e-paper pakistantoday isb 16th january, 2012

Pervez Musharrafopen to alliancewith Imran Khan

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Pakistan and England to renew rivalry in desert

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pakistantoday.com.pkrs15.00 Vol ii no 200 22 pages islamabad — peshawar edition monday, 16 january, 2012 safar 21, 1433

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AG writes to embassy in US tolocate Haqqani’sphones

ISLAMABAD TAhiR niAZ

As the three-member judicial commissionto probe the memo issue meets here today,Attorney General (AG) Maulvi AnwarulHaq has asked Pakistan’s embassy inWashington to locate the BlackBerrysmartphones of former ambassadorHusain Haqqani and send them toPakistan. “The Attorney General haswritten a letter to Pakistan’s embassy inWashington on behalf of Husain Haqqanito locate his BlackBerry sets and we arewaiting for the response from the UnitedStates,” a source close to Haqqani toldPakistan Today on Sunday. On January 9,Haqqani had told the commission that hewas unaware of the location of thecommunication devices and they might besomewhere in Washington. The source saidas Pakistan-American businessmanMansoor Ijaz seemed reluctant to face thecommission and answer the queries fromHaqqani’s lawyers, the legal team of theformer ambassador would ask the three-member commission today to wrap up theinvestigation. He said it seemed that theaccuser had failed to substantiate theallegations levelled against the formerambassador and the petitions were nothingbut political point-scoring maneuvers oftheir movers. Whether Ijaz has arrived inPakistan or will do so in the near futurestill remains a mystery. His lawyer, AkramSheikh, did not comment on the matter.“Why do you ask me this particularquestion?” he said. During the previoushearing, the commission had directedPakistan’s embassy in Bern (Switzerland)and High Commission in London to issue amultiple-entry visa to Ijaz as soon as

ISLAMABADAgEnciES

PRIMe Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-lani on Sunday rejected a de-mand by Chief of Army StaffGeneral Ashfaq Parvez Kayanithat he clarify or retract his criti-

cism of the army and the Inter-Services In-telligence (ISI), saying he was not answerableto an individual but to parliament alone.

“I am definitely answerable as Article 91of the constitution states that the prime min-ister, ministers and ministers of state are an-swerable to parliament. If anyone has anycomplaints, I will not answer to any individ-ual as I am answerable to parliament,” hesaid. “Whenever parliament wants, I canpresent my viewpoint before parliament,” headded. In an interview with Chinese media

last week, Gilani criticised General Kayaniand ISI Director General Lt General AhmadShuja Pasha for submitting their replies tothe supreme court in the memo case. He saidthe filings were “unconstitutional”, infuriat-ing the military’s high command, who issueda stern press release in response. Gilani’scomments were in response to a journalist’squestion about media reports on Saturdaynight that Gen Kayani was infuriated by Gi-lani’s criticisms. The army chief complainedto President Asif Ali Zardari and demandedthat Gilani’s comments be clarified or with-drawn, a military source told Reuters on Sat-urday. Gilani, however, showed no signs ofbacking down. “What I said was not an ac-cusation,” he told reporters.

Answerable to parliament, not individuals: PMg Gilani says legal,

constitutionalattempts to bringnew prime ministerare welcome

g Denies presidentsought explanationor asked him toretract commentsagainst army

MULTANAgEnciES

A homemade bomb exploded on Sun-day near a Shia procession marking thechehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA)in Khanpur, killing 18 people andwounding 30, police officials said.

The remote-controlled bomb wasplanted near an electric pole, said So-hail Zafar, Rahim Yar Khan district po-lice officer. He said it was set off as theprocession approached. “There was aloud explosion a few yards from theprocession and we all scrambled to getaway,” said Imran Iqbal, a mourner.“Debris was everywhere, and a cloud ofdust engulfed us. Many people died onthe spot.” Shias are often attacked by

militant groups who consider themapostates. Rescue teams rushed to thescene and started moving the bodiesand injured to hospitals while the secu-rity men cordoned off the area.

At least 30 injured were shifted tothe Sheikh Zayed Hospital in RahimYar Khan, medical officials said. Pun-jab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah saidthe provincial government wasclosely monitoring the situation. Hesaid Punjab Chief Minister ShahbazSharif was in contact with authoritiesand had ordered a quick investigationinto the incident. No group claimedimmediate responsibility for the car-nage. Mohammad Mushtaq, a seniorgovernment official, told a private TVchannel that 16 people had been

killed and 20 injured. “We are tryingto calm the situation,” Mushtaq said,after angry and tearful marchers at-tacked a police station.

“We have talked with their leadersand the situation is now under control,”DPO Zafar said. Nabeela Ghazanfar, aspokesman for Punjab police, said 25people had been injured in the bombblast. There had been confusion at firstabout the cause of the explosion, withone senior police official, Abid Qadri,saying it was caused when a flag fromthe procession hit a power wire. Fin-gers were pointed at fanatics in Pak-istan after an unprecedented bombattack targeting Shias on December 6in the neighbouring Afghanistan killedmore than 80 people.

18 killed in blast at Khanpur Shia processiong More than 30 injured g angry mourners attack police station

KhAnPuR: A man injured in a bomb attack on a Shia procession is taken to hospital on Sunday. The homemade bomb exploded near the procession, killing 18 people. REUTERS

No embezzlementcharges against QureshiISLAMABAD: This is to clarify that NationalSchool of Public Policy Rector and formerestablishment secretary Ismail Qureshi wasnot involved in any embezzlement asmistakenly referred to in a report carried byPakistan Today the other day. No such chargeexists against him at all. PRESS RElEaSE

Hakimullah Mehsudpossibly killedISLAMABAD: Intercepted militant radiocommunications indicate that HakimullahMehsud, the leader of the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP), may have been killed in a re-cent US drone strike, Pakistani intelligence of-ficials said on Sunday, but a Taliban officialdenied the report. The claim that the TTP chiefwas killed came from officials who said theyintercepted a number of Taliban radio conver-sations. In about a half a dozen intercepts, themilitants discussed whether Mehsud waskilled on January 12 in North Waziristan.Some militants confirmed Mehsud was dead,and one criticised others for talking about theissue over the radio. The officials spoke oncondition of anonymity because they were notauthorised to talk to reporters. Pakistani Tal-iban spokesman Asimullah Mehsud deniedthe group’s leader was killed and said he wasnot in the area where the drone strike oc-curred. In early 2010, both Pakistani andAmerican officials said they believed a missilestrike had killed Hakimullah along the borderof North and South Waziristan. They wereproved wrong when videos appeared showinghim still alive. REUTERS

ISLAMABADSTAFF REPORT

Today looks to be a stormy day for thegovernment as the Supreme Court takesup the National Reconciliation Ordinance(NRO) implementation case, the three-member judicial commission resumes itsprobe into the memo controversy and theopposition is set to resist the unanimouspassage of the resolution the rulingcoalition had tabled in the NationalAssembly amidst the government’s tenserelations with the army and judiciary.Though Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani had made an effort to normalise

the situation with the army at theDefence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC)in the presence of the top militaryleadership by saying that all institutionsneeded to work within their respectivedomains with respect to each other, thecriticism of his statement to a Chinesenewspaper about two top generals fromvarious quarters continues to keep thetension on a high scale. Beset withpressures from all sides, a generally cool-headed prime minister finally on Sundayclearly spoke his mind that he

For the govt, today is a stormy day

meeting of Coalition partners today | page 04

Continued on page 04

zardari meets shujaat, elahi | page 04



THE DIRTY PICTUREsweeps top honours atColors Screen Awards

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02Monday, 16 January, 2012

News

Today’s

lookQuick

ISLAMABAD

Story on Page 05

NeWS

Story on Page 09

fOreIgN NeWS

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no respite in gas crisis Malala Yousafzai: voice against tyranny 25 dead as Shia rebels, tribesmen clash in Yemen

ISLAMABADShAiq huSSAin

With the army likely to unveil its detailedresponse to US/NATO inquiry report intothe Salala checkpost attack today (Mon-day), Pakistan has decided to remain firmin its demand from the US and NATO fora public apology over last year’s airstrikeson the two border posts and also that theUS will be asked to pay compensation tothe families of victims if it wanted restora-tion of supplies for its troops stationed inAfghanistan through Pakistani soil.

The Pakistan Army has already re-jected the NATO findings into airstrikeson its border posts in Mohmand Agencyin November last year but a detailed re-sponse on its part is still awaited.

Senior army officials presented thatresponse before the top civilian and mili-tary leaders including Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani and army chief Gen-

eral Ashfaq Kayani in the Defence Com-mittee of Cabinet (DCC) meeting on Sat-urday and it is likely to be made publicthrough the media today. The militaryleadership and civilian leaders in the DCCmeeting also decided to reject the US in-quiry report on grounds that it was notbased on facts and even an official in-volved in unprovoked attack on Pakistaniposts had been given the opportunity torecord his statement as a key witness.

The army report along with recom-mendations of parliamentary committeeon national security (PCNS) are set to beshared with the parliamentarians as wellbefore a resolution on the vital issue ofNATO supplies is presented in the parlia-ment in next few days. “It has been de-cided to give US a chance to come up witha formal public apology and announce-ment of compensation for the victims’families before the resolution is tabled andget approved from the parliament on the

NATO supplies and another contentiousissue of US drone strikes in the TribalAreas,” said a Pakistani official on Sunday,requesting anonymity.

He said the US, in back channel talkswith Pakistani authorities, had already ex-tended assurances that no violation ofPakistan’s sovereignty would be made inthe future and now the resumption ofNATO supplies depended on a formalapology on part of the US and NATO. An-other Pakistani official having knowledgeof behind the scene US efforts for normal-isation of ties with Islamabad said thatdrone attacks had been a very complicatedmatter and it was still an issue that neededto be worked out on part of Pakistani au-thorities. He said there was a possibilitythat some understanding would bereached with the US on very limited droneattacks in the future and that too in accor-dance with the intelligence informationprovided by Pakistani officials.

‘PPP trying to use parliament

to confront institutions’LAhore: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is trying to useparliament for confronting state institutions but we will neverallow it to succeed, Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif said on Sunday.In a statement, Shahbaz said that the ruling group was askingfor trouble by adopting the way of confrontation with nationalinstitutions such as the army and judiciary. He said that thePM’s ‘anti-army’ statement was part of the PPP’s campaign. “Ibelieve that the extremely irresponsible and condemnablestatement has been issued on the behest of President Zardari. Idemand that Prime Minister Gilani, instead of submittingexplanations, should withdraw it and apologise to the people.The PML-N believe that dictators, who toppled democraticgovernments, both ruined the country and undermined thearmy’s repute and professional abilities. We will not allowanyone to ridicule the army,” he said. STAFF REPORT

Pakistan firm on demand for public

US apology over Salala attackg Islamabad to also ask Washington to pay compensation to families of victims ifit wants restoration of supplies for NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan

NEELUM: A road is covered with snow at Athmuqam. INP

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:22 AM


NewsCOMMeNTnew nadir?

Articles on Page 12-13

Certain things cannot be denied.

lesser PakistanisMedia’s coverage is lopsided.

Kuldip nayar says:Generals in the news: Generals in India and Pakistan need to introspect.

Waqqas Mir says:Criminal silence: Countering hate speech is every Pakistani’s duty.

umair Javed says:The seen and the unseen: Pakistan’s informal economy is too strong.

ArTS & eNTerTAINMeNThugO, Scorsese win nevada Film critics Awards

Story on Page 16

SPOrTSAustralia hammer india to seal series

Story on Page 18

LAHOREnAdEEM SYEd

WITH the civil-military relationsin the country hitting rock bot-tom and intermediaries spring-ing in action to normalise thedeteriorating relations, the

“Minus-One Formula” is back in currency in Is-lamabad’s power corridors and chatteringclasses.

And this time it is not President Asif AliZardari facing the music; it is Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani who finds himself a target ofall sides, including the most powerful militaryestablishment.

Interestingly in the fast changing politicalscene, most political forces put the blame on theprime minister for the present state of affairsand deterioration in relations between the in-cumbent political and military top brass.

Gilani earned the displeasure of the militaryleadership after he made a series of statementsthat hurt the military leadership and its institu-tional interests, the latest being when he ques-tioned the legality of the position taken by thearmy chief and ISI DG before the SupremeCourt in “memogate” scandal while submittingtheir replies.

The top military brass wants the prime min-ister to retract from his recent statements as apre-condition to normalise the relations withthe PPP government. But intriguingly, theprime minister is not ready to give in, let aloneeating his words as being advised to him bysome political quarters.

On Sunday, the prime minister furtherupped the ante when he said that being the rep-resentative of people of Pakistan, he was onlyanswerable to parliament, none other.

Amid soaring tension between the PPP gov-

ernment and military leaders, army chief Gen-eral Kayani met President Asif Zardari the otherday.

It was the first meeting between the twoafter the president’s much-hyped medical treat-ment in the UAe.

Soon after the meeting, a foreign newsagency reported that Kayani asked Zardari thatthe prime minister should clarify his statementin which he called the statements of the armychief and ISI DG unlawful.

It is interesting to note that meeting be-tween Kayani and the president took place afteran emergent meeting of Corps Commandercalled to take stock of the situation in the after-math of prime minister’s recent outbursts.

The sources said the Minus One formularesurfaced soon after the Corps Commander’smeeting. According to the formula, the militaryestablishment is ready to deal with the presentpolitical set up led by the PPP and play ball withit until the next elections, but without the in-cumbent chief executive.

On the other hand, the prime minister is notready to give in as his partners in the parlia-ment and party seem firm in his support.

The minus-one formula had made roundsacross the country earlier as well, but PresidentZardari had been part of the problem then.

Sources in the PPP maintain that at thisstage, it would not be possible for the party orZardari to go after Gilani to appease the mili-tary.

Political analysts say the emergence of theformula could be a pressure tactic on part of themilitary establishment to tame an increasinglyassertive prime minister.

The sources said a meeting between Gilaniand Kayani was expected early this week in thePresidency to settle the differences between thetwo sides.

‘Minus-one formula’back in currencyg guns turn from president to prime minister as the military plays hardball by reviving the minus-one forumula

QUETTAinP

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chair-man Imran Khan said on Sunday thatif the government was truly demo-cratic, it would have held elections bynow.

During an address in Quetta,Imran Khan said that if the currentgovernment had came into powerthrough the people and not the NRO,then it would have held elections by

now. Quoting the Supreme Court’searlier statement about Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gilani was a “dishonestperson”, the PTI chief said Gilani is“shameless”. “If Gilani had someshame, then he would have held elec-tions. There is a lack of shame,” ImranKhan said.

Imran added that the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)should resign from the National As-sembly and Punjab Assembly seats if itthinks that the government is destroy-

ing the country. Imran Khan said that the Pakistan

People’s Party (PPP) and PML-N werenot “ideological parties” but the ma-jority of their members were “oppor-tunists”. “I predict that they will notresign from the Punjab Assembly, evenif they resign from the National As-sembly,” he said.

Separately, addressing a publicmeeting at Kahuta, Imran Khan saidthe incumbent government could notresolve any issue because it itself was

a problem for the country. He said thePTI’s tsunami will wash away all plun-derers from the country.

Criticising PML-N’s role as opposi-tion, he said that “every other dayPML-N calls a drama All Parties Con-ference and if it really want to oust thegovernment it should resign from theNational Assembly.

earlier, former Tehsil nazim TariqMurtaza and 40 other former nazimsand naib nazims announced they willjoin PTI.

ISLAMABADOnlinE

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday is-sued schedules to holdgatherings in Sindh, Balochistanand South Punjab to reorganisethe party.

According to sources, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif wouldaddress the gatherings. Theparty also issued the schedule ofgatherings for the next twomonths. Sources said that Nawazdirected party leaders belongingto Sindh and Balochistan to ex-pedite their efforts to bring back

the angry leaders and workersback into the mainstream.Nawaz had started political ac-tivities in South Punjab and thePML-N would organise a gather-ing in Multan on February 3. Theparty would also announce de-velopment projects in downtrod-den areas, sources said.

PPP govt has failedto deliver: MunawarISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Munawar Hasan onSunday said that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) governmenthas failed to deliver during the last four years and put the countryin the middle of numerous internal and foreign challenges. Ad-dressing a public gathering at G/9 Markaz, Munawar said, “ThePPP has come into power for five times and every time it put thesovereignty of the country in danger. The need of the hour is tobring a revolution before next general elections.” He said no oneis ready to invest in Pakistan since gas outages have ruined indus-tries and forced poor into starvation. “If people want to get rid ofpoverty, unemployment and American slavery, they will have tosupport our struggle against corrupt leaders,” he said. He allegedthe government issued 7,000 illegal visas to Americans who ig-nited terrorism in the country, adding that chain of drone attackshas started again. He asked the army chief that if the army haspower to attack on drones so why does it refrain from doing so?“Without bringing revolution, fair elections are not possible. In 65years, each time feudal lords and robbers have come into powerthrough elections,” he said. Criticizing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, he said Zardaricome into power with support of Nawaz. “The PML-N chief gaveZardari the opportunity to put the country on verge of collapse andis equally responsible for the deteriorating condition of the coun-try,” he said. Other JI leaders participated in the gathering andurged the incumbent government to ensure the availability of gasand electricity or resign at once. STAFF REPORT

LAhore: Arfa Kareem was laid to reston Sunday in the graveyard of hervillage Raam Devali, near Faisalabad,leaving people saddened across thecountry. earlier in the day, the funeralprayers of the deceased were offered atKhalid Mosque, Cavalary Ground. Thefuneral was attended by Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif, a largenumber of political leaders, armyofficers and people from all walks oflife. The dead body of the IT genius,wrapped in the national flag, was takento Faisalabad, where scores of peopleattended the funeral prayers in DGround. After the funeral prayers, thebody was brought to Raam Devalithrough an ambulance for the burial.Many people, including the class fellowsof Arfa, had gathered in her home,wishing to see her last sight. The demiseof Arfa set off a wave of grief in thecountry and among her fans across theworld. Prime Minster Yousaf RazaGilani, President Asif Ali Zardari, chiefministers and governors of all provincesand other leaders paid tribute to herand offered their condolences to thebereaved family. Talking to reporters,Arfa’s father, Col Amjad KareemRandhawa, said he was proud of hisdaughter, who would never die from thehearts of the people, which is why hewas not grieved. The two IT projects ofthe country, one in Lahore and anotherin Karachi, have been named after thechild tech prodigy. Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif announced toname the Lahore InformationTechnology Park after Arfa Kareem andthat the parents of Arfa would be thechief guests of the laptop distributionceremony amongst students. Similarly,Sindh IT Minister Mohammad RazaHaroon announced to dedicate the ITMedia City in Karachi to Arfa’s memory.“The City shall be referred to as ArfaKarim IT Media City, Karachi,” said astatement. STAFF REPORT

rIP, Arfa

Government lacks shame: Imran Khan

PMl-N to hold gatherings in

Sindh, Balochistan, South Punjab

Today’s

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News

LAHORE YASiR hAbib

HA V I N Gs l e e p l e s snights, thePML-N isdesperately

praying for a hard-hittingverdict by the judiciary onNRO and the memo scandalin order to find a powerfulimpetus to help form alethal and much-awaited“grand opposition alliance”as the last straw to nail thegovernment.

The PML-N leadershipbelieves that in absence of apotential military coup, alleyes were expecting a grandalliance, but it formationhinged on the judiciary’shard action against the gov-ernment, which is presentlyshowing a complete defi-ance of court orders.

Nawaz’s team believesthat a relentless decision,unacceptable to the PPPgovernment, will unleash afinal confrontation between

the Supreme Court and theZardari regime and will inturn give a forceful stimulusto political parties withinand out of parliament toforge a lethal allianceagainst the rulers.

Sources close to PML-NPresident Nawaz Sharif saidall political parties, whetherallies of the government orfriends of the opposition,still saw a silver lining andbelieved that the PPP wouldget out of the perilous situa-tion, as it earlier didsmartly, or would dissolvethe government to quell thetwisting crisis.

“The undying sense ofbelievability is throwing thespanner in the work,”sources revealed. “Despitethree hours of brainstorm-ing session with oppositionparties by the PML-N Presi-dent Nawaz and acceleratedback channel talks with theMQM, ANP and PML-Q, wefailed to make any headwayin forming a grand alliance.”

A PML-N senior leader

said in fact all of the partiesheld their cards close to thechest in expectation of afinal movement by the judi-ciary.

“The decisive dice willbe rolled after the courtcomes up with a strict orderand the government’s ex-pected defiance will justifyfull public support, as wellas that of other institutions,to form a grand oppositionalliance to oust the govern-ment,” he said.

Despite the tense situa-tion, the PML-N leader saidthe prevailing notion wasthat the judiciary and mili-tary, come what may, wouldnot bury the government.

In such a scenario, alleyes were set on politicalforces, especially the MQMand PML-Q, to join thegrand opposition alliance(GOA) to settle the crisis.

“We desperately want anopposition alliance as it isthe only way to halt the Sen-ate election, which the partybelieves are not in any polit-

ical party’s favour. If theSenate elections are held,the sheer gain would fallinto PPP’s lap,” anotherparty stalwart said.

PML-N Secretary Infor-mation Mushahid UllahKhan told Pakistan Todaythat the formation of agrand opposition alliancewas an uphill task. “everypolitical party has its ownagenda and interest andoften it is very difficult toagree on minimum terms.What could help them tounite is a forceful drivingforce, like the one gainedduring the judiciary move-ment after Musharrafsacked the apex courtjudges,” he said. “everyoneis again looking at the judi-ciary to do the same.”

About PML-Q PresidentChaudhry Shujaat’s offer fora grand alliance, he said theparty was in contact with thePML-Q on a parliamentarylevel and former talks couldbe held after deciding on themodalities of negotiations.

PML-N looks to the judiciary tohelp form grand Opp alliance

“We want there to be respectfor the constitution, rule oflaw, and all institutions towork within their limits. Isaid just one thing, thatrules and procedures werenot followed. And that wasthe defence secretary’s fault,for which we removed himfrom his post,” he added.Asked about reports that hemight be removed from thepost of prime minister be-cause of the standoff withthe military, Gilani said hewanted to see parliamentcomplete its five-year termbut had never spoken ofsticking to his post.

“I have never said I willremain prime minister for

five years. But I have defi-nitely said that parliamentwill complete its term andpeople have chosen this par-liament for five years,” hesaid. “It is necessary for par-liament to remain for fiveyears, it is not necessary forthe prime minister to re-main for five years. If some-one wants to bring a newprime minister according tothe constitution and proce-dures, we will welcome it,”said Gilani. The prime min-ister also dismissed reportsthat President Zardari hadsought an explanation orasked him to retract his re-marks, and pointed out thatthe presidency had rejectedthe media reports.

“You are saying therewas talk of an explanation.General Kayani met thepresident and neither younor I was present duringtheir discussions. I canonly accept any statementmade by the president. Thepresident has rejected re-ports that he had sought anexplanation from me orthat I take back my state-ment,” he said. “I want totell you that I am a repre-sentative of the people, Iam the people’s electedprime minister. I represent180 million people and allinstitutions are workingwithin their domains underthe government,” theprime minister said.

answerable to parliamentContinued from page 1

ISLAMABADMOniTORing dESK/APP

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)will form a commission to as-certain how democratic gov-ernments in Pakistan weretoppled in the past, said Inte-rior Minister Rehman Malikon Sunday, Geo News re-ported.

PIMS inquiry: Separately,chairing a high level meetingto review security and law andorder situation, the Inspector

General of Police Islamabadpresented a preliminary re-port on firing incident at Pak-istan Institute of MedicalSciences (PIMS) in which twowomen were killed. Malik is-sued the suspension order ofrelevant police officials andordered the Chief Commis-sioner Islamabad to conduct amagisterial inquiry on thebasis of preliminary report.Malik said it would investigatehow a criminal under trail wasallowed by PIMS officials to be

admitted in the VIP ward byviolating the prison manual.

Foreign exchange dealers:Separately, Rehman Malik di-rected the FIA to start a crack-down against foreignexchange dealers violatingForeign exchange Act. He waschairing a meeting of repre-sentatives of exchange Com-panies Association of Pakistan(eCAP), Federal InvestigationAgency (FIA) and State Bankof Pakistan (SBP), a press re-lease said.

was only answerable to par-liament and not to any indi-vidual, suggesting that hewould not be coerced to sub-mit to any state institution orits functionaries. What hisdetractors expect is that he,as also reported in a sectionof foreign media, may opt tostep down “in the interest ofthe democratic system”. Butthe insiders say that he willnot give in.

Contrary to the positionthat he has taken, he, how-ever, indicated that he waswilling to mend fences withthe army. His latest state-

ment, which he made in Ve-hari on Sunday, wherein heonce again contradicted hisinterview that had angeredGeneral Ashfaq ParvezKayani, was that no rules ofbusiness had been violated bythe army chief and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) di-rector general (DG) insubmission of their replieswith the Supreme Court inthe memo case. He is also ex-pected to make a surprise ap-pearance in the SupremeCourt to explain his positionon the implementation of theNRO and also complain tothe judges for calling him dis-

honest. The observers opinethat in case the prime minis-ter appears in the SupremeCourt, it will be a strategicmove to ease the tension be-tween him and the judiciary.

However, it will be aneventful day. Though someanalysts continue to paint ableak scenario for the coali-tion government, the army isnot expected to move in andoust the democratic govern-ment as the situation is likelyto be handled politically withthe saner elements playingtheir role to avoid any con-frontation between the civiland military leaderships.

For the govt, todayis a stormy day

Continued from page 1

In the fourth option, thecourt may provide an oppor-tunity to any affected personto be heard before exerciseof any of these options. Asthis option refers to thepresident’s immunity, it canbe interpreted as an oppor-tunity for the court to dis-cuss the legal aspects of theimmunity enjoyed by thepresident.

According to the fifthoption, the court may re-move the NAB chairman,who had failed to take actionagainst the appointment ofAdnan Khwaja as managingdirector of the Oil and GasDevelopment CompanyLimited (OGDCL) in disre-gard of merit and the pro-motion of Ahmed RiazShaikh as additional direc-

tor of the Federal Investiga-tion Agency (FIA) at a timewhen both of them wereconvicted. The NAB chair-man is also under fire for thebureau’s failure to take ac-tion against former attorneygeneral Malik MuhammadQayyum.

The sixth option focusedon the court exercising judi-cial restraint and leaving thematter “to the better judge-ment of the people of thecountry or their representa-tives in parliament”. In thisoption, the court concededthat the constitutional bal-ance was delicately poisedand insistence on the imple-mentation of the judicialverdict would run the risk ofbringing down the constitu-tional structure, so the courtcould exercise restraint.

all eyes on SC as NROdrama nears drop scene


Ag writes to

embassy

he applied, after his lawyertold the commission that hisclient would be available totestify on January 16.Haqqani’s lawyer ZahidBukhari, however, told Pak-istan Today that his clientwould not follow the “in-structions” of Ijaz as he hadasked him to waive his pri-vacy rights with the Canada-based manufacturer ofBlackBerry phones, Re-search In Motion (RIM).“He (Mansoor) should firstsubstantiate his allegationsand then we can considerwaiving the privacy rights,”he added. Haqqani had saidhe might require the gov-ernment’s approval to waivehis privacy rights as he was“bound to observe the Offi-cial Secrets Act”. Whenasked if the commission de-cided to hold the proceed-ings abroad to record theIjaz’s statement, Bukharisaid Haqqani’s legal teamwould vigorously oppose theproposal and first seek timefrom the commission to re-view the decision under theprevailing laws. He said ac-cording to his information,Ijaz had yet not waived hisprivacy rights.

Haqqani’s

lawyer to file

application

against Mansoor


In a bid to restrain the maincharacter of the memo issue,Mansoor Ijaz, from leavingPakistan after coming here,Hussain Haqqani’s lawyerZahid Hussain Bukhari willfile an application before thememo commission today(Monday). According to aprivate TV channel, Bukhariwould contend that if hisclient could stay in Pakistan toappear before the commissionwhy could not Ijaz. Regardingthe information provided tothe commission by theattorney general of Pakistanabout the presence ofBlackberry set of HussainHaqqani in his Washingtonoffice, Bukhari stated that theyhad also sent a letter via theInterior Ministry to thePakistani embassy in the US tofind out the set, so that theycould present the devicebefore the commission.


QUETTAShAhZAdA ZulFiqAR

Unidentified armed menkidnapped four people, in-cluding a bank manager,from Barkhan on Sundaywhile a security guard waskilled in Hub.

According to details,unidentified armed menabducted four people fromRakni area of Barkhan andshifted them to an uniden-tified location. The ab-

ductees were identified asbank manager GhafoorKhan, his colleagues Yasirand Jabar Khan andteacher Shakoor Khan.Levy officials, confirmingthe incident, said that theabductees were travellingin a vehicle from DG Khanto Quetta and abducted inChapar area of Rakni area.

Levies Force, after reg-istering a case, started asearch operation in thearea. No group claimed re-

sponsibility of the abduc-tion until now. In anotherincident, unidentifiedarmed motorcyclists firedat security guard MusaKhan in Jam Colony inHub injuring him criti-cally. He was taken to hos-pital where he succumbedto his injuries. The as-sailants managed to flee.Police registered a caseagainst unidentified peo-ple and have started inves-tigation.

ISLAMABADPRESS RElEASE

President Asif Ali Zardari onSunday met PML-Q leadersChaudhry Shujaat Hussainand Pervez elahi.

The leaders exchangedviews and discussed the cur-rent political situation, conti-nuity of the democraticsystem, parliamentary resolu-tion and Senate elections.

The coalition leaders saidthey were on the same page

regarding the continuity andsolidarity of the democraticsystem. They added thatdemocracy and the politicalsystem would ill get strongerthrough Senate elections. Inthe meeting that continuedfor over two hours, the lead-ership of the two partiesagreed that the parliamentaryresolution would create asense of coordination amongthe institutions. The presi-dent later hosted a dinner forthe PML-Q leaders.

Zardari meets Shujaat, Elahi

PCNS to discuss

memogate ISLAMABAD: The Parlia-mentary Committee on Na-tional security (PCNS) isscheduled to hold its in-cam-era meeting on Monday todiscuss the memogate scan-dal. The meeting, to bepresided over by Senator RazaRabbani, would discuss theinvestigative procedures forthe controversial case and for-mulate recommendations forthe upcoming meeting of theNational Security Committee.Sources said the committeeintended to seek cooperationof relevant ministries and in-stitutions in collecting foren-sic evidence. OnlinE

PM to chair meeting

of coalition partnersISLAMABAD: A meeting ofthe parliamentary committeeof the government’s coalitionpartners will be held with PMGilani and respectiveparliamnetary party heads asjoint chair at the PM’s Houseon Monday at 1pm. Theagenda is the NA session andprogress on the pro-democracy resolution. APP

eMrA president

electedThe electronic MediaReporters Association(eMRA) has elected TanvirShahzad (Deutsche Welle) asits president and MuhammadAsim Naseer (GeO) assecretary general. electionswere conducted under thesupervision of seniorjournalist Mustafa Kamal.Other elected office bearersare: Umer Javaid (DunyaTV) as vice president, andShakil Malik (KTN) asfinance secretary. Membersof the governing bodies of theLahore Press Club, PunjabUnion of Journalists andother media associationscongratulated the newlyelected representatives ofeMRA. PRESS RElEASE

4 people kidnapped in Barkhan

PPP to form ‘Truth and ReconciliationCommission’, says Rehman Malik

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:22 AM

Monday, 16 January, 2012

PAge 07

Panache 5: new one-stopstore in the twin cities

iSlAMAbAd: Vehicles on their way during a heavy rain and low visibility in the capital. STaFF PhOTO

Malik takes notice ofPIMS shootout, orderscop’s suspension


While taking notice of the shootout in Pakistan Institute of MedicalSciences (PIMS) which took lives of two women, Federal InteriorMinister Rehman Malik on Sunday ordered an enquiry into theincident and suspension of the police official who was on duty withthe kidnapper, Rana Sarwart.In the late hours of Saturday, two armed men entered the highsecurity area of the government-run hospital with a motive to attackRana Sarwart, an accused of kidnapping for ransom, who was undertreatment in the hospital. As the accused was admitted to the VIPward next to the ward No 9, the attackers mistakenly attacked theward No 9 and opened indiscriminate fire, resulting in the killing oftwo women, including the establishment Division joint secretary’smother, Saleha Bibi, 93, leaving a question mark on theperformance of the law-enforcement agencies.After the incident, the interior minister ordered an inquiry into theincident from the Islamabad IGP and the chief commissioner. Intheir report, both the high-ups submitted that Rana Sarwart wasunder arrest in a case of kidnapping for ransom. Although he was granted bail from a lower court, the accused wasstill under arrest due to non-submission of surety bonds. Theminister was informed that the court had also directed the police tocarry out trial of the prisoner in jail but it was not understood whyhe was shifted to PIMS. Malik also sought a report from the PIMS administration why theyhad admitted the accused without getting thorough informationabout him. He directed the police high-ups to suspend the officialconcerned for his negligence toward security. However, the police sources said that Rana Muhammad Sarwart wasadmitted to the PIMS on December 13 after he was injured in anattack in the district courts. The accused escaped two attacks andthis was the third attack on him.

RAWALPINDI KAShiF AbbASi

MANY residential areas of the citycontinue to face severe hard-ships due to substantial declinein the gas pressure during theharsh winter season.

The densely populated areas of DhokeKala Khan, Sadiqabad and Dhoke BabuIrfan have been the worst-hit by gas load-shedding, where the size of stove flameshave been reduced to negligible.

These areas are surrounded byseveral CNG stations. During a survey of thesaid areas, Pakistan Today observed thatthere were six CNG stations around DhokeBabu Irfan, 12 around Sadiqabad and threearound Dhoke Kala Khan.

The low gas pressure in these areas havebrought the lives of the people to the stoneage as they have been forced to burn woodon their roofs for cooking.

“We can not even prepare tea on theseflames, we use wood and kerosene oil forcooking meals and tea,” said Ishrat, a resi-dent of Sadiqabad. Low gas pressure usuallytakes its toll after 9:00 am and in mostareas, the situation persists till 11:00 pm.

“Owing to low gas pressure, our childrengo to school without having breakfast. It hasmade our life miserable but our rulers areengaged only in talking about democracy,”

said Naseem, amother of four, whouses wood for fire.

Another house-wife, Shakeela, saidthat women had towait for hours tocook one dish dueto thin flame. Manypeople have beenforced to purchasecooked food frombakeries and hotels,disturbing theirmonthly householdbudgets.

“We are forced toburn fire wood anduse kerosene oil toprovide breakfast toour school-going chil-dren. The wood is beingsold at exorbitant rates andbuying wood on daily basis atsuch high prices consumes a large propor-tion of my budget,” said Asghar Hussain, alow-paid government employee.

During the survey of the area, it was no-ticed that the CNG stations situated close bywere the cause of low gas pressure at homes.When these CNG stations remain closed, thegas pressure returns to normal.

The residents of the area complained

that due to low gaspressure, geyserscould not work effec-tively, making themuseless in the coldweather, when takingbath had become amajor problem forthe people.

Last year too, theconsistent low gaspressures and frequentgas outages had posedserious problems forthe people, who wereunable to cook andproperly heat their

homes during the coldweather. However, it ap-pears that the govern-

ment did not learn anylesson from the last year’s

failure.To cope with the chilly

weather, people are using various sources ofenergy, including firewood, gas cylindersand coal. “We have to use wood and gascylinders to meet our needs but how longwould we afford it? It is a high time for thegovernment to pay heed to our problems,”said Rafiq Khan, expressing the area resi-dents’ demand from the government to re-solve their issue.

No respite in gas crisisg Presence of CNG stations around residential

colonies causes decline in gas pressure g People’s hardships

in the cold weather on the rise

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:22 AM


IslamabadCDA pushes for bylawamendment

ISLAMABADSAlMAn AbbAS

The Capital Development Authority (CDA)is facing problems in getting an approvalfor a summary sent to the law ministry thatwould enable the authority to enter intojoint ventures with private parties toinitiate several projects in the federalcapital. A source in CDA, seekinganonymity, told Pakistan Today that thesummary had been forwarded to the lawministry a few months ago to amend theCDA by-laws and enable the authority tostart development work under publicprivate partnership. The official added thatif the authority was unable to work incollaboration with private landholders, therestriction would allow land grabbers tobenefit from the situation. The CDA officialsaid if the CDA laws were amended, itwould help the common masses to obtainhomes at nominal prices, like the residentsof the Ashiana housing scheme. He statedthat as the civic body was facing severefinancial crisis, it had become difficult forthe authority to initiate costly projects onits own. The source added that theauthority needed joint ventures in land-related projects but also for theconstruction of hotels and commercialplazas to have sustainable sources ofincome. He said the authority had no plansfor 2012 regarding housing developmentwhereas the shortage of housing units hasincreased drastically. However, newhousing projects could be initiated byentering joint ventures. The authority, hesaid, also sought the planningcommission’s consent regardingamendments to the CDA by-laws, to whichthe commission encouraged theamendment process. In the past theauthority had tried to develop the Northernstrip of sector e/11 in a joint venture withthe Multi Professional Cooperative HousingSociety (MPCHS) but the Supreme Courtstopped the authority from doing so bydeclaring it illegal. The court at that timeobserved that Clause (iv) of regulation 4(1)A of the Islamabad Capital Territory(Zoning) Regulation 1992 is inconsistentwith sections 12 and 13 read with section2(a) and (j) and consequently the projectwas rendered inoperative and ineffective.The authority then decided to push foramendments in the laws in this regard.

iSlAMAbAd: Activists of Sunni ulema Youth council protest against uS national Mansoor ijaz outside the national Press club. STaFF PhOTO


THe Allama Iqbal Open Univer-sity (AIOU) will start its admis-sions of matriculation toMA/MSc programmes for SpringSemester 2012 from January 23

across the country, said Admissions Di-rector Syed Zia-ul-Hasnain Naqvi.

Naqvi said admission forms andprospectuses for all programmes beingoffered in Spring Semester 2012 couldbe obtained from the sale points at themain campus, regional campuses andcoordinating offices all over the country.

According to the director admis-

sions, MSc is being offered in mass com-munication, environmental design,mathematics, sociology, physics, statis-tics, chemistry and forestry extension.

Admissions are also being offered toMBA, M.Com, 4-year BS programmes inmicrobiology and chemistry, common-wealth of learning NBA/MPA, MA indistance & non-formal education, sec-ondary teacher education, educationalplanning & management, special educa-tion, library & information sciences andteaching of english as a foreign language(TeFL) while M.ed in distance, non-for-mal and continuing education, second-ary teacher’s education, scienceeducation and special education.

Admissions are also being offered inpostgraduate diploma, environmentaldesign, educational planning and man-agement, mass communication, teach-ing english as a foreign language(TeFL), computer science and youth indevelopment work.

BA, B.Com, BLIS and mass commu-nication are included in bachelor pro-grammes while ATTC and PTC are beingoffered in teachers’ training programme.

FA, I.Com, FSc (pre-engineering),FSc (pre-medical), matric, dars-e-nizami, certificate courses (6-monthduration), agricultural courses (6-month duration), open tech courses andshort terms educational programmes

would also be offered in Spring Semes-ter 2012 which would be started from23rd January.

Director Admissions Syed Zia-ul-Hasnain further said that admissionforms were being sent to the continuingstudents, however, if any student failedto receive the form till 30th January,he/she could download the same fromthe AIOU website www.aiou.edu.pk orobtain it from the nearest regional/co-ordination office of the university anddeposit the same in any designatedbank branch by entering rollnumbers/registration numbers andmobile numbers with fees till due dateto avoid late fee charges.

AIOU admissions to begin from 23rd

Hygiene awareness can save Rs 5b: Plan PakistanISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

As the country goes through severe finan-cial and energy crisis and inability to paythe loan of billion of rupees, the stake-hold-ers of the country could save over five bil-lion rupees by creating awareness about thebenefits of hand-washing as the people inPakistan spend billions of rupees just totreat the diseases caused by lack of hygiene.

This was informed by a panel of PlanPakistan, a non-profit organization, in aninterview with Pakistan Today. Plan-Inter-national, Pakistan Country DirectorRashid Javed, Country Programme Man-ager Imran Shami, Water and SanitationHygiene (WASH) Programme ManagerIslam-ul-Haque, WASH Deputy NationalManager Husnain Kazmi and Advocacyand Communications Coordinator GauharIqbal participated in the penal interview.

“After doing a lot of work in the floodaffected and backward areas of the countryfor creating awareness about cleanlinesswith the help of our strategic and corporatepartners, Plan came to know that insteadof giving aid to the people of these areas forhealth treatments, had the governmenttried to create awareness among themabout cleanliness, billions of rupees couldhave been saved,” said Rashid Javed.

He said that Plan Pakistan’s countrystrategic plan was dedicated to helpingpoor children gain access to their rights,adding that the organization, throughlong-term programmes, works with over100 communities across the country,benefiting about 21,000 children.

Javed said further, “Plan had beenoperating in Pakistan since 1997, helpingmarginalised children to access theirrights to health, education, livelihood and

protection with a strategy to incorporatethe children’s ideas and opinions, alongwith those of other key stakeholders, in-cluding their families, communities, civilsociety organisations, government bodiesand the Plan field staff.”

He said that Plan was assisting thou-sands of families affected by floods inBadin. “Our teams have provided emer-gency shelter, safe water, supplies andchild protection support,” he said.

He said, “Plan- Pakistan, along withother partners, is implementing the earlyRecovery Programme of rural sanitationin 36 flood affected districts, phase II andIII, of Khyber Pakhtunkha, Sindh,Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmirand Gilgit-Baltistan.” Apart from otherprogramme interventions, Javed said thatthe mass awareness campaign was alsoone of the key interventions to influenceand change the behaviour of the targetpopulation related to the WASH project.

Discussing the core objectives ofPlan-Pakistan, he said that Plan’s work inPakistan covers 5 core areas, all of whichwere rooted in the rights of the children,including health, education, livelihood,child and gender rights, disaster risk re-duction and response. “Work continuesin our programme units, which were un-affected by the 2010 floods crisis, includ-ing Chakwal Unit that was formed in1997. In Islamabad, the Urban Pro-gramme Unit was formed in 2003 andworks in the slums of Islamabad andRawalpindi. While in Vehari, borderingthe Southern Punjab, a unit was formedin 2000 and covers the districts of Ve-hari, and Burrewalla,” Javed explained.

Country Programme Manager ImranShami said that as soon as heavy mon-soon rains swamped several communi-

ties, leaving a fifth of the country underwater, Plan provided emergency relief tomore than a quarter of a million people inthe worst-hit areas of Punjab and Sindh.

“Our recovery work with the localpartners has been supporting more than1000,000 people, including helping58,000 children return to school, 20,300children with emotional first aid andlearning activities, 1,000 people withcash-for-work schemes, and over1000,000 people with sanitation projectsin the rural areas,” Shami informed.

WASH Programme Manager Islam-ul-Haque and WASH Deputy National Man-ager Husnain Kazmi said that the heavyrains and floods in late August and early-September had killed around 200 peopleand made 6.8 million people homeless ordisplaced across Pakistan. Out of those af-fected people, 1.8 million of them live in

Badin, the worst-hit region. “Plan, in closeassociation with HANDS and UNICeF,have teamed up to ensure clean water wastrucked in daily to fill water tanks in re-mote villages for people to have clean,drinkable water,” they said.

They said that the Plan-Pakistan putup slogans in Sindhi language of healthawareness in villages and on the radio toeducate people on how to keep them-selves and their neighbourhood clean andin particular how to use the washrooms.

In the immediate aftermath of thefloods, Plan helped provide food, shelter,safe water and places for children to playand heal. Six months on, Plan is helping58,000 children return to school in theSouthern Punjab. Advocacy and Commu-nications Coordinator Gauhar Iqbal saidthat the Plan had given several advertise-ments in the local newspapers of every

area. “We have also distributed pamphletsamong the residents of the flood affectedareas to convince them for ensuringcleanliness in their toilets as well as intheir shelters where they live,” he said.

When asked about the practical stepstaken by the organization, besides creat-ing awareness, Gohar said that the Planhad provided assistance to the concernedauthorities in introducing modern wastewater management projects in variousareas of the country, including Muzaffar-garh, Layyah, Chakwal and Muzaffarabad.

The Plan officials also highlightedthat their organization aimed at estab-lishing wetlands in collaboration with thegovernment to provide people with accessto clean drinking water. The members ofthe panel urged the government authori-ties to coordinate with them in carryingout further projects in this regard.

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:22 AM


Islamabad


The prices of several vegetables andfruits witnessed significant increaseat the city’s Sunday bazaars, as com-pared to the prices from last Sunday.

The price of onion, ladyfinger,bell pepper, bitter gourd and cab-bage recorded a sharp increase.

According to the Sunday bazaar’sprice list, the price of onion in-creased from Rs 40 per kilogrammeto Rs 46, recording and increase ofRs 6 per kg. The price of ladyfingerrecorded an increase of Rs 30 per kg.

Last week, ladyfinger was sold atRs 100 per kg, while this week, it wassold at Rs 130 per kg. Moreover, theprice of bell pepper increased by Rs50 per kg, being sold at Rs 130 perkg this week, while it was sold at Rs80 per kg last week.

The prices of bitter gourd andcucumber witnessed an increase ofRs 10 per kg, respectively. The bittergourd was sold at Rs 90 per kg, whilecucumber was sold at Rs 50 per kg.

However, the prices of othervegetables remained stable, includ-ing ginger, garlic, cabbage, cauli-flower and potato, which were soldat Rs 76, 76, 36, 40 and 18 per kg,respectively.

Meanwhile, the prices of gourd,green chili and pumpkin recorded aslight decrease since last week.Gourd was sold at Rs 40, while thelast week’s price was Rs 50 per kgand green chili was sold at Rs 76with a decrease of Rs 4 per kg. Theprice of pumpkin also witnessed adecrease of Rs 4 per kg from thelast Sunday.

According to the price list, theprice of chicken remained stable andit was sold at Rs 144 per kg.

Among the fruits, the prices ofgolden apple and orange witnessedan increase of Rs 20 per kg and Rs 4per dozen, respectively. The goldenapple was sold at Rs 140 per kg,while the orange was sold at Rs 86per dozen. The price of tomatoes re-mained stable and they were sold atRs 50 per kg.

Prices of vegetables and fruits continue to riseSUndAy bAzAAr UpdAte

This Week

76

last Week

76

ginger

This Week

110

last Week

110

chicken

This Week

68

last Week

60

green chilli

This Week

24

last Week

24

potato

This Week

44

last Week

42

onion

This Week

60

last Week54

tomato

This Week

80

last Week

70

This Week

110

last Week

100

apple

This Week

60

last Week

50

banana

per dozen

per dozen

orange

first ShahbazBhatti freedomAward presented


The First Step Forum (FSF) awarded thefirst Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Awardposthumously to the late federal ministerfor minorities Shahbaz Bhatti. Hisbrother, Dr Paul Bhatti, adviser to primeminister on interfaith harmony, receivedthe award on his behalf at a dinner inBrussels, said a press release here onSunday. The second award was presentedto Dr Hany Hanna of egypt on the sameoccasion for his services for human rightsand democracy in the country. Dr Hanna isknown as a preacher of revolution and ishighly respected in the present situation inegypt. Former Norwegian prime ministerKjell Magne Bondevik and German CDUSecretary General Hermann Groehe wereamong those present at the award dinner.The FSF will present the award once ayear to a person rendering meritoriousservices for human rights, democracy andreligious liberty.

encroachments risingin Sadar Bazaar

RAWALPINDIAPP

encroachments in several cantonmentareas, including Saddar Bazaar, are on therise owing to inaction on the part of theauthorities of Rawalpindi Cantonment Board(RCB). encroachments in different areas ofRCB including Saddar Bazaar, TenchBhatta, Chungi No 22 and other areas havebecome a big problem not only formotorists but also for the residents of theseareas while the authorities concerned aretaking no action. One can observe trafficjams in many Cantonment areas just becauseof the encroachments. These encroachmentsare the main reason behind traffic jams asthe encroachers have occupied almost halfof the road. Not only the motorists, but thepedestrians are also facing lots of problemsbecause of the encroachments.

Youth shot deadISLAMABAD

STAFF REPORT

A man was shot dead by unidentifiedarmed man in the jurisdiction of Tarnolpolice station here on Sunday. Accordingto details, an unidentified man opened fireon Farmanullah, 26, in the Bhidana area,resulting in his instant death. The policehanded over the body of the deceased tohis brother Subhanullah.

iSlAMAAbd: Jamaat-e-islami chief Munawar hassan addresses a public gathering at Karachi company. STaFF PhOTO


THe westerly waves affecting cen-tral and upper parts of the coun-try caused intermittent heavyrains in the federal capital onSunday with snowfall on the hills

in Upper Punjab, making weather freez-ing cold, while Met Office forecastedmore rain in twin cities in 24-36 hours.

According to a Pakistan Meteorolog-ical Department (PMD) official, theweather system is likely to persist for twoto three days and will cause scatteredrains with snowfall on the hills in Islam-abad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore,Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan,D.G.Khan divisions.

PMD official while talking to thisscribe said that scattered rain with snow-fall on the hills expected in Punjab (Is-lamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala,Lahore, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Multan,DG Khan divisions), KhyberPakhtunkhwa (Malakand, Hazara, Pe-shawar, Kohat, DI Khan divisions),Balochistan (Quetta, Zhob, Qalat, Sibi

divisions), Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmirin next 24 hours.

The official said Rawalpindi received21 millimeters of rain, Kotli 19, Rawlakot17, Islamabad 16, Pattan Malamjabbaand Murree 15, Parachinar 14, Muzaf-farabad and Sialkot 13, Dir, Kalam,Risalpur and Chirat 12, Quetta, Pattanand Peshawar received 10 millimeters ofrain while Kalam and Murree received 6inches snowfall. The twin cities of Islam-abad and Rawalpindi are in the grip ofcold wave due to the current rain spellthat started on Saturday. The rain fur-ther dropped the mercury in the federalcapital as the temperature on Sundaysurpassed the freezing point and wasrecorded at -2 degree Celsius.

The rain washed the roads andstreets gave a new look to the city. How-ever, the rainwater accumulated on 7thand 9th avenues, H-9 Service Road, IJPrincipal Road and roads in I-9 and I-10sectors. The rainwater on roads createdproblems for motorists and pedestrians.The rain created traffic problems the citydue to poor visibility as long queues ofvehicles were witnessed on the busy

roads. The security personnel at almostall the check posts were seen sittingaround bonfire to ward off cold whilemajority of them were holding umbrellasand wearing rain coats.

The commuters in the city facedtrouble as there were only a few cabs onthe road. Traffic was also very thin whilea few shoppers ventured to visit most ofthe malls, shopping centres and markets.

At the weekly Sunday bazaars held atH-9, G-6 and G-10 under the Capital De-velopment Authority (CDA) witnessedlow attendance of shoppers because ofthe rain and freezing cold.

However, the heavy rain helped thepeople get rid of various diseases includ-ing flue, cough, bad throat, chest infec-tion and skin related problems.

Polyclinic Hospital’s Dr Sharif Astoritold Pakistan Today that the recent rain-fall would decrease the air pollution dueto which the people were suffering fromcough and other diseases of lungs.

They instructed that the childrenshould not be allowed to go outside thehouse and play with water during winter.

He said about 100 patients used to

visit hospitals daily, before the rain, inthe twin cities but the number of patientssuffering from dust allergy, skin prob-lems, and flu, throat, and chest infectionswas considerably reduced after the rain-fall. “Of these, three in every five sufferfrom seasonal infections - upper respira-tory tract infection, pneumonia or bron-chitis,” he said. PMD forecasted scatteredrain with snowfall over the hills is alsoexpected in Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan andadjoining areas during next 24 hours.

“Under the influence of the prevail-ing weather system, southern Punjab re-ceived first rain of the winter seasonafter prolonged dry weather conditions,”the weatherman informed. However, theofficial said cold winds have enterednorthern Balochistan, which are likely tocause scattered rain and snowfall overhill during next 24 hours. The lowestminimum temperature was -13 Crecorded in Skardu and -11 in Parachi-nar. Minimum temperatures in othercities were Islamabad -1 C, Lahore 2 C,Quetta -4 C, Karachi 11 C, Peshawar 1 C,Muzaffarabad 1 C, Gilgit -3 C, Murree -3C, Multan 4 C and Faisalabad 3 C.

Freezing rains paralyse life

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:23 AM

Low

High

06°CTueSDAY WeDNeSDAY THurSDAY13°C I 04°C 12°C I 04°C 11°C I 02°C

PrAYer TIMINgSfajr Sunrise zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

06:00 07:02 13:30 16:00 On sunset 19:00

CITY DIreCTOrY

POLICe eMergeNCY 15

AMBuLANCe 115

reSCue 1122

HILAL-e-AHMer 9250488

eDHI fOuNDATION 2827844

BOMB DISPOSAL 9270698

fIre BrIgADe CeNTre 16

CIVIL DefeNCe 9262830

eMergeNCY HeLP

HOSPITALS

BLOOD BANK

PIMS BLOOD BANK 9261272

POLY CLINIC BLOOD BANK 9209123

COMPLAINT

WAPDA 111-000-118

SuI gAS 1199

rAILWAYS

CITY STATION (eNquIrY) 117

reSerVATION 9273614

rAILWAY POLICe 1333

AIrPOrT

fLIgHT eNquIrY 114

PIA reSerVATION 111-786-786

COLLegeS / uNIVerSITIeS

INTerNATIONAL ISLAMIC uNIVerSITY 9260765

BAHrIA uNIVerSITY 9260002

NuML 9257677

quAID-e-AzAM uNIVerSITY 90642098

ArID AgrICuLTure uNIVerSITY 9290151

fJWu 9273235

rIPHA INTerNATIONAL uNIVerSITY 111510510

NCA rAWALPINDI 5770423

PuNJAB LAW COLLege 4421347

MAHrOOf INT 2222920

PIMS 9261170

POLY CLINIC 9218300

CDA 9221334

SHIfA INTerNATIONAL 4603666

ALI 4444435

DISTrICT HqS 5556311-14

uLTrASONIC CLINIC 2824862

HOLY fAMILY 9290319

ConFerenCe

Organised by Centres of excellence in Science and

Applied Technologies, Islamabad. In the last eight

conferences more than eleven hundred papers have

been presented and more than four thousand

participants attended the conference. It is the largest

scientific event in Pakistan which is held regularly.

CApoeirA iSltown

DATe AND TIMe: eVerY frIDAY 6:30-7:30PMVeNue: KHAAS ArT gALLerY ISLAMABAD

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art thatcombines elements of dancing, ritualcombat & music in a unique synthesis ofself defense and rhythm.

rAINY SHOWer

WeATHer uPDATeS

12°C

nUMUn 12

After two highly successful Intra-NuSTepisodes, NuST now invites you to its firstever All Pakistan event- NuMuN 2012. ThisJanuary, we'd like to welcome you here at H-12and change all that you know about this placefor the better.

DATe: JAN 26 — 29, 2012 VeNue: NuST, H12 OPPOSITe TO POLICe LINe

DATe: JAN 09 — 16, 2012VeNue: NATIONAL CeNTre fOr PHYSIC

08 Monday, 16 January, 2012

Islamabad

ISLAMABADMAhTAb bAShiR

PANACHe 5, a newly built retail store at theGolra Road, Rawalpindi, offers wholesaleprices to its customers and the conven-ience of a one-stop shop.

According to the store owner, the store hasbeen established to provide the customers witha designer shopping experience and the bestquality products at affordable prices under oneroof. The items available in the store range fromdesigner furniture, designer home décor tokitchen and bathroom accessories. Moreover,ladies and children garments, designer gemstonejewelry, as well as herbal skin and hair careproducts are also available in the store.

The store also houses linen, with both singleand double bed sheets and bed spreads made ofprinted velvet, plain velvet, plush, cotton satin,jacard, net, organza and silk. Quilts, pillows,cushions, mattresses, blankets and cushion cov-ers are also available.

The home décor items include colorful rugsof different sizes and a large collection of raredecoration pieces along with fine collection of ar-tificial plants at reasonable prices.

The children and teenage section of Panache5 has night-wear, party wear, casual wears andtech wear, shoes and accessories. The store alsooffers ladies garments section and a jewelry sec-tion with a large variety of jewelry, includingprecious gemstone jewelry prepared in 24 caratgold, silver, gold-plated rough cut stone jewelryas well as fashion jewelry.

According to the store owner, the herbal skinand hair care section is most popular among thewomen. The section offers chemical-free prod-ucts, prepared from rare natural and herbal ex-tracts and enriched with natural vitamins.

The products include anti-aging, de-pigmen-tation, anti-acne and whitening product ranges,while herbal shampoos and hair oils are presentfor hair care. Panache 5 is not only a retail storesince it offers consultation services for homedécor, as well as kin and hair care consultationto women.

new one-stopstore in the twin cities Panache 5:

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News

DUBAIOnlinE

FORMeR president General(r) Pervez Musharraf saidon Sunday that he was“reasonably sure” that themilitary would not resort to

a coup, but that he would support thearmy if it took over.

The former president also said hewas open to an alliance with PakistanTehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman ImranKhan, but would not serve under him ifelected to power. “I don’t think the armyintends to take over. The environment isnot at all conducive for the army to takeover. I think the army understands that,”he told Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN’sprogramme Devil’s Advocate. Asked if hewould back a coup, Musharraf said: “Iam reasonably sure that an army coupwill not take place but my support al-ways remains with the army.”

“I’ve been an army man and I cannever imagine being against the army... Iam with the army, I will stand by thearmy,” he said. On the possibility of an

alliance with Imran Khan, he said: “Ifthey want an alliance, certainly I wouldlike to have an alliance. We have to comeup with a third political option becausethe two political options presently and inthe past have been tried and failed...there is a need for coalition of forces thatcan bring about that third political optionthat can deliver to Pakistan.” Musharraf,who intends to return to Pakistan fromself-imposed exile later this month, saidhe was aware of the people in Khan’sparty who kept saying they would not getinto an alliance with him. “But they don’thave a vision, they don’t understandwhat they are talking about. They go intothe field and lose and then (people)choose the same parties [again], thenPakistan suffers,” he said. He vehementlyrejected suggestions of serving underKhan, if the alliance came to power. “Icannot serve under him. I can be out-side... I cannot be serving under anyone,”the former military ruler said.

Musharraf open toalliance with Imran

g Former presidentsays there won’t be a coup,but he wouldsupport one

PESHAWARAPP

When Taliban militants unleashed brutalityon the residents of Swat in 2009, MalalaYousafzai, now 14, was left in a state of shockand terror, but it was when they banned fe-male education that the adolescent overcameher fear and raised her voice against the act. VoIce AgAInSt BAckwArDneSS:Speaking at her residence in Mingora, Swat,Malala Yousafzai said, “When I saw picturesof bodies hanging in Green Chowk of Swat Iwas scared but when the militants decided toban girls from going to school I decided to takea stand against the forces of backwardness.”

She said, “When I and my classmatesheard that our school might be closed wewere very sad. even though I was student ingrade 5 in 2009, I decided I will voice theconcern of female students and the peopleof Swat to the outer world. When I spoke ofmy desire, my father guided me to con-tribute dairies to BBC under the pen nameof `Gul Makai’.” “I would regularly con-tribute to BBC and tried to depict the senti-ments of my terrorized class mates, relativesand neighbours,” she said. “One of my classfellows once wept in sorrow during the reignof terror unleashed by militants,” Malala re-called, “when I wrote about it in a numberof newspapers, it got acknowledged by peo-ple.” Malala contributed dairies to BBC foraround four months starting January 2009.She also told the tale of the suffering of dis-placed people after migrating to Shanglawhen the government launched a militaryoperation to purge Swat from militants.FAMe wAS A SurprISe:

“I never thought that by contributing di-aries on the brutalities of the Taliban wouldearn me fame and people will call me a ‘voiceagainst tyranny’,” said Malala, “My intentwas to inform people of the suffering of thepeople of Swat at the hands of Taliban in thename of our sacred religion.”

The determination of young Malala toraise her voice and risk her life was recog-nized when she was nominated for an Inter-national Children Peace award by Dutchorganization, Kids’ Right. Malala and fourother nominees beat 93 contestants from 42countries to be selected finalists. “When thenews about the nomination for the interna-tional peace award came it was a greatsource of excitement for me and my family,since I earned my country a good name,” sheadded. While the Kids Right ultimately wentto disabled South African Michaela Mycroft,17, the Pakistan government awardedMalala the `National Peace Prize of Pak-istan’, making her the first child to be hon-oured with the prize. Prime Minister YousufRaza Gilani announced a cash prize ofRs1,000,000 to Malala and issued directivesthat a similar award be given to deservingchildren on an annul basis. The KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh govern-ments also honoured the brave girl and an-nounced cash prizes of Rs 500,000 each.The support of the international communityand people of Pakistan had given Malalacourage, who has decided to set up theMalala education Foundation to aid chil-dren’s education. Malala vowed, “About 400

schools were completely destroyed in Swatby the Taliban and I like will work to reha-bilitee the damaged schools so that studentscan be provided education opportunities.”wILL BecoMe poLItIcIAn: Malalaplans to play active role in politics after com-pleting her education. “I want to become anhonest, committed and hard-working politi-cian as our country has a dire need for honestpolitical leaders,” she said. To a question,Malala said she was impressed by BenazirBhutto’s charisma and Bacha Khan’s politicsand wanted to follow both of them. Whenasked about security concerns, Malala said shedoes not want security. “I am feeling secure inmy city and do not want to be noticed becauseof security staff around me,” she replied.

Malala’s proud father ZiauddinYousafzai said, “I never thought my littledaughter would receive such prominence.”Ziauddin, who runs a private school, said hefully supported Malala and never prohibitedher from writing against the Taliban on se-curity grounds. “I chosen the name Malalafor my daughter after being inspired fromMalala of Maiwand (Afghanistan) who wasa brave lady and famous for her poetry inwhich she urged her countrymen to fightagainst intruders (the British) till death andnot give up the struggle for freedom,” hesaid. “My daughter fulfilled my dream andplayed the role played by Malala of Mai-wand.” Ziauddin said. “Now she is not justmy daughter, but the daughter of the na-tion,” he added. Malala has two brothersKhushal, 12, and Atal Khan, 8.

Malala Yousafzai:voice against tyranny g To set up Malala education foundation to further education in Swatg Declares intent to join politics, impressed by Benazir, Bacha Khan

When I saw pictures ofbodies hanging inGreen Chowk of Swat Iwas scared but whenthe militants decided toban girls from going toschool I decided to takea stand against theforces of backwardness

Malala Yousafzai

nuclear weapons for strategic purposes only, says indian army chief

NEW DELHIinP

Nuclear weapons are not for fighting warsbut for strategic capability, Indian armychief General VK Singh said on Sunday.

“Nuclear weapons are not for warfighting, let’s be quite clear on it. Theyhave got a strategic capability and that iswhere it should end. My army and I are notbothered about who has nuclear weapons.We have our task cut out and we willprogress along that,” he told reporters in

Delhi. The Indian army chief said this inresponse to a query on any possible nu-clear eventuality from China in wake of thenew Mountain Strike Corps being raised bythe Indian army.

On reports claiming that Pakistanmight deploy its forces along the borderwith India as a defensive measure in caseof any terror strike, he said, “It does not af-fect our options in anyway. Those are theiroptions… they are most welcome to dowhat they want to do.” To a questionwhether the Finance Ministry had put astop on some of the procurement plans ofthe army, Gen Singh denied any knowledgeand said the country’s leadership was quitealive to the needs of the armed forces.

On the Gujarat High Court’s recentorder to release a list of Indian prisonersof war (PoWs) in Pakistan, he said, “Dis-cussion is going on this issue since 1965and 1971. The government is trying itsbest for this. The court’s decision will beadded to it.”

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News

ISLAMABADMASOOd REhMAn

The Supreme Court is continuouslyshowing self-restraint in order to avoidconfrontation between state organs de-spite the prime minister, the presidentand other government functionaries de-fying a number of the apex court judge-ments, but now it seems the court will notshow further restraint for the sake of ruleof law and supremacy of the constitution.

Over the last few years, the SupremeCourt has ordered the federal govern-ment to remove contractual employeesand those reemployed after retirementfrom service, numbering in the hundreds,but the prime minister did not obey theorder in letter and spirit. In the Rs 9 bil-lion Bank of Punjab loan scandal, thecourt ordered the appointment of erst-while Anti-Narcotics Division secretaryTariq Khosa as head of the investigationteam to probe the scam, but the federal

government declined to obey the order.In violation of court orders, Federal

Investigation Agency (FIA) Director Hus-sain Asghar, who was probing the Hajscam, was transferred and appointedGilgit-Baltistan Police inspector general.The court ordered the reinstatement ofFIA Additional Director General ZafarQureshi, who was probing the NationalInsurance Company Limited (NICL)scam, but the government disobeyed theorder. eventually, the court itself rein-stated him via verbal orders.

Cabinet Secretary Rauf Chaudhry wassimilarly victimised by the prime ministerfor having implemented the court order torepost Zafar Qureshi to the FIA. FIA Di-rector General Tehsin Anwar Shah wassummoned by the court but on the behestof the government, he defied the court or-ders. Khosa, who was investigating the Rs22 billion corruption scam in the PakistanSteel Mills, was deliberately removed fromhis assignment even though the court hadexpressed its satisfaction with hisprogress. In the case of Riaz Lal Gee, aclose friend of President Asif Ali Zardari,Interior Minister Rehman Malik was is-sued a contempt notice for defiance of

court orders, which is still pending.In May 2010, the Lahore High Court

had dismissed an appeal against Malik’sconviction in two National AccountabilityBureau (NAB) references, but PresidentZardari exercised his authority to granthim pardon. Upon the government’s con-stant defiance of the NRO verdict, thecourt on January 10 observed that theprime minister did not meet the criteriato be elected a member of parliament be-cause he was not an honest person, hav-ing violated his oath. The court held thatthe federal government and NAB werenot serious in implementing the NROverdict at all, and were only interested indelaying and prolonging the matter onone pretext or another. The court pointedout that it could take six options againstthe willful disobedience of the govern-ment in implementing some parts of theNRO verdict and consequent directions.

After the continuous defiance by thegovernment, the court has hinted thatnow it might exercise its powers to ensureimplementation of its verdict. “When Ar-ticle 189 of the constitution gives the de-cisions of the Supreme Court ‘binding’effect and when Article 190 of the consti-

tution commands in no uncertain termsthat all executive and judicial authoritiesthroughout Pakistan shall act in aid of theSupreme Court, the constitution does notenvision an executive professing only ‘re-spect’ towards the decisions of theSupreme Court but at the same time de-risively or disdainfully paying little or noheed to implementation or execution ofsuch decisions,” the court said. “Obedi-ence to the command of a court, and thattoo of the apex court of the country, is nota game of chess or a game of hide andseek. It is, of course, a serious businessand governance of the state and main-taining the constitutional balance andequilibrium cannot be allowed to be heldhostage to political tomfoolery orshenanigans. Article 5 of the constitutiondeclares in most unambiguous terms thatloyalty to the state is the basic duty ofevery citizen and obedience to the consti-tution and law is the inviolable obligationof every citizen,” the court noted.

“We are conscious that the actions wepropose to take are quite unpleasant butmaintaining the necessary constitutionalpoise and balance is a part of our duties,particularly when we have made an oath

before Allah Almighty to ‘preserve, pro-tect and defend the constitution’ and to‘in all circumstances do right to all man-ner of people, according to law, withoutfear or favour, affection or ill-will,” thecourt said further. The court pointed outthat in an interview the president hadcategorically stated that under his co-chairmanship his political party has takena political decision not to obey some partsof the judgement handed down by thecourt in the NRO case. It said even theprime minister and the law minister hadbeen harping on the same theme for quitesome time on various occasions throughspeeches made on the floors of the Na-tional Assembly and the Senate and alsothrough print and electronic media.“Their conduct in the matter also goes along way in confirming what they havebeen proclaiming,” the court said, addingthat such an attitude, approach and con-duct prima facie showed that the presi-dent, prime minister and law minister hadallowed loyalty to a political party and itsdecisions to outweigh and outrun theirloyalty to the State and their “inviolableobligation” to obey the constitution andall its commands.

SC showing restraint to avoid confrontation among state organs

ISLAMABADTAhiR niAZ

TO the disappointment of of-ficers of autonomous andsemi-autonomous organisa-tions, corporations, as wellas officers receiving salaries

for constitutionary posts appointed oncontract, reemployed or persons ap-pointed on Management Pay Scales,Special Pay Scales and Health Person-nel Scales, the Cabinet Division, in a re-vised decision, has excluded them fromthe list of beneficiaries of the moneti-sation of transport facility.

However, these officers and the of-ficers in BS-20 to BS-22 who are notcivil servants and working in the min-istries and divisions on deputation andsecondment shall continue to availtheir existing entitlement of transportfacility. The Cabinet Division had an-nounced on December 12 rules for mon-etisation of transport facility for civilservants, saying that the facility would becompulsory for all civil servants in BS-20to BS-22. Under the policy, civil servantswho have been provided official trans-port would be given the first option topurchase the allocated car on a depreci-

ated price. However, the policy was notclear and the Pakistan Revenues ac-countant general on December 21 putseveral queries to the division, which“needed further clarification for properimplementation of the policy”. In reply tothe queries, the division said the policywas applicable only to the civil servantsin BS-20 to BS-22 working in min-istries/divisions/attached departmentsand subordinate offices. It added that thepolicy was not applicable to the officersof autonomous/semi-autonomous or-ganisations, corporations, as well as tothe officers receiving salaries for consti-tutionary posts appointed on contract,reemployed or persons appointed onManagement Pay Scales, Special PayScales and Health Personnel Scales.

In clarification to accountant gen-eral’s queries, the Cabinet Divisionstated further that officers performingduties of the posts of BS-20 on cur-rent/acting charge basis were not en-titled to the monetisation policy. Therevised policy further stated that thepolicy for monetisation of transportwas not applicable in case of projectvehicles. The civil servants posted incorporations or semi-autonomousand autonomous bodies and provin-

cial governments shall avail the facil-ity after their repatriation to the fed-eral government, unless suchorganisations or provincial govern-ments decided to adopt the policy.

To a further query, the CabinetDivision stated that in case of in-ser-vice death before completion of recov-ery, the remaining amount would bededucted from commutation andother payables to the deceased andthe vehicle may be transferred to thenext of kin. It said the amount de-ducted from the salary of officers onaccount of driver services shall not beconsidered as reduction in gross in-come for income tax purposes.

Civil servants working on a con-tractual basis or reemployed after re-tirement termed the decisiondiscriminatory. Council for IslamicIdeology Secretary MuhammadAhmad Chaudhry, who was reem-ployed after superannuation in BS-20,said the reemployed officers had beenunjustifiably deprived of the policybenefits. He said the governmentmust review the policy and also con-sider including the reemployed offi-cers in the list of beneficiaries of themonetisation policy.

Heavy rains, snowpound Swat valleyMIngorA:The Swat valley is in the grip ofrough weather for the last two days, and theeveryday life has come to a standstill. Heavyrains were reported in the entire valley, andtraffic between Mingora city and Kalam wasbadly affected. Due to the heavy rainfall, theauthorities closed the road from Madayan toSwat. The neighbouring mountains are allcovered with several feet of snow, includingplaces like Malam Jabba, Usho, Matiltan,Utror and Gabral. The new cold wave has in-tensified the already freezing winters in thearea, restricting people’s daily activities. Theprovincial education Department has notbeen able to conduct written tests scheduledfor hiring 90 school teachers for Swat.Around 4,300 candidates had applied for theposts and the department had scheduled thetest on Sunday at the Grassy Ground, whereover 5,000 chairs had been placed for thecandidates. early on Sunday, the departmentofficials moved the examination centre to alocal college, but announced to postpone thetest after finding insufficient capacity at thenew venue. The new date would be an-nounced later. STaFF REPORT

‘Those dreaming a clash

will be disappointed’

SIALkot: Information Minister FirdousAshiq Awan on Sunday said that peopledreaming of a clash between state institu-tions would be disappointed. Talking toprominent local figures, she said the polit-ical maturity of the masses had increasedand in the next elections they would rejectall those politicians who had changedtheir political loyalties. She urged all polit-ical parties to sit together and indicate theflaws in the political system in consulta-tion with the government. She said theparliament’s supremacy would strengthenother institutions. Awan asked the mediato play a positive role and offer construc-tive criticism to help the governmentevolve better strategies for economic de-velopment and public welfare. She saidthat several development and welfareprojects worth Rs 1.20 trillion were under-way, and development schemes were alsobeing initiated in the constituencies of op-position members. STaFF REPORT

Monetisation facility limited to federal divisionsg Autonomous, semi-autonomous bodies, corporations, constitutionary

posts, reemployed officers excluded from monetisation of transport facility

Hekmatyarready for talks

kABuL: Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leaderof Afghanistan’s second-biggest insurgentgroup Hezb-e-Islami, in an interviewpublished on Sunday said he was readyfor “meaningful talks” with all parties toend the decade-long war. Hekmatyar’sstatement comes after an announcementby the main insurgent group, the Taliban,that they will open a political office inQatar ahead of possible talks with the US.But Hekmatyar, a former Afghan primeminister, was dismissive of the results ofcontacts he said Hezb-e-Islami had al-ready had with Washington and the gov-ernment of President Hamid Karzai. “Weheld talks with Kabul government as wellas with the Americans on different occa-sions, but did not receive any clear, ac-ceptable and realistic plan from themworth mentioning,” he told the Afghan Is-lamic Press news agency. aFP

quETTA: An auto rickshaw wades through rainwater in the provincial capital on Sunday. ONlINE

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Send your letters to:Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, PakistanFax: +92-42-36298302e-mail: [email protected] Letters may be edited for length and clarity.It would be appreciated if letters were ad-dressed to Pakistan Today exclusively.

Editor’s mail 11Monday, 16 January, 2012

A change in priorityThere was sad news in media on 6

December that the ministry of waterand power, in connivance with so-called Friends of Pakistan, hasrecommended abolishing age-old firstpriority to the agriculture in thecountry and instead energy would begiven first priority.

Nonetheless, IRSA and controver-sial Wapda were asked to prepare oper-ating rules. The new policy as permedia was ready to be announced.

In an agriculture based country,only an insane person can think toabolish the said first priority. It appearsthat the bureaucrats sitting inIslamabad have no other job except toharm the country as new policy isenvisaged to build among others,controversial dams.

Three out of four provincialassemblies have already passed nineresolutions against the construction ofKalabagh Dam but a lobby in Punjabhas refused to respect the resolutions.If the said dam is built forcibly, itwould definitely and extremely harmthe already fragile country.

If they are so sincere to the wholecountry, why are they not pressuringPunjab to release water down streamKotri as envisaged in Water Accord –1991, after passing a long period of 21years of signing the accord resulting inunnatural death of Indus delta – sixthlargest in the world and alsotremendous increase in miseries of 2.6million people living in the areastretched between Kotri downstreamand Arabian Sea in Sindh?

I appeal to the minister for waterand power Mr Naveed Qamar to takenotice of the conspiracies beinghatched by bureaucrats of his ministryto harm the interests of threeprovinces, Sindh, Balochistan andKhyber Pakhtunkuwa on one oranother pretext.

MOHAMMAD KHAN SIALKarachi

Whipping up a frenzyWhile Pakistan may have come out

relatively unscathed from the tumul-tuous proceedings on the 11th, one thingit has clearly shown that our media onlyknows how to whip up a frenzy. While wedo not know how the burgeoning civil-military confrontation will unfold in theupcoming days, one thing is for sure thatmany of our anchorpersons are not onlywaiting for a coup but actually cheeringthe military from the sidelines.

One has seen too much and heardtoo much from these ‘analysts’ to expectany impartiality from them. The waythey screeched and beseeched the otherday has clearly exposed where thereloyalties lie.

How someone with such a pompousair of earnestness and an overly smugsense of righteousness could blame thecivilian government of creating the crisisis beyond me? In a polity like ours,where no thing can come to pass withoutthe establishment’s approval and themilitary has historically refused to stay inthe turf that it has been assigned, howcan one take the civilian to task forasserting themselves?

The civil-military imbalance in ourcountry is the root of all political evilsand till it continues and is hailed by theestablishment’s sycophants, we cannothave a functioning democratic systemand a media that is truly an arbiter of thesystem and an accountability mechanismfor the powers that be (be they civilian ormilitary).

Those media persons who hold a pro-military stand are entitled to their opin-ions and can dispassionately air thembut they cannot be allowed to add fuel tofire and try to push the situation of theedge by their theatrics. If not objectivity,then a mere semblance of it, please.

ALI AMJADKarachi

National dream‘Kayani says no compromise on

national security.’ We can now take astart to rebuild our national dream.

Z A KAZMIKarachi

No surprise thereIt was not a surprise move by the

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillardwhen she reiterated her country wouldnot agree to export uranium to Pakistan.Pakistan had implored Canberra to makea similar policy change as they did forIndia.

Is this a double standard of Australia,like many other western countries, or isit a diplomatic failure of government ofPakistan?

MUBASHIR MAHMOODKarachi

Not a good situation

Pushing the limitsAnother power price-hike has recommended Rs 3 per unit to

be increased. Only a few days back, PM was assured by his teamthat within six moths the burden of the poor will end. Yes, the

poor, the only burden of this people-friendly govt, will end by then.KAMIL HASSAAN

Lahore

This is with reference to the leadnews in your esteemed paper (10 Jan)where Prime Minister Gilani has declaredGen Kayani and Gen Pasha's rejoindersto the Supreme Court illegal. Firstly, itwas not a rejoinder but it was complianceof the orders of the Supreme Court whereboth were made parties in the memocase.

Finally, the cat is out of the bag.There should be no doubt in anybody’smind that the army and the governmentare not on the same page. It is very un-fortunate that the government is alreadyin confrontation with the Supreme Courtand now is targeting its own army. PPP'strack record of ridiculing judges and ju-diciary also continues unabated. Peopleof Pakistan have not forgotten how dis-trict and sessions judge of Sanghar wasarrested from his court. Unfortunately,no lessons are learnt.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilanicontinues attacking the army. Few daysback, he said that nobody would be al-

lowed to create a state within a state di-rectly hinting at the army. In his latestinterview with a Chinese daily, he onceagain targeted the army chief when hewas on an official visit to China. His lat-est utterance is that any official action bya government functionary without theprior approval of the government wouldbe unconstitutional and illegal. This mes-sage was meant for General AshfaqParvez Kayani and Director General ISIAhmed Shuja Pasha who submitted theirstatements on memo case as directed bythe Supreme Court. Since Supreme Courthad directed both the officers by name;therefore, there was no need to adoptproper channel.

The question arises why the govern-ment did not react when both were di-rected to submit replies to the SupremeCourt. That was the right time to raiseobjection and not now. Secondly, there isnothing unconstitutional about it. In anycase, the interpretation of any constitu-tional provisions lies with the Supreme

Court and not with the government.Armed forces have the loyalties to-

wards the state and not to individuals,anyone endangering the sovereignty ofthe state has to be checked with ironhand and they cannot sit as silent specta-tors. Prime minister's objection, as far assubmitting replies directly to the SC isconcerned, does not attract provisions ofbreaking chain of command because theSC directly addressed the two officersand not the ministry of defence.

There is no point in harping againand again and talk about NATO attacks,the US has accepted that it was an errorof judgment on their part. Thegovernment should not forget theprinciple of pre-emptive strike by the USanywhere in the world without anypermission if their interests are hurt or indanger. They have done it time and againand would keep repeating unlesschallenged, and Pakistan is not in aposition to take on the sole superpower.

Our government and political leaders

must understand that by openly showingno confidence in our own army wouldadd to insecurity of the people and thestate. Pakistan's armed forces and intelli-gence agencies are faced with extraordi-nary challenges, especially those createdby terrorism ridden environment. Theyhave offered great sacrifices supportingthe government policies and safeguard-ing the national interests.

Their handling of matters associatedwith the national security and fightagainst terrorism has been outstanding.The nation is not only proud of theirperformance but fully backs thephilosophy, pledges and methodology.Three-fourth of the army is deployed onborders and giving sacrifices to save thecountry and future of our generations.Criticising our own army ultimately willlower the morale of the army and thatwould result in weakening the state andthat is what the enemy wants.

MUKHTAR AHMEDKarachi

Anew debate has taken holdof the country whether thenumber of existing

provinces be maintained or newprovinces should be carved out ofthe existing provinces. In this re-gard, demand for creation of threenew provinces is getting momen-tum. The politicians and othersegments of society have also heldrallies in favour of their demands.The people of Abbotabad Divisionand other adjoining areas are de-

manding for a “Hazara province”and thus reducing the area of theexisting province of KhyberPakhtunkhwa. Likewise, the cre-ation of “Saraiki province” is alsobeing demanded. This demandhas also attained support of someimportant political parties of thecountry ie, Pakistan Peoples Partyand the Pakistan Muslim League.Before partition of the sub-conti-nent, Bahawalpur used to be aseparate state which merged intoPakistan/Punjab after independ-ence. Some national political par-ties are demanding that theoriginal status of Bahawalpurstate should be restored or a “Ba-hawalpur Province” be made.

In the above context, provi-sions of Article 239(4) of the Con-stitution of Pakistan 1973 arerelevant to mention. In Articles238 and 239, the Constitution em-powers the Parliament to makeany amendment in the Constitu-tion by an act of Parliament. Theprocedure in detail, to affect an

amendment is given in Article 239of the Constitution. In view of thisauthor, clause (4) of Article 239needs to be read with Article 1 ofthe Constitution to achieve thepurpose of creating new provincesout of the existing provinces. Forconvenience, I reproduce clause(4) of Article 239, which reads asunder:

“A bill to amend the Constitu-tion which would have the effect ofaltering the limits of a Provinceshall not be presented to the Pres-ident for assent unless it has beenpassed by the Provincial Assemblyof the Province by votes not lessthan two-thirds of its total mem-bership.”

If the demand of taking outthe Abbotabad Division etc isgranted to carve out the provinceof Hazara from the presentprovince of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,it would certainly alter the limitsof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.Thus clause (4) of Article 239would be attracted. Likewise, Ar-

ticle 239, clause (4) would also beattracted in case Saraiki provinceis created or the state of Ba-hawalpur is restored/Bahawalpuris made a new province. Likewise,Article 1 of the Constitution wouldalso be required to be amended inaccordance with the provisions ofArticles 238 and 239 of the Con-stitution.

In the Indian Constitution, inArticle 1, clause (3)( c) word ac-quire has been used to meet thesimilar situation. The states(provinces) in India as they ex-isted prior to their constitutionhad been formed largely as a re-sult of historical accident and cir-cumstances and there had,therefore, been a demand for there-organisation of the componentunits of the Indian Union on amore fractional basis, after takinginto account not only the growingimportance of the regional lan-guages, but also financial, eco-nomic and administrativeconsiderations. Hence, to meet

the above need, the State Re-or-ganisation Commission was con-stituted in India in December1953. The commission submittedits report on 30 September 1955.In light of the said report of theabove commission, states(provinces) in India were re-or-ganised.

Nowadays, as noted above, inPakistan demand for newprovinces is increasing almost inall existing provinces. Before thegovernments in Pakistan decide toconcede to the demand of makingnew provinces, a commission con-sisting of experts in different areasmay be constituted following theIndian experience. Any decisiontaken in rush or just for politicalconsideration might prove coun-terproductive.

In 1996, the Indian Parlia-ment passed the Punjab Re-or-ganisation Act (XXXI of 1996) forthe re-organisation of the state ofPunjab with effect from 1 Novem-ber 1996. A new state (province),

to be known as the state ofHaryana, comprising of certainterritories of the existing state ofPunjab, was established. Someareas were also transferred fromPunjab to Himachal Pradesh.

Demands are being made inour Punjab also to carve out threenew provinces ie, Pothohar,Saraikastan and Bahawalpur. Thisis a serious development andneeds to be handled dispassion-ately, with all honesty and sincer-ity. In my view, new provincesmay be made on the basis of re-gional languages, financial, eco-nomic and administrativeconsiderations as happened inIndia, instead of accomplishmentof political advantages and for im-mediate political dividends to cer-tain political families in theexisting or the proposed newprovinces.

The writer is a former judge ofthe Lahore High Court and for-mer Advocate General of Punjab.

On new provinces

By Syed Shabbar Raza Rizvi

A year has passed since Wali KhanBabar, a young bright journalist, waskilled. Inspite of Joint InvestigationsTeam’s reports, the killers have not beencaught and prosecuted by a governmentwhich claims its constitutional right togovern this country.

The people of Pakistan and expatriatecommunity would like to know reasonsfor this unacceptable failure on part ofthe state, its executive and securityagencies, who have failed to deliver on

their constitutional obligation to protectthe lives and honour of citizens andpunish criminals.

When an elected government playspolitics on the blood of its citizens, itloses its right to govern and collect taxes.No government worth its name canjustify cutting underhand deals withcriminals in the guise of politicians, whokill those who dare dissent or criticisethem or their coalition partners.

Karachi, the financial hub of

Pakistan, has become a victim of thiscycle of violence, perpetrated by criminalethnic gangs engaged in an unendingbattle for turf.

As an expatriate Pakistani, I wouldlike to know the opinion of Imran Khanon this issue, who himself of late seemsto be engaged in political dillydallyingwith those who resort to politics ofviolence.

NAZEER ABROIllinois, USA

Wali Khan Babar’s anniversary

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Comment12Monday, 16 January, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

explanation or retraction

New nadir?

Good form, the presidency denying the news reportabout the subject of the army chief and the presi-dent’s discussion. Immensely respected newsagency or not, the Reuter’s news item was embar-

rassing to all patriotic Pakistanis. Here was, according to thereport, the army chief, asking for the prime minister to ei-ther give a clarification of his recent statement to a Chinesedaily or to retract it completely. It is good that the presi-dency denied the news item.

Certain other things, however, cannot be denied. The re-cent ISPR press release that accused the prime minister offalsehood regarding the very same infamous statement, forinstance. Here, the spin agency of the armed forces alsowarned the premier of “grave consequences for the nation.”This is no different from the PRO of the Federal Bureau ofStatistics publishing a caustic judgment call on a statementof the prime minister.

The prime minister didn’t take any of this lying down ei-ther. Speaking to reporters, he said, without specifically nam-ing any institution, “if anyone has any complaints, I will notanswer to any individual as I am answerable to parliament.”

In the context of all this, the meeting of the cabinet’s de-fence committee, over which the PM presided the other day,would have been a tad awkward, what with the army chief,amongst others, being told by the PM about how no institu-tion should ever cross the limits set for it by the constitu-tion. Murmuring approval at the meeting would have beenthe newly appointed defence secretary, whose being handedto the post would still be smarting to the services’ chiefs.

All the institutions of the state owe it to the people not tobecome some sort of dystopian nightmare state where thechain of command and order of precedence are abused atwill. The ruling coalition is inept – not as inept as the main-stream media might have one believe, but inept nonetheless– at handling the issues that affect the daily lives of the peo-ple. So will the next one be, and the one after that if allelected government feel the need to constantly watch overtheir shoulders to see who is to truncate their given mandate.

No tears here

Lesser Pakistanis

The selective outrage of our national media has beenprofiled many a time in this very space, the mostrecent being the differentiated reaction that wasgiven to the unfortunate incident of the Nato attack

on an army checkpost in Salala, Bajaur and the abductionand murder of 25 soldiers of the Frontier Constabulary bythe Taliban in Waziristan.

Another example of the attitude emerges in the reactiongiven to the other day’s attack in Dera Ismail Khan. Thiswasn’t even a rustic border outpost but the offices of the Dis-trict Police Officer in the biggest town of a settled area. eightpeople – jawaans and one civilian – died in the attack, dur-ing which the four attackers were also killed. The nationalmedia gave the incident but a casual glance and moved on.

The lack of interest in the incident can be explained,broadly, by three sets of reasons.

The first is that the media isn’t really interested in thegoings-on of anything outside Karachi, Lahore and Islam-abad. On better days, this list is also extended to includeFaisalabad, Hyderabad and Multan. A limited coverage ofthe peripheries is eaten up by central and northern Punjab.This is a result of the dual economic reasons of the advertis-ers being more interested in the middle-class and elite resi-dents of these cities and, secondly, because of the costsinvolved in out-of-station reporting.

The second reason is the general response towards civildepartments. Among the two FCs, it is the Corps, not theConstabulary, that is picked up by the media. Similarly, an at-tack on the army is covered more effectively and with moresympathy than one on the police. Consider: in the attack onthe police training college in Manawan outside Lahore, themedia railed against the lax security despite the visible lack offunds that didn’t even allow the college to repair its boundarywall. Contrast this with the attack on the GHQ, the mostheavily fortified building in the country, where TV anchorswere full of praise of how the jawaans managed to overpowerthe assailants in “just one hour”, an already puerile claim thatwas proved, later, to be factually incorrect as well.

And third is the differentiated reaction that is a result ofhow we are playing the great game in Afghanistan. Attacksby the extremists, especially up north, are allowed to slideby, not only consciously by the media but also by the powersthat be, who make it difficult to get the data and coverage ofsuch incidents.

Too big for their boots?

The army chief is in the news inIndia as well as in Pakistan, but fordifferent reasons. In both cases,the Supreme Court of either coun-try is an arbiter. In India, the Chief

of Army Staff General V K Singh claims thathis year of birth is 1950 while the ministry ofdefence has recorded it as 1951. If the govern-ment sticks to its date, as it is doing, he retiresthis May, nearly 10 months before his owncalculation of birth date. Not General Singhhimself, but some retired top brass have madeit a point of honour for the armed forces andwant him to vindicate it by challenging thegovernment’s decision in the Supreme Court.

In Pakistan, the Chief of Army Staff Gen-eral Pervez Kayani has already gone to theSupreme Court which has set up a commis-sion of nine judges to probe into the chargethat the army was contemplating a coup. Thematter, called the Memogate, came to light acouple of months ago when the then PakistanAmbassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, al-legedly sent a message to the US through aPakistani businessman that President AsifZardari required America’s support becausehe apprehended a takeover by the army. Itwas October when Haqqani sought the helpbut he did not make it public till the US didso. The disclosure made General Kayani furi-ous. To lessen his anger, Zardari orderedHaqqani to quit. This was not a fair chargeagainst Kayani because why should hethreaten a takeover when the army alreadyhas the country under its control?

The argument that the Supreme Courtsurrendered to the army when it constitutedthe inquiry commission is churlish. And tomake a charge against the Supreme CourtChief Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry, is meaning-less. He is the person who suffered at thehands of the army, then headed by GeneralPervez Musharraf. Chaudhry and his familywere confined to one room and harassed inevery way. But he did not give in. Doubting hisintegrity is neither fair not factually correct.

In fact, the constitution of the commis-sion of Supreme Court and High Court judgeswas the only way to get at the bottom of thetruth. There is no institution in Pakistan towhich one can turn. The Supreme Court stillevokes confidence and credibility. In fact, ithas already issued a notice to Zardari towhich he has replied.

This is the maximum one can achieve inPakistan. The controversy over the date ofbirth of the army chief would not have arisenin Pakistan because the conditions prevailingthere are quite different from those in India.Yet the embarrassment caused over GeneralSingh’s claim could have been avoided if thematter had been handled better and earlier,both by him and the defence ministry.

I can appreciate General Kayani makinga fuss because he felt that he was beingblamed for an act which he had not contem-plated. But I fail to understand why GeneralSingh is making his birth date an issue whenit was “resolved” between him and the de-fence ministry before he was appointed east-ern Army Commander four years ago and thearmy chief two years ago. He himself gave inwriting to the ministry of defence that thematter was “closed.”

Good or bad, General Singh should haveadhered to what was decided then. It waswrong on his part to have consulted formerchief justices of India to bolster his case or tobrief persons who came to TV shows – re-sembling Kangaroo court – to participate indiscussions. It can be interpreted as an act ofinsubordination.

I heard some retired top brass convertingthe matter into an issue between civil andmilitary. Such irresponsible talk, even if al-lowed in a democratic system, is tantamountto challenging the ethos of our polity. GeneralDouglas MacArthur, hero of the eastern sec-

tor of Second World War, was dismissed byPresident Henry Truman when he found theGeneral deriding democracy.

even if the defence ministry’s decision onhis birth date is not to his liking or some ofhis ambitious supporters, the buck stops atthe table of an elected government. I am dis-appointed to find Bonapartism taking hold ofsome top retired military officers. The mediaitself should have undertaken the matter withcare instead of sensationalising it. The Pak-istani media in the case of Kayani acted withrestraint and responsibility. It has shownguts even when threatened.

Saleem Shehzad for example was ab-ducted, tortured and killed, reportedly by astate agency last year. He had broken thestory on the infiltration of the armed forcesby elements close to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban.Several journalists from Balochistan havebeen killed by non-state actors, said to beclose to the security forces.

The compromise formula hawked in thecase of General Singh is again bad in contentand intention. The proposal to appoint himas the chief of joint staff suggests as if thereare two parties and an agreement has to bereached so that none loses face. What is notrealised is that there is only one party indemocracy, the people who elect their repre-sentatives who, in turn, constitute the gov-ernment. In fact, the very proposal to createa post of chief of joint staff is not acceptable.America has such an institution but the dem-ocratic system there is 150 years old. Democ-racy knows of no compromise which restrictsor impinges on people’s say.

The irony is that all military coups inPakistan have been at the behest of America.The Pakistani military has signed more de-fence pacts and agreements with Americathan all civilian governments put together. Itis the Pakistan military which joined Americain Afghanistan in the eighties and recentlyleased out Pakistan airbases and air spacecorridors to America. Still Washington didnot trust the army when Osama-bin Ladenwas killed in a house at Abbottabad.

Both generals in Pakistan and Indiashould introspect as they should have beforethey raised the dust.

The writer is a senior Indian journalist.

border crossingBy Kuldip Nayar

Generals in the news

Here is a bad news from Delhi. No, weare not expecting a military coup, butit’s still grim.

New Book Depot, the legendary bookshop inthe colonial-era Connaught Place known for itsvast collection of classics as well as for its charm-ing owner, died on January 6, 2012, aged 87.

“I shut the bookshop today,” RakeshChandra, the owner, told me on phone thesame evening. “There were ongoing courtcases with the landlord. I have surrendered

the space back to him.It was all of a sudden.”

every morningChandra himself dustedthe bookshelves. A littletemperamental, he oc-casionally got into tiffswith customers whoshowed “disrespect” tohis books by turningthe pages too violently.On December 1, 1946,Chandra’s lawyer fa-ther, Kuldip, boughtthe bookstore from aFrench couple, whohad started it in 1925.Chandra joined his fa-ther in 1976. Chan-dra’s college-going sonUddhav started sittingin the shop only a fewmonths ago.

In the rapidly-changing ConnaughtPlace where most land-mark shops were shut-ting down one by one,giving way to chainstores, New BookDepot retained its old-world charm of low-hanging fans, highceiling, rosewood

shelves and rickety wooden stairs. “Against thepressure to make the layout what is calledsleeker and shinier, I have preserved the oldlook with zeal,” Chandra once told me. NewBook Depot had Nietzsche, Rabelais, JohnRuskin, Li Po, John Updike, Saul Bellow, JeanAnthelme Brillat-Savarin and Jean-Paul Sartre.For balance, there were all the Ian Flemings.

The day later after the shop closed,Bhaskar Singh, a book-lover, wrote to me, say-ing, “On 6th January, I dropped by at Con-naught Place on way back home by the Metro.I was shell-shocked to see the shop closed anda small notice proclaiming that this British-erabookshop has downed its shutters forever. Itwas all very sudden…I had bought a PenguinClassics Deluxe edition of The Art of War bySun Tzu. I had not seen it anywhere else. Feltvery sad to see yet another stand-alone book-shop close down. The Bookworm near Plazatheatre was the first casualty. Good bye, dearNew Book Depot, I will miss you sorely.”

Oh yes, the Bookworm! A 31-year-oldlandmark at Connaught Place’s B Block thathas been visited by booklovers like SatyajitRay, it closed in 2008. The owner, Anil Arora,a Partition refugee, blamed it on the decliningbusiness caused by the rise of bookstorechains and cheaply priced pirated books in thecity. The Bookworm was special. A bookstore’spersona is not created by its professionalismalone. An entire set of intangible somethingthat cannot be defined but which is an ab-solute must in making up the romance of aplace is needed. The Bookworm had thatmood. Then there were the 11 bookshop assis-tants, so nice that they never embarrassed anyregular by asking for payments of books pur-chased in times past. (Ask me!)

“We have only four real bookshops inDelhi,” Chandra of the freshly-dead New BookDepot told me two years ago. “Bahrisons Book-sellers in Khan Market, The Book Shop in JorBagh, Fact & Fiction in Basant Lok and mine.”

These are all my favorite bookstores, too.

Fact & Fiction is Delhi’s most eclectic bookstore;its owner Ajit Vikram Singh is the city’s most ec-centric bookseller. On entering, I never darebothering him. He is either browsing on his lap-top or reading The New York Review of Books.In the latest issue of The Book Review, amonthly magazine published from Delhi, whichI picked yesterday from Bahrsions Booksellers,Singh wrote a column, saying, “My bookstore isfor people who love and respect books. I love toplay blues and classic 60s and 70s rock in thestore and patrons have come to identify theshop with music and vice a versa. If for somereason the music is off, customers now demandit for the complete Fact & Fiction experience.each day I open the store thinking it’s the firstday of the rest of my bookselling life.”

I have a few friends who like Singh’s book-store, but not him. “Most of my differenceshappen with customers due to their ill treat-ment of books,” Singh told me. “A bookshoprequires a certain amount of sanctity andsometimes I have people rushing in with drip-ping ice cream cones.”

Keep it between us, but I think the survivalof Fact & Fiction seems as shaky as PresidentZardari’s position in Pakistan. Delhi is seeingthe invasion of big bookstore chains and ofcompanies that sell books on the internet. It’suniversally agreed that the capital’s small in-dependent bookstores are on the death bed.

On its last day, the shelves in New BookDepot were empty. Chandra told me, “Theshop stayed for 65 years with the family.”

But all sob stories must have a hopefulending. A notice at the shop’s door said, “Weare leaving. We don’t know for where but we willcome back with better books and a bigger space.”

Mayank Austen Soofi lives in a library.He has one website and four blogs. Thewebsite address: thedelhiwalla.com. Theblogs: Pakistan Paindabad, Ruined ByReading, Reading Arundhati Roy andMayank Austen Soofi Photos.

The death of a bookstore

delhi callingBy Mayank Austen Soofi

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Comment 13Monday, 16 January, 2012

Is there virtue in naivety?That may be so but un-pleasant truths have an

ugly yet enduring way of as-serting themselves. Andwatching our own so-calledreality crumble is never apleasant experience—butmaybe it is necessary.

Silence, like ignorance, hasits virtues. If no one discussesuncomfortable things then noconversation becomes difficult.Divisions, albeit deeply hurt-ful, are necessary for thingsthat they can bring to light.The worst thing about ter-rorised and violent societies isthat they lose their collectiveinnocence. Violence in Pak-istan has increasingly mani-fested itself not just throughloss of life and limb but alsothrough conversations and amilitant desire to hold ontobigoted points of view.

This became clearer to memore than ever before the dayMr Salmaan Taseer, the lateGovernor of Punjab, was as-sassinated by a man from hisown security detail after MrTaseer had condemned theabuse of blasphemy relatedlaws in Pakistan. The piecesin the puzzle that was myworld shook and crumbledone by one. educated and en-lightened people around mebecame apologists for themurderer and defended hisactions. Within minutes therewere Facebook groups laud-ing the murderer’s actionsand hailing him a saviour ofthat most convenient instru-ment of asserting power inPakistan: Islam.

While many condemnedsuch bigoted violence, agreater number were onlywilling to whisper a condem-

nation in the sacred recessesof the heart. But all humanemotions lack real utility un-less they are expressed. Whenhatred abounds, then reasonmust not stay silent. That wasthe day that it became clearerto me than ever before thatPakistan is deeply divided inways that threaten her soul. Ihad never assumed thatthings were not bad but theday of Mr Taseer’s murder itbecame clear that courage inthe public sphere is lacking.

Adam Smith once re-marked that a major factorthat sets apart humans fromanimals is our ability to ex-change ideas and argue them.A society that forgets how toargue, and I mean genuinelyargue, has no future but to turninto a place where cruelty andinjustice of the worst degree isaccepted silently. Questioningit is then simply a bad bargain.

My point, dear reader, isthat we live in a deeply dividedsociety and no amount of falsehope can change that. Our cit-izenship is based on allegianceto a religion and not a country.Anyone departing from thatrequirement is a lesser Pak-istani — if a Pakistani at all. Wetell our minorities what theycan or cannot call their placesof worship and we tell themwhat they can or cannot writeon the graves of their dead whowere killed through knives thatyou and I helped sharpen.

Our discourse about newpolitical figures is angry andcondescending. A discussion ofwhat plagues us is greeted notwith introspection but a volleyof abuse that lambasts that noone provided a solution.

Argumentation when car-ried out rationally is a wonder-ful thing. Figuring things outdepends mostly on asking theright question before you caneven imagine the outlines of aright answer. The true test ofthe depth of your conviction isyour reaction to your beliefsbeing questioned. If your retortto an argument is attacking an-other’s person or backgroundor a third party then it speaksvolumes about the hollownessof your conviction.

To use Steven Pinker’sanalogy an argument, unlikea building, can never collapseif you attack its weakestpoint. It only collapses if youengage with and attack itsstrongest point.

Make no mistake about it;whether it’s the military es-tablishment’s role, the Pak-istani Taliban or any otherforce asserting itself, Pak-istan’s future hangs on howwe argue for her soul. Anyonefavouring negotiating withTTP should be invited to liveunder Taliban rule and seehow comfortable s/he is ne-gotiating with those bigots.

If we stay mute in the faceof those who use intimidationand violence then we aresigning a mortgage that willbankrupt our future. If we ac-cept that silence, because ofits convenience, is an accept-able way of life then our dig-nity is non-existent.

every militant who kills in-nocents and burns downchurches and temples, everygeneral who mocks the consti-tution and every politician whopeddles the military’s populistagenda does so standing atop agrave filled with the crimes ofour collective silence. MrTaseer’s death is just one ex-ample and his son’s kidnap-ping only a painful reminder.

Braving hate speech andcountering it is now incumbentupon every Pakistani whowants a home that all thosearound him can call their own.For the sake of our children, letus be prepared to be unpopularbut at least thinking souls.Strive for a home that protectsits most vulnerable and thatdoes not favour negotiatingwith those slitting throats inthe name of religion.

For cowards and those liv-ing in a violent and unthinkingcertitude, it is already a bloodygood place to live in.

The writer is a Barristerand an Advocate of the HighCourts. He is currentlypursuing his LL.M at a lawschool in the United Statesand can be reached [email protected]

Speak now or ...

Criminal silence

By Waqqas Mir

“Imoved here a few weeks ago. Before that I wasin Pakpattan, but I’ve spent some time in Mul-tan and Khanewal as well. My mamoo taught

me well; he works at an auto workshop in the main Ba-hawalnagar civil lines bazaar.

“I have been in this line of work for 16 years. Paidan agent 80,000 on two separate occasions for a jobcontact and visa in Saudia. Was refused by immigrationauthorities on medical grounds, both times. They saidI had high blood pressure and an above-average bodytemperature. Must’ve been because of all that cricketin the desert sun.”

Muhammad Shehzad now works at a small work-shop in Islamabad. He gets paid, in cash, on a fort-nightly basis, and rents a small room with 4 of hisco-mechanics. The proprietor of his new workplacecame to know of Shehzad through a local jobber (an in-formal employment agent), who in turn had met She-hzad a few months ago in Pakpattan.

The distance between Islamabad and Pakpattan isapproximately 550 km. Shehzad had never visited La-hore, let alone Islamabad, had no relatives in the capitalcity, no friends, no warm clothes, and no place to stay.Yet here was, three weeks into a new job, cold andmostly hungry, but going about his business like manyothers across the country.

Contrary to what some of you might be thinking atthis point, this column does not seek to narrate a human-interest story. In fact, this particular example has been

cited precisely because of its rel-ative tedium and because it hap-pens to be true for a very largenumber of individuals in Pak-istan.

Let me explicate further.These last few months, an

english language daily has wit-nessed an intense but mostlyinconclusive debate on the na-ture of Pakistan’s economic cri-sis. In one camp are themainstreamers: the orthodoxeconomists who cite basicmacroeconomic indicators (fis-cal deficit, inflation, unemploy-ment, growth rate, total debt)to point out the precarious po-sition we currently find our-selves in. Crisis, they say, is anunderstatement. Full, unmiti-gated disaster captures the sit-uation more effectively.

In the other camp, therewas only one man: Dr S AkbarZaidi. In his view, Pakistan’seconomy was undoubtedly in abad shape, but at the same time,most of this clamour aboutfalling into an economic abysswas misplaced. The outcome, inhis view, of a complete failureon the part of mainstreameconomists to understand thenature of Pakistan’s economy.

According to Dr Zaidi and

political sociologist, Dr Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, Pakistan’seconomy exists in a seen-unseen formation, with thelatter counterweighing the problems arising in the for-mer. Most of those reading this piece, i.e. the 9 to 5,white-collar sorts with an NTN number, exist in the‘seen’ portion. Muhammad Shehzad, the 9 to 9, paid-in-cash, auto mechanic, exists in the ‘unseen’ portion.This particular argument is premised on the fact thatthe unseen, or informal/undocumented portion of Pak-istan’s economy is, potentially, as large as the docu-mented portion, employs as many, if not more, people,and operates on a more nativist logic, using biraderi,zaat, tribe, and other such informal connections thatproduce a dynamism more capable of handling macro-economic problems.

In 2003, Anwer Kemal estimated that nearly 50percent of all employment in Pakistan happens in theinformal or semi-informal segment. Car mechanics,local shops, small-scale manufacturing units, domesticservices like drivers, guards, and cleaners, all operatein the informal sector. People gain employmentthrough intermediaries, colloquially known as jobbers,and stick around in mostly oppressive environments tillthey find something marginally better. This process iscomplemented by informal migration and subsequentremittance flows from the Gulf which provide directcash injection into many households.

The process of informalisation has received severalfillips since the Bhutto period: For starters, the deregu-lation and denationalisation of the economy during the80s, and the stagnation of manufacturing in the 90s,saw a large pool of unemployed labour shift into the in-formal sector. Secondly, the services sector (51% of totalGDP) in Punjab, and in Karachi, revolves largely aroundtwo major components: Transport and communication,and retail and wholesale. In the backdrop of a liberalisedtrade policy (as part of structural adjustment) the trad-ing and retail, as well as transport, sector became majornodes of labour absorption. Thirdly, fuelled by foreigninflows of cash (post 9/11), and a mostly artificial creditboom, the construction sector grew by nearly 48% in thelast decade. Around 87.8% of all employment in thisparticular sector is undocumented, and hence, beyondthe purview of labour welfare related legislation.

Precisely because of its understudied dimension,it’s hard to pinpoint whether the visible dynamism ofthe informal economy is sufficient to offset Pakistan’smacro-economic crisis. The problem is further exacer-bated when you consider that most people who dealwith such questions (researchers, development practi-tioners) have failed to accord any substantive impor-tance to the informal sector. Unlike in India, where thegovernment has formed the National Commission forenterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCeUS), theacademia and the government in Pakistan continue toignore the existence of this rapidly growing phenome-non, and consequently fail to see the very real forms ofexploitation and oppression that take place within it.Safe to say, till our analytical frame is broadened, all at-tempts to understand and work with the economy willremain incomplete and, hence, ineffective.

The writer blogs at http://recycled-thought.blogspot.com. Email him [email protected], or send a tweet @umairjav

On Pakistan’s informal economy

The seen and the unseen

By Umair Javed

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14 Foreign News

RAMADIAFP

INSURGeNTS carried out a waveof attacks before storming a po-lice compound in the westerncity of Ramadi on Sunday, rais-ing questions about Iraqi forces’

abilities a month after US troops left.The coordinated blasts and shoot-

ings, which left four people dead, comewith the country mired in a festering po-litical row, and deal a blow to US andIraqi officials’ assertion that local forcesare able to maintain internal security.

Sunday’s violence in mostly SunniRamadi came a day after a suicide at-tacker targeting Shiites killed 53 peopleon the outskirts of the southern city ofBasra, the latest in a series of attacks thathave killed nearly 200 people.

In Ramadi, two initial car bombs ex-ploded at around 11:30 am (0830 GMT)near Dawlah Kabir Mosque in the centreof the city, before a third car bomb wentoff in the same area, two police officerssaid on condition of anonymity. A shorttime later, a fourth car bomb detonatednear a police compound in Ramadi, fol-lowed quickly thereafter by two suicidebombers blowing themselves up inside.

About 10 insurgents stormed thecompound, which houses the police’s in-vestigations and intelligence directorateand a building under construction that isto be the new office of the mayor of Ra-madi, according to a police major in Ra-madi and interior ministry spokesmanMajor General Adel Daham.

The gunmen, who apparently did nottake hostages, were holed up in the latterfacility and clashes were ongoing as of

2:30 pm (1030 GMT). The initial threecar bombs wounded three civilians, whilethe subsequent attacks on the police com-pound killed four policemen and hurt 16others, according to a police official anda doctor at Ramadi General Hospital.

The violence was reminiscent of asiege three months ago at a police stationin the nearby town of Al-Baghdadi, alsoin Anbar province. At the time, the localpolice chief and four others were killedwhen gunmen disguised in police uni-forms set off explosions, clearing the wayfor them to overrun the building.

Anbar was a key Sunni insurgent basein the years after the US-led invasion of2003, but after 2006 local tribes sidedwith the American military against Al-Qaeda and day-to-day violence hasdropped dramatically. However Anbar,and particularly its capital Ramadi, has

been the target of frequent attacks in pre-vious years. In June 2011, at least threeexplosions near provincial governmentoffices in Ramadi killed 10 people andwounded 15 others. And back in January,a suicide bomber blew up an explosives-packed car carrying Anbar governor Qas-sim Mohammed Abid, but he was unhurt.

Provincial government offices werealso targeted by attackers three times in2010, and, on December 30, 2009, Abidlost his left hand in a suicide attack thatkilled 23 people and wounded 30. UStroops completed their withdrawal fromIraq on December 18, leaving behind asecurity force that officials said was ableto maintain internal security but not pro-tect the country’s borders, air space ormaritime territory. Insurgents have sincecarried out multiple mass-casualty at-tacks. On December 22, a wave of vio-

lence across Baghdad and restive Diyalaprovince killed 67, while bombings tar-geting Shiites in the capital and southernIraq left 70 dead on January 5. Saturday’ssuicide attack near Basra killed 53.

The unrest also comes amid a politicalstandoff in Iraq pitting the Shiite-led gov-ernment against the main Sunni-backedpolitical bloc, stoking sectarian tensions.Authorities have charged Sunni Arab VicePresident Tareq al-Hashemi with runninga death squad, and Prime Minister Nurial-Maliki, a Shiite, has called for his Sunnideputy Saleh al-Mutlak to be sacked.Hashemi denies the charges and has beenholed up in the autonomous Kurdish re-gion which has not handed him over. TheUS and United Nations have urged calmand called for dialogue, but oft-mootedtalks involving Iraq’s main political lead-ers have yet to take place.

Gunmen storm Iraq police compound

DAMASCUSAFP

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday urgedSyria’s Bashar al-Assad to stop killinghis own people, saying the path of re-pression was a “dead end,” as Damascusannounced a general amnesty for crimescommitted during the unrest.

“Today, I say again to PresidentAssad of Syria: Stop the violence. Stopkilling your people. The path of repres-sion is a dead end,” Ban said in akeynote address at a conference inBeirut on democracy in the Arab world.

“The winds of change will not ceaseto blow. The flame ignited in Tunisiawill not be dimmed,” he added.

Ban’s comments came as the Syrianpresident announced a general amnestyfor crimes committed during the popu-lar unrest that has rocked the countryover the past 10 months.

“President Assad issued a decreestipulating a general amnesty for crimescommitted during the events betweenMarch 15, 2011 and January 15, 2012,”the official SANA news agency reported.

But it qualified the announcementby saying the amnesty covered infringe-ments of the law on peaceful demon-strations, the possession of unlawfulweapons and army desertion. The oppo-sition Muslim Brotherhood dismissedthe amnesty, describing it -- the third of

its kind since the uprising began -- as“neither serious nor credible.”

“The regime is trying to make its un-realistic plans for reconciliation and na-tional dialogue credible, and it is in thiscontext that it is making such an-nouncements, for propaganda pur-poses,” the group added. Releasingprisoners is one of the key conditions ofan Arab League roadmap approved bySyria in November to end the country’scrisis, which the UN estimates hasclaimed more than 5,000 lives. SinceNovember, the regime has announcedthat it will release nearly 4,000 prison-ers “without blood on their hands.”

Syria’s bloody crackdown on pro-

democracy protesters has brought in-creased pressure from its former allies.

The emir of Qatar said in an inter-view with US network CBS that hefavoured dispatching Arab troops toSyria to “stop the killing,” a proposal de-scribed by former Arab League chief andegyptian presidential hopeful AmrMussa as “very important.”

Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani’s interview with “60 Minutes” isthe first public call by an Arab leader foran Arab military presence in Syria.

The comments by the emir, whosewealthy nation once enjoyed cordial tieswith Damascus, come with the ArabLeague set to review the work of its

Syria monitoring mission later thismonth, amid increasing concern aboutits failure to stem the killing. “There hasbeen partial progress until now butthere is daily bloodshed in Syria that theLeague aims to end,” League chief Nabilal-Arabi told AFP in Oman, adding thatthe mission will be reviewed at a Janu-ary 21 meeting in Cairo. Syrian opposi-tion activists have expresseddisappointment at the mission, withcritics saying it has been out-maneu-vered by the government in Damascus.

On the political front, French For-eign Minister Alain Juppe decried the“silence” of the UN Security Council onSyria’s deadly crackdown, two days afterBritain sharply criticised Russia for re-fusing to support Security Councilmoves against Assad. “The massacrecontinues, the silence of the SecurityCouncil too. This situation is becomingintolerable,” he said on Sunday, duringa visit to Myanmar.

In October, Russia and China vetoeda Western draft resolution that wouldhave condemned Bashar al-Assad’sregime. Russia later circulated an alter-native that would have pointed the fin-ger at both sides.

Juppe’s British counterpart WilliamHague said on Sunday that there was“no serious prospect” at the moment fora UN no-fly zone in Syria like the oneimposed over Libya last year.

UN chief tells assad path of repression is ‘dead end’

rAMADI: Iraqis gather at the site of an explosion following a wave of attacks prior to the storming a police compound in this western Iraqi city on Sunday. Insurgents carried out a

wave of attacks before storming a police compound in ramadi raising questions about Iraqi forces' abilities a month after uS troops left. aFP

Nigerian unions vowto resume strikeMonday if no deal

ABUJAAFP

Nigeria’s unions vowed to press aheadwith a week-old nationwide strike onMonday if a deal over fuel prices is notreached before then, but a threat to haltcrude production has been put on hold.Meanwhile, queues at petrol stationsstretching for several blocks in someareas formed on Sunday, causing a nearlyfour-hour wait for drivers seeking torefuel in case the country is shut down foranother week. There was no confirmationof when another round of talks betweenthe government and labour leaders couldoccur after Saturday’s late-night sessionin Africa’s largest oil producer endedwithout a compromise. One union officialsaid further talks were expected Sunday.President Goodluck Jonathan, who hasbeen largely silent in public since thestrike shut down the country startingJanuary 9 and brought tens of thousandsinto the streets in protest, was also said tobe considering a televised address.The strike and protests have been put onhold for the weekend, but will resume onMonday if no deal is reached, the country’smain unions said. They said in a statementon Sunday that the talks failed the previousnight because the government refused toreduce petrol prices to pre-January 1 levelsbefore further negotiations, as demandedby labour leaders.

Shaken Kazakhstanvotes after riots

ASTANAAFP

Kazakhstan elected a new parliament onSunday just a month after deadly riotschallenged the resource-rich butauthoritarian nation’s status as thebeacon of Central Asian growth.The vote is designed to breathe new lifeinto a system under which veteran leaderNursultan Nazarbayev sacrificed politicalfreedoms in exchange for a record decadeof micro-managed economic prosperity.The resulting social tensions exploded inDecember when 16 people were killed inclashes between striking oil workers andsecurity forces in what becameKazakhstan’s worst bloodshed since theSoviet Union’s fall. The 71-year-oldpresident -- in power since 1989 and stillwith no clear successor in sight -- saidafter casting his ballot in the capitalAstana that the vote was “a big test”.“I am sure that the Kazakh people willmake the right choice for their future, forthe country’s development, for calm inour common country,” the former metalworker said in comments posted on hiswebsite. “We have done everythingnecessary to ensure an open and fairvote,” he said. Six parties are challengingNazarbayev’s Nur Otan (Light of theFatherland) group under new rules inwhich the second-place finisher will forthe first time collect seats even if it winsless than the seven-percent threshold.

France decries Un Security

Council ‘silence’ on SyriaYAngon: French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Sunday decried the “silence”of the UN Security Council on Syria’s deadly crackdown on protests, saying thesituation was becoming “intolerable”. “The massacre continues, the silence of theSecurity Council too. This situation is becoming intolerable,” he said at a pressconference during a visit to Myanmar. “The repression has not ceased. The violenceis still at work. The Arab League has given itself until January 19 to assess thesituation. I strongly hope that it will make a report that is as objective as possiblethat it can communicate to the Security Council,” Juppe said. “I hope like othersthat the Arab League does not get bogged down in its observation mission,” addedthe minister, whose country is a permanent member of the Security Council. AFP

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:23 AM

YeMeN: Yemeni anti-regime protesters shout slogans during a rally on Sunday. Thousands of Yemenis demonstrated in several cities voicing their rejection of a gulf Arab deal to

grant President Ali Abdullah Saleh immunity from prosecution. aFP

Foreign News 15Monday, 16 January, 2012

SANAAAFP

Twenty-five gunmen have been killedin three days of fighting betweentribesmen and Shiite rebels inYemen’s troubled north, an officialsaid on Sunday.

The clashes flared Friday in theprovince of Hajja, just a day after 20other gunmen were killed in fightingbetween Sunni Salafists and ZaidiShiite rebels in a separate northern

town, the official told AFP on condi-tion of anonymity.

Tribes involved in the latest fight-ing, which took place in Hajja’s WadiMisyar region, are aligned with theSunni fundamentalists that have formonths been battling Shiites in thecountry’s north, the official added.

Fighting between Sunni funda-mentalists and Huthi rebels has alsoraged in the northern town ofDammaj, where a Salafist Islamicteaching school was besieged by the

Shiite rebels.At least 71 people were been killed

in clashes that erupted in mid-Octo-ber, a spokesman for the Dar al-Ha-dith school said in late December.

In 2004, Zaidi Shiites, who regu-larly complain of inequality and mar-ginalisation by the centralgovernment, rebelled against Presi-dent Ali Abdullah Saleh’s regime.

Thousands of Yemenis were killedbefore a ceasefire was declared inFebruary 2010.

25 dead as Shia rebels,tribesmen clash in Yemen

BEIRUTAFP

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday calledfor an end to Israeli occupation of thePalestinian territories, saying the illegalbuilding of settlements worked againsta two-state solution.

“The Israeli occupation of Arab andPalestinian territories must end. Somust violence against civilians,” Bansaid in a keynote address at a confer-ence in Beirut on democracy in the Arabworld. “Settlements, new and old, are il-legal. They work against the emergenceof a viable Palestinian state,” said theUN secretary general. “A two-state solu-

tion is long overdue. The status quo of-fers only the guarantee of future con-flict.” Ban arrived in Beirut on Friday toattend a conference entitled “Reformand Transitions to Democracy” organ-ised by the United Nations economicand Social Commission for WesternAsia (eSCWA).

Among the conference speakers areegyptian presidential hopeful and for-mer Arab League chief Amr Mussa andTurkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davu-toglu, whose country has emerged as akey regional player in the Middle east.

The Israeli foreign ministry re-sponded to Ban’s comments by sayingongoing talks between Palestinian and Is-

raeli negotiators were the best way to ad-dress the concerns raised by the UN chief.

“The only thing I can say at thispoint is that the most important thing isto keep negotiations going in view ofsolving all of the issues including thosementioned by the secretary general,”said ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor.

“The most important thing now isnot to jeopardise the talks that are un-derway.” Palestinian and Israeli nego-tiators have so far held three rounds of“exploratory” talks in Jordan to discussthe possibility of resuming negotiationsthat have been on hold since late Sep-tember 2010. But a deep divide contin-ues to separate the two sides in the

talks, held under the auspices of Jordanand the peacemaking Quartet. “There isstill a wide gap between us on all posi-tions because the Israeli side has notpresented anything new and continuesto hinder the resumption of negotia-tions,” a Palestinian official close to thenegotiations told AFP in Ramallah.

Israel accused the Palestinians oftrying to scupper peace talks. “The Ne-tanyahu government has always saidthat it is ready to sit at the table and dis-cuss these subjects,” strategic affairsminister Moshe Yaalon told Israeli pub-lic radio on Sunday. Yaalon said Pales-tinian president Mahmud Abbas was“endlessly adding preconditions”.

No plans for Westernmilitary action onSyria, Iran: uK

LONDONAFP

Western nations have no immediate plansfor military action to stop the repressionof protests in Syria or to halt Iran’snuclear programme, British ForeignSecretary William Hague said Sunday.Asked if there was a possibility of a no-flyzone in Syria like the one imposed overLibya last year, Hague said there was “noserious prospect” of a UN resolution onthe subject.“We haven’t been looking at a no-flyzone,” Hague told Sky News, saying itwould be only effective in tandem withother measures, and that the Syrianregime had not been relying on air powerto repress protests.“There is no serious prospect certainly atthe moment of the United NationsSecurity Council agreeing any resulutionat the moment, let alone agreeing aresolution comparable to anything thathappened in Libya.”But he said that if the current ArabLeague monitoring mission in Syria doesnot work “I hope they (the Arab League)will come to the UN and suggest a wayforward that we can all get behind.”Hague was also cool on suggestions byQatar that Arab forces should be sent intoSyria to stop the deadly 10-monthcrackdown on dissent by President Basharal-Assad’s regime.

uS, Israel postponejoint military drill

JERUSALEMAFP

Israel and the United States have agreedto postpone a major joint military drillscheduled for spring, Israeli public radioreported on Sunday, saying budgetaryconstraints were behind the delay.The radio, citing military sources,reported that the exercises, codenamed“Austere Challenge 12,” would be pushedback to the end of 2012.Despite the postponement, there were nochanges to a visit to Israel by top USmilitary chief General Martin Dempsey,scheduled to arrive later this week formeetings with Defence Minister ehudBarak and Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.The postponed military exercises were toinclude thousands of American and Israelisoldiers in the largest missile defencemanoeuvres ever held by the allies.

UN chief urges end to Israeli occupation

Two Koreans, Italian

rescued from Italy

cruise disasterGIGLIO ISLAND

AFP

Two South Korean honeymooners and anItalian crewman were rescued Sundayfrom a cruise ship wreck on an Italianisland as emergency services searchedfrantically for 17 people missing.Rescuers said the search in the half-submerged ship was highly dangerousbecause the decks were at almost a 90-degree angle and there was a risk that theship could slip off the rocks it had struckand sink altogether. “We’ve rescued him!”a coast guard official said of the man, anItalian officer responsible for passengersecurity on the vessel, after rescuers spenthours trying to reach him after hearinghis voice echoing in the monster ship.The official said the rescued man hadsuffered a broken leg.Fire crew chief Cosimo Pulito said: “Hewas in the tea room. He shouted with joywhen we got to him. He just thanked us.”But Pulito said rescuers had onlysearched a quarter of the ship so far,including most of the area above waterand some underwater parts.“It’s unlikely there are any air pockets.Our divers have checked all of the outsideof the ship and they believe there aren’t,”he said. “We’ve started with where thehighest probability is of finding peoplealive. We haven’t gone into the machineroom yet,” he added.“We will continue searching until we’vedone the whole ship.”The Costa Concordia hit submerged rocksjust off the island of Giglio late on Friday,with more than 4,200 people onboard.

CAIROAFP

Nobel peace prize winner Mo-hamed elBaradei’s decision toquit the race for the presidencywas seen in egypt as a slap in theface for military rulers and onedepriving liberals of a key force.

The ex-UN nuclear watchdogchief made the surprise announce-ment Saturday, days before egyptis set to celebrate the first anniver-

sary of the January 25 revolutionthat ousted president HosniMubarak. “My conscience does notallow me to run for the presidencyor any other official position unlessthere is real democracy,” elBaradeisaid in a statement. He chargedthat old regime figures still ruledthe country, accused them of re-pressive tactics and criticised whathe said were “botched” moves todraw up a constitution after theelection later this year of a new

president. The banner headline inthe government daily Al-Akhbarcompared elBaradei’s decision to a“bomb” while the independent Al-Shorouk and Al-Masry Al-Youmpapers said it targeted the rulingSupreme Council of the ArmedForces (SCAF). “elBaradei hasstripped bare the former regimeand withdraws from the presi-dency,” Al-Shorouk said in a ban-ner headline. Al-Masry Al-Youmsaid: “The elBaradei bomb ex-

plodes in the face of the military.” The SCAF has repeatedly

pledged to cede full powers to civil-ian rule when a president is electedby the end of June, but there iswidespread belief that the militarywants to maintain a political role inthe future. The military has alsocome under fire over its humanrights record and faced accusationsthat it has resorted to Mubarak-eratactics to stifle dissent. Presidentialhopefuls like former Arab League

chief Amr Mussa and oppositionfigures like Ayman Nur lamentedelBaradei’s decisions with somefearing that it could destroy the as-pirations of liberals to reformegypt. Mussa, one of 10 contendersfor the presidency, expressed con-fidence that elBaradei “will pursuehis efforts to rebuild the country.”

Nur, who challenged Mubarakin the 2005 election, and who stilleyes the presidency despite spend-ing time in jail, praised elBaradei

as “the president of the egyptianconscience,” media reported. Hisdeparture is a “kiss of life to therevolution”, Nur was quoted assaying. The liberal-minded elBa-radei was initially hailed as a heroupon his return to egypt in Febru-ary 2010 at the end of his tenure asthe International Atomic energyAgency’s chief, and many egyp-tians saw in him as an ideal candi-date to steer the most populousArab country into democracy.

ElBaradei’s boycott of Egyptian presidency blow to military

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:23 AM

16 Monday, 16 January, 2012

STARS AT 18TH SCREEN AWARDS, MUMBAI

ShAh RuKh KhAn

And MAdhuRi dixiT

AnuShKA ShARMARAnbiR KAPOOR &

nEETu KAPOOR

ShAh RuKh KhAn

LOS ANGELESAgEnciES

The Nevada Film Critics Society, not to beconfused with the Las Vegas Film Critics So-ciety, has announced its Best of 2011 list.Martin Scorsese’s period adventure fantasyHugo was voted Best Picture. Scorsese wasthe Best Director and Asa Butterfield the BestChild Actor. The Best Actor and Best Actresschoices were the Nevada Critics’ biggest sur-prises: the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises’Tom Hardy was selected as the Best Actor forhis performance as a boxer in the little-seenWarrior. Jessica Chastain has been winningawards everywhere, but in the Best Support-ing Actress category. The Nevada Criticschose her as the year’s Best Actress “for heroutstanding work in several films of 2011 in-cluding The Debt, The Help, The Tree of Life,Take Shelter.” With Chastain out of the way,the Best Supporting Actress Award went toJanet McTeer for her butch lesbian in AlbertNobbs. Albert Brooks was cited for his workas a mean gangster in Nicolas Winding Refn’sDrive. Tate Taylor’s sleeper hit The Help wonfor Best ensemble (in addition to Chastain,

the film’s cast includes Viola Davis, emmaStone, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sissy Spacek,Octavia Spencer, Mary Steenburgen, and Cic-ely Tyson). Rooney Mara (for her Lisbeth Sa-lander in David Fincher’s The Girl with theDragon Tattoo) and elizabeth Olsen (for herproblematic character in Sean Durkin’sMartha Marcy May Marlene) tied for the BestBreakthrough Performance of 2011. ChrisMiller’s Puss in Boots, featuring the voices ofAntonio Banderas and Salma Hayek, was theBest Animated Feature. Curiously, the Ne-vada Critics don’t hand out award for BestForeign Language Film. If you hadn’t heardof the Nevada Film Critics Society, don’t de-spair. They’re a brand new (and apparentlyquite small) group, founded last year. Belowis the full list of the Nevada Critics’ choices.

hUGO, Scorsesewin Nevada FilmCritics awards

Best film - Hugo

Best Director - Martin Scorsese (Hugo)

Best Actor - Tom Hardy (Warrior)

Best Actress - Jessica Chastain (The Debt, The Help, The Tree of Life,

Take Shelter)

Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks (Drive)

Best Supporting Actress - Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs)

Best ensemble Cast - The Help

Best Child Actor - Asa Butterfield (Hugo)

Best Breakthrough Performance (tie) – elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy

Mae Marlene) and rooney Mara (The girl with the Dragon Tattoo)

Best Animated film - Puss in Boots

‘Macho’ men are better in bedLONDONAgEnciES

A new research has indicated that good-looking andmanlier men are better in bed and more likely to gettheir partners pregnant. Researchers from Pennsyl-vania State University studied the intimate sex livesof 110 heterosexual couples. The men had their pic-tures taken and faces measured for symmetry andmasculinity and participants answered a question-

naire about the timing of their orgasms and provided details of their sex lives. Women reportedexperiencing orgasm more often during or after male orgasm when with ‘high-quality’ men,and reported experiencing orgasm more often before ejaculation - along with higher orgasmfrequencies overall - when having sex with masculine and dominant men. Sex Therapy NewZealand director Robyn Salisbury said that she was surprised by the findings, which ran the riskof affirming sexual myths and adding to the arrogance of good-looking people.

Hrithik Roshancompletes 12 years,

thanks fansMuMbAi: Bollywood heartthrob Hrithik

roshan has thanked his fans as he completes

12 years in the Hindi film industry. “12 years.

really? Wow, thanks guys for the wishes!

Now back to work! Hrithik wrote on his Twit-

ter page. The 38-year-old actor had a dream

debut in 2000 with “Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai”,

which was directed by his father rakesh

roshan, who also introduced another new

face, Amisha Patel, with the love story. “Kaho

Naa Pyaar Hai” rocked the box office, but

Hrithik’s later releases could not ape the suc-

cess of his debut movie, however, he kept

growing as an actor with each film and

earned praises for his performance. After an

initial dull period, he struck gold with the sci-

ence-fiction “Koi... Mil gaya”, again directed

by his dad. Post that he had hits like “Krissh”,

“Dhoom 2”, “Jodhaa Akbar” and “ zindagi Na

Milegi Dobara”. The actor, who is geared up

for the release of “Agneepath” remake, said:

“Need to make the next 12 years even better.

Love always!” TiMES OF indiA

MuMbAi: After her scorching

performance in ‘The Dirty

Picture’, actor Vidya Balan is

all set to raise the tempera-

tures. She has again gone

goes topless for photographer

Dabboo ratnani’s annual cal-

endar. She is seen covered in

bubbles in a bathtub, wearing

a necklace on her bare neck

with dramatic show of her

legs. This is not for the first

time that Vidya has dared to

bare all. She did the same

act for Daboo’s last year’s

calendar where she was

clicked topless, daubed with

white paint, carrying paint-

brushes. AgEnciES

Avatar 2 tohit screenslOS AngElES: Movie lovers will not see James

Cameron’s Avatar 2 in the coming years as the

ambitious project has reportedly been delayed.

While the awaited film was originally expected to

make its way out in 2014, producer Jon Landau

revealed that the Avatar sequel may be pushed back

until 2016. Nonetheless, he promised that the

forthcoming movie will showcase advanced

technology that includes a higher rate of 3D camera

system and the Cg and performance capture. Back

Vidya Balangoesnudeagain

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:26 AM

17

chiTRAndA Singh

MUMBAITiMES OF indiA

IT was “The Dirty Picture” all the way at the 18th ColorsScreen Awards 2012 - the super hit movie Saturday wonthe best film award, while Milan Luthria won the best di-rector and Vidya Balan best actress trophy for her boldperformance in the picture about the rise and fall of a sex

symbol. “The Dirty Picture” shared the best film trophy with“Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”. Ranbir Kapoor won the best actoraward for his role in “Rockstar”, while singing legend Asha Bhoslewas honoured with the lifetime achievement award at a gala eventhere. Saif Ali Khan bagged the best supporting actor award for hisconvincing performance as a Dalit in “Aarakshan” and Aditi RaoHydari walked away with the best supporting actress trophy forher role in “Ye Saali Zindagi”. Prashat Narayan won the best actorin a negative role award for “Murder 2” and Priyanka Chopra wasgiven the best actress in a negative role for her critically acclaimedperformance as a femme fatale who knocks off her husbands in“7 Khoon Maaf”. In the music category, AR Rahman won the bestmusic director for his rocking music in “Rockstar”, while MohitChauhan won the best male singer trophy for the song “Phir seud chala” in the musical romantic saga. Best female playbacksinger award was given to Shreya Goshal for singing the chart-buster “Ooh la la” in “The Dirty Picture”.

The Dirty Picturesweeps top honours atColors Screen Awards

Best Story: Akshat Verma [Delhi Belly]

Best Screenplay: Akshat Verma [Delhi Belly]

Best Dialogue: farhan Akhtar/Javed Akhtar [zNMD] and rajat Arora

[The Dirty Picture]

Best ensemble Cast: zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Best Lyrics: Prasoon Joshi - Accha Lagta Hai [Aarakshan]

Best Music: Ar rahman [rockstar]

Best Playback (Male): Mohit Chauhan - Sadda Haq and Phir Se udd

Chala, rockstar

Best Choreography: Bosco Caesar - Senorita[zNMD]

Best Child Artist: Partho gupte [Stanley Ka Dabba]

ramnath goenka excellence Award: Aarakshan for ‘having made a

difference’

Best Supporting Actor (female): Aditi rao Hydari [Yeh Saali

zindagi]

Best Supporting Actor (Male): Saif Ali Khan [Aarakshan]

Best Actor for a Negative role (female): Priyanka Chopra [Saat

Khoon Maaf]

Best Actor in a Negative role (Male): Prashant Narayanan [Murder 2]

Most Promising Newcomer (female): Parineeti Chopra [Ladies v/s

ricky Bahl]

Most Promising Newcomer (Male): Divyendu [Pyar Ka Punchnama]

Most Promising Debut Director: Bejoy Nambiar [Shaitan]

Best Actor in a Comic role: Pitobash [Shor in the City]

Best Actor (female) Popular Choice (by public voting): Deepika

Padukone [Aarakshan & Dum Maro Dum]

Best Actor (Male) Popular Choice (by public voting): Shah rukh

Khan [ra.One & Don 2]

favourite Jodi: Priyanka Chopra & Shah rukh Khan [Don 2]

Best Performer of the Year: ekta Kapoor for “shaking the box office”

Best Director: Milan Luthria [The Dirty Picture]

Best film: The Dirty Picture and zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Best Actor (female): Vidya Balan [The Dirty Picture]

Best Actor (Male): ranbeer Kapoor [rockstar]

win

ne

rs

Roman Polanski’smastery takes ‘Carnage’ to higher level

LOS ANGELESAgEnciES

In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story “The Baby Party,”two supposedly civilized couples are quickly re-duced to violence after their kids get into a fight.It only takes a crack for the veneer of polite so-ciety to shatter. Something similar happens inYasmina Reza’s Tony-award-winning play “Godof Carnage,” which has been adapted into amovie with the blunter title “Carnage.” Twocouples, refined and adult, are meeting in anapartment to discuss something that happenedbetween their children. In the course of themovie’s 80 minutes, things do not go well. Inthe perfectly composed opening credits shot, wesee the children scuffling; one boy loses a coupleof teeth in the altercation. Then the actionmoves to the Brooklyn condo owned by Pene-lope and Michael (Jodie Foster and John C.Reilly), who see their child as the victim of anattack. They are hosting Nancy and Alan (KateWinslet and Christoph Waltz), parents of theother kid. They’re a bit more upscale than Pene-lope and Michael, and, at least initially, morecasual about the importance of this incident.The shifting moods and alliances of this situa-tion, which unfold in more-or-less real time, areentertaining and frequently funny, even if themovie never seems like the out-and-out “com-edy” it’s billed as. In ordinary hands, with thisset of top-line performers, “Carnage” would bea notable actor’s showcase. In the hands of di-rector Roman Polanski, who adapted the script

with Reza, “Carnage” turns into something bet-ter than that. Polanski needs no introduction tothe complexities of working in confined spaces,as “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Repulsion” proved,and he moves this quartet around this apart-ment as though they were animals in a cage.Foster and Reilly are adept at drawing out thesimmering hostilities that lie beneath their yup-pified exteriors. especially amusing is ChristophWaltz, the “Inglorious Basterds” Oscar winner,who devours with equal relish his cell phone, aserving of pastry and the snarkiest lines in thescreenplay. The way Polanski pushes these but-tons, and orchestrates the dynamics of a singleroom, is seamless. If my eye isn’t fooling me, thedirector can also be glimpsed peeping out of aneighboring apartment, during one of Nancyand Alan’s periodic attempts to leave the place.Mysteriously, Nancy and Alan can’t quite leave,although it would make sense to get out. If “Car-nage” seems like a minor gem, a small-scaledmind-game, this aspect lingers: the way peoplestay in their cages, even when the exit is open.If Polanski is good at anything, it’s creating pur-gatories for people who stay too long, with direconsequences. A skillfully oppressive adapta-tion of Yamina Reza’s Tony-winning play “Godof Carnage,” with a sterling quartet — JodieFoster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet andChristoph Waltz — acting out a disagreement ina Brooklyn apartment one afternoon. The ma-terial is small, but director Roman Polanskimakes it seamless, and he knows how to makea purgatory out of a confined space

in 2016?

in October 2010, 20th Century fox announced

Avatar 2 in December 2014 and Avatar 3 in

December 2015. Cameron has signed up to

return to the director’s seat and has planned

to film the two sequels back-to-back. Avatar

was released in 2009 and was named the

highest grossing movie of all time. Starring

Sam Worthington, zoe Saldana, Michelle

rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver, the film was

set in a spectacular new world. AgEnciES

MuMbAi: Superstar Shah rukh Khan has won scores

of awards and honours and is in the race for the best

actor filmfare trophy this year for “Don 2: The King Is

Back”. Yet, he feels awards are important. “Awards are

very important. Insha Allah, whichever film gets the

award I will be very happy,” Shah rukh told reporters here

at the filmfare Awards nomination party friday night. He

has been nominated for the award along with Ajay

Devgn (“Singham”), Amitabh Bachchan

(“Aarakshan”), Hrithik roshan (“zindagi Na Milegi

Dobara”), ranbir Kapoor (“rockstar”) and Salman

Khan (“Bodyguard”). Last year, Shah rukh

bagged the best actor award for his work

in 2010 film “My Name Is Khan”.

Bollywood stars gathered at the

nomination party of the 57th Idea

filmfare Awards 2011, to be held Jan

29 at film City, goregaon, here. The

stars present at the event included

Madhuri Dixit, Karan Johar, zoya

Akhtar, Asin Thottumkal, Anurag

Kashyap, Juhi Chawla, Tusshar

Kapoor and Imtiaz Ali. ranbir is

confident about his performance in

“rockstar”. “It feels good I got an opportunity

to work with Imtiaz Ali. We have made

‘rockstar’ from the heart,” he said. AgEnciES

Awards are important:Shah Rukh Khan

lOS AngElES: She’s performing this year’s Super

Bowl half-time show, but Madonna confessed

recently that she hasn’t watched a football game

from start to finish in decades. “for sure, when I

was in high school and I was a cheerleader, OK?”

she told “Nightline” anchor Cynthia Mcfadden.

“But not since then.” The pop icon said she

watched a lot of soccer games during her dozen

years spent living in the united Kingdom, where

she enjoyed “seeing legs.” “When you play

soccer, you see the legs. You see the bodies,” she

said. “football, it’s hard to see everybody. They’re

very covered.” But uniform gripes aside, Madonna,

53, didn’t downplay the importance of the game.

“In the middle of this very important event in

Americans lives, I have to put on the greatest

show on earth,” she said. And that show, she

noted, comes with serious time constraints and

practical limitations. “I have eight minutes to set

up my stage, 12 minutes to put on the greatest

show on earth, and I have seven minutes to take

it down. So, that football field is clean for the

second half of the game,” she said. “How do you

do that?” The Super Bowl will take place two

days after the release of Madonna’s other big

project, her new film “W.e.” Abc

Madonna’sSuper Bowl Anxiety

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:26 AM


Kvitova admits topranking would be nice

DUBAIAFP

pAKISTAN and england hope tomove on from the 2010 spot-fix-ing case as they enter the first ofthree Tests starting in Dubai sta-

dium from Tuesday -- their first encountersince the scandal. Salman Butt, then Pak-istan's Test captain, and pacemen Moham-mad Asif and Mohammad Aamer werehanded lengthy bans by the InternationalCricket Council last year before an englishcourt gave them prison sentences.

The trio and their agent Mazhar Majeedwere charged for conspiring to bowl deliber-ate no-balls during the Lord's Test in 2010.But to their credit, Pakistan have not lost aTest series since then as Misbah-ul Haq hasled them admirably -- both on and off thefield. Despite that the prelude to this series-- shifted to the United Arab emirates be-cause of security concerns in Pakistan -- wasmarred by the talk of the scandal, much tothe anger of Misbah.

"It's two years now and we have movedon from that diffficult period," said Misbah,not selected for that 2010 tour. "We want tofocus on cricket. That is what we have beendoing for an year and a half and that saga ispast for us." Since the Lord's Test, Pakistandrew 0-0 against South Africa, beat NewZealand 1-0, drew 1-1 against the West In-dies, beat Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka 1-0 andBangladesh 2-0. Misbah credits his playersfor the unbeaten run. "The credit goes to theteam and to players - after that difficult timeeverybody stuck to the task, gathered theirthoughts and everybody wanted to prove to

the world that we are good players and agood team," said Misbah.

"The key is performance of the team isshowing that everything is going on well andwe are determined to give our best against atough opponent who are ranked number onein Tests." england captain Andrew Strauss,who led his team to 3-1 win in that spot-fix-ing marred series, also showed resolve tomove on. "The spot-fixing stuff is somethingwe're desperately keen to move on from,"said Strauss last week. "What's happened be-fore is water under the bridge and I hopeboth sides can play the game in the rightspirit." Pakistan's squad still has pacemanWahab Riaz, Umar Akmal and Imran Farhatdespite their names being mentioned by Ma-jeed during the fixing trial. But Strauss hasno complaints over those inclusions.

"It's their (Pakistan) obligation and dutyto pick the best side they think is availableto them," Strauss said. "We will playwhichever XI is selected. We should see thisseries as an opportunity to erode or eradi-cate the perception that there's always issuesbetween Pakistan and england."

Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in a Test herein October last year, employing two spin-ners Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman.They are likely to use the same ploy againstengland batsmen, regarded as weak on theAsian spin pitches. england are also con-sidering the option of playing both theirspinners in Graeme Swann and MontyPanesar along with two seamers in JamesAnderson and Stuart Broad. Panesar, wholast played in the Cardiff Test of the 2009Ashes, warmed up with an eight wickethaul in the second tour match.

Pakistan, England to renew rivalry in desert

DuBAI: Pakistan's Adnan Akmal prepares to catch a ball and (right) Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq (r) jokes with teammate umar gul duringa practice session at the ICC global Cricket Academy. aFP

PERTHAFP

Australia routed India by an innings and37 runs inside three days on Sunday toseal a crushing 3-0 series victory againstthe hapless tourists.

Rahul Dravid and M.S. Dhoni wereout before lunch at the WACA Ground inPerth and Australia cleaned up the tailfor 171 soon after the break to completetheir third emphatic win.

India, the world one-day champions,have now lost seven straight away Testsafter their 4-0 loss to england last yearand this latest heavy defeat is likely tolead to calls back home for a shake-up,especially of the top order.

"In the games in england and herewe have not put enough runs on theboard," said skipper Dhoni, who laterlearned he had been suspended for onematch by the International CricketCouncil for his second slow overrate in-fraction in 12 months. "There is only oneinstance where we have scored over 350runs and you want to give bowlers those

amount of runs so they can look to getthe opposition out," he said.

"One or two bad innings can happenin Test cricket, but seven Test matchesis a bit long," admitted the captain, whowill miss the fourth and final Test inAdelaide starting on Tuesday week.

It was the second Test in a row thetourists had been beaten without Aus-tralia needing to bat twice, having beensmashed by an innings and 68 runs inthe second Test in Sydney.

Despite a gritty batting performanceby their most inexperienced batsman,Virat Kohli, the last man to fall for 75, itwas another shoddy batting display bythe Indians, whose abject displays havecaused much consternation at home.

Australian skipper Michael Clarkesaid the hosts would now go for thejugular and a series whitewash.

"No such thing as a dead rubber forme," Clarke said. "We haven't achievedmuch at this stage.

"We should be very proud, don't getme wrong, to beat the number-two-ranked Test team in this series, but

we've got a lot of work to do before we'llbe satisfied. "In Adelaide, you'll see thatour goal has not changed from the firstTest of this series, and it won't changeuntil we achieve what we want as ateam."

India resumed at 88-4, needing an-other 120 runs to make Australia batagain, and Kohli and veteran Dravidbriefly revived their hopes with a dogged84-run stand for the fifth wicket.

However, the loss of Dravid (47) andDhoni in quick succession before lunchhad Australia closing in on victory. Thedeath knell came quickly after the re-sumption, with yet another insipid per-formance by the Indian tail.

Swing bowler Ben Hilfenhaus's in-credible resurgence continued when heclaimed three wickets in four balls afterlunch, before Peter Siddle had Kohlicaught behind to seal the win.

Hilfenhaus (4-54) claimed eightwickets for the match to have 23 wicketsin the series at 16 apiece.

Kohli, who also top-scored in India'scalamitous first innings with 44 as the

tourists were dismissed for 161, beforeAustralia made 369 on the back of DavidWarner's explosive 180, had been fight-ing his way towards his maiden Testcentury in his seventh Test, but receivedno support aside from Dravid.

Dravid's once-famed "wall" defencewas again breached by Ryan Harris, whoknocked the 39-year-old's leg stump outof the ground.

The delivery didn't do anything sig-nificant off the pitch, but found the gapbetween bat and pad, ending the vet-eran's vigilant innings after 177 minutesand 114 balls.

It was the fifth time in six innings inthe series that Dravid had been bowled,and his average for the series of 28 iswell down on his career average againstAustralia of 52.62.

Dravid has now been bowled moretimes in Test cricket than any otherbatsman -- 54 times. Dhoni also failedonce again, caught in the slips by a div-ing Ricky Ponting for two from the bowl-ing of Siddle. The captain has made just102 runs in the series at 20.40.

Australia hammer India to seal series

rahul Dravid is dismissed by ryan Harris and (r) Australian fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus celebrates the wicket of Ishant Sharma. aFP

indiA, 1ST inningS: 161 (V. Kohli 44; B. Hilfenhaus 4-43)

AuSTRAliA, 1ST inningS: 369 (D. Warner 180; u. Yadav 5-93)

indiA, 2nd inningS: (overnight 88 for four)

g. gambhir c Hussey b Starc 14

V. Sehwag c Haddin b Siddle 10

r. Dravid b Harris 47

S. Tendulkar lbw Starc 8

V.V.S. Laxman c Marsh b Hilfenhaus 0

V. Kohli c Haddin b Siddle 75

M.S. Dhoni c Ponting b Siddle 2

V. Kumar c Clarke b Hilfenhaus 6

z. Khan c Clarke b Hilfenhaus 0

I. Sharma c Cowan b Hilfenhaus 0

u. Yadav not out 0

ExTRAS: (b1, lb5, w3) 9

TOTAl: (all out, 63.2 overs) 171

FAll OF WicKETS: 1-24 (gambhir), 2-25 (Sehwag), 3-42

(Tendulkar), 4-51 (Laxman), 5-135 (Dravid), 6-148 (Dhoni), 7-171

(Kumar), 8-171 (Khan), 9-171 (Sharma), 10-171 (Kohli).

bOWling: ryan Harris 16-3-34-1, Ben Hilfenhaus 18-6-54-4 (1w),

Mitchell Starc 12-4-31-2, Peter Siddle 15.2-5-43-3 (2w), Mike

Hussey 2-0-3-0.

Australian won by an innings and 37 runs

TOSS: Australia

uMPiRES: Aleem Dar (PAK), Kumar Dharmasena (SrI)

VidEO uMPiRE: Paul reiffel (AuS)

MATch REFEREE: ranjan Madugalle (SrI).

ScOREbOARd

Ajmal’s mysterydelivery unique,says Hafeez

DUBAIAFP

Pakistani allrounder Mohammad Hafeezraised the excitement over off-spinnerSaeed Ajmal's myster delivery he wants tounveil against england in the first Teststarting on Tuesday, saying it is "unique."Ajmal, who took the most Test wickets in2011 with 50, declared last month he willunveil a myster delivery against englandand Hafeez said he has played that deliv-ery in the nets and found it different. "Yes,I have played his delivery in the nets, it's abit different and he has worked a lot onthis in the last six-eight months. He hasnot bowled it internationally, so it will bebit different and exciting," said Hafeez.Hafeez, himself a off-spinner, refused togive more details. "I can't tell more aboutit, he can better tell you. You will judgeit when he bowls that, I don't want to re-veal that, he has this new weapon andhas command over it and has called it"teesra (third one)," said Hafeez. FormerPakistan off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaqinvented a unique delivery which henamed "doosra" (second one) -- a deliv-ery which is bowled with the normal off-spin action but turns the opposite way.

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:26 AM

Sports 19Monnday, 16 January, 2012

SO much for all the talk aboutDavid Warner being a Testplayer. He proved at the WACA

that he's a 20-over specialist. It's whathe does. He has made back-to-back cen-turies in the Champions League and ahundred in the Big Bash League, bothTwenty20 competitions. His latest cen-tury also took him 20 overs, but thistime it was in a Test match and againstthe new-ball bowlers of a team that wasrecently ranked No. 1 in the world. Now

that really is some 20-over specialist.Warner's batting is attuned to T20

cricket but it translates into the Testmatch arena because he has the skill tocompete at that level and the nerve to playhis natural game. His innings at theWACA was like something out of a movie- a Warner Brothers flick.

The irony of his knock was that it wasplayed against Virender Sehwag, a manwho told Warner he'd be a better playerin Test cricket because the close fieldingpositions would suit his aggressive style.Warner's belligerent century not only de-moralised an already flustered Indianside, he also remastered a few thrills fromother memorable knocks at the WACA.

The diminutive Warner remindedme of the flamboyant West Indiesopener Roy Fredericks, who thrashed ahundred in 1975-76 in just 71 balls ofmayhem. Warner beat that incredibleperformance by two balls.

Another West Indies opener, this onemore burly, Chris Gayle, bludgeoned ahundred off just 70 balls at the WACA.

Gayle hit a monstrous six that travelled104 metres, but he did it off a spinner.Warner, the muscled marauder, beatGayle to the century by a ball and man-aged to hit one of the Indian fast bowlersa massive 98 metres into the stands.

These blistering centuries stand outbecause the batsmen concerned wereopeners facing international new-ball at-tacks. That takes as much nerve as skill.

Another such innings, 37 years on,remains etched in Australian cricketfolklore. Dashing Doug Walters hit a sixoff the last ball at the WACA in 1974-75to complete a century in a session in anAshes Test. It wasn't the last ball of theday but Warner reproduced that dramawhen he clouted Vinay Kumar for six tobring up his electrifying century.

The reception Warner receivedwhen the ball landed over the ropes wasone reserved for batsmen who play withentertainment uppermost in theirmind, no matter the form of the game.Many cricketers have received standingovations but Warner is one of the rare

ones who experienced an outpouring ofunbridled joy at the pleasure of wit-nessing something extra special. His re-sponse to the applause was full ofemotion and fuelled by the adrenalinerequired to play an innings of such ad-venturous audacity.

That Warner is mentioned in thesame breath as Walters, Fredericks,Gayle, and also Adam Gilchrist, whoscored the second-fastest century ever ina Test at the WACA, is not an exaggera-tion. And yet his greatest achievement isto have played an innings of such daringin a Test match.

Two centuries in five Tests is an in-credibly good start to an international ca-reer. Warner will have other days wherethings are not so good, and there'll be oc-casions when he questions his method ofplaying. I just hope that on those occa-sions he recalls this century at the WACA,and that the memory also remains vividin the selectors' minds. That innings wasTest cricket as you rarely see it - a longknock played in a short time. (Cricinfo)

Warner gives India T20 treatment in Test

IAN CHAPPeLL

ExPERT cOMMEnT

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

FORMeR fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar believes thatSalman Butt, Mohammad Asif and MohammedAmir were given harsh punishments in thespot-fixing scandal. In his first interview on aPakistani channel since his retirement after the

2011 World Cup, Akhtar said he still felt for the three play-ers and their families. "I thought the jail term was too harshin context of their crimes. In england, even a murderer isout on bail. I thought after imposing ban on them, the jailsentences were very harsh," Akhtar said.

The controversial speedster, who was touring with the na-tional team for the ODI series that followed immediately afterthe spot-fixing scandal that broke out on the 2010 tour toengland, said he had witnessed up close the image of Pakistancricket take a beating. "I don’t know but after they werebanned, the ICC virtually ended their careers. After that itwould have been better if the court had imposed fines andsentenced them to some social work instead of sending thembehind bars," he added. Akhtar said it didn’t help the imageof cricket to have their international players in jail. "Whathappened was very bad for Pakistan cricket. even now I don’twant to think about it, but I feel for the families of these play-ers. I even went to meet them," he said. Akhtar also addedthat he considered the tenure of former PCB chairman IjazButt as the worst he had seen in Pakistan cricket.

"Was it good to see some of our top players beingasked to or forced to appear in courts. Was it good to seeShahid Afridi appearing in court. Such things reallyharmed Pakistan cricket." He pointed out that it was a badtime for Pakistan cricket because players were not giventhe respect they deserved from the board in Butt`s tenure."You had some lawyer with an inferiority complex decid-ing on our fates. It was awful," he added.

Butt’s term a nightmarefor Pakistan, says Shoaib

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Lahore Rams claimed narrow win overDelhi Lions Club in the Lahore-DelhiRugby Cup here at the DHA Stadium onSunday. Despite cold and inclementweather the match was watched by a jam-packed audience and the clash lived up toall the billing.

The Lahore Djuice Rams, playing withtheir full side which included nationalteam players Sair Riaz, Umer Usman,Manan Naseem, Fauzan Wain, ArslaanZahid, Khuram Haroon, Shakeel Ahmed,Umer Butt, M Babar, Haji Anwaar ul HaqZafar and Imran Rashid gained score inchby inch while the visiting team offered themaximum possible resistance to makethings tough for the hosts.

The match carried all the hype andexcitement of an India-Pakistan matchand both the teams showed hunger to becalled the Lahore-Delhi Rugby CupChampions. even good luck messageswere streaming in on Facebook. SaribQazi who won the man of the tournamentaward in the 7s tournament on Saturday,left a message before the match. “ItsRaining "Chilly" Morning -Today we playthe final game of our Pakistan Tour! It allcomes down to this - All eyes will be upon

us - We've got to take it away from them,in their own home ground”.

Delhi Lions took early advantage ofthe territorial superiority and after thethird successive penalty got an easy kickbeneath the posts which Sarib Qazi fromKashmir took easily for a 3-0 lead. De-vender was the most notable of the DelhiLions players, with Pranay and Vijay

doing well at key positions. Lahore Ramsgot some good possession in good areasbut each time they kicked away goodpossession and could not convert posses-sion into points. They got a penalty in thecentre of the field 40 yards from the goalbut FULL-back Mannan Naseem’s kickswent wide, and the Delhi Lions led 3-0 atthe break.

Lahore continued to hold the posses-sion advantage but a lot of lateral runsmade sure the game was played mostly atthe half line. After a couple of failed runs,Umer Usman finally had a dummy thatworked and took the ball into the Delhi 22metre line. The Lahore Rams forwardspiled in and continued to batter the DelhiLions who defended bravely.

Prashant made a number of crunchingtackles. Lahore claimed a try but it wasdisallowed by referee Fawzi Khawaja asthe ball appeared held up. Then KhurramHaroon came on as a substitute and on hisvery first run broke a couple of tackles andslid across the line for a try that wasawarded after consultation with the touchjudge. That made the score 5-3 to Lahoreas Anwaar missed the conversion attempt.

Delhi Lions tried to fight back butthe wet and cold conditions made theball handling very hard, and upon gain-ing possession Lahore kicked it out toseal the narrow win 5-3. The crowd gavea wonderful ovation to the visiting teamas they came through the tunnel. JunJun Bhasin, the President of the DelhiLions Club, congratulated Lahore ontheir win and expressed his delight on avery successful tour. Lahore DjuiceRams are now planning to have a returnvisit to India in March.

Lahore rams and Delhi Lions players in action the rugby match at DHA Stadium. STaFF PhOTO

lahore too good for Delhi in Rugby Cup Whatmore tomeet zaka today

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Dav Whatmore, who is in Pakistan totake over as coach of the Pakistan teammet PCB COO Subhan Ahmed and thecoach selecting committee chief In-tikhab Alam on Sunday.It was learnt that all the details of thecontract with Whatmore have been fi-nalsied but the final approval of his jobwill be given by PCB chairman ZakaAshraf.Whatmore will be meeting the chair-man on Monday and only after thatmeeting things would get a clear shape.Whatmore has not interacted withmedia since his arrival, on Saturday andonly after things are finalized then hewould likely be brought before themedia.The PCB committee before called What-more for a meeting, finalised its recom-mendations and gave it to the PCB.A source said that all the paper workhas been completed as Whatmore beingthe next head coach of Pakistan butone-to-one meeting was necessary be-fore signing up of the contract. Thefinal appointment would take placeafter england series.The coaching vacancy got created afterformer fast bowler Waqar Younis re-signed as head coach on health issuesand since then the team was beingmaintained by interim coach MohsinKhan, who is also running from dusk todawn to get a permanent coaching job. Whatmore, who played seven Tests andone one-day international for Australiain 1979, was in talks with the PCBthrough another former captain RamizRaja, who assisted the committee.Whatmore, who recently resigned as thecoach of the Indian Premier League sideKolkata Knight Riders, had a colourfulcoaching background.Pakistan has a history of sackingcoaches and has had six in the last tenyears.The PCB showed door to first foreigncoach Richard Pybus of South Africaafter the 2003 World Cup, and sackedformer Australian paceman Geoff Law-son in 2008.But former england batsman BobWoolmer had a successful stint from2004 before he died in mysterious cir-cumstances in the West Indies, a dayafter Ireland upset Pakistan in the 2007World Cup.england's former county player JulianFountain is in contention to take overas fielding coach, while former Pakistanpaceman Aaqib Javed -- already onUAe tour -- is the likely bowling coach.

Arsenal shockedby Swansea, debutloss for Hughes

LONDONAFP

Arsenal lost ground in the race to secure atop-four finish as the Gunners slumped to asurprise 3-2 defeat against Swansea City,while Mark Hughes' debut as QPR bossended in a 1-0 loss at Newcastle United onSunday. Arsene Wenger's side needed a winat the Liberty Stadium to keep pace withfourth-placed Chelsea, but Danny Graham'ssecond-half winner condemned the northLondoners to their second successive leaguedefeat. Fifth-placed Arsenal, beaten by Ful-ham in their last league outing, are now fourpoints behind Chelsea and 10 behind Totten-ham in third. Wenger left Thierry Henry onthe bench despite his match-winning cameorole against Leeds United at the start of hisbrief return on loan from New York RedBulls. It did not look like Henry would bemissed as Robin van Persie put Arsenal infront in the fifth minute. After a magnificent2011, this was van Persie's first goal of thenew year and the Dutch forward took it instyle, running onto Andrey Arshavin's passbefore clipping a cool strike past Swanseagoalkeeper Michel Vorm at his near post. ButSwansea have lost only once at home sincewinning promotion from the Championshipand the Welsh club drew level in the 16thminute when Scott Sinclair converted apenalty after Aaron Ramsey was harshlyruled to have tripped Nathan Dyer. Swanseatook the lead in the 57th minute when Ram-sey allowed Joe Allen to steal possession andslip a pass to Dyer, who punished Arsenal'spoor marking with a ferocious strike pastWojciech Szczesny. Henry made his return tothe Premier League after a five-year absencein the the 63rd minute and the Gunners drewlevel thanks to Theo Walcott's composed fin-ish six minutes later. However, Arsenal's de-fensive frailties were exposed less than 60seconds later as Swansea striker Grahamfound space to drill a superb shot into the farcorner of Szczesny's goal and secure thehosts' first win over their visitors since 1982.

SWANSeA: Arsenal's Johan Djourou (L) vieswith Swansea City's Sinclair (r) during theirenglish Premiership match. aFP

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:26 AM

Sports20Monday, 16 January, 2012

DUBAIAFP

oFF-SPINNeR GraemeSwann has advocated theidea of playing two slowbowlers in the england XIfor the first Test against

Pakistan starting here from Tuesday.england warmed up for the openingmatch of the three-Test series with a 100-run win against a Pakistan Cricket BoardXI with left-arm spinner Monty Panesarstaking claims to partner Swann witheight wickets in the side game.

And Swann, england's frontlinespinner for some time now, backed theidea of playing with two spinners on theslow, turning pitches in United Arab

emirates. "Yes I would, I've always ad-vocated the use of two spinners and Ilove the rhythm and tempo the gametakes when there are two spinners," saidSwann, who is likely to play a lead rolefor england again. "You have all the menround the bat and with everyone in closeyou can make shot suggestions to thebatsman that he might not otherwisedo," said Swann of the action when twospinners are employed in a Test.

england last played two spinners in aTest against Bangladesh in March 2010,with another off-spinner James Tredwellpartnering Swann. Irrespective of eng-land's ploy, Pakistan are certain to playwith two spinners in Saeed Ajmal andAbdul Rehman. Swann, 32, welcomed thereturn of Panesar, who has not played a

Test since the Cardiff Ashes match in 2009."It is great to see Monty back and bowlingso well. It is always tough if you lose formand your place in the team. It is very hardto dust yourself down and get back to yourfighting weight," said Swann, who doesn'tfeel presure from Panesar.

"This week I wasn't really focusingon how many wickets I took; I was fo-cused on how well I was bowling and bythe end I was very happy with it," saidSwann, insisting he is back to full fitness."I was a bit nervous going into the lastwarm-up game because my thigh felt likea 32-year-old's rather than a 22-year-old's. But it managed to get through andI felt great by the end of the game. "Sotouch wood I'll be 100% fit for the firstTest," said Swann, who has so far taken

153 wickets in 36 Tests. When askedabout Pakistani spinner Ajmal's plans tounveil a mystery delivery, Swann repliedwith amazement: "That is the greatestthing about it, because all the spinnersthat come up with these 'balls' so tospeak, the names are highly unoriginaland not impressive. "But the 'teesra' is astroke of genius," said Swann of Ajmal'sdelivery named "teesra." Swann said henever bothered about mystery deliveries.

"I wouldn't bother. I've never satdown and thought about it. I'm just im-pressed by the word teesra. Let's face it -as an off spinner you can have a ball thatgoes one way and one that goes the otherand one that goes straight on. The three-Test series will be followed by four one-day and three Twenty20 internationals.

BOTH captains have spoken aboutthis series being clean with the“spirit of cricket” on show, but eng-

land are at their best when they play hardand aggressive, and we do not want that tochange just because of fears it could boilover. If we want an england-Pakistan seriesto be smooth sailing and without talkingpoints, then we are asking for the wrongthing. Pakistan bring passion and contro-versy to cricket. england are the best in the

world. It is a clash we should be looking for-ward to seeing. Aggression is not all aboutbeing lippy. england are aggressive in otherways. In the field it is with their body lan-guage and the way they hunt in packs.

They crowd the batsman and con-stantly throw the ball in to the keeperwhich annoys the opposition and keepsthem on the back foot. Matt Prior is at theheart of it all with the tempo he brings tothe fielding unit. england have a body lan-guage that says “we want to be out here”.It is the complete opposite of India lastsummer when you would see their big starswith hands in pockets and looking at thesky when england were on top. Body lan-guage and fielding are two things englandknow they can control.

Running between the wickets, too. Inthose three areas england will be far supe-rior to Pakistan. The runs england save inthe field and score by sprinting hard be-tween the wickets, will be worth a 70-runhead start over Pakistan. That can be thedifference between winning and losing,

and it is down purely to a team’s mentality.It can help create a silly run-out and whenPakistanis see big shots being saved in thefield it can lead to mistakes later on.

england have the ability to consistentlyput Pakistan under pressure with thoseskills. I question whether Pakistan can dothe same to england. But it is not all oneway. For the first time in a few years eng-land face an attack capable of taking 20wickets. Last winter Australia were in tran-sition and in the summer India were poor.You never felt they had 20 wickets in them.

Pakistan are different and things willnot go england’s way all the time. It willbe difficult especially in the middle pe-riod of an innings. Facing Saeed Ajmaland Umar Gul when it is spinning and re-versing, as it will in this series, is thehardest challenge england’s middle orderhas faced. The series will be decided byhow well england play those two bowlers.Ajmal was the world’s best bowler in2011. He has the ability to go through bat-ting line-ups, Gul is the same and Wahab

Riaz is quick and dangerous. It is the firsttime england have faced a threat like thatsince the South Africa tour two wintersago. When you sit in a dressing room andthe opposition can take 20 wickets, yourealise you are no longer at the top of thefood chain. You can lose.

Pakistan will pick a left-arm seamerwith a choice between Riaz and JunaidKhan, the replacement for MohammadAmir. I haven’t spotted any real weaknessin the england side against left-arm pacebut Pakistan will want one to create roughfor Ajmal to exploit. This will be tough forbatsmen as the pitch wears, making it im-perative england start well.

For Strauss this is an important serieswith the bat. He has not scored a hundredsince the Ashes Test at the Gabba in No-vember 2010. That will niggle him and hewill want a hundred early on. He is playingwell and making a contribution but as a top-order batter you judge yourself by hun-dreds. He will look at the attacks englandhave faced against and know he should have

done better. He will also have seen AlastairCook churning hundreds out and becomethe rock of the team. He will think, “I fancydoing that”. The conditions will be tricky forStrauss, who likes to cut and pull on bouncypitches, but good players find a way. He willalso know the runs from the top three arecrucial because of that danger from Ajmaland Gul when the ball is a bit older. Pak-istan can’t crowd the bat with fielders lateron if england have started well.

eoin Morgan also needs a good series.He is on the edge of the team trying tomake his place permanent and show us allhe is a Test player. His ability against spinand talent of working the ball around thefield should be a bonus against teams likePakistan and Sri Lanka. His strengths inone-day cricket should translate to Tests ifhe has the right attitude.

What we want to know is can he be theGraham Thorpe of this england team? Heneeds to play those kind of gutsy inningsduring tricky periods and this series offersthat opportunity.

Swann pitches case for twospinners against Pakistan

dubAi: england cricketers Steve finn and Stuart Broad are seen in practice session. (right) captain Andrew Strauss (L) coach Andy flower inspect the pitch. aFP

Ajmal and Gul pose the real threat

MICHAeL VAugHAN

ExPERT cOMMEnT

DUBAIAFP

england paceman James Anderson Sundayshowed his team's resolve to stay on top ofthe Test rankings, but warned they needed tobeat Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka in thistough year. england rose to world numberone rankings by beating India 4-0 in Augustlast year but face a test of their skills in thethree series, the first starting here from Tues-day. "We want to stay number one in theworld. To do that, we're going to have to winhere and in Sri Lanka and then in India at the

end of the year," said Anderson aheadof the first Test against Pakistan. "It'sgoing to be a tough 'ask' for us. But thebest teams in the world do win outhere (in this part of the world)," saidAnderson of england's tour to SriLanka in March and India in October.england warmed up for the Test bywinning both the three-day sidesgames, by three wickets against ICCCombined XI and downing PakistanCricket Board XI by 100 runs. The 29-year-old pace spearhead, who featured inthe first side game, said the players re-

alised the enormity of the task. "It's going tobe a tough job for us, especially for the seam-ers to help out our spinners. But we hope wecan chip away with wickets, but our main jobis to dry up runs and we know how to get 20

wickets out here." Anderson, whohas so far taken 240 wickets in63 Tests, hoped conditions inthe United Arab emirates will

help movement for pacemen."It's slightly different to

India, because I thinkthere's going to be a

little bit of move-

ment early on. But generally it'll be a flatpitch and reverse-swing and, mainly for theseamers, holding up an end for (Graeme)Swann to do his job." On Pakistan's souredcricket relationship with england in thebackdrop of 2010 spot-fixing scandal whichended in jail terms for Salman Butt, Moham-mad Asif and Mohammad Amir, Andersonsaid he was not thinking about that. "I've notreally thought about that, I've just concen-trated on the leadup to this game, I've beenapproaching the way I would any other se-ries, I'll go there and play my natural gameand be as aggressive as I usually am."

eCB chief vows tostamp out corruption

LONDONAFP

england and Wales Cricket Board chairmanGiles Clarke insists his organisation will doeverything in its' power to combat the grow-ing threat of corruption. In the wake of thejailing of three Pakistan Test players andafter former essex player Mervyn West-field this week admitted accepting £6,000to spot-fix a match between his countyand Durham, Clarke believes efforts todeal with corruption must be renewed.

anderson says England want to stay number one

DUBAI: Pakistan’scricketers warm up duringa practice session at theICC Global Cricket Academyin Dubai Sports City. aFP

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:26 AM

Sports 21Monday, 16 January, 2012

WATch IT LIve

ESPN Sports Center

08:00PM

STAR SPORTS Australian Open 2012

01:30PM

SYDNEYAFP

Finland's Jarkko Nieminen beat Julien Benneteau 6-2, 7-5 in the rain-delayed Sydney International finalSunday, sealing a remarkable tournament win afterhe came through qualifying. Nieminen, ranked 77th,came into the pre-Australian Open contest with a 4-0 record against Benneteau and took a firm grip onthe match after being broken in the first game, forc-ing three breaks of serve in the first set.

The second set at Olympic Park went with serve,with the 49th-ranked Frenchman saving a matchpoint in the 10th game with a forehand winner tostay alive. But Nieminen refused to be denied, hold-ing serve and breaking his fellow 30-year-old to takethe second set 7-5 in just under 80 minutes, sealingonly the second tournament win of his career. He isthe first qualifier to win an ATP title since SergiyStakhovsky won in St. Petersburg in 2009. "I triedto focus and win every point I could. I think I man-aged to do that pretty well," Nieminen said.

Nieminen wins Sydney InternationalKvitova admits topranking would be nice

MELBOURNEAFP

Wimbledon championPetra Kvitova insistedSunday that becomingworld number one hasnever been one of herdreams, although she didconcede reaching thepinnacle of the sportwould be "nice". The tall,left-handed Czech wasthe break-out women'splayer of 2011, winningher first slam and jump-ing from a world rankingof 34 at the start of theyear to number two. The21-year-old opened 2011by winning the BrisbaneInternational on her wayto claiming six titles, in-cluding Wimbledon. She

was also part of the Czech team that won the Fed Cup for the firstsince Czechoslovakia won in 1988. Kvitova had a golden chanceto overtake reigning world number one Caroline Wozniacki at lastweek's Sydney International until her loss to China's Li Na in thesemi-finals. However, she is only 295 points behind the Dane andcan move to number one if she has a good run at the AustralianOpen, starting on Monday, and Wozniacki, a semi-finalist in2011, fails to reach the final four this year. "It's very close, but stillit's really far away because, you know, many players can be top,"she said on the eve of the year's first grand slam. Belarus's Victo-ria Azarenka is also within reach of the top ranking while Russia'sMaria Sharapova, Samantha Stosur and Li Na also have anoutside chance of reaching number one. "I mean, it's reallyopen now, women's tennis," Kvitova added. "everybody atthe top can play really well. I know it's just some points, butstill it's a really big step." Kvitova, who became the fifthCzech woman to reach the top five after Martina Navratilova,Hana Mandlikova, Helena Sukova and Jana Novota, said shenever dreamed of reaching the heights she has.

MElbOuRnE: Petra Kvitova of Czechrepublic hits a return during atraining session ahead of the 2012Australian Open tennis tournament. aFP

MELBOURNEAFP

Betting against one of the 'Big Four'lifting the Australian Open men'scrown would be foolhardy, but you'dneed a crystal ball to predict the out-come of the women's draw.

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadaland Roger Federer have exerted astranglehold over the men's game,winning 30 grand slams betweenthem with a hungry Andy Murraylurking just behind them in the rank-ings. In sharp contrast, the top threefemale players have a combined totalof just one slam and last year therewere four different champions in ten-

nis's blue riband events, as thewomen's game waits for its next bigthing. The women's draw is one of themost open in years and adding to thesense of uncertainty in Melbourne arerecent injuries to superstars Kim Cli-jsters and Serena Williams.

Belgium's Clijsters, the 11th seed,is defending champion at the year'sopening grand slam. Second seedPetra Kvitova won on grass at Wim-bledon and Australia's Samantha Sto-sur took the US Open title. The namemissing from the 2011 list of winnersis top seed Caroline Wozniacki, yet towin her first grand slam, whose worldnumber one ranking is under immi-nent threat from rising star Kvitova.

SYdnEY: Jarkko Nieminen of finland holds the winnerstrophy after defeating Julien Benneteau of france in thefinal at the Sydney International tennis event. aFP

Aussie women’s champ too tough to call

MElbOuRnE: Serena Williams hits areturn during a training session. aFP

MElbOuRnE: Caroline Wozniackitakes part in a training session. aFP

Sindh, Islamabadwin in Jr Hockey

LAHORESTAFF REPORT

Sindh, Islamabad and Punjab Whites wontheir matches in the 31st U-21 NationalJunior Hockey Championship here at theNational Hockey Stadium. Sindh beatKPK, Islamabad beat FATA and PunjabWhites beat Balochistan on Sunday. ScORE: Sindh won by three goals after leading the matchby one goal at the half time. Their goal scorers wereWahab 20th minute (fg) & Ali Hussain 48th minute (fg).Islamabad registered five-goal win and led the first half bytwo goals. They struck trough Isram 30th minute (fg), M.Asad 35th minute (PC), Sajid Nazir 45th minute (fg), M.esa 65th minute (PC) & M. Najeeb 68th minute (fg). Pun-jab Whites scored three goals. The hosts managed twogoals in the first session. Their goal strikers were Arslan 2goals 9th & 41st minutes (fg) & M. Bilal 23rd minute (fg).

Confident Djokovicthe man to beat

MELBOURNEAFP

Defending champion Novak Djokovic will bebidding for his third consecutive grand slamtrophy when the Australian Open championgets his title defence under way in Mel-bourne. The Serbian world number onedominated last season, winning three of thefour grand slams and goes into the year'sopening major as the man to beat againstchief rivals Nadal, Federer and Murray.Djokovic kicked off his sensational 2011 withvictory over Murray in the Australian Openfinal and then added the Wimbledon and USOpen crowns, beating Nadal both times inthe title matches. Only four men on five oc-casions have won three or more consecutivegrand slams in the open era -- Rod Laver,Pete Sampras, Nadal and Federer twice.

MElbOuRnE: Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays astroke during a training session ahead of the2012 Australian Open tennis tournament. aFP

ISB 16-01-2012_Layout 1 1/16/2012 2:26 AM

Published by Arif Nizami for Nawa Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd. Printed by Ghulam Akbar, AA & NHT Group, Plot 24, Shalimar Road, Lilly Market, Soan Garden, Islamabad.

Monday, 16 January, 2012 22

ISLAMABADShAiq huSSAin

ANOISY session of the Na-tional assembly is expectedtoday as the coalition govern-ment will forcefully push forthe passage of its resolution

in support of the “political leadership”,strengthening of democracy and su-premacy of parliament, asking other stateorgans to adhere to the principle of tri-chotomy, with the PML-N-led oppositionlikely to reject it in case the proposedamendments to the draft are not included.

The resolution of “trust” in the politicalleadership was tabled in the National As-sembly on Friday following a clear warningfrom the army that there could be “griev-ous consequences” of the recent criticismby Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani ofthe army leadership in his interview to aChinese news agency. Gilani had dubbed

the replies to the Supreme Court by Chiefof Army Staff (COAS) General AshfaqKayani and Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) Director General Lt General AhmadShuja Pasha “illegal”.

In his address to the National Assem-bly on the occasion of tabling of the reso-lution by government’s ally and ANPleader Asfandyar Wali Khan, Gilani hadsaid that it was time to decide whether thecountry wanted democracy or dictatorshipHe said: “Our resolution is not at allagainst any institution, it is not against thejudiciary, it is not against the army. Ourresolution is for the strengthening ofdemocracy.” The National Assembly ses-sion was summoned in the wake of impor-tant development in the Supreme Court inthe NRO implementation case when Jus-tice Asif Saeed Khosa-led bench observedprima facie that Prime Minister Gilani wasnot an “honest” person and not “ameen”and spelt out six options for the implemen-

tation of the judgment on the NationalReconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

It was in that environment that Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari and Prime MinisterGilani wanted the National Assembly to bein session to show their political strengthwith the government’s allies standingfirmly behind them. At the very outset,however, the ruling party’s attempts werefrustrated by it allies, the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Q (PML-Q) and the MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM), which warnedthe government to stay away from any con-frontation with the army and the judiciary.

The allied parties and ANP reportedlytoned down the language of the resolu-tion to make it largely acceptable even tothe major opposition party, the PML-N,by taking out specific reference to thepresident and the prime minister andreposing confidence in them. The PML-N, nonetheless, proposed some amend-ments to the resolution moved by the

PPP-led coalition government. Throughamendments signed by all 90 members ofthe PML-N, the opposition seeks to re-move the call for all state institutions to“strictly function” within the constitutionallimits and instead suggested to make itbinding on the government “to immedi-ately implement in letter and spirit all pre-vious resolutions of parliament and all thedecisions of the superior judiciary”.

The PML-N draft also calls upon thegovernment to ensure that all administra-tive actions are strictly in accordance withthe constitution and the law for smoothfunctioning of all state institutions. Theresolution is likely to be approved owing tothe allied parties’ decision to support it,but not unanimously, because of the PML-N’s opposition and rather tough condi-tional support, which seems unacceptableto the government. PML-Q PresidentChaudhry Shujaat Hussain has already an-nounced to support the resolution whereas

ANP’s position is also very much clear withits leader Asfandyar Wali tabling the draftin the House.

Another main ally of the government,the MQM, held two-day consultations onSaturday and Sunday on whether to sup-port the government’s resolution or not.On Sunday, the MQM also announced thatit would support the government. The factthat the MQM took two days to reach anydecision on its support to the resolutionand Interior Minister Rehman Malik play-ing his role once again to win over the allyby reaching Karachi, is also a disturbingsign for the ruling party, which had ex-pected initially to have the unanimous ap-proval of the resolution. The observers saythat despite the approval of the resolution,the problems of the government are notbound to lessen, especially given the seri-ous situation that it is facing in theSupreme Court over the NRO and the“memogate” scandal.

Noisy National Assembly session expected todayg allies likely to back pro-democracy resolution g PMl-N, opposition expected to oppose if proposed amendments not incorporated

lAhORE: Relatives of world’s youngest computer programming genius, Arfa

Karim Randhawa, weep after her funeral prayers on Sunday. ONlINE | STORY PaGE 03

All eyes on SC as nrodrama nears drop scene g PM may appear in court uninvited to clear his position g govt planning toseek more time to implement all portions of the NrO verdict

ISLAMABADMASOOd REhMAn

All eyes are on the Supreme Court today(Monday) as it is set to hear the Na-tional Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO)implementation case and decide on oneof the six options it laid out in its shortorder, of which one can possibly be apart of the final verdict, potentiallythrowing out the government, as PrimeMinister Yousaf Raza Gilani is expectedto appear uninvited in court to explainhis position on the government’s failureto implement the court orders.

A seven-judge special benchheaded by Justice Nasirul Mulk willstart hearing the case at 9.30am atCourtroom No IV. Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) insiders claim that, like be-fore, Prime Minister Gilani is set tospring a ‘major surprise’ by appearingin court to explain his position, as hehad been declared dishonest by thecourt. A PPP source claimed Gilani hadasked some of his cabinet ministers tobe ready to go to Courtroom IV at9.30am on Monday. However, a well-placed source told Pakistan Today onSunday that the government was plan-ning to seek more time to implementall portions of the NRO verdict and

consequent directions, on the groundsthat it had started implementation ofthe verdict, however more time was re-quired to implement all its portions inletter and spirit. He said the govern-ment would request the court not toopt for any of the six options, as imple-mentation and execution of the verdicthad been started by the National Ac-countability Bureau (NAB) with the ar-rest of NRO beneficiaries and perusalof 155 cases of the NRO beneficiariespending in various courts.

On January 10, a five-judge specialbench headed by Justice Asif SaeedKhan Khosa had laid out six options inits short order in the NRO implemen-tation case that it could take against thewillful disobedience of the governmentin implementing some parts of theNRO verdict and its consequent direc-tions. The court had issued notices tothe attorney general directing him topresent his arguments to it on Mondayafter obtaining replies from the govern-ment and all concerned about why anyof the six options might not be exer-cised by the court against those respon-sible for failing to implement the NROverdict. The court had noted that any-one likely to be affected by exercise ofthe options could appear before it on

January 16 and address the court in therelevant regard so that they would notcomplain in future that they had beencondemned unheard by the court.

The court had also directed the lawsecretary, NAB chairman and prosecu-tor general to ensure their appearancein court on Monday. Under the first op-tion, the court may hand down a decla-ration in terms of Article 62(1F) of theconstitution that could affect the primeminister’s qualification to be a memberof parliament. The PPP co-chairman(President Asif Ali Zardari) and the lawminister also fall in the same category.

Under the second option, thecourt may initiate contempt proceed-ings against the prime minister, thelaw minister and the law secretary forpersistently resisting the implementa-tion of the directions in the NROjudgement. This could also lead to dis-qualification from being elected orchosen as a member of parliament.Under the third option, the court mayappoint a commission under Article187 of the constitution and Rules 1 and2 of Order 32 of the Supreme CourtRules of 1980 to execute relevant partsof the NRO judgement.

MQM to supportAnp resolutionkArAchI : The Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) has announced to support theresolution tabled by ANP chief AsfandyarWali Khan in the National Assembly. The de-cision was taken in a meeting of the MQMCoordination Committee in London andKarachi on Sunday. The decision was an-nounced by MQM Deputy Convener Dr Fa-rooq Sattar during a briefing on Sunday atthe Governor’s House. “The MQM is an-nouncing that it will completely support theresolution of Asfandyar Wali in the NationalAssembly on Monday.” Farooq said the deci-sion was taken in an MQM-PPP meeting heldto devise a strategy about Monday’s NA ses-sion. Interior Minister Rehman Malik saidafter the meeting that he was in constantcontact with MQM leaders. “Wheneverdemocracy faces any danger, Altaf Hussaincomes forward to support it openly. He hasalways come forward to support the PPP gov-ernment. The alliance between the PPP andthe MQM will continue in the future and willpull democracy out of all crises,” he added. Inthe meeting earlier, MQM and PPP leadersreviewed the current situation in the country.A separate meeting was held between SindhGovernor Ishratul ebad and Interior Minis-ter Rehman Malik later in which the two dis-cussed law and order and other issues.Sources said the MQM pressed for its de-mands about the Sindh Local GovernmentOrdinance and other issues in the meeting.PPP Sindh Secretary Taj Haider told Pak-istan Today that there was no PPP Sindhleader present in the meeting as the issuestaken up were federal, not provincial. QaZI aSIF

‘pM should not apologise’

MONITORING DESK

PakistanMuslimLeague-Nawaz leaderKhwaja Asifon Sundaysaid anelected primeminister ofthe countryshould notapologise toanyone,ratherpoliticiansand generals should seek people’sforgiveness for their deeds done in the past40 years, a private TV channel reported. Hesaid the prime minister had the right to firethe defence secretary and that the armyfunctioned under the prime minister.Talking to the channel over telephone, Asifsaid the position of the prime minister hada sanctity, but Gilani did not care muchabout preserving it. “The sanctity of the(PM’s) position must remain intact.” Hesaid his party was not in favour of armyinterference in politics. Asif said ShahbazSharif had demanded that the primeminister apologise to the people. “Thedefence secretary turns a blind eye to therules and regulations when a primeminister gets handcuffed,” he added.


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