Rs 17.00 Vol III No 228 19 Pages Lahore Edition Thursday, 14 February, 2013 Rabi us Sani 3, 1434

story on page 04

page 03

gulzar, VishalBhardwaj ‘sentback’ to India

Indian lyricist Gulzar and director

Vishal Bhardwaj have both cut short

their trip to Pakistan and returned to

India. They were scheduled to attend

the Karachi Literary Festival that

starts on Friday. Gulzar arrived in

Pakistan a day ago and went to his

hometown Dina in district Jhelum.

However, the Indian High Commission

called him back and sent him to India,

saying that the situation in Pakistan

was not suitable for him. page 04

president stressesearly completion ofpak-Iran gas pipeline

President Asif Ali Zardari on

Wednesday said Pakistan

attached great importance to the

early completion of Pakistan-Iran

gas pipeline project in view of the

energy crisis in the country, as

he urged Iranian Majlis-e-Shura

Speaker Ali Ardeshir Larijani to

step up efforts for early

completion of all bilateral

projects between Pakistan and

Iran. page 03

Brennan is a Muslim, claims former FBI agent

John Brennan, who was nominated

by Barack Obama as the new director

of the Central Intelligence Agency

(CIA), converted to Islam while

working as a station chief in Saudi

Arabia in the 1990s. According to

former FBI agent, John Guandolo,

who retired from the FBI in 2008,

Brennan visited the Islamic holy cities

of Makkah and Medina accompanied

by Saudi officials who may have

persuaded him to convert. page 19

Dialogue only iftaliban cease fire,says MalikInterior Minister Rehman Malik on

Wednesday said the government

was ready to hold dialogue with

the Taliban if they announce a

ceasefire and appoint some

sincere clerics to achieve

purposeful results. Meanwhile in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,

Information Minister Mian Iftikhar

Hussain said that if talks could be

held with the Taliban in Qatar, the

same could be done in Pakistan

also. He urged the Taliban to

name a committee to initiate

serious talks with the

government. Taliban’s willingness

to start dialogue was a big

achievement, he said, adding

that it could prove to be a key

step towards restoration of

peace. page 19

He came to Pakistan with a mission – “Save The State, Not

Politics”. He staged a “million-man sit-in” near Parliament

House for three days, gave one deadline after the other

warning of a takeover of the parliament by his supporters

lest the government immediately dissolved the ‘corrupt’

assemblies and reconstituted the Election Commission for

electoral reform before the general election. He claimed that

only two institutions in the country were dispensing their

operations with sincerity – the Supreme Court of Pakistan

and the military, and was overwhelmed with joy when the

apex court ordered the corruption watchdog to move

against the sitting prime minister in the Rental Power

Projects scam. “Mubarak Ho, Mubarak Ho, Supreme Court

Ne Wazir-e-Azam Ko Arrest Karney Ka Hukam Dey Diya Hai,”

the ecstatic religious scholar told his supporters who braved

the chilly weather for three days while their leader camped

in a customised luxury container. And then he struck a deal

with the same prime minister he had accused of being

dishonest and corrupt, becoming a stakeholder in the

formation of the interim government. What the

controversial Pakistani-Canadian cleric Dr Tahirul Qadri had

not anticipated was the immense grilling he would have to

face by the same institution he had been so vociferously

praising in his well-articulated speeches. Having faced the

Supreme Court’s ire in the last three days while trying to

prove the maintainability of his plea for the reconstitution

of the Election Commission, Dr Qadri was on Wednesday

sent home by the three-member SC bench, which told the

cleric he had no locus standi in the matter. Although Dr

Qadri had tolerated the SC’s salvo at him in the first two

days of hearing, the cleric lost his cool on the third

day when the bench did not discuss the merit of

his petition and kept questioning his intentions

and patriotism for being a dual national. An

enraged Qadri told reporters after the

hearing that the PCO oath taken by some of

the court judges and his oath to allegiance

to the Queen of England were one and the

same thing and the SC verdict was a

political move.

He came to Pakistan with a mission – “Save The State, Not

Politics”. He staged a “million-man sit-in” near Parliament

House for three days, gave one deadline after the other

warning of a takeover of the parliament by his supporters

lest the government immediately dissolved the ‘corrupt’

assemblies and reconstituted the Election Commission for

electoral reform before the general election. He claimed that

only two institutions in the country were dispensing their

operations with sincerity – the Supreme Court of Pakistan

and the military, and was overwhelmed with joy when the

apex court ordered the corruption watchdog to move

against the sitting prime minister in the Rental Power

Projects scam. “Mubarak Ho, Mubarak Ho, Supreme Court

Ne Wazir-e-Azam Ko Arrest Karney Ka Hukam Dey Diya Hai,”

the ecstatic religious scholar told his supporters who braved

the chilly weather for three days while their leader camped

in a customised luxury container. And then he struck a deal

with the same prime minister he had accused of being

dishonest and corrupt, becoming a stakeholder in the

formation of the interim government. What the

controversial Pakistani-Canadian cleric Dr Tahirul Qadri had

not anticipated was the immense grilling he would have to

face by the same institution he had been so vociferously

praising in his well-articulated speeches. Having faced the

Supreme Court’s ire in the last three days while trying to

prove the maintainability of his plea for the reconstitution

of the Election Commission, Dr Qadri was on Wednesday

sent home by the three-member SC bench, which told the

cleric he had no locus standi in the matter. Although Dr

Qadri had tolerated the SC’s salvo at him in the first two

days of hearing, the cleric lost his cool on the third

day when the bench did not discuss the merit of

his petition and kept questioning his intentions

and patriotism for being a dual national. An

enraged Qadri told reporters after the

hearing that the PCO oath taken by some of

the court judges and his oath to allegiance

to the Queen of England were one and the

same thing and the SC verdict was a

political move.

pML-n dividedover MQM’s offerfor future alliance

The major political move by the

Muttahida Qaumi Movement

(MQM) of offering an olive

branch to its former adversary –

the Pakistan Muslim League-

Nawaz (PML-N) – has put the

PML-N leadership in a quandary.

As per the findings of Pakistan

Today’s Tayyab Hussain, the

option of joining hands with the

MQM has triggered divisions

within the PML-N ranks. A source

in the MQM said that the PML-N

was contacted through

parliamentary sources and an

offer for a possible electoral

alliance in the future was made,

which was aimed at excluding

the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)

from the political scene after the

upcoming elections. Confirming

contacts between the two

parties, a member of the PML-N

said his party leadership was

divided over forming an alliance

with MQM. page 04

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NThursday, 14 February, 2013

02

news

SC Ruling ASExpECtEDISLAMABAD: Chief

Election

Commissioner

(CEC) of Pakistan

Fakhruddin G

Ebrahim on

Wednesday welcomed

the decision given by the

Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan in the

petition filed by controversial cleric

Tahirul Qadri challenging the formation

of the commission. Ebrahim said he was

expecting the same decision by the apex

court because the formation of the

commission was in accordance with the

constitution of Pakistan. He further said

the election commission and SC were on

the same path and no one could delay

elections in the country. aGEnCiEs

QADRi’S pEtitionDiSpoSED off intHE RigHt MAnnERISLAMABAD: Former

Supreme Court Bar

Association (SCBA)

president Asma

Jahangir said that

it was right to

dispose off Tahirul

Qadri’s petition in

the manner the SC

had done so. Talking to

media personnel outside the SC

building on Wednesday, she noted that

the honourable court was being asked

to adopt a lenient behaviour, so that

the masses might get an idea about the

issues that can be taken up by the apex

court. She said the attitude of Qadri

before the court was driven by

emotions. aGEnCiEs

SC HAS unMASkEDAnti-poll foRCESISLAMABAD: PML-N

Secretary Information

Mushahidullah Khan

on Wednesday

lauded the Supreme

Court for dismissing

Tahirul Qadri’s petition

against the constitution

of the Election Commission

of Pakistan (ECP). In a statement, he said

the apex court in its decision had

unmasked forces which were trying to

delay elections by raising questions on the

commission. He said to fight these forces

the masses and political parties should

come forward and play their role to protect

democracy. The PML-N leader said all

tactics for delaying elections had failed. He

stressed the need for initiating purposeful

and decisive consultations between the

government and the opposition on the

caretaker setup. He also urged the

government to announce a schedule for

general elections. aGEnCiEs

SC judgment has concluded

Tahirul Qadri’s drama. —

Interior Minister Rehman Malik

ISLAMABADTayyab Hussain

Having faced the Supreme Court’s irein the last three days while trying toprove the maintainability of his plea forthe reconstitution of the Election Com-mission of Pakistan, Tehreek Minhajul

Quran chief Dr Tahirul Qadri was on Wednesday senthome by the three-member SC bench, which told thecleric he had no locus standi in the matter.

The rejection of the petition by the SC has left Qadrihigh and dry, as evident from his outburst against thevery judges he had praising ever since he returned toPakistan this December.

although Qadri had tolerated the SC’s salvo at himin the first two days of hearing, the cleric lost his coolon the third day when the bench did not discuss the mer-its of his petition and kept questioning his intentions andpatriotism for being a dual national.

in his angst, Qadri resorted to strict remarks againstthe chief justice, but the bench stopped short of issuinga contempt notice to the firebrand scholar.

in its short order, the three-member bench main-tained that Dr Qadri failed in proving the eligibilityof his petition. The court also stated that Qadri couldnot participate in the elections, but could exercisehis right to vote.

During the course of hearing, Chief Justice iftikharMuhammad Chaudhry said there were more than 100registered political parties, 342 elected members of thenational assembly and several parties that were not partof the assemblies, yet only Qadri had reservations overthe Election Commission.

The chief justice asked Qadri how his rights werebeing infringed upon, adding that he would have toprove the purity of his intentions since he had suddenlyappeared on the national stage.

The chief justice observed that the petition had beensubmitted in a personal capacity and the petitioner wasnot eligible to contest elections, therefore he must provehis right to petition.QADRI’S RESPONSE: Qadri replied that from northto South Pole, no one could revoke the nationality of aPakistani citizen and the proceedings suggested that atrial of dual nationals was being held as if they had com-mitted some offence.

He said he was being put on trial for three daysthrough questions that the constitution did not evenallow to be asked. This prompted the chief justice to say

that everyone who appeared before the court was liableto questioning.

The bench also questioned Qadri’s loyalty as he hadsworn allegiance to Queen Elizabeth of England. Tothis, Qadri said if the CJ’s loyalty could not be termedsuspicious for his PCO oath, his oath to Queen Eliza-beth could not be questioned as well.

Flashing a picture of the CJ taking oath from formermilitary dictator Pervez Musharraf, Qadri said if he hadtaken oath of loyalty to the Queen, the judges them-selves had taken oath from a former military ruler underthe Legal Framework Order (LFO).

He said there was no difference between him andthe judges who had taken oath from Musharraf. Thechief justice told him that he was referring to a personwho had become history. The CJ said Qadri shouldknow that former dictator Pervez Musharraf was presi-dent in 2005 and every chief justice took oath from thepresident. irked by Qadri’s response, the bench warnedhim that the hearing of his petition would be adjournedindefinitely if he addressed the bench in such a manner.Qadri was then directed to step down from the rostrum.

The cleric found an unexpected ally in the form ofattorney general irfan Qadir when the court asked theag to speak his mind regarding the eligibility ofQadri’s petition.

The attorney general advised the bench to focus onthe petition instead of the character of the petitioner. Hesaid the verdicts upon which Dr Qadri had been relyingwere not correct and urged the court to look into theissue whether the petitioner had come with clean hands.QADRI DENIES: Muhammad Munir Peracha, counselfor the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), told thebench that Qadri wanted to delay the elections for twoyears and he had also expressed his intentions duringhis public gathering held at Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore,on December 23. When Qadri denied giving any suchstatement, the court ordered for the recording of his La-hore rally to be presented to the court. Dr Qadri com-plained before the court that he had been questionedabout his dual nationality for three days of the hearing,but his petition did not come under discussion.

in the short order, the court observed that at the con-clusion of his argument, the petitioner made uncalledfor aspersions against the court which were tantamountto undermining its authority and invoking of contemptof court proceedings under article 204 of the constitu-tion and Section 3 of the Contempt of Court Ordinance2007. “We, however, are exercising restraint and notproceeding against him at this stage as this jurisdiction

should be sparingly exercised on a case-to-case basis,”the order said. Dismissing the plea, the bench said thepetitioner failed to make his case for invoking discre-tionary jurisdiction of the court under article 184 (3).

“in view of facts, none of the fundamental rights ofpetitioner were violated as he had neither listed anyamong those nor pointed out during the course of hear-ing,” the order stated.

it said the petitioner also failed to establish hisbonafide intention and under the peculiar circum-stances, had no locus standi to get relief at this stage asprayed by him in his plea, inter alia as he was alsoholder of dual nationality (not qualified to contest elec-tions due to the constitutional bar of article 63 (1) (c)which had been interpreted by this court in its verdictsover the issue.

However, the bench said it was loudly and clearlyobserved that as a voter like other overseas Pakistanis,whose names had been notified in the electoral lists, thepetitioner could exercise his right of franchise as heldby the constitution and the court.QADRI’S OutbuRSt: Talking to reporters outsidethe Supreme Court, Qadri said there was no hearingheld for the appointment of ECP members under the lawand the court should have called the parliamentary com-mittee members and asked for the minutes of their meet-ing. “all of this would have proved that the constitutionof the election commission was unconstitutional,” Qadrisaid while explaining his petition.

He also questioned the PCO oath taken by some ofthe court judges and said if loyalty to Queen of Englandcould create doubts about patriotism of Pakistani citi-zen, an oath from a dictator also meant the same.

“is it not the very chief justice who had taken firstoath under the constitution and second oath under Pro-visional Constitutional Order (PCO),” he added.

“With due respect to the judiciary, i want to tell thepeople the truth. They did not even let me read out asingle word from my petition. When i started reading itout yesterday, they did not listen to me and asked meabout my dual nationality instead,” he added.

Qadri also said that he became furious when thecourt attacked all dual nationals. “There are millionsof Pakistanis who are loyal to Pakistan and are dualnationals. They add billions of rupees to Pakistan’seconomy… Their loyalty was questioned.” Qadri saidthe SC’s dismissal of his petition was a politicalmove, against legal and constitutional norms and tan-tamount to hurting fundamental rights of millions ofoverseas Pakistanis.

HE HAD A DREAM...

DR TAHIRUL QADRIFURIOUS AS SC DISMISSESPETITION

SC KEEPS QUESTIONING QADRI’SDUAL NATIONALITY, IGNORESMERITS OF PETITION

QADRI SAYS HIS OATH TO QUEENOF ENGLAND SAME AS JUDGES’OATH TO MUSHARRAF

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 2:58 AM Page 2

news N

03

Thursday, 14 February, 2013

The Election Commission should be neutral and

upright so that no one could point fingers at its

performance. — MQM chief Altaf Hussain

LAHOREaPP

PRESiDEnT asif aliZardari on Wednesday saidPakistan attached great im-portance to the early comple-tion of Pakistan-iran gas

pipeline project in view of the energy cri-sis in the country.

The President called for stepping upefforts for early completion of all bilat-eral projects between Pakistan and iranduring a meeting with iranian MajliseShura Speaker ali ardeshir Larijani atBilawal House.

Spokesperson to the President SenatorFarhatullah Babar said the President dur-ing the meeting reiterated Pakistan’s com-mitment to implement all mega projectsexpeditiously, including the gas pipeline,the 1,000 MW Taftan-Quetta transmissionline, 400 MW gwadar power supply proj-ect, noshki-Dalbandin highway and up-gradation of the Quetta-Taftan track.

Zardari stressed upon the need for de-vising appropriate mechanisms to financethese critical projects.

The iranian dignitary is visiting Pak-istan for participation in the meeting ofParliamentary assembly of the ECO coun-tries in islamabad.

The President lauded the setting up ofthe Parliamentary assembly of the ECOand expressed hope that by promoting in-teraction among elected representatives,the forum would help strengthen democ-racies in member countries and promotepeople-to-people contacts.

He hoped that it would also enableparliamentarians identify new avenues of

cooperation among ECO countries.The spokesperson said that in addition

to Pakistan-iran bilateral ties focusing ontrade and commerce between the twocountries, the regional situation was alsodiscussed during the meeting.

The President called for employing thecollective strength of Muslims and theneed to shun violence in meeting chal-lenges facing the region. We have to takecontrol of our own affairs and find ourown solutions to problems, he added.

The President reiterated Pakistan’ssupport for an afghan-owned, afghan-led reconciliation process and said thatthe release of prisoners recently by Pak-

istan proved its sincerity. He also calledfor greater coordination between the twocountries for promoting peace and stabil-ity in the country.

He said that Pakistan and iran enjoyeddeep-rooted fraternal relations and thepeople of Pakistan had special attachmentwith their iranian brethren and highly val-ued ties with them.

The President underscored the needfor concrete measures to further promotemutual cooperation and to take full advan-tage of historical, cultural and brotherlyties of the people of the two countries.

noting the current low level of bilat-eral trade, he emphasised the need for

taking measures to realise the true poten-tial of bilateral trade. He said the existingregime of tariff barriers that was ad-versely impacting economic interactionneeded to be revisited.

Zardari welcomed the call by parlia-mentarians to focus on enhancement oftrade and hoped that the ECO ContainerTrain would boost cargo trade not only be-tween the two countries but in the regionas a whole. He said that improved visa fa-cilitation, opening of new border posts atMand-Pishin and gabd-Reemdan and en-hancing connectivity were critical forgreater economic interaction between thetwo countries.

Zardari also felicitated the visitingiranian delegation on their national Day,which was recently celebrated and askedali Larijani to convey his greetings and re-gards to the Supreme Leader and PresidentMahmoud ahmadinejad.

ali Larijani was accompanied by Sha-heen Mohammad Sadeghi,

Member Parliament and Head of pre-siding Board of the islamic

Consultative assembly, gholamrezaasadullahei, member Parliament and Headof iran-Pakistan Friendship group, MehdiSanaei, Member Parliament and nationalSecurity and Foreign Policy Commis-sioner, Haleema aali, Member of Parlia-ment, Mohammad Jaffery, advisor andHead of the Speaker’s Secretariat of is-lamic Consultative assembly, alirezaHaghighian, ambassador of iran to Pak-istan and others. The Pakistani side in-cluded Pakistan People’s Party ChairmanBilawal Bhutto Zardari, former premierYusuf Raza gillani and PPP Secretarygeneral M Salman Faruqui.

president stresses early completionof pak-iran gas pipeline

ISLAMABADsTaFF REPORT

in a major development, the FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) and State Bankof Pakistan (SBP) have agreed to provideall details of tax returns and loan historyof candidates to Election CommissionPakistan (ECP) for scrutiny.

FBR will help the commission in ver-ifying contents of statement of assets andliabilities filed by candidates along withtheir nomination papers, within 10 days.Before this development, there was nomechanism available with the ECP toverify details of assets and liabilities ofcandidates.

in a meeting held on Wednesday atthe ECP Secretariat, representatives of

FBR and SBP assured the election com-mission that both institutions would ex-tend full cooperation to scrutinisecandidates in the next general elections.

ECP Secretary ishtiak ahmed Khanand three other members of the electioncommission represented the ECP whilesenior members of FBR and State Bankrepresented their respective institutions.Representatives from naDRa were alsopresent in the meeting. it was decidedthat the FBR chairman and State Bankgovernor will be asked to attend the nextmeeting, to be held within a week’s time,when a mechanism will be finalised forverification of nomination papers.

During the meeting, participants dis-cussed ways and means to halt taxevaders and bank defaulters from taking

part in the upcoming general elections.During the meeting, the possibility of ex-amining the candidates’ telephone andmobile phone records was also dis-cussed. it was also agreed that the FBRwill assist the ECP in verifying nationalTax numbers (nTns) of candidates. itwill also help the commission in verify-ing contents of the statement filed bycandidates within ten days after receiv-ing details from ECP.

The FBR also agreed it would shareparticulars of candidates who were onthe tax roll but are not filing tax returns.Whereas, information of all potential taxpayers who are not filing their returns orare not on the tax roll shall be sharedwith the election commission. FBRwould formulate its recommendations re-

garding desired changes in the currentformat of declaration of assets filed bycandidates with the ECP.StAtE bANK: The representatives ofState of Bank of Pakistan also assuredfull co-operation to the ECP and told thecommission that the data available inElectronic Credit investigation Bureau(eCiB) maintained at SBP contains infor-mation on borrowers from financial in-stitutions including defaulted amounts.The representatives of banks assuredthey were ready to share information asprovided under the relevant law.

Meanwhile, the commission alsosought details of dual nationality holdersfrom Senator Babar awan in reference tohis claim last year that he had informa-tion on dual nationality holders.

lHC orders AtC tocomplete Benazirmurder trialin 3 months

RAWALPINDIaPP

The Rawalpindi Bench of the LahoreHigh Court (LHC) on Wednesday ordereda special court to hear the Benazir Bhuttomurder case on daily basis and completethe trial within three months. The two-member bench comprising Justice aliBaqar najfi and Justice Mazaahir alinaqvi was hearing a petition filed by theFederal investigation agency (Fia)seeking order for the Special anti-Terrorism Court (aTC) to hear the case ondaily basis. in its petition, the Fia pleadedthat former Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)chairperson Benazir Bhutto was slain onDecember 27, 2007, in Liaquat Bagh andit was regrettable that the trial of high-profile case could not be completed evenafter a lapse of five years. Fia SeniorPublic Prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar alicontended that a trial court, under theanti-Terrorism act 1997, was bound tohold daily hearing of the cases for theirquick disposal. He apprised the court thatcounsel for all the accused were usingdelaying tactics to delay the case whichwas evident from the fact that not even asingle case of 2007 was pending in theaTC-i except this one. He said the murdercase of Punjab governor Salman Taseerhad been decided in only ten months.

pSo halts fuelsupply to piA

KARACHI OnLinE

The Pakistan State Oil (PSO) has stoppedfuel supply to the Pakistan internationalairlines (Pia) over non-payment of dues,media reports said. according to PSO, thenational airline is to pay Rs 1.2 billion,adding that due to this non-payment fuelsupply to Pia aircraft has been suspended.

ISLAMABADsTaFF REPORT

The national media regulator onWednesday asked television and radiostations to avoid offending religioussentiments and “corrupting the na-tion’s youth” in their valentine’s Daybroadcasts.

Wednesday’s notification wasmore of a request than a stricter en-forcement of Pakistan ElectronicMedia Regulator authority (PEMRa)rules. The watchdog’s circular saidthat it was acting on complaints thatcelebrating the day was not in line with“our religious and cultural ethos”.

“Such events have been perceived

as a source of depraving, corruptingand injuring the morality of Pakistaniyouth as well as violating Code ofConduct developed by PEMRa,” theregulator’s letter said.

“all satellite Tv channels/FM sta-tions are, therefore requested to hon-our viewer’s sentiments/opinion whileconceptualising any programme or cel-ebrating any event connected to Thevalentine’s Day,” it added while point-ing towards PEMRa rules of 2009 onthe subject.

valentine’s Day is increasinglypopular among youngsters, many ofwhom have taken up the custom ofgiving cards, chocolates and gifts totheir sweethearts to celebrate the occa-

sion.However, many disapprove of

valentine’s Day as a Western import.a PEMRa official said that the

regulator had not banned valentine’sDay programme broadcast, but insteadissued a request to channels in thewake of public complaints.

Supporters of religious partiesstaged a noisy protest against valen-tine’s Day on Tuesday in the Peshawar,denouncing it as un-islamic and call-ing for a “day of modesty” instead.

The student wing of Jamaat-e-is-lami rallied outside the Peshawar pressclub chanting slogans against valen-tine’s Day, saying it had “spread im-modesty in the world”.

FBR, SBP to provide ECP dataon tax, loan records of candidates

22 killED,DozEnSinjuRED inRoAD MiSHApSLAhORE/QuEttA: At least 22

people were killed on Wednesday

while 30 others injured in separate

road accidents in various parts of

Punjab and Balochistan. According to

Rescue 1122 officials, at 14 people

lost their lives in three different

incidents of road mishaps in

Sahiwal, Chichawatni and

Faisalabad. According to details, 10

members of a Tabligi Jamaat died

and 16 others were injured when a

bus collided with a truck at Chowki

bypass near Sahiwal city. Rescue

teams rushed to the scene and

shifted the bodies and injured to

District Headquarter Hospital

Sahiwal. In another incident, three

persons of a family were killed and

three others injured when a car and

jeep collided with each other in

Chichawatni. According to the police,

the accident occurred on Burewala

Road where a car crashed into a

Pajero jeep, killing three people in

the car identified as Muhammad

Sajjid, Shahzad and Muhammad

Sardar. At least four people onboard

the jeep sustained injuries.

Moreover, a bus driver was killed

and 10 others injured in a collision

between a bus and wagon at Jhang

Road in Faisalabad. Meanwhile, at

least eight people, including three

children, were killed in a two-vehicle

collision in Kuchlak area of Quetta.

According to local police, two vehicles

coming from opposite directions

crashed into each other, resulting in

the death of eight members of a

family. Rescue teams and the police

rushed to the scene and shifted the

injured and the bodies to Quetta

hospital. sTaFF REPORT

PEMRA cautions TV, radio stationsover Valentine’s Day broadcasts

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 2:58 AM Page 3

While recognising that terrible murders were committed in the Indian

parliament attack case and aware of the suffering of the victims and their

families, the EU reiterates its principled opposition to the death penalty

under all circumstances. — EU Foreign Policy chief Catherine AshtonnewsN

04

Thursday, 14 February, 2013

ISLAMABADsTaFF REPORT

The Pakistan Ulema Council(PUC) on Wednesday an-nounced to boycott the pro-posed afghan UlemaConference that will be heldin Kabul and demanded thatthe afghan Taliban be ex-tended an invitation to partic-ipate in the conference.

The announcement camefrom PUC Chairman and is-lamic ideological Councilmember Hafiz MohammadTahir ashrafi during a pressconference at the nationalPress Club.

Tahir ashrafi said vari-ous parties including Wafaq-

ul-Maradis arabia, Tahafuz-e-Madaris-e-Deenia, JamiatUlema-e-islam-Fazl, (JUi-F), JUi-S and Jamaat-e-is-lami had already boycottedthe ensuing afghan UlemaConference.

He added that PUC wasnot a representative of theafghan Taliban. “PUC be-lieves that any reconciliationefforts without the afghanTaliban could not prove fruit-ful,” he added.

Urging the government toinvite the afghan Taliban intothe conference, he made itclear that without participa-tion of the afghan Taliban thePUC would not become partof any ulema conference.

He said the situationwould take a turn for theworse when Mullah Omerwould be declared a Satanand Karzai would be taken asa caliph. ashrafi mentionedthat PUC had also demandedan end to drone strikes as oneof the agendas for the confer-ence. He alleged that interna-tional media had censoredthis demand.

He said that the afghanTaliban must be included inall peace negotiations as theywere major stakeholders inthe situation.

Furthermore, he allegedthat the afghan ulema had vi-olated an agreement inkedwith PUC a few days ago.

ashrafi said that the PUCwas ready to play its role inensuring lasting peace inafghanistan and forging unityamong various stakeholdersbut it was not ready to con-demn the afghan Taliban orMullah Umar.

ashrafi was of the viewthat in islamic ideologyCouncil, one faction led bySajid naqvi was includedwhereas the other faction ledby ahmed Ludhayanvi hadbeen ignored due to which thecouncil lost its credibility.

Responding to a questionhe said he had submitted fivepoints in islamic ideologicalCouncil for exterminatingsectarian violence.

WASHINGTONOnLinE

US President Barack Obamavetoed the idea of a Seal 6 teamtasked with killing Osama binLaden surrendering if sur-rounded by Pakistani troops, in-stead, he planned to “rain hell”on the Pakistani military in suchan eventuality, stirring new in-sights into the abbottabad inva-sion that nailed the world’s no1 terrorist have revealed.

an exhaustive account ofthe abbottabad raid in Esquiremagazine by Phil Bronstein,former Editor of the San Fran-

cisco Chronicle, provides gran-ular details of the foray basedon interviews with the Seal 6commando who shot binLaden dead, identifying himmerely as the “shooter”. Dis-cussions during the planningstages looked at what wouldhappen if they were surroundedby Pakistani troops. The origi-nal plan was to surrender andhave vice-President Joe Bidenfly to islamabad and negotiatetheir release.

But President Obamacalled it differently. “This ishearsay, but i understandObama said, Hell no. My

guys are not surrendering.What do we need to rain hellon the Pakistani military?”Bronstein paraphrases theshooter as saying. The com-mando also makes known hisadmiration for the president,“That was the one time in mylife i was thinking, i amf***king voting for this guy. ihad a picture of him lying inbed at night, thinking, You’renot f***king with my guys.Like, he’s thinking about us. “

The Seal 6 team later gotword that the US would bescrambling jets on the borderto back up the raiding party.

ISLAMABADTayyab Hussain

tHE major politicalmove by the Mut-tahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) of

offering an olive branch to itsformer adversary – the Pak-istan Muslim League-nawaz(PML-n) – has put the PML-n leadership in a quandary,sources told Pakistan Today.

according to details, theoption of joining hands withthe MQM has triggered divi-sions within the PML-nranks. a source in the MQMtold Pakistan Today that thePML-n was contactedthrough parliamentary sourcesand an offer for a possibleelectoral alliance in the futurewas made, adding that the aimwas to exclude the PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) from thepolitical scene after the up-coming elections.

“We have expressed thedesire to work out differencesto make the environment con-ducive for a possible futurecoalition government in thecentre and in Sindh,” thesource said. The PPP enjoyssupport in rural Sindh whilethe MQM has public supportin urban areas. The PML-n

has no option but to forge anelectoral alliance with theMQM which has over 50 MPsin the house of 162 members.For formation of any alliance,the PML-n would have toenter into an alliance eitherwith the PPP or the MQM.

“We have approached thePML-n with total sincerity towork closely during and afterthe next elections. Options areopen for shaping up a new al-liance,” the MQM leader said.

a source in the PML-nconfirmed the contact be-tween the parties, adding thatthe party leadership was di-vided over forming an al-liance with MQM.

“The MQM’s offer hasput the leadership in quandarysince the leadership is dividedover what to do,” the sourcesaid, adding “nawaz Sharifhas started in-house discus-sions and has sought feedbackin this regard. However, thishas led to serious divisionswithin the party.” The sourcesaid that national assemblyOpposition Leader Chaudhrynisar ali Khan and the Sindhchapter of the party had re-jected any alliance with theMQM, stating that in doing sothe PML-n would lose confi-dence of the Sindhi nationalist

parties as well as of the PML-F and other stakeholders.

“if the PML-n acceptsthe offer, it might cost theparty heavily as the nationalistleaders from Sindh could pos-sibly part their ways with theparty, who recently joined thePML-n in an alliance,” thesource added. “Moreover, itseems next to impossible thatthe PML-n leadership wouldbe able to convince MumtazBhutto, who recently joinedthe party, because he is astaunch opponent of theMQM,” the source added.

The source said PunjabChief Minister Shahbaz Sharifwas in favour of giving a seriousthought to the offer because itwould mean that the PPP wouldhave to face tough competition,but he might not be able to con-vince other leaders of the party.When contacted, PML-n Secre-tary information MushahidullahKhan expressed ignorance aboutany offer made by the MQM.“Look, contacts are made be-tween the political parties but iam not in a position to confirmany contact. But you know con-tacts are made between parlia-mentarians normally. There aremany unofficial contacts but iam not aware of an official one,”he added.

PESHAWARsTaFF REPORT

Fearing threats to their lives, at least 54 leadingtribal elders and clerics from various parts ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the tribal areashave declined an invitation by afghanistan fora joint conference in Kabul.

The afghan government is organising ajoint conference of Muslim scholars belongingto various schools of thoughts. The purpose ofthe scheduled conference is to discuss the on-going violence and issue a joint fatwa (decree)against suicide attacks and other terrorist acts.

Through some highly-placed sources,Pakistan Today has learnt that at least 54 in-vitees from the KP province and its adjoiningtribal areas have refused to attend the sched-uled conference. Those who refused to pro-ceed and attend the conference in Kabul

include 35 prominent religious figures. ac-cording to sources, the religious scholars whohave refused to attend the conference are as-sociated with leading religious institutionsand parties. One of them had served as chair-man of the District Zakat Committee in theprevious government.

Most of those who have refused to attendthe conference are reluctant to talk to the mediaon this issue, and others want to remain anony-mous. So far the invitees have not given anyreason for their refusal, but sources say thatthey are reluctant to become signatories of afatwa against the Taliban. a number of leadersof the Milli Yakjehti Council, headed by al-lama Tahir ashrafi, have already declared thatthey would not go to afghanistan either for at-tending the Ulema Conference or to becomepart of a resolution aimed at denouncing mili-tancy especially suicide attacks.

gulzar, VishalBhardwaj sentback to india

LAHOREOnLinE

indian lyricist gulzar and di-rector vishal Bhardwaj haveboth cut short their trip to Pak-istan and returned to india.

They were scheduled toattend the Karachi LiteraryFestival that starts on Friday.gulzar was listed as thekeynote speaker at the inaugu-ral session of the three-dayevent. Bhardwaj’s wife Rekhawas also in Pakistan. The triohad spent the last two days inLahore. Media reports saidgulzar arrived in Pakistan aday ago and went to his home-town Dena in district Jhelum.However, the indian HighCommission called him backand sent him to india, sayingthat situation in Pakistan wasnot suitable for him. Sourcessaid the indian HC sent gulzarback due to possible reactionto the hanging of afzal guru.

in a statement, the indianHigh Commission denied that ithad any role to play in their pre-mature return. “gulzar saab’svisit to Pakistan was a privateone. The indian High Commis-sion, islamabad was not awareof his itinerary and no one fromthe mission gave him any adviceregarding his return to india. infact the indian High Commis-sion was not even in contactwith him. The news that he hasbeen advised to return to theindia by the indian High Com-mission, islamabad is false andfabricated,” the statement said.

pMl-n divided overMQM’s offer forfuture alliance

54 elders, clerics from Kp turn downinvitation for anti-taliban conference

obama was ready to ‘rain hell’ onpakistan during bin Laden raid

pakistani clerics to boycott afghan Ulema moot

HYDERABAD: A shopkeeper shows a Valentine gift to a girl on Wednesday.

People across the world will celebrate the day of love today (Thursday). OnLinE

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lahoreThursday, 14 February, 2013

Low

high

FrIdAy SAtUrdAy SUndAy19°C I 10°C 18°C I09°C 17°C I09°C

PRayER TiMinGs

SUnny

WeAther UpdAteS

200C

05

LChewing gum can make a person

more alert and increase brain

activity. –Brain and Cognition

Fajr Sunrise Zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

5:24 6:46 12:17 3:24 5:48 7:10

090C

66 wARDEnSDEputED on MBS RoutE

LAHOREsTaFF REPORT

Chief Traffic Officer SohailChaudhry has deputed 66 trafficwardens under the supervision oftraffic sector in charge to ensureuninterrupted operation of the MetroBus Service. During visit of MBS route fromgajumata to Shahdara Chowk, hesaid the wardens would perform dutyin three shifts at different points,including crossing points nishtar U-turn, Chungi amersidhu, ghazi Road,gulab Devi, azadi Chowk and niaziChowk. Besides, two inspectors havebeen deputed for the supervision ofthe Metro Bus System during night. The CTO directed wardens toperform their duties with dedication.

LAHOREuMaiR aZiZ

tHE new design of theMM alam Road hasdivided the city’s majorcommercial boulevardwhich is causing trouble

to the commuters, residents andbusinessmen alike, stakeholders toldPakistan Today.

The road which has the finesteateries, restaurants and shoppinghubs is being renovated at a huge costto the tune of Rs 300 million. Theproject, which is near completion, hasbeen opened for traffic after a fewweeks during which only single lanetraffic was allowed. The Mini Marketroundabout is still under construction,while Hussain Chowk at the other endis open for traffic. Footpaths andparking space are still under-construction.

However, the stakeholders havepointed out severe flaws in the planand have termed it“counterproductive” in many respects.

Rehma Sajjad, a banker whocommutes daily on the MM alamRoad, said the road had becomenarrower due to the divider and henceit was not possible to overtake othercars. “Since there is only one U-turnon the entire road, every time avehicle turns, a long queue is formed

behind it and that creates abottleneck,” she added.

The business community is alsonot happy with the new design and saythat their clientele has dropped.

“The planners have notunderstood the spirit of this road.Previously commuters would park thevehicle in front of the shop but nowthey have to take a long U-turn andthat makes them change their mind.Moreover, the parking space hasbecome limited and that makes it veryinconvenient for the people to parktheir vehicles,” an owner of arenowned furniture shop situated onthe road said.

The residents of gulberg havealso pointed out the same flaw ofinsufficient U-turns. “We have startedusing other roads to go to our housesbecause it takes us a lot more timewhen we use the MM alam road. Theresidents who have the first right onthe locality have been ignored totally,”Saad Cheema, a resident, said.

TEPa Chief Engineer Saeedakhtar however said the road plan wasmade by technical experts and could bechanged on the “wishes” of businesscommunity. “Let us train the people todrive according to plans instead ofdriving in chaos without a divider,” hesaid, adding that nothing was final andif there were enough recommendations,changes could be made.

STAKEHOLDERS SAY THE DIVIDER HAS MADE THE ROADS NARROWERAND THE TRAFFIC GETS BLOCKED EVERY TIME A CAR TURNS

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 2:58 AM Page 5

L

06

Thursday, 14 February, 2013lahore

76 percent Pakistanis prefer that their

daughters should get educated in

an all-girls school. –Gallup Survey

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LAHOREsTaFF REPORT

The Lahore School of Economicsheld its 3rd annual Job Fair atBarki Campus on Wednesday,13th February, 2013. More thanforty leading multinational andnational companies took part inthe event to inform studentsabout career opportunities andrecruitment processes. During thecourse of job fair companiescollected resumes from studentsfor internships and jobs. For thelast three years, 100 percentstudents of Lahore School havebeen employed by the leadingbusiness houses operating inPakistan. Participants included KashfFoundation, Metro Cash n Carry, Zong, Bankalfalah Ltd, Qarshi industries, Fatima group,Worldcall Telecom, Philip Morris Pakistan Ltd,Berger Paints Pakistan Ltd, Sanofi PakistanLtd, Teach for Pakistan, Monsanto (Pvt) Ltd,Sidhat Hyder Morshid associates Private Ltd,Kohinoor Mills Ltd, Habib Bank Ltd, OrientCargo Services, Cure MD, Panasian group,Workman, azko nobel Pakistan Ltd, Kansai

Paint (Pvt) Ltd, Rocket internet, Women’sEmpowerment group, Descon EngineeringLtd, EFU Life insurance Ltd, nestle PakistanLtd, Soffizar, gEO Television network, netsolTechnologies Ltd, international PetrochemicalLtd, Harvest Topworth international,Knowledge Based Management, WaridTelecom andPEL-PakElectron Ltd.

YDA holds rally,sit-in outsidegovernor’sHouse LAHORE: The Young Doctors

Association (YDA) took out a

protest rally from their

hanger strike camp on Jail

Road to the Governor’s

House on Wednesday.

The YDA also staged a sit-in

in front of the Governor’s

House and a delegation of

the doctors met Governor

Makhdoom Ahmad Mahmood

and apprised him of their

demands. The governor

said he would talk to the

Punjab government and

discuss their demands with

the CM. Hundreds of young

doctors from government

hospitals of the city

participated in the rally.

However, dozens of doctors

performed their duties in

emergencies and out and in

door departments of

hospitals to attend to

patients.

The participants of the

hunger strike also attended

the rally and sit-in on

wheel chairs. A large

number of workers of the

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

(PTI) also attended the

rally. sTaFF REPORT

35 bondedlabourersrescued fromprivate jail LAHORE: The police on the

directives of Lahore High

Court (LHC) conducted a

raid and recovered 35

bonded labourers from

private jail of brick kiln

owner on Wednesday.

According to details, Nazir

Muhammad had filed a

petition in the LHC that 35

people including his family

members were in illegal

custody of a kiln owner. A

bailiff of the court

conducted raid at a private

jail and rescued 35 bonded

labourers including women

and children but the kiln

owner managed to escape.

The rescued persons told

the reporters that they were

kept in dire conditions and

were surviving on minimal

food. sTaFF REPORT

LAHOREsTaFF REPORT

Punjab Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif has said thatthe Punjab government haswritten a new chapter ofpublic service during the lastfive years which isunprecedented in the historyof Pakistan, while the Zardarigang has committed plunderover which the 65 years’history of Pakistan is ashamed.

The CM was addressing apublic meeting after laying thefoundation stone of DaanishSchool at Chak no 204 WB,Tiba Sultanpur, Tehsil Mailsion Wednesday.

He said merit andtransparency had beenpromoted in the province andno one could raise an accusingfigure of corruption overdevelopment works done byPunjab government fromattock to Rahim Yar Khan.

‘Zardari’s era a shamein the country’s history’

Annual job fair held at lSE

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 2:58 AM Page 6

israel approves 90

new settler homes tEL AVIV: The homes will be built inBeit El, a major Jewish settlementnorth of Jerusalem, the defenceministry said. Prime Minister Benjaminnetanyahu has pledged that 300 newdwellings will eventually beconstructed in Beit El, despite aSupreme Court ruling that evicted 30settler families from the area last June,saying they were living illegally onprivate Palestinian land. israel hascome under international criticism,including from its main ally the US,over its illegal construction policy inthe West Bank, territory it occupied inthe 1967 war and which thePalestinians claim as their future state.Settlement expansion has been anirritant in a testy relationship betweennetanyahu and Obama, who is due tovisit israel, the West Bank and Jordanthis spring. Both israel and the UShave played down speculation that thetrip could result in the revival of US-hosted peace talks with the Palestiniansthat collapsed over the settlement issuein 2010. "The Palestinian position isclear. There can be no negotiationwhile settlement continues," nabil abuRdainah, a spokesman for PalestinianPresident Mahmoud abbas, said inresponse to the new Beit Elconstruction. international law andmost of the international communityconsider israel's settlements illegal.israel disputes this, citing historical andBiblical links to the land. aGEnCiEs

07

newsThursday, 14 February, 2013

I hereby accuse the North American empire of being the biggest

menace to our planet. — Venezuelan President Hugo ChavezN

MANAMAaGEnCiEs

Bahraini police have fired tear gas and stungrenades to disperse protesters trying to march toPearl Roundabout, the now-crushed symbol of thepro-democracy uprising that began nearly twoyears ago.

Hundreds of people marched towards thesquare in the capital Manama carrying Bahrainiflags and chanting, "square of martyrdom, we allstill have the will." The protest was called by theFebruary 14 coalition, a loosely-organised group ofmostly young protesters. "Down with the corruptgovernment," the demonstrators chanted. "Khalifaresign," they called, referring to the king's unclePrince Khalifa bin Salman, who has been primeminister for four decades. The prince is the longest-serving prime minister in the world, and a particu-larly reviled figure among Bahrain's opposition.

The interior ministry said on Twitter that after the

opposition's rally ended, "a group of saboteurs caused[a] riot and blocked roads, requiring authorities totake legal action against them." The protesters whotried to march to the square broke off from a largerrally organised by al Wefaq, the main oppositionparty, in the village of Sanabis just outside the capital.Opposition supporters have been demonstrating formore than a week ahead of the anniversary.

Protesters camped at Pearl Roundabout for

nearly a month in early 2011 before they wereforcibly expelled in mid-March. authorities laterrazed the iconic statue at the centre of the square.More than 80 people have been killed in the unrest.The government set up an independent commissionto study the unrest. its report, released in late 2011,documented the excessive use of force againstmostly peaceful protesters.

Bahrain says it has implemented the report'srecommendations, but the opposition says thatabuses continue, with regular reports of torture andthe widespread use of tear gas in villages.

a new round of "national dialogue," organised bythe government, began on Sunday; it includes repre-sentatives from Wefaq and other opposition groups,plus members of pro-government groups like the na-tional Unity gathering and the salafi asala party. Of-ficials have revealed little about the substance of thetalks so far. The opposition has continued to pressfor major political reforms, including a constitu-tional monarchy and an elected prime minister.

DAMASCUSaGEnCiEs

OPPOSiTiOn fighters in Syria have seized amilitary air base and captured warplanes in thenorth of the country, as part of an assault onstrategic northern targets. The SyrianObservatory for Human Rights reported

Tuesday's capture of the military airport at al-Jarah in aleppoprovince. The London-based monitor said the fighters alsoseized for the first time a fleet of deployable warplanesincluding Mig fighter jets.Speaking to the aFP news agency on condition of anonymity,a regime military source in aleppo confirmed the capture"after 48 hours of fierce combat", but downplayed theimportance of al-Jarrah. "it is a very small airport, used fortraining purposes," he said. "There are only small amounts ofunusable ammunition left there, and several planes that havelong been out of action."During their assault on the airport, the fighters killed, injuredor imprisoned 40 troops, the Observatory said. The remainingtroops pulled out, leaving behind ammunition and warplanes.Soon afterwards, the air force used fighter jets to bombard theairport in hopes of dislodging the fighters, the Observatorysaid. Warplanes also carried out raids near the internationalairport which has come under a rebel assault.activists in aleppo have told the aFP news agency thatfighters in the north have shifted their focus from city battlesto the capture of military airports and bases."They are important because they are an instant source ofammunition and supplies, and because their capture meansputting out of action the warplanes used to bombard us," abuHisham, an aleppo-based fighter, said via the internet.While fighters have seen victories in northern and easternSyria, they have yet to take a major city in the war-ravagedcountry almost two years into the revolution.The capture of al-Jarrah airport came just over a month afterfighters overran Taftanaz airbase, the largest in northern Syria.amateur video shot by fighters overrunning al-Jarrah anddistributed via the internet showed a fleet of warplanes liningthe airport's runways. "Thank god, ahrar al-Sham [an armedopposition group] have overrun the military airport" at al-Jarrah, said an unidentified cameraman who shot a video atthe site. "Mig warplanes are now in the hands of ahrar al-Sham. and here is the ammunition," the cameraman added,filming two Russian-made fighter jets similar to those used bythe army since last summer to bombard rebel targets.The authenticity of the video could not be verified.according to Un figures, more than 60,000 people have beenkilled in violence across Syria since protests against Basharal-assad, Syrian president, began in March 2011.

Syrian rebels'capture' airbase in Aleppo

Bahrain’s police Break up proTesT near ManaMa

SERjILLA: A Syrian girl stands at the entrance of a makeshift

home set up in the catacombs of a building in the ancient

Roman city after fleeing the fighting on Wednesday. aGEnCiEs

PARISaGEnCiEs

The lower house of the French parliament has ap-proved a bill that puts France on track to legalise gaymarriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

Tuesday's measure, ap-proved in the national assemblyin a 329-to-229 vote, putsFrance on course to join nearlya dozen mostly European na-tions that allow gay marriageand comes despite a string of re-cent demonstrations by oppo-nents of the so-called "marriagefor all" bill. "This law is goingto extend to all families the pro-tections guaranteed by the insti-tution of marriage,'' PrimeMinister Jean-Marc ayrault saidahead of Tuesday's vote.

"Contrary to what those whovociferate against it say fortu-nately they're in the minoritythis law is going to strengthen the

institution of marriage", ayrault said.Conservative opponents forced a discussion of

nearly 5,000 amendments, a move derided by Social-ists as inconsequential stalling tactics.

Tuesday's vote makes France and Britain thelargest European nations to adopt pro-gay marriagepolicies.Polls indicate a narrow majority of Frenchsupport legalising gay marriage, though that supportfalls when questions about the adoption and concep-

tion of children come into play."Opening up marriage and adoption to homosex-

ual couples is a very beautiful advance. ... it is an em-blematic vote, a vote that will mark history", saidCorinne narassiguin, Socialist representative, an-nouncing her party's support for the measure.

The netherlands, Belgium,norway and Spain, as well asargentina, Canada and Southafrica have authorised gaymarriage, along with nine USstates and the District of Co-lumbia. "This law is a first nec-essary step, a social evolutionthat benefits society overall,"narassiguin said.

However, the political righthas not given up just yet, sayingthe Constitutional Court, whose12 members include three for-mer French presidents and sev-eral other prominentconservatives, will determinewhether the law, if finally

passed, meshes with the law of the land. "So it's notthe end of the story yet", said Herve Mariton, a mem-ber of the main opposition UMP party.

"We still have arguments to make and we wantto convince people that it is not a good project."

Francois Hollande, the French president, madelegalising gay marriage one of the planks in his 60-point programme on the way to winning the presi-dency in May over nicolas Sarkozy, theconservative incumbent.

French assembly passesgay marriage bill

CorInne narassIgUInSOCIALIST PARTY

This law is a firstnecessary step, a socialevolution that benefits

society overall

thai army repels massattack in restive southbANgKOK: Scores of heavily armed gunmen stormed amilitary base in unrest-plagued southern Thailand, in a majorassault that left at least 16 attackers dead, a military spokesmansaid. The attack was one of the most ambitious in several yearsof violence in Thailand's deep south. no military casualties werereported in the early hours assault at the base in Bacho district ofnarathiwat province, one of three Muslim-dominated provincesnear the border with Malaysia. "We learned of the attack inadvance from defected militants," Colonel Pramote Promin, thesouthern army spokesman, told Thai television. "We were ableto secure the camp. all of our force are safe." He added that akey local leader of the fighters, who wore bulletproof vestsduring the attack, had been killed in the clashes. aGEnCiEs

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 2:58 AM Page 7

newsNThursday, 14 February, 2013

08 Pope Benedict will be remembered for

his unquestionable commitment to

global peace. — Dr Paul Bhatti

NEW DELHIOnLinE

in D i a officially protestedagainst the third nuclear test bynorth Korea on Wednesday,which it sees as evidence of aclandestine proliferation net-

work from Pakistan, the indian mediaquoted officials as saying on Wednes-day.

indian officials stressed that if thetest was found to have been conductedwith enriched uranium, it would con-firm Pakistani “proliferation linkages”.

Criticising north Korea for violat-ing international commitments, newDelhi asked Pyongyang “to refrainfrom such actions which adversely im-pact peace and stability in the region”.

Sources said the test revealed sig-nificantly improved technical capabili-ties of the north Koreans, which initself suggested heightened prolifera-tion activities.

“if the speculation is correct thatthe test was carried out through en-riched uranium, it would demonstratecascading and clandestine proliferationlinkages,’’ an indian official said.

after the test on Tuesday, northKorea also announced that its nuclearcapabilities had diversified, fuellingmore speculation that enriched uraniumwas used for the test.

KCna, north Korea’s official newsagency, said, “it was confirmed that thenuclear test that was carried out at ahigh level in a safe and perfect mannerusing a miniaturised and lighter nucleardevice with greater explosive force. itdid not pose any negative impact on thesurrounding ecological environment.”

South Korea recorded seismic ac-tivity compatible with a six-seven kilo-ton explosion. if this is confirmed,north Korea, officials said, could bewell on its way to building a functional

nuclear warhead, though its deliverysystems may take a while to develop.

“When you talk about any nucleartest conducted by north Korea, the roleof Pakistan can never be far behind,’’indian official said.

Pakistan on Tuesday yet againblocked moves to facilitate negotiationsfor a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty(FMCT) in the Conference on Disarma-ment. indian official said both develop-ments were inter-related.

according to reports, Pakistan hasprevented negotiations for FMCT citingasymmetry with india in its fissile ma-terial stockpile. in its nuclear tests of2006 and 2009, north Korea used plu-tonium and it was only in 2010 that itwas revealed that the country had a so-phisticated uranium enrichment pro-gramme. The existence of northKorea’s Yongbyon centrifuge plantused for enriching uranium becamepublic in 2010, when Pyongyang al-lowed foreign experts to visit the facil-ity.

Separately, the indian assessmentof the nuclear test is that it was a failure

of Chinese foreign policy. The Py-ongyang account has been the respon-sibility of Beijing, but China has failedto restrain north Korea both fromgoing steadily down the nuclear path orpersuading it to come to the negotiatingtable at the six-party talks.

The test puts Beijing in an unenvi-able position. it has already supportedfresh sanctions by the Un SecurityCouncil, which has piled them on northKorea. Beijing could support furthersanctions, or it could take unilateral ac-tion against Pyongyang. Both ways, itrisks ruining ties with one of its closestallies. Beijing-Pyongyang ties havebeen strained of late.

Last week, the Chinese govern-ment used the global Times to warnnorth Korea. in an editorial, it said,“if north Korea insists on a third nu-clear test despite attempts to dissuadeit, it must pay a heavy price. The as-sistance it will be able to receive fromChina should be reduced. The Chinesegovernment should make this clear be-forehand to shatter any illusions Py-ongyang may have.”

india alleges pakistani handin north korean nuclear test

OFFICIALS SAY TESTCOULD CONFIRMPAKISTANI ‘PROLIFERATIONLINKAGES’

WASHINGTONaPP

Chuck Hagel, nominee for US secretary fordefence, passed a Senate panel on Tuesday.

The nomination marks a significant asignificant step forward in the former Re-publican senator’s embattled confirmationprocess. The final vote in the Senatearmed Services Committee was 14-11,along party lines, proving that despite loudprotests from Republicans, Democratssimply had more votes.

The vote was left open for 10 minutesto allow a Republican senator, David vitterof Louisiana, who was not present and leftno instructions, to return and make his viewsknown. He did not return, but his vote wouldnot have changed the outcome. Democratscontrol 14 votes on the committee, includingindependent Senator angus King. Democ-

rats also control a majority in the full Senate. The committee’s ranking member, Sen-

ator James inhofe, a Republican, unsuccess-fully asked that the vote be delayed until hisparty’s questions were answered.

Senator Lindsey graham, a Republican,was one of Hagel’s strongest opponents.“The next secretary of defence will have todeal with a world on fire,” graham said,“and i believe Senator Hagel’s testimonywas not reassuring.” Republicans contendedHagel’s past statements showed him as softon iran and antagonistic toward israel.

Democrats and Republicans engaged inverbal duel before the vote in uncharacter-istically harsh language.

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, repeat-edly tried to suggest Hagel, a former Repub-lican senator from nebraska, may havereceived payments from foreign sources, butsaid he had no evidence because Hagel re-

fused to answer questions about his income.Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a De-

mocrat, pointed out that when asked in writ-ing by the Senate armed Servicescommittee whether he and his wife had re-ceived money from a foreign government oran entity controlled by a foreign governmentin the last 10 years, he had denied such anexchange.

“We believe firmly that SenatorHagel will be confirmed as the next sec-retary of defense,” White Housespokesman Jay Carney said. Hagel, 66,faced sharp and sometimes angry ques-tioning from fellow Republicans, especiallyformer ally McCain, at his confirmationhearing on January 31. McCain and Hagelare both decorated vietnam veteransand Hagel was co-chairman ofMcCain’s 2000 presidentialcampaign.

US Senate panel approves Hagel’sPentagon nomination

kp governor sayshe is able to holdany office PEShAWAR: Newly-appointed Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Governor Shaukatullah

Khan on Wednesday said the Federally

Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) were a

part of Pakistan. Speaking to reporters in

Peshawar after attending the graduation

ceremony at the Khyber Institute of

Technical Education, an institute established

by the Pakistan Army in the region, Khan

said the tribal areas were a part of Pakistan,

and that he was capable of handling any

post he was given. Referring to the

controversy surrounding his appointment,

the governor asked why a native of the

tribal areas should not be the prime

minister or president of Pakistan. Khan

added that people were only making such

statements in order to incite disagreements.

The KP governor said further Pakistan was

in a far better position than it was in 2008,

adding that the reasons behind terrorism

were lack of education and unemployment.

With development in FATA and an

improvement in the education sector the

country would move forward, he added. He

said the all parties’ conference on counter-

terrorism called by the Awami National

Party (ANP) would also include

parliamentarians from FATA. OnLinE

president takesnotice of pakistanisstranded in kSALAhORE: Taking note of media reports

about the plight of at least 700 Pakistani

workers stranded in Saudi Arabia, President

Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday called for a

report from authorities concerned.

Spokesperson to the President Senator

Farhatullah Babar said the president had

sought a report within three days. Babar

said the president had directed the

concerned officials to investigate the matter

and immediately take appropriate measures

for resolving the issue and return of the

stranded workers. aPP

Shahzeb caseadjournedindefinitely ISLAMAbAD: Hearing of the Shahzebmurder case has been postponedindefinitely. a three-member benchpresided by Chief Justice iftikharMuhammad Chaudhry was to hear the caseon Wednesday but due to a full-courtmeeting held with regards to the retirementof Justice Tariq Pervez, the case could notbe heard and was adjourned for anindefinite period of time. OnLinE

kamran faisalneither tortured,nor poisoned:forensic report

ISLAMABADinP

The Punjab Forensic Science agency(PFSa) submitted the forensic report ofslain national accountability Bureau(naB) investigation officer Kamran Faisalto the islamabad Police on Wednesday.according to the report, there was no signof torture on Faisal’s body as claimed byhis relatives. The report also proved thatFaisal was not poisoned. On February 2,forensic experts from PFSa exhumed thebody of Faisal, who was one of theinvestigating officers in the Rental PowerPlants (RPPs) scandal. The agency soughtexhumation of the body after a controversysurfaced on the initial post-mortem report.

Senate body failsto start debate onnew province

ISLAMABAD aPP

The Senate’s Committee on Law, Justiceand Parliamentary affairs on Wednesdaycould not take up the 24th (amendment)Bill 2013, aiming at creation of a newprovince, Bahawalpur Janoobi Punjab(BJP). The bill had been introduced by LawMinister Farooq H naek during the sittingon February 8. The committee meeting washeld under the chairmanship of SenatorKazim Khan. The PPP and MQM did notattend the meeting despite the fact that theruling party has been vocal for the cause ofthe new BJP Province. During theproceeding of committee, senators RazaRabbani, Jahangir Badr, aitzaz ahsan,ahmed Hasan, Saifullah Magsi, Faroghnaseem, Muzaffar Hussain Shah, DaudKhan achakzai, Muhammad Sherani.During the meeting, Pakistan MuslimLeague (PML-n) senators Zafar ali Shahand Raja Zafarul Haq said that all parties’presentation was a must when thecommittee was going to take up thisimportant bill. The chairman agreed withthem and said Law Minister Farooq H naekshould brief the committee about the 24thamendment Bill 2013 and deferred thecommittee’s proceeding.

FAISALABAD: Residents of Railway Colony blocked the railway track during a demonstration against

closure of electricity supply in the colony on Wednesday. OnLinE

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news N

09

Thursday, 14 February, 2013

Govt believes in the

freedom of media.

— President Asif Zardari

ISLAMABADaPP

inTERiOR Minister RehmanMalik on Wednesday said the gov-ernment was ready to hold dia-logue with the Taliban if theyannounce a ceasefire and appoint

some sincere clerics to achieve purpose-ful results.

“if Taliban are sincere in holdingtalks, they should have announced aceasefire and formed a jirga, comprisingsome serious and thoughtful people in-stead of nominating a person like adnanRashid,” he said. Malik was talking to re-porters at a photographic competition or-ganised by islamabad Police to createawareness about traffic rules and regula-tions. He said that Taliban should knowthat people of Pakistan have seen theiractual face and the nation would not for-give the crimes of killing innocent citi-zens.

“The nation has rejected Talibanisa-tion. Taliban should announce ceasefirefirst to hold talks,” he said, adding that theoverstayed Taliban in Pakistan were not setfree rather they were deported. He opinedthat Waliur Rehman and HakimullahMehsud should know that EhsanullahEhsan is not loyal to them and they shouldremain careful. To a question about arrest

of former Oil and gas Regulatory author-ity chairman Tauqir Sadiq, he said the gov-ernment implemented all orders of theSupreme Court and would do the same infuture as well. He said an officer of theFederal investigation agency (Fia) wouldhold talks with Dubai authorities to re-move all legal complications. However, hesaid it would be better that Sadiq shouldvoluntarily come to Pakistan and face thecourt of law. about verdict on the petitionof Dr Tahirul Qadri, he termed the decisionhistoric. This showed that nation wantedelections on time, he added. He empha-sised that all constitutional institutionsshould join hands to promote democracyand democratic traditions in the country.

Malik praised islamabad Police for ar-ranging the photographic competition tocreate awareness and suggested holding oflectures in schools, colleges and universi-ties to inform people about traffic rules.The islamabad ig and other senior officerswere also present.

kp minister urgestaliban to formcommittee forserious talksISLAMAbAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain

on Wednesday said that if talks could be

held with the Taliban in Qatar, same could

be done in Pakistan also. Addressing a

press conference, the minister said all

political parties, except the PTI and the

Jamaat-e-Islami, would attend the APC on

Thursday (today). He urged the Taliban to

name a committee to initiate serious talks

with the government. Taliban’s willingness

to start dialogue was a big achievement,

he said, adding that it could prove to be a

key step towards restoration of peace. The

minister, however, maintained that Taliban

militants, who were serving in jails in

Pakistan, could be released only under the

country’s law and judicial process. nni

former fBi agentclaims Brennanconverted to islam

LONDON: John Brennan, who was

nominated by Barack Obama as the new

director of the Central Intelligence Agency

(CIA), converted to Islam while working as a

station chief in Saudi Arabia in the 1990s.

According to former FBI agent, John

Guandolo, who retired from the FBI in 2008,

Brennan visited the Islamic holy cities of

Mecca and Medina accompanied by Saudi

officials who may have persuaded him to

convert. Guandolo told the Trento Radio

Show via Skype that Brennan visited the holy

sites during the Hajj season, while serving as

CIA station chief in Riyadh between 1996 and

1999. According to the Daily Mail, the former

FBI agent said that Brennan was ‘unfit’ to

take charge of the CIA. He added that US

government officials based in Saudi Arabia

during the period when Brennan worked

there ‘were direct witnesses to his growing

relationships with individuals who work

with the Saudi government and they

witnessed his conversion to Islam’.

Brennan, 57, spent over three decades

working in intelligence. He was nominated

as the new head of the CIA on January 7

by Obama, after predecessor General

David Petraeus was forced to resign amid a

scandal surrounding an affair with his

biographer. The CIA is yet to respond to

the recent claims about Brennan. OnLinE

Dialogue only iftaliban ceasefire, says Malik

ISLAMABADaPP

The counsel for the Sindh Chief ElectionCommissioner Mahmood anwar onWednesday submitted an affidavit beforethe Supreme Court regarding the verifica-tion of voter lists in Karachi.

The three-member bench comprisingChief Justice iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, Justice gulzar ahmed and Jus-tice Sheikh azmat Saeed heard the case re-garding the electoral reforms.

according to the affidavit, the provin-cial election commission carried out theverification of voter lists in the five dis-tricts of Karachi with the help of the army.During the course of proceedings, thebench also took up two individual applica-

tions, on the same subject, submitted byHussain Mehnati and Syeda Tehsin Fatima.

The chief justice remarked that theprocess of voter lists verification wasgoing well in Karachi with the help of thearmed forces. The bench stated that theprocess was still continuing and if anygrievance was raised, it should be re-dressed by the provincial election commis-sion. The court reiterated that the electioncommission staff should make door-to-door visits and the verification processshould be carried out purely with the helpof armed forces and FC personnel.

Later, during the hearing of originalcase, the bench observed that the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP) had to pro-vide some kind of modality for providingthe overseas Pakistanis to exercise their

right to vote.Justice gulzar ahmed remarked that

postal ballots could be very dangerous asthere were chances of rigging in theprocess.

Justice Sheikh azmat Saeed held thatthe process of postal ballots was not aneasy one as it demanded a lot of exercise,finances and time.

Upon this, the chief justice remarkedthat the time was of essence and the ECPhad to be very vigilant in making a strategyfor overseas Pakistanis. He directed the at-torney general, who was not present, to ap-pear before the court in next hearing toclear the government’s point of view in thisregard.

The court adjourned the hearing tillThursday.

Sindh EC submits affidavit on electoral lists to the SC ptCl posts record profit

of Rs. 8.6 billion in Q4 of 2012ISLAMAbAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL),country’s largest integrated telecommunications services provider, has posted arecord net profit of Rs. 8.6 billion in the 4th quarter ended 31stDecember 2012along with 37% revenue growth compared to the previous quarter. The companyannounced these results in the audited accounts for the six months’ period ended31st December 2012, after the change of financial year of PTCL group tocorrespond with the calendar year. These results were announced at the company’sBoard of Directors meeting held today in Lahore. “The increase in the company’srevenue streams is an indicator of our dynamic corporate identity and increasingcustomer base. Whether it was through launching innovative wireless products andbundles or segmented propositions, offering unmatched affordable packages,investing in our network for even better customer services, or expansion of ourinfrastructure for reaching-out to the remotest areas of the country, PTCLmaintained an aggressive position that reaffirms our core philosophy of providinglatest and most affordable information communications solutions to ourcustomers”, commented Walid irshaid, President & CEO PTCL, after the meetingof the company’s Board of Directors. PREss RELEasE

pakistanis wanttheir daughtersto study inall-girls schools

ISLAMABADOnLinE

a survey report on Wednesdayrevealed that at least 76 percentPakistanis prefer that their daughtersstudy in an all-girls school. according to a gilani ResearchFoundation Survey carried out bygallup Pakistan, a nationalrepresentative sample of men andwomen from across the four provinceswas asked, “imagine that the standardand expenses are the same for both,would you prefer to send yourdaughter to a coeducation or all-girlsschool?”Responding to this, 76 percentrespondents chose all-girls schools and21 percent said co-education schools.However, 3 percent did not give aresponse.The study was released by gilanifoundation and carried out by gallupPakistan, the Pakistani affiliate ofgallup international.The recent survey was carried outamong a sample of 2,732 men andwomen in rural and urban areas of allfour provinces of the country, duringthe past monthError margin was estimated to beapproximately 2-3 percent at 95percent confidence level.

ISLAMABAD: KP Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain addresses reporters at KP House on Wednesday. OnLinE

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 2:58 AM Page 9

apublic transport revolu-tion has been claimed inthe city of Lahore withthe inauguration of theRs 30 billion Metro Bus

Service last Sunday. Minor accidents,multiple near misses and jam-packedbuses have been the order of the firstthree days since the service was inau-gurated as government officials havebegun to sing the chorus of ‘conspir-acy’. Seven buses were sent to thedocks for “minor” repairs on the firstday with over 800 people arrested forvarious “violations” of discipline.”Only 20 of the 45 buses were functionalwith the Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz MPa incharge of the project ad-mitting that a number of buses were notbeing run for “fear of the people”.

The chorus sung by this particularlegislator-cum-project manager reeksthrough the entire Metro Bus project. itis a strange logic via which a projectthat was been charioted by the ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif as “pro-peo-ple” is now being saved from “the peo-ple”. The discourse of the benevolent‘developers’ and the ill-disciplined,jaahil awam has been pandered aboutamongst the middle classes and PML-n wallas. “Oh, look how organised thislooks, this is exactly what Lahoreneeded,” are the words spoken by peo-ple who shall neither travel on the busesnor bear the cost of the piling of theprovince’s meager funds into a singlebus route. Let us cut to the chase and bebrave enough to say: “This is exactlywhat Lahore did not need.”

The sheer jahalat with which theproject was executed aside – althoughone should take out time to count out thenumber of violations that went intomaking the project possible in paper-work and on the ground – the projectfails to fundamentally challenge thecity’s public transportation trajectory. infact, before we go on to discuss alternatepublic transport proposals, let us beginto count the violations that took place.

For a project on which work beganone fine day in March 2012 without alegally mandatory Environmental im-pact assessment (Eia) report – or evenany form of public disclosure whethersuch a project was in the pipeline,claiming transparency was never goingto be easy. Moreover, to avoid themandatory approval from the ExecutiveCommittee of the national Economic

C o u n c i l( E C n E C ) ,since rulesdictate aprov inc ia lgovernmentmust seekapproval fora projectworth overRs 5 billion,it divided theMBS intosix projects,and ap-proved themindividually.When thefirst publichearing forthe projectwas finallyheld onMarch 30,the projectwas reportedto have been‘s lammed’by citizens.asked aboutthe actualp r o b l e m sfaced by dis-

abled or elderly commuters, TEPa offi-cials preposterously suggested theycould cross the main Ferozepur Road toreach the bus stops. The escalators plan,worth another Rs800 million in thebudget, was added as a result of thispublic criticism.

added on to it was that almost allpublic utilities across the rapidly chang-ing bus route (the elevated highway wasa later innovation, we are told) werebeing dug out, laid and relaid again. Oneofficial at WaPDa in charge of theprocess told this writer his team wouldbe given new instructions “midway intoa relay” and “be sent to the same spotthe next day”. no environmental protec-tion measures were taken, as dust filledthe air of the entire city, and smoke frommotor vehicles clogged the city roads.Moreover, labour laws were alsoflouted, with no protection available toworkers for over a thousand workersworking on the route. There was no sep-arate fund existing, no helmets, gloves,with hundreds of injuries being reportedon a daily basis, and one of the safetyinspectors having suffered crushed legsfrom falling debris. The human cost ofthe project shall never be calculated northe number of deaths reported. Ofcourse, the criticism the project receiveddid not mean the provincial governmentever revised its plan, let alone admit thatthere were serious flaws in how it wasgoing about it. add on to that the factthat businesses and people’s propertieswere demolished at will and compensa-tion was doled out also at will.

Somehow, despite all these viola-tions on the part of the government, weare expected to believe that the motor-cycle rider crossing the buses routethrough the metal grills, or, the man whojumps onto the one-metre high doors, isthe jahil in the picture. This is a classiccase of so-called ‘development’ beingimposed on a city’s people and a greatdeal made out of it. The fact that thePunjab government undertook no con-sultation means it has no basis to claimthat this particular MBS model was whatthe ‘people of Lahore’ wanted. Ofcourse, one also has to ask: why is thePunjab government taking a decision theLahore government should take?

Furthermore, one cannot see theMBS project as separate from the vari-ous other ‘developments’ being enactedon to re-configure Lahore’s road infra-structure: the Multan Road widening,the Canal Road widening, the KalmaChowk flyover, the Kalma Chowk un-derpass, the Muslim Town flyover,garhi Shahu road renovation, MMalam Road widening and so forth – allof which were built almost in parallel.in fact, the current MBS infrastructureconstruction falls in line with an earlierplan to create an elevated expresswayon Ferozepur Road for which Rs 250million were sanctioned for a study in2008. in constructing the current MBSroute coupled with two flyovers on thesame route, the chief minister has killedtwo birds with one stone: instead of justan elevated expressway, an elevated buspath was created, while the rest of Fer-ozepur Road serves as an expresswayfor all practical purposes.

One would also suggest that theMBS project cannot also be seen out-side the PML-n’s wider practice of thesemi-privatising public service provi-sion in Lahore. This process includesthe creation of the Lahore Waste Man-agement Company, Lahore TransportCompany and more recently the LahoreParking Company. Defined and regis-tered with the Securities and ExchangeCommission as ‘private, profit-making’companies, these are operating as gov-ernment-run subcontractors for multi-national service providers, with the

board of governors for each made up ofsitting MPas, the DCO and Commis-sioner for Lahore, and the CEOs serv-ing DMg officers.

This brings us to the question of fi-nancial transparency of the project.Does anyone know where the moneyfor the project is coming from? and, if,as the Punjab government claims, it isfunding the project from its coffers,why has a preferential Turkish bidderbeen selected, instead of inviting anopen bid, or running the system itself?What is the nature of Turkish involve-ment in the project, whose ownMetrobus (istanbul) has been facingquestions of its own? and frankly if thePunjab government is indeed paying forthe MBS, then why is a Turkish com-pany going to be subsidised by as muchas Rs 1 billion a year to run it for half adecade? Somehow, despite laying downa Rs 30 billion infrastructure and prom-ising unilateral subsidies to the Turkishcompany, both the company and ourchief minister have insisted that theMBS is “not about making money, butabout brotherhood”.

if the Rs 30 billion cost figure pro-vided by the Punjab government istaken at face value then it is equivalentto almost 50 percent of the entireprovince’s transport budget: a measlyRs 63.5 billion has been allocated forthe entire province. Compared with theRs 16.5 billion health budget and Rs 25billion education budget, both of whichare expected to lapse by at least 20 per-cent or more (as is usual), the amountof money put into the project is lavish,if not wasteful.

This is not to suggest that Lahore,a city of 10 million people and a grow-ing population of cars, did not need arevamp of the public transport system.The point rather is that there weremuch more apt proposals that were putto the current Punjab government, in-cluding a visit in 2008 by the formerMayor of Bagota, who pitched a pub-lic transport overall: to increase walk-ing spaces, shrink major roads andcreate a designated-lane MBS withmuch lower cost. The Bagota modelhad emerged after the rejection of aJapan international Cooperationagency (JiCa) proposal to build amulti-billion dollar rapid mass-transitsystem. The same JiCa that was re-jected in Bagota has one of the key ad-visors on the Lahore transport plan andMaster Plan since the 1990s, includingthe current period. That suggests thatthe project is less revolutionary andmore of the same that opinion makersare imagining it to be.

if one may make a prediction fromits first few days of operation, Lahore’sMetro Bus Service has kicked off as a bitof a circus and a safari ride, and shall endup as a labour quarry as soon as ticketfares are charged. The Khadim-e-aala’spromise that “the rich and the poor, bu-reaucrats and ordinary citizens, the chiefminister and the voters, all will travel inthese buses” is already fading fast. itgoes without saying that the dearth ofpublic discourse about urban planning inPakistan is such that inviting a foreigncompany to run 45 buses on a purposebuilt route at the cost of Rs 30 billion isbeing considered a ‘revolutionary’ stepin public transport. One may only hopethat the high and mighty too – for thepoor would have no other choice but to– take CM’s advice and step aboard oneof the Metro Bus joyrides.

The writer is the general secretary(Lahore) for the Awami Workers Party.He is also a journalist and a researcher,with a focus on urbanisaton and law.He can be contacted at: hashim-brashid@gmail.com

coMMenT

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273Web:www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

C

And its implications for usworld as seen by obama

the metro busjoyride

A welcome decision

SO it has been settled then. The Election Commission of Pakistan willnot be dissolved and the attempt to have it so by a maverick cleric hasbeen foiled by the Supreme Court. Though there is no guarantee that itwould be a smooth democratic transition, our fledgling democracylives to see another day. The freedom to differ in opinion is what

distinguishes democracy from authoritarianism, but this freedom is not unfettered;it comes with certain responsibilities, particularly the one that forbids lettingdiscords fester so much as can put the system at the risk of being eaten inside out.

Dr Tahirul Qadri, who led a long march to the federal capital almost a monthago, filed a petition in the SC asking for a reconstitution of the ECP at bothfederal and provincial levels. Ostensibly his agenda seemed to be vox populi;however, his ulterior motives put a question mark as to where his allegiance lied.The SC has, however, rejected his petition saying that he has no locus standi inthe matter. a commendable decision by the court which has already taken astrong stance on dual nationality. now that the superior judiciary, the very samehe was calling on to overthrow the incumbent government and thus help his causefour weeks ago, has left him high and dry, he should better look inside and askwhat any of his tantrums has actually achieved so far, other than disruptingpolitical, commercial, financial and educational activities in the country. Thoughprotests are his democratic right, if he is any wiser he would to drop the idea ofany more protests, long marches or sit-ins, just to save the country from trouble.

The decision to reject the petition on the basis that a person with dualnationality can have no locus standi, instead of any technicality or politicalexpediency, stands on legal qualifications. a person who takes oath of loyalty toanother country is not the best person to decide what the people of his originalcountry are in need of. Skewed approach to make inroads in the well establishedpolitical spectrum works to no one’s benefit. The SC decision does strengthendemocratic norms but it also makes one wonder what the court was reallythinking when it took suo motu notice of the so-called Memogate scandal broughtto public by a foreign national named Mansoor ijaz. it is these type ofinconsistencies in SC’s functioning that make its intentions suspicious anddecisions doubtful. Such decisions should be based on the needs of dynamicallychanging political environment and they particularly should not appear as anattempt at fighting ghosts from its past. federal governments. it is up to thefederal government now to tread the waters carefully and install a democraticsetup before the elections.

WHiLE the word ‘Pakistan’ did not appear in Barack Obama’sState of the Union address, it had formulations aboutmatters of vital import for this country. Obama’safghanistan policy, the strategy to deal with terrorism andviews about the Middle East, israel and iran are among

matters that are going to affect Pakistan directly.The US has continued to narrow down its goals in afghanistan over the years.

in his first State of the Union address Obama promised to “reward goodgovernance, reduce corruption, and support the rights of all afghans – men andwomen alike”. all this is forgotten now. in March 2009 he announced a newafghan strategy which further narrowed down the aims to “disrupt, dismantle andeventually defeat al Qaeda in Pakistan and afghanistan”. The mission is nowfurther reduced to defeating just “the core of al Qaeda.” The US is mainlyinterested in extracting its troops from afghanistan by the end of 2014. Themilitants still on the rampage will have to be dealt with by the afghangovernment itself. a contingent of US troops would stay to train the afghanforces, another to pursue the remnants of al Qaeda and their affiliates. Pakistanhas been left to deal with its militants on its own. islamabad needs to move fast toconclude agreements with afghanistan and other countries in the region andbeyond for peace in the region and to put down the militancy on its side. Unless itdoes so, Pakistan could face an iraq-like situation where bomb blasts and suicideattacks continue to kill dozens every month. The Obama speech makes it clearthat there will be no respite to drone attacks. To save its troops and reducemilitary spending the US will act against terrorists who threaten it “through arange of capabilities”, like drone attacks. The only way for Pakistan to put a stopto the attacks is to expel the foreign militants from its territory and stop the localones from cross border attacks.

Those who thought that Obama would help the Palestinians have their ownsovereign state were sadly mistaken. Obama’s formulation, “and we will standsteadfast with israel in pursuit of security and a lasting peace” leaves no doubtabout the powerful israeli lobby still dominating Washington’s policy makingabout the Middle East. iran will continue to be under pressure and face sanctions,the address indicates. So will, by implication, the countries like Pakistan who dareto enter into treaties with iran.

Qadri should learn from his mistakes

Thursday, 14 February, 2013

10

All projects are equal, but some are more equal

Democracy is when the indigent,

and not the men of property,

are the rulers. –Aristotle

Comradely speakingHasHiM bin RasHid

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 2:58 AM Page 10

LOng before anyone did, former US Presi-dent Bill Clinton saw that america wouldhave to prepare for the time when it would

no longer be the number one power in the world.in his 2003 Yale University address on “globalChallenges”, he said: “if you believe that maintain-ing power and control and absolute freedom ofmovement and sovereignty is important to yourcountry’s future, there’s nothing inconsistent in that[the US continuing to behaving unilaterally]. [TheUS is] the biggest, most powerful country in theworld now. But if you believe that we should betrying to create a world with rules and partnershipsand habits of behaviour that we would like to livein when we’re no longer the military-political-eco-nomic superpower in the world, then you wouldn’tdo that. it just depends on what you believe.”

Long before 2003, Clinton wanted to beginpreparing americans for this new world. “Clintonbelieved [...] what we had in the wake of the coldwar was a multilateral moment – an opportunity toshape the world through our active leadership ofthe institutions Clinton admired and [Charles]Krauthammer disdained,” writes Strobe Talbott,former deputy secretary of state in his book Thegreat Experiment: The Story of ancient Empires,Modern States, and the Quest for a global nation.“But Clinton kept that belief largely to himselfwhile he was in office... political instincts told himit would be inviting trouble to suggest that the sunwould someday set on american pre-eminence.”

Sadly, few americans have heeded Clinton’swisdom. Few dare to mention that america couldwell be number two. i discovered this when ichaired a panel on “the Future of american Power”at the 2012 World Economic Forum in Davos.after citing projections that america would havethe second largest economy in just a few years, iasked the american panelists – two senators, a con-gresswoman and a former deputy national securityadvisor – whether americans were ready to be-

come number two. To my shock, none could ac-knowledge publically this possibility.

america may well become number two fasterthan anyone has anticipated. according to the mostrecent international Monetary Fund (iMF) projec-tions, China will have larger share of global gDPthan the United States by 2017. in 1980, in PPPterms, the US share of the global economy was 25percent, while China’s was 2.2 percent. By 2017,the US share will decline to 17.9 percent, andChina’s will rise to 18.3 percent.

Even if america becomes number two, we willstill have a better world. in many ways, the worldis “converging” to american values and standards,as i explain in my book The great Convergence:asia, the West, and the Logic of One World. Theglobal middle class is booming, interstate war iswaning, and never before have people travelled andcommunicated across the world so easily. Thesechanges are creating common values and normsacross the world. Education and scientific reason-ing, for example, are enabling people the worldover to speak with a common language.

However, while humanity is well on its wayto combating absolute poverty and interstate war-fare, other problems are surfacing. Preventing andcurtailing transnational issues like climate change,human and drug trafficking, and financial crisesrequire cooperation among nation states, yet thisis not happening. a simple analogy illustrates this.Before the era of modern globalisation, hu-mankind was like a flotilla of more than 100 sep-arate boats in their separate countries. The worldneeded a set of rules then to ensure that the manyboats did not collide and facilitate their coopera-tion on the high seas if they chose to do so. The1945 rules-based order strived to do this, and de-spite some obvious failures, it succeeded in pro-ducing a relatively stable global order for morethan 50 years.

Today, the 7 billion people who inhabit planetearth no longer live in more than 100 separateboats. instead, they live in 193 separate cabins onthe same boat. But this boat has a problem. it has193 captains and crews, each claiming exclusiveresponsibility for one cabin. no captain or crewcares for the boat as a whole. The world is now sail-ing into increasingly turbulent waters with no cap-tain or crew at the helm.

The great Convergence echoes the themes ofClinton’s 2003 Yale speech. it’s in the interest ofall – particularly great powers – to strengthen in-stitutions of global governance so that we’re notsailing blindly into choppy waters without a cap-tain. The national intelligence Council recentlyprojected that in 2030 asia would overtake theWestern world economically, technologically andmilitarily. When China becomes a world super-power in a matter of decades, the United States and

Europe will want to ensure that China plays by therules.

But in order to make international organisa-tions like the United nations, the iMF and theWorld Bank more credible and effective, they mustundergo serious reform. it is manifestly absurd thatthe West makes up 12 percent of the world’s pop-ulation but takes up 60 percent of Un SecurityCouncil permanent seats. it’s nonsensical that thehead of the iMF is always a European and the headof the World Bank is always an american as theWest’s share of global gDP diminishes every year.This concentration of clout in the hands of a rela-tive few has grave implications for these institu-tions’ effectiveness and independence, makingthem instruments of the West.

no other organisation, not even huge globalngOs like the Bill and Melinda gates Foundationor the Clinton Foundation, has the scope and legit-imacy that the Un currently enjoys. For example,the United States for years has been trying to pres-sure China to take a more proactive role in fightingclimate change. Predictably, China has resistedthese pressures because they saw them as a cleveryet transparent american ruse to curtail Chineseeconomic growth. Only when the United nationsDevelopment Programme raised the issue withChina did the Chinese government take heed, asthe UnDP is seen as a neutral party in China. TheUn and its many agencies may soon lose invalu-able credibility if the West insists on monopolisingits power over these institutions.

any reform of the Un should take into accountthree principles: democracy, recognition of powerbalances and the rule of law. institutions of globalgovernance can be made more democratic by en-suring that their leadership accurately reflects thecomposition of world’s population. at the sametime, we must also take into account geopoliticalrelationships among emerging and middle powers.Finally, the rule of law is essential to the mediationand resolution of thorny international issues and togoverning the conduct of states on the internationalstage so as to prevent escalation of conflict.

in this rapidly changing world, it’s a mistaketo allow institutions of global governance to stayas they are. The 1945 rules-based order is no longerappropriate for 21st century circumstances. globalleaders must better prepare us for the challenges tocome and equip our international organisations todeal with them. Leaders must find the courage tocontinue advocating for stronger multilateral coop-eration. it is time for our captains and crews toemerge from their cabins and start steering the boat.

Kishore Mahbubani is dean of the Lee KuanYew School of Public Policy, NUS, and author ofthe forthcoming book The great Convergence:asia, the West, and the Logic of One World.

coMMenT CThursday, 14 February, 2013

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today,

4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan

Fax: +92-42-32535230 E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pkLetters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

the future world

11

KisHORE MaHbubani

There is no such thing as liberty. You only change

one sort of domination for another. All we can do is

to choose our master. –David Herbert Lawrence

Is the US ready to be number two?

Fight against thalassemiaPakistan, which lags behind many other areas, also lacks in

humanitarian and charitable stuff that could help fellow humans.Though many ngOs are making a colossal effort in introducing aconscientious societal setup, the agendas and plans bragged aboutby them are not entirely fulfilled.

Marathons and races are held all over the word to raise char-ity and promote a sense of solidarity for the sufferers of variousdiseases. Such events are a sportsmanly stunt to unite a multitudeof people to join them in their support, either through funds,awareness or whatever may benefit the victims. Such a marathonwas witnessed on a large scale in Lahore last month by the youngphilanthropists of various universities, giving an undeviatingmessage to the concerned authorities to make some necessarylegislation for the eradication of thalassemia, and highlighting itssignificance for a layman, who doesn’t understand it properly.

Despite knowing the alarming facts and figures about tha-lassemia, where the government has failed to come up with somerigorous legislation, civil society also lacks in running a properawareness campaign. To continue living in our small insignifi-cant bubbles while everything around seems to exist only to fa-cilitate our own selfish and narcissistic existence is an utter andshameful waste of life. The only way to let everyone get familiarwith this dilemma is to stand up and make our voice heard. as anation, we should not be ashamed, for silence is admitting ourguilt. it’s the right time to take responsibility. it’s the right time todeclare war against thalassemia in Pakistan.

YASIR SHOAIBUCP, Lahore

Dollar scores a centuryWhat a befitting tribute to the economic dream team and

their political godfathers for enabling the US dollar to cross acentury in Pakistan. Perhaps it was a sheer coincidence that whenthis feat was accomplished, heir to the political dynasty with slo-gan of “democracy is best revenge”, moved in to yet another newabode, befitting a Mughal Prince, in the city which is EmperorJehangir’s last resting place. all this was achieved throughbrinkmanship, politics of reconciliation and monetary wisdom ofa street smart politician, who has found himself a permanentplace in the brief but unfortunate political history of this country.Let us all pray that god almighty may have mercy on this unfor-tunate nation and give us the wisdom to have a democracy thatserves the people, the sort visualised by our founding fathers,who created Pakistan to function as a modern democratic welfarestate with a government of, by and for the people, instead of agovernment of, by and for the corrupt.

MALIK TARIQLahore

the wave of terrorismas we know that terrorism is one of the most highlighting is-

sues in this contemporary world. it creates a very devastating ef-fect in every corner of globe promoting economic and politicalinstability in all countries.

Economic instability in the sense that the US is using a lot ofresources in the name of war on terror, but the reality is that theywant a status quo because they want to capture world’s resources atany cost. generally speaking all around the world Muslims arebeing targeted. nobody hears their voice and they then automati-cally get involved in criminal activities. This wrong practice shouldbe ended because if the current situation remains untouched and thecountries do not make worldwide strategies, then its consequenceswill vastly change the face of globe, leaving masses unprivileged.

So there is a need of sound democracy, social justice, educa-tion and above all harmony in good governance so that poverty,starvation, instability, basic health facilities may be provided toall and sundry without geographical and ethnical distinctions.

LUBNA NASREENIslamabad

Use of renewable energyWhen the country was going through a severe energy crisis

last year, the president had called for stepping up the search forout-of-the-box, imaginative and bold solutions based on alterna-tive energy to meet the country’s needs. One such solution thathas emerged is a wind-powered turbine for road illumination. asreported in this paper, a locally designed pilot wind turbine hasbeen installed on a streetlight in a major thoroughfare in islam-abad. The privately developed turbine harnesses energy from nat-ural as well as traffic wind and stores it in a battery that canpower the streetlight’s bulbs for 48 hours.

But all these advantages can only be reaped if there is officialfacilitation of the pilot turbine’s manufacture on a large scale andits widespread deployment by municipal authorities in their lo-calities. in this respect, the interest and cooperation of agencieslike the Capital Development authority and the Engineering De-velopment Board of the Ministry of industries and Production inpromoting the turbine is important. The widespread applicationof renewable energy — both wind and solar power — in govern-ment buildings and urban and highway lighting instead of usingfossil fuels and gas will help the country save the latter two re-sources for more productive uses. Besides, foreign investors maybe keen to cooperate in Pakistan’s renewable energy sector. Thereis, therefore, nothing to lose and much to gain from redoublingefforts to develop our renewable energy resources.

FATIMA MOTALAKarachi

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 2:58 AM Page 11

Robert Redford used to be such a handsome man and

now look at him: everything has dropped, expanded

and turned a funny colour. — George Best

DEEpikA to DonA nEw look inYEH jAwAni HAiDEEwAni

After playing the hot Veronica in

Cocktail and steaming the screen

with her hotness in Race 2 Deepika

plays a complete new avatar. Now

she will be seen in a girl next door

avatar in her upcoming movie Yeh

Jawani Hai Deewani. For the first

time Deepika will be seen wearing

spectacles onscreen. Although she

has been seen in specs a lot of times

in real life specially while travelling

but this is the first she will be seen

wearing them onscreen. Source from

the movie say, She is carrying off

the look very well. Deepika is

playing the lead role opposite Ranbir

Kapoor, in Yeh Jawani hai Deewani

directed by Ayan Mukerji. The movie

has just completed

shooting in Kashmir.

nEws dEsK

arts

AThursday, 14 February, 2013

12

NEWS DESK

actor vivekOberoi, who playsJayantaBhai, says,“This bhai is dif-

ferent from theother bhais i’veplayed. He’s lov-able, jovial and en-

tertaining. His lovestory is interesting

since he and the girlcome from two differentworlds.” The lead actress,neha Sharma, enthuses,“i’m very anxious, butalso can’t control my ex-citement. i couldn’t haveasked for a better team —an extremely supportiveproducer, a talented di-rector and an amazingco-star.”

MuMbAI PLAyS A

ROLE tOO

Mumbai plays an im-portant part in the film,which has been shotacross the city, fromColaba in the south toMadh island and evenDahisar in the north.Says director vinnil

Markan, who has grown up in Delhi, “ilove the town side of Mumbai, especiallyits architecture. it has an old worldcharm, which i’m mixing with the new-world buzz. We’ve shot in places like Ko-tachi Wadi in girgaum, Worli Fort,Matunga King Circle and Five gardensin Dadar, locations not usually seen infilms.” Monsoon also marks its presencein the characters’ lives. vinnil explains,“Most of the film was shot before andduring the initial phase of the monsoonseason, the remaining was completed byearly July. Rain is used as leitmotif in thefilm. When it’s all bright between thecharacters, the backdrop is sunny. Butduring some significant romantic mo-ments, there is rain. Even in the climax,it starts to rain at the right time”

ShOOtINg At tERROR SPOt

JBKLS is the first film to be shot outsidethe five-star hotel — near the gateway ofindia — which was one of the targets inthe 26/11 terror attack over four yearsago. Though it was a bit tough to film atthe location, vinnil says, “We were sup-ported by the Mumbai Traffic Police.”Didn’t they have trouble obtaining thepermission to shoot? “The legal proce-dure takes some days. So, we fixed ourschedules accordingly and shot with min-imal hassles. a fixed amount was paid forthe shoot and we were even given re-ceipts,” he recalls.

DREAM SONg IN DubAI

vinnil says, “The song aa Bhi JaaMeherbaan shows vivek dreaming aboutneha. The producer, Kumar Taurani, sug-gested shooting it in Dubai. To conveythe couple’s passion, we decided to shootin the desert when the temperature wasabout 51 degrees, but it felt like 55. vivekwas wearing chappals, but developedbruises and blisters on the soles of hisfeet. neha was in a worse state as she wasbarefoot. i also shot with aatif (singer).The video shows aatif in the city andvivek and neha in the desert. a royalfamily, which had an outhouse in thedesert, lent it to vivek and neha duringthe shoot.”

REAL ActION

When the lead actor is playing a bhai, ac-tion is a must. There are a few fight se-quences of which only one was shot withthe help of cable and wirework. “The ac-tion is real, hard-core street-style. We didnot want cars blowing up and things likethat. One sequence was shot in Worli,with the Sea Link and fishing boats in thebackdrop. another was filmed at an or-chestra dance bar in Dahisar. The climaxaction sequence was shot at nana Hajiali,” sums up vinnil.

DIREctOR’S tAKE

“Having started in theatre, i wanted to

make a film on interpersonal relation-ships — a story of two strong charactersdiscovering love together. So, i took agangster — he is basically a nice guy, butis in the wrong place at the wrong time— and a girl, who is a telecom engineer.They both aspire to make it big in Mum-bai. at the same time, i wanted to makea hard-core Mumbai film, because whilei’m born here, i grew up in Delhi and seemy birth city differently. Bhai’s characteris the USP of the film and vivek suits thepart perfectly. neha was Kumarji’schoice, but even i felt that she was rightfor the part of Simran.”

PRODucER’S NOtE

“When we approach a film as producers,we look for what will click with the au-diences. With JBKLS, it’s a completepackage. a lot of hard work has gone intomaking this movie, including scoutingfor the right locations. We wanted every-thing to look as authentic as possible.Tips shares a warm equation with vivekOberoi and our last film together, Prince(2010), did extremely well at the box of-fice. vivek is open to taking directionsand moulding himself into the character.and when it comes to playing a gangster,no one can do it better than him. neha,though relatively new to the industry, isextremely talented and versatile.” JayantaBhai Ki Luv Story, produced byKumar Taurani, releases February 15.

SonAkSHi’Seyes lands herdirector Krish’s film

NEWS DESK

She might have missed making her Kollywood debut withKamal Haasan, but actress Sonakshi Sinha

seems to be thrilled to make her Telugudebut with Mahesh Babu’s film. Yes, theactress is all set to play the lead inMahesh’s Shivam, which will bedirected by Krish. Sonakshi wrote onher micro-blogging page, “Lots ofsupport from the south for my Telegudebut. Really looking forward to it...Feels like Dabangg deja vu — debut

with superstar, script i couldn’trefuse, capable and intelligentdirector! Shoot starts later this year.

it’s going to be a great journey.”Quiz Krish why he chose to

cast Sonkashi in the lead,and he says, “i wrote

the script a whileback, and to be

honest, i hadSonakshi in my

mind while iwassketchingthe female

lead. Thecharacter,

Meenakshi, willhave big and beautiful

eyes. and when i saw her inDabangg, i was impressed.Her eyes are mightyexpressive, and hold a lotof power.” incidentally, thefilm’s producer, ashwiniDutt had earlier told usthat the film will be aTamil-Telugu bilingual,making it MaheshBabu’s first straightTamil film. But, thevaanam directorinforms us that as ofnow, the film will bemade only in Telugu.“We will go on floorswith the film by laterhalf of this year,” hesays.

THE 70-year-old actor will feature in a mega-budget televi-sion serial which will go live later this year at a time whenhis chips were down, television resuscitated amitabhBachchan’s career. and now, 13 years after his game chang-ing appearance as television’s most popular game show host,

amitabh Bachchan is happily paying his dues. TOi has learnt thatBachchan, who recently wrapped up the sixth season of Kaun BanegaCrorepati, is preparing to embrace the medium in a different way.

Buzz is the 70-year-old star will top-line a daily soap that is set togo on air later this year. The project, which, say sources, is being

co-produced by his banner aBCL, is a fiercely guarded secret -after all this is going to be the first time Bachchan will act in a

feature show. But we have learnt auditions for the rest of the castis being carried out at several studios in andheri. Bachchan has

apparently been toying with the idea of doing a television serialfor a while now. “Last year, he held meetings with several chan-

nel producers, expressing his desire to act in a daily soap. Some ofthem even made a few presentations. But nothing worked out then,”

says a source close to the developments. “But given that this isBachchan’s first-ever daily soap appearance, utmost care is being takento keep the project under wraps,” said the source, adding that an offi-cial announcement is likely next week. Early reports suggest the proj-

ect is being mounted on a lavish scale. “The budgets are huge andthe serial is going to be another game-changer for Mr Bachchan

and the industry,” said an insider from the television indus-try on condition of anonymity. it is also being said

that though Bachchan will be the face of the se-rial, but may not make an appearance in

every episode. “But he will do all that hecan to promote the production,” addedthe source. incidentally, Big B, who

likes to keep himself busy, has notsigned any major films this year.“While some attributed to his healthconcerns, truth is, he worked out

his schedule for his televisiondebut. after his stints with KBC,he is now in love and comfort-

able with the medium,” said thesource. and from the looks of

it, the medium too is lovinghim back. Tune in to this

channel for more. nEws

dEsK

Amitabh Bachchanall set to act in adaily soap

Jayantabhai different from other‘bhais’ i’ve played: Vivek

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 2:59 AM Page 12

A man’s got to take a lot of

punishment to write a really funny

book. — Ernest Hemingway

13arTsThursday, 14 February, 2013

A

soLeIL Moon FryeHmm wearing 6 inch shoes

to @todayshow Pray I

don’t fall :) maybe I can

get a shot of them on air

paULo CoeLhoDon’t live every day as if

it were your last. Live

every day as if it were

your first

gaBrIeLLe UnIonWhen you know yourtruth, your worth & whoyou are, DO NOT bedeterred by crazy...for ithas no place in yourjourney

oprah wInFreyThis show with Harville

Hendrix was one of most

powerful I ever did. Not

sexy or with celebrities..but

so valuable.

#SuperSoulSounday

Jonas Brothers Can’t wait to be back in

Minneapolis on 10/8 for

the #WeDay Concert!

notaBLe tweets

Top roManTic MoVies oF hollywood50 FIRST DATES

Adam Sandler’s perfect comic timing

mixed with Drew Barrymore’s beauty

makes 50 First Dates a cute rom-

com. The storyline is simple: Henry

falls in love with Lucy and does

everything to win her. Love sparks off

until he discovers that Lucy suffers

from short term memory loss,

devastated, but madly in love with

her, Henry tries everything to make

this relationship work.

LOvE STORY

Eric Segal’s book became aphenomenon with all romantics andeventually it was made into a movie.Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Nealbrought the characters of Jenniferand Oliver to life in this tragic lovestory, where the rich boy abandonshis lavish lifestyle to get married tothe girl of his dreams. But Jennysuffers from cancer and the newlyweds face a financial crunch.

P.S. I LOvE YOu

Based on a Cecelia Ahern’s novel P.S.

I Love You, the film version revolves

around Holly ( Hilary Swank) and her

dead husband Gerry (played by

Gerard Butler). Gerry leaves Holly a

series of letters to help her get over

his death and start a new life. Along

with her two friends Denise ( Lisa

Kudrow) and Sharon ( Gina Gershon),

Gerry’s letters help Holly find new

love and her dream job.

TITANIC

Titanic has been a blockbuster to beatthem all. Topping most lists when itcomes to romance, the sizzlingchemistry between Leonardo DiCaprioand Kate Winslet and the way theydepicted love between the not-very-well-to-do-but-clever boy and the rich girlwas unforgettable. Winning the highestnumber of Academy Awards, this moviehas left a deep imprint in the minds ofeverybody who have known love.

CASABLANCA

A love story set in 1942, Casablanca

captures love in its most raw form.

Based on a play, Everybody Comes To

Rick’s, the movie talks about a man

who has to choose between the love of

his life and duty. Set against the

backdrop of World War II, the film stars

Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman,

and Paul Henreid. The black and white

film is a classic love story and has

some unforgettable moments.

gONE WITH THE WIND

A classic, this film is a passionate lovestory revolving around four individuals— Rhett Butler, Scarlett O’Hara, MelanieHamilton and Ashley Wilkes. Theirtumultuous love story is captivatingwith immaculate performances fromClark Gable and Vivien Leigh. Capturinglove with all its strong elements ofpower and passion, the movie wasbased on a novel by Margaret Mitchelland portrayed love in a unique way.

A WALK TO REMEMBER

Based on Nicholas Sparks’ bestseller, this

movie talks about how a college hero falls

in love with a social outcast. Taking tuitions

from her, he promises her that it will be

easy not to fall in love with her. But cupid

strikes and Landon (Shane West) falls in

love with Jamie ( Mandy Moore), only to

find out that she suffers from leukemia.

How he holds her hand through her last

days and makes her live to the fullest

makes up this tear jerking love story.

TWILIgHT

Love story for today’sgenerations, Twilight speaks abouthow a normal girl findsherself attracted to themost handsome guy in school. Asshe falls ‘irresistibly and irrevocably’in love with him, she finds out thathe is a vampire. Based on the bookseries by Stephanie Meyer, the Twi-light Saga became a rage withyoungsters all over the world.

ONE FINE DAY

Directed by Michael Hoffman, One

Fine Day is a wonderful rom-com

starring the beautiful Michelle

Pfeiffer as Melanie and the

handsome George Clooney as Jack.

Melanie and Jack are single parents.

They are brought together under

unpredictable circumstances by their

children and they both try to sort

things out while also running around

for their work purposes.

SERENDIPITY

Jonathan (John Cussack) and Sara (Kate Beckinsale) fall in love at firstsight. But both leave their love to fateand part ways to check if they are des-tined to meet again or not. After manyyears, when they are both with their re-spective partners, they meet each otheragain and realise how much they loveeach other. Sara’s famous one liner,‘You just need to have faith in destiny’made many go weak in the knees.

Sonam discusses

weight issues

with karismaThat Sonam Kapoor was once

overweight is a fact well-known.She says when the stress of herweight began to reflect on herhealth, she became determined toshed the excess kilos. now countedas a style diva in the country’sfashion circles, Sonam opened upabout her weight problems to RJ

Karisma Kapoor during thelatter’s talk show on a radio

station’s afternoon women’sshow. it was when she was

16 that she decided towork towards a healthylifestyle of regularworkouts, yoga andfigure-friendly food.Thus started herjourney to becomethe fashion icon sheis today. Clearly,

one wonderswhether Sonamhas come totruly believe inthe motto -Health iswealth. nEws

dEsK

Emraan Hashmito walk the Berlin FilmFestival red carpet

Emraan Hashmi has been making headlines for quite some time now.The actor is all set to make his first ever appearance at the

international film festival and will be walking the red carpettoday, February 13 at the Berlin Film Festivalin support of Polish director Danis Tanovicand his film an Episode in The Life of aniron Picker. Danis is an academy award-winning Bosnian-Belgian film director and

writer best known for the 2001 Bosnian filmno Man’s Land which won him the academy

award for Best Foreign Langauage Film. Danisrecently signed on Emraan for his ambitious next,

produced by aSaP Films (France) , SikhyaEntertainment and Cinemorphic (Prashita

Chaudhary). in support of the film and itsproducers, Emraan took time out

from his shoot scheduleto attend the festival,where the film featuresin the competitioncategory. Confirmsproducer guneetMonga, “We are one big familythere to support and cheer for Danisas his film is in competition. i amglad to be producing his next too.”guneet further added, “Emraan is avery good actor and we are excitedto be working together. it will bevery interesting to see thecombination of an indian star, whois so popular among the massesworking with an Oscar-winningDirector in an international film.We are looking forward to thegreat collaboration.” StarringEmraan, the film directed byOscar winner Danis Tanović isin its pre-production stage.nEws dEsK

nEws dEsK

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 3:01 AM Page 13

woMAn DiES AftERDowning 2 gAllonS of CokE pER DAYHeavy drinking may have led to the death of a new Zealandwoman—but it wasn't alcohol she was glugging. it wasCoca-Cola, TvnZ reports. She reportedly drank some 2.2gallons (that's 18 pints) of the soda every day, aFP notes, ahabit that went on for years. Her family called it an"addiction" that resulted in the removal of multiple rottenteeth and the birth of at least one child lacking tooth enamel;her partner said natasha Harris suffered withdrawalsymptoms if she didn't drink the stuff. The 31-year-oldmother of eight died following a cardiac arrhythmia inFebruary 2010, and the coroner called out Coke in hisreport, which was released today: "i find that, when all theavailable evidence is considered, were it not for theconsumption of very large quantities of Coke by natashaHarris, it is unlikely that she would have died when she diedand how she died." The examination after her death revealedan enlarged liver with fattydeposits due to too muchsugar, a pathologist said.Low potassium in herbloodstream may alsohave been linked to thesoda. Harris apparentlyconsumed more thantwo pounds of sugar and970mg of caffeine aday; experts say even500mg is dangerous.Coca-Cola said it was"disappointed" about thecoroner's emphasis onCoke in Harris' death,though his report didstate that the company"cannot be heldresponsible for thehealth of consumerswho drink unhealthyquantities of theproduct." nEws dEsK

twittER lEtS YouBuY Stuff witH AHASHtAgAmerican Express and Twitter are

teaming up to let people buy special

deals with a song and a dance—or

rather, a hashtag and a tweet in the

latest attempt to boost Twitter-based

commerce, reports CNN. The first item

up for grabs? $25 AmEx gift cards for

$15, which registered users can buy by

typing "#BuyAmexGiftCard25." More

goods will be coming tomorrow

beginning at noon, including the

Amazon Kindle Fire HD for a $50

discount and an Xbox Controller for

about $10 off their regular price,

according to Mashable. Call the

hashtag purchase "t-commerce."

Twitter isn't spilling details about its cut

of these deals, but since public tweets

will be required to take advantage of

these deals, analysts think brand

promotion is a likely focus. If it takes

off, though, expect to see a lot more

hashtags turning up in advertisements

in the future. nEws dEsK

tHiS now ExiStS:MountAin DEwBREAkfASt DRinkJust when you thought Americans

couldn't get any unhealthier comes

this culinary revelation: a Mountain

Dew breakfast drink. PepsiCo's

carbonated Kickstart rolls out this

month, bringing the bleary-eyed

masses a mix of "Mountain Dew

flavor," caffeine, artificial sweeteners,

Vitamins B and C, just 80 calories,

and what can probably best be

described as a touch of juice content:

5% juice (which is enough to qualify

as a "juice drink" under the FDA's

apparently very rigid standards).

Though it comes in flavors like

"energizing orange citrus" and

"energizing fruit punch" and is

packaged in the 16-ounce cans

popularized by energy drinks like

Monster, PepsiCo says it is not an

energy drink. A PepsiCo exec says the

idea came from research that showed

Mountain Dew fans wanted to drink

something other than coffee, tea, and

juice with their breakfast, reports the

AP. And no, Kickstart isn't the same

as Taco Bell's Mountain Dew breakfast

drink. nEws dEsK

InFotaInMent

IThursday, 14 February, 2013

14The highest possible stage in moral culture

is when we recognize that we ought to

control our thoughts. — Charles Darwin

ALEx YAHANDA

tHOUgH many people wereprobably unaware, yester-day marked Charles Dar-win’s birthday. Darwin, ashopefully everyone knows,

solidified the theory of evolution with hisexplanation of descent with modification,the process by which adaptive changestake place. Darwin’s theory has seen a dis-turbing amount of opposition in the Un-tied States, and it is not surprising thatmany americans do not fully understandthe workings or importance of evolution.To that end, Darwin’s birthday shouldhave received more coverage, so that evo-lution could be more properly recognizedfor its importance.

Celebrating Darwin’s birthday wouldbe yet another way to get people dis-cussing evolution more thoroughly. Thenumbers regarding americans’ belief inevolution are staggering. Some 46 percentof americans believed in intelligent de-sign in 2012. Only 15 percent are of theopinion that humans evolved without anintervening source of assistance. Thesefigures strongly clash with the opinions ofthe worldwide scientific community,where evolution is almost universally heldto be fact.

in an affluent and technologically ad-vanced nation like the U.S., one wouldhope the scientific community wouldhave more influence. We are a societythat demands proof and rational justifi-cation in nearly any other disciplineinvolving argu-ment. Our leaders’

political theories must be backed up byreasonable opinions if they are to be seri-ously considered — or such is the hope.Similarly, sufficient evidence must be ad-ministered in court before one can be con-victed of a crime. The process ofevolution is tangible and accessible toanyone. if the overwhelming scientificconsensus is that evolution is fact, itmakes little sense that evolution stilldraws such vigorous opposition. Evenwithin the field of science, phenomenawith much less supporting evidence arenever questioned. Scientists are still un-sure as to why gravity exists. neverthe-less, there is never debate among thepublic surrounding possible causes ofgravity. Why, then, does evolution con-tinue to be so adamantly rejected bynearly half the nation when its evidenceis so apparent?

One factor is that the U.S. is the mostreligious industrialized nation in theworld Much of the disbelief in evolutionis no doubt because evolution concernsthe origins and development of life — twotopics that are normally the domain oftheological teachings and scriptures.as a result, people feel more at lib-erty to dispute ideas supportedby huge amounts of scientificdata. Despite having heard of

evolut ion,m a n ypeoplev iew

it as an inferior alternative to their reli-gious beliefs. Choosing to disregard evo-lution in favor of scripture is unfortunate.

another reason people reject evolu-tion is because the public is not as cog-nizant as it should be of such a basicscientific theory. Education reform canhelp in that area. Mandating the teachingof evolution in middle and high schoolscience classes could go a long way to-ward increasing the percentage of thepopulation that has a good understandingof how the process works. Though someteachers would allow their personal be-liefs to bias the way in which they teachevolution, other teachers would instructtheir classes properly. if more studentswere able to grasp evolution’s major con-cepts, it would help increase national sci-entific literacy. indeed, a knowledge ofevolution could garner support for othercontentious scientific topics. Take, for in-stance, global warming. Climate changeis another area in which many americanshave disregarded evidence. But if one un-derstands evolution, one can more com-petently seewhy the evi-d e n c e

f o rg l o b a lwarming isso compelling.

Species haveadapted to life inparticular tempera-

ture zones over thou-sands or millions of

years, and there is already data showingthat many organisms are being affected byeven small temperature changes. Birds,for instance, are changing their migrationpatterns, which are highly based on tem-perature. additionally, the distributions ofmany plants and animals are moving far-ther toward the poles to avoid unwantedwarmer climates. if one recognizes thatspecies inhabit specific niches as a resultof evolution, one can affirm that globalwarming is already affecting the bios-phere whether or not people want to admitit. Knowledge of evolution, therefore,should become more widespread, not justas a way to explain how species came tobe but also as a way to show people howeasily species can be destroyed.

Darwin’s birthday does not necessar-ily deserve a federal holiday like thoseawarded to george Washington or MartinLuther King, Jr. But it should have gar-nered more publicity. Evolution is one ofthe most interesting aspects of all naturalscience. it is unfortunate that everyone inthis country has the ability to learn aboutevolution, yet sofew truly ap-preciate its ownd i s t i n c t i v egrandeur.

Evolution in thought

John alleman visited the Heart at-tack grill so often, the restaurantdesigned an entire line of clothingfeaturing a cartoon of its beloved“Patient Joe,” and placed his facefront and center on their menu.now the restaurant reports via itsFacebook page that its most loyalpatron has passed away at age 52,from a heart attack.

The nighttime construction sitesecurity guard was never officiallyon the restaurant’s payroll, but hewas such a fixture at the DowntownLas vegas restaurant, encouragingpassersby to come in, he came to beknown as its unofficial spokesman.

according to the Las vegasSun, alleman suffered a heart at-tack while waiting for a bus in frontof the restaurant, which boastshighly caloric menu items such asthe 9,982 calorie Quadruple BypassBurger, Butterfat Milkshakes andCoronary Dogs.

alleman remained at SunriseHospital until his brother Paul, hisonly surviving relative, made thedecision to remove him from lifesupport on Monday. allemanpassed away soon after.

a statement on the restaurant’sFacebook page read, “To all who’vegiven hopes and prayers for John’sstruggle in the cardio vascular unit,it ended humanely this morning at10am. Dr andy and Dr Jon were atbedside as John slipped into thenext world. WE LOvE YOU

BROTHER!”“Dr. Jon” refers to Heart attack

grill’s owner Jon Basso. He is nei-ther a medical professional nor astranger to controversy – or loss ofhis most avid fans. The restaurant’sprevious 575-pound spokesman,29-year-old Blair River, died inMarch 2011 at the age of 29. inFebruary 2012, the restaurant madeheadlines when another patron suf-fered a heart attack while eating aTriple Bypass Burger.

Heart attack grill is perhapsbest known for actively courtingfans and nayayers alike with slo-

gans like “Taste worth dying for!”and “Cash only, because you mightdie before the check clears.”

Menu items like lard-fried“Flatliner Fries,” highly caloric“Butterfat Shakes” and unfilteredcigarettes abound, scantily clad fe-male servers dressed as nurses takeorders as “prescriptions,” and ahouse policy allows diners weigh-ing over 350 pounds to eat for free.

Basso told the Las vegas Sunthat he currently has no plans toalter the grill’s menu, though it willremain closed the day of alleman’sfuneral. nEws dEsK

Heart Attack grill patrondies of heart attack

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 3:01 AM Page 14

We had a good score on the

board and we just had to try

to defend it. – Kieron Pollard

BRISBANE aGEnCiEs

Johnson Charles smacked a half-centuryand West indies tore through australia'sbatsmen with slow bowling to win theirTwenty20 match by 27 runs in Brisbaneon Wednesday. Charles, coming off hismaiden one-day international century,struck 57 off 35 balls to propel the touriststo an imposing first innings total of 191after captain Darren Sammy won the tossand elected to bat at the gabba.

australia's adam voges blasted aswashbuckling 51 off 33 balls to givethem hope of hauling in the total, butpaceman Kieron Pollard and spinnerSunil narine combined for five quickwickets to make sure the hosts' chasecame to a crashing halt. The emphaticvictory against a second-string australiaside ensured West indies finished theirtour Down Under on a high, havingdismally surrendered the preceding one-day series 5-0.

"Obviously, it's a bit too late ... We are

world (Twenty20) champions so we had toplay like that," man-of-the-match Pollardsaid in a televised interview after rattlingthrough australia's middle order to take 3-30. "We had a good score on the board andwe just had to try to defend it."

australia brought a depleted lineup tothe gabba, with a number of first-choiceplayers having headed to india early toprepare for a four-test series.

The rawness showed as Charles,Darren Bravo (32) and Pollard (26) flayedthe australian pacemen to drive Westindies past 100 within the 12th over,before Sammy chipped in with a usefulseven-ball cameo of 20 late in the innings.

after the early loss of opener aaronFinch for four, australia appeared to besailing toward victory before sharp workby wicketkeeper Devon Thomas sawShaun Marsh (21) and voges run out inthree balls. The run-outs proved a turningpoint, as spinner narine soon coaxed amiscued sweep shot from captain georgeBailey, the top edge well caught by alunging narsingh Deonarine.

CAPE TOWNaGEnCiEs

ALL the hype around the Test series before thefirst Test at Johannesburg was centeredaround the bowling strengths of both teams.While South africa boasted of a wonderful

opening pair of Steyn and Philander with Morne Morkelturning out to be an effective support cast, if there was one

team that could match the hosts bowling line up wasPakistan. Boasting of an impressive opening combo ofUmar gul and Junaid Khan, Pakistan also had arguablythe best spinner in recent times, Saeed ajmal. it took justthree and a bit days for the myth to be broken. althoughthe Pakistan bowlers put up an impressive showparticularly in the first innings, their batsman were foundsusceptible against Steyn as the hosts blew the visitorsaway by a massive margin. The series now moves to the

beautiful Tablemountains as the hostsseek to gain anunassailable 2-0advantage. The worldno. 1 Test team lookscomplete on paper.graeme Smth has ledthe team from the frontwhile the middle order ispacked with talent andexperience. RobinPeterson has had little todo so far in the series,but with a dry pitchexpected at newlands,he will have some workto do. vernon Philanderhas an enviable record atCape Town havinggrabbed 21 wickets injust 3 Test matches.Steyn comes fresh from

achieving his career best match figures of 11/60 atJohannesburg. Morne Morkel looked slightly rusty at theWanderers but the hosts can count on him to put in a goodshow at Cape Town. On the other hand, lack of form andinjuries continue to haunt the visitors. Haris Sohail joinedopener Taufeeq Umar in the injury sidelines. imran Farhatjoined the squad ahead of the two day match against aCobras Xi and acquitted himself pretty well against amodest attack. Hafeez missed out of the practise matchwith illness while azhar ali failed yet again. The visitorswill hope for the two to get back to their best form if theyare to cause any sort of panic in the South african bowlingranks. With three successive home wins on a trot, thehosts will certainly need no reason to change the winningcombination. Mohammad irfan scalped match figures of7/40 against the Emerging Cobras Xi. He was surprisinglyleft out of the Wanderers Test and Pakistan might notmake the same mistake twice. Rahat ali is the man mostlikely to make way for the lanky pacer.

azhar ali and Saeed ajmal failed to make any sortof impact during the 1st Test, but the team managementmight not be tempted into making too many recklesschanges. Junaid Khan is out due to a thigh injury. giventhe nature of the pitches in South africa which have paceand bounce you have to keep playing your shots becauseit is not possible to survive without being positive - Outof favour keeper, Kamran akmal has a few words ofadvice for his former mates.

When you have the right game plans - when you haveplan a, B and even C - you can adjust your plan to wherethe game is - alviro Petersen is confident about adjustingto the dry pitch at newlands.

CAPE TOWNaGEnCiEs

South africa expect to have to put inmore work with the bat than they havedone in the home season so far in thesecond Test against Pakistan in CapeTown. Hot weather in the build-up to thematch has left the surface dry and set upwhat allan Donald called a "graftingwicket," for what could turn out to be thebowlers' first challenge of the summer.none of the three Tests played so far havegone the distance largely because Southafrica's attack has cleaned up oppositioncheaply. This time though, they may nothave conditions to facilitate that.

"it's not quite a 49 all out pitch," alviroPetersen, South africa's opening batsmansaid after examining the newlands strip.although there was rain in the city over theweekend and some is expected onWednesday, neither Donald nor Petersenthinks the nature of the pitch will change

too much and both expect a "good Testwicket," that will provide a more balancedcontest. Pakistan will benefit from that. "ifthere is one ground where they can bounceback its newlands," Petersen said. notonly will it be gentler in terms of pace andbounce, it is the surface most likely toprovide something for the spinnersalthough South africa are mindful to keepthat to a minimum. "We don't want to bringtheir spinners into it at all," Donald said.What it means for South africa is that moreresponsibility will fall on the batting line-up than at any other time in the homeseason. They showed they were ready tofront up in the first Test when graemeSmith chose to bat in tricky circumstancesat the Wanderers with a lot of swing onoffer. Their total of 253 appeared below-par and probably was until the bowlersinflated it by dismissing Pakistan 49. "Ourbowlers deserve all the praise they aregetting because they have often got us oftight situations," Petersen said.

top-six proteasamong the best,says Smith

CAPE TOWNaGEnCiEs

Skipper graeme Smith believes Southafrica have possibly the best top-sixamong contemporary batting line-ups asthey prepare to face Pakistan in thesecond test at newlands starting onThursday. The Proteas crushed Pakistanby 211 runs in the first test at theWanderers, a win built on the ferociousperformance of the team's bowling unitspearheaded by Dale Steyn. Smith alsopraised the batsmen as he seeks his fifthwin in a row as captain. "Our top six isone of the best going around with ourexperience and the ability to adapt togame situations," Smith said. "Weunderstand how to handle conditions andwhat is the right play at the right time."Test matches are about patterns of playand top three especially has done well insetting up a base for the rest. The new ballis a tough place to bat in South africa, butwe have often come through that and beenable to lay a solid platform." Smithexpected Pakistan to adopt a morecautious approach to their batting insecond test in contrast to their cavalierapproach at the Wanderers. "Pakistan arein a dangerous position as a team, they area team...used to having two vastlydifferent performances," Smith says. "Wecannot underestimate them, especiallywith the ball. if there is one team who canbounce back it is Pakistan." The touristsare likely to bring in seam bowlerMohammad irfan after his fineperformances in a warm-up fixture againstan Emerging Cape Cobras side in whichhe took seven wickets for 40 runs in thematch. at over seven feet tall, he willpresent a new challenge. "it will be aunique experience," Smith said with asmile. The captain also downplayed therelevance of the toss on Thursday,suggesting in South african conditions it

was often of littleconsequence. "in South

africa it is unusual toarrive at a ground andthink it is a battingday or vice-versa. Weprobably prefer to get

out there and bat topost a strong total but

that being said we willlook at the pitch in themorning and make adecision from there."

South Africa expect ‘grafting’ pitch

West Indies stroll to T20 victory over Australia

injuRY Hit pAkiStAnStRiVE foR CoMEBACk

wEsT indiEs inninGs

C. Gayle c Coulter-nile b Hazlewood 8

J. Charles b Coulter-nile 57

dM bravo run out (McKay/Haddin) 32

K. Pollard c Marsh b Faulkner 26

dJ bravo b Faulkner 13

a. Russel not out 23

d. sammy c Marsh b Faulkner 20

n. deonarine not out 6

Extras (lb-4, w-2) 6

Total (six wickets, 20 overs) 191

Fall of wickets: 1-11 2-99 3-106 4-139 5-141 6-172

bowling: McKay 4-0-44-0, Hazlewood 4-0-36-1, Faulkner 4-0-

28-3 (w-1), Coulter-nile 4-0-36-1 (w-1), b. Cutting 4-0-43-0

ausTRaLia inninGs

a. Finch b sammy 4

s. Marsh run out (best/Thomas) 21

a. Voges run out (Thomas) 51

G. bailey c deonarine b narine 15

b. Rohrer c deonarine b Pollard 16

b. Haddin c Russel b Pollard 22

J. Faulkner c sammy b Pollard 7

b. Cutting st Thomas b narine 0

n. Coulter-nile not out 16

C. McKay not out 6

Extras (b-1, lb-2, w-3) 6

Total (eight wickets, 20 overs) 164

Fall of wickets: 1-5 2-79 3-82 4-96 5-121 6-139 7-139 8-141

bowling: best 3-0-19-0 (w-2), d. sammy 3-0-30-1 (w-1), narine

4-0-19-2, Russel 1-0-9-0, deonarine 3-0-37-0, dJ bravo 2-0-

17-0, K. Pollard 4-0-30-3

west indies won the toss and elected to bat first

sCOREbOaRd

THE NEWLANDS PITCH COULD OFFER THE CHANCE FORPAKISTAN'S SPINNERS TO MAKE AN IMPACTsporTs

SThursday, 14 February, 2013

15

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 3:01 AM Page 16

pHf invites anothernine playersin hockey camp

LAHORE: The Pakistan Hockey Federation has

invited nine more players for the ongoing

training camp for the build up of the team to

take part in the Azlan Shah hockey cup being

played in Ipoh, Malaysia from March 9-17. “We

have called new players in order to fill the gap

caused by injuries to players and fitness

problems some players are facing “,said Chief

coach and manager of the team, Akhtar Rasool

while talking to APP here on Wednesday after a

training session of the team. The invited

players are. Mazhar Abbas, Fahad Afridi, Aamir

Shahzad, Sabtain Raza, Rana Umair,

Muzammal Bhatti, Arslan Qadir, M Suleman

and Mohammad Imran Junior. He said with the

induction of new players the overall strenght of

the players will rise to 30 from 21. “ We want

to ensure every measure to select a balanced

combination for producing desired results in

the Cup and we are confident the new players

will give a good account of themselves by

showing promise during the camp training “,he

said. He said only fully fit players will be

selected in the final squad and no compromise

will be made on fitness and form. “ Every

player, no matter how much useful he is for the

team, has to meet the laid down criteria of

selection and our long duration camp will help

in picking up the most outstanding players for

the team “,he added. sTaFF REPORT

sporTs SThursday, 14 February, 2013

16It was a good day for us and I'm happy

with how we performed during the

Al Bustan Cycling. – Nicolas Portal

CUTTACKaGEnCiEs

Aspirited West indies women’sside claimed an eight-runvictory over australia at theiCC Women’s World Cup

india 2013 today to secure itself a spot inthe final of the event for the first time inits 40-year history, it is also the first timeWest indies has beaten australia in anODi. The two teams will face-off again atthe Brabourne Stadium on 17 February ina day-night fixture that will be broadcastround the globe in High Definition by theiCC’s Broadcast Partner Star Sports.

The victory by West indies means thatnew Zealand and current championEngland, currently playing in a day/nightfixture at CCi, are not able to make thefinal and the two sides will meet again on15 February to battle it out in the third-place play-off and a new global ranking.

Meanwhile in Cuttack, Dane vanniekerk starred with the bat and ball toensure South africa finished the Super Sixstage with a 110-run win over Sri Lanka.The two sides will meet again on Fridayin the fifth-place play-off which, no matterthe result, will see both sides finish thetournament ranked higher than theyentered the event (Sri Lanka is currentlyseventh, while South africa is currentlyeighth in the Reliance iCC Women’s ODiTeam Rankings). at the Mig ground,having won the toss Merissa aguilleiraelected to bat against australia and the

side was dismissed for 164 beforesqueezing the australian batting withsome tight bowling to dismiss the finalistsfor 156 to complete a historic win. it wasWest indies’ first ever win over australiain an ODi fixture and in return australia’sfirst loss of the iCC Women’s World Cup2013. West indies batting proved to beinconsistent, at one point, the side wasreeling at 7-92 in the 25th over, before all-rounder Deandra Dottin, demoted tonumber seven for today’s game, proppedup the batting attack with a dazzling 60runs, including ten fours and a six to helpWest indies reach 164.

The australian bowling attack onceagain proved disciplined, bowling goodline and lengths to keep the side in checkand star bowlers, Holly Ferling (3-27) andMegan Schutt (3-50) were the pick of theSouthern Stars team.

australia looked likely to securevictory, when in the 39th over it was 130-4 but all went wrong for the current iCCWomen’s World Twenty champions whenit lost its last six wickets for just 26 runs.australia was in trouble early, losingstylish opener Meg Lanning, bowled byleft-arm spinner Shanel Daley. Lanning’sopening partner Rachael Haynes was nextout with the score at 32. Jess Cameron andLisa Sthalekar attempted to stabalise theinnings but it was up to captain and vice-captain, Jodie Fields and alex Blackwell,to try and resurrect the innings with a 41-run partnership.

But Blackwell’s dismissal for 45

triggered a mini collapse as the side lostthree wickets for one run. The lower orderfailed to provide the required runs, withtwo run-outs and thus helping the Westindies secure itself a place in the iCCWomen’s World Cup final for the firsttime. aguillera was elated after the win:“Words cannot express what i am feelingright now. i am completely overwhelmed.We have been through a lot as a team. Ourbowlers did a fantastic job today. i feltsome panic happening in their camp and ithink that’s the time we started to attackthem more. We realised that as long as wewere bowling in correct areas, we will getwickets and that’s exactly whathappened.” While all the batters generallystruggled on the slow wicket, Player of theMatch Dottin was the only one who was

able to break the shackles and play freely.“Deandra has a natural ability to stroke theball well. it’s a god-given talent. She isusing it well, but she is not using it enoughthough,” admitted aguillera.

SCORES IN BRIEF

At MIg: West Indies 164 all out, 47

overs (Dottin 60; Ferling 3-27, Schutt

3-50)

Australia 156 all out, 48.2 overs

(Blackwell 45, Cameron 39; Daley 3-

22). West Indies won by eight runs.

At Barabati Stadium: South Africa

227-8, 50 overs (Brits 52, Fritz 64, van

Niekerk 40; Seneviratna 3-44)

Sri Lanka 117 all out, 36.4 overs

(Atapattu 63; van Niekerk 4-18). South

Africa won by 110 runs.

woMEn’S woRlD Cup: wiHEAD foR MAiDEn finAl

S.PERvEz QAISER

SOUTH africa will complete a halfcentury of Test matches atnewlands, Cape Town when they

take on Pakistan in the second Test matchon Thursday (February 14). South africahave won 20, lost 19 and draw 10 in 49 Testmatches played at this ground. They havewon both Test matches against Pakistanhere. The hosts defeated Pakistan by aninnings and 142 runs when two teams metfirst time at this ground in 2002-03 series.South africa achieved a five-wicket winover visitors in the second Test match at thisground in 2006-07 series.

newlands, home of WesternProvince Cricket, has been described bymany, together with the adelaide Ovalin australia, as one of the most beautifulcricket grounds in the World. nestledbehind and at the foot of Table Mountainit is one of the most picturesque placesin the world to watch cricket. Over thepast five years numerous changes havebeen made to the ground. This has

slightly taken away from its formersplendor. Large portions of the grassembankments have been replaced bypavilions increasing the seating capacityto 25,000. newlands is one of the fewgrounds in South africa that assists spinbowlers borne out by the fact that manyof South african spinners have comefrom the Western Cape. The pitch is alsovery conducive to results with a smallpercentage of Tests played ending up asdrawn. newlands is also favoured witha Mediterranean winter rainfall climateallowing for perfect weather to watchand play cricket in.

sa to play 50th test match at cape Town

LAHOREsTaFF REPORT

Pakistan stunned hosts Maldives whenit struck a last-minute goal settling for a1-1 draw in the first of two internationalfriendly games being played here inMale' Maldives.

Pakistan's Muhammad Hameedscored a very late goal to trompMaldives dream of victory in theinternational friendly match played at apacked national Stadium last night.assadullah abdulla of Maldives scored

in the 48th minute but the last kick ofthe game came to the Pakistan rescue.

in the 11th minute, Hassan Bashir(FW) superb shot went wide outside thebox. in the 20th minute a corner kick bySamar ishaq was misplaced by Faisaliqbal and the chance was lost. in 27thminute, Hassan Bashir penetrated thedefense line of Maldives and supplied agood ball to Kaleem Ullah but he failedto control it. in 37th minute Maldivesmade a good shot but was saved byJaffar Khan. in the first half nobodycould score a goal. However, in 48th

minute assadullah abdullah from aheader made the first goal for Maldives.in 56th minute Jaffar Khan smashed theattempt of ashfaq of Maldives nettingthe ball. in the last five minutes thegames became very tense and Pakistanwas desperate to secure a goal toequalize the match. in 90+2 minutePakistan achieved in securing a goodgoal from corner, Ejaz passed toMuhammad Hameed who did notmissed the golden opportunity bysecuring the most coveted goal, thusdestroying Maldives’s dream of victory.

SA schoolboycricketers hitby lightning

JOHANNESBERGCRiCinFO

Two schoolboy cricketers in Johannesburgremain in intensive care after being struckby lightning while pulling on the coversduring a practice session on Tuesday andneeding resuscitation.nine players from King Edward viiSchool, where graeme Smith was a pupil,were hit during the incident with fiveneeding hospital treatment although threeof those were released on Wednesday. Theschool cancelled its fixtures forWednesday while counselling has beenoffered to those involved. Two of theplayers struck are understood to be part ofthe gauteng Under-19 set-up.an off-duty paramedic, Mike Russell,who had been at the school to watch hisson's cricket match before it wascancelled because of the storm, was ableto give CPR to two boys who had sufferedcardiac arrest. "it's basically a miracle toget two patients out of cardiac arrest usingbasic CPR," he told the Star. "The stormcame up really quickly. When the secondlightning bolt hit, we still had guyswalking off the field." Smith offered histhoughts to this injured. "it's anunfortunately tragedy that has happenedto the KES boys. Our thoughts andprayers go out to their loved ones andfamilies during this difficult and sad time.The Proteas would like to wish the nineboys a speedy recovery, and we hope tosee them back on the cricket field as soonas possible." The headmaster, DavidLovett, said in a statement: "i would liketo thank all the members of the KingEdward community for ongoing support,and in particular would like to thank allthose involved in the medical care offeredto our boys yesterday." Lightning iscommon on the South african Highveld,especially in the summer, and does notalways have to be accompanied by rain.There was also a recent case of otherschool children being struck by lightningas they walked home in nearby Soweto. inschools matches it is down to the teachersto decide when conditions become toodangerous to continue. Umpires atinternational level are also quick to takeplayers off if there are thunderstormsclose to the ground. Simon gear, aclimatologist, told the Star this area ofSouth africa has the highest incidence ofstrikes in the world in relation to the sizeof the land area. "it sounds like theteachers did get the cricketers off thefield… but if sport is stopped every timethere are thunderclouds, there'd be nosport played in the country."

Pakistan play a one-alldraw against Maldives

MERISSA AGUILLEIRA’S SIDE BEAT AUSTRALIA FORFIRST TIME IN AN ODI TO SECURE SPOT IN FINAL ONFEBRUARY 17 AT CRICKET CLUB OF INDIA

LIGHTNING IS AREGULAR FEATURE OF THESOUTH AFRICAN SUMMERON THE HIGHVELD

TEST MATCHES AT NEWLANDS, CAPE TOWN:

TEAM P W L D SuCCESS%

South Africa 49 20 19 10 51.02

Pakistan 2 - 2 - 00.00

HIgHEST INNINgS TOTALS:

South Africa: 651 in 154.3 overs vs Australia 2008-09

Pakistan: 252 in 87.4 overs vs South Africa 2002-03

LOWEST INNINgS TOTALS:

South Africa: 35 in 22.4 overs vs England 1898-99

Pakistan: 157 in 43.1 overs vs South Africa 2006-07

HIgHEST INDIvIDuAL SCORES:

South Africa: 228 Herschelle Gibbs vs Pakistan 2002-03

Pakistan: 135 Taufeeq Umar vs South Africa 2002-03

BEST BOWLINg IN AN INNINgS:

South Africa: 7-63 Alf Hall vs England 1922-23

Pakistan: 3-44 Danish Kaneria vsSouth Africa 2006-07

BEST BOWLING IN A MATCH:

South Africa: 11-112 Alf Hall vs England 1922-23

Pakistan: 5-96 Danish Kaneria vsSouth Africa 2006-07

5-96 Mohammed Asif vs S. Africa 2006-07

LHR 14-02-2013_Layout 1 2/14/2013 3:01 AM Page 17

LAHORE sTaFF REPORT

The Department of Media Studies of theislamia University of Bahawalpur visitednational Cricket academy, Lahore wherethey called on the PCB Chairman, Ch.Zaka ashraf. During a chat with thestudent, the PCB Chairman informed themthat in the last one year, the success rate ofthe Pakistan team across all formats hasbeen a phenomenal 80 per cent. The PCBis proactively pursuing all avenues to affectall-round improvement of our cricket.

“another policy cornerstone hasbeen constant modernization. and itclearly reflects at the national Cricketacademy – which is now acknowledgedas one of the best nurturing places in theworld not just for our budding talent, butfor its Elite and Master Coach Education

Programmes”. “a biomechanics lab isbeing established at the nCa; thiswould make Pakistan the first in asia tohave such a lab. Soon a post-modernProBatter machine shall also be installedhere that could simulate bowlers from

contemporary cricket for the benefit ofour established and emerging batsmen”.The Media Studies undergraduates wereextremely impressed with the facilitiesat the nCa and the PCB’s developmentprogrammes.

sporTsS

Thursday, 14 February, 2013

17It was a tough match. There were a lot of momentum

changes throughout the match. – Lleyton Hewitt

said after defeating Blaz Kavcic in the SAP Open

MIAMI: Rory McIlroy and

Tiger Woods will play

the same tournaments.

Varsity students impressedwith NCA facilities

national Youthwrestlingfrom today

LAHOREsTaFF REPORT

Country’s promising grapplers will showcase their talent and promise in the 2ndnational youth wrestling championshipstarting here today, Thursday at Punjabcollege of commerce Pakistan wrestlingfederation is organizing the two-day activitywhich will help in identifying new talent,said Chaudhary Muhammad asghar onWednesday. Wrestlers from Pakistan army,Railways, Police, WaPDa, HEC,islamabad, Punjab, Balochistan, KPK andSindh will compete in different age groupbouts. The competitions will be held in 10weight categories including 39 to-42 Kg, 46Kg, 50 Kg, 54 Kg 58 63 Kg, 69Kg, 76Kg,85 Kg, and 100 Kg. He said after thecompletion of the youth competition the 7thedition of the national Junior WrestlingChampionship will go into action fromFebruary 15 at the same venue. Theparticipating teams are, Pakistan army,Railways, Police, WaPDa, HigherEducation Commission islamabad, Punjab,Balochistan, KPK and Sindh. Thecompetitions will be held in eight weightcategories , 50 Kg, 55 Kg, 60 Kg, 66Kg,74Kg, 84, 96Kg, 120 Kg. “Both the eventswill help in expanding the base of the gamewith the identification of new talent whichwill be groomed on long term basis toinfuse fresh blood in national junior teams,said PWF official. He said PWF wasstriving hard within the available resourcesto groom teams and to organize talent huntprogrammes keeping in view the futureneeds in the game. Saeed iqbal Khan, vicePresident Pakistan Railways Sports Boardwill inaugurate the event and ChiefCoordinator, Pakistan Olympic association,Muhammad Khalid Mahmood will be thechief guest at the closing ceremony .ChiefCoordinator, Pakistan Olympic association

SjAl to play SwAp

in football match

LAHOREsTaFF REPORT

Sport Journalist association of Lahore willplay Sports Writers association of Punjabin an exhibition football match heretomorrow, Thursday at Model town footballacademy ground.Following are the teams of the match, (SJAL

XI) Syed Ali Hashmi, Afzaal Chaudhary, Ashraf

Chaudhary, Ghalib Bajwa, Fawad Asghar, Asher

Butt, Musa Warraich, Ibrahim, Hafiz Shahbaz,

Imran Sohail, Ejaz Wasim, Mohsin Iqbal, Adnan

Butt, Azhar Kazmi, Shahzad Malik, Aftab Tabi,

Zulqarnain Sheikh and Afzal Iftikhar. (Team

officials) Patron, Sarfraz Ahmed, Manager,

Moona Rana, coach, Qayyum Zahid. (SWAP XI)

Aamir Raza, Farrukh Butt, Sheikh Ejaz, Azhar

Masood, Mansoor Ahmed Khan, Hafiz Imran,

Abdul Rauf, Akhlaq Aslam , Abdul Qayum, Rana

Aazar, Mustansar, Zahid Shafi, Taqweem-e-

Millat, Moeen Ahmed, Ahmad Raza, Abdul Rauf,

Muhammad Ali and Mansha Cheema. (Officials)

, (Patron) Shahid Sheikh, (manager), Ayesha

Butt, (coach) Sohail Ali.

gulbergbeat tigers inlahore VeteranCricket league

LAHOREsTaFF REPORT

gulberg gymkhana outshone LahoreTigers by seven wickets in a match ofSPM Lahore veteran cricket league hereon Wednesday at Stags ground.Brief scores, Lahore Tigers batted first1reached 165/9 in 30 overs. MujahidJamshaid 42, Khalid Jamshaid 26 &Zaheer iqbal 15 runs. gulberg gymkhanabowling Manzar Munir bowling well 4/23,Muhammad asif 2/34, Maqsood 1/23 &afzal Munir 2/36 wickets.in reply gulberg gymkhana answeredwith 166/3 in 25 overs. afzal Munir struckpolished uneaten 58 followed by Maqsoodahmad 40, Faisal Peerzada 27, and azharHussain 24. Lahore Tigers bowlingMujahid Jamshaid 2/34 & Saif ur Rehman1/15 wickets. ansar Mehmood andSagheer ahmad were the umpires&Zulfqar Baig was the scorer.

wahdat Eaglets

outplay Apallo Sports

LAHOREsTaFF REPORT

Wahdat Eaglets has outplayed apalloSports by 5 wickets in the 2nd Phaseleague stage of 6th nazar MuhammadMemorial cricket event played at ittifaqueHospital ground the otherday. Fine centuryby najaf Latif was the main feature of thematch.ScORES: apallo Sports (249/9) in 40Overs. afzal Shah 97, Raza Khan 45,Wajahat Hussain 16, Sami Ullah 31,Salman ali 18, abdul Waheed 3/44, M aliShah 2/50, ali Tipu Sultan 2/44, Qmberali Shah 1/22. Wahadat Eaglets ( 250/5)in 36 overs. najaf Latif 101, abdul Latif33, M ali Shah 23, Farman ali 20, RohailHussain Bhatti 47, Baber Safder 3/38,irfan 1/46.

WEMBLEYaGEnCiEs

Mathematics graduate nathan Cleverlyreckons a politics degree may have servedhim better as he struggles to negotiate hisway into high-profile unification fights.

The WBO light-heavyweight championhas been unable to build much momentumsince completing his studies over two yearsago and turning to boxing full-time. namessuch as Bernard Hopkins, Chad Dawson,Beibut Shumenov and Tavoris Cloud haveall been mentioned but so far, Cleverly hasbeen unable to lure them into the ring.

The Cefn Fforest man takes onmandatory challenger Robin Krasniqi atWembley arena on March 16 before anotherpossible defence against former championJuergen Braehmer. Once those scraps are outof the way, the 25-year-old is desperate tokick on and elevate himself to the biggerstage after a frustrating 2012 which saw him

make just two outings, against uninspiringchallengers Tommy Karpency and ShawnHawk. "it's been frustrating," Cleverly said."i could probably do with having a politicsdegree rather than mathematics. "it's notalways easy making these big fights because

there are a lot of politics involved, not onlygetting the financial side of things right butalso it comes down to whether these guysactually want to fight. "Perhaps they don'twant to get in the ring with a young, hungryfighter like myself. "So the negotiations are

a lot of work but i'm sure we'll get there. i justleave all the politics to my promoters to sortout and concentrate on training and turningup on fight night to win and do the business."

He added: "Last year was frustratingbecause it was quiet and i only had two fightsbut now we can rebound off that and make2013 a much better year. "i want to be moreactive, have more fights and bit-by-bit pushtowards those big unification fights. "at leastlast year i stayed undefeated, remained aworld champion and this is a fresh start."Serbian Krasniqi (39-2, 15KO wins) hasearned his shot by negotiating his way up theWBO rankings but has no notable wins onhis statistically creditable record. Cleverly(25-0, 12KOs) knows relatively little aboutthe germany-based challenger except for hisappetite for battle. "Krasniqi is a goodfighter," said the champion. "He's won hislast 38 fights but he hasn't fought anybodylike myself so this is going to be a bigchallenge for him. it's a real step up.

lack of big fights frustrates cleverly

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sporTs SThursday, 14 February, 2013

18

wAtCh It LIveESPNBANGLADESH LEAGUE:Barisal Burners v Rangpur Riders04:30PMBarisal Burners v Rangpur Riders02:30PMDhaka Gladiatorsv Chittagong Kings07:00PM

PTV SPORTS2nd test: Pakistanv South Africa01:30PM

I certainly will miss competing in the Accenture Match Play

Championship, and I really do appreciate what Accenture does to make

that one of the premier events on our schedule. – Brandt Snedeker

DOHAaLi aKbaR

There was a first round match at the QatarTotal Open Tuesday that can only bedescribed as unusual. italian FrancescaSchiavone has recently been the FrenchOpen Champion while Marion Bartoli ofFrance was a Wimbledon finalist a coupleof years ago. While Bartoli won theencounter using her double fisted groundstrokes from both wings to recover from a5-2 deficit in the first set and a straight setvictory. Bartoli was also the subject of anews item on the sidelines of the event,where it was reported that she had split fromher father who has coached her sincechildhood. a doctor by profession, Walterhas been known for his obsession about hisdaughter's game.

Certainly he is not the first one of abreed who live vicariously through theachievements of their offspring. The deanof tennis parents has been the the "Dad fromhell" Damir Dokic who once famouslythreatened to assail the australianambassador's car with a rocket propelledgrenade after the ambassador had criticized

him for physically abusing his daughter. Hewas kicked out of Wimbledon one year forassaulting a spectator. Mary Pierce, theFrench Open winner, also had a dad with aviolent streak, while andre agassi's father,a former iranian boxer, used to arm himselfwith a hammer and strike it on a metal fenceevery time andre missed a shot.

These parents are the extreme examplesof many others who might prowl the majortournaments as well as the junior events,

thinking that this obsession might in someway help their child. The result is invariablythe opposite.

Caroline Wozniacki, the former worldnumber one from Denmark, is also coachedby her father who although not nearly thestandard of the above group, looks to bepassionate about his daughter's tennis. in herfirst round match, after the first set, therewas papa Wozniacki, down on one knee,coaching his daughter in a state approaching

frenzy. Caro took the advice calmly as shewas winning comfortably. But this parentalinvolvement in a player's game cannot beparticularly salutary for the offspring. it hasbeen reported that the father has said thatwhen he is no longer needed, he would quitcoaching her. The question is, whose callwould that be? That Wozniacki has beenslipping in the rankings and has not donewell in the majors might be just such a cue.

The most successful parents have been

those who stay in the background and lettheir children win or lose without making ita personal issue. Richard Williams, father ofvenus and Serena, had no tennis experience,but has admitted fathering the two daughtersfor the express purpose of turning them intochampions. He had watched Martinanavratilova win a hundred thousand dollarsfor an hour's worth of tennis and felt that thiswas something he could do with his kids.growing up in a violent neighborhood ofLos angeles where they practiced on publiccourts amid gunfire, Williams then moved toFlorida where he convinced local teachingpros to coach his daughters. The rest ishistory. The most successful siblings in thehistory of any sport have taken the womentennis world by storm. Elder sister venushas been eclipsed by younger sister Serenawho can lay serious claim to being the bestplayer ever.

it is very difficult for a child to becomea tennis star without parental support. Butthe parents must know when to step back,that there is a line that they should not cross.if they do cross that line then they are liableto do more damage to a player than anybenefit that they might be imagining.

Qatar Total Open: Tennis ‘dads from hell’

STANDORDaGEnCiEs

MiCHELLE Wie is hopefulthat 2013 is the year shefulfills her potential aftercompleting a degree at

Stanford. Wie endured a tough 2012,recording just one top 10 finish on theLPga Tour and only 19 below-par roundsover the entire season. The year was not acomplete write off for the americanthough as she completed her degree atStanford with a Major inCommunications, leaving her to nowfocus on her career on the course.

"all that i can really remember is justwanting to go to Stanford and just kind ofachieving that goal of mine was almost asimportant as playing golf. "So just being

able to do that was awesome," Wie said ata press conference in the build up to thisweek's australian Women's Open.

The 23-year-old is the first to admitthat 2012 was a year to forgot for her."2012 was probably the worst year i'veever had in my entire career," sheexplained. "it was rough. Kind of one thingled to another and it kind of snowballed."The next thing i knew i was kind ofstruggling to keep my head above water.But i think i learned a lot from last year.

"i think that struggling makes youreally realise what you have to work on inthe game, what is really lacking and itmakes you really realise that you have towork harder, you have to become a betterplayer. i just really started from scratch.

"i got pretty low a couple of times buti just won't let myself get to that point. it's

still something that i really love to do. "attimes it was a struggle, not enjoying it, buti was kind of just going out there and justreally giving it my all. i had a lot of helpfrom a lot of people." Having worked hardin the off-season to iron out any faults inher game, Wie is hopeful that she can pushon and achieve consistent success.

"Sometimes you've got to really lookat yourself. i really needed this off seasoni think to just kind of take some time andnot try to fix everything in one week theweek before a tournament or whatever,but just take a good month, two months toreally let it slowly get back on track,instead of just trying to change it all in oneweek. "i think that's what i did this offseason. Some reporter asked me earlier onwhat i worked on in the off season and ireplied everything.

wiE READY topuSH on in 2013

SAO PAULOaGEnCiEs

Former world number one Rafa nadal hasrenewed his attack on hard courts as heprepares for the second tournament on hiscomeback trail at the Brazil Open. The 26-year-old Spaniard, who returned tocompetitive action at the Chile Open lastweek after a left knee condition sidelinedhim for seven months, said the number of

tournaments played on hard surfaceswould limit players' careers.

He also criticised a move to speed upmatches by strictly enforcing the 20-secondrule between points at grand slams. "Hardcourts are aggressive on the knees, back andankles," the 11-times grand slam champion,told reporters in Sao Paulo. "That is a themeamong the players and doctors. To make achange like that (reduce the amount of hardcourt events) it won't be possible in this

generation but i think that the aTP has towork to think of how to lengthen tennisplayers' careers. "Can you imagine footballplayers playing on cement?" nadal hasoften been criticised for the length of timehe takes between points but warnings forslow play have been few and far between.aTP chiefs recently agreed that umpireswould be expected to enforce the 20-seconds between points rule at grand slams,prompting criticism from leading players.

wrestlingstunned by 2020games exclusion

LAUSANNEaGEnCiEs

Wrestling's world governing body FiLais "greatly astonished" by theinternational Olympic Committee'sdecision to remove it from the 2020games. in a statement, the governingbody vowed to fight what it called the"aberration" of the announcement, whichcame following a meeting of the iOC's15-strong executive board in Lausanne.Wrestling will now become one of eightsports - along with the likes of squash,karate and baseball/softball - bidding forinclusion in the 2020 games, with adecision due at the iOC Congress inSeptember. iOC communications directorMark adams said: "This is not what'swrong with wrestling, it's what's rightabout the other 25 core sports.

Nadal renews attack on hard courts

woods, Mcilroyface off in threetournaments

MIAMIaGEnCiEs

Rory Mcilroy and Tiger Woods will playthe same tournaments three weeks in arow starting with next week's accentureMatch Play Championship in Tucson.Woods on Tuesday confirmed he willalso be entering the Honda Classic inFlorida - he was second to Mcilroy lastyear - and then the CadillacChampionship in Miami. That is thesecond of this season's worldchampionships and the event hewithdrew from on the final day last yearbecause of an achilles injury. "i'mexcited to be playing in the HondaClassic again," Woods said on hiswebsite. "i like the golf course and icame pretty close last year." He shot aclosing 62, but Mcilroy held him off. "it'spart of a busy stretch for me, and i wantto continue playing well." He won theFarmers insurance Open in San Diego afortnight ago, whereas Mcilroy has notplayed since missing the cut - as didWoods - in abu Dhabi four weeks ago.

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Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Editor: Arif Nizami

Thursday, 14 February, 2013

LONDONnni

pRiME Minister RajaPervez ashraf said onWednesday that hewould soon be writing

a letter to the leader of oppo-sition to formally broach thesubject of forming a caretakergovernment.

ashraf reportedly saidthis in a telephonic conversa-tion he held with MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)chief altaf Hussain onWednesday, a statement re-leased by the party said.

The two discussed the po-litical situation in the countryincluding the caretaker gov-ernment that will take overafter the term of the incum-bent government is due to endon March. ashraf told altafall allies will be consulted forfinalising the name of a care-taker prime minister and thatthe matter will be resolvedthrough consensus.

The prime minister saideveryone wants for electionsto be free, fair and transparentand for the election commis-sion to be independent.

altaf Hussain in his talkwith the prime minister high-lighted that the deputed policeforce was grossly insufficientand disproportionate to the rap-idly increasing population inthe country. in order to clampdown on terrorism and to im-prove law and order situationin the country, he suggestedthat police officers should berecruited on an emergency

basis and better equip them todeal with the challenges.

Earlier talking to a privateTv channel, Prime Ministerashraf said the governmentwould ensure an interim setupwhich is acceptable to all.

Calling the MQM thegovernment’s best ally, ashrafsaid he had sent a goodwillmessage to altaf soon afterlanding in London.

The prime minister saidfor the first time in the coun-try’s history, a governmentwas nearing completion of itsfive-year tenure. He said the

continuation of democracycould be ensured only throughfree and fair elections.

ashraf dismissed a newsreport published in a sectionof the press that a very ex-pensive suit gad been boughtfor him from Harrods for hismeeting with the Britishprime minister. “For themeeting [with the Britishprime minister], i wore mytwo-year old suit and myfour-year-old pair of shoes,the same which i am wear-ing right now,” he said,pointing to his attire.

ISLAMABADsHaiq Hussain

The proposed Strategic Partnershipagreement (SPa) between Pakistan andafghanistan is likely to hit the snags owingto the lack of interest by Kabul for an earlyconclusion of the vital pact. The pact is intended to strengthen defenceand strategic relations between islamabadand Kabul and institutionalise the wholepeace process. although the afghangovernment has verballyannounced time and againits willingness toconclude the pact withPakistan, diplomaticsources say thatafghanistan persistswith its reluctancewhen it comes totaking practical stepson signing theagreement with Pakistan. “This lack of interest onpart of the afghangovernment was evident duringthe recent trilateral summit in Londonbetween Pakistan, afghanistan and UK inwhich President asif ali Zardari, PresidentHamid Karzai and Prime Minister DavidCameron represented their respectivecountries,” said a Pakistani diplomat seekinganonymity. He said that Kabul was showinglack of interest in the significant pact despitethe fact that the agreement was of greatadvantage to both the countries and especiallyafghanistan, which was rebuilding itsdefence capabilities after the decades’ longwar. He did not comment on the reasonbehind Kabul’s reluctance to conclude thestrategic pact with islamabad. However, another diplomatic source said the

afghan president and his government wantedprogress and movement forward on peace andreconciliation process in afghanistan, andparticularly a vibrant role by islamabad for itssuccess. The strategic partnership pact wasproposed by no one else but the afghanpresident in September 2012 during a trilateralsummit in new York on the sidelines of Ungeneral assembly’s session. Before that, inOctober 2011, afghanistan had signed thesame agreement of strategic partnership with

india. in October last year, the afghanpresident said Pakistan should

stop its alleged backing toterrorists while dubbing it

as a precondition toconclude the SPa withislamabad. it was innovember last yearthat Pakistan andafghanistan beganformal negotiations onthe pact. Foreign

Minister Hina RabbaniKhar presented a draft of

the SPa to her afghancounterpart Zalmai Rassoul

during his visit to islamabad.Both the foreign ministers told a joint

news conference that they would like thepact to be signed as soon as possible.another Pakistani diplomat said that underthe proposed agreement, Pakistan woulddeepen its strategic relations withafghanistan. He said that islamabad wouldlike to impart military training to the afghannational army (ana). “Pakistan hasalways been for the strengthening ofbilateral ties with its western neighbour andefforts for the conclusion of SPa are beingmade in this regard,” he said. He hoped thatthe two countries would soon reach thisimportant accord that would bring themfurther close to each other.

ISLAMABADnni

The federal government on Wednesday decidedto continue the ban on the video sharing websiteYouTube as its administration declined to re-move blasphemous material. in a meeting of thenational assembly Standing Committee on in-formation Technology, Pakistan Telecommuni-cation authority (PTa) presented a report of theinter-ministerial committee regarding the issue.

The committee was informed that the YouTubeadministration was not cooperating to resolve thematter. However, the meeting was informed thatYoutube’s administration had promised to visitPakistan at the end of the month to resolve theissue. Furthermore, PTa said that it had closed80,000 websites promoting material against gov-ernment while 500 other sites were closed asthey were promoting blasphemous material.However‚ the meeting was told that complete re-moval of such content was not possible.

uS-taliban

talks fail to

make headway

in Qatar

DOHA/ISLAMABADinP

Talks between afghanTaliban and the UnitedStates failed to make anyheadway despite the factthat the JUi-F chief MaulanaFazlur Rehman was in Dohato help the process succeed.The talks between Talibanand the US continued forfive days in Doha butconcluded without anyresult. Though, according tosources, the US negotiatorsassured to meet most oftheir demands, the Talibanrepresentatives did not showany inclination that they hadconfidence in theassurances. Taliban insistedon the release of all theirprisoners first and refused toaccept the government ofPresident Hamid Karzai.They said Maulana FazlurRehman was speciallyinvited to Qatar to act as aguarantor but Talibanrefused to accept him in thatrole.according to inside sources,Taliban representatives didnot give due courtesy toMaulana Fazlur Rehman andrefused to meet him, anindication that they have noconfidence in him.The US-afghan Talibantalks were the result ofefforts of Qatar, Saudiarabia and the UnitedKingdom.a spokesman for the JUi-F,commenting on the reports,said Maulana FazlurRehman had gone to Qataron a private visit and nevertried to meet Talibanrepresentatives.However, sources insistedthat Maulana had gone toQatar on the request of theUnited States and stayed at acostly hotel “Ritz-Carlton”where a room costs $4,000per day.

Ashraf ‘to soon write to oppleader over interim setup’

no end in sight for ban on youtube

kabul’s indifferencedelaying key strategicpact with islamabad

the strategic partnership pact was proposed by no oneelse but the afghan presidentin september 2012 during a

trilateral summit in new yorkon the sidelines of Un

general assembly’s session

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