e-paper pakistantoday khi 23rd nov, 2011

pakistantoday.com.pkrs15.00 Vol ii no 147 32 pages Karachi------edition Wednesday, 23 november, 2011 Zul-Haj 26, 1432

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

The weeks-long ‘memogate’ contro-versy, which had raised a storm in thecorridors of power, finally saw a headrolling as Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani, in a bid to reduce tension be-

tween the civil and military establishments,sought resignation from Ambassador husainhaqqani on Tuesday and asked him to face aformal investigation.

The axe fell on the ambassador in a meetingat the Prime Minister’s house when, according tosources, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief LtGeneral Ahmad Shuja Pasha confronted haqqaniwith evidence implicating him in the conspiracy.President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Gilaniand Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq ParvezKayani were also present at the meeting.

Importantly, the meeting of the country’stop military and civilian leadership took placeat PM’s house instead of the Presidency. ear-lier, all such important meetings used to takeplace at the Aiwan-e-Sadr. Though the govern-ment did not announce the composition of theinvestigation team, it was learnt that the ISI,which had collected the evidence, would com-plete the process with the assistance of the Fed-eral Investigation Agency (FIA). “It’s not justthe removal of Ambassador haqqani, the venueof the meeting also suggests that the civil-mili-tary relations have been reshaped, with theprime minister now holding the fort instead ofthe president,” said a source privy to the devel-opments. An official statement, issued by PM’shouse, said: “The prime minister has directed

to conduct a detailed investiga-tion at an appropriate leveland in the meanwhile heasked Pakistan’s Ambassadorto the USA hussain haqqanito submit his resignation sothat the investigation can be car-ried out properly.” OPPORTUNITY: The statementsaid all concerned would be af-forded sufficient and fair opportunityto present their views and the investi-gation would be carried out fairly, objec-tively and without bias. It stated furtherthat as a result of the controversy generatedby the alleged memo admitted to have beenreceived by an “authority in USA”, it had be-come necessary in the national interest toformally arrive at the actual and true facts.

Citing its sources, Online news agency re-ported that haqqani answered a plethora of ques-tions raised by the military and civilianleadership. In a nutshell, he denied having anylink to the memo, the sources said. however,an official said with haqqani no longer in theambassador’s office in Washington, the ten-sion between the civilian rulers and the mil-itary leaders that erupted after thesurfacing of the memo allegedly sent bythe president through haqqani toAdmiral Mike Mullen would de-crease and the two ‘parties’ wouldget back to business as usual.

PAGE 20

Erdogan calls on ‘coward’ Assad to quit

Mullen confident memo notsent by President Zardari

Pakistan looks to pile more misery on Sri Lanka

PAGE 16PAGE 03

g Gilani directs envoy to resign, faceformal enquiry in Memogate scandal

more stories | pages 02,03 & 04

Continued on page 04

KHI pages 23-11-2011_Layout 1 11/23/2011 1:50 AM

KARACHI: Donkey carts taking part in a rally organised by the ppp near Kala pul on tuesday. onLine

02wednesday, 23 November, 2011

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world view

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petition seeks court action against Haqqani time for alliance with Zardari gone: pir pagara Is change coming to Saudi Arabia?

ISLAMABAD MIAN AbRAR

Born on July 1, 1956, husain haqqani was ap-pointed Pakistan’s ambassador to the UnitedStates by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani inApril 2008.

he resigned on November 22, 2011. haqqaniis widely critiqued in the media and by opposi-tion politicians as representing Zardari’s interestover those of the nation. he is colloquially re-ferred to as “American Ambassador to Americafrom Pakistan” in reference to his alleged ap-peasement of American policy.

Previously, he has held numerous high-rank-ing positions in and out of the government, in-cluding as adviser to three former primeministers and as envoy to Sri Lanka. he has beena prominent journalist, scholar and educator. hisappointment in 2008 marked a return to govern-ment service after being exiled in 1999 followingcriticisms against the government of then chiefexecutive General Pervez Musharraf.

haqqani was born in Karachi and was raisedin a conservative but educated family in Malir,which is a relatively poor suburb of Karachi.

he began his interest in journalism while inhigh school. In year 1972, haqqani became pres-

ident of the student union of Islami Jamiat-e-Ta-laba (student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami) at Gov-ernment National Science College.

In 1973, he joined Karachi University and fre-quently visited the library at the US consulate,reading volumes of American history. Later, whenstudents wanted to attack the consulate as part ofa protest against the United States, haqqani re-fused to do so. haqqani has an excellent academicrecord with distinctions at all stages. he receiveda BA degree with distinction in 1977 and an MAdegree with distinction in international relationsin 1980 from the University of Karachi.

In March 2000, he married Farahnaz Ispa-hani, a former producer at CNN and MSNBC andcurrent member of parliament, and the grand-daughter of Mirza Abol hassan Ispahani, Pak-istan’s first ambassador to Washington.

Their official residence in Washington waspurchased and donated by her grandfather.

he has lived in the US since 2002, and hasdeveloped a taste for the Boston Red Sox baseballteam and news programmes.

At the time of his appointment as ambassa-dor on April 3, 2008, haqqani was viewed as arespected figure on the world stage, coming tothe post well versed in the ways of diplomacy andWashington. he succeeded Mahmud Ali Durrani,

who became national security adviser to the Gi-lani government.

Prior to his appointment, haqqani had beencritical of the Musharraf regime and past US sup-port to Pakistan’s military. In 1988, he worked inthe political campaign for IJI – an alliance led byPML-N chief Nawaz Sharif. In 1990, he was spe-cial assistant to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif;from 1990-92, he was special assistant andspokesman for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif;from 1992-93, he became one of Pakistan’syoungest ambassadors, serving in Sri Lanka.

however, later from 1993-95, he switchedsides and joined Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttoas her spokesman. From 1995-96, he was chair-man of the house Building Finance Corporation.

From 2004-08, haqqani was an associateprofessor for international relations at BostonUniversity. In addition, he co-chaired the Projecton Islam and Democracy at the hudson Institutein Washington, and was editor of the journal Cur-rent Trends in Islamists Ideology.

Among his numerous writing credits are“Pakistan Between Mosque and Military” for theCarnegie endowment for International Peace;“Islam’s Medieval Outposts” for the journal For-eign Policy, and “The Role of Islam in Pakistan’sFuture” for Washington Quarterly.

The rise and fall of Husain Haqqani

Haqqani’s nemesiswelcomes envoy’sresignation

ISLAMABADStAff RepoRt

Mansoor Ijaz, the man atthe centre of the ‘mem-ogate’ controversy haswelcomed the acceptanceof husain haqqani’s res-ignation, saying that hewould participate in anyenquiry if asked by thePakistani government. Born in 1961, Mansoor Ijaz is an American businessmanof Pakistani ancestry. he is an investment banker andmedia commentator, mostly in relation to Pakistan, Iraqand Afghanistan. he is the founder and chairman ofCrescent Investment Management (LLC), a New York in-vestment partnership since 1990 that includes retiredGeneral James Alan Abrahamson, former director ofPresident Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative. Ijaz hashad ties to former CIA Director James Woolsey. he isalso a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Man-soor Ijaz was born in Tallahassee, Florida and grew upon a farm in rural Virginia. he received his bachelor’sdegree in nuclear physics from the University of Virginiain 1983 and master’s degree in mechanical engineeringfrom the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1985,where he was trained as a neural sciences engineer. hisfather, Dr Mujaddid Ahmad Ijaz, was a theoretical physi-cist who played a major role in nuclear deterrence devel-opment throughout 1970s and 1980s, and was apioneering figure in the designing of the weapons. Ijazdeveloped CARAT, a currency, interest rate and equityrisk management system. he started his own investmentfirm in 1990. Away from Crescent’s daily business af-fairs, Ijaz serves on the College Foundation Board ofTrustees at the University of Virginia and is a member ofthe Council on Foreign Relations. he used to appear reg-ularly on a variety of financial and political news pro-grams for CNN, Fox News, BBC, Germany’s ARD TV,Japan’s NhK, ABC [disambiguation needed] and NBC.he has commented for PBS’ News-hour with Jim Lehrerand ABC News Nightline with Ted Koppel. Ijaz has beenfeatured twice in Barron’s Currency Roundtable discus-sions. he has also contributed to the editorial pages ofLondon’s Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, TheNew York Times, Los Angeles Times, The WashingtonPost, The International herald Tribune, Newsweek In-ternational, The Christian Science Monitor, The WeeklyStandard, National Review, USA Today, and the Times ofIndia. he endorsed views in the period prior to the IraqWar, later proven to be false, that included the presenceof WMDs in Iraq and ties between Saddam hussein andAl Qaeda. Among other topics, he commented on theOsama bin Laden and Nuclear Proliferation MansoorIjaz was a Fox News Analyst and played a popular role onSpecial Report. . he was the most popular guest on theshow and appeared on Fox more than 100 occasions. Ijazwould articulate opinions in support of the Bush Whitehouse and neo-conservative foreign policy. In 2006, heclaimed that Iran already had a nuclear bomb.INTeRNaTIONal NegOTIaTOR: Mansoor Ijaz hasbeen involved in unofficial negotiations between US andSudanese governments with regard to extradition ofOsama bin Laden. In 1996 the United States Congresshad imposed sanctions against the Sudanese govern-ment over the terrorist operations on its soil.

Shujaat clearsZardari ofmemo blame


Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q)President Chaudhry Shujaat hussain onTuesday said that President Asif Ali Zardariwas not involved in the memo controversyand that the issue would soon be resolved. hewas talking to reporters at a gathering organ-ised by his party to celebrate the passage of“the Prevention of Anti-women PracticesBill”. Regarding his party’s strategy for thenext general elections, Shujaat said that seat-to-seat adjustment between the PML-Q andthe Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would beheld on merit. The PML-Q president hopedthat his former party members, who defectedto the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), wouldsoon come back. earlier while addressing theceremony, Shujaat said his party had pre-sented the bill to ensure equal rights to thewomen, adding that some members of hisparty had opposed the bill when the PML-Qtried to move it during its government in2006. PML-Q Secretary General Mushahidhussain also supported Shujaat’s statementthat the party president had suggested mov-ing the bill in 2006. he believed that womenwere more active than the men, and that fe-male PML-Q members in Punjab Assemblywere playing a very positive role as opposi-tion. PML-Q legislator Donia Aziz said thatalmost three and a half years were invested inthe bill before it was passed.



NewsCommeNtGrim reaping:

articles on Page 12-13

The Baloch’s grievances have been mishandled.

A heavy cross: Talking to the TTP might not be straightforward.

Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi says:

Shaukat Umer says:On Iran’s nuclear crisis: There might be a way forward?

Harris bin Munawar says:In defence of Mir Jafar: Looking at history from a different perspective.

foreigN NewS

Story on Page 16

artS & eNtertaiNmeNt‘Zindagi to Hum bhi Hain’ a visual treat

Story on Page 19

SPortSpakistan thrash Netherlands

Story on Page 20

Iran blasts new Western sanctions

The civil-military dynamic: No prizes for guessing who’s on top.


US Ambassador to Pak-istan Cameron Munter onTuesday said the US sup-ported political and dem-ocratic process in

Pakistan and it believed that the Pak-istani institutions would address the‘memogate’ issue.

Ambassador Munter was talkingto reporters in Rawalpindi after visit-ing the office of the Medical Transcrip-tion Billing Company (MTBC).

he was asked for his comments onthe issue of the secret memo allegedlysent by Ambassador hussain haqqanito senior US official Admiral MikeMullen seeking support of the Obamaadministration to prevent a militarycoup in Pakistan. Munter said theAmerican administration was pre-pared to help in any probe by Pakistaninto the secret memorandum.

however, he made it clear thatPakistani authorities would have to de-

cide how to handle the matter and themodalities for any investigation intothe issue. “We just leave it to the Pak-istani authorities, we think they are thepeople who should decide. I thinkwhatever solution, whether it’s (probeby a Supreme Court panel) or an-other… that’s for Pakistan to decideand we’ll be as helpful as we can.”

Concerning haqqani, he said, “Ibelieve he’s back in the country, he’llbe talking with the authorities here tofind out what really happened. I’ll behonest with you. I don’t know. Weneed to find out from this inquiry whatthis memo is and what it meant,” hesaid. Munter said he had not seen thememo until it was published.

he said the US State Departmenthad been very careful in giving its re-action on the memo issue as it wasPakistan’s internal matter. he said,“We respect Pakistani institutions toaddress this issue.”

he said the US was supportive tothe democratic process in Pakistan.“We support the rule of law, your

country and the will of Pakistani peo-ple to make sure that there will be jus-tice,” he said.

Asked about the possible replace-ment of Pakistani Ambassador hus-sain haqqani in US, AmbassadorMunter said, “We have to wait andsee.” To a question on his reportedmeeting with Pakistan ChairmanTehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Imran Khan inthe presence of Inter Services Intelli-gence Director General Lt GeneralAhmed Shujah Pasha, the US ambas-sador said, “I separately met ImranKhan and I also met with Lt GeneralPasha, but I have not met them to-gether.” When asked about the US softcorner for Imran Khan, he said thepeople in Pakistan were looking forleadership and they were looking for akind of society where there was open-ness. “Many people of this country aretalking about a political system thatwill be transparent, that will be openand democratic, prosperous and sta-ble. You will always hear from us sup-porting those kinds of ideas,” he said.

Pakistan should resolve‘memogate’ itself: Munterg US ambassador says america prepared to help in any probe by Pakistan

into secret memorandum g Says he never met imran Khan, iSi chief together

I have much to contribute to building a new pakistan free of bigotry & intolerance. Will focus engergies on that.1 hour ago

* * * * *

I have requested pM Gilani to accept myresignation as pakistan Ambassador to US.1 hour ago

* * * * *

A big thank you to all well-wishers. Yoursupport and prayers are much appreciated.6 hour ago

* * * * *

I am a little busy is Islamabad. Normaltweeting will resume soon.21 Nov

* * * * *

Not to my knowledge. I am where I am.21 Nov

* * * * *

I only asked what might be the consequences if they did.20 Nov

* * * * *

Matti ki mohabbat mein hum ashufta saron nay/woh qarz utaray hain jo wajib bhi nahin thay20 Nov

ReceNt tweets

WASHINGTONoNlINe

The Pentagon has said that retired chair-man Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral MikeMullen was confident that the memo deliv-ered by Mansoor Ijaz was not sent by Pres-ident Asif Ali Zardari. A spokesman forMullen asserted that the former chairmanof the US joint chiefs of staff committeenever met or knew the central figure in thecontroversy. “Mullen never met PakistaniAmerican businessman Mansoor Ijaz,who has alleged that Pakistan’s ambassa-dor to the US hussain haqqani asked forassistance in getting a message fromPresident Asif Ali Zardari to the then topUS military leader,” Pentagonspokesman Captain John Kirby told re-porters. Asserting that the admiral didnot take the alleged secret memorandumseriously as it was “not signed” and therewas no indication that it was comingfrom the Pakistani president, Kirby said,adding that the contents of the said letterwere not reliable and authenticated.Asked about a Pakistani media reportthat former national security adviser GenJames Jones had admitted to carryingthe memo to Mullen, he said: “I am notgoing to speak to Gen Jones participa-tion in it and if he is speaking that is cer-tainly his account.”

ISLAMABADMIAN AbRAR

The memogate scandal eclipsed theNational Assembly’s session on Tues-day, as a meeting between top civilianand military leaders remained thefocus of parliamentarians’ andmedia’s attention.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) legislator Qudsia Arshad wasthe lone voice calling for the formationof a judicial commission to probe thememo controversy, as she was not sup-ported by her own party colleagues.

however, an interesting situationdeveloped when some PML-N legisla-tors clashed with the parliamentariansof the Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) over allegations levelled byformer Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza againstMQM chief Altaf hussain. MQMleader Sajid Ahmed triggered the de-bate about Mirza and invited the angerof PML-N legislators. Things were nor-mal when, on a point of order, Ahmedproposed to invite Pir Mazharul haqto the National Assembly session andenquire him about Mirza’s allegationsagainst the MQM chief.

“Pir Mazhar has claimed thatMirza had levelled false allegationsagainst Altaf hussain … he should becalled here to tell the truth to the na-tion about those false allegations,” heasserted. however, member of theNational Assembly (MNA) ShireenArshad responded quickly and calledMirza “a respectable member of theSindh Assembly”, while forgettingthat Mirza had resigned from theprovincial legislature. “Dr Mirza hadinformed the nation on oath about theextortion and corruption of MQM.his documents should be shared with

the nation,” she added. PML-N leader Rohail Asghar also re-

sponded by saying that the Pakistani na-tion was facing a series of disastersbecause of four incidents of swearing bygovernment ministers on the holyQuran. he said the use of the holy bookto make political statements had broughtthe country rampant killings, heavyfloods, terrorism and high inflation.

Meanwhile, CommunicationsMinister Dr Arbab Alamgir told theNA that work on the Lowari Tunnelproject would start soon after receiv-ing funds of Rs 2 billion. On a point oforder by an MNA about suspendedwork on the project, Alamgir said theprime minister had sanctioned Rs 1billion for the project, while anotherRs 1 billion had been earmarked inthe current year under the Public Sec-tor Development Programme (PSDP).he said the Korean construction com-pany building the tunnel had haltedwork because of insufficient funds,adding that it would be asked to re-sume work after funds were madeavailable. he said the Rs 18 billiontunnel project was approved by theCentral Development Working Party(CDWP) and the executive Commit-tee of National economic Council(eCNeC). Meanwhile, the house re-ferred to a point of order about theverification of arms licenses by theNational Database and RegistrationAuthority (NADRA). Religious AffairsMinister Khursheed Shah said theStanding Committee on Interiorshould be directed to investigate intothe matter and present its report inthe house.

The house also adopted a bill byJustice (r) Fakhar-un-Nisa to furtheramend the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860,and the Code of Criminal Procedure,

1898 (The Criminal Law AmendmentBill, 2011, insertion of 377A, 377B andamendment of Schedule II) and re-ferred it to the committee concerned.

Separately, Parliamentary Secre-tary for Industries Pir haider Ali Shahinformed the NA that production ofurea fertiliser in the country was400,000 tones more than the nationalrequirement, adding that gas shortageswere badly affecting the local fertiliserindustry. Responding to a notice byYasmeen Rehman and others regard-ing the unavailability of urea fertiliserand its high prices in the country, hesaid the government was providing aRs 31 billion subsidy on urea. he addedthat the government was purchasingone bag of urea from the internationalmarket at Rs 3,000 and providing asubsidy of Rs 1,300 to 1,500 on it. hesaid that there was a shortage of700,000 metric tones of urea in thecountry, adding that 200,000 metrictones urea had reached the port while500,000 metric tones would arrive byDecember, 2011.

Regarding the unavailability ofurea during the sowing season, the par-liamentary secretary said the provinceswere responsible to ensure the fer-tiliser’s availability and keep a check onhoarding and smuggling. Advisor toPM Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar said thelaw and order situation was a provin-cial subject and the federal governmentcould not intervene in that directly.

The house was discussing theissue of law and order under Rule 87.MNAs Muhammad Pervaiz Malik,Nisar Tanveer, Tasneem Siddiqui,Shireen Arshad Khan and NighatParveen took part in the discussion.Khokhar said the human Rights Min-istry had no power to take action andstop human rights violations.

Pakistan could

become a failed

state: romneyWASHINGTON

oNlINe/ReUteRS

hardening his stance on Pakistan, leadingRepublican presidential hopeful Mitt Rom-ney has said the South Asian country is indanger of becoming a failed state. “You’re dealing with a nation like Pakistan,with a hundred-plus missiles, which is afragile state, and could be become a failedstate,” Romney said in his speech atNashua, New hampshire.he said the world had become more danger-ous with new nuclear powers.“It’s become more dangerous, and yourecognise that. North Korea, over the lastseveral years, has tested a nuclear device,has tested long-range missiles. Iran is, ofcourse, arming hezbollah, hamas,” he said. “To a degree, Taliban, as well, has pursuedtheir nuclear ambitions. Russia is acting ina more belligerent way with their neigh-bours and former satellites. China makesfriends with some of the most unsavourycharacters in the world. Whether inBurma/Myanmar, whether in Sudan, NorthKorea, China seems to be gathering a unionof totalitarian states of some kind. Theworld is dangerous,” Romney said. “Our friends are in fragile settings, Is-rael in particular. With the developmentof the Arab Spring, that could be eithersome of the best news we’ve had in halfa century or some of the worst, depend-ing on how it turns out,” he said. “In a setting like this, this is no time for theUnited States of America to withdraw itscommitment to a powerful and strong mili-tary. And a doomsday scenario for our mili-tary is not the right course, given where theworld is headed,” he said.

‘mullen confidentmemo not sentby Zardari’Memogate eclipses NA session



News

ISlAMAbAD: A five-member UK delegation led by Sir peter Ricketts, National Security Adviser, calls on prime Minister Yousaf

Raza Gilani at pM’s House on tuesday.


DeFeNCe an-alysts andpoliticians be-lieve that thesacking of hu-

sain haqqani would not dif-fuse the tension between thecivilian and military leader-ship, as the ball will keep onrolling until all faces behindthe ‘memogate’ are punishedin light of an inquiry into thescam.

Lt Gen (r) Talat Masoodsaid the acceptance of hu-sain haqqani’s resignationwas just the beginning of theprocess. “The process hasjust started … the outcome ofdetailed inquiry into theissue will define relationsbetween the governmentand military establishment,”he said. he said the inquirywould reveal all facts revolv-ing around the issue and

would also expose motivesbehind the move if the alle-gations of Mansoor Ijazproved right. “It is a compli-cated situation and thingswill not become stabile withmere resignation ofhaqqani,” he added.

PPP-Sherpao chief AftabKhan Sherpao said it was thefirst step and the “mem-ogate” scandal would notstop there. “This is the firststep. The ball will keeprolling and will not stophere. The investigations areyet to begin and its fallout isyet to occur,” Sherpao said,adding that the fallout couldbe explosive.

General (r) hamid Gulsaid things in Pakistanwould not stabilise with theouster of husain haqqanionly. “The probe into the‘memogate’ will reach itslogical conclusion… not onlyhaqqani but a team of Pak-istanis was involved in the

scandal as is revealed by thememorandum … othermembers of the team mustalso face the music,” Gulsaid. he said in his opinion,Americans had exposed thememo as the Pakistani rulershad failed to honour theircommitments made with theUS administration on intro-ducing radical changes inthe country’s security sys-tem. PML-N SenatorMushahidullah said the fall-out of the ‘memogate’ wouldbe drastic and the nationneeds to be taken into confi-dence and briefed on howthings occurred.

he said haqqani wasforced to resign and it wasyet to be proven who wasguilty, as the ambassadorhimself was unable to do allby himself. The PML-N sen-ator also added that inde-pendent judicial inquiryshould be conducted intothe issue.

‘Husain Haqqani’sresignation tipof the iceberg’

ISLAMABAD StAff RepoRt

The Federal Board of Revenue(FBR) has unearthed evasionof duties and taxes of over Rs55 billion, as 28,000 contain-ers carrying commercial cargounder the Afghan TransitTrade (ATT) on way toAfghanistan went missing, theSupreme Court was informedon Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the remaining322,000 containers meant forthe International Security As-sistance Force (ISAF) inAfghanistan dispatched fromthe Karachi port have not beenfound yet, further denting thenational exchequer. A two-member SC bench comprisingChief Justice Iftikhar Muham-mad Chaudhry and JusticeKhilji Arif hussain was hearinga suo motu case pertaining topilferage of containers in Pak-istan meant for ISAF.

FBR Chairman SalmanSiddique apprised the bench

on the scam. The court wastold that former presidentGeneral Pervez Musharraf’snephew and former Karachicorps commander’s son playeda major role in the scam.

The court directed the Na-tional Accountability Bureau(NAB) chairman to cooperatewith the FBR chairman to ini-tiate proceedings against thoseinvolved and also take actionagainst them. The FBR chair-man told the bench that pleaswere pending in the Sindhhigh Court, filed by the ac-cused involved in the scam in-cluding importers, clearingagents, terminal/port opera-tors, custom officials, shippingagents and transporter, whichcaused delay in taking actionagainst them.

The court asked the FBRchairman to provide details ofpleas pending before the Sindhhigh Court, so that the ShCcould be asked to expeditehearing of these cases.

Justice hussain said it

would be a result-oriented actif the NAB came to help toprobe the cases, adding that nopressure would be accepted bythe FBR.

Giving details of the miss-ing containers, the FBR chair-man said the trend of steep fallin import of transit trade cargocontinued in ensuing months.

he said an investigationconducted by FBR revealedthat 63,264 commercial ATTcontainers were imported fromFebruary 1, 2010 to September20, 2010. he said the quantumof such imports in the corre-sponding period of this yearhad fallen to 33,414 containers,signifying a massive fall by ap-proximately 50 percent.

Siddique said non-com-mercial ATT imports had alsofallen by 26 percent to 28,802containers which had gonemissing. he said issuance ofSCN was actively in progress,adding that the loss of revenuein terms of duties and taxeswas around Rs 55 billion.

FBR unearths Rs 55b tax evasion

in iSAF containers’ case, SC toldg 28,000 containers carrying commercial cargo underatta go missing g remaining 322,000 containers meantfor iSaf dispatched not found yet

haqqani has been denyingall the allegations levelledagainst him by Pakistani-American businessmanMansoor Ijaz, who has beenthe key character in the con-troversy, claiming to havedelivered the secret letter tothe Obama administrationin May this year after the UShad carried out a militaryraid in Abbottabad to kill alQaeda chief Osama bin

Laden. haqqani, who hasbeen using Twitter since hisarrival in the country to de-liver his message to the peo-ple and explain his position,tweeted after the decision: “Ihave requested PM Gilani toaccept my resignation asPakistan Ambassador toUS.” he went on say: “I havemuch to contribute to build-ing a new Pakistan free ofbigotry & intolerance. Willfocus energies on that.”

The downfall of

haqqani, who has alwaysbeen dubbed by his criticsand fans as the eyes and earsof President Zardari, startedwhen Ijaz wrote an op-edpiece in the Financial Timesclaiming that he had beenapproached by “a seniorPakistani diplomat” based inthe US to help the Presi-dency seek US help to pre-

vent a possible coup by thearmy against the PakistanPeople’s Party-led govern-ment in the wake of the Ab-bottabad raid.

Another Pakistani offi-cial, who asked not to benamed, said that withhaqqani leaving his office,things had become clearernow and it would also lead to

the reshaping of the civilian-military relationship in thecoming months. “Now theauthority of the civilian gov-ernment will get furtherweakened and the armywould dominate the futurecourse of action in the coun-try. On the civilian side, itwill now be the prime minis-ter who will come to the driv-

ing seat and the presidentwill go to the back, leavingspace for the premier to be-come the government’s face,”the official said. he said thatenquiry into the controversywould, however, continueand it would be like a swordhanging on the civilian gov-ernment’s head. HaQQaNI deNIeS:Meanwhile, haqqani stoodby his earlier denials andcalled for a transparent en-quiry into the controversy to

strengthen the hands of theelected Pakistani leadership.“A transparent enquiry willstrengthen the hands ofelected leaders whom Istrived to strengthen,” hesaid in a message sent to re-porters in Islamabad onTuesday. he said: “To me,Pakistan and Pakistan’sdemocracy are far more im-portant than any artificiallycreated crisis over an in-significant memo written bya self-centred businessman.”

Haqqani axedContinued from page 1

blast kills 3,injures 5 at Pafscrap depot

SARGODHAoNlINe

Three people were killed in ablast at Sargodha’s PakistanAir Force (PAF) firing rangein Chiniot district on Tuesday.According to PAF officials, ablank cartridge explodedwhen three contract labourerswere collecting scrap from thePAF Firing Range in Lallian,situated at Sillanwali-BadanRoad. Officials said fivepeople were injured as well.Station house Officer (ShO)Khalid Mehmood Gondal saidthe blast occurred in the scrapdepot when labourers andemployees were cleaning it.he identified the deceased asUmer hayat, Mushtaq andMumtaz. Gondal said that thePAF administration was notallowing police to enter thepremises, saying they werehandling the matter internallyand waiting for permissionfrom senior officials.

mNa’s brother, 8others convictedin firing case

FAISALABADApp

An anti-terrorism court(ATC) convicted SheikhNawaz Akram – brother ofMNA Sheikh Waqas Akram– along with eight of hisbodyguards on charges ofresorting to firing, creatingpanic and terror in Kotwalipolice precincts in Jhangdistrict.According to the prosecution,Nawaz had a dispute with hiscousins Sheikh Zafar Iqbalover a transport terminal.Nawaz and his bodyguardsresorted to indiscriminatefiring and injured Ali Raza,Zafar’s party member onAugust 18, 2010. Policeregistered a case againstNawaz and his guards.


The National Assembly’sStanding Committee on For-eign Affairs has refused to ap-prove a bill seeking thepreservation, protection andassertion of Pakistan’s sover-eignty (the sovereignty of Pak-istan bill, 2010), whilerecommending that the billmay not be processed by theNational Assembly for legisla-tion. The legislature was in-formed about the fate of the billin the committee’s report,which was presented in the

house on Tuesday. The reportwas presented by PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) legislatorNauman Sheikh on behalf ofAwami National Party (ANP)President Asfand Yar Wali. Thebill was moved by PakistanMuslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) minister Mian Riaz hussainPirzada on January 12, 2010.

The bill wanted the presi-dent of Pakistan to issue a cer-tificate that no compromisehad been made on the coun-try’s sovereignty and dignityand the security and effective-ness of the nuclear programmeof Pakistan.

Seven injuredduring mirza’saddressAt least seven people wereinjured in a clash betweensupporters of former Sindhhome minister Dr ZulfiqarMirza and the MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)during his address inLondon on Tuesday, GeoNews reported. Followingthe disturbance, a heavycontingent of policearrived at the communitycentre where Mirza wasaddressing his supporters.Geo News reported theinjured men belonged tothe MQM. MoNItoRING DeSK

ISLAMABADAfp

The government rowed backon Tuesday from demands thattext messages containingnearly 1,700 “obscene” wordsshould be blocked, followingoutrage from users and cam-paigners.

On November 14, the Pak-istan Telecommunication Au-thority (PTA) distributed a listof 1,695 words in english andUrdu, the national language, tooperators, giving them sevendays to implement a filteringsystem. But the list was metwith uproar, both at the at-tempt to censor messages andthe inclusion of many seem-ingly innocuous terms, amongthem “Jesus Christ”, “lotion”,“athlete’s foot”, “robber”,“idiot”, “four twenty” and“harder”. On Tuesday, PTAspokesman Mohammad You-

nis Khan told AFP the author-ity would consult civil societyrepresentatives and mobilephone operators on refining amuch shorter list of words, giv-ing no timeframe for any even-tual ban.

“At the moment we are notblocking or filtering any word,”Khan said. “No final decisionhas been taken in this regard,”he added. A PTA committeewith representatives of civil so-ciety and mobile phone opera-tors will decide on a “final listof objectionable words” whichKhan conceded could be onlyaround “a dozen”. “We have noplan to block any word untiland unless it is approved bythat committee and it will taketime to reach that decision,” headded. A letter accompanyingthe list on November 14 saidfiltering was legal under thePakistan TelecommunicationAct of 1996.

Qureshi calls

for fair probelaHORe: Former foreignminister Shah MehmoodQureshi has termed theongoing memo controversy “aserious matter” and demandedan investigation to reveal thefaces behind the drama.Talking to reporters after ameeting with Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N)President Nawaz Sharif, theestranged Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) leader added thatPakistan’s Ambassador to theUnited States hussainhaqqani had done the rightthing by resigning from hisposition. he said haqqani wasnow in a better position to facean inquiry. Qureshi, who isembarking on a brand newpolitical career, claimed thathe was being prevented fromholding a public gathering inGhotki. he added that hisfuture political plans would beannounced in Ghotki onNovember 27. StAff RepoRt

Committee rejects bill seeking

certificate on national sovereignty

Govt shelves ‘obscene’

text message ban

benazir murder case judgement reserved till Nov 29RawalPINdI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Tuesday reserved the judgment ofthe Benazir Bhutto assassination case till November 29 on the request of the counsel ofthe accused in the case. The hearing of the case was held by ATC judge Shahid Rafique.The court reserved the judgment against the seven accused persons, including formerCity Police Officer (CPO) Saud Aziz, former Rawal Town Superintendent Police (SP)Khurram Shehzad, Atizaz Shah, Rafqat, hussan Gull, Sher Zaman and Rasheed Ahmadfor their alleged involvement in the Benazir Bhutto murder case. earlier, KhurramMehmood Qureshi advocate, counsel for Sher Zaman and Rasheed, had submitted anapplication in the court for amending the charges against his clients. In the hearing onTuesday, counsel of the accused had asked for more time to defend their case afterwhich the court reserved the judgment till November 29. StAff RepoRt


wednesday, 23 November, 2011

Pagara sees curtains

for government

Prophecy of doom

06

KARACHIAAMIR MAJeeD

CITIZeNS of Karachi learnt thenews of Senator Faisal RazaAbidi’s appointment as the Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP) KarachiPresident the hard way on Tues-

day when they found themselves stuck in agruelling traffic jam caused by a gathering ofa large number of PPP activists and support-ers at the Shahrah-e-Faisal, the city’s busiestthoroughfare.

Moreover, air travellers returning toKarachi, particularly those arriving fromSaudi Arabia after offering hajj, found it al-most impossible to reach home because PPPworkers had crowded Terminal 1 of the JinnahInternational Airport to welcome Abidi.

PPP jiyalas were least bothered to even letambulances – many of which were carryingpeople in immediate need of medical atten-tion – pass. While all vehicular trafficwas jammed bumper to bumper, thejiyalas were seen dancing at theShahrah-e-Faisal with no regardfor anything or anyone else.

PPP members and support-ers from every nook and crannyof the metropolitan thronged tothe airport, blocking theShahrah-e-Faisal in the process.Following that, traffic comingfrom the Northern Bypass, Quaid-abad and Malir was affected, whichin turn disrupted traffic heading to-wards the II Chundrigar

Road, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Clifton and Defencehousing Authority.

The celebration of Abidi’s arrival startedMonday night as the PPP Karachi Division setup temporary camps along the Shahrah-e-Faisal. Party workers danced through thenight and the situation turned appalling byWednesday noon when PPP jiyalas, many rid-ing camels and donkey carts, started gather-ing at the Shahrah-e-Faisal.

Dressed in white shirts, the welcome cel-ebration organisers blocked the roads leadingto the airport around 12:00 pm and attemptedto manage the flow of traffic through alternateroutes, but horribly failed to do so. Trafficheading to the airport from the Model Colonygraveyard and Star Gate was blocked aroundnoon and the routes were reopened after fivehours. While the traffic police tried to main-tain smooth flow of traffic from time to time,they seemed helpless in their efforts.

PPP activists and supporters reached theairport by cars, motorcycles, buses,

minibuses, camels and donkeycarts. As their means of trans-

portation were barred from en-tering the airport premises,they left them at the Shahrah-e-Faisal and marched towardsTerminal 1 to welcome Abidi.

By 5:00 pm, commuters atthe Shahrah-e-Faisal were expe-

riencing possibly the most taxingtraffic jam in their lives. The traffic

situation could be witnessed from asfar as the Quaidabad and Drigh

Road flyovers.

KARACHIAMAR GURIRo

Just as the sun began to go down and thefrantic hustle-bustle of public transportwaned, women wearing Banarasi saris,and their children dancing to the rhythmof drumbeats, start pouring into a mar-riage hall.

Inside the city’s red zone, near fivestar hotels and the Sindh Chief Minister’shouse, the marriage hall is illuminatedwith lights and chairs set around a roundtable for the grand ceremony.

In one corner, on a raised platformunder a mandap (canopy), a white-hairedpandit (priest) wearing a shawl printed

with hindi verses gets ready for the holyritual.

Suddenly, someone shouted “Dulhaaagaya” (the groom has arrived) and theguests sitting inside the hall rush towardsthe main entrance.

Attired in a maroon Sherwani andwearing a Sehra (floral headdress), thegroom, surrounded by a large number offemales, entered the marriage hall.

A few minutes later, the dulhan(bride) – also wearing maroon sari and asehra – arrives inside.

The sari with golden borders and amatching bindiya with traditional jew-ellery including nath (nose ring), adds tothe beauty of the bride.

This is the scene of a traditionalMarathi wedding in the city and the stageis all set for the couple to tie nuptials.

A Marathi wedding may not be such asurprise in the city, as according to localMaharashtrians, around 250 Marathifamilies (around 2,500 members) are stillliving in Karachi. Marathi hindus underthe surnames of Gaikwar and Jadavamong others are living in Sindh.

Despite their tiny numbers, Maha-rashtrians’ presence confirms the cosmo-politan nature of the city.

Sindh is the only place in Pakistanwhere one can find Marathi, Gujarati, Be-hari, Rajasthani and even people fromKerala and other Indian states.

As Sindh was part of the BombayPresidency under the British Raj, a largenumber of people from different Indianstates flocked to Sindh. After partition,many of them returned but a few of themstayed behind.

Inside the wedding mandap, the pan-dit starts reciting a mantra from the holybook.

holding each others’ hands, the cou-ple starts pheras (circling) of the holy fireset in the middle of the mandap.

The relatives shower the couple withcereal grains, wishing them a happy andprosperous life ahead.

Talking with Pakistan Today, somewedding participants said that a tradi-tional Maharashtrian wedding entirelydifferent from the one witnessed inKarachi.

“The actual Marathi nuptials are held

during the day time and there are nopheras (circles around holy fire). The cou-ple stands in two separate baskets with awhite cloth as a curtain between them andthen the pandit recites the basic rituals,”they said.

“Under the influence from Indianfilms and dramas on Star Plus channel,the local Marathi people are forgettingtheir culture,” an elderly participant atthe wedding told Pakistan Today.

She said that usually the Marathibrides drape themselves in a green sari,which is considered a fortunate colour,but now they have started wearing differ-

ent colours. “The Maharashtrians inSindh have forgotten their traditional rit-uals like Shakar Puda (distribution ofsugar on engagement), Kelvan (familyfeast) and Pithi (mixture of turmeric, san-dalwood, scented oil and cream preparedfor bride) among other rituals.”

Living far away from their own cul-ture for several decades in this cosmopol-itan city, many young Maharashtrianscannot even speak their mother tonguenow, which is turning out to be a matterof great concern for their elderly, whothink that their culture might be lostunder the influence of films and dramas.

in cosmopolitan Karachi, tying the knot Marathi style■ local maharashtrians say around 250 marathi families still living in city

BUMPeR To BUMPeR To BUMPeR To BUMPeR

5-hr traffic gridlock... Is Faisal Raza Abidireally worth it?■ Jiyalas welcoming new PPP Karachi president take

citizens to hell and back

KaRaCHI: Ten days after 98 huntingfalcons of a Qatari royal were detainedby Customs authorities, 47 birds ofprey were finally released in the wildon Tuesday as per laws – after theirowner could not turn up with properlegal documentation.

Late Monday night, Pakistan Cus-toms officials had handed over the con-fiscated falcons – albeit only 53 – tothe Sindh Wildlife Department (SWD).

The customs authorities had de-tained 98 falcons but returned 24 birdsto the owner when he provided thelegal documents. Later, 19 birds wentmissing under mysterious circum-stances, leaving only 53 falcons thatwere to be released as per the law.

early Tuesday morning, thewildlife department officials, includ-ing provincial conservator SaeedBaloch and SWD game inspectorMuhammad Mumtaz, took thehunting birds to the Khar Centrein Khirthar National Park torelease them.

Beside falcons, thewildlife officials also re-leased four houbara bus-tards that were confiscatedalong with the falcons.

however, six falcons were not re-leased as the wildlife officers claimedthat these birds were not yet ready tobe released and will be treated beforebeing released later.

Meanwhile, sources in SWD toldPakistan Today that Pakistan Cus-toms had replaced 25 precious fal-

cons of high-qualitybreed with a low

quality species.AMAR GURIRo

Ye falcons, roam

free in Khirthar■ Wildlife department releases 47 hunting birds,

confiscated from a Qatari royal, in national park pHotoS bY ASIM ReHMANI

looking forward to living happily ever after.

pHotoS bY IMRAN AlI


karachi06PakistaN today


Provincial minister adil Siddiqui, mPas anwar alam and imamuddinShahzad, Central district administrator Nazeer lakhani and municipalCommissioner (Central) Kamal mustafa attend a meeting onmuharram arrangements.

district South administrator muhammad raeesi chairs a meeting ofauthorities and ulema about muharram preparations. mPas tahirQureshi, Shoaib ibrahim and municipal Commissioner Nauman arshadare also present on the occasion.

Clifton Cantonment board (CbC) staff sprays insecticide in the markets of defence and CbC as part of an anti-dengue drive.

mNa waseem ahmed and malir district administrator farid magsispeak at a meeting about muharram arrangements. Chacha waheedof the muttahida Ulema Committee, other office-bearers, and Sunniand Shia religious leaders are also present on the occasion.

KARACHIRAZZAK AbRo

PReDICTING that the PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP)-led gov-ernment is headed towards itsend, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) chief

Pir Pagara said on Tuesday that heforesees the army stepping for-ward to play its role in na-

tional politics.“The govern-

ment isg o i n g

[to-

wards its end], and the time for abrigadier has come. There will be goodnews in the month of November,” he saidwhile talking to the media at a luncheonhosted at his residence Kingri house onoccasion of his 83rd birthday.

however, he did not celebrate hisbirthday this year “because of the situa-

tion prevailing in the country”.When he was reminded that Presi-

dent Asif Ali Zardari is famous forbeing an expert of the politics of “jortor” [wheeling and dealing], he saidthat “now it is the time for tor only”.

It is pertinent to mention thatPagara’s party, the PML-F, is one of

the allies of the Asif Zardari-led PPP inthe Centre as well as Sindh.

Pagara is preparing for a 10-day restat a hospital, which he terms as “nursing

land”. he said that any change in thepolitical situation of the country dur-ing these 10 days will depend on theSupreme Court’s verdicts on politi-cally important cases it has taken up.

“Ask the Supreme Court whatchanges can take place in the sit-

uation or the law by the time I re-turn,” he said.

he was of the view that the SupremeCourt is working according to the prevail-ing scenario. “The army could come for-ward if needed,” he added.

Pagara also criticised the judiciary,questioning that “where was the SupremeCourt during Nawaz Sharif and GhulamMohammad’s regime”.

On Monday, Pagara’s son Pir Sadrud-din Shah Rashdi met with Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz chief Nawaz Sharif inLahore. Shah told journalists that he haddelivered Pagara’s message to Sharif.

Pagara did not talk about that meetingand said that his son should be askedabout it. however, he said that “Nawaz isneither his enemy, nor does he have anydispute with him over a girlfriend”.

he said that he and Sharif are notholding any office presently, but “Nawazcan come (back) in the office again”.

Responding to a question regardingpossibilities of unification of MuslimLeague factions, he said that the author-ities who had divided the Leagues would

unite it as well.On the future of PPP chief Bilawal

Bhutto Zardari, he said he had earlier pre-dicted that those who will accompany him[Bilawal] will live in the country, and theremaining will have to leave.

To a question about Dr ZulfiqarMirza’s mission against the MuttahidaQaumi Movement, he said that the formerhome minister has more chances of suc-cess in the tussle “because many peopleare supporting Mirza and he himself [Pa-gara] has also prayed for him”.

Speaking about former foreign min-ister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, he saidthat his future is bright “if he holdsfirm”. I have also prayed for him[Qureshi],” he added.

Talking about Imran Khan, he saidthat he is a good bowler and “will con-tinue his bombardment, but the benefi-ciaries will be others”.

About future of former militaryruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf,he said that he has already advised peo-ple asking him about Musharraf to“read the history of Genghis Khan”.

Pagara sees curtains for government■ Says he foresees army stepping forward to play role in national politics ■ good news in the month of November

KARACHIStAff RepoRt

The provincial government finallygave the go ahead on Tuesday tocommissioners and deputy commis-sioners of their respective districts –excluding Karachi – to utilise the dis-trict development funds.

Financial accounts of the dis-trict governments were frozensoon after the restoration of com-missionerate system in theprovince on November 6.

The decision to authorise the newadministration for utilisation offunds was taken at a meeting on theimplementation of the District-BasedDevelopment Portfolio 2011-12 heldat the Chief Minister’s house lateMonday night.

At the meeting, it was also de-cided that the issue of funds inKarachi would be resolved after con-

sultations with the Muttahida QaumiMovement leadership.

According to an official handout,Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shahpresided over the meeting.

he said that after the restorationof commissionerate system in theprovince, the funds under develop-ment heads were withheld until thematter pertaining to limits of fundswas fixed. “[But now] immediate ac-tion is necessary to be taken for pro-vision of funds for developmentschemes.”

Stressing on the officers to de-vote their energies and completemaximum developmental works, thechief minister was of the view thatthe present system was evolved be-cause the previous [local govern-ments] system could not deliver.“There was no relief for the commonman under the previous local bodies’system.”

Shah said that funds allocated fordistricts in the Annual DevelopmentProgramme of the current fiscal yearshall be released for initiating devel-opment works.

It was decided at the meetingthat the deputy commissioners oftheir respective districts will bethe project directors/administra-tors and supervise and completethe developmental schemes as perthe new policy.

The divisional commissionerswill head the respective DivisionalDevelopment Boards and monitorthe development works in the dis-tricts under their control.

The limit of development fundsfor commissioners was fixed at Rs 40million while that for the deputycommissioners was limited to Rs 20million under ‘Account One’.

The Sindh Planning and Devel-opment Department will oversee and

monitor the schemes to be completedby commissioners in their respectivedivisions.

It was also decided that the is-sues of Karachi Metropolitan Cor-poration and Karachi DevelopmentAuthority will be discussed in aseparate meeting that will be con-vened soon. The chief minister willhold separate meetings with allother departments.

Shah also directed that in caseany scheme approved earlier is tobe revised, it must be done afterhis approval.

The meeting was also attendedamong others by Sindh Chief Sec-retary Raja Muhammad Abbas,Karachi Commissioner, andprovincial secretaries of GeneralAdministration, Services, Finance,Works and Services, Planning andDevelopment, Local Governmentand Law departments.

‘Let there be uplift/spending’■ Sindh government authorises commissioners, deputy commissioners to utilise district

development funds that were frozen after expiry of local government ordinance

auThoRiTies aT woRk

KARACHIStAff RepoRt

Five people, including theleader of a religious party, werekilled in various areas of the onTuesday.

Unidentified peoplesprayed Qari Zafar with bulletsin North Nazimabad and es-caped. Zafar was the leader of areligious party.

A watchman, KhayalKhan, was killed by unidenti-fied people at Khyber Chowkin Ittehad Town.

A woman, Fatima, wasmurdered by allegedly by herbrother-in-law in MadinaBasti along the Superhighwayin the jurisdiction of Sachalpolice station.

Police found the body of awatchman, Muqabil Khan, in abungalow located in the juris-diction of the Shahrah-e-NoorJehan police station.

In Mominabad, unidenti-fied motorcyclists killed a man,Shair Afzal, and escaped.

Leader of religiousparty among five killed

Go Go Power Rangers!KARACHI

StAff RepoRt

The Sindh government has extended the special powers given to PakistanRangers earlier for another three months.A notification has been issued by the home department, according to whichthe special powers granted to Rangers include the authority to carry outraids as well as to detain and interrogate suspects.

‘TTP man’ arrestedKARACHI

StAff RepoRt

A militant belonging to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been ar-rested and weapons were recovered from his possession, police said onTuesday. As per details, the police along with Crime Investigation Depart-ment personnel conducted a raid at a house in Paposh Nagar and arrestedAsifullah. The police said that a TT pistol and a suicide jacket were recov-ered from his possession. According to the law enforcers, the arrested manis affiliated with the TTP and has confessed to his involvement in bombblasts in different parts of the city. During interrogation, he disclosed that he was planning to attack a Muhar-ram procession and around 12 more people are also involved in this plan.

Canadian envoycalls on QaimKaRaCHI: Canadian high Commis-sioner Ross hynes called on Sindh ChiefMinister Qaim Ali Shah at the Chief Min-ister’s house on Tuesday. Welcoming thenewly-appointed envoy, the chief ministerbriefed him about various issues regardingsocio-economic, cultural, literacy andhealth conditions in the province, accord-ing to an official handout. “Sindh hasmany opportunities of investment, espe-cially the wind power sector along itscoastal belt,” he said, while sharing the de-tails of Thar coal energy generation proj-ect and the agriculture sector. TheCanadian delegate appreciated the revivalof economic activities with controlled se-curity situation in Karachi. Canadiandiplomats Andrew NG, honorary ConsulGeneral Behram Avari and Secretary toChief Minister Alamuddin Bullo also at-tended the meeting. INdONeSIaN dIPlOMaT MeeTSKHUHRO: Indonesian Consul GeneralRossalis Rusman Adenan called on SindhAssembly Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro athis office on Tuesday and exchanged viewson issues of mutual interest. Terming theexploration of solar, wind and hydropowersectors need of the hour, Khuhro said thatSindh is full of natural resources and thegovernment has taken serious steps to fa-cilitate foreign investors in the country.Showing interest in investment in Sindh,the Indonesian envoy said that trade rela-tions between Pakistan and Indonesiawould be increased. StAff RepoRt


karachi 07PakistaN today


KARACHIAAMeR DHAMANI

Aconscious act thatkeeps the soul aliveand provides a thoughtfor new visions is art toAqeel Solangi. For

him, art is expression and experi-ence – whether it is dance, litera-ture, painting or singing. “Art isthe mirror of a society and it is notremoved from life. It is essentialbecause without art, life is dull,colourless, thoughtless, visionlessand senseless,” said Solangi in aninterview with me.

his definition of an “artist” isa person who creates or gives formto their ideas. Quoting Austrian-born english art historian Sirernst hans Josef Gombrich andSpanish-born American painteresteban Vicente Pérez from ‘TheStory of Art’ and ‘School Arts, Vol60, No 2’, respectively, Solangisaid, “There really is no such thingas art. There are only artists. Theterms ‘art’ and ‘artist’ are confus-ing. One can learn to be a painter,but to be an artist is predestined.”

Solangi interprets situationshis way and creates visuals that re-sult in a conscious effort. “I thinkit’s fascinating to be able to createsomething out of nothing, out ofblank surfaces or canvases. It’samazing to produce works thatyou enjoy and that people delightin and appreciate,” he said.

After studying art and travel-ling abroad, he feels that to be anartist is a great thing. For him, it isa heroic task. he is trained as acinema board painter. he joinedMehboob Painters in KhairpurMir’s as an apprentice around1996-97 at the age of 15-16. he re-ceived his Bachelor of Fine Artswith honours in 2003 and Masterof Arts with honours in VisualArts in 2005 from Lahore’s Na-tional College of Arts (NCA).

Becoming an artist was not animpulsive decision for him,though. “A series of activities ledme from doodling with charcoalon the walls of my village in mychildhood to my apprenticeshipwith Ustad Mehboob for sign andcinema board painting for fouryears to joining senior artist Mus-

sarat Mirza’s studio in Sukkur toenrolling at the NCA for pursuingfurther studies,” he said.

When Ustad Mehboobthought that Solangi should bepromoted from sign board writingto tasveer (human figures andother objects) making, he taughthim to paint sadabahar (the peri-winkle flower) as a starting point.“I still have that watercolour work.even today, when I paint sadaba-har in any of my works, that firstlesson and first painting remindsme of the joy I had felt that day,”he said.

Among different sources of in-spiration for him, nature, dailylife, literature, poetry, indigenousarts, traditional rituals, and east-ern classical and folk music arepredominant. Depending on thenature and size of the work, heuses oils, acrylics, egg tempera,gum tempera and mixed media oncanvas, board, gesso panels and avariety of papers, incorporatingdifferent techniques like print-making, carving, scratching andembossing. The recurring symbolsin his artwork are kashkol (beg-gar’s bowl), wave, cactus, apples,clouds, seeds, pipes, empty shells,empty vessels, and peeling paintfrom decaying walls.

When asked what role travel-ling plays in producing art, hesaid, “It’s not necessary for one totravel around the globe. Travel-ling within one’s own self is moreimportant. A journey within leadsto self-discovery.” Quoting au-thor/art critic Dr Akbar Naqvi, hesaid, “hijrat (journey) is very im-portant to develop any work ofart, whether it’s physical or intel-lectual.” Solangi added, “Manyartists I know transform theirworking environment to developtheir work. They travel to differ-ent places, read literature and lis-ten to different kinds of music. Allof that works.”

Talking about his process ofcreating an artwork, Solangi saidhe normally produces a series ofdrawings or preliminary sketchesto get familiar with the subject be-fore executing the final work. “Idon’t become rigid while workingfrom sketches because the finalproduct could be entirely different

from the sketch or planned work.I allow changes. Appearance, dis-appearance and reappearance ofimages on the surface is my actualprocess of creating art,” he said.

While he believes inspirationserves as the basis, he is more in-terested in the process of creatingart. For him, the most enjoyablething about producing art is towitness your thoughts turn intosomething real in front of youreyes. “Creating art has no desti-nation because it’s a constantjourney towards the unknown,”he said. It is like an addiction tohim. he devotes restless nightsand valuable moments of his lifeto it. “Sometimes, work becomesmore important than everythingelse,” he added.

Solangi produces art for him-self. “If my work is created forsomeone else, then it’s nothingmore than labour,” he said. Whenasked if his or others’ artworkshelp him to learn something abouthimself, he said, “Looking at, ex-periencing, creating and collectingart is learning. Images, whethermine or others’, contain messages,codes and symbols that alwayslead me in some direction.”

Talking about the best com-ment he received from someoneon his work, he said, “Art criticAasim Akhtar wrote in the com-ment book of my show titled ‘TheRoot, The Ground & The Air’ heldat the KOeL gallery in 2010,‘having been a witness to yourdevelopment as an artist par ex-cellence, what more can I say than

that you’ve come a long way. Con-gratulations!’”

When asked about people’sunderstanding of artworks,Solangi said, “I think images, un-like words, don’t need to be deci-phered. While words need to betranslated to be understood by adifferent community or region,one can understand and appreci-ate images without being familiarwith the artist, community, re-gion or time.”

he said art is like meditation.It gives him personal satisfactionand that means more than any-thing else to him. he said, “My fa-ther always had faith in me,without worrying what the futureheld for me. When I graduatedfrom the NCA, his first responsewas, ‘Beta, ab tou tum bohat baRidukaan kholo gay na? (Son, nowyou would open a very big shop,won’t you?)’ he thought I wouldcontinue with sign and cinemaboard painting. Moreover, Mus-sarat Mirza’s support and encour-agement kept my passion alive andresulted in the successful comple-tion of my studies at the NCA.”

he teaches painting at NCA’sRawalpindi campus. In theevening, he conducts drawingand painting classes at his studioat harley Street, Rawalpindi.After that, he works on his ownart pieces. he is not the onlyartist in the family, though. hissister Fauzia is currently studyingat Jamshoro’s Centre of excel-lence in Art & Design, whereashis mother used to sew rallis

(quilts) and his sisters take afterher in that regard.

Constructive criticism has al-ways played a strong role inSolangi’s work. he said, “Criticismprovides a sense of direction, espe-cially in contemporary art, whichis why I find it very important. Itdoesn’t matter what sort of criti-cism you are receiving. What reallymatters is where it leads you. Crit-icism is a critic’s point of view.Agreeing and disagreeing is a dif-ferent matter. I respect critics’opinions of my work and takethem positively.”

he believes politics and cur-rent affairs affect artists’ sensibili-ties. he said, “Some artistsaddress political issues in their artpractice, but I take inspirationfrom every source connected withlife. My work titled ‘expectedDarkness 09-09-08’ was based onthe day Asif Ali Zardari took oathas the President of Pakistan – Sep-tember, 9 2008 – and most of thenation was expecting darkness.‘Visible emptiness’ (2009) wasbased on the circumstances Pak-istan was facing during the timewhen the government was beggingfor help from the Friends of Dem-ocratic Pakistan. The artwork wasthe result of the visible emptinessin the finances of the country. Ialso produced ‘Kashkol I’ and‘Kashkol II’ during that time.”

Among his artworks, hisfavourite are ‘Visible emptiness’(2009), ‘Kashkol’ (2009) and ‘De-parture’ (2011). his favourite art-works by other artists includehenri Julien Félix Rousseau’s ‘TheSleeping Gypsy’, euan ernestRichard Uglow’s ‘Pyramid’, eu-gène henri Paul Gauguin’s ‘Never-more’ and Édouard Manet’s‘Olympia’. his favourite deceasedartists comprise Zahoorul Akhlaq,Giorgio de Chirico and MarkRothko, whereas among the living,he admires David hockney, AnishKapoor, Richard Long, ThomasNewbolt, Jamil Naqsh, MussaratMirza, Naiza h Khan and RMNaeem. When asked who he wouldchoose if he could receive trainingfrom a deceased artist, he said, “Ithink the Renaissance is the time Iwould prefer and I wish I could re-ceive training from Leonardo da

Vinci.”While Solangi believes the

government should fund artschools, he said, “We should notrely on the government entirely.Art schools can formulate policiesand put together programmes forfunding themselves.” When askedif art could be taught to anyone, hesaid, “There are different opinionson this. According to the tradi-tional system – the apprenticeshipor ustadi-shagirdi system – skillscan be taught and polished by theustad. On the other hand, accord-ing to the academic system, self-expression counts. And there isalso a category of self-taughtartists. So, there’s no question ofright or wrong here. This is an ex-ample of what can be called as ‘di-versity of art’.”

Talking about the importanceof the profession of art, he said,“every society is known for its cre-ative people. Art brings the spiritto life. It’s very difficult to definethe purpose of art due to variedapproaches in the creation of artand the artists’ portrayal of politi-cal, social, spiritual and personalthemes in their works. Art doesnot belong to a single purpose.” hebelieves it is not difficult to be anartist in the present era. he said,“We are surrounded by images.We see them everywhere – espe-cially in the media. Art is no moreonly for religious discourses ordictation, or for kings or the elite.Now artists create images forthemselves and use art for self-ex-pression.”

When asked if everyone couldunderstand or appreciate art, hesaid, “It depends on the works pre-sented as ‘art’. While much of con-temporary art is direct and easierto understand, some indirect orabstract works need artists to elu-cidate them.” Solangi believes artshould have nothing to do withmaking money. he said, “Art is thecontinuation of human beings’most primeval activity. The rockcarvings and other ancient draw-ings were created for ordinarypeople. This activity has been apart of life for centuries and willcontinue to be so.”

Pictures provided by Aqeel Solangi

■ Artist Aqeel Solangi believes inspiration serves as the basis,

but he is more interested in the process of creating art

‘Appearance, disappearance and

reappearance’

the most enjoyable thing about pro-ducing art is to witness your

thoughts turn into somethingreal in front of your eyes. Cre-

ating art has no destinationbecause it’s a constantjourney towards the un-

known. it is like an addictionto me. i devote restless

nights and valuable mo-ments of my life to it.

Sometimes, workbecomes moreimportant thaneverything else.


karachiPakistaN today

weather UPdateS

low

32°CClear skieshigh

19°C 23%humidity

thUrSday friday SatUrday31°C i 20°C 30°C i 18°C 29°C i 18°C

Prayer timiNgS

Starting time in Karachi

fajr Sunrise Zuhr asr maghrib isha

5:34 6:53 12:19 3:22 5:43 7:03

City direCtory

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

emergeNCy helP

hoSPitalS

abbaSi Shaheed 99260400-09

Civil 99215749, 99215960

JiNNah 99201300-39

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tabba 36811841-50

blood baNK

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Pwa 99215740, 32735214

ComPlaiNt

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CdgK 134

SUi gaS 1199, 99231603

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iNQUiry 117, 99213565-6

City StatioN 99213538

CaNtt StatioN 99201118

airPort

flight iNQUiry 114

Pia reServatioN 111786786

CollegeS / UNiverSitieS

KaraChi UNiverSity 99261300-06

Ned UNiverSity 99261261-8

fUUaSt 99244141-9

dUhS 99215754-7

SmiC 99217501-3

faSt-NU 111128128, 34100541-7

SZabiSt 111922478

iobm 35090961-7

iba 111422422

ivS 35861039-40

KARACHIAMAR GURIRo

AROUND 70 percent ofprimary teachers inSindh teach theirclasses for merely 15out of the 35 minutes

assigned to each subject daily.Only 20 percent of them teach formore than 20 minutes while the re-maining 10 percent offer even lessthan five minutes of time in theirclassrooms.

These were the findings of abaseline study piloted by Aga KhanUniversity’s Institute for educa-tional Development (AKU-IeD)under the Strengthening Teachereducation in Pakistan (STeP) proj-ect and shared at a seminar at-tended by educationists, executivedistrict officers and other govern-ment officials.

Provincial education and Liter-acy Department Muhammad Shariqwas the chief guest on the occasion.

According to an AKU press re-lease issued on Tuesday, the studycovered 196 schools and over 6,000students from classes IV and Vacross several districts of Sindh. Itgathered information on studentpopulations and prevailing teach-ing, learning and managementpractices in these schools, as wellas data on student learningachievements in four core subjectareas i.e. mathematics, science,english and social studies.

Unsurprisingly, students wereshown to be performing poorlywith just 17 percent obtaining passmarks in tests. Girls performed rel-atively better in all subject areas ascompared to boys even though theywere not encouraged or providedequal opportunity to participate inthe classroom.

Only 56 percent of the enrolledstudents attended classes regu-larly, with the remainder either at-tending school intermittently or

remaining absent.head teachers play a very im-

portant role in improving the qualityof education in schools, but the sur-vey results indicate that the currentlevels of leadership and manage-ment skills of those in the schoolssurveyed are either “unsatisfactoryor very basic at best”.

This suggests that head teachersneed more support from local schooleducation managers to take on aschool management role. “We are allconcerned about the many childrenwho are out of school, but we seemto be the least concerned about themany girls and boys who are out ofan education despite being inschool,” said STeP Project Coordi-nator Dr Takbir Ali while addressingthe participants of the seminar.

The analysis of the survey datahas yielded a number of importantfindings which have significant pol-icy implications on how to improvethe quality of education.

The study has recommended en-hancing teachers’ morale, involvingthe community at various levels andimproving head teachers’ capacity toperform. It has also recommendedestablishing a province-based exam-ination regulatory authority for pri-

mary and elementary schools to en-sure standardised exams and peri-odic testing, focusing on qualityacross schools and districts.

“We are very pleased that theSTeP project is addressing theneeds of teacher education in se-lect districts of Sindh and laterBalochistan which will help otherdistricts learn from best prac-tices,” said AKU-IeD Director DrMuhammad Memon.

15-minutes classes won’tdo any good to Sindh’s kids

ARt MoMeNtS

Art Moments: An evening of Con-versation featuring Marjorie husain’on November 24 at The 2nd Floor.Call 35389033 for more information.

TÊTE-À-TÊTEON NOVEMBER 24 AT 7:00 PMVENUE: T2F 2.0


JeAN ClAUDe NoVARo

Jean Claude Novaro’s glass sculpturesexhibition is running from November 25to December 2 at the Unicorn Gallery.Call 35831220 for more information.

ART EXHIBITIONSTARTS NOVEMBER 25 AT 5:00 PMVENUE: UNICORN GALLERY

KIDS’ fIlM feStIVAl

‘Karachi International Children’s Film Fes-tival’ is running from November 23 to 25at the Rangoonwala Community Centre.Call 0303-2311169 for more information.

CHILDREN’S EVENTSTARTS NOVEMBER 23 AT 6:30 PMVENUE: RANGOONWALA CENTRE

■ most primary teachers of the province

teach their classes for merely 15 out of

35 minutes assigned to each subject

■ only 20 percent teach for more than

20 minutes while the remaining 10 percent

offer even less than five minutes

KARACHIStAff RepoRt

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim AliShah directed on Tuesday that allprecautionary measures should beadopted for maintaining law and

order across the province duringMuharram.

“Proper security should bearranged for imambargahs,Muharram processions and otherplaces of religious gatherings toavoid any untoward incident,” he

instructed while presiding over ameeting at the Chief Minister’shouse.

The meeting was attended byhome Minister Manzoor Wasan,Chief Secretary Raja MuhammadAbbas, Inspector General of Po-

lice Mushtaq Shah, Law SecretarySyed Ghulam Nabi Shah, Advo-cate General Fatah Malik andPrincipal Secretary to the ChiefMinister Alamuddin Bullo.

The chief minister further di-rected that the law enforcementagencies should monitor the ac-tivities of suspicious people andincrease patrolling.

Wassan and the provincia lpol ice chief informed the par-t ic ipants of the meet ing thatfoolproof securi ty arrange-ments have been arranged forMuharram.

CM orders strict security for Muharram



News

LONDONMAJID KHAttAK

BRITISh Muslims feel a greater sense ofnational pride than an average UK citi-zen, according to the results of a newpoll. While 79 percent of the Britons saidthey agreed with the statement “I am

proud to be a British citizen”, the figure rose to 83percent among Muslims. The poll of 2,000 people,conducted by the United Kingdom-based think tankDemos, was designed to find what symbolises thebest of Britain.

The Muslim Britons were also found to be sig-nificantly more optimistic than the rest, with just

31 percent agreeing with the notion that Britain’sbest days are in the past compared to an average of45 percent. The poll suggests that Muslims aremore able to appreciate the political freedoms thanother Britons, as they can trace their family roots tofar more oppressive and non-democratic regimes.The results of the survey shatter the myth that Mus-lims are not patriotic.

British-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan, one of themost prominent flag wavers among the nation’sMuslim population, often speaks in interviewsabout his sense of national pride.

The report found, “This optimism in BritishMuslims is significant as - combined with their highscore for pride in being British - it runs counter to

a prevailing narrative about Muslim dissatisfactionwith, and in the UK.”

Around half of the people questioned for thesurvey said they believed Britain benefited frombeing a multicultural country. The survey also dis-covered that courteous and generous behaviour in-spired patriotism more than institutions such as themonarchy or the BBC.

British Women were found to be significantlymore optimistic about the country’s future thanmen, while young Britons were found to be only 10percent less patriotic than those aged over 65. Twothirds of the respondents said they had volunteeredat least once during the past year and the act is thebiggest single indicator of national pride.

peSHAWAR: female students presenting tableau at the Annual Schools Competition on tuesday. STAFF PHoTo

Police dismantlehuman traffickingring, 17 arrested

BELGRADEAfp

Serbian police said on Tuesday that theyhave arrested 17 people and dismantled ahuman trafficking ring suspected of or-ganising the transfer of hundreds of clan-destine immigrants to the europeanUnion countries. The migrants fromAfghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Tunisiaand Sudan were smuggled between Julyand November, the Serbian Interior Min-istry said in a statement. The suspectstook the migrants in groups of between 18and 50 people from northern Serbia overthe border to neighbouring hungary, itadded. The 17 suspects will remain in cus-tody, pending a judicial investigation.Serbia lies on a Balkans route often usedby criminals to smuggle people, drugsand weapons into the european Union.

g Survey finds british muslims are more optimistic and able to appreciate political freedoms

‘British Muslims more proud of nationality than other UK citizens’

ISLAMABAD IRfAN bUKHARI

The government’s sincerity to its claimsof upholding the supremacy of parlia-ment is exposed from the fact that it hasfailed to implement reports of two spe-cial parliamentary committees regard-ing lease of Pakistan Railways land inLahore and massive financial fraud inNational Assembly employees Cooper-ative housing Society (NAeChS) de-spite the passage of more than a yearand nine months, respectively.

PILDAT, a non-governmental or-ganisation, in its recently released Citi-zens Reports on 3-year analysis of theperformance of the National Assemblyand Senate of Pakistan at one pointsays: “During these three years, SpecialCommittee on Railways chaired byNadeem Afzal Gondal presented a boldand landmark investigative reportabout the alleged irregularities in theaward of lease of a Railway Golf Clubland in Lahore during General Mushar-raf’s time. house and Library Commit-tee also did a good job whileinvestigating alleged irregularities in anemployees housing Scheme.” PILDATdid not say a word about government’sapathy towards these investigative re-ports and failure in implementing“bold” and “landmark” reports.

The report on Pakistan Railwaysland lease scam was tabled in the housein October 2010, but until today, the re-port has not been brought in the Lower

house even for opening a debate on thescandal worth billions of rupees.Though the special parliamentary com-mittee was constituted by NA SpeakerDr Fehmida Mirza herself in April 2008to probe into the lease of Pakistan Rail-ways land to a private consortium fordeveloping a world standard golf club inLahore at throwaway price, the NationalAssembly Secretariat is reluctant totable its report in the house for debate.

The Special Parliamentary Commit-tee on Railways, after a laborious task ofaround 28 months, submitted its reportto the NA Secretariat in the first week ofOctober 2010, recommending the ter-mination of a contract pertaining to theallotment of the land to Royal Palm Golfand Country Club. A source in the Na-tional Assembly told Pakistan Todaythat PML-Q MNA Sheikh Waqas Akram,who was also part of the 20-memberparliamentary committee, submittedtwo applications with the NA Secretariatunder Rule 237 of the Rules of Businessof the National Assembly for initiating adebate on the committee’s report in thehouse, but his request was turneddown. The committee chairman alsosubmitted an application in this regardin October 2010.

The source said the requests wererejected on the direction of a top gov-ernment functionary who had close tieswith the lessee’s family, currently run-ning the Royal Palm Golf & CountryClub. When contacted, Sheikh WaqasAkram confirmed that he had submitted

two separate applications in the 26thand 27th sessions, seeking a debate andvoting on the parliamentary commit-tee’s report, “but my applications werenot entertained”.

The report had further recom-mended that action be initiated againstformer railway minister Lt-Gen (r)Javed Ashraf Qazi, former railway sec-retaries, chairmen and PR general man-ager, including Lt-Gen (r) SaeeduzZafar, Khurshid Alam Khan and MajGen (r) hamid hassan Butt.

Similarly, officials of National As-sembly Secretariat allegedly involved indepriving employees of the National As-sembly of their hard-earned money inthe name of a housing society have notbeen held accountable despite thehouse recommended punitive actionagainst them. In February this year, theNational Assembly through a unani-mous vote endorsed a report of a parlia-mentary committee on house andLibrary that recommended strict disci-plinary actions against the people whowere found involved in robbing employ-ees of the National Assembly in thename of a housing society.

Meanwhile, PILDAT in its reporthas raised questions over delay in pass-ing new accountability bill saying thatthe public representatives in the parlia-ment had failed to institute an effectiveaccountability mechanism in the coun-try. A bill originally titled ‘holders ofPublic Office (Accountability) Bill,2009’ is before the National Assembly

since April 15, 2009. “Weak oversight ofthe parliament on crucial areas such asnational security and foreign policy re-mains another area of concern,” the re-port said.

Analysis of the 3rd year of the Na-tional Assembly’s performance by PIL-DAT shows that in almost every sectorof the legislative activity, the NationalAssembly witnessed a decrease in per-formance compared to that of the previ-ous year. “A comparison of thelegislative performance of the NationalAssembly with the Indian Lok Sabha forthe calendar year 2010-2011 reveals thatthe Lok Sabha passed 60% more billsthan the National Assembly of Pakistanduring the same period,” it added.

Apparently, the decrease in per-formance can be attributed to growingpolitical bickering between the treasuryand opposition benches, as well asamong ruling coalition partners.

Though PILDAT appreciated theperformance of the Public AccountsCommittee, it said the parliamentarywatchdog had not met for the last fiftydays, apparently due to indecisivenessof committee’s chairman over issue oftendering resignation from the chair-manship of the body.

“The Public Accounts Committee’sperformance is also worth highlightingas the PAC held an average of 34 meet-ings per year during the past three yearsand it has cleared a backlog of audit re-ports for the past 9 years,” the PILDATreport said.

Whither supremacy of parliament?

aNP holding polls todayPESHAWAR

StAff RepoRt

The Awami National Party (ANP) is holding itsprovincial election today (Wednesday), and theparty’s current provincial president, SenatorAfrasiab Khattak, is strongly contesting for a re-election. A total of 540 members of the Provincialexecutive Council, including members of nationaland provincial assemblies and party’s office bear-ers will cast their vote to elect their party’s provin-cial chief. The poll is part of a delayed electionprocess to overhaul the party’s leadership at alllevels, as the ANP had set October 15 as deadline tocomplete the process after a six-month extensiongranted by its Central executive Committee. Theprevious deadline was in March this year. ANPProvincial Information Secretary Arbab Tahir saidthe party had re-nominated both Asfandyar WaliKhan and Afrasiab Khattak for the offices of cen-tral and provincial presidents. he said the party’sgeneral secretary would be decided on the eve ofANP’s electoral meeting. he added that majority ofcentral and provincial office-bearers, including thecentral president had been re-nominated, but theywould have to go through the electoral process.

Chilean air force

commander-in-chief

visits air headquarters


Chilean Air Force Commander-in-ChiefGeneral Jorge Rojas Avila visited the Airheadquarters, Islamabad on Tuesday. On his arrival at the Air headquarters,Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Sulemanreceived the distinguished guest. “A smartly turned out contingent of Pak-istan Air Force (PAF) presented theGuard of honour. After reviewing theGuard of honour, he was introduced tothe principal staff officers of the PakistanAir Force,” said a PAF statement. The visiting guest paid homage to themartyrs of PAF by laying floral wreath onthe Martyrs’ Monument at the Air head-quarters. he also called on the air chiefmarshal in his office. Both remained to-gether for some time and discussed mat-ters of professional interest. The delegation attended a briefing at theAir headquarters on the organization,role and functioning of Pakistan AirForce. Meanwhile, Australian Chief of De-fence Force (CDF) General David hurleycalled on Joint Chiefs of Staff CommitteeChairman General Khalid ShameemWynne on Tuesday. “Both the leadersdiscussed matters related to mutual coop-eration between the two Armed Forcesand the emerging geo-strategic environ-ment of the region, with a special empha-sis on Afghanistan,” said an Inter-servicesPublic Relations (ISPR) statement.


10 wednesday, 23 November, 2011

News

SWAt/MARDAN: (left) UAe Ambassador essa buksh and Mingora Corps Commander Asif Yaseen Malik praying after unveiling the plaque to inaugurate the Government High School. (Right) locals gather outside a girls school

after a bomb attack on the outskirts of Mardan. onLine/AFP

US removes maps from website showing AJK as part of PakistanWASHINGTON

oNlINe

The US State Department has removed‘inaccurate’ maps of India and Pakistanfrom its website which did not reflectthe correct boundary and geographicallocations.

“We have taken the map (of India)off the website. It did contain some in-accuracies which were associated withthe boundaries of some geographic fea-tures,” State Department spokeswomanVictoria Nuland told reporters at a newsconference on Tuesday.

“My understanding is that it was in-accurate, that it wasn’t drawn properly,”Nuland said. “We will put up the newmap when we acquire one that we areconfident is accurate,” she said in re-sponse to a question but did not answer

questions from where such inaccuratemap came from.

“This was unintentional. We’re goingto get the map fixed and put up a fixedmap,” Nuland said. The State Depart-ment is also pulling out such maps fromother sections of its website, she said,adding that this was unintentional.

The State Department pulled outfrom its website the maps of bothIndia and Pakistan, as they showedAzad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) aspart of Pakistan, which was first re-ported by a major Indian daily, follow-ing which the Indian government hadlodged a strong protest with the StateDepartment. Under its A-Z list ofcountries, the website www.state.govcarries profiles and maps of all coun-tries with which the US has diplomaticrelations.

balochistan to give land

for Pak-iran gas pipeline QUETTA

App

The Government of Balochistan hasagreed to give land for the Iran-PakistanGas Pipeline project. Official sources saidon Tuesday that Federal Petroleum Sec-retary ejaz Chaudhry called on Balochis-tan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani.The chief minister told him about hisgovernment’s decision to allocate land inGwadar and Lasbella districts for layingthe gas pipeline through Balochistan.The pipeline will provide natural gas tothe areas along its route, besides creatingchances to install new gas-run powerplants in the province. Raisani, however,demanded that the contract to lay thepipeline in Balochistan be given to localcontractors in order to boost the localeconomy. he emphasised the need tostrengthen relations with Iran, sayingother regional countries would take ben-efit if Pakistan did not improve its tieswith Iran. During the meeting, the twodecided that the Gwadar Inter-estate GasCompany Limited would register the con-tractors in this regard, while Gwadar In-dustrial area would also be providednatural gas from the gas pipeline.

KABULReUteRS

AFGhANS who have spentyears working for UStroops, diplomats oragencies say their livesare at risk for that service

as soldiers head home, and fear a visaprogramme that promised an escapefor those facing serious threats hasfailed them. The Afghan allies pro-gramme was approved two and halfyears ago for Afghans who haveworked for the US government. Sincethen, of the 2,630 who have so far ap-plied, 48 have been rejected and onehas received an interview.

Not a single visa has been handedout under the programme.

Those still waiting said they havebeen marked as traitors by the Taliban,and fear they will be targeted if theyremain when the last of foreign combattroops leave at the end of 2014.

“My real concern is when thecoalition forces and American troopswithdraw from Afghanistan,” saidMohammad Zaher Moshtaq, em-ployed by the US Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID) for thepast two and a half years. he appliedfor his visa more than seven monthsago and has not heard back.

“I will be worried about my life.That is my concern. If I have not heardanything from this programme I don’tknow what my other option would beafter 2014,” he said.

Interpreters working with theUS military already face grave dan-gers in the line of duty. An Afghaninterpreter died along with threeforeign troops in southernAfghanistan in late October when an

Afghan soldier opened fire on them. Outside work there are further

threats. Assassinations of governmentand foreign military employees, orthose seen as their supporters, are ris-ing. Others receive “night letters”warning them to quit their jobs orthey will be killed.

An interpreter, one of severalAfghans who did not want to be namedfor fear of upsetting their US employerand visa hopes, worked for 7 years forUS troops. An anonymous phone calltwo years ago labelled him a spy andtold him to quit his job based in Kabulor “you will be killed.”

If Americans trusted Afghansenough to work with them in deadlyAfghan environments, they shouldtrust them enough to let them enterthe United States, he said.

“We have helped them night afternight, day after day. Now we wanttheir hand,” he said. “If they don’t helpus, every Afghan will know theyabused us, used us.”

The US embassy in Kabul said it isputting more resources into processingapplications for a scheme that allowsfor 7,500 visas to be issued until 2013,or 1500 per year.

A unit set up in September “hasmade significant progress in reducingthe backlog” for initial stages of appli-cations, said acting assistant chief ofmission Alaina Teplitz.

“The pipeline is full and movingand it wasn’t previously,” she said. “Ithas not been simple, our feeling onthis is we had to get this right,” sheadded, without specifying what prob-lems have held up the programmesince 2009.

The embassy said it has now issued110 initial approval letters — the first

of five steps to getting a full visa, whichrequires checks of factors includingbackground and employment.

But Jamshid Anwari, 26, an inter-preter for the US military since July,2006, said time is running out.

“I can’t trust Afghan national secu-rity forces, I can’t trust the police...Ihave to get out. If I live in Afghanistan,somebody definitely will kill me.”

Anwari first applied two years agoto an older programme that awards upto 50 US visas a year for Afghan inter-preters, except for 2 years where 500were allowed. So far a total of 797 in-terpreter visas have been issued, theUS embassy said.

But when that programme was full,he applied to the Afghan Allies pro-gramme. he received an email tenmonths ago saying the initial missionapproval letter would arrive shortly.

“I am still waiting,” he said. “Itis frustrating.”

Afghans must prove an ongoingthreat and at least one year’s em-ployment by the US government togain a visa.

The first half of this year was thedeadliest for civilians yet in the lastdecade of conflict in Afghanistan,with nearly 1,500 killed, according tothe UN. Some Afghans fear higher fa-talities if the Taliban regains powereither through US-backed peace talksor through force.

Moshtaq, 27, a former senior lo-gistics manager for a USAID agricul-tural project, has spent $1200 on thevisa applications for his family. hewas warned by a Taliban com-mander’s brother in Kapisa to quithis job. “Most of the people knewthat I had a senior position, whichwas a high risk,” he said.

bomb attack

on mardan

girls school

kills policemanPESHAWAR

Afp

A bomb attack on a girls’ school innorthwest Pakistan on Tuesday killeda policeman, wounded eight othersand destroyed a wall, police said.The remote-controlled bomb wasplanted at the outer wall of the gov-ernment-run middle school in theoutskirts of Mardan in the troubledKhyber Pakhtunkhwa province, whichborders Afghanistan.The bomb exploded after police ar-rived to investigate complaints abouta suspicious plastic bag outside theschool, which was closed at the time.“One policeman was killed and eight other people including fivecivilians were wounded,” Zeshanhaider, Mardan police chief, toldAFP by telephone.Three policemen were also woundedbut no pupils were hurt.haider said the target was the school.“The outer wall of the school was alsodestroyed,” he added.The seven injured were rushed toDistrict headquarters hospital, Mar-dan while one critically injured wasshifted to Peshawar. The explosionwas so loud that it was heard in theentire city.early on Tuesday, Taliban militantskilled two anti-Taliban militia menon the outskirts of Peshawar, policesaid.Dilawar Khan, head of the anti-Tal-iban militia, said that Taliban killedhis men and dumped their bodies inMatni, one of the north-western areaswhere villagers have raised militias tofight the militants.

US visa programme for Afghans comes up empty

WASHINGTONoNl INe

Amidst the raging ‘memogate’ con-troversy in the country, the UShopes that Pakistani leaders wil lact in accordance with the coun-try’s constitution.

“We always expect that Pakistan’sleaders will act in accordance withPakistan’s constitution and in a man-ner respectful of its democratic insti-tutions,” State Departmentspokeswoman Victoria Nuland toldreporters at a news conference.

Nuland was responding to ques-

tions about the controversial memowhich according to a Pakistani-Amer-ican businessman, Mansoor Ijaz, wasdrafted by Pakistan’s Ambassador tothe US husain haqqani on behalf ofPresident Asif Ali Zardari.

The memo was delivered to Admi-ral Mike Mullen, the then chairman ofthe Joint Chiefs of Staff, by former USnational security adviser JamesJones.

haqqani has refuted his role inthe drafting or delivery of such amemo, which expresses concern aboutan imminent military coup in Pak-istan in the aftermath of the killing of

Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. haqqani has since tendered his

resignation, which has not been ac-cepted. haqqani is currently in Pak-istan to explain his side of the story tothe top leadership.

Nuland, however, refrained frommaking any comment on this issue.

“Our understanding is that Am-bassador haqqani is home on consul-tation. So I would refer you to thePakistani government with regard tohis consultations and what he isspecifically up to. You know, so be-yond that, I don’t have any specificcomments on this issue,” she said.

Pakistani leaders should act on country’s constitution: us

Pml-Q demands amendment

to local govt ordinance

laHORe: Pakistan Muslim League –Quaid (PML-Q) has submitted a bill inthe Punjab assembly secretariat, with ademand to amend the Punjab LocalGovernment Ordinance 179-A (XIII), onTuesday. The Punjab Assembly mem-bers belonging to PML-Q, MohsinLeghari and Seemal Kamran, demandedthat the Punjab government should givean ultimate date for holding the localbody elections in Punjab. They said thatsince October 27, 2011, there has beenno law pertaining to the local bodies sys-tem in the province as the 12-monthdeadline obtained through an ordinancehas ended.StAff RepoRt


Editor’s mail 11wednesday, 23 November, 2011

Priority to educationeducation is the basic pillar for eco-

nomic growth and poverty reduction.Without education no nation can takeadvantage from technology and can’tcompete with others. education is an es-cape from poverty because educatedpeople are offered better jobs and oppor-tunities. Pakistan is suffering from a lotof problems and the literacy rate is an-other additional and big problem.

South Asia and South east Asia wereat the same level of development in1960s but the only difference was the lit-eracy rate. In South Asia, literacy rateranged between 9 percent to 15 percentwhile it was around 70 percent in Southeast Asia. east Asian developing coun-tries almost reached their goal of educat-ing most of the people of their country.As a result, east Asian countries arewell-beyond the comparable range ofSouth Asian countries. The rapid eco-nomic progress in South Asian countriesin 1980s was totally based on education.

In the education sector, the overallresult is disappointing. Pakistan’s netprimary enrolment rate is well behind itsneighbours in South Asia; net primaryenrolment rate is 65 percent in Pakistan,75 percent in Bangladesh, 77 percent inIndia and close to 100 percent in SriLanka. From Pakistan’s net enrolmentrate it is obvious that if the educationrate in Pakistan does not increase, wewill never get success.

There is shortage of trained andqualified teachers, especially femaleteachers. Teachers mostly have no inter-est in teaching and lack focus towardstheir work. The schools have lack infra-structure problems. These are but justsome of the main problems whichshould be solved first to offer universaleducation to the nation. We must notforget that education is the only way tosuccess.

AREESHA ABUBAKARKarachi

levels of corruptionThe recently reported news of an

Indian former minister of informationtechnology being awarded five yearsimprisonment for bribery of only Rsthree lacs compares favourably with abribery of Rs 99 lacs to a son of a topgun in the form of an expensive car.This shows the tolerance of corruptionin India and Pakistan as in the lattercase we have not heard as yet of any ac-tion whatsoever.

The authorities that be ought tothink deeply of the malady inflictingour dear country when the high andmighty enjoy a free for all impunityagainst any kind of accountability fortheir case of ill-gotten wealth. It is ourfate that billions are gobbled down bythe ruling families of our politiciansthat shake the very foundations of oursociety.

The state of poverty is such that apoor sweeper of DhA requested for a100 rupees to be doled out to him onthe 20th of a month to buy flour for hisfamily as his salary had been spentleaving him penniless. The abjectpoverty is the result of a sea of differ-ence between the incomes of haves andhave-nots and that is the bane of allevils in our society. One of the reasonsfor this is the runaway corruption in thecountry.

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

if politicians were goodNowadays, every politician is play-

ing his cards by discussing a variety ofhot topics, like policy to combat terror-ism, assets of his opponents, rampantcorruption etc. PTI and PM(N) are par-ticularly challenging the assets of oppo-nent party's leaders. In his recentaddress, the President of PML(N), MianNawaz sharif also clarified the allega-tions about his assets.

Theoretically and ideally, politi-cians, civil and military high officials,businessmen and prominent socialworkers must work only for the welfareof this nation. They usually do not haveany personal motives. As they want onlyto serve this country and have no indi-vidual incentives, it is not an awkwardambition that their assets must beknown to every citizen. Besides, everycitizen should also be apprised abouttheir tax payments and bank loans.

If the Federal Board of Revenueputs up the information about thesepersonalities on its site, it would be indirect access to the public, making theoverall system more transparent. Thiswill be helpful not only to curtail the in-creasing corruption but also to tell ushow poor the politicians of this poorcountry are.

MUHAMMAD NADEEMLahore

Peace in SindhI vividly remember those golden

days when peace was a way of life inSindh province. There were no enemieswithin, I mean the enemies of peace,progress and prosperity, as we havenowadays in the province. Indeed, menof character were the rulers. honest,upright and men of integrity were theofficers. Men of ethics and moralitywere the teachers and preachers whoused to preach "be the very best you canbe."

Pious people who lived by the threeRs, – respect for self, respect for othersand responsible for all their actions,were the tribal chieftains and sardars.They used to strive for brotherhood andhappiness and not for bloodshed. Thecriminals were cursed. The illegally liv-ing people who are criminalising theSindhi society with the massive flow ofweapons and other crimes were notmentored by the tribal chieftain, rulersand the topmost bureaucrats as is beingdone nowadays.

I hope against hope that perpetualpeace will come to Sindh, including itscapital city, Karachi, where we have nopeace, only and only if three education,ethics and economics are accorded thetopmost priority.

HASHIM ABROIslamabad

Smoke-emitting vehiclesThe number of smoke emitting ve-

hicles on the roads is increasing day byday but the traffic department seems ig-norant of the problem. In the past, ve-hicles were checked annually for theirfitness and the vehicles not coming tothe standard were not given fitness cer-tificate and they could not run on theroads. It is said that monthlies arebeing paid regularly to the traffic policeby the owners of these vehicles. In re-turn, they can do what they like on theroads.

The smoke emitting vehicles are agreat source of pollution and a greathazard to peoples’ health. The trafficauthorities should look into the matterand try to remedy the situation.

M FARAZ HAIDERKarachi

In the middle of the roadOne of the traffic problems we face on daily basis is people

stopping right in the middle of a crossing and arguing over whoshould get the right of way first. Only the other day, I was goingto Liberty Market when the traffic came to a halt all of a sud-den. Two drivers stood there arguing loudly without caring forthe other people on the road. Most of the people stuck in trafficwere using pressure horns, aggravating the situation overall. It

wasn’t a scene one would like to be in.There is an urgent need to bring to end such unethical and

illegal practices. Only truly progressive societies care for rulesand regulations so that the facilities that are offered for all canbe taken proper advantage of.

KAAINAT FATIMALahore

Politics of rhetoricThe political scenario in Pakistan has

changed. As PPP has spent almost fouryears in governance and political partieshave started keeping their eyes are on thecoming elections, they are busy in ralliesand arranging public meetings to attractpublic’s attention towards their rhetoricalspeeches. The politics of cross-allegationshave started among the political partiesto humiliate or disgrace one another.

Recently, Nawaz Sharif addressed apublic meeting in Dhobi Ghat, Faisalabadand claimed rhetorically to apply oint-ment on the injuries of the nation. hevowed to heal the nation’s sorrows claim-ing that he would root out corruption andbring the corrupt leaders to book. Will hebring himself to book for what he did inthe past? Didn’t he embezzle during hisgovernance?

he levelled allegations on PPP andAsif Ali Zardari. The sitting governmenthas pushed Pakistan to darkness. Cor-ruption, inflation, energy crisis, gas load-shedding, hike in petrol prices and

various other crises have engulfed Pak-istan due to PPP’s wrong policies. Unfor-tunately, we daily listen to variousaccords signed by the sitting govern-ments concerning trade issues, energy is-sues and others but the accordsdisappear from the sight after a shorttime.

Countering Nawaz Sharif’s address,PPP’s Mr Babar Awan immediately calledon a press conference. he claimed NawazSharif’s public meeting in Faisalabad wasthe start of PML(N)’s end. how disgust-ing it is! Perhaps Mr Awan has forgottenhis own tenure when he used to be secre-tary of Zia-ul-haq and made speeches inDhobi Ghaat on behalf of the late gen-eral. Now he speaks against the generalbecause of his position and other inter-ests in PPP.

Rhetorical speeches cannot solve na-tion’s problems. We condemn suchpoliticians who just speak and do nothingfor the nation. Also Mr Babar Awanshould leave politics of the martyred andstart politics of the alive. The PPP gov-ernment always refers to their martyrs

but why they don’t think of the alive whoare losing their lives due to bad gover-nance and policies.

HAFIZ MUHAMMAD NOMANKarachi

incident in PeshawarThe recent horrific incident in Pe-

shawar has made evident the treatmentwhich is being extended to the police de-partment. The mentioned incident in-volves an official’s son unleashing dogson a police constable for damaging hiscar, while he was also probably deputedillegally. This sorry state of police isprevalent throughout the country asthere is no respect for the law and the in-stitutions present to uphold it. As a con-cerned citizen, it is my appeal to therelevant authorities to initiate reformswithin the police, so they can not onlyfunction at their maximum level but alsogain the trust and respect of the citizens.

HASSAN BASHIRIslamabad

Nawaz Sharif and his party are on theattack against the army in the garb oftheir criticism against the undefined es-tablishment. Nawaz Sharif wants the es-tablishment to be neutral in the politicalprocess. But we as a society generally andthe political parties specifically can learna great deal from the army and other mil-itary institutions.

A neutral establishment would meanthat the traditional sources of power andinfluence such as wealth, connections,clan, religious power, sectarian divides,nepotistic advantage can have a free runover the masses and Nawaz Sharif havingamassed his wealth would be free to doas he pleases with the not so well-off.

Our political parties and the societygenerally lack well defined processes forthe upward mobility of new entrants. Aboy from poor area in a kachi basti can

only hope to end up as a worker and asloganeer for the wealthy political candi-date and nothing beyond. On the otherhand, a lower class or a lower middleclass boy can at a young age throughhard work and merit enter the Pakistanarmy, compete with the sons of generalsetc, excel in his chosen field and can oneday hope to command the army.

There is merit, there is a process andthere is an equal and open playing fieldfor everyone in the army. Do we havethat in PML(N)? Imagine hamza Sharifbeing a middle class blue collar worker;what chance or future he would have inany of the existing political parties inPakistan? The answer is none.

On the other hand, hamza Sharifcould hope to enter army and throughhard work and merit hope to climb theranks and end up in command. Albeit he

could have faced court martial on any in-cidence remotely akin to the treatmentmeted out to Ayesha Ahad. But in our po-litical parties he can still become a candi-date for the chief minister. This bringsout the irony in the criticism thatPML(N) throws at the army. Our politicalparties should first adopt merit, fairness,openness and discipline in their midstand learn from the army in this regard.

What powers does one use in thearmy to get ahead? hard work and natu-ral talent. What about the existing politi-cal structure? Money, connections,sifarish, biradari, force, violence, police,patwaris, guddees and more.

Do the political parties and theirleaders follow the law in terms of thecampaign budgets? No. Do you think thatPML(N) hopes to contest the next elec-tions based on merit and reason alone?

No. What PML(N) really wants is thedance floor to itself without any disci-pline enforcing bouncers who can checktheir excesses which are bound to bemany.

So who will protect those who followreason and merit? how do you create anequal playing field? In this respect the es-tablishment does need to, without beingapologetic, adopt the reverse discrimina-tion policies such as:

Free and equal airtime on TV chan-nels for all the candidates including inde-pendents;

State campaign funding for those lessprivileged;

Strict penalties for those using bi-radri, thana, sectarianism or guddeesand the like for political purposes etc.

ADIL SALEEM KHANLahore

equal playing field for all parties

PPP’s Sindh politics continue to sur-prise with unexpected twists and turnsin quick succession. The party has keptanalysts guessing as to its intent vis-à-visthe Zulfiqar Mirza factor. Mirza’s initialoutburst against the MQM and Altafhussain a few months back, and the ac-ceptance of his subsequent resignationfrom ministerial office and from theprovincial assembly, elicited scepticismfrom most quarters with regard to himbeing a rogue element. It was widely be-lieved that he would soon return to theinner sanctums of the party following aquiet period after having done the need-

ful. Only recently, that perception gainedmomentum when PPP’s InformationMinister Sindh Sharjeel Memon wasspotted emerging together with ZulfiqarMirza from the heathrow airport.

Mirza was a man on a mission, whohad travelled to the UK to present ‘highlysensitive evidence’ against the MQM, andperhaps specifically against Altaf hus-sain, to Scotland Yard in the Dr ImranFarooq murder case. Upon the MQM’svociferous demand for an explanation,Memon was summoned back to Pakistanimmediately and a decision taken to “ac-cept his resignation”. This development,

together with the Sindh Assembly’s sansdebate resolution against “such peoplewho have levelled false allegations” with-out naming Mirza, has all but put paid toearlier speculation.

Whether Mirza transgressed his ini-tial mandate or was rogue to begin withis now only a matter of curiosity and amoot point, with party discipline havingkicked in in the shape of Sharjeel Memonand Imdad Pitafi’s fates. It took franticeffort and activity on the part of the PPPto keep Mirza’s name out of the resolu-tion passed by the Sindh Assembly. Itwas not for love of Mirza , but for his fol-

lowing in interior Sindh and his loyalistsin the Sindh assembly who threatenednot to sign any resolution naming him.

The PPP appears torn between thedesire to keep the coalition intact withthe MQM, and the need to keep Mirzaand his interior Sindh voter base onside.Given the fact that Memon and Pitafiwere not the only Mirza loyalists repre-senting Sindhi interests, theirs may notbe the last casualties at the altar of keep-ing at peace with the MQM, and keepingpeace in Karachi.

MALIHA FATIMA SAEEDKarachi

PPP's politics in Sindh

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected]. Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.


comment12wednesday, 23 November, 2011

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302Karachi – Ph: 021-34330811-3 Fax: 021-34330900Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk Email: [email protected]

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

the seeds of discontent were sowed

grim reaping

This albatross was hung around our neck back in 1948when the Kalat problem reared its head in Balochistan.A budding problem that could’ve easily been talked outthen, the solution to it was deemed to be boots on the

ground. The deep state rushed in where angels would’ve fearedto tread and thus began the mishandling of a situation that hasprogressively worsened and worsened over time. The 15 FCpersonnel killed there day before is but one indication of that.

how and why has the situation been allowed to debilitateso? Well, one of the biggest problems is the peculiar nature ofour state: While the writ of the civilian structure of our state hasbeen eroded consistently in the province, the footprint of ourmilitary has expanded and the cantonmentisation of the regionhas increased unabated. People may point that it was a civilianprime minister with the ‘original sin’ of imposing a martial lawthere in the 1970s but they would be ignoring the fact that it hasbeen the successive military regimes that have made a hatchetjob of the issue.

The civilian government announced the Aghaz-e-haqooqBalochistan package which included unprecedented measures toaddress Baloch grievances. The government had its heart in theright place but, unfortunately, not its arms. how could this evenbegin to be effective when accompanied with abductions, targetkillings and torture of activists and journalists with impunity bythe powers that be?

The sad thing is that in the aftermath of the killing of the FCpersonnel, we will choose to recycle the same rehashed elementssurrounding discourse on the subject: foreign involvement,destabilising conspiracies and ‘fringe’ separatists (led by angrytribal sardars) who are taking up arms against the state. Thepolicy makers will continue to see this problem as a ‘security’issue which needs the stamp of more, not less, military might.Who makes this decision is evident from the fact that we areready to talk to the TTP but not to these nationalists. Not quitethe right kind of selectivity.

If we keep conflating genuine Baloch grievances withmilitant separatism, there will come a time when it will becomea self-fulfilling prophecy. It remains to be seen whether oursocio-political context will allow to break free from the currentparadigm and engage the Baloch in a purposeful manner.

tread with caution

a heavy cross

Initial talks between the government and the TTP arereportedly being held with an aim to jumpstart peacenegotiations. Interestingly, the news of talks had not comefrom any official source but from unnamed intelligence

officials and a senior militant commander while the ISPRcategorically denied such reports of talks. Given the public hasnot been kept abreast, one does not know what to make of thesimultaneous announcement of a ‘ceasefire’ by the Taliban onone hand and the ISPR’s denial on the other.

The army is currently fighting the TTP in Khyber, Orakzaiand Kurram Agencies. No day passes without reports of heavycasualties on both sides. Scores of non combatants have fallenvictim in the cross fire. Thousands of displaced persons havetaken shelter in camps set up by the government. The casualtiesamong the security personnel include a number of army officers.It is not uncommon during active hostilities to hold talks withthe opposing side provided the objective is clear, in this case acomplete end to militancy. But one needs to be careful about thehazards. To start with, the TTP is more of an umbrellaorganisation than a monolithic group. With one official TTPspokesman declaring the chapter of peace with governmentclosed and another commander announcing a ceasefire, one hasto wonder whether those claiming to represent the terroristnetwork are in a position to enforce any agreed deal. It is notenough to agree not to launch attacks inside Pakistan. equallyimportant is to respect the government’s pledge not to allowPakistan’s territory to be used against any other country. Willthe terrorists agree not to wage jihad against the US, India orany other country from FATA? Will they agree to expel foreignnationals getting training inside the tribal areas?

Pakistan burnt its fingers by entering into a deal with theTaliban in Swat. Those negotiating peace agreed to allow aparallel judicial system in Malakand Division and the army unitswere withdrawn. The period of peace was used by the Taliban toregroup and refurbish their arsenal. Soon after, their leadershipannounced that Shariat Courts were not enough. They rejectedthe Constitution, rubbished the Parliament and Supreme Courtand announced that they would continue to set fire to schools,destroy bridges and government installations and launchterrorist attacks till a system of their own choice was enforced allover Pakistan with the power of the gun. The deal cost Pakistanheavily and the army had to re-conquer Swat to establish thewrit of the state. Given that the TTP have announced a ceasefire,talking to them makes sense in the situation. But those who areconducting the talks bear a heavy cross.

Traffic problems have turned into a matter of grave concern inPeshawar nowadays. The misery of the travelling masses inreaching their destinations has doubled in the capital city,

mostly because of the traffic thwarts that occur most frequentlynow.

The public while condemning the sufferings at the hands of traf-fic issues in the city has demanded of the government to promptlycome up with tangible steps to deal with the problem at hand. Pub-lic figures have pointed at encroachments as a cause of the trafficproblem and have said that the issue has lingered on because of theillegal bus stands that are present at Bacha Khan Chowk, Faqirabad,Ganj, Dwa Darwazai, and certain other parts of the city.

It has also been revealed that the authorities concerned are shut-ting their eyes to the mushrooming of unlawful terminals for variousvehicles across the city. By greasing the palms of the officials, thoseinvolved in setting up illegal bus stands are allowed to function with-

out an iota of fear from the authorities.Despite complaints being lodged time and again with the provin-

cial government and the district administration of Peshawar, no con-crete action has materialised against these illegal terminals. Due tothe delay of the government, the problems of the people are increas-ing with each passing day. Government employees, businessmenand traders and students attending various educational institutionshave to face the utmost difficulty while travelling and they fail toreach their destinations in time and lose the peace of mind requiredto focus on their work.

It goes without saying that the concerned authorities shouldshow promptness of purpose in doing away with these illegal termi-nals. They should also take stern action against encroachments, thefactor most exacerbating the traffic mess. If timely action is nottaken, the public might come on to the roads to protest the apathyand inefficiency of the government in solving the issues which areannoying people from all walks of life.

-Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur Rauf Khattak

Peshawar’s traffic messDaily Khabroona

Regional press

The civil-military dynamic

harmonious civil-military in-teraction holds the key to po-litical stability in Pakistan.The civilian government hasalways found it difficult to

keep a balance between the imperatives ofdemocratic politics and the need of keep-ing the top brass of the military satisfiedand happy. The civilian government has topursue its political agenda in a mannerthat the generals are not alienated.

The domain of interaction between thecivil and the military can be divided intothree broad categories. First, there are pol-icy areas that are of no interest to the mil-itary. These include the day-to-dayadministrative and civilian managementaffairs that do not impinge on military’sinterest. Second, the shared decision mak-ing on foreign policy and security issues,defence budget and the military’s perksand privileges and related matters. Anyunilateral decision making by the civiliangovernment on these issues causes resent-ment in the military. They are, however,open to dialogue on these issues and ac-commodate the civilians. Third, the mili-tary top brass resist any civilianinterference in their internal service af-fairs, discipline, promotions, posting andtransfers, military intelligence servicesand disbursement of defence budget andtheir economic and business interests.This is a flexible relationship that variesfrom issue to issue and also depends onthe political and societal context of theissue under consideration.

The present civilian government madeamateurish attempt in 2008 to place theISI under the interior ministry. Withinhours, this decision was reversed. In 2009,President Zardari made an offer of no-first

use of nuclear weaponsto India in total disre-gard to the shared civil-ian-military decision ofnot committing on thisissue. Zardari was un-able to follow-up on hisstatement.

The civil-militaryrelations stabilised asthe two sides adoptedaccommodative disposi-tion towards each other.Gradually, the militarytop command and theISI took virtual controlof Pakistan’s foreignpolicy towards India,Afghanistan and theUnited States as well asthe operational side ofcountering terrorism.The military already en-joyed primacy in the nu-clear policy. however,the military neededcivilian leadership be-cause it wanted thecivilian government toown and support its ef-forts to counter terror-ism protect Pakistan’s

interests at the global level.It appears strange that at a time when

the federal government faces a difficult in-ternal political situation and the economyis faltering, it could risk adventurism in itsrelations with the military. The military topbrass took a strong exception to the reportsthat the presidency indirectly sought thesupport of the US military top commandfor dissuading the Pakistan military fromstaging a coup in the immediate aftermathof the killing of Osama bin Laden in theraid by American security personnel in Ab-bottabad on May 2, 2011. What perturbedthe military most were the proposals in thememo for curbing the role of the militaryand regulating its counter terrorism role.

To register their resentment, the armyand the navy chiefs did not attend thepresident’s dinner in honour of the visit-ing President of Turkmenistan (The airforce chief and the Chairman of the JointChiefs of Staff committee were out of thecountry) on November 14. The army chiefheld a meeting with the President on No-vember 15. The army chief met with bothpresident and the prime minister of No-vember 16.

The president and the federal govern-ment are expected to adopt some correc-tive administrative measures. however,the military’s distrust of the civilian fed-eral government, especially the presi-dency, is likely to persist. This will havenegative ramifications for the civiliangovernment and democracy in the longrun. In order to pacify the top brass thecivilian government may have to yieldmore space to the military that will fur-ther reduce the former’s role in foreignpolicy and security domains. There wasno likelihood of military takeover afterthe Abbottabad raid. The raid exposed theweakness of the air force and the armybecause they could not make any militarymove while American helicopters stayedin Pakistan’s airspace for over an hourand the raid was conducted in the vicinityof army installations. The military wasbusy in damage control. At that time themilitary needed the support of the civiliangovernment which was available. Onewonders why some senior civilian leadersdreaded a coup?

It is not clear that the proposals forcontrolling the military and revamping thesecurity and counter-terrorism arrange-ments in the memo were the brainchild ofMansoor Ijaz, known for shrewd manipu-

lation or were partly or totally suggestedby the Pakistani diplomat in question.Though it would be difficult to link theseproposals directly to the president, theepisode is an embarrassment for the Pak-istani government and the president.

Any person who understands the dy-namics of civil-military relations in Pak-istan knows that the present federalgovernment cannot implement any of theoffers projected in the memo to control themilitary.

The military top brass are perturbedbut they are not expected to remove thefederal government because the direct as-sumption of power does not appear to beon their agenda, although they jealouslyguard their professional and corporate in-terests from the sidelines. The direct as-sumption of power exposes them to a lotof opposition within and outside Pakistan.Further, the military is committed tocounter-terrorism that requires civiliansupport rather than overwhelming civilianpolitical order.

The memo issue has got entangled intoPakistan’s highly partisan politics, reduc-ing the prospects of a dispassionate andprofessional investigation of the issue. Thepolitical parties opposed to the PPP areusing this incident as yet another opportu-nity to pull down the government.

The PML(N) pursues contradictorypolicies. On the one hand, it wants toknock out the federal government andPresident Zardari and it is now using thememo issue to accuse the key officials ofhigh treason. On the other hand, it wantsto control the role of generals in politics.how can the military be contained if thepolitical forces are divided and have de-clared war on each other?

No civilian government can assert itsrole over the military through political ad-venturism or by seeking external support.It needs to put its economic and politicalhouse in order to create a credible civilianalternative to military rule that enjoyswidespread popular support.

Civilian primacy cannot be guaranteedwithout changing Pakistan’s internal andexternal security profile, ensuring peace inand around Pakistan, and strengthening ofthe civilian order by political coherence,economic rehabilitation and popular legit-imacy.

The writer is an independent political and defence analyst.

troubled, to say the least

By Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi


comment 13wednesday, 23 November, 2011

A possible way forward?

on iran’s nuclear crisis

“A d i s g r a c e to faith, a disgrace to hu-manity, and a disgrace to the mother-land,” Allama Iqbal had said of Mir

Jafar, who deceived Nawab of Bengal Siraj-ud-Daulah in the Battle of Plassey against RobertClive in 1757. his stronger army surrenderedwithout fighting, Mir Jafar became the Nawab,and the move laid the foundation of British rulein India.

Two centuries later, his name is a key phrasein Pakistan’s political rhetoric. All key politicaland military leaders of Pakistan have been ac-cused of treason, especially those who oppose themilitary establishment. The most recent recipientof the title is hussain haqqani.

haqqani is back in Pakistan with his side of thestory. But Mir Jafar is dead. Does that mean we shouldnot look at the situation he was in? Is loyalty essentiallygood and defection always bad? even in the case ofShah Mahmood Qureshi?

Mir Jafar’s boss Siraj-ud-Daulah was a 20-year-olddrunken opium addict and a cruel tyrant.

“Mirza Mohammed Siraj, a youth of seven-teen years, had discovered the most viciouspropensities, at an age when only follies are ex-pected from princes,” British historian RobertOrme wrote about Siraj-ud-Daulah’s youth in AliVardi Khan’s palace.” (History of the MilitaryTransactions of the British Nation in Indostan

from 1745)“Taught by his min-

ions to regard himself asof a superior order ofbeing, his natural cru-elty, hardened by habit,in conception he was notslow, but absurd; obsti-nate, sullen, and impa-tient of contradiction.”During his youth in AliVardi Khan’s palace,Siraj-ud-Daulah “livedin every kind of intem-perance and debauch-ery, and more especiallyin drinking spiritousliquors to an excess,which inflamed his pas-sions and impaired thelittle understandingwith which he wasborn,” Omre said.

Orme was no neu-tral observer. he hadbeen a member of the StFort St George Councilin Madras and was in-strumental in sendingRobert Clive with a mil-itary expedition to Cal-cutta to avenge what isknown as the Black holeincident of 1756. Afterrecapturing Calcutta,Siraj-ud-Daulah had put

146 British men in a 20 square foot closed cham-ber. Of them, 123 had died by the next morning.Reports of the incident are perhaps exaggerated,but even the French, who were friends with Siraj,did not have a favourable opinion of him.

"Before the death of Ali Vardi Khan the char-acter of Siraj-ud-Daulah was reported to be oneof the worst ever known,” Jean Law, who knewSiraj as chief of the French east India companyin the West Bengal city of Cossimbazar, wrote inhis memoir.

“In fact, he had distinguished himself notonly by all sorts of debauchery, but by a revoltingcruelty. The hindu women are accustomed tobathe on the banks of the Ganges. Siraj-ud-Daulah, who was informed by his spies which ofthem were beautiful, sent his satellites in disguisein little boats to carry them off. he was often seen,in the season when the river overflows, causingthe ferry boats to be upset or sunk in order tohave the cruel pleasure of watching the terrifiedconfusion of a hundred people at a time, men,women, and children, of whom many, not beingable to swim, were sure to perish.”

The British would refuse him admissioninto their Cossimbazar factory and their houses,he wrote, “because, in fact, this excessively blus-tering and impertinent young man used tobreak the furniture, or, if it pleased his fancy,take it away.”

A Muslim historian of the time, Ghulam hu-sain Tabatabai, said the following about Siraj-ud-Daulah: “Making no distinction between vice andvirtue, he carried defilement wherever he went,and, like a man alienated in his mind, he madethe house of men and women of distinction thescenes of his depravity, without minding eitherrank or station. In a little time he became de-tested as Pharaoh, and people on meeting him bychance used to say, ‘God save us from him!’"

Peter harrington defended Siraj-ud-Daulah(Plassey 1757: Clive of India's Finest Hour) say-ing Siraj’s “alleged pastime of pulling the wingsoff birds or watching boats deliberately over-turned so that he could watch the occupantsdrown” were not true. But he did quote Muslimhistorian Ghulam hussain Salim:

“Owing to Siraj-ud-Daulah’s harshness oftemper and indulgence, fear and terror had set-tled on the hearts of everyone to such an extentthat no one among his generals of the army or thenoblemen of the city was free from anxiety.Amongst his officers, whoever went to wait onSiraj-ud-Daulah despaired of life and honour,and whoever returned without being disgracedand ill-treated offered thanks to God.”

Why would Mir Jafar want to be loyal to sucha tyrant? Siraj-ud-Daulah only “displayed facetsof a character common to oriental dynastic poli-tics of the period”, harrington says in his defence.That might be true, but then, so did Mir Jafar.

The writer is a media and culture critic andworks at The Friday Times. He tweets @paa-galinsaan and gets email at [email protected]

loyalty has to be earned

in defence of Mir Jafar

Man bites DogBy Harris Bin Munawar

Now that the furore createdby IAeA’S latest reporton the Iranian nuclear

program has subsided and thesword, temporarily at least, re-turned to the scabbard the inter-national community needs tomake another effort to exploreavenues for resolving the crisispeacefully before it explodes onthe world stage again.

For the moment, wiser coun-sel seems to have silenced the Is-raeli war trumpet. Objectiveassessment of the implications ofmilitary action has created a vis-ible current of opinion againstthis option. The very real appre-hension that surgical strikesagainst Iran’s nuclear facilitieswould likely trigger an uncon-trollable wider conflict has in-ducted a measure of moderationin the Western calculus.

Sanctions remain an optionbut their successful implemen-tation would require the sup-port of Russia and China whoare opposed to the imposition ofwider restrictions against theIslamic Republic. The currentpenalties have proven to belargely ineffective.

A balanced approach, whichupholds Iran’s right to access nu-clear technology for peacefulpurposes while eliminating thatcountry’s potential for acquiringnuclear weapons needs to be ex-plored. Given the heavy politicaloverhang of this issue, the Secre-tary General of the United Na-tions will have to take the lead.he would need to come out of hisself-imposed inactivity and takesome bold initiatives in thehigher interest of internationalstability and security.

The previous head of IAeA,Mohammad el Baradei, hadmade vigorous efforts to peace-fully defuse the crisis. One of his

proposals warrants special men-tion. In February 2006, he putforward a package under whichIran would forego industrialscale enrichment limiting its pro-gramme to a small pilot facilityand import its nuclear fuel fromRussia for use in its powerplants. This compromise wouldhave effectively excludedweaponisation while giving Irana face saving concession.

The Iranians indicated thatthough they would not, as a mat-ter of principle, sign away theirright to enrichment, they wouldbe prepared to consider the sug-gested formula in all seriousness.hope evaporated when a monthlater President Bush announcedthat his administration wouldnot allow any enrichment inIran. even the act of symbolicenrichment in a fully safe-guarded pilot facility was foundobjectionable.

earlier, to allay fears of di-version, Iran had itself offered arange of concessions includingmore intrusive and stringent ver-ification measures, renouncingplutonium reprocessing and im-mediate conversion of enricheduranium into fuel rods. More im-portantly the package includedthe key offer to operate the ura-nium enrichment facility atNatanz as a multinational fuelcentre with the participation offoreign representatives. Most ofthese ideas were drawn from thefindings of an IAeA Committeewhich was set up to investigateavenues to minimise the risk ofdiversion from peaceful applica-tions to weapons programmes.None of these useful suggestionswere seriously pursued by Iran’sinterlocutors.

Given that this issue carriesthe potential of creating incalcu-lable afflictions in the region, afresh effort for peaceful resolu-tion needs to be launched. Sincebilateral efforts between the eUand Iran have so far failed, theUN Secretary General shouldstep forward. One possibilitywould be for him to appoint aSpecial Representative to pickup the threads from previous ef-forts. Mohammed el Baradei,provided he can be persuaded tospare time from his politicalpreoccupations, is ideally suited

for this assignment. his deeppersonal knowledge of the rele-vant issues as also his statureand objectivity cannot be easilymatched.

Prior agreement on two basicprecepts would need to precedeany such mission: acceptance ofIran’s right to peaceful uses ofnuclear energy and categoricalrenunciation by Iran of nuclearweapons. Within this paradigm,it might just be possible to suc-cessfully explore a mutually ac-ceptable solution.

The right to engage in peace-ful nuclear applications underappropriate safeguards isgranted by the IAeA and theNPT. This universal right cannotbe denied to Iran. Admittedly, itused deception in developing itsnuclear infrastructure incurringwidespread global distrust. Theanswer to this rests not in the de-nial of a fundamental right but inthe enforcement of stronger ver-ification measures to pre-emptdiversion. A right granted underlaw cannot be taken away by anyone or group of countries. Insis-tence on denying Iran the bene-fits of nuclear technology is nosolution but a signal of disincli-nation on the part of the adher-ents of this view to a negotiatedsettlement.

Second, Iran would need toagree to give concrete and prac-tical shape to its avowed renun-ciation of nuclear weapons. Merepronouncements would not suf-fice. Iran would have to notify inadvance its willingness to acceptthe most stringent verificationmechanisms permitted underthe IAeA system. This would benecessary to dispel the doubtscreated, in good measure, byIran’s own past behaviour.

It is plausible that one orboth of these assumptions mayturn out to be incorrect but thatis no justification for the Secre-tary General of the United Na-tions to fail to act on the mandategiven to him by the Charter in hiscapacity as the custodian of in-ternational peace and security.

The writer is Pakistan’s for-mer Ambassador to the UnitedNations and European Union.He can be contacted at [email protected]

By Shaukat Umer



14 Foreign News

Iran blasts new Western sanctionsTEHRAN

Afp

A N angry Iran and its powerful allyRussia on Tuesday slammed newWestern sanctions imposed on

Tehran over its suspect nuclear pro-gramme, saying they were illegal and futile.

The measures against Iran’s finan-cial, petrochemical and energy sectorsannounced Monday by the UnitedStates, Britain and Canada amounted tono more than “propaganda and psycho-logical warfare,” Iranian foreign min-istry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparastsaid. They were “reprehensible” andwould prove ineffective, he said. Iran’sparliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani,warned Britain and other Western na-tions “should wait for the Iranian reac-

tion” to the sanctions. Russia — whichwith China had blocked any possibilityof the Western steps going before theUN Security Council for approval —said the sanctions were “unacceptableand against international law.” The dec-larations set the stage for a hardeningof diplomacy over Iran and its nucleardrive. The issue has already generatedspeculation that Israel is mulling airstrikes against Iranian nuclear sites.The United States and its allies cited aNovember 8 report by the UN’s Inter-national Atomic energy Agency assert-ing “credible” evidence of Iraniannuclear weapons research as justifica-tion for the new sanctions.

President Barack Obama said in astatement Monday: “As long as Iran con-tinues down this dangerous path, the

United States will continue to find ways,both in concert with our partners andthrough our own actions, to isolate andincrease the pressure upon the Iranianregime.” The country is already subject tofour sets of UN sanctions designed toforce it to give up uranium enrichment,along with additional, unilateral US andeU sanctions. The latest sanctions putmore pressure especially on Iran’s finan-cial sector, with the US and Britain invok-ing anti-terrorist laws to target thecentral bank and other financial institu-tions. Washington has declared Iran of“primary money-laundering concern” —a label that could dissuade non-US banksand businesses dealing with it underthreat of US reprisals.

London said it was “ceasing all con-tact” between its financial system and

that of Iran, while Canada said it washalting “virtually all transactions” withthe Islamic republic. France said it, too,was “in favour of new unprecedentedsanctions” and called for an embargoagainst Iran’s most vital export: oil.Diplomats said eU sanctions on some200 Iranian firms and individuals werebeing considered and would likely be an-nounced at an eU foreign ministersmeeting on December 1.

Russia’s foreign ministry said theWestern move “seriously complicatesmoves for constructive dialogue withTehran” on its nuclear activities. “We be-lieve that the constant strengthening ofsanctions has long ago gone beyond thebounds of decisions on non-proliferationtasks surrounding the Iranian nuclearprogramme,” it said.

ANKARAAfp

Turkish Prime Minister RecepTayyip erdogan Tuesday urgedSyrian leader Bashar al-Assad tostep down, branding him a cowardand warning that he risked the samebloody fate as had met otherdictators.

In his fiercest criticism yet of hisone-time ally, erdogan also ridiculedAssad for pledging to fight to thedeath against domestic opponentswhile being unwilling to risk his lifeto retake the occupied Golan heightsfrom Israel. “Quit power beforemore blood is shed ... for the peaceof your people, your region and yourcountry,” erdogan told the Turkishparliament in Ankara. After weeks ofmounting criticism of the Syrianpresident, it was the first time the

Turkish premier had directly calledfor his removal from power.

he is the second leader of aneighbouring country to do so, afterJordan’s King Abdullah last weekcalled on Assad to go. “Bashar al-Assad is saying he will fight to thedeath. Fighting your own people ... isnot heroism but cowardice,”erdogan said, referring to a recentinterview with Assad published bythe Sunday Times in London. “If youwant to see someone who fought anddied, take at look at Nazi Germany,take a look at hitler, take a look atMussolini and Romania’sCeausescu,” he said.

Adolf hitler died in his bunker asAllied forces closed in on Berlin,wartime Italian leader BenitoMussolini was strung up from alamppost by an angry mob andRomanian communist dictator

Nicolae Ceausescu was executed byfiring squad on Christmas Day 1989.If the Syrian leader had failed tolearn lessons from history, erdoganinvited him to consider the morerecent fate of Libya’s late strongmanMuammar Gaddafi who wasexecuted by his opponents afterbeing chased from power. erdoganinsisted that Turkey had nointention of interfering in Syria’sdomestic affairs but added “wecannot remain indifferent” to whathappens in a neighbouring countrywith which Turkey shares a 910-kilometre border.

Turkey has become increasinglyvocal in its criticism of Assad afterits diplomatic missions came underattack by pro-governmentdemonstrators in several Syriancities earlier this month. In his firstofficial remarks confirming the

attack, erdogan said: “The Syrianadministration did not prevent theattack on buses carrying pilgrims,”accusing Damascus of failing toprotect its citizens. “Protectingcitizens of a foreign country ... is amatter of honour for a country,” saiderdogan. he called on the Syrianleadership to find the perpetrators ofthe attacks on Turkish diplomaticmissions as well as the pilgrims and“deliver them to justice at once.”Turkey last week joined the ArabLeague at a meeting in Morocco incalling on the Assad regime “to stopthe bloodshed and to spare Syriancitizens from new acts of violenceand killing”. In an interview withThe Guardian published onTuesday, Turkish PresidentAbdullah Gul, who is on an officialvisit to Britain, said Assad hadreached a “dead end.”

Syrian SNC saysdiscussing post-assad with arab league

NICOSIAAfp

The opposition Syrian National Councilsaid Tuesday it is organising a conferencewith the Arab League to prepare for a“transitional period” after the fall ofPresident Bashar al-Assad’s regime. “TheSyrian National Council, in cooperationwith the Arab League, will organise anational conference to prepare for thetransitional period in Syria,” it said in astatement. The SNC, the largest and mostrepresentative Syrian opposition grouping,said it was in talks with activists anddissidents to prepare for the transition “inaccordance with the Arab Leagueinitiative.” “It was determined that theconference will issue a memorandumconcerning the post-Syrian regime phase,”it said, adding this would ensure“inclusivity and the participation of allpolitical forces in Syria.” On Monday,British Foreign Secretary William hagueurged the Syrian opposition to unify tobecome stronger as he held his firstmeetings with their representatives inLondon. France’s foreign minister, AlainJuppe, issued a similar call last week,saying “the SNC must get organised” beforeit can win recognition from the Frenchgovernment. The SNC has so far only beenofficially recognised by the new post-Gaddafi Libyan authorities.

bahrain opposition

says repression

‘systematic’DUBAI

Afp

Bahrain’s largest opposition group dismissedTuesday a government statementacknowledging “instances” of abuse, sayingthe repression of mainly Shiite anti-government protesters is “systematic.”Al-Wefaq said in a statement the Sunni-dominated government is trying to escaperesponsibility for “violations leading tonumerous fatalities and hundreds of injurieson junior security personnel.” The Wefaqstatement said the February and Marchbloody crackdown on the protest movementwas “systematic” in nature and was a result ofa “planned” government policy. Al-Wefaqargued that the sheer number and nature of“abuses could not have taken place withoutprior knowledge and consent of influentialofficials,” adding that the “ultimateresponsibility lies with the top decisionsmakers rather than junior officials andsoldiers.” On Monday, the Bahrainigovernment acknowledged there were“instances of excessive force and mistreatmentof detainees,” and said 20 officers are beingprosecuted. Authorities say 24 people,including four policemen, were killed in themonth-long uprising , while the Shiite-ledopposition puts the death toll at 30. hundredsmore have been injured and detained.

Yemen troops,tribesmen kill 14Qaeda suspects

ADENAfp

Yemeni soldiers and tribesmen killed 14Al-Qaeda suspects, including two NorthAfricans and a Saudi, in the country’srestive south, local officials and tribalsources said on Tuesday. The 119thBrigade commanded by dissidentGeneral Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar firedartillery shells and rockets on suspectedAl-Qaeda hideouts in Zinjibar, the capitalof Abyan province, on Monday eveningkilling 11 militants. “The 11 Al-Qaedamembers killed include a Mauritanian,an Algerian named Samir Boumedienne,and a Saudi named Al-Sayadi, in additionto two Somalis,” a local official told AFPon condition of anonymity, adding thatthe brigade launched the attack from theadjacent village of al-Kud. “Sevenmilitants were wounded in the Zinjibarbombing,” another official said.Meanwhile in the nearby village ofMudia, “three Al-Qaeda fighters werekilled and two wounded when gunmenattacked a house where they werehiding,” a tribal source told AFP oncondition of anonymity. The attack tookplace “shortly after an explosive deviceblew up in Mudia killing two armedtribesmen and wounding five others,” thesource said, blaming Al-Qaeda linkedmilitants for the attack. Tribesmen havejoined government troops in battling theAl-Qaeda linked Partisans of Sharia(Islamic law) group which overranZinjibar in May. The militants have takenadvantage of a weakening of centralauthority since January, when tens ofthousands of Yemenis launched anunprecedented protest movementagainst President Ali Abdullah Saleh’sregime. Despite months of clashes,government troops have so far beenunable to take back full control ofAbyan’s towns and cities.

SeoUl: lawmaker Kim Sun-dong (bottom) of the democratic labour Party detonates a tear gas canister towards the chairman’s seat at the Nationalassembly to try to stop the ruling grand National Party’s move to ratify a bill on a free trade agreement with the United States on tuesday. AFP

Turkish PM calls on ‘coward’ Assad to quit

g Russia saysnew USsanctions on iranunacceptable

g eU to slapsanctions on200 iranianfirms, people


Foreign News 15wednesday, 23 November, 2011

TUNISAfp

Tunisia entered a new era of democracyTuesday with the inaugural session ofits democratically elected constituentassembly, 10 months after a popular up-rising ended years of dictatorship.

The 217-member assembly, the firstelected body produced by the ArabSpring, was expected to confirm a dealwhereby the Islamist ennahda partyand two other parties split the country’stop three jobs between themselves. Thelawmakers, who will be tasked withdrafting a new constitution and pavingthe way to fresh elections, sang the na-tional anthem as the session got underway in the Bardo palace on the outskirtsof Tunis. “I give thanks to God, to allthose martyred and wounded and thosewho fought so we could witness this his-toric day,” ennahda leader RachedGhannouchi told AFP after the opening.

After longtime dictator Zine elAbidine Ben Ali’s ouster in January and

internationally acclaimed polls on Octo-ber 23, the inauguration marked yet an-other landmark in the Arab Springtrailblazers’ democratic revolution.“This event is like a second independ-ence for Tunisia,” said Ahmed Mestiri,an iconic figure in the struggle forTunisia’s 1956 independence fromFrance. Several hundred demonstra-tors, including relatives of some of theprotesters killed in the uprising, never-theless greeted the newly-elected law-makers at the Bardo palace with awarning. “We’re watching you,” readsome of the banners.

“We’re here to remind the lawmakersof the demands of the Tunisian revolution— dignity and freedom — and to tell themthe Tunisian people have not handedthem a blank cheque,” said Rafik Boud-jaria of the Civic Front for Democracyand Tunisia. Despite ennahda’s assur-ances, some Tunisians have expressedconcern that an Islamist-dominatedTunisia could roll back hard-earnedrights such as the Code of Personal Sta-

tus, seen notably as one of the Arabworld’s most progressive sets of lawson women. “Tunisia wants to hold up amodel to society in which Islam is nota synonym of terrorism, fanaticism, ex-tremism or hostility to democracy,”Ghannouchi said Sunday during a visitto Algiers. Speaking to AFP Tuesday,Ghannouchi — who does not sit in the as-sembly and insists he does not seek anyofficial post in the new executive — prom-ised to promote “a national reconciliationproject... not a revenge project”. On Mon-day, Tunisia’s three main political partiesformalised a power-sharing agreementhammered out in the aftermath of lastmonth’s polls. ennahda’s hamadi Jebaliis to take the post of prime minister, theCongress for the Republic (CPR) party’sMoncef Marzouki will become presidentand ettakatol’s Mustapha Ben Jaafar thechair of the new assembly. A popular up-rising that started in December 2010 overunemployment and the soaring cost ofliving ousted Ben Ali, who had been inpower 23 years and was thought to be one

of the world’s most entrenched autocrats.The revolt touched off a wave of pro-democracy protests across the region andTunisians anchored their revolution lastmonth with a historic election for a con-stituent assembly. ennahda, a moderateIslamist party inspired by the MuslimBrotherhood, holds 89 seats while theCPR and ettakatol control 29 and 20seats respectively. The chamber’s freshly-elected members are also expected to picktwo deputy chairs and adopt a set of in-ternal rules based on a document draftedby the now-dissolved body in charge ofpolitical reform after Ben Ali’s ouster.Challenging the bloc formed by the threemain parties, the Progressive DemocraticParty and the Democratic Modernist Pole,which have 16 and five seats respectively,will be main opposition forces.

A question mark still hangs howeverover the Popular Petition, a previouslyunknown group lead by a London-basedmillionaire which came out of the wood-work to clinch 26 seats, making it theassembly’s third largest party.

CAIROAfp

FACeD by angry streetprotests, egypt’s militaryrulers are under fire fromall political sides and arelocked in their worst crisis

since the fall of hosni Mubarak, aheadof next week’s crucial polls.

In a bid to defuse the crisis and con-tain the clashes, the ruling SupremeCouncil of the Armed Forces (SCAF)began an emergency dialogue with anumber of the country’s political forcesfollowing a cabinet resignation. PrimeMinister essam Sharaf’s governmentannounced on Monday it had resigned“owing to the difficult circumstancesthe country is going through” — but theresignation has yet to be accepted bySCAF. Sporadic clashes continued onTuesday for a fourth day running be-

tween police and protesters demandingdemocratic change with a mass anti-military rally scheduled for Tuesday af-ternoon. The military council, whichvowed to put the country on the path todemocracy after it took over in Febru-ary, is accused of seeking to embed itselfin power and to perpetuate the formerregime’s repressive system. “The SCAFwas considered as the protector of therevolution, but it has become a burdenon the revolution,” columnist Fahmihoweidi said. Arab League chief Nabilal-Arabi has expressed “great concern”and called for maintaining a “politicalprocess to move towards democraticchange” in line with the demands ofegypt’s revolt. The developments haveovershadowed preparations for Novem-ber 28 parliamentary elections, the firstsince protests ended Mubarak’s 30-yearrule in February, paving the way for themilitary to cede power to a civilian au-

thority. “If the polls are held as sched-uled, they will take place in a climate ofcrisis,” said Mosaad.

Several politicians have urged themilitary to review its plans to develop aprecise timetable for the transfer ofpower to civilians, by organising a pres-idential election before the parliamen-tary polls. But the Muslim Brotherhood,highly critical of the military rulers, areagainst any postponement of the leg-islative elections as they feel they are ina strong position. In response, the SCAFhas renewed its commitment to handover power to a democratically electedcivilian authority once a president hasbeen voted in, but it has not specified adate. “The parliamentary electionsscheduled for next week are the firststep in this process,” the military coun-cil said on Sunday night, suggesting thatdelaying the polls was not likely.

egyptians applauded the military

for not suppressing the revolt againstMubarak earlier this year, but now thehoneymoon is well and truly over inthe face of unmet promises and aworsening economic crisis. Thousandsof protesters swarmed Cairo’s TahrirSquare on Tuesday to demand an endto military rule, heightening tensionafter days of deadly clashes thatthreaten to derail next week’s legisla-tive polls. “The army gives the impres-sion that the fall of Mubarak was theresult of a coup and not a popular re-volt,” Mosaad said. The MuslimBrotherhood, egypt’s best-organisedpolitical force, said it would take partin the talks but there was no indica-tion if those driving the protestswould attend. Medics said anothertwo people were killed early on Tues-day, bringing the death toll fromclashes between security forces andprotesters since Saturday to 26.

Parties agree to

transition plan, says

UN yemen envoySANAA

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The UN’s Yemen envoy said on Tuesday a Gulfsponsored power-transfer deal aimed atending months of political deadlock has beenapproved both by the opposition and byPresident Ali Abdullah Saleh. “All the partieshave agreed to implement the GulfCooperation Council (GCC) initiative,” JamalBenomar told reporters in Yemen’s capitalSanaa. “We are now discussing the practicalarrangements related to the actual signingceremony,” Benomar said adding that therewould be a media conference later in the daywhere further details would be released.Benomar, who arrived in Sanaa on November10, has been working tirelessly to secure anagreement on the Gulf transition plan thatcalls for Saleh to hand power over to hisdeputy, Vice President Abdrabuh Mansurhadi, in return for immunity from prosecutionfor him and his family. Saleh’s continuedrefusal to sign the initiative has triggeredmonths of political deadlock that has left thegovernment in a state of chaos and theeconomy in shambles. The political crisis hasalso exacerbated tensions on Yemen’s streetswhere tens of thousands of anti-governmentprotesters have faced a brutal 10-monthgovernment crackdown that has left hundredsdead and thousands wounded. Benomar didnot say when or where the signing ceremonywould take place.

libya will not handover Seif to iCC: NtC

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Libya will not hand over Moamer Gaddafi’smost prominent son Seif al-Islam to theInternational Criminal Court for trial, aminister said Tuesday as the war crimes court’sprosecutor visited the country. “In a nutshell,we are not going to hand him over,” interimjustice minister Mohammed al-Allagui saidwhen asked about Seif, who was captured inLibya’s far-flung Saharan south on Saturdayafter three months on the run. Trying Seif “isthe special responsibility of the Libyan courts. Itis the prerogative of the Libyan courts. It is aquestion of our sovereignty over our territoryand our citizens,” said Allagui. his commentscame as the ICC’s chief prosecutor LuisMoreno-Ocampo was in Tripoli for talks onjurisdiction in the cases of Seif and Gaddafi’sspymaster Abdullah al-Senussi, both of whomare wanted by the court on charges of crimesagainst humanity. Allagui said the prosecutorwas very welcome to have a meeting with Seifal-Islam in custody to allay concerns that hemight be subjected to ill-treatment after hisfather was killed when he was captured lastmonth. “If he (Moreno-Ocampo) asked for one,he would be most welcome,” the minister said.But asked whether he expected to meet Seifduring his current visit, the ICC prosecutorsaid: “No.” After talks in Libya’s second-largestcity Benghazi on Tuesday, the US ambassadorto the United Nations, Susan Rice, said she hadreceived assurances there would be noretaliatory mistreatment of Gaddafi’s longtimeheir apparent. “The officials with whom I metassured me that Seif al-Islam was being heldsafely in a secure location, that he was beingwell treated and humanely treated... and that hewould be tried and treated in a fair fashion andheld accountable according to internationalstandards,” she said. “So that was a clear-cutcommitment that was made by the seniorofficials with whom I met,” the US ambassadoradded. Asked whether Washington had put anypressure on Libya’s new authorities to hand Seifover for trial by the ICC in The hague, Ricesaid: “We first of all think that these are issuesfor the Libyan people to determine.” Ahead ofhis trip, Moreno-Ocampo had said: “The issueof where the trials will be held has to beresolved through consultations with the court.“In the end, the ICC judges will decide, thereare legal standards which will have to beadhered to,” he added. Libya’s ruling NationalTransitional Council insists that Seif be broughtto Tripoli where he could face the deathpenalty. The ICC, which received the green lightto probe crimes in Libya through a UN SecurityCouncil resolution on February 26, can onlyprosecute perpetrators of genocide, war crimesand crimes against humanity if a country itselfis unwilling or unable to do so.

Moreno-Ocampo’s office said on Tuesdaythat it was continuing its investigation in Libya,which is nevertheless not a signatory to the ICC.

Egypt military rulers in crisis ahead of voteg egyptians swarm for rally against military rule, two dead, hundreds injured

Tunisia enters new era of democracy

Cairo: an egyptian man walks with a stick and holds up a national flag as demonstrators dodge tear gas during clashes in a Cairo street on tuesday. AFP


IN LIMELIGHT

16 wednesday, 23 November, 2011

loS ANGeleS: robert Pattinson wants

to name his children after dogs. the

25-year-old actor’s character edward

Cullen becomes a father in his latest

movie ‘twilight Saga: breaking dawn -

Part 1’ but the british star believes at

the age of 25 he is far too immature

to be a parent right now and would

probably call his children ridiculous

names. asked what he would name his

own kids, robert said: “i have no idea.

i still think like a 12-year-old. i have no

idea what i’m going to do with a baby.

yeah, i’d quite like to call them Killer

like a dog’s name . [or] butch!” robert

- who is dating his ‘twilight Saga’ co-

star Kristen Stewart - recently

revealed, “a father, yes. a young father,

no. i have no experience with children.

in my circle of friends, there are none.

and i don’t even have a little brother.

you should have seen me when we

shot the scenes for ‘breaking dawn’.

there were two babies, not older than

two or three weeks and i feared that i

might break them.” AGeNCIeS

1 NeW YoRK: hannah yelland

attends the ‘hugo’ premiere at the

Ziegfeld theatre.

2 beVeRlY HIllS: actress Jessica

alba hosts Swarovski elements and

rodeo drive holiday lighting

Ceremony.

3 toKYo: an employee of Japanese

jeweller tanaka Kikinzoku Jewelry

unveils a 150 million yen (1.95 million

USd) Christmas tree which will be on

display till Christmas day. the 2.4

meter tall Christmas tree is

decorated with heart and orchid

shaped ornaments, ribbons and a

star made of gold.

4 NeW YoRK: lady gaga attends the

39th international emmy awards.

5 tel AVIV: a model presents a

creation by italian designer

roberto Cavalli during the tel aviv

fashion week.

1 2

3

4

5Justin Bieberundergoes paternity testto prove innocence

LONDONAGeNCIeS

Justin Bieber has undergone apaternity test. The 17-year-oldsinger has vehemently deniedbeing the father of fan MariahYeater’s four-month-old son andwanted to prove his innocenceby undergoing DNA testing. Ac-cording to website TMZ, Justintook the test at a lab on Friday(18.11.11) under “very controlledcircumstances”, which means itwill be hard for Mariah or herlawyer to challenge it. Justin’steam will not settle or even dis-cuss settlement with Mariah orher legal team and it is now up toher to provide DNA results fromher son. Although Mariahdropped her lawsuit against the‘Baby’ hitmaker, her lawyerstated they planned to pursuethe matter privately. Justin pre-viously revealed he was happy totake a DNA test to prove his in-nocence but insisted he wouldnot “waste” his time meeting hisaccuser face-to-face because herfabricated claims were vindic-tive. Justin - who is currentlydating Selena Gomez - said: “Allthis stuff is dealt with by mylegal team. But if they want meto (take a paternity test) then Iwill.” When asked what he wouldsay to Mariah if he could meether, he said: “Nothing, Iwouldn’t waste my time. I guess[she’s done this] for attention,but it’s not something I am in-terested in. These people are notworth my thought or time.”

LAHORE StAff RepoRt

A solo show by Faiza Khan opened at theCollectors’ Galleria at Al hamra GaddafiStadium on Tuesday, November 15,2011. Faiza’s major work has been donein oil on canvas. Oil colours in fact, sheadmits, are her strength and fascination.In the vivid coloured paintings displayedat the vast hall of Collector’s Galleria,Faiza’s paintings were seen by Lahore’sart circles and art critics. “My recent

work is a manifestation of my personal,socio-political activities and abomina-tion faced by humanity,” says FaizaKhan, who is doing a fourth solo showsince 2000. “I strive to highlight aneclipsed journey of emotions which oftendepicts oscillation conditions of womenbetween integrity, grace and benedic-tion, isolation, oppression and strugglefor a life liberated from fear.” She saysshe particularly focuses on the sensitiveportrayal of the weak in the society, es-pecially women and children.

faiza Khan’s solo show open at Collectors’ galleria

set to sign $4m WeightWatchers deal

NeW YoRK: Jessica Simpson is set to sign

a $4 million deal with weight watchers to

shed her baby weight. the singer-and-

actress is currently expecting her first child

with fiance eric Johnson but before she fell

pregnant, she had been in talks with the

dieting firm to become its new face after

gaining a few pounds. but Jessica, 31, will

now highlight her weight loss by following

weight watchers’ healthy eating plan when

she gives birth early next year. Under the

contract, Jessica would reportedly have

one year to use the point-counting system

to “lose a significant amount of weight”.

Jessica – who had a star-studded baby

shower at her hollywood home over the

weekend – recently revealed she was

“bigger than ever” but was loving showing

off her new figure. She said: “i like wearing

things more fitted. you want to show off

your bump! it’s just so fun.” Previous faces

of weight watchers include Sarah ferguson

and Jennifer hudson. AGeNCIeS

Kangna’sUK-based beaua mystery MUMbAI: Kangna ranaut has admitted to dating UK-based doctor Nicholas

lafferty for over a year, claiming they were introduced by Kites actress bar-

bara mori’s brother Kintaro. the actress has also admitted to being in love

on a chat show, adding that despite being a world apart they keep in

touch through video chat. while the two haven’t been spotted

publicly or even with friends, the actress maintains that

this relationship is for keeps. recently, a celebrity

magazine printed a photograph of lafferty, pro-

vided to them by the actress. a little investi-

gation on Kangna’s man on facebook reveals

cosy pictures of him with another girl. in

fact, there are pictures of him there with

everyone except the actress. that could be

because she is a public figure or that they

want to keep photographs private. a com-

mon friend denies that Kintaro introduced

the supposed couple, saying, “while he

knows Kangna socially, he never introduced

her to anybody called Nicholas lafferty. he’s

a tad miffed that his name is being bandied

about in this story. if she is seeing him, then

why don’t her friends have a clue about

him? this is really mysterious!” AGeNCIeS

Robert Pattinsonwants to give kidscanine names


17

LAHOREANItA SAleeM

IN an era dominated by colour, satura-tion and hue, 39K gallery takes the ini-tiative of exploring life from black andwhite lens. Founded and run by Abdul-lah Qureshi, 39K is known for introduc-

ing new talent and as the originator puts it,“We provide a project space for artists. We in-vest our energy in finding new people and in-troducing them.” Keeping up with thistradition, their latest exhibition ‘Zindagi Tohum Bhi hain’ showcases works of 7 uniquephotographers:

Umair Ghani, an internationally famedphotographer who is the brain behind the ex-hibition feels that colours can be overwhelm-ing, “when we suck the colours out of aphotograph and see it in black and white then

we begin to see the heart and soul of the pic-ture.” Umair also feels that one has to be verycourageous to work with black and white, “you have to bring in something very engagingand intense- something which grabs you fromthe collar and says ‘look at me’” With this ex-hibition, Umair aims to bring revival of clas-sical medium of photography. From thebubble maker to an abaya clad lady preparingto have ice-cream and a mosque showing howsects are concealing the true essence of reli-gion, Umair Ghani demonstrates excellence ashe captures everyday people in an extraordi-nary way.

Rabbania Shirjeel, a student of fine artsadmits that she wasn’t exactly working arounda concept, “I just took my camera along andclicked it on my way. Umair encouraged ledme to polish my work.” Rabbania capturedidle people on the streets, “We tend to ignore

these people, but the fact remains that theysignify life too.” Rabbania now plans to con-tinue photography alongside pursuing her as-piration of becoming a textile designer.

Shazia husain, an international photog-rapher who won the gold medal in 2007from Photographic Society of America andhas had her work displayed in UK and USAportrays life in a rather unique way. Whilethe other photographers capture people,Shazia’s pictures illustrate life in landscapes.She believes, “in peace and in nature. I feelthat as humans we are not as connected tonature as we should be. All of us seek peacein our surrounding and I have tried to pro-vide an escape from the violent images by

my photography.”Asher Imtiaz brings forth the livelier as-

pects of life in his photography. he highlightsthe dance, fun, innocence and beauty of life bycapturing a dancing dervish, musician malangand a charming child among others. Asherstrongly feels, “When there is no commercial-ism involved, you carry out photography witha different mood altogether.” he feels thatgood photography involves, “a little bit of skillcombined with luck and commitment to pho-tography”. he further adds, “It’s not abouthow cool a camera is but it’s rather about cap-turing a particular moment.”

Raj Jalal who has been in this field for 11years beautifully captures the joys of people onthe streets, “I’ve mostly taken portraits and myphotographs are self-explanatory. They speakfor themselves.” Two of his pictures which aresure to make you smile include one where achild is holding a fake currency but enjoying itas if it were real and another one which showsa child with a mischievous smile; tonguecurled up and a running nose. Raj feels that aphotographer must know some basic techni-calities, but the rest of the skill comes with ex-perience.

Sharjeel Anzar takes photography as ahobby, “When I see a subject or a scene I in-stantly form a mental picture as to whether itwould look better in coloured or black andwhite. Sometimes the result of images fromblack and white photography is better thanwhen one sees it with naked eye.” Sharjeelbrings some amazing photographs to the exhi-bition capturing various activities: classicaldance performer, a foggy night in Murree,lovers at a beach in Karachi and women runningtheir errands on a regular day in Cholistan.

Dr. Javed Chawla captures the pot makingprocess in different lights and differentmoods. he recalls capturing scenes in blackand white during the pre-digital photographyera using his enlarger and chemicals in a darkroom to develop pictures. Dr Javed confesses,“Black and white photography fascinates memore than coloured photography.”

‘Zindagi To Hum Bhi hain’ will continueuntil November 29 at 39K Model Townfrom 10:00am till 7:00pm.

‘Zindagi ToHum Bhi Hain’

a visual treat

LAHORE StAff RepoRt

In the wake of some new film projects, Indian actorSharad Kapoor visited Pakistan and held a press confer-ence for journalists at the Press Club on Tuesday, wherehe said that his visit had been a positive experience andthat he felt connected with the people here. “I feel hon-oured to be here and the press has given me a lot of re-spect,” he said to the media. “Lahore’s a great experienceand I am glad that I chose to come to Pakistan.”

Sharad Kapoor says that he will be working on somenew projects. his alliance in working in films with MaheshBhatt and Pooja Bhatt both had given him an importantboost in his career. “I am doing another film with MaheshBhatt in the coming months, while I am also working on afilm called ‘Rajannayak’,” said the actor.

Kapoor said that as he had been about to leave forCuba, he had discovered that his visa in Pakistan hadbeen accepted. he hurriedly changed his plans. “My ex-perience in meeting the people of Pakistan was ‘unbe-lievable’, and that as an artist, though it was importantto stay away from the political aspect, it was also an im-portant issue that the relations between the two coun-tries improve,” he said. “I would put my hands togetherand ask both the Governments to work on this becausethe people belong together.”

Concerning his meeting with PM Gillani, he saidthat he had received a very warm response from him,and said that he was glad that he felt right at home here.“My film ‘Dastak’ with Sushmita Sen was a great one,especially because Bhatt’s direction. ‘Lakshya’ was alsoa good project to work in,” he said speaking aboutmovies that he had done.

Meeting Pakistanis an unbelievableexperience, says Sharad Kapoor

Super-toned Bipashabeats Sonamin bikini raceMUMbAI: looks like when it comes to

exhibiting oomph wearing a red hot two

piece, sultry bipasha basu has few

challengers. the ultimate “bongshell” bipasha

feels great about her sexy image, but to slip

into a bikini for ‘Players’ the actress had to

compete with lissome beauty Sonam Kapoor.

interestingly, the makers of ‘Players’ floated a

contest to rate the sex quotient between the two

actresses. in a recent media event, bipasha let her

cannons loose and animatedly talked about her

sizzling bikini act to which Sonam had no option

but succumb. So, finally it has emerged that

Sonam will not be seen in the itsy-bitsy two-

piece and it is bipasha who would up the oomph

quotient with her red bikini and fab toned body.

Sharing the saucy bit with media, bips said, “we

were made to have a race. whoever won the race,

would get to wear a bikini,” she said, “i won,

simple!” meanwhile, Sonam had no qualms

wearing a bikini but feels sorry as she doesn’t

have a body to flaunt one. ZeeNeWS

ASher imtiAz

Shirjeel AnzAr


5Th and final odi Today

Page 23


aisam-bopannalose again in atPworld tour finals

ABU DHABIAGHA AKbAR

WheN Misbah-ul-haq and his chargesstep onto the field in what is their lastbut one encounter, Friday’s Twenty20match their last of the ongoing rubber,

they'd surely fancy their chances of heaping more mis-ery on their hapless opponents. After the series-wrap-ping victory in the fourth game that must havedeflated the Sri Lankans no end, the momentum def-initely is with Pakistan.

Seemingly down and out, with Sri Lanka cruisingafter having made three-fourths of the required 200 withtwo of the best wielders of the willow in business on thecrease and batting like a dream, who could have thoughtof Pakistan making a comeback? But that they did, on theback of Shahid Afridi’s superlative bowling. It was Afridi'sday after a long time, and he wouldn't have allowed any-thing and anyone to stand between him and glory – noteven the injury that at one point looked crippling. The re-sult was another fascinating all-round performance thatdecisively changed the sway in favour of Pakistan.

The series having already been won, this is a deadrubber game. But other than maintaining the run thathas seen just one reverse on this tour in the second overs-limited game, there is added incentive here for Pakistan.

Winning the series 4-1 would help them jump aheadof england in the ODI rankings, and that is the kind ofboost they'd be aiming for, particularly because englandis the next foe come New Year. Being ahead in rankingsthus would be of some psychological advantage.

The steadiness, and lately the never say die spirit,that the Pakistanis under Misbah have shown reflectswell on the skipper and his man management. In the af-termath of the scandalous happenings of 2010, that cul-minated in the sentencing of the infamous fixing trio onlyrecently, this is indeed remarkable that the captain hasbeen able to maintain his composure, despite having tomake do with some serious depletion in resources.

Calm and fair in his dealings, Misbah was effusive inhis praise for Shahid Afridi, in his post-match press con-ference and later in his various interviews. "We were inimpossible situation twice. When batting it looked im-possible to get to 200. Afridi got us there, playing sensi-bly yet at a decent clip. Then bowling, it seemed therewas no containing the Sri Lankans, and Afridi deliveredagain,” said Misbah.

And Afridi too acknowledged the skipper's influ-ence on the team and on himself. "Misbah is leading theside very well. I came back with the objective of per-forming well and the manner in which the captain hashandled me has indeed helped me settle down. This wasvery important,” said he.

Though the win happened to gloss over it, but thepoint that Pakistan's batting collapsed to put itself in direstraits is not lost on the skipper. "We're analysing it, andI am also keen to get back my own form with the bat".

Such self-analysis and accent on everyone contribut-ing the team's success is perhaps the reason Pakistan hasconsistently held its own against almost every oppositionthat it has come across in recent times.

Pakistan look to pile moremisery on Sri Lanka

abu dhabi a goodhunting groundfor Pakistan

The fifth and final one day internationalmatch of the series between Pakistanand Sri Lanka will be played at SheikhZayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on Wednes-day (November 23). This day/nightmatch will start at 16.00 hours (PST). Pakistan have won nine and lost sevenin 16 previous one day internationals atthis ground. Sri Lanka on the otherhand have won one and lost two in threeprevious one day internationals playedhere.Pakistan have won two and lost one inthree limited overs internationalsagainst Sri Lanka at this stadium whichcost $22 million to build and is arguablyone of the world’s finest cricketgrounds. Pakistan recorded a five-wicket victoryover Sri Lanka when two teams met firsttime at this ground on May 18, 2007. Inthe next match two days later, Pakistandefeated Sri Lanka by 98 runs. SriLanka's only victory against Pakistancame in the third match of the series onMay 22, 2007. The Islanders won thematch by 115 runs.

eACH teAM'S peRfoRMANCeteam p W l Success%

pakistan 16 9 7 56.25

Sri lanka 3 1 2 33.33

Australia 3 2 1 66.66

New Zealand 3 2 1 66.66

South Africa 2 1 1 50.00

India 2 1 1 50.00

West Indies 3 - 3 00.00

HIGHeSt INNINGS totAlS313-9 pakistan v Sri lanka 20-05-2007

303-8 New Zealand v pakistan 06-11-2009

296-9 Sri lanka v pakistan 22-05-2007

295-6 pakistan v West Indies 12-11-2008

294-9 West Indies v pakistan 12-11-2008

loWeSt INNINGS totAlS149 New Zealand v pakistan 03-11-2009

171 pakistan v Australia 27-04-2009

181 pakistan v Sri lanka 22-05-2007

197 India v pakistan 18-04-2006

197 pakistan v Australia 01-05-2009

HIGHeSt INDIVIDUAl SCoReS131 brendon McCullum (NZ) v pakistan 06-11-2009

122 Chris Gayle (WI) v pakistan 16 -11-2008

116* Shane Watson (Aus) v pakistan 03-05-2009

116* Kamran Akmal (pak) v Australia 03-05-2009

113 Chris Gayle (WI) v pakistan 12-11-2008

beSt boWlING IN AN INNINGS5-35 Douh bollinger (Aus) v pakistan 01-05-2009

4-27 lonwabo tsotsobe (SA) v pakistan 29-10-2010

4-33 Saeed Ajmal (pak) v New Zealand 09-11-2009

4-59 Iftikhar Anjum (pak) v West Indies 16-11-2008

3-15 Michael Clarke (Aus) v pakistan 27-04-2009

LAHORE StAff RepoRt

Pakistan entered the semi-finals of the ICCWomen’s World Cup Qualifiers after beating theNetherlands by 193 runs in the quarterfinals atNarayanganj Osmani Stadium, Fatullah Dhaka,on Tuesday.

With this victory Pakistan women’s teamqualified for the ICC Women’s World Cup 2013scheduled to be played in India and for ICC T20Championship to be played in 2012 in Sri Lanka.

Apart from Pakistan, Sri Lanka has alsojoined South Africa and the West Indies to playin the big event.

Pakistan women’s team won the toss and bat-ted first. Pakistan Women’s 277-4 in 50 overs,Javeria Khan 67, Bismah Maroof 66 not out,Nida Dar 57 and Sana Mir 49. e Lanser took twowickets. Netherland in response were 84 all outin 37 overs. Bismah Maroof and Nida Dar tookthree wickets each. Bisah was named Player ofthe match.

On this marvelous achievement ChairmanPCB Ch. Zaka Ashraf and the ChairpersonWomen Wing PCB Mrs. Bushra Aitzaz have con-gratulated the team and have praised their per-formance whole heartedly.

In 2008, Pakistan team participated in theICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers which wereheld in South Africa and after the event the team

qualified for World Cup which was held in Aus-tralia in 2009. Therein the team played excep-tionally well and made its presence felt andproceeded to the super sixes stage. In this eventthe team improved their ranking from no. 10thto no. 6th in the world.

After the ICC Women World Cup, 2009 andthe (2) ICC World T20s, the ICC decided that in-stead of six teams, only the top four teams willqualify for the next World Cup to be held in Indiain 2013.

The ICC introduced another ranking tourna-ment i.e. (ICC Women’s Cricket Challenge) in2010 wherein Pakistan also participated but un-fortunately the team’s ranking deteriorated fromno. 6th to no. 8th in the world.

The ICC Women World Cup Qualifiers beingheld in Bangladesh were crucial for the future ofwomen cricket in Pakistan as in this tournamentthe fate of the team had to be decided.

All the teams ranked between 5th to 10th areparticipating in this event including the AsianCricket Council teams which have done well inthe past in ACC tournaments.

Although West Indies and Sri Lanka are theparticipants of the tournament but they have al-ready qualified for the ICC World T20, 2012 tobe held in Sri Lanka because West Indies toppedthe ICC Women’s Cricket Challenge tournamentand Sri Lanka got the automatic qualification asof the hosting right of the ICC World T20, 2012.

Pakistan thrash Netherlands to qualify for women’s world cup

dhaKa: Pakistan players celebrate their victory over the Netherlands.

S. PERVEz QAISERStatS Corner

abU dhabi: Shahid afridi (C) walks with teammates Umar akmal (l) and Sohail tanvir during a practice session. AFP


sports 19wednesday, 23 November, 2011

DUBAIAfp

INTeRNATIONAL Cricket Coun-cil chief executive haroon Lorgatis to stand down from the posi-tion on June 30, 2012, the ICC

announced on Tuesday. The 51-year-old former South Africa first-classcricketer, took over as ICC chief execu-tive in 2008 and already has a one-yearextension, but he has made it clear hedoes not want another one.

“Lorgat has informed the ICC nom-inations committee, chaired by ICCPresident Sharad Pawar, that he willnot seek to renew his term of officewhich expires on 30 June 2012,” said aICC press release.

Lorgat will step down after the 2012annual conference of cricket’s govern-ing body scheduled in Kuala Lumpur inJune after agreeing to only one year ex-tension despite being offered anotherthree year term.

Lorgat said he wants to leave thepost after the successful hosting of this

year’s World Cup.“My sense is to step aside after hav-

ing delivered a successful ICC WorldCup and the new global ICC strategywhich is now in place,” Lorgat wasquoted as saying inthe release.

The World Cupstaged in India, SriLanka andBangladesh waswon by India inApril.

Lorgat said theICC had also dealtwith the importantissue of illegalspot-fixing in thesport during histenure.

“We had to pro-tect the integrity ofthe game andrestoring the repu-tation and image ofthe ICC and havingdealt decisively

with the spot-fixing issues, delivered ahighly successful World Cup andadopted a new global strategy, I feel thetime is right to move on.”

Pakistani players Salman Butt, Mo-hammad Asif andMohammad Aamerwere sent to prisonfor their roles in theillegal betting scamwhich marred theLord’s Test againstengland last year.

Lorgat said hebelieves he has hasleft a legacy for pos-terity.

“I am hopefulthat the independ-ent governance re-view currently inprogress and due tobe published afterthe next Boardmeeting would findacceptable out-comes and thereby

leave a legacy for future generations,”he said.

“Overall I feel personally satisfiedwith having successfully led the ICCthrough some difficult issues.”

The ICC nominations committeehas decided to engage an executive re-cruitment agency to advertise and iden-tify a successor to Lorgat. Therecruitment process will be managed bythe ICC Vice-President, Alan Isaac.

ICC president Sharad Pawar laudedLorgat’s contribution.

“Lorgat has steered the ICC throughsome tricky situations, such as the loca-tion of the ICC headquarters in Dubai,the response to the Lahore attack (onthe Sri Lankan team in 2009), severaldoping issues, the recent spot-fixinghearings and the highly successful ICCCricket World Cup 2011.

“I am satisfied that his contributionto the ICC and to cricket leaves us in asolid position. The game owes Lorgat adebt of gratitude for his good leader-ship,” said Pawar, who will also be re-placed by Isaac in June 2012.

Lorgat to leave ICC chief executive post misbah wantsto have a goat india

ABU DHABIAfp

Pakistan captain Misbah-ul haq ex-pressed his hope Tuesday that there couldsoon be a resumption of Test matches be-tween his country and India, stalled afterthe terrorists attacks on Mumbai in 2008.“Of course, we’d like to play againstIndia,” Misbah said. “It’s a very importantseries for both players and fans.”“It’s always good fun to play in these con-tests. The interest is high, I hope it hap-pens because for all fans and players it isa good occasion.” Pakistan Cricket Boardchairman Zaka Ashraf is due to meetNarayan Srinivasan, his counterpart inIndia’s Board of Control for Cricket inIndia, in Chennai early next month to dis-cuss the possibility of a resumption of tiessooner than later. Both countries areslated to play in International CricketCouncil (ICC) Future Tours Programmebut are hard pressed to find a slot becauseof India’s hectic schedule.Misbah, speaking here ahead of Pak-istan’s fifth and final one-day interna-tional against Sri Lanka on Wednesdaywith an unassailable 3-1 lead, said thecurrent Pakistan team was more maturethan the one which lost to India in theCricket ODI World Cup semi-final inMarch. “That World Cup team wasn’t sodifferent to this side, maybe one or twochanges,” he said. “That also had team-work and commitment in it.

razzaq a doubtfor b’desh tour

ABU DHABIAfp

Allrounder Abdul Razzaq was Tuesdayruled out of Pakistan’s two last matchesagainst Sri Lanka, throwing into doubt hisparticipation in the tour of Bangladeshstarting next week.The 31-year-old injured his shoulder dur-ing the third day-night internationalagainst Sri Lanka in Dubai on Friday andmissed out on the fourth match in Shar-jah two days later.“Razzaq has injured his shoulder and willbe returning home,” assistant managerNaushad Ali told AFP. “he will undergorehabilitation in the academy in Lahore.”Pakistan lead the ODI series 3-1 ahead ofthe fifth and final match in Abu Dhabi onWednesday. The teams also play aTwenty20 here on Friday.The Pakistan team are scheduled to thenplay a Twenty20 international againstBangladesh on November 29, and go onto also play three one-day internationalsand two Tests there.Razzaq has so far played 46 Tests, 265one-day internationals and 26 Twenty20sin a career that started in 1995.Dropped after the World Cup for his poorperformance, Razzaq scored 11 and threeand took two wickets in the three matcheshe played against Sri Lanka, and a re-placement will be called up should he notbe able to make the tour.

Jayawardene tomiss fifth odiaBU dHaBI: Injured middle-orderbatsman Mahela Jayawardene has beenruled out of Sri Lanka’s last two matchesagainst Pakistan and returned home,team manager Anura Tennekoon said onTuesday. The 34-year-old batsman hit ahalf century in his team’s 26-run defeat inthe fourth match in Sharjah on Sunday,but played in some discomfort after injur-ing his knee. Tennekoon said Jayawar-dene has returned home to regain fitnessahead of next month’s tour of SouthAfrica. “After Sunday’s game Mahela’s in-jury got worse so he has returned home,”Tennekoon told AFP. “Chamara Silva wasbrought in as cover.”Pakistan has an unassailable 3-1 lead inthe one-day series with the fifth and finalmatch to be played on Wednesday. Afp

LAHOREStAff RepoRt

Pakistan blind cricket team outplayedIndia by 127 runs in the 1st ODI of thethree-match series at Islamabad’s Shal-imar Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

India won the toss and put Pakistaninto bat. India got early breakthroughwhen Masood Jan was run out afterscoring eight runs. Then MuhammadJamil and Muhammad Zafar Iqbal,who was later named the man of thematch, built the innings slowly andsteadily. After the 10th over, bothchanged their gears and hammered In-dian bowlers around the park. The pairadded 256 runs for the second wicketand completed their centuries in theway. Muhammad Jameel was caughtafter scoring 116 runs while Muham-mad Zafar was bowled by Vikas after

scoring 142 runs. Anees chipped inwith 61 runs not out. Mahendra andShekhar Naik took one wicket each.

India in reply lost their way when in-form batsman Parakash was bowled byAbdul Razzaq on the first ball of the in-nings. Thereafter, Pakistan curtailed In-dian scoring rate and restricted them to285 runs for eight in stipulated 40 overs.Ganesh was the top scorer with 69 andShekar Naik remained not out on 67runs. Abdul Razzaq and MuhammadWaqas took 2 wickets each whileMuhammad Idrees claimed 1 wicket.

Pakistan won by 127 runsPakistan now lead the Brien holden

Vision Pakistan-India ODI series by 1-0.Rehman Malik, Federal Minister of Inte-rior was the chief guest of the occasionand distributed prizes among the players.The 2nd ODI of the series will be playedon November 24 at the same venue.

Pakistan blinds down india again

Nadal, ferrer namedin Spain’s davis Cup final team

MADRIDAfp

World number two Rafael Nadal willheadline Spain’s team for next month’sDavis Cup final against Argentina along-side David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez andFernando Verdasco, the Spanish tennisfederation announced Tuesday.“Pending Rafael Nadal and David Fer-rer’s participation in the Master’s Cupbeing played this week in London, therest of the team will gather in Seville nextFriday to start training on the Saturday,”the federation said in a statement.The quartet named for the final are un-changed from the team that thrashedFrance 4-1 in the semi-finals in Cordobain September.As well as the top four named by teamskipper Alberto Costa to play, MarcelGranollers will be in the team and MarcLopez will accompany them for practice,the Royal Spanish Tennis Federationsaid. The Spanish team will face an Ar-gentine team led by world number 11Juan Martin del Potro, aiming for hiscountry’s first ever Davis Cup win alongwith team mates Juan Monaco andDavid Nalbandian. Juan Ignacio Chela,eduardo Schwank and young left-handerFacundo Bagnis complete the Argentinateam announced on Friday. They all headfor Spain on Thursday ahead of the De-cember 2-4 tournament in Seville.Argentina’s team skipper ModestoVazquez admitted last week that theSpanish, with clay court maestro Nadal,were favourites. Spain, riding a 20-matchunbeaten run on clay, have not lost athome for 11 years and beat their Argen-tine hosts in 2008. The four top playersnamed on Tuesday are unbeaten in theirsix matches together.

lONdON: Unified WBA and IBF light-wel-terweight world champion Amir ‘King’ Khanhas scooped the 2011 British Boxer of the YearAward. The Bolton star shook off stiff compe-tition from contenders such as Ricky Burns,Carl Froch, Nathan Cleverly and Jamie Mc-Donnell who have all enjoyed a fruitful year.

Khan, though, has had a highly suc-cessful 12 months, having beaten Argentinebruiser Marcos Maidana in Las Vegas lastDecember before his homecoming to eng-land in which he saw off the challenge ofundefeated european champion Paul Mc-Closkey in Manchester. The highlight of theyear, however, came against tricky NewYorker Zab Judah in July, when he unifiedthe 140 pound division after a sensationalperformance in which he stopped the IBFworld champion in the fifth round. “I’mvery proud to have won the British Boxer ofthe Year Award,” said Khan. “It means a lotto me to be recognised with this award and

gives me the motivation to strive for evenmore success in my career,” he said.

“I would like to thank my team and fansfor helping me pick up this award, withouttheir help I would not be able to reach thelevels I have over the last year. FreddieRoach, my trainer, has been a key figure inhelping me become a unified world cham-pion and I’m sure that the next 12 monthswill get even better for me. The Olympic sil-ver medallist was unable to make it to theevent as he is currently in training ahead ofhis December 10 showdown with LamontPeterson in Washington. Speaking from hisLos Angeles camp, Khan is confident aheadof a bout that he hopes will kick-start a big2012. “Training is going great and I feelready to do the business on December 10.Lamont Peterson is a tough opponent andis a fighter with a very big heart, whichshowed in his comeback against VictorOrtiz,” Khan said. AGeNCIeS

Amir named fighter of the year

LAHOREStAff RepoRt

President Pakistan hockey FederationQasim Zia will contest the election of Pres-ident Pakistan Olympic Association beingheld next March, a TV channel claimed onTuesday.

"Qasim has taken the decision of con-testing the elections of the PakistanOlympic Association,” a wire agencyclaimed Tuesday.

Current President Lt Gen (retd) SyedArif hassan’s term ends in March and thenames of Maj Gen (retd) MohammadAkram Sahi and Qasim Zia have emergedas the likely candidates.

Khyber PK minister Syed Aqil Shahwas also reported to be a potential candi-date for the POA presidency.

Qasim, these days is seen busy in hav-ing separate meetings with the officials ofnational sports federations as well as theprovincial sports associations.

Qasim Zia to contest PoA polls two dead in indonesiafootball stampede

JaKaRTa: Two people werekilled and a young boy was fight-ing for his life in a coma after aterrifying stampede when thou-sands of fans jammed a Jakartastadium for the Southeast AsianGames football final. All 88,000tickets at the cavernous GeloraBung Karno stadium had beensnapped up for the keenly antici-pated showdown Monday nightbetween the hosts and their rivalsMalaysia, in which the visitorstook gold 4-3 on penalties. But5,000 police were unable to con-trol the deadly crush of fans --many without tickets -- stormingthrough a small stadium gate toget a live view of the match. Afp

iSlamabad: Pakistani players celebrate their victory. AFP


sports20wednesday, 23 November, 2011

Chelsea, Arsenal lookto clinch last 16 berths

PalembaNg: a view of the closing ceremony of the 26th Southeast asian games. AFP

PARISAfp

CheLSeA and Arsenal haveenjoyed contrasting domesticfortunes recently, but both canseal their places in the Cham-

pions League last 16 with wins againstGerman opposition on Wednesdayevening.Saturday’s 2-1 victory at Norwichleft the Gunners with ten wins and onedraw in their last 12 matches. “We havesome way to go to show that this is theright way,” said manager Arsene Wenger,sounding a note of caution.

“Five weeks ago we were 17th in theleague and I had to answer a questionabout whether I thought we would battlerelegation. “At the time I said no but infootball things change quickly. We areback in a stronger position.”

Next they play host to Bundesligachampions Borussia Dortmund in aGroup F showdown at the emirates Sta-dium, where they have not lost in 25matches in the group stages of the compe-tition. Arsenal will be through to the last16 for the 12th season running with a win,but they can expect a tough test against aDortmund side who won 1-0 away to Bay-ern Munich in the Bundesliga at the week-end. Mario Goetze scored the only goal inthat game, and the 19-year-old will be thefocus of much of the attention in NorthLondon, with Arsenal said to be keen toprise him away next summer.

The game comes in the middle of amassive week for Dortmund, who enter-tain Schalke in a local derby on Saturday,but Jurgen Klopp’s side really need a winto keep alive their chances of advancing.

In the other game in Group F, Mar-seille entertain Olympiakos in the knowl-edge that a win could be enough to takethem through depending on the result inLondon. At Chelsea, the pressure onmanager Andre Villas-Boas is increasingafter they slumped to a third defeat in

four Premier League games at the handsof Liverpool on Sunday. The Blues travelto Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen inGroup e knowing that a win will see themthrough to the knockout stages of a com-petition that owner Roman Abramovich

is so desperate to win.Their poor domestic form has led to

suggestions that the Russian oligarch mayonce again look to appoint Guus hiddinkin a bid to rescue his side’s season, but

Villas-Boas insists he is not concernedabout job safety for the moment.

“he didn’t pay 15 million euros to getme out of Porto and another fortune toget me out of Chelsea,” said the Por-tuguese in the wake of the Liverpool de-feat. “I have said we have set out to buildsomething new at this club and the clubis committed to what we are building forthe future.” however, Abramovich’s pa-tience will be seriously tested if Chelseaslip up at the BayArena.

In what remains a very open group,Valencia are currently third on five points,but a win against Belgian outsiders Genkat the Mestalla will keep them firmly incontention ahead of their trip to StamfordBridge next month. Milan and Barcelonaare already through from Group h, butmeetings between the two clubs are al-ways eagerly anticipated and Barca canclinch first place in the section with a winat the San Siro. The Catalans, who travelwithout the injured Andres Iniesta andthe suspended Dani Alves, are preparingto come up against Zlatan Ibrahimovic forthe first time since he left them last year.

Curtain falls ontroubled games

JAKARTAAfp

A mesmerising closing ceremony for theSoutheast Asian Games Tuesday was un-able to lift the pall cast over competition bythe deaths of two fans in a stampede at theheadline football final.Fireworks and dancers lit up the centre-piece stadium in Palembang, which co-hosted the Games, but there was a sombreundertone to the event after the stampedethat proceeded Indonesia’s clash withMalaysia for football gold.Two victims died in the crush before theMonday night match in Jakarta when sta-dium gates were opened and the crowdsurged to get in, Jakarta police told AFP,adding that a boy taken to hospital hadslipped into a coma.Games organisers Inasoc had warned ofpotential flashpoints ahead of the highly-anticipated final -- which defending cham-pions Malaysia won 4-3 on penalties afterthe teams were deadlocked at 1-1 afterextra time.The tragedy took the gloss off a glitteringGames for the hosts, who collected 182golds out of the 554 available in a bulgingtotal medal haul of 476 overall. It meantIndonesia topped the Games medals chartsfor the first time since 1997 -- when theylast hosted the competition -- and left 2009winners Thailand trailing on 109 golds,with Vietnam further back on 96.The biennial event saw athletes from 11 na-tions compete for hundreds of medals, re-gional bragging rights and a rare chance toshine on the international stage.Indonesian athletes scored memorable vic-tories in many of the headline track andfield events, while also cleaning up in nichesports such as paragliding, roller skatingand traditional Indonesian martial art pen-cak silat.The hosts also swept the drama-filled bad-minton competition, while their under-23football team stirred the passions of the na-tion with its run to the final.But the Games struggled to shake off nag-ging organisational problems, including adelay in building venues and a lack of ac-commodation and transport in the SouthSumatran city of Palembang.

Sabir sets new

record in

National CyclingLAHORE

StAff RepoRt

Sabir Ali of WAPDA created new nationalrecord in the 59th National Cycling Cham-pionship being held here at the CyclingVelodrome. The event that rolled into action on Mon-day is being organised by the Army SportsDirectorate under the supervision of thePakistan Cycling Federation. And on daytwo of the event, Sabir recorded the fastesttime in 40 Kms Individual road time trialsfinal clocking 53 min. 02 sec. 06. he wasfollowed by Asad of Army and habibullahof SSGC for the second and third places.In the second event of the day, WAPDA wonthe 1000 metres team sprint with a time of 1min. 10 sec. 92 while SSGC and Railwayswere second and third respectively.Results of Day TWO40 Kms Individual Road Time Trials(Final)Sabir Ali, WAPDA, 52 min. 42 sec. 23,haroon, WAPDA, 53 min. 02 sec. 06, Asad,Army , 54 min. 18 sec. 23, habibullah, SSGC,54 min. 28 sec. 88, Ismail, Army, 55 min. 57sec. 07, Zameer, SSGC, 56 min. 36 sec. 23.1,000 Meters Team Sprint (QualifyingRound) WAPDA, 1 min. 10 sec. 92, Army, 1min. 12 sec. 38, SSGC, 1 min. 13 sec. 72,Railway, 1 min. 13 sec. 95.

SSgC, Pm

athletico

victorious in PPl LAHORE

StAff RepoRt

As many as three matches were playedin the 8th Pakistan Premier FootballLeague on Tuesday. In the opening match PMC Athleticoplayed draw with hBL with both theteams failing to get a goal in the Agricul-ture University, Faisalabad ground. SSGC thrashed GPA 5-2 at the KorangiBaloch Football Stadium, Karachi. SSCGvictory leaders were midfielder Shahzadwho scored two goals in the 27th and37th minute, forward Asim Fayez whogot the goal in the 36th minute, SabirKhan found the net in the 53rd minuteand defender Shah Nawaz came up withthe fifth goal in the 89th minute. GPA responded through defender ShahNawaz in the 67th minute and forwardAsim Sarwar in the 69th minute.Pak Steel beat PPWD by one goal at theKorangi Baloch Football Stadium,Karachi. And the only goal of the matchcame from forward Abdul Wahab in thelast minute of the first half.

Pia, Port Qasim off to winning start in NbP gold Cup hockey

LAHOREStAff RepoRt

As many as three matches were played onthe opening day of the All Pakistan NBPGold Cup hockey Tournament that startedat Faisalabad hockey Stadium. The inaugural ceremony of the tournamentwas performed by Rana haji MuhammadMazhar Khan, President District hockeyAssociation Faisalabad, during the matchbetween PIA and Army. On the occasion,Organising Secretary Olympian Rana Mu-jahid Ali, Tournament Director OlympianKhalid Bashir, Olympian Danish Kaleem,Olympian Malik Shafqat, Olympian AnjumSaeed, International Shahid hussain, In-ternational Shahzad Chishti and officials ofDhA were present. In the first match of theevent, Railways and Balochistan remainedgoal-less while Port Qasim beat heC 5-4after the winners led 3-1 at half time. PortQasim scorers were Ali Azlan Khan (2goals), Abbas haider (2 goals) and hanifShahzad (1) while heC goals came throughRizwan, Ali hassan, Zeeshan Ashraf andSundar Mustif.PIA beat Army in a close-contested match2-1 while they were one-all at half time.


mullings hit with lifetime doping ban

KINGSTONAfp

Disgraced Jamaican sprinter SteveMullings received a life ban from athlet-ics by a three-man disciplinary commit-tee from the Jamaica Anti-DopingCommission (JADCO) on Monday. Thedecision came four days after Mullings,who turns 29 later this month, was foundguilty of an anti-doping violation by thesame panel. Mullings was found guilty oftaking the masking agent furosimide, apowerful diuretic that showed up in hisurine sample after he finished third inthe 100-meter final at the Jamaican na-tional championships on June 24. Thatmarked the second failed drug test forMullings, who was banned for two yearsin 2004 after testing positive for an ele-vated level of testosterone, also at the Ja-maican championships, while a studentat Mississippi State University in theUnited States. The panel of attorneyLennox Gayle, football administratorPeter Prendergast and Dr. Japheth Fordhad delayed their final verdict in the caseto Monday while they awaited details ofthe prior doping case. Mullings, who isbased in Florida and trains alongside USsprint star Tyson Gay, won the 200mcrown at last June’s Jamaican meet butwas not part of the Jamaican team thatcompeted at the IAAF World Champi-onships in Daegu, South Korea in lateAugust and early September.

sports 21wednesday, 23 November, 2011

watch it Live

TEN SPORTSPakistan v Sri Lanka 5th ODI04:00PM

TEN SPORTSUEFA Champions League:AC Milan v Barcelona12:00AM

NEO CRICKETIndia v West Indies Test 3Day 209:00PM

STAR SPORTSBarclays ATP World TourFinals – London07:00PM

tsonga beats fishto keep semifinalhopes alive

LONDONAfp

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga remains in the huntfor a place in the semi-finals of the ATPWorld Tour Finals after the French sixthseed defeated America’s Mardy Fish 7-6(7/4), 6-1 on Tuesday. Tsonga, who losthis opening Group B match against RogerFederer, still has to beat Rafael Nadal inhis final fixture on Thursday to have achance of advancing, while Fish faces anearly exit from the season finale at Lon-don’s O2 Arena. The result also meansdefending champion Federer will be guar-anteed a semi-final spot if he defeatsNadal in tonight’s match. With both play-ers beaten in their opening games, thisencounter was a battle for tournamentsurvival as the loser would be eliminated.Tsonga started in aggressive mood, earn-ing three break points before finallybreaking at the fourth attempt with a bril-liant winner on the run.The 26-year-old had out-lasted Fish toclaim a five-set victory in their only previ-ous meeting, in the US Open fourth roundearlier this year, and this was anotherrollercoaster clash. Fish broke straightback in the next game, only for the Ameri-can eighth seed to surrender his ownserve again to give Tsonga a 2-1 lead.Tsonga became the first player to holdserve in the next game, but the often-er-ratic Frenchman crumbledwhen he served for the set.

LONDONAGeNCIeS

Pakistan’s Aisam-ul-haq Aisam andIndia’s Rohan Bopanna wasted too manyopportunities to go down 6-7(6), 3-6 tosecond seeds Michael Llodra of Franceand Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia in a dra-matic Group B match of the Barclays ATPWorld Tour Finals here on Tuesday.

Both the pairs had lost their openinground matches. With Aisam and Bopannalosing two in two, it is virtually the end ofroad for the fifth seeded Indo-Pak ex-press. Aisam and Bopanna had beatenLlodra and Zimonjic at the recent BNPParibas Masters, en route to the Paristitle, but could not stretch their winningrun here.

The first set went with serve withholds till 4-4, when three mistimed vol-leys put Llodra under pressure on serve.Llodra and Zimonjic saved one breakpoint, but at sudden death deuce,Bopanna ripped a backhand winner down

the line past Zimonjic.In the next game, Aisam over-hit a

smash long of the baseline at set point,40/30. In the sudden-death decider, Llo-dra hit a backhand winner past Bopannafor 5-5.

The set was finally decided on a tie-break. Llodra and Zimonjic took a 2-0lead, before Bopanna and Aisam won sixstraight points to 6-2. They squanderedthree set point chances.

Aisam and Bopanna then lost theirconcentration. At 6-5, Bopanna lob fore-hand went inside the video scoreboardabove the Centre Court. Zimonjic thoughthe and Llodra had won the point, but theball dropped into play and Llodra fired asmash winner at Aisam. After consulta-tion with the umpire and the ATP super-visor, the point was replayed. Llodra andZimonjic completed their streak of sixpoints to win the 50-minute set, whenBopanna hit a forehand volley long.

In the second set, Llodra and Zimon-jic created one break point opportunity in

the third game and the latter hit a back-hand return winner past a net-rushingBopanna.

The Indian then went on to strike twounreturned serves to hold for 2-1.

Aisam came under fire at 2-2, drop-ping his serve. After Zimonjic held to love

for a 5-3 lead, Aisam double-faulted twiceto lose his serve for the third time in thematch that last 84 minutes.

They drop to a 38-25 season record,highlighted by three titles. The pair alsolost their round-robin opener to MaxMirnyi and Daniel Nestor on Sunday.

Edwards, Bravomake Windies day

MUMBAIAfp

IN-FORM Kirk edwards and Dar-ren Bravo capped an impressiveWest Indies batting performancewith unbeaten half-centuries on

the opening day of the third and finalTest against India on Tuesday.

edwards (65 not out) and left-handed Bravo (57 not out) put on 117for the unfinished third-wicket standas the West Indies reached 267-2 atstumps in their first innings at theWankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

The tourists suffered a setbackeven before the first ball had beenbowled when key batsman ShivnarineChanderpaul was ruled out of the Testdue to a calf injury.

But the West Indies made the mostof winning the toss on a good battingtrack, with teenager Kraigg Brathwaite(68) and Adrian Barath (62) adding137 for the opening wicket to give theirteam a solid start.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwinremoved the well-set openers in fourovers in the afternoon session, butthere was no respite for India as ed-wards and Bravo executed attractiveshots.

“We lost two wickets, but we havetwo batsmen who are well set. Wewould like to dominate tomorrow withthe two batsmen getting big scores. Iwill say it is the best pitch we haveplayed on this tour,” said Brathwaite.

“It’s good to get two fifties againstIndia (in the series). It has done goodto my confidence.”

India took the second new ball inthe 85th over, but failed to break theedwards-Bravo stand.

edwards, who scored a century onTest debut against India in Dominicain July, extended his impressive run inTest cricket as he has so far made twohundreds and three half-centuries insix matches.

he has so far hit 10 fours in his 117-ball knock in the ongoing Test.

Bravo, who cracked a brilliant 136in the last Test in Kolkata, was lucky tosurvive on 33 when he was dropped byRahul Dravid at lone slip off left-armspinner Pragyan Ojha. he hit sevenfours in his seventh Test half-century.

India struggled for success on afirst-day pitch which had little in it forthe bowlers as they went wicketless inthe opening and last sessions.

“It was a good wicket and I feelthere will be a lot of runs scored in thenext four days,” said Indian debutantpaceman Varun Aaron.

“One has to work hard for wickets,especially on such a pitch.”

The hosts had to wait for more thanthree hours for their first wicket, withAshwin having Barath caught behind.Barath, who scored 62 in the lastmatch, hit eight fours in his secondsuccessive Test half-century.

Ashwin struck again when he re-moved Brathwaite, with Virat Kohliholding a bat-pad catch at forwardshort-leg. Brathwaite cracked eightfours in his third Test half-century.

Brathwaite, who turns 19 nextmonth, was dropped on 57 by VenkatsaiLaxman at backward short-leg off Ash-

win, but failed to capitalise on the chanceas he could add only 11 more runs.

The West Indies openers batted pa-tiently in the morning, with Barathplaying some handsome shots espe-cially against Aaron and Ishant Sharmain the opening hour.

Barath fluently drove Aaronthrough the covers and turned him tofine-leg for fours before cover-drivingSharma for another boundary.

he continued to punish loose deliv-eries, cutting and driving Ashwin fortwo fours in an over.

The hosts lead 2-0 in the seriesafter winning the opening Test in NewDelhi by five wickets and the secondmatch in Kolkata by an innings and 15runs. The West Indies made twochanges from the side that played inthe last Test as they brought in bats-man Kieran Powell and paceman RaviRampaul in place of Chanderpaul andKemar Roach.

WeSt INDIeS 1st innings:

A. barath c Dhoni b Ashwin 62

K. brathwaite c Kohli b Ashwin 68

K. edwards not out 65

D. bravo not out 57

eXtRAS (b4, lb10, nb1) 15

totAl (for two wickets; 91 overs) 267

fall of wickets: 1-137 (barath), 2-150 (brathwaite).

bowling: Sharma 17-6-33-0 (nb1), Aaron 16-3-47-0, ojha

26-7-55-0, Ashwin 27-2-86-2, Sehwag 3-0-23-0, Kohli 2-

0-9-0.

toSS: West Indies

UMpIReS: tony Hill (NZl) and bruce oxenford (AUS)

tV UMpIRe: Shavir tarapore (IND)

MAtCH RefeRee: David boon (AUS)

SCoReboARD

mUmbai: west indies batsman Kraigg brathwaite (r) plays a shot as indian wicketkeeper mahendra Singh dhoni watches. AFP

Aisam-Bopanna lose again in AtP world tour Finals

loNdoN: aisam-ul-haq Qureshi of Pakistan (r) watches as his partner rohan bopanna of india

(l) returns against Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia and his partner michael llodra of france. AFP


Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. Printed by Ghulam Akbar, AA & NHT Group, Plot 24, Shalimar Road, Lilly Market, Soan Garden, Islamabad.

wednesday, 23 November, 2011 22

LAHORENASIR bUtt

Former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)stalwart and foreign minister ShahMahmood Qureshi kept the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)leadership guessing about his futureplans as he met PML-N PresidentNawaz Sharif at Raiwind on Tuesday.

It was expected that Qureshiwould announce that he is joining thePML-N at the much-hyped meeting,but the meeting seemed to have beeninconclusive in this regard. RecentlyNawaz had expressed the desire tomeet Qureshi after the latter hadgiven positive signs vis-à-vis joiningthe PML-N. Political analysts believeQureshi will take some time beforeputting his cards on the table. Theysaid right now, Qureshi was trying toforge a better deal with the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) and the PML-N, and for now keeping all his optionsopen. Qureshi held an over two-hourlong meeting with Nawaz at Raiwind,yet no announcement came from himabout joining the PML-N. Qureshialso held a one-on-one meeting withNawaz, which was later joined byPunjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharifand National Assembly OppositionLeader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.They discussed the political situationin the country, international affairsrelating to Pakistan and ways and

means to drive the country out of thecrises it was facing.

The PML-N chief and Qureshiexchanged views on various issues,and Qureshi reportedly expressedconformity with the viewpoint of thePML-N and supported them, yet hemade no announcement to join theparty. Later, while talking toreporters, he avoided replying toquestions regarding his futurepolitical association and said insteadthat he would make anannouncement regarding his politicalfuture at the Ghotki public meeting.however, he supported the stand ofthe PML-N that the assemblies hadlost their effectiveness and being partof them was useless.

Clearly advocating early elections,he said President Asif Ali Zardari andPrime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani hadlost their effectiveness at theinternational level, which meant thatPakistan had lost its value andimportance at the international level, ahighly serious matter. he laid stress onthe need to appoint an independentelection Commission and urged theSupreme Court to supervise the nextelection in the country. he said theexisting judiciary was independent andimpartial and elections held under itswatch would be acceptable to all as anindependent election Commissionalone could not meet this objective.

On the other hand, PML-N

sources claimed that Qureshi wasattempting to get a lucrative offer forhis group of PPP dissidents, who haveassured him of their full support.They said even though the PML-Nleadership had expressed willingnessto have Qureshi and his followersbecome part of the PML-N, theyrefrained from showing anextraordinary desire for him to jointhe party. Meanwhile, PPP sourcessaid the ruling party would suffer nofallout if Qureshi joined the PML-Nor the PTI, but if he formed a groupof dissidents within the PPP ranks, itwould spell trouble for the PPP.Those close to Qureshi claim he isworking on various options, includingjoining the PML-N or the PTI, butprefers to establish an independentstature in southern Punjab with thehelp of his PPP followers. They saidformation of an independent groupcomprising PPP rebels was most likelyto be Qureshi’s top priority, providedhe managed to grab the support of asizeable number of incumbentlawmakers and then forge a deal withthe PML-N as an independent group.They said making a politicalarrangement with the PML-N would bethe next option for him if he failed tomuster the desired number oflegislators. They said further that in casehe found no opportunity with regards tothese options, Qureshi would choose thePTI to continue his political career.

ISLAMABADMASooD ReHMAN

dIReCTING the govern-ment to explain in writingby today (Wednesday) howthe federation was affectedby the verdict that declared

the National Reconciliation Ordinance(NRO) unconstitutional, the SupremeCourt on Tuesday observed that no lawcould be made in the world to protectcorruption and looting.

This was observed by a 17-memberlarger of the Supreme Court headed byChief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry that was hearing the govern-ment’s review petition against the apexcourt’s December 16, 2009 verdict thatdeclared the NRO, promulgated by for-

mer military dictator Pervez Musharraf,unconstitutional. The court observed thatunder the constitution, no political partywas the federation. “Does the federationwant to protect the people involved incriminal cases by protecting the NRO?”the bench said, noting that the govern-ment did not fear the NRO verdict, ratherit was afraid of its [NRO verdict’s] effects.

“When no NRO beneficiary came tothe court against the NRO verdict, why isthe federation defending this stinkingblack law?” the court observed. The fed-eration’s counsel, Babar Awan, arguedthat the court had no authority to orderreopening of cases abroad. he asked thecourt to remove the words about BenazirBhutto from its verdict. he said all polit-ical parties benefited from NRO, addingthat this law was promulgated by the

president under law. The court askedAwan to tell which para of the verdict wasagainst the government. The chief justiceremarked that the NRO was a “stinkingblack law” and the incumbent govern-ment improved its credibility by not sup-porting it. he said the apex court alsosupported the government by giving ver-dict against the black law as well as othercases of corruption. Awan submitted thatthe PML-N government, through its at-torney general, wrote letters to the Swissgovernment in 1999 for reopening ofmoney laundering cases against PPP Co-chairman and President Asif Ali Zardari.Under the law, he said the Supreme Courtor any other office like that of the attor-ney general’s could not issue orders forreopening such cases abroad.

To a court query, Awan said when

the hearing of NRO case was inprogress, Kamal Azfar, then counsel forfederation, had apprehended the inter-ference of GhQ and CIA. he saidthreats received by Kamal Azfar by AbuBakar Zardari were of a minor nature.Justice Nasirul Mulk noted that KamalAzfar had withdrawn his concerns thevery next day. Justice Tariq Parvez in-sisted Awan tell the court in which paraof the NRO verdict a single word orcontent was used against the federa-tion. however, Awan failed to answerthe query. The court repeatedly askedAwan to tell where the federation wasdeprived of its due right by the NROverdict. however, Awan could not fur-nish a clear reply, except contendingthat the federation was not heard prop-erly in the NRO case.

No law defends corruption: SCg Court says govt not fearing nRo verdict, but its effects g Terms nRo a ‘stinking black law’

Confusion surrounds reports ofgovt-taliban talks

ISLAMABADStAff RepoRt/AGeNCIeS

There was utter confusion over thegovernment’s purported peace talks withthe Taliban, as both the government andthe Taliban claimed to be engaged in talkswith each other, while some members ofboth sides categorically denied that the twosides were holding any talks. A seniorTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)commander on Tuesday said theorganisation had ceased fire around thecountry in support of nascent peace talkswith the government, but theorganisation’s Mohmand Agencyspokesman Sajjad Mohmand said thereports were untrue. The Inter-ServicesPublic Relations also came up with adenial, further strengthening the fallacy ofthe news, but things became unclear againafter Interior Minister Rehman Malik saidthe government was not directly holdingtalks with the Taliban, however, “somemessages have been sent by the Taliban,which should be reviewed by allstakeholders”. earlier, the TTP commandersaid the group’s ceasefire had been in effectfor the past month. But his statement addscredence to recent announcements by theTaliban that they were in peace talks withgovernment intermediaries. however, TTPMohmand spokesman Sajjad Mohmandrejected media reports that the TTP washolding peace talks with the government.The spokesman said that after mediareports about the talks, he had contactedTTP chief hakeemullah Mehsud, who hadrejected the claims. A spokesman of theISPR said the army was not in any kind ofnegotiations with the TTP or its affiliatedmilitant groups. “Such reports areconcocted, baseless and unfounded,” hesaid, adding that any contemplatednegotiation or reconciliation process withmilitant groups had to be done by thegovernment. But the interior ministersaid, “A few days ago, we received amessage from the Taliban for talks and yeswe also offered them. We are happy theyhave realised that killing innocent people iswrong and the only way forward is the pathof peace.” The minister said he could notsay much on the issue, adding that allstakeholders would sit together to find anamicable solution.

‘Stable, sovereign

afghanistan in

Pakistan’s interest’ISLAMABAD

AGeNCIeS

Reiterating support to the Afghan-led andAfghan-owned peace process, PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Tuesdaysaid an independent, prosperous, stableand sovereign Afghanistan was inPakistan’s interest. however, heemphasised that Pakistan did not want anAfghan solution that could destabilisePakistan as was the case last time whenthree million Afghan refugees took shelterin Pakistan and were still in the country.Talking to a five-member UK delegationled by National Security Adviser Sir PeterRicketts at the Prime Minister’s house,Gilani said Pakistan wanted an “earlyreturn of the Afghan refugees with honourand dignity”. The prime minister said anAfghan delegation would soon visitPakistan, adding that the governmentwould extend full cooperation in theinvestigation of the murder of ProfessorBurhanuddin Rabbani, who was a greatfriend of Pakistan and said his murderwas a setback to the peace process. Themeeting, part of the enhanced strategicdialogue between Pakistan and the UK,also discussed other componentsincluding counterterrorism cooperation,trade and commerce relations, financialmacro economic stabilization,development assistance and culturalcooperation. Meanwhile, in a separatemeeting with the UK delegation, PresidentAsif Ali Zardari urged the need forenhancing strategic and cooperative tiesbetween the two countries on sharedinterests and mutual respect.

india accuses iSi of

continued support

to terrorist outfitsNEW DELHI

AGeNCIeS

India alleged on Tuesday that Pakistan’sInter-Services Intelligence (ISI) continued tosupport various terrorist outfits in order tospread violence in India. “... As per availableintelligence inputs, Pakistan-based terroristoutfits, particularly Lashkar-e-Taiba (LT),Jaish-e-Mohammed, hizbul Mujahideenetc., continue to receive support from ISI,”Indian Minister of State for home JitendraSingh told the Lok Sabha in a written reply,reported PTI. he said the Indian governmentwas committed to combating terrorism,extremism and separatism in all its formsand manifestations as no cases, genuine orimaginary, could justify terrorism. Thegovernment, he said, had taken variousmeasures in this regard. Replying to anotherquestion, the minister said according toavailable information, investigation intoterrorism related cases by state police forcesand disclosures of arrested persons revealednames of a few terrorist elements in Biharhaving links with the LT. “On the basis ofinputs, four LT operatives of Bihar wereidentified and arrested between 2004 and2009,” he said. SPY MOdUleS: Singh also told the LokSabha a total of 46 Pakistan-backed spymodules were busted by the security forcessince 2008 in the country. however, Singhsaid, no cases of espionage specifically bypeople working in foreign companies hadbeen reported.

govt mulling candidates

to replace haqqaniISLAMABAD

StAff RepoRt

With husain haqqani finally resigning asPakistan’s ambassador to Washington onTuesday, the government has started toconsider who will replace him, and alongwith Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir,another important figure being consideredfor the important position is former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief General (r)ehsanul haq. Until the decision is finalised,Pakistan’s Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM)in Washington Iffat Gardezi will be theacting ambassador. Also among thecandidates for the position are former armychief General (r) Jehangir Karamat andformer ambassador Dr Maleeha Lodhi,Dunya News reported. Pakistan’sAmbassador to Brussels Jalil Abbas Jilani,Ambassador to Kabul Muhammad Sadiq,and hussain haroon, the country’spermanent representative at the UnitedNations, are also being considered for theposition. A Pakistani diplomat who askednot to be named said the decision on the newenvoy to Washington would be made inconsultation with military leaders and itcould take some time, keeping in view theimportance of the office and the current stateof relations between Pakistan and the US.

After meeting Nawaz,Qureshi leaves ‘N’ guessing

lAHoRe: pakistan Muslim league-Nawaz (pMl-N) president Nawaz Sharif talks to former foreign minister Shah MehmoodQureshi during a meeting on tuesday. onLine


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