E-paper Pakistan Today 3rd December, 2012

g Decision follows recent successful talks with Afghan foreign minister g Pakistan willing to play facilitator for Afghan reconciliation, but won’t extend any guarantee for success

4 more MQMMNAs resignover dual nationality

KARACHIStAff RePoRt

Four of the six MPAs of Sindh Assembly whoresigned on Saturday over the dualnationality issue were again given ministries

on Sunday, as MQM’s four more MNAsresigned from their NA seats onSunday. The latest resignations camefrom Haider Abbas Rizvi, Tayyab

Hussain, Nadeem Ahsan and FauziaIjaz. They had submitted resignationson November 29 that were acceptedon Sunday. Those who resigned onSaturday were MQM’s RazaHaroon, Mohammad Ali Shah,

Askari Taqvi and Abdul MoeedSiddiqui, and PPP’s Murad Ali Shahand Sadiq Memon. The lawmakersapparently resigned after failing tofile affidavits with the ElectionCommission of Pakistan to provethey did not have dual nationalities.However, Raza Haroon wasappointed Sindh CM’s adviser, whileHaider Abbas Rizvi and MohammadAli Shah have been made the Sindh

CM’s special assistants. Also, PPP’sSadiq Memon and Murad Ali Shah

were again sworn in as ministers alongwith Khawaja Izhar of the MQM. They

resigning members were appointed underArticle 130, which allows a chief minister to

nominate whomsoever he wishes as aminister for six months, even if he is not anelected lawmaker. The assistants andadvisers have all been allowed powers equalto that of a minister. Such a precedent wasset in the case of Interior Minister RehmanMalik, who was appointed an adviser to thePM after being declared ineligible by theSupreme Court. On Saturday, six SindhAssembly members sent their resignationsto the speaker after failing to file affidavitswith the Election Commission of Pakistan toprove they did not have dual nationalities.Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khanadministered the oaths at Governor’s House.

CoNtINuED oN PagE 04

Monday, 3 December, 2012 Muharram 18, 1434Rs 15.00 Vol III No 156 19 Pages Islamabad — Peshawar Edition

PAGE |19PAGE |03

National Assembly’slast session may not be the least

PTI may consider alliance with parties

not in parliamentPAGE |04

Pakistani becomesworld snooker champion

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

PAKISTAN may release MullahAbdul Ghani Baradar, thedeputy of Taliban supremecommander Mullah Omar, soonin the wake of recently

concluded successful talks with AfghanForeign Minister Zalmai Rassoul.It was during the visit of Rassoul on Fridaythat Pakistan agreed to free more Talibanprisoners in the future.The move by Islamabad is being seen as asignificant development to impress uponthe Taliban to become part of the peaceand reconciliation process with the Afghangovernment as well as the United States.Pakistan’s decision about the release ofmore Taliban leaders was announced in ajoint Pak-Afghan statement released bythe Pakistani Foreign Ministry at the endof Afghan foreign minister’s visit toIslamabad, but it did not give any detailson when the prisoners would be releasedor about their identity. There was also noword in the statement about the fate ofMullah Baradar, whose freedom is beingdemanded by Kabul for months now.Baradar was arrested in Pakistan in 2010.Before the fresh decision on Talibanprisoners, Pakistan had released around 10Taliban prisoners, a move that waswelcomed by Kabul as a positive first stepand also an indication that Islamabad wassupportive of the Afghan peace process.“Now that we have a successful visit byForeign Minister Rassoul to Islamabadand his productive talks with Pakistanileaders, it is expected that Mullah Baradarwill be set free soon. Also we may see someother Taliban leaders being set free by

Islamabad,” said a diplomatic source,seeking anonymity.Pakistan and Afghanistan have also setup a commission to look into the issueof prisoners and this body will start itswork soon to expedite the wholeprocess.The source said Afghanistanalso wanted Pakistan to play a roleof a “bridge” to reach out to variousTaliban groups such as theHaqqani network, allegedlybased in North Waziristan andcurrently the most powerfulmilitant organisationassociated with the MullahOmar-led Taliban.He said Pakistan waswilling to play a role of afacilitator when it came tothe Afghan reconciliationprocess, but it would notextend any guaranteeabout its success.“To expect that Pakistanhas full control over theTaliban is naïve, butIslamabad can use its ‘goodoffices’ for the success of thepeace process in Afghanistan,”he said. A Pakistani official,however, declined to commenton the early release of Baradar,but said Pakistan was willing toplay its due role and take allpossible steps for the peace andstability in Afghanistan.“We support the Afghan-ledpeace process and we willcontinue with that and Islamabadis willing to do whatever it can inthis regard,” he said, while askingnot to be named.

Baradar maywalk free soon!

KARACHIINP

The engine of an Islamabad-boundPakistan International Airlines (PIA) flightcaught fire just before take off on Sunday. According to reports, the flight PK-308was on the taxiway when the fire brokeout in one of its engines and the planewas stopped before take off. Declaring emergency, the Civil AviationAuthority (CAA) cancelled the flight.Rescue teams were sent in to bring thefire under control and evacuate thepassengers. A private TV channel saidthat Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP)Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, LawMinister Moula Bakhsh Chandio andseveral parliamentarians were on board.After the incident, the CJP summonedthe senior-most officer of the PIA.

Defence Minister Naveed Qamar has alsoconvened an emergency meeting of thePIA management in Islamabad onMonday. In an interview, Chandio saidthe passengers were made to remain inthe aircraft for two hours, adding that thecondition of several passengersdeteriorated after the incident. He saidthe incident was “inefficiency andmismanagement” on the part of the PIA. Memberof the

National Assembly (MNA) Yusuf Talpursaid he would raise the issue during thenext session of the National Assembly. Hecalled for replacement of old aircraft. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)MNA Shireen Arshad said the aircraft’sdoors were locked, and as a result she andsome other passengers suffocated. Shesaid they kept sitting in the plane for twohours without oxygen. She said thegovernment should take serious notice ofthe incident. Federal Secretary for Production GulMohammad Rind said that passengers werenot even supplied water. He said people

were crying in the aircraft and vowed neverto travel with the PIA in future. no fire:The airline later said that the flighthad been called off due to “technical reasons”.Meanwhile, CAA Spokesman PervezGeorge denied that the aircraft’s enginehad caught fire. He said the scheduled timeof PK-308 (Karachi-Islamabad) was4.00pm, but the flight had been delayed byone hour due to “technical reasons”.“When the plane was ready for departureat 5.00pm, one of its engines did not start.Upon this the flight was stopped and thepassengers disembarked,” the CAAspokesman added.

According to a handout issued by thenational flag carrier, “PK-308 was beingoperated on Boeing 747 which has fourengines. At the time of departure three ofits engine started normally while thefourth engine was not starting due tofaulty starter while the plane was onground for which the captain called theengineers. They tried to start the engine.When it did not start, the aircraft wasparked and passengers weredisembarked. The starter of the enginewas changed and the same aircraft with402 passengers took off from Karachi andsafely landed in Islamabad at 09.30pm.”A PIA spokesman further said that theelectronic media kept televising thereport of fire without verification,adding that such news damage thenational flag carrier, which is a strategicnational asset.

PIA aircraft carrying CJP, lawmakers catches fireg Denying reports of fire, CAA spokesman says flight got delayed because one engine did not start

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Monday, 3 December, 2012

Hindus protest destruction of temple

MonIotoRng DeSK

Hindus on Sunday protested the destruc-tion of a Hindu temple in Karachi that wasrazed, along with some nearby homes, by abuilder.The countryy’s minority Hindus have com-plained of increasing harassment and dis-crimination in recent years, including thedestruction or desecration of their places ofworship.Residents and members of the Hindu com-munity on Sunday said a builder with a po-lice escort razed the small temple in one ofthe older neighbourhoods of Karachi, alongwith some surrounding buildings.The outer walls and roof of the temple weredemolished, and rubble was strewn aboutthe area. Local residents said authoritiestook statues and artifacts out of the build-ing before it was destroyed.One of the longtime residents, 75-year-oldKali Das, said he was born in the area andremembers when the temple, called SriRama Peer Naval, was built. He said morethan a hundred families lived nearby andprayed at the temple.Residents protested at the Karachi PressClub on Sunday, demanding compensationas well as the return of religious materialsthey said were taken during the incident.Pakistan Hindu Council’s Ramesh KumarVankwani said there was a long-runninglegal dispute between the builder and resi-dents over the land, but it belonged to theHindu residents.Police officer Parvez Iqbal denied anythingwas taken.”Every month there is an incident, like tak-ing property of Hindu people or forced con-version of Hindu girls,” he said.

ISlAMAbAD: A customer purchases mobile phone SIMs at a shop in Aabpara Market on Sunday. the government has imposed a ban

on over-the-counter sales of cellular SIMs. NNI

ISLAMABADANweR AbbAS

TWENTY percent population ofBalochistan would not be al-lowed to cast votes in the up-coming elections as they do nothave their Computerised Na-tional Identity Cards (CNIC)

and are not enrolled in the voters’ lists, Pak-istan People’s Party senator from BalochistanSardar Fateh Mohammad Hassni told PakistanToday on Saturday.

In an exclusive interview with PakistanToday, Senator Hassni, chairman of the SenateStanding Committee on Port and Shipping, dis-closed that the province’s 20 percent popula-tion, living mostly interior Balochistan, doesnot have their CNICs; due to which they do nothave their names registered in the voters’ lists.

He said that the province is facing difficul-ties in getting its people registered, especiallyin Pahtun and Baloch areas, and therefore can-not even apply for their CNICs.

“However, this would not affect the upcom-ing polls because people living in the cities dohave their CNICs. It is the people living in vil-lages who are unregistered,” he said.

He added that there has been an immenseimprovement in the situation as many peopleare applying for their CNICs now.

“The situation was much serious earlier,which now has been redressed to a large ex-tent,” he said.

“The government is trying to ensure, by in-cluding National Identity Card numbers into

voters’ lists, that only those with genuine voteswould be able to cast their ballots,” he said.

“Now, no one can cast multiple votes andclaim that his or her vote is registered in fourdifferent places. This is impossible now,” headded.

He claimed that the upcoming general elec-tions will not be delayed and the Pakistan Peo-ple’s Party will win with an overwhelmingmajority as the party has delivered a lot in theprovince.

“We have ensured the supremacy ofdemocracy. Everyone knows what happened in1990; Asghar Khan Case has made everythingpublic. The public will stand by our side in theupcoming elections and will help us win,” hemaintained.

Agreeing that religious extremists andbanned outfits are working in Balochistan, thePPP leader said that the rise in the incidents ofsectarian and target killings in Balochistan re-flect the presence of such elements in theprovince.

Condemning the killing of Hazara Shias, hesaid that the Quetta Hazara community isbeing victimized.

“We oppose the bloodshed and killing of in-nocent people. Balochis are peaceful peopleand want tranquility in the province,” he said.

He further said that the entire Baloch lead-ership will have to sit together and find a wayout of Balochistan crises.

“When our people, politicians, establish-ment and government become united in theiraims, only then can we find a solution toBalochistan’s issues,” he said.

20% of Baloch population tostay out of pollsg Inclusion of CNICs in voters’ lists will filter out fake votes

NA secretariat: Speaker keen to oblige deputationist

ISLAMABADoNlINe

National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza has givenapproval for extending the tenure of deputation and con-tract officers, all while regular employees still wait fortheir turn for promotions. Sources said Joint SecretaryQamar Abbasi of the Secretariat Group had come to theNational Assembly five days ago on deputation on a seatfalling vacant after the retirement of Najma Sadiqui. Theysaid Riaz Hussain Bukhari was also performing his dutieson deputation, while Akhlaq Hussain’s contract had beenextended. The sources said Joint Secretary CommitteeAbdul Majeed Sadhio’s and Ahmed Ahsan’s contracts hadalso been extended. Grade-19 officers in the secretariatsaid the time-scale formula was a political stunt and theNA speaker had done justice, as such things never hap-pened even in the tenure of army dictator Musharraf.

Fatima Bhutto rejects reportson political embarking

MonItoRIng DeSK

Fatima Bhutto, grand-daughter of PPP founderZulfikar Ali Bhutto anddaughter of the late Mur-taza Bhutto, has rejectedreports that she plannedto contest the upcomingelections. In a tweet onher Twitter, Fatima said,“The Tribune story existsonly in the gallopingimagination of the author.It is obviously, wildly un-true.”The English daily

had on Saturday quoted Fatima’s mother Ghinwa Bhuttoas saying she planned to begin her political career. Gh-inwa reportedly said that Fatima would contest the up-coming election from Liaqatpur tehsil in Rahim YarKhan for the NA-192 seat.

ECP to move against ‘dual national’ MPs

MonItoRIng DeSK

Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided tomove forward the names of MPs, who have not submittedtheir affidavits over dual nationality, to Supreme Court(SC), Geo News reported. Talking to ‘Geo News’, ECP Sec-retary Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan said the commission hadsought affidavits from the MPs as per the directions of theapex court, adding that names of those who have not sub-mitted their sworn statements would be sent to the SC.Ahmed further said the ECP would also review the matterof those MPs who did not submit affidavits and have ten-dered resignation over dual nationality. Decision on itwould be made as per the law and constitution, he added.

Riots being planned inKarachi, says Altaf

KARACHINNI

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hus-sain on Sunday said that riots are being planned inKarachi and ‘quarrels between Sindhis and Mujahirshave been instigated through planned conspiracies’.Addressing MQM workers and supporters at JinnahGround Karachi via telephone, he said that the lawand order situation in Balochistan and KhyberPakhtoonkhwa was worse than that in Karachi. Con-demning the remarks of a presiding judge who hadblamed MQM for being the only powerful party inKarachi, he demanded the Chief Justice of Pakistan totake suo moto notice regarding the matter. “Suchkind of remarks can harm democracy in the country,”he said.

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and our parliamentarians.

Arif Ansar says;Imperial overstretch: The future of US War on Terror.

Adeel Amjad says;Malala and fatwa: The right to education.

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lindsay’s father fears for her life workers threaten to start province-wide protests


‘we are not quite ready for the Australians’

ISLAMABADANweR AbbAS/AgeNcIeS

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)chief Imran Khan on Sunday said hisparty had not as yet decided to forma coalition with parties currently oc-cupying the Parliament; however theoption, he said, could not be ruledout for parties which had a presenceoutside the House, except PervezMusharraf’s APML. In addition, herequested the people of Karachi tonot vote for political parties who op-erated their own militant wings.

Talking to media at a local hotelafter visiting intra-party electionpolling stations, Khan opined that er-rorless and perfect voter lists wereessential for transparent elections.

He said in his sixteen-year polit-ical career, holding intra-party pollswas the toughest decision he had in-troduced, however, the decision hesaid had materialised now that PTIwas going through elections from theunion council level up to the centralleadership.

“No other political party has thecourage to hold intra-party elec-tions,” he said with pride, adding thatafter completion of these polls PTIwould appear as a true democraticpolitical force.

Khan termed these intra-partyelections a “first step” towards intro-duction of a true democratic order inthe country by eliminating family en-terprises and autocracy from politicsin the political parties.

He said following the party elec-tions in the federal capital, theprocess would be conducted in Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and eventu-

ally the other provinces. The entireprocess, he stated, would be com-pleted by the end of January, 2013.

While responding to a questionregarding the situation in Karachi, hestated that his party still had con-cerns over voter lists in the city, how-ever, PTI supported delimitation inKarachi, he said, adding that the de-cision of the Supreme Court must beaccepted regarding Karachi’s voterlists.

He said all parties with the ex-ception of one agreed upon new con-stituencies.

The PTI chief was of the view that“the ruling parties in Karachi haveformed their own militant wings.Until and unless these militant wingsare smashed, peace cannot return tothe commercial hub of Pakistan.

Now the people of Karachi willhave to decide whether they wantpeace and security or are they happyremaining hostages to these politicalmilitants,” he said.

On the Kalabagh dam issue,Khan said the dam should be builtonly if all provinces agree on theissue. “The PTI supports more waterreservoirs to meet the energy crisis,but again consensus is a must to con-struct the dam”.

Khan said he feared if the damwas constructed without evolving aconsensus, it might trigger unrest asthe people of KP and Sindh hadreservations on the construction ofthe dam.

“There is a dire need to removetheir reservations,” he added.

The PTI chief said his party hadrequested the election commission toallot his party the election symbol of

‘scale’- symbolising justice- in theupcoming general elections.

Commenting on his post-electionstrategy; Khan said that the firstthing he would do is to disengagePakistan from the American war onterrorism; adding that such disen-gagement would make the “Jihadsyndrome” go away.

Khan is known to be an outspo-ken critic of the use of Americandrones in Pakistan; describing themas a “violation of all humanitarianlaws”. He also criticised the Obamaadministration for its handling of thesituation in the region.

“We will be a friend of the US butwe’re not going to be slaves of theU.S.,” he said.

“They are losing the war, becausethey are losing the hearts and mindsof the people,” he told a Dubai-basedAl Arabiya News Channel in an ex-clusive interview.

With just a few months to gountil the upcoming elections, Khanseemed more confident than everthat he will emerge a winner thistime around.

Khan also described the situationin Syria as a mess, adding that he“can’t understand any head of statekilling his own people”.

As for the situation in Syria,Khan described the deadly conflict as“a mess.”

“I believe in democracy, I do notbelieve in these dictatorships but theproblem is there’s a different stakewhen it comes to pro-US dictatorsand … anyone who’s perceived not tobe pro-US like Libya or Syria. It’s thedouble standards that are causingproblems,” he said.

gHALAnAIAPP

Two people were killed, while a policemanwas injured in two blasts in MohmandAgency and Charsadda on Sunday.

In Mohmand, two outlaws, one of themstated to be a suicide bomber, were killedin a blast in Yakagund tehsil of theAgency.

According to the political administra-tion, the explosion occurred when the out-laws were planting an improvisedexplosive device (IED) on the main Gha-lanai Road near Sharmakhano gate in Yak-agund early on Sunday.

Both of them were killed on the spot.The Khasadar Force rushed to the spotand started investigation.

Meanwhile, a policeman was injuredwhile a police mobile van was damaged ina roadside bomb blast in Charsadda.

Per details, a police van carrying offi-cials to a checkpost in Zareef Kore areawas targeted with a bomb planted alongthe road in Shabqadar area of Charsadda.

As a result, policeman Mukhtar Shahwas injured while the vehicle was also par-tially damaged.

Police have started probing into the in-cident.

Freed Taliban unwilling to go back

PeSHAWARSHAMIM SHAHID

aLMOST all of theAfghan Taliban lead-ers and commandersreleased by Pakistanon the request of the

Afghan government are reluctantto go back to Afghanistan to avoida fate similar to that of ArsalaRahmani, who was shot dead bythe Taliban after initiating recon-ciliation with President Karzaithrough former President Mujad-dadi.

Three top Afghan commanderswhose release is demanded by theAfghan peace delegation chiefSalahudin Rabbani however, stillremain in custody of Pakistan’slaw enforcing agencies.

Highly placed sources toldPakistan Today that nine leadingTaliban leaders and commanders,declared free on the request of theAfghan peace delegation on No-

vember 16, 2012 have refused to behanded over to Afghan authoritiesand are reluctunat in joiningAfghani politics.

However, all 12 leading AfghanTaliban leaders and commanderswere issued passports byAfghanistan’s diplomatic missionson November 17.

Sources said Anwar-ul-HaqMujahid, who lead the Tora Boragroup affiliated to Tehrik TalibanAfghanistan is at present residingwith relatives in Peshawar.Whereas son-in-law of the formercommander Mullah Dadullah, whois a trader by profession, is inQuetta.

The remaining released Tal-iban personnel are still scatteredin different parts of Pakistan witha majority of them living with rel-atives in Peshawar and Quetta.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Biradar,former minister for justice MullahNoorud Din Turabi and MullahAbdul Ahad Jehangirwal are still

in custody of Pakistan’s law en-forcing agencies. Turabi is said tobe ill and unable to walk, whereasJehangirwal is in detention owingto security grounds. Biradar, whowas not included in the first batchdeclared free by Pakistan on No-vember 16th, is said to be part ofthe second batch that Pakistan au-thorities plan on releasing.

In a similar fashion, Pakistanhas also demanded release of allits nationals imprisoned in variousjails of Afghanistan. Amongstthem, a majority have been appre-hended on charges of lackingproper travelling documents.

However, almost a 100 out ofthem are considered hardcore ele-ments of various banned terroristgroups such as Sepah Sahaba Pak-istan, Lashkar-i-Janghavi and oth-ers. These elements areimprisoned in Kabul, Helmandand Qandahar prison houses.Swat’s Qari Sohail is also amongstthose imprisoned in Afghanistan.

g Party chairman urges people not to vote for parties haring militant wings

PTI may consider alliance with parties not in parliament: Imran

Two killed, cop injured inMohmand, Charsadda blasts

Two suspectedterrorists killedin Peshawar motorcycle blast

PeSHAWARAgeNcIeS

Two suspected terrorists were killed in a mo-torcycle bomb blast in Yaqatoot area of Pe-shawar late on Saturday night.According to police, the blast took place in DirColony area of Peshawar where a bombplanted in motorcycle carrying two personsexploded.As a result, both motorcyclists were killed onthe spot.Police said the two people were looking for atarget but the bomb exploded before time. Po-lice also recovered a firearm from the site ofthe incident.The Bomb Disposal Squad said seven kilo-grammes of explosives were used to make thebomb. Police have started investigation aftergathering necessary evidence from the blast site.

Islam, Sikhism teach humanity and tolerance: PM

LAHoReStAff RePoRt

Prime Minister (PM) Raja Pervez Ashrafon Sunday said that the basic educationof all the religions is tolerance‚ brother-hood and love for humanity.He was addressing an international sem-inar titled “Aaj Sikh Qom Kahan KhariHai” as chief guest. The seminar was or-ganised by Dayal Singh Research Cul-tural Forum in connection with thebirthday celebrations of Sikh nation’sspiritual leader Guru Nanak.The PM said Guru Nanak had alwayspreached love and human equality in histeachings.He further said that the Muslim and Sikhnations shared many cultural and tradi-tional values and there was need to im-prove these relations further. The mainvalue that both nations had been sharingwas the oneness of God, he added.The PM greeted the whole Sikh commu-nity on the birthday of their spiritualleader.The PM said that Guru Nanak was agreat reformer who was against unethicaland negative values present in the soci-ety.He also said that Prophet Mohammad(PBUH) preached the message of moder-ation and tolerance among his followers.Therefore we should respect each other’sbeliefs and ideas as extremism was theenemy of the humanity, he added.Furthermore, the PM said that protec-tion of believers of other religions wasthe basic teaching of Islam. He said thata separate ministry had been set up forpeople belonging to other religions togive due consideration to their problems.Moreover the PM said that the holyplaces of Sikh religion were also sacredfor Muslims and every possible meas-ure would be taken to provide maxi-mum facilities to the Sikh pilgrimscoming from across the border andother parts of the world.

Dr Asim Hussain discusses Pak-Irangas pipeline withIranian counterpartTehran: In separate meetings with theIranian petroleum and foreign ministers onSunday, Adviser to the Prime Minister onPetroleum and Natural Resources Dr AsimHussain discussed bilateral relations withspecail focus on the Iran-Pakistan gaspipeline project. The adviser to the primeminister held meetings with Iranian Petro-leum Minister Rostam Ghasemi, ForeignMinister Ali Akbar Salehi and Adviser to thePresident and Head of the Centre for Inno-vation and Technology Cooperation (CITC)Hamid R Amirinia. Hussain is currently ona two-day visit to Iran. He was also given abriefing on the achievements of Iran in thefield of nano-technology by Amirinia. Thetwo sides agreed to explore ways and meansto cooperate in this field. INP

Govt making seriousefforts to eliminateterrorism: Malik renaLa KhUrD: Interior MinisterRehman Malik said on Sunday that thegovernment is making serious efforts toeliminate terrorism from the country. Inau-gurating a passport office in Renala Khurd‚he said peace was being disrupted inKarachi and Quetta in order to destabilisePakistan. He also called for joint efforts toroot out terrorism and extremism from thecountry. “The sale of SIMs without identifi-cation has been prohibited in order to curbthe use of mobile phones in terrorist andcriminal activities. Moreover, all mobileservice companies have been asked to in-stall the biometrics system within threemonths,” he said. The interior minister saidthe federal government would extend fullcooperation to the Punjab government if itdecided to launch an operation againstbanned organisations. NNI

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04

QUettASHAHZADA ZUlfIQAR

THREE people, includ-ing a doctor and aFrontier Corps soldier,

were killed and several othersinjured in acts of violenceacross Balochistan on Sunday.

Per details, a doctor waskilled by armed men in Jaf-farabad district.

Police said the incidentoccurred in RD 238 areawhen unidentified armedmen shot dead Dr ShamsudDin and escaped. Separately,unidentified armed assailantsseriously wounded a manidentified as Mahboob inZarghoonabad area of Quettaby opening indiscriminate

fire on him. He was being shifted to

hospital when he succumbedto his injuries.

Meanwhile, a personnelof Frontier Corps Balochistanwas killed and three peoplewere injured in landmine andbomb blasts in Dera MuradJamali tehsil and Kalat dis-trict. According to police, asecurity man was killed in alandmine blast in DeraMurad Jamali tehsil ofNaseerabad district, 400 kilo-metres away from Quetta.

They said unidentifiedmen had laid a landmine inKatro area that explodedwhen a FC soldier SherMuhammad stepped on it. Hedied at a hospital while being

administered first aid.In another incident, two

men were injured in a blast inBabu Mohalla area of Kalatdistrict.

Police said the explosiveswere planted close to the out-side the wall of NADRA officein Babu Mohalla near thedeputy commissioner’s office.Two passers-by were injuredwhen the bomb exploded.

The NADRA office wasalso badly damaged in theblast. Also on Sunday,unidentified armed men firedtwo rockets at a team of work-ers busy in exploring oil andgas in Soman area of Barkan.

However, no loss of life ordamage to property was re-ported.

HYDeRABADAPP

The Federal Minister for Parliamen-tary Affairs Moula Bux Chandiostated the government of PakistanPeoples’ Party (PPP) will bury theissue of Kalabagh dam once and for-ever. While addressing a press con-ference at the Cirucit House onSunday, the federal minister saidthe time for raking up the buried

issue of Kalabagh dam washighly inappropriate as it had thepotential to cause disharmony in the

general elections. He said it wasunder the purview of the democrat-ically elected government to makedecisions on economic and energyissues instead of the court. Accord-ing to him, no political party in thecountry had welcomed the order,even the opposition party PakistanMuslim League (Nawaz) had saidthe judiciary should not venture intosuch issues. “This is a project whichhas been rejected by the assembliesof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh andBalochistan. Even the people ofthese provinces have expressed their

popular disapproval of it,” observedChandio. The minister denied thatthe PPP government was involved inany way in the Lahore High Court(LHC) judgment saying that the par-ties opponents were levelling suchbaseless accusations.

He criticised the Punjab ChiefMinsiter Shahbaz Sharif for sup-porting the dam project withoutconsidering the fact that it posed arisk for inter-provincial harmony.When asked why the secretaries ofCouncil of Common Interest (CCI)and water and power ministry pre-

sented fudged facts before the LHCwhich based its order on those facts,the minister expressed a lack ofknowledge as to what transpired inthe court.

“I don’t know the technicalitiesof the matter which were put for-ward in the court,” he responded.Out of the CCI, review plea in theSupreme Court and a resolution inthe provincial assemblies, the PPPgovernment will use the most ap-propriate forum to bury the issue,the minister said. Talking about theSindh Peoples Local Government

Act, 2012, he said the PPP govern-ment was open to accept amend-ments in the new system providedthat they were convinced that thechanges were meant to improve thesystem. In reply to a question aboutthe PPP’s position with regard to thedelimitation of the electoral con-stituencies in Karachi, the minsitersaid that the PPP’s provincial gen-eral secretary Taj Hyder had alreadyclarified the party’s stance on it.

The minister was accompaniedby local PPP leaders including AftabKhanzada, Fayyaz Shah and others.

Indian minister sayswilling to talk to Pakistan in any language it understands

neW DeLHIINP

Indian External AffairsMinister Salman Khurshidhas said that India is willingto speak to Pakistan in anylanguage they understand,may it be cricket, war ordialogue. Commenting on thegovernment’s decision toallow the Pakistani cricketteam to tour India,Khurshid in an interview toIndia TV said if Pakistanunderstands the language ofcricket, we will try to speakto them in that language; ifthey understand thelanguage of war, we willspeak to them in thatlanguage; and if theyunderstand the language ofdialogue, we will speak tothem in that language.Khurshid also said thefuture of India-Pakistanrelations depended onaction being taken againstthe perpetrators of the 2008Mumbai attacks and addedthat it was impossible tomove ahead if Islamabaddid not respond to a requestfor voice recordings of theperpetrators of the attack.“If there has to be furthermovement in our relations,Pakistan must showaccountability. Our thenhome minister PChidambaram had giventhem a list of persons whosevoice recordings wereneeded, but they did notsend it,” he said.

FC trooper, doctoramong three killed inBalochistan violence

SoFIAAgeNcIeS

Pakistan’s Mohammad Asifdefeated England’s Gary Wil-son in the final to win theIBSF World Snooker Champi-onship on Sunday in Sofia,Bulgaria. Asif, who was un-beaten in the tournament, de-feated Wilson 10-8.

In a best of nineteenframes match, Asif was lead-ing through most of the finaland was 6-3 up at the break.Pakistan’s number one cueiststarted off well reaching 3-1but later made mistakeswhich Wilson took advantageof to win the the fifth and thesixth frames to level the

scores at 3-3.Wilson made a comeback

after the break, levelling thescores at 8-8. At this point inthe match, Asif demonstratedbrilliant cue control to winthe seventeenth and eigh-teenth frame to clinch thetitle. President of the PakistanBilliards and Snooker Associ-ation, Alamgir Sheikh,termed the victory a turningpoint for snooker in Pakistan.

Asif was the third Pak-istani to reach the final of theworld event and the secondone to win it. Before him, Mo-hammad Yousuf won it in1994 while, in 2003, SalehMohammad was defeated byPankaj Advani of India.

Pakistani becomesworld snooker champion

PPP govt would bury KBD issue forever: Chandio

Elahi reiteratessupport forHazara province

MAnSeHRAINP

Deputy Prime Minister andsenior PML-Q leaderChaudhry Pervez Elahi hasreiterated his party’scommitment to makingHazara province if they arevoted to power. Addressing apublic meeting here onSunday, Elahi said the PML-Qhad supported Hazaraprovince right from thebeginning and would notremain silent until Hazarawas made into a province. Heasked the people to vote forthe PML-Q if they wanted aseparate province. He assuredthem that the ERRA fundswould be restored and workwould begin on the newBalakot city. He also saidpractical steps would be takenfor the writing off of loans ofthe earthquake affectees.

ISLAMABAD/LALAMUSAAPP

Talking to a private televisionchannel, Kaira said stealingpublic mandate was a crimeand any such act is punish-able under the law. The min-ister said action would betaken in line with theSupreme Court order in theAsghar Khan Case. He furthersaid that General (r) HameedGul should have been

summoned by the courtduring the case hearing andaction should have beentaken against him also.

Replying to a question,the minister said the Army

leadership had informed thecourt that there was no polit-ical cell in Inter-Services In-telligence (ISI). He furthersaid that the ISI was underthe prime minister and therewas no need to place it underthe interior ministry. He saidthat the timing of the filing ofa petition against the exten-sion of the Army chief wassurprising.

“The army chief did notseek extension, rather an ex-tension was granted by theprime minister,” said theminister. He said it was theprerogative of the chief exec-utive of the Country to ap-point head of any national

institution. Kaira said thePresidency in the past used tobe a hub of hatching conspir-acies but the PPP had made ita center of politics. He alsostated that media, judiciaryand civil society were free,however, the parliament hadyet to achieve the same sta-tus. The present army leader-ship has tried to strengthenthe parliament, he added.

Kaira said national insti-tutions were yet to achievethe strength similar to thosein the developed countries,such as the United States(US) and the United King-dom. Separately, in a meetingwith Jamia Qadria Aliya chief

Pir Muhammad Afzal on Sun-day at LalaMusa, Kaira saidIslam was a religion of peace,harmony and tolerance,which taught respecting oth-ers’ sentiments.

Kaira stressed the need forpromoting true Islamic valuesof peace, tolerance and reli-gious harmony in the country.“We love peace as per theteachings of Hazrat Muham-mad (PBUH) and want to con-quer the world through loveand dialogue,” he said. Theminister said at present someelements were trying to enforceothers to accept their creedsrather than convincing themthrough logic.

stealing public mandate a crime: Kaira

4 more MQMMNAs resign overdual nationality

Meanwhile, Chief ElectionCommissioner Fakhruddin GEbrahim said on Sunday thatthe seats vacated in theNational Assembly wouldremain so until the generalelections.Sources in the ElectionCommission of Pakistan saidthe body had decided tomove forward with criminalproceedings against dualnational lawmakers whohave announced theirresignation.They said orders would besent to the relevant districtand sessions judges, toproceed with criminal casesagainst dual nationallawmakers.If the accusations are proven,the lawmakers could face asentence of up to three yearsin jail and five yearsdisqualification fromstanding for public office.

Balochistan Health Department withholds salaries of doctors on strikeQUeTTa: The provincial health department on Sundaywithheld the salaries of all the doctors of Bolan MedicalComplex (BMC), Civil Hospital and Fatima JinnahHospital (FJH) who were on strike, said a Balochistangovernment spokesperson. However, the spokesmanclarified that all the doctors who are working regularlyare getting the salaries. “Out of the almost five thousanddoctors in the province only 500 doctors’ salaries havebeen withheld. These included the doctors who shouldbe working at BMC, Civil Hospital and FJH, but are onstrike persistently,” he said. ageNCIes

US-Pakistan defence

meeting today iSLaMaBaD: High-level talks between the US andPakistan regarding cooperation in the defence sectorwill be held in Rawalpindi today. A US delegationconsisting of 24 members, led by Dr James Miller,arrived in Islamabad on Sunday to participate in thesession. The Pakistani delegation will be headed byDefence Minister Naveed Qamar and will includesenior officials of the armed forces, Defence SecretaryLt Gen (r) Asif Yasin Malik and ISI DG Lt GenZaheerul Islam. NNI

ISlAMAbAD: President Asif Ali Zardari celebrates the 41st National Day of the United Arab emirates (UAe) by cutting a cake at the UAe embassy. INP

CoNtINuED fRoM PagE 01

ISB 03-12-2012_Layout 1 12/3/2012 5:15 AM


ISLAMABADStAff RePRot

PAKISTAN Economy Watch(PEW) on Sunday said that themajority of privately-owned edu-cational institutions were hinder-

ing the upward social mobility of the poor.Setting up a private educational institutionhad become one of the most lucrative busi-nesses with little focus on quality of edu-cation, imparting necessary skills andteaching basic values, it said.

Institutions for the elite were just fo-cused on minting money, attracting theyouth and making careers, not minds, saidPEW President Dr Murtaza Mughal.

These institutions guaranteed achieve-ment with little experience, great successwith no vision, and little considerationamong students for those who were notfortunate enough, he added.

As the majority of elite institutionswere engaged in cream skimming withoutrealising that they were promoting objec-tionable values and inequality in the soci-ety, he said.

Dr Murtaza observed that parents will-ing to spend more to secure a good futurefor their children had not only contributedto the windfall of elite institutions but alsoresulted in the emergence of a new class ofeducation tycoons in the country.

These institutions run by influentialpoliticians and businessmen had success-fully managed to double and triple theirprofits with little regard to their responsi-bility towards society.

It is disappointing that many leadingschools milked parents on one pretext orothers but did not offer scholarships orsupport to needy students as it was consid-ered a loss to business, he observed.

He said that there was a great demandfor managers who could ensure smoothoperations while paying little to teachers,by finding new ways to generate extra rev-enue in order to extract maximum profit.

The monthly fee should not be morethan the minimum wage and they shouldnot be allowed to accommodate more stu-dents than their capacity, he said.

He noted that the mushroom growthof school chains and their swelling assetswas evidence that education had becomean attractive business which thrived on theexploitation of masses therefore authori-ties need to take immediate correctivesteps.

The government needed to regulateprivate sector schools, make disclosuresmandatory and encourage them to list onthe stock market to pave way for public in-vestment which could stop malpracticeand help transform society positively, saidDr Murtaza.

‘Private institutionshampering upwardmobility of the poor’

lIfe IS A bUbble: A vendor makes bubbles go flying through the air at the lake View Point. INP

SNGPl fails to payrent for vehicles

RAWALPInDIINP

Sui Northern Gas PipelinesLimited (SNGPL) adminis-tration has failed to pay therent for 200 vehicles ithired five months ago forofficial use.

ISLAMABADKASHIf AbbASI

Station House Officer (SHO) of Indus-trial Area Police Station has apparentlybeen removed from his post for follow-ing courts orders by his Superintendentof Police (SP) and is being asked to re-linquish the charge.

Reliable sources in the police toldPakistan Today that junior police offi-cers were facing consequences for regis-tering an FIR against former MilitaryLands and Cantonment Boards (MLC)Director General Maj Gen (R) NusratNaeem.

The former MLC chief has been ac-cused of committing fraud in a businessdeal.

Sources said that the retired majorgeneral purchased a steel mill located inthe industrial area and gave a chequeworth Rs 30 million to Muhammad Ali.However, the cheque got bounced.

Muhammad Ali went to Industrial AreaPolice Station to get an FIR registeredagainst the former DG but the police re-fused.

Subsequently, the victim filed a 22-A application in the court of IslamabadAdditional Sessions Judge Azam Khan,who ordered the Industrial Area Policeto register an FIR under section 489-Fagainst the former MLC DG.

However, police kept delaying themater for more than three months untilthe Industrial Area Police registered anFIR (No. 446) on November 26 againstthe former MLC DG.

Sources said that when the matterwas brought into the notice of the Inte-rior Ministry high-ups, they directedpolice officers to suspend the concernedSHO, Chaudhry Shafiq. Following theseorders, Industrial Area SP Dr KhurramRasheed on Saturday evening has ver-bally asked the SHO to relinquish hischarge.

sHO beingtransferred forfollowing courts orders

Govt working toadd 19,000Mwof electricity:Raghib Abbas

ISLAMABADNNI

WAPDA Chairman Raghib Abbas Shahsaid that the government had aimed toadd 19,000 MW of electricity in the next 5to 10 years. In an interview‚ he said thatthe government had made efforts to com-plete ongoing energy projects during thecurrent financial year.He said that the Allai Khawar project of121MW would start functioning nextmonth, while the Satpara‚ Gomal Zam andJabban hydro-projects would be com-pleted in March.The chairman said that 40 percent workon the 969MW Neelum-Jhelum hy-dropower project had been completed andwould start generating electricity in 2016.Raghib said that USAID will help buildthe Diamar-Bhasha Dam.

182 baildarsstill awaitsalaries of last18 months

RAWALPInDIINP

Rawalpindi City District Govern-ment has not paid salaries to 182baildars (groundsmen) for the last18 months, while their contractswere going to expire on December 5.According to sources, Employees’

Action Committee Chairman Liaquatand Secretary Riyaz Bhatti said thatthe Punjab government should setan example of good governance.They said that if employees did notreceive their salaries their familieswould suffer.They requested the government to

pay their salaries and extend theircontracts or regularise their services,otherwise they would initiate protestdemonstrations from December 7.

ISB 03-12-2012_Layout 1 12/3/2012 5:15 AM


06 Islamabad

RAWALPInDIINP

SANITARY workers staged a protest demonstra-tion against the privatisation of the SanitationDepartment. According to sources, sanitaryworkers gathered in front of Rawalpindi Press

Club and chanted slogans against the Punjab govern-ment. Municipal Workers League President Haji FarooqKhan, General Secretary Younas Ghori, ChairmanChangaiz Akhtar Bhatti, Senior Vice Chairman MalikShafiq and Deputy General Secretary Arif Mito Masihled the protest. The leaders said that the governmentwas going to pay a Turkish company billions of rupeesfor work they could do for millions. They added that pri-vatisation of the sanitation system was a conspiracy tosnatch the sole source of income from poor workers andthey would never accept the decision. The contract forRawalpindi’s sanitation is going to be awarded to a Turk-ish company on the directives of Punjab Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif. The Turkish company would be paid$22 for picking up a tonne of garbage while the currentrate for a tonne of garbage is $5. According to sources, acleanliness tax would subsequently be imposed on in-dustrialists, shopkeepers and citizens. Sanitation work-ers’ unions requested the chief minister to cancel theprivatisation orders and threatened to launch a protestmovement in the entire province with the collaborationof other union members in all districts of Punjab.PrivaTe firM To Be hireD forcLeaning rawaLPinDi: Punjab governmenthas decided to grant the contract for cleaningRawalpindi to a private company. Sources said thatthe decision was taken on the special directives of Pun-jab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. A sanitation taxwould also be imposed on citizens, traders, shopkeep-ers and industrialists, sources added. On the otherhand, the Municipal Labour Union has staged protestsagainst the issuance of the contract, as a result ofwhich 1,553 sanitary workers would lose their jobs.

Privatisation of Sanitation System

Workers threaten to start province-wide protests

ISLAMABADAPP

The resolution for inclusion of adolescentsas a specific target group for programmesof Health, Population Welfare, Education(Literacy), Women Development, Youthand Social Welfare departments and cor-responding amendments in curriculumand roles of para-medical staff of healthand population welfare departments wastabled in provincial assemblies of Punjab,KPK and Balochistan.

Addressing a national consultationworkshop organized by Rahnuma FamilyPlanning Association of Pakistan (FPAP),FPAP Advocacy Director Nabila Malik saidthat adolescents and young people madeup more than 60 percent of Pakistan'spopulation, out of which 27 million werefemales.

The needs of adolescent girls andyoung mothers were grossly neglected atpolicy levels leading to the worst social in-dicators in South Asia, with low female lit-eracy, a high infant mortality rate, highmaternal mortality rate and low Contra-

ceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR), she said. FPAP Adolescent Women Empower-

ment Director Amna Akhsheed said thatthe association, in collaboration with Re-search and Advocacy Fund (RAF), hadtaken the initiative to plug policy and prac-tice gaps at national, provincial and dis-trict levels to address sexual andreproductive health and maternal andneonatal health through mobilizing policymakers and stakeholders. Participants saidthat parliamentarians were elected repre-sentatives of the society and governmentdepartments, being the implementers, hada great responsibility to address key issuesand take concrete steps to avoid a popula-tion explosion.

They pledged to play their role in ad-vocating and championing the cause ofyoung women.

A national caucus of parliamentarianswas formed at the end of the workshop toensure the consolidation of action onprovincial resolutions and inclusion ofsexual and reproductive health needs ofyoung women at national and provincialpolicy levels.

Amendment bill forcurriculum, roles ofparamedical staff tabled

ISLAMABADAPP

Metrological Department DirectorMuhammad Hanif said that this yearwinter would be short but intense.

Talking to a private news channel,Hanif said that winter rains wouldstart in the first week of Januaryacross the country. He said that coldwaves would prevail in upper areas ofthe country including Punjab andSindh.

He said that the intensity of winterwould increase in December and grip

most parts of the country.Answering a question, he said that

rain spells would be normal this win-ter, while there would be more snow-fall than usual.

He said that snowfall had alreadydisturbed the lives of people in Gilgit-Baltistan, while streams had beenfrozen in Diamir. He said that temper-atures would drop dramatically duringDecember in Punjab and KP.

However, the current spell of fogwould continue in upper Sindh andKP, he said, and winter would start inthe last week of December in Karachi.

Short but harshwinter this year: Hanif

trial survey to

be held to purge

allied hospitals of

rats, cockroachesRAWALPInDI

INP

The allied hospitals have asked pri-vate contractors to hold a trail sur-vey to purge the hospitals fromvermin.According to sources, the district ad-ministration had also directed theallied hospitals to recruit sanitaryworkers on vacant positions.After a new-born child was attackedby rodents, the allied hospitalsbegan concentrated efforts to get ridof mice, cats, dogs, cockroach andlizards in the hospital premises. Before handing over the contract,the administration launched a trailsurvey from private contractors. Thehospitals’ administration and con-tractors discussed safety measuresto purge the hospitals of vermin.Medical superintendents from Be-nazir Bhutto Hospital, DistrictHeadquarters Hospital and HolyFamily Hospital visited differentwards and checked their cleanliness.

ISLAMABADAPP

Health experts have warned the peopleto switch off gas room heaters beforegoing to bed to avoid risks of causingfires or suffocation.

Dr Zafar Iqbal told APP on Sundaythat the public should observe safetymeasures while using gas room heatersto avoid mishaps which could lead todeath. Treatment of the gas affected pa-tients was a very complicated process,he added.

He said that before going to bedpeople should ensure that room heaterswere properly switched off and gas sup-ply should be closed at the source toavoid leakages.

Jinnah Hospital Medical Superin-tendent, Dr Fazal Ur Rehman said thatmajority of people used gas heaters inalmost air tight rooms during the win-ter season, which resulted in gas poi-soning and could also lead to fatalcasualty due to absence of adequatefresh oxygen intake.

He stressed that a window or a ven-

tilator should be kept open to allowoxygen to continue circulating in theroom.

Engineer Ashique Ali said thatcombustion of natural gas producedcarbon monoxide which was hazardousto life as it destroyed red blood cellswhich maintained adequate oxygenlevel in blood.

Dr Zafar said that low levels ofblood oxygen adversely affected the en-tire human body, especially the brain,liver, kidney, muscles and the living tis-sues.

gas heater userswarned of life risks

operation against buildingswithout fire extinguishers kicks off

RAWALPInDIoNlINe

Civil Defence Department Chief Instructor Talib Hussain said that theRawalpindi Commissioner had issued strict directives to take steps againstfactories operating without fire-extinguishers. He confirmed that action was being taken against shops, factories andplazas which did not have fire extinguishers on the premises, despite no-tices issued by Civil Defence Department. Around 16 petrol pumps, 10 CNG stations and 24 buildings in Rawalpindihad already been fined in this regard.

operation against illegal occupants inFederal lodges, Gulshan-e-Jinnah launched

ISLAMABADINP

The Ministry of Housing and Works has launched an operation against il-legal occupants in the Federal Lodges and Gulshan-e-Jinnah.According to sources, three cases of illegal occupation in Gulshan-e-Jin-nah had come to the ministry’s attention and action had been takenagainst them. Residents who had not paid their rent had been served no-tices and strict action would be taken against defaulters, the sourcesadded.The ministry wrote a letter to the Public Works Department (PWD) forthe renovation and maintenance of Federal Lodges in Gulshan-e-Jinnahand Fatima Hostel. It stated that the condition of these buildings was notup to the mark, the sources said. The ministry asked PWD to renovateand redecorate the buildings and change the old furniture.

ISB 03-12-2012_Layout 1 12/3/2012 5:15 AM

low

High

SUNDAy MoNDAy tUESDAy19°C I 11°C 18°C I 10°C 19°C I 10°C

PRAyER tIMINGSFajr Sunrise zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

5:17 6:42 11:53 2:43 5:03 6:30

CIty DIRECtoRy

PolICE EMERGENCy 15

AMBUlANCE 115

RESCUE 1122

HIlAl-E-AHMER 9250488

EDHI FoUNDAtIoN 2827844

BoMB DISPoSAl 9270698

FIRE BRIGADE CENtRE 16

CIVIl DEFENCE 9262830

EMERGENCy HElP

HoSPItAlS

BlooD BANK

PIMS BlooD BANK 9261272

Poly ClINIC BlooD BANK 9209123

CoMPlAINt

wAPDA 111-000-118

SUI GAS 1199

RAIlwAyS

CIty StAtIoN (ENQUIRy) 117

RESERVAtIoN 9273614

RAIlwAy PolICE 1333

AIRPoRt

FlIGHt ENQUIRy 114

PIA RESERVAtIoN 111-786-786

CollEGES / UNIVERSItIES

INtERNAtIoNAl ISlAMIC UNIVERSIty 9260765

BAHRIA UNIVERSIty 9260002

NUMl 9257677

QUAID-E-AzAM UNIVERSIty 90642098

ARID AGRICUltURE UNIVERSIty 9290151

FJwU 9273235

RIPHA INtERNAtIoNAl UNIVERSIty 111510510

NCA RAwAlPINDI 5770423

PUNJAB lAw CollEGE 4421347

MAHRooF INt 2222920

PIMS 9261170

Poly ClINIC 9218300

CDA 9221334

SHIFA INtERNAtIoNAl 4603666

AlI 4444435

DIStRICt HQS 5556311-14

UltRASoNIC ClINIC 2824862

Holy FAMIly 9290319

Sunny

wEAtHER UPDAtES

20°C11°C


POTTerY & HOBBY CerAMICS

Instructor: Shahid waheedtimings : 4pm - 6:00pm Days : Monday, tuesday &wednesday.

DAtE AND tIME: 05:00 PM, wEEKly EVENtVeNUe: tHE CENtRE FoR ARtS & CUltURE

our drumming circle is a (free!) ongoingevent and is held every Friday from 5pmto 6pm. we are having a great time, andwant to share the good time with you!our drumming circle has children ...

DAtE: oCt 22 - DEC 31VENUE: KUCH KHAAS: ARtS &CUltURE

YOgA WITH AMANDA

this yoga course will creatively and mindfullyincorporate physical poses with the rhythmof the breath. the course will teach you thefundamentals of yoga, such as goodalignment, body mechanics, and breathwork.

DAtE: oCt 22 - DEC 31VENUE: KUCH KHAAS: ARtS &CUltURE

DruMMINg CIrCle

Islamabad 07

neWSDeSK

cLERIC Abdul Khaliq Faridi used tothink HIV/Aids was a mortal sin.But today, he educates thousandsabout a disease that is on the risein the Muslim country, according

to a report by Gulf News.He was among the first recruited into a gov-

ernment-backed project to raise awareness byharnessing the influence of clerics in Pakistanisociety and change the common perceptionthat HIV/Aids occurred as a result of deprav-ity.

With hundreds of worshippers at hismosque, more than 1,000 pupils at hismadrassa and hundreds of others he reaches asa visiting preacher, his is a receptive audiencethat few non-clerics can dream of in Pakistan.

“At first, most people were shy and somewere even offended, but now they listen care-fully. People have started thinking of Aids asone of many deadly diseases instead of as a car-dinal sin,” Faridi said.

He is the chief cleric at a local seminary ina city where which has probably the highestconcentration of the country’s more than100,000 estimated HIV/Aids sufferers.

“The Friday sermon is the greatest forumwe have. People come to pray in huge numbers,thus educating them about Aids on that plat-form is highly effective,” said Faridi.

He is one of more than 2,500 religious lead-ers now engaged by the Aids Control Pro-gramme that has been initiated to build

awareness about HIV/Aids.Faridi says two years ago he thought the

disease was a mortal sin, the product of im-proper sexual relations. But that all thatchanged when he met those involved in theprogramme.

“I was a bit reluctant as I thought it wouldmake me complicit in a big sin, but I was curi-ous and decided to attend a briefing,” he said.

It changed Faridi’s mind and now he ishelping to change the perception among a largenumber of Pakistanis who still think Aids in-fects only those involved in illicit or gay sexualrelations. “I tell people that Aids victims are notsinners but suffer from a disease like any otherpeople who suffer from other kinds of dis-eases,” said Faridi.

Munawar Khan, a programme coordinator,said that recruiting clerics — and therefore tap-ping into the most influential segment of Pak-istani society — has done “wonders”.

“People listen devotedly to prayer leadersand generally believe whatever they say. So far,we’ve engaged around 2,500 prayer leaders andseminary teachers in the programme and moreare coming.”

Khan said that the awareness preached byclerics and community leaders has made peopleless reluctant to take HIV tests.

“The number of registered HIV/Aids pa-tients has doubled in the last two years... Ourefforts are paying dividends,” Khan said.

He believes there are more than 100,000HIV/Aids sufferers in Pakistan, which has apopulation of 180 million, but that only just

over 10,000 cases have been reported.The last available UN estimate put the fig-

ure at 97,400 in 2009.Pakistan’s National Aids Control Pro-

gramme (NACP) says the country is movingfrom a low prevalence, high risk country to onewith a “concentrated epidemic”.

It says infection rates among intravenousdrug users increased from 10.8 per cent tonearly 21 per cent in the last four years, andthat HIV also appears to be establishing itselfin “other key populations as well”.

Although 97 per cent of Pakistanis are Mus-lim, the programme also involves religiousleaders from minority Christian, Hindu andSikh communities.

Pundit Shaamlal Sharma, a Hindu cleric,said he was proud to be part of the campaignand that everyone should take part.

“It is for the betterment of humanity and ahuge step towards making Pakistan an AIDS-free society,” he said by telephone.

Abdul Latif, a 43-year-old father of fourwho tested positive for HIV eight years agoafter returning from the Gulf, also said atti-tudes are changing.

“I initially thought I was about to die, butthen good doctors and good preachers mademe believe I could lead a normal life with treat-ment,” Abdul Latif said.

“Initially I wouldn’t dare tell others aboutmy disease, but now it is not as difficult for me,my wife and family to lead a peaceful life with-out hiding it from others. More and more peo-ple are now treating it as any other disease.”

nHave been recruited into a government-backed project to raise awareness

ISB 03-12-2012_Layout 1 12/3/2012 5:15 AM

08


NewsNorth Korea to

launch long-range

rocket in December

MonItoRIng DeSK

North Korea is to launch a long-rangerocket between 10 and 22 December,its official news agency said.The KCNA said the aim was to launch a satellite.Previous - unsuccessful - launcheshave been criticised as breaches of aUN ban on North Korean ballisticmissile tests. The announcement islikely to increase tensions with NorthKorea's neighbours, with South Koreaexpressing concern over Pyongyang'sannouncement.South Korean officials called the movea "grave provocation" and a "challengeto the international community".The atmosphere in South Korea isespecially tense as the countryprepares for a presidential electionscheduled for 19 December, accordingto report by BBC. North Korea's mostrecent rocket launch, in April, was afailure. The US, Japan and SouthKorea said the rocket flew only for ashort time before breaking up andcrashing into waters off the Koreanpeninsula. Earlier this week SouthKorea halted a satellite launchminutes before take-off after problemswere found during the final checks.'Peaceful purposes' North Koreanscientists and technicians had now"analysed the mistakes" of the Aprillaunch, the Korean Committee forSpace Technology said, via KCNA.The rocket will be of the same Unha-3variety as was used in the April test. Itwill be launched "southward" from theSohae base near the Chinese border,KCNA said, implying it would bedirected over the East China Sea.The flight path had been chosen toavoid debris falling on neighbouringcountries, the agency said."Unha" is Korean for "galaxy", and isthe name given by North Korea to thespace launcher version of itsTaepodong-2 missile, which has anestimated range of 2,200km. Themissile has not yet been successfullytested. There had been recentspeculation that North Korea wouldattempt another launch soon, with aUN Security Council committee onThursday warning the country against such a move.Saturday's statement insisted theforthcoming launch would be for"peaceful purposes". The test will bethe second to take place under theleadership of Kim Jong-un, who tookover leadership of the country afterthe death of his father Kim Jong-ilalmost a year ago.

DAMASCUSAgeNcIeS

TEN reported dead in Deir al-Asafir, 15 killed in Homs;fighting between governmentforces and rebels aroundDamascus continues for

fourth straight day; state TV says Assadforces 'eliminate' scores of rebels, callingthem terrorists with ties to al-Qaida.

Syrian army forces pounded rebel-heldsuburbs around Damascus with fighter jetsand rockets on Sunday, activists said, killingat least ten and wounding dozens in an offen-sive to stop rebels closing in on the capital.

In Syria's central city of Homs, a carbomb killed at least 15 people and wounded24 on Sunday, Syria's state news agencySANA said. It said the blast in the city'sHamra district also damaged many nearbyresidential buildings.

Rebels planned to push into the Dam-ascus city center from their strongholds onthe outskirts and fighting has been fierce.The army sent reinforcements after a weekof rebel advances, including the capture of

two military bases near the capital.Activists said the heavy rocket attacks

on Sunday killed at least ten in the town ofDeir al-Asafir, 12 km east of Damascus.Video published by activists from the townshowed at least five bodies, one of them ayoung boy and one an elderly man. Theother bodies were wrapped in blood spat-tered white sheets.

Another video showed smoke risingover the skyline and some buildings inflames. Opposition reports are difficult toverify because the government restrictsmedia access in Syria.

Syria's 20-month-old uprising hasgrown increasingly bloody in recentmonths, and activists say more than 40,000have died. More than 200 people werekilled on Saturday according to the opposi-tion-linked Syrian Observatory for HumanRights, with at least 43 dead around Dam-ascus and its suburbs.

Syrian security sources and diplomaticcontacts told Reuters that Assad's forceslaunched an offensive this week in a move toseal central Damascus off from the suburbs.

The army's assault appears to have

staved off a rebel advance into central Dam-ascus so far. But neither side has gainedground in recent days, and fighting contin-ues along the outskirts of the city despiteheavy shelling by Assad's forces.

Clashes around Damascus Interna-tional Airport went into their fourth day onSunday. It has effectively been closed sinceThursday when the army tried to push backrebels there who say the entire airport roadhad become a battleground.

"The Free Syrian Army is striking thereinforcements trying to enter the airportto help the regime's forces...there areclashes all along the airport road," saidAbu Nidal, a rebel spokesman in Damas-cus, speaking via Skype.

Rebels say they want to control the air-port because the army has used it to bringin weapons. Western intelligence reportsearlier this year said that Iran, Assad's mainbacker, had been using civilian aircraft tofly military equipment and personnelthrough Iraqi airspace into Syria.

American officials say that arms flowhas continued due to Iraqi reluctance tocheck flights, according to a New York

Times article. It said only two inspectionshad occurred since Iraq agreed to a U.S. re-quest in September and that Iran may havebeen tipped off about the searches.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told re-porters in a press conference in Baghdadthat there was no such request. "There is noability to inspect all planes destined to Syriaand there was no U.S. request to inspect allaircrafts because they know that this is notpossible," he said on Sunday. "We said tothe Syrians, Iranians, U.S, UN and theworld, we said as the Iraqi Government, weare committed to (prevent) the weapon ...We prevent the passage of arms for you be-cause our constitution states that Iraq is nota pathway or a seat for any similar actions".

There has been a rise in the number ofcar bombs around the country. The British-based Observatory, which has a network ofactivists across Syria, reported four carbombs on Saturday.

Violence has risen in Syria particularlysince rebels began to contest Assad's con-trol around the capital and Syria's largestcity Aleppo, but foreign powers remaindeadlocked.

MonItoRIng DeSK

Guarded by rifle-toting police, immigra-tion authorities in western Myanmar havelaunched a major operation aimed at set-tling an explosive question at the heart ofthe biggest crisis the government hasfaced since beginning its nascent transi-tion to democracy last year, according toan Associated Press report on Friday.

It's a question that has helped fuel twobloody spasms of sectarian unrest betweenethnic Rakhine Buddhists and RohingyaMuslims since June, and it comes down toone simple thing: Who has the right to bea citizen of Myanmar, and who does not?

A team of Associated Press journaliststhat traveled recently to the remote islandvillage of Sin Thet Maw, a maze of bam-boo huts without electricity in Myanmar'svolatile west, found government immigra-tion officials in the midst of a painstaking,census-like operation aimed at verifyingthe citizenship of Muslims living there,one family at a time.

Armed with pens, stacks of paper andhand-drawn maps, they worked aroundlow wooden tables that sat in the dirt,collecting information about birth datesand places, parents and grandparents --vital details of life and death spanning

three generations.The operation began quietly with no

public announcement in the township ofPauktaw on Nov. 8, of which the village ofSin Thet Maw is a part. It will eventuallybe carried out across all of Rakhine state,the coastal territory where nearly 200 peo-ple have died in the last five months, and110,000 more, mostly Muslims, have fled.

The Thailand-based advocacy group,the Arakan Project, warns the resultscould be used to definitively rule out citi-zenship for the Rohingya, who have suf-fered discrimination for decades and arewidely viewed as foreigners fromBangladesh. Muslims in Sin Thet Mawechoed those concerns, and said they hadnot been told what the operation was for.

"What we know is that they don'twant us here," said one 34-year-old Mus-lim named Zaw Win, who said his familyhad lived in Sin Thet Maw since 1918.

So far, more than 2,000 Muslimfamilies have gone through the process,but no "illegal settlers have been found,"said state spokesman Win Myaing.

It was not immediately clear, how-ever, what would happen to anyonedeemed to be illegal. Win Myaing de-clined to say whether they could de-ported or not. Bangladesh has regularly

turned back Rohingya refugees, as haveother countries, including Thailand.

Few issues in Myanmar are as sensi-tive as this. The conflict has galvanized analmost nationalistic furor against the Ro-hingya, who majority Buddhists believeare trying to steal scarce land and forciblyspread the Islamic faith. Myanmar's recenttransition to democratic rule has openedthe way for monks to stage anti-Rohingyaprotests as an exercise in freedom of ex-pression, and for vicious anti-Rohingyarants to swamp Internet forums.

In the nearby town of Pauktaw, whereall that remains of a once-significantMuslim community are the ashes ofcharred homes and blackened palm trees,the hatred is clear. Graffiti scrawled in-side a destroyed mosque ominouslywarns that the "Rakhine will drink Kalarblood." Kalar is a derogatory epithet com-monly used to refer to Muslims here.

Myanmar's reformist leader, Presi-dent Thein Sein, had set a harsh toneover the summer, saying that "it is im-possible to accept those Rohingya whoare not our ethnic nationals."

But this month, he appeared tochange course, penning an unprece-dented and politically risky letter to theU.N. promising to consider new rights

for the Rohingya for the first time.In the letter, Thein Sein said his gov-

ernment would address contentious issues"ranging from resettlement of displacedpopulations to granting of citizenship," buthe gave no timeline and stopped short offully committing to naturalize them.

By law, anyone whose forefatherslived in Myanmar prior to independencein 1948 has the right to apply for citizen-ship. But in practice, most Rohingyahave been unable to. They must typicallyobtain permission to travel, and some-times even to marry.

Discrimination has made it hard toobtain key documents like birth certifi-cates, according to rights groups. ManyRohingya, having migrated here duringthe era of British colonial rule, speak aBengali dialect and resemble MuslimBangladeshis, with darker skin thanother ethnic groups in Myanmar.

The road to naturalization grewmore difficult with a 1982 citizenshiplaw that excluded the Rohingya from alist of the nation's 135 recognized ethnic-ities. Since Bangladesh also rejects them,the move effectively rendered the Ro-hingya living in Myanmar stateless -- apopulation the U.N. estimates at800,000.

Assad’s forces pound rebel strongholds, 25 killed across Syria

MyanMar verifying MusliM citizenship

toKYoAgeNcIeS

At least seven people were missing andseveral feared dead after about 150 con-crete panels fell from the roof of a tun-nel on the main highway linking Tokyowith central Japan.

Efforts to rescue any survivorstrapped inside the tunnel were hin-dered by heavy smoke after one vehiclecaught fire inside the Sasago Tunnel,about 50 miles outside Tokyo.

Rescuers also temporarily sus-pended work because of fears of a fur-ther collapse. They were attempting toreach at least several vehicles believedburied in the rubble, including a truckwhose driver was trapped inside andhad called his company for help.

“I could hear voices of people call-ing for help, but the fire was just toostrong,” said a woman interviewed bypublic broadcaster NHK after she es-caped from the tunnel.

The Fire and Disaster ManagementAgency issued a statement late lastnight saying five people were confirmedto have been in a car that burned inside

the tunnel, and at least one other wasin a truck. However, officials said theycould not confirm the exact number ofpeople believed dead.

Executives for Central Japan Ex-pressway said the company was inves-tigating why the concrete panels hadgiven way. A check of the three-miletunnel’s roof in September and Octoberfound nothing amiss, they said.

It said two people were confirmedhurt, but the injuries were not severe.

The tunnel, which opened in 1977,is one of many in mountainous Japan.The location of the collapse, about amile inside the tunnel, was complicat-ing rescue efforts, reports said.

Police vehicles, fire trucks and am-bulances were massed outside the tun-nel’s entrance.

several feared dead afterJapan sasago tunnel collapse

west Bankcheers MahmoudAbbas after UN vote

RAMALLAHAgeNcIeS

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbashas returned to a hero's welcome in theWest Bank after his successful move toupgrade the Palestinians' UN status."Now we have a state," he told cheeringsupporters in Ramallah. "Palestine hasaccomplished a historic achievement."On Thursday the United NationsGeneral Assembly voted to recognisethe Palestinians as an observer state.In response Israel halted the transferof tax revenues to the PalestinianAuthority (PA). The decision,announced on Sunday by the Israelifinance ministry, means 460m shekels($120m) will be withheld in December.The PA, which rules the West Bank, isheavily dependant on tax revenuesIsrael collects on its behalf. A ministryspokesman said the money wouldinstead be used to offset the PA'sdebts, which include millions owed toIsrael's electricity company.The Israeli decision was announced asPalestinian President Mahmoud Abbasreturned to the West Bank from theUN in New York.He told thousands of flag-wavingsupporters in Ramallah that the vote toupgrade the Palestinians' status from"non-member observer entity" to "non-member observer state" had shown theinternational community stood behindthe Palestinian people."The march was a long one, and thepressures were enormous," Mr Abbasadded. "But we stood fast and weprevailed, because we are the voiceof these people."

Mr Abbas also called for reconciliationbetween Palestinians - a reference tothe split between the PA in the WestBank and Hamas in Gaza.On Friday Israel announced it wouldmove ahead with building thousands ofnew homes in Israeli settlements in theWest Bank, in another apparentresponse to the UN vote.At a meeting on Sunday, Israel'scabinet formally rejected the UN's decision.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahucalled the campaign for Palestinianstatehood spearheaded by PresidentAbbas "a gross violation of theagreements signed with the state ofIsrael", a reference to peace accordssigned in the 1990s.He said that only negotiations withIsrael could lead to the establishmentof a Palestinian state.

ISB 03-12-2012_Layout 1 12/3/2012 5:15 AM

09


NewsPak-Afghan govtsshould not let militants rejointheir groups, saysKP minister

PeSHAWARSHAMIM SHAHID

Welcoming the recent developmentsbetween Islamabad and Kabul on rec-onciliation with the Taliban, theprovincial government of KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP) has advised thetwo sides to stay wary of terroristsand other troublemakers. “Both Pakistan and Afghanistan mustensure that hard line terroristsshould not go back to their groupsafter release,” KP Information Minis-ter Iftikhar Hussain said while talk-ing to Pakistan Today. He expressed satisfaction over in-creasing contacts and understandingbetween the two neighbouring coun-tries, particularly on the release ofprisoners and joint efforts for peace.However, he cautioned that suchgoodwill gestures must not be mis-used by either side. He said that the Afghan Taliban im-prisoned in Pakistan might be extra-dited, but the Afghan governmentshould keep them in prison. He sug-gested a similar approach to dealwith Pakistani militants imprisonedin Afghanistan. He believed that such steps wouldprevent their reunion with militantgroups hiding in the mountainousbelt along the border. In response to a question, he saidthat his government’s demand formilitary action against militants wasnot confined to Waziristan. “We de-mand military action against all mili-tants whether they are sheltering inPakistan or Afghanistan,” he said,adding that the NATO and Afghantroops should fulfil their responsibili-ties in Afghanistan. He said both Pak-istan and Afghanistan should takeeach other into confidence, addingthat it was required for the success ofthe proposed military action. “The US has become a real party intothe ongoing war on terror,” he said,when asked if Pakistan andAfghanistan could tackle the issue ofterrorism without the United States.He said the three countries mustbuild trust in order to get rid of ter-rorism and militancy. He said theissue could be easily resolved throughpolitical dialogue.

70 Afghan nationals arrested

QUettA oNlINe

Law enforcement agencies arrested70 Afghan nationals under the For-eign Act at the Taftan border onSunday. The agencies said the 70 illegal immi-grants entered into Pakistani terri-tory without visa documents. Thesecurity personnel deputed at theborder arrested them. The 70 Afghan nationals have beenhanded over to the local administra-tion so that investigation could becarried out.

DeRA AllAHYAR: A flood-affected boy sits outside his tent. with the winter drawing close, the tent is reflective of the state of a large number of IDPs. ONLINe

JALALABADAgeNcIeS

TALIBAN insurgentslaunched a major suicideattack on Sunday against aNATO base at an Afghancity airport, killing five peo-

ple and wounding several foreign troops,officials said. Nine attackers were alsokilled, some blowing themselves up intwo vehicles at the perimeter gate of theJalalabad airport and others shot as theyattempted to storm the base, police said.

NATO helicopters fired on the insur-gents as they followed up the car bomb-ing with rocket-propelled grenades,mortars and small arms fire.

The Taliban claimed insurgents hadentered the airport, which is close to theeastern border with Pakistan, but thiswas denied by NATO’S International Se-curity Assistance Force (ISAF).

“Insurgents including suicidebombers attacked the perimeter of theJalalabad air base this morning,” aspokesman said. “None of the attackerssucceeded breaching the perimeter. Ican confirm that there were helicoptersinvolved in the coalition response to theattack.” “A number of ISAF forces werewounded,” he added, noting that it wasISAF policy not to disclose the numberof those injured.

The airport complex has multiplelayers of security, with the NATO baseset well back from the first entrance,which an Afghan official said had beenbreached. Three Afghan guards werekilled and 14 wounded, while two civil-ians also died and four others were in-jured, police spokesman Hazrat HussainMashriqiwal said.

“First there was a car bombing nextto the entrance followed by gun attack bythe insurgents,” a senior Afghan security

official said. “They couldn’t reach NATOforces and they were killed in the areabetween the first and second gates.”

The Taliban claimed their militantshad entered the airport and causedheavy casualties.

“First a fedayee (suicide bomber)mujahid… detonated a car bomb causingthe enemy heavy casualties and lossesand removed all the barriers,” the Tal-iban said on their website.

“After the attack other fedayee mu-jahids entered the base… and started at-tacking the invading forces in the base.”

The hardline Taliban Islamists havewaged an 11-year insurgency against theAfghan government, which is backed by100,000 NATO troops, since being over-thrown in a US-led invasion for harbour-ing al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

The airport has come under attackon two previous occasions this year.

On February 27, six civilians, an

Afghan soldier and two local guardswere killed in a suicide car bomb attack,but NATO troops escaped unhurt.

The airport also came under attackon April 15, when the Taliban launchedtheir spring offensive with a series ofcommando-style assaults acrossAfghanistan.

The latest assault comes as the usualsummer fighting season should be draw-ing to a close and shows that the insur-gency remains resilient as NATO forcesprepare to withdraw in 2014.

With the end of the US “surge” inAfghanistan, the Taliban have survivedthe biggest military onslaught the Westwill throw at them.

The last of the extra 33,000 soldiersPresident Barack Obama deployednearly three years ago left in September,and the vast majority of the remainingNATO force of more than 100,000 willfollow by the end of 2014.

Taliban suicide attack on NATO base kills fiveg ISAF refuses to release details of casualties

LonDonMAJID KHAttAK

British born Sikh will be the first army sol-dier to guard Buckingham Palace wearinga turban instead of bearskin to performceremonial duties.

Guardsman Jatinderpal Singh Bhullar,25, who joined the Scots guards this year,has been given permission to wear a tur-ban outside Buckingham Palace, the offi-cial residence of Queen Elizabeth, breakingthe hundreds-of-years-old tradition. Sol-diers guarding the Buckingham Palace al-

ways wear bearskin.Bhullar has refused to cut his hair,

beard and want to protect the Queen whilewearing his turban. He is based at Welling-ton Barracks in Birdcage Walk. The base isused by soldiers from the Scots Guards’ FCompan, who at present are responsiblefor public duties and guarding the Queen.

According to military sources,Bhullar, who is from Birmingham, is ex-pected to parade for the first time nextweek. When he marches with his col-leagues he will become the first guards-man not wearign a bearskin.

Traditionalists in the Scots Guard saythe allowances made for Bhullar willmake the whole company look ridiculousto tourists and onlookers. The regimenttraces its origins back to 1642 and its sol-diers have worn bearskins on paradesince 1832. Family sources said as a de-vout Sikh, it is mandatory for Bhullar towear a turban. It is intended to protecthis hair, which he never cuts, and to keepit clean. For centuries, Skihs have wornturbans in battle and fought as part of theBritish Army – including Bhullar’s grand-father, who served in the Second World

War. Bhullar’s fa-ther spoke of hispride and con-demned the bullies.“He is one of only 20to 25 British-born Sikhsin the British Army.”

A Ministry of Defenceperson said, “The Army takesgreat pride in its diversity. Discus-sions are underway between this unit, theSikh community and the MoD. The indi-vidual will have the full support of theArmy and his colleagues.”

ISLAMABADINP

President Asif Ali Zardari has called uponstate institutions, civil society, philanthro-pists and the citizens to make concertedefforts for active participation of specialpeople in the nation’s progress.

In a message on the occasion of Inter-national Day of Persons with Disabilities,the president assured the special peoplethat the government was committed totaking special measures to meet theirneeds. He said the theme of this year, “Re-moving barriers to create an inclusive andaccessible society for all”, called for greaterefforts to integrate the people with specialneeds in the productive and mainstreamof our society and harness their potentialin achieving national development goals.

He said the societies should be struc-tured in a way that they not only meet theneeds of special people, but also engagethem in the task of national developmentby removing all visible and invisible bar-riers that continue to hinder theirprogress. The president said the day wasan occasion to pay tribute to those menand women of courage were fighting thebattle of life, with or without any support,despite their physical, mental or other dis-ability. “It is also an occasion to reiterateour moral, social and religious obligationto continue working for creation of an en-abling environment which takes into ac-count the special needs of the specialpersons,” he said.

Zardari said, “We need to pause andponder over the problems of the specialpeople and how best to solve them. For a

developing country like Pakistan the ini-tial aim must be to achieve the same stan-dards that exist in other civilized nationsfor addressing the problems of the specialpeople.”He emphasized that there was aneed to revitalise efforts for providingequal opportunities to all, including peo-ple with disabilities both in the pubic andprivate sector.

“The problems of special people arecompounded by the lack of policy and leg-islative measures and infrastructural sup-port. The society must be sensitive to thespecial needs of special people and takeconcrete measure to meet them.”The pres-ident also urged the international commu-nity to help the developing countries inremoving the myriad barriers in meetingthe Millennium Development Goals withthe active participation of special people.

President for bringing special people into national mainstream

FC claims of foilingQuetta terror bidturn out falseQUeTTa: The FC on Sunday claimedhaving foiled a major terrorism bid byseizing a bus laden with huge quantityof explosives and arresting five ac-cused.However, when the details were re-ceived, the seized explosives turned outto be harmless potassium chloride.Other household items, including shoes,pulses and grams and blankets were re-covered among the items falsely re-ported as explosives.The FC had earlier said the bus was im-pounded at Quetta-Karachi Highwaynear Akhtar Abad area when it wasstopped at a checkpost on a tip off.It had said 6,000 to 7,000 kilo-grammes of explosives had been re-covered. AgeNcIeS

sikh with a turban to protect the Queen

ISB 03-12-2012_Layout 1 12/3/2012 5:15 AM

Comment10


The eleventh hour for the US mayhave finally arrived in the formof the fiscal cliff. In the after-math of the elections, the Amer-ican political system is involved

in the kind of introspection and delibera-tion that should have been initiated earlier.Raising taxes and cutting entitlement pro-grammes was one part of the debate duringthe elections, the other half had to do withthe defence spending. The war on terrorthat was launched in the aftermath of 9/11greatly expanded the powers and spendingof the defence and security establishment.Now that Osama is dead, many are ques-tioning if these expenditures and specialwar authorisations should continue, espe-cially when many believe the real challengelies in the pacific.

The matter is unlikely to be resolved eas-ily and mixed messages are emanating fromwithin the Obama administration. Speakingin Britain on 1 December, Obama ally andPentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson, forthe first time, initiated a debate about thestate that would represent the end of the waragainst Al-Qaeda (AQ). On the other hand,while speaking at the Center for a NewAmerican Security on 20 November, the USsecretary of defence presented an argumentfor why the war on terror should continue.

It was the first important speech deliv-ered by an administration official sinceObama got reelected. In this address, helaid out the broad outline for the future USdefence posture. Not only that, he pre-sented a genuine assessment of the existingand emerging challenges related with thewar against terror. Moreover, the speechprovides a critical glimpse of how the US isevaluating its performance in disrupting,dismantling and defeating Al-Qaeda (AQ).

Leon Panetta pointed out that althoughUS was limiting its military presence in Iraqand Afghanistan that did not mean the

threat to its national security posed by AQhad vanished. He added that as compared toprevious wars the US has been involved in,the present conflict was of a different natureand would require a long sustained effort.However, recognising the politically chargedenvironment that surrounded the fiscal de-bate, he went on to qualify and explain howthe full potential of AQ had been degraded.

Panetta especially noted that the AQ’scapability to wage large-scale attacks on theUS was no longer there, and its top leader-ship had been decimated. Nonetheless, hesurprisingly admitted that AQ virus hadnow spread to Somalia and North Africaand it was attempting to exploit the ArabSpring. PoliTact has particularly made thisargument all along; while success may havebeen achieved in the AfPak region, AQ andits affiliate are now spread all over the Is-lamic world. Furthermore, the hardcoretactics adopted by the western powers havefurthered its recruitment efforts and havedangerously shifted the public discourse infavour of Islamists. This dynamic is visiblyplaying out in the present Egyptian crisis.

To counter this risk, Panetta assuredfull American support to the governments

that were emerging from the Arab revolt.He went on to add that the US SpecialForces were already conducting joint oper-ations with those countries to contain theextremists. At the same time, he empha-sised that the region was going through amajor transition, which needed to be influ-enced and managed by international actors.This was the clearest indication that US andNATO were not about to let the region runits natural evolution with Islamists poten-tially taking over power. In other words, wecan expect more foreign military interven-tions, as liberal and moderate Islamists areincreasingly unable to hold the ground ordeliver on western interests.

Mr Panetta himself posed the intrigu-ing question: while the enemy has beenweakened, he pondered what it would taketo finish AQ. The defence secretary made itknown that AQ was always on the look outfor new and remote safe havens. Therefore,to counteract this, US will maintain pres-sure on Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia toprevent it from reconstituting there. Heelaborated that this would entail enhancing

the capabilities of the allies. As US movesto a lighter footprint tactics, its own SpecialForces are slated to grow to 72,000 strongby 2017, to be accompanied by a mush-rooming in numbers of drones and reapers.

Another important step towards finish-ing off AQ, he added, was to prevent it fromgetting new recruits. And, for this purpose,the full force of American diplomacy andinternational development tools would beused. However, the continued heavy-handed kinetic approaches are erodingAmerican perception as a benign force ofchange, to more of a bully.

No one would disagree with what MrPanetta had to say. After all, this argumentwas not presented for the first time. And,this is exactly the problem he is confrontedwith. He explained his deepest worry wasthat there was no longer any constituencyin Congress to continue the fight for thelong haul. In other words, and as Panettaput it: faced with the economic realities,there was a shortage of a political will to dowhat needs to be done to protect the US in-terests. He emphasised what reallyalarmed him was if the American systemand political leaders would live up to the

challenges they were confronted with.Mr Panetta’s speech presented a com-

plex message. He seemed to be saying thatthe longest war US has ever been involvedin was over, but then it was not. Moreover,he added, American soldiers were cominghome because the goals were achieved, butthe threat was not eliminated. He went tostate how the present conflict was differentfrom all the previous ones. In his opinion,the nation does not have to choose betweennational or fiscal security.

In essence, Leon Panetta was grapplingwith a challenge of formulating a defencestrategy by being cognizant of not only theemerging threats, but also the economic re-alities and political landscape. For the firsttime, American public and government arebeginning to feel what imperial overstretchlooks like.

The writer is chief analyst atPoliTact, a Washington based futuristadvisory firm (www.PoliTact.com andhttp:twitter.com/politact) and can bereached at [email protected]

Imperial overstretchthe future of US war on terrorArif Nizami

EditorLahore – Ph: 042-36298305-10 Fax: 042-36298302Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287414-6 Fax: 051-2287417

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

...and our parliamentarians

Dual nationality...

As our Parliament failed to pass a law regarding dualnationality holders and the Election Commission’sgiven deadline was reached on this Friday, there wasbound to be some action from the parliamentarian who

had not submitted their affidavits. The news and political circleare abuzz with the news of at least 10 out of 16 (four MQMMNAs citing personal reasons, six Sindh MPAs)parliamentarians, who had not submitted their affidavits byFriday, having resigned from their respective legislatures. Themove probably was spurred by the fact that the ECP hadthreatened to revoke the membership of those who failed tosatisfy it regarding their status on dual nationality.

Politicians, most of whom are busy gearing up for theupcoming elections, seem to have landed another issue at theirhands. In a coalition government, every single MP counts. Infact, in certain cases, it can make a difference in getting a billpassed or rejected. And with a setup like ours, it is all the moreimportant where political divides run across the aisle on amajority of issues, including, ironically, that of dual nationality.With the next elections already looming on the horizon, thegovernment is in no position to risk alienating whatever littlemajority it holds in the National Assembly, though a vote of noconfidence or by-elections at this time seem more improbable.The ECP says with only three months remaining till thegovernment completes this term, holding by-elections would betaxing, costly, and an exercise in futility. Who would want to bean MP with the assurance of only a few weeks in office?

Another fallout of this episode could lead to some bills notbeing passed by the parliaments. As is the case, many agovernment world over, try to rush through some importantbills right at the last stages of its term for the simple fact thatthey have to face a little less opposition then. But when it has tostruggle to maintain its majority, how would it pass any newlaw? Important political issues on which the election campaigncould be based, like the Seraiki province, may see a politicaldeath.

However, the Sindh government has countered the move byappointing three of the six MPAs as advisor and specialassistants. The legal loophole that anyone can be appointed asan advisor for at least six months without being a member of anassembly provides perfect excuse to the government though ithas only provided an opportunity to the opposition and itscritics. Realistically speaking, this was also somewhat expectedof the government. Nevertheless, it is the ECP that needsappreciation for working with a neutral character and pursuingthe order of the Supreme Court to its fulfilment.

Mr Panetta’s speech presented a complex message. He

seemed to be saying that the longest war US has ever been

involved in was over, but then it was not. Moreover, he

added, American soldiers were coming home because the

goals were achieved, but the threat was not eliminated.

By Arif Ansar

In Islamic Jurisprudence, a fatwa is alegal ruling or opinion issued by an Is-lamic scholar. In technical terms, it is

a code of law derived from the Quran andfrom the teachings and actions of Mo-hammed (PBUH). The reason for provid-ing the above very basic definition is tragicand seriously shocking in the context ofmodern world. The term fatwa has beenused daily by quasi-religious leaders fortheir own makeshift beliefs to prove theirsociopathic attitude in the light of Quranand Sunnah. Verily, the real sanctity of thelegal principle of fatwa is continuing tolose its importance and meaning.

Recently, as reported in the Huffing-ton Post, Islamic radicalists and rathercontroversial clerics in Britain have pre-pared a fatwa on Malala Yousafzai. The14-year-old girl will be declared apostateand accused for turning her back on Islam.The statement issued against Malala statesthat “If someone apostatises like thiswoman did by allying with the Americansand saying her favourite person is(Barack) Obama and that she does notwant the Sharia or hijab and wants to liveunder a secular state, she has put herselfin a very precarious situation. It is no sur-prise what happened to her in Pakistan.Malala is mature Islamically, she is notimmature, she has reached that period wesay is adulthood.”

So, as per the charges levied on Malalaby alleged attackers and these radicalistthinkers, she is being charged with ideal-ising Obama, not wearing hijab and de-claring herself pro-secular. Such hatredand cowardice can never be the voice ofmy religion. Our beliefs about Islam as themost tolerant and advanced religion ofhuman history are based on the teachingsof Islam. The ones targeting these teachingare not Muslims but the real enemies ofIslam. The fatwa should be targeted at

these religious criminals and not the oneswho are trying to reform the society.

Ironically, the radical extremist work-ing on this fatwa is living in a “non-Mus-lim country” with precariously ananti-Islam environment and very secularapproach towards clothing. The concept ofwomen education is a test case for our so-ciety. They give arguments in favour ofblinding the women from their right to ed-ucation. Historically, the customary ap-proach towards women rights in Pakistanwas based on sheer negligence of the statein showing faith in equality of rights.Women were even deprived of their rightto vote in recent by-elections in FATA.

For a radical thinker, any girl trying tobreak into this conservative agenda is anapostate and is worthy to be held account-able for denying the basic teachings ofthese clerics. Many girls in Pakistan aredevoid of their basic right to education dueto overly protective approach adopted bytheir parents. Some do not get to schooldue to social pressures and the rest ofthem are deprived of their right to educa-tion due to a conservative outlook on thesocial evils by their blood relations. Thus,females tend to necessarily participate inthings felt suited to them by “men”.

Half truth is a lie and these religiousclerics have hijacked the teachings ofIslam by telling the half truths aboutIslam. Quran and Sunnah are the basicsources of Islamic jurisprudence and boththese sources clearly outline the impor-tance of education for both men and

women. The teachings of Islam do not setdifferent standards for the education ofmen and women. This is a false pretenceset by these clowns who are misusing reli-gious teachings. These clerics hinder theprogress of Muslims by terrorising peopleabout the afterlife instead of focusing onhow to reform the present.

According to a Hadith in Sahih Mus-lim, “The best of the speech is embodiedin the Book of Allah, and the best guidanceis the guidance given by Muhammad(PBUH). And the most evil affairs are their(the misguided Muslims) innovations, andevery innovation is error.” Most of the rad-icalists back their agenda with the teach-ings of Muhammad (PBUH) while theyignore that Muhammad (PBUH) was try-ing not only to introduce a new faith butwas also trying to transform Arabic soci-ety. Many of Arabia’s ills laid down byProphet (PBUH) under the concept of Ja-haliya are so strictly followed by theseradicalists. One such example is their ap-proach towards education in general andfor women in particular. Islam gives itswomen the right to education, inheritanceand right to choose their spouse amongcountless others. Denying them their basicrights is just going to do more harm.

So, how to move forward? What shouldbe the next step? What Malala suffered inthe shape of wounds will soon recover. Butshe and her family will remain in constantdanger of attacks from these radicals. Hun-dreds of girls schools in Swat have been de-stroyed in the past three years by these

radicals and thousands of girls in northernareas have been deprived of their basic fun-damental right to education due to hostilitytowards women education. The people glo-rifying the role of the attackers on Malalaare cowards and their approach towards re-ligion is a cause of concern for us.

Creating fear, distress and hatredabout people of other faiths will not bringgood name to Islam. Our main enemy isneither the Christians nor Jews, it is us.They are among us. They know that theyare wrong but they are too adamant toadmit it and would rather sink this societywith their egotistic monopoly on religiousthoughts. They have put more restrictionson simple beliefs and have made an earn-ing out of spreading confusion and chaosabout our religious.

Can you think of a religion that wasmeant to bring forward a society sufferingfrom the menace of inequality, injusticeand other social evils? Pakistan canachieve all the glory it aims at but only bydoing away with the half truth. The statehas to play its role in educating the peopleof this country about the teachings ofIslam; otherwise, the worse part of the halftruth about Sharia will consume the lastray of hope the people have. Pakistan canonly progress through education anddenying this basic right to anyone, letalone women, will be more fatal than anyother offensive.

The writer can be reached [email protected]

the right to education

By Adeel Amjad

Malala and fatwa

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Comment 11


Lahore High Court had beenhearing several petitions (includingone by this scribe) requesting for adirection to the government forconstruction of Kalabagh Dam toafford earliest relief to the people ofPakistan from violation of theirfundamental rights by unending load-shedding and growing water scarcity.

On 29 November 2012 Mr. JusticeUmar Attta Bandial Chief Justice ofLahore High Court directed thefederal government to constructKalabagh Dam (KBD) in complianceof the decision of the Council ofCommon interests (CCI) taken on 16September 1991. The bold andlaudable decision by Chief JusticeJustice Umar Atta Bandial waswelcomed by the people with great joyit assured them much needed relieffrom continuing violation of theirfundamental rights guaranteed underthe Constitution, due to unbearablehardship of load-shedding and water,food scarcity. In fact currentgovernment had contravened CCI

decision of September 1991 by buryingthe project on 26 Mayn 2008.

The Apex Court decision has irkedsome self-serving politicos whoconsider Pakistan as their personalfiefdom. Their contention that 3provincial assemblies of Sindh, KPKand Balochisdtan had passedresolutions against construction of thedam was nothing but a house of cards.They conveniently forget that thedecision by the Chief Justice of LHCto build the dam was based on the factthat its construction was approved byCCI in 1991 as noted earlier.

Secondly, we should be aware thatKBD is a c highly complex gigantichydraulic engineering undertaking. Tounderstand even rudimentaryelements of a multipurpose project asKBD and to pass resolutions based onjudgment on their merits or demeritswithout technical help falls with duerespect, beyond comprehension of ourhonourable members of the provincialassemblies and the parliament. Not toforget that some of them are illiterate

and many holders of fake degrees.None of the assemblies in questioncalled for any briefing by competentengineers before passing resolutionsopposing construction of KBD.According to press reports, somemembers even did not know on whatriver the KBD was to be built on.

I have been associated withMangla, Tarbela and Kalabagh damssince June 1956 even before WAPDAwas born. And studied many moreabroad as Chief Technical AdvisorUNO. In my assessment, technically,economically and environmentallyKBD would be by far the best projecton the Indus. The only river withsurplus water to be stored in summerand released for irrigation of Rabi(winter) crops predominantly wheat.KBD will yield live storage of 6.1 maf(million acre feet). It will help irrigateat least 4 million acres of cropland.

Water released for irrigation willbe passed through a power house togenerate 3600 mws (mega watts) ofmuch cheaper and environmentally

friendly hydro-power as a byproduct.Electricity produced at Kalabagh willabout RS 1 per unit against Rs 16-20of thermal power paid by the people.

Water stored will be shared by all4 provinces according to their fixedshares. Water power generated atKalabagh Dam will also be used by thewhole country through the Wapdanational grid. With its designs andcontract documents already finalizedand with World Bank funding certainfirst power units of KBD ifimplemented on a war footing, couldbegin supply of electricity 5-6 yearsafter start of construction – muchearlier than any other project on theIndus.

In short, only KBD could affordurgently melded relief from cripplingagony of unending load-shedding,water scarcity and sky rocketing prices,rates and races in the earliest possibletime frame. Name it Pakistan dam ifsome are allergic to Kalabagh dam.

BASHIR A MALIK (ALIG)Lahore

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to

Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-ShaareyFatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected].

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

A moral and ethical defeatIt was very shocking and horrible to see the death

of Owais Baig during the fire that erupted in the StateLife building some days ago. When he was hangingfrom the building and was striving for his life, manypeople were standing under the building included res-cue workers, media and common people. They all werewatching Owais hanging from the window of the topfloor but nobody stepped forward and offered him anyhelp. At last, he could not balance himself in that posi-tion, fell on the ground and died.

But his death raises many questions for the wholenation. First, it challenges the capacity of our rescue in-stitutions. If we cannot save a person hanging for morethan ten minutes, how can we rescue people trapped inbuildings on fire? Our so-called responsible media in-stead of helping the man telecasted the whole grue-some episode live. And the most sordid point of thisepisode was that these news channels were showingthe whole incident again and again. One can imaginehow the family of the deceased young man could haveborn this footage on news channels.

ZAHID RASHIDRawalakot, Azad Kashmir

Ignoring verifiable dataIt is a pity that some editorials have come out in

support of Sindh’s concern that the flow in the Induswill be reduced if Kalabagh dam is built. Dams are builtthe world over to overcome shortages and not to createthem. Mangla dam was built to compensate for the lossof the three eastern rivers and brought about a greenrevolution in the country. Could it have done this by re-ducing the flow in the Jhelum? Tarbela dam increasedsupply to the canals by 25 percent, could it have donethis by reducing the flow in the Indus? Sindh got an ad-ditional 7 million acre feet of water from Tarbela dam?

As per the Water Accord of 1991, Sindh stands to get2.2 million acre feet from Kalabagh dam, can it get thisif the dam reduces flow in the Indus? Please check withthe Sindh irrigation department to see the post-Tarbelaincrease of 7 maf over the pre-Mangla withdrawals inthe canals of Sindh, also the 27 lac acre increase in thearea under cultivation. These increases did not comeabout by reduction in the flow of the Indus. In this dayand age of technology, we should speak on the basis ofverifiable data and not on the basis of hearsay.

ENGR KHURSHID ANWERLahore

Need to revisit water AccordIt is being said that Kalabagh dam can be built

only after developing a consensus. We need to revisitthe Water Accord of 1991 in which many concessionswere given to lower riparian Sindh. Distribution ofriver waters was taken away from Wapda and en-trusted to the federal body IRSA which has a higherrepresentation from Sindh. Provinces can only raise a10 day indent of their requirement to IRSA and haveno direct control over the supply to their canals. Thecanals in Punjab are already being monitored by engi-neers from the Sindh irrigation department. Sindh’sshare was increased in all future dams by reducingPunjab’s share. Equal share of 37 percent for both de-spite the vast difference in population and area undercultivation. It must be remembered that Punjab can-not utilize even its reduced share of 37 percent with-out the left bank canal at Kalabagh dam. In fact northPunjab will not get any water from any dam on theIndus, be it Tarbela, Bhasha, Akhori, Skardu orKatzara dam. Two thirds of north Punjab will revertfrom irrigated to barani, with a 50 percent reductionin national food production.

ENGR KHURSHID ANWERLahore

Another issueAs if CNG pricing crisis was not enough to disrupt

the public life, now comes another bomb shell from thePakistan’ Superior Courts – Kalabagh dam. Punjab’High Court has ordered the federal government to con-struct the Kalabagh dam; a controversial project linger-ing on for last many decades. This is the project onwhich country’ three out of four provinces have shownserious reservation.

I wonder why the Superior Courts are wandering inthe areas wherein they don’t have the expertise. Courtis the forum which is supposed to provide verdict basedon the facts presented before it. It shall not be courts’job to get involved in economic and political manage-ment of the country. Court’s verdict on CNG price hasnot only disrupted the economic activity in the countrydue to non-availability of CNG at Supreme Court’s pro-posed price, but has also adversely affected the govern-ment’ plan to reduce the gap between petrol and CNGpricing. This is to make it less attractive for generalconsumers to make it available for industries. Same isapplicable for court order on delimitation of con-stituencies in Karachi which amounts to unnecessarilyincite the ethnic tension. Presently constituencies arebased on 1998 census; if there were some irregularitiesin formulation of in 2002 constituencies, those shallhave been rectified. Court’s next target appears to bethe local government bill recently passed by the Sindhassembly. Earlier, we have already seen court’s unnec-essary involvement in memogate scandal.

This turmoil is not taking us anywhere; economicand political decisions shall be left for the concernedparties to take. A jack of all trades can’t produce a gen-uine thing unless limit himself to non-issues such asSamosa size and its pricing.

MASOOD KHANJubail, Saudi Arabia

Anathema to politicos

terror in KarachiEvery year we used to make plans to

visit Karachi to enjoy the sea sight, butnow things have changed. The series ofkillings and mafia wars prevalent inKarachi have changed the entiresituation. We are scared to go there aswe might become victims to somethieves or terrorists. The city of Quaidis engulfed in terror and the innocentpeople of Karachi are handicapped bythese mafia.

The provincial government seemstotally incapable to control the anti-state elements and the lawenforcements agencies have failed toprovide protection to people. In fact,attacks on police and rangers in Karachihave aroused a question on theirsecurity. Karachi now seems to be someother state where there’s no writ of thegovernment and anyone can do what hefeels like. People across Pakistan arehesitant to go to Karachi because theyare scared that they might fall prey toterrorists.

Everyday dozens of people arekilled, many are injured and streetviolence has increased manifold butnobody is sincere to sort out the mess.Everyone is busy blaming the other andin this chaos the only people benefittingfrom it are the terrorists, the mafia andthe anti-state elements. We shall notblame anyone as the problem lieswithin. These terrorists and mafia areable to spread their violence because weare allowing them to do so. As wetighten our grip on them they willautomatically refrain themselves fromsuch acts. A common example is thearmy operation in 90’s, the streets gotclear of the criminals, thugs andkidnappers for a long time until we gavethem a free hand to initiate theiractivities again.

It’s up to us that what we want. Theday we start sorting out our issues andstart taking things seriously everythingwill get better and life will be back tonormal again. I pray that life gets backto normal in Karachi so that peoplecan spend their lives with peace.Ameen!

SYED MUHAMMAD ABUBAKERLahore

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It looks like Dennis Quaid and wifeKimberly Buffington-Quaid havefinally reached the end of theirrelationship road. Back in October,Kimberly filed for legal separationfrom her husband of eight years,and now, Dennis has reciprocatedby filing for divorce, according toPeople. The “What to Expect WhenYou’re Expecting” actor reportedlyfiled divorce docs in Los AngelesSuperior Court on Friday and isrequesting joint physical and legalcustody of the soon-to-be-formercouple’s 4-year-old twins, Thomas

Boone and Zoe Grace. Dennisoffered to pay spousal support toKimberly, People reported. Aspreviously reported onAccessHollywood.com, back inMarch, Kimberly — a former realestate agent — initially filed fordivorce. She then put the divorce onhold in April, hoping to work thingsout with the 58-year-old actor, butfiled for separation in October.“Kimberly and Dennis Quaid havedecided to legally separate aftereight years of marriage,” a rep forDennis said in a statement to

Access Hollywood at the time.“They ask that their privacy and theprivacy of their family be respectedduring this difficult time. No furtherstatement will be given.” Dennisand Kimberly tied the knot in2004. This will be the thirddivorce for the actor. Dennis andMeg Ryan divorced in 2001(they also have a 20-year-oldson, Jack, together). In1983, he divorced fromactress PJ Soles afternearly five years ofmarriage. News DesK


12

Stewart working hard onrelationship with Pattinson

ACTrESS Kristen Stewart is reportedly trying

hard to make her relationship with boyfriend

robert Pattinson work following her cheating

scandal. Their relationship hit a rocky patch when

Stewart’s intimate photos with “Snow white And The

Huntsman” director rupert Sanders became public.

Stewart and Pattinson split, but they were back together

again. “rob is at a point where he sometimes ignores

her. He’ll go out and won’t respond to her calls or texts

right away. Things will be strained for a while,”

USmagazine quoted an insider as saying. Now that she’s

back with Pattinson, they “hang with his friends more.”

“She knows she has to go along with it. She is working

hard at the relationship,” said a source. NewS DeSK

Manisha Koirala to beflown to US for treatment

BOllYwOOD star Manisha Koirala will be flown

to the US for treatment for ovarian cancer,

her family has said. The Nepali-born actress

was discharged from a Mumbai hopital on friday

after she reportedly fell unconscious. Her father,

Prakash Koirala, has told Nepal’s English daily The

Himalayan Times that she will be operated on on

Monday. “The cancer is in its preliminary stage, but

we don’t want to take any chance and her friends

also have suggested that she be taken to the US,” he

father. “Her health condition is normal now. She is

taking rest.” The actress’ brother Siddhartha and

mother Sushma are attending to her, he added. The

42-year-old actress was one of India’s top actresses

in the 1990s after she made her debut in 1991. She

has since starred in a number of films with varying

successes. Koirala has won awards for her roles in

the 1995 films ‘Bombay’ and ‘Akele Hum Akele Tum’.

She took a break from acting after her marriage in

2010 and has since taken an active part in social

activities, working with organisations that prevent

trafficking of girls from Nepal. News Desk NewS DeSK

RECEIVING a stand-ing ovation for hisact based on a shortstory by IsmatChughtai in Lahore,

veteran Indian actor NaseeruddinShah said that his appearance inthe play was the ‘most memorableperformance’ of his career.“Tonight was the most memorableperformance of my life,” Shahcommented after appearing in aplay based on Chughtai’s ‘Ghar-wali’ last night.

The play was part of the ac-claimed show ‘Ismat Apa KeNaam’ that was organised to paytribute to poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

“Throughout my life I havedone theatre and films but thekind of love and appreciation I’vegot from Lahorites, I never experi-enced anywhere in the world,”Shah said. He performed with hiswife Ratna Pathak Shah anddaughter Hiba Shah at the Al-hamra Art Council.

People from all walks of life in-cluding fans of Shah, Faiz AhmadFaiz and renowned writer Ismat

Khanum Chughtai (1915-1991),considered the fourth pillar ofUrdu literature enjoyed the livelyperformances. The Shah familyperformed three plays based onChughtai’s short stories, ‘ChuuiMui’, ‘Mughal Bacha’ and ‘Ghar-wali’. They were directed by theactor. Chughtai’s revolutionarystyle of writing was well conveyedby the trio and earned them astanding ovation. Though the sto-

ries were different, they dealt withwomen’s issues and the behaviourof a male-dominated society to-ward women. Clad in a black sher-wani and white pyjamas, Shahoffered a brief introduction for theplays. He held Chughtai in high es-teem, saying, “I am doing theatreto pay tribute to the great writersof the subcontinent and to intro-duce a new generation to their fan-tastic writings.” News DesK

‘Jessica Biel on Married LifeWith Justin Timberlake’

If anyone’s allowed to get gushy on national

television, it’s definitely newlywed Jessica Biel.

The happy-in-love actress, who tied the knot with

Justin Timberlake in Italy Oct. 19, couldn’t contain her

enthusiasm when asked about married life during a

chat with Ellen DeGeneres “It’s weird because it feels

like almost nothing has changed, yet something that

you can’t really describe, or something that isn’t

tangible, has changed,” Biel, 30, shared. “It just feels

incredible.” Continued the Playing for Keeps actress,

“You have this partner who’s gonna be with you . . .

and also change lightbulbs, and do dishes with you. Her

favorite thing about marriage? “I think the weirdest

and kind of most wonderful thing is that word, ‘That’s

my husband,’” Biel said. “That’s the word. News DesK

Naseeruddin Shahwows audience

I have been in thisindustry becauseof action: Akshay

With two of his films - “Housefull 2” and “Rowdy Rathore” - havingmade it to the Rs. 100 crore club, Akshay Kumar has been tagged as one of

Bollywood’s most bankable actor. Though the actor feels the pressure of suc-cess, he says once a film releases, he doesn’t dwell too much upon its box-of-fice performance. “Pressure comes as the film nears its release time. But afterthat if it doesn’t work, I am on the next film. But I don’t take a big hit too seri-

ously also, because the next Friday you have to go in the same circle... you neverknow what will happen the next Friday. I just take it as it comes. I just work

and entertain,” Akshay said during an interaction. Akshay made his Bol-lywood debut with 1991 film “Saugandh” and went on to aquire the

tag of Khiladi Kumar for his inclination towards action. Over theyears, the actor has however shifted his focus to comedies. “After

‘Khiladi 420’, I stopped (doing action movies) because I got mar-ried. I just wanted to work on comedy, romance and everything.

Being a father and a husband, a man has to settle down a littlebit. Now my son has grown up, I want to go back to action,”said the actor, who is married to actress Twinkle Khannaand has two kids - Aarav, 10 and daughter Nitara, who wasborn in September. With “Rowdy Rathore”, Akshay re-turned to his love for action and his new film “ Khiladi 786”will see him in a similar avatar once again. Directed byAshish R. Mohan, the film also features Asin Thottumkal.It releases Dec 7. “It is a great thing to return to action. Itis my love. I have been in this industry because of action.I have tournaments of action. I have my own personalgyms. Action is what I am. It’s because of action that Iam here,” said the 45-year-old martial arts expert. Overthe years, the genre of action has been mixed with com-edy and successfully presented to the audience throughhit films like “Dabangg”, “Ready” and “RowdyRathore”. Akshay says today’s audience is eager towatch over-the-top action movies. “Audience wants thisfrom me. They want over-the-top action (movies). These

are their demands and we have to try and give it to them.The films are made for everybody. Not only masses but

classes also love this,” he said. News DesK

Kate Beckinsale leaving herhouse in los Angeles.

ISB 03-12-2012_Layout 1 12/3/2012 5:15 AM

Kareena Kapoor is yet to watch her ownfilm ‘Talaash’ and is planning to catch

the movie with husband Saif AliKhan once he is free from hiswork commitments. The sus-

pense thriller, also starringAamir Khan and Rani

Mukherji, opened to a good re-sponse this Friday. Kareena,

who plays the role of a street-walker, said Saif is very keen to

watch the film. “This year Ihaven’t seen ‘Ekk Main Aur

Ekk Tu’ or ‘Talaash’ onscreen asI was so nervous for both the

films. I am gonna see the filmon December 10 once Saif re-

turns from Lucknow,” Kareenatold PTI. Saif is shooting for his

upcoming film ‘Bullet Raja’ inLucknow. “He is very keen tosee the film because he lovesAamir’s work he has a lot of

faith in Zoya and Reema. Ac-tually he doesn’t watch too

many movies, but he definitelywants to catch this one. I’ll

probably see it with him,” saidKareena. ‘Talaash’ is directed

by Reema Kagti, who has writ-ten the film’s screenplay with

Zoya Akhtar. News DesK


13

Jennifer Lopez wowed thousands of fans in Indonesia, but theydidn’t see as much of her as concertgoers in other countries- the American pop star toned down both her sexy outfitsand her dance moves during her show in the world’s mostpopulous Muslim country, promoters said Saturday.Lopez’s “Dance Again World Tour” was performed in thecountry’s capital, Jakarta, on Friday in line withpromises Lopez made to make her show moreappropriate for the audience, said Chairi Ibrahim fromDyandra Entertainment, the concert promoter. “JLo wasvery cooperative ... she respected our culture,” Ibrahimsaid, adding that Lopez’s managers also asked whethershe could perform her usual sexy dance moves, butwere told that “making love” moves were notappropriate for Indonesia. “Yes, she dressed modestly... she’s still sexy, attractive and tantalizing, though,”said Ira Wibowo, an Indonesian actress who wasamong more than 7,000 fans at the concert. Anotherfan, Doddy Adityawarman, was a bit disappointed withthe changes. “She should appear just the way she is,”he said, “Many local artists dress even much sexy,much worse.” Lopez changed several times during her90-minute concert along with several dancers, whoalso dressed modestly without revealing their chestsor cleavage. Most Muslims in Indonesia, a secularcountry of 240 million people, are moderate. But asmall extremist fringe has become more vocal inrecent years. They have pushed through controversiallaws - including an anti-pornography bill - and havebeen known to attack anything perceived asblasphemous, from transvestites and bars to “deviant”religious sects. Lady Gaga was forced to cancel hersold-out show in Indonesia in May following threatsby Islamic hard-liners, who called her a “devilworshipper.” Lopez will also perform in Muslim-majority Malaysia on Sunday. “Thank you Jakarta foran amazing night,” the 43-year-old diva tweeted toher 13 million followers Saturday. News DesK

Jennifer Lopez tones down concert in Indonesia

After taking offense at AamirKhan’s TV show SatyamevaJayate (SMJ) for “projecting menin a bad light”, several men’srights activists are now taking upcudgels against his film Talaash.Anil Kumar, one of the foundersof the Save Indian FamilyFoundation (SIFF), says, “We areprotesting as we have beenobserving Aamir as an actor for ayear now. He has portrayed anti-male agenda on his TV show andhe has indulged in spreading malehatred in the society. Theprogramme had only half-truthsand was dangerous. The domesticviolence issues were only one-sided. We have decided we arenot going to watch Talaash or anyof Aamir’s movies and not justthat, we will also urge people tostay away it as well. Why doesn’the take up real-life campaignswith other actors and really dosomething? We should also beagainst violence in movies andnot just homes.” Adds ViragDhulia, the head of GenderStudies at a men’s rightscommunity center, “We are not

against Talaash, but Aamir. Wewant to send out the message thathe can’t portray a negative imageof men. We had provided SMJwith statistics and evidence butthey were not shown. Celebritieshave social responsibility andthey should watch what they say.So far, 12-15,000 families haveboycotted the film and we will dothis for all his movies until heapologises publicly to all men inthe country. If he can demonisemen, then what is the problem inapologising?” News DesK

Superstar Salman Khan asserts that Dabangg 2 is not acopy of the first film and the audience should consider it asa movie after interval. “It’s not the same. We are notcopying and giving you the same picture. It’s a differentfilm,” the 47-year-old said here on Friday. “Dabangg was

of a particular genre and now a similar genre film is comingout Dabangg 2,” he said on the sets of Bigg Boss 6 where helaunched the item song Fevicol se from his new film Dabangg2.The song features Kareena Kapoor. “Consider part one(Dabangg) as the one before interval and this (Dabangg 2) asafter the interval,” he added. Earlier, the actor launched thepromo of the new film. Asked why he chose to promoteDabangg 2 on Bigg Boss, he said: “I am the host of Bigg Boss.Wherever I get time and wherever the channel feels thatDabangg 2 promotions can be done, they do it.” Directed byArbaaz Khan, Dabangg 2 also features Sonakshi Sinha and isslated for a December 21 release.

KAreeNA To WATch‘TALAASh’ WITh SAIf

15,000 men to boycottall Aamir’s films untilhe apologises!

Actress Lindsay Lohan’s fatherMichael Lohan fears his daughter’slife could end tragically. Michaelbelieves she is addicted to alcohol,cocaine and prescription drugs andshe needs to return to rehab.Hethinks Lindsay may be going back tojail after assaulting a young womanin a nightclub and being chargedwith lying to police about a caraccident earlier this week. In anopen letter to her 26-year-olddaughter via HollywoodLife.com, heblamed all her problems to heraddictions and pleaded with her to

return to rehab — for a sixth time.“Do I believe Lindsay the newreports that Lindsay is drinking twolitres of vodka a day? I believe she’sdrinking to drown her sorrows.When I was at the ChateauMarmont I saw bottles. People tellme what she’s doing,” he wrote.Michael also agreed with US chatshow hosts Kathie Lee and BarbaraWalters that Lindsay’s life couldend tragically. “I have the samefears. Why is it okay for them to talkabout Lindsay and not me? I’m herdad,” he added. News DesK

LINDSAy’S fATher feArS for her LIfe

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SERBIANVILLAGERS CLAIMENCOUNTERWITH A VAMPIRE!

neWS DeSK

D EPENDING on which version of “history” you sub-scribe to, vampires originated in Egypt, China or,most infamously, Romania, where the real Romanian

prince Vlad Tepes(1431-1476) is thought to have been atleast a partial model for the decidedly fictional Dracula ofBram Stoker's imagination.Or, if you’re to believe officials in the village of Zarozje,Dracula is alive and well in Serbia. Yes, fear is said to bespreading.The fears revolve around Serbian vampire Sava Savanovicwho is, it should be noted, acknowledged locally to be afairy tale character. Still, villagers are packing aroundhawthorn stakes and garlic and putting holy crosses up overdoorways, according to a report by Weird Science."People are very worried. Everybody knows the legend ofthis vampire and the thought that he is now homeless andlooking for somewhere else and possibly other victims isterrifying people," Miodrag Vujetic, local municipal assem-bly member, told ABC News. "We are all frightened."Might it all be just a ploy to generate tourism? Maybe, ormaybe not, ABC reports. Many people in the region “stillbelieve in vampires and take them quite seriously," saidBalkan historian James Lyon.In general, belief in vampires is rooted in the humanpropensity for superstition and false assumptions in oldentimes about what happens to buried bodies, writes Live-Science columnist Benjamin Radford, author of "ScientificParanormal Investigation: How to Solve Unexplained Mys-teries." For example, if a grave were dug up, peoplemight’ve mistaken ordinary decomposition processes —such as a body being surprisingly preserved for long peri-ods if buried in winter — for supernatural phenomena.

14Infotainment

rare James Bondmanuscript with Ian flemingnotes to fetch £80,000

THE Diamonds Are Forever script featuresFleming's alterations on almost every pageand was prepared by his secretary Ulrica

Knowles, a real-life Miss Moneypenny. A first editionof Fleming's completed novel, with a note from theauthor to Knowles, is also going under the hammeralongside the manuscript. The original text includesname changes for some of the key characters in theplot, which tells the story of a diamond smugglingscheme involving American gangsters. The villainDolly Kidd was originally called Boofy Gore, afterArthur 'Boofy' Gore, who in reality was a close friendof the famed author. NewS DeSK


neWS DeSK

IF you just can't ever get yourhair to look right, take heart:At least you're less likely to bea psychopath, according to areport by the Huffington Post.

A study led by Nicholas Holtzmanand Michael Strube at WashingtonUniversity in St. Louis found thatpeople with personality traitsknown as the "Dark Triad" -- narcis-sism, Machiavellianism and psy-chopathy -- were better than othersat using clothing, makeup and hair-styles to make themselves look at-tractive, Scientific Americanreported Tuesday.

Psychopathy is characterized byvarying blends of certain personal-ity traits, which may include ego-centricity, manipulativeness,superficial charm, high stress toler-ance, lack of fear, lack of empathyand lack of guilt or remorse.

The study involved 111 collegestudents -- 64 percent women --who were photographed in theireveryday attire. Researchers thenhad each subject wash off anymakeup and change out of his orher own clothes into a t-shirt andsweatpants. Subjects with long hairwere asked to pull it back into aponytail. All subjects were thenphotographed in this unadornedstate.

The subjects also took personal-ity tests that measured traits thatincluded the Dark Triad. Addition-ally, each subject provided contactinformation for several friends, sothat every person's personalitycould be assessed by his or her

peers. Each subject's self-assess-ment and peer-assessment werecombined to create a compositepersonality score. A separate grouprated both sets of pictures for phys-ical attractiveness.

Researchers found that in thefirst group of photos -- in whichsubjects wore their own clothes and

makeup --subjects who scored highmarks for the Dark Triad were typi-cally rated as more attractive thansubjects who scored low marks forthese traits. This was also true ofsubjects who scored highly for psy-chopathy alone.

However, in the second group ofphotos, in which subjects were

forced to wear plain clothing and nomakeup, there was no correlationbetween physical attractiveness and"dark" personal traits.

As Julie Beck of PopSci writes,these results suggest that "meanpeople are just as ugly as the rest ofus, they're just better at foolingeveryone into thinking they're hot."

crocodile snatches9-year-old boy!

POLICE are searching for a 9-year-old boywho was snatched by a crocodile as he wasswimming in the mouth of a river in northern

Australia, according to a report by the HuffingtonPost. Northern Territory police say the boy wasswimming with a group of people at Port Bradshawon Saturday when he was grabbed by the crocodile.Nearby people attempted to kill the crocodile withspears, but it then dragged the boy farther into thewater. Police planned to continue searching onMonday but expressed pessimism about the chancesof finding the boy alive. Two weeks ago, anothercrocodile snatched a 7-year-old girl who wasswimming at a Northern Territory waterhole. Thecrocodile was fatally shot the next day and the girl'sremains were found inside it. NewS DeSK

Meet obama, the fish!

SCIENTISTS have named five newly discoveredfish after former and current U.S. politicalleaders, including President Barack Obama, Bill

Clinton, Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, and Teddy Roosevelt,reports the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Instituteand Scientific American, according to a report byMongabay. The fish were formerly described earlier thismonth in the journal the Bulletin of the AlabamaMuseum of Natural History. The fish are all species ofdarter, a group that is found widely in the United States.The species were identified after research on theSpeckled Darter (Etheostoma stigmaeum) concludedthat it could be divided into nine separate species, fiveof which are now named after U.S. leaders. Theseinclude the Spangled Darter (Etheostoma obama) fromTennessee; the Cumberland Darter (Etheostoma gore)and the Bluegrass Darter (Etheostoma jimmycarter)from Tennessee and Kentucky; the Highland Darter(Etheostoma teddyroosevelt) from Missouri, Arkansas,Kansas and Oklahoma; and the Beaded Darter(Etheostoma clinton) from Arkansas. The researchers— Steve Layman at Geosyntec Consultants inKennesaw, Georgia and Rick Mayden at Saint LouisUniversity in Missouri — say they named the speciesafter leaders they believe demonstrated environmentalleadership and commitment. NewS DeSK

PSychoPAThS,‘DArK’ PerSoNALITIeSbetter at making themselves look attractive

ISB 03-12-2012_Layout 1 12/3/2012 5:15 AM


Page 18

Murray loses toretired Roddickin Miami Cup

KHULnAeSPNcRIcINfo

BANGLADESH recorded theirbiggest win in ODIs in termsof runs, thrashing a listlessWest Indies by 160 runs to

take a 2-0 lead and are in prime positionto claim the five-match series. The spin-ners delivered for the second game insuccession, but Bangladesh owed theirearly dominance in this match largely toAnamul Haque, who became the thirdteenager from the country to score a ODIcentury, and Mushfiqur Rahim for pro-pelling them to 292. The cushion of runswas more than enough for the spinners torun through the line-up.

West Indies opted to bowl first, prima-rily to nip out as many wickets as possibleusing the early morning moisture andthen exploit the easier batting conditionsin the afternoon. As it transpired, battingappeared twice as tough with the psycho-logical setback of chasing 293 against afour-pronged spin attack that had ren-dered the match a no-contest even before

the halfway stage of the chase. Bangladeshneeded just over 31 overs to wrap thingsup and bettered their previous highest vic-tory margin of 146 runs against Scotlandin 2006. Ravi Rampaul’s 5 for 49 was aforgotten statistical highlight.

West Indies had some semblance ofcontrol in only two, albeit brief, phases. Thefirst was when they took two early wicketswhen the seamers had some assistance andthe second when Bangladesh inexplicablytook their foot off the pedal during the bat-ting Powerplay. In between, Bangladeshruthlessly choked the opposition.

The moisture on the pitch had disap-peared after the first half hour, handingthe advantage to the batsmen, whichMushfiqur and Anamul relished duringtheir 174-run stand. Sunil Narine’s for-tunes on tour took a turn for the worse asthe pair toyed with his bowling, whichlacked the turn and bite he is normally as-sociated with. Mushfiqur was liberal withthe sweep, and also employed the late cut.Anamul improvised well against Narine,bringing up his maiden fifty with a latecut. With little seam movement on offer,

Anamul was able to smash it through theline despite minimal footwork. He wasstrong on the pull as well, fetching bound-aries off Dwayne Smith and Narine.

Bangladesh were progressing at ahealthy 5.31 runs per over but ironicallylost momentum when the field restrictionswere on after the 35th over for the manda-tory Powerplay. The seamers wiselydished out short deliveries, exploiting thenew one-day rule that allows two bouncersan over. Bangladesh scratched around for20 runs and lost two wickets in that pas-sage, including that of Mushfiqur, whoplayed a tired pull to midwicket for 79.

Anamul slowed down as he approachedhis century, consuming 23 balls in the 90s,but his wait ended when he pulled Ram-paul to deep square leg and with the pres-sure off his shoulders, biffed Andre Russellfor two sixes and a four off consecutiveballs. Both Anamul and Mominul Haquefell to Rampaul - who picked up his secondfive-wicket haul - going for big hits.Bangladesh ransacked 68 off the last fiveovers to post their biggest total againstWest Indies. While Chris Gayle’s dip in

form didn’t affect West Indies’ fortunes inthe Tests, his no-show in the one-dayers sofar is having a telling impact. A strong startwas needed, and it was important West In-dies knocked off as many as possible withthe new ball before the spinners came on intandem. By the time that happened, WestIndies had lost three of their top four, in-cluding Gayle and Marlon Samuels.

Gayle’s departure - caught behind giv-ing Mashrafe Mortaza the charge - and tightbowling from the spinners choked the run-rate. Samuels tried to cut Sohag Gazi but gota thick edge to Mushfiqur, who took a sharpcatch. Abdur Razzak trapped Dwayne Smithlbw, in a spell which read 5-0-19-3. DarrenBravo too edged the left-arm spinner Raz-zak and Devon Thomas missed a straightone. The wheels were falling off for West In-dies when Sammy went for the lofted driveover extra cover off Mahmudullah butfound the fielder. At the end of 25 overs,West Indies had lost seven, with their hopespinned to Kieron Pollard. The end camesoon when Pollard lost his off stump toNaeem Islam and Tamim Iqbal plucked achipped drive from Narine to seal the game.

Bangladesh thrash WI to record biggest win

PeRtHeSPNcRIcINfo

Two days remain in this match, and two pos-sibilities. The first, by far the most likely, isa convincing South African victory, set-upby the sparkling innings of Hashim Amlaand AB de Villiers and finished off by DaleSteyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel.

The second, still too outlandish to contem-plate, is Australia finding a way to bat for longenough to reach a winning target of 632. DavidWarner and Ed Cowan made a sound enoughstart on the third evening to reach 0 for 40 bythe close, but in terms of the task ahead theyhave barely reached base camp at the foot ofEverest.

Amla and de Villiers provided a richday’s batting entertainment at the WACAground, both falling short of double cen-turies but delighting spectators with theirmarriage of aggression and invention. DeVilliers’ century was particularly notable ashis first while also carrying the wicket-keeper’s gloves, opening the path to an ex-tended stint in the dual role.

Australia’s bowling was made to look or-dinary in the extreme at times beforeMitchell Starc and Mitchell Johnson foundsome heat in the early evening to polish offthe South African tail. In all the visitors’ in-nings lasted just 111.5 overs, the runs arriv-ing at more than five per six balls, and itsspeed has left plenty of time for Australia’sbatsmen to negotiate. The pitch is still play-

ing very well and the outfield extremely fast,but the visiting bowlers are refreshed andfocused on the goal of wrapping up thematch, the series and the ICC’s No. 1 rank-ing.

Cowan and Warner began the pursuitwith unhappy first innings memories;Cowan’s of a golden duck, Warner’s an un-wise waft at Steyn that pinpointed the startof Australia’s sharp second day slide from apromising position to a dire one. Theyfought out the closing overs in characteristicfashion, Warner hitting boundaries bothcertain and uncertain, Cowan watching theball intently and surviving an exquisitelyprobing first spell by Philander.

There was some tension evident onSouth Africa’s side when Cowan twice pulledaway from the bowler, citing flies around hishelmet. He exchanged words with the visit-ing captain Graeme Smith before a can ofAeroguard was called for. So far the Aus-tralian openers’ stand has been merely a nui-sance, but their survival placed a slightlydifferent slant on a day that had been a SouthAfrican waltz for most of its duration.

Resuming with a lead of 292, SouthAfrica rose to salute Amla when he flickedJohnson to fine leg for his 18th Test century,a stroke representative of his legside mas-tery. Amla’s movement across outside offstump to play to leg was exaggerated attimes, but apart from the sliceddrive from Johnsons’ wideball that just eludedMichael Hussey’s reachhe was seldom trou-bled.

Kallis rumbledalong comfortablyenough himself untilMichael Clarkeswung Starcaround to theP r i n d i v i l l eStand end,teasing out at o p - e d g e dhook shotthat Johnsonheld well atfine leg, theball dyinginto thebreeze latein its path.De Villierstook his timeto get estab-lished but ac-c o m p a n i e dAmla to the in-terval with ane n o r m o u samount of timeleft to stretchAustralia’s even-tual target.

There was acceleration on resump-tion, de Villiers advancing to ping NathanLyon down the ground for a straight six,while Amla took advantage of Hussey’sintroduction with a pair of boundaries.Clarke responded to the calls of theWACA crowd by handing Ricky Ponting abowl for the final over before the secondnew ball became due.

Given how Starc and John Hastingsstarted with it Clarke might have been betteroff keeping Ponting on, as de Viliers andAmla attacked with impunity. It took John-son’s introduction to draw a few falsestrokes, and ultimately a wicket when Amlablocked a drive back to see the chance snaf-fled by Johnson’s outstretched right hand.

Dean Elgar wore a sharp blow on theelbow before playing inside a fuller deliveryto be pinned LBW - though this did not stophim from seeking an imprudent review inthe manner of Ponting the day before. Twowickets in an over did little to unsettle deVilliers though, and the three reverse-sweptboundaries to go to three figures summedup the marriage of skill and invention he hasused so well as a batsman and now a wick-etkeeper also. After tea the runs arrived in atorrent, de Villiers taking progressivelymore liberties and Faf du Plessis showing

the penchant forshots as well asforward defen-sives. Their con-centration wasbroken whenClarke called fora highly specu-lative LBW re-ferral againstde Villiers, thebreak inrhythm prov-ing more help-ful than thevideo evi-dence. John-son broke thestand next

ball with aswift de-l i v e r yg o i n ga c r o s sd uPlessis,and thefinal five

w i c k e t sm e l t e daway for31 runs.W h e t h e r

that is ofany conse-

quence for South Africawill not be known until

tomorrow.

amla and de Villiers set target of 632 ‘we are not quite readyfor the australians’

neWSDeSK

After the defeat in the P Sara Testto New Zealand Graham Ford, theSri Lanka coach, has said his teamhad to improve on their battingagainst pace ahead of the three-Testseries in Australia, which starts De-cember 14 in Hobart.

Sri Lanka have only a three-day warm-up match against aChairman’s XI at Canberra to putright their shortcomings ahead ofthe Test series.

“I was hoping that we wouldhave a very good Test seriesagainst New Zealand which wouldbe a fantastic way of preparing forthe Australia series particularly asthey have a useful seam outfit,”Ford said.

“If we could pass the testagainst this seam bowling we wouldknow we were in quite a good posi-tion to take on Australia. Unfortu-nately we didn’t really pass the testwith flying colours although therewere quite a few batsmen thatshowed some decent form.

“I was hoping for a lot betterthan that but there were signs thatwe were starting to find our feetagainst pace, but what we are re-ally gaining out of it (we had achat about it as well) was that wenow realise that we are not quiteready for the Australians. Once weget there the work that we do isgoing to be very intense. We are

going to have to practise outsideour comfort zone so that we areready for what they are going tothrow at us.”

Ford blamed the poor per-formances of the batsmen in theNew Zealand series on playing toomuch one-day cricket. “We justslipped off our Test match processwhen it comes to batting,” saidFord. “It is part of internationalcricket these days having to switchfrom one format to the other wejust had such a lot of instantcricket that Test match batting hasbeen a long way away from theirminds. In a very short space oftime they had to try and switchthat on and they didn’t switch it onas well as we had hoped to.

“Quite a number of our bats-men, although we got a few Testmatch specialists, have played ahuge amount of T20 and ODIcricket in recent times and the Testmatch process hasn’t really been intheir minds,” Ford said.

“Even though we talk about it,the nervous energy takes over andsuddenly the body reverts back tothe one-day processes. Also thislast Test having had long hours onthe field, the mind sometimes playsa few tricks and you are not quite asmentally tough as you should be forTest match cricket. Hopefully wewere able to learn from all of thatand really start to gear ourselvesfor much bigger scores.”

SoUtH AfRIcA 1st innings: 225

AUStRAlIA 1st innings: 163

SoUtH AfRIcA 2nd innings

AN Petersen c & b Johnson 23

gc Smith* c lyon b Starc 84

HM Amla c & b Johnson 196

JH Kallis c Johnson b Starc 37

Ab de Villiers† c †wade b Starc 169

D elgarlbw b Johnson 0

f du Plessis c clarke b Johnson 27

RJ Peterson c Johnson b Starc 0

VD Philander not out 14

Dw Steync †wade b Starc 8

M Morkel b Starc 0

eXtRAS(b 4, lb 4, w 3) 11

totAl 569

bowling

MA Starc 28.5-154-6, SR watson 9-3-24-0, Mg Johnson25-1-110-4,

Jw Hastings19-1-102-0, NM lyon22-2-128-0, MeK Hussey4-0-26-0,

DA warner3-0-14-0, Rt Ponting1-0-3-0

AUStRAlIA 2nd innings

eJM cowan not out 9

DA warner not out 29

eXtRAS (lb 2) 2

totAl 40

to bAt SR watson, Rt Ponting, MJ clarke*, MeK Hussey, MS

wade†, Jw Hastings, Mg Johnson, MA Starc, NM lyon

bowlINg

Dw Steyn 5-2-14-0, VD Philander 5-0-15-0, M Morkel 3-0-9-0

Match details

toss South Africa, who chose to bat

test debuts Jw Hastings (Australia); D elgar (South Africa)

Player of the match tba

Umpires Asad Rauf (Pakistan) and RA Kettleborough (england)

tV umpire bf bowden (New Zealand)

Match referee RS Madugalle (Sri lanka)

Reserve umpire JD ward

ScoReboARD

bANglADeSH

tamim Iqbal c Pollard b Russell 5

Anamul Haque c Narine b Rampaul 120

Naeem Islam c Narine b Rampaul 6

Mushfiqur Rahim*† c Simmons b Rampaul 79

Nasir Hossain c gayle b Rampaul 4

Mominul Haque c Pollard b Rampaul 31

Mahmudullah not out 3

Mashrafe Mortaza not out 18

eXtRAS (lb 6, w 19, nb 1) 26

totAl 292

bowlINg: R Rampaul 10-1-49-5, AD Russell 9-0-58-1, DJg

Sammy 5-0-35-0, SP Narine 10-1-48-0, DR Smith 9-0-46-0, MN

Samuels 7-0-50-0

weSt INDIeS

lMP Simmons c tamim Iqbal b S gazi 9

cH gayle c †Mushfiqur Rahim b M Mortaza 15

DM bravo c †Mushfiqur Rahim b A Razzak 28

MN Samuels c †Mushfiqur Rahim b S gazi 16

DR Smith lbw b Abdur Razzak 0

KA Pollard b Naeem Islam 25

Dc thomas† b Abdur Razzak 0

DJg Sammy* c sub (J Islam) b Mahmudullah 12

AD Russell run out (Mominul Haque/†M Rahim) 9

SP Narine c tamim Iqbal b Sohag gazi 10

R Rampaul not out 0

eXtRAS lb 2, w 6) 8

totAl 132

bowlINg: Sohag gazi 7.1-2-21-3, Mashrafe Mortaza 6-0-26-1,

Abdur Razzak 5-0-19-3, Abul Hasan 1-0-9-0, Naeem Islam 7-

0-28-1, Mahmudullah 5-0-27-1

ScoReboARD

ISB 03-12-2012_Layout 1 12/3/2012 5:16 AM Page 16

LAHoReStAff RePoRt

IN a tight contest, Karachi Dol-phins, requiring 26 to win off thefinal over, lost by five runs at theGaddafi Stadium in front of a

crowd of 5,000. Middle-order batsmanFawad Alam, who scored an unbeaten 40off 17 deliveries, smashed 20 runs off fivedeliveries through two sixes and a bound-ary, before being beaten by Sohail Tanviroff the final ball.

Umar Amin scored a half-century andbowled an economical spell to be ad-judged the man of the match.

After having chosen to bat first,Rawalpindi started briskly as the openersput on 64 runs in 44 deliveries. The topfour batsmen progressively outscored

each other, with No. 3 Babar Naeem, whoscored 44, and Amin consolidating on thesolid platform laid by the openers. Cap-tain Shahid Afridi was expensive, givingaway 49 runs in his four overs, asRawalpindi scored 188.

Karachi, in their chase, suffered anearly blow when opener Shahzaib Hasanwas dismissed for a duck off the secondball of the innings. His partner KhurramManzoor kept Karachi in the chase withtwo productive partnerships of 51 runsand 49 runs respectively for the secondand the third wicket. But with the re-quired run rate climbing steadily, Alamand Tanvir Ahmed added 53 in five oversto keep them in the hunt. But Karachi fellshort.

Scores: Rawalpindi Rams 188 for 5(Amin 52*, Naeem 44, Malik 39) beat

Karachi Dolphins 183 for 7 (Manzoor 50,Alam 40*, Tanvir 33) by five runs

MAlIK HelPS StAllIoNS tHRoUgHCaptain Shoaib Malik scored a half-

century and took four wickets to helpSialkot Stallions to a 72-run triumph inthe opening match of the day in Lahore.Chasing 150, Quetta lost wickets regu-larly, and were in trouble at 50 for 6, be-fore Jalat Khan provided some resistanceby scoring 17. But the target proved be-yond them.

Sialkot, after being asked to bat first,began positively with their openers put-ting on 21 for the first wicket. They wob-bled when Haris Sohail was run out for 11but captain Malik, who scored 51, andShahid Yousuf laid the anchor for astrong total with a 57-run partnership.

For Quetta, Nazar Hussain, the left-armseamer, took his career-best figures of 3for 16.

Scores: Sialkot Stallions 149 for 7(Malik 51, Hussain 3-16) beat QuettaBears 77 for 6 (Jalat Khan 17, Malik 4-13)by 72 runs

lIoNS beAt fAlcoNSKamran Akmal’s aggressive half-cen-

tury and Mohammad Hafeez’s four wick-ets drove Lahore Lions to a 30-runvictory against Abbottabad Falcons in La-hore. Chasing a stiff 187, Abbottabadwere off to a brisk start courtesy of a 45-run opening stand between YasirHameed and Mir Azam. Hameed, whoscored 45, added a further 54 with cap-tain Younis Khan. But quick wicketsthereafter pegged them back and they

stumbled to fall 31 runs short.Lions were earlier off to a similar

dominant start, with openers NasirJamshed and Ahmed Shehzad scoring 51in 7.2 overs. No. 3 Akmal consolidated onthe platform to score 59 off 33 deliveriesto push them to 148 before falling in the17th over. His younger brother Umarscored a quick 22 to take them to 186.

They picked their first wicket in theseventh over, when left-arm spinnerMustafa Iqbal dismissed Azam. But at 99for 1, they lost three wickets for six runs,which jolted them. Although middle-order batsman Khalid Usman scored aquick 27, it wasn’t enough.

Scores: Lahore Lions 186 for 7 (Kam-ran 59, Jamal 2-37) beat Abbottabad Fal-cons 156 for 6 (Younis Khan 47, Hafeez4-25) by 30 runs.

Sports 16


Rams leave Dolphins high and dry

CARSonAgeNcIeS

David Beckham’s L.A. Galaxy team-mates urged him to stay on for anotheryear after they won their second succes-sive MLS Cup on Saturday, and whiletheir hopes will surely be in vain, thereaction epitomized the affection inwhich he has come to enjoy.

A chant of ‘one more year’ rang outfrom the Galaxy locker-room as theplayers celebrated their win after Beck-ham’s final game in Major League Soc-cer.

“We were telling David that wewanted him for one more year,” said de-fender Todd Dunivant. “We said thatlast year too and we got it, so why not

push our luck a little bit? We will seewhat happens.”

Beckham, however, has beenadamant that now is the right time forhim to end his time as a player in MLSand enjoy one more challenge, with sofar an unnamed team, before returningto MLS in an ownership role.

His coach Bruce Arena said he wassure the former England captain, whohas won league titles in his homelandwith Manchester United and in Spainwith Real Madrid before two titles withGalaxy, would find success.

“Many would think it is the lastchapter, I think David thinks there isanother chapter and if there is it isprobably going to be another greatchampionship,” he said.

But while Beckham’s passing, set-pieces and influence on his Galaxyteam-mates have all been ingredients inthe past six years that have pleasedArena, it has been the midfielder’s offfield impact which has delighted manyin the States.

“Twenty years from now we aregoing to look at this league and still talkabout David Beckham as the one whohelped turn us,” said Arena.

Former U.S. national team goal-keeper Kasey Keller, who played in Eng-land, Spain and Germany beforereturning home and playing in MLS forthe Seattle Sounders, said Beckham hadbeen exactly what the North Americanleague needed.

“It was at a time when the league

needed something to give it a big globalkick-start and there wasn’t a biggerglobal personality in the game thanDavid Beckham,” he told Reuters.

“It just made the league relevant,made people take notice and because ofthat other teams were able to step up.”

The league has enjoyed rising atten-dances during Beckham’s six years,while is also witnessed the arrival ofother high profile internationals such asFrance’s Thierry Henry and Ireland’sRobbie Keane.

Keane believes Beckham’s move tothe States handed the league the credi-bility needed to attract players of hisilk.

“He has been fantastic for thisleague,” said Keane.

“He has put MLS on the map andmade players like myself want to comeover and play here because the leaguehas grown massively. That’s in a hugepart down to David.

“We are certainly going to miss himbut I am so happy we have sent him offwith a championship.”

Beckham said it was for others todiscuss his legacy to the North Ameri-can league.

“I just hope I’ve brought a bit of in-terest to the game. When I decided tocome here, I raised some interest and ifthat is the single thing that I have donethen great,” Beckham said.

“I think the foundations are therenow in this league, it is a 17-year-oldleague and it will continue to grow.”

Beckham bows out, hailed as turning point for MLs

AB: Hard work

ahead for SAPeRtH

AgeNcIeS

South African vice-captain AB de Villierssaid on Sunday the Proteas were nottaking anything for granted, despitebeing in a seemingly unbeatable positionin the final Test against Australia at theWACA Ground. De Villiers made 169 asthe Proteas piled on 569 in their secondinnings to set Australia an improbable632 runs to win in just over two days ofcricket. Australia reached 40 without lossat stumps on day three, still 591 runsbehind South Africa. It was the second-biggest target Australia had ever been setin Test cricket, and they need tosubstantially beat the current record runchase to win the match and claim the topranking in Test cricket off the SouthAfricans. The world record run chasestands at 418, set by the West Indiesagainst Australia in Antigua in 2003.However, wicketkeeper De Villiers said itwas too early for the South Africans tocelebrate spoiling retiring Australianbatsman Ricky Ponting’s farewell match.Perhaps mindful that he was part of theSouth African team that reached avictory target of 414 on the final day inPerth in 2008 for the loss of just fourwickets, De Villiers said there was still alot of work to be done before they wonthe match and the series.

Chelsea drawn awayto Southampton inFA Cup third round

LonDonAgeNcIeS

Holders Chelsea will face Premier Leagueopposition in the third round of the FACup after Sunday’s draw gave them atricky start to their defence away toSouthampton. Last season’s runners-upLiverpool will play at either Lincoln Cityor Mansfield Town, two former FootballLeague clubs now plying their trade inthe minor leagues of English soccer. Theplumb tie of the round features WestHam United at home to ManchesterUnited - one of four all Premier Leagueclashes. Queens Park Rangers, stillwithout a win in the Premier League after15 matches, are at home to WestBromwich Albion and Swansea City hostArsenal having beaten them 2-0 at theEmirates Stadium in the league onSaturday. Premier League championsManchester City, winners of the trophy in2011, are at home to Championship(second division) side Watford.Tottenham Hotspur host third tierCoventry City, reviving memories of the1987 FA Cup final won by Coventry, whileNewcastle United face a tough trip to playBrighton and Hove Albion of theChampionship.Ties will take place on Jan 5-6.

LAHoReStAff RePoRt

The people of Lahore on Sunday wit-nessed the world’s popular freestylewrestling here at the National HockeyStadium with 10 Japanese wrestlersput on displaying their skills in thisstyle of the game.

Chief Minister Punjab Mian Shah-baz Sharif not only welcomed the in-troduction of freestyle wrestlingPakistan but also announced the es-tablishment of Wrestling Academyunder the patronage of world’srenowned Japanese wrestler Moham-mad Hussain Antonio Inoki.

Deputy Speaker Rana MashoodAhmed Khan, who is also chief organ-izer of sports Punjab, Usman Anwar,Director General Sports and Youth Af-fairs Punjab were also present on theoccasion. Among the guests the familyof Jhara (Zubair) Pahlwan, NasirBholu, Raja Farooq, Zain Qadri andMalik Naseer graced the occasion.

On the day five Japanese boutswere held but to start the activity threefights among Pakistani wrestlers wereconducted.

From among the five main bouts,Shogun Okamoto, Kawaguchi, KendoKishin, Aitisushi Sawada and

Kazuyuki Fujita got to a comfortablewin accept for the last fight thatyielded quite a stir.

Shogun Okamoto defeated JohAkira, Kawaguchi beat Thaka Kusou,Kendo Kishin overpowered NobuyukiKarashing, Atisushi Sawada edgedaside Sinichi Suzukawa and KazuyukiFujita, who is also champion in hisstyle of competition downed HidekiSuzuki.

Although the first four fights de-veloped interesting competition butthe fight between Kazuyuki Fujita andHideki Suzuki grew big fight amongthe supporter wrestlers of the fighting

competitors. But to ease the situationInoki walked on to the ring and gaveone slap each to the fighting wrestlersto back down.

Earlier, the Chief Minister high-lighted the dominance of Pakistanwrestlers in the field and also read outsome of the popular names ofwrestling and reminded the time whenInoki had a fight with Akram Pahlwanand Jhara Pahlwan in 1976 and 1979.The CM also formally announced thatthe Punjab government is establishingfreestyle wrestling in collaborationwith Inoki so that the Pakistan talentcould be seen in whole of the world.

Speaking on the occasion, Inokisaid that this is his fourth visit and itwas the love of the people of Pakistanthat attract him back to Pakistan. “It isalso to mark the 60 year diplomatic re-lations between Pakistan and Japan. Iam here after 28 year and see the samelove and energy in the hostility of thepeople of Pakistan and the Punjab gov-ernment,” he maintained.

On the occasion, the chief ministeralso distributed souvenir among thevisiting Japanese wrestlers and othermembers of the delegation. During theceremony, Nasir Bholu also displayedthe world title belt won by his grand-father Gama Pahlwan.

shahbaz welcomes Inoki’ssupport for wrestling academy


Sports17


KEY BISCAYNE: Andy Murray of Great Britain

serves the ball to Andy Roddick of USA during

the inaugural Miami Tennis Cup at Crandon

Park Tennis Center in Florida. AGENCIES

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GRAEME McDowell, who relishesplaying golf in California, edgedcloser to his first win in two years byending the third round of the WorldChallenge with a two-shot lead.

The former US Open champion, whodespite several close calls has endured abarren title run worldwide since his play-off victory at the World Challenge in 2010,fired a flawless four-under-par 68 on Sat-urday to post a 13-under total of 203.

“I played very solidly again today,”McDowell said after sinking two long-range birdie putts early on to maintainhis grip on the tournament. “Bogey freeis always nice on any golf course.” Mc-Dowell said he was very happy with theway he has been hitting the golf ball.

“It’ll be a nice way to finish the yearif I can get a good win tomorrow, butthere will be a few guys on that boardthat will have a little something to sayabout it for sure,” he said.

McDowell’s closest challenger wasfirst-round leader Keegan Bradley whomatched the day’s best round with a six-birdie 67 at a rain-soaked Sherwood

Country Club to finish at 11 under.Tournament host and defending

champion Tiger Woods, bidding for hisfourth victory this year, was a furtherthree strokes back after narrowly miss-ing a seven-foot birdie putt at the last tocard a 69. Woods failed to birdie any ofthe five par-fives on the hilly course thatwinds its way below the Santa Monicamountains as he ended the day levelwith fellow American Bo Van Pelt, whobirdied the par-four last for a 70.

“It was wet out there,” Woods saidabout the saturated Sherwood layoutafter mixing four birdies with a lonebogey. “It was a little sloppy early, andoverall I thought it was tough to get theball close today. “I didn’t play the par-fives well and didn’t play (hole) eight wellagain. I missed a few opportunities outthere. I felt like I played decent enough toget to 10 under, to get to double digits,and just didn’t do it. “As of right now I’mfive back. I’m going to have to shoot a lowone tomorrow and see what happens.”

On a soggy morning, 2010 US Openchampion McDowell began the thirdround with a commanding three-shotlead but that was swiftly trimmed to just

one after the fast-starting Bradleybirdied two of the first three holes.

However, McDowell got his putterworking in scintillating fashion, sinkingbirdie putts from 30 feet at the par-fivesecond and the par-four fourth to re-store his three-stroke advantage.

Though American Bradley picked upanother shot at the sixth to apply earlypressure on McDowell, the NorthernIrishman maintained his grip on thetournament with further birdies at theninth and 11th before parring the lastseven holes. “It would have been nice topick a few more (shots) up on the way in,I guess, finishing with seven straightpars when there are some chances outthere,” said McDowell, who was runner-up on his debut here in 2009.

“I played disciplined golf to some ofthose tighter pins, couldn’t seem to getanything to drop. “But two shots aheadgoing into Sunday, I’ll take that anyweek, anywhere, any time. It’s rightwhere you need to be,” he added.

Bradley, who became the first playerto win a major using a belly putter at the2011 PGA Championship, was delightedto be in a position to win his first tour-

nament since the WGC-Bridgestone In-vitational in August. “I feel really goodout there,” said the 26-year-old andthree-time winner on the PGA Tour. “It’sso fun to be back in the hunt again. It’sbeen a while. It’s been a few months.

“Graeme loves this place. He just hassuch an unbelievable record here. I’ll belooking forward to playing with him to-morrow. It’ll be a good time.”

Flawless McDowell stays in control at Sherwood

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Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlumgave herself an early 23rd birthdaypresent by becoming the firstwoman to win the Hero Women’sIndian Open three times. Phatlum,who turns 23 on December 4, gavea dominant final round display atDLF Golf and Country Club in Gur-gaon on Sunday.

She shot rounds of 72, 65 and66 for a winning total of 203, 13under par, winning by four strokesfrom the defending champion Car-

oline Hedwall. “I’m so happy now.It’s like a big tournament; I wonand in two days it will be my birth-day so it’s going to be a big presentfor me,” said Phatlum, who previ-ously won the event on the samegolf course in 2008 and 2009,when it was sanctioned by theLadies Asian Golf Tour andWomen’s Golf Association of India,before it became tri-sanctionedwith the Ladies European Tour.

“I love winning at this golfcourse and I like to play here verymuch,” continued the diminutive

world No 93, who stands 5’3” tall.“I think my approach shots andputting were the best part of mygame. I have a lot of pressure todaybut I told myself to relax.”

The colourfully dressedPhatlum may be softly spoken andshy when speaking English, butshe let her golf do the talking on awarm and sunny final day nearNew Delhi.

Having started the final roundtied for the lead with AustralianBree Arthur on seven under par,she took control of the champi-

onship with an outward nine of fiveunder 31 in the final round, to gaina three stroke lead over Hedwall,to whom she had finished second12 months earlier.

It turned out to be an excitingfinal round duel and both playersbirdied the first hole. Hedwall thencaught Phatlum with a birdie onthe fifth.

At the par-five sixth, Phatlummade a 15-footer for eagle whileHedwall could only respond with abirdie after finding the bunkerright, short of the green.

Phatlum claims third Indian Open title

Lofty ambitionsfor Al HabtoorTennis Challenge

DUBAIAgeNcIeS

Organisers of the annual Al HabtoorTennis Challenge are hopeful ofattracting the world’s top women’stennis stars as the tournament expandsover the next few years.The 15th edition of the event concludedon Saturday, with 42-year-old Japaneseplayer Kimiko Date-Krumm — rankedNo. 121 in the world — becoming itsoldest winner so far thanks to a 6-1, 3-6,6-4 victory over Kazakhstan teenagerYulia Putintseva. But with a possiblerelocation from the Habtoor GrandResort and Spa to the new tennis complexbeing built on the site of the formerMetropolitan Hotel on Shaikh ZayedRoad at Business Bay, Khalaf Al Habtoor,Chairman of the Al Habtoor Group ofCompanies, has high hopes for the future.“Over a period of time we have perfectedthe art of putting this annualtournament together. We have adedicated team led by Hani [Al Khafief]and Ivica [Ancic] and we can be proudof what we put together during thistournament,” he told Gulf News. “Ourintention is to attract the best playersfrom all over the world.

Keegan Bradleycalled ‘cheater’

tHoUSAnD oAKSAgeNcIeS

Keegan Bradley was heckled by aspectator on Saturday because he uses abelly putter and an anchored stroke thatgolf’s ruling bodies have deemed to beillegal — although the rule will not gointo effect for three more years.“I had some guy here call me a cheateron the last hole, which was no fun,” saidBradley, who is two shots behind leaderGraeme McDowell at the WorldChallenge presented by NorthwesternMutual. “That’s unfortunate. It’s verydisrespectful. But it’s fine with me. I’vegot to try and look at it as motivation tohelp me try to win this tournament.”Bradley is going to be at the forefront ofthe anchored debate because he becamethe first player to win a majorchampionship using a belly putter whenhe captured the 2011 PGA Championship.Bradley does not agree with the UnitedStates Golf Association and R&A, whichon Wednesday announced a proposal toban anchored strokes. The three-timetour winner has said he is unlikely toswitch to a conventional putter.Later that day, Bradley said one of hisTwitter followers told him to prepare hisjob application to send to Burger King,insinuating he won’t be able to make aliving without the belly putter.It was actually a putting tip fromBradley’s caddie, Steve Hale, that helpedhim shoot 67 on Saturday at SherwoodCountry Club. “He told me to move theball position up a little bit in my stance,”Bradley said. Bradley said he did notrespond to the heckler and that he’sreceived plenty of support as well.“Don’t worry about it; you’ll make puttswith that short putter or something sillylike that,” he said. “But there’s alwaysgoing to be people that are negative.That’s fine with me.”


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Davies to partnerFeng in ladies’challenge

DUBAIAgeNcIeS

Four-time major winner and Golf inDubai ambassador Laura Davies hasbeen paired with Shanshan Feng, theonly golfer from mainland China towin a title on the LPGA Tour, for theOmega Dubai Ladies MastersChallenge Match, which will be held atthe Emirates Golf Club par-3 course onMonday.The match, which showcases some ofthe marquee players competing in theLadies European Tour’s season-endingevent here later in the week, will alsosee Dubai-based amateur Kavita Sehmiin action. Sehmi, who plays off a onehandicap, will team up with AmericanMichelle Wie, while the six-playergreensomes event also sees SouthKorea’s Seo Kyung-hee paired withdefending Dubai champion LexiThompson, who also won last year’sChallenge Match alongside Sweden’sSophie Gustafson.The nine-hole event, which starts at6pm, will provide spectators with anopportunity to see the game’s biggeststars up close and personal. All fanswill have access to the course and theywill be allowed to take photos of theplayers.The match will be followed by a galadinner reception featuring a best-dressed competition. The players,sponsors and invited guests can alsobid for a selection of sportsmemorabilia during an auction in aidof Breast Cancer Arabia.Golf in Dubai, the promoters andorganisers of the Dubai LadiesMasters, have announced details of theentertainment that will be available atthe ‘public village’ during the mainevent from December 5 to 8.There will be a giant TV screenshowing the live action, food and drinkoutlets, games for children and freegolf clinics. Various distributors of golfequipment will also display their waresat the exhibition hall in the village.

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RECENTLY retired Andy Rod-dick beat third-ranked AndyMurray 6-2, 6-3 on Saturdayin the Miami Tennis Cup exhi-bition event.

Roddick will play 11th-rankedNicolas Almagro of Spain in the finalSunday. Almagro advanced with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 14th-ranked JohnIsner.

Murray, trailing 2-5 in the first set,surrendered his serve in the eighthgame when he sailed a backhand cross-court wide. In the second set, Murraysaved two break points from down 0-40, but couldn’t convert the third togive Roddick a 5-3 lead. At 15-0, Rod-

dick double-faulted twice in a row, butwent on to win the final three points ofthe match with a service winner andtwo forehand winners.

‘’If we had gone three sets Iwould’ve had a full body cramp and itwould’ve been awkward for all of you,’’said Roddick, who kept a running dia-logue with the crowd. ‘’There’s nocomeback (to tennis for me).

‘’Andy was nice to me tonight.’’Roddick has put on four pounds

since retiring following the US Open.He says he’s content in retirement andis playing a lot of golf.

‘’I don’t miss the travel at all,’’ Rod-dick said. ‘’It’s nice coming here andseeing familiar faces. I still enjoy hit-ting tennis balls, but I haven’t lost that

part of it. I haven’t lost any of the inno-cent parts of tennis. I just do it in frontof less people.’’

Murray, the Olympic gold medalistand U.S. Open champion, wasn’t sur-prised that Roddick won.

‘’Andy hasn’t hit that many ballsthe last few months,’’ Murray said.‘’Maybe his timing was a little bit off,but he still hits the ball very well. It wasonly a few months ago he was makinga decent run at the U.S. Open.’’

Roddick has beaten Almagro bothtimes they met in straight sets andboth meetings were on hard courts.They met here at Crandon Park in the2010 Miami Masters quarterfinalsand the 2011 Shanghai Masters in theround of 16.

Murray loses to retiredRoddick in Miami CupAndy Roddick beats Andy Murray in Miami Tennis Cup to qualify for the final against Almagro

Sfeila takes tophonours at 20thGolf World Cup

DUBAIAgeNcIeS

Dubai Creek Golf Club’s Rabih Sfeilatook the honours in the 20th edition ofthe Dubai Duty Free Golf World Cup,which features more than 100 invitedguests from all over the globe.Sfeila scored a total of 80 stablefordpoints from his rounds at TheMontgomerie and Dubai Creek courseson successive days last week to take afive-point victory ahead of fellow Creekmember Bayar Khan, who was awardedthe trophy for best local male performer.The runner-up in the men’s categorywas previous champion and ex-DubaiCreek captain Francisco Giles on 74points, while the second runner-up prizewent to David Warren, who also had 74but lost to Giles on a count-back. Theprize for best international male went toJames Kfouri, who scored 70 points.“It has been a wonderful couple of daysand I would like to say a huge thank youto Dubai Duty Free for looking after usso well and also to the teams at DubaiCreek and The Montgomerie for all oftheir efforts. I already cannot wait untilnext year,” Sfeila said.In the ladies’ category, the top prizewent to another Dubai Creek member inthe shape of Naema Maya, who shot twoconsistent rounds for a total of 66 pointsand victory by two over Nancy Miller.The latter collected the prize for the bestinternational female performer.The runner-up prize was awarded toPaula Johnstone with 60 points asBarbara Foley collected the trophy forsecond runner-up with 57.The seniors’ category was won by lastyear’s champion Clark Francis, whoscored 70 points to win by one ahead ofGeorge Henry. Sandy McPherson wasthe winner in the super senior divisionon 64 points.

LoS AngeLeSAgeNcIeS

The arrest of a tennis referee before a match at the U.S. Openin connection with her husband’s death was a shocker lastsummer. On Friday, the case took another surprise twist whenprosecutors dropped the murder case against Lois Goodman.

The case was dismissed by Superior Court Judge JessicaSilvers after prosecutors said they received additional infor-mation and were unable to proceed because of insufficientevidence. “I feel I’m being treated fairly now. It was just aterrible accident,” Goodman, 70, said outside court.

Goodman has refereed matches between some of thegreatest tennis players in the world. She was arrested by LosAngeles police in New York in August as she arrived to be aline judge at the U.S. Open and made her first court appear-ance wearing her uniform. District attorney’s spokeswomanSandi Gibbons declined to elaborate on the new informationthat led to the dismissal. However, defense attorney AlisonTriessl said she believed private polygraph tests conductedby a former FBI polygraph examiner were pivotal in provingthat Goodman did not kill her husband.

The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning itcould be refiled. But Triessl believes it’s over.

“We’re elated,” Triessl said. “This has been a living hellfor her. Justice has been served. She did not do this.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said in a statementthat the case remains open and detectives were continuingthe investigation. Goodman had been accused of bludgeon-ing her 80-year-old husband to death with a coffee cup. Shesaid she was innocent, and her lawyers suggested AlanGoodman died in an accidental fall.

They said he fell down stairs then managed to get him-self upstairs to the bedroom and was found dead in bed.Blood was spattered throughout the house, police said.

Defense private investigator Scott Ross told The Associ-ated Press that famed pathologist Dr. Michael Baden exam-

ined the coroner’s evidence in the case and found that AlanGoodman died of a heart attack, not from any injuries.

“His heart was four times the normal size,” Ross said.The couple had been married 50 years and had three

grown daughters. They lived in the San Fernando Valley areaof Los Angeles their entire lives.

Alan Goodman died in April. Authorities initially be-lieved he fell down the stairs while his wife was away, butthey later said it was a homicide after a mortuary reportedsuspicious injuries on his head. Authorities then alleged hehad been clobbered on the head with a mug, and they beganto treat Lois Goodman as a suspect.

Defense lawyers said there was little forensic evidencein the case because of the delay in the investigation. They re-cently disclosed Lois Goodman had passed polygraph testssupporting her claim of innocence. A criminal law expertsaid such a serious charge is “very very rarely” dismissed thisquickly. “It sounds like they have little doubt that she wasnot responsible for the crime or they would not have actedthis quickly,” said law professor James A. Cohen, director ofthe trial advocacy program at Fordham University School ofLaw in New York. He said Baden’s analysis of the case mayhave played a significant role.

“When you have a well-respected medical examiner say-ing there is no foul play, that has to be considered,” he said.

Goodman pleaded not guilty after her arrest. After abrief stay in jail, she was released on electronic monitoringand subsequently came to court for pretrial hearings withfriends and family present to support her.

“I definitely want to get back to refereeing,” Goodmansaid after the dismissal. “But first I want to call my closefriends that supported me and thank them again and again.”

U.S. Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier saidGoodman’s bi-annual certification as a referee expires at theend of December and she can apply for renewal.

If re-certified, she will have the right to apply for an of-ficial’s position at the 2013 U.S. Open, he said.

Tennis referee murder casedismissed in California

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Martin Kaymer clinched his first title of2012 as he won the Nedbank Golf Chal-lenge in rainy conditions at the GaryPlayer Country Club by two strokesfrom local hero Charl Schwartzel onSunday.

The German started the day at five-under par for the tournament and en-joyed a slender one-stroke lead when heteed off. However, a serious bottleneckat the top meant that he would face stiffcompetition with numerous playersmaking early moves at the beginning ofthe final round.

Kaymer looked to have made theideal start as he eagled the par-five sec-ond, but cancelled it out immediatelyafter with an ugly double-bogey at thethird. The chasing pack seized the op-portunity and, at one stage, he had

Schwartzel, Bill Haas and Louis Oost-huizen for company at five-under.

But as the rain teemed down, the27-year-old Kaymer came good as he

put together three birdies in a rowaround the turn. He also had a few for-tuitous breaks on the back nine as somewayward tee shots went unpunished,

most notably on the 14th where hescrambled to make a pivotal birdie.

And, although Schwartzel pushedhim all the way, the German showedtremendous tenacity as some crucial re-covery shots and clutch putts on a diffi-cult back nine were enough to post afinal round of 69 which got him over theline by two shots.

The win firmly underlines Kaymer’sreturn to form after a difficult 2012.Since his heroics in the Ryder Cup, theformer PGA champion has been knock-ing on the door and he’s finally brokenthe victory drought to claim the lucra-tive winner’s cheque of $1,250,000.

The South African crowds had everyreason to believe that they would see aSouth African lift the crystal trophy forthe first time since 2007, as Schwartzeland Oosthuizen made impressive startsto their days.

Kaymer makes it a German double at Sun City



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

ISLAMABADtAYYAb HUSSAIN

Heavy business is on agenda as the Pak-istan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalitiongovernment plans to ignore the reserva-tions of the major opposition party – thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)– over the controversial National Account-ability Bill 2012, which is being dubbed bylegal experts as discriminatory and in vio-lation of the fundamental rights, PakistanToday has reliably learnt.

Well-placed sources said the govern-ment plans to summon the 48th session ofthe National Assembly on December 10,and there is a strong likelihood that it may

prove to be the last session of the lowerhouse. “The government plans to getaround 16 bills passed during the next ses-sion, including the controversial NationalAccountability Bill and 15 other bills whichhave already been passed by various stand-ing committees,” sources said.

They further said that a summary hadalready been moved to President Asif AliZardari to summon the session of the in-cumbent assembly which would stand dis-solved on the midnight of March 17 aftercompleting its predetermined five-yearterm. This would be the second legislaturein the country’s history to complete itsstipulated term. “The government is all setto table the controversial National Ac-

countability Bill 2012, which has alreadybeen passed by the NA’s Standing Commit-tee on Law and Justice despite the fact thatthe PML-N members opposed the billwhich is being termed as a new form of theNational Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)by some experts,” said a source in the PPP.

The source said that some other im-portant bills such as the Fair Trial Bill2012, National Counter Terrorism Author-ity (NACTA) Bill 2012, Election ReformsBill 2102, and some other bills might alsobe included in the list as there was a strongpossibility that this might be the last ses-sion of the National Assembly. Despitesuccessive parleys between the PPP andthe PML-N, both the parties have failed to

evolve consensus over the AccountabilityCommission Bill. On November 14, the Na-tional Assembly Standing Committee onLaw and Justice had met to discuss the billbut failed to evolve consensus. Later, in anin-camera session, the government got itapproved on the following day after notbeing able to woo the PML-N members.

Law Minister Farooq H Naek said theNational Assembly Standing Committee onLaw and Justice had completed review of therevised draft of the National AccountabilityCommission Bill, which would be tabled inthe National Assembly in the coming weekfor approval. In the proposed bill, the impris-onment on corruption charges has been re-duced to seven years from 14 years. However,

the PML-N has reservations over the bill inits entirety. PML-N member Zahid Hamidsays that the proposed commission was noth-ing more than a toothless authority as it failsto empower the commission. The commis-sion would not have the authority to freezethe property of the accused living out of thecountry, he added. He also expressed hisparty’s concerns over the fact that the com-mission would not have the authority to in-vestigate cases older than 10 years.According to the new bill, the chairman of thecommission could either be a retiredSupreme Court judge or a retired grade-22officer of the federal government. In the pre-vious bill, the opposition had insisted thechairman be a retired Supreme Court judge.

Pentagon plansmajor expansionof spy programmewaShingTon: The US Department ofDefence will send hundreds of additionalspies overseas as part of an ambitious planto assemble an espionage network that ri-vals the CIA in size, US officials said. Theproject is aimed at transforming the De-fense Intelligence Agency (DIA) which hasbeen dominated for the past decade by thedemands of two wars, into a spy service fo-cused on emerging threats and moreclosely aligned with the CIA and elite mili-tary commando units. When the expansionis complete, the DIA is expected to have asmany as 1,600 “collectors” in positionsaround the world, an unprecedented totalfor an agency whose presence abroad num-bered in the triple digits in recent years.The total includes military attachés andothers who do not work undercover. ButUS officials said the growth will be drivenover a five-year period by the deploymentof a new generation of clandestine opera-tives. They will be trained by the CIA andoften work with the US Joint Special Oper-ations Command, but they will get theirspying assignments from the Departmentof Defense. Officials said among the Penta-gon’s top intelligence priorities are militantgroups in Africa, weapons transfers byNorth Korea and Iran, and military mod-ernisation underway in China. “This is nota marginal adjustment for DIA,” theagency’s director, Lt Gen Michael T Flynn,said at a recent conference, during whichhe outlined the changes but did not de-scribe them in detail. “This is a major ad-justment for national security.” The sharpincrease in DIA undercover operatives ispart of a far-reaching trend: a convergenceof the military and intelligence agenciesthat has blurred their once-distinct mis-sions, capabilities and even their leader-ship ranks. Through its drone programme,the CIA now accounts for a majority oflethal US operations outside the Afghanwar zone. At the same time, the Pentagon’splan to create what it calls the DefenceClandestine Service, or DCS, reflects themilitary’s latest and largest foray into se-cret intelligence work. The DIA overhaul —combined with the growth of the CIA sincethe September 11, 2001, terrorist attackswill create a spy network of unprecedentedsize. The plan reflects the Obama adminis-tration’s affinity for espionage and covertaction over conventional force. It also fitsin with the administration’s efforts to cod-ify its counterterrorism policies for a sus-tained conflict and assemble the piecesabroad necessary to carry it out. INP

CAIRO: Egypt’s top court said ithas suspended its work“indefinitely” after protesterssupporting President MohamedMorsi surrounded the courthouseon Sunday. The SupremeConstitutional Court said thesuspension of the court sessionswas in protest of what it called“pressures.” Riot police standguard behind a gate in front ofthe Supreme Constitutional Courtduring a rally by supporters ofEgyptian President MohamedMursi in Maadi, south of Cairo,December 2, 2012. The court wasdue to examine the legality of theIslamist-dominated constituentassembly that drafted thecountry’s new constitution. Butseveral hundred protestedoutside the court building. Inrecent days, about 30 Christian,liberal and secular members haveboycotted the constituentassembly to protest what theycall the hijacking of the processby President Morsi’s supporters,who dominate the assembly. Anyruling from the court would havebeen a direct challenge to thepresident, who last month gavehimself sweeping new powers,

placing himself and theconstitutional assembly aboveany oversight, including by thejudiciary. Morsi has said thedecree of extreme powers wouldend immediately once the peoplevote on the constitution in anational referendum set forDecember 15. The presidentannounced the date after theassembly handed its final draft ofthe constitution to him lateSaturday. The draft constitutionretains the principles of Islamiclaw as the main source oflegislation. Earlier Saturday, tensof thousands of Islamistsdemonstrated across Egypt insupport of Morsi and the draftconstitution, demanding theimplementation of what theycalled “God’s law.” The MuslimBrotherhood called for the rallies.The president is a former memberof the once-banned group. AlsoSaturday, thousands of protestersdemonstrated in Cairo’s TahrirSquare for a ninth straight dayagainst the president and thedraft constitution. They have beenvoicing opposition to the decreethat gave the presidentextraordinary powers. AGENCIES

NA’s last session may not be the leastg over 16 bills likely to be tabled in National Assembly g government determined to move ahead on its proposed bills despite opposition’s reservations

egyPT ToP coUrTSUSPeNDS WorKAfTer Pro-MorSIProTeSTS

egyPT ToP coUrTSUSPeNDS WorKAfTer Pro-MorSIProTeSTS

coUrT’S rULINg WoULDhAve chALLeNgeD MorSI’S‘SWeePINg NeW PoWerS’chrISTIAN, LIBerAL AND SecULAr MeMBerScoNTINUe BoycoTT ofcoNSTITUeNT ASSeMBLy


E-paper Pakistan Today 3rd December, 2012

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Transcript of E-paper Pakistan Today 3rd December, 2012