition to any military takeover.

There is no constitutional way to remove the PPP government other than a no confidence move in National Assembly. Whenever the offstage players feel they have done enough to kick up an anti-PPP sentiment, they will take recourse to the move.

They have enough levers to make many MQM and PML(Q) parliamentarians withdraw support from the government.

They are in no hurry.

The preparation of fresh ‘error free’ electoral rolls, their publication and other formalities will take four to five months. All that needs to be done meanwhile is to indulge in political engineering, a routine exercise for the ISI. Part of the exercise has already been undertaken as can be seen from the beeline made by Musharraf loyalists and scores of political castaways to the PTI. The elections will see a downfall of the PPP and a trouncing of the PML(N). Once Imran Khan comes riding the ‘popular wave’, the state within the state will again face a challenge from the newly elected leader. Whatever else Imran may be, he would be loath to be taken for granted.

The writer is a former academic and a political analyst.

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State within a state With escape routes blocked, how comes the end?

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he prime minister’s outbursts of December 22 have dashed any prospects that may still have lingered with regard to the government and the military continuing to co-exist. There is little to say by way of blaming the military for pushing the confrontation to a breaking point. As we recede back to square one, the surprise is not that we are there after all. It is what took us so long.

I say this not because I happen to be one of the group of eternal cynics. On the contrary, I say this because, ever since its induction into power, the government and its cronies did just about everything to provoke intervention, whether from the judiciary or the military. The manner in which it has persistently and blatantly flouted the Supreme Court’s injunctions with regard to innumerable irregularities and misdemeanours of the gravest nature gave enough reason to the judiciary to invoke the extreme. Its intransigence in refusing to restore the apex judiciary in open violation of the public pronouncements of its leaders and the subsequent long-march literally offered the government on a platter to the military.

The systematic madness that has been on display in pushing all state institutions to the brink of destruction made a solid case for its ouster. Its presidentially-reprieved ministers and advisors continued to pour venom on the judges of the SC, but they somehow escaped contempt notices. The gross plunder that its functionaries have perpetrated, besides denuding the ruling political mafia of all legitimacy, raised serious doubts about the relevance and efficacy of the democratic system itself. The parliament was rendered completely irrelevant and the rule

By Raoof Hasan of law shred into bits.

The initial reverberations of discord were felt at the time of the appointment of Husain Haqqani to the coveted post of ambassador to the US. With a track record that smacked of a perceptible bias against the establishment, the rulers were rightly expected to have exercised restraint in nominating a controversial person. The bias became more pronounced during the formulation of the Kerry-Lugar Bill that contained clauses inimical to the way the military functioned in Pakistan. When a protest was registered by the concerned forces, a deceitful effort was unleashed to cloud the differences. The issuance of hundreds of unauthorised visas to the US functionaries became a serious bone of contention between the government and the security agencies. But the present collision course started taking shape in the wake of the US attack near Abbottabad. There were fears expressed that the president and some of his close associates were in the know of things. Under pressure because of the doubts expressed, the govern-

Candid Corner

ment plunged into a more-vociferous-than-usual support of the military and the security agencies. But the memo scam took the lid off the niceties that had hidden the government-military divide. While the military considers the memo a conspiracy against the security interests of the country and wants the SC to investigate it thoroughly, the government questions the very jurisdiction of the apex court in the matter and, instead, wants its hand-picked parliamentary commission to do the needful. The government tried vainly to force the military to change course. Its media barons even tried to give a convoluted twist to the PM-COAS meeting by projecting it as a tri-partite session including the president, but a one liner from the ISPR the next day belied that claim effectively.

There are other factors that need to be considered. Why was resignation from the former ambassador to the US secured when such has not been the practised tradition under the incumbent government? No one has ever resigned in the wake of scores of corruption scams unearthed over the last four years. Why Haqqani? Obviously, there was incriminating evidence. I also believe that the government could have lived with that by sacrificing a key member of its team, but fingers are pointed in the direction of the president and his close associates regarding their complicity in the matter. This is where the cookie began to crumble and the president took to falling sick – or, did he actually fall sick as he could not take the damning pressure? He did come back but, understandably, he is a defeated man seated uncomfortably in his corner waiting for the count. Will he have the mental and physical strength to stand up and fight?

The prime minister’s somersault is nothing more than a belated attempt to scare the perceived coup-makers away. Actually, no one is conspiring against the government. Its own deeds have become its worst adversaries. Whenever its corrupt functionaries have pushed it to the brink, it has cried foul raising the alarm bells that democracy was being assaulted. It survived only because the military was simply not interested in taking over. But, that does not mean that a government whose commitment to the country is seriously doubted should be allowed to continue without a transparent and exhaustive enquiry into the whole affair. That is where all the stakeholders including the leading political parties and the security establishment are agreed upon.

Why is the government dithering and trying to give it a twist as if democracy were under assault? Simply because it has been a party to the nefarious attempt to weaken the state and its principal security institutions as also because it wants to run a ‘state within a state’ that would be above and beyond the precincts of the rule of law and where its members would be immune from accountability!

In Faiz’s inimitable words: “Surely this caravan of pain / Will come to a stop / Somewhere, sometime”. (Translation: Khalid Hasan) The writer is a political analyst and a member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reached at raoofhasan@hotmail.com

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14 Foreign News

Saturday, 24 December, 2011

Putin response to protests ‘shameful’, says Gorbachev MOSCOW Afp

The last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said Friday he was ashamed of Vladimir Putin and felt Dmitry Medvedev’s career was finished by his refusal to find fault with Russia’s fraud-tainted vote. Gorbachev’s rebuke came in an interview with the opposition Novaya Gazeta paper — which he part owns — on the eve of new protests over December 4 elections that the ruling party narrowly won despite dwindling support. “This is shameful. And embarrassing. I, for example, am ashamed,” Gorbachev said in reference to a television appearance last week in which Putin compared the white ribbons worn by Russian protesters to condoms. “I feel tied to Putin in the sense that at first, when he came to power, I actively supported him everywhere — both here and abroad. And now look.” Former KGB agent Putin and Medvedev — suspected of more liberal leanings when he replaced his mentor as president in 2008 — have both dismissed the fraud allegations and linked protests to shadowy funding from the West. The vote saw their ruling United Russia party narrowly retain its majority despite allegations of widespread voter irregularities in Moscow and ballot stuffing across other regions of Russia. The socalled “ruling tandem” intend to swap jobs after March presidential elections in arrangement where Medvedev is to become Putin’s prime minister. But Gorbachev said Medvedev had lost his credibility as a politician by refusing to question the election results. “He said that he had no complaints or doubts about the elections.

And with that, Dmitry Anatolyevich I think drew the curtain on his career,” the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner said.

Three aid workers shot dead in Somalia NAIROBI

JERUSALEM: Israelis rally in protest against gender discrimination towards women and the disappearance of women’s pictures in advertisements across Jerusalem’s public spaces on friday. AfP

More than 30 dead in Damascus suicide bombings

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A gunman on Friday killed three aid workers including two World Food Programme employees in central Somalia, a WFP official said, the latest attack against humanitarian officials in the war-torn nation. “An individual opened fire killing outright one WFP staff member and a man working for a cooperating partner. A second WFP staff member was shot and later died as a result of his injuries,” WFP said in a statement. Local residents identified all three as Somalis. The attack took place near the settlement of Mataban, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Ethiopian border in central Somalia’s Hiran region, a frontline area between hardline Shebab Islamists and rival militia. “The individual then gave himself up and is currently in the custody of the local authorities,” WFP said. WFP has temporarily suspended its operations in the area, where it has been working since 2009. The motive of the attack was not immediately clear, but the area is awash with rival militia groups and close to areas controlled by the Al-Qaeda linked Shebab.

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officials blame al Qaeda for attack on two security service bases DAMASCUS

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UICIDE bombers hit two security service bases in Damascus on Friday killing more than 30 people and casting a pall over the first day of work of an Arab observer mission intended to oversee an end to nine months of bloodshed.

The bombings, which officials blamed on Al-Qaeda, were the first attacks against Syria’s powerful security services in the heart of the capital since the uprising began and overshadowed new protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. One bomber tried to ram a vehicle packed with explosives into the compound of the General Security Directorate, Syria’s most important plainclothes security service, in the Kfar Suseh neighbourhood of Damascus, witnesses said.

A second blew up a vehicle outside a nearby military intelligence building.

State television showed pictures of a huge crater at one of the bomb sites and pools of blood on surrounding pavements. Bystanders were seen carrying away charred and mangled bodies wrapped in makeshift shrouds.

“There are more than 30 dead and more than 100 wounded in today’s two attacks,” Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Meqdad told reporters at one of the bomb sites. “On the first day after the arrival of the Arab observers, this is the gift we get from the terrorists and Al-Qaeda but we are going to do all we can to facilitate the Arab League mission,” he added. Meqdad was accompanied to the bomb site by Arab League assistant secretary general Samir Seif al-Yazal, head of the observer mission’s advance team which flew in on Thursday. Yazal offered his condolences to the families of the dead. “What has happened is regrettable but the important thing is that everyone stay calm,” he told reporters. “We are going to press on

with our work. We have started today, and tomorrow (Saturday) we will meet (Foreign Minister) Walid Muallem.”

Yazal heads a nine-strong team which is making the necessary logistical arrangements for the arrival of a first 30 observers on Sunday. The mission will eventually number between 150 and 200. The mission is part of an Arab plan endorsed by Syria on November 2 that also calls for the withdrawal of the military from towns and residential districts, a halt to violence against civilians and the release of detainees. The Syrian foreign minister has said he expects the Arab observers to vindicate his government’s contention that the unrest is the work of “armed terrorists,” not overwhelmingly peaceful protesters as maintained by Western governments and human rights watchdogs. There was no let-up in the bloodshed on Friday with human rights activists reporting at least 12

civilians killed by security force fire.

Three people were killed in Daraa province, south of the capital, cradle of the protest movement against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia. Six more were killed in the flashpoint central city of Homs and three in the eastern oil province of Deir Ezzor, the Britain-based watchdog said. The Observatory released a grisly video to back its claim that security forces committed a massacre Tuesday in the town of Kafer Awid in Idlib province in the northwest, close to the border with Turkey.

The video zooms in on the faces of at least 49 men, some of them completely disfigured, before panning out to what appear to be rows of corpses. The opposition Syrian National Council charged on Wednesday that regime forces had killed 250 people in 48 hours in the run-up to the observer advance team’s arrival.

Turkey accuses france of genocide in Armenia row ISTANBUL Afp

The war of words between France and Turkey escalated dramatically on Friday, when the Turkish premier accused Paris of committing genocide in Algeria and of stirring hatred of Muslims.

Furious that French lawmakers had voted on Thursday to outlaw denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit back directly at France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy. Earlier, Turkey’s ambassador to France had left Paris and Ankara had announced diplomatic sanctions — banning political visits between the countries — and frozen military ties between the nominal NATO allies. “France massacred an estimated 15 percent of the Algerian population starting from 1945.

This is genocide,” Erdogan told reporters, accusing Sarkozy of “fanning hatred of Muslims and Turks for electoral gains.”

“This vote that took place in France, a France in which five million Muslims live, clearly shows to what point racism, discrimination and Islamophobia have reached dangerous levels in France and Europe,” he said.

Paris appeared to have been caught off guard by the fury of Turkey’s response.

Sarkozy, in Prague where he was at the funeral of late Czech president Vaclav Havel, was on the defensive. “I respect the views of our Turkish friends — it’s a great country, a great civilisation — and they must respect ours,” he said. “France does not lecture anyone but France doesn’t want to be lectured. France decides its policy as a sovereign nation. We do not ask for permission. France has its beliefs, human

rights, a respect for memory.” But back in France, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe admitted that France’s vote on the genocide law had “without doubt been badly timed”.

He urged calm, while adding that “certain declarations have been excessive”.

France fought a long guerilla war between 1954 and 1962 to try to hang on to its Algerian colony. Estimates for the number of dead vary wildly. Algeria puts it at more than a million, French historians estimate 250,000. Citing earlier French action against Algerian rebels in the aftermath of World War II, Erdogan said Sarkozy’s father had been a French legionnaire in Algeria in 1945 and should be able to tell his son of “massacres”. In 1915 and 1916, during World War I many Armenians died in Ottoman Turkey. Armenia says 1.5 million were killed in a genocide. Turkey says around 500,000 died in fighting after

Armenians sided with Russian invaders.

France is home to around 500,000 citizens of Armenian descent and they are seen as a key source of support for Sarkozy and his UMP ahead of presidential and legislative elections in April and June next year.

France recognised the 1915 killings as genocide in 2001 and on Thursday the National Assembly approved a first step towards a law that would impose a jail term and a 45,000 euro fine on anyone in France who denies this The law will now go to France’s upper house, The Senate, and could become law next year — although Turkey will lobby hard to prevent this. “We are really very sad. Franco-Turkish relations did not deserve this,” Ambassador Tahsin Burcuoglu said before taking a flight home. “When there is a problem it always comes from the French side.” “The damage is already done. We have been ac-

cused of genocide! How could we not overreact? Turkey will never recognise this story of an Armenian genocide.

“There are limits. A country like Turkey cannot be treated like this,” he declared.

Turkey will now boycott an economic committee meeting in Paris in January — a move that will worry business leaders in both countries fearful for the fate of 12 billion euros ($16 billion) in annual trade. And the freeze in military and political ti s will hamper France’s ambition to work with fellow NATO power Turkey to bring stability to Afghanistan and Syria and to face down Iran over its nuclear programme. Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian thanked France, which had “once again proved its commitment to universal human values”. Franco-Turkish relations are often tense — Sarkozy is opposed to allowing Turkey to join the European Union — but 1,000 French firms work there.

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

Foreign News 15

Afghan rights campaigner dropped from commission KABUL

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FGHANISTAN’S most outspoken human rights activist has been dropped from the national rights commission, President Hamid Karzai’s spokesman confirmed Friday. Nader Nadery had been working on a 1,000-page report documenting atrocities committed over the past three decades and

many of those implicated are now in prominent positions of power. One rights campaigner described the decision as “another blow to the efforts for democracy and human rights” in Afghanistan.

Nadery, 36, made many enemies during his five-year term in the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, speaking out on issues including electoral fraud, corruption and abuse of power. The international community has put pressure on the

country to stamp out widespread corruption and strengthen good governance. Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi dismissed reports that Nadery has been fired. “He has not been fired, his fiveyear term was over and the president did not renew his term,” he said.

“The president according to the law can choose to not to renew the term of a commissioner and in Mr Nadery’s case this is what has happened. “We also dismiss reports that they have been fired over a

report they were working which was said to be criticising government officials.” The decision not to renew his term was taken in a meeting attended by Karzai and senior officials Thursday, and another two of the nine commissioners, Fahim Hakim and Mawlawi Gharib, have also been let go, according to reports.

Nadery, who also runs the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, questioned the process by which he was dropped but declined to comment further.

“I’ve not been notified officially yet,” he said. “But whatever happens we need to observe the proper processes and standards. “Anything that undermines the principles and procedures, that would result in weakening the independent institute of the human rights commission is not acceptable.” The commission was set up in 2002 and its members are appointed by the government, supposedly after consultations with human rights and civil society organisations.

Suu Kyi registers party, makes first parliament visit NAYPYIDAW Afp

Myanmar’s democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi registered her opposition party and visited the national parliament for the first time on Friday, as she prepares to enter the mainstream political arena.

The visit in the capital Naypyidaw included a meeting with lower house speaker Shwe Mann, number three in the previous ruling junta and still one of the most powerful men in Myanmar, who said he was “glad” to hold the talks. “We have to work together as unity is strength,” he told reporters. Suu Kyi, 66, earlier went to the Union Election Commission office to register her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which must now wait at least a week to be officially endorsed. “They have signed for their party registration already,” a commission official told AFP, referring to Suu Kyi and other senior party members. The NLD was given the green light from authorities this month to rejoin mainstream politics, paving the way for the Nobel laureate to run for a seat in the new parliament. “If she reaches parliament, we will see her continually,” Shwe Mann said after their meeting, at which they mainly discussed the functions of the political body. A quarter of parliament’s seats are taken up by the army while the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), which is packed with former military men, holds about 80 percent of the remainder. Upper house speaker Khin Aung Myint, who also met Suu Kyi on Friday, described her visit as “auspicious”. “We wanted this to happen a long time ago and we welcome her.”

Ukraine rejects appeal against Tymoshenko jailing KIEV Afp

A Ukrainian court on Friday rejected an appeal by former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko against her seven year jail term on charges of abuse of power that sparked a crisis in relations with the EU. “The sentence... is to be left unchanged,” Kiev appeals court judge Olena Sitailo said in her ruling, an AFP correspondent reported, after a process that was already boycotted by Tymoshenko’s legal team. Prosecutor Lilya Frolova said she was satisfied with the verdict by the appeals court and said that the defence had the right to appeal the ruling at the high court within the next three months.

But Tymoshenko had said the day earlier that she and her defence lawyers would boycott the entire appeals process, which she said had degenerated into a “shameful” travesty of justice. “Seeking truth and justice in the Ukrainian courts is completely futile,” she said in a statement from her prison.

Neither the former prime minister nor her lawyers were present in court for the ruling by the Kiev appeals court. Frolova said that it was Tymoshenko’s right to go to the high court and she would have to go through all judicial instances if she is to take her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

But the opposition leader has repeatedly made clear she believes she has no chance of obtaining justice in Ukraine and has accused her rival President Viktor Yanukovych of ordering the persecution of herself and her allies.

pRAgUE: people watch the funeral service of former Czech president Vaclav Havel on giant tV screens at prague Castle on friday. AfP

Bells ring out for Velvet revolution icon Vaclav Havel PRAGUE Afp

Bells rang out and sirens blared on Friday for Velvet Revolution icon Vaclav Havel as world leaders and ordinary Czechs bid an emotional goodbye to the dissident playwright turned president.

World figures including Bill and Hillary Clinton and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright bowed their heads for a minute’s silence that marked the start of the funeral service for Havel in Prague’s St Vitus Cathedral. Across the country, the nation came to a standstill in memory of Havel who in 1989 led his nation through the bloodless revolution that toppled Soviet-backed communism in the then-Czechoslovakia.

Crowds of people, many wearing tricolour ribbons in the Czech national colours of red, white and blue crossed by a tiny black sash of mourning, gathered in the historic centre of Prague to watch the requiem mass on large screens set up close to the cathedral. In a letter read out by Cardinal Giovanni Coppa, Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute to the president, who died on Sunday aged 75, recalling “how courageously Mr Havel defended human rights at a time when those were systematically denied.”

Describing him as a “giant”, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he “made eastern Europe swing towards democracy” and had “always stood up for the reunification of the continent”. Many of those present on the streets of Prague had travelled long distances to pay their respects.

“It’s like the loss of someone very close,” said Alena Bartonova, who drove to Prague with her husband and six-year-old son from Karlovy Vary, a town 120 kilometres (75 miles) west of the Czech capital, bringing a large bouquet of red flowers.

Neighbouring Slovakia also declared Friday a day of national mourning, with flags flying at half mast. Czechs filed past Havel’s coffin as it lay in state in Prague Castle’s Vladislav Hall late into Thursday night before authorities finally closed the doors. Tens of thousands of Czechs had paid their respects since Monday at a former church in central Prague and then in Vladislav Hall.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus, foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg and Czech-born Albright were due to speak at the ceremony at the 14th century cathedral where Czech kings were traditionally crowned. Outside the cathedral, 38-year-old Jan Zufnicek from Prague stood with his friend, both dressed in black. “Maybe people

will now finally take Havel as a philosopher, not only a politician.

There hasn’t been room for that up to now,” he told AFP. The playwright served as president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 to 1992 and subsequently the Czech Republic from 1993 to 2003 when the former federation split peacefully into two states.

On Friday evening, a rock concert dedicated to the rock-loving Havel will be staged at the Lucerna Palace, a sprawling edifice built at the turn of the last century by Havel’s grandfather, a construction magnate. Havel’s body will be cremated after the funeral in accordance with his family’s wishes. Czech daily DNES quoted Havel’s secretary Sabina Tancevova as saying his ashes would be entombed after Christmas, possibly on December 27, at a family crypt in a Prague cemetery. The funeral is taking place in the same building where a Te Deum — an early Christian hymn of praise — was sung in Havel’s honour after his election in the aftermath of the Velvet Revolution. St Vitus’ Cathedral was founded in 1344 by Czech king Charles IV (1316-1378) of the Luxembourg dynasty, who also founded Prague’s Charles University. Meanwhile, Gdansk in northern Poland on Friday paid its own tribute to Havel by naming an avenue after him.

Iraq mired in dispute after deadly bombings BAGHDAD Afp

Crisis talks between political leaders set for Friday, a day after Iraq’s worst attacks in four months, were cancelled amid a worsening row that has seen its premier threaten to dissolve power-sharing. Sunni Vice President Tareq alHashemi, who is wanted on charges of running a death squad, blamed the crisis on Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, and accused the Iraqi leader of behaving like now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein. Maliki, meanwhile, has called for his Sunni deputy Saleh al-Mutlak to be sacked, and the Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc, to which both Hashemi and Mutlak belong, has boycotted both parliament and the cabinet.

Tensions were further heightened on Thursday, when insurgents carried out coordinated attacks in Baghdad that killed 60 people and wounded nearly 200, while violence elsewhere in the country claimed another seven lives. In an interview with the BBC’s Arabic Service, Hashemi blamed Maliki for starting “a national crisis, and it’s not easy to control.” “Iraqis have a right to be worried,” he added. Hashemi, who has denied the terror charges against him and is currently holed up in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, said Thursday’s attacks occurred because the authorities were too busy chasing “patriotic politicians”.

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

LAhORe: Celebrities view collections at the PFDC L'Oreal Paris Bridal Week.

Mr and Mrs Ramzan

PhOTOgRAPheRs: IRFAN Ch & FAIsAL FAROOqI

shahzad Raza with guests

Noshy and Mareeyam

somi, Reda and Raheela

Maleeha goher and Noshy with a guest

hina Najam with guests

Momina and Nail

Amna haq, Kamiar Rokni, Amina sheikh

Amina sheikh with a guest

shabeen sahgal, Nosheen sahgal and saba sahgal with a guest

Demi Moore to produce

Neil Nitin to take

women's flying

show LOS ANgELES: Actress Demi Moore is likely to produce a Tv show for women. Moore will launch an interview series, ‘The Conversation’, next month, with British Tv personality Amanda de Cadenet as the host. Moore, who recently split from husband Ashton Kutcher, is a producer of the show, but she might appear on camera too. "it's been an emotional year for her, and people want to hear what she has to say," said a source close to Moore. AgENCIES

lessons

MUMBAI: Neil Nitin Mukesh is all set to enrol himself in a flying school. A source says, "Air planes and helicopters have always fascinated Neil.” the urge to take flying lessons was fuelled when he shot a crucial helicopter scene for Abbas Mustan's players in New zealand. He was even trained for a couple of hours to manoeuvre it. this was the first time Neil shot in a helicopter and he is now addicted. the scene was shot in a restricted air space as New zealand is one of the busiest airports. the thrill of seeing the skyline of New zealand was a mesmerising experience and ever since that flight, Neil’s interest in taking flying lessons has been renewed. He has already made enquiries about some flying schools in India and abroad and plans to take admission soon." Maybe Kunal Kapoor can give him advice.

Or even Shahid Kapoor.

AgENCIES

Im

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17 Book launched

Mr and Mrs Khalid Maqbool

on journalist Abdul Karim Abid LAHORE StAff REpORt

KARACHI tABISCH A. ALIEM

A

Maheen and Reja

Amna haq with a guest

Imran Khan turns

MIDST the norm of the music underground of not playing tunes that they can carry, not having original compositions to offer at shows, and a seemingly unfailing custom of putting a foot in the cover-songs being attempted, the show held on December 16th at Le Café De Fumée came as a breath of fresh air.

The group that held the modest but impressive gig has come to be called the Qaiser Zain-ul-Abedine Project.

It is led by a drummer who has been around since 1998 when an underground outfit ‘Autopsy Gothic’ used to prowl a few select venues in Karachi catering to the sensibilities of those whose cup of tea were foreign groups like ‘Six Feet Under’, ‘At The Gates’, ‘Sepultura’ etc. This drummer started out as an underground musician playing styles of rock that stood out on the edges of the spectrum of the popular music market. He played at several functions and for a circuit of friends to learn the rudiments of professional drum-playing schedule and to get on the circuit. Gradually he had the good fortune of playing in the mainstream market and can now brag a splendid portfolio that includes famous Pakistani artists like Ali Azmat, Strings, Noori, Fuzon, Aaroh, Karavan, Atif Aslam, Junoon, Jal, Najam Sheraz etc.

After having had this project on his mind for five years, Qaiser finally began work on it two years ago with the first gig having been dished out last month. This second gig came to feature talents of some undiscovered artistes who should reach the limelight sometime. The ‘Project’s’ house-band currently comprises of guitarist Sean Arnaz, Adeel Mirza on keyboards and

electric bass guitar by Bradley D’Souza who is the son of Russell D’Souza; one of the most prominent names Karachi has managed to produce on the bass-playing circuit.

The curtain-raiser of the evening came with the currently popular chart-number

by Hoobastank's ‘The Reason’ done by Adeel on keyboards followed by Sean’s rendition of ‘Afterglow’ by INXS. This paved the way for the V-Sell Band to perform an original called ‘Mera Sapna’ and a medley of two 1980’s Indian songs- Ajit Singh’s ‘Woh Beete Din’ and Kishore Kumar’s ‘Inteha Hogayi Intezaar Ki’. A commendable job was done in bringing out the Rock n’ Roll and Rhythm n’ Blues elements compositionally inherent in these songs.

Faisal Ali Khan also sang an Indian classic ‘Tu Hi Ray’ and one of his originals, ‘Sohni Meri’, whose video is to hit airwaves soon. During his act another female vocalist Heidi Dean was called upon to sing the currently popular Indian number ‘Aj Ki Raat’.

Heidi also proficiently sang ‘Genie in a Bottle’ by Christina Aguilera. One found it incredu-

lous that an Aguilera tune could sound so stirring but that is just how Heidi put it across. ‘Bolo Na’ of Indian pop singer Sona came next as did the legendary Nazia Hasan’s ‘Boom Boom’ and had the crowd in full swing.

Azal another new act did remarkably well with two of their originals ‘Zehar’ and ‘Aisi Taisi’. Both of the latter sections encased Qaiser’s unmistakably piercing beats along lines of Thrash-Metal and Hardcore-Punk. Justice was done too, to Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali’s ‘Sun Charkhay Di’.

Heavy metal music lovers also got songs to sink their teeth into. But a certain Salman Rasheed failed to impress by singing Deep Purple’s ‘Smoke on the Water’ for someone who aims to have vocals of the likes of Ian Gillan.

However, he did much better with The Beatles’ ‘Hey Jude’.

The show took a surprising drift as Qaiser Zain-ul-Abedine took hold of the microphone to sing an original composition ‘Khirkiyan’ with Heidi Dean, which showcased his compositional skills besides his technical prowess.

Adeel Mirza brought back old memories when he gave a solo

Ajay, Rohit all set for

performance of ‘Yeh Shaam’ of the Vital Signs right after.

The star of the evening was Tanseer Ahmed Daar whose arrival had impatiently been awaited by some hardcore rock fans amongst the audience. His arrival marked the frenzy that the QZA Project had been waiting to build all evening. The covers he sang were executed on far better lines than one is used to hearing at underground gigs. He performed the U2 number ‘Is Just a Dime a Dozen’, ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’ and Whitesnake’s ‘Here I Go Again’. However, U2’s work has been stereotyped after having been played at numerous underground gigs. The crowd grew restless and started to shout for the band to play the Karavan song ‘Gardish’.

Farsaad Ahmed Khan sang an unplugged version of his original song ‘Soona Dil’ which proved to be something of a calm after the storm. Sean Arnaz gave a convincing performance of the Foo Fighters number ‘Everlong’. The soundconstruction within the moderately sized venue slipped the design that would have fit and sounded right in that space, but the group’s own inter-playing finely managed to gell enough to compensate that lack.

Since Qaiser’s name has run ropes through the mainstream music circles in the country, this QZA Project can be a platform for current as well as future musicians to develop their professional and artistic aptitude.

The show also deviated from the norm that underground artists opt to work only on material that comes from western rock music.

However, artists need to understand that not taking up local music should not be the way to become better musicians as most seldom pay attention to developing basic R n’ B playing skills that are the key to playing rock music right.

A book launch was held for ‘Abdul Karim Abid- Aik Shakhs Aik Ehed’.

The book is about the late personality who was a well-known, senior journalist and the editor of many national news papers during his time. The book has been compiled by his son Salman Abid, a columnist and a political analyst.

The book contains sixty articles by various intellectuals and gives an account of Abdul Karim Abid’s journalistic career of 50 years and his attachment with democracy. Special articles by Mujeeb ur Rehman Shami, Safdar Meer (Zeeno), Hussain Naqi, Abdul Qadir Hassan, Ata ur Rehaman, Anwar Qudwai, Altaf Hussain Qureshi, Syed Qasim Mahmood, Dr Anwar Sadeed, Syed Munawar Hassan , Saleem Mansoor Khalid, Mirza Adeeb, Dr Muskeen Hijazi are worth reading. The book pays tribute to the ideological commitment and journalistic life of Abdul Karim Abid. It has been printed

by Jumhoori Publications.

Madonna’s

new song leaked!

LONDON zEE NEWS BUREAU

Spanish police have arrested a man and charged him with illegally leaking an early version of a new Madonna song, from her latest album.

The 31-year-old had allegedly put a demo of ‘Gimme All Your Luvin’ on the internet in November. The investigation began after lawyers traced the recording to Spain. The man, who is yet to be named and described by police as a big fan of the singer, was arrested in Zaragoza. Police have not named the man arrested, but confirmed his initials as J.M.R. Madonna’s first studio album in five years is due for release in late March, with the first single out next month. Officers in the northern Spanish city said they found recordings of the song in a search of the suspect’s belongings. The 53-year-old singer, was said to have been “very upset” when the song first surfaced on the internet last month. Her manager, Guy Oseary, had tweeted about the incident and urged fans to help police stop any further leaks. The singer’s upcoming album, her first since 2008’s ‘Hard Candy’, has already been completed and will be released as part of a new three album deal with Interscope Records.

Sonam Kapoor’s mantra

‘Golmaal 4’ - be friendly!

MUMBAI: He's done away with the huge belly, red 'n' white Santa costume, the long white beard and the reindeer. The new-age Santa is lean, stunning and zips around in his red-hot wheels. imran turned Santa for a bunch of underprivileged kids, and he lugged along his sack of goodies too. Talking about the experience imran said: “it was a great day. i like talking to kids. They have no agenda, no questions.

They're so naive, they ask simple things. Even if i ask them who their favourite actor is, they won't turn and say - imran Khan. in fact, it's always Salman Khan. in my experience, the kids are all over Salman. They don't care about being politically correct. They are true fans.” He said the best Christmas gift he ever received was a toy ferrari. “it was state-of-the-art. With turning wheels and opening doors... the works. And now i have a real one.

That is a wish come true.”AgENCIES

MUMBAI: After a lot of speculation, actor Ajay Devgn and filmmaker Rohit Shetty have decided to go ahead with super hit franchise ‘gomaal 4’. Apparently, Ajay will start shooting for ‘golmaal 4’ once Rohit completes his upcoming project with Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor starrer ‘Chennai Express’. talking to a daily, a source said, “However, now all is well between Devgn and Rohit. they are as thick as before. the shoot of ‘Bol Bachchan’, a project they are working together, is going smoothly”. While rest of the cast is yet to be finalised, Kareena Kapoor will reprise the female lead in ‘golmaal 4’. We are sure the fans can’t be more delighted! zEENEWS

MUMBAI: in an industry where people play the numbers game, actress Sonam Kapoor believes in being friendly. "Almost all of my directors are my friends. Be it Rakeysh omprakash Mehra or Punit Malhotra, they all are dear friends. Even all my male co-stars are my friends," Sonam said at a recent event. As for her female friends in B-Town, she said: "i am most close to Jacqueline (fernandes) and Asin (Thottumkal). in fact, these two are doing a movie (‘Housefull 2’) together and i am so jealous of them!" The actress, who is looking forward to her film ‘Players’, is set to don the garb of Santa, and play peacemaker between two friends on the Tv show ‘Superstar Santa’. "My episode has two girls whose friendship is broken due to misunderstanding. My job is to bring them together and try to understand what went wrong," said Sonam, who insists she tries her best to be there for her own friends despite being busy. "i have a huge bunch of friends and i am always there for them whenever needed," she added. AgENCIES

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

Serena set for Brisbane international Page 22

Akram: MCG will expose injuries Comment SOUMITRA BOSE With the Indian camp keeping fitness updates on its fast bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma under wraps, former speedster Wasim Akram says conditions in Melbourne will reveal chinks in the Indian armoury on Day 1 itself. Speaking to ESPN from Karachi on Friday, Akram said MS Dhoni will be a worried man because his two spearheads, Zaheer and Ishant, are yet to give him positive vibes ahead of the Boxing Day Test. “Whoever is carrying an injury or niggles is surely going to be exposed at MCG. The wickets are hard and the outfield very demanding. Hence everyone has to be in peak fitness. The news from the Indian camp doesn’t seem to be very convincing at this stage,” Akram said. The former Pakistan skipper is not convinced about the “bowling fitness” of the Indian pace attack. “Until and unless you bowl 15-20 overs in a practice game and do rigorous nets, you are not fit enough to go into a Test match. I am not sure whether Ishant and Zaheer have done that in the warm-up games,” said Akram.

While Ishant has bowled a little over nine overs in five days of practice games, Zaheer has bowled a total of 15 (10 + 5) over two innings. This is not enough, according to Akram. “MCG wickets are so hard that they will take a toll on your body joints, especially the back, groin and ankle. You cannot afford to go into a series-opening Test match with 90 per cent fitness,” warned Akram.

Stanford fit for trial: US judge CHICAGO Afp

Financier and cricket mogul Allen Stanford is mentally competent to stand trial for an alleged $7 billion fraud, a Texas judge ruled Thursday. Stanford, 61, was found to be temporarily unfit earlier this year after he became addicted to painkillers and antidepressants following a 2009 jailhouse brawl.

During the fight just after he was arrested, he was smashed into a steel pole, breaking many facial bones, and thrown onto a concrete floor injuring the back of his head. His defense team sought to have Stanford ruled permanently unfit, arguing that he "suffers from severe loss of long term and short term memory," as a result of the beating.

But prosecutors said medical staff carried out "a sustained and comprehensive evaluation of Stanford during the past eight months at the end of which they found Stanford competent to stand trial." The staff at a North Carolina medical facility also found his claim "that 59 years (of his life) were stolen" was "not credible," prosecutors said in the court filings, maintaining he had remembered significant details in conversations with a psychiatrist. He also underwent a magnetic resonance image scan in March and there "was no evidence of damage to any part of Stanford's brain that processes memory," the documents said.

England series would be our real test: Misbah LAHORE

P

StAff REpORt

AKISTAN skipper Misbahul-haq has said the series against England will not be easy and the team will have to give its more than hundred per cent. Pakistan will be facing England in their home series early next month in the UAE. Pakistan will play three Tests, three Twenty20s and four One-Day Internationals against England in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from January 17 onwards.

The PCB had earlier indicated that they would send their own curators to the UAE to supervise the preparation of pitches for the upcoming series against England. Misbah described his team’s performance in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka series as more than satisfactory.

Pakistan is now ranked fifth in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test table after climbing up one position following their 2-0 win over Bangladesh.

He said the England team is tough, but Pakistan know they would have to go the extra mile to clinch victory.

Misbah said his team can beat England, which is world's leading Test side, believing his side is in great form and would surprise the Poms. Pakistan returned home on Friday after routing Bangladesh in two Twenty20s, three one-day internationals and two Tests, ending the year with five Test wins and without losing a series, both in five-day matches and limited overs.

Misbah was quoted by a news agency that England will be a real test for his side, who are now fifth in Test rankings. "The series against England is important as well as very tough," Misbah told reporters.

"England are the world's best Test team but in current form we can beat any team if we keep the good form and co-ordination which we showed this year," he added. Since taking over as Test captain in 2010 following a spot-fixing scandal, which resulted in jail terms for players Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir, Misbah has led Pakistan in 13 Tests. Misbah, who has guided Pakistan to six wins, six draws and a single loss, said his team needs to improve to beat England.

"Despite achieving some good results we still need to overcome some of the mistakes which we committed and the management as well as the players are determined to overcome them because England will be really tough," said Misbah. "Our targets on the Bangladesh tour were to keep consistency in our performance, overcome some of the mistakes and improve our rankings and that we achieved," said Misbah.

Pakistan also beat the higherranked Sri Lanka 1-0 in Tests and 4-1 in one-days in the UAE in October-No-

Bets on Tendulkar’s 100th ton in MCG SYDNEY Afp

Indian cricketing superstar Sachin Tendulkar is favoured to bring up his 100th international century in the first Test against Australia in Melbourne, according to one Australian bookmaker. Online bookmaker sportsbet.com.au has installed the Boxing Day Test as the most likely venue for the historic milestone at odds of 9/4. Poised on 99 international centuries across Test and one-day matches, Tendulkar retired on 92 in the tourists' final day of a two-day tour match against the Chairman's XI in Canberra last week. "He is in good form with a 90-odd against the Chairman's XI already under his belt since arriving in Australia and he's a very good chance to achieve the phenomenal milestone during the Boxing Day Test," the firm's Ben Hawes said. "And if not, he can take some respite in the fact that the next game is at the SCG where he has pummelled Australia on several occasions." The Sydney Cricket Ground is the second chance favourite with punters, with odds at 3/1, followed by the third Test at Perth at 5/1 and the fourth Test at Adelaide 7/1. The prospect of Tendulkar -- who has been a perennial thorn in the side of Australia's bowlers, averaging 60.6 with 11 centuries in 31 Tests against them -completing the series without hitting his 100th century is at 12/5.

Australia v india Test factfile SYDNEY Afp

vember. Misbah said his team has gelled over the last year. "The best part about this team is that we have good coordination among the seniors and juniors, the support staff is helping players and each and every player realises his duty and that will help us against England," said Misbah.

Pakistan will have to once again rely on interim coach Mohsin Khan after failing to find a permanent replacement

for Waqar Younis who stepped down in September citing health problems.

"Now wins over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh are part of history," Khan said. "We have to start afresh against England and need to raise our game because the next opponents are very strong and ranked number one in the world." The first Test between Pakistan and England starts in Dubai on January 17.

Factfile on the first Test between Australia and India starting at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday: First Test - Melbourne Cricket Ground, December 26-30 India are bidding to win their first-ever series Down Under.

India have toured Australia nine times. On the last tour in 2007-2008 they lost 2-1.

In 36 Tests in Australia, the home team have won 22 with India winning five and nine drawn.

MCG head-to-head record: Played 10.

Australia won 7, India 2, drawn 1.

In Australia: Highest scores: Australia 674 (1947-48); India 705 for 7 (2003-04) Lowest completed scores: Australia 83 (1980-81); India 58 (1947-48) Biggest wins: Australia innings and 226 runs (1947-48), Australia 337 runs (200708); India innings and two runs (1977-78), India 222 runs (1977-78) Highest individual score: Ricky Ponting (AUS) 257 (2003-04); Sachin Tendulkar (IND) 241 not out (2003-04).

Best bowling (innings): Mike Whitney (AUS) 7-27 (1991-92); Kapil Dev (IND) 8106 (1985-86).

Highest partnership: Steve Waugh-Ricky Ponting (AUS) 239 5th wkt (1999-2000); Sachin Tendulkar-V.V.S. Laxman (IND) 353 4th wkt (2003-04).

India seek breakthrough series win in Australia SYDNEY Afp

MELBoURNE: Ricky Ponting (L) faces a delivery from a child as members of the indian and Australian teams meet a large crowd at a public event. AfP

India are desperate to bury their unwanted tag of being poor travellers as they bid to win their first series in Australia starting on Monday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Indians, ranked second in Test cricket, two places above Australia, have failed to win a series Down Under in nine previous tours over 64 years but face a home team in the throes of a painful transition.

India will be playing their first away Test series since losing all four matches in England in July-August in a whitewash that cost M.S. Dhoni's

men their number one ranking. India have developed an unwelcome reputation as poor travellers and a win in the four-Test series against Michael Clarke's Australians represents a career-defining goal for many of the team's ageing stars. Sachin Tendulkar, bidding for his 100th international century, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and V.V.S. Laxman are all unlikely to get the opportunity again in their cricket careers and are motivated to succeed. The Boxing Day Test is one for the purists with the rarity of Test cricket's three greatest runscorers -- Tendulkar (15,183), Dravid (13,094) and Australia's Ricky Ponting (12,656) -- all featur-

ing in the same match. Dravid, turning 39 next month and padding up for his fourth series in Australia, has had one of his best years, scoring 1,067 runs and five centuries.

"I wouldn't have minded scoring five hundreds (fewer) or 1,000 runs less if we could win a series in Australia," Dravid said. "The greatest memory for me now is not necessarily statistical. It's not the number of runs, it's those magical moments. The series wins in Tests stay with you. "I think that's what you play for at this stage. I don't have anything in terms of my own numbers or statistics that I want to achieve in Australia, but I want to win a Test series (here) and help the

team win in Australia. "It is something that we have never done. So every time you tour here you want to get that goal.

It's not going to be easy, it never is, but I think the team's goal is to try to win a series." While India are top heavy with batting experience, it will come down to the ability of front-line bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma to bowl out Australia for India to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy they have held since 2008.

Australian bowling legends Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath have needled the Indians this week, saying India will struggle if Zaheer and Sharma are not fully fit for the gruelling series.

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

sports 21

Quaid-e-azam Trophy

Seamers set up PIA’s title triumph KARACHI

P

StAff REpORt

IA won the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division-I title beating ZTBL in the final on the fourth day of the five day match at the National Stadium Karachi.

Put into bat, ZTBL made 337 in their first innings but later crashed to 77 in which PIA bowlers Najaf Shah, Anwar Ali and Ali Imran Pasha played a pivotal role.

PIA in reply to the ZTBL’s first innings made 300 runs and then achieved the target of 110 runs losing just one wicket.

PIA with this win pocketed Rs .10,00,000 while the runners-up trophy and money of Rs 500,000 went to ZTBL. Anwar Ali of PIA was named the Man of the final match and was given Rs 50,000 while the Best Batsman was Afaq Rahim of Islamabad, bowler was Ali Imran Pasha of PIA, fielder Shahid Yousuf of ZTBL and wicketkeeper Zulqarnain of ZTBL and all of them were given Rs 50,000 each. scores: ZTBL 337 in 120.3 overs (Sharjeel Khan 24, Imran Nazir 0, Yasir Hameed 80, 93 balls, 15 x4s, 1 x6s, Shahid Yousuf 13, Haris Sohail 112, 282 balls, 16 x4s, Zohaib Khan 21, Sohail Tanvir 6, Zulqarnain 36, 188 balls, 5 x4s, Junaid Zia 17, Iftikhar Anjum 11, Najaf Shah 1-45, Anwar Ali 4-55, Kamran Sajid 2-56, Akhtar Waheed 2-113) and 70 in 27.2 overs (Sharjeel Khan 8, Imran Nazir 8, Yasir Hameed 19, Shahid Yousuf 0, Haris Sohail

PESSi in MMA Cup Polo final LAHORE StAff REpORt

PESSI qualified for the final of the MMA Polo Cup Friday as they won their last league match of the tournament.

Olympia will take on Wi-Tribe Shahwawars in the Subsidiary game. The day started with win for Olympia who beat Marco Polo 8-4. Moin Yaqub with three goals, Ahmed Ali Tiwana and Ghulam Mustafa Monnoo shared two each with Abdul Rehman Monnoo getting one.

Bilal Hayat Noon and Raja Temur Nadeem tapped the ball home twice each but in losing cause. PESSI got through to the final beating Adisseo getting 8-7.

Cacic to revive Dinamo after Lyon mauling ZAGREB Afp

Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb on Friday appointed Ante Cacic as their new coach nearly three weeks after Krunoslav Jurcic's sacking in the wake of a crushing 7-1 home defeat to Lyon in the Champions League. Jurcic was sacked within an hour of the December 7 match against former French champions Lyon -- Dinamo's worst ever defeat in European competition and one of the largest winning margins in the Champions League.

Zagreb-born Cacic, who has coached several Croatian first and second division clubs in a two-decade long career, moves from Lokomotiva Zagreb.

"Cacic is a great coach and has achieved good results with all Croatian clubs," Dinamo official Zoran Mamic told media.

"He has never won a championship since he did not have a chance to lead Dinamo or Hajduk" Split, he said in a reference to the top flight's long-time rivals.

"This is a great honor and the high point in my career," said the 58-year-old Cacic.

"I believe I can improve (Dinamo's) game and I'm certain that I will succeed."

KARACHi: PiA players celebrate their win with the trophy. oNLINE 19, Zulqarnain 0, Sohail Tanvir 0, Najaf Shah 3-19, Anwar Ali 4-31, Ali Imran Pasha 3-16) v PIA 300 in 106.1 overs (Agha Sabir 0, Kamran Sajid 13, Shaharyar Ghani 29, Faisal Iqbal 13, Fahad Iqbal 61,119 balls, 10 x4s, Shoaib Khan 61, 157 balls, 7

x4s, Sarfraz Ahmed 70, 91 balls, 8 x4s, Sohail Tanvir 3-82, Rehan Riaz 3-44, Iftikhar Anjum 4-78) and 110-1 in 21.2 overs (Agha Sabir 40*, 65 balls, 5 x4s, Kamran Sajid 34, 29 balls, 8 x4s, Shaharyar Ghani 36*, 34 balls, 7 x4s)

Result: PIA won by nine wickets.

Overnight Score: ZTBL 70-9 in 27 overs Toss: PIA Umpires: Zameer Haider and Ahsan Raza TV Umpire: Shozab Raza Referee: Khateeb Rizwan.

Manchester dominant as racism rears head LONDON Afp

Manchester was confirmed as the football capital of England in 2011 as the long-dormant spectre of racism re-emerged to cast a shadow over the sport. A quirk of fixture scheduling meant that in the space of a few memorable hours in May, Manchester City ended their 35year wait for a trophy by winning the FA Cup shortly after Manchester United had clinched a record 19th title.

The unique double triumph for the Manchester clubs underscored the new paradigm of English football, with the recently enriched City joining long-time aristocrats United at the summit of the domestic game. The pre-emimence of the Manchester duo was further emphasised by the opening months of the 2011/2012 Premier League campaign, where both teams got off to flying starts to annex first and second place. Yet United's free-scoring start to the campaign unravelled spectacularly at Old Trafford in late October when City came to visit in one of the most eagerly anticipated Manchester der-

bies in years. A brutal 6-1 drubbing -United's heaviest home defeat since 1955 -- gave City a five-point lead at the top of the table and left Sir Alex Ferguson reflecting on what he described as his "worst ever day." While the full implications of City's extraordinary victory remain to be

seen -- and United have been prematurely written off many times before -- it left many wondering whether the blue half of Manchester was now poised to dethrone their more successful cross-town rivals.

Certainly few clubs, including United, can match City's crushing dominance in the transfer market. Abu Dhabi-based billionaire Sheikh Mansour has spent an esti-

mated £800 million in the three years since he acquired City, a largesse that has allowed manager Roberto Mancini to construct a lavishly talented squad that looks capable of dominating English football for years to come. A demonstration of City's sheer financial might can be seen in the way the club handled the saga over Carlos Tevez, who was accused of failing to appear as a substitute during a Champions League match against Bayern Munich in September.

Tevez, a darling of the fans who played a key role in the successes of the previous season, has been effectively cast into the wilderness since the episode. The received wisdom of the post-Bosman era dictates that all the power resides with players, not clubs. City have bucked that trend by adopting a hardline stance over Tevez, happy to let the player rot in the reserves -- or, more accurately, on the golf courses of his homeland -- unless a suitor weighs in with an acceptable transfer offer. No other club in England has the wherewithal to allow a player paid an estimated £200,000 per week to sit idle, all in the name of making a point.

Brazil risk first round exit in 2014, says Romario RIO DE JANEIRO Afp

Former World Cup winner Romario believes the current Brazil team risk failing to get past the first round of the 2014 World Cup if their form does not improve.

In a little over two years Brazil will host the football extravaganza for the first time but Romario -- now a politician with Brazil's Socialist Party (PSB) -- believes they have little chance of realistically aiming for a sixth triumph.

"If Brazil keep on playing the football they're playing right now, they risk not getting past the first round," Romario was quoted as saying in Friday's edition of O Globo. Brazil is currently in a race against time, and under pressure from football's world governing body FIFA, to have stadia and infrastructure ready in time for the tournament.

Romario, a controversial figure on and off the park when he played as a striker for Brazil and a number of top clubs in Europe and South America, has been critical of both the World Cup organisers and of FIFA. "FIFA has been trying to override our sovereignty, they want to tell us how to run the country. There are still deputies who think as I do," added Romario. At the beginning of November, FIFA warned Brazil to speed up their preparations to host the World Cup and reluctantly accepted to issue half-price tickets for students and those over 60 years of age.

England on top as fixing still haunts cricket LONDON Afp

Cricket and controversy, never far apart, were closely linked in a year where England finally achieved their long-held objective of climbing to the top of the world Test rankings. Nothing that happened on the field in 2011 rocked world cricket quite like the jail sentences handed down by an English court to former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and bowlers Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif for their roles in a 'spot-fixing' scam during last year's Lord's Test against England. But the fact the case came to light as a result of a newspaper investigation left many asking what was the point of the International Cricket Council's anti-corruption unit.

England had gone 21 years without winning a series in Australia but a 3-1 Ashes triumph sealed in January, with all three victories coming by innings margins, ended that barren spell in emphatic fashion. Alas-

tair Cook made a colossal 766 runs in the Ashes series and the Essex left-hander carried on during England's 4-0 home Test rout of World Cup winners India, including a monumental 294 at Edgbaston. Australia's woes continued even after the Ashes, with their batsmen looking especially vulnerable against swing and seam bowling.

In November, Australia slumped to 47 all out against South Africa in Cape Town, with debutant fast-medium bowler Vernon Philander taking a stunning five for 15 in seven overs. Then New Zealand, without injured all-rounder Daniel Vettori, enjoyed their first Test win on Australian soil in 26 years. Seamer Doug Bracewell, took six for 40 as New Zealand won by seven runs in Hobart in a match where Australia had needed just 82 runs for victory with eight wickets standing, Zimbabwe, after six years of self-imposed exile sparked by a race row over selection, returned to Test cricket in August with a 130-run win over Bangladesh

-- a result that said as much about the losers as anything else. In an age of few genuine fast bowlers, South Africa quick Dale Steyn's average of 22.82 stands comparison with the all-time greats. In December he became the second fastest bowler in history to take 250 Test wickets, reaching the landmark in his 49th Test -- one more than legendary Australia fast bowler Dennis Lillee.

"There's no doubt for me that he's the best South African bowler we've seen thus far -- at least since readmission in 1991," said former Proteas seamer and captain Shaun Pollock. "His ability to swing the ball away with incredible pace is phenomenal."

West Indies cricket was overshadowed by the stand-off between Chris Gayle and Caribbean administrators which deprived a largely young team of a fine batsman.

But having gone 2-0 down in their series in India, they battled back in the Mumbai finale which ended in a draw with the scores level -- only the second time this had hap-

pened in Test history. This year saw the deaths of several prominent cricketers including former India captain the Nawab of Pataudi, Australia's Sam Loxton and ex-England all-rounder Trevor Bailey, with Graham Dilley, one of the heroes of England's '5001' win against Australia at Headingley in 1981, passing away aged just 52.

Meanwhile former Somerset captain turned cricket journalist Peter Roebuck leapt to his death in bizarre circumstances in South Africa. But in terms of their impact on both world cricket and wider society, few could match Basil D'Oliveira, who died in November aged 80.

D'Oliveira became an England allrounder after his path was blocked in his native apartheid-era South Africa, an impressive enough achievement in itself.

But he made front-page headlines in 1968 when he was included in the England squad for the tour of South Africa which was called off when the South African government re-

fused to accept his presence. It marked the start of South Africa's cricketing isolation, which would last until the early 1990s.

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20 sports Zohair, Adil in UBL Tennis final KARACHI StAff REpORt

Syed Zohair Raza and Adil Kohari advanced to the final of the Junior U-18 events in the semi finals of UBL International Hard Court Tennis Championship at Karachi Gymkhana courts.

Third seed Syed Zohair Raza made the major upset of the tournament when he eliminated top seed Muhammad Muddasir of Multan without conceding a singles game 6-0, 6-0. Muddasir made numbers of unforced errors and most of his returns went out or in the nets. Syed Zohair will face Adil Kohari who won the best match of the tournament against Ahmed Chaurdary in thrilling three set match.

Top seed Syed Nofil Kaleem won the under-14 title when he eliminated Dawar Rehan of Karachi in straight set 6-3, 6-1. will participate in ATF under-14 championship at Qatar from December 24 played.

In the men’s singles event M. Mushtaq Abid from Lahore caused the major upset of the tournament when he beat second seed Yasir Khan of Karachi in a well contested match.

Men’s singles – semi-final matches Aqeel Khan beat Thangarjah Dinsehkant (SRI) 6-1, 6-2. M. Abid Mushtaq beat Yasir Khan 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Junior U-18 Singles – semi-finals: Syed Zohair Raza beat Muhammmad Muddasir,6-0,6-0. Adil Kohari beat Ahmed Chaudhary 2-6,6-4.7-5.

Boys U-14 Singles –final: Syed Nofil Kaleem beat Dawar Rehan 6-3, 6-1.

Ladies single semi-final: Maheen Dada beat Hania Naveed 6-1, 6-1. Saba Aziz beat Hasindhi Lokuge 6-1, 6-2.

Talent Hunt Tennis from Jan 1 KARACHI StAff REpORt

The Sindh Tennis Association in collaboration with Council of Tennis Players and Sindh School Sports Association will organise the 21st SSB-Talent Hunt Sindh Ranking Tennis Championship at Naval Sports Centre KARSAZ Karachi from January 1, 2012. The Sindh Sports Board has sponsored the week long ranking championship. Events are: Men’s singles, ladies singles, under 17 singles, under 15 singles, under 13 singles, under 11 singles, under 9 singles. men s doubles, under 17 doubles, under 13 doubles, The Inter School team event will also be held from January 6 at same venue.

Lahore lift inter-Board Weightlifting title LAHORE StAff REpORt

Lahore Board beat defending champion Faisalabad to win the All Pakistan Interboard Weightlifting Championship that concluded here at the University Ground Old Campus on Friday. Lahore secured 38 points to take the title while Gujranwala Board with 20 points were placed second and Faisalabad with 13 points were third.

In the 56 kg class, Haris Butt (Lhr board) lifted 80kg, 100KG and 180KG in snatch, jerk and total to get gold medal.

Pak-iran Tenpin Bowling soon ISLAMABAD StAff REpORt

The Pakistan Tenpin Bowling Federation will be holding Pak Iran friendship Tenpin Bowling Championship. According to an official of the PTBF, Iran showed great interest in playing the championship and accepted the invitation. PTBF President Muhammad Shuja Khan and General Secretary Ijaz ur Rehman said that it was great achievement for PTBF and no doubt this championship will open the new doors for the betterment of Tenpin Bowling.

friday, 23 December, 2011

Terry comes through in Spurs draw LONDON Afp

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NGLAND captain John Terry produced a typical block to spare Chelsea defeat in a 11 draw against Tottenham Hotspur in his first match since he was charged by UK prosecutors with racial abuse. Chelsea centre-back Terry blocked a goalbound shot from Emmanuel Adebayor in stoppage time to ensure a point for the visitors at White Hart Lane on Thursday. The draw left Spurs third in the Premier League table, two points in front of their London rivals, after Adebayor's opener was cancelled out by an equaliser from Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge. And it meant Spurs were nine points adrift of leaders Manchester City and Chelsea 11 shy of the table-toppers.

The build-up centred around Terry, charged on Wednesday with racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand during Chelsea's loss at Loftus Road in October. But Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, speaking after Thursday's point, praised Terry's resolve "Since the situation he has improved," he told Sky Sports. "He has grown in terms of performance. He's a reference point for this team. It shows his character and strength and personality. "His effort for the collective is extraordinary," the Portuguese added. Meanwhile Spurs boss Harry Redknapp was happy enough with a draw. "In the end there were chances, some great chances at the end but certainly a point is a fair result," he said. Tottenham got off to an ideal start as Togo international Adebayor took advantage of Chelsea skipper Terry's slipshod defending eight minutes into the match by slotting home before Sturridge levelled midway through the first half.

Terry was booed by the bulk of Spurs fans as he began his pre-match warm-up, but was applauded by the away contingent. He

was jeered again as he led Chelsea out ahead of kickoff -- and with every touch of the ball. But apart from his mistake to let in Adebayor, he delivered an assured performance. Chelsea had failed to beat Spurs on their last five visits to White Hart Lane and the hosts had them on the back foot from the first whistle. And after seven minutes Spurs were ahead -- and Terry was partly at fault, after Sandro took the ball off Sturridge in midfield and sent Bale on a run down the left.

Gareth Bale sped toward the byline and just before crossing the ball into the box, Terry peeled off Adebayor to give him enough space to meet the Wales star's centre, missed by Chelsea keeper Petr Cech, for a close range tap-in. Juan Mata came close to levelling for Chelsea three minutes later, but his stinging shot was palmed into Sturridge's path by Brad Friedel and the Blues striker spooned the rebound over the bar.

Sturridge made amends in the 23rd minute as he turned in Cole's cross. The goal was met with vehement protests from Spurs players, who claimed the England left-back had handled in the build-up. Five minutes later Didier Drogba came close to firing Chelsea ahead, as he acrobatically controlled Jose Bosingwa's wayward cross before volleying against the post. Chelsea were forced into a reshuffle at the back on the half hour as Branislav Ivanovic came off with what looked like a thigh injury. Their injury problems were compounded soon afterwards when Nigeria international Jon Obi Mikel limped off the field. After the break Chelsea continued to dominate and Ramires ran onto Drogba's through-ball only to be denied by Friedel.

Tottenham had the ball in the net two minutes before the hour mark as Adebayor headed in William Gallas's flick from Luka Modric's free kick, but the 'goal' was ruled out for offside. A rare mistake from Ledley King in the 73rd minute almost resulted in a second for Sturridge after the Tottenham defender's weak headed clearance fell to the striker, but Friedel was able to keep the ball out.

Spurs should redouble their ambitions Echoing Spurs’ title winning credentials, United’s midfield solution and the racism debate ePL CrystaL BaLL KUNWAR KHULDUNE SHAHID

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ARRY Redknapp’s downplay of his side’s partaking in the title race prior to the kickoff against Chelsea was in harmony with the Spurs display on Thursday night. Redknapp reiterated in the pre-match press conference that the two teams vying to seize the league trophy are the two Manchesters, while Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool would be slugging it out for the remaining couple of coveted Champions’ League spots. Harry Rednapp might have a pragmatically cautious approach to the second half of the season, but the fact that before Spurs’ 1-1 draw with Chelsea they were eight points behind Manchester United with a couple of games in hand portends that Spurs could afford to take their aspirations up a notch.

City are yielding a status quo transformation in Manchester, why can’t Spurs do the same in London?

One does understand that merely mathematical proximity to the summit is no reason to be buoyant about your chances to usurp the league; for, Portsmouth, Wigan, Blackpool et al have found themselves on the coattails of league leaders in November in the past as well. What makes Spurs’ laidback approach inert is the fact that on paper – evidently on the football pitch as well – Spurs starting lineup is a match for anyone in the league. The likes of Van Der Vaart, Bale, Modric and even Scott Parker would walk into the lineups of their rivals and Walker might just pip Micah Richards for the most in form right back in the league. Add an on song Adebayour, Defoe coming off the bench, Friedel in goal and King – when fit

– commanding the backline into the mix and one gets an immensely adept bunch.

We have seen lesser gifted teams run away with the league title; but then again, a purple nosed Scott has had a lot to do with that.

The early season drubbings at the hands of the two Manchester sides came under the shroud of the Modric ‘will he, won’t he’ soap opera, and their only other loss was courtesy a refereeing circus at Stoke. Barring these losses, the Spurs juggernaut has been on a roll and even if the league title is ostensibly not their final goal, Tottenhan Hotspur are undoubtedly the front runners for Champions League qualification. uNiteD’s miDfielD solutioN A regular run in the side for Michael Carrick and Manchester United’s midfield doesn’t border on a patched up catastrophe anymore. The leakage of goals has been fixed and recently goals are being banged at the other end as well.

Carrick was always the solution to United’s midfield woes, and partly owing to untimely injuries and partly due to Fergie’s neglect, the two and two took an eternity to add up. The fact that it took a driving run from the midfield, that culminated in a staggering goal, for footballing voices to take notice of Carrick’s contribution in United’s recent stability in the league, is exactly why United’s number 16 is the most underrated midfielders of modern times.

The goal he scored in West London was a one-off; similar feats would never be a regularity and hence let’s give the man some credit for what he does regularly well in lieu of waxing lyrical over the recent bolt out of the blue.

Carrick brings calmness and compo- The primary reason is obviously the fact sure into United’s expansive play, and that there is a cluster of fixtures and with while he is no Xavi or David Silva, his pass- fatigue and squad rotation prevalent quite ing repertoire from a restrained position is often the sides from the upper echelon fail what makes United’s flamboyant wing play to sustain their supremacy. As Chelsea gel seamlessly with the frontline, and pro- take on Fulham in the West London vides a stable shield in front of the backline Derby, the onus is on the home side to put to boot – see Manchester United archives in a domineering show after a couple of 11 draws. Fulham are at the back of a 5-0 (2007-2010) for further evidence. drubbing at the hands of Manchester the rAcism DeBAte While abolishing racism from the game United, and their confidence would be as of football is a noble endeavour, sometimes low as it gets. Nevertheless, Fulham would the blatantly skewed F.A takes the matter be hoping that Andy Johnson or Clint Dempsey have a trick up their sleeve – too far. Suarez has been hit with a massive the former did look lively against eight match ban, following his use of United – and manage to crack open the ‘N’ word against Evra – a permeable Chelsea defense. which again has different connoChelsea, on the other hand, need tations and interpretations in a run of victories before their minusvarious parts of the world. And cule jot of title hopes sublimates into as Suarez had already pointed oblivion. Villas-Boas needs to revert out in the immediate aftermath to his emblematic brand of atof their confrontation in October, tacking football, and possihe had called Evra something that ble start to build his the Frenchman’s own club team around the likes mates regularly call him. So of Mata, Sturridge, where do you draw the line?

Romeu and dare I If Rooney were to come up say, Torres. and utter something simiDrogba, Terry lar to Evra, in the middle of and Lampard a match with a smirk on have been great his face, would that be acservants for the ceptable? While banter club but it’s and name-calling are time to look part and parcel of a to the future. good old dogfight on Michael Carrick was Chelsea the football pitch if always the answer to should comthe English F.A is Manchester United’s fortably overthat fretful about midfield woes come their racism curtailneighbours ment, maybe on Monday; they should start however Fuloff the purge act ham might from closer to home and maybe have an look at the actions of the captain of inkling of their national side to start with. hope if a PorBig mAtch previeW: tuguese fullback chelseA vs fulhAm were to be found in Chelsea’s Boxing Day games have an eerie central defense. tendency to conjure up a surprise.

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friday, 23 December, 2011

sports 21 wAtcH It LIvE TEN SPORTS WWE: Tough Enough 10:00PM

ESPN Las Vegas Classic Baylor V West Virginia 07:30AM

Etihad continues to support Special olympics LAHORE StAff REpORt

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has been named the official carrier for the Pakistan Special Olympics team participating in various sporting activities during the year. Etihad Airways also supported the team in last year’s Special Olympics held in Athens in which the 82-member Pakistani team bagged 17 gold, 25 silver and 14 bronze medals and participated in eight sports including athletics, aquatics, badminton, basketball, cycling, football and table tennis.

Amer Khan, Etihad Airways’ Country Manager in Pakistan said: “At Etihad Airways, we are keen to support initiatives that are designed to elevate an individual's desire to achieve. After the hugely successful event in 2011, we are delighted to once again support the many talented individuals representing Pakistan in the Special Olympics.

I wish them the best of luck and I am sure they will make Pakistan proud.”

Pakistan international Squash begins LONDON: Chelsea’s Brazilian midfielder Ramires (top) vies with Tottenham hotspur’s Us goalkeeper Brad Friedel (L) and Ledley King (R) during an english Premier League match. AfP

Afghanistan kicks off its first rugby tournament

KABUL Afp

Afghanistan kicked off its first official rugby tournament on Friday, with organisers hoping the game will one day be as popular as buzkashi, a kind of polo played with the carcass of a headless goat.

Cricket and football have already gained a strong following, and regional sporting success has offered a rare glimmer of hope in the war-wracked country.

But enthusiasts believe Afghans, who have faced decades of conflict and hardship, are even better suited to the rough and tumble of the rugby field, which is more akin the national sport buzkashi, without the need for horses.

Ten teams from four different provinces gathered in central Kabul for the sevens competition, the first since the Afghan Rugby Federation won affiliation from the Asian Rugby Football Union last month.

"It's becoming popular and soon it will replace cricket and football," said Asad Ziar, the ARF's chief executive officer.

"We're a rough, tough people. We're physically set for this game, which is very energetic and fast.

"It's the new buzkashi. Our people love that game -- but we can't afford to buy a horse for every player."

With just 220 players registered with the ARF, rugby has a long way to go before it can claim to be anywhere near as popular as buzkashi, football or cricket.

Serena set for Brisbane International NEW YORK AgENCIES

Serena Williams can bank on warm support when she faces sister Venus in an exhibition at their local Florida country club. It may be a different story if Serena meets US Open champion Sam Stosur on the Queenslander's home turf at the Brisbane International.

The younger Williams arrives in Australia tomorrow week for the tournament, which starts the following day.

A dream draw would pit her against Stosur in a rematch of their Flushing Meadows final, when the American launched an explosive tirade at the umpire.

In the meantime, Serena is preparing to join hitting partner Sasha Bajin against Venus and her hitting partner David Witt at the BallenIsles Country Club for a mixed doubles exhibition early tomorrow (Aust time).

Exhibition director Trish Faulkner told the US Tennis Association's Florida website: "Venus and Serena's

fiery competitiveness on the court is matched only by how incredibly close they are off court."

The event will raise funds for Project Aspiration, a mobile learning centre

which travels the club's surrounding area. "Serena and I are looking forward to playing against each other on the stadium court in an event that will entertain members and benefit such a worthy cause," Venus said.

The Williams sisters are used to playing as a team on the doubles court.

They won the Australian and French Open women's doubles titles in 2010, but did not play together this season because Venus was reduced to only four tournaments because of illness. This month, however, the sisters revealed their intention to defend their Olympic doubles title in London.

Australian Open organisers still expect Venus in Melbourne, despite her pulling out of a lead-up event in Auckland saying she was not ready to return to competitive tennis.

She has spent the past season battling Sjogren's syndrome, a disease in which the body's immune system attacks its own moisture-producing glands, causing joint pain and fatigue.

LAHORE StAff REpORt

The qualification round matches of Pakistan International Squash Circuit started here at the Punjab Squash Complex.

Muhammad Saqib Yousaf beat Yasir Sarwar 11/4, 11/7, 11/4 30 Min; Naveed Khan beat Adeel Ahmed 11/4, 11/5, 11/2 16 Min; Ammad fareed beat Aamir Khan (UAE) 11/4, 13/11, 11/7 30 Min; Aquib Hanif beat faraz Muhammad 9/11,11/8,11/2,7/11,11/8 35 Min; Muhammad Shoaib Hassan beat Muhammad Waheed 1/2,11/3,11/5 12 Min; Khwaja Adil Maqbool beat Kashif Khan 10/12,11/9,11/6,11/9 41 Min; Mujahid Hussain beat Abbas Ali 11/9,11/9,11/7 29 Min; Syed Ali Shah Bokhari beat Zain Khan 11/7,11/2,11/6 30 min.

Cavendish wins BBC award LONDON Afp

World road race champion Mark Cavendish claimed Britain's BBC Sports Personality of the Year award on Thursday, beating off competition in a public vote from golfer Darren Clarke and athlete Mo Farah. The 26-year-old, also the Tour de France's green jersey winner, became only the second road cyclist to take the award, following the late Tommy Simpson's win in 1965. Northern Irish golfer Clarke, this year's British Open champion, was voted into second place with world 5,000 metres gold medallist Farah third.

Nisar notches King of the Mountain race title ABBOTTABAD StAff REpORt

WAPDA's Nisar Ahmed was crowned as King of the Mountain after winning Abbottabad to Nathiagali Cycle Race for third time in succession while the main team trophy was won by SSGCS. Nisar Ahmed of WAPDA paddled the 32 kms race in one hour and 43 minutes and 10 seconds (01:43:10) to finish first in the King of the Mountain Abbottabad to Nathiagali cycle race for the third consecutive year. Second and third positions were won by Army's sprinters as Mohammad Ismail and Mohammad Asad covered this distance in (01:43:12) and (01:43:28) respectively. Fourth to sixth spots were taken by the cyclists from Sui Southern Gas

Company (SSGC) as Habibullah (01:43:31), Zameer Ahmed (01:45:01) and Naimat Ali (01:47:05) respectively managed to record their names in the winning six. The jury awarded the team trophy to SSGC on securing maximum points as a playing unit. In all 42 cyclists from 9 teams from Sindh, Punjab, Khyber PK, Balochistan, Islamabad, FATA, Army, Railway, SSGC, WAPDA and Afghanistan contested the competition.

The race that started from the office of Board of Secondary Educa-

tion, Murree Road Abbottabad at 09:00 am, concluded at Nathiagali bazar. The cyclists mounted this 32 kms race from an altitude of 4,000 ft. sea level to 8,000 ft. sea level which is the highest in Galliyat. The race was organised under the auspices of PCF and hosted

by Khyber PK Cycling Association in coordination with the local administration under the direct supervision of DCO Abbottabad Syed Imtiaz Husssain Shah who was also present at the awards dis-

tribution ceremony. The chief guest on the occasion, Minister for Sports KPK Syed Aqil Shah, presented Lala Ayub trophy to Nisar Ahmed whereas other trophies and medals were presented to the runner ups.

Speaking on the occasion the Minister Sports lauded PCF for successfully organising the event and said that participation of Afghanistan's team will send a positive message across the sporting world encouraging them to field their teams in the various competitions being held in Pakistan. President PCF Munawar Baseer thanked the local administration. Secretary PCF Syed Azhar Ali Shah announced that PCF's next event would be Champions of the Hill Islamabad to Murree Cycle Race on December 25, 2011, that would commemorate the birthday of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

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Saturday, 24 December, 2011

Nawaz ready to eliminate army’s political role lAhore: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif on Friday said he was ready for dialogue with political parties for a permanent end to the role of army and the ISI in politics. In an interview with German Radio, Nawaz said to strengthen democracy, it was necessary that there should be no interference in the affairs of the government by the army and the ISI. He said the forces that did not recognise democracy should also be ignored by political parties and no importance should be given to them. Nawaz said the country was faced with many problems, including the grave situation in Balochistan where it was essential to bring the estranged Baloch leadership and youth in the national mainstream for the security and integrity of the country. He said dialogue would have to be held with the Baloch leaders. He blamed the Pakistan People’s Party for not implementing the Charter of Democracy, saying that everybody was saying that the establishment was backing Imran Khan.

Nawaz said the role of various institutions, including the army and the judiciary was agreed in the CoD but the PPP violated it. He said there was a need for a new charter between political forces to prevent interference of nondemocratic forces in politics in future. INP

CENTCoM briefing to Pakistan on NATo raid cancelled islAmABAD: A briefing by the head of the US Central Command to Pakistani officials on the November 26 cross-border NATO air attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers and severely strained ties with Washington has been cancelled, a Pakistani official said on Friday. News that US General James N Mattis’s visit to Pakistan had been cancelled came a day after Washington announced that its investigation into the attack found both American and Pakistani forces were to blame for the border incident. The US military blamed Pakistani soldiers for firing at NATO forces as they prepared for a mission in a remote area near Afghanistanl’s eastern border with Pakistan close to midnight on November 25. The investigation also conceded a critical error by US troops, who told Pakistan the cross-border shooting was taking place about 9 miles (14 km) away due to mapping error. Pakistan responded by saying it had no troops there. REUTERS

24

20 troops abducted, 1 killed in Taliban attack on fC fort PESHAWAR StAff REpORt

ISLAMABAD: Local residents burn a motorcycle during a demonstration on Islamabad Expressway against excessive gas load shedding on friday. oNLINE

Suspected Taliban militants abducted more than 20 Frontier Constabulary soldiers in an overnight attack on the FC Fort in Mulazai near Tank on Friday that also left a soldier dead and two others injured.

However, seven of the abducted soldiers managed to escape in injured condition later on Friday. Taliban militants claimed responsibility for the attack through their spokesman, terming it revenge for their commander who was killed by security forces. Officials and locals told Pakistan Today that it was a well-organised and coordinated attack on the FC Fort at Mulazai, a small town 30 kilometres from Tank, adjacent to South Waziristan. The militants attacked the fort from three sides at approximately midnight on Thursday. Sources said more than 200 well-armed militants took part in the attack with rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weapons before storming the main Continued on page 04

Govt opts for safe route, to target defence secy first ISLAMABAD

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MIAN ABRAR

HE signals coming from the government on Friday suggested that it would not submit to any pressure and remain steadfast in its position that all state organs were responsible to the chief executive, as the coalition partners and the top Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership agreed to adopt a safe route and take action against Defence Secretary Lt General (r) Naeem Khalid Lodhi to build pressure on the military top brass, rather than initiating any steps against the army chief or the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) director general.

“After the consultation process, the government has decided that rather than going for a head-on collision with

the army, it will take on the defence secretary in the first step and later, action would be taken against others if necessary,” said a source privy to the details of the day-long consultation process.

Earlier, a series of meetings were held at the Presidency to carefully analyse the situation emerging in the wake of the loaded political speeches delivered by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani.

In the morning, President Asif Ali Zardari hosted a luncheon for the Pakistan’s new Ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman and had a detailed discussion with her on her new assignment. A source told Pakistan Today that former ambassador Husain Haqqani also joined the meeting for some time, which was held at the Presidency. He briefed Rehman on the challenges the country was facing in

Washington. He also gave his input to the new ambassador on a host of other issues, the source added.

Later on, the president moved to his office and attended a meeting of the PPP top brass, also known as its Core Committee. The source said that during the meeting, some enthusiastic PPP leaders wanted action against the leadership of the security establishment.

However, things calmed down significantly after news of Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s statement that there would be no military coup reached the meeting, which the PPP top brass appreciated.

The source said Senator Raza Rabbani suggested that it would not be wise to take action against the army chief and the ISI chief in the start, and Continued on page 04

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

US deal with Taliban breaks down MONITORING DESK The Obama administration, as part of an accelerated push toward an endgame in Afghanistan, last month reached a tentative accord with Taliban negotiators that would have included the transfer of five Afghans from US detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the Taliban’s public renunciation of international terrorism, the Washington Post said in a report on Friday. The deal called for the prisoners to be sent to house arrest in Qatar, where the Taliban planned to open an office, and additional actions by both sides, according to US and European officials who discussed the sensitive negotiations with the Post only on condition of anonymity. Until now, no Guantanamo detainees have left the prison as bargaining chips in a larger deal.

It was the closest that the parties had come to genuine peace negotiations after nearly a year of talks, the newspaper quoted officials as saying. They said the agreement ultimately collapsed after Afghan President Hamid Karzai balked at its terms.