SiAchen trAgeDy

islamabad — peshawar edition Monday, 9 april, 2012 Jamadi-ul-awal 16, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol ii no 282 22 pages

NEW DELHIAFP

PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardarion Sunday became the firstPakistani head of statesince 2005 to visit India, ona one-day trip that he de-

scribed as “very fruitful” in improving tiesbetween the rivals.

During a visit billed as private but ofgreat diplomatic significance, Zardarilunched with Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and invited him to visitPakistan. The meeting has received a cau-tious welcome from analysts who see it asanother sign of improving relations be-tween the bitter neighbours, but the alle-gations of Pakistani militant activityagainst India remain deeply problematic.

India continues to press Pakistan toprosecute the perpetrators of the 2008Mumbai attacks, blamed on the militantgroup Lashkar-e-Taiba, which wasfounded by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed.Pakistan says it lacks sufficient evidenceagainst Saeed. “We have had some veryfruitful bilateral talks together,” Zardarisaid at a joint news conference during thefirst presidential trip to India since Per-vez Musharraf visited seven years ago.

“We would like to have better rela-tions with India. We spoke on all topicsthat we could,” added Zardari, who wasaccompanied by a large delegation in-cluding his son and Interior MinisterRehman Malik. The lunch — with kebabsand curries from all over India, includingthe disputed region of Kashmir — waspreceded by a 40-minute private conver-sation between the two leaders.

“I am very satisfied with the outcomeof this visit,” Singh told reporters. “Pres-

ident Zardari has invited me to visit Pak-istan and I’d be very happy to visit Pak-istan at a mutually convenient date.”

He stressed that relations betweenthe countries “should become normal.That is our common desire.”

Analysts had predicted little progress onsensitive topics such as Kashmir, or the pres-ence of anti-India militant groups in Pak-istan. Both were discussed, along with “theactivities of Hafiz Saeed” and ways to in-crease trade between the countries, India’sForeign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told re-porters. A visa agreement that will simplifycross-border travel had been worked out andwould be signed at a later date.

“Both felt that we need to move for-ward step by step,” Mathai said of thetalks between the leaders, which will befollowed by meetings between home andtrade ministers in the coming months.

India broke off a slow-moving peaceprocess to settle all outstanding problemswith Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks,which left 166 people dead, but the twosides have since warily returned to thetable. “This is a largely symbolic occasionand contentious subjects will be avoided,”said Brahma Chellaney, an analyst atNew Delhi’s Centre for Policy Research,of the meeting Sunday.

Pakistan’s foreign policy is seen bymany observers as the preserve of thepowerful military, and Chellaney sug-gested Zardari wielded little real power.

“You can’t have substantive talks withsomeone who doesn’t run anything,” hesaid. Zardari later flew to a Sufi shrine in thetown of Ajmer, 350 kilometres southwest ofNew Delhi, where he offered prayers at therenowned complex of mosques built aroundthe shrine of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishtiwho died in 1236 AD.

Zardari’s Dargah diplomacy ‘fruitful’ US team arrives

to assist in

search, rescue

operations

ISLAMABADSHAIQ HUSSAIN

The United States on Sunday sent expertsto assist Pakistan in its search and rescueefforts in the world highest battlefield ofSiachen glacier where hundreds of armytroops and civilians are desperatelyworking to search for 135 people buried inan avalanche. “An eight-member team ofUS experts have arrived in Islamabad toprovide technical assistance in the rescueoperation,” said an ISPR statement issuedlate on Sunday. “Discussion will be heldwith the US team to find out possibilitiesand nature of assistance required toexpedite the rescue operation… technicalassistance from other friendly countriesalso being considered,” it said. Earlier,the US authorities had made an offer toassist Islamabad in rescue efforts inGayatri sector of Siachen glacier wherearound 240 Pakistani troops and civilianshave been working to search for survivorswith the help of sniffer dogs and heavymachinery, some of which was flown inon military aircraft. The troops andcivilians taking part in the operationstruggled to dig through some 25 metresof snow, boulders, mud and slush thatburied the rear headquarters building inthe Gayari sector early Saturday morning.No sigN: A security official seekinganonymity said there were no signs of anysurvivor so far and also no bodies had beenrecovered as of now. “It’s a very hardterrain and the rescue operation is verydifficult but the army jawans and civilianrescue workers are trying their best to makeheadway and make their job done,” he said.geNeral KayaNi: A separatestatement issued by the ISPR said Chiefof Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayanivisited the site on Sunday to personallysupervise the rescue operations for 135soldiers and civilians.

g Indian pM accepts invitation

to visit pakistang Raises issue of Hafiz Saeed

during pre-lunch talks

NEW DELHI: Indian PM Manmohan Singh welcomes President Zardari to his residence. afp

Zardari donates $1m to Ajmer Dargah

AJMERINP

After the diplomatic stopover in Delhi, President Asif Ali Zardari visited the 13thcentury Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Dargah in Ajmer, where he spent around 20minutes and offered flowers and a chaadar. Zardari also donated one million dollarsto the Dargah. “The soulful happiness that I have experienced at this holy place isbeyond explanation. I pray to Allah to make life easy for the entire humanity,”Zardari wrote in a diary at the Dargah. He landed in the city in a chopper soon after4pm on Sunday after having lunch with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh andseveral other leaders in New Delhi. Accompanying the president in his Ajmer visitwas his 23-year-old son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. During Zardaris’ visit, the Dargahwas closed to all other visitors. About 1,500 policemen had been posted in andaround the Dargah; the security arrangements included rapid response teams andcounter-terrorism units. Security inspections were on until late last night in Ajmer.Mr Zardari last visited Ajmer in 2005 with his wife Benazir Bhutto. Continued on page 04

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Lok Mela showcases indigenous craft heritage Pakistanis facing worst hardships today, says Imran Khan

ZArDAri viSitS inDiA

Visit to pave way for regional peace: ChinaBeiJiNg: China has praised President Asif Ali Zardari’s day-long visit to India, saying that it will pave the wayfor improved Pakistan-India ties to help boost regional peace. In an article published by state-run Xinhua newsagency on Sunday‚ it said that improved ties between Pakistan and India‚ the two nuclear-armed neighbours onthe South Asian subcontinent, will benefit both countries and regional stability. It termed the visit a latest signof improvement of the two archrivals’ relations. The two countries’ efforts in warming up their ties certainly arewelcomed and applauded by the international community including China, which neighbours both nations andmaintains significant ties with them, the Xinhua news agency said. China and Pakistan have been “all-weatherfriends” over the past decades, while both China and India have been members of BRICS, a bloc of five majoremerging economies that also includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa. China wants to further boost ties withboth countries, and is happy to witness continuous improvement of the Pakistan-India ties, it said. NNI

Rahul accepts Bilawal’s invite to PakistanNeW DelHi: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was accompanying his father President Asif Ali Zardari on his tripto India on Sunday, reportedly invited Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to visit Pakistan which he accepted,Indian media reported. The two were seated next to each other at a lunch hosted at the Indian prime minister’sresidence in New Delhi. Gandhi is said to have accepted the invite. Bilawal, the 23-year-old chairman of thePakistan People’s Party (PPP), was accompanying his father on a visit to Ajmer shrine near Jaipur. His visit toIndia had been discussed widely on Facebook before he landed in Delhi. The Zardaris arrived in India aroundnoon. Soon after landing, Bilawal, who was seen wearing a black shalwar kamees suit, tweeted his peacegreetings for India, “AOA India Peace be with you. I have just landed in Delhi. 1st ever visit.” And it was onTwitter again that he shared the experience a short while after he had lunch at the prime minister’s residence.“Prez n I enjoyed Lunch with #Rahul #Gandhi and #PMSingh. lovely meal. much to learn from each other,” heposted. Rahul’s mother, Sonia Gandhi, who heads the Congress, did not attend the lunch. Instead, she sent aletter of regret. gNI

Indian spy keen to meet former prison mate ZardariKolKaTa: Having once stayed with Asif Ali Zardari at the Karachi Central Jail, Mehboob Elahi, a formerIndia spy, was keen to meet the Pakistani president during his visit to New Delhi on Sunday to raise the issue ofIndian prisoners of war languishing in jails across the border. Elahi says he wrote to Shahid Malik, Pakistanihigh commissioner in India, and President Pratibha Patil seeking appointment with Zardari to draw hisattention to the Indian prisoners’ plight but did not get any reply, PTI reported. The 52-year-old, who had spenttwo decades in several Pakistani prisons from 1977 after being caught spying for India, had stayed together inthe jail with Zardari for a couple of months in the late 1980s. “On Sundays, I used to meet him and other leadersof Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in their cells. He was not only familiar with the issues of POWs, but was alsosympathetic to us,” Elahi, who now stays in Kolkata, told PTI. He recalls that Zardari and other leaders weregenerous to him and used to offer him coffee, fruits and biscuits besides arranging for soaps and oil. ONLINE

Subcontinet’s delicacies on Zardari’s lunch menuNeW DelHi: At the lunch hosted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday, Pakistan President Asif AliZardari and his delegation was served generous portions of the subcontinent’s varied cuisines. Avial (mixedvegetables) and dosas from the Southern hinterland with prawns, gosht barra kebabs as starters from thecentral heartland of the country and desserts like phirni from the north and gur sandesh from Bengal were onthe eclectic spread of dishes. Praising the meal, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari described the food very delicious.“President and I enjoyed Lunch with Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Singh, lovely meal, much to learn fromeach other,” Bilawal tweeted. Opposition Bhartiay Janta Party (BJP) leaders, LK Advani and Sushma Suraj alsoattended the lunch while ruling Congress party’s Sonya Gandhi did not join the gathering. ONLINE

Babar Awan ditched!NeW DelHi/islaMaBaD: Former law minister and Pakistan People’s Party’s sidelined leader BabarAwan, who is currently experiencing total outcast from the main scenes, during President Asif Ali Zardari’svisit to India, has tried to meet him but the security staff frustrated all his moves. According to details,Babar Awan who was scheduled to attend a lawyers’ conference, had reached New Delhi prior to Zardari’svisit. Sources informed that Zardari came to know about Babar’s arrival after which he passed strict ordersto his security contingent neither to let him to meet his delegation nor approach him in Ajmer. However,Babar Awan could not be spotted anywhere in New Delhi or Ajmer. Awan has been currently facing party’sleadership wrath for his refusal to appear before the Supreme Court as defense witness in prime minister’scontempt of Court issue. INP

QUETTASHAHZADA ZULFIQAr

Alarge number of protesters staged ademonstration in front of Quetta CivilHospital and blocked MA JinnahRoad to protest the killing of a studentallegedly at the hand of police person-

nel on Sunday.Participants chanted slogans against the po-

lice and strongly condemned the killing. They alsoburnt tyres on various parts of Jinnah Road andforced shopkeepers to close down their business.The relatives of deceased brought the body of theteenager on Jinnah Road and demanded stern ac-tion against police personnel involved in killing.Due to the closure of main Jinnah Road, trafficflow had to be diverted on other road that causedgreat inconvenience to the public.

The firing incident occurred on Sunday morn-ing when a policeman allegedly opened fire on18–year-old Saeed Asghar Hussain in the maincity causing his instant death. Police officials saypolice personnel were taking Hussain to a nearbypolice station for investigation when he tried to

escape. The police opened fire that caused hisdeath. A heavy contingent of police and Balochis-tan Constabulary tried to control the situation anddispersed the protesters.

Quetta SSP Muhammad Tariq said both po-lice officials had been arrested and were being in-vestigated. However, the parents of deceased areyet to register a case against the accused.

Meanwhile, Balochistan Trader Associationand Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party have jointlygiven a shutter down call for today (Monday).

Separately, a partial shutter-down strike wasobserved in Quetta and some other towns ofBalochistan on Sunday against the killing ofMaulana Mohammad Qasim Sasoli, a prayerleader of a local mosque and a leader of JamiatUlema-e-Pakistan (Noorani group), who was shotdead on Sariab Road on Friday. The strike call wasgiven by Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan.

Strike was also observed in other towns ofBalochistan, including Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar,Jaffarabad and Naseerabad.

Meanwhile, four people including two womenwere killed in two separate incidents of firing inNaseerabad and Jhal Magsi districts.

people protest killing

of student in Quetta

AJMER: President Asif Ali Zardari carries a traditional offering on his

head at the shrine of Khawaja Moninuddin Chishti on Sunday after

having lunch with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. AFP

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Easter bomb attack near Nigeria church kills at least 20 Britney Spears’ fiancé to share legal control over her

CommentDargah diplomacyEven if the speed is glacial

Losing interestThe crisis of our times

Waqqas Mir says;

M J Akbar says;Bounty on the mutiny: Can India and Pakistan have a ‘war’ beyond boundaries?

Barrister Haider rasul Mirza says;In defence of Hafiz Saeed: ‘Wanted’ for more than the obvious reasons

Scared of disagreement: Are your beliefs that hollow?

LAHOREONLINE

JAMAAT e Islami AmeerSyed Munawar Hasan haswarned that if PresidentZardari gave any assur-ance to India regarding

Kashmir or Hafiz Saeed, the nationwould not be bound by that com-mitment.

He said the president had noauthority to alter the country’sprincipled stance on Kashmir norwould the Pakistani people allowIndia a passage for Afghanistan.

Addressing the central andprovincial office-bearers of JI at

Mansoora on Sunday, he said if ac-cording to the president’sspokesman it was a private visit,Zardari had no right to discuss na-tional issues nor would the nationbe bound by his decisions.

The JI Ameer said PresidentZardari was undermining nationaldignity and honour by giving mostfavored nation status to the countryclamouring for Akhand Bhartat. Hesaid if the president gave any signsof flexibility or cowardice during hisvisit, he would get a black- bannerwelcome on return to the country.

Munawar said President Zardariwas visiting India under US pres-sure and was expected to discuss

most sensitive issues concerningnational sovereignty and solidarity.Zardari had gone with a five pointagenda that included declaring HeldKashmir an independent state andplacing it under the UN control forthe time being to be given a fully in-dependent status later.

He said this would be totallyagainst Pakistan’s Kashmir policyand the wishes of the Kashmiri peo-ple who had been struggling for in-dependence. Zardari’s agenda, hesaid, also include giving India a rolein restoring peace in Afghanistanand in other matters besides pro-viding India a passage throughWagha and Tourkham borders and

importing electricity and petrolfrom that country. All this could bein India’s interest but surely it wasnot in Pakistan’s interest, he added.

Syed Munawar Hasan said In-dian Premier Manmohan Singh wasextremely perturbed over HafizSaeed’s issue whereas PresidentZardari instead of adopting a boldand clear stance had adopted anapologetic attitude proposing bilat-eral talks on that.

He said under the US patron-age, India was hatching conspira-cies against Pakistan’s solidarityand it wanted to crush the Kash-miris’ freedom movement securinga passage for Afghanistan.

KARACHIAFP

A bloody wave of violence sweepingKarachi has claimed hundreds of lives thisyear, and experts say it is also taking apunishing financial toll on the city that isPakistan’s economic heartbeat.

Pakistan’s biggest city has escapedthe worst of the four-year bombing cam-paign by militants that has plagued otherparts of the country, but it is wracked withcrime and political and ethnic bloodshed.

Last year nearly 1,800 lives were lostas drug, land, gun and extortion mafiaslinked to ethnically-based political partiesthreatened to plunge the city of 17 millionpeople into urban anarchy.

More than 300 people have beenkilled in violence in Karachi in the lastthree months, according to the HumanRights Commission of Pakistan. Witheach political or sectarian killing, parts ofthe city go into lockdown as armed mentake to the streets seeking reprisals,prompting residents to flee to safety and

shops, markets and schools to close.Ateeq Mir, the chairman of the

Karachi Markets Alliance, said the citywas closed for “six full days” last week —when at least 24 people were killed in vi-olence and the Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) called a day of mourning fora slain activist.

“Our traders have lost the business ofmore than 20 billion rupees ($220 mil-lion) while our industrialists lost at least45 billion ($495 million),” he told AFP.Karachi is vital to Pakistan’s economy,contributing 42 percent of GDP, 70 per-cent of income tax revenue and 62 per-cent of sales tax revenue, but Mircompared the situation to the country’sinsurgency-wracked northwest.

“Karachi has become an urbanWaziristan where the government haslost its writ,” he said. “The city is dividedamong several areas, each is governed bythe dominant militant mafia,” he added.

Economist AB Shahid said Karachi’scontribution to GDP amounted to around16 billion rupees a day, and its daily tax

revenues to two billion. “If one wants tocripple Pakistan’s economy, one shoulddo nothing but to get Karachi paralysed,”he said. Market analysts say disturbancesin Karachi are affecting foreign invest-ment as well. “Most multinationals arebased in Karachi, and it has a negative im-pact when their bosses watch pitched bat-tles on their TV screens in the streets ofKarachi,” said Mohammad Sohail, thehead of Topline Securities brokerage.

He said foreign investment in Pak-istan stood at $5.4 billion four years ago,which shrank to $1.6 billion last year andis expected to further reduce to a maxi-mum of $1 billion in the financial yearending on June 30. Officials admit grow-ing security concerns and targeted killingstarnish Karachi’s attraction for foreign in-vestors and risk driving business away.

“Local industrialists, mainly textilebusinessmen, are shifting their invest-ments to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka andMalaysia because of law and order andenergy shortages,” said a governmentminister on condition of anonymity.

Karachi violence takes economic tollg economist says foreign investment in Pakistan shrunk from $5.4 billionto $1.6 billion in the last four years

Kashmir, Hafiz Saeed issues

not to be compromised: JI

ISLAMABADAFP

Around 120 foreigners, mostly Japanese touristswho had been stranded in Gilgit following sectar-ian clashes that killed at least 14 people, wereevacuated on Sunday.

Gilgit has been under an indefinite curfewsince April 3 when at least 14 people were killedand over 50 wounded in two separate incidents in-volving majority Sunni and Shia communities.

Around 120 foreigners including Chinese, Ger-man, Japanese, Korean and Thai tourists, wereevacuated from Gilgit, officials at the Islamabadairport said.

An AFP photographer said the tourists, bothmale and female included 77 Japanese.

Earlier senior police officer Tahira Yasubud-din told AFP in Gilgit that a C-130 aircraft had ar-rived to transport them to Islamabad.

Clashes erupted in the northern town on April3 after gunmen opened fire during a strike calledby Sunni Islamists over the arrest of a leader forhis alleged involvement in a sectarian attack inFebruary that left 18 dead. After the incident, inwhich at least five people died, the governmentimposed a curfew in the town. Also on April 3 inChilas, a Sunni-dominated town about 100 kilo-metres south of Gilgit, a mob blocked the mainKarakoram Highway and killed nine Shias.

‘Chishty issue before court’NeW DelHi: The issue of an ailing Pakistanimicrobiologist, Khaleel Chishty, lodged inRajasthan jail, came up Sunday at the luncheonmeeting President Zardari and PM Singh, PTIreported. Quoting sources, it said InteriorMinister Rehman Malik, who was seatedopposite Home Minister P Chidambaram at thelunch table, enquired about Chishty.Chidambaram replied that Chishty’s case wasbefore a court which was yet to take a view onthe matter. Chishty was handed a life term onJanuary 31, 2011 by a trial court for a murder inAjmer in 1992. ONLINE

120 foreigners caught in

Gilgit curfew evacuated

Father kills childrenover not being givenenough property DiKHaN: A callous father, afterdeveloping bitterness for not getting alion’s share out of his family properties,on Sunday murdered his three children ina fit of rage. Police said Ghulam Hussain,a resident of village Taikan, who workedas labourer, killed his three childrenidentified as 7-year old Kiran, 6-yearZaman and 2 and half years old Muqadasand threw their bodies in Chashma RightBank canal. He informed his brotherGhulam Farid about the tragic incident,who approached the police station. Whenthe police party arrived at the scene, theyfound the guilty father weeping bitterly,and arrested him. The children’s bodiesare being searched. INP

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“The COAS was accompa-nied by Corps CommanderLieutenant General KhalidNawaz Khan,” it said.

Major General IkramulHaq, FCNA commander ap-prised the COAS about thedetails of rescue operation.General Kayani said an ava-lanche of such a magnitudewas unprecedented in last20 years of this BattalionHeadquarters existence atGayari.

He said the army had

mobilised all available re-sources with the assistanceof the PAF to carry out fullscale rescue operation. Heappreciated the morale andefforts of troops who arebraving the harsh weatherand inhospitable terrain.

Earlier, a US embassy’sstatement had said, “TheUnited States expressesdeep concern for the bravePakistani soldiers that arecurrently trapped as a resultof an avalanche in GayariSector of the Siachen Gla-

cier. We offer our condo-lences for those who havelost their lives as a result ofthe avalanche. Our thoughtsand prayers are with the sol-diers and their families andloved ones,” it said.

The statement said, “TheUnited States is ready to as-sist Pakistan in search, res-cue, and recoveryoperations. We stand by tooffer any assistance thatPakistan requires in the af-termath of this tragedy.”

During his visit to site,

General Kayani instructedthe commanders to opti-mally utilise all available re-sources at their disposal andleave no stone unturned toreach out to the entrappedpersonnel. He said, “Effortsare underway to acquire lat-est technical equipment forthe rescue.” He emphasizedthat calamity in no wayshould affect the morale ofthe troops defending themotherland at the highestbattlefield.

He said the Pakistan

Army had always risen to theoccasion and would comethrough this challenge aswell. Siachen is the worldhighest battlefield and thou-sands of soldiers from Pak-istan and India stationedthere have to face the severecold temperatures, altitudesickness, high winds andisolation for months at atime.

The South Asian nuclearrivals have deployed theirtroops at the height ofaround 6,700 meters

(22,000 feet) and they havebeen engaged in intermit-tent skirmishes since 1984after a dispute between thetwo over the snowy regionbroke out. However, the twosides have been following acease-fire since 2003.

The headquarters in Ga-yari sector, which is situatedat the height of around15,000 feet, is the main gate-way through which the armysends its troops and suppliesto other remote posts in theSiachen.

US team arrives to assist in search, rescue operationsContinued fRoM page 1

SIACHEN: Chief of Army Staff general Ashfaq Parvez Kayani supervises the ongoing operation to find and rescue some 135 people, including 124 soldiers, buried 80-feet under snow after a

giant avalanch struck a military camp on the world’s highest battlefield. ISpR/afp

KABULAFP

AF G H A N I S T A Nand the UnitedStates on Sundaysigned a deal onspecial forces op-

erations in the war-torncountry, putting Afghans incharge of controversial nightraids.

Night operations by in-ternational special forcesagainst insurgent hideoutshave triggered popular angerand been a factor strainingWashington and Kabul’s rela-tionship, with Afghan Presi-dent Hamid Karzaidenouncing them as reckless.

But Western militarycommanders stress they areextremely useful in thebloody war against Talibaninsurgents, who have beenfighting Karzai and his West-ern allies for more than adecade.

At a signature ceremonyin Kabul, Afghan DefenceMinister Abdul Rahim War-

dak said: “The signing of thisdocument is a fundamentalstep towards Afghan nationalsovereignty.”

“From today, the opera-tions have been Afghanisedor Afghan-led.”

General John Allen, theUS commander of NATO-ledforces, described it as the“second important milestonein less than 30 days towardsAfghan sovereignty”, after anagreement transferring con-trol of detainees to Afghanauthorities.

The document means“Afghan Special Operationsunits will lead the way”, USforces in Afghanistan said ina statement.

The deal is expected topave the way for a strategicpartnership pact betweenWashington and Kabul gov-erning the future of US forcesbeyond 2014, when the bulkof the 130,000 NATO-ledtroops are due to withdrawfrom Afghanistan.

Karzai’s spokesmanAimal Faizi told AFP that the

agreement went into effectimmediately and “all nightraids become Afghan-led”.

“The foreign forces, theUS forces, will have a sup-porting role in the nightraids, for instance intelli-gence sharing,” he said.

“There will be a jointbody comprising Afghan andUS/NATO forces. Whenthere’s a need for a night raidthis body will decide and thefinal decision will be made byAfghans,” said Faizi.

“When Afghans approvethe operation, the operationwill be executed and Afghanswill determine whether thereis a need for the foreigners totake part.

“If there’s a need, the for-eigners will provide a sup-porting role like air supportor other modern technology.”

A warrant would alsohave to be issued by Afghanlegal authorities, he said, andAfghan authorities wouldhave control over capturedprisoners.

Speaking before any writ-

ten text of the agreement wasreleased, Kate Clark of theAfghanistan Analysts Net-work said it “looks like theAmericans are making com-promises” but warned thephrase “Afghan-led” was a“really vague term”.

She said the details of theagreement would be the key,adding it was likely that de-tainees could be held withouttrial.

Karzai’s anger over theraids was genuine, she added.“The palace gets delegationsof very upset people” com-plaining about the opera-tions, she said. “The issue ofAfghan sovereignty is veryimportant for him.”

US officials hope a strate-gic partnership agreementgoverning relations betweenKabul and Washington after2014 will be signed in timefor a NATO summit in May inChicago.

Gavin Sundwall,spokesman for the US em-bassy in Kabul, said that withthe earlier deal on detainees,

the US hoped the latestagreement “prepares the wayfor finishing a strategic part-nership with the governmentand people of Afghanistan.”

US military officers en-visage a follow-on force ofaround 15,000 personnel inAfghanistan, focusing on airpower, logistics, training, in-telligence and counter-terror-ism.

Allen told the SenateArmed Services Committeelast month that 2,200 nightraids were carried out lastyear. In 90 percent of the op-erations, no shots were firedand civilian casualties rarelyoccurred, according to Allen.

B r i g a d i e r - G e n e r a lCarsten Jacobson,spokesman for the NATO-ledInternational Security Assis-tance Force (ISAF), said lastweek that “every policemanin this world” would answerthe same way if asked: “Whendo you want to arrest a dan-gerous criminal, at lunchtimeon the marketplace or atnight in bed?”

US gives Afghans control in

deal on night raids

Israel bans entry

of german writer

for criticising it

MONITORINg DESK

Israel has declared theGerman author GuenterGrass “persona non grata”and barred him fromentering the country forwriting against it, BBC Newsreported on Sunday. Grass, aNobel laureate, recentlycriticised Israel in a poem. Init, Grass condemned Germanarms sales to Israel, and saidthe Jewish state must not beallowed to launch militarystrikes against Iran. Israeliinterior minister Eli Yishaisays Grass is not welcomebecause he has tried “toinflame hatred against theState and people of Israel.”Yishai, the leader of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party inIsrael’s coalitiongovernment, suggested thatGrass should go to Iran,“where he would find asympathetic audience shouldhe want to continuedisseminating his warpedand mendacious work.” ‘WHaT MusT Be saiD’:In one section of the poem,published in theSueddeutsche Zeitung andcalled “What Must be Said”,Grass attacks Israel’snuclear programme. “Whydo I say only now... that thenuclear power Israelendangers an already fragileworld peace? Because thatmust be said which mayalready be too late to saytomorrow,” Grass wrote inthe German-language poem,“Also because we - asGermans burdened enough -may become asubcontractor to a crimethat is foreseeable.”

President briefed

on rescue

operation

ISLAMABAD gNI

Immediately after reachingIslamabad from a day-longvisit to India, PresidentAsif Ali Zardari called MajGen Ikramul Haq, FCNAGOC, who is head of rescueoperation at Siachen. TheFCNA GOC briefed thePresident about thesituation. The Presidentprayed and hoped that allthe soldiers would berescued alive. He said theentire nation stoodshoulder-to-shoulder withthe Pakistan army. Heinstructed GB and Federalgovernments to provide allkinds of resources to helpout and assist rescueoperation. In Ajmair, thePresident also prayed forthe safety of the soldiers.

Religious head

of Ajmer shrine

boycotts

Zardari’s visit

AJMERONLINE

The religious head of theshrine of Ajmer Sharif onSunday announcedboycotting the visit ofPresident Asif Ali Zardarito protest the move ofdistrict authorities of notallowing him to go insidethe shrine beyond the maingate when the visitingdelegation arrives here. Terming it a violation oftraditional customs,Dewan Syedzainul AbedinAli, the Sajjadanish of theDargah, said he had earlierbeen accompanying allVVIP guests who arrived topay obeisance andauthorities have “no right”to stop him, PTI reported. “My ancestors have beenreceiving the nationheads... I have beenaccompanying VVIP guestlike Indira Gandhi, KRNarayanan, PervezMusharraf, Ziaul Haqamong others,” he said. Ali claimed that being thereligious head of theshrine, it was his“prerogative” to join thevisiting delegations. The districtadministration, on theother hand, had said themove was taken on thebasis of police reports,keeping in mind thedispute between the Dewanand the Khadims. “There is a disputebetween the Dewan andKhadims in Dargarh. Toavoid any unwantedsituation and ugly sceneduring the visit of thePakistan president, it wassuggested by the police tonow allow him beyondNizam Gate,” districtcollector Manju Rajpal said.

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LAHOrE: Pakistani Christians attend an Easter Sunday service at the Sacred Heart Church on April 8, 2012. Christian believers around the world are marking the Holy Week

of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. afp

ABBOTTABADNNI

PAKISTAN Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) Chairman Imran Khanhas said that the people ofPakistan have never facedsuch difficulties as they are

facing today while on the other hand therulers are enjoying power.

Addressing a large public gatheringhere on Sunday, he prayed for the saferecovery of soldiers buried under an av-alanche in Siachen.

He said the current leadership wasincapable of liberating Pakistan becauseit had emerged as a result of the Na-tional Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)pushed by foreign powers. He pledgedthat the PTI would disengage from thewar on terror through dialogue, andwould liberate Pakistan from foreign in-fluence. He added that Pakistan couldstand on its feet only after disengagingfrom the terror war, and that the PTIwould restore the respect of the countryaround the world.

Talking about the recently launchedmembership drive, Khan said that PTIwould bring true democracy to thecountry after emerging as the only dem-ocratically elected party of the country.He urged the people to become mem-bers of the PTI and elect their own lead-

ership. He said that no political party inthe country was capable of giving thisdemocratic right to its members.

Criticising the leaderships of thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP),he said they were “family-run parties”,

and competent and capable leadershipcould not emerge in them due to theirdynastic hierarchies.

He said the present system of gov-ernment was introduced by the Britishto subjugate the masses and the politicalleadership of Pakistan had perpetuatedthis system for their own interests. Hesaid the PTI would liberate the ruralpopulation from this unjust system andwould introduce a local government sys-tem which would ensure autonomy atthe level of villages.

Speaking on the issue of new admin-istrative units, he cited examples ofTurkey and Japan and said that both thesecountries were considerably less popu-lated than Pakistan, but had exponentiallymore administrative units. He said thePTI supported the creation of newprovinces, including the Hazara province,as it would expedite development.

He thanked the people for attendingthe rally and said that the PTI wouldprove in the coming elections that thepeople of Pakistan have rejected the cor-rupt political leadership.

Pakistanis facing worst hardships

today, says Imran Khan

ISLAMABADONLINE

The ever-increasing energy needshave compelled India to rejoin thetransnational pipeline emanatingfrom Iran and transiting Pakistanthus reviving the IPI Gas Project, On-line learnt on Sunday.

A well-placed Indian diplomattold Online that his government wasactively contemplating looking backon the option of IPI. He claimed thatIndia had never abandoned the proj-ect, officially. “It was just gone downon the priority list mainly due to secu-rity concerns in Pakistan,” he added.

Earlier, India had practicallyabandoned the Iran-Pakistan-IndiaGas Pipeline project for obvious rea-sons of entering into a nuclear dealwith the US.

After India disembarked the trilat-eral mechanism for IPI, the pipelinewas naturally left as only Iran-Pak-istan (IP) gas pipeline.

According to the diplomat, the an-nouncement to give effect to the reju-venation of IPI was expected duringIndian Prime Minister ManmohanSingh’s visit to Pakistan in the nearfuture. Singh had accepted PresidentAsif Ali Zardari’s invitation on Sundayto visit Pakistan on mutually conven-ient dates.

“We are an energy-deficient coun-try and to sustain our high growthrate and ensure energy security, weneed energy from every possiblesource,” the diplomat observed.

A Pakistani official privy to the IPGas Pipeline project pointed out thatthe latest Indian overtures on IPIcould be just bluffs again to appeaseIran. Iranians have realised that Indiawent out of the IPI due to the pressurefrom the US and was anxiously pursu-ing the American backed Turk-menistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India(TAPI) project.

Iran has also gone on record say-ing that it was no longer holding talks

with India on IPI pipeline but hassigned a bilateral accord with Pak-istan on the project.

Under the deal finalised in Marchlast year, Iran will supply 750 millioncubic feet of gas to Pakistan daily by2014.

Indian diplomats, however, triedto dispel the impression that Wash-ington had been exerting pressure onIndia not to pursue the IPI pipelineproject in view of Iran’s controversialnuclear programme. Important issuesconcerning the IPI project, such as gaspricing, delivery point of gas, projectstructure, transportation tariff pay-ment, transit fee for the passage ofnatural gas through Pakistan and se-curity of supply, had still not beensorted out, he added. “Once our con-cerns are addressed satisfactorily, wewill have no hesitation in going aheadwith the project,” he said.

The proposed 1,600 km project,envisaging supply of gas from Iran toIndia via Pakistan, has been hanging

fire for about a couple of decades nowdue to Indian aversions to have apipeline through Pakistan and aboveall the anti-Iran US pressure.

In the aftermath of the April 2003peace initiative, India has agreed toconsider the project if Pakistan is will-ing to look at it in the context of largereconomic relations.

The IP Gas pipeline project wasconceived in 1993, which was laterproposed to be extended in India.

There are three different routesunder consideration for the Iran-India gas pipeline via deep sea, shal-low water and over-land.

Feasibility study for the deep searoute is being conducted by SnamProgetti of Italy, while that of over-land route is being conduct by BHP ofAustralia. BHP has completed thephase-I of the study. The feasibilitystudy for the shallow water route is tobe conducted by GAZPROM of Russiabut they have not yet started thestudy.

India mulling rejoining Ip gas project

military offensiveintensified in Sui,dera Bugti: talal

QUETTANNI

Jamhori Watan Party (JWP) leaderNawabzada Talal Bugti said on Sunday thatthe government was forcing him to escapeto the mountains. Addressing a newsconference at Bugti House, he said, “Ourparliamentary politics should not beassumed as a weakness,” adding that therulers were creating a situation whichNawab Akbar Bugti once had to face. Hesaid the military operation had beenintensified in Sui and Dera Bugti onceagain. “Curfew is imposed there after4pm,” he said. Bugti alleged that theparamilitary Frontier Corps was harassingpeople, claiming that around 100 men andwomen were still locked up inside the FCFort. He demanded the Supreme Court totake steps to recover all missing persons.

taliban distributingpamphlets tospread message

PESHAWARINP

After the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governmentslapped a ban on the Taliban-run illegal FMRadio, the Taliban have started distributingpamphlets in the Tribal Areas and other majorcities of the province to spread their messages.The transmission of the FM radio was beingheard in Peshawar, Darra Adamkhel and theTribal Areas before the provincial governmentimposed a ban. The Taliban are nowdistributing pamphlets in the crowded majorcommercial places. They are droppingpamphlets at shops selling music CDs andDVDs in Matni area, warning them to closedown the shops or get ready to face death.

Security forces kill 12

militants in orakzaiPESHAWAR

StAFF rEPOrt

At least 12 militants were killed when thesecurity forces with help of gunshiphelicopters targeted certain hideouts andcompounds in scattered areas of UpperOrakzai Agency on Sunday. An official saidthe security forces conducted aerial strikes inAkhunkoot, Adokhel and Khadezai areas.The official said three militant hideouts weredestroyed. According to the official, theground forces succeeded in advancingafter successful aerial strikes. Meanwhile,four security personnel were injuredwhen the militants attacked a convoywith an improvised explosive device(IED) in Miranshah.

US action againstHafiz Saeed notjustifiable: Shujaat

ISLAMABADNNI

Pakistan Muslim League-Quied (PML-Q)President Ch Shujaat Hussain on Sunday saidthere was no justification for the US actionagainst Hafiz Muhammad Saeed. Talking tomedia, the senator said that this in fact was awelcome development that USadministration realized so soon that they hadcommitted a mistake in the matter of HafizSaeed and Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki.Shujaat also said that there was neither proofnor any justification against Hafiz Saeed.Replying to a question, he said that PML-QSecretary General Mushahid Hussain wouldpresent his formula for elimination ofelectricity load shedding in the EnergyConference. He added further that if all thefour chief ministers played their role keepingin view the national spirit and acted on hisformula, there was every reason to believe thecountry would very soon be free of themenace of electricity shortage.

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FAISALABADINP

FOR the first time in its his-tory, Ghanta Ghar, the cen-tral piece of eight bazaars ofthe city, was draped in black,from head to toe to protest

against discriminatory gas and electric-ity load shedding in Faisalabad, the tex-tile hub of the country and industry andbusiness in Punjab on Sunday.

The entire city was flooded withblack flags, and black banners markingthe black day. Entry points from allsides, Sheikhupura Road, SargodhaRoad, Jhang Road, Samundri Road, Sa-tiana Road and Jaranwala Road wereblack flagged.

Businessmen, traders and trans-

porters were seen waving black flags ontheir vehicles. They took out proces-sions in the eight bazaars and surround-ing areas to register their protest againstthe unbearable high cost of living, fre-quent and irregular electricity outages,gas shortage and discriminatory treat-ment with Punjab.

Textile exporters wearing blackdresses took out protest processions andburnt tyres at Amtex chowk, Abdullah-pur Jaranwala Road and chanted slo-gans against economic and industrialmassacre of Punjab and textile industry.A large rally comprising of industrial-ists, traders, transporters and business-men staged a protest demonstration atGhanta Ghar Chowk to register theirprotest against discriminatory attitudeof the government.

Addressing the procession, PakistanTextile Exporters Association ChairmanRana Arif Tauseef said unprecedentedload shedding had destroyed the indus-trial and business sectors of the country.

“The energy crisis in Punjab hastaken a serious turn when its entirebrunt has been diverted to thisprovince,” he said.

He was also critical of some of theclauses of the 18th Amendment whichhe said had restricted across the boarddistribution of natural resources. “Thisdiscrepancy could be removed in 20thAmendment but our legislators showedlittle interest in this issue of prime im-portance.” He reiterated his demand todo away the injustices being meted outwith Punjab in distribution of naturalresources in 21st Amendment. He al-

leged that under a deep rooted conspir-acy, the foreign exchange earning sectorof textile was being pushed towardscomplete closure.

He said the situation had come to astage that the industrialists were unableto run their mills and were strugglingfor survival. It was in this context thathe said that business and industrial sec-tors had been forced to resort to protes-tation.

He demanded immediate cog-nizance of this serious matter by thegovernment failing which the textile in-dustry as well as businesses would col-lapse.

Tauseef thanked the Anjuman-e-Tajiran for their cooperation and pullingtheir shutters down to register theirprotest.

Ghanta Ghar draped in black to

protest discriminatory load sheddingg Businessmen, traders and transporters in Faisalabad observe black day, take out rallies g Pakistan textileexporters Association chairman says unprecedented load shedding has destroyed industrial and business sectors

KABULrEUtErS

Support is building among Afghanistan’s re-gional neighbours for a comprehensive peaceprocess with the Taliban, but Pakistan’s back-ing and access to insurgent leaders are crucialto getting stalled talks on track, a top Afghandiplomat said.

Javed Ludin, the deputy foreign ministerand senior negotiator in talks with Washing-ton on an Afghan-US strategic pact, also saidthe two allies were near agreement on a dealto curb controversial night raids by NATOtroops on Afghan homes.

But Ludin - the main architect of Afghanforeign policy - said both sides had failed tocommunicate the benefits of the pact anddampen anxiety among Afghans that foreign-ers were preparing to abandon the countryafter a 2014 withdrawal of Western combattroops. “We need to communicate better, weneed to explain it better. There are various in-terests, there are people who play this up thewrong way, they explain it the wrong way,”Ludin told Reuters late on Saturday ahead ofa trip to Australia.

“Some would like to see this as our inabil-

ity to succeed and then the end of commit-ment,” he said.

The United States and Afghanistan havefor months been negotiating on a strategicpact for a long-term presence in Afghanistanof US advisers and possibly some elite troops,while at the same time trying to draw theAfghan Taliban and other insurgents intotwin-track peace talks. But in March the Tal-iban suspended exploratory negotiationswith the United States, seen by backers as away to end the country’s conflict, while refus-ing to meet President Hamid Karzai’s govern-ment, calling its officials US “stooges”.

Ludin, a former chief of staff andspokesman for Karzai, said he was confidentan agreement would soon be signed withQatar to open a Taliban representative officein the Gulf state as a vehicle for talks, aboutwhich he was “positive”.

Ludin said he also held strong hopes thatboth Pakistan and Saudi Arabia’s govern-ments would weigh in to give political mo-mentum to Afghan government efforts toengage the Taliban.

“We are working under the assumptionthat once this process moves, and once webring some of the other contributing ele-

ments to this, we need to make sure we createan environment with support from not justPakistan, but other countries - notably SaudiArabia - but above all Pakistan,” said Ludin.

“I think at the regional level, we seem tobe coming closer to a consensus that is basi-cally the need of the day, and that there willhave to be a political process, there will haveto be something done to end violence andbring peace to Afghanistan.”

The “key contribution” for talks to suc-ceed would need to be from Pakistan, wherethe Afghan president travelled in February toask for access to Taliban leaders belonging sothe so-called Quetta Shura (council), Ludinsaid.

Named after the Pakistani city wherethey are said to be based, Shura memberswould be the decision makers in any substan-tive peace negotiations. But Pakistan deniesthat any top insurgents enjoy sanctuarywithin its borders.“sPoiler” alerT: “There are a numberof elements and we all know what those are.The question of access, the question of pro-viding a conducive environment for contactsto be established and for talks to take placewherever they are,” Ludin said.

“We need to bring about an environmentwhere leadership of the Taliban can viablyuse that office to engage with Afghanistan,with the government of Afghanistan, in con-structive forward-looking talks about thepeace process and about taking this step for-ward.”

A revitalised peace process would be inthe interests of the entire region, Ludin said,although some groups he would not namewere acting as “spoilers” to a negotiated peaceafter decades of war during which millions ofAfghans have fled.

While he would not clarify whether hemeant neighbouring nations, reports in theUnited States this week said American offi-cials believed Iranian agents had been activein trying to instigate violent protests inAfghanistan after the inadvertent burning ofKorans by a US soldier at a NATO base.

“There is no doubt that there are variousdiverging interests at work,” Ludin said.“What is important is that we really do notcreate excuses and opportunities for spoilers,for elements that wish to undermine the cur-rent transition. That should be our priorityand that will be our priority.”

Karzai has demanded US and other for-

eign troops withdraw from Afghan villagesafter an American soldier allegedly massa-cred 17 civilians in Kandahar, while the burn-ing of several copies of Holy Quran inFebruary triggered protest riots that raged fora week. Afghanistan had signed strategicagreements with several countries contribut-ing troops to the 130,000-strong NATO coali-tion in the country, including Britain andItaly. The government would soon finaliseone more with close US ally Australia, Ludinsaid before leaving for Canberra. The transi-tion to fully Afghan-provided security to becompleted by 2014 was poorly understood,he said, as the country would then enter a pe-riod of transformation, with Western aid andadvisers likely to remain in the country. Eco-nomic aid would also continue to ensure nosudden economic collapse and flight of capi-tal as wealthy Afghans and businesses movedtheir assets to safety elsewhere.

“In the last 10 years, it has been aboutmilitary security assistance to Afghanistan.Now that we have our own institutions, wedon’t need that kind of support. What weneed is your political commitment ... and alsonot least your economic assistance in the longterm,” he said.

Support for peace talks growing but Pakistan’s support crucial: Afghan diplomat

rAWALPINDI: Foreign tourists walk upon their arrival at Chaklala Airbase on Sunday after being evacuated by the Pakistan Air force from gilgit. Pakistan evacuated 120

foreigners, mostly Japanese tourists who had been stranded in the north of the country following sectarian clashes that killed at least 14 people. afp

PBC appeals to lawyersto observe black daytoday to condemnburning alive of lawyers

ISLAMABADStAFF rEPOrt

The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Sundayappealed to lawyers throughout thecountry to observed today (Monday) asblack day to condemn burning alive oflawyers in Tahir Plaza, Karachi on April 9,2008. The appeal was made by PBC ViceChairman Akhtar Hussain, PBC ExecutiveCommittee Chairman Burhan MoazzamMalik. They requested the members of thecountry’s bar councils and bar associationsas well as members of the civil society toobserve a nation-wide black day today.They appealed to all the bar associationsand bar councils of the country to holdprotest meetings in their respective barrooms to reiterate their strongcondemnation of the tragic incident ofApril 9, 2008, when at the behest of thedictatorial regime of General PervezMusharraf, the then provincial governmentof Sindh and government’s agencies hadbrutally tortured the lawyers. The lawyershave been requested by the PBC to hoistblack flags at the offices of their respectivebar associations to strongly condemn thebrutal killings and burning alive of lawyerson April 9, 2008 and the inaction ofsuccessive governments to hold high levelinquiry for fixing responsibility.

CIA drones flew

undetected over Iran’s

nuclear sites: wPWASHINgTON

AFP

A stealth surveillance drone operated bythe CIA penetrated deep inside Iran overthree years ago, snapped images of Iran’ssecret nuclear facility at Qum and returnedhome, The Washington Post reported lateSaturday. The newspaper said that duringthat flight, analysts at the CentralIntelligence Agency and other agencieswatched carefully for any sign that theaircraft, called the RQ-170 Sentinel, hadbeen detected by Tehran’s air defences onits maiden voyage. “There was never even aripple,” the paper quotes an unnamedformer senior US intelligence official assaying. CIA stealth drones scoured dozensof sites throughout Iran, making hundredsof passes over suspicious facilities, before aversion of the RQ-170 crashed inside Iran’sborders in December, the report said.The surveillance has been part of anintelligence surge that is aimed atIran’s nuclear programme and that hasbeen gaining momentum since the finalyears of George W Bush’sadministration, The Post noted.

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ISLAMABADMAHtAB BASHIr

THE on-going folk festival ofPakistan, popularly knownas “Lok Mela”, organised byLok Virsa (National Instituteof Folk and Traditional Her-

itage) here at Shakarparian is immenselycontributing to documenting and pre-serving traditional folk crafts and pro-jecting craftspeople.

Over 500 master artisans from dif-ferent parts of the country including re-mote and far flung areas are activelyparticipating in the festival, bringingwith them their creativity in arts, craftsand innovation.

Each province and region hasbrought its own contingent of craftspeo-ple to the festival that practice variousfolk crafts.

The crafts on display at the festivalinclude block printing, lacquer work,Khussa making, pottery, tie and dye, dollmaking, camel skin work, bone and ivorywork, mirror work, Okaiz sazi, darriweaving, truck art, basketry, wood carv-ing, wood work, papier mache, metalwork, Shawl weaving, khes weaving, tra-ditional carpets, blue pottery, Ajrak, waxprinting, stone work, pattu weaving andmany others.

Being a prime institution dealingwith Pakistani culture at federal level,Lok Virsa is cognizant of the need forgender equality which is seen in eachevent that it holds from time to time, be-cause in this way both male and femalepractitioners afford equal opportunity ofshowing their talent and getting duerecognition thereof.

In the present festival too, one cansee a number of female artisans demon-strating their creativity. The mostprominent among them is Farhat Bibifrom D. I. Khan practicing lacquer work.Locally, it is called jundri or Jundi kaKaam, which forms an intrinsic part ofthree provinces of Pakistan, involves theprocess of applying layers of Lac in dif-ferent colours on wood, while the mate-rial is rotated on a simple wooden lathemachine. Patterns are etched with thehelp of thick iron needle on the surface,exposing each colour according to the

requirements of traditional patterns.She has been participating in the LokVirsa’s annual festival for the last 10years and winning recognition of her tal-ent. Another craftswoman from Sindh,Mst. Pari from Badin, 70 also catches thevisitor eye. She is master artisan in tra-ditional darree weaving. She learnt thisart from her mother at very early ageand is busy in transferring it to the com-ing generation to ensure continuity ofthe tradition.

Balochi embroidery artisan Aziz Fa-tima, 40-year is also equally good. Shehas carried on this centuries’ old tradi-tion from her mother. She has devoted28 years of her life to this art. Aziz Fa-tima stands out not only for her personalexcellence but also in her tireless propa-gation of this ancient art by imparting itto the future generations. Among her ap-prentices, some of them have reachedhigh professional levels and are practic-ing their art.

Among male artisans, one can seeexquisitely prepared masterpieces at thestall of Sahib Dino Mallah from Sindh.Practicing Khes weaving, he belongs to aremote village Ranipur in KhairpurMirus. He learnt the art of weaving fromhis father at an early age and since then,he has given 36 years of his life to keepthis centuries’ old traditional craft alive.

Shah Behram, a master craftsman inTaghar (traditional woolen rug) weavingfrom D.I. Khan is also showcasing excel-lent display at the festival. His fatherwas also an accomplished master crafts-man of Taghar weaving who receivedpride of performance award in recogni-tion of his talent.

Haji Habib-ur-Rehman is the masterartisan in truck art. This colourful,sometimes dazzling, art is not only doneon the bodies of trucks but also other ve-hicles and means of transportation likebuses, tankers, mini-buses, rickshaws,tongas and even donkey carts moving onthe road throughout the country.

Talking to this scribe, Lok Virsa ex-ecutive director Khalid Javaid said “Pak-istan with its rich and varied heritagehas a craft tradition of more than 9,000years dating back to the Mehergarh civ-ilization in Balochistan, when reveals theearliest evidence for pottery production.The Indus Valley civilization of Mohen-jodaro in Sindh and Harappa civilizationin Punjab (5,000 B.C.) indicates impres-sions of woven cloth production fromcotton and wool. The dominant histori-cal influence still to be seen in the form,design and colour of Pakistani handi-crafts is essentially Islamic, a fusion ofTurkish, Arab, Persian and the indige-

nous Mughal traditions”.He explained that the crafts repre-

sent a valuable material heritage, whichforms a tangible part of our historicaland contemporary culture. Unlike thewest, most traditional crafts in Pakistanare neither a profession nor a hobby, butan essential component of the diversecultural patterns – a product of the eth-nic and communal attitudes and prac-tices. As such, crafts have meanings anddefinite social context in traditional so-ciety.

However, the onslaught of the indus-trial age is erasing this craft heritage,even in rural areas. But there is a recenttrend towards the use of crafts as art ob-jects in urban homes. Historic forms anddesigns are being revived both by the in-creasing number of trained craftsmenand by designers for the tourist and ex-port trade.

Pakistan is noted for some of themost varied and beautiful handicrafts ofthe world. Whether it is the elaboratedress of a bride or a simple householdutensil, it is designed and created so ar-tistically that it becomes an object of art.The different regions, towns and citiesspecialize in their own particular handi-crafts. This is why there is so much di-versity and variety in the crafts of thecountry.

The indigenous skills of Pakistanhave evolved over centuries throughcommunal practice and therefore consti-tute the most authentic representationof Pakistan’s traditional art.

The festival will continue with all itscolours till Sunday, 15 April 2012 dailybetween 11:00 am to 10:00 pm.

ISLAMABADStAFF rEPOrt

Minister-Incharge for National Har-mony Dr Paul Bhatti has said that Easterpreaches the message of tolerance, sac-rifice, brotherhood, hope and freedomwhich is a guideline for all of us.

In a message on Easter celebrated onSunday, he said Easter reminds us to

reaffirm our solidarity and to work hardfor the interfaith relationship and har-mony for a peaceful and prosperous Pak-istan. He said it was the time that peopleof different faiths should become unitedto defeat destructive elements whowanted to destabilize our country bytheir ill designs.

“We should demonstrate nationalunity and tolerance to counter the con-

spiracies” he stressed. He said a nationalcampaign to promote interfaith har-mony to counter the trends of extremismand bridge the gap among differentfaiths would be launched soon and forthe purpose we are holding an interna-tional conference to promote interfaithharmony, which will be attended by reli-gious leaders of all faiths from all overthe world. He said festivals of minorities

were celebrated officially by the govern-ment throughout the year to follow thetrue ethical values and in this regard, theupcoming festival of Easter will also becelebrated at higher level.

“Let us reiterate the commitment tocontinue to fight for the peaceful home-land and for the rights of minorities anddeprived people in the country”, Dr PaulBhatti said.

He said Easter brings faces glowingwith happiness, as people has come to-gether, feast, pray, wish each other welland enjoy the moments, which will besacred and blessed.

“I wish Christian community a veryhappy Easter. May this day bring lot ofhappiness and joy in our lives. Pray forthe peaceful and prosperous Pakistan”,he appealed.

Easter reminds us to promote tolerance, harmony: Dr Paul Bhatti

Lok Mela showcases indigenous craft heritage

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Islamabad

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High

mondAy tUeSdAy wedneSdAy28°C I 18°C 24°C I 15°C 28°C I 17°C

PRAyeR tImIngSFajr Sunrise Zuhr Asr maghrib Isha

04:20 05:46 12:10 16:44 18:36 19:59

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monster truck in Islamabad.

DrUMMing circle

dAte And tIme: 05:00 Pm, weeKly eVentVenUe: tHe CentRe FoR ARtS & CUltURe

our drumming circle is a (free!) ongoing event andis held every Friday from 5 to 6 p.m.we are having a great time, and want to share thegood time with you! our drumming circle haschildren ...

SUnny InteRVAlS

weAtHeR UPdAteS

31°C

dAte: mAR 20 - APR 21, 2012 VenUe: F-9 PARK, ISlAmABAd

19°C

OMg! [Oh My gig!]

And the performers for this edition of omg! are: drumrollSpecial Performances by: 1. Rap engineers 2. XX1 3. taray.the band members are students of the prestigious lUmS,specially coming all the way from lahore to perform inKuch Khaas. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FivR3IqgfCAentry Fee: Rs.100 (non-members) Free entry For members

dAte And tIme: APR 07, 2012, 6:30 PmVenUe: KUCH KHAAS (ISlAmABAd)

rAWALPINDI: A vendor arranges coconuts on his roadside stall near China Market. ONLINE

‘Vegetable marketwill be developedon modern lines’

ISLAMABADAPP

PRIME Minister's Task Force on Is-lamabad Chairman Faisal Sakhi Button Sunday said the fruit and veg-etable market located in sector I-11would be developed on modern lines

following the international standards. He was ad-dressing the oath-taking ceremony of the newelected office bearers of Anjuman-e-Whole SaleFruit and Commission Agents of the Fruit andVegetable Market. This market has acquired thestatus of a central trade hub of the region due toits ever-increasing trade and business volumeand it require further development, Faisal SakhiButt observed.

He said that Islamabad would also be trans-formed into a regional business hub of the globein wake of its strategic location through promot-ing business activities and upgrading the alliedinfrastructure in the federal capital.

He said that the task force has been assignedthe responsibility to make the federal capital amodel city and has embarked upon a giganticprogramme to make Islamabad a model metrop-olis. He said traders community is the backboneof the economy and they should cooperate withthe representative of the city to address the realissues.

Faisal Sakhi Butt said that the problems ofthe katchi abadi, model villages must be resolvedat priority and workable solutions to the prob-lems of the residents will be sought.

He said that budget should be enhanced formaintenance of the government flats, and pro-

vision of civic amenities in the G and I seriessectors.

He said that the charismatic beauty of thenullahs and ravines flowing through Islamabadonce the hallmark of the federal capital have beenbadly polluted. He added that concrete steps forcleaning and up gradation of these nullahs mustbe taken. The mushroom growth of encroach-ments in the markets are painting ugly picture ofthe city and coordinated efforts are required forremoval of the encroachment in collaborationwith traders and market associations.

Fasial Sakhi said that the increasing businessactivities in the fruit and vegetable market involv-ing the traders from across the region includingIndia and Pakistan has supplemented our resolveto turn it in to model city for promoting trade andbusiness in the area for the benefit of the people.

He said that Fruit and Vegetable Market isproviding quality fruits and vegetables not onlyto twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad but tothe other areas of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and Pun-jab. He said that all out efforts would be made toprovide maximum facilities to the traders of Fruitand Vegetable Market and all genuine problemswould be resolved at priority.

Earlier, representatives of the traders associ-ations informed the Chairman PM Task Forceabout the problems and grievances and ensuredfull cooperation in developing Fruit and Veg-etable Market into "Model Market". Faisal SakhiButt said that he would soon visit the market andwould direct CDA and other concerned organiza-tions to coordinate with the traders communityof the market to seek their suggestions to com-plete the development work at the earliest.

Pak game developer

to join gaming

giants on FacebookISLAMABAD

APP

Pakistan's social game developer is well-poised to join club of global gaming giants-Atari and Kabam at the list of 6waves thelargest Facebook game publisher in theworld, earning laurels and glory for thecountry in IT sector. According to a newsrelease issued here, Islamabad's WhiteRabbit Studios is the only Facebook gamingstudio from Pakistan and in fact the entireSouth Asian region, to get featured in thelist of key social game developers. As a re-sult of this partnership, the company willgain access to more than 30 million usersin 6waves' gigantic Facebook user network,said the release. White Rabbit Studios is a 3year old game development companywhich is primarily and solely focused oncontent creation. The Islamabad-based setup, already considered to be veterans in thesocial gaming scene. It is funded by aprominent Pakistani-American entrepre-neur and first came to the fore in early2010 with the release of Pakistan's first so-cial game on Facebook, Feline Frenzy, therelease added. White Rabbit's Facebookpartnership with 6waves will lend it an op-portunity to become one of the leading con-tent creation companies in South Asia arare feat in the services dominated IT sec-tors of Pakistan and India. "It's very excit-ing to see our company's name mentionedalong the likes of Atari and Kabam", saidHassan Baig, 29, CEO of White Rabbit Stu-dios. "We're very confident in our ability tocompete with the finest minds in centers ofinnovation across the world. We can doeverything they can, and at more favorableeconomics. We may be considered under-dogs at present, but the future, beyond anydoubt, will belong to us", he expressed.

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Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: Members of Christian community attend a ceremony at Fatima Church. ONLINE

Pakistan daycelebrated

RAWALPINDIAPP

The Pakistan Day was celebrated withzeal and zest at Govt Post Graduate Col-lege for Women, Satellite Town.It was organized by Ideology of PakistanSociety headed by Robina Siddique Lec-turer in History and Mussarat Riaz Lec-turer in Education. The stage wasbeautifully and thematically set en-hanced by the presentation of images onmultimedia. The enthusiasm of the or-ganizers was duly shared by the stu-dents. Iffat Liaqat Ali an eminent socialworker and MPA from Chakwal was thechief guest on this occasion.The function started with the beautifulrecitation of holy Qurranic verses byAsia Asad from Islamiat Department fol-lowed by Naat presented by Saira Kan-wal from B.S English.Then the nationalanthem was played and the whole con-gregation joined in. A documentary onthe Independence Movement was pre-sented on multimedia. A student fromB.S English Studies gave a thought pro-voking presentation about the feelingsand attitude of Pakistani people in thepast, present and what they want in fu-ture.It was followed by another presentationabout how Allama Iqbal addresses theissues of the present day Pakistan andthe Islamic World. Folk songs of differ-ent parts of Pakistan were presented inthe traditional Pakistani dresses addingcolour to the function. Messages of theeminent figures of the IndependenceMovement were brought to the audiencefor laud reading to impart the messageand inculcate the spirit needed to over-come the present impasse. A dramaticpresentation of the popular nationalsong, "A jawan, a jawan jeet hay teeripahchan" was presented.A card making competition was held onthe theme of Pakistan, Nasreen Tariqfrom Fine Arts and Ms Nussrat Ishtiaqfrom Pakistan Studies acted as judges.According to the decision of the judgesfirst prize was won by Aniqa AbdulGhafoor from English Studies, whilesecond, third and consolation prizeswere respectively won by Hifza, Noor-ul-Ann and Saddaf Khalid from FineArts Department. The chief guest, ac-companied by the principal ProfessorRiffat Naheed gave away the prizes, thena shield was presented to the chiefguest.In her address the chief guest thankedthe organizers and appreciated the stu-dents efforts. She talked about themeasures the Govt. of the Punjab whichhave been taken to facilitate the femalelot especially like 33 percent additionalquota in jobs, establishment of day carecentres and three years additional agerelaxation. The principal offered a wordof thanks to the chief guest and thefunction was concluded with the singingof the prayer, Jeway Pakistan.

RAWALPINDIAPP

THE Rawalpindi CantonmentBoard (RCB) will organise acultural show at race courseground in the mid of thismonth. Rawalpindi Canton-

ment Executive Officer Rana ManzoorAhmed said this while talking to APP.He said the cultural show would bemade a big attraction for the visitors andthey would be provided healthy enter-tainment during the cultural show.

Rana Manzoor said RCB has organ-ized a spring flower show, birds show andbook fair at Race Course Park for eightdays (April 5 to 12). Flowers have alwaysmesmerized people for their beauty andcolor and now the arrangement of thou-sands of colourful spring flowers are cast-ing their spell on the people visiting Race

Course Ground here at Peshawar Roadunder annual spring flower show 2012.The show has been arranged to provide aplatform for different organizations toshow their expertise in the field of horti-culture and provide healthy entertain-ment to the residents of Cantonmentareas. He said the show is also aimed topromote positive aspects of floriculture inour daily life and provide a forum tohobby gardeners for sharing their ideasand exchanging information with profes-sionals. A prize distribution ceremony inthis connection was also held at the racecourse park. The prizes were divided intodifferent categories including, houselawns, bungalow lawns, office lawns, largesize, medium size and small gardens. Inextra large garden category prizes werealso distributed.

People belonging to different walksof life are visiting the park to watch dif-

ferent varieties of flowers put on displayby different organisations.

The organisations that are partici-pating in the flower show includedCMH, MH, AFIC, AFIP, RCB, CCB, Gar-rison Mess, Signal Mess, SPD, CMT,Ayub Park, Jinnah Park and others.They displayed plants at their stalls,which included Petunia, Pensy, Mesem-bry, Marigold, Carinationa, Statice,Phlyx and Allysum.96 laWBreaKers iNcluDiNgover 20 gaMBlers arresTeD:Rawalpindi Police claimed to have ar-rested 96 lawbreakers including over 20gamblers, and 35 accused who werefound involved in immoral activities.

Rawalpindi police busted threebrothels in different operations and held35 male and female who were found in-dulged in immoral activities.

Police in crackdowns against crimi-

nals also recovered drugs, liquor, illegalweapons and stake money amounting toRs 101,435 with 23 mobile phones. Ac-cording to Police spokesman, Policeseized 310 grams charas, 259 bottles ofliquor, 11 pistols 30 bor with 34 roundsfrom the lawbreakers. Westridge policeconducted a raid at a brothel at AdamStreet and apprehended 12 men andwomen who were accused of being busyin immoral activities. The arrested ac-cused were identified as Ziatoon Bibi,Shazia, Abida, Sadia, Amna,Shazia,Safia, Saima, Rashida, Usman, ShahidIqbal, Hassan and Hazrat Wali. Airportpolice raided another brothel house atWakeel Colony and apprehended 15 menand women identified as Mir Waiz,Ameen, Salman, Raheel, Awal Khan,Akhter, Ezal, Hameed, Aziz, Tabassum,Musharraf, Atta, Shafique, Muskan andLaiba.

ISLAMABADAPP

Public transport plying on route fromWah Cantt to Pirwadhai has increasedfare for the second time during last fourmonths without any government notifica-tion adding fuel to the injuries of com-muters already suffering badly frominflation. Taking plea of increase in ratesof Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), thesetransporters have started fleecing thecommuters at their own and the con-cerned authorities have turned deaf earsto the worries of people complains' andcontinuously using professional tactics forthrowing responsibility on each other.

A large number of people travel dailyfrom Wah Cantt to Rawalpindi and Islam-abad through public transport for job, ed-ucation, business and other purposed butthe transporters are taking advantage oftheir problems by deciding fare withoutany official fare list.

The fare from Wah Cantt to Pirwadhaiwas Rs. 40 till December last year but inJanuary transporters increased it to 45with their own free will and now justwithin four months they have raised this

fare to Rs. 50 after latest increase in pe-troleum products early this month.

Ehsan Ahmad a daily commuter com-plained that on the days of Compress Nat-ural Gas (CNG) loadshedding, thesetransporters charge Rs. 50 to 60 per seatwith an excuse that they run their vehicleon petrol due to CNG load-shedding.

"These vans do not have any routepermit or fare list. But, they ply on thisroute and charge the commuters on theirwill", said Raheem Khan a daily com-muter of this route. He said when anypassenger ask them to show fare list therefuse to aboard him and say, "go by an-other vehicle".

Another passenger Amjad Khan whoworks at automobile shop said thesetransporters are working as 'Mafia', theyincrease fare when diesel prices or CNGprices increases and the concerned au-thorities are behaving like silent specta-tors.

Islamabad Traffic Police said thatthese vans travel only a short distancewithin Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT)and were least bothered, claimed anotherpassenger Hayat Khan. "Anyone just tellme where I should go and register my

complain against them," he said. He saidbesides Highway Police, Punjab Govern-ment should take the matter seriously andpay heed to our grievances. As it is com-mon problem, every commuter is suffer-ing at hands of these transporters whofeel no harm in over charging the passen-gers. But, the authorities are not takingappropriate action against these trans-porters leaving people to suffer, com-mented Jamal Akhtar, a sales man whoworks at six road. Public Relations OfficerNational Highway and Motorway Police,Aftab Aslam said Motorway and Highwaypolice will call a meet to device a strategyfor redressing grievances of people. Healso passed the buck to Regional Trans-port Authority for fixing the fare, route al-location.WoMeN eNTrePreNeursaTTracT Masses aT exPo 2012:Over 150 stalls of women entrepreneursattracted a large number of visitors hereSunday at the concluding day of 2-dayWomen Expo 2012 titled "Women in cre-ative industry". The expo focused onyoung women entrepreneurship to pro-mote and popularize their products in thecountry and abroad for their economic

empowerment while some male entrepre-neurs also displayed their products.

The event was organized by Islam-abad Women Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (IWCCI) in collaboration withUnited Nations Industrial DevelopmentOrganization (UNIDO), First WomenBank, Khushhali Bank Limited to pro-mote and encourage the Women Entre-preneurs business linkages.

The exhibition attracted a large num-ber of women entrepreneurs from all overthe country and provided them an oppor-tunity to display their products includinghandicrafts, jewelry, interior decors, gar-ments and fabrics.

About the mission and focus of Islam-abad Expo 2012, the organizers told APPthat "It enabled the skilled women topresent their products to the market andpromote and popularize them to retailers,wholesalers and distributors."

It also gave them opportunity to learnand discover new ideas by interactingwith other exhibitors, Establish theirBusiness contacts in line of business withthe stakeholders for enhancing their busi-ness by developing business linkages. Theevent also dedicated a Pavilion for Youth

Entrepreneurship Pavilion in Marble City,Textile City, Food Courts, Global Arena -Embassies, NGO's, Cooperate, Kids Buzz(Fun activities for kids, Schools).

Established as well as upcomingbrands brought their products from dif-ferent parts of the country to federal cap-ital for introducing their name andcreative ideas to the buyers.cJ iHc coNsTiTuTes 9 BeNcHesfor NexT WeeK: Chief Justice of Is-lamabad High Court (IHC) has consti-tuted six single and three division benchesto hear more than 300 cases during thenext week, from Monday.

Six single benches include Chief Jus-tice Iqbal Hameed-Ur-Rehman, Justice,Riaz Ahmed Khan, Justice MuhammadAnwar Khan Kasi, Justice Noorul Haq NQureshi,Justice Shaukat Aziz Sidqui andJustice Muhammad Azim Khan Afridi.

The first division bench (DB) com-prises of Chief Justice Iqbal Hameed-Ur-Rehman and Justice Noorul Haq NQureshi, second bench, Justice RiazAhmed Khan, Justice Muhammad AzimKhan Afridi while the third bench includeJustice Muhammad Anwar Khan Kasi andJustice Shaukat Aziz Sidqui.

RCB to organise culturalshow at Race Course Park

Transporters increase fare twice in 4 months

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Islamabad

ISLAMABAD: An artisan weaves cloth at a traditional Khaddi during Lok Festival at Lok Virsa. ONLINE

ISLAMABADAPP

FEDERAL Minister for Infor-mation and Broadcasting DrFirdous Ashiq Awan on Sun-day said that the president'svisit to India will to promote

bilateral relations of two countries. Talk-ing to Pakistan Television (PTV), shesaid that the visit of President was pri-vate and there he will pay visit to AjmerShareef and also to attend a luncheonbeing hosted in his honor by IndianPrime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Firdous while rejecting the news of'40 members delegation with PresidentZardari' said that the news was baseless.Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Interior MinisterRehman Malik and Foreign Secretary

Jalil Abbas Jilani also the part of delega-tion," she added.

Information Minister said the Presi-dent's visit was in national interest andPresident was ready to go anywhere, anytime for this cause.

She said President Zardari playedvital role in improving ties with allneighbor countries. "Although the visitis private, but the two leaders will dis-cuss all the issues and it will contributetowards achieving the President's visionto promote intra-regional peace andprosperity," she said.

Dr Firdous said, "We are looking for-ward for a constructive engagement be-tween the two leaders in New Delhi."

She said "we want issues betweenthe two countries including Kashmir tobe resolved by dialogue." "Pakistan Peo-

ple's Party (PPP) wants Indo-Pak ties tobe based on mutual respect and equal-ity," she said. She said Pakistan andIndia have important role in SAARC re-gion as they both are Nuclear powersand they should show their responsibil-ity for peace and stability in the region.

"Peace in region is in favor of boththe nations," Dr Firdous added.

She said "We desires to increase theeconomic cooperation with India bykeeping in view our national interest"because the poverty and unemploymentwas one of the major problems facing byboth the countries. Dr Firdous said tar-gets could be achieved by a positive ges-ture from both sides.PNca To HolD free PuPPeTsHoW for cHilDreN: The Pak-istan National Council of Arts (PNCA)

in collaboration with ministry of Na-tional Heritage and Integration hasscheduled a free puppet show for chil-dren here today.

The puppeteers of National PuppetTheater (NPT) will present colorful seg-ments including performance of pup-pets on popular folk tales, regionaldances, national songs and skits to pro-vide entertainment and educationabout social issues like health, educa-tion and environment etc.

Children from various educationalinstitutions along with parents are in-vited to attend the show. Meanwhile,the PNCA has scheduled an exhibitionof water colour paintings by Dr AjazAnwar and cartoons by his fatherAnwar Ali here on April 10 at NationalArt Gallery.

milk, yogurtprices go upby Rs 5 to 10

RAWALPINDIAPP

The prices of un-packaged milk and yo-gurt have been increased by Rs 5 to Rs 10in the city and cantonment areas.The daily milk consumption especially insummers increases manifold includingdemand of packaged and un-packagedmilk and yogurt. Earlier, the unpackedmilk was being sold at Rs 60 to 65 perkilogram and yogurt on Rs 65 to 70 butnow the rates have been increased by Rs5 to Rs 10 in the city and cantonmentmarkets. According to a survey conductedin this regard by APP, the milkmen haveunilaterally started selling milk at shopson increased rates. Some vendors whoclaimed that they sold only pure milkhave also been fleecing by charging ex-horbitant rates.It is pertinent to mention here that thereis no proper price control system in thecity as the milkman like suppliers of othercommodities particularly of daily useitems have been given a free hand and thedepartments concerned are taking no ap-propriate action in accordance with thelaw. The shopkeepers are fleecing thecustomers by charging exorbitant rates oftheir products. Milkmen representativeMushtaq said that revision of prices was adire need of the hour in wake of spirallingprice hike on all fronts. We have de-manded Rs 5 to Rs 10 increase, which hasyet to be agreed by the city district gov-ernment, he added.Tariq, a resident of Peoples Colony TenchBhatta said that milk and yogurt, beingnecessities of life, were already too expen-sive and an increase in prices would makethem out of the reach of common man.The citizens criticized the increase in milkprices, asking the authorities concernedto intervene into the matter to save themfrom profiteers.

Anti-encroachmentoperation urgedat double Road

ISLAMABADAPP

The residents of double road and adjoin-ing areas Sunday urged the concernedTMA administration to launch an anti-en-croachment operation along RawalpindiCricket Stadium road as encroachers havemade smooth traffic flow impossiblethere.Talking to APP, the commuters daily visit-ing Islamabad from double road Sundaysaid the spacious double road (Stadiumroad) has been turned into a virtual one-lane road mostly by workshop owners andothers.Long queues of vehicle are witnessed atdouble road especially at the morning andevening times as office-goers and studentsstudying in educational institutions of Is-lamabad use 9th avenue, the signal freebut entering the avenue from double roadside is an uphill task due to over steppingof shopkeepers, workshop owners and ho-tels situated at double road right fromSangam Marriage hall to double roadcrossing at IJP road.A vehicle normally covers the distancefrom Peshawar Morr to double roadcrossing within a five to seven minutesperiod. However the real test starts soonafter entering Rawalpindi from (I-8) 9thavenue - as encroachments, traffic jams,dust witnessed everywhere at doubleroad - crying the apathy of Tehsil Munic-ipal Authorities. Near RawalpindiCricket Stadium a half of double road isturned into a parking lot by the manage-ment of a shopping plaza as well as for-mer PTCL building. Leaving little spacefor motorists to pass through. Moreover,a U-turn in front of Nawaz Sharif park’srear gate has been closed – forcing mo-torists, bikers coming from Christiancolony to go towards Murree roadthrough wrong way thus inviting acci-dents. The locals have urged the TMAauthorities to launch an anti-encroach-ment to save the precious time and fuelof the commuters.

Fund raising artshow concludes

ISLAMABADAPP

The fundraiser art show by a group ofnine established artists concluded hereSunday at Nomad Art Gallery with theobjective of raising charity funds for thefamily of late Rahimdad, famous potter ofSaidpur Village. The show brought exqui-site art pieces for art lovers of federal cap-ital to promote the art and skills ofvarious artists as well as collect funds forRahimdad who died in difficult circum-stances after many decades of contribu-tion to keep the craft of pottery alive.Nageen Hyat, Director Nomad, told APPthat the fundraiser exhibition was a smalleffort to support the family of Rahimdadthrough financial assistance.Participating artists Mashkoor Raza,Anjum Ayub, Abrar Ahmed, Zia Zaidi,Riffat Khattak, Arjumand Awan, RasheedKhan, Saba Hussain and Indian ArtistMadhubani displayed a total of 33 paint-ings of mixed media works. MashkoorRaza exhibited the work on figurative ab-stract. Creating transparency with partsof basic forms of square, circle, triangleon his canvases, he captured abstractingimages of women and horses. He is in-spired by the solar eclipse and paintsmoon and eclipses sun in the paintings.Anjum Ayub displayed print makingideas that were deeply attracted andmoved by the concerns of the soul withdifferent techniques to create a sanctu-ary for the soul.

RAWALPINDIAPP

Wheat procurement campaign will startin Rawalpindi district from April 20 asall arrangements for the campaign hasbeen completed.

District Coordination Officer (DCO)Rawalpindi, Capt.Saqib Zafar has saidthat all arrangements for wheat procure-ment are being completed in accordancewith the instructions of the governmentand provision of Bardana will be startedfrom mid of this month.

He said that the procurement cen-ters for district Rawalpindi would be setup in tehsil Gujar Khan and tehsil Taxilawhile the focal persons for these centerswould be Assistant Commissioners(ACs).

DCO said that a comprehensive planin this regard has been formulated whileformation of monitoring committees atdistrict level is aimed at providing thefarmers all possible facilities and tomake all the process transparent. Hesaid the directives have been issued tothe authorities concerned that the lists ofthe wheat farmers should be provided todistrict food controllers in time.

The DCO informed that the govern-ment has set a 3.5 metric tones target forwheat procurement for the Punjabprovince while 1000 metric tones target

for Rawalpindi district has also beenfixed.

He said that the wheat growerswould be provided all possible facilitieswith full payment of the support price oftheir produce.eNcroacHMeNTs iN raWalToWN reMaiN uNNoTiceD: Theresidents of Circular Road, Saidpur Roadand Bunni area have been voicing theirconcerns over the illegal occupation ofthese roads by the encroachers, whopark their vehicles and set up all sorts ofbusinesses on the roads, not only caus-ing extreme traffic congestion but alsocreating problems for the pedestrians.

The citizens said that the encroach-ments are on the rise as the authoritiesconcerned failed to control the situation.They said the encroachers on SaidpurRoad and Bunni Chowk had become aheadache, as they hampered the move-ment of even the pedestrians.

The locals urged the authorities con-cerned to come up with a solution of theproblem and remove the encroach-ments.

They said encroachments had notonly marred the beauty of the area, butalso damaged the roads as well, causinggreat hardships for the people travelingthrough the only route available to them.

The situation has been made worstat Circular Road as the motorcycle deal-

ers and auto workshops owners had oc-cupied both sides of the the road.

"It has become a parking space forthe encroachers while fruit sellers haveset up stalls on the walkway and road," aresident of the area said, adding that thephenomenon had become one of thebiggest problems for the residents of thegarrison city.

A resident of Saidpur Road, Aamir,said the encroachers rule the area andthe authorities concerned should removethem."The encroachers throw garbage inthe open. We have lodged several com-plaints with the administration but so farno action in this regard could be taken,"said Aamir.

He said that the taxi drivers werealso contributing to augment the prob-lem, by parking their vehicles on theroad particularly near Bunni Chowk."Itis very difficult to cross the Circular Roadand Bunni Chowk during the peak hoursbecause the encroachers are runningtheir businesses by occupying the road,"Tahir, a motorist, said.

The residents of these areas said thepractice was the main reason behindtraffic jams. It is not only the motoristsbut also the pedestrians are also facingthe problem as a routine.

They urged the city district govern-ment to remove the encroachments fromthe roads for a smooth traffic flow.

Wheat procurementto start from 20th

President’s visit to India willpromote relations: Firdous

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Editor’s mail 11monday, 9 April, 2012

loadsheddingThe loadshedding has increased with

the temperature of Karachi. The averagetemperature in Karachi is above 35 andaverage duration of loadshedding isabove 6 hours. We are takingmatriculation exams and we cannotstudy without electricity in this hotweather. I request the government toreduce the duration of loadshedding, atleast during exams, for the sake of ourbetter future.

TAHIR KHANKarachi

tax nAto suppliesPakistan government should allow

the transport of NATO containers butwith some conditions. The conditionsbeing, that they pay for this transport.They should use local companies fortransport with the added condition thatbig companies should allocate 50percent of the contract to small privatetransport companies. A road tax wouldalso be payable which should be usedexclusively to construct a heavytransport highway route, avoiding innercities and villages.

The NATO forces in Afghanistan willbe leaving in 2014. This gives thegovernment of Pakistan two years plusone year of moving out, for earningtransport and road taxes. It will also giveprivate companies time to grow. It willalso allow the construction of a superhighway for heavy trucks and some dryports.

This will help Pakistan earn taxincome and will create thousands ofjobs. And the reality is that after theNATO forces leave Afghanistan, thecountry will still require its goods to betransported via Pakistan. And the newCentral Asian countries have alreadystarted their transport of goods, whichwould only increase with the completionof the Chinese Railway Line from theTajikistan border to Pakistan border inAfghanistan. We would require heavygoods transport infrastructure andmany experienced companies tocontinually benefit from this establishedtransport route to Central Asia. This willalso help Pakistan jump start theGwadar Port and generate businessfrom there.

By delaying this decision we are onlylosing money and prolonging the stay ofNATO troops in Afghanistan.

SHAHRYAR KHAN BASEERPeshawar

miserable schoolingFew months back a report was

issued on a survey conducted by SouthAsian Forum for EducationDevelopment (SAFED) that indicates alarge number of students in Islamabadcan’t read or do simple arithmetic.Although this report was denied butdoes the denial of our authorities reallymatter? Report showed that around 42percent of students cannot readsentences, 57 percent cannot performsubtraction, 49 percent cannot readsimple words and about 53 percent ofstudents cannot recognise numbers from0-99 and such miserable schoolingcondition is not only limited to publicschools but in private schools as well.

This is not only limited to Islamabad,situation in other cities like Karachi,Lahore and Peshawar is quite similar.The only thing behind the success of westis education and we are least bothered toeducate our people properly. Concernedauthorities should consider this issue astheir topmost priority.

UMER BIN AJMALKarachi

the US interferenceIt seems that the US without wasting

time attacks on the sovereignty of anindependent country. It has happened formany a years. Recently, levellingallegations on Hafiz Saeed is a completeviolation of international law as well asthe UN charter for basic human rights.The US should take lessons from pastmistakes for saving the world as well as itscitizens. Without any solid proof,declaring head money isincomprehensible. I advise the US torespect international law.

TARIQ HUSAIN KHANKarachi

Street crimes – a menaceThe increasing number of street

crimes has now become a threat to thelives of common people. Street crimesare becoming a part of routine life ofpeople of major cities of the country likeLahore and Karachi. The people ofLahore are very much afraid because ofstreet crimes. The robbers snatchpersonal belongings of people such astheir mobile phones, money andjewellery etc on the streets. There is nosecurity for people, let alone vehicles.These criminals threaten people to givetheir belongings or they would lose theirlives.

The need of the hour is that ourprovincial government and city policetook action on this problem. Thesecriminals should be arrested so thatcommon people live freely without anyfear of losing their belongings.

SIDRA FAZALLahore

with great power came great irresponsibilityA little over a decade ago Pakistani

Media comprised of a single channel.Days were simpler, news was conveyedand both believed and doubted. Therewere people who believed that Media wasstate influenced. Then the first years of21st century witnessed the advent of “freeand independent” media in Pakistan andchannel after channel popped on to ourtelevision screens. Excitement got thebest of journalists as well as viewers forthe first few years and viewersoverlooked glitches and blunders, butnow after more than a decade of the socalled freedom and independence it is

painful to find the maturity, that is muchover due in our Media, absent.

It was very upsetting to see that thetragedy that struck our soldiers in Siachinwas not deemed worth a few minutes ofairtime by our television channels and yetthe expected menu for Mr. Zardari’slunch in India got the status of “breakingnews” and several wasted minutes ofairtime on more than one private TVchannel. It is absurd that stupid andirrelevant statements of Indian celebritiesmake it to headlines of our news bulletinsyet the avalanche that affected more thana hundred of our own soldiers and killed

most of them is not news worthy?I do not intend to blame the entire

industry but only those who, even ifinadvertently, seem to be working onagendas and against the interests ofPakistan. This Industry has acquired a lotof power and influence but with thatpower there should come some maturity.The format of talk shows should nowchange from instigation to identificationand resolution of issues, the theatrics likethrilling music and flashing of phraseslike “breaking news” and “news alert”should be reserved for news that isactually breaking or alerting. And the

childish race as to which channel got to ascene first is just sickening to the core, Ifail to understand why it is believed thatreaching first at a bomb explosion sitewould win people’s hearts and viewersactually care which channel was the firstto reach a place where innocent fellowcountrymen lost their lives, and even if itdoes benefit your ratings it is just too lowa level to stoop for ratings. Even thoughour media is very touchy and sensitive tocriticism, I only hope this too is takenresponsibly and maturely.

ZAFAR ZULQURNAIN SAHILahore

the Indian peace overtures

send your letters to:Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistanfax: +92-42-36298302e-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters may be edited for length and clarity.It would be appreciated if letters were ad-dressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

Despite remarkable presentation bythe Pakistani players in the first editionof IPL, they are once again abandoned inthe IPL edition of 2012. The performanceby the Pakistani players outshined theperformance of rest of the players which,as expected, led to the emergence of resent-ment among the board members of IPL.

The explanation given by thecommissioner of IPL for not includingPakistan was that Pakistani players wereaccessible via auction but it was

exclusively up to the franchise whether topay money for them or not. This was afailed attempt to cover up theirdiscriminatory stance against Pakistaniplayers which may be due to their owninsecurities.

Recently, in the fifth edition of IPL,Azhar Mehmood was purchased for US$200,000 by Kings XI Punjab after receivingthe British passport. It clearly points tothe fact that a cricket player with aPakistani green passport cannot enter the

door of the Indian Premier League.Ravindra Jadeja, who cannot match

the proficiency of players like Umer Gul,Shahid Afridi and Saeed Ajmal, was soldfor US$ 2million. It is evident that theIndian Premier League does not wantPakistani players to be a part of thisleague as it would lead to a shift in focusfrom the Indian players to ouroutstanding Pakistani cricket players.

YUMNA RAFIKarachi

The Indian government and media ensure complete blackout of Pakistan cricket and its telecast in India. Furthermore,they have also ensured and used all dirty tactics to causemaximum damage to Pakistan cricket.

And for touring Pakistan, none of the Indian sports teamsare allowed to visit Pakistan on the pretext of security. But atthe same time, India gives no reason to boycott our playersfrom IPL and not inviting Sialkot Stallions from ChampionsLeague Cricket T20 Tournament.

Actually, what India and USA want is an uninterrupted landroute via Pakistan, for India to Afghanistan, after the withdrawalof foreign forces from that occupied country, so that to keep the

influence of Taliban forces, to the minimum possible level. Butfor such a huge favour, both US and India don’t want to give anyconcessions, which will bring peace and stability to Pakistan.

As such, it is incumbent upon the government of Pakistan,as minimum dignity levels and standards require that TVchannels should be ordered forthwith to stop telecasting anyIndian sporting event, including IPL matches underway thesedays till such time India behaves and responds like a friendlyand peaceful neighbour. Moreover, Pakistan must demand it’spound of flesh from the US and India.

SYED NAYYAR UDDIN AHMADLahore

The Prime Minister of Pak-istan, Mr Youasf Raza Gi-lani, is under dark clouds in

these days as he is facing con-tempt of court proceedings in theSupreme Court of Pakistan for notwriting a letter to the Swiss gov-ernment to reopen the graft casesagainst Mr Asif Ali Zardari, thePresident of Pakistan, despite itsnew direction dated 8 March,2012. Conversely, Mr Yousaf RazaGilani is of the firm view that “thePresident of Pakistan, who is alsohead of the state, has been pro-vided complete immunity againstthe initiation of any kind of crimi-nal proceedings in any court bythe constitution of the Islamic Re-public of Pakistan as long he isholding the office of the president.

The immunity is also available tohim under the international law aswell.” He says that if he does notwrite a letter to the Swiss govern-ment as directed by the SupremeCourt he may go behind the barsfor six months but if he writes aletter, he would commit much big-ger crime which may even takehim to gallows for violating theconstitution of the Islamic Repub-lic of Pakistan.

The constitutional experts aresharply divided on the interpreta-tion of the immunity clause whichprovides protection to the presi-dent. Some of them are of theopinion that there is no harm inwriting a letter. If the Swiss gov-ernment decides to initiate crimi-nal proceedings against him, hemay claim immunity against histrial provided to him in the consti-tution. Other legal and constitu-tional experts are of the view that

it would be ridiculous to take upsuch a plea in the Swiss court bythe president of Pakistan, espe-cially in the circumstances whenthe Supreme Court of his owncountry has not provided him thesaid protection. In view of diver-gent views of the legal and consti-tutional experts, it is appropriateto have a look into the provision ofthe constitution itself.

Article 248 clearly states thatno criminal proceedings whatso-ever shall be instituted or contin-ued against the president or agovernor in any court during histerm of office, and no process forarrest or imprisonment of thepresident or a governor shall be is-sued from any court during histerm of office.

Although from the very face ofit, Article 248 forbids the initia-tion or continuation of any kind ofcriminal proceedings against the

president during his tenure, yetthere are number of constitutionalexperts who are of the view thatsince the Supreme Court has theunfettered powers to interpret theconstitution, it may do so in anyway it likes and may send theprime minister behind the bars fornot obeying its order. However,there are many other legal andconstitutional experts, who are ofthe view that when the language ofthe constitutional provisions orlaw is clothed with clear and un-ambiguous words, even theSupreme Court does not have thepower to interpret it differently.Hence, the Supreme Court cannotinterpret the word “NO” into“YES” as it has to work while re-maining within the limit of theconstitution.

Should such an eventualityarise when the Supreme Court de-cides to send the prime minister

behind the bars on the basis of itsauthority of interpretation, it maygive rise to a very complex situa-tion as. After the conviction ofprime minister, some frustratedcitizen may send a referenceunder Article 209 of the constitu-tion to the president for referringit to the Supreme Judicial Councilto inquire into the conduct of allthose judges of the Supreme Courtwho remained directly or indi-rectly involved in the interpreta-tion of the above constitutionalprovision. In such a complex situ-ation, it is feared that there mayhardly be any judge of theSupreme Court left to preside overthe proceedings of the SupremeJudicial Council for determiningthe issue as to who violated theprovision of the constitution:prime minister or judges of theSupreme Court.

In order to avoid this ugly sit-

uation where almost all the judgesof the Supreme Court are requiredto face the Supreme JudicialCouncil for inquiry into their con-duct, which would certainly behighly undesirable and embar-rassing for the judges and as wellas for the nation, some well-wish-ers of the judiciary are of the viewthat it would be wiser and moreappropriate if the honourablejudges of the Supreme Court stopproceedings in this case and referit to the parliament for making adecision on the issue of immunityto the president rather than decid-ing it themselves, just like it wasdone in the past on the matter ofthe 18th amendment in the consti-tution concerning the articles re-lating to appointment of higherjudiciary for an oversight by theparliament.

The writer is a lawyer.

post conviction scenarioBy Moeen Qureshi

IPl’s discriminatory stance

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Comment12monday, 9 April, 2012

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: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

the crisis of our times

losing interest

For some time now, the gaze of the mainstream mediaevades the status of the IDPs. Such are the verymechanics and dynamics of the media. There is alwaysa newer story to tell and older, but ongoing, news,

much like stale entertainment programming, loses its audience.

The floods of 2010 were perhaps on of the greatest naturalcalamity this country has seen. They were covered asadequately as the mainstream media allows. The floods thatfollowed the year after that were also very serious. Not as much,granted, but a major disaster nonetheless. That didn’t getnearly the same amount of coverage. The same is the case forthe incidents of police brutality. They were all the rage backwhen they first started being aired on TV. When citizens fromall over the country realised there actually is a market for this,they started sending in a flurry of videos. If the viewers noticedthat such videos stopped being aired, it would do them goodnot to assume the cases of police brutality had ceased. They hadjust stopped making for good TV anymore.

A similar plight faces the situation of the IDPs in thenorthwest. Though the war in South Waziristan has beenbringing its own share, flooding the cities of DI Khan andPeshawar, the latter city also faces the brunt of the operation inthe nearby Khyber agency, where the military has been engagedin a long, drawn out battle with the Lashkar-e-Islami.

It has been a strange set of operations, the ones in Khyber,with stranger beginnings. The absurdity of the whole affair wouldhave made good humour if the human costs weren’t so great.

The problem with the whole situation, however, is access ofthe affectees to television. With a mainstream media unmovedby their plight, feelings of alienation from the rest of the countryare bound to emerge. Couple this, then, with the military’sham-fisted approach to the operation, with artillery shellingpounding civilian settlements. Are the IDPs being courted wellin the battle for hearts and minds? If it weren’t for the fact thatthe other side, the militants, are even more abhorrent anoption, these poor citizens would have defected long ago.

The media needs to show some empathy and realise that ashouting match between government functionaries can beinterrupted for some reports about the IDPs as well.

even if the speed is glacial

dargah diplomacy

Detractors have much to say about how inappropriateit is for the president’s visit to India to be personal.And they do have a point. The presidential posse, anentourage that costs quite a packet per trip,

accompanies him. So does his son, who despite beingchairperson of the party that rules the country, does not enjoyany state position.

But, in a way, this being a personal visit to a shrine carries aparticular effectiveness as a confidence building measure thatno other visit could. A sign of how deeply inextricable arelationship exists between the two neighbours, for the head ofstate to visit this traditional nemesis country for spiritualreasons. Till this went to press, Ajmer, Deoband, NankanaSaheb, Sehwan Sharif etc are not changing their nationalitiesand there is no chance they will anytime in the future.

But the motives clearly weren’t only spiritual. The meetinghas acquired all the trappings of a solid diplomatic meeting,with the president having met the Indian premier.

At another end of the border, an estimated 133 people, 124of them soldiers, are missing in an avalanche in the Siachensector. Though rescue efforts are underway, the worst fears insuch a situation are more than a likely possibility. This paperwould like to reach out to the families of these brave souls whorisk their lives on a daily basis so that the rest of theircompatriots could live in peace.

But nowhere should this sympathy, and sturdy admiration,for our jawans be construed as a reluctance to question thewisdom of waging a war in this sector in the first place. Datingback to the ’80s when an Indian brigadier is said to have hadthe bright idea to occupy what is, in fact, a glacier, this conflicthas claimed many lives at a great financial cost for these twopoor countries.

They started it, yes, but it doesn’t mean we can’t end it.Modalities for a withdrawal can be worked out here. Self-styledClausewitzes on either will roll out their maps and, drowning intheir own testosterone, wax strategic about the importance ofthe sector. Let the political leadership on both sides resist theimpulse to believe in them.

The guns stopped firing in Siachen in 2004. If that could bedone, the checkpost and bases on both sides can also bediscontinued. Both sides are losing this war to the elements.

Let us not send any more kids to freeze to death.

Scared of disagreementAre your beliefs that hollow?

The year is 1948. Major Mah-mud, an Ahmadi, is murderedin a manner described by the1954 Justice Munir Report as“singularly brutal.” He is an

army officer. His car suffers a breakdownclose to a place where an angry mob hasheld a meeting denouncing Ahmadis —this is 1948 when Pakistan does not haveits own constitution providing for a defi-nition of a Muslim and a non-Muslim.Major Mahmud is chased by a crowd afterthey learn of his beliefs. He suffers multi-ple injuries from blunt instruments. He ishelpless against the attacking mob whichstabs him multiple times till his entrailsfall out. But this isn’t the majority’s prob-lem, right?

The year is 2012. An Ahmadi schoolteacher is picked up by the police and diesin police custody, allegedly because of tor-ture. People fail to protest. After all, he isan Ahmadi and many people die of torturein police custody so why should he get spe-cial attention?

A woman commits suicide after beingthe victim of an acid attack. The mediaraises questions while shying away fromothers. A popular talk show host becomesan apologist for the attacker — detailinghow women almost ask for these crimes tobe committed against them. Mr JavedChaudhry’s article was repulsive in manyways. As a lawyer, I have all the respect foranyone wanting to explain why peoplecommit crimes since society often doesnot discuss that. But there is a differencebetween an explanation and a justifica-tion; the latter imparts a moral quality toheinous acts. Even the most skilled advo-cate would think twice about running thesort of misogynistic defence that the likesof Mr. Chaudhury have furthered. I saidskilled, not typical.

A society’s reaction to crimes againstits most vulnerable is important. Equallyimportant is its reaction to crimes com-mitted against people who further unpop-ular discourse. This after all is a societywhere many politicians including the in-creasingly self-righteous and popular onesexplain suicide bombings by blamingdrone attacks. As if every child beingbrainwashed in suicide bombing schoolshas lost someone or every instructor therehas suffered a loss and turned vengeful.That is the beauty of rhetoric, I guess.When popular opinion makers and politi-

cians say the absurd many will just acceptit.

When Mr Salmaan Taseer was mur-dered, there was no shortage of peoplewho said, “But why did he have to speakout against blasphemy laws? He shouldhave known better.” As if something as sa-cred and deep rooted as a religion isthreatened by a differing point of view.

Every time I write about these issues Iget a ton of emails saying that we have big-ger problems, that corruption and powercuts affect people’s lives more than theseissues. And my reaction, each time, tosuch reasoning is the same; I am deeplydisturbed. It is easy for people to say “wehave bigger problems” when they havenever been the target of a systematic cam-paign aimed at certain viewpoints or be-liefs. Adopting a deeply selfish stance tothe plight of others might have reasonsbut again it is not justified. Not by anyvariant of logical reasoning if you careabout law or justice.

Why should our imagination be solimited? Why can’t we tolerate or even de-fend unpopular viewpoints expressed bypeople? There is something deeply rottenabout a society where murderers aregreeted with rose-petals while victims areblamed. The discourse surrounding theseissues is inherently twisted and the opin-ion makers engage in a great disservice bynot clarifying the issues.

Of course all crime should be con-demned but that does not mean that westop condemning certain crimes becausethey involve people who say things thatmake us uncomfortable. Islam is notthreatened if someone takes issue with theway blasphemy laws are implemented orthe way they have been drafted. Manmade laws can have many problems andmany of our laws do. If people can make ageneral argument about how the justicesystem often fails to deliver, why shouldn’t

someone be allowed to target its specificsand speak for people who are victimised?

You do not have to agree with some-one’s faith or beliefs but that does not haveto result in you failing to condemn the factthat people are targeted because of theirbeliefs. This culture of becoming apolo-gists for criminals is hurting us deeply.Then there are also the likes of Mr ZaidHamid who decided to approach the apexcourt of the land to deal with traitors.Here is the first bit of bad news for MrHamid: your lawyer doesn’t seem to havegiven you the right advice. And here issome advice: if you believe in a countryand in a religion, then you insult both ifyou think that disagreement is a threat.

I vehemently disagree with what MrHamid says and also with what most bla-tantly patriarchal television hosts saywhen crimes are committed againstwomen. But the solution is not to kill theirspeech. The solution, I believe, is morespeech. Let the fearmongers insult theirown intelligence. But I am not willing toallow them to threaten our collective free-dom. And if our freedom matters to usthen we should use that to condemn, inthe strongest terms, the crimes against themost vulnerable members of our society.

There is nothing to be gained by be-coming apologists for the most heinouscrimes. In fact, we imperil our own free-dom each time we do so. And shame onthose who raise slogans of patriotism andreligiosity only to go running to courts justbecause someone disagrees with them.Genuine love for country or religion isnever this hollow.

The writer is a Barrister and anAdvocate of the High Courts. He iscurrently pursuing his LL.M in the USand can be reached atwmir.rma@gmail.com or on Twitter@wordoflaw

By Waqqas Mir

With the start of strikes against Afghanistan in thename of the war on terror, any chance and hope forpeace in the region were dashed. The US actions,

one after the other, backfired and contributed more toinstability and violence in the war-torn region thancontributing to peace and stability. It is because the land ofAfghanistan has proved to be area of defeat for the alliedforces.

The US was here in Afghanistan with an aim of seekingpermanent bases in the country but it seems that it will notbe able to fulfil this aim as it is facing interminable losses onall fronts in Afghanistan and its ailing economy will be hard-pressed to sustain any kind of prolonged military presencein the country. This is why they want to cut their losses andrun now. The proof is in the fact that the Americans are seek-ing talks with the Taliban for peace and have duly opened anoffice at Qatar for the same purpose.

The question is whether the plan to have a military pres-ence in Afghanistan by the US has yielded any result or hasthe US realised the mistake it committed in plunging into theregion without thinking the entire thing through.

Pakistan should be praised for the role it has played inthe larger interest of the region. Not only has Pakistan hostedmillions of homeless Afghans for decades, it has also cease-lessly continued with its efforts for lasting peace in the regionthrough cooperation with regional and global stakeholders.

The talks intended for peace in the region among variousstakeholders cannot shun the importance of Pakistan to thewhole process. But in the ultimate analysis, it is the Afghanswho must have a solution of their liking. A solution that hasbeen manufactured to cater to the interest of other stake-holders and powers will not sit well with the Afghans and willbe doomed to fail from the start, as history has proved. Thus,the process must ensure that the Afghans are freely able todecide what is best for them.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur Rauf Khattak

US will leave; the problems will stayDaily Pashtun Post

regional Press

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Comment 13monday, 9 April, 2012

Washington is fa-mous for manythings: fragrant

cherry blossoms in spring-time; a slender steeple mon-ument in the middle of a parkfull of weekend kites; acityscape planned by the se-cret society of Masons; and aWhite House that is, oncloser inspection, perfectlywhite but not much of ahouse. But it is not famousfor generosity in strategicpolicy.

The United States has notoffered a bounty of $10 millionfor “information leading to thecapture of Hafiz Saeed” be-cause Saeed is India’s enemy.It did so because Saeed isAmerica’s enemy, and oneready to use terrorism in pur-suit of his manic fantasies, ashe did when orchestrating theattack on Mumbai in 2008.Washington is not in the busi-ness of borrowing headaches;it has enough of its own. This isfurther evidence of an emerg-ing fact, that India and Amer-ica are challenged by the sameenemy on the battlefield of in-ternational terrorism. Wartimealliances are not defined by thepresence of common friends,but by the existence of enemiesin common.

The most important de-velopment this year in India-Pakistan relations is notPresident Asif Zardari’s briefSunday lunch with Dr Man-mohan Singh in Delhi fol-lowed by a short prayer at theshrine of Gharib NawazKhwaja Moinuddin Chishti inAjmer, but this decision madein Washington, for it offersPresident Zardari a chance tochoose his side in the war

against terrorists. The trian-gulation is neat, almost per-fect. It cuts through the fog ofpolitical compulsions. The of-ficial, if unspoken, excuse forIslamabad’s inaction againstHafiz Saeed is that it is impos-sible for any government inPakistan to hand a leader ofthe “jihad” against India toDelhi. India will be satisfied ifSaeed is sent to a cell in Amer-ica, because American courtswill ensure justice. Zardarican join the India-US allianceagainst terrorism, or straddlethe fence. There may not beclosure, but there will be clar-ity.

Hafiz Saeed is not someinverted Robin Hood hiddenin Nottingham forest, or evenan Osama bin Laden lost inKarachi’s urban jungle or asafehouse in Abbottabad. Helives quite publicly inMuridke, a suburb of Lahore,appears frequently on televi-sion, and delivers speeches athis own heavily securedmosque. The problem withAmerica’s reward for infor-mation might be one ofplenty. Every journalist inLahore, not to mention everypoliceman, could claim thoseten million dollars [almost Rs100 crores in Pak currency;not bad]. The correspondentof London’s Financial Timescould apply as well, for hemet Saeed in January thisyear at Rawalpindi andquoted him as saying, “Pak-istan is facing very severethreats from both sides –India is one side, Americaand NATO forces are on theother, and the agenda of bothis Pakistan.”

The problem then is notinformation, but capture. In-formation requires a cooper-ative ear; capture needs guts.Does President Zardari havethem? Can President Zardaritouch a lesser target, Saeed’sbrother in law Abdul Rah-man Makki, who may notmake his captors as rich, butstill offers a payout of twomillion American dollars?There is a fundamental ques-tion trailing Zardari: howmuch muscle does he carry in

his baggage? So far, his gov-ernment’s only real responseto America’s bounty offer hasbeen studied silence. TheHafiz Saeed establishmenthas been more vocal. It dis-missed the threat contemp-tuously as an “April Fool’sjoke”.

Why did Washingtonmake this move now, addingsulphur to the fires ragingacross US-Pak bandwidth?Why was the signal sent fromDelhi on the eve of PresidentZardari’s “private” trip toIndia? This is an electric prodto President Zardari, to forcehim off the fence.

Prayer is a usefulmetaphor for India-Pakistanrelations, and rather betterthan cricket, which used to beGeneral Zia ul Haq’s alibi fora sudden dash to India. Thegeneral, being ideologicallycloser to the puritan Jamaat-e-Islami, had no time forshrines or 13th centurysaints. The president of Pak-istan is not going to Ajmer topray for victory in the nextPakistani election. In anycase, even divine interven-tion may be inadequate. Pol-itics, not prayer, brings himto India. He has done hiscost-benefit analysis. He isnot spending a Sunday inIndia to win brownie pointsabroad and lose support athome. Nor is he there tomake calibrated adjustmentsin the negative list for trade.

The fly-on-the-wall duringclosed door conversations be-tween Zardari and ManmohanSingh will hear talk of war, notpeace. But they will discuss awar beyond their boundaries,and wonder if there is a faintchance that they just might,given enormous luck anddeadly circumstance, becomedistant allies. That chance de-pends on what Zardari doesabout Hafiz Saeed.

The columnist is editorof The Sunday Guardian,published from Delhi, Indiaon Sunday, published fromLondon and EditorialDirector, India Today andHeadlines Today.

Can India and Pakistan have a ‘war’ beyond boundaries?

Bounty on the mutiny

third EyeBy M J Akbar

The US State Departmentclaims that the $10 million re-ward on Hafiz Saeed is for in-

formation leading to evidence thatcan stand judicial scrutiny in the courtof law. The US State Department’sbriefings on the issue are in fact anadmission that there is no evidenceagainst the man on whom they havebestowed the ‘honour’ of being one ofthe most dangerous men in the world.

In the absence of any indictmentand without confronting Hafiz Saeedor the Government of Pakistan withany allegation of his involvement inan act of terrorism, the US an-nounced a bogus reward in blatantdisregard of international laws anddiplomatic norms. So then I ask my-self, ‘Why did they come up withsuch a decision?’ For the answer tothis $10 million question, let us takea back seat and revisit the events asthey unfolded after the horrific andtragic 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

It all started in December, 2008when, after the unfortunate Mumbaiepisode, India successfully managedto designate Hafiz Saeed and Ja-maat-ud-Dawa (JuD) on the UnitedNations Security Council’s Al-Qaedaand Taliban Sanctions Committee’sconsolidated list. This enlistmentwas termed by the Indian foreignpolicy analysts as a smart andprompt move which would serve as agood pressure tactic with regards tothe newly born democratic govern-ment and the decades old securityestablishment of Pakistan. India’ssuccess at the UN also helped it indiscrediting the Kashmir issue withthe argument that it is nothing butan insurgency sponsored by the ter-ror outfits affiliated with Al-Qaeda.

Hafiz Saeed successfully chal-lenged his detention before theHon’ble Lahore High Court, where heargued that ‘detention’ was never apart of the measures authorised bythe UNSC’s Sanctions Committee. Healso pleaded that such actions werean example of over-compliance onthe part of the government and thattoo in violation of his fundamentalrights guaranteed under the constitu-tion of Pakistan. By invoking the con-stitutional jurisdiction of the HighCourt, Hafiz Saeed made it clear thathe was ready to face all allegations.By confronting the allegations being

levelled by the Indian lobby, he notonly exposed their innate weaknessbut also asserted that in fact it was hissupport for the Kashmiri cause thatwas bothering the Indian pundits.

The High Court, while settingaside his detention orders, observedthat there was no evidence that HafizSaeed had any links with Al-Qaedaor any terrorist movement and therewas no evidence of any linkage or hisinvolvement in the Mumbai attacks.

Committed to confronting the al-legations being tabled by the Govern-ment of India, Hafiz Saeed alsoapproached the UNSC’s SanctionsCommittee through its focal point forde-listing, and urged them to con-front him with any evidence that wasavailable on record. While pleadinghis right to a fair trial, he also high-lighted that the Sanctions Committeewas bound to respect the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights and thedecisions of the superior judiciary inPakistan. The request for de-listingfiled on behalf of Hafiz Saeed notonly questioned the procedure beingadopted by the Sanctions Committeeas violation of due process, but alsoconfronted the political overtonesthat were taking toll at the UN.

Through his request for de-list-ing, Hafiz Saeed strongly condemnedthe Mumbai attacks and expressedhis sorrow over the tragic incident.While rejecting any suggestions ofhis association with Al-Qaeda orLashkar-e-Taiba, he reaffirmed thathe does not prescribe to any act of aterrorist nature that kills innocentcivilians and damages civilian prop-erty. He reiterated his political andmoral support for the Kashmiri peo-ple which he still believes to be inline with various UN Resolutions onthe subject. He not only relied uponthe judicial pronouncements of thePakistani courts but also emphasisedthat neither he nor his organisation,JuD, are proscribed under the anti-terrorism laws of Pakistan.

As expected, the de-listing re-quest was turned down by the Sanc-tions Committee. The focal point forde-listing, responsible for communi-cation between the Committee andHafiz Saeed, has now been scrappedby the UN and an Office of the Om-budsperson has been set up instead.Hafiz Saeed is now in the process ofapproaching the Ombudsperson fora de novo consideration of his de-listing request.

We might have our own opinionsabout the man and might disagree

with what he believes in, but it wouldbe fair to conclude that Hafiz Saeeddoes not face any charge related toterrorism, either in Pakistan or theUS, nor is he a convict or a fugitivefrom the law that would justify a $10million bounty for his arrest or con-viction. The sanctions imposed bythe UNSC are mere preventive meas-ures; detention was never a part ofthe Sanctions Committee’s mandate.The decisions taken by the commit-tee cannot be used to justify a rewardthat could lead to Hafiz Saeed’s ar-rest in relation to any alleged anti-USactivity, the proof of which the US isitself looking for.

Terming a difference of opinionor disagreement with US policy asanalogous to an act of terrorismwould be nothing but an absurditywhich appears to be the drivingforce behind the bounty on HafizSaeed. Such actions of the US en-courage me to believe that the UShas given itself the license to bypassall legal norms and to rely upon its‘might is right’ policy to harass thecitizens of another state.

The timing of announcing such areward suggests that there is more toit than just the US wanting to arrestHafiz Saeed. The answer to the ques-tion that I initially asked appears tobe that the decision has not beentaken to please the Indians, but infact is an effort to pressurise bothPakistan and India. For India, the UStactic appears to be building up thepublic pressure focused on discour-aging any future India-Pakistan eco-nomic cooperation, such as the gaspipeline initiative, till Hafiz Saeed isarrested by Pakistan. For the Pak-istanis, the announcement appearsto be yet another arm-twisting effortto restore NATO supply routes.

Whatever the reasons might be,one thing is crystal clear: the US Pol-icy makers genuinely believe thatthey are beyond the scrutiny of in-ternational and national laws andnothing can stop them from achiev-ing their objectives, which theybizarrely believe are justified in thename of national security. With therealisation that there is more tocome, I hope the policy makers inPakistan soon chalk out a broaderand more sustainable foreign policy,which talks of something other thanjust reliance on US dollars.

The writer is counsel for HafizMuhammad Saeed before the UNSCAl-Qaeda Sanctions Committee

‘Wanted’ for more than the obvious reasons

In defence of Hafiz Saeed

By Barrister Haider Rasul Mirza

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14 monday, 9 April, 2012

IN LIMELIGHT

LOS ANgELES: Jane

Lynch, producer Larry

David, Becki Newton,

Sara rue and Jenni

Farley arrive at the

Hollywood premiere

of ‘the three

Stooges: the Movie’.

loS AngeleS: will Sasso who playsthe character of Curly in the ‘threeStooges: the movie’ arrives at theHollywood premiere.

loS AngeleS: Skyler gisondo, lanceChantiles-wertz and Robert Capron, who playthe young Stooges arrive at the Hollywoodpremiere of ‘the three Stooges: the movie’.

LOS ANgELESAgENCIES

JULIA Roberts has essayed allkinds of roles with aplomb andacclaim and now this versatileactor is set to show her villain-ous streak in the Hollywood

movie ‘Mirror Mirror’ directed by Indianorigin filmmaker Tarsem Singh. She saysshe had fun playing a negative charac-ter."It was fun to play this villain becausethere aren’t any real rules of syntax or re-ality that apply to her. So, I could kind ofdo anything and just go off the rails in anydirection at any time and it would makesense to me," Roberts said."In that regard,it was a lot of fun. You don`t have to worrytoo much about the reality of, `Would aperson really do this?`" she added.‘MirrorMirror’, releasing April 20, tells the tale ofan evil queen, who takes over the controlof a kingdom. An exiled princess takes thehelp of seven resourceful rebels to winback her birthright. The film is based onthe classic fairytale ‘Snow White’ by the

Brothers Grimm. Roberts says she wasimpressed after hearing Singh`s take on‘Snow White’."I am such a fan of Tarsem,I thought, `Okay, well, I`d love to meethim. And if I have to go and sit and hearhim talk about `Snow White` for an hourand then just talk about other things, thenthat`s what we`ll do.`The film boasts ofelaborate sets and costumes, which leftthe 44-year-old `Pretty Woman` mes-merised."Well, they`re stunning and I re-ally think they are such an integral part ofthe film and the characters. It`s the sameas having these amazing sets, being inthese kinds of clothes. They were com-pletely original and authentic to what wewere trying to accomplish," saidRoberts.For her role of the evil queen,Roberts has been made to wear massivegowns.Her make-up is not particularlyover-the-top, unlike other evil charactersin showbiz.She rose to fame after playingthe lead in the 1990 romantic comedy‘Pretty Woman’. She won the AcademyAward for best actress in 2001 for her per-formance in ‘Erin Brockovich’.

It was funplaying villain:Julia Roberts

LONDONAgENCIES

Whitney Houston’s autopsy report shows that the tragic singer’s body had numerous scars,cuts and burns when she died.Years of drug and alcohol abuse had also left her with a weakheart and liver, a hole in her nose, and eleven false front teeth, the Sun reported.She even hada needle mark on an arm and was high on a cocktail of nine drugs when she died in a hotelbath in LA.Grisly evidence from police and medical teams revealed for the first time showshow swathes of skin were burnt off Houston’s back as she plunged into the scalding water.Italso resulted in “skin slippage” on her legs. Sources said that the temperature could have been66°C when she climbed into the tub. Six hours after her death, the water was still 33°C. Ac-cording to medical sources, she may have been so out of her mind ondrugs that she did not notice how hot her bath was.A spoon cov-ered with cocaine was found in her hotel suite at the BeverlyHilton hotel. Traces of the drug were found in her systemplus marijuana, anxiety pills Xanax, muscle relaxant Flex-eril, allergy medicine Benadryl and painkiller Ibupro-fen.The 48-year-old was also scarred by decades ofcosmetic surgery, booze-fuelled fights and falls, andpossible suicide attempts. The singer had a scar onher inner left forearm that sources claim may havebeen self-inflicted. Days before her death, shestumbled out of a Los Angeles club with herlegs and arms dripping blood.The officialcause of death was declared to be accidentaldrowning with heart disease and cocaineuse as contributing factors.

whitney’s body was found ravaged by

scars, cuts and had 11 teeth missing

Priyanka urgespeople to watch cousin’s ‘Ishaqzaade’MUMBAI: Priyanka Chopra is excited

about her cousin Parineeti`s

forthcoming movie `Ishaqzaade` and

urges fans to watch the flick.when

Parineeti tweeted about Priyanka`s

upcoming movie "teri meriKahaani"

saying, "’teri meriKahani’ looks super

fun!! go mimididi (Priyanka)," Priyanka

replied saying, "thank you tishu!!! So

does `Ishaqzaade` !yay! I`m so excited!

may 11th coming up! watch out

world..for my sister(sic)!!yash Raj

Films` (yRF) ‘Ishaqzaade’, which also

marks the debut of filmmaker Boney

Kapoor`s son Arjun will release may 11,

tells the story of two fiery characters

and their fight for power and

supremacy. on the other hand,

ShahidKapoor and Priyanka starrer

‘teri meriKahaani’ is is being described

as "a timeless love story". the film is

set between 1910 to 2012. directed by

KunalKohli, it is expected to release in

June. AgENCIES

Aishwaryato turn mom again? MUMBAI: If a noted film critic

who also happens to be a

friend of Aishwarya Rai is to be

believed, the lady is ‘extremely

keen’ to have another child.yes,

you heard that right. Shocking

as it may sound, but even

Bollywood insiders suggest that

Ash has refrained to work on

long-term film projects probably

because she’s keen to turn

mum again.the 38-year-old

actor delivered a baby girl in

november 2011 and recently Ash

with her hubby Abhishek

travelled to dubai with their

first born.A first trip for Beti B,

no official picture of Ash’s baby

has been released so far. the

mother of the four-month-old

looked chic at the event in

dubai in an ethnic red

Sabyasachi tunic that she paired

with golden sandals. "yes, I am

travelling with my baby and it`s

just wonderful to be in dubai,"

Ash said. AgENCIES

Sajid andJacqueline’s loveblossomed onboard ‘Housefull2’? MUMBAI: given the fact that

‘Housefull 2’ has created a

storm at the box office, film-

maker Sajid Khan seems to

be revealing a lot more now

than he has ever done ear-

lier. Sajid has bid goodbye to

a lot of his inhibitions, and

has finally revealed that it

was this very movie that

acted as the blooming

grounds for his alleged rela-

tionship with Jacqueline Fer-

nandez.Both Sajid and

Jacqueline have been over-

secretive about their rela-

tionship in the past, and the

ISB 09-04-2012_Layout 1 4/9/2012 2:28 AM Page 14

15Britney Spears’fiancé to share legalcontrol over her

LOS ANgELESAgENCIES

BRITNEY Spears’ father has asked a court to add his daugh-ter’s fiancé as a co-conservator over her, according to PEO-PLE. Jason Trawick, Spears’ former agent and fiancé, willonly have shared legal control over Spears’ general well-being,not her finances, PEOPLE reported.This is a very unusual sit-

uation, because generally you don’t see conservatees get married,” JeffreyS. Cohen, an L.A. probate attorney not involved with the case, told the mag-azine. “This could be a sign that the couple’s wedding is around the cor-ner.”“This is probably a compromise between Britney, her father andTrawick to get the marriage off on the right foot. Obviously, her futurehusband needs to have a say in her wellbeing,” Cohen added. JamieSpears has held legal control of his pop star daughter and her for-tune since she suffered a psychological breakdown in 2008 andwas hospitalised in Los Angeles.The conservatorship will belifted when a judge believes Spears is healthy enough tofend for herself.

Katy Perryalmost cast in‘The Help’

LOS ANgELESAgENCIES

The one that got away? In a new interview with Teen Vogue popsuperstar Katy Perry revealed that she was almost cast in ‘TheHelp’."There was a time when I was going to be involved in 'TheHelp' -- just a small part, I wasn't going to be Emma Stone oranything -- but I couldn't because the shooting schedule conflictedwith the release of my record," Perry told the magazine. "I was upsetabout that; I knew it was going to be an important film. Not that Ineed to do drama first, but Ido want to do somethingthat makes a strongimpression."Perry hasalready made someimpression on the bigscreen with her voice. Thesinger voiced Smurfette inlast summer's reboot of ‘TheSmurfs’. She also appearedon episodes of ‘How I MetYour Mother’ and ‘RaisingHope’.While it's not aprestige film like ‘The Help’,Perry does have a featurehitting screens thissummer: ‘Part Of Me,’ a 3Dconcert film-cum-documentary that detailsher rise to fame. That filmwill arrive on July 5.

Leonardo glad he

skipped ‘Titanic

3D’ premiereLOS ANgELES

AgENCIES

Leonardo DiCapriowas nowhere to beseen at the worldpremiere of 'Titanic3D' in London onMarch 27 where KateWinslet caught up withdirector JamesCameron and co-starBilly Zane.Accordingto Us Magazine, asource said thatDiCaprio "is glad hegot out of going to theTitanic premiere inEurope"."Heunderstands what itdid for his career andis grateful, but he has moved so far forward and to another level. Tobring ‘Titanic’ up again just isn't in his mindset. It took him a longtime to move away from that character to get where he is," the sourcesaid, adding that there "are no hard feelings" between the actor andCameron."They are still good and have talked recently," the sourcesaid.During a recent interview with iTV's Daybreak, Winslet said itwas fun to see how much she and DiCaprio have grown sincestarring in the 1997 blockbuster that made them bonafide moviestars. “We do look very different. We were 21 and 22 when we madethat film. You know, he's fatter now-I'm thinner," she had said.

Cox does not

remember

‘Friends’ episodes

LONDONAgENCIES

Actress Courteney Cox says she is soabsent-minded that she can hardly recallmany episodes of ‘Friends’, the show thatmade her a household name."My memoryis the worst of anyone I know. Every time Isee an old episode of `Friends`, I`msurprised by what happens because I justdon’t remember them," thesun.co.ukquoted her as saying. She played asMonica Geller on the show.She doesn`tremember the star guests on the showeither."People come up to me and say, `Iloved the episode so-and-so was in`. AndI`m thinking, `Really? That person did`Friends`," said the 47-year-old.

daughtry sued by3 ex-bandmatesover song proceeds

gREENSBOROAgENCIES

Three of Chris Daughtry's formerbandmates are suing him, claiming hedefrauded them out of proceeds fromfour songs that included music andlyrics they wrote together.The lawsuitaccuses Daughtry of "constructivefraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, unfairtrade practices, and other deceptive andwrongful conduct."Daughtry posted astatement on his band's website sayinghe was hurt by the accusations andthat the songs listed in the lawsuitwere written solely by him.Daughtryreached stardom in 2006 when heplaced fourth on ‘American Idol’, andrecorded hits such as ‘Home,’‘It's NotOver’ and ‘No Surprise’.

reason is not very hard to guess. given

Jacqueline’s young age and incipient begin-

nings in Bollywood, none of them want

their relationship to serve as a nail in the

coffin as far as Jacqueline’s career is con-

cerned. Hence all the secrecy, all the tight-

lippedness.However, after ‘Housefull 2’,

Sajid seems a bit at ease, and has revealed,

“‘Housefull 2’ will always be special for me

as it was during the making of this movie

that I met the love of my life.”well, now

that ‘Housefull 2’ is creating massive waves

in the hearts of people, Sajid and Jacque-

line can take things easy. AgENCIES

Shah Rukhto share screen with JohnMUMBAI: In what might appear as a

pleasant surprise for many, Bollywood

hunk John Abraham has now been

cast across none other than Shah

Rukh Khan as a parallel lead in the

upcoming movie ‘Happy new year’.

latest from the Farah Khan camp, the

shooting for the film will begin in

August this year.Shah Rukh Khan has

a very few two-hero films in his

career, and is known to shoulder

most of his movies alone. Apart from

‘Karan Arjun’ where he played with

Salman Khan and ‘Kal Ho na Ho

where he was seen with Saif Ali

Khan, the Badshah has hardly been

seen with another hero on the silver

screen.However, if speculations are to

be believed, Farah has promised John

a major part in her film. the two

share a Parsi connection, and Farah is

known to be very fond of Abraham.

And as far as John is concerned, post

the success of ‘Housefull 2’, he sure

is looking forward to working with

Shah Rukh. AgENCIES

ShahidKapoorinjured!

MUMBAI: ShahidKapoor

was spotted with

bandaged fingers at a

recent event. A friend of

the actor reveals, "Shaks

is a cricket fan. He loves

playing the game with

his neighbours. And

during the last game, he

hurt his hand." But that

hasn't stopped him from

playing. An insider adds,

"the matches continue

as Shaks feels that any

sport activity is

rejuvenating. He plays

cricket for hours on end

and never gets tired."

that's dedication.

AgENCIES

ISB 09-04-2012_Layout 1 4/9/2012 2:29 AM Page 15

VATICAN CITYAFP

Pope Benedict XVI appealed for peacein the world’s troublespots in his EasterSunday message but one of the holiestdays for Christians was marred by freshviolence in Nigeria and Syria.

At least 20 people were killed innorthern Nigeria in a car bombing out-side a church, the latest in a wave of at-tacks against the Christian communityin Africa’s most populous country thathave been blamed on an Islamist sect.

Speaking before a crowd of 100,000faithful in St Peter’s square in Rome, thepope called for an end to the bloodshedin Syria where fighting continues toclaim lives ahead of a deadline nextweek for all sides to cease fire.

“Particularly in Syria, may there bean end to bloodshed and an immediatecommitment to the path of respect, dia-logue and reconciliation, as called for bythe international community,” he said.

The pontiff also voiced hope that the

thousands of refugees fleeing the crisiswere given help relieve “their dreadfulsufferings”.

Turning to Iraq, he encouraged thepeople to “spare no effort in pursuingthe path of stability and development”and in the Holy Land, he urged Israeland the Palestinians to “courageouslytake up anew the peace process,” withdirect talks between the two sides frozensince September 2010

UN peace envoy Kofi Annan declaredhimself shocked by the “unacceptable”escalation of violence in Syria, where 130people were killed Saturday in one of thebloodiest days since protests againstPresident Bashar al-Assad’s regimeerupted in March last year. At least 11more people were killed on Sunday asAssad’s regime insisted it would not pullout from cities in Syria as called for bythe UN Security Council unless therewere written guarantees from rebels.

Pope Benedict also called for peaceand stability to return to Mali after amilitary coup last month which was

followed by a widescale offensive byTuareg rebels and armed Islamist ex-tremists who overran much of thenortheast. Benedict also condemnedthe “savage terrorist attacks” on Chris-tian churches in Nigeria, as a car bombexploded outside a church in the cityof Kaduna just as Easter services werebeing held inside.

“To Nigeria, which in recent timeshas experienced savage terrorist attacks,may the joy of Easter grant the strengthneeded to take up anew the building ofa society which is peaceful and respect-ful of the religious freedom of its citi-zens,” the pope said.

In his Easter message, the pope alsourged reconciliation in the Great LakesRegion of Africa, and in Sudan andSouth Sudan, where deadly border vio-lence has erupted, raising fears of all-out war between the rival neighbours.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem,Fuad Twal, spoke of the fear of Chris-tians in the Middle East faced by a riseof extremist Islam. “I wish all of you a

beautiful and holy feast of the Resurrec-tion, in the knowledge that the eventsunfolding in the Middle East threatenour region, our people and our Chris-tians, that add a sombreness to thisEaster joy,” he said.

Many, he said, “live in fear: fear dueto the unrest in our region; fear of anuncertain, even dark future,” Twal, themost senior Roman Catholic in the Mid-dle East, said in a homily delivered atthe Church of the Holy Sepulchre inJerusalem’s Old City.

Easter celebrations around theworld also saw Catholic fanatics in thePhilippines nailing themselves tocrosses in a bloody display of religiousfrenzy, while in Cuba, which the popevisited last month, state-run televisionbroadcast a Good Friday ceremony forthe first time in more than 50 years.

In Caracas, President Hugo Chavezmade an emotional plea that put hishealth and political future in the spot-light, begging God “don’t take me yet” atan Easter mass on Maundy Thursday.

monday, 9 April, 2012

16 Foreign News

TEHRANAFP

iRAN on Sunday rejected de-mands the West is reportedly tosubmit at talks due to take placein days, saying it will neither closeits Fordo nuclear bunker nor give

up higher-level uranium enrichment.Those two demands, outlined by Eu-

ropean and US diplomats to The NewYork Times newspaper, were “irrational,”the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organ-isation, Fereydoon Abbasi Davani, toldISNA news agency in a lengthy interview.

Fordo, an underground bunker nearthe holy city of Qom, “is built under-ground because of sanctions and thethreats of attacks,” he pointed out. “If theydo not threaten us and guarantee that noaggression will occur, then there would beno need for countries to build facilitiesunderground. They should change theirbehaviour and language,” he said.

Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 20percent purity would likewise continue,despite unease from members of the P5+1group — the five permanent UN SecurityCouncil members plus Germany — that itproduced uranium stock just a few steps

short of military-grade 90-percent purity,Abbasi Davani said.

“We do not see any rationale for sucha request from the P5+1,” he said.

But, he added, “We will not produce20 percent enrichment fuel more thanwhat we need, because it is not in ourbenefit to produce and keep it.” Iran saysit needs 20-percent enriched uranium toproduce medical isotopes in its Tehranresearch reactor, and lower, 3.5-percentenriched uranium for electricity genera-tion in its Bushehr reactor.

It insists that its entire nuclear pro-gramme is for exclusively peaceful ends.

The United States and its Europeanallies, however, fear the higher enrich-ment is part of a drive to develop a nu-clear weapons capability. The New YorkTimes quoted unnamed US and EU diplo-mats as saying the West would call forFordo to be closed immediately and dis-mantled, and for uranium enrichment to20 percent to be halted and for existingstockpiles to be shipped out of Iran.

The demands would be the openingmove in what US President BarackObama has called Iran’s “last chance” toresolve the showdown over the nuclearissue diplomatically, the report said.

“We have no idea how the Iranianswill react,” the paper quoted one senioradministration official as saying. “Weprobably won’t know after the first meet-ing.” Israel has threatened to launch anattack if Iran is deemed to be about toenter a “zone of immunity” that wouldput its atomic activities beyond the reachof Israeli missiles.

The United States has said militaryaction is a last option, and has put its en-ergies into tightening the sanctions nooseon Iran while trying to engage it diplo-matically. Talks between the P5+1 andIran are seen as a chance to defuse ten-sions and find ways to overcome mutualsuspicions. But while both sides agree theplanned two days of negotiations shouldbegin on Friday, there is still no agree-ment on the venue.

Iran had initially proposed Istanbul —the host of the last round of talks, whichfailed in January 2011 — but thendropped it after Turkey lent backing to theopposition in its chief ally Syria, and sug-gested Baghdad or Beijing instead. Iran-ian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejadsaid in a statement on his official website:Iran is ready for negotiations and wel-comes any suggestion for cooperation.”

Iran rejects West’s ‘demands’ before elusive talks

JeRUSAlem: Roman Catholic clergymen hold candles as they circle the aedicule during easter Sunday mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s old city on April 8, 2012.

Christians traditionally believe that the church was built on the site where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried. afp

Violence blights pope’s Easter peace appeal

Japan deploys missile defences fornorth Korea rocket

TOKYOAFP

Japan has deployed missile batteries inTokyo and dispatched destroyers as NorthKorea makes final preparations for arocket launch that could take place thisweek despite fierce condemnation fromacross the globe. Pyongyang says it willlaunch a satellite for peaceful scientificresearch between April 12 and 16 to markthe 100th anniversary on April 15 of thebirth of founding leader Kim Il-Sung. Butthe United States and its allies say it is adisguised missile test and that the launchwould contravene UN sanctions aimed atcurbing North Korea’s missileprogramme. Beijing, North Korea’s mainally, has also expressed concern andcalled for restraint. “China is concernedand worried about the latest developmenton the Korean peninsula,” ChineseForeign Minister Yang Jiechi saidSaturday, according to the official Xinhuanews agency. Yang was Sunday holding ameeting on regional security with hisJapanese and South Korean counterparts.A successful satellite launch wouldburnish the image of young Kim Jong-Unas he seeks to establish his credentials asa strong leader after taking over from hisfather and longtime ruler, Kim Jong-Il,who died last December.

iran opposes nuclear weapons,Ahmadinejad tells Japan ex-PM

TEHRANAFP

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stressed to visiting former Japanesepremier Yukio Hatoyama on Sunday that Tehran opposes nuclear weapons, his

official website reported. “The Islamic Republic of Iran isfundamentally opposed to the atomic bomb and

weapons of mass destruction,” Ahmadinejad toldHatoyama. “Iran and Japan can exert a commoneffort to create a world without atomic weapons ...Difficult but humanitarian efforts will win in theend.” Japan is the only country ever to have suffereda nuclear attack, its cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

being targeted by the United States at the end ofWorld War II. Hatoyama’s presence in Iran was an

issue of contention in Japan, after Japanese ForeignMinister Koichiro Genba reportedly requested he not

make the trip. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Nodahe hasalso expressed concerns over Hatoyama’s visit,

fearing it could undermine the Japanesegovernment’s efforts for internationalcoordination, Japanese media reported.The visit came at a tense time, with Iranfacing off against much of the West overits nuclear programme.

main yemen airport

reopens as US

praises presidentSANAA

AFP

The airport in Yemen’s capital reopenedon Sunday after a one-day shutdown overthreats from loyalists of a sacked generalclose to former strongman Ali AbdullahSaleh, as Washington praised newPresident Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi. “Theairport has opened after we have receivedreassurances from the air force that therewill be no threats to aviation,” an aviationofficial said. “We are now preparing forthe first flight” to take off since forces loyalto Saleh’s half-brother, GeneralMohammed Saleh al-Ahmar, who hasrefused to quit after being sacked by Hadi,surrounded the airport late on Friday. Thegeneral manager of Sanaa InternationalAirport, Naji al-Murqab, told the defenceministry’s news website 26sep.net that “allairlines were informed that the airport willreceive incoming flights after all problemsand obstacles which were threateningplanes were resolved.” A military sourcesaid on Saturday that Ahmar had refusedto go unless the defence minister andother senior officials also step down.

ISB 09-04-2012_Layout 1 4/9/2012 2:29 AM Page 16

Foreign News 17monday, 9 April, 2012

KAdUnA: Security personnel inspect the mangled remains of a bomb-laden car that exploded on Sunday along Junction Road in the northern nigerian city, killing at least 20 people, most of them

commercial motorcyclists near a church. the explosion was a stark reminder of Christmas day attacks that left dozens of people dead in Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer. afp

DAMASCUSAFP

PEACE envoy Kofi Annanon Sunday said he wasshocked by mounting vio-lence in Syria ahead of aUN deadline for regime

forces to cease fire, as Damascus said itstroops will not withdraw from protesthubs without written guarantees.

“I am shocked by recent reports of asurge in violence and atrocities in sev-eral towns and villages in Syria, result-ing in alarming levels of casualties,refugees and displaced persons, in vio-lation of assurances given to me,”Annan said in a statement.

It came as Syria’s main oppositiongroup urged UN intervention after oneof the deadliest days in a year saw nearly130 people killed, mostly civilians.

As Tuesday’s deadline loomed forregime forces to cease fire and pull backfrom rebel cities, the foreign ministrysaid it had not been given assurancesthat “armed terrorist groups” would alsoput down their guns.

“To say that Syria will pull back itsforces from towns on April 10 is inaccu-rate, Kofi Annan having not yet pre-sented written guarantees on theacceptance by armed terrorist groups ofa halt to all violence,” it said.

On Thursday, the UN SecurityCouncil formally endorsed the deadline,but Damascus said a day later the num-

ber of “terrorist acts” has risen since thedeal was agreed with the UN and ArabLeague envoy. “Mr Annan has not sub-mitted written guarantees from the gov-ernments of Qatar, Saudi Arabia andTurkey on stopping their funding to ter-rorist groups,” the ministry added of itsnorthern neighbour and strongest crit-ics in the Arab world.

Annan’s peace plan foresees thewithdrawal of the Syrian army fromprotest cities on Tuesday, with a com-plete end to fighting 48 hours later.

“Syria is not going to repeat whathappened in the presence of Arab ob-servers when armed forces left towns,”Sunday’s ministry statement said.

“Armed terrorist groups reorganisedand rearmed to control entire neigh-bourhoods, committing every possibleterrorist act, killing and kidnappingpeople and destroying public and pri-vate property.”

The ministry said that when Annanmet President Bashar al-Assad in Dam-ascus, the former UN chief “said hewould work to stop the violence, disarmarmed groups... initiate a comprehen-sive national dialogue with oppositionmovements.”

“It is this principle on which Syriaaccepted Annan’s mission and his six-point plan.” However, the ministry alsoexpressed the government’s willingnessto cooperate “in the hope of obtainingdocumented guarantees.”

In a statement in Geneva, Annan

said: “I remind the Syrian government ofthe need for full implementation of itscommitments and stress that the presentescalation of violence is unacceptable,”calling on the regime and the oppositionto cease all forms of violence by Thurs-day. “This is a time when we must all ur-gently work towards a full cessation ofhostilities, providing the space for hu-manitarian access and creating the con-ditions for a political process to addressthe legitimate aspirations and concernsof the Syrian people.” Annan said he wasin “constant contact” with the govern-ment, and asked “all states with influ-ence on the parties to use it now to

ensure an end to the bloodshed and thebeginning of dialogue.”

Coincidentally, Syrian Foreign Min-ister Walid Muallem is scheduled totravel to ally Moscow on Monday.

The United Nations says more than9,000 people have been killed sinceanti-regime protests broke out inMarch 2011, while monitors put thenumber at more than 10,000. Themain umbrella opposition group theSyrian National Council called for UNintervention after monitoring groupssaid 86 of nearly 130 people killed onSaturday were civilians.

Another 11 were killed on Sunday.“We urge the UN Security Council to

intervene urgently to stop the humani-tarian crisis caused by the regimeagainst the unarmed Syrian people, byadopting a resolution under Chapter 7to ensure the protection of civilians,”the SNC said. It said that “to believe inthe promises of this barbaric regime en-ables it to advance its criminal plan oftearing Syria apart and bathing it inblood.” “The regime has committed sav-age massacres that killed nearly 1,000people since it falsely announced the ac-ceptance of the (Annan) plan.”

The SNC said it and the rebel FreeSyrian Army “have announced their co-operation with the Annan plan and in-ternational efforts to halt the bloodshedand launch a political way to transferpower from the hands of Assad and hisclan to the Syrian people.”

Annan ‘shocked’ by violenceas Syria delays pullback

Abbas to send netanyahu letter on 17th

RAMALLAHAFP

Palestinian officials will hand a letterfrom president Mahmud Abbas to IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu onApril 17, an official told AFP on Sunday.The Palestinian official, who spoke oncondition of anonymity, said the letterwould be handed to Netanyahu by adelegation of senior Palestinians. “It wasagreed that a Palestinian delegation,including Palestinian prime ministerSalam Fayyad, secretary-general of thePalestine Liberation Organisation YasserAbed Rabbo and Palestinian negotiatorSaeb Erakat, will meet with Netanyahu onthe 17th of this month,” the official said.Abbas has said for several weeks he was inthe process of penning a letter toNetanyahu dealing with the state of directpeace negotiations, which have been onhold since late September 2010. The letterwill reportedly lay out Palestinianconditions for resuming negotiations,including a halt to Israeli settlementconstruction and clear parameters fordiscussions of future borders. Abbas hasindicated that he will accuse Netanyahu ofrendering the Palestinian Authoritygovernment “a non-authority” but isexpected to stop short of threatening todisband the PA as reports had earliersuggested he would. Netanyahu’s officehas indicated that he will respond with hisown letter to Abbas, which is likely to callfor a resumption of direct negotiationswithout preconditions. Last week, Erakatand Netanyahu’s envoy Yitzhak Molchoheld talks believed to have focused on thecontents of Abbas’s letter. They were thefirst publicly acknowledged discussionssince five rounds of so-called exploratorytalks between envoys from both sideswere held earlier this year.

yemen air force,

US drone kill 24

qaeda suspectsADENAFP

Air strikes have killed 24 al Qaedasuspects in their strongholds in thecountry’s south and east, the defenceministry and a tribal chief said on Sunday.A Yemeni air raid late on Saturday killed“16 terrorists belonging to al Qaedanetwork in Kud near Zinjibar,” theextremists’ stronghold in the south, thedefence ministry news website 26sep.netreported. Meanwhile, a tribal chief toldAFP a US drone killed eight al Qaedasuspects when it fired a missile at theirvehicle in the eastern province of Shabwaon Saturday, a tribal chief told AFP. “AlQaeda militants were aboard a vehicle ontheir way from Shabwa to (nearby) Maribprovince when a US drone fired a missileat their vehicle, killing them all,” thesource said. He said the suspectedmilitants, killed late on Saturday, were fiveYemenis and three Arab foreigners. “USspy planes were also flying over severalareas in Shabwa, especially those whichare Al Qaeda strongholds — Rawdah,Huta, and Azzan,” said the source.

KADUNAAFP

A car bombing near a church in northernNigeria on Easter Sunday killed at least20 people and put the country on alertover fears of further attacks, rescue offi-cials and residents said.

The explosion, a stark reminder ofChristmas Day attacks that left dozens ofpeople dead in Africa’s most populous na-tion and largest oil producer, hit the cityof Kaduna, a major cultural and eco-nomic centre in the north.

Motorcycle taxi drivers and passersby appeared to have borne the brunt ofthe blast, and body parts littered the area.

As news of the attack spread, securityforces boosted patrols in key areas, in-cluding in the capital Abuja, where sol-diers were sent to reinforce police postednear churches, an AFP correspondent re-ported. There was no immediate claim ofresponsibility. Details were still emergingof the attack, but at least one car said tobe driven by a suicide bomber was be-lieved involved. A rescue official speakingon condition of anonymity said two vehi-cles packed with explosives detonated.

“Now we have 20 dead from the twinexplosions,” the rescue official, who wasnot authorised to speak publicly, told AFP.Officials were still counting the number ofwounded, he added. “Bombs concealed in

two cars went off just opposite this church,”he said. A police officer at the scene said aman believed to be a suicide bomber driv-ing a car was stopped at a checkpoint nearanother church, the Evangelical Church ofWest Africa, and turned back.

He then drove to a nearby area infront of a hotel, close to the Assemblies ofGod church, and detonated the bomb.The church did not appear to have anysignificant damage. Other cars in the areawere damaged, but it was unclear if theywere also carrying explosives, he said.

“We have a bomb explosion. We aretrying to sort things out,” policespokesman Aminu Lawal told AFP.

A spokesman for the national emer-

gency management agency said most ofthe victims appeared to be motorcyle taxidrivers. Residents reported seeing deadand injured being taken away. An AFPcorrespondent said he saw 10 bodies,while one resident said he counted at least10 wounded. Body parts littered the area.

“From my balcony, I could see police-men loading the dead and the injuredinto waiting vans,” another resident said.

Another said the explosion wasstrong enough to shake his house andcause his ceiling to cave in.

Islamist group Boko Haram carriedout a series of attacks on churches andother locations on Christmas day, thebloodiest at a church outside Abuja,

where 44 people died. The Nigerian au-thorities as well as foreign embassies hadwarned of the possibility of an attack onEaster Sunday. Boko Haram’s increas-ingly bloody insurgency has left morethan 1,000 people dead since mid-2009.Police and soldiers have often been thevictims of such attacks, though Christianshave been targeted as well.

The group also claimed responsibil-ity for the August suicide bombing ofUN headquarters in the capital Abujawhich killed 25 people. Its deadliest at-tack yet occurred in the northern city ofKano on January 20, when coordinatedbombings and shootings left at least 185people dead.

Easter bomb attack near Nigeria church kills at least 20

ISB 09-04-2012_Layout 1 4/9/2012 2:29 AM Page 17

Monday, 9 April, 2012

Page 21

Serena routs Stosur to reachCharleston final

LAHOREStAFF rEPOrt

BCCI vice-president RajeevShukla on Sunday made itclear that there is no possi-bility of Pakistani players

becoming a part of the Indian PremierLeague until there is a resumption ofbilateral cricket ties between India andPakistan.

Shukla said there was no campaignor hatred against Pakistan and he him-self felt sad that Pakistani players werenot featuring in the IPL.

"No one is against Pakistan or Pak-istani players in India or else we wouldnot have allowed Pakistani commenta-tors or umpires in the IPL 5 season,"Shukla sdi in a television interview onSunday.

"The reality is that everything istied to the resumption of bilateralcricket ties between the two countries.Once that happens I think everythingwill happen automatically," he said.

Shukla, who is also the IPL chair-man, made it clear that the IPL was asub-commitee of the BCCI and not anindependent body.

"The IPL functions under the BCCIand when bilateral relations resume be-tween the two boards the IPL will alsonot be a problem for Pakistani players,"

he said. Shukla said that BCCI and Pakistan

Cricket Board were in constant touchover the resumption of bilateral ties.

"We are in touch with them and Imust say the PCB and its new Chairmanhave made all the right moves to get theball rolling. But until something defi-nite happens it would not be proper forme to comment on when we can resumeplaying cricket again," he said.

Shukla, however, said Pakistanipeople should be patient and wait for

two or three months and some develop-ment could take place.

"If we talk about the ChampionsLeague then just wait and see for a fewmonths," he said hinting that PakistaniT20 Champions Sialkot Stallions mightget a chance to feature in the lucrativecompetition later this year.

"I don't think we should be pes-simistic about Indo-Pak bilateral rela-tions but remain optimistic."

Shukla, however, made it clear thatthe main block towards the resumptionof bilateral ties was the hectic interna-tional calendar of the Indian team andalso the fact that no foreign team ispresently willing to tour Pakistan be-cause of security concerns.

"The hectic international scheduleof the Indian team is an issue and wehave to see and find a slot for even thePakistan team to tour India," he said.

"Secondly and more importantlythe PCB needs to do something andconvince other cricket nations at thelevel of the International Cricket Coun-cil that it is safe and secure to play inPakistan."

Shukla said the security situation inPakistan was a stumbling block to-wards resumption of bilateral cricketties. "The PCB has been doing a lot ofwork to show everyone that it is safe toplay in Pakistan but they need to do

more and get the support of leading na-tions like Australia, England and SouthAfrica," he said.

He made it clear that while the PCBhad made several proposals to the BCCIto play a bilateral series at neutral ven-ues the BCCI didn't want this.

"We feel that it is no use if bothcountries play at a neutral venue. Itserves no purpose. If we play it must bein each other's countries, wheneverthat happens. We have no problemstouring Pakistan but first the PCBneeds to win the confidence of the ICCand member boards."

Shukla, a seasoned politician, waswell aware of the role cricket could playin bringing the two countries closer.

"I know how powerful a role cricketcan play. I saw that in 2004 when Indiaplayed in Pakistan. That series led to alot of friendship between the people ofboth countries. Unfortunately some in-cidents derailed this process."

Shukla said while it was good to seeboth countries easing restrictions in theentertainment industry, no time framecould be given for resumption of bilat-eral cricket ties.

"Let me tell you we all know thatsome Pakistani players have special tal-ents and everyone likes to see themplay. But we need to be patient and waitfor good things to happen," he said.

No Pak players in IPL untilbilateral ties resume: Shukla

Strauss confidentabout future

COLOMBOAFP

Andrew Strauss heads home from Asia con-fident his future as captain is secure afterEngland ended a miserable run in Tests bybeating Sri Lanka to draw the series and re-tain their number-one ranking. The touristseased to an eight-wicket win in the secondand final Test at the P. Sara Oval in Colomboon Saturday to make amends for the 75-runloss in the first Test in Galle, which was theirfourth straight Test defeat this year. Eng-land's losses, including an embarrassing 3-0whitewash at the hands of Pakistan in theUnited Arab Emirates, had left them teeter-ing on the brink of losing their top ranking.The one blemish in the hard-fought seriesagainst Sri Lanka was Strauss's own battingform. He made just 114 runs in four inningsat an average of 28.50. The left-hander ap-peared to have found his rhythm when hehit 61 in the first innings of the second Test,but he fell for a duck in the first over of thesecond innings as England chased a modesttarget of 94. Strauss has not added to his 19Test centuries in 25 innings and has just onethree-figure knock in his past 50 innings,raising questions about his future in theside. But the skipper said he had neverdoubted himself or his leadership role. "Inever had any doubts about whether thiswas the time for me to go," the 35-year-oldveteran of 94 Tests said, adding he was fo-cused on his side performing well. "I amvery determined and committed to seeing usimprove as a side. It's been an interestingweek or two, but we as a side should not getcarried away with whatever the issue of theday is. "We have done that very well over thelast couple of years, and obviously I neededto do it in this Test. We needed to do it as ateam and I thought we did it well." Straussadmitted England had been under pressureafter their four consecutive defeats but wasdelighted the hard work had eventuallypaid off. "We had to make sure we learntthe lessons from our defeats over the lastfour Test matches," he said. "I saw a steelydetermination on everyone's part to makesure we finished the winter on a high and itwas fantastic to be able to do that."

SPORTS DESK

Rajasthan Royals got their second win ofthe Indian Premier League when it defeatedKolkata Knight Riders by 22 runs. Threewickets in three balls from Rajasthan Roy-als early on derailed Kolkata Knight Riders'chase could not get on the tracks properlyas Royals recorded their second win in twomatches. Royals seized the advantage earlyon and held it until the end, with onlyManoj Tiwary providing resistance.

Royals have never lost a match whenthey have put on a score of over 160 andthat did not change as they defendedmercilessly at their fortress in Jaipur.They engineered another poor battingperformance from Kolkata who have lostboth matches so far. Small consolationwill be that they managed to score morethan 100 in this innings. Having put on acomfortable score, Royals' captain RahulDravid chose to open the bowling withleft-arm spinner Ankeet Chavan but itwas seamer Amit Singh who made thefirst breakthrough. He used a cleverchange of pace to trap Jacques Kallis intoplaying early and scooping an easy catch

to Rahul Dravid at mid-off. Singh's nextdelivery angled away from GautamGambhir, who could not resist a poke andwas caught behind. Royals completed ateam-hattrick when Chavan trappedBrendon McCullum in front of thestumps off the next ball. With their threebiggest names out and only eight runs inthe bank, Knight Riders were going toneed something special to compete. Ifone person was to provide it, that personshould have been Yusuf Pathan.SCOrES: Rajasthan Royals 164 for 5 (Hodge 44,

lee 2/29) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 143 (tiwary

59, Cooper 3-28) by 22

JaDeJa rouTs DeccaN cHargers:Ravindra Jadeja led Deccan Chargerswith his all-round performance to get histeam 74 runs win against Chennai SuperKings in the Indian Premier League.Super Kings recovered in style from apatchy display in their opening gameagainst Mumbai Indians. While Jadeja'sname was all over the scorecard, it wasDwayne Bravo's late blast with the batthat took the game away from Chargers. SCOrES: Chennai Super Kings 193 for 6 (Jadeja 48, Bravo

43*) beat deccan Chargers 119 (Jadeja 5-16) by 74 runs.

Rajasthan Royals get second IPL win

VISAKHAPAtnAm: Chennai Super Kings' bowler Suresh Raina (2nd l) celebrates withhis teammates the wicket of unseen deccan Charger batsman Shikar dhawan during theIPl twenty20 Cricket. afp

Pakistan cricketteam to tour Srilanka in June

LAHOREStAFF rEPOrt

The Pakistan cricket team will tour SriLanka from June 1 to July 12. A PakistanCricket Board official said that during itsover a month long tour green shirts willplay two Twenty20 and five ODImatches, and three tests. The tour willstart with two Twenty20 matches. FirstTwenty20 match will be played on Junefirst and second on June 3.The ODIs willbe played on June 7, 9, 13, 16 and 18.

Pakistanrelegated to davisCup group-III

MANILAAFP

The Philippines on thrashed Pakistan tosweep the Davis Cup Asia/OceaniaGroup II play-off and were relegated.Philippines which had already won thetie yesterday whitewashed Pakistan 5-0winning the remaining twi reverse sin-gles with ease. Pakistan drop to Group III next yearwhile the Philippines progress to a Sep-tember 14 third-round tie -- and a shot atpromotion to Group I -- against the win-ner of the other second-round tie be-tween Indonesia and Thailand.PHiliPPiNes 5 PaKisTaN 0suNDay: Reverse Singles: Francis Al-cantara (PHI) bt Muhammad Abid (PAK)6-2, 6-1; Johnny Arcilla (PHI) bt YasirKhan (PAK) 6-3, 6-4saTurDay DouBles: Treat Hueyand Ruben Gonzales (PHI) bt AqeelKhan and Jalil Khan (PAK) 6-1, 6-4, 6-2friDay siNgles: Johnny Arcilla(PHI) bt Aqeel Khan (PAK) 6-2, 6-2, 6-3;Treat Huey (PHI) bt Yasir Khan (PAK) 6-1, 6-0, 6-3.

AMRITSAR AgENCIES

Advocating cordial relations betweenhis country and India, Pakistan's for-mer federal law minister Babbar Awanon Saturday called for putting an endto "politics in sports" by governmentson both sides.

"Despite differences and problems,we should not ban cricketers or othersportspersons from participating insporting events on either side of the bor-der," Awan said when asked about non-participation of Pakistani cricketers inthe ongoing Indian Premier Cricketleague. Talking to mediapersons at theAmritsar Bar Association (ABA) office,

Awan pointed out that cricket andother sports bring people of the twocountries closer. "People on both sidesare crazy about India-Pakistan cricketmatches and in such a situation, thetwo governments should renew theirsporting ties," he added. To a questionregarding Indians languishing in Pak-istani jails, the former minister said hisgovernment had taken steps to releaseand send home all such prisoners, whohave completed their term. Similarsteps have been taken by the Indiangovernment, he added.

Awan pointed out that Indian un-dertrials, who cannot afford lawyers forarguing their cases in courts, were pro-vided free legal aid in his country.

On strained relations between Indiaand Pakistan, he said, "It is just a matterof attitude. We must take steps to changethis mindset, remove all misgivings andlearn to trust each other. A majority ofEuropean nations, who were once hostileto each other, have now come together.This can happen in the sub-continenttoo." Earlier, Awan and justice ChaudhryRamzan (retd) crossed over through theAttari road check post, where they werereceived by members of the Punjab andHaryana bar council. In Amritsar, theywent to the Golden Temple and also paidhomage to martyrs at the JallianwalaBagh. They were received by the ABAmembers at the district courts and werehonoured by president Pradeep Saini.

Keep sports away frompolitics: Babar awan

ISB 09-04-2012_Layout 1 4/9/2012 2:29 AM Page 18

LONDONAFP

Manchester United moved into an eight-point lead at the top of the English Pre-mier League and put the pressure ontitle rivals Manchester City with a 2-0win over 10-man QPR at Old Trafford onSunday. Reigning champions United's

victory left City knowing that if they lostaway to Arsenal later on Sunday theywould be eight points behind theircross-town foes with just six games ofthe season left.

"Today for us is like a final, other-wise eight points is too much," Citymanager Roberto Mancini told SkySports before kick-off at the Emirates

Stadium. Goals from Wayne Rooney andPaul Scholes saw United to victory butRooney's opener was controversial.

The England striker gave United a15th minute lead from the penalty spotafter QPR captain Shaun Derry was sentoff for bringing down Ashley Young in-side the area, with referee Lee Masonruling he'd denied a clear goalscoringchance.

Mason's decision was harsh onRangers, who are still above the relega-tion zone on goal difference. Derry'scontact appeared minimal and Younglooked to be offside.

"I thought it was offside," saidUnited manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

"There have been lots of decisionslike that in the last few weeks. The boy(Derry) did just enough to off-balanceAshley and, being the last defender, thereferee felt he had no option.

"I felt we were a little bit out of ourcomfort zone after that, I didn't enjoyit," he added.

"Before the sending-off our speedwas terrific, we had some good play, but

the sending-off unsettled us and put usout of our comfort zone."

Even though QPR keeper PaddyKenny correctly dived to his right,Rooney's well-struck penalty gave himhis 30th goal of the season and left thevisitors, managed by former Unitedstriker Mark Hughes, with a mountainto climb.

Kenny saved from Rafael da Silvaand Danny Welbeck to keep QPR in thegame until the 68th minute when he wasbeaten by a 20-yard shot from veteranmidfielder Scholes, recalled from retire-ment this season by Ferguson.

Hughes confirmed QPR would ap-peal Derry's red card in a bid to havehim available for Wednesday's match athome to Swansea.

"We'll obviously try and appeal thatand hopefully get that overturned byWednesday," he said. "We can ill-affordto have any more out.

"I think everybody understood thatthe boy (Young) was offside and thatthere was minimal contact. The boy hasgone over too readily."

Sports 19monday, 9 April, 2012

BRIDgETOWNAFP

vETERAN Shivnarine Chander-paul batted throughout themorning session to make anunbeaten 58 as West Indies

reached 291 for five at lunch on the secondday of the first Test against Australia.When rain had ended play early on thefirst day on Saturday, there were onlyseven more overs until the new ball andAustralia took it straight away but it didn'tseem to provide any more movement thanthe old one. Darren Bravo, in Ryan Harris'third over, crashed two shots through thecovers to the boundary. His innings was amixture of stubborn defence and boomingoff-side strikes and that approach was al-most his undoing in the 92nd over.

Michael Clarke had a gully and a shortbackward point in place but the thick edgeoff a Peter Siddle delivery eluded both ofthem. Next ball a finer edge went throughthird slip position with only two in place.

But the plan finally paid off whenBravo played a similar but more tentativeshot to the slower pace of Shane Watson,the ball going straight to Mike Hussey inthe gully. Bravo had faced 123 balls for his51 and his slow trudge off the KensingtonOval field showed his clear disappoint-ment. Narsingh Deonarine, playing his firstTest for two years in place of MarlonSamuels who is playing in the IPL, was thetop scorer in the domestic four-day compe-tition despite failing to score a century.

Australia had a clear plan to serve himup with the odd short ball and, again, theirpreparation paid off. On 22 he was caughtin two minds to a shorter delivery fromHarris and as he turned away, the ballcame off the edge and went high to wicket-keeper Matthew Wade who took his sec-ond catch. It proved to be the best over ofthe morning as Harris then had Carlton

Baugh edging the second ball he facedthrough a vacant third slip and next ballRicky Ponting, diving to his right, justfailed to hold on to the toughest chance of-fered so far. Earlier, a slow KensingtonOval pitch and three dropped catcheshelped the West Indies make a solid startagainst Australia on the opening day of thefirst Test on Saturday. When rain curtailedthe action, the home side were 179 for 3with the backbone of the score being a cen-tury second-wicket partnership betweenKraigg Brathwaite and Kirk Edwards.

Having won the toss, the West Indies'openers made a steady start and the initialbreakthrough for Australia didn't comeuntil the 18th over. For his second spell,Ryan Harris had replaced Nathan Lyon atthe Malcolm Marshall end and camearound the wicket to Adrian Barath.

His third ball was a bouncer outside offstump that Barath, who had made 22, hithigh in the air for Peter Siddle to get underat fine-leg. Edwards joined Brathwaite andhe started slowly but the score was steadily

building with Brathwaite being fortunate tosurvive two tough chances that he offered.

In his third over, Siddle had him play-ing too early and, as his hand came off thebat, the ball looped back to the bowlerwho, despite getting his left hand down tothe dropping ball, couldn't hold on. Brath-waite moved on to 44 when Shane Watsoninduced an edge that went wide to RickyPonting's right at second slip. He did wellto reach the ball but he couldn't grasp it asthe ball died on him. It was Watson, him-self, who then gave Edwards a life.

Siddle found the edge when thebatsman had made 56 and the ball flewhigh above Watson's head at fourth slipand, despite getting both hands to theball, he couldn't hang on. It came at atime when Edwards had upped thetempo as he hit several boundaries andsmashed Lyon over long-on for six. AsMichael Clarke looked for options heturned to part-time leg-break bowlerDavid Warner. When Edwards hadreached 61 he smashed a return catch

back at Warner who took it smartly. Itwas his first international wicket and hewas clearly delighted to have broken the104-run second wicket partnership.

"Obviously we dropped three catcheswhich can prove crucial in any parts of thegame. We've got to keep taking ourchances, we pride ourselves on that and Ithink we've got to be better tomorrow,"said Warner. "I surprised myself. It got tome pretty fast and he hit it pretty hard."

Siddle was probably the pick of a paceattack that had kept things tight all day andhe was rewarded when Brathwaite playedone loose shot too many. He played at aball slightly wide of the off stump and wascaught behind for 57, an innings that hadlasted over four hours and 199 balls.

It gave wicket-keeper Matthew Wadespecial cause for celebration as he had beenpresented with his baggy green before playand it was his first Test dismissal. "As youall know I take my time, I look to get in andlet the batters bat around me, make it eas-ier for them," said teenager Brathwaite.

Chanderpaul takes Windiesto 291 for five at lunch

BRIdgetown: Australian cricketer david warner (C) celebrates with teammates afterdismissing west Indies batsman Kirk edwards during the first day of the first-of-three testmatches at the Kensington oval Stadium. afp

LAHOREStAFF rEPOrt

Pessi on Sunday won the Members Polo Cup beatingMonnoo Polo in the final here at the Lahore Polo Club’sAibak ground. Pessi hit in six goals to beat Monnoo Polowhich managed 4 ½. Chief guest Ishaq Khan Khakwani later gave the winnerstrophy and other prizes to the PEssi quartet.It were Shah Qubilai Alam, Agha Murtaza Ali Khan andSher Alam Khan who made the win easy for Pessi infront of the fighting Babar Monnoo, Ahmed Ali Tiwanaand Abdul Rehman Monnoo of the losing side. In thesubsidiatu final, Lotto Carpets thrashed Wi Tribe Shah-sawars 10-5 ½. Despite having one and a half goal ad-vantage Wi Tribe failed to match the abilities of winner’sHamza Mawaz Khan, Imran Abid Mir, Taimur MawazKhan and Imran Abid Mir while all the four of the losingside Nafees Barry, Omar Asjad Malhi, Ahmad Nawaz Ti-wana and Moin Yaqub tried their best.

lCCA Cricketleague drawsannounced

LAHOREStAFF rEPOrt

The draws of the second phase of LCCASuper Cricket League were announcedon Sunday.The 48 clubs will participate in the 2ndphase. These clubs have been dividedinto 8 groups. Every Club will play 5matches each while LCCA Greens andWhites teams will comprise the playerswho have performed in the first phase. Group A: Cricket Centre,Model TownGymkhana,Prince Club,Fayyaz Memo-rial,Gen Akhtar Abdul Rehman,L.C.C.AWhitesGroup B: U-Slim Club,Young ModelTown Club,Shining CricketClub,Mughalpura Sports,MuslimGymkhana,Young Muslim GymkhanaGroup C: Imtiaz Club,Al-BilalClub,Mughalpura Whts,Mughalpura In-stitute,Nayyar Soch,Universal ClubGroup D: City Gymkhana,FaranGymkhana,Garhi Shahu Gym,Amir Me-morial,Ghulam Qadir,Victorious ClubGroup E: Model Town Greens,WahdatEaglets,Punjab Club,Rising Stars,Shali-mar Gymkhana,Ehsan MemorialGroup F: Ludhiana Gymkhana,AnwarSports,Muslimabad Gymkhana,ServisClub,Baqa Jillani Club,Appolo ClubGroup G: Model Town Club,Ali GarhClub,Lahore Gymkhana,MughalpuraXI,Ravi Gymkhana,Mehboob ParkGymkhanaGroup H: P & T Gymkhana,Town ShipWhite,Al Hamra,Tauseef Club,ChandMemorial,L.C.C.A Greens

tauseef trophypoints system

LAHOREStAFF rEPOrt

The points system of 15th Tauseef Tro-phy has been announced. The leaguematches will be played between fiveteams. Every team will play 4 matches.Every match inning consist 40-40 overand 18 points. The points distribution is4 points batting and 4 points bowlingwhile winning points of the match is 10.Batting 4 points distribution are as under:50 Runs _ 1 point; 100 Runs _ 2 Points;150 Runs _ 3 points; 200 Runs _ 4 points;Above 200 runs 4 points will remain.Bowling 4 Points distribution are: 3Wickets _ 1 point; 6 Wickets _ 2 points;9 Wickets _ 3 points; All team out _ 4points; Due to rain winning 10 pointsequally divided.The league matches will be played be-tween 5 teams i.e Tauseef Club, Lud-hiyana Gym, Model Town Club, PunjabClub and Shining club. The openingmatch will be played between TauseefClub and Shining club on April 12 atWahdat colony ground.

leopards knock spotsoff African rivals

JOHANNESBURgAFP

Leopards are knocking spots off fancied ri-vals in the 2012 CAF Confederation Cupwith three teams named after the animalreaching the last-16 phase this weekend.Star-less South African side Black Leop-ards snatched a 2-2 draw against SaintEloi Lupopo in the Democratic Republic ofCongo to advance 6-4 on aggregate and seta trend of first round upsets.Just one day later at the same stadium insouthern Congolese mining city Lubum-bashi came an even bigger shock as Swazi-land police club Royal Leopards beat USTshinkunku 2-1 with the decisive goalcoming four minutes from time.The Swazis advanced 3-2 on aggregateafter defying the odds in the second tierCAF club championship for the secondsuccessive round having grounded Zam-bian air force team Red Arrows in a pre-liminary tie.AC Leopards from Congo Brazzaville wereequally unexpected survivors as they tri-umphed 2-0 away to Tunisian team CSSFaxien in Mediterranean city Sfax havingfallen 2-1 at home two weeks ago.Warri Wolves of Nigeria are the next op-ponents for Black Leopards, 2011 runners-up Club Africain of Tunisia will face RoyalLeopards and Heartland of Nigeria are theprobable opponents of AC Leopards.Lupopo had Black Leopards on the rackwhen they led 2-1 midway through thesecond half and a third Congolese goalwould have taken them through on theaway-goal rule.But despite the backing of a capacity25,000 crowd and several 'home town'decisions from the Angolan referee, theSouth Africans held firm and snatched alast-minute equaliser from KingstonNkhatha.Zweli Nxumalo gave Royal Leopards amid-second half lead, Lokinga Lombotoequalised and Mxolisi Mtsetfwa struckthe goal that won the game and the tiefour minutes from time.

pessi claim Members polo Cup

United 8 pts clear after downing 10-man QPR

West Indies 1st innings at lunch (179 for 3 overnight)

A. Barath c Siddle b Harris 22

K. Brathwaite c Wade b Siddle 57

K. Edwards c and b Warner 61

D. Bravo c Hussey b Watson 51

S. Chanderpaul not out 58

N. Deonarine c Wade b Harris 21

C. Baugh not out 4

Extras (b4, lb7, w4, nb2) 17

total (5 wickets, 105.3 overs) 291

to bat: D Sammy (capt), D Bishoo, F Edwards, K roach

Fall of wickets: 1-38 (Barath), 2-142 (Edwards), 3-167

(Brathwaite), 4-240 (Bravo), 5-285 (Deonarine)

Bowling: Harris 23.3-7-63-2, Hilfenhaus 23-8-39-0 (1nb),

Siddle 23-9-63-1 (4w, 1nb), Lyon 17-6-60-0, Clarke 2-0-4-0,

Watson 12-5-28-1, Warner 5-0-23-1

Australia: Michael Clarke (capt), David Warner, Ed Cowan,

Shane Watson, ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Matthew

Wade, Peter Siddle, ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nathan Lyon.

toss: West Indies

Umpires: Ian gould (ENg), tony Hill (NZ)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (NZ)

third umpire: Marais Erasmus (SA)

SCOrEBOArD

NADEEM IJAZ

ISB 09-04-2012_Layout 1 4/9/2012 2:29 AM Page 19

Sports20monday, 9 April, 2012

SINGAPORE: Scott Hend of

Australia posing with the

winner's trophy during the

ISPS Handa Singapore Classic

at the Orchid Country Club. AFP

nBP openJuniors nationaltennis concludes

KARACHIStAFF rEPOrt

The NBP Open Juniors National Rank-ing tennis Championship concluded atKarachi Club Tennis Courts. Iqbal Qasim, Chairman selection Com-mittee PCB, Head NCR DepartmentNBP was the chief guest who gave awaytrophies and Rs 35000 cash prizes towinners and runners up. Qasim announced that the next yearsNBP Open will be a national event withthe name NBP-Saeed Hai Open, and na-tional bank will sponsor total cost ofthat championship.Ashfaq Tola, president Karachi club whoalso graced the occasion, announced Rs5000 cash award to most promisingMirpurkhas boy Jalaluddin Baber forhis out standing performance in thechampionshipThe other present were, khwaja SaeedHai. Jamal mirza, Gulzar Firoz, ( presi-dent KTA, East), Ghulam Muhammed,Sports consultant NBP, M. KhalidRehmani, Ismail Shairif, Altaf Hussain (president KTA South, Naheed Memon(President KTA Malir). fiNals resulTsJuniors Under 18 Singles: Adil Koharibeat Talha Zubair 3-6, 6-0, 6-3Ladies Singles: Maheen Dada beatHania Naveed 6-0, 6-0Under 16 Singles: Talha Zubair beatNofil kalim 6-0, 3-6, 10-5Under 14: Nofil kalim ( Islamabad) beatJalauddin Baber (Mirpurkhas) 6-0, 6-1 Under 12: Bilal imran lohya beat ShahzilMalik 8-4Under 14 doubles: Marib Malik&Shahzil Malik beat Jaluddin Baber &Bilal Imran 9-7Seniors 45 Doubles: Altaf Hussain &Asif Ismail beat Zafer hasan & JvedIqbal 6-4, 6-4.

tajik footballersreach Islamabad‏

LAHOREStAFF rEPOrt

Tajikistan Under-14 soccer team reachedIslamabad on Sunday to take part in theAsian Football Confederation (AFC)Under-14 Boys’ Football Festival, whichwould be kicked off from April 11, 2012 atJinnah Stadium, Pakistan Sports com-plex. Tajik squad considted off 22 play-ers and three officials landed at BenazirBhutto International Airport on Sundaymonrning. The top officials of the organ-ising committee including chairman Dr.Fazal ur Rehman, secretary MohammadZaman and chairman Protocol Commit-tee Mohammad Irfan Khan Niazi wel-comed the contingent at the airport.

AUgUSTAAFP

The final round of the 76th Masters beganon Sunday at Augusta National under per-fect conditions with the promise of aback-nine shootout for the champion'sgreen jacket at the end of the day.

Three-time Masters champion PhilMickelson fired his best round at AugustaNational since 1996 on Saturday, a six-under 66, to move within a stroke of thelead and join pace-setter Peter Hanson ofSweden in the final pairing. Of the past 21Masters champions, 19 of them played inSunday's final twosome.

Hanson, seeking his first major titleafter missing the cut in his only priorMasters appearance, fired a 65 on Satur-day to stand on nine-under 207 with 41-year-old US left-hander Mickelson oneshot back. Mickelson has birdied the par-5 15th and par-4 18th in all three priorrounds and has two birdies and an eagleat the par-5 13th, the last hole of thefamed Amen Corner layout along Rae'sCreek that has doomed many title hopes.Mickelson, who won his first major title at

the 2004 Masters and added titles at Au-gusta in 2006 and 2010, praised his put-ting stroke for being the key factor insolving the undulating greens that make

the course so formidable. "It has been sogood. It has been the best I have had inmy career," said Mickelson. "This week,where I know the greens so well and the

breaks, it has been really good." SouthAfrican Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010British Open champion, was poised inthird on 209.

Strong showings by "Oosty" over theclosing holes the first two days broughtback memories of his pal CharlSchwartzel's record Masters finish lastyear when he became the first major win-ner to birdie the last four holes to win.Schwartzel's triumph came after one ofthe most exciting back-nine showdownsin majors history with eight players hav-ing a taste of the lead over the last ten-sion-packed holes.

With Augusta National often offeringup pin positions over the last holes thatoffer a chance at birdies and eagles forthose willing to take risks at the propermoment, the recipe for more magic lin-gered amid the Georgia pines. AmericanBubba Watson was fourth on 210, onestroke in front of Matt Kuchar and twoahead of a foursome that included three-time major winner Padraig Harrington ofIreland, England's World No. 3 Lee West-wood, Sweden's Henrik Stenson andAmerican Hunter Mahan.

Peter Hansonleads masters butmickelson primed

AUgUSTAAFP

Sweden's Peter Hanson emerged as thethird-round leader of the Masters at Au-gusta National on Saturday after a day ofhigh drama and fluctuating fortunes.The 34-year-old World No. 25 producedgolf of supreme quality to card a tourna-ment-best seven-under 65 and stood atnine-under par, one stroke clear of fan fa-vorite Phil Mickelson, who covered theback nine in six-under 30, one shy of thetournament record.A stroke further back at seven under cameSouth Africa's Louis Oosthuizen after hehad a 69 while Bubba Watson of theUnited States was on six under after a 70.Matt Kuchar (70) was on five under withfour players -- Hunter Mahan of theUnited States (68), Henrik Stenson ofSweden (70), Lee Westwood of England(72) and Padraig Harrington of Ireland(68) -- all on four under.On a day of perfect playing conditions,eight players shared the lead at differentstages drawing huge roars of appreciationfrom the big galleries assembled for theoccasion.Tiger Woods fired a par 72 and, at threeover, his chances of winning a fourthgreen jacket are doomed, standing 12strokes off the pace.Rory McIlroy, one back from the leadersat the start of the day, was stunned by twodouble-bogey sixes on the front nine as hewent out in a jaw-dropping 42 thatbrought back dark memories of his clos-ing 80 here last year.

SINgAPOREAFP

Australia's Scott Hend closed with asix-under-par 64 to win the weather-shortened ISPS Handa Singapore Clas-sic on Sunday, but admitted it hadbeen a nerve-wracking experience.

The $400,000 full-field AsianTour event was reduced to 54 holes

after inclement weather caused almost10 hours of play to be lost over thefirst three days. Sri Lanka's MithunPerera, Lu Wei-chih of Taiwan,Spain's Javi Colomo and David Lipskyof the United States were bunched intied second on matching 200s at Or-chid Country Club. "It's amazing, es-pecially to have four weeks off andcome back and win. It's great to see

some of the hard work and practicethat I've put in paying off," Hend toldthe Asian Tour.

But he had to wait for close to anhour before he knew he had securedhis second Asian Tour title with a win-ning total of 11-under-par 199. Asmany as three players were still incontention for either a play-off or winafter Hend had signed for his score.

aussie Hend triumphs in Singapore

Masters final round promises more back-nine drama

AUgUStA: Rory mcIlroy lines up a putt on the tenth green during the third round of the76th masters golf tournament at Augusta national golf Club. afp

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Sports 21monday, 9 April, 2012

waTch IT LIvE

GEO SUPERIPL-5: Deccan Chargersv Mumbai Indians07:30PM

TEN SPORTSFirst Test: Australiav West Indies06:50PM

CHARLESTONAFP

sERENA Williams, playingwhat she called one of thebest matches of her career,steamrolled Samantha Sto-

sur 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday to reach theWTA's Charleston final. Williamsneeded just 59 minutes to subduethe second-seeded Australian, whobeat the American in the US Openfinal last September but has now lostto her twice in two events.

In Sunday's final on the greenclay court at Charleston, the fifth-seeded American will face ninth-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova, whonotched her own lopsided semi-finalwin, 6-0, 6-0 over Slovenia's PolonaHercog. "I have to say, this is proba-bly the best match I've played in mycareer, either in a long time or it's upthere in the top five," said Williams,owner of 13 Grand Slam titles and 39singles titles overall. "It was one ofthose days I could have done any-thing against anybody," addedWilliams, who belted 29 winners.

She seized control by winningthe first eight points, broke Stosurfive times and saved both breakpoints she faced. "It didn't reallyseem to matter what I did," said Sto-sur, who won the Charleston title in2010. "She came out with the goodsevery time."

Williams improved to 6-3 over-all against Stosur, including astraight-sets victory in Miami 11days ago in which Williams fired 20aces. Williams had a relatively se-date seven aces on Saturday, butthat was plenty to prevent Stosurfrom becoming just the eighthplayer to beat both Williams sistersin the same tournament. Stosur hadbeaten Venus Williams in the quar-ter-finals to spoil the chance of anall-Williams semi, but Serena saidshe went into the match expecting atough day.

"She's a great player. She has aGrand Slam under her belt, and shebeat me in the final of that andplayed unbelievable. When you'replaying someone like her, you haveto play well or you're going to lose.So that was my mindset ... go big orgo home." Stosur said she wasn'tfeeling any ill-effects of her long dayon Friday, on which she had to com-plete a rain-disrupted third-roundvictory over Galina Voskoboeva,then battle past Venus in three sets.

"To be honest, I actually feltpretty good out there," Stosur said."My body wasn't aching or really allthat tired, so unfortunately I can'tuse that as an excuse." Safarova,owner of four WTA Tour titles, willtry to add a first victory in one of theWTA's premier level events.

Her emphatic victory overHercog, in 64 minutes, ended adream run for the Slovenian that in-cluded a first career win over a top-10 player with her upset ofthird-seeded Marion Bartoli in thethird round, and a quarter-final tri-umph over former Charleston cham-pion Nadia Petrova. However,Safarova will be a heavy underdogagainst Serena, seeking a first winagainst the American after four ca-reer defeats.

Serena routsStosur to reachCharleston final

LAHOREStAFF rEPOrt

Pakistan tennis ace Aisam-ul-HaqQureshi broke down during a func-tion at university while talking abouthow the image of Pakistan and Pak-istanis has taken a beating abroadbecause of the security situation inthe country.

"It hurts now when I see howmuch we need to improve our imageas a nation and people," said Aisam.

"There is clearly a need for us to

work as Pakistanis to show the worldthat we are peace loving people andthat our country is the best in theworld," he further added whilespeaking about his experiences onthe international tennis circuit.

Aisam stressed on the need ofPakistani people to work harder torestore the credibility and pride ofthe nation.

"I know how lucky it is to be aPakistani and to have a country likePakistan. But the truth is, our imagehas suffered a lot and that hurts me

when I play abroad," he insisted. Pakistan has been wrecked by

terrorist attacks and activities bymilitants since 9/11 and a militantsattack on the Sri Lankan cricketteam in March 2009 in Lahore hasalso isolated the country as an inter-national cricket venue.

Teams in other sports have alsorefused to play in Pakistan due to se-curity concerns and the nation hasbeing forced to play its home DavisCup ties abroad for the last twoyears.

MONTE CARLOAFP

France's national technical director PatriceHagelauer on Sunday said that the coun-try's tennis federation would not be rushedinto naming a successor to Davis Cup cap-tain Guy Forget.

Forget, who was appointed in 1999 andtook France to four Davis Cup finals, win-ning one championship in 2001, is stand-ing down after the team's quarter-finaldefeat against the United States.

Hagelauer said it was likely that a de-cision would not be announced before Sep-tember.

"We're in no rush. The next Davis Cupdoesn't start for another year. We'll takeour time to discuss with the players in themonths to come, at Roland-Garros, Wim-bledon and at the Olympics," he told re-porters.

Hagelauer said that a number of for-

mer players had the profile to take over thejob but refused to be drawn on whether Ar-naud Clement -- frequently cited asfavourite -- was in the frame, or others likeNicolas Escude and Sebastien Grosjean.

"There are some outstanding candi-dates, and he (Clement) is one of them. ButI don't want to give a particular name be-cause that wouldn't be fair on the others,"he added.

"All I can say is that we need someonewho has the same mentality as Guy andwho's up to the task."usa To Play sPaiN iN Davis cuPseMi-fiNals: The United States willface holders Spain in the last four of theDavis Cup later this year, after they bothtook unassailable 3-1 leads over Franceand Austria in their quarter-final matcheson Sunday.

In Monte Carlo, John Isner beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets 6-3, 7-6 (7/4),5-7, 6-3 while in Oropesa del Mar, David

Ferrer won in straight sets against JurgenMelzer 7-5, 6-3, 6-3.

The semi-final tie -- a repeat of lastyear's quarter-final -- will take place inSpain in September.

France's defeat robbed Guy Forget oftaking his team to the finals for the fifthand final time since he was appointed in1999. He now steps down after contesting14 Davis Cups.

Speaking to the crowd at the MonteCarlo Country Club afterwards, an emo-tional Forget said of his time in the job:"It's been long but it's been fantastic.Thanks to you and because of my friends,it's been the best time of my life.

"Thanks to you I've dreamed and I'mstill dreaming," Forget said, with tears inhis eyes, vowing to keep backing the teamin the future.

Under his watch, France have made itto four Davis Cup finals and won once, in2001.

France to take time to name Forget’s successor

aisam gets sentimental during a university function

China beatstaiwan indavis Cup

KAOHSIUNgAFP

China's Wu Di edged out Taiwan's WangYeu-tzuoo to give China a 3-2 win in theDavis Cup Oceania Group 1 relegationplayoff in the southern city of Kaohsi-ung in Taiwan on Sunday.In the first match of the day, Taiwan'sYang Tsung-hua beat China's Zhang Ze6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, bringing the tie level2-2 with one match left to play.But the island's hope of staging a gutsycomeback was dashed when 495thranked Wu caused the upset of the play-off, beating 178th ranked Wang 6-4, 7-6(4/0), 7-6 (4/0)."Wu Di was not aggressive in the matchbut my performance today was a disap-pointment," Wang told reporters.Taiwan will now face the losing team ofanother first round playoff betweenIndia and New Zealand. If they fail towin that tie, which takes place in Octo-ber, they will be relegated to Group II in2013.

marathon mannalbandian, Schwankgive Argentina edge

BUENOS AIRESAFP

David Nalbandian played his second five-hour, five-set match in two days when heteamed with Eduardo Schwank to handArgentina a 2-1 lead over Croatia in theirDavis Cup quarter-final on Saturday.Nalbandian and Schwank saw off MarinCilic and Ivo Karlovic 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-3,6-7 (6/8), 8-6 after Friday's opening sin-gles had been shared.World number 10 Juan Martin del Potrohad shrugged off a bout of nausea tocruise past Karlovic 6-2, 7-6 (9/7), 6-1after Cilic had given Croatia, the 2005champions, a winning start when he beatNalbandian 5-7, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.That had been another five-hour epic andfeatured 241 unforced errors.Argentina, last year's runners-up toSpain, hold the unwanted record forreaching the most Davis Cup finals with-out winning the title, having fallen infour finals.The last time Argentina lost a home tieon clay was against the Slovak Republicin 1998.

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Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Editor: Arif Nizami, Executive Editor: Sarmad Bashir, Resident Editor: Rana Qaisar

LAHORENAUMAN tASLEEM

PRIME Minister Yousaf RazaGilani on Sunday said thereshould be no political wing inthe Inter Services Intelli-gence (ISI).

Talking to a group of selected journalists,Gilani said the ISI should have no role in pol-itics, and therefore there was no point of hav-ing a political wing in the agency. To aquestion, he said Pakistan wanted cordial re-lations with all its neighbours including, Iran,India and Afghanistan. “We are having talkswith India, as we want peace in the region.Foreign and interior ministers and secre-

taries of both countries have talked on mat-ters of interest,” Gilani said. He said he hadalso met with Indian Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh in Sharmul Sheikh, Maldivesand Seoul and exchanged positive views.

Gilani said Pakistan wanted peace inthe region and therefore granted MFN sta-tus to India, adding that bilateral trade tieswould now improve. “Every political partyincluding the PPP and the PML-N want tohave cordial relations with India,” he added.

The prime minister said though Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to India waspersonal but he would talk with IndianPrime Minister Manmohan Singh on vari-ous issues, including Kashmir.

“We want such a solution for Kashmir,

which is acceptable to all stakeholders.”The prime minister also made it clear

that he had talked about getting 500MWof electricity from India and not 5000MW.“There was a disinformation that we haveasked for 5,000MW, as India does nothave that amount as surplus.” He said theHafiz Saeed issue was an internal matterand “if any country has any solid evidencethen it should give it to Pakistan.”

Gilani said the government did nothelp former envoy to US Hussain Haqqaniin going abroad. “The court has removedHaqqani’s name from the exit-control list(ECL) and he went abroad,” he said, addingthat it was the government which hadcalled Haqqani from the US, and had asked

him to resign and put him in front of com-mission. “We just followed the rules anddid not take any unlawful step,” he said.

The prime minister said Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif’s likely presencein Energy Conference was a good omenand he expected to have positive talks withShahbaz. To another question of defectionin the PPP, Gilani said anyone who be-lieved in PPP’s ideology, never left theparty. He said there was a long list of pos-itive steps taken by the government and“we have a lot of feathers in our cap”.

“Only load shedding has shunned ourall good doings,” he said, adding that therewould be relief for the people in the up-coming budget.

There should be no political wing in ISI: PMg gilani says Pakistan wants cordial relations with all its neighbours including, Iran, India and Afghanistan

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