Pakistan Today

pakistantoday.com.pkRs15.00 Vol II No 132 32 Pages Lahore Edition Saturday, 5 November, 2011 Zul-Haj 8, 1432

PAGE 20

US killed over 1,500 Afghancivilians in 10 months

Pakistan among most poor countriesper UNDP human development report

Jailed Aamer‘shattered’

PAGE 15PAGE 10

US reins in drones overdiplomatic concernsWASHINGTON: The Central IntelligenceAgency (CIA) has quietly tightened its ruleson drone strikes in Pakistan over concernsabout their impact on tense relations withIslamabad, the Wall street Journal reportedon Thursday. The disputes over dronesbecame so protracted that the White Houselaunched a review over the summer, inwhich Obama intervened, the Journalreported. The review ultimately affirmedsupport for the underlying CIA programme.But a senior official said, “The bar has beenraised. Inside CIA, there is a recognition youneed to be damn sure it’s worth it.” Thechanges reportedly include granting thestate Department greater sway in strikedecisions, giving Pakistani leaders advancewarning of more operations and suspendingoperations when Pakistani officials visit theUnited states.“It’s not like they took the carkeys away from the CIA,” the Journalquoted a senior official as saying. “There arejust more people in the car.” The Journalsaid the debate was sparked by aparticularly deadly drone strike on March 17that took place just one day after Pakistanagreed to release CIA contractor RaymondDavis. At issue in the debate over droneswere so-called “signature strikes”, in whichunmanned drones fire on groups ofsuspected militants without necessarilyknowing all their identities, and which makeup the bulk of operations. such strikes areseen as more controversial than“personality” strikes, which target allegedtop militants, the Journal said. According tothe Journal, many officials at the Pentagonand state Department privately argued theCIA pays too little attention to thediplomatic costs of airstrikes that kill largegroups of low-level fighters. “such strikesinflame Pakistani public opinion. Observerspoint to the rising power in Pakistan ofpolitical figures like Imran Khan, who heldlarge rallies to protest the drones and couldchallenge the current government.”However, changing the handling of thedrone programme does not mean the CIA ispulling back. The agency in recent weekshas intensified strikes in Pakistan focusingon the Haqqani network, a group believedto be behind a series of attacks inAfghanistan. The Pentagon and stateDepartment have backed those strikes asserving Us interests. AgeNcIes

Govt plans to shock

people with 14%

power tariff surgeISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

The government is planning to increase thepower tariff by a massive 14 percent duringthe current fiscal year to avoid accumulationof another debt of Rs 67 billion under thetariff differential subsidy. An official said thegovernment was reluctant to pass on thefinancial burden to a people crushed by highinflation. “However, the threat of anotherdebt will force the government to make thehard decision. For the current fiscal year thegovernment has a budget of Rs 50 billion forpower subsidies,” the official said. Financesecretary Waqar Masud Khan told reporterson Friday that power sector reforms would bepursued even out of the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF) conditions. He saidnew management would be inducted in thedistribution companies (DIsCOs) in theongoing month to improve theirperformance. On a question regardingreported misappropriations in the electricitydues of government departments, the financesecretary said it was not possible becauseDIsCOs were empowered to disconnectpower supply to defaulters.

Congress slips on

promised civilian

aid to Pakistan WASHINGTON: support on Capitol Hillfor aid to Pakistan has plummeted amidaccusations that some in the Pakistani gov-ernment have aided anti-Us militants, thestate Department said in a new report onFriday, but Us secretary of state HillaryClinton advocated a strong linkage betweenlasting security and economic opportunityand urged Congressional support for con-tinued economic assistance for both Pak-istan and Afghanistan. she noted thatreconciliation in Afghanistan offered thebest hope for stability in the region. In astatus report on Afghanistan and PakistanCivilian Engagement, submitted to Con-gress, the chief American diplomat said as-sisting the two allied countries wouldsecure American interests in the region.Earlier, the state Department report saidCongress had slipped on its 2009 promiseto triple non-military aid to Pakistan overfive years. The appropriations reached thepromised level of $1.5 billion in 2010, butlast year amounted to only $1 billion, thedocument said. It said, however, that theObama administration intended for assis-tance to Islamabad to continue and wantsto focus on “signature” projects in Pak-istan. Us officials are currently looking toselect a major new infrastructure project“that would both contribute to power gen-eration and water management” in Pak-istan, it said. The report said that Uscivilian aid to Afghanistan peaked, declar-ing the Us would spend less on develop-ment assistance there as it withdrawstroops from the country. ReUteRs

Pakistan to have a larger negativelist if NTBs not removed by India

ISLAMABADJaLaLUDDIN RUMI

EvEN though Pakistan hasshown commitment to grantthe Most Favoured Nation(MFN) status to India, thetrade between the two

neighbouring countries is still likely to beregulated through a larger negative listuntil the non-tariff barriers (NTB) are re-moved by New Delhi to allow unhinderedaccess to Pakistani products.

Commerce secretary Zafar Mehmoodwill be visiting India on a two-day visit onNovember 14-15 to hold parleys on the bi-lateral trade issues with his Indian coun-terpart, to work out modalities androadmap for trade liberalisation and re-

moving non-tariff barriers. Talking toPakistan Today, Zafar Mehmood saidIndia would have to dismantle all NTBsto Pakistan’s satisfaction to get the MFNstatus. He said MFN did not mean anysort of preferential arrangement, rather itcreated a conducive environment fortrading partners so that they could beable to do business. On the negative list,he said the government was ready to putmore items on the list, provided the rele-vant manufacturers gave proper reason-ing for putting it in the negative list. Hesaid Indian goods would not be allowedto reach Afghanistan even after the grantof MFN status to New Delhi. The statusof sensitive list under south Asian FreeTrade Agreement (sAFTA) would remainthe same, as import of 233 items would

not be allowed from India. An officialsource said Pakistan would be maintain-ing a larger negative list for trade withIndia until the NTBs were not removed.Most of the products to be safeguardedwould be from the steel, automobile andpharmaceutical sectors, which are lesscompetitive than Indian products. Pak-istani textiles products could create aniche in India provided NTBs were re-moved. India had granted MFN status toPakistan in 1996, but due to NTBs, Pak-istani goods could not make inroads intoIndian markets.

Pakistan trades with India underpositive list which includes 1,946 items,while India disallows export of 850items to Pakistan. The bilateral tradebetween both countries is $2.6 billion,

which is planned to be enhanced to over$6 billion in next three years. The tradenegotiations between the two countrieswere revived in April this year after agap of four years with the commercesecretary-level talks, in which bothcountries softened down their tradi-tional stance. Commerce MinisterMakhdoom Amin Fahim and ForeignMinister Hina Rabbani Khar had saidduring their visit to India that Pakistanhas no objection to granting MFN statusto India. A positive gesture was shownby New Delhi during the visit of the Pak-istani commerce minister in september,when it assured support to Pakistan forgetting approval from the World TradeOrganisation for getting concessionalaccess to European markets.

g Indo-Pak secretaries talks on Nov 14-15 g Secretaries to chalk out roadmap for trade liberalisationg Trade volume likely to increase to $6 billion from existing $2 billion

LaHoRe: Crowds hit the railway station as millions return to their hometowns to celebrate eidul adha. INP

LAHORE/ISLAMABADStaff RepoRt

As Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilanion Friday said Pakistan had not yetgranted India the Most Favoured Na-tion (MFN) status, the Foreign Officein Islamabad said Pakistan had notbacktracked from its decision “as thecabinet has endorsed the decision togrant MFN status to India in principle”.

The FO statement came in reactionto a Reuters report which quoted un-named Indian officials as saying thatPakistan was bowing to domestic busi-ness interests opposed to finalizingMFN status for India. Quoting an In-dian official, who requested not to benamed, the Reuters report said thatbusiness and political lobbies in Pak-istan appeared to have forced the moveto be put on hold, leaving India to “waitand watch” as to when the process

would resume. A media report fromNew Delhi quoted Pakistani High Com-missioner in India shahid Malik as say-ing, “The process of normalisation isalready underway and the grant of MFNstatus is part of that normalisationprocess. There is no question of U-turnabout it.” Meanwhile, talking to re-porters in Lahore, Gilani said it tooktime to reach such a historical decisionand “we will give it the green signal aftermaking careful calculations and observ-ing the emerging situation without com-promising on national interests.”

He rejected the impression that thegovernment had sought the military’s ap-proval on the issue, saying the PPP-ledcoalition government was a democraticgovernment which decided issues on itsown after taking into confidence allstakeholders “and in this case, the stake-holders are the chambers of commerce”.Elaborating on the issue, the prime min-

ister said the cabinet had authorised theMinistry of Commerce to deepen tradeties with India and negotiations were un-derway in this regard. To a query, he saidthere could be no forward movementwithout taking stock of legal and proce-dural requirement in the cabinet.

Gilani said if China, which had bor-der conflicts with India, could have eco-nomic ties and direct trade links withNew Delhi, so could Pakistan. He was ofthe view that the government would takethe matter before parliament on receivinga go-ahead from the Ministry of Com-merce.Revealing more details, he said thegovernment allies did not have any objec-tions over bridging trade ties with India.“We have just empowered the Ministry ofCommerce to negotiate trade issues withIndia and of now there is nothing beyondit that,” he added. However, he evadeddiscussing basic dynamics of developingtrade relationship with India.

While PM says no MFN toIndia yet, FO says no U-turn

Pages For e-paper_Layout 1 11/5/2011 4:13 AM

g CJP observes water and Power Ministry getting less than 100Mw of

electricity after paying rs 20 billion

02Saturday, 5 November, 2011

News

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world vIewDo assassinations work?

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outsiders head for home to celebrate eid Bin Laden was ‘dead in 90 seconds’

DO NOT PRIVATISE THE STEEL MILLS! Pakistan Steel Mills employees

hold lighted earthen-oil-lamps as they chant slogans against

privatization during a protest outside Karachi Press Club. ONLINe

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan on Friday resolved to continue withits efforts aimed at improving relations withIndia but said that there would be no change inits principled stance on the core issue of Kash-mir. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar heldimportant consultations at the Foreign Officewith senior military and civilian officials fromrelevant official quarters on various foreignpolicy matters including ties with India andPakistan-United states relations. With only afew days to go before the next sAARC summitscheduled to be held in Maldives on November10-11 and where Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani will also meet Indian Prime MinisterManmohan singh at the sidelines, the consul-tations at the Foreign Office were however, fo-cused on Indo-Pak peace process.

“As part of regular consultations, For-eign Minister Khar consulted all stakehold-ers on foreign policy issues including theresumed dialogue process with India, at theForeign Ministry,” a Foreign Office state-ment said. “Foreign Minister Khar since tak-ing charge of the Foreign Ministry has beenregularly interacting with all stakeholders onimportant foreign policy issues,” it said with-

out mentioning the specific subjects thatwere deliberated upon.

An official requesting anonymity said theforeign minister discussed Pakistan’s agendafor the upcoming Indo-Pak prime ministers’meeting. He quoted Khar as saying Pakistanwould continue with its efforts for result-ori-ented talks with India but it expected the sameresponse from the Indian side. The participantsof meeting also discussed Pakistan’s decisionto grant the status of the Most Favoured Nation(MFN) to India and they were of the view thatthe country’s interests must be safeguardedwhile giving the concession to India, said theofficial. “The foreign minister assured themeeting that the current government wouldnot compromise on national interests as it at-tempts to expand trade ties with India. shemade it clear Pakistan would not deviate fromits stance on Kashmir,” the official said.

Another official, who also soughtanonymity, said the ongoing efforts to repairthe damaged Pakistan-Us relations were dis-cussed. He said senior officials from differentministries and military authorities were of theview that Pakistan was willing to play a role inthe ongoing reconciliation process betweenKabul and the Taliban but it would not opt formore military operations in the tribal areas.”

ISLAMABADMaSooD ReHMaN

QUEsTIONING theaward of the contractsfor rental power proj-ects (RPPs) in absenceof a concrete policy, the

supreme Court on Friday regrettedthat the Water and Power Ministrywas getting less than 100 megawattsof electricity after paying Rs 20 bil-lion to rental power companies.

A two-member supreme Courtbench of Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry and JusticeKhilji Arif Hussain was hearing a suomotu case coupled with two identicalpetitions filed by Minister for Hous-ing and Works Faisal saleh Hayatand PML-N MNA Khawaja Asif alleg-ing corruption of billion of rupees inRPP contracts.

During the hearing, the chief jus-tice observed that the court was sur-prised how the Water and PowerMinistry awarded the contracts torental power companies without hav-ing any concrete policy.

In his arguments, Khawaja Tariq

Rahim, counsel for Water and PowerMinistry and Pakistan ElectricPower Company (PEPCO), submit-ted that a summary on RPPs wassent to the federal cabinet, which be-came a policy after being approvedby the cabinet.

The chief justice asked if the min-istry had given 14 percent instead ofseven percent as mobilisation ad-vance to rental power companies. Hesaid the ministry calculated the rentof rental power plants for the nextfive years and did not realise whatwould happen if they could not pro-duce electricity or not fulfil the re-quirements mentioned in thecontract. “It seems whether they giveproduction or not, they will get therent for their equipment,” the chiefjustice noted.

Rahim said the case was not likethat, adding that if these RPPs didnot fulfil the requirement, theywould have to pay 1.5 times inpenalty to the ministry. The chief jus-tice then observed that neither thepetitioners nor the ministry wereable to show the court the policyunder which the RPP contracts were

awarded.He said Reshma Rental Power

plant was producing nothing butwas getting enough money. Thelawyer submitted that Reshmapower plant would return Rs 3 bil-lion to the ministry.

PML-N MNA Khawaja Asif sub-mitted that according to present fig-ures, Karkay Rental Power plant wasproducing 71MW of promised231MW, Gulf was producing 68MW,while Naudero was producing noth-ing as its machinery was dysfunc-tional.

The chief justice observed that itmeant they were getting less than100MW in total.

Rahim submitted that RPPs weregiving services and if they did notprovide the same, they would have topay penalty.

Justice Khilji Arif Hussain saidhow could the government ask forpenalty if it could not provide thecompanies gas or oil.

Before adjournment, the courtasked NEPRA how could it determinereference price without seeing themachinery and equipment.

Award of RPP contracts doesnot reflect govt policy: SC

Pakistan won’t changestance on Kashmir: FO


g Sardar Abbasi criticises rs 34 billion tax for ‘impossible’ pipeline


NewsCoMMeNTDouble engine failure:

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Of the PIA and PR

american aid:We need to temper our indignation.

arif Nizami says:Imran Khan: Game-changer?: The pros and cons of the Khan.

White Lies:We hear that former President Musharraf has been preoccupied lately withthe possibility of returning to Pakistan and throwing in his bit into the politicalcauldron. Since his arrest warrants issued back home are a major obstacle inhis plans, he has been looking at various options.

ForeIGN NewS

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ArTS & eNTerTAINMeNTWhy ‘puss in boots’ is one cool cat…

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SPorTSCalls for overhaul of pakistani cricket intensify

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Italy government hangs by thread as coalition crumbles

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

THE senate on Fridayadopted recommenda-tions of the standingCommittee on FinanceRevenue and Eco-

nomic Affairs on the PetroleumProducts (Petroleum Levy)(Amendment) Bill, 2011 and GasInfrastructure Development CessBill, 2011 amid senator safdar Ab-basi’s strong criticism of levyingtaxes of Rs 34 billion taxes on theconsumers as a result of these bills.

“We are told that this amountis needed for the pipeline. No onecan construct a pipeline in the pres-ent situation of Balochistan andAfghanistan. This all is a subterfugeto rob people of Rs 34 billion. Wehave been hearing of the TAPIpipeline for 17 years. I will not sup-port the bill”, Abbasi said. Abbasisaid the bills were introduced in the

senate without approval of the cab-inet as envisaged under rule 27(5)of Rules of Business 1973. Mean-while, senator Muhammad IshaqDar, who presented the recom-mendations in the Upper House,said the senate’s committee con-cerned approved it with changesafter the government’s assured thecommittee’s proposal will be madepart of the law. “We knew that boththe bills are not money bills andcabinet’s approval was essential forthe bills but cabinet was by-passedby declaring them money bills. Weare conscious that the governmentneeds revenue to construct thepipeline and we agreed to supportthe bills with restrictions on gov-ernment’s arbitrary powers to en-hance levy”, Dar said.SeNATe PASSeS crIMINALLAW BILL TO STOP OIL ANDGAS THeFT: The senate on Fri-day passed The Criminal Law(amendment) Bill, 2011 whereby a

person found guilty of oil and gastheft could be handed down an im-prisonment of 14 years.

According to the bill, if anyoneany person willfully tampers apipeline or attempts to tamper orabets in tampering with a facility,installation or main pipeline fortransmission or transportation, asthe case may be, of petroleum, issaid to commit tampering with pe-troleum pipelines or tampers orabets in tampering with petroleumpipelines for the purpose of theft ofpetroleum or disrupting supply ofpetroleum and he would be pun-ished with rigorous imprisonment,which may extend to 14 years, butwould not be less than seven yearsand with fine, which may extend toRs 10 million. Minister for Petro-leum and Natural Resources DrAsim Hussain presented the bill inthe Upper House for passage. TheHouse passed the bill unanimouslywith minor amendments.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

In various incidents of crime in the provin-cial capital on Friday seven people werekilled and two were injured. FeMALe PAF OFFIcer: A femalesquadron leader of the Pakistan Air Force(PAF) crashed her car into a family, killinga 3-year-old girl and her 10-year-oldbrother and injuring their mother nearRahat Bakery in the Lahore Cantonment.The dead siblings, Minahil and AbdulRehman, and their mother Nasira Bibi,were trying to cross the road whensquadron Leader Mumtaz Begum drivingher suzuki Mehran knocked them down,police said. Nasira Bibi was working at thehouse of a retired brigadier at the Generals

Housing scheme, located near Rahat Bak-ery. Cantonment police rushed the unfortu-nate family to the CMH, where the siblingspassed away. Police have registered a caseagainst the squadron leader. euNucH kILLeD: A 45-year-old eu-nuch was killed by unknown people insidehis house in the Bhaati Gate Policeprecincts. Police said a local visitor calledthe police when the deceased Muneer didnot open the door despite repeated knocks.Police said it did not find any marks on thebody but an autopsy report would providefurther details. MAO cOLLeGe SHOOTING: A disputebetween two students of rival groups of theMuslim students Federation (MsF) at theMAO College, Lahore, claimed the life of an80-year-old man, shahbuddin, who was a

resident of Islampura. Police said BabarQureshi, a member of MsF faction loyal tothe Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), clashed with Hafiz Umer, who belongedto the MsF group of PML-Quaid. Policesaid Babar shot at Umer, who got injured,but the passer by was hit and died. Policesaid both students used to extort moneyfrom locals. Babar has been arrested.rOBBerS kILL:In Kahna Policeprecincts, robbers strangulated a 22-years-old boy to death after snatching two buffa-los from him. The deceased was resident ofLudhay Kay village and had left his home tograze his buffalos in the nearby fields.When he did not return home until lateevening, his family and local residentsstarted searching for him and found hisbody in the fields. Police registered a case

against unknown men and handed over thedeceased boy’s body to his family after anautopsy. cOuSINS SHOOT: Two cousins shotdead their common relative while play-ing cards in the Harbanspura Policearea. The deceased sajawal was 20-year-old and a resident of the KotliGhaat area. The two cousins, Ishtiaqand Ashfaq, escaped after killing sa-jawal. Police sent the body for autopsyand registered a case. WATcHMAN SuIcIDeS:

An 18-year-old watchmen commit-ted suicide after hanging himself with aceiling fan in the Model Town Policeprecincts. Rameez Hmad, a resident ofMuzaffarabad, had been working as awatchman in the house of a Model Town

resident for two months. Police said rea-sons behind the suicide were not knownyet, and that it was waiting for the au-topsy report to know further details. cIA POLIce ArreSTS: The CrimeInvestigation Agency (CIA) Police ar-rested the incharge and two constablesof a police kiosk at Lahore Airport forpatronising a gang of robbers whichlooted valuables from airport passen-gers. The CIA police said it had ar-rested a robber who confessed hiscrimes and gave details of his accom-plices. The police later arrested ChowkiIncharge sub Inspector Muhammadsarwar, and Constables Azmat Ali andKhalid. senior police officials sus-pended the arrested cops and orderedan inquiry against them.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Pakistan Railway (PR) has de-cided to hand over three pas-senger trains to private sectorto continue its mail train op-erations.

According to the PR author-ities, it has received a satisfac-tory response from privatesector to get Allama Iqbal Ex-press, Millat Express and FaridExpress on contract, adding thatPR would earn Rs 2000,000 perday from Allama Iqbal Express,Rs 700,000 per day from FaridExpress and Rs 500,000 per dayfrom Millat Express.

sources said Allama Iqbal,

Farid and Millat Express will behanded over to private compa-nies after Eidul Adha. They saidthat a briefing was given toPrime Miniter Yousuf Raza Gi-lani in this regard on Thursdayby the PR authorities, seeking aformal permission.

The Allama Iqbal Expressruns from sialkot to Karachi viaLahore, Fraid Express runsfrom Lahore to Karachi viaPakpatan, while Millat expressruns from sargodha to Karachivia Faisalabad.

The PR will provide engines,track and bogies, while the restof the arrangements will be theresponsibility of the privatestakeholders.

Meanwhile, Business Trainhas been handed over to the pri-vate sector, which will becomeoperational in December. PRGeneral Manager (GM) saeedAkhtar told reporters that theprivate sector will be responsi-ble for commercial manage-ment, while the responsibilityof operations of trains wouldrest with the PR.

He said that the BusinessTrain would be air conditioned,non-stop passenger train fromLahore to Karachi. sources saidthat an agreement has alreadybeen finalized with an entrepre-neurs’ group named Friends forrunning Business Train and itsrevamping was underway.

Recommendations on fuellevy adopted by Senate

Jam Yousuf’s arrestwarrant issued inAkbar Bugti case

QUETTAINp

A court on Fridayissued an arrestwarrant againstformerBalochistan chiefminister JamMohammadYousuf in theAkbar Bugtimurder case.JudicialMagistrate FaisalHameed issued

the warrant. sources said a specialcrime branch team investigating thecase had received the warrant.Yousuf was co-accused in the case,including former president PervezMusharraf, former prime ministershaukat Aziz and former Balochistangovernor Owais Ahmed Ghani.

7 killed, two injured in crime across Lahore

PR handing over 3 trains

to private sector after eidBalochistan being pushedtowards rebellion: Asma

ISLAMABAD: Former presidentof the supreme Court BarAssociation Asma Jehangir haswarned that Balochistan wasbeing pushed towards rebellion,which was dangerous for theintegrity of the country. Talking to reporters at thesupreme Court on Friday, Asmaheld former president PervezMusharraf responsible for themurder of Nawab Akbar Bugti and

said he must be tried by a court of law. she said there wasno insurgency in Balochistan or ethnic and sectarian warwhen Musharraf pushed Balochistan towards rebellion. shesaid it was wrong on part of former prime minister shaukatAziz to dissociate himself from Bugti’s murder. INp

Pakistan, IMF toreview economyon 9th

KARACHIReUteRS

Pakistan, which opted out of anextension of a three-year IMF $11billion emergency loan programme thatended in september, will meetInternational Monetary Fund officialsfrom November 9-16 to review theeconomy, a Finance Ministry sourcesaid on Friday. “We will meet with IMF in Dubai forarticle Iv consultations,” the officialsaid, referring to annual talks the fundholds with each member government toassess the health of the economy. Pakistan opted out of both the extensionof the $11 billion loan programme and anew loan programme, saying it had nobalance of payments crisis. Analysts say the government is takingthe risky move of choosing short-term political gain over long-termeconomic stability. Pakistan’s current account deficit inthe first three months of the 2011/12fiscal year widened to $1.209 billionfrom $597 million in the sameperiod last year.


04 Saturday, 5 November, 2011

News

LAHOREYaSIR HaBIB

IN a significant develop-ment to cope with newchallenges following thePakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-

N) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) showdown tocapture Punjab and probably tostir up the seraiki movement,the PPP central leadership hasdivided the PPP Punjab intotwo parts – PPP Central Punjaband PPP south Punjab.

PPP Co-chairman Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari appointedMinister for TextilesMakhdoom shahbuddin hasbeen appointed the presidentof the PPP south Punjab. Im-tiaz safdar Warraich, who wasearlier the president of PPP

Punjab, has automaticallytaken charge of PPP centralPunjab presidency.

Other appointments forvarious offices in PPP southPunjab would be made in cou-ple of days. PPP Central Pun-jab organisation would remainintact. Analysts portend themove as an unprecedentedstep, likely to be followed byother political parties, totighten the full grip on Punjabahead of the coming election.The decision was taken duringa meeting chaired by PresidentAsif Ali Zardari the presidentcamp office in Bilawal House,Karachi on Friday.

The meeting was attendedby Punjab Governor sardarLatif Khosa, Jahangir Badr,Qamar Zaman Kaira, BabarAwan and other leaders of PPP

Punjab chapter. sources saidthe PPP Punjab leaders ap-prised the president of politicalsituation following two mas-sive rallies organised by thePML-N and the PTI.

They also asked the presi-dent to form a counter-strategyagainst the activities of thePML-N and other forces in theprovince, sources said.

With the new division,the PPP south Punjab wouldconstitute DG Khan, Multanand Bahawalpur. The re-maining province will fallunder the PPP central Pun-jab. President’s Coordinatorin Punjab Naveed Chaudhrytold Pakistan Today that thedivision was part of a long-awaited plan and was doneon administrative ground,dispelling an impression that

it was in connection withseraiki movement.

He said Punjab was a big-ger province and the divisionwould help the PPP to serve thepeople better. The twist in po-litical chessboard is also seen asPPP’s roadmap to break Pun-jab into smaller provinces inorder to improve administra-tion and governance. Accord-ing to reports surfacing acouple of weeks ago, FederalMinister for Kashmir Affairsand Gilgit-Baltistan ManzoorAhmad Wattoo proposed thedivision of Punjab into threeprovinces. “Lahore, Gujran-wala and Rawalpindi shouldcomprise one province, Faisal-abad, sahiwal and sargodhaanother and Bhawalpur, Mul-tan and Dera Ghazi Khan as thethird one,” Wattoo had said.

Zardari halves PPP Punjab

LaHoRe: prime Minister Yousaf Raza gilani talks to reporters on friday.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Former Pakistan presidentand All Pakistan MuslimLeague (APML) chief PervezMusharraf said on Fridaythat the ruling governmenthad sent the masses intodisappointment, and theworst thing happening wasthat people were loosingfaith in Pakistan.

Addressing the inaugu-ral of the APML Lawyers’Forum, Musharraf said thatevery person in the countrywas perplexed, as the dys-functional government hadfailed to control mountinginflation, corruption, unem-ployment and the deterio-rating law and ordersituation in the country.

The former presidenturged the masses to uniteand release the country fromthe grips of turncoat politi-cians. He vowed that hewould return to Pakistan onMarch 23 next year, addingthe possibility of his earlyreturn. He said his partywould get a new motivation

with his return to Pakistan.He said the restructuring ofthe APML had almost beencompleted in 80 districts ofthe country.

Commenting on hiscoup on October 12, 1999,the general-turned politi-cian said the foremost re-sponsibility of everyPakistani was to ensure the

security of the country,and that he too took thestep in the longer interestof the country. About theissue of removing the chiefjustice of Pakistan, he said,“I was bound to pursue theadvice of the prime minis-ter and whatever I did wasin accordance with theconstitution.”

LAHORE YaSIR HaBIB

Realising the power of so-cial media network (sMN)in attracting the youngusers of Facebook and Twit-ter to politics, PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) former presidentand Punjab Chief Minister(CM) shahbaz sharif onFriday made his debut onthe social media network(sMN).

shahbaz had kept him-self at arm length from so-cial media networks givinghim less weight than formerrival late former governorsalmaan Taseer who re-

mained active on twitter tillhis last breath. But shahbazcould not resist the demandafter the youth-infestedImran Khan show at Minar-e-Pakistan showed the po-tential for politicians to usefacebook, twitter and othersMNs.

“Imran Khan, stole theshow on October 30 and be-came the icon of the youth,due to his active participa-tion and presence on socialmedia network. This is hardfact and the CM decided tojoin sMNs to get in linewith new trends and findspace in the youth,” analystsaid. Considering it the de-mand of the times, the

younger sharif launched hisofficial Facebook page.

Here are shahbaz’s offi-cial pages:

F a c e b o o k :http://www.facebook.com/sharif.shehbaz

Twitter: https://twit-ter.com/CMshehbaz

P r i n g :http://www.pringit.com/shehbazsharif/

Punjab governmentspokesman Pervaiz Rashidsaid the move was notPML-N official policy buteveryone, including partyleaders had right to usefacebook and other socialmedia networks to remainin touch with people.

dengue kills

2 more

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Dengue virus claimed twomore lives in Punjab, with thedeath toll reaching 310 in theprovince and 270 in Lahore.According to the HealthDepartment, 90 denguepatients have been reportedin Punjab and 54 out of themin Lahore. The total numberof dengue patients in Punjabhas risen to 20,489 out ofthem 17,060 belong toLahore. According to theinformation of thedepartment, 493 denguepatients were admitted indifferent hospitals in Punjab,390 of them were undertreatment in differenthospitals of Lahore.

Haroon elected

ClAP president

LAHORENeWS DeSk

Haroon suleman Khokharwas elected president of theChristian LawyersAssociation of Pakistan(CLAP) on Friday. Haroonbagged 70 votes while hisrival candidate Tahir sahotracould muster only 35 votes.Haroon was previously thevice president of the People’sLawyer Forum Lahorechapter and is well-respectedfor his services to minorities,especially the Christiancommunity living in Pakistan.sumera John was elected vicepresident while Adnanshamim Bhatti bagged thegeneral secretary’s slot.

Mumbai attacks:

Pak ready to

send judicial

commission

NEW DELHIoNLINe

Pakistan HighCommissioner to Indiashahid Malik on Fridaymet Indian Home MinisterP Chidambaram and toldhim that Pakistan wasready to send a judicialcommission to India toprobe the Mumbai attacks.The decision to send thejudicial commission wasmade during interiorsecretary level talksbetween Pakistan andIndia. The Pakistanijudicial commission willrecord statements of theinvestigating officer of theMumbai attacks and themagistrate who recordedAjmal Kasab’s statement.

WASHINGTONageNCIeS

It is time to completely re-think the United states rela-tionship with Pakistan due toIslamabad’s continuing tosponsor terrorist groups suchas the Haqqani network andLashkar-e-Tayyaba, said UsCongressman Gary Acker-man, a top democrat in theHouse Foreign Affairs sub-committee on south Asia.

During a Congressionalhearing, Ackerman said,“There’s an old saying, wellknown to all of us, ‘the enemyof my enemy is my friend’.Unfortunately, this is non-sense. The enemy of myenemy is my enemy’s enemy,that’s it.” He said, “To statewhat should be obvious, butsomehow is not: Pakistan —

meaning both the nominallydemocratic civilian govern-ment and the unelected butultimately decisive Pakistanimilitary establishment — isnot our friend.” “They are notour allies; they are not ourpartners; they are not on ourteam; they are not on ourside. And no matter howmuch aid we give them, nomatter what military capabil-ities we provide them, and nomatter what promises, assur-ances or pledges we make tothem, these facts are notgoing to change,” he added.

He said Pakistan is on itsown side with 75 percent Pak-istanis having an unfavorableopinion of the Us. “That iswhat $22 billion in our tax-payer’s money has bought ussince 2002 in Pakistan,” headded.

ISLAMABADStaff RepoRt

The supreme Court (sC) onFriday declared FaisalabadCity Police Officer (CPO) RaiTahir ineligible and orderedthe Punjab government, chiefsecretary and the inspectorgeneral of police to examine hisinvolvement in favouring aninfluential person accused ofmurder, and also appoint anew CPO in his place.

A two-member supremeCourt bench comprising ChiefJustice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry and Justice KhiljiArif Hussain also ordered in-vestigations and strict legal ac-tion against the CPO.

The bench was hearing a

suo motu case on the killing ofa 12-year-old child in Gulberg,Faisalabad, due to aerial firingin a marriage ceremony. Ap-pearing on notice, AttorneyGeneral Moulvi Anwarul Haqtold the court that under the Is-lamic injunctions the amount ofblood money was 30,630 car-rots silver, which is equivalentto Rs 3.2 million. He said that incase of a compromise orreprisal, the determination ofthe amount should be left onthe parties. The chief justicenoted that negotiations be-tween the parties did not seemappropriate because the richparty would pressurise the poorparty. He said that Islam pro-vided balance. He reprimandedthe Faisalabad CPO for not

helping the parents of the de-ceased child in the payment ofblood money, and succumbingto pressure from a local mem-ber of Punjab Assembly (MPA).He said that instead of takinglegal action against the accusedwithout any discrimination, thepolice officers were bent on sav-ing their jobs.

The chief justice said thatpolice did not record the state-ment of the MPA who was ex-erting pressure on the poorparents of the assassinatedchild. When the CPO tried toseek an apology, the chief jus-tice replied that a poor personhad been deprived of his childwho will never come back, thenhow the court could accept hisapology.

govt has disappointedthe masses : Musharraf

sc declares FaisalabadcPO ineligible

Nawaz Sharif’s ‘fan’ kills classmate cHINIOT: An eighth-grade student was beaten to death by a classmate after herefused to allow the other to paste a sticker of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz sharif on his notebook on Friday. Police said the incidentoccurred in Government High school Patika Kamyaraan when Mohammad Rizwanwanted to paste Nawaz sharif’s picture on the notebook of his classmate Ahsan. Thetwo exchanged abuses after which Rizwan hit Ahsan repeatedly with a stick in thehead. Ahsan, the eldest child of his parents, died on the spot and Rizwan escaped.Police have not registered a case as yet. INp

time to change Uspolicy towardsPakistan: Ackerman

shahbaz sharif makes facebook debutHaj pilgrims facing

problems againPakistani pilgrims areagain facing problems thisyear while performing thereligious obligation of Hajjin Minna. According to aprivate television channel,the pilgrims were allottedcamping-tents’ numbersbut when pilgrims reachedthe location, there were nocamps present. Due tolack of facilities, pilgrimsare forced to sleep onroads. Last year, pilgrimsfaced similar problemswhich were associatedwith corruption byMinistry of ReligiousAffairs. MoNItoRINg DeSk

US on the run in Afghanistan,says omarkABuL: Havingconfronted constant failure,the Us is looking for a safeexit from Afghanistan,Taliban supremeCommander Mullah OmarMujahid said in his EidulAdha message on Friday.He said the Us and NATOhad no bite left to extend theAfghan war after witnessingtheir soldiers return incoffins. He encouragedsupporters to keep upto datewith the progress of theTaliban through its officialspokesmen, websites andpress releases. oNLINe

ISLAMABAD: Leader of the opposition in the NationalAssembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has said that oncoming to power, the PML-N will hold former presidentPervez Musharraf’s trial for dismissing an electedgovernment and for his other unconstitutional acts. In aninterview on Friday, Nisar warned that the country wouldnot remain as it was if the army intervened in future. Hesaid he was strongly opposed to generals who subvertedthe constitution to rule the country. Nisar said PML-NPresident Nawaz sharif consulted him and other partyleaders before appointing General Musharraf as the armychief. He said Musharraf’s actions had affected the imageof the army. He said after the dismissal of the Nawaz’government, he had made it clear to the army that hewould neither leave Nawaz nor join the PML-Q-ledgovernment. INp

g Minister for Textiles Makhdoom Shahbuddin appointed president ofnewly-formed PPP South Punjab chapter

‘PML-N to try Musharraffor unconstitutional acts’


Saturday, 5 November, 2011

Master of lonelinessand frenzy PAGe 08

Outsiders head forhome to celebrate eid

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

IN connection with Iqbal Day onNovember 9, the Markazia Majlis-e-Iqbal (MMI) organised a func-tion at the Aiwan-e-Iqbal to

remember the great poet and philoso-pher.

Former foreign minister KhurshidMehmood Kasuri, senior columnist AtaulHaq Qasmi, former Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed, MMI Presi-dent Mian Afzal Hayat, Analyst sajjadMir, Turkish scholar sawat Arguan andPakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami at-tended the event. Iqbal was rememberedas a symbol of true Islamic modernism,hope and struggle and was undisputedlydeclared as a motivational leader of theyouth during struggle for independence.

Kasuri said what made Iqbal standout was his vision of a separate land forMuslims. He said that the poet’s visionreflected his wish of unification of Mus-lims of the sub-continent. The former for-eign minister said that it was the idea ofunification which later transformed intoa separate nation. Kasuri said Iqbal wasa man of modern Islamic views, addingthat Iqbal had denounced ‘mullahism’and stood with those who used religion as

a token of popularity. Qasmi, in his trademark column writ-

ing style, established that Iqbal was notonly a man of current affairs but hadshowed unconditional love for God in hispieces. He said that Iqbal stood behind allprogressive changes of his time and ex-pressed reservations over hypocritical‘mullahism’. The columnist said thatIqbal was a man who loved the creationof God, which was reflected eminently inhis work.

Qazi highlighted the connection ofIqbal’s work with the Holy Prophet

(PBUH). He said that Iqbal had signifiedsunnat and that idealised the Prophet,which was obvious in his pieces. The for-mer JI chief said that the poet was fore-sighted and demanded Islamicgovernance. While quoting Iqbal, he saidthat the Quran was the main source ofknowledge not only for Muslims but forthe entire universe. Qazi declared Iqbalas the poet of hope. He said that Iqbalhad a special relation with the youth of alltimes, adding that Iqbal’s pieces helpedthe youth in depression and disappoint-ment. The former JI chief said that

Iqbal’s work had always been used to mo-tivate people, especially the youth, towork harder to achieve their goals.

Zaheer Naqshbandi said that in thisage of lawlessness and disappointment,Iqbal’s work could be used as a great mo-tivational tool. He said the poet’s workcould be easily divided into two majorparts. Naqshbandi said Iqbal’s work re-flected the Quran and sunnah which hehad molded together to insure progressof society. The Minhajul Quran leadersaid that Iqbal’s foresightedness, philo-sophical depths and knowledge of Islam

was seen in his work. He said that thebeauty of Iqbal’s work was the equilib-rium he kept between Western and East-ern cultures. Naqshbandi said that Iqbaltruly represented progressive Islam, ashis vision and ideas had helped Muslimsat all times.

Arguan, quoting Iqbal prolifically inUrdu, said that Iqbal’s work had guidedTurks through their extensive struggle.He said that Iqbal’s work gained greatpopularity in the youth during the Turk-ish Independence Movement. The Turk-ish scholar said that the poet’s work wassaid to be next to Maulana Rumi inTurkey and he was known for his revolu-tionary work for progress of Muslimsaround the world.

sajjad said that Iqbal worked on cur-rent affairs and had a special place forMuslim youth in his work. He said thatIqbal was eager to see progressive Mus-lim youth in the country. The analyst saidthat his work guided the youth in all mat-ters equally, adding that Iqbal had alwaystried to pave new ways in upbringing ofMuslims. He said that Iqbal was a revo-lutionist due to which he had a great be-lief in the power of the youth. sajjad saidthat Iqbal’s work gave hope to youngstersof all times and his motivation could beseen from his timeless work.

Allama Iqbal remembered as modernism’s symbolg Former foreign minister Kasuri says poet denounced ‘mullahism’ and stood against those people who used religion as a token of popularity

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Like every year on eve of Eid, peoplefrom different parts of the provincestarted leaving the city on Friday to cel-ebrate the festivity with their loved onesat their hometowns.

This time on Eidul Azha, the federalgovernment announced two Eid holi-days from Monday to Tuesday but sat-urday and sunday got included as welldue to weekend while Wednesday wasIqbal Day, which was a national holiday.Employees of public-sector departmentswould enjoy leisure time for around 5days while the private sector and provin-cial government employees would starttheir weekend from saturday.

Long queues of vehicles were ob-served at the city’s exit points at GTRoad, Multan Road and FerozepurRoad with traffic jams being also re-ported. Rush at Badami Bagh GeneralBus stand, sikandaria Town Bus Ter-minal and Multan Road was witnessed

until late night where people were wait-ing for public transport. The mass exo-dus of around three million people fromLahore makes the provincial capitalempty with only Lahoris left in the city.People heading home were fleeced bytransporters, which added to their mis-eries.

Due to shortage of trains, transportowners had a good opportunity to fleecepeople and maximise their profits. Lim-ited vehicles also forced commuters topay extra money to get good seats tohave a comfortable journey. At mainbus stands of the provincial capital,fares were almost the same. For Islam-abad-bound passengers, the fare in-creased two days before Eid. Thesituation was not different for passen-gers who wanted to move to other 36districts of the province.

People traveling with familiesseemed more worried about a comfort-able journey, as they were not in a po-sition to travel while facing hardships.Those people who could afford over-

charging were found purchasing ticketsbut many people complained against il-legal actions of transporters. Interest-ingly there was not even a single officialof the City District Government Lahore(CDGL) to check overcharging.

Representatives of the District Re-gional Transport Authority, when askedabout complaints of the people, saidthat apparently it seemed odd but over-charging was just to cover the expectedloss. “The vehicles will return empty sowho will compensate the transporters?”they questioned. The justification wasnot enough to address the complaintsbut this exercise will continue untilChand Raat. They said that a three-member team of DRTA was constitutedto check overcharging and transportersviolating the fixed fares, would be finedon the spot. People said that the coun-try was already facing multiple crises inform of energy, floods, terrorism, pricehike, adulteration and many other evilsand overcharging had added to theirmiseries.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Lahore Civil Judge ZaighamAbbas Rizvi on Friday al-lowed stage dancers Nargisand Khushboo to perform instage drama ‘Tera Jalwa’ aftersuspending an order of the La-hore district coordination offi-cer (DCO), which had bannedboth stars for allegedly per-forming obscene dances.

Drama producerMalik Haris chal-lenged the ban im-posed by the DCO

and requested that he presentedthe drama after obtaining a no ob-jection certificate from the censorboard but the DCO banned thestars, which incurred losses tothe drama. Petitioner’s CounselLahore Bar Association (LBA)secretary Farhad Ali shahclaimed that once the censorboard had granted NOC, theDCO had no jurisdiction to

take such action. Thecivil judge also

sought a replyfrom the DCOuntil Novem-ber 18.

Nargis, Khusboo allowed to perform



Lahore

CINeMA FIlM TIMedHA CINeMA CloSedPH: 35747531

CINe STAr rA oNe 3:00 PMPH: 35157462 THe THree MUSKeTeerS 6:00 PM

IN TIMe 8:00 PMrA oNe 10:00 PMrA oNe 1:00 AM

CINe Gold rA oNe 12: 00 AMPH: 35340000 rA oNe 3:00 PM

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rA oNe 7:00 PMrA oNe 10:00 PM

Sozo Gold ForCe 12:00 PMPH: 35340000 Bol 2:45 PM

rASCAlS 5:30 PMrA oNe 8:00 AMrA oNe 11:00 PM

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The Met Office on Friday predicted dryweather in most parts of the country, es-pecially along the sindh-Makran Coast,during Eid.

Dry weather was likely to prevail inGilgit-Baltistan on November 7 and 8.

Cloudy weather prevailed in Lahore onFriday and the same was expected today(saturday).

The Met Office informed that scat-tered rain with thunderstorm was ex-pected in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala,sargodha, Peshawar, Hazara, Malakand,Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu andKashmir (AJK) today (saturday).

Patients left stranded as doctors boycott hospitals

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) PresidentNawaz sharif is thinking ofsacrificing democracy, as thePML-N considers citizens assacrificial animals due towhich it also wants to cut thePunjab Assembly’s (PA)throat, Pakistan MuslimLeague-Quaid (PML-Q) In-formation secretary KamilAli Agha said on Friday. Hewas talking to journalists.Kamil said that Lahoris wereenjoying the CM’s tension,adding that the PML-Q hadreached every corner of thecountry, which was proved

by Ghous Bakhsh Mehr’s vic-tory. The PML-Q leader saidthat the PML-N was thebiggest enemy of farmers, asit was politicisng the fertilizerissue. He said that Adviser tothe CM Zulfiqar Khosa haddrowned the lands of hun-dreds of thousands of otherfarmers in order to save hisown lands and Justice Man-soor Ali shah’s report hadproved it. Kamil criticisedthe Punjab government overhigh inflation and lack ofanti-dengue measures,adding that Lahore Develop-ment Authority (LDA) gar-deners and patwaris wouldnot be able to save the PML-N’s drowning boat.

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Traffic flow on the nationalhighway has been adverselyaffected after shifting of thecattle market at shahpurKanjran adjacent to MainLahore-Multan Road andinadequate arrangements byauthorities concerned re-garding entry, loading, un-loading, parking and exit ofvehicles carrying sacrificialanimals.

This phenomenon hadcreated immense problemsfor commuters travelling onthe national highway andpeople living in the vicinity,as traffic consistently re-mains choked at this point.The City District Govern-ment Lahore (CDGL) hadbanned selling and purchas-ing of sacrificial animalswithin the city premises andestablished a sale point atshahpur Kanjran on MainMultan road. A large num-ber of vehicles had startedpiling up at the main road,as they were denied entryinto the market, which se-

verely affected the flow oftraffic at the particular point.

The National Highwaysand Motorway Police(NHMP) was trying its bestto maintain traffic disciplineand flow of traffic. Extra du-ties were arranged at differ-ent points to prevent anyinconveniency to com-muters. Coordination withthe City Traffic Police wasalso being made to tackle thesituation and facilitate com-muters the especially in thecontext that a large numberof people will travel on thenational highway on eve ofEidul Azha.

Dry weather on eid

‘Nawaz is thinking of sacrificing democracy’

cattle market’s shiftingaffects traffic flow

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The doctors’ strike turned severe on its sixthday as they boycotted all operations in mostof the public hospitals of Lahore onFriday except emergencies, ICUs and CCUswhere they performed their duties wearingblack bands. The doctors, on Wednesday,

were assured verbally by the commissionerthat the FIR registered against five seniordoctors of shiekh Zayed Hospital would bewithdrawn but the promise did not materi-alise. Pakistan Medical Association andYoung Doctors Association also held aprotest rally outside sZH. A meeting ofdoctors’ organisations called at PMAHouse also passed resolution of solidarity

with the five doctors. They expressed reser-vations on the fact that police had not with-drawn the case against doctors despite thedirections from the high ups. They sus-pected some hidden forces were trying toinstigate the doctors against political gov-ernment. PMA has also called a meeting ofits 36 district branches to finalise a plan ofaction if their demands are not met.



Lahore

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

A police constable was al-legedly shot injured whilehis colleague was thrashedby guests at a wedding cer-emony in the Gulshan-e-Ravi Police areaon Thursday night.

The injured were iden-tified as Muhafiz squadconstables Hassan andAllah Ditta.

The police said thatboth officials of Muhafizsquad were posted in Gul-shan-e-Ravi Police sta-tion. Lateon Thursday night, localsof Muhammadi streetNonarian Chowk informedthe police about aerial fir-ing at a marriage cere-mony in the house ofBahadur Maseeh.

Constable Hassan andAllah Dita reached thescene, where weddingguests opened fire onthem. Hassan received bul-let wounds and Allah Dittawas thrashed for callingmore policemen for help.

A heavy contingent of

police reached the sceneupon information aboutthe incident. Hassan andAllah Ditta were taken toservices Hospital wheredoctors declared Hassan tobe critical.

However, the accusedparty has claimed that thepolicemen had shot in-jured Bahadur Maseeh,over which they had retal-iated.

According to IqbalTown superintendent Po-lice (sP) Muntazir Mehdi,8 men were arrested aftera case was registeredunder sections324/392/342/353/186/148/149 of Pakistan PenalCode. He alleged that thearrested were responsiblefor selling liquor, injuringHassan and keeping AllahDitta as hostage.

He said that since theincident, he was beingpressurized by influentialpersons to release the ac-cused.

However, Gulshan-e-Ravi station House Officer(sHO) Nasir Hameed saidno arrests had been made.

‘Cleanliness

agreement with

Turkey is a milestone’LAHORE

Staff RepoRt

Punjab Chief Minister Muhammadshahbaz sharif has said that the agree-ment signed between solid Waste Man-agement and the leading Turkcompanies for maintaining cleanlinessand beautification of Lahore on the pat-tern of Istanbul is a milestone and willhelp promote economic and trade activi-ties between both the countries.He was speaking at the departure of theTurk delegation to its country after sign-ing the agreement with sWM on Friday.senior Advisor sardar Zulfiqar Ali KhanKhosa, Provincial Minister Mian Mu-jtaba shuja-ur-Rehman, Lahore Trans-port Company Chairman KhawajaAhmad Hasaan and Planning and Devel-opment chairman were also present onthe occasion. The CM said after Lahore,the same model will be replicated inother cities of province for disposal ofgarbage. Albarak Group of CompaniesChairman thanked Punjab governmentand said that he considered Pakistan asa second home and Lahore will soon bemade a clean and beautiful city throughimplementation of the project. AVAILABILITY OF DOcTOrSDurING eID HOLIDAYS TO BeeNSureD: CM shahbaz said a com-prehensive plan has been evolved to en-sure availability of consultants anddoctors in hospitals during Eidul-Adhaholidays for looking after dengue pa-tients and he as well as elected represen-tatives will visit hospitals to monitormedical facilities for the patients and at-tendance of doctors during holidays.

Six gangs busted LAHOre: The Allama Iqbal Town Po-lice on Friday claimed to have arrested 20members of six-inter provincial gangs in-volved in dozens of robberies, streetcrimes and swindling.The arrested robbers were identified asRiaz, Arshad, Babar and Din Muham-mad of Babar Robbers Gang, Ali aliasKala and Rizwan of Rizwan RobbersGang, shabbir, shahid, Abid and Tariqof vero Robbers Gang, Purtab, Muham-mad Ali, Raheel and sufiyan of PurtabRobbers Gang. Staff RepoRt

MakeSHIft LIVeLIHooD: Men prepare rotis in a tandoor for cattle owners in the market close to Saggian Bridge MURtAzA ALI

Yes, we have failed, admits BISELAHORE

Staff RepoRt

THE representative of boardsof intermediate and second-ary education (BIsE) of Pun-jab on Friday admitted before

the Lahore High Court that the experi-ence of computerised online system forcompilation of results of intermediateand matriculation examinations hadfailed miserably.

The legal advisor of the boards saidthe online system had been shutdownand the results would be compiled man-ually in the future. He was answering

the queries of Justiceshiekh Azmat saeedduring proceedings ona petition against thedefective computerisedonline system which

had ruined the future of many studentsin Punjab. The petition was filed by sen-ior advocate Muhammad Azhar siddiquewho had submitted that he had pointedthe system’s flaws out in May 2010 butthe government had not paid heed.

Justice Azmat ordered the BIsE tosubmit a written report by December12 about the officer(s) and officials in-volved in the “failed experience of onlinecomputerized system”. PuNJAB GOVT, LDA ASkeD TOSuBMIT rePOrT: The LHC askedthe Punjab government and the LahoreDevelopment Authority to submit a re-port by November 16 on a petition de-manding alternate land or payment of 1kanal piece of land acquired from a citi-zen, Muhammad Zulfiqar, 48 year agoby LDA for a housing scheme.FeDerAL GOVT ASkeD TO SuB-MIT rePOrT ON BOkHArI’S AP-

POINTMeNT: The LHC asked the fed-eral government to submit a report byNovember 17 on a petition challengingthe appointment of Fasih Bokhari aschairman National Accountability Bu-reau (NAB).

Petitioner-counsel BarristerMuhammad Javaid Iqbal Jafari con-tended that President Asif Ali Zardarihad Bokhari, who has a serious corrup-tion record, for his personal gains andhad not fulfilled the legal requirement ofconsulting the CJ of Pakistan. cONTeMPT OF cOurT PeTI-TION AGAINST AN SHO: A con-tempt of court petition has beenfiled against station house officer(sHO) Islam Pura for non-compli-ance of district and session judge’sorders regarding registration of acase against Pakistani cricket starsMuhammad Amir, salman Butt and

Muhammad Asif involved in spot fix-ing case.

The petitioner Zubair Balqan advo-cate submitted that on November 3 thecourt had ordered the sHO to registereda case a criminal case against cricketstars under the charges of spot fixingand fraud but the respondent had failedto comply with the court orders.‘MIND YOur OWN BuSINeSS,POLIce’: LHC CJ Ijaz AhmadChaudhry held on Friday that thejudges, and not the police, would decidethe applicability of law on offences andthe police could not give legal opinionsto the court. He also dismissed a peti-tion filed by Nadeem alias Deema chal-lenging the jurisdiction of DistrictPublic Prosecutor (DPP), sialkot toissue directions to the police for addi-tion of sections to the report preparedunder section 173 in a case.

constables thrashedby wedding guests


low

High

160CSUNdAY MoNdAY TUeSdAY28°C I 12°C 28°C I 15°C 28°C I 18°C

PrAYer TIMINGSFajr Sunrise zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

04:57 06:18 11:49 15:51 17:14 18:37

CITY dIreCTorY

reSCUe 1122

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PolICe 15

GoverNor’S HoUSe 99200081-7

CHIeF MINISTer’S HoUSe 99203226

FIre BrIGAde 16

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MCl CoMPlAINTS 99211022-29

lAHore wASTe dISPoSAl 1139

eMerGeNCY HelP

HoSPITAlS

Blood BANK

FATMId 35863950

ISlAMIC AllIANCe 37588649/37535435

CoMPlAINT

wAPdA 111-000-118

SUI GAS 1199

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rAIlwAY PolICe 1333

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ColleGeS / UNIverSITIeS

PUNJAB UNIverSITY 99231257KINNAIrd ColleGe 99203781-4qUeeN MArY ColleGe 36362942GovT. ColleGe UNIverSITY 111-000-010UMT 35212801-10lUMS 35608000UeT 36288666lCwU 99203072SUPerIor ColleGe 111-000-078

MId CITY 37573382-3

ServICeS 99203402-11

MAYo 99211100-9

GeNerAl 35810892-8

SHeIKH zAId 35865731

SIr GANGA rAM 99200572

UCH 35763573-5

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CMH 366996168-72

SHoUKAT KHANUM 35945100

JINNAH 111-809-809

AdIl (deFeNCe) 36667275

CHIldreN’S 99230901-3

deFeNCe NATIoNAl HoSPITAl 111-17-18-19

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LahoreMaster of loneliness and frenzy

LAHOREXaRI JaLIL

HIs was a façade of darkness andmorbidity. His face was linedwith stress and ill temper, and hisbehaviour was crude, harsh, andrough, often angering many who

were close to him, while tolerated by several oth-ers because they loved him.

But despite this, the brilliant verses that fellfrom his lips and left indelible marks on thehearts of many, the verses that were punctuatedwith unique poetic metres and enriched withmany words and phrases that he often coinedhimself; verses whose expressions jolted youngpeople with their splendour of heavy existential-ism, they will always remind us of one of thegreatest poets of all times, especially in the sub-continent. November 8, 2002 was the day JaunElia, passed away, leaving many mourners andadmirers behind, who flocked like lost sheep tohis funeral.

Born Jaun Asghar in 1931, Elia lateradapted his father’s last name. Jaun be-longed to a very prestigious family of Am-roha. Both his brothers Rais Amrohviand syed Muhammad Taqi were wellknown in literary circles. His formerwife, Zaheda Hina, is also a knownscholar and columnist. He dabbled incommunism during his youth andwas averse to the partition of thecountry but succumbed later andshifted to Karachi in 1957 where helived for the rest of his life. Once inKarachi, his poetry began to attractmany fans. He was held in both admi-ration and opprobrium, being ratherdirect, outspoken and bold in his ap-proach.

POeTrY: Perhaps the most domi-nant feeling that Jaun’s poetry betrays ishis sense of loneliness. In fact it would notbe wrong to say that he was in reality a lonelyman, separated from his immediate family in-cluding his children, but at the same time beingflocked around by several dozens of admirers.He loved being the centre of attention, but at thesame time yearned for solitude.

‘ajeeb hai meri fitrat, keh aaj hi maslanMujhay sukoon mila hai tiray na aanay se’

(Strange is my nature, for today onlyI felt relieved, that you never came)

‘aik shakhs jo mujh se waqt le karaaj aa na saka tou khush hoa hoon’

(a person who set time with me today made me happy by not making it).

This indicates that Jaun was perpetually dis-satisfied, never completely happy. In fact happi-ness to him was temporary but he wascontemptuous towards grief itself too.

The most important facet of Jaun’s poetry ishis use of colloquial words, inviting not just well-read poetry critics to read his work, but even theordinary person. Most of his fan circles hadyoung people in them, already dealing with theirexistential crises, and finding in Jaun someonewho said exactly what they felt,

His themes involved pain and suffering;yearning for a lover (Jaun often yearned for hisex-wife), his existential dilemma, romance andsex (often Manto-esqe in expression), andcoughing up blood. This last was a known obses-sion with Jaun, sometimes rather darkly humor-ous for listeners.

In one of his write ups literary critic salmaanPeerzada, who has a strong hold on what Jaun is

about, writes: “He (Jaun) manages to produce the weirdest,

yet convincing of praises for his beloved that onecan imagine in Urdu poetry.

“kiss liye dekhti ho…aainatum tou khud se bhi khoobsurat ho”

(Why do you gaze into the mirrorWhen you are even more beautiful than

yourself?)

Who would say to his beloved that ‘you aremore beautiful than yourself?’ What would thatsignify? still, it appears to be the most powerfulway to eulogize the ‘mehboob’.”

Openly nihilistic, sometimes Jaun mixed ‘love’or obsession, with a fierce kind of destruction.

“Who mera khayal thee so who thee, Main uss ka khayal thaa, so main thaa,

ab dono khayal marr chukay hain.”

(She was a perception of mine, so she wasI was a perception of hers, so I was;But now both perceptions are dead.)

On top of everything, Jaun was a lover oftheatrics since his youth so all his poetry per-formances (mushairas) were very theatrical innature. He often said and did many things thatstruck a chord of black humour, rendering rip-ples of laughter or enjoyment within the audi-ence. Jaun never took poetry recital as simplythat. He raised it to another level, conversingwith friends in the audience, turning it almost toa type of ‘rock concert’.

Once, it is said, he conducted more than halfof the mushaira with his back to the audience,

as if holding nothing but contempt for them.sometimes in his theatrics Jaun would be-

come rude and harsh but still many of hisfans would flock around him.

One person who was close to Jaunduring one time of his life said, “JaunElia is often either seen as black orwhite. There is no grey it seems. They ei-ther love him or hate him. This is a bi-ased view. In actuality, Jaun was ahighly aggressive and even abusive in-dividual so much so that many of hisclose friends left him, dejected by hisbehaviour. His poetry was great, but hispersonality had many defects whichcaused great pain to others. There was a

vast difference in the man who wrote andthe man who he was,” opined a former

friend who wished to remain anonymous. Meanwhile regarding the technical as-

pect, poet Pirzada Qasim has described himto be “very particular about language”. He said,

“While his diction is rooted in the classical tra-dition, he touches on new subjects. He remainedin quest of an ideal all his life. Unable to find theideal eventually, he became angry and frus-trated. He felt, perhaps with reason, that he hadsquandered his talent.” Jaun is also known tohave invented new metres which have never be-fore been heard in Urdu poetry.

Elia’s divorce with Zaheda Hina in the 80sleft him worse off. He became an alcoholic andeven more depressed and alone. More than oftenthis reflects very palpably in his poetry. Darknesswas Jaun’s life, a kind of sheath covering him.He was bound to loneliness and misery, becauseof his own contradictions. Even his negativespace was only just grey.

Today it is nine years since Jaun passedaway. This scholar, biographer, philosopher andpoet now lives in the minds of his admirers. Butfor many, even his memories are a bleak mistthat shrouds his image. But one thing remains,he can never be forgotten.

g They either hated him or loved him…it has been 9 years since Jaun elia passed away



News

ISLAMABADStaff RepoRt

AD M I T T I N G that alter-native resources to natu-ral gas were beingcontrolled by a cartel inthe country, Federal Min-

ister for Petroleum and Natural Re-sources Dr Asim Hussain on Fridaytold the senate that all dues of Pak-istan state Oil (PsO) would be clearedby the end of this month.

“I am running from pillar to postfor clearing PsO’s dues and I havebeen assured by the Finance Ministryin this regard. If the amount owed byvarious departments to PsO is not re-covered and its dues are not cleared, itwill be disastrous for the country, asour economy is no more resilient tosustain further burden and I am seri-ously working on the issue and alldues of PsO will be cleared by the endof this month,” Dr Hussain told theUpper House in response to a supple-

mentary question raised by senatorAzim swati.

To a question by Ismail Bulaidiabout the total payable dues of PsO,Dr Hussain told the house that over Rs38.8 billion were to be paid by govern-ment departments that includedWAPDA, PIA, Pakistan Railways, Oiland Gas Development Corporation,National Logistic Cell, Pakistan Navy,Pakistan steel Mills, Pakistan Ord-nance Factory, Wah and some others,whereas the total amount payable bynon-government customers was overRs 168.7 billion, including Rs 14.2 bil-lion price differential receivable fromthe government of Pakistan.

He said the non-government cus-tomers included HUBCO, KAPCO,KEsC and other some other compa-nies.

When senator Wasim sajjad askedthe minister if he could assure theHouse in categorical terms that therewould not be gas load shedding in thecoming winter, the minister said he

could not assure categorically but ef-forts were afoot for equitable sharingof the shortfall.

He said that it was unfortunatethat all alternatives to natural gas inthe country were being controlled by acartel. He added that his prioritywould be minimum gas load sheddingin the country in winter.

In a written reply to a question bysenator Tahir Mashhadi, the ministerfor petroleum told the House thataround 131 exploratory wells weredrilled and exploration licenses forover 30 blocks were issued in 2010and various companies were beingprovided incentives for exploring gasand oil in the country and total li-censes granted in the country were133.

He, however, told the House thatPakistan was not importing oil fromIran and refinery was facing difficultyin opening a Letter of Credit (LC) dueto the Us and European countriessanctions against Iran. He said the oil

produced by Iran was not compatiblewith refinery in Pakistan.

senator safdar Abbasi raised ob-jection that if Pakistan could not openthe LC due to sanctions, how did itplan to actually import gas from Iran.

Dr Hussain said banks had neitherflatly refused nor offered to open anLC and Pakistan was facing difficultiesin this regard owing to the geo-strate-gic situation.

He added that the governmentwould soon announce a new petro-leum policy and if any member of theHouse wanted to give suggestions, hewould welcome the proposals.

Meanwhile, the House admittedfor further discussion an adjournmentmotion moved by Professor KhurshidAhmad on the news item appeared ina section of press that rain and flood-affected wheat and rice was pur-chased, causing loss of Rs 1.75 billionto the national exchequer. Minister forFood security Mir Israrullah Zehri didnot oppose the motion.

ALL PSO dues to be cleared by

month end, minister tells Senateg dr Asim Hussain says resources alternative to natural gas being controlled by cartel

No BUYeRS...Yet: Sacrificial animals await takers at a temporary cattle market established in perhi area of Quetta. ONLINe

LONDONoNLINe

six months after his death, a new book hasclaimed Osama bin Laden was shot deadwithin 90 seconds of the start of a raid onhis Abbottabad hideout by Us commandos,and not after a 45 minute firefight, TheDaily Telegraph reported.

Former elite Us Navy seal Team sixcommander Chuck Pfarrer claims in hisbook that bin Laden was shot dead “almostinstantly”, challenging the official version ofhow the al Qaeda founder died. The UsNavy seal Team six carried out the raid inMay. Pfarrer said, “Bin Laden was deadwithin 90 seconds of the start of the raid,not an extended firefight. Four suppressedrounds were fired.”

Claiming to have interviewed severalmen involved in the raid, he contradictedthe official account of how the Us Navy seal

team landed and how one of their BlackHawk helicopters crashed.

In a statement about his book, Pfarrersaid, “The sEALs entered the building afterbeing deposited on the roof by the lead hel-icopter, not from the ground. Minutes afterbin Laden was dead the lead helicopter,heading for a landing spot, lost altitude andsunk, tail-first, into the large walled enclo-sure east of the main hous.” He said if thenaval commandos had been forced to climbstairs to reach bin Laden, as the officialclaim goes, Osama would have been able toarm and effectively defend himself. He saidAmal bin Laden, Osama’s youngest wife,was wounded in the calf during the secondround of fire when she shoved herself infront of the shooters. The book says binLaden’s long-time deputy Ayman Zawahirimay have been responsible for leading theUs to his boss after he repeatedly sent acourier in and out of Osama’s compound.

Bin Laden was ‘dead in 90 seconds’

Indian army says

not ‘correct’ to

revoke IHK lawSRINAGAR

afp

A top Indian army official says harshemergency laws in Indian-heldKashmir (IHK) should not be revokeduntil Pakistan ends its “interference”in the revolt-hit region. The draconianArmed Forces special Powers Act(AFsPA) was introduced in 1990 togive the army and paramilitary forcessweeping powers to detain people, usedeadly force and destroy property.IHK Chief Minister Omar Abdullahsaid last month that the law would bewithdrawn in certain areas, but laterappeared to row back on that underpressure from groups including thearmy. The act enables “the army tocarry out counter-terrorist andcounter- infiltration operations,”General KT Parnaik told reporters lateon Thursday near the de facto borderthat splits Kashmir between India andPakistan. “Unless we’re able toneutralise the (militant) infrastructureand unless we’re able to removeinterference from Pakistan, it may notbe correct for us to revoke it (thelegislation), even partially,” he said.Parnaik is India’s army chief fornorthern areas, including Kashmir.Abdullah’s pledge was hailed as asignificant step in normalising life inthe Indian part of Kashmir, where thelegislation is detested by locals. Butafter facing stiff opposition from thearmy and pro-India political parties,Abdullah said this week he had onlyannounced an “intention” to revokethe laws and “didn’t announce adecision”. Abdullah said he willconsult the army and top ministersbefore deciding on whether to partiallywithdraw the tough law.

NwA, Mohmand to

observe eid on SundayMIRANSHAH/GHALANAI

INp

Prominent Ulema in North Waziristanand Mohmand Agency have announced tocelebrate Eidul Adha with saudi Arabiaon sunday, a day before rest of theircountrymen. The decision was announcedin the two agencies by the Ulema atFriday gatherings.

wAPdA explains

Neelum-Jhelum

project cost

increaseLAHORE

pR

Pakistan Water and PowerDevelopment Authority (WAPDA)clarified a news item, appearing in asection of the media, regarding theincrease in the cost of Neelum JhelumHydropower Project (NJHP).The WAPDA spokesperson said the 969MW NJHP was due to be created in2016 with added safety parameters inwake of the 2005 earthquake. Thisincludes the cost of the two TunnelBoring Machines imported fromGermany.He said the initial project cost wasbased on the pre-earthquake design.The cost of civil works hadsubsequently increased from Rs 41.03billion to Rs 130.85 billion. Thedepreciation of the value of the rupeewith respect to the Us dollar since2006 has increased the cost by Rs 32.57billion. The Interest During Completion(IDC) has increased from Rs 29 billionto Rs 58 billion. Also, the cost ofsecurity arrangements, not previouslyaccounted, to secure foreigners, will beRs 1.2 billion. The land acquisition,compensation of houses andenvironmental damage mitigation costhas increased from Rs 770 million to Rs4.9 billion due to the AJK governmentsdemand. The project is almost 27percent complete.

MFN status to have

repercussions, says

Ijazul HaqPESHAWAR

Staff RepoRt

speaking about the decision to grantIndia Most Favored Nation (MFN)status, Pakistan Muslim League-Zia(PML-Z) Central President Ijaz ulHaq said it would have seriousrepercussions.Ijaz was addressing a pressconference on Friday. He said thestep was taken to appease the Us andPakistan should have asked India towithdraw 700,000 troops fromIndian-occupied Kashmir. He said opposition parties needed tounite against the incumbentgovernment. He said the state was onthe verge of bankruptcy. He saidlooted money had to be brought backthrough a treaty with the swissGovernment. He said the governmenthad failed to implement the AllParties Conference resolution.

Prior permission required for hides’ collection: MalikISLAMABAD: The authorities on Friday said prior permission from the Islamabad deputy commissioner would becompulsory for collection of animals’ skins and no one would be allowed to collect skins through chit system or othermeans. Interior Minister Rehman Malik chaired a meeting to discuss law and order and security related issues forEidul Adha, falling on November 7 (Monday). The meeting decided that there would be a dedicated place forcollection of animals’ skins and also decided to impose ban on excessive usage of loud speaker for collection of skins.Malik directed the Islamabad Police to ensure fool-proof security arrangements for public and worship places, andimportant buildings on the eve of Eidul Adha. Staff RepoRt



News

ISLAMABAD MIaN aBRaR

Restructuring of the bleeding public sectorenterprises (PsEs) has been overdue formonths and years to get the state-run organ-isations overhauled, slimmed and revived sothat they could follow the pattern and func-tioning of the thriving corporate sector.

However, this gigantic task would re-main a dream because of the political com-pulsions of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) to offer specialised jobs to its voters,supporters and sympathisers in these PsEsas political bribes, and in the words of PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani, “under thespirit of politics of accommodation”.

However, former finance minister Dr

salman shah thinks that the governmentlacked the capacity and will to reform thePsEs, as it had failed in all fields.

“How a government could reform thepublic sector entities when the prime minis-ter appoints his political and bureaucraticcronies at top offices. These cronies can’tbring a fundamental change which is amust,” he remarked.

Elaborating his viewpoint, shah saidthat in order to revive the Railways, themodel of the Motorways should be adopted.

“Like motorways, railway tracks shouldbe allowed to run private luxury passengerand freight trains as is done in the rest of theworld. Railway stations should be asked toform economic centres and provide servicesto the private sector passengers as well. Ho-tels, restaurants and other facilities shouldbe made available at each railway station,” hesaid. About reviving the Pakistan Interna-tional Airlines (PIA), shah suggested sellingthe airline’s shares to the private investors,

who should be made members of the PIA’sboard of governors with decision-makingpowers.

Former advisor to United Nations oneconomic reforms, Umar Masud said thepublic-private partnership model was theonly answer to the misery being faced by thecountry’s public enterprises.

“In the PIA, the management shouldgive operations to the private sector and inreturn, the government should bag revenue.As far as the railways are concerned, itshould be completely privatised while a reg-ulatory body should look after the affairs ofthe entity. This would revive the railways asa profit making sector,” he added.

Chairing a special meeting on restructur-ing the PIA, the prime minister had directedthe cabinet committee on restructuring thePsEs to formalise its final recommendations,combining improvements in corporate gov-ernance, services and financing require-ments. “Business as usual is unacceptable,”

the committee was told, however, it was nottold whether both the blue-eyed captainswho are calling all the shots as managing di-rectors of the PIA and the Civil Aviation Au-thority (CAA) would be removed and askedto fly planes or not.

Gilani formed a committee comprisingFinance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez sheikhand Cabinet Division secretary Nargis sethi,Principal secretary to the Prime MinisterKhushnud Akhtar Lashari and Defence sec-retary syed Athar Ali. The committee willsubmit a report to the prime minister withina week outlining a roadmap for making aturnaround in the PIA.

The prime minister said the members ofthe board of directors would be approved ac-cording to the recommendations of the Cab-inet Committee on Restructuring.

During the meeting at the Prime Minis-ter’s House on restructuring the Railways,Gilani also ordered the Finance Ministry andthe Railways Ministry to guarantee monthly

disbursement of salaries and pensions torailways employees.

The finance minister informed the meet-ing that the financing agreement with theBanking Consortium would be signed withinone week for funding the rehabilitation of 96locomotives at a cost of Rs 6.1 billion. Theavailability of the locomotives would signifi-cantly improve the efficiency of the ailing de-partment in terms of earnings and provisionof travelling facilities to the people, the min-ister hoped. The meeting was also informedthat all the non-economical Railways sec-tions would be closed. The minister addedthat the provision of diesel for locomotiveswould be ensured and the credit limit fromthe Pakistan state Oil (PsO) would be dou-bled to ensure the mobility of locomotives.Keeping in view the government’s efforts,one can easily assess that artificial measureswould fall short to revive both the state-runenterprises, and only surgical changes canmake these entities profitable units.

Restructuring the fractured and sinking govt departmentsg experts say privatisation, not restructuring, is the only answer

tHe RIgHt WeIgHt? a vendor weighs a goat for a customer near National Stadium in karachi. ONLINe

ISLAMABADaRIf taJ

PAKIsTAN is among thelargest group of multi-dimen-sionally poor countries in theworld, according to theHuman development Report

2011 of the United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP).

Among the low human developmentcountries, Pakistan is at number 145,whereas Bhutan, sri Lanka, India andChina are among the medium develop-ment countries.

The report offers important new in-sights showing how sustainability is inex-tricably linked to basic questions of equity— that is, of fairness and social justice andof greater access to a better quality of life.

The Multidimensional Poverty Index(MPI) examines factors at the family levelsuch as access to clean water and cookingfuel and health services, as well as basichousehold goods and home constructionstandards that together provide a fullerportrait of poverty than income measure-

ments alone.Per the report, sustainability is not

exclusively or even primarily an environ-mental issue, as this report so persua-sively argues, but is fundamentally abouthow we choose to live our lives, with anawareness that everything we do has con-sequences for the 7 billion of us heretoday, as well as for the billions more whowill follow, for centuries to come.

some 1.7 billion people in 109 coun-tries lived in ‘multidimensional’ povertyin the decade ending in 2010, by the MPIcalculus, or almost a third of the coun-tries’ entire combined population of 5.5billion. This compares to the 1.3 billionpeople, which are estimated to be livingon $1.25 a day or less.

According to the report, Niger has thehighest share of multi dimensionallypoor, at 92 percent of the population, fol-lowed by Ethiopia and Mali, with 89 per-cent and 87 percent respectively.

If a comparison is drawn of the fig-ures given in the report of two southAsian states, Pakistan and Bhutan,around 27.4 percent of Pakistani popula-

tion is living in severe poverty comparedto the 8.5 in Bhutan, while 11 percentpopulation in Pakistan is vulnerable topoverty while in Bhutan it is 17.2 percent.

Providing insights into environmen-tal problems in the poorest households,including indoor air pollution and diseasefrom contaminated water supplies, the re-port stated that south Asia and sub-saha-ran Africa is home to over 90 percent ofthe multi-dimensionally poor people.

According to the report, Norwaystands atop, whereas DR Congo, Burundiand some others are at the bottom. TheUnited states, New Zealand, Canada, Ire-land, Liechtenstein, Germany and swe-den are among the top 10 countries in the2011 Human Development Index if theIndex is adjusted for internal inequalitiesin health, education and income, some ofthe wealthiest nations drop out of the top20, with fall of the United states number4 to 23, the Republic of Korea from 15 to32, and Israel from 17 to 25. According tothe report, Us and Israel dropped mainlybecause of income inequality and healthcare issues.

Yemen ranks as the least equitable,followed by Chad, Niger, Mali, Demo-cratic Republic of the Congo,Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, Liberia,Central African Republic and sierraLeone.

In Yemen, just 7.6 percent of womenhave a secondary education, compared to24.4 percent for men, women hold just0.7 percent of seats in the legislature andonly 20 percent of working-age womenare in the paid work force, compared to74 percent of men.

E-2-3“In sub-saharan Africa thebiggest losses arise from gender dispari-ties in education and from high maternalmortality and adolescent fertility rates,”the report’s authors write.

“In south Asia, women lag behindmen in each dimension of the GII, mostnotably in education, national parliamen-tary representation and labour force par-ticipation. Women in Arab states areaffected by unequal labour force partici-pation (around half the global average)and low educational attainment,” the re-port added.

Pakistan among most poor countries

per UNDP human development reportg Country stands at number 145 among low human development countries

HeC approves

155 USAId

scholarshipsLAHORE

Staff RepoRt

The Higher Education Commission(HEC) National scholarship ManagementCommittee has approved the award of 155scholarships under the UsAID FundedMerit and Needs Based scholarshipProgramme. HEC Executive Director Dr sohail Naqvi,presided over meeting of the scholarshipManagement Committee, whichcomprises HEC Adviser (HRD) Dr RiazHussain Qureshi, former GIKI Rector DrAbdullah sadiq, Institute of Managementscience Peshawar Director Dr Nasir AliKhan, university representatives andUsAID officials.The meeting approved the cases of 155candidates enrolled in the Institute ofManagement sciences, Peshawar, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, shaheedZulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of science andTechnology, Karachi, sukkur Institute ofBusiness Administration, LahoreUniversity of Management sciences, AridAgriculture University, Rawalpindi andInstitute of Business Administration,Karachi. The Us Government, inpartnership with the HEC, initiated theMerit and Needs Based scholarshipprogramme aimed at providing financialassistance to talented students otherwiseunable to continue their advanced studiesdue to financial constraints. Thesescholarships have been available since2004 in the fields of BusinessAdministration and Agriculture at 11participating universities/ institutions. sofar, 1440 scholarships have been awarded.

Pastor booked for

‘land-grabbing’KASUR

Staff RepoRt

Kasur police registered a case against a pastorand his associates for encroaching upon theland of a lecturer under the pretext of Churchland. The police registered the case incompliance of court order. College lecturerMirza Iftikhar had purchased a piece of landmeasuring one canal and two marlas from aman named Nayyer David Masih in 1996. Theland is situated near a church. One month backwhen the lecturer started construction on theplot, the Church’s pastor Muneer Phoolallegedly demolished the boundary walls of theplot, saying that the land belongs to the Church.The lecturer contacted police and Kasur DistrictCoordination Officer (DCO) Irshad Hussainshah, who constituted a probe committee toresolve the issue. The pastor said that NayyerDavid had sold the land illegally. He said he hadno dispute with the lecturer but he wanted theChurch land back. Additional sessionJudge Kasur Arif Mehmood adjourned thehearing of the case until January 11, 2012.


Editor’s mail 11Saturday, 5 November, 2011

New currency notesThe prime minister has extended one

year time period for the old 500 rupeecurrency notes to be exchanged with thenew ones, thus accepting the plea of vari-ous stakeholders and poor people livingin far flung areas of the country whereinformation reaches slowly. Indeed, it isa welcome move. Measures must betaken to gradually educate public aboutchange of currency note through media,schools, post offices so that the informa-tion trickles down to the lower segmentsof society which do not have access toelectronic and print media. It is hopedthat hereafter sudden change of currencynotes will be avoided.

IFTIKHAR MIRZAIslamabad

The role of PCBThe verdict by a court in London, in-

dicting not just the former captainsalman Butt, but two other players is aslap on the role of PCB under Ijaz Butt.The problem in Pakistan is that this cul-ture of tolerance for corruption and fi-nancial irregularities has only led to ourloss of credibility internationally. Ourfailure to punish those caught in finan-cial irregularities has contributed toevolvement of a culture where crimenourishes. Financial and moral corrup-tion is as old as human history.

Through a process of evolution andreforms, morals and ethics are enforcedby strict accountability, which alone actsas a deterrence for such crimes. Had thePCB chairman censured these players,when reports emerged of their involve-ment in irregularities, Pakistan and ourplayers would have been spared this hu-miliation that we now have to endure.

PCB has a long history for not en-forcing discipline amongst players. Wefailed to implement the report of JusticeQayyum and political recommendationsby our ruling elite have also played anegative in encouraging indiscipline. Re-ports of selectors being accused in writ-ing, demanding bribes for selection havenot been taken seriously. It is not thatcricketers from Australia, India, Eng-land, south Africa, West Indies etc arenot involved, or have not been accused ofsuch irregularities, but the role of theirrespective cricket boards in taking timelyaction that has prevented criminal pro-ceedings from taking place.

It is the failure of PCB which sends ahuge contingent of officials, including asecurity officer, for allowing our playersto be exploited by cricket betting mafiawhich operates from India, south Africaand UAE. The presence in the PCB of for-mer players with close contacts to thedons of betting mafia reflects poorly onPCB. In the case of these players, namelysalman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Amir,the role of chairman PCB and the politi-cal interference in running affairs ofcricket need to be probed. It is the for-mer chairman and members of the PCBgoverning body are responsible for let-ting this matter get out of hand.

MALIK TARIQ ALILahore

A party aged yet immatureIn case you missed the PTI rally or its

coverage by the media, and couldn't evencatch the re-run clips on your Tvs andare looking to find out whether it was asuccess or not, then I suggest listening toany of the N-League leaders and theirviews on the rally and its success. Firstoff, a senior senator of the party ridiculedhimself by appearing television andclaiming that the number of chairsplaced in the ground was less than thatclaimed by PTI, as if the rally was to beattended by chairs and not people. Imean if the N-League thinks that a rally'ssuccess is gauged by the number ofchairs and not people then they do stillhave a shot at fame again and that is togather one million chairs in their nextconvention, because when it comes topeople, it seems tough for them to gathereven fifty thousands anymore.

Then the post-rally response by N-Leaguers was really pathetic and embar-rassing for the remaining few fans of theparty. Responding to Mr Khan's speechwith comebacks like 'he has admitted toball tampering in his book' and that 'peo-ple came from all over Pakistan andhence there were so many'. Why is it thatpolitical acumen is visibly so absent fromthe N Leaguers? First, they make thefoolish decision to hold a rally just twodays before PTI's rally and put them-selves in competition with Imran Khan.

A competition that they were boundto lose and then when PTI gathered acrowd of over three hundred thousanddespite obstacles by provincial govern-ment as compared to N Leaugue's gov-ernment machinery assisted meager20,000 in the city deemed to be N-League's stronghold they start coming upwith baffled responses and come backs.As a political party the N League hastaken one after the other politically badand immature decisions throughout thepast four years and that is one thing theyneed to manage and rectify in order tokeep themselves alive in the changingpolitical scenario, and not childish, base-less puns and allegations that are onlycausing them ridicule and embarrass-ment.

ZAFAR ZULQURNAIN SAHILahore

Sindh’s aging CMsindh is in the grip of all sorts of

problems. Disorder abounds and socialupheavals are surging. Reportedly sindhhas emerged as the most ‘ill-governed”province in today’s Pakistan. A stagger-ing truth about it is the advancing age ofits chief minister who is more than 76years old. Despite his physical decline hecontinues to rule the province.

since the rulers bear responsibilityfor the well-being of the people andtherefore for peace and order in thecountry, the president is appealed to ap-point a dynamic man both physically andintellectually, with strong and stablemind because it is always the heart andmind which guides the action.

HASHIM ABROIslamabad

New lion of LahoreAfter 15 years in politics, Imran Khan succeeded in suc-

ceeded in becoming a political force that could threaten the es-tablished political dynasties. Now the question that is beingasked the most is whether Imran Khan will be able to win seatsin the polls. Imran Khan has a strong appeal for the youth ofPakistan who are not in favour of the existing political lot that

have failed to solve the problems the country is facing. He hasnot specified how he plans to fix the myriad of problems we findourselves in but what he has done is ring the bell for the sharifbrothers’ government in Punjab.

S T HUSSAINLahore

Unnecessary expensesLast Monday marked the three-year

completion of Asif Ali Zardari’s presi-dential leadership in Pakistan. ForZardari and his supporters this must bea day of celebration while for many oth-ers it may be to the contrary.

In either case, it does not justify thenational entities to advertise their ex-pression of joy and felicitations to thepresident at the cost of taxpaying citi-zens of Pakistan. I saw at least six such

distinct demonstrations covering abouthalf a page each in leading newspapers,costing about Rs 500,000 each mini-mum.

If these institutions care so muchabout the president then they shouldsimply send a cake or a bouquet toZardari and save the cost on such ridicu-lous expenses.

I find it ironic that such steps aretaken by these institutions due to theirneed to show their allegiance to the dem-ocratic ruler of the country while in the

time of the ‘dictator’ Musharraf suchpretences did not exist.

HAWRA POONAWALAKarachi

Changing time“Pakistan and Us need to find com-

mon ground”, said our ambassador to theUs. It seems some of the extra encroach-ments have been removed.

Z AKAZMIKarachi

I am writing this letter in utter frus-tration over the failure of Federal PublicCommission services (FPsC) to declarethe written result of Css 2011. It hasbeen almost eight months since the can-didates attempted their last paper andhave been anxiously waiting to knowtheir fate. Each one of us pours our heartand soul, burning midnight oil, into thepreparation spanning from six months toa year and while waiting for the result ispainful, the delay in result only increasesour agony and anxiety levels. Even ourfamily members who are anxiously wait-ing for the result are going through un-warranted stress.

Many of the candidates may notmake it and would like to go for a secondor third attempt but with only a monthremaining until Css 2012 application

submission starts and three months be-fore the actual exams, reappearing candi-dates are in a limbo as they do not knowwhich subjects need further work andconcentration. Also, continuous specula-tion (a natural phenomenon) on part ofcandidates, makes us check the FPsCwebsite regularly, only to be disap-pointed. Many phone calls have also beenmade to the FPsC office where the staffhas only given different estimates everytime with result no where in sight.

If shortage of personnel is the issuewith an increasing number of candidatesevery year, the FPsC should haveplanned ahead and foreseen such eventu-ality based on continuous rising trendover the past years. We, who wish toserve our nation in the most prestigiouscentral services, should be dealt with a

better and efficient mechanism than theMatriculation and/or Intermediate can-didates of the provincial educationboards. This would also attract ratherthan deter the most promising and in-genious youth of Pakistan.

We, the young candidates, are at avery important juncture in our liveswhere many of us have left our jobs andput a hold on taking up other options inhopes to make it to the most revered andcoveted services. Therefore, I would re-spectfully request Mr Justice (Retd)Rana Bhagwandas, Chairman FPsC topersonally look into the matter and en-sure that the result is declared before Eidso agony is ended we can celebrate Eid inits true spirit.

A CSS CANDIDATELahore

delayed CSS result

Disclaimer: This piece is aresponse to an article by WaqqasMir, titled “PTI: All sizzle, nosteak?” that was printed in thisdaily on 31 October, a day after the‘human tsunami show’ by PTI inLahore.

Before I start off with my ob-jectivity-intended-yet-grap-p l i n g - w i t h - e m o t i o n s

response, let me credit the authorfor raising some very pertinentconcerns with regards to the poli-tics of Imran Khan, and question-ing the real cake that hidesunderneath the sugary frosting.Questions are further raised onthe concrete policy steps that arebeing proposed, or not proposedfor that matter, to bring about thegreat change all PTI supportersseem to be rampaging about.What the author fails to take intoaccount though is what the sup-posed ‘change’ is in the first place.

Belonging to the so-called

‘generation X’ of Pakistan, I dreamfor my country to one day becomea nation educated enough to ap-preciate and even contribute to-wards constructive yet rigorouspolitical debates, particularly dur-ing the time of elections. some-thing similar to the presidentialdebates we are accustomed to see-ing in the Us. Needless to say thedream includes politicians andpublic representatives intellectu-ally sound enough to hold suchdebates in the first place.

Unfortunately, politics in Pak-istan is far from reaching thatstate of maturity. Debates for usvery quickly transcend in to dis-cussions on sita White, questionson morality of marrying a ‘gori’,references to heera mandi, mo-tives for hair transplant, and anuncanny resemblance to Mr Beanamong many other topics of greatentertainment.

If the discussions are to get re-ally intellectually stimulating, wemay just delve in to an analysis ofwho has been a recent beneficiary

of the ‘politics of reconciliation’,and leave the inherent hypocrisyof showering praise in support ofthe same party you were not toolong ago giving ultimatums to, tobe implicitly understood. Its poli-tics after all; and God forbidshould anything be certain. Thetragedy, however, is that rarelyanything is principled either.

In the most developed coun-tries of the world discussions onpolicy matters and a perception ofa candidate’s competence at thepublic office greatly determinesthe potential to be elected. In suchcountries, however, there aresome underlying assumptionsabout the integrity and motive oftheir public representatives. As-sumptions which we are not at aliberty to take here in Pakistan.

Today, on the back of the grimpolitical history of Pakistan, whenpeople aspire for change theirforemost hope is to find a leaderor a political party that can hon-estly and earnestly work towardsthe betterment of the people and

not their own interests. Hence, theintent is where the change isaimed at. In a political culturelacking all principles, the support-ers of PTI find in Imran and hisparty an approach that is princi-pled and unwavering in the face ofthe bait of personal gain for itsleaders.

The rhetoric that ‘Imran Khanis the last hope’ is evidence of thedistrust amongst the people of thetraditionally established partiesand leaders. This is also a reasonwhy the slogan doesn’t read‘Imran Khan is the best option’,and why rulers of today and thepast have always been blamed forcorruption and not so much in-competence. The hope for changelies in the election of a leader will-ing enough to labour for the causeof his people and not mere poweror money.

Commitment to the declara-tion of assets, de-politicisation ofthe police, halt to drone attacks, orthe initiation of a political dia-logue with the Taliban, are

amongst others the overridingprinciples for policies which thePTI looks to build on. What ismore important though is theirability to practice what theypreach and be consistent in theirapproach even when heavily criti-cised; their leaders declaring theirpersonal assets being an exampleof the former, while holding on totheir principle of dialogue with

Taliban even when being la-belled a Taliban supporter beingevidence of the latter. In a countrywhere politicians change theirstance with the frequency withwhich one flips through the chan-nels on a mundane sunday, thisapproach is in itself refreshing.

Policies are developed basedon vision. In the opportunisticmusical chairs played by most po-litical parties in Pakistan, therehas been little effort put in bydemocratically elected govern-ments of late to set out a vision forthe nation in the first place, letalone devising policies apt enoughto help achieve it. That has been

the bane of Pakistan and its poli-tics for decades now. How many‘coherent’ policies have comeabout from any of the politicalparty’s camps? How many weretruly discussed and debated priorto their election? At least with PTI,no matter how generic or idealis-tic, there is still a vision in place towork towards.

This is certainly not to say thatthis is an end in itself. Consider-able amount of effort and hard-ship need to be endured for any ofthe promises to come true. Moreimportantly, the change will notcome over night and the roadahead will be long with numeroushurdles and potential failures. Fornow though, many may just becontent with having a leader withhis heart in the right place. Basedon history and the present, canyou really blame them?

The writer is a Fulbrightscholar pursuing a master’s de-gree in Communications Man-agement at Emerson College.

By Aun Ansari

Principles before policies


Comment12Saturday, 5 November, 2011

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

It’s about time that it’s fixed

double engine failure

The government is mulling measures to improvethe working of the fast declining Railways andPIA, a task it should have taken up soon after itcame to power more than three years back. Like

a deaf man who fails to hear anything other than a blast,the administration’s attention was drawn to the Railwaysonly after an old railway pensioner died while trying invain to receive his much delayed pension and railwayworkers started stopping trains instead of running them.In PIA, the financial collapse of the national flag carrierhas forced the government to take notice. During the lastthree years, the government in fact has done its bit tofurther the decline of both the Railways and PIA by theappointment of cronies on key executive posts andgoverning bodies.

What needs to be done to reverse the decline of thetwo major national assets is to control corruption andintroduce efficiency. One of the reasons behind theRailways’ decay is the endemic corruption from top tobottom. There have been reports of big guns leasing outRailways property for peanuts, purchasing engines andbogies that were found to be defective and hiringthousands of ghost workers. similarly the PIA, once one ofPakistan's most profitable and prestigious corporations,has been plagued by falling standards and decliningprofits. It has suffered most under cronies who throughincompetence have brought the airline to economiccollapse. The state of maintenance is extremely poor;there are engine failures, frequent delays in departuresand cancellation of flights.

The Finance Minister has been asked to recommendprofessionals for the formation of a new board of directorsfor PIA. He is also to recommend the Railways ChiefExecutive Officer (CEO) and Chief Financial Officer(CFO). This is a formidable task. His mettle will be testedwhen the PIA board of directors is formed sans croniesand relatives and top Railways executives appointed. Itremains to be seen if he can defy political pressures tomake suitable appointments. The PM has promised tochair a monthly meting on Railways’ turnaround.Hopefully he will find time for these meetings despite hismonthly visits to Quetta, frequent foreign tours and heavyagenda as the country’s chief executive.

only for the civilians

American aid

Despite the rather stringent fiscal conditions ofthe Us government and its rather troublesomerelation with Pakistan, the Us has pledged acontinuation of assistance to Pakistan. Pro-

Pakistan moves like these are bound to be not looked wellupon by the Us Congress. After all, relations becameseverely strained after the 2nd May strike that took outOsama Bin Laden. And they got worse when the Usmilitary chief went on to call the infamous Haqqaninetwork a “veritable arm of the IsI.”

Yet, the aid is going to have it detractors in Pakistan aswell. First of all, the aid is going to be reduced from itsquantum of $1.5 billion in 2010 to about $ 1.1 billion in2011 and is set to remain at this level for the next year,though the exact amount is not yet known. What is reallygoing to peeve off certain quarters is the fact that this is allprimarily civilian aid.

To be fair, we need to tone down on our annoyancewhen it comes to American money. If they want, in thistime of great fiscal constraints, performance-based aid forthe military, should have nothing to lose. But of keyimportance is the diplomatic utility of not showingindignation. since we are not fighting America’s war butone that is in our own interests, pretending the worldowes us something when we are helping ourselves isuncalled for.

Pakistan has been the recipient of huge amounts of aidfor over a decade. Towards the end of the second Bushterm, the Americans were hit by one of their worstfinancial crises. The bailout plan to deal with these,coupled with an extremely expensive war in Iraq andAfghanistan made all that aid difficult to make. But thatwas compounded by allegations of Pakistani complicitywith the resistance in southern Afghanistan and, in certaincases, Pakistan itself. All criticism of changing Americanpolicies (and priorities) should be done keeping all of thatin mind.

Imran: game-changer?

For years, the Lahore urban eliteloved to dub him as “Im thedim”, contemptuously dismiss-ing Imran Khan as a dim-wittedquixotic politician. The mam-

moth rally held by him last sunday at La-hore’s Minar-e-Pakistan, the historic venuewhere the Pakistan Resolution was adoptedin 1940, proved them all wrong. Now thesame liberal analysts have crowned Imranas a “game changer” in Pakistani politics.

Whether Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI), the party the former cricketing heroheads, will be able to translate this out-pouring of overwhelming support into a de-cisive political victory at the hustings is tooearly to predict. However, tremors acrossthe political spectrum are still being felt.

Predictably, the PML(N) whose heart-land has been challenged by Imran is notgoing to take it lying down. The party’sheavyweight and close confidant of thesharifs, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, haslaunched a tirade against the PTI chief.

Alluding to his former wife JemimaKhan’s family lineage, Nisar allegedthat Imran started his political jour-ney from the house of Jews and thathe was a cheat as a cricketer. Insteadof facing the stark political realitythat the PML(N) is losing its lustre inits till now unchallenged stronghold,its leadership is conveniently hidingbehind the canard that Imran isbeing propped by the establishment.

By cancelling the much-toutedFaisalabad rally the PML(N) has im-plicitly conceded that its game planto pre-empt Imran’s show by holdingits own rally two days earlier was ablunder. It has realised that withNawaz sharif vacationing in Londonit will be difficult to muster sizeablecrowds to match Imran’s show in La-hore.

Theoretically, general electionsdue in early 2013 are still more thana year away. Even if held earlier,Zardari will have them not before thesenate elections due in March 2012.The PML(N)’s strategy to force gen-eral elections before the senate elec-tions or to somehow send the PPPgovernment packing through an in-house change before this deadlineseems to be faltering under theImran Khan factor. Its focus has nowshifted from Zardari to counteringImran.

The sunday rally although a decisiveshow of strength revealed some chinks inthe PTI’s armour. Imran Khan was success-ful in bringing those elements of the urbanelite who though vocal about the failings ofthe rulers rarely participate in rallies or goout to vote at the time of the elections.

Those who are sceptical about the pres-ent political lot and are disillusioned withthe performance of PML(N) government inPunjab and the poor governance record ofthe PPP-led coalition government are flock-ing around Imran Khan. They consider thePPP and other mainstream parties as cor-rupt and inept and Imran as a breath offresh air.

In this sense, Imran is emerging as athird force to be reckoned with. Althoughhe vehemently denies the charge, Imran’sdetractors allege that he PTI is beingpropped up and perhaps financed by Pak-istan’s ubiquitous establishment as an al-ternate to both Nawaz and Zardari.

The throngs of youth who attended thePTI sunday rally certainly do not fall underthe category of “rent-a-crowd” which dom-inated Punjab Chief Minister shahbazsharif’s much smaller rally last Friday.

Nevertheless, Imran Khan has a longway to go if he wants to emerge as a realgame-changer in the next elections. Whilea significant section of Lahoris were pres-ent at his rally, there was only a sprinklingof the lower middle class, the urban poorand labour. These classes form the back-bone of the PPP and the PML(N)’s supportbase.

Imran’s speech also lacked the specificsand the vision needed to extricate Pakistanfrom its present quagmire. Pakistan’s eco-nomic malaise needs bold decisions basedon imaginative solutions rather than quickfix solutions to lure the voters.

His speech betrayed a certain sense ofnaiveté on his part. He created the impres-sion that power shortages can be fixed bybuilding dams and the economic mess canbe fixed merely by eradicating corruption.Easier said than done.

Imran Khan is a vocal critic of Pak-istan’s role in the war on terror and of theUs policy in the region. He has taken a con-sistent stand against drone attacks and hisparty has organised a number of protestsand dharnas (sit-ins) criticising the Pak-istan government’s complicity in these at-tacks.

It is simplistic to assume that once theUs-led forces withdraw from Afghanistan,

those who engage in suicide attacks againstfellow Muslims and are openly clamouringfor a theocratic Islamic state will suddenlybecome peaceful citizens.

Imran Khan is perceived as a politicianwith pro-Taliban leanings. In this sense,ideologically he is closer to the PML(N) andthe Jamaat-e-Islami. And he is challengingthese very forces by garnering support inurban Punjab.

Imran suffers from another majordrawback: the lack of a slate of electablecandidates and an effective party machine.He is relying merely on his personalcharisma to pull crowds. But this will notbe enough to garner votes for his candi-dates in a general election. The repeat ofthe 1970 general elections in which the PPPcandidates, mostly non-entities, defeatedtheir well-entrenched opponents on thebasis of the Bhutto charisma seems un-likely.

In a parliamentary system, the elec-tability of the candidates is pivotal in win-ning elections. It was evident from the longlist of political pygmies adorning the stagethat the PTI has to do a lot of hard work inattracting good candidates.

Imran’s plank is that he is Mr Cleanand hence would bring in only clean candi-dates. But as is true about electoral politicsanywhere, electable candidates are not nec-essarily squeaky clean.

The PTI leader will now have to make achoice between idealism and pragmatismor a mix of both. Here lies the rub. If he isnot careful and brings too many turncoatsin the fold, his charisma in the eyes of hissupporters could wear thin by electiontime.

Imran Khan has shown the will as wellas the grit to attract crowds around hismessage. Whether he will be able to emergeas a third force will depend on how he playshis cards in the coming months.

He was being dismissed as merely aspoiler who would eat into the right wingvote, primarily PML(N)’s. But this was be-fore sunday. The historic crowds at therally have radically altered the politicallandscape.

The PPP that till now had been gloatingat the obvious discomfort of the PML(N) inthe face of Imran Khan’s growing popular-ity now has cause for concern. Imran is notmerely a spoiler but has emerged as a forceto be reckoned with.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today

By Arif Nizami

the idealist or the pragmatist

whiteLIeSBy ess Aich

We hear that former President Mushar-raf has been preoccupied lately withthe possibility of returning to Pakistan

and throwing in his bit into the political caul-dron. since his arrest warrants issued back homeare a major obstacle in his plans, he has beenlooking at various options.

Apparently, he contacted Jeddah and askedthat it lean on Islamabad to ensure that the gen-eral would not be put behind bars on arrival.After all they did play a role in salvaging Nawazsharif from a Pakistani prison and possibly fromthe gallows. Jeddah, so the story goes, has as-sured Musharraf that he would be provided se-curity in Pakistan but cannot guarantee that hewould not be arrested.

Word has it that the former President, oncea Washington darling, has contacted several Uscongressmen to get the same pre arrest assur-ance but with no luck. Unfortunately, his formerAmerican mates have no interest in preventingMusharraf from becoming an inmate.

some dishes are symbols of political matchfixing or so we are told. It is understood

that an invitation to Mian Nawaz sharif’sRaiwind estate and partaking of aalo goshtor nihari there means that the invitee orcaller has been taken into the hearth andhome of this political clan. With theChaudhrys of Gujrat the muragh cooked inall its variations, is an important sign of ac-ceptance. In one hotly contested election, arival shoe industrialist’s success was actuallyattributed to his strategy of out-smarting theChaudhrys with his spread of chicken dishes.

Well, now Altaf Bhai too has his sym-

bolic dish of acceptance. People breakingbread with MQM are asked to have haleemat 90. In fact, after the release and departureof Moonis Elahi, the Chaudhry brothers re-quested that they pay the ritual respect to90. They were promptly asked to reinforcethe bond by joining the MQM clan in partak-ing of the symbolic haleem. And they did.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Imran Khan’s jalsa at Minar-e-Pakistanlast week has every one buzzing about the

event. We hear that many out of job politi-cians, sitting on the fence, while keepingtheir eyes on opinion polls, have decided that

this was better than any formal opinion poll.They are jumping to his side. However, whileThe Khan may think that his charisma, hisrecord as a high achiever and now this jalsaare his major assets, he may be overlookinganother major factor in his growing popular-ity. Apparently, Zaman Park, the symbol ofImran’s Jallundhri Pathan heritage, has an-other major asset. It is the outgoing womenof Zaman Park and there are a huge numberof them. Move over Jemima, these ladieshave sprung into action and are working likean effective propaganda machine, spreadingthe Imran message.

For feedback, comments, suggestions and, most importantly, tips, contact us at [email protected]


Comment 13Saturday, 5 November, 2011

The war cries raised bythe opposition and thelanguage it is using re-

mind one of the days after1988 through 1990s whenPML(N) and PPP politiciansindulged in no-holds-barredstruggles. Political rivalrywhich is the beauty of a dem-ocratic polity is again beingturned into personal enmity.There are threats of removingthe government though extra-constitutional means. Thisamounts to derailing the sys-tem which despite beingfaulty possesses the basicinner mechanism throughwhich it can be improved overtime.

All the normal avenues ina democracy to seek changesin government policies orputting curbs on its accessesare currently available. Theconstitution has laid down aclear formula for an in-housechange and for getting rid ofthe administration at the endof its tenure through fair andfree elections. Unlike the1988-99 period, there is agenuinely elected parliamentand the courts are both inde-pendent and assertive. Themedia is free as never before.There is no restriction on thefreedom of expression, asso-ciation and protest.

Agreed that the courts arefree not because of the PPPgovernment but despite it.After trying to block therestoration of the independ-ent judiciary, the administra-tion decided to put up with itunder sufferance. It still playsantics with the courts, putslegal and administrative hur-dles to delay court proceed-ings when these are likely togo against it. It tries to bypasscourt decisions maintaining

that the judiciary has no juris-diction over the running ofthe administration.

The government some-times commits excesses andits functionaries may not al-ways abide by law. The gov-ernment insists on appointingits blue eyed boys to impor-tant posts to help it bend oroverride rules. Despite allthis, the courts finally, albeitbelatedly, succeed in assert-ing their authority.

The media is free not be-cause of the PPP or any othergovernment but on account ofits long struggle to break thechains put on it by successiveautocratic regimes. While itshould maintain at least anappearance of impartialityand avoid vindictiveness, asmall section has all alongsought the government’s re-moval by hook or by crook.The mission undertaken isnot entirely in consonancewith media ethics.

The government howeverhas made no attempt to muz-zle its opponents. Keeping inview the breakneck competi-tion, the media simply cannotafford to neglect pubic senti-ment or cover up scandals inhigh quarters. It would loseviewers and readers if it didso and deprive itself of lucra-tive private sector ads thatensure its freedom from gov-ernment pressure. so what-ever an opposition leader saysfinds place in the media, thecoverage being of course inconsonance with the esti-mated popularity of the per-son and his party.

Unlike the past, there areno political prisoners exceptin Balochistan. No accounta-bility machinery with an aimto target opposition has beenput in place. The practice ofpunishing opponents throughaccountability courts thatstarted in the 1990’s andreached its zenith underMusharraf has been aban-doned. A new Election Com-mission has been created inconsultation with the opposi-tion.

There is freedom to ex-press views both inside andoutside Parliament. soon

after coming to power, thegovernment appointed theleader of the Opposition asChairman Public AccountsCommittee, a job that he per-formed with exceptionalcourage without sparing anyofficial or public office holderfound involved in corruptionor misuse of authority. Thereis no restriction on holdingpublic meetings and protestsand taking out rallies. Thereare no no-go-areas for the op-position anywhere in thecountry. This is how thingsshould be in a democracy.

The opposition howevercontinues to retain the tragicflaw that finally led to the dis-mantling of the democraticsystem in 1999. It displayspolitical intolerance. Its im-patience is leading it to thepath of confrontation that to-tally disregards rules of gamein a democratic polity.

Mian shahbaz sharif hasagain reverted to the lan-guage of vendetta that char-acterised the 1990s. He callsfor hanging the opponentsupside down and of draggingthem in the streets. The vo-cabulary is reminiscent of thePunjab thana culture and in-dicates an inherently unde-mocratic mindset. The oldcharge of being a “securityrisk” is replaced by the sup-posed ‘irreversible damage tonational economy’ if PPP wasallowed to complete the re-maining two years of tenure.

PTI Chief Imran Khan ismore careful in the choice ofvocabulary. He is howeverequally desperate to over-throw the government beforethe end of its tenure. He hasthreatened to issue a call forcivil disobedience in case hisdemand for the declaration ofreal assets is not heeded byZardari.

The political atmosphereevokes a sense of déjà vu. Isthe opposition providing anopportunity to someone withBonapartist tendencies toonce again derail the demo-cratic system?

The writer is a formeracademic and a politicalanalyst.

Imran managed to do what all his politicaladversaries feared the most: he got togetheran incredible array of people in a rare show

of strength and grassroots popularity under theshadow of Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan. Whilethis may be a cause for immense celebration forthe PTI and its large and diverse support bank,it throws up the most daunting of challengesthat Imran has ever faced in his charismatic life:how to keep the momentum going, spread itthroughout the country and ensure that thismammoth raw support is actually transformedinto votes on the day of the elections.

No one ever doubted Imran’s appeal to themasses. His numerous conquests in the cricketfield, his state-of-the-art cancer hospital, hiscontribution to creating the Namal Universityand his extensive and untiring efforts in the fieldof philanthropy are household subjects whichhave endeared him not only to the youth of thecountry, but to everyone who holds Pakistan andits interests supreme. But the political punditshad always drawn a line between his unprece-dented national and international stature andthe prospects of his success in the politicalarena. Imran, in one stroke on October 30, haserased that divide and has landed centre stageof the political world with a bang as his detrac-tors are seen scampering for a place to hide.

A day after the historic rally, a friend calledfrom Lahore. He started by reiterating that hehad not been a PTI fan, but still decided to be

part of the gathering. He reached theground around 3.30 p.m. and found italmost full with people pouring inceaselessly. He managed to find aplace nor very far from the stage. Tohis right was a young boy who hadtravelled all the way from some far-offpart of the swat valley. It was his pas-sion alone that had brought him there.On his right was a young girl, equallypassionate about the Imran appeal,who was studying at LUMs. At hisback sat a former governor of the stateBank with his family while in front ofhim were people representing variedsocial strata of the society. There wasone common factor that set all of themapart: their natural exuberance andenthusiasm to be part of this epoch-making event. On his way back, hefound the streets and roads around thearena choked for miles. By a fair guess,there were as many people who waitedoutside as there were inside theground.

The Minar-e-Pakistan gatheringhas overnight changed the politicallandscape of the country. Pundits whowere not giving Imran a chance in amillion are now openly acknowledgingthe arrival of a new force in politicsthat represents the dominant and in-alienable will of the people. They haveremained buried under the putrid de-

bris of the hereditary politics of a corrupt coterieof rulers for over six decades now. In theprocess, they have seen their country being sys-tematically plundered and its wealth stolen tofill personal coffers. They have witnessed thecollapse of its institutions and the bartering ofits sovereignty for a few crumbs. They have seenmore and more of its people sink below thepoverty line. Instances of suicides and self-im-molations have increased alarmingly as alsothose of people selling off their children or theirkidneys so that they could survive a little longer.Rule of law is scorned at and judicial injunctionsmade a mockery of. The cabinet is pockmarkedby individuals granted reprieve through presi-dential pardons and those awarded doctoratesin recognition of embracing as allies people whohave introduced the culture of extortion, fearand revenge-killing.

It may take a while longer to see the back ofthis corrupt lot, but the Lahore gathering hasrekindled the hope factor among people whohad just about lost it. They recognise that the in-cumbent system has been rendered dysfunc-tional and is in need of serious repair, evenoverhaul, and they see in Imran a person whohas the credentials, the integrity, the courageand the commitment to lead this surge. They areladen with this seething desire to break thechains of slavery and start living like free peopleagain as was promised to them when PakistanResolution was passed at the point where Imrangathered his vast galaxy of support. It was likere-living that day, and its boundless passion,back in 1940.

There are challenges that Imran and his vastsupport-bank face. There is enough substance inhis message, enough appeal in his person andenough hope in the future that he promises. Hewants to replace the derelict system with a de-livery-oriented mechanism that is based on get-ting the best to turn the country around and,with it, the fate of its people. The patwaris haveto go, the thana culture has to be replaced andviolence has to give way to harmony. Pakistanshould be at peace with itself and its destiny in-vesting in transforming the fate of its peoplewho have languished endlessly in the shadowsof intellectual, economic and emotional despot-ism and suffered at the hands of immeasurablemisery and deprivation.

All of a sudden, post October 30, the vastlandscape is resonating with hope that, after all,the days of sufferance may be over and the mo-ment of triumph may be near. Not lost to sym-bolism, the day after the Lahore rally, Imrantook off for China on an official visit. Among thenumerous factors that have plagued Pakistan’sgrowth, one has been its lopsided dependenceon the Us. The Lahore gathering and the Chinavisit promise a change that Pakistan and its peo-ple have started dreaming about.

The writer is a political analyst and a mem-ber of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. He can bereached at [email protected]

the groundswell comes laden with the scent of changethe 90s called: they want their politicking culture back

Opposition sans caution Make way for the Khan

Candid CornerBy Raoof Hasan

By Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad


Saturday, 5 Novermber, 2011

16 Foreign News

AMMANReUteRS

sYRIAN tank fire killed at leastthree people in the city ofHoms early on Friday as se-curity forces pursued a vio-lent crackdown on protesters

despite a government agreement with theArab League to stop shooting and talk toits opponents.

The latest deaths followed a bloodyday in Homs, where activists said at least22 people were killed as tanks shelled theBab Amro district and troops and snipersfired elsewhere in the city, a hotbed ofprotests and an emerging insurgency.

One witness, who asked not to benamed, said he had seen dozens of bodiesof civilian men with bullet wounds at thecity's National Hospital, controlled by thesecurity forces. There was no independ-ent confirmation of the killings.

Tough media curbs have made it hardto verify events in syria since protests

against President Bashar al-Assad beganin March, inspired by other revoltsagainst Arab autocrats.

The state news agency sANA head-lined its report on Homs: "Homs resi-dents condemn the armed terrorists' actsand stress their ties to foreign agendastargeting syria's stability."

It quoted a woman named IkhlasAshour as saying gunmen had hijackedthe shared taxi she had taken in Homsand after a short drive forced the passen-gers out, robbed them of their money andidentity cards and killed all the men.

"It was an indescribably ugly scene, Ifelt like I was living a nightmare," she wasquoted as saying.

Another resident, Ghayath Darwish,told sANA he and his father had been ina shared taxi in the city's Jab Abbas dis-trict when armed men intercepted it andkilled some male passengers at random,"dragging away their corpses".

sANA also said that 13 soldiers killedby "armed gangs" in Homs, the city of

Hama and the northwestern province ofIdlib were returned to their families forburial on Thursday. DeADLY STruGGLe: The violence inHoms, where tanks were bombarding forthe second straight day, illustrates howdifficult it will be to implement the ArabLeague plan in a country locked in adeadly struggle between Assad and foes ofhis 11-year rule. Fears that the unrest istaking a sectarian turn have mounted thisweek, amid reports of killings of membersof Assad's minority Alawite communityand counter-killings of sunni Muslims,who form a majority of syria's 20 millionpeople. Assad's opponents say the onlyway to restore peace in syria is for thepresident to step down immediately.

The security forces do not appear tohave changed course despite syria's ac-ceptance on Wednesday of the Arab pro-posals for an army withdrawal from cities,the release of political prisoners and talkswith the opposition. "We have already seenthe regime's bloody response to the Arab

initiative today in the form of intensifiedshelling on Homs," Ahmad Ramadan,spokesman for the opposition syrian Na-tional Council, said on Thursday.

"If its forces keep firing on protesters,Arab states may be forced to take a moredecisive position and support the case forinternational protection for civilians."

The renewed tank fire in Homs oc-curred hours before weekly Muslimprayers, often a focal point for protests.

"The wounded in Bab Amro are dyingwhere they fall. The bombardment is soheavy that no one can get to them,"samer, an activist who had fled the dis-trict, told Reuters by phone.

Activists also said dozens of peoplehad been arrested in the early hours inthe northern Damascus suburbs ofDouma and Harasta. They said soldierswere entering Mouadhamiyeh, a suburbto the west of the capital. The United Na-tions says more than 3,000 people havebeen killed since the uprising against 41years of Assad family rule began in

March. The authorities accuse Islamistmilitants and foreign-backed armedgangs of killing 1,100 soldiers and police.

Western sanctions and growing criti-cism from Turkey and Arab neighbourshave raised pressure on syria to end thebloodshed. The Us said on Thursday itsaw no evidence that syria was takingsteps to fulfil the Arab League deal.

"This Assad regime has a long deepand continued history of broken prom-ises and it has significant blood on itshands," state Department spokeswomanvictoria Nuland said. "We have not seenany evidence that the Assad regime in-tends to live up to the commitments ithas made," she said. Arab League secre-tary-General Nabil Elaraby briefedmembers of the syrian National Councilon the plan in Cairo on Thursday.

"We did not talk with the secretary-general about a dialogue with theregime," council member samir Nasharwas quoted by Egypt's MENA newsagency as saying after the meeting.

Arab League plan fails to calm Syria violenceg dozens killed in Homs, arrests in damascus suburbs g US sees more outside pressure if Syria reneges on deal

BANGKoK: Motorists make their way through floodwaters on the edge of downtown Bangkok on Friday. AFP

PARISReUteRS

France would abstain in a vote on a Palestinian re-quest for full membership of the United Nations, theFrench foreign ministry said on Friday.

While France regarded the quest for Palestinianstatehood as legitimate, the request for full UNmembership had no chance of being accepted, no-tably because of Us opposition, the ministry said inan electronic media briefing.

"That is why, during a (UN) admissions commit-tee meeting, France's permanent representative atthe United Nations said France would have no choicebut to abstain in the security Council," it said.

A vote was possible any time from Nov. 11 on-wards, it said.

The ministry reiterated a French proposal thatobserver status be granted as an intermediary re-sponse and urging the pursuit of peace talks betweenIsraelis and Palestinians.

France was among the countries that voted lastMonday to grant the Palestinians full membershipof the United Nations cultural agency, UNEsCO,based in Paris.

The Palestinians had gone to UNEsCO as a firststep in their quest for statehood recognition in theover-arching U.N. system in september, which thePalestinians formally requested in september.

On Thursday, diplomats assembled at the G20summit meeting in Cannes had suggested that sev-eral countries, including France, would abstain in avote on that request.

The Palestinians' foreign minister said on Thurs-day that they will not accept anything less than fullU.N. membership and do not want an upgrade to anobserver state in the world body.

The Palestinian bid for statehood recognition inthe U.N. system has drawn fierce criticism and sanc-tions from the United states and from Israel, whichin 1967 captured territory the Palestinians now seekfor an independent country.

France to abstain in voteon Palestinian UN seat

Iran boosts anti-US rhetoricahead of nuclear reportg Thousands rally to mark US embassy seizure

TeHrAN: Iran marked the anniversary of the 1979seizure of the U.s. embassy on Friday with burning flagsand chants of "Death to America", escalating its anti-U.s. rhetoric ahead of the release of a pivotal U.N. reporton its nuclear programme. Thousands of studentsburned the stars and stripes, an effigy of Uncle sam andpictures of President Barack Obama outside the leafydowntown Tehran compound that once housed the U.s.mission. The embassy was stormed by hardline studentson Nov. 4 1979, shortly after Iran's Islamic revolutiontoppled the U.s.-backed shah, and 52 Americans wereheld hostage there for 444 days. The two countries havebeen enemies ever since. Tehran has raised the volumeof its anti-American rhetoric since October when theUnited states accused Iran of plotting to assassinatesaudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington. Iran calls theaccusations false. Tension between Iran and the West isparticularly high ahead of the publication next week ofa report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog, theInternational Atomic Energy Agency, expected tosuggest Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. Iran says itsnuclear programme is aimed at peaceful generation ofelectricity, but its failure to allay suspicions that it isseeking a bomb has prompted the United Nations toimpose four rounds of economic sanctions on Tehran.For its part, Tehran accuses the Us and Israel of killingseveral Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years. ReUteRS

g Foreign Ministry reiterates proposal to grant observer status as anintermediary response and urging pursuit of peace talks between both sides

China envoyloses cool overIndian map error

NEW DELHIafp

The Chinese ambassador to Indiatold a journalist in New Delhi to"shut up" in a heated exchange overa map that showed parts of Indiawithin China, newspapers reportedon Friday. Reporters noticed that amap in a Chinese brochure about aninvestment in India showed theIndian border state of ArunachalPradesh as part of China and alsochallenged India's claims in theKashmir region."Peppered with questions on themap showing Arunachal Pradeshand Ladakh in China and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in Pakistan,Zhang Yan told the journalist to'shut up'," the Hindustan Timesreported. Zhang later said thejournalist "pushed, pushed, pushed"even when told it was "a technicalissue" that would be rectified."We are working for friendlier tieswith India... this will not help,"Zhang said after his flash of temperat a news conference in a luxuryhotel. Indian officials downplayedThursday's incident, saying themap was not produced by theChinese government.

latest Chinamine disasterkills 4, traps 50

BEIJINGReUteRS

An accident at a colliery in centralChina has killed four miners andtrapped 50, state media said onFriday, in the latest disaster to hitthe accident-prone industry. The "rock burst" -- a sudden ruptureof the rock face common in themining industry -- occurred at thepit in Henan province while 75miners were working underground,though 14 managed to escape soonafter, Xinhua news agency reported. seven others were later rescuedalive and emergency workers weretrying to get the others out, theChina News service added. China's mines are the deadliest inthe world, due to lax safetystandards and a rush to feed demandfrom a robust economy. In 2010, 2,433 people died in coalmine accidents in China, althoughthis was an improvement on the tollof 2,631 a year earlier.


Foreign News 17Saturday, 5 Novermber, 2011

Italy government hangs bythread as coalition crumblesg Berlusconi may already have lost working majority

About 2,000 trekkersstranded near everestin bad weather

KATHMANDUReUteRS

About 2,000 foreign hikers have beentrapped in bad weather on the slopes of amountain near Mount Everest in a remotecorner of Nepal for the past four days,officials said on Friday. They have been forced to stay in the smallhill resort of Lukla, the gateway to MountEverest, which has been covered by thickclouds this week, forcing airlines to cancelflights to and from the remote region. Lukla, which lies at a height of 2,800metres (9,186 feet), is located 125 km (78miles) northeast of the Nepali capital. Tens of thousands of trekkers and climbersvisit the solukhumbu region in northeastNepal, home to Mount Everest, every year.Many start and end their trek from thewindswept resort where a small airstrip iscarved into the rugged mountainside. UtsavRaj Kharel, chief of Lukla's Tenzing HillaryAirport, said tourists, who were not in physicaldanger, had been waiting for their flightsback to Kathmandu for the past four days.

rebellion brews inIndia coalition overfuel price hike

NEW DELHIReUteRS

A top ally of Indian Prime MinisterManmohan singh threatened to quit theruling coalition on Friday unless hereversed a rise in gasoline prices, testingthe government's commitment to a movesorely needed to cut the fiscal deficit. Trinamool Congress, a regional party, said itwould wait for singh to return from the G-20summit in France and reconsider theincrease in petrol prices, the fourth time thisyear. If the party were to quit the coalition itwould reduce singh's government to aminority at a time when it is already buffetedby corruption scandals and stubbornly highinflation. "When the prime minister is out ofthe country, I don't want to take a decisionthat can lead to the fall of a government,"said Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee,whose 19 lawmakers provide singh with aparliamentary majority. "Let the PM returnthen our party will go to him and tell himour view ... that if this goes on like this wedon't want to stay in the government. Wehave tolerated enough but we are not willingto accept this burden on the poor any more." In a first indication that the governmentcould cave to its ally's demand, a source insingh's Congress party said on Friday that apartial rollback of the gasoline price risewas possible. Banerjee's threat could forcethe government to delay a rise in diesel,cooking gas and kerosene prices eventhough it desperately wants to cut subsidiesto stay in sight of the 2011/12 fiscal deficittarget of 4.6 percent of GDP.

India opens rival bidsfor huge war plane deal

NEW DELHIafp

India on Friday opened rival bids fromFrance's Dassault and the Eurofighterconsortium, which are competing over anestimated $12 billion contract to provide126 fighter jets. The deal to supply warplanes to fast-developing India has beenfiercely fought over for four years, and theunveiling of the bids started the final phaseof the decision-making process."The bids were opened today with thecontract negotiating committee and vendorrepresentatives present to examine andevaluate the proposals to determine thelowest bidder," defence ministryspokesman sitanshu Kar said. An official,who declined to be named, said that itcould be some weeks before the successfulbid is announced after the ministry hasassessed the "life-cycle" maintenance costsof each plane and other contract details.The bids were not made public and the twocompanies declined to comment. India inApril pulled a surprise by cutting out Usbidders Boeing and Lockheed Martin --much to Washington's disappointment -- aswell as dropping sweden's saab AB and theRussian makers of the MiG 35 from the race.

MoSCow: Activists of the pro-Kremlin youth movement ‘Nashi’ (our People) carry their flags as they rally in front of the vvts All russian exhibition Centre, formerly known as vdNKh,

on Friday marking the National Unity day. AFP

ROMEReUteRS

ITALIAN Prime Minister silvioBerlusconi's fate hung by athread on Friday and deser-tions from his crumbling cen-tre-right coalition may have

already robbed him of the parliamen-tary numbers he needs to survive.

Berlusconi, caught in the crossfirefrom European powers and a party re-volt at home, agreed at a G20 summit inFrance to IMF monitoring of economicreforms which he has long promisedbut failed to implement. But this maysoon be irrelevant for the Italian leader,who will return to Rome later on Fridayto face what looks increasingly like a

deadly rebellion by his own supporters. With financial markets in turmoil

over the situation in Greece and Italyviewed as the next domino to fall in theeuro zone crisis, calls are mounting fora new government to carry through re-forms convincing enough to regain in-ternational confidence.

Berlusconi has consistently rejectedcalls to resign and says the only alterna-tive to him is an early election nextspring, rather than the technocrat ornational unity government urged bymany politicians and commentators.

Yields on 10-year Italian bondsreached 6.36 percent by early after-noon, creeping closer to 7 percent, alevel which could trigger a so-called"buyers' strike" where investors take

fright and refuse to buy the paper. Twodeputies from Berlusconi's PDL partythis week defected to the centrist UDC,taking his support in the 630-seat lowerhouse of parliament to 314 comparedwith the 316 he needed to win a confi-dence vote last month. But at leastseven other former loyalists have calledfor a new government and could voteagainst the 75-year-old media magnate.

"The (ruling) majority seems to bedissolving like a snowman in spring,"said respected commentator stefanoFolli in the financial daily Il sole 24Ore. Other commentators spoke of an"inexorable" revolt against Berlusconi.

Even Defence Ministry undersecre-tary Guido Crosetto, a Berlusconi loyal-ist, said on television: "I don't know how

many days or weeks the government hasleft. Certainly a majority relying on a fewvotes cannot continue for long." PATrONAGe: Berlusconi, one ofItaly's richest men, still has significantpowers of patronage and he and hisclosest aides are expected to spend theweekend trying to win back support fora parliamentary showdown on Tuesday.

some rebels have already threat-ened to vote against Berlusconi in thevote to sign off on the 2010 budget.

Berlusconi faced concerted calls toresign when he lost a previous vote onthis routine measure, which was al-most unprecedented. Although it isnot a confidence motion, he wouldcome under huge pressure if he suf-fered a second defeat.

CANNeS: US President Barack obama speaks with British Prime Minister david Cameron (l) and British Finance Minister George osborne (C) during a round table meeting at a G20

summit in southeastern France on Friday. AFP


MoNItoRINg DeSk: Apple has acknowledged a problem withbattery life on the iPhone 4S and other devices running its newoperating system. The company says a software update coming“in a few weeks” will address the problem. The companypreviously had not publicly acknowledged complaints aboutbattery life on the phone, which surfaced soon after it wasreleased october 14 and continued to grow in the weeks since.“A small number of customers have reported lower thanexpected battery life on ioS 5 devices,” Apple said in astatement to AllThingsd, a part of the wall Street Journalnetwork. “we have found a few bugs that are affectingbattery life and we will release a software update to addressthose in a few weeks.” Comments on a thread startedoctober 15 in Apple’s support forums to complain aboutbattery life had grown to 217 pages by Thursday morning.Introducing Apple’s iPhone 4S Siri: Apple’s new voicerecognition Apple has declined to comment beyond its basicstatement. Messages from CNN requesting information aboutthe complaints were not returned. The poorer-than-expectedbattery life has largely been attributed to location-based appsand other power-draining features of the ioS 5 system. Someusers have reported improvements when they disable time-zone and GPS features, while others have said theimprovements were minimal. The apparent glitch is thesecond time in a row that a popular iPhone has experienced ahighly publicised problem in its early days. And the responses,so far, have been similar. The iPhone 4 suffered from whatsome called the death grip, causing users who held the phonein a certain way to lose phone calls. Apple denied that therewas a problem before eventually saying that it did, in fact,affect a small number of customers. The company eventuallyoffered free cases, which improved the phone’s reception.Neither time has the problem affected sales in a major way.The iPhone 4 is the most popular smartphone in the world, andthe 4S is on track to perform just as well, starting with areported 4 million sales in its first three days on the market.


THE EXCLUSIVE FASHION PARTY

jokes do notbog SRK downRa.One

Sofia Khushi and obaira Ghafur showcased their budding talents in a fall make-up and clothes collection.

Lorna, Elizabeth,

Shona & Emma

Afshan & Shafana

Bushra & Wajeeha

Shella, Noreen &

Samira with a guest

Faiza & Wajeeha

Saira & Obaira

Zainab & Noor

Shafea with a friendDawn & Shirley

Sam, Aliya & Sofia

Aliya, Fozia, Zubia, Nadia, Marihah,

Sofia, Sehar, Obaira, Lina & Sam

New YorK: Country singerKeith Urban is expected tohave throat surgery thismonth, after a polyp wasdiscovered on his vocalcords, according to hispublicist. The surgery isconsidered a minorprocedure, Paul Freundlichsaid in a news release. Themusician will undergo “anundetermined period ofrecuperation that willrequire the postponementof the “All for the Hall’benefit concert,” Freundlichsaid. Though Urban is stillexpected to perform at theCountry Music Awards onNovember 9, he has had to“substantially scale backhis appearances requiringmultiple songs,” Freundlichadded. “All otherappearances will berescheduled in the newyear,” the statement said.AGeNCIeS

Keith Urban to have throatsurgery

MUMBaI: Pa.one (Amitabh Bachchan’s facemorphed on Shah rukh’s ra.one poster, SrKand his son Aryan went for ra.one first day firstshow...After half and hour..Aryan says: papa gharchalo na stargold pe dabangg aanewali hai,‘ra.one’ jokes are beingcirculated on socialnetworking and mobilesthrough texts with hugeenthusiasm. even amorphed poster ofShah rukh posing as aroad

side hawker selling ‘ra.one’ merchandise wasforwarded on the web which amused mostincluding Shah rukh himself! The actor withoutbeing offended chose to put up the picture onhis own Twitter page! likewise, the actor staysunperturbed by the other SMS, twitter jokes as

well. Shah rukh commented, “Some peoplehave devoted their lives to writing about

how ‘ra.one’ is not a good film. But Iknew right from the beginning that thisis not a film for everyone. Some willlike it, some won’t. But I am glad,since people are discussing it; it prettymuch shows how the film hasn’t been

ignored. The worst thing is whenpeople don’t even know if your film has

come and gone. You should either like a filmor not like it, you shouldn’t ignore it. If ‘ra.one’is being talked about, it’s a good thing for us.”

on comparison of his film’s collections toother khans’ blockbuster hits, SrK

maintained a diplomatic stand as hesaid, “It’s unfair to compare two filmsas every star has a different sensibility,personality on the basis of which he

selects a film. As far as collections areconcerned, the figures are with tradeanalysts for all to see.” ageNCIeS

MONITORING DESK

JUsTIN Bieber has tweeted thathe’s trying to “focus on the pos-itive” instead of the rumors andgossip, which may or may notbe in reference to that paternity

lawsuit he’s been hit with.(If you’re just joining us, a 20-year-old

has reportedly claimed she had sexual re-lations with Bieber last October in a bath-room backstage at one of his L.A. concerts,a tryst that she alleges resulted in a 3-month-old baby boy. Bieber has called theallegations not only false, but malicious.)

Enter Jimmy Fallon, who was morethan happy to take up the 17-year-oldsinger’s cause on ‘Late Night with JimmyFallon’. In a pitch perfect spoof on Bieber’shit single ‘Baby’, Fallon croons from un-derneath his Bieber-esque wig and cap,“You said we did it and I’m the dad. Mylawyers trippin’, ‘cause this looks bad. You

only said this to get my cash, and now se-lena Gomez is going to kick my ass. It’s notmy baby, baby, baby, no!”

Other lyrical gems include, “Yousaid...I only lasted 30 seconds, but that’snot true, that’s a lie - it was totally morelike 45,” and, “Her claims I deny flatly; Iain’t that baby’s daddy.” Elsewhere, thereal Bieber is also denying claim of some-thing else - that dog he supposedly adoptedwith selena Gomez last month.

But the teen singer made it clear toRyan seacrest on his radio show yesterdaythat he’s not responsible for the pup.

“It’s so funny because...I never got anew dog. I didn’t adopt a dog,” Bieber saidemphatically. “A friend of mine did. It re-ally has nothing to do with me. I don’t haveanything to do with that dog. It’s not mydog.” And for those who didn’t hear himcorrectly the first 12 times he said it, Bieberadded for effect: “I think he’s a cute dog,but he’s not my dog.”

Fallon spoofs Bieber:

‘(It’s not my) Baby’

DETROITageNCIeS

It seems Nickelback’s nasally rock balladsjust don’t sit well with sports fans. support-ers of the Detroit Lions are the latest toprotest a possible performance by the Cana-dian band. (The Winnipeg Free Press pub-lished an open letter to the National HockeyLeague in August when word spread thatNickelback would play at its Face-Off festi-val.) The band is reportedly slated to per-form during halftime at Ford Field, whenthe Lions take on the Green Bay PackersThanksgiving Day. But a whole lot of Lionsfans/Nickelback haters have signed an on-

line petition begging the National FootballLeague to reconsider. As of the time of thispost on Thursday, more than 9,500 peoplehad signed the virtual petition, citing: “Thisgame is nationally televised, do we reallywant the rest of the Us to associate Detroitwith Nickelback? … Is this some sort of ployto get people to leave their seats duringhalftime to spend money on alcoholic bev-erages and concessions? This is completelyunfair to those of us who purchased ticketsto the game. At least the people watchingat home can mute their Tvs.” One personwho signed the petition wrote, “I’d ratherdrink bleach than listen to Nickelback andhave them associated with Detroit.”

Sports fans hate on Nickelback... again


MUMBAIageNCIeS

FOUR days before the Britishcourts declared former Pak-istani cricketer Mohammad Asifguilty of match-fixing, on Octo-ber 28, Pakistani actress veena

Malik received a distress call from Londontelling her to immediately rush to the city tobe with him. The actress shared a live-in re-lationship with him for a year and a half.(Also see: Top 10 disgraced sportsmen)

Apparently the much-married Asifwanted to mend bridges with veena. Theactress says that the offer was firmlyturned down. veena says, “It was a mutualfriend from, London, Zahid Ali saab, whocalled me on October 26 stating that Asifwanted see me desperately and he wantedreconciliation. I declined. How can I turnback the clock? Asif and I shared a beautifulif stormy relationship. We were togetheruntil 2008 when I came to know about hismatch-fixing activities; I left him.”

“Even when we were together I tried towarn him against what he was doing. I amnot surprised by the court’s verdict. But Iam sad for him,” she adds.

Was the offer to return to the belea-guered cricketer tempting? “I can’t deny Istill have feelings for him. Relationshipsdon’t die,” admits the actress, and adds,“I’ve no hard feelings about any of my for-

mer boyfriends. My time with Asif was spe-cial. But I’ve moved on.” speaking abouther ex-boyfriend’s wife, veena says, “Asif isa happily married man. I know his wifesanaa. In fact, when they were getting mar-ried, she called me up to find out about myrelationship with Asif. I told her to pleasego ahead with the marriage.”

veena says getting involved with a mar-ried man is a complete no-no for her. “Iwould never do that to another woman.”

In fact, to avoid any temptation, veenasays she even cancelled her trip to England.“I was supposed to be there this week for anevent. It’s best not to create situationswhere things can go out of hand.”

MUMBaI: Angry with a driver for throwing out anempty pack of cigarettes on the road, the actordecided to stop him and teach him a lesson.Celebrities endorsing social causes is not new.But what Akshay Kumar did yesterday, definitelyis. The star not only stopped a man from litteringthe city of Mumbai, but also posted a picture ofthe act on a social networking site urging othersto keep the city of dreams free of garbage.Talking about the incident, a very angry AkshayKumar told Mumbai Mirror, “I had to drop my sonto school. we had been talking about thenumerous cars on road these days. And he wastelling me how he wished that the roads weresafe enough for him to cycle to school. After Idropped him, I was on my way to work. I wassitting in my car, in the usual Juhu traffic, when Isaw a driver carelessly throw his empty pack ofcigarettes on the road. I sat there quietly forabout 5 seconds, before I just had to get out ofmy car, pick up the packet and throw the packetback at the driver’s face. I dared him to throwrubbish on the ground again. The man wasvery scared. He knew exactly what he haddone. I know it for a fact that he will thinktwice before littering the streets ofMumbai again.” According to Akshay, the

growing economy would mean nothing if the citywasn’t clean. “This city has grown in so manyincredible ways, but as long as we keep treating itwith so much disrespect, nothing would matter.The economic growth would mean nothing sincenobody would want to live in a place full ofrubbish,” saidthe actor.ageNCIeS

19Lady gaga covers$1,500 magazine

MONITORING DESK

Leave it to super-size star Lady Gaga tobreak magazine records. Billboardreports that the larger-than-life popsinger currently graces the cover of theworld’s largest magazine.Art magazine visionaire’s ‘Larger thanLife’ issue is an astounding 5 feet by 7feet, and features Lady Gaga on theback and cover. The over-the-top issuehas an over-the-top price to match: itruns $1,500! (The less-impressivestandard size (36 inches by 49.48inches) will cost Monsters just $375.)shot by Inez vanLamsweerde andvinoodhMatadin, thecoverfeaturesLady Gagaas an oily-lookingmermaidwith agooey tail.Gaga saysof theimage,“There isno oil toothick as todestroy theimagination.”

iPhoneApple toaddress

Akshay, the

MUMBaI: Controversial writerTaslima Nasreen, who regularlytweets her opinion on sundrymatters, has made PriyankaChopra’s father her currenttarget. She writes, “PriyankaChopra’s father said, ‘Priyanka islike a son to me’. what anuncouth idiot man! daughterhatred not yet gone. I am waitingfor the day when fathers wouldfeel proud of their sons and say‘my son is like a daughter tome’.” She ends by quotingfeminist Gloria Steinem, “we’vebegun to raise daughters morelike sons..but few have thecourage to raise our sons morelike our daughters.” ageNCIeS

uncouthidiot

Nasreen says Priyanka’s father is an

Fozia, Nadia,

Sofia & Lina

Anika & Taliah

Obaira & Sofia

battery lifeissues

environmentalist

Veena says no to Asif

MONITORING DESK

Bucking the ‘Halloweekend’ trend this year, was ‘Puss in Boots’, theDreamWorks 3-D animated feature that promoted the ginger catvoiced by Antonio Banderas from supporting player in the ‘shrek’films to star in his own movie, with salma Hayek as Puss’s rival andinamorata, the black-furred Kitty softpaws. DreamWorks Animationboss Jeffrey Katzenberg figured that the audience’s affection for Puss,plus Banderas’ appeal to Latino viewers, should make this tale of twokitties a hit and overcome any Halloween hex for films aimed at thefamily demographic. Armed with glowing reviews from critics (81%on Rotten Tomatoes) and a healthy A-minus Cinemascore from earlyviewers, ‘Puss in Boots’ did win the weekend at the North Americanbox office with $34 million, according to preliminary studioestimates. That’s nearly three times the $12 million earned byanother new movie, the science-fiction parable In Time, starringJustin Timberlake as a rebel running for his life against the clock,and close to seven times the $5 million cadged by ‘The Rum Diary’,Johnny Depp’s latest sodden tribute to his writer pal Hunter s.Thompson. But it was the meekest opening for any homemadeDreamWorks cartoon comedy of this millennium. (Jerry seinfeld’s2007 ‘Bee Movie’ registered the previous low of $38 million; the2006 Flushed Away, at $18.8 million, doesn’t count because it was aco-production with Aardman Films.) so something was messing withPuss‘s vibe. A black cat, and not Kitty softpaws, had crossedKatzenberg’s path and put a few jinxes on his movie. In a pre-releaseteleconference, Katzenberg noted that the top opening for aHalloween weekend had been ‘saw III’‘s $33.6 million in 2006. “We

believe we can exceed that benchmark,” he said. “Anything above andbeyond that goes in the win column.” since most industry swamiswere forecasting $40 million or more for Puss, Katzenberg’s figureseemed like the usual lowball prediction that studio executivesmake about their films’ opening gross. Yet Puss had to scratchand claw to exceed the debut take of ‘saw III’, and because Pusswas budgeted at a relatively lavish $130 million (to a cheapo $10million for the Jigsaw sequel), all bragging rights arerevoked. Animated features needn’t grab the bigbucks in their first three days of domestic release.‘How to Train YourDragon’, anotherDreamWorksstart-up, opened to$43.7 million and earned nearly half a billion dollarsworldwide. This summer’s ‘Kung Fu Panda 2’weathered a mediocre $47.7 million weekenddebut to reap $663 million globally and becomethe year’s top-grossing animated feature. (Cars2 is second, with $551 million.) Paramount, thedistributor of ‘Puss in Boots’, says it has a two-weekend strategy for the film in domestic theatersand big feline eyes toward a foreign-marketsmash. sequels are the cash kittens foranimated features, but this one needsstronger numbers to green-light a Puss 2.The coming mosnth should tell howmany lives are left for the ginger cat.

Why ‘puss in boots’ is one cool cat…


Saturday, 5 November, 2011

Top seed Bartoliretires injured in Bali

SHARJAHafp

sRI Lanka removed Pakistan’sopeners early to gain anupper hand on the secondday of the third and finalcricket Test against Pakistan

at sharjah stadium here on Friday.sri Lanka, seeking a series-levelling

win after losing the second Test by ninewickets in Dubai, removed MohammadHafeez (six) and Taufiq Umar (19) asPakistan closed on 35-2 in reply to theirrivals’ first innings total of 413. The firstTest in Abu Dhabi ended in a draw.

Pakistan looked shaky from the startas Hafeez was dismissed in the fifth overof the innings, edging an outgoing deliv-ery from left-arm paceman ChanakaWelegedara to slip for Mahela Jayawar-dene to take a simple catch. Left-armspinner Rangana then struck in his third

over, inducing Umar to come out of thecrease and had him stumped by wicket-keeper Kaushal silva, much to the dis-appointment of a holiday crowd of near8,000 made up of Pakistan expats.

At close, Azhar was unbeaten on tenand Younis Khan yet to get off the mark,as Pakistan still trail by 378 runs.

Earlier, saeed Ajmal led Pakistan’sfightback with 4-132 after sri Lanka,well placed at 300-3, lost five wickets inthe space of 59 runs before they wereguided past 400 by a ninth wicket standof 54 between silva (39) and Herath 34not out. Umar Gul ably supported Ajmalwith 3-76, but late additions to the sriLankan total frustrated Pakistan whohad the upper hand in the first two ses-sions. Pakistan knew they had to removesangakkara to make inroads into the sriLankan middle-order after they dis-missed Angelo Mathews for 17 in the lastover before lunch, caught behind off

left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman.It was Ajmal who finally provided

Pakistan with the prized wicket of thestylish left-hander when his deliveryjumped on sangakkara, who failed tokeep a pull down and was caught in theslip by Younis Khan after making 144.

sangakkara, who also crossed 9,000Test runs during the innings, showedpleasure at helping the team.

“It’s pretty encouraging to know thatI crossed the 9,000 runs,” said san-gakkara, only the second sri Lankan be-hind Jayawardene to reach themilestone. “My job is to keep scoringruns and every Test is a new challenge.”

sangakkara hit 13 fours and twosixes during his 344-ball knock, whichbegan in the first over of the match onThursday. This was his second centuryof the series following an epic match-saving 211 in Abu Dhabi.

sangakkara put on 84 for the third

wicket with Jayawardene (39) and an-other 39 with Mathews for the fourthafter sri Lanka resumed at 245-2.

Jayawardene managed to add justseven to his overnight score of 32 beforebeing given leg-before off pacemanKhan. Jayawardene hit two boundariesduring his highest score of the series.

sangakkara and Mathews negoti-ated Pakistan’s pace-spin attack withconfidence, taking sri Lanka past the300-mark in the penultimate over be-fore lunch. But Pakistan struck in thelast over before lunch as they got thesecond wicket in the session, with sriLanka managing 55 runs in two hours.

Ajmal also dismissed debutant Kos-ala Kulasekara, leg-before wicket for 15,while Gul struck to remove suraj Randivfor one. Ajmal finally broke the ninthwicket stand by dismissing silva, whileGul wrapped up the innings when hebowled Welegedara for nought.

Hard day for Pakistan asSri Lanka edge ahead

SRI LaNka 1st innings (245-2)

t. paranavitana c Younis b gul 4

t. Dilshan c Younis b ajmal 92

k. Sangakkara c Younis b ajmal 144

M. Jayawardene lbw b khan 39

a. Mathews c akmal b Rehman 17

k. Silva c ali b ajmal 39

k. kulasekara lbw b ajmal 15

S. Randiv lbw b gul 1

D. prasad c akmal b khan 17

R. Herath not out 34

C. Welegedara b gul 0

eXtRaS: (lb5, nb6) 11

totaL: 413

fall of wickets: 1-4 (paranavitana), 2-177 (Dilshan), 3-261

(Jayawardene), 4-300 (Mathews), 5-304 (Sangakkara), 6-330

(kulasekara), 7-331 (Randiv), 8-359 (prasad), 9-413 (Silva)

Bowling: gul 29.3-10-76-3 (nb3), khan 27-4-94-2 (nb2), ajmal

51-4-132-4, Rehman 45-14-103-1 (nb1), Hafeez 1-0-3-0

oVeRS: 153.3

pakIStaN 1st innings

Mohammad Hafeez c Jayawardene b Welegedara 6

taufiq Umar st Silva b Herath 19

azhar ali not out 10

Younis khan not out 0

totaL: (for two wkts) 35

fall of wickets: 1-8 (Hafeez), 2-35 (Umar)

Bowling: Welegedara 5-1-11-1, prasad 4-0-9-0, kulasekara 3-

0-14-0, Herath 5-4-1-1, Randiv 3-3-0-0

oVeRS: 20

toSS: Sri Lanka

UMpIReS: Simon taufel (NZL) and Shahvir tarapore (IND)

tV UMpIRe: Shozaib Raza (pak)

MatCH RefeRee: David Boon (aUS).

SCoReBoaRD

SHArJAH: Sri lankan’s wicketkeeper Kaushal Silva (l) celebrates after stamping Pakistan’s cricketer Taufiq Umar (r). AFP

ISLAMABADafp

A furious Pakistan demanded Friday thatcricket makes good on promises to cleanup corruption, declaring prison terms forthree disgraced stars a wake-up call for anational sport in crisis. The spot-fixingscandal at the Lord’s Test against Englandin August 2010 was taken personally in acountry where cricket is an obsession anda respite from the bitter realities of Talibanattacks, recession and corruption.

But when a British judge sentencedformer captain salman Butt to 30 months,fast bowler Mohammad Asif one year andMohammad Aamer to six months, Pakista-nis were left wondering if they were reallywatching sport -- or just greedy men liningtheir own pockets. “We are made mugs forgetting up in the middle of the night, lu-natics for investing deep emotional attach-ment and fools for devising our ownstrategies,” wrote a local paper.

Millions of fans want to see Pakistanimplement a 2012 deadline from the Inter-national Cricket Council (ICC) to end po-litical appointments in cricket -- one ofonly three countries in the world wherethis still happens. Late Thursday, a fewdozen local players and young menprotested against the disgraced trio in thecentral city of Multan, setting alight por-

traits of the players and calling for a com-plete overhaul of Pakistani cricket. “Pak-istan should completely start afresh with anew set of players because there are stillquestion marks over a few of the others,”Tariq Neem-ullah Khan, a former localcricket player and political activist told thegathering. The Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB), which has kept a low profile sincenew chairman Zaka Ashraf took over lastweek, said it was determined to eradicatecorruption from the game after “a sad dayfor cricket in the country”.

But there were no high-profile apolo-gies or resignations. “PCB is determined toensure that any form of corrupt behaviourfrom Pakistan cricket is stamped out,” saidspokesman Nadeem sarwar.

After the scandal broke, the ICC camedown hard on Pakistan, last year threaten-ing them with suspension if reforms werenot implemented. The PCB said it hastaken serious measures to prevent futuremisconduct and that “more would follow”as and when the need arises. “Ridding Pak-istan cricket of any possible corrupt behav-iour will remain a high priority,” it said.Pakistan’s greatest cricketing hero, ImranKhan, who led the team to win the 1992World Cup but is today an oppositionpolitician, said the verdicts would be awake-up call and that “from now on weshould be ultra careful”.

Calls for overhaul of Pakistani cricket intensify

Jailed Aamer‘shattered’

ISLAMABADafp

Pakistan’s brilliant young paceman Mo-hammad Aamer is shattered at being jailedfor deliberately bowling no-balls but willcome back a clean player and a good man, aformer mentor said Friday. The 19-year-oldleft-arm bowler, once regarded as thehottest new talent in the game, was sent tothe Feltham young offenders institute forsix months for his role in fixing part ofLord’s Test against England in August 2010.Asif Bajwa, whose academy in the garrisoncity of Rawalpindi groomed Aamer in theearly 1990s, said the youngster was “men-tally shattered”. “I told him that he shouldbe mentally prepared for this, but once hecomes I will hide him from this cruel worldand make him a better human being and aclean cricketer,” Bajwa told AFP, saying hespoke to Aamer on Thursday. “He is veryworried about his future. I was talking tohim on phone every day and I have told himthat once he comes back I will not allow himto meet anyone, he needs mental peace,”said Bajwa. Aamer was the only player toplead guilty, a step which Judge JeremyCooke said “took courage” and saved him anine-month sentence. Bajwa, 43, said theverdict was inevitable after such damningevidence but “very, very sad for a young-ster”. But he refused to accept any blame fornot better grooming the prodigy, insteadpointing the finger at team management.“As a young boy he was very disciplined andstraight forward but once you come into thelimelight, into international cricket, it’stough to handle yourself,” said Bajwa. “Ithink 80 percent of the blame goes to themanagement of the England tour. Has any-one called manager Yawar saeed? Has any-one asked the security manager of the tourhow unwanted people mixed up with theplayers? No one has done that,” he said.

ISlAMABAd: People read newspapers featuring coverage of jailed players at a roadside stall. AFP


Sports 21Saturday, 5 November, 2011

BUTT FAMILy POSTPONES WEddING

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

THE family of disgraced former cap-tain salman Butt was so grief-stricken Friday over his 30-monthsentence for corruption in Britainthat it postponed his sister’s wed-

ding. The 27-year-old bowler who once de-lighted millions of Pakistanis with hisblistering talent woke up in a British prisonwith his name tarnished at home andabroad, convicted over cricket’s worst fixingscandal in more than 10 years.

Zulfiqar Butt made a sensational disclo-sure in a private Tv channel discussion byaccusing that convicted bookie/match fixerMazhar Majeed had friendship with formercaptain shahid Afridi and his son (salmanButt) has been trapped into spot fixing scan-dal by a conspiracy.

He said that Mazhar used to stay atAfridi’s residence but Iqbal Afridi, shahidAfridi’s brother, termed the allegations com-pletely baseless. Zulfiqar further allegedthat later on Afridi and Mazhar Majeed hadfought over some financial matters and theirfriendship came to an end.

He alleged that no one was taking thisinto consideration. He challenged Afridi tocome on a Tv channel and said he would de-bate it with Afridi who he alleged had closedties with Mazhar Majeed. It is worth a men-tion that in this scandal Mazahr has beensaying that he tried to trap Afridi many timesbut he failed to do so. similarly, Afridi is on

record saying that he had informed the PCBofficials of the suspicious activities of MazharMajeed. some media reports also quotedAfridi as saying that Mazhar tried to contacthim many times but he snubbed him.

When this scribe tried to seek Afridi'sre-action to these allegations his phone wasoff. Then an attempt was made on Afridi'sresidence number where shoaib Afridipicked the phone. This scribe then phonedshahid's elder brother Iqbal Afridi whotermed the allegations as rubbish.

Iqbal challenged Zulfiqar Ali Butt say-ing he should present the passport ofMazhar Majeed to prove when Majeed vis-ited Pakistan. Iqbal Afridi further said firstZulfiqar Ali Butt has to establish whetherMajeed ever traveled to Karachi. The scan-dal it seems has opened a new Pandora boxand more allegations and counter allega-tions are expected to come on surface.

Meanwhile, Butt’s father said hislawyers would file an appeal in London onFriday, but that he was ready to die if hisson’s guilt is proven.

Unlike the 19-year-old MohammadAamer, whom the judge said he corrupted,Butt grew up in relative luxury, the eldestof three children born to Zulfikar Ali Butt,who runs a farming business. “Our ownfriends conspired against us.” Zulfiqar didnot explain the conspiracy any further butinsisted the Butt family is not wealthy. “Youcan check our bank balance. We weren’teven able to build our own house,” DailyTelegraph quoted him as saying.

Butt’s sister Khadija added: “His mis-take was to be at the wrong place with thewrong people. This is his only mistake.”

Zulfiqar Butt said his son’s convictionwas a “big tragedy” for the family and thatas a result, he had been forced to postponehis 22-year-old dentistry student daugh-ter’s impending nuptials. “she was sched-uled to marry in Lahore this month, but ithas been postponed because the family isin a state of shock,” he said. “Her in-lawsunderstand our grief,” he added. Butt’s sis-

ters on Thursday alleged that their brotherhad been made a scapegoat for a wider con-spiracy and was innocent. “If salman’s in-volvement is proved and evidence isprovided that he took money, I tell the na-tion that my son salman and I are ready tobe hanged publicly,” Zulfikar said.

“I have brought up my children never todo such a thing.” salman was convicted ofconspiring to accept corrupt payments andcheat at gambling, and was fined £30,937($49,560) in addition to his jail term.

The judge called him the “orchestrator”and that given his “leadership status”, hewas “more culpable” than the other twobowlers also sentenced.

But Zulfikar described his son as a“practising Muslim who prays five times aday” and said he was in saudi Arabia on pil-grimage when salman telephoned to saythat he had been charged after the Lord’sTest against England in 2010.

“I immediately asked him: Tell me onoath how much are you involved in thisscam? He swore that he was not involved.“My son does not tell lies. He is very kindand helpful. He never fought with anyone.He is a good natured person. “He has beentrapped in a controversy just to malign thegame of cricket and Pakistan. Two otherbowlers were also involved because theyperformed well. The assets of our nationalteam have been sent to jail under a conspir-acy.” The father said no one from the Pak-istan Cricket Board had contacted the familyand nor had anyone expressed sympathy.

Mazhar would stay withAfridi, says Salman’s father

This is tragedy, because there

are a lot of good people in

Pakistan who would not

dream of taking dirty money

to work with bookmakers

I am glad that the spot-fixers are going tojail, but I would have sent them down forlonger. You can forget all that stuff about re-habilitation: lock them up, I say, and throwaway the key. Whether it is match-fixing orspot-fixing, this sort of cheating will destroyour game if we do not act. Cricket has alwayshad a reputation for being more than just asport. It stands for a decent moral code,

which is why the phrase “just not cricket”has become a byword for anything unfair orunderhand. People like salman Butt and thefixer-in-chief Mazhar Majeed tarnish thewhole sport, and other players by associa-tion. In my case, the link was particularlypersonal because Majeed used my nameduring his wild flights of fancy in the tapedconversation with the News of the World’-sundercover reporter. Majeed said he knewme, Mike Gatting and Phil Tufnell througha cricket charity. And unlike Brad Pitt andRoger Federer - two other names that thisWalter Mitty character threw into his salespatter - I have to admit that I did meet himbefore a one-day match at Old Trafford.

He came up and introduced himself tome while I was checking into my hotel, andgave me his business card. Then he askedme a couple of questions about the match,just like so many people I meet every day.

I don’t mind talking cricket with peoplewho are interested, whether it is at the groundor on the train home. But for Majeed to sug-gest that I was his friend just adds to my dis-gust at the whole affair. Fixing has been aproblem in cricket for more than a decadenow and we are still not getting to grips withit. I know deep down that other players havebeen involved. You hear some worrying sto-ries when you spend your life following the

game, and yet you cannot prove them. Butt isthe one who got caught and we should makean example of him. Mohammad Asif does nothave any excuse either. He has been aroundfor a long time and must know the differencebetween right and wrong. The only one I havesympathy with is Mohammad Amir. Whenyou come into the team at 18 years of age, it isnever going to be easy to tell your captain toget stuffed, even if he is asking you to dosomething that is clearly against the ethics ofthe game. But while Amir might have de-served a less punitive sentence than Butt, allfour of them are getting off lightly. This sortof dishonesty ruins the whole experience ofwatching sport, and even playing it. soon wewill find that every unexpected result, everyinteresting or unusual event on the field, issurrounded by a cloud of suspicion.

The whole Pakistan team will take yearsto regain credibility. Which is a tragedy, be-cause there are a lot of good people in Pak-istan who would not dream of taking dirtymoney to work with bookmakers. At thetrial, Majeed referred to the off-spinnersaeed Ajmal as one example of a player whowould never get caught up in fixing of anykind. The case throws a spotlight on the in-effectuality of the International CricketCouncil and the body they set up to dealwith this problem, the Anti-Corruption and

security Unit. Who has the ACsU ever actu-ally caught? It will claim that Marlonsamuels, the West Indian batsman, wasbanned for two years as a result of its inves-tigation. But even that evidence was pickedup by Indian police, who were tapping thephone of a bookmaker.

All in all, it is not much to show for adecade’s work. Especially if you believe, as Ido, that the spectre of match-fixing has neverreally gone away. The ACsU has spent toolong as window dressing. I have no quibblewith the education programmes it has intro-duced for young players. But the crackdownon mobile phones in dressing rooms hardlyseems to have stopped the rot. Crooked crick-eters will always find a way to get aroundthose sorts of restrictions. sir Ronnie Flana-gan, the head of the ACsU, said not to be tooworried, because corruption was “certainlynot rampant”. But I say that the ACsU shouldbe doing what the News of the World wasbrave enough to do - and that is to go out andcatch the wrongdoers. Use sting operations,if that is the only way to build a water-tightcase. When the police are working againstterrorism, and trying to prevent us frombeing blown up by a rogue bomb, they go un-dercover and infiltrate the criminal groups. Idon’t see why this should be any different.

teLegRapH

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

The targeting of Aamer and his family byunderworld figures involved in illegalgambling in the subcontinent played alarge part in dissuading Aamer from giv-ing evidence as a witness in the trial ofsalman Butt and Mohammad Asif, andin his own mitigation hearing followinghis guilty plea.

Trial judge Mr Justice Cooke revealedthe existence of “credible” threats as hesentenced Aamer to six months’ detentionfor his part in conspiring to fix elementsof the Oval and Lord’s Tests, reportedBritain’s Daily Telegraph.

As well as claims provided by theplayer and his family, Cooke cited sup-porting evidence from the ICC’s Anti-Cor-ruption and security Unit.

Aamer’s family claimed to have re-vealed death threats after his involvement

in the fix was revealed by the News of theWorld, and earlier this year wicketkeeperZulqainan Haider fled from the Pakistansquad claiming he had been threatened.

Aamer pleaded guilty to bowling twono-balls in the Lord’s Test but denied anyinvolvement in wider corruption, some-thing the judge did not accept.

“You have referred, in material pre-

sented to the court, to threats to yourselfand your family, saying that there aresignificant limits to what you can say inpublic,” Mr Justice Cooke said.

“The reality of those threats and thestrength of the underworld influenceswho control unlawful betting abroad isshown by the supporting evidence in thebundle of documents, including materi-als from the Anti Corruption and secu-rity Unit of the ICC.”

In his guilty plea Aamer admittedonly to fixing in relation to the Lord’sTest and claimed that he had come“under pressure” to take part in the con-spiracy, and that failure to do so wouldhave consequences for his career.

The judge rejected the plea because hehad heard evidence of Aamer’s involvementin the wider conspiracy including the Oval,and of contact with an apparent fixer fromDubai. He did give him credit for pleadingguilty, saying it had required “courage”.

SPM Bucksqualify for AmarCables T20 final

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

sMP Bucks qualified for the final ofthe second Amar Cables T20 veteransCricket Tournament after beatingsPM stags by two runs in the semifi-nal here at Ali Garh Cricket ground onFriday. Batting first, sPM Bucks made 189 foreight in 20 overs. Tariq Ramzanscored 41 runs while Romail Bashirand shahbaz Muhammad made 31 and26 runs respectively. shahid Anwarand Zia-ud-din took two wickets each.In reply, sPM stags could manage 187runs for nine 9 in 20 overs. shahidAnwar scored 68 runs while shakeelMalik and Khawaja Naseer-ud-dinmade 32 and 31* runs respectively.Romail Bashir grabbed three wicketsfor 42 runs while Rehan Butt, NadeemBaig and shahbaz Muhammad tooktwo wickets each. The final of the event will be playedbetween Amar Cables and sPM Bucksat the LCCA Cricket ground on sun-day. In the end, chief guest Ali GarhCricket club President Amjad HussainBukhari gave the man of the matchaward to Romail Bashir. Amer IlyasButt and Aizad Hussain syed werealso present on the occasion.Former Pakistani Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and Khawaja Nadeem Ahmadwill be the chief guests on the final.

pCB rejects aamer’s claim The Pakistan Cricket Board has hit back at Moham-mad Aamer for his claim that the PCB did not edu-cate them. Aamer claimed Friday that the PCB didnot educate him relating to anti corruption codes.The PCB, in a statement, said: “we would like itknown for the record that this claim is in total con-tradiction to the facts.” An official o of the boardsaid that in March 2010 Aamer signed the Code ofConduct for players when he was issued his Cen-tral Contract. “The code of conduct clearly statesthat by signing the same, the player commits toabiding by all ICC rules regarding betting, matchfixing, corruption, and any matter that could callinto question the integrity of the game. Aamer ac-knowledged that he understood the code and hisresponsibilities under the same. Aamer also com-mitted that he would abide by these rules and anyothers formulated in this regard,” he said.

‘I was offered millions to fix’ Former english wicketkeeper Paul Nixon has claimedthat he was offered 'millions of pounds' to fix aTwenty20 match in england. The 41-year-old, however,did not elaborate on his claim but said he had spokento ICC's anti-corruption unit when the incident hap-pened. "I was offered enormous money, millions ofpounds, to fix a Twenty20 game in england," Nixon,who retired at the end of last season, was quoted assaying in the daily Mail. "I had to speak to the anti-corruption guys and they then went to work but peo-ple have to be caught doing it and that's tough. Thishas all done terrible damage to the game," he added.

fixing a global problemPakistan’s former captain Shahid Afridi said Fridaythat match-fixing was a global phenomenon. “It’s notonly in Pakistan, it happens in other countries toowhere the cricket boards bury the matter,” Afridi toldthe Times of India. Two other former Pakistan cap-tains last night expressed their sympathy for Aamer.“My heart goes for Aamer, who is young and com-mitted a mistake,” said Pakistan legend Imran Khan.“Aamer is young and I think that when he saw oth-ers doing it [corruption], he thought, ‘I can also getaway with it. “when these players see corruption intheir own society, they think they could also escapeif they do something wrong,” he said. “But we shouldnot hide ourselves behind such an excuse.”

another court awaits trio A local court in lahore ordered authorities to registera criminal case against former cricket captain SalmanButt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir. Thethree cricketers were convicted of corruption andspot-fixing by a court in Britain. The additional dis-trict and sessions court in lahore issued the order inresponse to an application filed by lawyer Muhammadzubair Bulqan, who had asked the judge to direct au-thorities to register a case against the Pakistani crick-eters involved in spot-fixing. Bulqan said the playershad tarnished Pakistan's image in the world of cricketby indulging in spot-fixing. He said the offence theplayers had committed was not a tolerable one forthe entire country. The petitioner said he earlier sub-mitted an application to Islamapura police station forregistering a case against the cricketers but officialshad refused to act on his request.

aamer didn’t do it for moneyMohammad Aamer had called his family in lahore onwednesday evening to ask them to pray for him andafter the verdict his brother Saleem called on the Pak-istani government to intervene. “Aamer is a kid, he can’tunderstand things. These six months are a lot for an im-mature kid,” Saleem said. Aamer’s mother fought backtears as she said: “He was innocent, he has not donethe no-ball for the sake of money, he was forced tothrow [a] no-ball.” Mohammed Asif’s father, Hasan deen,a dairy farmer, hit out at the sentence. “It is human be-ings after all who go to jail,” he said. “He hasn’t commit-ted a murder. we haven’t made any great money fromcricket. I know Asif will return home one day.”

Staff RepoRtS/ageNCIeS

Aamer’s family received death threats

Pakistan will take years to regain credibilityeXpeRt CoMMeNt

GeoFFreY BoYCoTT

Amjad Hussain Bukhari gives the Man of theMatch award to romail Bashir while AmerIlyas Butt and Aizad Hussain Syed look on.


g Arsenal need a convincing win to herald the ‘turning of the corner’, while Chelsea need a backlash

NeWCaStLe VS. eVeRtoN

Newcastle’s win at stoke was probablytheir biggest win of the season and theyare now officially in the running for a top-four spot. A consistent lineup, robustmidfield, and the goal-scoring prowess ofBa make the Magpies a force to be reck-oned with, as they host an Everton sidedevoid of any inkling of confidence andhave Cahill and Distin as injury doubts.Obertan is out for Newcastle.

Prediction: 3-1

aRSeNaL VS. WeSt BRoM

Most sides come at the Emirates, decideto sit deep, do not allow any space behindand in turn frustrate Arsenal’s forwards.Roy Hodgson would be looking to do thesame, especially since they have a ‘longterm’ striking absentee – pun intended.Arsenal, nonetheless, need to ensure thatthey don’t follow-up the ‘wonderful’ atChelsea with a ‘weird’ this time round.Needless to point out van Persie’s impor-tance, Walcott should, however, begin toinstill some consistency after his stagger-

ing display at the Bridge.Prediction: 3-0

VILLa VS. NoRWICH

9th hosts 8th in what promises to be anevenly matched encounter. The two mid-field packs should cancel out one another,and the forwards won’t find it easy to outdotwo well organised defenses, despite Bentand Agbonlahor being on song off-late.

Prediction: 1-1

BLaCkBURN VS. CHeLSea

Back to back defeats have derailed theBlues who looked on song till Drogbagot sent off at QPR, and the midweekresult was also a set-back. Blackburnhowever, present an ideal opportunitydo get their season back on track. Tor-res needs to take more responsibility inleading the attacking, and combine withsturridge and Mata to ensure they comeout with all three points. Blackburn dohave the potential of making thingsrugged though.

Prediction: 1-2

LIVeRpooL VS. SWaNSea

Gerrard is out for this one, as Liverpoolwelcome swansea – a side that has im-pressed one and all, and has Graham fir-

ing on all fronts. Carroll has a chance tostake a claim for a permanent role in thestarting lineup and suarez would look tocontinue his impressive run of form. IfLiverpool can stop Graham and sinclair,they could win comfortably.

Prediction: 2-1

MaN UtD VS. SUNDeRLaND

United continue to eke out results inthe league and in Europe, as they lookto chase down a five point lead createdby City. Playing Rooney in midfieldseemed to sort out the midfield issue,but created one in the forward-line in aleaf out of sophocles' Oedipus theKing’s gamut of irony. sunderlandmeanwhile are showing signs of im-provements with sessegnon coming tothe fore. United, nevertheless, shouldhave Rooney and Hernandez upfront tocause sunderland’s defense perpetualtrouble; United’s backline is anyone’sguess though.

Prediction: 3-0

QpR VS. MaN CItY

City are soaring both domestically and inEurope. Doubts over silva might be aconcern, but City’s ensemble of super-stars should take care of QPR, who have

a swelling list of casualties themselves.Aguerro, Balotelli and Dzeko should havetheir hands full in this one.

Prediction: 0-3

WoLVeS VS. WIgaN

Both sides are without a win in their last 7matches and a combined total of a singlepoint in the same time span. This could betouted as an early ‘relegation six pointer’as both sides struggle for inspiration up-front, despite having the personnel.

Prediction: 1-1

BoLtoN VS. Stoke

Bolton are giving Wigan and Black a runfor shambolic eminence, but should bebuoyed by a visiting side that normallydoesn’t turn up away from home. N’gog

needs to tie up his laces as most of histeammates, including Petrov are on adownward spiral. stoke have their skip-per shawcross as a doubt, but the Wal-ters-Crouch partnership is working well.sticking my neck out, considering Boltonhaven’t had a draw.

Prediction: 2-2

fULHaM VS. SpURS

Two sides off the back of contrasting Eu-ropa Cup fortunes could play out a fast, fa-tigue-laden encounter. Fulham arestruggling to string together back-to-backresults – despite a decent array of forwards– and welcome a spurs side that restedtheir big guns in midweek, and have Baleand van Der vaart in breathtaking form.

Prediction: 1-2

FIxING FIASCO

INTEr-SCHOOL GAMES

Sports22Saturday, 5 November, 2011

NEW DELHI: West Indies cricketers warm up during a

training session at the Ferozeshah Kotla Stadium. AFP

KUNWAR KHULDUNE SHAHID

Comment

EPL CrySTAL BALL rOUNd 11

Straightforward fixtures for the big guns

organisers seekassistance fromPunjab govt

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

The Punjab Olympics Association Fridayannounced Rs 2.3 million budget for theorganisation of the 4th Inter-school andCollegiate Games and have written tothe Punjab government for financial aid.Addressing a press conference here onFriday, President PbOA syed shahid Alisaid that a large number of schools andcolleges are taking part in the Games.Malik Iftikhar, Tania Malik and Kh Idriswere also present on the occasion. shaidsaid that the attention given to sportswas not sufficient enough to produce in-ternational players. The meeting wasalso attended by a large number of offi-cials of different institutes. MalikIftikhar said that it was the duty of thecorporate society and industrialists tocome forward in support of sporting ac-tivities. Idris Haider informed that Khy-ber PK and sindh have also confirmedparticipation of 20-member contingenteach. He said that the Games, which areto be held rom November 15 to 19, willbe contested in 23 boys and 14 girls dis-ciplines. Chief Minister Punjab Mianshahbaz shairf will be the chief guest ofthe opening ceremony while PunjabGovernor Latif Khosa will be the chiefguest of the closing ceremony. TaniaMalik said that around 300 schools andcollege will be taking part in the gameswith just 75 teams have already beenregistered in the basketball event.

Pakistani weightlifting

team leaves for FranceLAHORE

Staff RepoRt

The two member Pakistan weightliftingteam has left for France to take part inthe World Weightlifting Championship.The event is being held at Disneyland,Paris from November 5 to 13. PWF sec-retary Hafiz Imran Butt and weightlifterIrfan Butt will be representing Pakistanthere. Hafiz Imran will be attending theworld weightlifting congress meeting.He will also act as referee while IrfanButt will compete in the 77 kg bodyweight category. A Pakistani ladyweightlifter Abdullah Kalsoom of KP,now settled in UsA, will join themfrom the states. she will represent inthe 48 kg bodyweight category.

LAHORE Staff RepoRt

Former Pakistan captain Rameez Raja be-lieves that the manner by which the fixingculprits were penalised would help clearthe game of corruption. He believes thatthe incident has indirectly helped the Pak-istan team gel together and play for a bet-ter future. In an interview with Gulf News,Raja, also a former Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) chief executive, said: "It is sad newsfor Pakistan fans because they had alreadyput the spot-fixing saga behind them, butsuddenly it has erupted once again[through the court ruling].

"In a way it is a good thing that the gameis being cleared of the mess. Pakistan cannow look forward to a better future, espe-cially since their performance in the last 12months has been extremely impressive.They seem to have learned a great deal from

this horrible experience." Elaborating on thelessons to the learned from the incident,which saw three of their most talented crick-eters sent to jail by a British court on Thurs-day, Raja said: "I think this whole episodehas sort of made the players gel together.

Also it has given them the bond. All that wenow need to do is to prove the point to theworld that we are to be recognised as a goodcricket-playing country and that we need toperform in every game." Raja feels the con-troversy has also made the task ahead of thePakistan team a bit harder. "This incidenthas also made it a bit tough on themselvesbecause whenever they lose a match fingerscan be pointed at them," he said.

"It is heartening to know that they havebeen able to absorb all the pressures and goon to perform out there. This is somethingreally great for not only Pakistan cricket butalso for world cricket too." Raja also wantsthe PCB to monitor the players and thegame correctly at all levels. "From theboard's point of view, I feel there should bezero tolerance when it comes to indisci-pline," he said. "They should put in legisla-tion at every level of the game fromunder-19 and first class cricket to ensure

that they boss the game in a proper manner.I think it is also pertinent for the players torecognise their importance as ambassadorsof the game and that there could be no otherhigh than wearing the green cap or greenblazer when you go out there and representthe country. "They should also create ahealthy environment in the dressing roomby making sure that you get the right peoplegoverning the cricket team."

When asked whether the Anti-Corrup-tion Unit of the International Cricket Coun-cil needs to be made more powerful, Rajasaid: "I don't think that they can have thepowers of a policeman or a police depart-ment, so I think they are out there as a de-terrent. "I think at the end of the day theymust be happy because they had put in astrong case against these three players andthe court case going in favour of the ICCwould obviously give them a lot of hope.They need to keep an eye on everything."

Chelsea need to

bounceback

Rameez urges youngsters to learn lesson


Sports 23Saturday, 5 November, 2011

watCh it LiVe

STAR SPORTSC’wealth Bank Tournamentof Champions 201111:00AM

TEN SPORTSPakistan v Sri Lanka3rd Test Day 311:00AM

STAR SPORTSAFC ChampionsLeague 2011 Final03:00PM

on-song Hattaf inNovember Cup final

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Hataff on Friday routed Hira valves andqualified for final of the November PoloCup. They will face Adisseo for the title.In the last league match of the event,Hataff hammered Hira valves 10-1.Abdul Rehman Monnoo and Mohammadsamir Malik were the stars of the winwith the former scoring six goals whilethe remaining four went samir’s way.The only goals for valves side came bythe end of the game through Nafees Bary.On the other hand, Men’s store moved tothe subsidiary final after winning twochukker encounters and will now faceNewage. Men’s store first cracked FAsTube Mills 4-1 and then thrashed PakPunjab Carpet, which failed to score asingle goal. Later, FAs Tube Mills after atough fight beat Pak Punjab Carpets byhalf-a-goal margin as both the teamsconverted two goals each in the stipu-lated time. The matches were supervisedby Usman Haye, Adnan Jalil Azam, shahshamyl Alam and Mian Hussain Iftikhar.

Afghan FC, KeSCvictorious in PPl

LAHOREStaff RepoRt

Afghan FC and KEsC won their matchesin the eighth Pakistan Premier FootballLeague on Friday.Afghan FC defeated Baloch FC by 4-1 atGovt. High school (Chaman). Zabihullahof Afghan FC scored the goals in the 7th,58th, 65th and 82nd minute of thematch while Amir Khan scored the onlygoal for Baloch FC in 77th minute. In the second match, KEsC beat NBP by1-0 at Peoples Football stadiumKarachi. Akbar Ali scored the winninggoal in 54th minute of the match.

RVP is the league’s MVP

AFTER last weekend’s epic 5-3 tri-umph at stamford Bridge, Wenger,again, had claimed that his side had

turned the corner. However, the 0-0 drawagainst Marseille on Tuesday not onlybrought under scrutiny the measurementsand dynamics of this particular corner thatthe North Londoners endeavour to veer outof, it solicited a more germane question ofhow Arsenal would fair without their talis-manic – an overused term, not so here –captain Robin van Persie.

After van Persie’s momentous treble atthe Bridge, Arsenal had made a resoundingstatement of growth. Au contraire, the in-fertility at home against Marseille – a sidestruggling in the French Ligue 1 – was un-ambiguously the corollary of van Persienot being introduced into the game till thehour mark. By that time, the tone had beenset at the Emirates in another one of thosefrustrating outings at home, where theGunners dominate most matters on thepitch barring the goal count. With Arse-nal’s reliance on their captain to scoregoals and provide moments of inspiration,van Persie domineers over his teammatesin terms of sheer vitality. Even so, Arse-nal’s position on the league table, their sea-son targets and of course their reliance on

their captain connotes that Robin van Per-sie is the most valuable player in the EPL.

Arsenal’s quest of finishing in the topfour hinges on the performances – morerelevantly, the fitness – of the Dutchman.And hence, he could singlehandedly be thedifference between Arsenal finishing inthe lower echelons of the top half, or end-ing up within the proximity of the summit.No other player comes close to matchingthe sway that the former Feyenoord manhas on the shape up of the league table.Whilst, David silva is the unanimouslyproclaimed ‘Player of the season’ so farand he wheels the play in City’s colours, ifone were to hypothetically take him out ofthe City line-up it wouldn’t exactly be cat-astrophic and the table toppers would stillfinish close to the top. The same goes forRooney, van Der vaart, and anyone youcare to name from the Chelsea squad.Even Liverpool don’t screen their emblem-atic ‘one man shows’ owing to a more bal-anced squad. If anyone comes close tomatching van Persie’s impact on theleague, it’s Cheick Tiote for Newcastle, butthat is owing to the Magpies punching wellabove their weight, albeit deservedly.

van Persie’s recent goal-scoringstats are staggering indeed; 12 goals

from 14 games this season, 28 goals in27 EPL games this calendar year – hehas scored 53 percent of Arsenal’s leaguegoals in 2011; no other player has posteda higher percentage this season. It iscriminal that he hasn’t even been short-listed for the Ballon d’or award, when inall honesty his displays over the pastyear or so are next only to the big two ofworld football – Ronaldo and Messi. Thepersonal accolades, however, are so in-termingled, with the team accolades thatsometimes the pool for handpicking thewinner is blatantly obvious. The fact thatthere are eight Barcelona players in theshortlist divulges everything.

Following the unceremonious depar-tures of the midfield duo of Fabregas andNasri in the summer, van Persie’s pres-ence became all the more ominous. Whilemost Arsenal fans would venerate Fabre-gas’ exploits as the vanguard of their play,it was van Persie who stood out in themost significant occasions even in Cesc’sepoch. Fabregas – opulently dexterousthough he undoubtedly is – quite oftenthan not, failed to translate his supremacyagainst the big guns when the onus was onhim. He was never fit enough to be thecaptain, with his lack of mental fortitude

and his handling of his troops coming inquestion intermittently. van Persie how-ever, is a befitting leader, one who com-prehends the game, marshals his troopsand doesn’t hide in the big games. Theonly glaring question mark rests over hisfitness, which is why Wenger is doing isbest to keep his captain wrapped in cottonwool and not being over-exerted.

van Persie – originally a winger whoalso had the versatility to play in the hole– was initially touted as the successor to

Bergkamp’s throne and is now followingthe ‘goal-scoring’ footsteps of Ian Wrightand Thierry Henry. But as things stand,with the Gunners’ potpourri of foot-balling struts, he is more paramount forthe club than the aforementioned trio ofArsenal legends. And, Arsenal’s captain isclear as to where he stands on being agoal-scoring number 9 or the playmakingnumber 10, “I’m a nine-and-a-half” hetold Arsenal magazine recently.

kUNWaR kHULDUNe SHaHID

MOST vALUABLE PLAyEr

g No other player can singlehandedly affect the ePl standings more than robin van Persie

NEW DELHIafp

THE fervent wait for Indianbatting superstar sachinTendulkar’s 100th interna-tional century is likely toovershadow the three-Test

series against the West Indies start-ing on sunday. Tendulkar’s bid foran unprecedented century of cen-turies has been the talking point eversince he hammered his 99th interna-tional hundred against south Africaat the World Cup in March.

Millions of fans expected Ten-dulkar to achieve the feat on the re-cent tour of England, but the battingace headed home without a three-figure knock in the disastrous se-ries, which India lost 4-0. He waseventually ruled out of the subse-quent home and away one-daymatches against England due to atoe injury and has now gone eightgames -- four one-dayers and asmany Tests -- without a century.

The hosts will also look to redeemtheir Test image after the Englandtour where the whitewash saw themlose their number one Test ranking.They also lost the tour one-dayers 3-0. India, however, returned to win-ning ways in the 50-over format whenthey blanked England 5-0 in the homeone-day series last month. India alsohope to use the West Indies Tests toassess the form and fitness of their keyplayers ahead of next month’s high-profile tour of Australia. “It’s going tobe an important series against theWest Indies, especially after the dis-mal time we had in England,” saidmiddle-order batsman venkatsaiLaxman. “We want to come backstrongly and regain the top position.“It was great to see the one-day teamrespond so splendidly against Eng-land at home by whitewashing them.

“Hopefully, the Test team toowill start off the season on a winningnote, so that we will be high on con-fidence before leaving for Australia.”

Tendulkar, opener virender se-hwag, paceman Ishant sharma andall-rounder Yuvraj singh have allreturned to the squad after recover-ing from injuries sustained duringthe England tour. India, who wonboth the Test and one-day series ontheir tour of the West Indies in

May-July, will be searching for theright bowling combination to go upagainst Australia. The hosts havenamed four uncapped bowlers --spinners Ravichandran Ashwin andRahul sharma, and pacemen varunAaron and Umesh Yadav -- in theirsquad in the absence of key fastbowler Zaheer Khan and spinnerHarbhajan singh. While Zaheer isrecovering from a hamstring injury,Harbhajan was axed following hispoor performance on the Englandtour where he bagged just two wick-ets in as many Tests.

The West Indies won the recentTest and one-day series inBangladesh, but will find India to bea formidable unit in home condi-tions. The tourists will again be with-out hard-hitting opener Chris Gaylefollowing his differences with theWest Indies Cricket Board. He hasnot played for the West Indies sincethe World Cup earlier this year.SQUaDSWeSt INDIeS (fRoM): darren Sammy (capt),

Adrian Barath, Carlton Baugh, devendra Bishoo,

Kraigg Brathwaite, darren Bravo, Shivnarine

Chanderpaul, Fidel edwards, Kirk edwards, Keiran

Powell, denesh ramdin, ravi rampaul, Kemar

roach, Marlon Samuels, Shane Shillingford.

Coach: ottis Gibson (wIS)

INDIa (fRoM): Mahendra Singh dhoni (capt),

virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, rahul dravid,

Sachin Tendulkar, venkatsai laxman, virat

Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, Ajinkya rahane, ravichan-

dran Ashwin, Pragyan ojha, rahul Sharma, Is-

hant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, varun Aaron.

Coach: duncan Fletcher (zIM)

Arsenalrely on

vanPersie’s

brilliance

Top seed Bartoli retires injured in BaliBALI

ReUteRS

Top seed Marion Bartoli squandered two match points before retiring with an ankle injury in heropening match at the Tournament of Champions against spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues on Fri-day. The Frenchwoman, who also retired in the final of the event in 2009, collapsed to the groundafter injuring her right ankle soon after the start of the third set. she was writhing in agony as shereceived treatment and was eventually helped off the court, surrendering the match 4-6 7-6(7) 1-0.Bartoli had stood just one point away fromadvancing but was left frustrated as her er-ratic serve let her down, prompting her to dis-card several rackets. After watching herspanish opponent save one match point, Bar-toli double faulted on the second. “It hap-pened in the tiebreaker,” Bartoli told Reuters.“On one of Anabel’s dropshots I really felt myankle blocked and my whole body went for-ward on it. “It started to hurt a few secondsafter and when I got the match point on myserve I really struggled to put any weight onmy foot. Everything falls apart from there,”she added. “I didn’t put any weight on it whileI sat in my chair (before the third set) butwhen I began to walk to serve I realised howbad it was getting. Even if I won the matchpoint I wouldn’t be able to play tomorrow.

NUSA dUA: Marion Bartoli of France hits the ballagainst Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain. AFP

Sachin landmarkeludes India inWindies series

Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh dhoni (l) and west Indiescricket captain darren Sammy (r) pose with the trophy. AFP


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

Saturday, 5 November, 2011 24

WASHINGTONafp

Pakistan has begun moving its nuclearweapons in low-security vans on con-gested roads to hide them from Us spyagencies, making the weapons more vul-nerable to theft by militants, two Us mag-azines reported on Friday.

The Atlantic and the National Jour-nal, in a joint report citing unnamedsources, wrote that the Us raid thatkilled al Qaeda chief Osama bin Ladenin May at his Abbottabad compound re-

inforced Islamabad’s longstanding fearsthat Washington could try to dismantlethe country’s nuclear arsenal. As a re-sult, the head of the strategic Plans Di-visions (sPD), which is charged withsafeguarding Pakistan’s atomicweapons, was ordered to take action tokeep the location of nuclear weaponsand components hidden from theUnited states, the report said. KhalidKidwai, the retired general who leadsthe sPD, expanded his agency’s effortsto disperse components and sensitivematerials to different facilities, it said.

But instead of transporting the nuclearparts in armored, well-defended con-voys, the atomic bombs “capable of de-stroying entire cities are transported indelivery vans on congested and danger-ous roads”, according to the report. Thepace of the dispersal movements has in-creased, raising concerns at the Penta-gon, it said. The article quotes anunnamed official from the powerful IsIas saying, “Of all things in the world toworry about, the issue you should worryabout the least is the safety of our nu-clear programme.” The Pentagon de-

clined to comment on the article but asenior Us military official told reportersin Washington on Friday that the Us re-mained confident Pakistan’s nuclearweapons were secure. “I believe the Pak-istan military arsenal is safe at this time,well guarded, well defended,” said themilitary official, who spoke on conditionof anonymity. The article, based ondozens of interviews, said the Us mili-tary has long had a contingency plan inplace to disable Pakistan’s nuclearweapons in the event of a coup or otherworst-case scenario.

Magistracy revived in Sindh

KARACHIQaZI aSIf/ RaZZak aBRo

The sindh government has restored themagistracy system across the provincefollowing the lapse of the sindh LocalGovernment Ordinance 2001 on Friday.sindh Chief secretary Raja Abbas issued anotification late on Friday regarding theappointment of commissioners in divisionsof sindh and deputy commissioners in theprovince’s districts. The Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) has so far not come upwith a statement on the development. Afterissuance of the notification regardingrestoration of the magistracy, all old divisionsand districts will be restored and Karachi willagain have five districts. similarly, all DCOswould take charge of their districts as deputycommissioners.Official sources said therewas a legal compulsion to restore the oldmagistracy, as the government had no otheroption at this stage.They insisted that theruling political parties, especially the PPPand MQM, would continue to work on newlocal bodies’ system and whenever aconsensus was developed, the new LGsystem would be enforced in the provincethrough legislation in the sindh Assembly.Earlier, a meeting between the PPP andMQM ended without any result and decidedto again meet today (saturday) at the CMhouse for further discussion. sindh ActingGovernor Nisar Ahmed Khuhro had issuedthe ordinance on July 9 regarding restorationof local bodies’ system 1979. On July 13, thesindh Assembly with majority passed theseordinance and converted in to acts. Afterreconciliation with the MQM, the PPP-ledsindh government issued local bodiessystem’s ordinance on August 6. Accordingto that ordinance, Karachi and Hyderabadwere to fall under the sLGO 2001, while therest of sindh was to fall under magistracy.The development had led to massive protestsin the province and the governmentsubsequently withdrew the dual system onAugust 7, within 24 hours. sindh GovernorIshratul Ebad later restored the sLGO 2001through an ordinance on August 7. Thisordinance was valid for 90 days, the limit ofwhich expires today, (saturday November 5).If another arrangement is not made, the actof sindh Assembly will automatically come into force, according to which the old conditionof Karachi and Hyderabad andcommissioner-ate system would restored.The nazim system would be abolished.During the meeting, MQM insisted that asession of sindh Assembly should be calledimmediately to get another act on localbodies system passed. But source said thePPP maintained that it was not possible tocall a session of sindh Assembly in a day andpass a new act regarding the local bodiessystem. The press secretary to the sindhgovernor said the ordinance was issued onAugust 7 and its validity would collapsetonight after 12 midnight.

lJ hitmen kill lawyer

in attack on ex-SHC

judge’s houseKARACHI

Staff RepoRt

A lawyer was killed on Friday in an attack onthe vehicle of former sindh High Courtjudge, Justice Zawar Hussain Jaffery outsidethe latter’s residence in Block-v of GulshanIqbal. Later, police managed to arrest twoalleged assailants, who, according to sources,are affiliated with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.They added that it was a sectarian attack asthe judge is shia and so was the deceasedlawyer. According to details, the judge was athis residence when a lawyer, Zainul Abideen,came to visit him. some assailants in Cultuscar opened fire at the judge’s vehicle parkedoutside his home, injuring Abideen in theprocess. When the security guard of thejudge opened fire on the escaping attackers,they lost control of their vehicle and rammedtheir car into the wall of a nearby house.They tried to escape on foot, but by that timethe police had reached there and arrestedtwo of them following a brief encounter. Theinjured lawyer was taken to the Aga Khanhospital where he succumbed to his injuries.The body was later shifted to the Abbasishaheed Hospital. The arrested men wereidentified as Jameel and Muneer and oneKalashnikov, two Uzi sub-machineguns, arifle, a rope, a knife and bullets were seizedfrom their possession. The CrimeInvestigation Department took them intocustody and shifted them to an undisclosedlocation. The sources said that the two menare members of the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and important information could beextracted from them during interrogation.

Govt, banks convert

rs 391b circular debt

TFCs to PIB, T billsISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

To resolve a major anomaly, thegovernment and banks on Friday swappedhalf of the Rs 391 billion-circular debt termfinance certificates (TFCs) into five-yearPakistan Investment Bond (PIB) and theother half into one-year treasury bills (Tbills). Briefing reporters, Finance secretaryWaqar Masud Khan said the swap wasperformed by banks and the state Bank ofPakistan on Friday evening in Karachi. Hesaid TFCs were issued at an exorbitant rateof 200 bases points above the KIBOR. Theoffered rate for PIB is based on the averageof last two issued bonds, while the offeredrate for T bill is the same as given to bankstwo days ago by the central bank. Thebanks have opted for swap as newinstruments were liquid compared to theTFCs. The resolution of circular debt willresolve a major anomaly on which theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) hadmajor concerns, as it was not reflected inthe federal budget of the last three fiscalyears fro being parked outside the budget.“The swap will increase the fiscal deficit by1.8 percent of GDP and will be shown inthis year’s budget,” he said, although hedenied that it was resolved to get a betterreport from the fund in the upcomingweek-long negotiations in Dubai. Theswap would clear the liabilities in bankbooks and would allow them to continuefinancing for power sector projects. Aswith huge advances given to the powersector, the banks have refused furtherfinancing for power projects that wascausing difficulties for the generationcompanies in fuel purchases.

NEW DELHIINp

In a surprise move, Indian Prime Min-ister Manmohan singh has asked theIndian Ministry of External Affairs tosend a request to his Pakistani counter-part Yousaf Raza Gilani for a meetingin Maldives on the sidelines of theeight-member sAARC summit on No-vember 9 to 10.

Officials at the ministry had tried topersuade singh to wait instead for aninvitation from Pakistan as they be-lieved that a request should have comefrom Islamabad as it needed India’shelp more after its strained relationswith both the Us and Afghanistan. TheIndian Prime Minister’s Office has di-rected the foreign secretary to send therequest as singh wanted to personallythank Gilani on two counts – the im-mediate release of an army helicopterwith four soldiers that had “mistak-enly” crossed the Line of Control andPakistan granting India the Most

Favoured Nation status. India hadgranted this status to Pakistan wayback in 1996. In March, singh kept theministry out of the loop when he di-rectly faxed an invitation to Gilani towatch the India-Pakistan cricket WorldCup match in Mohali. According to in-siders, singh finds ministry officials al-ways prejudiced against Pakistan and

hence prefers to take decisions on Pak-istan without consulting them. It is alsobelieved that singh is in a hurry to nor-malise relations with Pakistan to en-able him to visit Islamabad next yearbetween July and september to takecrucial decisions on the issues ofsiachen, sir Creek and make substan-tive progress on Kashmir.

Singh seeks meetingwith Gilani in Maldives

‘Pakistan’s N-weapons vulnerable to theft’

kaRaCHI: police personnel stand guard outside the house of former Sindh High Court Justice Zawar Hussain Jaffary after

an attack on his house by suspected militants. ONLINe


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