e-paper pakistantoday 2nd may, 2013
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E-paper Pakistantoday 2nd May, 2013TRANSCRIPT
Thursday, 2 May, 2013 Jamadul Sani 21, 1434Rs 17.00 Vol III No 305 19 Pages Karachi — Peshawar Edition
US report warns ofcrisis for Pakistan’sminorities
A US government-appointedpanel in Washington onTuesday said there was a needto step up pressure on Pakistanover religious freedom, warningthat risks to its minorities hadreached a “crisis level.” The USCommission on InternationalReligious Freedom also raisedconcerns about what it called adeteriorating situation in
China. PAGE 04
Pakistan’s discardedall rounder ShahidAfridi has vowed tomake a comeback toPakistan’s one-day squad, claimingthat he is “better than most”. Hewas dropped from the side for theupcoming tours of Scotland,Ireland and England for theChampions Trophy in June, alongwith batsman Umar Akmal and
fast bowler Sohail Tanvir. PAGE 15
US asks India, Pakto restrain theirnuke programmes
DISCARDEDAFRIDI VOWSTO MAKECOMEBACK
Expressing concern over thecontinuing buildup of nuclearweapons in South Asia, the US hasasked India and Pakistan torestrain their atomic and missileprogrammes and play a positiverole in the global non-proliferationcommunity. "The US remainsdeeply concerned by the dangersposed by the continuing buildup ofnuclear weapons and their delivery
systems in South Asia." PAGE 08
Holding Balochistanhostage
On May 1, 2013, 22,000 troopsand 50,000 ‘law enforcers’entered 12 districts ofBalochistan to “conduct a free-and-fair election”. The existingnumber of troops in the areasshall not be revealed to us, northe fact that de facto theseareas had been no-go areas forthe military since the currentBaloch insurgency started in
2005. PAGE 08
May Day markedby global workers' protests
Demonstrations are takingplace across the world asprotesters gather to mark MayDay, the traditional date fordemanding better workers'rights. Protests first began inAsia, with tens of thousands ofworkers in Jakarta calling forimproved conditions andmobilising against government plans to cut fuel
subsidies. PAGE 07
STORY ON PAGE 09
STORIES ON PAGE 02
STORIES ON PAGE 04
STORY ON PAGE 09
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Thursday, 2 May, 201302
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Thursday, 2 May, 2013
ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
THE Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP) on Wednesdaydecided that army troopswould not be deployed at
polling stations, as at least 19 more peo-ple were injured in attacks on electioncandidates in various parts of the country.Finalising its security plan for the generalelection scheduled for May 11, the ECPdecided that seven security personnelwould be deployed on the most sensitivepolling stations, five on moderately sen-sitive and four on the remaining fromMay 10. The army will only be utilised asa quick response force in emergency with20 to 30 personnel in each squad, it wasdecided.
As the ECP came out with its electionsecurity plan, election candidates of var-ious political parties remained under at-tack from elements bent upon disruptingthe first democratic transition of govern-ment in Pakistan.JUI-F RALLY ATTACKED: At least 10people were injured when militants firedeight rockets at an election rally of theJamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) inHarnai district of insurgency-hitBalochistan province. The injured wererushed to a nearby hospital for medicaltreatment. Police officials said the rock-ets were fired from an unknown location.There was no immediate claim of respon-sibility for the attack.PML-N ELECTION OFFICEATTACKED: Unknown armed men
hurled a hand grenade at an office of thePakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) election candidate on Arbab GhulamAli Road area of Quetta.
Police said militants hurled the bombat the election office of PML-N leaderHaji Lashkari Raisani. They said fourparty activists were injured in the attack.
The injured were immediately rushedto civil hospital Quetta for medical treat-
ment. However Raisani was not hurt inthe attack. Police said armed men wereriding a motorcycle and escaped unhurtfrom the spot.
Lashkari Raisani is contesting elec-tion on PB-4 from Quetta city on a PML-N ticket. He is the younger brother offormer chief minister Balochistan NawabAslam Raisani.SHIKARPUR SUICIDE ATTACK:
Furthermore, at least two people were in-jured in a suicide attack which occurrednear the convoy of National People’sParty candidate Dr Ibrahim Jatoi atShikarpur toll plaza. Jatoi remained un-hurt in the attack.DERA MURAD JAMALI ATTACK: Inanother incident, three people were in-jured when a bomb exploded in Balochis-tan’s Dera Murad Jamali region. The
blast took place near the convoy of an in-dependent candidate for PB-32, AllahDino, in the district’s Kachchi Pul area.MINGORA ATTACK: An election can-didate of the Awami National Party(ANP) also escaped an attack in the Min-gora district of Swat valley.
According to initial reports, unidenti-fied gunmen opened fire on the convoyof Wajid Ali Khan, who is contesting onPK-80 constituency in Swat.TERROR BIDS FOILED: The bombdisposal squad (BDS) foiled two terrorbids in Peshawar by defusing bombs tar-geting election candidates of the AwamiNational Party (ANP) and Pakistan Mus-lim League–Nawaz (PML-N).
BDS officials said the first impro-vised explosive device was planted to tar-get the ANP’s provincial assemblycandidate for the PK-8 seat, Arbab Nazirin Mathra. Officials said the bomb,weighing five kilogrammes and plantedin a tin can was defused near Nazir’selection office.
Another bomb planted near the houseof PML-N candidate for PK-7, SyedAbbas Ali Shah alias Mouzam Bacha,was defused in Bacha Ghari area of PirBala on Warsak Road. A BDS officialsaid that the bomb weighed about five toseven kilogrammes. The official said thebomb was exploded with water chargesas it was operated with a remote controland could not have been defused manu-ally. Police said the road was a routinepatrolling route of the police, and the mil-itants may have been planning to “shoottwo birds with one stone”, targeting bothpolice and the contestants at the sametime.NATIONAL HIGHWAY BLOCKED:Moreover, supporters and relatives ofAbdul Fateh Magsi, the slain candidatefor PB-32 (Jhal Magsi), blocked the Na-tional Highway linking Sindh andBalochistan on Wednesday in order toprotest his killing. Long queues of vehi-cles were witnessed on the NationalHighway during the road’s blockade. Theprotesters later agreed to clear the high-way following negotiations with the ad-ministration.
no arMy on pollinG dayas attacKs continUe
KARACHI
STAFF REPORT
Clearly not reassured by GeneralKayani’s statement on Tuesday that theelection will be held on time, the leadersof Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Mut-tahida Quami Movement (MQM) andAwami National Party (ANP) onWednesday called upon Ulema andscholars to issue a fatwa against terror-ism and termed the elections as a battlebetween forces which were for andagainst the Taliban.
They also expressed apprehensionsas to whether elections in the current cir-cumstances could be held in a free andtransparent manner.
These three parties have been facingterrorist attacks recently forcing them torestrict their election campaigns. Dozensof political activists from PPP, MQM andANP have been killed in these attacks.
PPP’s Rehman Malik, MQM’s Fa-rooq Sattar and ANP’s Shahi Syed ad-dressed a news briefing in Karachi onWednesday.
In an apparent reference to PML-Nand PTI, they questioned why some po-litical parties had been given freedom tocarry out their election activities while
others have become constant target forthe extremists. They said a conspiracywas being hatched to ensure that rightwing parties come to power in the May11 elections. They urged the people tosupport them in the polls and defeat the
"nefarious designs of extremists and ter-rorists".
MQM’s Farooq Sattar said progres-sive parties were being prevented fromactively participating in election cam-paigns. “The election campaign is being
dictated by the Taliban and not the Elec-tion Commission,” he asserted.
The leaders of PPP, MQM and ANPwelcomed the remarks of General Ash-faq Pervez Kayani that the war againstterrorists was Pakistan’s war.
May 11 to be a battle between progressivesand extremists, say ANP, MQM, PPP
secUrity concerns:pM hands ncMcover to ecpISLAMABAD: Prime Minster Mir Hazar Khan
Khoso has handed over the control of National
Crisis Management Cell (NCMC) to the Election
Commission of Pakistan. PM Khoso has directed
the NCMC, presently working under the
Ministry of Interior, to work hand-in-hand with
the ECP in case of any emergency. He said the
army would be called in for help only in case of
an emergency, and if deemed necessary, would
also be used for targeted operations. The NCMC
is repository of various assets of the country
which include representatives of intelligence
agencies and specialised services. This decision
has been taken by the prime minister to allay
concerns raised by the ECP regarding the law
and order and it is consistent with its policy to
assist the ECP in the conduct of general
elections in a free and fair manner. Alluding to
recent tragic incidents in various parts of the
country as a result of bomb blasts and
terrorists' attacks‚ the prime minister termed
them unfortunate and expressed concern over
the prevailing law and order. Khoso reiterated
the resolve to leave no stone unturned for
providing security to political leaders and
candidates and maintenance of law and order
in the country. The prime minister said though
maintenance of law and order was a provincial
subject‚ the federal government had been
extending all possible assistance to the
provincial governments for beefing up their
capacities in this regard. The caretaker
government, having inherited the over
decades-old law and order problem‚ re-affirmed
its commitment to take all that it takes to
defeat the nefarious designs of those who
threaten the life‚ property and honour of the
people of Pakistan. The government has
decided to use all available resources, including
deployment of the army and civil armed forces
and permitted targeted operations in some
parts of the country to flush out terrorists and
anti-social elements. The PM, who is personally
monitoring the situation, is reportedly in touch
with the provincial governments as well as
federal authorities, besides issuing necessary
directions to take remedial measures as and
when deemed necessary. NNI
KARACHI/ LONDON
NNI
Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief AltafHussain on Wednesday hailed the statement issued
by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ash-faq Parvez Kayani on the occasion of Yaum-e-
Shuhada and said the army chief had showncourage in the face of a delicate situation. In astatement issued from London, Altaf Hussain
said General Kayani with his courageous stancehad proved himself to be a valiant solider who wasalways ready to defend his country. Kayani’s state-ment imparted a renewed courage to the nationand helped whittle down the misgivings to alarge extent, he said. It should be mentionedhere that General Kayani said the generalelections would be held on its scheduledtime on May 11, asserting he reiteratedthere should remain no doubt about it.
Altaf hails Kayani’s statement
KARACHI: MQM leader Farooq Sattar, ANP
leader Shahi Syed and PPP leader Rehman
Malik hold hands to express solidarity
after a press conference at Shahi Syed’s
residence on Wednesday. ONLINE
More troopsdeployed inBalochistan QUETTA: More army
troops have been deployed
in far-flung districts of
Balochistan to ensure se-
curity during the upcom-
ing general elections. Ac-
cording to a Pakistan
Army spokesman, a con-
tingent of 800 troops left
for Naseerabad, Jaf-
farabad, Jhal Magsi, Musa
Khel, Kohlu, Sheerani, Dal-
bandin, Ziarat and Harnai.
So far, a total of 1,250
troops have been deployed
in various districts of
Balochistan, including
Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar,
Panjgur, Kharan, Awaran
and Naushki. ONLINE
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Thursday, 02 May, 2013
Four militantskilled in orakzai,cache ofexplosives seized ORAKZAI: Fighter jets on Wednesday
targeted insurgent hideouts in the
Orakzai tribal region, killing four
militants and destroying two hideouts.
The militants and their hideouts were
targeted in Upper Orakzai’s Asmat
Khana region with the help of jet
fighters. Moreover, security forces also
foiled a sabotage bid in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa’s capital and seized a huge
cache of explosives along with arresting
two suspects. In another operation,
security forces seized a huge quantity of
explosives from a house in the Urmar
area on the outskirts of Peshawar.
During the operation, two suspects were
taken into custody. Police feigned
ignorance over the operation saying it
may have been carried out by the
security forces. STAFF REPORT
Grandfather kills2-year-old overland dispute inGujranwalaGUJRANWALA: A man killed his two-
year-old granddaughter over a land
dispute with his son in Gujranwala on
Wednesday. According to details, the
accused identified as Hanif, residing in
Risalpura area of Gujranwala, had some
differences with his son over a land
ownership issue. To take revenge, Hanif
drowned his two-year-old granddaughter
Zahra in a water tank and fled after
making sure the child was dead. An FIR
has been lodged against Hanif. INP
navy officialamong four killedin KarachiKARACHI: At least four people,
including a Pakistan Navy official, were
killed in separate incidents of violence
on Wednesday. According to details,
unidentified gunmen opened fire at a
man, identified as Zahid Iqbal, a navy
official, near Tower in Old City area. The
injured was rushed to hospital where he
succumbed to his injuries. Two people
were killed in a firing incident in Baldia
and Lasbela Bridge areas. The bodies
were shifted to hospital. Police
recovered a bullet-riddled body from
Phool Chowk area of Kharadar. Police
said abductors shot dead the man after
kidnapping him. Meanwhile, firing
incidents continued in Baldia Town, Old
City, Shah Faisal Colony, Sohrab Goth,
Kharadar and other areas of the city
during which several persons were
reportedly injured. Separately, six
shops and one car were torched as two
groups clashed over land near Purani
Sabzi Mandi. Police and Rangers
personnel took into custody several
suspects and recovered arms and drugs
from them. INP
seminary studentbeaten to death inFaisalabadFAISALABAD: A 12-year-old seminary
student was beaten to death in Faisalabad
on Wednesday for not being able to
memorise a lesson. The accused seminary
teacher, Qari Farooq, escaped and took the
student’s body along with him. An FIR was
lodged against the suspect by the
seminary administration. Sajjad Ahmed,
12, who was brutally beaten with a stick
died on the spot. Qari Farooq called an
ambulance, took the dead body and
escaped along with several other students.
The police said that both the accused and
the victim belonged to Bahawalpur. NNI
WASHINGTON
INP
aUS government-ap-pointed panel in Wash-ington on Tuesday saidthere was a need to step
up pressure on Pakistan over re-ligious freedom, warning thatrisks to its minorities had reacheda “crisis level.”
In an annual report, the USCommission on InternationalReligious Freedom also raisedconcerns about what it called adeteriorating situation in China,as well as problems in Egypt,Iran, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia
and other nations.The commission called for the
United States to designate Pakistanas a “country of particular con-cern,” meaning it could be subjectto sanctions if it failed to improve.Assessing the year through Janu-ary 31, the commission said reli-gious freedom violations inPakistan “rose to unprecedentedlevels due to chronic sectarian vi-olence” that targeted the ShiaMuslim minority.
“The government continuesto fail to protect Christians, Ah-madis and Hindus,” the reportsaid, charging that blasphemyand other laws “are widely used
to violate religious freedoms andfoster a climate of impunity.”
Sunni Muslim extremistsover the past year have killedhundreds of Shias in Pakistan, es-pecially Hazaras, a communityoriginally from Afghanistan thatis known for its comparativelyliberal attitudes.
“Pakistan is in a crisis rightnow with these particularly se-vere violations of religious free-dom,” said Knox Thames, thecommission’s director of policyand research. The commission,whose members are appointed byPresident Barack Obama and theCongress, said Pakistan faced the
most serious violations of reli-gious freedom among any coun-try not already on the blacklist.
The State Department has notpreviously issued the designationfor Pakistan, with which theUnited States has had a close butprickly relationship since theSeptember 11, 2001, attacks.
The designated countries ofparticular concern on religiousfreedom are China, Eritrea, Iran,Myanmar, North Korea, SaudiArabia and Uzbekistan. Alongwith Pakistan, the commissionurged the State Department toadd Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Tajik-istan, Turkmenistan and Viet-
nam to the list.The commission voiced con-
cern over Myanmar, where a re-cent Human Rights Watch studysaid at least 211 members of theRohingya Muslim communitywere killed in religious violencesince June 2012.
In a first, the report dedi-cated a chapter to western Eu-rope in which it raised questionsabout the ban in secular Franceand Belgium on Muslim womenwearing veils in public. The re-port did not cover the UnitedStates, where incidents last yearincluded a massacre at a Sikhtemple that left six dead.
LONDON
INP
Three British soldiers have been killedand several others injured after the heav-ily-armoured vehicle they were travellingin was hit by a large roadside bomb whilethey were on a routine patrol inAfghanistan. The Afghan Ministry of De-fence on Wednesday said the men hadbeen killed on Tuesday in the Nahr-e
Saraj district of Helmand province, on theborder of Kandahar just north of theprovincial capital Lashkar Gah.
It is understood six other Britonswere injured in the explosion, which hap-pened while the soldiers were inside aMastiff troop carrier – a 15-tonne vehiclewhich is regarded as one of the safest op-erated by the British military. NineAfghans also died in the attack.
British Prime Minister David Cameron
said Britain had paid a “very high price”for the work it was doing in Afghanistan ashe paid tribute to the three soldiers.
The ministry said the injured menreceived immediate medical attentionand were evacuated by air to the mili-tary hospital at Camp Bastion butthree could not be saved. Next of kinhave been informed. The other sol-diers hurt are not thought to have life-threatening injures.
LORALAI
ONLINE
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)Chairman Imran Khan onWednesday said that after cominginto power his party would endmilitary operations in Balochis-tan, adding that bullets do notsolve problems.
Addressing an election rallyat Loralai, he said PTI wouldtransform the country into a wel-fare state, where justice would bedispensed without discrimination.
He said local governmentpolls would be held in the coun-try as soon as possible. “Wewould not allocate developmentfunds to any member of parlia-ment but would empower localbodies,” Khan added.
The PTI chief said thebiggest issue facing Pakistan is
terrorism, which would be dealtwith mutual consultation.
He further said PTI wouldimplement a uniform educa-tion curriculum throughout thecountry.
Khan said people would laythe foundation stone of a “NewPakistan” on May 11. He urgedthe youth to come out of theirhomes on election-day and casttheir votes.
Meanwhile, talking to a pri-vate television channel, Khansaid his party did not believe inpersonal attacks on opponents,but agenda debates between po-litical leadership was a demo-cratic tradition, followed in alldemocratic societies includingwestern countries.
He said he had invited Pak-istan Muslim League-Nawazchief Nawaz Sharif for such a de-
bate, focusing on party mani-festos, in compliance with demo-cratic norms.
He said PTI had, and contin-ues to condemn terrorist attacksthat killed innocent people. “Wecondemn violence against anypolitical party and their workers,”he stated. Responding to a ques-tion, Khan said he had offered hisservices for mediation to resolvematters with Taliban through di-alogue, but the ruling elite in theprevious government was not se-rious about his offer.
The PTI chief said his partystill believed in negotiation andpolitical solutions to the plagueof terrorism. Khan said his elec-tion campaign would gain fur-ther momentum as the electiondraws closer, adding that PTIwill conclude its campaign atthe federal capital.
Us report warns of crisisfor pakistan’s minorities
Imran vows to end military operations in Balochistan
Kayani on list of 500powerful people
MONITORING DESK
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) GeneralAshfaq Pervaiz Kayani’s name appeared inthe list of 500 most powerful people in theworld published by the Foreign Policy (FP)Magazine’s May/June 2013 issue. Theindividuals included in the FP Power Mapcome from different professions andindustries. The magazine claims to using a“list of lists” approach to put the rankingstogether. In 2012, General Kayani wasranked at 28 in the Forbes World’s MostPowerful People list. Director General ofthe Inter Services Intelligence LieutenantGeneral Zaheer-ul-Islam was ranked 52.The said list, along Forbes 100 MostPowerful Women list, The Wall StreetJournal, the Fortune Global 500 and GlobalJournal Top 100 NGOs are some of thesources used to draft the FP list, in whichGeneral Kayani is listed as the onlyPakistani. The list also includes AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai, Burmese LeaderAung San Suu Kyi, United NationalSecretary General Ban Ki Moon, Microsoftchairman Bill Gates and Indian NationalCongress President Sonia Gandhi.
3 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan roadside bomb attack
IMRAN’S CLEAN CHIT TO THE TALIBANIn a startling claim, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran
Khan has said that former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was
not killed by the Taliban. Speaking in an interview with
British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, the PTI chief said that
Bhutto had been “clearly killed by people worried she was
going to come into power”. He did not say whether his claim
was based on any concrete evidence that he was privy to.
The Benazir Bhutto murder case is currently underway in an
anti-terrorist court in Rawalpindi. Khan’s claim contradicts
the investigations done by a UN commission as well as
Britain’s Scotland Yard Police. Benazir Bhutto was
assassinated on December 27, 2007 in Rawalpindi while she
was campaigning ahead of 2008 elections. Investigators are
currently questioning former military ruler and president
General (r) Pervez Musharraf who was heading the country at
the time of her assassination. Musharraf has repeatedly
denied his involvement and has instead blamed the slain
leader for ignoring security warnings by the then regime led
by prime minister Shaukat Aziz. MONITORING DESK
QUETTA: A blast victim is being shiftedto the hospital fortreatment onWednesday. INP
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KARACHI
AAMIR MAJEED
THE police high-upshave directedinvestigators not toissue any statementover the suspiciouskilling of a family in
DHA Phase-IV the other day. Abdul Wajid Durani, Chief Finance
Officer (CFO) of Sanghar Sugar Mills,his wife Wajiha and three minor childrenincluding two sons Rehan, 11, Aris, 04,and a daughter Rameen 9 were founddead in a Bungalow No 81/3, DHAPhase IV on Tuesday. After visiting thecrime scene, the police officers hadissued a statement that it was murder-cum-suicide case. The police said theCFO killed his wife and three children,and later committed suicide. The deadbodies of the CFO’s wife and his threechildren were recovered from one roomwhile his body was found from anotherroom.
However, the investigators believedthe family was murdered and it was nota murder-cum-suicide case. A policeofficer, seeking anonymity, told PakistanToday that a number of questions arosewhen they started probe into the matter.
The room where the CFO was founddead was locked from outside, thepoliceman said, adding if the CFOwould have committed suicide afterkilling his wife and children, then heshould have locked his room from the
inside. “It seems the killer murdered himand his family and locked the room fromthe outside,” he added.
“The house where the killings tookplace is situated in the area where thereis no empty plot and there are houses atboth sides of the crime scene, butinterestingly no one heard gun shotsfrom the house. The CFO’s cook servinghim for the last one year was alsopresent in the house. But healso claimed that he didnot hear any gunshots,” the copmaintained.
“The CFOwas living inthe housealone as hiswife andchildrenwereresidingabroad.They use tovisitPakistanfrequentlyduring break inacademic years.They arrived inPakistan just a fewdays ago to spend time withDurrani”, the officer furthercommented.
Another police officer said that thecook and father of Wajid Durani came tothe police station and informed them that
Wajid and his family were murdered bysomeone. When police reached the spot,the CFO’s wife and children were founddead in one room while the CFO wasfound dead in another room.
The cook told police that the CFOasked him the night before not to preparedinner as they would eat outside. He toldpolice that he went to his room and slept,and had no idea when the family cameback. “I received a phone call from anunknown person who introduced himselfas Shamim. He said the CFO was notattending his call and asked me to tellhim about him (Shamim)”, the copquoted the cook as having said.
The cook claimed henever gave his cell
number to Shamim,rather he talked
to him for thefirst time in
his life. Hefurther toldpolice thataftersometimeCFO’sfatheralso
arrivedthere, and
when theyopened the
doorthey
foundthe whole familydead.
The police officerfurther told that the CFO
sent an email to many friends wherein heexpressed his desperation over someissue. But it was beyond our thinkingthat why a man murdered his family andlater committed suicide without ajustifiable reason, the officer wondered.
“We have been directed by our high-ups not to issue any statement to media asthe family has requested not to make thisincident public,” Senior Superintendentof Police (SSP) South Nasir Aftab toldPakistan Today. “The investigations areunderway and they are hopeful ofreaching the bottom of the wholeincident,” he added. “At this point, all we
know is the CFO murdered his familyand later committed suicide,” he
reiterated.
KARACHI
kThursday, 2 May, 2013
05
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We are now going for transfer of power from one democratic
government to another democratic one and it will be a historic milestone
for the nation – Hyderabad Commissioner Dr Riaz Ahmed Memon
cFo’s MUrderMystery deepens
HigH-ups ask investigators not to issue any statement over tHe suspicious killings
POLICE OFFICER
The house where the
killings took place is
situated in the area where
there is no empty plot.
There are residential
houses at both sides of
the CFO’s home but,
interestingly, no one
heard gun shots
KARACHI
STAFF REPORT
Residents of Old Sabzi Mandi turnedviolent while protesting against landgrabbers in the metropolis on Wednesday.Police and eyewitnesses said thatresidents of Old Sabzi Mandi area,including scores of women, took to theroads in protest against illegalconstructions being carried out by landmafia. The situation turned violent whenmafia supporters opened fire on theinfuriated protestors who later ransackeddozens of area shops and torched severalvehicles. Rioting lasted for more thanthree hours and had turned the area intoa battle field. Police said that one manwas injured as a result of firing.Meanwhile, police and rangers resorted toaerial firing to disperse the unruly mob.
naval oFFicershot dead
KARACHI: APakistan Navy
(PN) sailor wasshot and killedin Kharadararea of themetropolis
earlier onWednesday.
According topolice, PN sailor Zahid
Iqbal was targeted when he was standingbeside a cobbler near Edhi head office. Itmerits mentio here that Zahid Iqbal isthe second staffer of PN killed this year.Earlier, Lt Commander Azeem of PNwas also shot at and wounded nearKarachi Port in February. He latersuccumbed to his injury after remainingin coma for a couple of days. ONLINE
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KARACHIThursday, 2 May, 2013
06
k
The Sindh caretaker government has initiated consultation with
all relevant stakeholders on provincial budget for fiscal year
2013-14 - Caretaker Minister for Finance Shakaib Qureshi.
KARACHI: A petrol pump worker instals a new price tag after reduction in the prices of petroleum products. ONLINE
three more die incontinued violence
KARACHI
NNI
Despite ongoing rangers and police opera-tions being carried out in the metropolis,violence still continued unabated in thecity and has claimed three lives onWednesday.Police said a tortured body was found fromGulshan-e-Sikandar in Kemari Town and an-other from Phool Chowk in Kharadar area.Moreover, rescue sources said a man wasgunned down in Baldia Town No.7 area.The deceased could not be identified until thefiling of this report. 25 HELD: Police and rangers, in a joint oper-ation conducted near Bilawal ChorangiClifton, detained 25 accused and recoveredhuge cache of arms from their possession.According to media reports, police said somewanted accused, affiliated with a politicalparty, were also arrested, including Guddu Bi-hari and others. Talking to reporters, SSPSouth Nasir Aftab said that the operation waslaunched against wanted miscreants and 25 ac-cused were arrested.
WaF asks partiesto strategise poll meetings
KARACHI
APP
Joint Action Committee of Civil Society Or-ganisations and Women Action Forum (WAF)have urged all political parties to adopt thor-ough strategies in arranging their electionmeetings and stressed that they must be sup-ported in their arrangements by police andrangers. “Army must extend security where itis required,” said WAF spokesperson, MonizaInam. On behalf of the country’s civil society,she also expressed their solidarity with all po-litical parties contesting the forthcoming na-tional polls and condemned attacks on theirmembers and workers.“We condemn these attacks in no uncertainterms and extend condolence to those whohave lost their loved ones in these attacks,”she said. Moniza Inam said that ban on thedisplay of arms must be strictly implementedand any one found violating the ban must beplaced on remand for a month.
KARACHI
ISMAIL DILAWAR
AS May 1, the InternationalLabour Day, saw the worldexpressing solidarity withthe labourers, there aresome in this densely-popu-
lated financial hub of Pakistan who have toworry about much more than making bothends meet.
The ‘dilemma of identity’ can be themost appropriate word we can use whiletelling the story of millions of Afghanrefugees, Christian minority and the inter-nally displaced persons.
These under-privileged segments of ourclass-based society, willy-nilly, have to dodirty jobs to earn livelihood for their poordependents living, in most cases, far awayfrom their near and dear ones. Putting theirhands in filthy garbage and stinky guttersis the lifestyle they hatefully have to adoptfor reasons ranging from the damagingside-effects of the US-led global war on ter-ror to the lack of education.
“Kuchray Wala” (trash collector) and“Bhungy” (sweeper) are the titles we gen-erally assign to such poor labourers whocould not have the luxury to stretch back athome even on May Day, an internationalpublic holiday.
To Basheer Mohammad, a 13-year-oldAfghan refugee who lives at a garbagedump in impoverished Bhutta Village ofKeamari Town with his elderly father andyounger brother, words like Labor Day orChild Labour mean nothing.
“I don’t go to school now,” said the kidwhen this reporter spotted him filling hishalf-full gunny bag with recyclable trash atthe garbage dump in the scorching sunlightof Wednesday afternoon.
Dressed untidily, the Afghan boy waslooking for trash preferably made of plastic,iron or paper that, he said, was saleable ata price ranging from Rs 6 to 354 per kilo-gram. Whereas Basher was reluctant tospare some time for an uncalled for inter-view, however, his father, Mohammad Hus-sain, working nearby, had a lot to share hisplight with Pakistan Today.
“I have to leave my family back inAfghanistan and shift to an Afghan refugeecamp in Sohrab Goth when half and a yearback a fight between Taliban and Americareduced my only vehicle to ashes,” he said.Mohammad hails from Jowzjan, one of 34provinces of Afghanistan, which had beena hotspot of war on terror in the war-rav-aged country.
Besides Basheer, the 60-year-old
bearded man fathers Ali Mohammad, 15,Raj Mohammad, 10, Akhtar Mohammad,7, Khan Mohammad, 4 and 11-year-oldShatireena who, in Afghanistan, go to aseminary to get Islamic education. Hiswife, Ameena, is a house wife.
“All my children including Basher usedto go to school until I got my vehicle burntthat left me heavily indebted (Rs 4 lac). So,I had to migrate here in search of liveli-hood,” said Mohammad who has to pay Rs40,000 under a one-year contract he has en-tered into with one of his countrymen(Afghan) for collecting garbage from thearea.
The 15-year-old Ali too, he said, wasassociated with the dirty job he was com-pelled to do.
What, however, perturbs the troubledfamily the most is the question of theiridentity. “Police every now and then stopus and ask for the identity cards that haveexpired,” said the old man. “Just a coupleof days back the police stopped our vehicleand took Rs 200 from each of us saying youdon’t have identity cards,” recalledBasheer.
Why don’t you have the identity cards?“Because the new ‘Bacha’ (king) would de-cide whether we should be issued new IDcards or sent back to Afghanistan,” repliedMohammad. “We are waiting for the elec-tion results now,” said the brilliant childlabour.
The poor garbage collectors said thou-sands of Afghans living in a mohajir campnear Sohrab Goth were facing the samefate. According to official figures up to2005, some 2.7 million homeless Afghanswere living in Pakistan of which, theUNHCR data suggests, only 1.7 millionwere registered.
According to Basher, many of his coun-trymen were affiliated with relatively prof-itable garbage business in Machar Colony,Teen Hatti, Sohrab Goth, Keamari, Sher-shah, Sadder other impoverished cityneighborhoods.
“Who would willingly love to live faraway from his family? I would go back tomy country when the security situation hasimproved,” said Mohammad, who is veryappreciative of Pakistan, he described as‘Islamic country’.
Sarfaraz David, a Christian employeeof Karachi Water and Sewerage Board, whomust clean private gutters in part-time tomake sustenance for his 8-member family,was another neglected labour seen walkingfast on the I.I Chundrigar Road near JangPress Building with a thin bamboo and longiron bar in his hand.
“If we take an off what would we eat,sir! You know, inflation is so backbreakingthat we can’t be choosy in terms of work,”replied 35-year-old David, who lives withhis parents, spouse, three children and ayoungling brother in a rented house of EsaNagri.
Drawing only Rs 8,000 from KWSB,David has to clean gutters part-time to sup-port his family. Even this part-time job, ashe said, does not make a difference. “Somegive me Rs 50 or Rs 100 maximum,” saidDavid, whose father, Mr David, had mi-grated to Karachi from Faisalabad, he couldnot recall when.
His brother also was working in a pri-vate firm and earning Rs 7,000 a month.
Besides poverty, David also has to fightwith the contemptuous behaviour of the
people around. “People despise us asBhungy (sweeper) but all we can do is toget sad,” he was visibly shocked. Anotherfactor he cited as haunting his fraternitywas a religious bigot.
“We are living here for decades butwithout having a clear idea whether or notwe are Pakistanis,” said the poor laboureradding, “There are people who embrace usbut there are some who hate us.”
A rough estimate shows that each of theChristian and Hindu minorities constituted208 million or 1.6 percent of Pakistan’stotal population back in 2005.
Asked if he was OK with his dirty job,David replied in negative: “Who would liketo dip his hands in filthy stinky sewagewater if not compelled”. Why this job only?“Because I am uneducated and then the div-idend here is relatively higher than otherprivate jobs,” he replied.
Abdullah, 25, is another hard workinglabour from Quetta, the federal capital ofBalochistan province, who was seen atwork on the May Day. He has his own is-sues pertaining to the law and order and theresultant downing rates of recyclablegarbage he collects from dawn to dusk invarious localities of this violence-hit me-tropolis.
“The violence in this city is reallyhaunting us both in terms of business andprotection,” said the youngling trash collec-tor who lives in Gulshan-e-Sikandar Ababdarea of Keamari Town.
Holding a gunny bag half-full of differ-ent refuses, Abdullah said at least four ofhis relatives had fallen prey to incidents ofethnic violence in the city. “I still rememberhow 8-year-old Mohammad was killed incrossfire between two ethnic groups inMachar Colony,” he recalled.
The city’s uncertain law and order sit-uation, he said, had rendered the buyers (ofscrap) without cash. “Gone are the dayswhen the buyers used to pay us on the spot.Every next day the banks are closed for astrike or violence. They say we can’t en-cash our cheques,” he said.
This uncertainty, Abdullah complained,had brought the prices of recyclable scrapdown. The trash items made of plastic, ironand paper that once used to be priced at Rs42, Rs 48 and Rs 20 per kilogram nowfetch, respectively, Rs 35, Rs 38 and Rs 10only. The rates of scrap copper also de-creased to Rs 550 from Rs 800 per kg.
Abdullah, who has received his educa-tion from a Maddrassah and is engaged tobe married soon, sees Karachi as an idealplace for living provided the city becomespeaceful for all those living here.
saddeninG colors oF laBoUr UnFold on May day
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:37 AM Page 6
syria oppositiondenoUnceshezBollah 'threat' DAMASCUS: Syria's opposition has
denounced what it called "threats" from
the head of Hezbollah, and warned
against any intervention by the
movement or by Iran, which backs the
Lebanese group, in the Syrian conflict.
The Syrian National Coalition's (SNC)
statement on Wednesday comes after
Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader,
said Syrian rebels would not be able to
defeat President Bashar al-Assad's
regime militarily. "The Syrians and the
Lebanese hoped ... that the Hezbollah
leadership would stop their attacks on
Homs and Damascus and take into
account the gravity of the situation in
the region," the SNC said. "But they
heard nothing but threats ... and
warnings against setting the region on
fire and an admission of their
interference in Syrian affairs."
Nasrallah, speaking in a televised
address on Tuesday, said that Syria had
"real friends in the region", apparently
indicating that his group would
intervene on the government's side if
the need arises. AGENCIES
BoMBs Kill aFGhanoFFicial andBritish troops KABUL: An Afghan official has said
fighters used a bomb and small arms to
kill a representative of a government
peace council entrusted with helping
start talks with the Taliban. Omaer
Zawak, a spokesman for the governor of
Helmand, said the attack that killed
Malim Shah Wali Khan on Wednesday
also wounded the province's deputy
governor. A bodyguard also died and
four others were wounded. He said the
armed group first detonated a bomb
next to Khan's car and then attacked
with assault rifles. A day earlier, at least
12 people, including three British soldier,
were killed by a roadside bomb in
Helmand. Six British soldiers have now
been killed this year in Afghanistan,
where British casualties have slowed
over the past year. AGENCIES
07
NewsThursday, 2 May, 2013
The weak can never forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the
strong. — Mahatma Gandhi N
OKKAN
AGENCIES
At least one person has died and 10 peo-ple have been injured in central Myanmarafter Buddhist gangs set fire to hundredsof homes and overrun two mosques.
Tuesday's flare-up in Okkan, 110kmnorth of Yangon, is the latest anti-Muslimviolence to shake the Southeast Asian na-tion since late March.
In Chauk Tal, an outlying village,leaping flames still rose on Tuesday nightfrom the remains of several fiercely burn-ing structures, while distressed villagerscried and hurled buckets of water to tryand douse the flames.
Residents said as many as 400 Bud-dhists armed with bricks and sticks ram-paged through the area.
"We hadn't really seen [violence] inthis central part," said Al Jazeera's Scott
Heidler, reporting from Bangkok. "[Theviolence] is definitely spreading; in this
latest incident troops and security forceshad to come in to prevent any more vio-lence. You can view what's going on inMyanmar as a tinderbox."
Eighteen people are reported to havebeen arrested.
The mobs targeted Muslim shops andransacked two mosques; about 20 riot po-lice were later deployed to guard one ofthem, a single-story structure, which hadits doors broken and windows smashed.
In Okkan, two mosques were overrunand looted, while more than 100 Muslimhomes in three nearby villages weretorched in arson attacks.
"They came around 1pm and most ofthe people were from this town, not fromoutside. There were around 50 of them,"said Khin Maung Than, a 60-year-oldshopkeeper in Okkan.
Anti-Muslim violence hits central Myanmar
JARAKATA
AGENCIES
dEMONSTRATIONS aretaking place across theworld as protesters gatherto mark May Day, the tra-ditional date for demand-
ing better workers' rights.Protests first began in Asia, with
tens of thousands of workers in Jakartacalling for improved conditions andmobilising against government plansto cut fuel subsidies. Al Jazeera's StepVaessen, reporting from Jarakata, said:"Everywhere I look I see demonstrat-ing workers; this is the biggest rallyI've seen here. "The president [SusiloBambang Yudhoyono], announcedyesterday that the fuel price will go upas it is heavily subsidesed.
ISTANBUL CLASHES
With 80 countries around the worldmarking May 1 as a public holiday,Istanbul's Taksim Square was inlockdown on Wednesday, after theTurkish government banned MayDay protests there. The square is thesite of a 1977 May Day massacre inwhich dozens of people died underdisputed circumstances.
Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra,reporting from Istanbul, said: "Therehave been scuffles, particularly inareas that lead to Taksim Square,which has been sealed off.
CAMBODIA WORKERS
In Phnom Pehn, the Cambodian cap-
ital, garment factory workers de-manded higher wages and betterworking conditions.
Organisers said about 5,000demonstrators, including unionworkers, gathered for the rally,chanting slogans and holding ban-ners. Protesters came from 16 unionsand associations in Cambodia tomark International Labour Day andurge whoever wins the general elec-tion in July to meet their demands.
"I demand that my pay is in-creased to $150 per month," saidgarment worker Neang Leakena,from the Chinese-owned Deum Porgarment factory.
EUROPEAN PROTESTS
In Athens, Greece's capital, the mainpublic and private sector unionscalled a 24-hour strike to protestagainst the government's austeritypolicies.
Greece has had to enforce taxrises and spending cuts as part ofdeals with the International Mone-tary Fund and its eurozone partnersto overcome a crippling debt crisis.
On Sunday, parliament approveda bill which will leave 15,000 civilservants out of work by the end ofnext year. In Moscow, the Russiancapital, authorities sanctioned 16separate rallies, including one led byVladimir Putin's ruling United Rus-sia party.
Other groups, including theCommunist Party, are holding gath-erings of their own. Up to 90,000people are expected.
May day marked by global workers' protests
DHAKA
AGENCIES
May Day rallies in Bangladesh havetaken on an added significance as work-ers marched through the streets to de-mand improved safety standards after thedeaths of more than 400 people after abuilding collapsed near Dhaka.
Almost 150 people are still missingfollow the collapse of the structure lastweek which housed clothing factoriesand other businesses.
Some protesters on Wednesdaycalled for the death penalty for the ownerof the factory, who remains under arrestin the capital. The EU said on Tuesdaythat it was concerned about labour con-ditions and is considering action to en-courage improvements in the country.
In a statement issued by CatherineAshton, the EU foreign affairs chief, andKarel de Gucht, the trade commissioner,
the bloc said measures could includeusing its trade preference system whichgives Bangladesh duty- and quota-freeaccess to EU markets.
The EU is Bangladesh's largest tradepartner and clothes made inside thebuilding - an illegally built structure thattoppled last week - were produced forEuropean and Canadian retailers.
"The EU is presently considering ap-propriate action, including through theGeneralised System of Preferences(GSP) - through which Bangladesh cur-rently receives duty-free and quota-freeaccess to the EU market under the'Everything But
Arms' scheme - in order to incen-tivise responsible management of supplychains involving developing countries,"said the the statement,
Britain's Primark and Canada'sLoblaw, two Western retailers that hadfactories in the building, have pledged to
compensate families of the victims.
ASSET FREEzE
The building's collapse has sparked vio-lent protests and a top Bangladeshi courton Tuesday ordered the government to"immediately" confiscate the property ofMohammed Sohel Rana, the owner ofthe collapsed building.
A two-judge panel of the High Courtalso asked the central bank to freeze theassets of the owners of the five garmentfactories in the building, and use themoney to pay the salaries and other ben-efits of their workers.
The order came after police producedRana and the factory owners in court.The order did not elaborate but it was im-plied that the salaries of the dead victimswould be paid to their relatives. The courthas given the police 15 days to interro-gate Rana.
deadly bombingsrock iraqi cities
BAGHDAD
AGENCIES
At least 15 people have been killed in aseries of bomb blasts across Iraq, policeand medics say. Wednesday's attacksfollow a sharp increase in violence thathas prompted warnings of a full-blownsectarian conflict between Sunnis andShia. A suicide bomber wearing anexplosives vest detonated himself in themidst of a group of government-backedSunni fighters who were collecting theirsalaries east of the city of Fallujah,killing six, police sources said. In Baiji,180km north of the capital Baghdad,police said a roadside bomb killed fourpolicemen. A car bomb in a Shia districtin northeastern Baghdad killed at leastthree people and wounded 14, police andhospital sources said. Another car bombnorth of the city of Ramadi killed twopolicemen and wounded another 10. Iraqis home to a number of Sunni groupsincluding a local al-Qaeda affiliate thathas launched frequent attacks toundermine the government and provokewider confrontation.
Bangladesh factory-collapsetoll passes 400
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:37 AM Page 7
NewsNThursday 2 May, 2013
08
WASHINGTON
INP
ExPRESSING con-cern over the con-tinuing buildup ofnuclear weapons in
South Asia, the US has askedIndia and Pakistan to restraintheir atomic and missile pro-grammes and play a positiverole in the global non-prolifer-ation community.
"The United States remainsdeeply concerned by the dangersposed by the continuing buildupof nuclear weapons and their de-livery systems in South Asia,"Assistant Secretary of State forInternational Security and Non-proliferation Thomas Country-man said in his address to the2015 Review Conference of theStates Parties to the Treaty onthe Nonproliferation of NuclearWeapons in Geneva.
"Consistent with our sharedvision of a world without nu-clear weapons, the United Stateshas repeatedly called on Indiaand Pakistan to restrain their nu-clear and missile programmes;end the production of fissile ma-terial for use in nuclearweapons; and support the com-mencement of negotiations in
the Conference on Disarmamentof a Fissile Material CutoffTreaty," he said. "In that regard,it is with concern and deep dis-appointment that we note Pak-istan's reluctance to support thestart of such negotiations," theUS official said.
"We would welcome mean-ingful trust and confidence-building between thesenuclear-armed states; we mustfind ways to reduce regional ten-sions and diminish the risk thatnuclear weapons could be used,either intentionally or acciden-tally, in a crisis," he said. TheUnited States, he said continuedto encourage both India and Pak-istan to play a positive role inthe global non-proliferationcommunity and take steps toprevent proliferation, includingbringing their strategic tradecontrols in line with the guide-lines of the multilateral supplierregimes. "We support, in aphased manner, India's goal ofjoining the four multilateral ex-port control regimes," he said,adding that the US remains cog-nizant of its non-proliferationcommitments and objectiveswhen considering how to con-duct its bilateral relations withany country.
Us asks india, pakistan to restraintheir nuclear, missile programmes
US EXPERT FAVORS CIVILIANNUCLEAR DEAL FOR PAKISTAN WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: An American analyst on
South Asia has said that the United States should offer
Pakistan a conditions-based civilian nuclear deal as a
way to save the relationship, which severely tested
during the last decade, as well as secure long-term
interests with regard to containing militancy and
atomic safety. Christine Fair, an assistant
professor in the Center for Peace and Security
Studies, said Washington should adopt a new
approach towards Pakistan, since the previous US
policies toward the South Asian country had failed.
She favoured a civilian nuclear deal as a way to
make the relationship productive. The US traditional
approach of “muddling through” its management of
Pakistan would not yield positive dividends forever, she said.
‘TIME FOR A BIG IDEA FOR PAKISTAN’: “If the United States wants one last chance of
salvaging a relationship with Pakistan, it should put on the table a conditions-based, civilian-
nuclear deal,” she proposed in an opinion piece appearing in Time magazine. Such an
“enormous” deal and “political inducement”, the expert said, should help Islamabad curb the
alleged support for militancy and help Washington achieve its goal of ensuring security of
Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. Putting the nuclear deal on the negotiating table with Pakistan
should have a clarifying effect, Fair said. As 2014 looms, the United States should recognise
that some meager prospects for a peaceful Pakistan may be the prize rather than a functional
Afghanistan, Fair added. Unfortunately, during the last 11 years, Washington and its allies
have persistently pursued a policy—howsoever inept and ill-conceived—that prioritized
Afghanistan. Unable to forge a tandem policy to manage the twinned threats inhering in and
from Afghanistan and Pakistan, the international community had a semblance of an
Afghanistan strategy while never formulating a Pakistan strategy at all, Fair maintained. APP
ISLAMABAD
STAFF REPORT
A United States (US) Congres-sional delegation led by SenatorJoe Donnelly held a meetingwith Foreign Secretary JalilAbbas Jilani on Wednesday inIslamabad to discuss matters ofmutual interest.
The US delegation also in-cluded Senator HeidiHeitkamp, Senator TammyBaldwin, Senator Chris Mur-phy, Congressman Peter Welch,and US Ambassador to Pak-istan Richard Olson.
“The two sides exchangedviews on the current status ofbilateral relations, upcomingelections in Pakistan, and re-gional issues including the sit-uation in Afghanistan,” said aForeign Office statement.
The foreign secretary un-
derscored the traditional impor-tance of Pakistan’s relationshipwith the US and apprised theAmerican legislators about var-ious facets of the relationshipfocusing on people-to-peoplecontacts and its benefit.
He appreciated the USCongressional support forgrowth of democracy in Pak-istan. The foreign secretary alsobriefed the US delegation on re-cent developments with regardsto peace and stability inAfghanistan.
The US delegation ac-knowledged the importance ofPakistan-US relationship in thecurrent international environ-ment and reiterated support tothe development of democracyand democratic institutions inPakistan. The US side also tooknote of Pakistan’s efforts for re-gional peace and prosperity.
US legislators discuss elections with foreign secretary
ISLAMABAD: Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas
Jilani meets a US Congressional delegation led
by Senator Joe Donnelly at Foreign Office. INP
WASHINGTON
INP
The United States has expressed con-cern over violence and condemnedterrorists for targeting politicians andtheir supporters during election cam-paign in Pakistan.
The US also condemned the re-cent statements by terrorist groupsindicating their intent to disrupt Pak-istan’s democratic process.
Replying to questions duringbriefing on Tuesday, Acting StateDepartment spokesman Patrick Ven-trell said the US supported the rightof the Pakistanis to participate in thepolls to fulfill their aspirations for apeaceful, prosperous, and democraticnation.
He said the US looks forward towitnessing timely, transparent, free,and fair elections on May 11. Theseelections will mark an importantdemocratic transition, a historic de-velopment of which the people ofPakistan can be very proud. He madeit clear that they do not support anyparticular party or any individualcandidate, and look forward to en-gaging the next democratically
elected government.Asked about the spike in the vio-
lence in the last few weeks, andwhether people can go out withoutany fear and vote, Ventrell said theUS in addition to condemning the vi-olence surrounding the elections alsourged the Pakistanis to go out andvote and express their free will sothat democracy can prevail and thepeople’s voice can be heard.
“We’re concerned about the vio-lence but we urge the electoralprocess to continue” he remarked.
About return of former presidentPervez Musharraf and cases againsthim, he said, “We haven’t taken a po-sition on Musharraf’s return to Pak-istan.”
Us condemnsattacks on politicians
oBaMa pledGesto reneW GitMoprison closUre Bid
WASHINGTON: Amid a hunger strike by
Guantanamo Bay inmates, US President
Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged to re-in-
vigorate his administration’s bid to close down
the infamous prison, housing several terrorism
suspects without charges. “It is not a surprise
to me that we've got problems in Guan-
tanamo, which is why, when I was campaign-
ing in 2007 and 2008 --- I said we need to
close Guantanamo. I continue to believe that
we've got to close Guantanamo,” Obama told
reporters at the White House. The US presi-
dent was responding to a question following
reports that around 100 of 160 prisoners are
on a hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Obama said he has asked his team to “review
everything that's currently being done in
Guantanamo, everything that we can do ad-
ministratively, and I'm going to re-engage
with Congress to try to make the case that
this is not something that's in the best inter-
ests of the American people”. He said the
prison – which is outside the pales of tradi-
tional mainstream American system - is not
necessary to keep the country safe. “It is ex-
pensive. It is inefficient. It hurts us in terms of
our international standing. It lessens coopera-
tion with our allies on counterterrorism ef-
forts. It is a recruitment tool for extremists. It
needs to be closed.” Taking a swipe at the US
Congress for blocking his plan to shut down
the prison, Obama said, “Now Congress deter-
mined that they would not let us close it and
despite the fact that there are a number of
the folks who are currently in Guantanamo
who the courts have said could be returned
to their country of origin or potentially a
third country.” Expanding on the issue over
Guantanamo prison, where hundreds of ter-
rorism suspects were detained after the 9/11
terrorist attacks, Obama noted that it is not
sustainable. “I mean, the notion that we're
going to continue to keep over a hundred in-
dividuals in a no man's land in perpetuity,
even at a time when we've wound down the
war in Iraq, we're winding down the war in
Afghanistan, we're having success defeating
al Qaeda core, we've kept the pressure up
on all these transnational terrorist networks,
when we've transferred detention authority
in Afghanistan – the idea that we would still
maintain forever a group of individuals who
have not been tried – that is contrary to who
we are, it is contrary to our interests, and it
needs to stop.” SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
state Dept spokesmansays tHey Haven’ttaken position onmusHarraf’s return
two pakistanidiplomats injured incessna plane crash VIRGINIA: Two Pakistani diplomats were
injured when their Cessna plane crashed in
West Virginia. The injured diplomats were
identified as Shujaat Rathore and Habib
Paracha. US media reported that three
residents from McLean and Great Falls
were hospitalised after their small plane
crashed at a Tucker County airstrip in West
Virginia.
The crash happened on Friday in Canaan
Valley near Davis at the Windwood Fly-In
Resort, which has a 3,000-foot runway.
The cause of the crash remains unknown.
Police said witnesses reported the single-
engine Cessna touched down but ran out
of room. The pilot tried to pull back up, but
the plane clipped the tops of trees.
Police identified the pilot as Waseem
Haider, 46, of Great Falls. The passengers
were Shujjat Rathore, and Muhammad
Paracha. INP
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:37 AM Page 8
News N
09
Thursday 2 May, 2013
ISLAMABAD
TAyyAb HuSSAIN
FORMER Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) leaderand current president of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI),
Makhdoom Javed Hashmi, on Wednesdaylashed out at PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif forkeeping party workers in the dark about hissecret exile deal with military dictator Gen-eral (r) Pervez Musharraf
In an exclusive interview with PakistanToday, he said the PML-N workers and hehimself only came to know about the dealwhen Sharif accepted at London airport thata deal had been inked for seven years.
Hashmi began his election campaign forNA-48 with a rare salvo against Nawaz. Thepresence of Nawaz in the federal capital onWednesday had already heated the politicalenvironment. Since both senior politicianswere campaigning in opposite camps in thefederal capital, the passion and fervour of theworkers was at a new high.
Asked why he had decided to terminatehis decades-long association with the PML-N, Hashmi said it was an easy decision forhim, as he decided to start a new struggle forthe people of Pakistan after suffering astroke. He said Nawaz had never liked himdue to his blatant expression of views duringparty meetings. Hashmi said the tipping pointarrived when he made a public demand to thepolitical elites of the country to bring back tothe country their wealth abroad that had beenstashed away in foreign bank accounts.
He said such a situation compelled him tojoin the PTI which he found the best platformwhere he could deliver for the country's devel-opment and prosperity by serving the poor.Describing his decision of parting ways withNawaz historic, Hashmi said Nawaz had
handed over the party affairs to him when hewas under detention during Musharraf's mar-tial law. "Nawaz never awarded party ticket tome with an open heart during my 24-year-longassociation with the PML-N. Every time I hadto fight for the ticket. In year 1988, NawazSharif refused me a ticket and said the tickethad already been decided for the son of thethen governor Punjab (Makhdoom SajjadQureshi)," he asserted, referring to Shah Mah-mood Qureshi, adding that he had to fight forthe ticket and eventually won it. He added that
his contributions for the party were never dulyrecognised by Sharifs. He lamented that whilehe and other party workers were fightingagainst the tyrant regime in jails, the Sharifswere enjoying luxuries in Saudi Arabia bykeeping them in dark about the deal. "Thepeople close to Nawaz today, including NisarAli Khan, Ishaq Dar and others, were also en-joying their normal lives in Pakistan seekingrelaxation from Musharraf under a deal whileI along with other party workers were jailed,"said the veteran politician, who is contesting
elections on PTI tickets from NA 48 Islam-abad and NA-149 Multan simultaneously.
Hashmi made it clear that he had no lustfor power and he would never accept the cov-eted posts of prime minister or federal minis-ter, rather he would prefer to work for deliveryof rights of the poor masses while serving asan MNA. The PTI heavyweight further al-leged that PPP chief Asif Ali Zardari waselected as a president under a deal between thePPP and PML-N. "PML-Q's Chaudhry Shu-jaat, JI's Qazi Hussain Ahmed, JUI-F chief
Maulana Fazlur Rehman and all other partieshad assured full support to the PML-N ifNawaz Sharif proposed me for presidency.However, since a deal was already struck,Nawaz did not propose my name and ratherpicked a weak candidate, making it a three-way fight. This helped Asif Zardari clinch theslot for the president," he asserted.
Coming down hard on Nawaz, Hashmisaid when the Musharraf toppled his (Nawaz)government and forced him to leave the coun-try, he took up the gauntlet to fight the war ofparty’s survival due to which he had to go be-hind bars. The PTI leader said PML-N leadershad turned their cannons towards ImranKhan, as they had miserably failed to deliverwhen they were enjoying power. He said thePML-N leadership had no pro-masses agendadue to which, in utter desperation, they hadresorted to criticising PTI chairman ImranKhan. To a question, he said since the PML-N had miserably failed to deliver and muster-ing the masses' support in their favour for thegeneral elections, therefore, it wasted time inalluding to Imran Khan's speeches, whichnever revealed foul language.
in rare critique, hashmi firesa salvo at former party chief
Nawaz never liked medue to my blatant
expression of viewsduring party meetings.
The tipping pointarrived when I made apublic demand to thepolitical elites of the
country to bring backthe wealth they had
stashed away inforeign bank accounts
ISLAMABAD
ONLINE
Nawaz Sharif, president of his own factionof the Pakistan Muslim League (PML-Nawaz), on Wednesday said premiershipwas not his destination as he wanted tobring the country out of crises.
Addressing the business community ofthe twin cities, Nawaz said that traders, in-dustrialists and businessmen were thebackbone of the country. He said aftercoming into power all financial policieswould be planned in consultation with the
business community. He said Pakistanneeded experienced leadership to bring thecountry out of problems, adding that hisparty would be victorious on May 11.
He said that former president PervezMusharraf was responsible for electricitycrisis, but President Asif Zardari also didnothing to resolve the problem. He said thepriorities of the PPP government were notprogress of the country rather corruption.
Nawaz said electricity was not avail-able for 20 hours in the area, adding thatthe industry has been closed and childrenwere unable to study. He said that the
rulers had filled their pockets through cor-ruption, adding that the ministers were alsoinvolved in this matter. He said that therewas no load shedding, unemployment, un-rest in Karachi and Balochistan and therewere no terrorism during his rule. He saidgas and electricity were available to thepeople and the country was progressing.
He said the condition of country hasbeen changed, adding that the PML-Nwould take the country again on the posi-tion where it had left in 1999. He said thepeople should consider who has servedthem and established dams and motorways.
Country comes first, notpremiership: Nawaz
Zardari madecountry beg forforeign aid: Shahbaz
Pakistan needsan experienced
leadershipto bring thecountry outof problems
LAHORE
ONLINE
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)leader Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday al-leged that President Asif Ali Zardari hadforced the country to begging and depend-ing on foreign aid.
Addressing a public meeting in JaloMorr area of Lahore‚ he said the PML-Nhad carried out development projects in-cluding the metro bus project‚ Daanishschools‚ and the Education EndowmentFund at the national level in Punjab in thelast five years.
He alleged that PTI Chairman Imran
Khan was campaigning for the PPP in Pun-jab.
The PML-N leader said the previousgovernment of the PPP had destroyed allpublic institutions and looted the publicwealth.
He said the agriculture sector had beenadversely affected due to the shortage ofelectricity and industries were also beingclosed down.
Shahbaz said if returned to power‚ thePML-N will provide jobs to the unem-ployed and relief to the farmers per theparty’s manifesto.
He asked the masses to vote for thePML-N to bring real change in the country.
LAHORE: Shahbaz
Sharif addresses
an election rally at
NA-130 constituency
on Wednesday. NNI
ISLAMABAD: Nawaz Sharif addresses businessmen
from Islamabad and Rawalpindi on Wednesday. INP
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
President Javed Hashmi addresses supporters
during an election rally on Wednesday. ONLINE
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:37 AM Page 9
CoMMeNT
Aziz-ud-Din AhmadEditor
Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208
Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273 Fax: 051-2850505Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk
Email: [email protected]
Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami
C
a piece of advice on democracy and terrorism for politiciansKayani’s address
holding Balochistan hostage
labour day
SO that one day, the May Day, to honour those who make lives easier for the rest ofhumanity has gone by, and without much fanfare. It is a day to look around andappreciate the effort and work they put in to make life worthwhile for others while
going through what most others won’t like to. No doubt one needs more than just a dayif one wanted to look into under what conditions the labourers work and survive. Andthis is one perspective that relate pretty much to the situation in Pakistan where going hasbeen getting tough over the past few years.
Power crisis, increasing load shedding, gas shortage, price hikes, and an endemiclack of security are but a few problems that the whole country is facing right now butthese problems take a whole new form for the poor labourers, fort they don’t have meansto find alternatives. As a result, they fall down into a vicious circle of poverty fromwhere escape for them is nigh impossible. Much of Pakistan’s labour class is unaware oftheir rights. In rural areas of Punjab and Sindh, many of them are still found working asbonded labour, or working on some feudal lord’s lands, trying to pay off debt that theirforefathers took and whose interest has grown more than the principal amount, childrenas young as five years old are working in workshops, industrial labour has no optionother than to work without proper safety equipment, no health insurance or other benefitsare offered and on job training is virtually unheard of. What this translates into is thateven though we have a huge labour force, an asset for the country otherwise, which istreated in not so humanely fashion and their contributions to the society often ignored.
Improving their condition is not that difficult, in fact, if the government, and we asindividuals, put our backs into it. The very first thing that should be done is to ensure thattheir rights are not only protected but also afforded to them. Minimum wages must be setand changed according to the inflation in the market. Job creation for this class wouldonly be possible when there is electricity and investment, both local and international,and when there is an improvement in the security situation. Instead of dealing the labourclasses as a burden and looking down upon them, they should be offered the same levelof respect and honour, if not more. Only by doing so would we be able to alienate theirfears and sense of being downtrodden, while bringing them to a level where they aregiven the respect that is due them.
MANY would welcome the categorical assurance by the COAS that theelections would be held on May 11 as scheduled. That the CJ too has issueda similar statement indicates an awareness on their part of the lingering
scepticism among the public at large. This being the first time that power is going tobe transferred from an elected civilian government, which has completed its fulltenure, to a newly elected administration, people watch the rare event with direpremonitions based on real experience. The remarks by the general, therefore, are allthe more reassuring. Thanks the shoddy performance on the part of the politicalparties whenever they come to power, the country has to hear a lecture from the armychief on democratic values and good governance. This time neither the PPP and itserstwhile allies nor the PML-N administration can claim that they would have donewonders if their tenure had not been cut short. Gen Kayani is spot on when he saysthat the success of democracy is intimately linked with the wellbeing and prosperityof the nation. He is also right that the forthcoming elections provide a goldenopportunity to usher in an era of true democratic values in the country. With freshassurances from the army that it values and wholeheartedly supports democracy,which some will take with a pinch of salt because of their past experiences, the nextgovernment would hopefully work hard to consolidate the system. It has to continuethe recently established tradition of tolerance of the opposition and media criticism. Ithas however to focus on governance, be responsive to the common man’s problemsand take a clear cut stand vis a vis the terrorists.
Ironically, here too the political parties need to pay heed to what Gen Kayani hassaid. To start with the general has owned the war against terrorism. He has designatedthose ordering terrorist attacks from their remote strongholds as a small faction whichwants to foist its misconceived notions of Islam on the entire nation. As he put it, theterrorist ideology defies the constitution and the democratic process and considers allforms of bloodshed justified. As the formulation does not come from the Army GreenBook, which, we have been told, may not always reflect the thinking of the army highcommand, but which the COAS himself said carries the stamp of institutionalauthority. There is need on the part of all political parties, many of whom have beenreluctant so far to do so, to take a clear cut stand against the terrorists. In theirelection manifestoes too they have preferred to tiptoe around the issue of terrorism.The political parties must provide support to army action against those who conductattacks in Pakistan.
It is interesting that while the PPP, ANP and MQM have opposed militarydeployment in Karachi, the Sindh government, set up with the consensus of the threeparties, has called out the army to help it hold peaceful elections. The army’spresence would discourage the terrorists and increase the voter turnout.
ensuring that their rights are protected is due us
Thursday, 2 May, 2013
10
through the election bullet
The truth is incontrovertible, malice may
attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in
the end; there it is. –Winston Churchill
ON May 1, 2013, 22,000troops and 50,000 ‘lawenforcers’ entered 12 dis-tricts of Balochistan to“conduct a free-and-fair
election”. The existing number oftroops in the areas shall not be revealedto us, nor the fact that de facto theseareas had been no-go areas for the mil-itary since the current Baloch insur-gency started in 2005. With the entryof troops, the possibility of free-and-fair elections in the province hasended. Rather the Baloch people shallhave elections shoved down theirthroats with a gun to their head.
It does not matter if the Balochpeople want to give their stamp of ap-proval to the selection processes of thePakistani state. Rather, the pretense, orthe formality, that ‘the Baloch people’confirm their stamp of faith in theState, shall be obtained, under thesound of the boots of the fine men inkhaki. If it wasn’t quite obvious whenthe operation was announced, theBalochistan home secretary made itclear the day before the operation: theBalochistan Liberation Army (BLA),the Balochistan Republican Army(BRA), the Balochistan LiberationFront (BLA), the United Baloch Army(UBA) and the Lashkar-e-Balochistan(LB) would be targeted.
No one seems to recall that the out-rage over the kill-and-dump of missingpersons – or “kidnapped Baloch” asMuhammad Hanif chose to clarify – bystate agencies was about individualsfrom the same groups. Over 300 bodiesof these missing persons had been re-covered since 2011 – all the killingsblamed on the Pakistani state. The callsfor the past three years, since the an-nouncement of the token Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package in2009, had been for the withdrawal ofarmy troops from Balochistan and ac-countability of the agencies, neither ofwhich could be delivered during the
PPP-era.Back in 2008, President Zardari
also issued a token apology to theBaloch people. But with nothingchanging on the ground, with one afterthe other Baloch nationalist beingkilled-and-dumped, the resentmentamongst the Baloch people has growndeeper. Bodies have been returned toeach district.
Nothing has also changed about theconception of development being ap-plied to the province. The great hall-mark that the 18th amendment wassupposed to be was circumvented withimprudence. The control of the GwadarPort was handed over to China and theIran-Pakistan gas pipeline started inthe two month period the Balochistangovernment had been dissolved earlierthis year. The so-called failure of thenever existent Balochistan governmentwas in fact that failure (or complicity)of the state apparatus in the spate ofHazara killings – duly stopped theminute the establishment’s aims in theprovince were achieved.
But the joke about the current mil-itary operation in Balochistan runsmuch deeper. It comes on the back offive years of the PPP-led coalition gov-ernments at both the province and cen-tre denying accusations that a militaryoperation was underway in Balochis-tan. It is a bit strange that the caretakergovernment has taken it upon itself totake on the mandate of announcing afull-blown military operation inBalochistan.
This is not to say that the fears ex-pressed by government schools teach-ers are not well-founded. Thediscontent with the Pakistani state issuch that government schools in anumber of districts in Balochistan havenot been able to display the Pakistaniflag for a number of years.
The Balochistan caretaker setuphas pointed to security threats to can-didates and election officials inBalochistan as reason for announcingthe current military operation. But thequestion is how important are the po-litical parties contesting polls inBalochistan to the Baloch people? Letus name them: the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz, the Pakistan PeoplesParty, the Jamaat-i-Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, the National Party and theBalochistan National Party-Mengal(BNP-M). Only two of these partieshave any credentials so to speak of inBalochistan. Of these, the NationalParty leadership, including Dr Malikand Hasil Bizenjo, spend the bulk oftheir time in Islamabad, while theBNP-M chief Akhtar Mengal was inself-exile from the country until the in-terim setup took over. However, thebulk of the nationalist movement has
chosen to keep itself outside the trap-ping of the upcoming polls.
Apart from the dismissed NAPgovernment of the Bhutto era,Balochistan cannot be said to haveever had any semblance of ‘represen-tative government’. Nor does there ap-pear to be any serious resolve on partof the Pakistan establishment to giveBalochistan representative govern-ment. Sources from within the state saythat, as a lesson from the separation ofEast Pakistan, they now fear any na-tionalists coming into power throughthe ballot and presenting somethingakin to Sheikh Mujib’s Six Points.
This is why there are army men innine districts, including Dera Bugti,Kohlu, Awaran, Washuk, Khuzdar,Kalat, Mastung, Kharan and Gwadardistricts. The question is what will thecleanup operation mean on theground? “Not a single militant will bespared by May 11” is what the care-taker provincial home minister said.Bullets and arrests have been prom-ised. It is another way of saying: ex-pect more kills-and-dumps, unreportedraids on villages and more anger fromthe Baloch.
When national newspapers con-tinue to express worries that “there isno election excitement in Balochistan”,it appears they are delusional. Elec-tions are a celebration of a belief thatparticipating in the processes of thestate can offer deliverance. Barely any-one in Balochistan believes such. If theBaloch people, as a whole, feel disen-franchised from the processes of thestate, then why bake up this cosmeticdrama of an election in the province?
Let us learn to call a spade a spade:these are not measures to secure theelections, this is a full-blown operationagainst Baloch nationalists.
For Baloch nationalists, theprovince was made to join Pakistan atgunpoint. Now, it appears, after a sixthdecade long insurgency, it will bemade to enter elections at gunpoint.The consequences, it must be said withregret, are fated.
With the military presence inBalochistan, there cannot be a ‘free-and-fair’ election. Let us not subscribeto any such mistaken notions. Anotherfarce is about to be created inBalochistan in the name of representa-tive government. All the efforts at rec-onciliation of Baloch nationalistsshould be considered abandoned.Balochistan is being held hostage inthe name of the elections. The conse-quences will not be pretty.
The writer is the general secretary(Lahore) of the Awami Workers Party.He is a journalist and a researcher.Contact: [email protected]
a cost effective approach A successful livestock operation accounts for expenses
occurring at the farm. The entire profit potential of any suc-cessful operation revolves around the foundation of soundand economical calf rearing programme. Rearing youngcalves is a labour intensive and costly segment. From birthto weaning, milk shares highest cost of feeding along withthe health issues associated with hygiene and sanitation ofmilk feeding utensils. These items, if done improperly, canlead to severe consequences; like higher cost of milk feed-ing, increased incidence of scours and drenching resultingin both time and economic loss.
Pakistan is blessed with a huge population of cattleand buffalo (36.9 and 32.7 million heads, respectively).However, majority of livestock farmers are currentlyusing conventional practices which are inefficient,higher in cost, and result in higher mortality rates. Con-ventionally, buffalo calves are kept with dam, fed onseasonal forages, and weaned around one year of age.Inadequate milk feeding and poor husbandry practicesresult in high mortality rate (85.2 percent), and lowerbody weight (60 to 80 kg). Further, conventional rearingof buffalo calves is higher than cattle whereas, marketprice of a weaned buffalo calf is lesser than the cost of
milk feeding. Therefore, farmers have developed awrong concept that rearing of young calves is not prof-itable enterprise and prefer to sell milk instead of feed-ing to calves. With increasing meat prices, livestockfarmers are adopting new strategies to improve calf per-formance at a lesser cost of production.
To reduce the cost of feeding, early weaning from milkis practised. Recently, we weaned buffalo calves from milkat 12, 10 and eight weeks of age. We reported that earlyweaned (eight weeks) calves grew at the same rate, con-sumed less milk and reduced the cost of feeding by 22 per-cent to those weaned later. Results might help to mitigateissues like poor growth and low returns associated with tra-ditional calf rearing practices. We concluded that buffalocalves can be successfully weaned off milk as early as eightweeks of age without negatively affecting growth perform-ance and significantly reducing the feeding cost. Resultssuggest that adopting early weaning strategies might be use-ful to reduce the age of puberty in buffalo heifers, which atthe moment is around 3-3.5 years. Further, better growthrates of male calves can improve the supply of quality bulls.The investigation will help us to mitigate gaps between con-ventional rearing systems and modern feeding strategies.
MUHAMMAD AFZAL RASHID,PROF DR TALAT NASEER PASHA
UVAS, Lahore
Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-32535230 E-mail: [email protected] Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusivelyEditor’s mail
Comradely speakingHASHIM bIN RASHID
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:37 AM Page 10
IT is surprising how US in-telligence agencies’ inabil-ity to differentiate betweenTaliban and al Qaeda – de-
spite 12 long years of war inAfghanistan – is confounding theroad to disengagement in late2014. It has also complicatedshutting down Guantanamo Bay,something President BarackObama promised on his firstcampaign trail. And much worse,it has led to near-complete break-down in communication with themost important partner in the war– Pakistan. Hence the recentscramble towards a workable solution in Brussels.
Yet Brussels was predictably, perhaps deliberately, vague. Kerrythought, after “extensive talks”, that “results are what will tell thestory, not statements and press conferences”. And Karzai’s “let’s hopeforward for the best” was pretty much the same as our foreign secretaryJilani’s “We are looking forward to a very productive and forward-looking session”. If the past provides any insight into the present,Karzai and Pakistan’s foreign office exchanged accusations, Kerry satwide-eyed, and Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani chain-smoked. The result?More power to the Taliban.
After ISAF lost steam on the field some years ago – British forces inHelmand even bribed local Taliban to the tune of some millions to pointtheir guns the other way – the new approach has been reconciliation withcertain pockets of Taliban. But which former Taliban chieftains to take onboard and what to offer them, has only increased differences within thecoalition. First the Americans and Afghans pressured Pakistan into releas-ing high profile detainees, then the Americans flew a few to Qatar, and thenKarzai got upset over being kept in the dark about the Doha initiative, andthen the process unraveled. All the while, Washington refused to entertainKabul’s requests regarding Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo, evenafter the CIA cleared them of serious charges.
The lumping together of Taliban and al Qaeda is a throwback to thedays when George Tenet headed the CIA, from a little before till a littleafter 9/11. And while the Americans could be forgiven for confusing thetwo groups back then, adhering to the same thesis shows they expect theon ground narrative to fit their understanding of things, instead of the otherway around. This inflexibility has also led to sharp differences with Pak-istan, and harmed Islamabad’s counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy, whichhas focused on pitting militant groups against each other.
The Afghan Taliban, though subscribers to the same Wahabi extremismas al Qaeda, do not share the latter’s expansionism. Their “war with theWest” is limited to Afghanistan, and will last only so long as foreigners oc-cupy their country. The Americans still do not understand their wideningcleavage with al Qaeda, especially since the ‘foreigners’ expanded the the-atre of war into Pakistan and bankrolled the TTP. Mulla Omar forbade theTaliban from engaging with the Pakistani military. And the TTP, despitepublic allegiance to him, favour al Qaeda’s tactics.
The Pakistani intelligence realises that a post US withdrawal clash be-tween the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda is imminent, which is why it hasexploited differences in the two groups, and their proxies, to contain alQaeda advances in the tribal area. And the Americans, showing little appetiteto such developments, have targeted both camps with drone strikes. Someof their initiatives, like focusing exclusively on ‘good Taliban’ pockets bol-stered by Pakistan, indicate the CIA might even be deliberately sabotagingthe ISI efforts of five or more years. The only outcome can be stoking theinsurgency on the Pakistani side till at least the American drawdown.
More recently, the NYT’s report, and Karzai’s admission, of the CIAbringing “millions of dollars”, sometimes in plastic bags, to the Afghanpresidential palace, only confirms doubts that the Americans have beenwithout a workable strategy ever since they realised the limits of the mili-tary offensive. And since much of the money has gone to tribal chiefs aswell as Taliban commanders – as per Kabul’s own admission – the discon-nect between Washington’s stated goals and the ground reality has becomemore apparent.
This failure to really understand the war-on-terror enemy also led theAmericans into far worse adventures in the Middle East as it tried to takecontrol of the so called Arab Spring. Libya descended into Salafist chaosas soon as NATO strikes dislodged Gaddaffi, and Washington’s Gulf dar-lings spared little time in funneling jihadi armies into Syria as world focusshifted to Damascus. Again sticking to the old paradigm – that the old anti-Israel Iran-Syria axis is the biggest enemy – led the Americans to ignorethe jihadi threat, and it turned a blind eye to Saudi/Qatari initiative of usingreligious extremists to unseat the Alawite Baathist regime and weaken theirShi’a nemesis Iran.
The GCC and US/Israeli interests may have been aligned initially, butif the al Qaeda aligned al Nusra front is able to dislodge the Assad regime,Israel and America will have the most to lose, placing them in the samecamp as Iran. In one of modern geo-politics’ greatest ironies, the Israelisand their American friends will realise, as soon as petrodollar funded Salafirockets start landing in Tel Aviv and Tehran, that they have more in com-mon with the biggest regional enemy since the fall of the Shah’s peacockthrone than oil monarchies they have held so dear all these years.
In all the wars and ‘interventions’ since 9/11, the Americans and theirallies have left every country they have targeted worse off than before, beit Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. And little will change if they decide to indulgemilitarily in Syria. And in all these adventures, they have failed to realisethat the biggest threat has come from al Qaeda fanatics, and those fanaticshave had their bread and butter, and their arms, come from the Saudi es-tablishment and its friends. Yet Washington continues to cajole Riyadh andits allies. It seems America does not understand who its real enemies are.
The writer is Middle East Correspondent, Pakistan Today, and can bereached at [email protected]
every country where the us has intervened has been worse off because of it
SOMETIMES perception is almostmore important than the reality. Thisis exactly the case in Pakistan’s po-litical minefield. Righteousness is
tearing apart our country and it does not seemto matter what the facts are. Everyone is en-titled to his or her own opinion, but not facts.Perception is created and twisted so effec-tively that if the facts do not coincide withperception, conspiracy theories are producedto correspond to it.
It is the function of all-powerful media torenew or reverse our perception. The mediapundits shake up the familiar situation, and,as if by magic, we see a new meaning init.Once the perception is built, nothing canundo it. Take for example Fakhruddin GEbrahim, the man in charge of the transitionof power in Pakistan. He has stainlessdecades of service to the nation, shining withhonesty and integrity. That is the general per-ception but let us take account of what theElection Commission of Pakistan (ECP) hasactually achieved under his auspicious lead-ership.
According to news reports, ECP has sim-ply failed to prevent 55 candidates from Pun-jab, belonging to 10 different sectariangroups, from contesting the general electionsdespite the fact that intelligence agencies hadwarned the ECP. After a 14-day period duringwhich the eligibility of nearly 25,000 candi-dates were examined under the criteria laiddown in articles 62 and 63 of the constitution,no one has been disqualified for tax evasion,non-filing of tax returns, defaulting on pay-ment of bank loans or for false declaration ofassets and liabilities. At least 35 former mem-bers of national and provincial assemblieswho failed to get their degrees verified fromHigher Education Commission (HEC) arerunning for May 11 elections.
The TTP is targeting the liberal partieslike PPP, ANP and MQM in election cam-paign. On the other hand, there are no threatsto other parties including PTI and PML-N.How can Fakhrudin G Ebrahim term theseelections as free and fair, since level playingfield is being negated to the three importantpolitical players?The only response fromECP on this alarming situation is nothing butdeafening silence.
Recently, I had a chance to interact withand observe the operations of ECP officials.
I was utterly surprised to see that, FarkhruBhai, as he is called among his close circles,is treated as merely a symbol of integrity andhis subordinates don’t even trust him to talkto the media. “He sometimes doesn’t knowwhat he is saying. We don’t want him tomake any factual errors while talking to themedia,” said an ECP official while denyingus the interview Fakhru Bhai had earlier cor-dially committed to give. After that, he wasnot even allowed to speak to us. It left meconsternated if the octogenarian electioncommissioner was even allowed to take hisown decisions or he was being manipulatedand is too weary to stand up for himself. Ipersonally feel he just wants the elections tobe held on time, by any means, so that he cango home triumphant.
The perception about him, however, isthat of an upright man, struggling to fix allills for ‘free and fair’ elections.
Talking about perception, one cannot ig-nore the myth of Chief Justice of Pakistan,Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry’s incorrupt-ible omnipotence. An epitome of justice andintegrity, as goes the perception, but a quickglance at the facts without going into the de-tails of the decisions taken in our national in-terest, reveals uncomfortable truths.
Iftikhar Chaudhry is an institution in him-self, literally. There has been no dissent inany major constitutional case in the pastyears. During the days of Lawyers’ Move-ment, courts have somehow assumed them-selves to be the representative of the people.Judicial activism has gone to an extent ofpopulism. Judges, along with media, haveformed a parallel establishment, sendingelected prime minister home while orderingthe arrest of another, as was done in the pastby the military dictators. The double stan-dards, exhibited during the Memogate caseand the way Arasalan Iftikhar case was dealtwith, is no secret. At one point, it was evendifficult for the media to defend the courts.According to a report by the US State Dept,‘every three out four terrorists are acquittedby the courts’. Judges have issued contemptnotices to the politicians for not obeying theirorders while keeping hush when the agenciesdid the same in missing persons’ case.
As for the perception, he is the messiah,the righteous one, the saviour.
The real test case of this curse of percep-tion is President Asif Ali Zardari. Nothinghas benefited media more than his notoriousimage, which was sold to the nation round the
clock, for five years. The stamp of Mr 10 per-cent is still wet on him and obviously, ac-cording to some, he had Benazir Bhuttomurdered so that he could become the presi-dent of Pakistan.
Contrary to the perception, his achieve-ments are historic and unprecedented. Fromthe passing of 18th amendment bill and giv-ing away of his powers to the parliament tothe first ever completion of the democraticgovernment’s tenure, Zardari has made his-tory while others have merely made head-lines.
His smart handling of party and state af-fairs during the ongoing judicial activism,smear campaign by the media, pressure fromthe military and other political opponents,natural calamities and the pugnacious waveof terrorism in the country have visibly un-nerved and frustrated the harbingers of hisdoom.
There is a lot of hullabaloo about corrup-tion but even a journalist like Ansar Abbasior Kamran Khan cannot point out one corrup-tion scandal that involves presidency. Creditmust also be given to his nerves for listeningto such callous criticism against him and re-maining neutral and dignified.
Other than that, his sharp focus on for-eign policy has set Pakistan’s position righton the international front. Our relations withUK and US are excellent, so are our ties withChina. We have achieved much access intoEU and its markets. We are back in the Com-monwealth and playing a positive role. Wehave no disputes with the Muslim world.Gwadar port agreement and Pak-Iran gaspipeline projects will go down in the historyas a turning point for our economy and re-gional stability. Let us also not forget the im-mense pressure from the US government tohalt this deal. Zardari’s most laudableachievement is a gradual shift in the relation-ship between India and Pakistan and a policyshift in the strategic depth doctrine inAfghanistan.
Although, the above-mentioned and sev-eral other steps are not popular amongmasses and media, the fact remains thatZardari has proven himself to be a successfuland visionary statesman. But then again, asGustave Flaubert once said, “There’s no truthin the world. There is only perception”.
The author is a senior producer in a newschannel and can be reached on twitter@zeekhan
CoMMeNT CThursday, 2 May, 2013
11First and last, what is demanded
of genius is love of truth. –
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
the curse of perceptionHow perception trumps facts at any given time
america doesn’t knowits real enemies
ZEESHAN KHAN
SHAHAb JAFRy
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:37 AM Page 11
NEWS DESK
Tom Hanks was the big name on the nom-inations list Tuesday for this year's TonyAwards, but the musicals "Kinky Boots"and "Matilda" were vying for the heaviest
haul of gongs. Hanks, betterknown for his work in
Hollywood, shone in"Lucky Guy," a NoraEphron play about theups and downs of con-troversial New Yorkjournalist Mike
McAlary. Hanks is up forthe best per-
formance byan actor ina leadingrole in ap l a y ."LuckyG u y "is alsolistedf o r
best play and four other categories, whilethe revival of "Golden Boy" surpassed thatwith eight nominations.
But the main rivalry at this year'sTonys could be between "Kinky Boots,"with 13 nominations, including best musi-cal and best director, and "Matilda," theadaptation of the beloved children's bookby Roald Dahl, with 12 nominations.
"Kinky Boots," based on a Britishmovie, tells the story of the unlikely rein-carnation of a near bankrupt shoe factory.Pop star Cyndi Lauper -- famous for hersong "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" --wrote the music and lyrics.
"Matilda," which recounts a supernat-urally gifted girl's determination to makesomething of her life, has enjoyed rave re-views and is produced by the RoyalShakespeare Company.The nominationslist snubbed some major stars, includingScarlett Johansson in "Cat on a Hot TinRoof" and Al Pacino in the intense real es-tate salesmen drama "Glengarry GlenRoss." The awards will be presented inNew York on June 9.
dePP, HeARdKEPT RELATIONSECRET FORPARADISNEWS DESK: Actor Johnny Depp's
relationship with Amber Heard had
begun immediately after his breakup
with girlfriend Vanessa Paradis, but they
kept mum about it. Depp and Paradis
ended their 14-year-long relationship in
June last year. But Heard didn't want to
go public about her relationship with
Depp because she found it unethical,
reports radaronline.com. "Johnny and
Amber began dating pretty soon after
he split with Vanessa. At first, Amber
was a little apprehensive, because she
didn't want to be seen as the mistress.
But Johnny won her over with his
generosity and he was constantly giving
her gifts," a source said. Depp and Heard
recently parted ways, but they have now
reconciled their relationship.
NEWS DESK
H OW popular are MicheleObama’s impeccably tonedarms? So popular that theAmerican Society of Plastic
Surgeons reports that upper-arm-liftprocedures in the United States (US)have increased from a modest 338 in2000 to nearly 15,500 in 2012, and sug-gests that one reason for the 4,473%change may stem from the First Lady’sphysique. According to the Los Ange-les Times: “The ASPS said that doctorsdidn’t point to a single reason for theincrease, but took note of poll data in-dicating that women ‘are paying closerattention to the arms of female celebri-ties’ including Jennifer Aniston, DemiMoore and Kelly Ripa. The most-ad-mired arms of all? Those of First LadyMichelle Obama.
Take that, Jennifer Aniston’s arms,which did not even muscle their wayinto this year’s White House Corre-spondents’ Dinner, where the First
Lady’s arms presided from thepodium. In other plastic-surgery news, Americansspent $11 billion on cos-metic procedures last yearalone. The most popularsurgery remains breastaugmentation, with around286,000 procedures con-ducted in the US last year—unsurprisingly, concentratedmostly in the region of theUS containing the city ofLos Angeles. Meanwhile,the northeastern US (in-cluding New York City)edged out all other regionswhen it came to rhinoplastyand the aforementioned upper-arm lifts. Readers interested inexploring the latter proce-dure—which involves an in-cision from the armpit to theelbow, usually along theback of the arm, to removeexcess skin—must be
warned, though. Theupper-arm lift, offi-
cially titled “bra-c h i o p l a s t y , ”leaves an un-sightly scarthough, whichwill not lookso fierce in allsleeveless out-fits one plansto wear postsurgery.
ARTS
AThursday, 2 May, 2013
12The heart's memory eliminatesthe bad and magnifies the good.–Gabriel Garcia Marquez
KRISTEN STEWART CROWNEDWORLD’S BEST-DRESSED WOMAN
Michelle’s arms inspire4,000% rise in tricep-centric plastic surgery
10 besT-dRessedwoMeN of 2013:1. Kristen Stewart2. Emma Watson3. The Duchess ofCambridge4. Emma Stone5. Taylor Swift6. Victoria Beckham7. Cheryl Cole8. Blake Lively9. Katy Perry10. Beyonce
NEWS DESK: Kristen
Stewart beat competition
from Emma Watson, the
Duchess of Cambridge
and Victoria Beckham to
be named Glamour
Magazine's world's best-
dressed woman for the
second year running.
The 23-year-old actress
was praised for her
"personal rock-chick
style." The 'Twilight' star
also picked up the
honour of being named
in the best-dressed
couple list with boyfriend
Robert Pattinson who
was named best-dressed
man, the Mirror
reported. Watson kept
her second spot from
last year while Duchess
Kate was bumped up
one place on the list
from last year's fourth
place. The 31-year-old
royal was honoured for
"taking maternity chic in
her nude-pump-adorned
stride." The final two
places in the top five
were taken by Emma
Stone and Taylor Swift.
Victoria Beckham, Cheryl
Cole and Beyonce were
the other who made it to
the top 10.
Tom Hanks, ‘Kinky’musical up for Tonys
iron Man 3 Getsrecord openinGat internationalBox oFFice
NEWS DESK: The Rentrak institute
announced that the third installment of the
Iron Man franchise generated a whopping
$195.3million worldwide during its opening
weekend. While North American fans will
have to wait another week to see the film,
the debut of Iron Man 3 (outside North
America) ranks as theninth biggest of all
time, bumping down Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix ($193 million),
according to figures published on April 28.
And Tom Cruise has become Iron Man's
first victim. His film Oblivion takes the box
office's second spot with $30.24 million in
international revenues. Joseph Kosinski's
sci-fi adventure has now generated
$263.53M worldwide since its release.
srK heads tolondon in JUne ForeiGhth sUrGeryNEWS DESK: After much delay and pro-
longed pain, it has finally been decided that
Shah Rukh Khan will go under the knife for
his shoulder pain in London in June. The sur-
gery that had been postponed for the com-
pletion of his shoot for Chennai Express will
be his eighth, reported Bollywood Life,
adding that his IPL team Kolkata Knight Rid-
ers needed him as well which was another
reason for the delay.
Apparently, the ac-
cident-prone
Khan has also
suffered in-
juries like three
broken ribs, a
twisted ankle, a
broken right toe, an
injury to his left
shoulder, a neck in-
jury, a broken back
bone and an injured left
knee in the past.
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:38 AM Page 12
COuRTESy TOI
g ULZAR sahab's recent visit to Pak-istan turned into a national contro-versy even though, in reality, it was
a visit that was extremely personal andemotional. Born in Dina 78 years ago, hevisited his native place for the first time 70years later.
Being an Urdu poet himself, he hadkept in touch with many writers and poetsfrom Pakistan and would often meet themoutside India. Pakistani director and friendHasan Zia invited him for the ‘Aman KiAsha’ Literary Festival at Karachi and hewas only too happy to accept the invita-tion. Vishal Bhardwaj, who he also con-siders his son, went along as he wanted torecord a qawaali with Pakistani qawaalsfor his upcoming film. The artists were notbeing allowed to come to India, so Gulzarfelt that their work should be representedin our films. It was decided that theywould record the song in Lahore, then visitDina and finally go to Karachi for the lit-erary festival. There were many storiescirculated on him cutting short his visitand returning to India, but Gulzar sahabnever spoke. Hear is what he has to sayabout it now.Sir, could you share details of what ac-tually happened during your visit toPakistan in February this year?
I left Pakistan with my father at theage of eight. During these 70 years, I hadflown to Lahore only once, earlier in 2004on an emergency visa for four days tomeet my mentor Ahmed Nadeem Qasmisahab to see him in hospital as he had suf-fered a heart attack. But going to Dina, mybirth place, was a desire I held for a longtime. I had felt like going there many atimes, but did not want to wash away theimages in which I had lived and alwaysfeared that just like other cities of theworld, there would be changes even there.
I am 78 and I knew that this would proba-bly be my last chance and I may not beable to go there again. Doing that wouldcomplete the circle for me.
I wanted to cross the Wagah border onfoot. Walking on that soil I felt like I waswalking to my homeland, my birthplace.The feeling was extremely intimate. In-stinctively, as soon as I reached the Pak-istan border, I took off my mojaris (shoes)and wanted to put my feet on the soil.
It might sound childish, but I wantedto feel the ground. My friend Hasan Ziahad come to receive us from Pakistan andwe could see him waving at us, while ourpassports were being checked. With themwe first went to Lahore, where Vishal andI recorded over two nights.
During daytime, we visited the streetsof Lahore, but I realised that being who Iam, it had become impossible for me tojust walk across the street and have abutta with a common man. While peoplethere love me, I was always crowdedaround by friends and their relatives, whohad come from all over to just meet me. Iwas always around people and that starteddisturbing me. I was lonely inside, but Icould not explain that to anybody. Iwanted to just have some ‘channas’ andask the cobbler “ki mere jute ka naap zaratheek kar dein”. I wanted to get my shoes
polished, but was not being allowed andfelt the suffocation till I decided that wewould go to Dina the next day.
It was a five-hour journey to Jhelumand we set out in two cars. Vishal andRekha were in the other car and Hasan Ziaand a poet friend were in my car. I enjoyedthe landscape of Pakistan and stopped enroute to finally have kelas. People in Pak-istan show their love to you through foodand our car dickey was filled with all kindsof non-vegetarian eatables. Honestly, ‘itnijagah hoti nahi jitna woh khilate hain’.
My friends had a lot to talk about, butI just wanted them to not talk and let mebe on my own. I had not seen so manyUrdu signboards in my entire life andwanted to read each of them on the way. Iwas silently sitting in the car and readingand reading and had never read so muchUrdu in one day. We reached Jhelum andfrom there, Dina station.
It was exactly the way I had left it 70years ago, except for one small brick roomnow built for women. Next to the station,there were open fields looking at whichbrought back many memories. I remem-bered one parting from my father when heused to go to Pahar Ganj in Delhi to bring“sauda” for his hatti (shop). I wanted to gowith him, but four people were holding meback and I could see just his figure stand-ing in the train and going away. WheneverI would hear the whistle of the train or seethe train, I would go to the station and waitfor him. Thinking about it, I started gettingmore and more choked. As it is, peoplearound me were all talking and I was notgetting a chance to be alone. I only wantedsilence. It was difficult for me to explainto my kind hosts, who had prepared foodfor me, that I had no appetite and wouldnot be able to swallow anything. I tookwater a few times. It was close to sunsetand I wanted to visit the main bazaar,where we had lived. It used to be on a
straight road from the station. To my sur-prise, I found that the main bazaar hadbeen left untouched and a new bazaar hadcome up on an adjacent road. Both thebazaars meet at Daata Chowk, where weparked our cars and started walking intothe old bazaar. Everything came alive. Iwas walking ahead of everyone and couldstraightaway, without help, reach the galliwhere we lived. Except a few windowshere and there, everything was the same.People knew that I was coming and theyall surrounded me. A few shopkeepersrecognised me and started talking aboutmy family — my sister, older brother,even my “mamu”.
Then suddenly one of them asked meabout Allahditta. My father had a lot ofMuslim friends and he had brought up oneof the sons of his friends his own, Al-lahditta. I told them how I had lost touchwith him after he went to Karachi manyyears back and now owned a textile millthere. They remembered small details ofhow my brother's then father-in-lawMakhan Singh Kale Wale shared his namewith my father's name, Makhan SinghKurlan Wale. Then he said to me, 'Your fa-ther used to collect Rs 5 rent from me. Youmy landlord has come now, so take themoney from me'. I cried and just held hishand and sat down with him. Then wewent to my school, where they were wait-ing for me. It used to be a primary schoolwhen I was there with just two blocks. Ithas now become a high school with thethird block named 'Gulzar Kalra block'. Ibecame too emotional.
On the way back, I wanted to go toKurlan, a mile away from Dina, where myfather was born, but it was getting darkand Hasan Zia could see my condition andadvised me to not go ahead and go backto Lahore with Vishal and Rekha in mycar. He could understand what I wasgoing through as I was wiping my nose
again and again. It is only when we weremidway on the highway that we stoppedby at Lala Musa where I had memories ofeating Mia ki dal from a famous shopthere. I knew I had kept everybody hun-gry with me. It was dark by the time wereturned to Lahore.
Now, it was time to go back to ourrecording, but I realised that even with theqawaals singing in the background, I wastotally alone. People say you feel happyvisiting your childhood. I don't think so.There is something nice, but sad about it.I was feeling unwell and Vishal realisedit first. He said let's pack up. I did notwant to be admitted in the hospital thereand at such times you want to be back tothe place where you know the medicalset-up. Vishal held my hand and said,'Let's not go to Karachi Gulzar sahab'.There was a lot of responsibility on HasanZia's head who had come to Lahore onlyto accompany me to the Karachi literaryfestival but I am grateful to him for hisunderstanding. Vishal and I decided tocome back to Mumbai and not talk aboutit much to avoid it becoming a contro-versy. But by the time we reached Amrit-sar, everyone knew and it had become justthat — a controversy.Tell us about your father?
My father called me Punni and was atextile trader with an establishment, bothin Dina and in Delhi. And that's why Inamed my daughter Bosky as that is thename of a famous Chinese silk. We leftPakistan just before Partition. Unlike mybrother who was well educated at that timeand was amongst the first graduates in my‘biradari’, my father was not too hopefulabout what I would do and that still dis-turbs me. When my father died in 1960, Iwas assisting Bimalda (Bimal Roy) inMumbai. I had not been informed but re-ceived a postcard five days later after hedied, informing me about his death.
NEWS DESK
Sarah Jessica Parker may be a wife, mom of three, actress, and
producer, but she does it all without a cell phone! The star of "I Don't
Know How She Does It" opened up to E! News on Tuesday about her
reason for cutting the portable device out of her life. "I don't like
being behind in both phone calls and emails," she said. "So I chose
emails because when you're on a set you can carefully and sneakily
check a Blackberry, but you can't return a phone call. Hearing 'Your
voicemail is full' is horrifying to me." It looks like the 48-year-old is
just like her "Sex and the City" character, Carrie Bradshaw, who
famously went cell phone-free. But while mama Parker has rid her life
of the mobile phone, her tiny tots are starting to picking up the
technology! SJP's 3-year-old twins, Tabitha and Marion, were
photographed on Monday talking into their toy cell phones while
strolling the streets of New York City.
13ARTsThursday, 2 May, 2013
A
Better a witty fool than a foolish
wit. –William Shakespeare
tHis woulD probably be my last cHance to visit pakistan: gulzar
NEWS DESK
N EIL Patrick Harris is the epitomeof a true Renaissance man. He's abig TV star, Broadway singer anddancer, serious magician, and even
serves as the voice of a Disney theme parkride. This week, Harris showed he may have alittle interest in detective work (and pipesmoking) when he launched his new Instagramaccount with an inaugural photo of himselfdressed up in an elaborate Sherlock Holmescostume. And he pulled out all the stops, ac-cessorising with a houndstooth cape, matchinghat, magnifying glass, and, of course that sig-nature pipe. Fiancé David Burtka played Wat-son to his beau's Holmes, donning a newsboycap, bowtie, fake mustache, eyeglasses andholding a cup of tea. And there was a good rea-
son for the costumes: "At our great friends,Becky Baeling & Kris Lythgoe's murder mys-tery wedding," he captioned the pic. "Thegame, as they say, is afoot." Harris already hasa whopping 5.7 million Twitter followerskeeping tabs on his witty observations and funpictures, so it was only a matter of time beforethe 39-year-old took the next social mediastep. So far, 48,000 fans have begun followingthe "How I Met Your Mother" star on Insta-gram, but he's starting out slow.
Since opening an account (username: In-stagranph), the actor has only put up three pic-tures including the Sherlock Homes shot, andan adorable picture of his and Burtka's 2-year-old twins Harper and Gideon, who look as ifthey've stepped straight out of a magazine adin matching leather jackets (his is blue, hers istan), rain boots, and little jeans.
NEWS DESK: Woody Allen is
returning to France for his next
film and bringing Colin Firth and
Emma Stone along as its stars.
Producers Letty Aronson and
Stephen Tenenbaum announced
Tuesday that Allen is set to start
shooting his untitled new
comedy this summer. This is the
writer-director's second time
filming in France and his eighth
film set in Europe. Allen will
reunite with the
cinematographer, production
designer and costume designer
he worked with on some his
previous European productions.
Allen's latest movie, "Blue
Jasmine," is to be released in
July. It stars Cate Blanchett and
Alec Baldwin.
WOODY ALLENCASTS STARSCOLIN FIRTH,EMMA STONE
see Neil PatrickHarris as sherlock
WHY SARAH JESSICAPARKER DOESN’TOWN A CELL PHONE
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:38 AM Page 13
INFOTAINMENT
IThursday, 2 May, 2013
14 Every day sees humanity more
victorious in the struggle with space
and time. — Guglielmo Marconi
While researchers are continuously debating and fine-tuning their advice, they agree that exposure to light isone of the most effective ways to combat jet lag.
“But the rules for when you should seek out or avoidlight are complicated and depend on whether you traveleast or west and how many time zones you are crossing,”said Russell Foster, head of Oxford University’s NuffieldLaboratory of Ophthalmology and one of the world’sleading experts on jet lag.
Sunlight activates the pineal gland, which triggers aphysical process that winds up and sets your body’s in-ternal clock, while darkness encourages your body tosleep by lowering your temperature and sending mela-tonin, a natural sleep-inducing hormone, into the blood-stream.
But obeying signals from sunlight and darkness –which are key to resetting the body’s internal clock – canbe difficult when you’re flying cross-country or halfwayacross the world. Thankfully, two websites offer step-by-step, personalised help for combating jet lag. Using yourflight itinerary, each site provides a suggested sleepschedule based on how many time zones you’ll cross andwhich direction you’ll be travelling.
Jet Lag Rooster is an online calculator that employssimilar guidelines to those used at academic institutions
such as the Mayo Center for Sleep Medicine in Min-nesota and Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.Type in your itinerary and the site will give you an hour-by-hour breakdown of when to sleep and when to go out-side and seek sunlight.
For example, on an Atlanta to Moscow itinerarywhere a passenger lands at 10 am, Jet Lag Rooster ad-vises a schedule of doing the best you can that first dayand night (without specifying particular hours) and then,on the following day, avoid light after 11 am. The nextday, it recommends you begin to avoid light a little later
– after 12:30 pm – and on the day after that, it suggestsyou begin to avoid light after 2 pm.
The reasoning behind this advice is that the averageperson can only adjust their internal clock by an incre-mental amount of 60 to 90 minutes a day. Jet Lag Roosterencourages travellers to pace themselves accordingly,which means it may take a person travelling between At-lanta and Moscow about seven to 10 days to shift theirbody clock the necessary 10 hours.
British Airways also created an online jet lag fightingcalculator, where the advice is based on research by ChrisIdzikowski, director of the sleep assessment and advisoryservice at Edinburgh Sleep Centre. The science behindthe site’s conclusions is the same as Jet Lag Rooster’s,but the tool condenses the advice to a few sentences,rather than give an hour-by-hour breakdown.
It’s important to note that when scientists say youshould seek out “light”, they mean ideally being outdoorsfor up to half an hour. Outdoor light is always better thanindoor light. Even an overcast spring day in say, Reyk-javik, will provide enough light to reset a body clock,compared with sitting indoors, which won’t. On the flipside, avoiding light can entail wearing sunglasses or stay-ing indoors.
Special light boxes, or flat lamps that simulate naturalwhite light with a blue tint, are also effective, noted Fos-ter, who has been consulting with Delta on the feasibilityof introducing such lights into airport lounges. However,there is no word yet from the airline on whether it willput the concept into practice.NEWS DESK
tALK about cutting-edge sci-ence. A new study conductedby researchers in Australiashows that women prefer menwith heavy stubble over clean-
shaven guys and guys sporting lightstubble or full beards.
And what sort of men's facial hair dostraight guys think is preferable amongtheir peers? In the study, published in theMay issue of the journal Evolution &Human Behavior, full beards and heavystubble edged out light stubble and theclean-shaven look.
For their research, University of NewSouth Wales professors Barnaby J. Dixsonand Rob C. Brooks presented photos of 10smiling men to 177 heterosexual men and 351women, according to Medicalxpress. Eachman in the photos was shown in four ways --clean-shaven, with five days of beard growth(light stubble), 10 days of growth (heavy stub-ble), and with a full beard. The researchersthen asked the women and men to rate themen in the photos according to their attrac-tiveness, finding heavy stubble to be theclear winner among women.
What explains the hankering forheavy stubble?
"Our findings confirm that beardednessaffects judgments of male socio-sexual at-tributes and suggest that an intermediatelevel of beardedness is most attractivewhile full-bearded men may be perceivedas better fathers who could protect and in-vest in offspring," the researchers con-cluded in the abstract of their study.
Dixson and Brooks hypothesize that
facial hair makes men seem more matureand masculine but also more dominant andaggressive, the website of the Australiaedition of Men's Health reported. "Men,judging other men, might be sensitive tothe overall level of masculine threat andaggression signaled through full beards,"the researchers wrote, according to thewebsite. "Women, by contrast, may bal-
ance...a competitive masculine partneragainst the costs of mating with a too-mas-culine partner." As to why light stubbleloses out to heavy stubble, the researchersbelieve that there's "a threshold of densityand distribution may be necessary forbeards to function as an attractive signal,"Science magazine reported. In otherwords, it's just too patchy. NEWS DESK
nasa spots colossalsaturn hurricane
The hurricane roiling around Saturn's
north pole looks a lot like a hurricane
on Earth—except much, much bigger.
Its eye is about 20 times bigger than
Earth standards at 1,250 miles wide,
and the storm is also more powerful,
with winds as high as 330mph. A NASA
probe caught pictures and video of the
hurricane, giving us our most detailed
look yet, Space.com reports. "We did a
double take when we saw this vortex
because it looks so much like a
hurricane on Earth," says an imaging
team member. Rather than drifting
northward as Earth hurricanes tend to,
this one has been going on at Saturn's
north pole since at least 2004. Another
interesting point: It's "somehow getting
by on the small amounts of water vapor
in Saturn's hydrogen atmosphere," the
imaging team member notes. NEWS DESK
Beard study shows heavy stubble makesmen especially attractive to women
Boston victims getfree prosthetics
People who lost limbs in the Boston
Marathon bombing don't need to worry
about paying for prosthetics if they aren't
covered by insurance, an industry group
has pledged. The American Orthotic and
Prosthetic Association has promised to
supply prosthetics and initial services for
the estimated 20 to 25 victims who
underwent amputations after the blasts,
including a 10-year-old boy and two
victims who lost both legs, Reuters
reports. "We want to ensure that, in the
midst of this horrific tragedy, these
individuals are not further traumatized
by the harsh and unreasonable limits
that are present in all too many health
insurance policies," says a spokesman for
the AOPA, which notes that while a
prosthetic limb can cost anywhere from
$8,000 to $60,000, many insurance
policies cap payouts at $2,500 or
$5,000, USA Today reports. NEWS DESK
Mathematicianfinally crackspoW's coded letters
British soldier John Pryor sent letters
home to his family from a Nazi POW
camp for five years during World War II.
Seventy years later, they finally know
what he actually wrote. A mathematician
at Plymouth University has deciphered
the coded messages hidden inside the
innocuous-looking letters for the first
time since the war, revealing Pryor was
really asking for items to help him
escape and reporting details of German
military targets, the BBC reports. The
BBC explains that the code, which Pryor
would have learned from British secret
agents, involved taking the first letters of
each word, translating those letters to
numbers, and then translating the
numbers back to letters. Deciphered, this
sentence—"A few weeks ago we
arranged a rather useful scheme, so men
could get 'lager'"—reads "MAPS." The
letters would have been deciphered at
the time by British intelligence, but were
then passed on to the family in their
original form. NEWS DESK
Online calculators combat jet lag
A baby girl was abandoned and found crying in thesand at a Hawaii beach soon after she was born,human services officials said Monday.
The full-term, 8-pound newbornwas "abandoned immediately afterbirth," state Department ofHuman Services Director Patri-cia McManaman said.
A woman parked at SandyBeach in east Honolulusometime between 11 p.m.Sunday and midnight heardseveral people screaming,police spokeswomanMichelle Yu said. A fewminutes later the screamingstopped and the womanheard a baby crying.
She walked toward theocean and saw an infant onthe sand. The woman took thebaby to a hospital. Police areinvestigating the case as endan-gering the welfare of a minor andchild abandonment. The baby, whohad been found naked, was doing welland drinking formula at the Queen's MedicalCenter, McManaman said. "We're just very grate-
ful this child is alive and doing well," she said. Ifno one comes forward to claim the child, the
Department of Human Services will filea petition this week with family
court, asking for custody. A hear-ing will be held by Monday. If
no family is identified, thestate will ask the court for
permission to release aphoto of the infant onMonday, McManamansaid.
In 2007, Hawaiibecame the 48th statewith a baby safe havenlaw, said state Rep.John Mizuno. The lawprovides immunity
from prosecution forleaving an unharmed
newborn within 72 hoursof birth at a fire department,
police station or hospital orwith emergency services.
No one has taken advantage ofthe law since it was enacted, Mc-
Manaman said. The baby safe haven hot-line is 800-494-3991. NEWS DESK
Baby found at sandy beach in honolulu
iBM makes world'ssmallest movie
The star of this movie was ready for its
close-up—so ready it was magnified 100
million times. A Boy And His Atom is
officially the world's smallest film, created
by IBM by manipulating thousands of
carbon monoxide molecules into an
animated stop-motion short, reports the
Telegraph. The film, which features a boy
playing with an atom, was shot under a
two-ton scanning tunneling microscope
at -450 degrees, using an extremely
sharp needle to manually move each
atom one by one for 250 frames, reports
Mashable. NEWS DESK
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:38 AM Page 14
sPoRTs
SThursday, 2 May, 2013
15At the moment we have the fast bowling resources to cope with James’injury and it will be great to get him back fully fit for when Steven Finndeparts for England duty — Angus Fraser, Middlesex’s managing director
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
PAKISTAN’S discardedall rounder Shahid Afridihas vowed to make acomeback to Pakistan’sone-day squad, claiming
that he is “better than most”. He was dropped from the side for
the upcoming tours of Scotland, Irelandand England for the Champions Trophyin June, along with batsman UmarAkmal and fast bowler Sohail Tanvir.
“The decision to drop me from theside is taken by the captain (Misbah-ul-Haq),” Afridi reported to have said.
“It isn’t a big thing if the captaindoes not want a player but in cricket,being in and out is a one-off thing. Ithappens and I will soon come back.
“I am still better than most. I knowI have ample cricket left in me and Ican represent Pakistan for the next fewyears. Players usually get dropped but
I appeal to my fans to pray forme.”
Afridi, 33, had beendropped fromPakistan’s squad forthe ODI series inIndia in December2012, but waschosen for the tripto South Africabecause of hisskill as alegspinner. Hefailed to take awicket in 37 overs,though, and scored126 runs in fourinnings with a high scoreof 88. Since the start of2012, Afridi’s taken only 15wickets in 21 ODIs, and five of thosecame in one game against Afghanistan.His batting average during this periodwas 19. He managed to score only 70runs and take three wickets in four
matches for his domestic sidelast month.
“I have beentraining for the
England tour. Iwant to insistonce again thatI will walkaway beforebeing a burdenon the side butfor a while Iunderstand I
have to workhard to come
back,” said Afridi.However,
Afridi could beplaying Twenty20 games
for Hampshire this season.Due to visa issues, he was forced tomiss the T20 matches for the countylast year. In 2011, he had a successfulstint with the county, taking 17 wicketsin 10 matches at 11.17.
discarded afridi vowsto make comeback
MuMBAI
AGENCIES
Mitchell Marsh will return to Australian dutyfor the first time in more than a year afterbeing named in the squad for the ChampionsTrophy ODI tournament that precedes theAshes in England.
Marsh was named in Australia’s 15-mansquad alongside the uncapped fast bowlerNathan Coulter-Nile, while the leader of thenational Twenty20 side, George Bailey, wasnamed vice-captain to Michael Clarke.
The inclusion of Marsh, 21, follows ayear in which he was sent home from theCentre of Excellence in Brisbane and thendisciplined further for his part in the PerthScorchers’ Champions Trophymisadventures, but a handful of stormingdomestic limited-overs displays for WesternAustralia earned him his place. Marsh playedfive Ryobi Cup games last summer for 278runs at 69.50, including his maiden century.
The Warriors narrowly missed the finaldespite that innings, 104 from 96 balls againstTasmania at the WACA, which also followeda hamstring injury that cruelled a significantportion of Marsh’s summer. Marsh, whosemost recent international was a T20 inFebruary 2012, played his lone ODI in SouthAfrica in late 2011. He has largely flattered todeceive in first-class matches thus far, but itis in 50-over fixtures that he has been mostconsistent, averaging 39.90 with the bat and24.85 with the ball across 27 matches.
“We all know what a talented battingallrounder he is,” John Inverarity, the nationalselector, said of Marsh, “and we look to himto fulfil the faith we have in him because he’sa very talented cricketer.”
Marsh will be joined in the squad by hisstate team-mate Coulter-Nile, who made hisT20 international debut during the summerbut is yet to play an ODI. Coulter-Nile, 25,was second only to Kane Richardson on theRyobi Cup wicket tally last season with 16victims at 23.18, and Inverarityalso described him as “one ofthe three or four bestfieldsmen in Australia”.
“Nathan Coulter-Nile is anemerging cricketer as a fast-medium bowler and explosivelower-order batsman,” Inveraritysaid. “He is also one of the finestfieldsmen in Australian cricket andthe energy he brings to his gameis impressive. While Nathan hasplayed a T20 International forAustralia, we are looking forward toseeing him take his very gooddomestic limited overs form ontothe world stage.” The remainderof the Champions Trophy squadwas largely as expected. Theexperienced batsman AdamVoges was included following his maidenODI century against West Indies at the MCG,while Bailey was preferred to Matthew Wadeas vice-captain.
“That was discussed,” Inverarity said ofWade as a potential vice-captain, “but wewent with George last [summer] and hecaptained three of the ODIs and two victoriesthere, and as T20 captain he’s had captaincyexperience and isvery highlyregarded bythe players.”
KALLIS, DUMINY MAKE CHAMPIONS TROPHY TEAM JOHANNESBURG: Jacques Kallis will make a return to South Africa’s one-day
squad for the Champions Trophy, which is due be announced in Cape Town on
Thursday. The final 15 will also see a return to action for JP Duminy, who has not
played competitively since last September. Duminy has spent the last six months
recovering from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon which he sustained on the first day of
the first Test against Australia in Brisbane last November. He was named in the XI
but was injured before he could take any part in the fixture. As of last
Wednesday, he was sprinting at 80%, batting unrestricted and was due to start
bowling at full capacity this week. “We are exercising extreme caution because of
the sensitive nature of the injury but we remain cautiously optimistic of his
speedy return to action,” Mohammed Moosajee, South Africa’s team manager
who is also a medical doctor, said. South Africa’s other injury concern, Faf du
Plessis, has also made a full recovery in time for the tournament. Du Plessis
missed the last two matches of South Africa’s March ODI series against Pakistan
with lower-back trouble. The niggle meant he was unable to bowl throughout the
series and it eventually became too painful for him to bat as well. He underwent
a six-week rehabilitation program and left for the IPL last week, where he has
joined up with the Chennai Super Kings. Although du Plessis has not played a
game yet, he is available to make his return imminently. As much as both his and
Duminy’s returns have been eagerly anticipated, it’s the inclusion of Kallis that
will lift South Africa’s hopes as they aim to claim major tournament silverware for
the first time since 1998 when they won this tournament in Dhaka. South Africa’s
30-man preliminary squad: AB de Villiers, Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien,
Henry Davids, Quinton de Kock, Marchant de Lange, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Dean
Elgar, Imran Tahir, Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Rory Kleinveldt, Ryan McLaren, David
Miller, Morne Morkel, Chris Morris, Justin Ontong, Robin Peterson, Wayne Parnell, Aaron
Phangiso, Vernon Philander, Rilee Rossouw, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Rusty Theron,
Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe, Vaughn van Jaarsveld South Africa squad
(probable): AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis,
Colin Ingram, Jacques Kallis, Ryan McLaren, Rory Kleinveldt, David Miller, Morne Morkel,
Robin Peterson, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe. AGENCIES
Mitchell Marsh recalled for Champions Trophy
Format changes,complacency hurtBailey’s ashes hopes
LONDON
AGENCIES
George Bailey has conceded that hestruggled with constantly changing formatslast summer, which contributed to his leastproductive Sheffield Shield campaign sincehis maiden season in 2004-05. Theinternational retirements of Ricky Pontingand Michael Hussey in the middle of 2012-13 left the selectors looking to Shield formto find batsmen for the Test tour of Indiaand the Ashes, but Bailey managed only256 runs at 18.28 in Tasmania’s successfulcampaign. A schedule packed with ODIs,Twenty20 internationals, Ryobi Cupmatches, Big Bash League and SheffieldShield cricket meant that from August lastyear until the Shield final in March, Baileyhad to switch between formats 18 times.That is cricket’s equivalent of constant jet-lag, and even for a mature player likeBailey, that proved too great a challenge. Itwas his four-day cricket that suffered: hescored only one half-century in his eightShield matches. “I struggled at differenttimes with switching back through theformats,” Bailey said of his 2012-13 season.“That’s not an excuse, because I think everymodern-day cricketer has to make thosechanges pretty regularly, but I just didn’tadjust to it very well. I certainly felt like Iwas going into Shield games with a one-dayor Twenty20 mentality. It was certainly nota conscious thing, but just not having theawareness and ability to work out how tobuild your innings.” It was a blow to theTest aspirations of Bailey, who is highlyregarded by John Inverarity’s selectionpanel and was on Wednesday namedMichael Clarke’s vice-captain in Australia’ssquad for the Champions Trophy.
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
There is never a dull moment with ShoaibAkhtar, be it bowling or in expressing hisviews about the game. Once the mostfearsome bowler, Akhtar has always lovedto take on challenges and wieldedquestions on the game and Pakistan withthe same ease with which he scaredbatsmen around the world with his paceand aggression, reported Gulf News.
In Dubai to launch the secondedition of the Sprite CricketStars’ programme, organised bythe Ministry of Labour, Akhtarsaid after interacting with thelabourers: “I was delighted tobe close with those who cameto watch me during myplaying days but did not haveaccess to me. I will shareeverything with them andhelp them to boost their talent.Labourers are those who built
today’s Dubai and I will be delighted if Ican contribute to their happiness.”
Akhtar’s remark stunnedeveryone as fans have onlyseen him as an aggressivecricketer. When asked if hehas undergone atransformation, Akhtarsaid: “You all have seen
me only on the field. Offthe field, I am a much calmer
person. I have retired now andhence you see the way I am.”
When asked whetherhe will roll his arm overand bowl a few oversduring the tournament,scheduled to beginfrom May 24 and to beplayed on all Fridays,Akhtar said in a lightervein: “I will bowlmore than a few oversfor the people who candare to face me.” The
final for the event is scheduled forSeptember 20 where he will come again togive the prizes. Pakistan’s new pacesensation Ahmad Jamal, who clocked 143kmph to win the Pakistan Cricket Board’s‘King of Pace’ competition had namedAkhtar as his inspiration. Commenting onit, Akhtar said: “I am happy to hear he isbowing at 143kmh. He should bowl evenfaster with the right kind of guidance.Anyone who wants my help I am ready tooffer. I am willing to help anyonevoluntarily. Jamal has potential and whathe need is moral support on how to handlepressure. I don’t want to take any job fromthe board to help cricketers. “I had spent21 years on the field as a player and do notwant to spend another 21 years more onthe field. I am ready to help any pacer, evenin Dubai or any part of the world. Jamalshould be helped mentally, physically andmorally. So I hope if Mohammad Aamircomes back and Mohammad Irfan’s legsget stronger then Pakistan will have one ofthe finest pace attack in the world.”
aussie battingcoachappointmentbaffles many
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
The appointment of Trent Woodhill asbatting coach for next month’s ChampionsTrophy has been met with bafflement.Former greats are saying they had nevereven heard of the Australian. The PakistanCricket Board (PCB) on Mondayappointed the 42-year-old Woodhill forthree weeks after the team’s disastrousperformance with the bat on their recenttour of South Africa. Woodhill is currentlyassistant coach at Delhi Daredevils,second bottom in the Indian PremierLeague, and has had previous spells withNew Zealand and NSW. Former Testcaptain Hanif Mohammad, one ofPakistan’s all-time great batsman and formany years holder of the world-recordfirst class score of 499, was unimpressed.“Who is Woodhill?” he said. “I have heardhis name for the first time in my life. I amsurprised how the PCB chose him whenhis credentials are not known.” Inzamam-ul-Haq worked as batting consultant withthe team ahead of their tour to India inDecember-January but negotiations fellthrough in February. Inzamam-ul-Haqworked as batting consultant with the teamahead of their tour to India in December-January but negotiations with the 120-Testveteran fell through in February. Formerwicketkeeper and captain Rashid Latifalso claimed ignorance. “What can I sayabout a coach whose name I have notheard before?” said Latif. “Pakistan have abatting legend in Javed Miandad whoshould be helping the batsmen.” Miandad,Pakistan’s leading Test run-scorer with8,832, is currently a director general in thePCB. He will help the batsmen during atune-up camp in Abbottabad before theteam’s departure for Britain. Pakistan willplay warm-up games against Scotland andIreland before the eight-team ChampionsTrophy starts on June 6.
shoaib in dubai to start Cricket stars’ programme
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:39 AM Page 16
sPoRTs S
Thursday, 2 May, 2013
16We had a pretty good summer but in our post-
season reviews, the players all identified areas
where we needed to be better — Darren Lehmann
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
THE Pakistan TennisFederation will take therejection case of its DavisCup tie forfeiture to theInternational Tennis
Federation’s Board of Directors. Pakistan on Wednesday vowed to fight
on after the tennis world governing bodyrejected their appeal over their forfeitedDavis Cup tie against New Zealand.
The International Tennis Federation(ITF) upheld the decision to award thematch played in Yangon last month toNew Zealand because the court wasunplayable.
Pakistan were 1-0 up and leading inthe second match when Sri Lankan refereeAshita Ajigala stopped the match andawarded the tie to New Zealand, as thecourts were Pakistan’s responsibility.
The Asia Oceania group II tie wasshifted to Myanmar over security fears inPakistan.
The ITF’s Davis Cup committeerejected the appeal by the Pakistan TennisFederation (PTF) on Tuesday, but PTFPresident Kaleem Imam said the fight
would go on.“The ITF have said that the referee’s
decision was right but we will take theappeal to another forum and will fight onagainst the injustice done to us,” Imamsaid.
“If the referee had felt the courts were
not up to the mark, why did he start the tiein the first place?”
Announcing the appeal had beenrejected, the governing body said the PTFcould now take their case to the ITF boardof directors.
Pakistan was forced to shift the tie to
a neutral venue after the ITF declaredPakistan as unsafe and unsuitable for aninternational event.
Pakistan has been a no-go area forinternational sports teams since militantattacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team busin Lahore in March 2009.
DAVIS CUP TIE AGAINST NEW ZEALAND(
(
pakistan to fight appeal rejectiontHe internationaltennis feDerationupHelD tHe Decision toawarD tHe matcHplayeD in yangon lastmontH to new zealanDbecause tHe court wasunplayable
PuNE
AGENCIES
Pune Warriors legspinner RahulSharma said that instability in thebatting order has been one of themain reasons for the team’s poorperformance in IPL 2013.
“I think we are not clickingtogether,” Rahul told IPLT20.comafter Chennai Super Kings beatWarriors by 37 runs. “It is a new teamand the captain is also new. He iscaptaining well, making goodchanges while bowling but thebatting order is not getting set and themiddle order is collapsing.”
Sharma also conceded that theWarriors bowlers had given away toomany runs towards the end of theinnings, allowingSuper Kings to reach164 for 3 after theywere 103 for 3 in the16th over.
“Since we had agood batting wicket, theplan was to not give thebatsmen too much roombecause they do have alot of hard-hitters lowerdown like MS Dhoni,Dwayne Bravo, AlbieMorkel,” Sharma said.“We wanted to restrictthem to as less aspossible, like 140 or150, but thenaccording to me we gaveabout 20 runs more.”
Super Kings batsman SBadrinath credited the side’s sharpfielding for the win. “I think ourfielding was tremendous,” Badrinathsaid. “Suresh Raina and Albie Morkeleffected run outs. Whenever we havelooked for breaks, our fielding haspulled it up. I think that is a big pluswith our side. I don’t think you canfind any weak fielder on the ground
sothat
issomething
we work hard on aswell.”
Badrinath, who was involvedin a 75-run stand for the thirdwicket with Raina, said thebatsmen had a plan to steady theinnings before the big-hittingbatsmen took charge in the finalovers.
starc on road tofull fitness, hopesto gain pace
MELBOuRNE
AGENCIES
Mitchell Starc has declared the ankle operation thathe underwent five weeks ago such a good move thatit might help him gain pace when he returns tobowling this year. Starc has been named inAustralia’s squads for the Ashes and the ChampionsTrophy one-day tournament, which begins in earlyJune, and he is expected to be fit by then, afterhaving surgery on his left ankle following his earlydeparture from the Test tour of India in March. Starcplayed through pain in the third Test in Mohalibefore being sent home for the operation and he saidhe was already free of the discomfort that hadtroubled him before. Starc, 22, plays all threeformats for Australia and given his ability to swingthe ball, he is likely to be a key man in the Ashescampaign, hence Cricket Australia’s eagerness toensure he would not be carrying a niggle that couldhamper his productivity. “The spur on the insidedidn’t bother me much; that’s why we were talkingabout getting through hopefully 12 months [withoutsurgery],” Starc told reporters in Brisbane onWednesday. “But we’d found one on the outside thathad broken off, that was the one that bothered memost in India, and I didn’t know about that one untilI got back to Australia. That Test in Mohali it waspretty painful... so with the timeline that we neededto be right for the Ashes, we needed to come homeand get it done. “I’ve been back in the gym, doingmy fitness stuff for three weeks now, so I’m feelinggood. I’ve got more movement in my ankle nowthan I did after the first surgery three or four yearsago. It could work in my favour, maybe an extrayard or two of pace if I’m lucky.
captain must betransparent with theplayers: Ganguly
MuMBAI
AGENCIES
Leading a cricket team is no different from running afamily where the members would end up playing forthemselves if the captain loses their faith, feels formerIndia skipper Sourav Ganguly. “As a leader, if youwant a good team, you have to be transparent withyour players. The biggest quality of the leader is to getthe trust of his players,” Ganguly said at the ‘FedExMaster of Deliveries’ event where he discussedleadership with Australian great Adam Gilchrist inMumbai on Tuesday night. “We are in anenvironment where we drop people and as soon asyou are left out, as a player you have so manyquestions on your mind. It is easier to drop a personbut you have to speak to him. This is where youstand, this is where we feel you can go but we wantyou back in the squad and he goes back happy,” heexplained. “And when he comes back he knows theleader has kept his word, he delivers 100 per cent. Ifthat transparency or trust doesn’t generate, at somestage, in a team sport, you find players playing forthemselves. And that is when things start going down.You need to avoid getting in those situations,” hestressed. Elaborating on other challenges of captaincy,Ganguly said identifying and managing talent is nosmall task for a leader. Having people with differentpersonalities in the same dressing room can also be aproblem but Ganguly said “you need them to be whothey are”. “Like in families you have certain peoplegoing the other way, you have to deal with it. I thinkthat is where leadership comes into picture. You haveto handle every individual differently. With all duerespects, you had a Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh todeal with, who are completely different personalities,”the Kolkatan said.
batting collapses aconcern: sharma
SHARMA BACKS KULKARNI AFTERVICTORY OVER KINGS XIMUMBAI: Dhawal Kulkarni found himself in a strange place
on Monday night. Against Kings XI Punjab on Monday, with
17 needed to win, the Mumbai Indians bowler conceded 12
runs in an eight-ball final over, which included a wide and a
no-ball. Two nights before the match against Kings XI,
Kulkarni had bowled a match-winning, three-wicket spell at
the same venue, with the wickets of Tillekaratne Dilshan,
Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers to his name, but the manner in
which he bowled the final over against Kings XI turned from
a hero to its antithesis. Six deliveries in the eight-ball over -
and what should have been a nine-ball over when square-
leg umpire Asad Rauf failed to notice a full toss above waist
height - were full tosses. Such was the angst against
Kulkarni that a reporter asked Mumbai Indians captain Rohit
Sharma how “Dhawal Kulkarni did everything he could to
lose the match”. But Rohit stood firmly behind his team-
mate. “Dew takes a lot of things out of equation,” Rohit
said. “Spinners find it very hard to turn the ball.
Bowlers, in general, find it difficult to grip the ball. As
far as Dhawal is concerned, you can’t be so
aggressive. It’s just that
anybody can have a bad
game. You see the way
he bowled in the last
game. As I said, it’s not
easy with the dew. You’ve
got to give him some
time. AGENCIES
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:39 AM Page 17
sPoRTsS
Thursday, 2 May, 2013
17She is, without doubt, one of the all-time greats of
women’s tennis both nationally and internationally
— Peter Bretherton about Ann Jones
top seedBartoli oustedin estoril opener
ESTONIL
AGENCIES
Top seed Marion Bartoli bowed out of the OeirasOpen in Estoril in the first round after losing 0-6 6-14-6 to Shuai Peng.Bartoli, ranked 14 in the world, has now lost fivetimes in 11 meetings against her Chinese opponent,who held firm after two one-sided sets to set up ashowdown in round two against Romina Oprandi ofSwitzerland.The former Wimbledon finalist from France isscratching for form after three straight first-roundexits.“The first match on clay is always tough for me andobviously at the beginning I had a lot of troublefinding my game and my feet on the court,” saidBartoli afterwards.“I wasn’t feeling comfortable and Peng Shuai wasplaying extremely well as well. I just tried my hardeston the court and was able to play some good shots inthe second set.“It was a very difficult draw, but I think it is better forme to have those kind of matches early in the claycourt season and try to improve for the big eventscoming up.”
cricket center becomelrca champion
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
Cricket Center Club became the LRCA SpriteLahore League Champion on Wednesday. In the sprite Lahore League final Cricket Centerbeat Model Town Club in a one-sided match by 108runs and become the LRCA Sprite Lahore LeagueChampion. Former Chairman PCB Khalid Mahmood, DirectorDomestic Cricket PCB Zakir Khan, National SelectorAzhar Khan, Head Youth Development NCA HaroonRasheed and Coordinatiro Club Cricket PCB AzharHussain Zaidi distributed the prizes among the playersand officials. Umer Akmal named man of the match. Fahad ul Haq named best batsman of the tournament,M Ishtiaq best bowler, Amer Hamid best all rounder,Haris Nazar best fielder and Waqas Mushtaq namedbest wicket keeper of the tournamentSCORE: Cricket Center 283/10 in 45 overs. UmerAkmal 101 (66 balls), Adnan Akmal 74, Raza Ali Dar39, Mohsin Naveed 3/49, Kashif Iqbal 2/46,Salahuddin Ahmed 2/62.Model Town Club: 175/10 38.3 overs, Imam ul Haq75, Ashraf Ali 31, Haroon Rasheed 27, M Salman3/47, Raza Ali Dar 3/23.
LONDON
AGENCIES
FOR Rafael Nadal to bridge a 7,000-point gapwith Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankingslooks like a tall order, even for a player ofhis qualities, yet he could still threaten theSerb’s hopes of ending 2013 as world No.1.
With the French Open looming large on thehorizon, Nadal is back in the claycourt groove as hecontinues his comeback from a knee injury thatsidelined him for seven months.
The Spaniard has won four titles in six tournamentssince returning in Chile in February, finishing runner-up in the other two, yet remains in unfamiliar territoryoutside the world’s top four.
Starting in Madrid next week, however, where hesuffered a surprise third-round exit last year tocompatriot Fernando Verdasco, fifth-ranked Nadal canstart making inroads.
While the Mallorcan must defend 3,000 points atthe Rome Masters and then at Roland Garros, where hewill be chasing an eighth French Open title, the secondhalf of the year looks like being a win-win situation forthe 11-times grand slam champion.
A stunning second-round defeat by Czech Lukas
Rosol at Wimbledon last year provedto be his final match of 2012,meaning the Spaniard will havesix months to harvest rankingpoints and close the gap onthose above him.
Djokovic is hoping tofinish a third successiveseason as world No.1 butBrad Gilbert, former worldnumber four and coach toAndre Agassi, believes Nadalhas will be breathing down theSerb’s neck later this year.
“To me this is the meatiest part ofthe season,” Gilbert toldATPWorldTour.com
“You’ve got two Masters 1000s back-to-back and then the French and Wimbledon.That’s 6,000 points up for grabs over a shortstretch, and what happens during this time willset the tone as to who has a shot of finishingNo. 1.
“Djokovic is in good position now butit still could be a very tight race.”
Djokovic, world number two Roger
Federer and number three Andy Murray will all bedefending sackloads of points after the French
Open, and providing Nadal suffers no injurysetbacks he will be relishing a pressure-freesecond half of the year.
Gilbert said Nadal’s decision to delay hiscomeback until after the Australian Open and
then skip the Miami Masters was payingdividends.
“What a tremendous effort to be inthe final every week he’s played. I lovethe way he goes about his business,”Gilbert said. “He didn’t rush back until hewas close to 100 percent, and the results
back up that he made the rightdecision.”
don’t write rafa off theno.1 spot, says Gilbert
NEW yORK
AGENCIES
The World Anti-Doping Agency(WADA) has voiced its disappointment
with Tuesday’s decision by the judgein Spain’s “Operation Puerto”
doping trial to destroy all theevidence from the case instead
of making it available to othersports bodies and said it is
considering an appeal.Spanish doctor
EufemianoFuentes, the
centralfigure in
the trial, was given a one-year prison term forendangering public health and the judge alsoordered the evidence, including bags of bloodpossibly belonging to athletes from sportsother than cycling, to be destroyed. Herdecision not to release evidence to anti-dopingauthorities for further investigation damagedhopes that the case would unmask otherathletes involved in illegal doping, andprompted widespread condemnation.
“WADA has carefully considered thedecision rendered by the Criminal Court inMadrid in relation with the Operation Puerto,”the agency’s director general, DavidHowman, said in a statement on the agency’swebsite. “The decision to order thedestruction of all the blood bags is particularly
disappointing and unsatisfactory for WADA,and the whole anti-doping community,”Howman added. “Access to this evidencemotivated WADA’s involvement in this case.“This would ensure appropriate sportssanction processes against the cheats whoused Dr Fuentes’s services.”
The Spanish anti-doping agency (AEA)has already said it will appeal against thejudge’s ruling to destroy the evidence andHowman said WADA might follow suit.
“WADA is currently fully reviewing thedecision and any possible appeal or otheraction with its Spanish legal advisors, and theSpanish National Anti-Doping Organisation(AEA),” he said, adding that the appealdeadline was May 17.
WADA, the AEA, the Spanish cyclingfederation (RFEC), the International CyclingUnion (UCI) and the Italian OlympicCommittee (CONI) were all represented inthe three-month trial in Madrid.
Fuentes, who denied doping, said in hisopening testimony that he had clients incycling but also in sports including soccer,tennis, athletics and boxing.
Spain has been hoping the trial will helpto dispel the impression that the nation wassoft on doping and boost Madrid’s bid to winthe right to host the 2020 Olympic Games.
The country is pushing updated anti-doping legislation through parliament whichthe government says will bring Spain into linewith international norms.
wAdA considers Puerto appeal
ESTONIL: Top seed Marion Bartoli
bows to return the ball to Shuai
Peng during the Oeiras Open .
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:39 AM Page 18
GEO SUPERSuper Kings v Kings XI03:30 PM
Warriors v RCB 07-30 PM
UEFA League: Barcelona v
Bayern Munich
12:00 AM
sPoRTs SThursday, 2 May, 2013
18“Ivo did not have a stroke, as some outlets have stated;
rather, he has viral meningitis, We ask for privacy
during his recovery process — Ivo Karlovic wife Alsi
wAtCh It LIve
inter schoolBlind cricKetFroM todayLAHORE: Pakistan Blind Cricket Council is
using the Cricket as an effective tool for
the capacity building and social inclusion
of visually impaired and taking measures
to develop the game at grass-roots level
by focusing the Schools (Educational
Institutes) of the visually challenged. To
achieve this envisioned goal, Pakistan
Blind Cricket Council is conducting “PBCC
Inter-School Blind Cricket Tournament,
from May 2 to 6 at Quaid-e-Azam
University Cricket Ground Islamabad. The
inauguration ceremony of the aforesaid
event will take place at 1100 hrs on dated
May 2 at Quaid-e-Azam University Cricket
Ground Islamabad.
RAVI CLUB BEAT SIALKOT FAMILIA
IN WOMEN INTER-CLUB CRICKET:
Ravi Club beat Sialkot Familia by 58 runs
in the All Pakistan Inter Club T-20 Women
Cricket Tournament here at the Kinnaird
Ground on Wednesday. Ravi club made
136 in 20 overs. Farah Naeem 27, Hina
Azam 24, Hafsa Amjad 21 and Ayesha
Naz 31.Iqra Nawaz, Saba Sardar, Irum
Butt and Zeba Manzoor shared one wicket
each. Sialkot Famalia 78 all out in 16.4
overs. Asma Sikandar 38, Anum Zahra
14. Hafsa was declared the player of the
match. Earlier, Shah Faisal Club beat
Familia Sialkot by 56 runs at Kinnared
College Lahore. Shah Faisal Club batting
first 189/2 after 20 overs. Nida Dar
batted well 63, Maryam Hassan 64, Sania
Khan 35 & Zeenat Khan 13 runs. Sialkot
Club bowling Iqra Nawaz 1/26 & Zeba
Manzoor 1/32 wickets. In reply Familia
Club Sialkot 133/5 after 20 overs. Saba
Manzoor batted well 62, Asma Sikandar
29 & Anjum Zahra 22 runs. Shah Faisal
Club bowling Maryam Hassan 1/8, Saba
Nadir 1/8 & Sania Khan 1/29 wickets.
Qaisar Waheed, Saifullah Umpire & Waqar
Ahmad was the scorer. Later Chief Guest
Miss Hallen Khokhar gave away man of
the match award to Nida Dar. Miss
Nosheen Hanif, Amer Ilyas Butt, Modood
Jafri & Ahsan Butt is also present.
NATIONAL GYM IN 3RD ROUND:
National Gym has qualified for 3rd round of
10 M Siddiq Memorial cricket event when
they beat Dawn Club by 40 runs played at
Mehran Block ground the otherday. Scores:
National Gym 222/6 in 20 overs. Farukh Ali 132,
Waqas Ahmed 11, M Mohsin 23, Ihsan Ali 24, Babar
Wato 19. Ali Azhar 2/28, Ali Sultan 2/25, Hafiz
Umer 1/42, Hamza 1/16. Dawn Club 182 all out in
20 overs. Waleed 42, Rohail 13, Rehan 30, M Umair
31, Hamza 10, Ali Sultan 26. Musadaq ishaq 4/27,
Waqas Ahmed 2/29, Habib 3/17, Kamran 1/33.
WAHDAT EAGLETS DOWN TAUSEEF
CLUB: Wahdat Eaglets has entered into
the 2nd round of 16th Tauseef Trophy
cricket championship when they beat
Tauseef Club by 42 runs played at Model
Town greens ground. Scores: Wahdat Eaglets
180 all out. HAris Nazar 75, Waheed 19, M ALi
Shah 16, Zaheer siddiq 19. Israr Baig 2/22, M ALi
Rana 2/41, Sher Baz Khan 2/35, Awais Manoor
2/37, Mohsin Agha 1/45. Tauseef Club 138 all out.
Sher Baz Khan 44, Ibrar Baig 39, Waqas Khan 14.
Ali Tipu Sultan 3/17, M Ali Shah 3/41, M Asghar
2/19, Zaheer Siddiq 2/8
GHARI SHAHO GYM ADVANCE: Garhi
Shaho Gym has advanced into the next
round of 28th M Yaseen Akhter Memorial
cricket event when they beat Township
Whites by 13 runs played at Township
ground . Scores: Ghari Shaho Gym 112 all out.
Zafar Gohar 20, Asif Gondal 15, Shoaib
Muhammad 25, Zeeshan Akram 14. Qaiser Khan
2/31, Sharif 2/14, Saleem 2/17, Zafar 3/19.
Township Whites 99 all out in 19.2 overs. Saeed
42, Kamran 13, NAdeem 14. Raja Farzan 5/17,
Qasim 2/13, Saleem 1/13, Zafar 1/18, Asif
Gondal 1/14. STAFF REPORT
LoCAL News
NEW yORK
AGENCIES
Vijay Singh has been cleared ofdoping by the US PGA Tourdespite admitting that he used aspray containing elements of abanned substance.
Although he never failed adrugs test, Singh was deemed tohave breached golf’s rules ondoping when he told SportsIllustrated earlier this year he hadused deer antler spray.
The spray was found to havecontained small extracts of IGF-1, a growth hormone on theWorld Anti-Doping Agency’s listof prohibited substances. The USPGA Tour imposed a sanction onSingh following his admissionbut the Fijian appealed, saying hewas unaware the spray containedany banned substances.
He was later cleared whenWADA informed the US Tour theuse of deer antler spray was notprohibited unless a positive test
resulted. “Based on this newinformation, and given WADA’slead role in interpreting theProhibited List, the Tour deemedit only fair to no longer treat Mr.Singh’s use of deer antler spray asa violation of the Tour’s anti-doping program,” the US Toursaid in a statement .
“Since his initial quote wasmade public, Mr. Singh hascooperated with the Tourinvestigation and has beencompletely forthcoming andhonest. “While there was noreason to believe that Mr. Singhknowingly took a prohibitedsubstance, the US Tour Anti-Doping Program clearly statesthat players are responsible foruse of a prohibited substanceregardless of intent.” Singh, 50,was ranked number one in theworld on three separate occasionsbetween 2004 and 2005. He alsowon three Majors: the 2000Masters and the 1998 and 2004US PGA Championships.
sUBoticlooking forward to‘biggest career game’
MADRID
AGENCIES
BORUSSIA Dortmund defender Neven Subotic was a relieved man after theyweathered a late Real Madrid onslaught to reach the Champions League final andset up the biggest game of his life. The German side nearly paid the price formissing several chances at the Bernabeu but held on for a 4-3 aggregate win despitelosing 2-0 after conceding late goals on Tuesday and could feature in an all-German
showpiece at Wembley on May 25. “I don’t care who weplay in the final, I relish the challenge of facingeither Bayern Munich or Barcelona in Londonbecause it will be by some way the biggestgame of my career,” the 24-year-oldSerbia international told Reuters. With a4-1 first-leg lead, Dortmund seemed tobe cruising until Karim Benzema struckin the 83rd minute and Sergio Ramosscored five minutes later to set up afrantic finish. “We lost our focus in thelast 10 minutes and we were also luckynot to fall behind on the night in theopening quarter of an hour but overall Ithink we deserved our 4-3 aggregate win,”said Subotic. “We should have put at leastone away when it was 0-0 here and thatwould have definitely sealed the tie but in theend we are in the final and it’s all that matters,”he added. The centre back, who hardly put afoot wrong before Dortmund wererattled and forced to hang on bytheir fingernails against JoseMourinho’s side, said his team’sindustrious approach paid offagainst the nine-timeEuropean Cup winners. “Wemay not be the mostentertaining team in theworld but there isnowhere I wouldrather playbecause this is ahard-workingoutfit whereplayers put theirbodies on the line foreach other. “Wealways knew Realwere a classy outfitwho could move theball aroundseamlessly butalthough they had morechances... we had thebetter chances to score.”This season’s Bundesligachampions Bayern carry a 4-0 first-leglead into their semi-final return againstBarcelona at the Nou Camp onWednesday as they chase a treble.
singh cleared of doping after deer antler spray admission
Mayweather eyes fight in britainLONDON: Floyd Mayweather Junioris keen to stage a bout in the UK in thenext 18 months, according to hisadvisor. Mayweather, boasting a 43-0career record and fighting RobertGuerrero on May 4, could, dependingon results, take on Amir Khan in astadium venue in the summer of 2014.A fight has long been mooted betweenthe two, but would be dependent onKhan restoring his reputation in thedivision. The Bolton-born fighter islikely to face the winner of a proposedbout between Lamont Peterson andDanny Garcia at the end of the year.Regardless of opponent, though,Mayweather appears keen to perform in
front of a UK audience. His advisor Leonard Ellerbe said: “Floyd cannot waituntil we can come over there and give the UK fans a big, big fight. “Floyd has atremendous fan base in the UK and we’re looking at working on somethingnow where he’s going to come over there. “Ever since the Ricky Hatton fightback in 2007, UK fans have been very loyal to Floyd and he definitelyacknowledges that and he wants to bring a big, big event to the UK. “There’sdefinitely a very strong possibility that Floyd will fight in the UK. We’ll seehow this thing plays out, his focus is Saturday night and then we’ll go fromthere. “But we’re definitely going to bring a big, big event to the UK.” AGENCIES
KHI 02-05-2013_Layout 1 5/2/2013 2:39 AM Page 19
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad.
Thursday, 02 May, 2013
KABuL
NNI
BRITISH intelligence agency MI6has also revealed that it providedmoney to the office of Afghan pres-ident albeit on a much smaller scale.
A report published by The Guardian, afterdaily New York Times suggested that the USintelligence agency had funded the presidentin large amounts, revealed that British SecretIntelligence Service – known as the MI6 –gave secret money to the president ofAfghanistan, Hamid Karzai, for influence.
“Sources said the MI6 aid was on asmaller scale, and much of it was focusedon trying to promote meetings betweenKarzai’s government and Taliban interme-diaries, as was embarrassingly the case in2010 when MI6 discovered a would-be Tal-iban leader in talks with Karzai was an im-postor from the Pakistani city of Quetta,”the British newspaper wrote.
The Afghan Presidential Palace had de-nied allegations that it had received fundsfrom the US Central Intelligence Agency(CIA). President Karzai has said that most ofsuch money had been spent for the office ofnational security advisor as well as for casesincluding operations, helping out the injured,
providing health services, and paying houserents within the government’s frame.
National security advisor Dr RanginDadfar Spanta told TOLONews that themoney was provided to the office of Presi-dent Karzai for operational purposes,stressing that he had no information on thesource and the amount of money, and onhow it was spent.
Former Afghan minister of commerceand industries Amin Farhang said that theAfghan government should respond forwhere this money was spent.
“When I was serving for the govern-ment, I was aware that the British intelli-gence agency was giving money toNational Security Council,” he said.
Afghan pundits have also said the cir-cumstances of spending such large amountsof money should be clarified.
“This harms Afghanistan’s sover-eignty,” said Abbas Noyan, political expert,“The government of Afghanistan shouldmake it clear for the people, where all thismoney was spent.”
Meanwhile, the National Front ofAfghanistan has released a statement, ask-ing President Karzai for accountability andclarification of “illegitimate” money fromthe intelligence agencies.
The amount of money CIA and MI6have provided to Karzai’s office, and whatthe intelligence agencies gained in returnare not yet clear.
Reports have suggested that the maingoal for CIA and MI6 to pay such moneywas to keep access to President Karzai andinternal circle of the Afghan government.
Mi6 paid the afghan president as well!
KABUL: Afghan senators, in reaction to
remarks by the Afghan president
confirming receiving cash from CIA,
said that “the president has violated
national sovereignty and the country’s
constitution.” The head of the Afghan
senate house also said that the foreign
media was trying to mislead the Afghan
public by releasing such stories ahead
of signing the bilateral security
agreement between the US and
Afghanistan. “Such kind of money has
been given since 11 years ago. Why
didn’t the foreign media release any
report on it? What this report aims is
misleading the public and
inconsideration towards President
Karzai’s demands for signing the
security agreement,” said Fazlulhadi
Muslimyar, head of the senate. Senator
Rafiullah Haidari said, “Why wasn’t it
revealed in the past years that the CIA
paid cash to the presidency? The aim
behind such reports is clear; the foreign
media wants to make problems in
Afghanistan in the interests of their
countries.” The Afghan senators
suggested that the people of
Afghanistan should be enlightened on
how the funds from CIA were spent.
“Receiving CIA money by the
presidency is an insult to the country
and it’s a national betrayal. This issue
should be clarified,” said Senator
Hedayatullah Rahayee. The given cash
is illegal, the senators said, pointing out
that the issue is raising many
questions. “The president has confirmed
that he had received the money from
the CIA. The country’s first man should
be committed to the constitution.
Receiving this money is violating the
constitution,” Senator Ali Akbar
Jamshidi said. NNI
Karzai violated national sovereigntyby receiving CIA money: senators
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
Sarabjit Singh, an Indian spyconvicted of carrying out mul-tiple bombings in Pakistan,passed away at Jinnah Hospi-tal late on Wednesday night.
Sarabjit was critically in-jured in a brawl with two fel-low inmates at Kot LakhpatJail a couple of days ago. Hewas imprisoned in Pakistansince 1990. The spy breathedhis last just as his family re-turned to India via the WagahBorder earlier in the day afterdoctors told them that Sarab-jit was “brain dead”.
A visibly distraught Sarab-jit’s sister Dalbir Kaur told re-porters at Wagah border that
she was returning to India totake care of Sarabjit’s children.She demanded that Pakistanshould hold an enquiry as tohow Sarabjit’s security wascompromised and he was sub-sequently attacked with bricksand iron rods. “If the attack wasplanned by the government it-
self then there is no need for anenquiry. But if Sarabjit was at-tacked without the knowledgeof the authorities then an en-quiry is definitely needed.” In ameeting with the Pakistan’sForeign Secretary on Wednes-day, the Indian High Commis-sioner had requested thatSarabjit Singh be immediatelyreleased on “humanitarian andsympathetic” grounds. Indiaalso proposed that Pakistancould also send Sarabjit to athird country for medical treat-ment. “We are concerned at thecondition of Sarabjit Singh in-dicated by reports made avail-able by doctors treating him inJinnah Hospital,” a statementissued by the Indian ExternalAffairs Ministry had said.
MONITORING DESK
At least five prisoners are being inter-rogated for planning attacks on armyconvoys and senior military officers.
According to a report publishedby BBC Urdu, a civilian intelligenceagency has shifted the five prisoners,detained at Bahawalpur and Adialaprisons for the past three years, to un-known locations for investigation.
The detainees are suspected ofhaving links with the outlawedTehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) andthe feared Ghazi Force militant groups.
According to the BBC report, theprisoners are being probed for in-volvement in plots to attack military
targets, as well as conspiring to abductsenior military officials and their fam-ily members. Sources told BBC thatthe suspects were picked up for com-municating with their partners in Mi-ranshah and Kohat.
The suspects were allegedly issu-ing directions to coordinate attacks onthe military and paramilitary forces.
Last year, a brazen attack on thecentral jail in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’sBannu district had resulted in the es-cape of over 300 prisoners.
The freed inmates also includedAdnan Rasheed, a high profile mili-tant and the main suspect in a terroristattack on former president General (r)Pervez Musharraf.
ISLAMABAD
APP
Britain on Wednesday announced its electionobserver mission for the upcoming elections onMay 11 in Pakistan. British High Commis-sioner Adam Thomson, announcing the 25-member UK mission in Islamabad, said,“Credible and acceptable elections on May 11are of tremendous importance not only for Pak-istan but also for United Kingdom.”
Thomson said, “Elections 2013 are theclearest opportunity Pakistan has to consoli-date and deepen its democracy.”
The commissioner expressed concern overthe recent spate of pre-poll violence and con-
demned the incidents. ”UK believes that the vi-olence must not, definitely will not derail theseelection process or reduce their credibility, andeven contemplate delaying in the election.”
“We do not believe, it (violence) will notbe contemplated because for Pakistan delayingelections in the face of terrorist activities, weare very clear that their aim is to destroydemocracy in this country and it will be victoryfor handful terrorists and it will be difficult tohold elections in future.”
The British diplomat guaranteed that theUK observers will adhere to Pakistani lawsand comply with the code of conduct for ob-servers as issued by the Election Commissionof Pakistan (ECP).
earthquake hitsparts of the country
LAHORE
STAFF REPORT
An earthquake was felt in parts of thecountry on Wednesday, including La-hore, Abbottabad, Peshawar, Narowal,Sheikhpura, Faisalabad and Kashmir.
The quake’s magnitude wasrecorded 5.8 on the Richter scale. Itsepicentre lay in eastern Kashmir, some243 kilometres from Islamabad. It wasalso felt in parts of India.
Earlier in April, a major earthquakethat struck a region near the Iran-Pak-istan border, killed at least 34 people inPakistan’s southwestern Balochistanprovince. The worst-hit areas from the7.8 magnitude quake were reported to beclose to the Pakistan-Iran border.
The country experienced its worstearthquake in 2005 earthquake in whichmore than 73,000 died.
Five inmates detained forplotting attacks on army
‘Critically injured’ Indianspy Sarabjit passes away
UK does not believe violence will delay polls
ABBOTTABAD: Childrenplay cricket on the demolished compound of alQaeda leader Osama BinLaden on the eve of his 2nddeath anniversary. ONLINE
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