e-paper pakistantoday 10th april, 2012

PAGE | 22 PAGE | 03

Hopes fade for 135feared dead inSiachen avalanche

‘India has already givenproof against Saeed to Pakistan’

The mystifying case of RinkleKumari

PAGE |7

Karachi edition tuesday, 10 april, 2012 Jamadi-ul-awal 17, 1433rs 15.00 Vol ii no 283 22 pages

LAHOREnAUMAn TASlEEM

PRIMe Minister Yousaf Raza Gi-lani on Monday said load shed-ding could not be completely doneaway with, however, power out-ages would be conducted on an

equal basis across the four provinces and thegovernment would make all out efforts to cur-tail power theft and overcome load shedding.

He was addressing a press conferenceafter chairing the energy Conference 2012,which was attended by all four chief ministers,Azad Jammu and Kashmir PM and federalministers for power and finance.

Gilani said a number of proposals like twodays holiday a week for government offices,closure of markets at 8pm except on Satur-days, cutting electricity supply to billboardsand usage of energy savers instead of regularbulbs would be put in place to save energy.

He said all stakeholders of the conferenceagreed on various proposals and it was expectedthat these measures would help curtail loadshedding in the country. The prime minister saidthe provincial heads would discuss these pro-posals with their parties and then decide on it.He said 700MW would be saved through cuttingelectricity to sign boards and billboards.

To a question on the construction of Kal-abagh Dam, the PM said building the dam wasimpossible without consensus. “We have con-sensus on Diamer Bhasha Dam and it has al-

ready been started,” the PM said, adding thatthe schedule of government offices would alsobe determined in accordance with winter andsummer seasons.

Gilani said a special law would be consti-tuted against energy theft. He said the govern-ment was considering diverting gas to powerproducers and also giving additional gas toKAPCO so that maximum power could be pro-duced and load shedding could be reduced.

“We do not want to take any step that cre-ates problems for the coming government,” hesaid, adding that in the last four years, the gov-ernment added 3,400MW to the national grid.

He said the government was serious incontrolling energy theft and it drafted the GasTheft Act and now would further legislate tocontrol electricity theft more efficiently.

He said the government also gave leverageto the poor.

“Lifeline consumers used to pay bills on 50units, but we relaxed them by increasing thethreshold to 100 units,” he added. He thankedthe Punjab chief minister for clearing the duesowed by his province and hoped that otherprovinces would follow suit. earlier, speakingat energy Conference 2012, Prime Minister Gi-lani emphasized upon the provinces to playtheir role in efforts for generating power toovercome energy crisis facing the country.

QUETTAShAhzAdA zUlfiQAr

Six people belonging to the Hazara Shiacommunity were gunned down while onewas seriously injured on Monday. Thedrive-by shooting took place on the busyPrince Road in Quetta. According to policeofficials, unidentified armed motorcyclistssprayed bullets on a shoe maker’s shop withsophisticated weapons, killing four menincluding the owner of the shop on the spotand injuring another three, and fled. Two ofthe injured succumbed to their injuries inhospital. Police rushed to the site soon afterthe incident and cordoned off the area. Theinjured and bodies were taken to a nearbyhospital. The deceased were identified asQurban Ali, Mohammad Hussain,Mohammad Kareem, Yawar, Shabir andSyed Ahmed while the injured wasidentified as Irshad. Later, the police carriedraids in various areas of the city to searchfor the assailants, but did not confirm anyarrests. Meanwhile, around 100 HazaraShias rushed to the hospital and threatenedreporters there against taking live shots andphotos. They protested by blocking themain road and pelting stones on vehicles. Aheavy contingent of police and FrontierCorps were deployed on Jinnah Road.Meanwhile, Tahafuz Azadari Council andHazara Democratic Party have stronglycondemned the killings and demandedimmediate arrest of the culprits. They alsoannounced a three-day mourning.

NEW DELHIOnlinE

Dr Khalil Chishti, a Pakistaniscientist who has spent many yearsat a prison in Ajmer, has beengranted bail by the Indian SupremeCourt, local media reported on

Monday. Human rights activistshave been pleading for assistance forhim for years. The Indian SupremeCourt has also agreed to hear hisplea to return to Karachi and hasasked his lawyers to file a separatepetition for this.

Equal load sharing it is nowg pM assures provinces of uniform power outagesg Says 2 holidays a week among several proposalsbeing considered to save energy

6 ShiaS gunned down in Quetta

Indian SC grants bail to Dr Khalil Chishti

also see editorial | page 11

Continued on page 04

Continued on page 04

QUETTA: Shia

men mourn the

killing of their

relatives at a

hospital on

Monday. afp

KHI 10-04-2012_Layout 1 4/10/2012 1:53 AM Page 1

02tuesday, 10 April, 2012

News

Today’s

lookQuick

LAHore

Story on Page 07

newS

Story on Page 06

CArtoon

Page 13

CnG cylinders have killed more than the drones Youth wants peaceful and progressive Pakistan: Bilawal

Kashmiris welcome

Zardari-Singh meetingISLAMABAD: Cautiously welcoming the meeting betweenPresident Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Man-mohan Singh, Hurriyat Conference-M Chairman MirwaizUmar Farooq on Monday said both countries needed to moveforward to settle the six-decade-old Kashmir issue. “We haveseen leaders and policymakers of both the countries comingtogether on the table so many times, but it is unfortunatethat they haven’t been able to move an inch forward on Kash-mir issue,” Farooq told KNS, adding that strengthening tradeor issues like Sir Creek were not sufficient to build the trustbetween the two neighbouring countries. “We don’t needevents. There must be initiation of a process which couldlead us to settlement,” the Hurriyat chairman said. express-ing willingness to help both countries in their efforts to re-solve the Kashmir issue, Mirwaiz told KNS that there was aneed to bring a change in mindset across the board. “BilawalBhutto’s meeting Rahul Ghandi should be taken as a precur-sor of a need to change the mindsets.” nni

Judges advised to hear

litigant parties patientlyISLAMABAD: SC Justice Athar Saeed exhorted the judgesof district judiciary on Monday to hear litigant parties pa-tiently so that no one may go out from the court with thefeeling that he was not heard by the court properly. “It is al-ways you, who have to write a judgment, therefore, you musthear the parties properly”, he stressed, while addressingnewly-promoted district and sessions judges as well as sen-ior civil judges in the inaugural ceremony of one-week re-fresher course on “Role of District and Sessions Judge andSenior Civil Judges Being Non- Financial Managers in Fi-nancial Management and other new laws” at the Federal Ju-dicial Academy (FJA). The sessions judges as well as seniorcivil judges from all over the country including Azad andJammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are attending therefresher course. STAff rEPOrT

Court orders to register murdercase against Gabol, AslamKArAchI: An additional session judge on Monday or-dered police to lodge a FIR against Chaudhry Aslam, SSPCID, and PPP MNA Nabeel Gabol for their alleged involve-ment in extra judicial murder of a youth in Lyari. The de-ceased Saqib Sakhiullah was killed during a policeencounter which led to the violent outburst and protests inthe area. earlier, in Layari, hundreds of people stagedprotests for many days against Interior Minister RehmanMalik, Gabol and Aslam, who came under rocket attack aday earlier. They demanded cases be registered againstthem for murders of people. OnlinE

Pakistan terror camps pose threat: IndiaNEW DELhI: The existence of terrorist camps across theIndo-Pak border and continued infiltrations across the Lineof Control (LoC) continue to pose a threat, the Indian De-fence Ministry has noted in its latest annual report. The re-port released on Monday said that the security concernsvis-à-vis Pakistan continued to be a cause of concern due toundiminished activities of terrorist organisations function-ing on its territory. inP

ANANDAfP

AN Indian court convicted23 people on Monday overthe massacre of nearlytwo-dozen Muslims dur-ing religious rioting in Gu-

jarat state in 2002 that left more than2,000 dead.

Another 23 people were acquittedfor lack of evidence in the case, inwhich rioters in the small Gujarati vil-lage of Ode bolted the doors of a housewhere Muslim families had takenrefuge and then set it on fire.

Of the 23 who died in what becameknown as the “Ode massacre”, 18 werewomen.

The violence in Gujarat was trig-gered by the killing of nearly 60 Hindupilgrims travelling in a train that wastorched by a mob.

Some 31 Muslims were found guiltylast year on murder and conspiracy

charges for the train attack that sparkedan anti-Muslim backlash.

Hindu mobs hungry for revengerampaged through Muslim neighbour-hoods in several cities across Gujaratduring three days of bloodshed thatwitnessed some of India’s worst reli-gious violence since independencefrom Britain in 1947.

More than 2,000 people, most ofthem Muslims, were hacked, beaten orburned to death.

Gujarat’s Chief Minister NarendraModi — a prominent member of theHindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party— was blamed for failing to stop the riots,with some critics arguing that he activelyencouraged the violence.

The Ode massacre was one of severalcases probed by a Supreme Court-ap-pointed special investigation team.

The charges included murder, con-spiracy, rioting, unlawful assembly, at-tempted murder and destruction ofevidence.

Indian court convicts 23for Gujarat murders

KArAChi: Wife of Pakistani scientist dr. Muhammad Khalil Chishti

shows his pictures to her granddaughters after the news of his

release from indian prison after 20 years on Monday. OnlIne

India seeks dates from

Pakistan for home

secretaries’ talks NEW DELHI

OnlinE

India has sought dates from Pakistan for a meet-ing between the home secretaries of the twocountries after May 22 when the budget sessionof parliament comes to an end.New Delhi has conveyed to Islamabad that it isnot possible for Indian Home Secretary RK Singhto travel to Pakistan on April 16 as suggested byit for the talks since a meeting of chief ministerson internal security will be held on that day.“We have asked for fresh dates after the parlia-ment session,” Singh told reporters here, PTI re-ported. Budget session of parliament will end onMay 22. Last week, Pakistan had suggested theApril 16 as the possible date for the home secre-tary-level talks to be held in Islamabad but thedate clashes with the crucial meeting of the chiefministers which was hosted by the Home Min-istry. Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani saidyesterday that it had been agreed that the inte-rior and home secretaries of Pakistan and Indiawould meet on April 16.



NewsCommentMending fences:

Articles on Page 12-13

Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran meet.

The hippocratic OathThe young doctors have forgotten…

Arif nizami says:

Aziz-ud-din Ahmad says:

foreIGn newS

Story on Page 17

ArtS & entertAInment

Story on Page 15

SPortS

Story on Page 18

‘Seven dead after two new attacks by nigeria islamists’ Musician Jimmy Khan releases his second video single ‘Aisay Kaisay’!

On the trilateral summit: Each country has difficult choices to make.

Imran cries foul: A challenge to the 20th Amendment.

raoof hasan says:The villainous cover-ups: The government’s governance woes.

Hopes fade for 135 feared dead in Siachen avalanche

Awan seeks exemption

from personal

appearance

ISLAMABADSTAff rEPOrT

An application seeking exemption from per-sonal appearance before the Supreme Court incontempt of court case was filed by former lawminister Babar Awan on Monday.The application was filed by Awan’s counsel AliZafar. The Supreme Court has to frame con-tempt charge against Awan today (Tuesday). Zafar contended in the application that hisclient intended to have medical checkup dur-ing his recent visit to India until April 17, thushe may be exempted from personal appearanceon medical grounds before the court in thecontempt case. According to senior lawyers,the Supreme Court could not indict a contem-nor in his absence so the application with aplea for exemption from personal appearingbefore the court in the case seems to be justi-fied but at the same moment it is discretion ofthe court to allow or reject the application.earlier on April 2, due to unavailability of At-torney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq, the courthad adjourned the hearing in the contempt ofcourt case against Awan and fixed April 10 forframing contempt charge against him.

ISLAMABADAfP

THe Pakistani mili-tary on Sunday dugthrough snow, boul-ders and slush in anincreasingly desper-

ate search for 135 people buriedin an avalanche, as hopes fadedof finding any survivors.

Nearly 36 hours after awall of snow crashed into a re-mote army camp high up in themountains of Kashmir, res-cuers were yet to recover anysurvivors or even bodies fromthe Siachen Glacier, wherePakistani and Indian troopsface off.

The camp was engulfed be-tween 5:00am and 6:00am onSaturday — perhaps when somewere sleeping — by a mass ofsnow, stones, mud and slushmore than 1,000 metres (3,300feet) wide and 25 metres high,the military said in a statement.

About 180 military person-nel and 60 civilian rescuerswere braving freezing tempera-tures at the inhospitable siteclose to the de facto border withIndia, in area known as theworld’s highest battlefield, themilitary said.

experts familiar with theglacier said there was little hopeof finding survivors — the mili-

tary said overnight that 135people were missing from thecamp, including 124 soldiersfrom the 6th Northern Light In-fantry battalion.

“There is no hope, there isno chance at all,” moun-taineering expert Colonel SherKhan told AFP.

“You can survive only in thefirst 5-10 minutes,” said Khan.“The casualties in avalanchesoccur due to pressure of heavyweight, extreme cold and lackof oxygen.”

The powerful army chiefGeneral Ashfaq Kayani visitedthe epicentre of the disaster and“supervised rescue operationshimself”, the military said.

“The avalanche of such amagnitude was unprecedentedin last 20 years of this BattalionHeadquarters existence at Ga-yari,” he said.

General Kayani instructedthe commanders “to optimallyutilize all available resources attheir disposal and leave no stoneunturned to reach out to the en-trapped personnel,” it said.

“It’s a huge, huge ava-lanche,” a senior military officertold AFP, adding rescue workwould take several days.

Specially trained search-and-rescue teams of army engi-neers equipped with the latestlocating gadgets and heavy ma-

chinery had arrived, the mili-tary statement said, joining res-cue units aided by sniffer dogsand helicopters.

“Adequate medical staffhas been made available forthe treatment of injured per-sons in forward field hospi-tals,” it added.

A tailor and two hair-dressers were among the civil-ians missing in the thick snowin the militarised region ofKashmir, which has caused twoof the three wars between Indiaand Pakistan since their inde-pendence in 1947 from Britain.

The United States Sundayexpressed its “deep concern” forthe soldiers trapped in the ava-lanche and offered assistance inthe search operations, the USembassy said.

“We offer our condolencesfor those who have lost theirlives as a result of the ava-lanche,” it said.

“The United States is readyto assist Pakistan in search, res-cue and recovery operations.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan ap-plauded Indian offer for assis-tance in rescue operation beingcarried out in Siachen’s Gyarisector.

The Foreign Office said onMonday that Pakistan appreci-ated Indian offer and termed itas a good gesture.

Yuvraj returns to india after cancer treatment

g Pakistan welcomes Indian assistance offer

NEWS DESK

An avalanche that buried morethan 120 soldiers in a Himalayanregion close to India has put a spot-light on what critics say is one ofworld’s most pointless military de-ployments: two poverty-wrackednations engaged in a costly standoffover an uninhabitable patch ofmountain and ice, according to areport on Fox News.

Of all the problems plaguingthe two countries, Siachen is oftendescribed as one of the easiest tosolve but it is hostage to generalmistrust and hard-liners on bothsides who don’t want to give uptheir claim on territory, howeverstrategically insignificant.

“This absolutely futile, uselessfiasco has been going on since1984,” said Pakistan-India peace ac-tivist Tahira Abdullah. “It is a one-hour job to agree on a solution, but

it is now an ego problem betweenthe two armies. Both armies shouldpull back from the heights. Soldiersare dying and my heart bleeds forthem, but it’s for nothing.” Temper-atures as low as -60 C (-76 F), vi-cious winds and altitude sickness —the region is just east of the world’ssecond-highest peak, K-2 — havekilled far more than the artillery fire.Casualty figures are not released byeither military, but hundreds are be-lieved to have died there.

Analysts say resolving Siachenshould be possible before the muchmore difficult dispute over Kashmiris attempted. Because no one livesin the region and it is of no strategicvalue, a joint or even unilateralwithdrawal from one side couldbreak the logjam.“Why should webe going for an agreement? Weshould just withdraw,” said ImtiazAlam, the head of the South AsianFree Media Association.

APCnGA walks

out of energy

conferenceLAHORE

nni

The APCNGA walked out from the work-ing session of the energy Conference heldin Lahore on Monday.“Our walkout from the energy ConferenceWorking Session is to register our protestagainst government’s biased attitudeagainst transport and the CNG sector,”said Ghiyas Abdullah Paracha, centralchairman of the All Pakistan CNG Associ-ation.Talking to reporters outside the confer-ence hall, he said, “We came here with acomprehensive solution plan which is ca-pable to drive out our country from en-ergy crisis disaster. In six months thisplan can reduce up to 50% of our gasshortage in the country which will not beless than a miracle.”“But the government did not give uschance to give our presentation on thisplan. Only the people talking against theCNG sector were given a chance. Theywere talking about techniques to closedown CNG stations and markets and talk-ing about how to increase prices of com-modities and utilities. No body wastalking about solutions,” he said.“We prepared our plan with a dedicationto do away with the energy crisis in truespirit. We worked a lot and spent a lot oftime and resources for this and everybodywho went through our paper appreciatedit, but nothing happened. Public andstakeholders had tied so many hopes withthis conference and could have become amilestone in the energy revolution, butall went in vain,” Paracha said.

Avalanche shines light on

‘futile’ war in Siachen



News

lAhOrE: Prime Minister Yousaf raza Gilani addresses the national Energy Conference 2012 on Monday. Punjab Chief Minister

Shahbaz Sharif and Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah are also seen in the picture. OnlIne

He elaborated that govern-ment strategy involves fur-ther exploitation ofhydropower to reduce costof input, developing coalreserves for power genera-tion and to convert theplants from oil to coal inthe short-term, as the Tharalone had 175 billiontonnes of coal and wassuitable for power genera-tion of around 100,000MWannually.

“We remain a victim ofshifts in oil market untilwe have a national con-sensus on long-term pol-icy for secure, affordableenergy future and then ex-ecute it. This challenge ishuge and we all need towork in unison before theenergy crisis overwhelmsus completely.”

Gilani said the presentgovernment had worked onchanging the energy mixand shifting towards hydeland coal generation.

“For this, we have ac-

celerated work on Neelum-Jhelum power project; fi-nalized financing for amore turbines in Tarbelawith the assistance ofWorld Bank; starting workon Diamer-Bhasha Dam;design is underway forDasu Dam; rehabilitationof Jabban hydropowerMalakand; Jaggran-II withthe assistance of France;Gomal Zam and SatparaDam with the US assis-tance and Patrind Hy-dropower (AJK) in theprivate sector by a KoreanCompany,” he said.

The prime ministersaid the government wasalso building Chashma-IIIand IV, and 747MW Gudducombined cycle with theassistance of China; im-provement of transmissionand distribution system aswell as building new gridstations with major assis-tance of Asian Develop-ment Bank. ShAhBAZ hAPPY: Pun-jab Chief Minister ShahbazSharif told reporters after

the meeting that he was“happy after the confer-ence, as the federal govern-ment has accepted thestance of Punjab for carry-ing out equal load shed-ding in the entire country”.

“All stakeholders ofthe conference haveagreed that there will beno discrimination in loadshedding in the future,”the Punjab CM said,adding that when therewas a crisis, everyoneshould share the burdenequally.

Speaking during theconference earlier, Shahbazsaid power shortage haddestroyed national econ-omy and adversely affectedfactories, banks, shops, of-fices and business centres.

He said Punjab had ful-filled its responsibilities inthis regard, but the issue ofcircular debt had still notbeen resolved and this debthad now reached a stagger-ing figure of more than Rs400 billion.

He said supply of gas to

power sector should be in-creased and the plantsshowing better perform-ance should be given pref-erence in fuel supply.

He proposed that DIS-COs be privatized for im-proving their efficiencyand observed that it wouldalso eliminate corruption.

The CM said the pay-ment ratio of Punjab wasmuch better than anyother area of the country,which could be judgedfrom the fact that FeSCOhad only 11 percent linelosses, while the recoveryrate was 99.8 percent.

He said the people ofPunjab were paying theirdues, but they were partof a system whichfavoured thieves and de-faulters and penalized thehonest.

Shahbaz said 2,000megawatt energy could beproduced from the bag-gass of 75 sugar mills, butno attention has beenpaid to this sector duringthe last four years.

Dr Chishti is 80 now, and isunable to walk unaided. Hehas to be carried to andfrom jail by two people. He is accused of killing aman during a brawl inAjmer in April 1992. He wasvisiting the Rajasthan citythen to offer prayers at thefamous shrine of Sufi saintHazrat Khwaja MoinuddinChishti.In January last year, theKarachi virologist wasawarded life imprisonmentafter an 18-year-long trial. Sources said Dr Chishti’scase was discussed at Sun-day’s lunch meeting be-tween President Asif AliZardari and Indian PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhduring the latter’s one-dayIndian visit. In June lastyear, Supreme Court JusticeMarkandeya Katju had re-quested Indian Prime Minis-ter Manmohan Singh torelease Dr Chishti on human-itarian grounds. Acting onJustice Katju’s appeal, Ra-jasthan Chief Minister AshokGehlot approved his mercyplea and sent it to GovernorShivraj Patil for final clear-ance. After that, Patil sent aquestionnaire to the law de-partment on various issuesrelated to the case.

Dr Khalil ChishtiContinued from page 1

equal load sharing it is nowContinued from page 1

ISLAMABAD TAhir niAz

Le G I S L A T O R Son Mondayasked the Pak-istani and theIndian govern-

ments to resolve all bilateraldisputes including the issueof Kashmir and Siachen asthey expressed sorrow overthe incident in which morethan 100 Pakistani troopsand a number of civilianswere buried under snow.

They asked both coun-tries to come to the negotia-tion table to discuss thebilateral relations in thebackdrop of the Siachentragedy in the joint sitting ofparliament.

Speaking on a point oforder, ANP Senator HajiAdeel said the neighbouringcountries had been fightinga war for the last threedecades which claimed hun-dreds of lives of militarypersonnel from both thesides. “We are fightingmore with the climate thanIndia (at Siachen). I am un-able to understand whyboth countries are fightingthe most expensive war,” hesaid. He was of the viewthat both countries shouldresolve all outstanding is-sues including Sir Creek,Siachen and Kashmir.

Senator M Hamza ofthe Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz also sup-ported the viewpoint of theruling senator, saying, “Thehuman-consuming warmust end now.”

He appealed to the gov-ernments of Pakistan andIndia to come to the negoti-ation table and resolve theirissues in a peaceful manner.

Taking part in the de-bate on the proposed for-eign policy, Hamza said theUS should not meddle in in-ternal affairs of Pakistan.“We don’t want war with theUS but the relationshipmust be based on mutual re-spect,” he said.

The House also offeredFateha for those who losttheir lives in Siachen aswell as for Sindhi leaderBashir Qureshi.

Senator Afrasiab Khat-tak said Pak-US relationswere like a pendulum. “ei-ther we are acting as slavesor we want a war with thesuper power,” he said andadded the relations need tobe built on mutual respect.

He was worried thatsome foreign powerswanted to bring parliamentunder pressure on theissue of foreign policy. Hesuggested that the foreignpolicy of the countryshould be based on logicand keeping in view the in-terests of the country.

The members also ex-pressed concern over sec-tarian clashes in Gilgit andasked the government todo the needful for keepingthe law and order undercontrol.

Sahibzada Fazl Karimdemanded forming a com-mission to probe into theGilgit incident as he warnedthe anarchy was at hand.

PESHAWARAGEnCiES

Around 20 militants at-tacked a military checkpostin Kurram Agency, sparkinga clash that left two soldiersand four militants dead, anofficial said on Monday.

The attack in LowerKurram was beaten offwhen troops respondedwith artillery and heavyweapons, a senior paramil-itary Frontier Corps (FC)official told AFP.

“More than 20 militantsattacked a Frontier Corpscheckpost in Khapiyanga

area of Lower Kurram onSunday night, which trig-gered a firefight, killing twosoldiers and four rebels,” theFC spokesman said.

“Four troops were alsoinjured in the clash whichcontinued for around 40minutes.”

“The militants came byfoot from the nearby moun-tains,” the official said on thecondition of anonymity.

“When the troops re-sponded, they ran away withfour dead bodies of their col-leagues. We don’t know howmany of the militants got in-jured.”

WASHINGTONAPP

The United States on Mon-day welcomed the positiveoutcome of the weekendmeeting between PresidentAsif Ali Zardari and IndianPrime Minister ManmohanSingh in New Delhi, sayingimproved engagement be-tween the two South Asianneighbours will help foster

more security and stabilityin the region.

“We are very pleasedthat Prime Miniser Singhand President Zardari hada chance to meet in NewDelhi yesterday and thatPrime Minister Singh hasaccepted PresidentZardari’s invitation to visitPakistan in the near fu-ture,” State Departmentspokesperson Victoria Nu-

land said. The meeting in the In-

dian capital between theleaders of the two nuclearpowers took place duringPresident Zardari’s privatevisit to a revered sufisaint’s shrine in the Indiancity of Ajmer.

“As we have said for along time, we believe thatexpanded and improvedengagement between

these neighbours are notonly going to help the(two) neighbours, they aregoing to help the entire re-gion and provide opportu-nities for millions ofcitizens in the neighbour-hood to live in a more se-cure and stable region,”the spokesperson said atthe daily briefing.

Washington, she said,appreciates the hopeful

trend in Pakistan-India en-gagement towards im-proved bilateral relations.“So we applaud the trend.We hope that India andPakistan are going to buildon this progress and welook forward to more suchmeetings.”

President Zardari’svisit to India was the firstby a Pakistani leader inseven years.

President directs

speedy rescue of

soldiers stranded

at Siachen

ISLAMABADGni

President Asif Ali Zardari onMonday contacted the GHQ,Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minis-ter Syed Mehdi Shah andFCNA GOC Major GeneralIkramul Haq to get the lat-est information about theongoing rescue operation inSiachen.He directed the authoritiesconcerned to utilise allavailable resources to rescuethe soldiers and civilianswho had been missing afteran avalanche struck them.Zardari asked the authori-ties to work relentlessly forthe survival of the ava-lanche-hit people. The pres-ident was briefed about thesituation in the area. Heprayed and hoped that thesoldiers would be rescuedalive. The president said theentire nation stood shoul-der-to-shoulder with thePakistan Army. He in-structed the federal andGilgit-Baltistan govern-ments to provide all kinds ofresources to help out andassist the rescue operation.

QUETTASTAff rEPOrT

Four people, including twoPunjabi-speaking men,were shot dead in separateincidents of firing in theMand and Jaffarabad dis-tricts of Balochistan onMonday.

Police said unidentifiedarmed motorcyclists openedindiscriminate fire on twopassengers in Mand area ofTurbat. As a result, both pas-sengers identified as Qaisarand Asif Javed received crit-ical wounds and later suc-cumbed to their injuries.The murderers fled from thescene.

Police said it could be acase of targeted killing as

both the victims belonged toLahore and Sargodha. Thevictims were sitting in theoffice of a transport com-pany, waiting for Karachi-bound bus when they wereambushed. The bodies weresent to their native townsafter completion of legal for-

malities.In the second incident,

two people were killed in anarmed clash between twogroups in Usta Muhammadtown of Jaffarabad district.

The police said armedclash erupted between twotribes in Goth Barkhat

Buledi over local dispute. Asa result Mir Hassan and AliJan were killed. After the in-cident a heavy contingent ofpolice rushed to the site andmoved the bodies to a hospi-tal for postmortem.

Police registered a caseand started investigation.

QUETTA: Two bullet-riddled bodieswere discovered on Monday in Khuzdardistrict, some 360 km southeast ofQuetta. As per details, locals informedthe Levies Force that two dead bodieswere seen dumped in Lakhurain area ofKhuzdar. Levies personnel rushed to the site andmoved the dead bodies to a local hospi-

tal for autopsy. The bodies, having multiple bulletwounds, were later identified as AbdulWahab and Shah Nawaz, the residentsof Khuzdar district.The levy officials said it was yet to beascertained whether the deceased werethe missing persons or they became vic-tims of some family fued. S TA f f r E P O rT

‘mQm brings forward

common man in polls’

ISLAMABAD: CJP IftikharChaudhry said on Monday thatthe MQM brings the commonman to the fore in all elections.Hearing a case relating to elec-tion expenditures, the CJP saidthat MQM parliamentariansdid not even have a car, addingthat the MQM ensured thecommon man’s participationin Karachi elections, whereelection expenditures wereeven less than Rs 1 million. inP

MPs ask Pakistan,

India to resolve all

disputes amicably g AnP, PmL-n demand ‘human-consuming war’

at Siachen to end g PmL-n’s m Hamza says US

should not meddle in Pakistan’s internal affairs

2 soldiers killed in Kurram

checkpost attack

Two punjabis among 4 killed in Balochistan

US applauds positive outcome of Zardari-Singh meeting

2 dead bodies found in Khuzdar

Asma requests SC to set

hearing date for Haqqani

application on priority

ISLAMABAD: HusainHaqqani’s lawyer Asma Ja-hangir has told the SupremeCourt that as she is return-ing to Pakistan on April 16,the hearing of Haqqani’s ap-plication before the MemoCommission should beheard on priority basis onany day after her return. Ac-cording to sources, Asmahad taken leave from theSupreme Court to travelabroad. Under general ad-journment, the SupremeCourt allows senior lawyers’cases to be scheduled forhearing after the end of thegeneral adjournment. OnlinE



News

iSlAMABAd: Activists of Ulema-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat and Tanzeem Ahl-e-Sunnat Waljamaat Gilgit Baltistan shout slogans during a demonstration on

Monday. OnlIne

LAHOREnni

PAKISTAN MuslimLeague-Nawaz Presi-dent Nawaz Sharif onMonday backed Pres-ident Asif Ali

Zardari’s visit to India, sayingbilateral relations should moveforward.

Nawaz said the federal andthe provincial governments

would have to work jointly toovercome energy crisis prevail-ing in the country.

He said the increasing infla-tion had broken the backbone ofthe people and the governmentwas overcoming the deficit byprinting currency notes, addingthat the government should de-crease its expenses.

He said the decision onNATO supplies restorationshould be taken in line with the

aspirations of the nation.Nawaz welcomed the US de-

cision of offering help with re-gard to Gyari sector incident.

He said he had spoken to theprime minister regarding thebounty announced on HafizSaeed, adding that the UnitedStates should apprise the pre-mier before taking any such de-cision.

He said the Indian cricketteam should visit Pakistan.

Babar Awan

loses PLf

membership RAWALPINDI

nni

After being sidelined by the PakistanPeople’s Party leadership, former lawminister Babar Awan has now foundhimself in another embarrassing situ-ation as the People’s Lawyers Forum(PLF) has also annulled his member-ship.PLF Secretary General Asad Abbasisaid that the decision has been takenby the executive body of the party’slawyers’ wing. Babar Awan was accused of creatingdifferences within the PLF, not con-sidering party workers in appointinglaw officers and leaving the party andthe government in testing times.

China hails

warming India-

Pakistan tiesBEIJING

inP

China has welcomed President AsifAli Zardari’s trip to India and the im-provement in India-Pakistan ties.“China is glad to see the improvementin India-Pakistan relations throughdialogue and cooperation,” ForeignMinistry spokesperson Liu Weiminsaid.Both India and Pakistan are “impor-tant nations” in South Asia and play“important roles” for the region’speace and prosperity, said Liu.The Foreign Office comment came aday after a commentary in the state-run Xinhua agency also welcomedZardari’s visit, saying Beijing washappy to witness “continuous im-provement” in India-Pakistan ties.“The two countries’ efforts in warm-ing up their ties certainly are wel-comed and applauded by theinternational community includingChina, which neighbours both nationsand maintains significant ties withthem,” said the commentary authoredby Yu Zhixiao.

Little expected, little gained from Zardari visitNEWS DESK

President Asif Ali Zardari’s visit to Indiahas produced predictable results, accord-ing to a report in BBC News on Monday.

It was a private visit, but it was un-avoidably given an official colour as theIndian prime minister could not haveignored the Pakistani president’s pres-ence on Indian soil without creating amisunderstanding.

Observers would have conjecturedthat India considered the embattled MrZardari a spent force incapable of deliv-ering on vital issues whatever his desirefor improved relations with India.

The government would have beencriticised for missing the opportunity toshow India’s backing for an electedcivilian president at odds with thearmed forces who, combined with thejudiciary, wanted his ouster.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singhis, in any case, very keen to make abreakthrough with Pakistan andwould have sought this unexpectedopportunity to engage with MrZardari who was, therefore, invited toDelhi en route to Ajmer for a lunchand a private conversation.

Nothing much was expected fromthis meeting except a review of variousissues and a general exchange of viewson further steps needed to makeprogress.

This is so because India and Pak-istan are already engaged in a struc-tured bilateral dialogue covering thewhole gamut of bilateral issues whoseformat and the agenda were agreed aftertough negotiations.

One round of this dialogue has al-ready been completed and the secondhas begun. During this period, the Indianprime minister has met Pakistan’s lead-ers in India and in foreign capitals.UNhAPPY hISTorY: What India ex-pects from Pakistan is known to the lat-ter; the answers Pakistan gives to India’sdemands are also known.

If progress in resolving outstandingissues is slow, it is because the issuesare overlaid by unhappy history anddeep mistrust.

Translating general expressions offriendship and goodwill into practical de-cisions is very difficult.

India wants satisfaction on the ter-rorism issue; Pakistan wants “justice” onthe Kashmir issue and sees terrorism asa way to force India to yield ground.

This thinking has not been totallydiscarded even though Pakistan itselfhas become a prey to the very monsterof terrorism it created.

The increasing radicalisation of Pak-istan and the impunity with which HafizSaeed, the founder of Pakistan-basedmilitant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, operatesaccounts for this.

Now Pakistan has raised the waterissue in highly charged terms eventhough the only agreement that hasworked between India and Pakistan isthe Indus Waters Treaty.

In these circumstances, to have ex-pected President Zardari’s visit to haveprovided a breakthrough would havebeen unrealistic.

At about 40 minutes, the one-on-one meeting of the leaders was shorterthan expected.

In this amount of time all outstand-ing bilateral as well as regional issuescould not have been discussed in anydetail.

Prime Minister Singh appears tohave spoken, not for the first time to hisPakistani interlocutors, about the need tobring the perpetrators of the Mumbai at-tacks to justice, prevent terror attacksagainst India from Pakistani soil andcurb the activities of Hafiz Saeed.

Mr Zardari seems to have given anon-committal response.

Predictably, the president spoke ofKashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek - threeareas where the two countries disputecontrol.

It was important for both leaders toassure their publics that “core” issueshad been flagged. That both agreed to astep-by-step approach to resolve themonly indicates the limited potential ofthis high-level conversation in Delhi to

break new ground.This step-by-step resolution of issues

has lasted a few decades already andcould well last a long time more now thatthere are question marks about Pak-istan’s future stability, the growing Is-lamisation of sections of its society andthe uncertain consequences for itself andthe region of its expected over-reach inAfghanistan after the US withdrawal.

Mr Singh expressed his apprecia-tion of the steps taken by Pakistan onthe trade front.

More could have been said aboutthis positive development in bilateralties in the statements by the two leadersand the later briefing on their talks bythe Indian side.SUBDUED TErMS:Why this was notdone is not clear. Perhaps Mr Zardariwas reluctant because he does not wantto be personally associated too muchwith this initiative which he undoubtedlyfavours, leaving its positive profiling tohis government.

Somewhat surprisingly, the twoleaders spoke after their meeting to thepress in uncharacteristically subduedterms, with the Indian prime ministerspeaking laconically of finding practicaland pragmatic solutions to the out-standing issues and the Pakistani presi-dent being even more bland.

Much has been made in the Indianmedia about the invitation to Mr Singh

to visit Pakistan.Pakistan is pressing for his visit as

that would imply that it has deliveredon the terror issue, including the trialof those responsible for the 2008Mumbai attack, and that relations be-tween the two countries have been ef-fectively normalised.

Mr Singh wants to go but he wantsconcrete results that would vindicatehis policy of engaging Pakistan despiteits recalcitrance on the issue of terror-ism, an approach that has many criticsin the country.

A premature visit by the prime min-ister could be highly counter-produc-tive for him personally and for thecountry. Hence his caution.

In response to Mr Zardari’s reitera-tion of an invitation to visit Pakistan“soon”, Mr Singh has indicated hisreadiness to go on a “mutually conven-ient date”, nuanced to an “appropriatetime” in the briefing later by the Indianministry of external affairs with theadded caveat of “mutually acceptabledates” and “substantive preparations”beforehand.

All in all, the visit did not live up tothe media hype, but it served its purposeof maintaining high-level engagementwith Pakistan in the hope that incremen-tal progress could be made in resolvingthe difficult issues that bedevil the bilat-eral relationship.

Nawaz backs Zardari’s visit to Indiag PmL-n chief asks govt to take decision on nAto supply keeping in mind national interests

Pakistan is facing

colossal challenges,

says firdousISLAMABAD

nni

Federal Information MinisterDr Firdous Aashiq Awan saidon Monday that the nationcan develop its full potentialand embark upon sustainedeconomic growth through fullparticipation and involvementof youth in the process of pol-icy formulation.Addressing a seminar‚ Fir-dous said that the nation candevelop to its full potentialand embark upon the sus-tained economic growththrough full participation andinvolvement of youth in theprocess of policy formulation.She said Pakistan is facingcolossal challenges. These in-clude terrorism‚ religious ex-tremism‚ threat to democraticsecurity‚ energy crisis‚ unem-ployment‚ drug traffickingand addiction and bad imagesabout Pakistan in the back-ground of events leading to9/11 and launching of war onterrorism.The minister said the initia-tive of the President is aimedat seeking input of the youthin meeting these challenges.She said the government hasalso embarked upon a numberof programmes aimed at har-nessing potential of the youthfor national development.

file photo



News

iSlAMABAd: President Asif zardari addresses the concluding session of a day-long summit on ‘Pakistan leaders of Tomorrow - Youth Outreach and Mobilization Effort’ at the

presidency on Monday. Bilawal Bhutto zardari is also seen in the picture.

Zardari approves

appointment of LHC

additional judgeISLAMABAD

STAff rEPOrT

President Asif Ali Zardari on Mondayapproved the appointment of Ali BaqirNajfi as additional judge of the LahoreHigh Court.The summary received in this regardstated that the Judicial Commission hadforwarded the nomination of Ali BaqirNajfi along with others to the Parlia-mentary Committee on Judges Appoint-ment in superior courts. The committeeduring its meeting held on March 20neither rejected nor confirmed the nom-ination of Najfi. Therefore, in pursuanceof clause 12 of Article 175A, the name ofNajfi was deemed to have been con-firmed, the summary said.Under clause 13 of Article 175A, the Par-liamentary Committee on Judges Ap-pointment in superior courts through itssummary requested the PM to advisethe president to accord his approval tothe said appointment. Accordingly, act-ing upon the advice of the PM, the presi-dent has also accorded his approval tothe appointment of Ali Baqir Najfi asadditional judge of Lahore High Court.

SC issues contempt

notice to Lahore AIGP

in spurious drugs case


Directing the Punjab government tosubmit an investigation report intothe Punjab Institute of Cardiology’s(PIC) spurious medicine scam withinthree days, the Supreme Court onMonday issued contempt of court no-tice to Punjab’s Additional InspectorGeneral Police Aslam Tareen for ap-prehending nine people of pharma-ceutical company by ignoring thecourt orders.A two-member bench of Justice Tas-saduq Hussain Jillani and Justice MianSaqib Nisar was hearing a case whereDr Khalid Ranjha, counsel for the phar-maceutical company, apprised thebench that Punjab police arrested ninepersons who had come from Karachifor cooperating in the investigation.Ranjha further stated that earlier theSupreme Court on January 30, 2012 haddirected the police not to make arrests.However, he said disobeying the courtorders, Lahore Shadman police ar-rested nine people who were assistingthe police in probing into the spuriousdrugs case at PIC.

Youth wants peaceful

and progressive

Pakistan: BilawalISLAMABAD

nni

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardarisaid on Monday said the youth in Pak-istan, which is over 60 percent of thepopulation wants to see a peaceful, pros-perous and progressive Pakistan.Addressing the concluding session of thefirst ever summit on the subject of “Pak-istan’s Leaders of Tomorrow (PakLOT),an interactive session organized by Min-istry of Information and Broadcasting atthe Presidency, he said, “We must de-mand more from our older generation,we must demand peace.”Recalling her mother Benazir Bhutto, Bi-lawal said she was assassinated by terror-ists therefore, he knew the pain felt byinnocent men, women and children whohave lost their loved ones. About the sac-rifices of army in the war against terror,the PPP chairman said, “I feel the pain ofour brave soldiers fighting on the frontlines risking their lives so our generationcan live in peace.”Bilawal said there are some politicianswho bury their heads in the sand and pre-tend “this is not our war” adding that herefused to engage in this ostrich politicsbecause unlike them he knew what it islike to be a victim of terror. He said theenemies within have blown up girlsschools and are threatening the future ofthe Pakistanis. They blew up a school buscarrying innocent children whose onlycrime was to seek an education, he added.Referring to government’s strategy of dia-logue, deterrence and development, Bi-lawal said, “We have regained Swat fromterrorists”. He said he is proud that thegovernment shut NATO routes and va-cated the Shamsi base in reaction to anattack on sovereignty of the country.Bilawal hoped that the parliament willdemand foreign policy based on equalityunlike the dictator before who took or-ders from a single phone call and signedsecret deals that compromised nationalintegrity. He said, “we are equally out-raged when our own citizens bring shameand dishonor to our country” with terror-ist activities. “We condemn equally thebutchery of our Shia brothers in Gilgit,the murder of our people of different eth-nicities in Karachi, the killings of our fel-low Pakistanis in Balochistan and thepersecutions of Christians, Hindus andother Pakistani minorities,” he added. Hesaid, “We demand justice for all victims.”Highlighting the importance of youth, Bi-lawal said,”We all stand united.

ISLAMABADnni

PReSIDeNT AsifAli Zardari onMonday under-scored the needfor harnessing

true potential of youth for aprogressive and modernPakistan.

He was speaking at theconcluding session of theday-long summit “PakistanLeaders of Tomorrow” -Youth Outreach and Mobi-lization effort - organized bythe Ministry of Informationand Broadcasting in Islam-abad.

Referring to the chal-

lenges confronting Pakistan‚he said instead of pointingfingers toward others we willhave to look inwardly to finda solution to these problems.

President Zardaristressed the need for im-proving the image of thecountry.

The president said, “Weall will have to work togetherto change ourselves so as toimprove the image of thecountry.”

He referred to severalother countries includingGermany and Japan thatsaw critical moments in his-tory but were now powerfuleconomic forces on theglobal scene because of pur-

suing right policies and con-sistency.

He said that he has beenurging upon the businesscommunities and others toassist the government in for-mulating the policies andthen own those policies. Heurged the young generationto play proactive role and toensure that the parties theyvote for pursue the progres-sive agenda.

Highlighting the geo-strategic importance of Pak-istan, President Zardarisaid, “We can benefit a lotthrough economic interac-tion with our neighbours,Central Asian Republics andRussia.”

He said future of theworld is South Asia and Pak-istan was part of it.

Addressing the summit‚PPP Chairman BilawalBhutto Zardari said theyouth in Pakistan wanted tosee a peaceful‚ prosperousand progressive Pakistan.

He said, “We want tolive in the Pakistan as prom-ised by Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah andQauid-e-Awam ShaheedZulfiqar Ali Bhutto.”

He said he felt the painof innocent men‚ womenand children who lost theirnear and dear ones and sol-diers fighting on the frontlines risking their lives.

Zardari underscores need for harnessing true potential of youth

SC seeks govt’s response over polls expenditures issueISLAMABAD

MASOOd rEhMAn

The Supreme Court on Monday di-rected Attorney General Maulvi An-waarul Haq to submit before it today(Tuesday) the government’s stance overa plea seeking limited expenditures bypolitical parties during general elec-tions.

A three-member bench consistingof CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry, Justice KhiljiHussain and Justice Tariq Pervez washearing a petition, filed by the WorkersParty seeking limited expenditures bypolitical parties during elections. Peti-tioner Abid Hassan Minto stressed thecourt to exercise its jurisdiction underArticle 184(3) of the constitution andhold that there must be laws thatshould set the norms for elections andfixation of expenditures over the elec-tion. He contended that in our country,it was never seriously felt to promotedemocratic culture, adding that duringgeneral elections individuals havingmore resources and wealth can manip-ulate elections. Minto argued that inorder to promote democratic cultureand ensure equal opportunities to themasses for contesting elections, the cul-ture of limited expenditures by political

parties during general elections must bepromoted.

He contended that there must belaws envisaging norms and mechanicsfor elections so that everybody couldavail the right to contest election. Jus-tice Tariq Parvez observed that the cul-ture cannot be made either by the courtor law. The CJP said that they cannot

direct parliament to make legislation,adding that parliamentarians shouldmake efforts for proper legislation inthis regard. The CJP said that makinglegislation is not a difficult task, addingthat after the successful passage of 18th,19th and 20th amendments, laws couldbe made too in this regard. He said eventhe election commission does not obey

the orders of the Supreme Court,adding that the court forced the com-mission to do its job. Justice TariqParvez said that 50 percent politicalparties in their replies endorsed theidea of making proper legislation forlimiting the expenditures during thegeneral elections.

He further said that this is the jobof election Commission to render its re-sponsibility under Article 218 of theconstitution. Justice Khilji Hussain toldMinto that don’t put the responsibilityon the shoulders of 17 persons (SCjudges) as it’s the job of the parliamen-tarians. Minto contended that when thecourt orders the election Commissionof Pakistan to complete electoral list,then why it can’t ask for it as well. Jus-tice Tariq Parvez however observed thata statement would come that the courtis working against the election Com-mission. “What you have done wasquite right”, Minto replied.

Minto argued that in the UK,though there is no written constitutionbut there is no problem there of anysuch kind of culture. Citing example ofIndia, Minto contended that a demo-cratic process is prevailed upon therefor the last 60 years but there was noany break of it democratic process.

SC asks Musharraf to handhimself over to the law ISLAMABAD: Hearing a plea seeking orders for the registration of a second FIRagainst former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf and 12 others in the BenazirBhutto assassination case, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the former mili-tary dictator to hand himself over to the law for being an absconder. A three-mem-ber bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji ArifHussain and Justice Tariq Parvez also directed the respondents to positively filetheir replies by April 16. At the onset of hearing, Federal Investigation Agency’s(FIA) prosecutor Chaudhry Azhar told the court that despite having received thesummons, Musharraf did not furnish a reply. He said Musharraf’s arrest warrantswere issued and he was declared absconder by an anti-terrorism court due to hiscontinuous absence, adding that the FIA had approached Interpol for the arrest ofMusharraf. Justice Tariq Parvez then noted that the apex court had also issuedsummons of Musharraf on FIA’s application, which according to reports had al-ready been received by him. STAff rEPOrT


tuesday, 10 April, 2012

‘there are more

than 80 sleeping

disorders’

7

KARACHITEXT And PhOTOS BY AMAr GUrirO

IN Pakistan, not only its peo-ple, but its walls also talkabout controversies. Wewitnessed that while drivingthrough the small town of

Daharki in the northern Ghotkidistrict of the southern Sindhprovince. All those who are helpingthe Sindhi Hindus to reclaim therecently converted Hindu girl Rin-kle Kumari (now Faryal Shah)have been termed as “infidels” and“American agents” by the wall-chalking.

early on a February 24 morn-ing, nineteen-year-old Rinkle’sfamily found her missing fromtheir house in the Mirpur Mathelotown. Hours later, her father re-ceived a phone call from Pir MianAbdul Hayee alias Mian Shaman,an elder member of the Pirs ofBhurchandi Sharif shrine in thesame district. Shaman said thatRinkle was at his house with ayoung Muslim man and that shewanted to become a Muslim. LocalHindus and Pirs of BhurchandiSharif made an agreement a fewyears ago that if the Pirs find anyHindu male or female eager to be-come a Muslim, they would in-form the family and the localHindu elders.

That same night, Rinkle’s fam-ily came to know that not only hadshe converted to Islam, but wasalso said to have married a youngMuslim man named Naveed Shah,who lived in the same neighbour-hood where Rinkle lived. AnnoyedHindus of the district refused toaccept her conversion and mar-riage, and claimed that the Pirs ofBhurchandi Sharif shrine kid-napped her from her house,forcibly converted her to Islam andthen forced her to marry Shah.

The local Hindus approachedthe police and asked them to lodgethe First Information Report of herkidnapping against the Pirs ofBhurchandi Sharif, and warned ofstaging a protest if they failed to doso. Hindus control all the busi-nesses in the district. As the Pirs ofBhurchandi Sharif are supposedlythe most powerful and influentialin the district, the police askedthem to produce the girl in court toget legal cover.

Two days later, Rinkle wasproduced in a local court of theGhotki city, where she said thatshe converted to Islam out of herown free will, and that she lovedShah and decided to marry him.The news outraged Hindus fromher small town, where the commu-nity leaders accuse Muslims ofpreying on Hindu girls of mar-riageable age. They gathered at thecourt where the supporters of thePirs were seen engaged in aerialfiring to celebrate Rinkle’s conver-sion. The Hindus also claimed thatthe powerful local politician andPakistan People’s Party MemberNational Assembly Mian Mithobrought armed men to harassthem. The enraged Hindus saidthat Rinkle was forced to issue thestatement in court. They chal-lenged it in the Sindh High Courtand the case later reached theSupreme Court of Pakistan.

The case was reported by thelocal and national media, and sev-eral groups were made on Face-book in support of Hindus andRinkle, whereas many others sup-ported her conversion. The courtin Karachi sent her to a shelterhome so that she could decidewhere she wanted to go. The casereceived so much attention that

President Asif Ali Zardari person-ally intervened to have Rinkletaken into protective custody.Shortly, the president’s sister DrAzra Fazal Pechuho delivered animpassioned speech in support ofHindus.

Later, the chancellor of the re-ligious seminary Jamia BinoriaAalmia, Mufti Muhammad Naeem,issued a statement, slamming thehigh court’s decision to send Rin-kle to a shelter home. Not onlythis, but the US also stepped inand demanded the Pakistani gov-ernment to help the Hindu com-munity. US Congressman BradSherman wrote a letter to Zardari,asking him to take all necessarysteps to bring an end to the harass-ment of Hindus in Sindh.

To ascertain what exactly hap-pened in Rinkle’s case, I travelledto Mirpur Mathelo, a small town inthe Ghotki district some 425 kilo-metres in the north of the provin-cial capital of Karachi, where Ifound that the local Hindus weretoo afraid to talk on the issue.

After visiting the MirpurMathelo and Daharki towns, werushed to Bhurchandi Sharif. Thewhite dome of the shrine could beseen from far away. Around 2,000followers of the shrine welcomedus. They told us that the Hindusare lying and that Islam had madean impression on Rinkle, who con-verted out of her own free will.

The Bhurchandi Sharif shrine,very different from most of theSufi shrines in Sindh, was built in1890 over the grave of HafizMuhammad Siddique, a religiousleader who educated many bignames of the Independence Move-ment and also converted to Islamthe famous hero of the movement,Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, previ-ously a Sikh. Just beside theshrine, there is a mosque, everyinch of which is made of indigotiles and a carved wooden roof thatwas constructed in 1830.

Unlike other Sufi shrines inthe province where any pilgrimcan visit without any discrimina-tion of gender, religion or sect, atBhurchandi Sharif, only maleMuslims can enter and there is asmall window from where womencan peep inside. But on February27, when Rinkle became Faryalafter recording her statement inthe Ghotki court, she was broughtinside the shrine amid aerial firingand distribution of sweets. Thiswas the first time in its history thata woman had entered the shrine torecite verses from the Holy Quran.“As she has converted to Islam,compared to all Muslims, she hasa higher place in our religion. Sheis even more important than aSyed, so we brought her inside,”the cleric Mian Shaman told meduring an interview. Shaman’sfamily has a history (spanning overa century) of converting non-Mus-lims to Islam. Among them, almosthalf were women, but none ofthem were brought inside theshrine. Not even singers are al-lowed inside the shrine to singsongs, play musical instruments ordance on the occasion of annualurs as it happens at almost everyshrine in Sindh.

Shaman took us to a nearbymadrasah, the Khanka AaliaQadria, a religious seminary lo-cated on the other side of theshrine, where over 100 studentscurrently receive free boarding andlodging and other facilities. Theseminary has around 145 branchesall across the country.

While inside the seminary,Shaman showed me a pile of files

carrying the tag “Nau (New) Mus-lim File”. each file contained hun-dreds of certificates that he and hisforefathers have issued to newlyconverted Muslims in more than100 years. “Alhamdulillah (Praiseto God), we convert around 250Hindus and Christians every yearin this seminary,” he told meproudly. Talking about Rinkle, hesaid that she had arrived at hishouse and requested him to con-vert her to Islam. “As a true Mus-lim, it’s my duty to convertwhoever approaches me; other-wise, I shall remain a Muslim nomore. But when she came, I con-tacted her family and other Hinduelders, but none of them came totalk to her; so, after waiting for fivehours, I converted her to Islam,”said Shaman. He rejected the alle-gations that she was forcibly con-verted. To justify his position, heshowed me a large group of localHindus brought to the seminary ona rented bus so that they could ex-plain to me how safe they were.Majority of these Hindus are work-ing as maidservants at the housesof different Pirs.

Ghotki Senior Superintendentof Police (SSP) Pir MuhammadShah was appointed in the districtin early 2011, when 29 people werekidnapped and robberies werewidespread. He went on to fightwith bandits, killed 19 of them andlost several police officers, butbrought peace to the district andHindus offered him a goldencrown at a ceremony. He also sup-ported Shaman’s statement. “Shewas not kidnapped, but wanted tomarry Naveed Shah, as she knewhim since a long time and was alsoa classmate of his sister; Rinkleand Shah had been talking over thephone since many months,” saidSSP Shah.

But Rinkle’s father Nand Lal, agovernment schoolteacher who leftthe town after the incident and isnow living in Karachi with hisbrother-in-law, insisted that shewas kidnapped. “When we wokeup early in the morning, she haddisappeared and one of her shoeswas lying on the stairs. Later in thecourt, Rinkle told us that four mencarrying weapons had broken intothe house that night and silentlytaken her away. She was forced toconvert.”

He said, “Mian Mitho is a ter-rorist and it is his business to kid-nap Hindu girls; he keeps them athis house for sexual purposes andlater sells them.” When asked whythey are being targeted, he said,“We are a peaceful community anddo not have a tribal backing; there-fore, we are considered to be softtargets.” Rinkle’s mother Sulach-hani Devi said that her daughter isa very shy girl and could not havetaken such a big step. She de-manded her daughter’s return.

Although Pakistan is sufferingfrom sectarian bloodshed, theSindh province is a beacon of reli-gious tolerance and majority of thecountry’s Hindus have a history oftranquil coexistence with Muslims;both communities share a mutualculture and language, and cele-brate religious festivals, go intobusiness together and attend oneanother’s weddings and funerals.While several liberal Sindhi Mus-lims are supporting Hindus, incases like Rinkle’s, many Muslimsare forced to stand against Hindus.

After visiting BhurchandiSharif, when we reached Sukkur,we rushed to the Sadh Belo temple,a historical Hindu temple locatedon an island in the middle of theIndus River outside the Sukkur

city, where hundreds of Hindu pil-grims visit every day without anyfear.

There was no electricity andmost shops on the Hussaini Roadin the Sukkur city were plungedinto darkness. A few pushcart ven-dors lit charcoal in a metal drumwith a grill wire on top and barbe-cued chicken legs to serve the or-ders. Heavy smoke and the smellof meat permeated the air. But theteenage vegetarian Satesh Kumar,with a handkerchief tied aroundhis head, passed silently throughthe smoke and entered the build-ing located on the other side of theroad. Khanda, an insignia of theSikh faith with a double-edgedsword in the centre, is printed onthe building, which is a gurdwararun by Hindus, where Kumar andhis relatives gather every eveningto play musical instruments, singholy verses and pray.

Just like kidnappings for ran-som, extortion by powerful feudallords from Hindu businessmenand migration of Hindu citizens,forced conversion of Hindu girls inSindh is a big problem for theHindu community. Due to the di-vision of the Subcontinent on thebasis of religion (Hinduism andIslam), a large number of Hindusfrom today’s Pakistan migrate toIndia and vice versa. Despite that,a large number of Hindus are stillliving in Pakistan. Sindhi Hindusare native residents of the provinceand have been living here for sev-eral centuries.

Before the Partition, Sindhwas a Hindu-majority province.After the division of the Subconti-nent, the well-settled Sindhi Hin-dus migrated to India and theremaining became a religious mi-nority in their own land.

Despite all the problems facedby the community, the Hindu par-liamentarians have not made anyeffort to protect their own people.There are 18 Hindu members inthe National Assembly and thefour provincial assemblies, butnone of them have ever botheredto work for their community. ThePervez Musharraf-led governmentallowed religious minorities to castdual votes – they could vote for aMuslim as well as a candidate fromthe religious minorities at thesame time. But this change had anadverse impact on the minorities.Though they were given the dualvoting right, they could actuallycast only one vote for a Muslimcandidate in their constituency.The non-Muslim candidates weregiven reserved seats and theyreached the assemblies withoutgetting votes. Thus, they stoppedpaying attention to their commu-nities and started obeying the or-ders of the political parties’high-ups, who issued them partytickets and paved their way for theassemblies.

Therefore, the Pakistani gov-ernment needs to immediatelychange the allocation of the assem-bly seats. The reserved seats’ sys-tem for religious minorities mustbe stopped at once. The candidatemust contest elections and get intothe assemblies only through voteso that they could think about theirvoters. Currently, assembly mem-bers on religious minority seats gottheir position on reserved seats sothey have nothing to do with theminority members. There are sev-eral issues – the Family Law forHindus, the Marriage Act and evenforced conversions – that needproper legislation, to which theseassembly members have nevergiven any priority.

The mystifying case of Rinkle Kumari‘MORe IMpORTanT THan a SYeD’

The Bhurchandi Sharifshrine

Inside the Sadh Belotemple

Mian Shaman looks at a certificate of conversion.

Inside the mosque of Bhurchandi Sharif.

A large number of local Muslims gathered atBhurchandi Sharif to tell the scribe that RinkleKumari was not forcibly converted to Islam

The Khanka Aalia Qadria.


two policemen hitch a ride in a Qing Qi rickshaw at the rashid minhas road. IMRan alI

karachi08PakistaN today


Second phase of Lyari’s

development kicks offKARACHI

APP

Work for the second phase of Lyari Development Package (LDP) including watersupply schemes and improvement of roads, streets, parks and playgrounds wasstarted on Monday. According to an official news release, preparation of theLyari Master Plan was to make the locality into a model area. After the comple-tion of development works under the first phase, tenders for improvement of30 different roads of Lyari have been invited while improvement of 12 boxingrings to promote the game in the area has also been started under the LDP sec-ond phase. Special attention is being given to improve the educational environ-ment in the area through repair and renovation of school buildings. Betterteachers and furniture is being provided to the schools where required. Voca-tional training centres have been opened to provide skills in different trades tothe youth of the area. The LDP will bring a visible change in the lives of the Lyaripeople after its complete implementation, the statement added.

Police arrest 29 outlawsKARACHI

APP

The police have arrested 29 suspects from different areas of the city during thepast 24 hours. A statement issued on Monday said that 18 pistols, a rifle and amobile phone were recovered from the possession of the alleged accused. Policehave registered cases against the accused and started investigations.

Coast Guards seize hashish

consignmentKARACHI

APP

The Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG) on Monday foiled an attempt to smugglea consignment of Hashish in the Windar area of Balochistan. A statementissued by PCG on Monday said that information was received by an officialregarding the smuggling of narcotics through the RCD Highway. A specialmobile patrolling team intercepted a mini truck at the Naka Khari check postand during inspection, 210kg Hashish was recovered from the hidden com-partments inside the truck’s body. The driver of the truck was taken into cus-tody along with the vehicle. Further investigation is in progress by theSpecial Investigation Team, the PCG statement said.

KARACHIAfTAB ChAnnA

SINDH Commerce and IndustriesMinister Rauf Siddiqui on Mondayannounced the promotion of 874employees in the Sindh IndustrialTrading estates (SITe) and the

Sindh Small Industries Corporation (SSIC).He made the announcement at a Hajj

balloting ceremony organised at the SITehead office on Monday.

Interestingly, Sindh Law Minister AyazSoomro had last year cancelled the

promotion orders of the same offi-cers for want of “proper verifica-

tion and justification”.Speaking at the ceremony,

the MQM’s minister restoredthe previous order for the al-leged out-of-turn promotionsin SITe and SSIC with imme-diate effect.

“Three months ago, we

promoted the employees according to thelaw, but unfortunately the order was can-celled without any reason,” he said. “I willnever allow any injustice be done to honestofficers during my tenure.”

In July 2011, the MQM had quitthe coalition government and theSindh law minister from the rulingPPP was given the additional chargeof industries and commerce portfolio.

While on a visit to the SITe area,Soomro had cancelled at least 874out-of-turn promotions in SITe andSSIC terming “illegal”.

“The PPP minister cancelled all theout-of-turn promotions due to lack ofverification,” the sources told Pak-istan Today.

However, when the MQM re-joined the government, the employ-ees concerned were assured that thelaw minister’s order would be can-celled after things get better.

The sources claimed that the pro-

motions in SITe and SSIC were made inviolation of the Sindh government’sRules of Business as seniority andother legal formalities were notconsidered in the promotionprocess.

In October 2011, Siddiqui hadinstructed the promotion

committee to finalise thenames of officers in the

list according to merit, forwhich the announcement

was made on Monday.Pakistan Today

tried to contact theSindh Commerceand Industries Min-ister repeatedly but

he could not be ap-proached.

‘Promotional ping pong’ in SITE, SSIC continues■ rauf Siddiqui restores order for promotion of 874 staffers, earlier cancelled by Ayaz Soomro

KARACHIAMAr GUrirO

The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF)has condemned the murder of its activistallegedly gunned down by the supportersof an influential contractor near theHamal Lake in Qambar district.

The incident took place early Mon-day morning when some armed men shotdead Imdad Malah, son of Shafi Mo-hammed, on the spot and injured an-other fisherman, Muharram Malah.

According to reports, the fisher com-munity people were on their way to themarket when some people tried to snatchtheir catch, on which the fishermenshowed resistance.

After the incident a large number offisherfolk gathered at the scene and took

the body of the deceased to mark protestoutside the Larkana Police DIG office.

However, the police official, insteadof lodging a case against the identifiedsuspects, announced that the innocentfisherman was killed in an encounter.

The PFF spokesman said that despitethe hue and cry against brutal acts, tor-tures, snatching fish catch, abusing fish-ermen and armed attacks on fisherfamilies by landlords have become a rou-tine. “It seems as if nothing is happeningand the government is silent over thebarbaric incidents,” it was said in a state-ment issued by the PFF.

The PFF claimed that the murderersafter fleeing from the crime scene aresending messages to keep silent or facedire consequences.

The fishermen had challenged the

feudal lords refusing to handover theircatch as waters are free after abolish-ment of the contract system and no con-tractor is allowed to exploit fishermen.

Condemning the incident, PFF Gen-eral Secretary Saeed Baloch and mem-bers Majeed Motani, Ishaq Meerani andGhulam Qadir Mallah among others ap-pealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan,Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani,Sindh chief minister, fisheries minister,home minister and all political parties,civil society representatives and humanrights activists to raise their voice againstthe brutalism of land lords.

“There is no justification to deprivefishermen of their catch and the accusedshall be arrested according to the law;otherwise, the PFF will announce a coun-try-wide protest against the hooliganism

and exploitation,” the PFF warned.The statement reminded Sindh Fish-

eries Minister to probe into the matterand bring the culprits to the book, as thefishermen are living an uncertain life.

The community leaders from differ-ent water bodies have also announcedprotests in their areas to express solidar-ity with the deceased’s family andfriends.

The PFF spokesman said they haverecently announced a year-long cam-paign to mark the year for protectingfishermen rights.

Terming the PFF activist’s murder aconspiracy, he said that it was due to thenon-seriousness of the provincial gov-ernment in providing security to the poormasses whose lives and livelihoods are atstake.

Rauf SiddiquiAyaz Soomro

pff condemns killing of activist


KARACHISTAff rEPOrT

It’s time for the youth ofSindh to come forward andplay a role to promote peaceand social harmony betweenpeople of different ethnici-ties, tribes and religions inthe society.

This was observed byspeakers at a two-day work-shop on Peace and ConflictManagement organised by

the Sindh Community Foun-dation (SCF) in collaborationwith the Toyota Foundation.

SCF executive DirectorJaved Soz, Sindh HariPorhiat Council’s PunhalSaryo and journalist NisarKhokhar among others ad-dressed the participants atthe event, where they urgedupon the younger generationof the province to play theirrole in peace-buildingprocess at community and

regional levels.Saryo said the entire

South Asian region is threat-ened by violence. “Increasingpoverty, inequality and ab-sence of rule of law are themain reasons of peace insta-bility in the region,” headded.

He said that extremismand intolerance are increas-ing in the society and all seg-ments of the society mustplay their role effectively for

the restoration of peace.Soz was of the view that

social injustice and inequal-ity in Sindh is leading to con-flicts. Through theinformation collected by lo-cals, there are more than 300small and large conflictsamong tribes in the five dis-tricts of Sindh, he said.

“The people living inthese restive districts are liv-ing an uncertain life. Theirlivelihoods are threatened.

The process of overall devel-opment is very slow due tothe worst law and order situ-ation,” the SCF executive di-rector said.

In the entire process,most youth are being pushedinto involvement, as tribalchieftains are making themthe “fuel to achieve their con-demnable targets”, which hascaused loss of lives of a largenumber of innocent peoplebelonging to different tribes.

He said that there is anurgent need to engage andsensitise youth in peace andconflict management.

Senior writer Khokharsaid the media can be an ef-fective tool for promotion ofpeace and conflict manage-ment process.

The conference attractedaround 70 participants fromthe five districts hit by tribalconflicts, including Sukkur,Shikarpur, Kandhkot, Ghotki

and Jacobabad.The participants lauded

the initiative to educate themfor the cause of promotingpeace and harmony in theirrespective areas. The young-sters were educated on con-flict management throughengaging them in group ac-tivities and presenting theiropinion on various natures ofconflicts in Pakistan and oninternational level.

At the end, the YouthPeace Network was formedwith an objective to take longterm activism and advocacyfor peace in Sindh.

with the mercury rising steadily, youngsters find murky waters under native Jetty Bridge a nice place to cool off. IMRan alI

karachi 09PakistaN today


Youth’s turn to solve tribal conflicts

Time to build

green and

conserve energy■ KeSC, ABAD sign accord to take energy conservation

measures through architectureKARACHI

STAff rEPOrT

The Karachi electric SupplyCompany (KeSC) and Asso-ciation of Builders and De-velopers (ABAD) have signeda Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) to undertakejoint measures for energyconservation in the city.

Under the agree-ment signed on Mon-day, the KeSC willprovide the buildersassociation with tech-nical expertise andguidelines for develop-ing energy efficient ar-chitecture in futureprojects.

“The idea is to in-crease the number of‘green buildings’ thatwould require less en-ergy on sustainablebasis, which is theneed of the hour underthe current circum-stances of increasedpressures on energyresources,” it was saidin a statement issuedby the KeSC.

The power utilitystated that the MoUwas signed to encour-age energy conservation bymaximising usage of naturallight during daytime andavoiding undue wastage ofelectricity.

earlier, the KeSC’s en-

ergy Conservation Team hadheld interactive session withthe ABAD office bearers andmembers and gave themmultiple briefings on the en-ergy conservation cause andhow it could be addressedthrough the forum ofbuilders and developers toyield results.

According to the state-

ment, the KeSC has beenmaking sustained efforts byengaging public participationand now also partnering witharchitects, builders and de-velopers for furthering the

cause.“The point, at which the

demand-management andsupply-management respon-sibilities of KeSC converge,call for the need of energyconservation and efficiencyby KeSC, its consumers andother stakeholders to ensurea sustainable and green fu-ture,” it was stated.

Given the energy cri-sis in Pakistan, the KeSCattaches immense impor-tance to energy conserva-tion as it aids in thereduction of energy con-sumption and energy de-mand per capita,offsetting the growth inenergy supply needed tokeep up with rising popu-lation growth.

It was claimed thatthe KeSC, being con-scious of its responsibilitytowards its consumersand the environment,knows that reducingemissions is an importantstep towards lesseningthe impact on the climatechange.

“Being cognisant ofits corporate social re-sponsibility, the KeSCaims at increasing aware-

ness on the energy conserva-tion front – every unit ofelectricity conserved actuallyreduces the environmentalimpact,” it was stated in thepress release.


karachiPakistaN today

weAtHer UPDAteS

Low

38°CHigh

23°C 29%Humidity

weDneSDAY tHUrSDAY frIDAY35°C I 23°C 37°C I 23°C 35°C I 23°C

PrAYer tImInGS

Starting time in Karachi

fajr Sunrise Zuhr Asr maghrib Isha

4:56 6:14 12:34 4:03 6:53 8:11

CItY DIreCtorY

PoLICe 15

BomB DISPoSAL 15, 99212667

fIre BrIGADe 16, 99215007, 99215008

eDHI 115, 32310066-2310077

KHIDmAt-e-KHALQ foUnDAtIon 36333811

reD CreSCent 35833973

Governor’S HoUSe 136

CHIef mInISter’S HoUSe 99202051

motorwAY PoLICe 130

emerGenCY HeLP

HoSPItALS

ABBASI SHAHeeD 99260400-09

CIvIL 99215749, 99215960

JInnAH 99201300-39

nICvD 99201271-6

AGA KHAn 34930051

tABBA 36811841-50

BLooD BAnK

HUSSAInI 32238405-8

fAtImID 32225284, 32258656

PwA 99215740, 32735214

ComPLAInt

KeSC 118

PtCL 1218

KwSB 1339

CDGK 134

SUI GAS 1199, 99231603

rAILwAYS

InQUIrY 117, 99213565-6

CItY StAtIon 99213538

CAntt StAtIon 99201118

AIrPort

fLIGHt InQUIrY 114

PIA reServAtIon 111786786

CoLLeGeS / UnIverSItIeS

KArACHI UnIverSItY 99261300-06

neD UnIverSItY 99261261-8

fUUASt 99244141-9

DUHS 99215754-7

SmIC 99217501-3

fASt-nU 111128128, 34100541-7

SZABISt 111922478

IoBm 35090961-7

IBA 111422422

IvS 35861039-40

‘There are more than 80

sleeping disorders’■ Sleep School 2012 inaugurated at Dow University of Health Sciences

JUMMA hAfTA ArT BAzAAr

‘Jumma Hafta Art Bazaar’ from4:00 pm to 8:00 pm on April 13and 14 at the Faraar gallery. Call35389033 for more information.

ART MARKETON APRIL 13 & 14 AT 4:00 PMVENUE: FARAAR GALLERY

GrOUP ShOW

A group art exhibition from April17 to 24 at the Grandeur artgallery. Call 35435744 for moreinformation.

ART EXHIBITIONSTARTS APRIL 17 AT 5:00 PMVENUE: GRANDEUR

ASif SinAn BAnd

‘The Asif Sinan Band’ willperform at 7:00 pm on April 13 atthe Faraar gallery. Call 35389033for more information.

MUSICON APRIL 13 AT 7:00 PMVENUE: FARAAR GALLERY


Partialy Cloudy

KARACHIAPP

THeRe are more than 80 sleeping dis-orders with varied degrees of influenceon the physical, psychological and so-cial well-being of the sufferers, said ex-perts at the inauguration of the Sleep

School 2012 at the Dow Uni-versity of Health Sciences(DUHS) on Monday.

Highlighting the relevanceof the course on sleep-relatedmedical and non-medical inter-vention offered through theSleep School 2012 project ofDUHS, they said that the disor-der could not be ignored, as itis directly linked to the physi-cal, mental and social well-being of the people.

Sleep Clinic for Children &Adults Chief executive OfficerDr Pamela Hamilton-Stubbssaid that sleeping disordersrange from basic snoring to se-vere sleep apnoea.

“Sleep apnoea worldwide ismostly undiagnosed and affectsmillions in developed and non-developed countries,” said theexpert.

Dr Hamilton-Stubbs saidthat sleep problems are in-creasingly recognised as an im-portant manifestation ofdifferent diseases.

Impaired sleep quality andshort sleep duration might beassociated with decline in over-all health and could also causemortality, warned the speaker, mentioning thatsocial and demographic influences are importantfor sleep attainment.

With regard to Occupation Sleep Medicine,she said that it is a new field within sleep medi-cine and is closely linked to the science of sleep.

“This encompasses mathematical modelling,tactics, techniques, producer of sleep and per-formance measurement in the operation environ-ment,” said the expert.

The clinical practice of Sleep Medicine would

play a crucial role in fatigue risk management. Inshort term, it improves performance, productivityand safety, while in longer term, it improves

workers’ health and well-being.Dr Saifullah Baig said that many sleep disor-

ders cause an increase in daytime sleepiness andan increase in road traffic accidents. “It is associ-ated with many systemic disorders like hyperten-sion,” he said.

Dr Baig said that the course has beenarranged in collaboration with Philips Respironics

to build knowledge and expert-ise about sleep medicine.

“The course focuses on theneeds of the physicians andtechnicians who want to de-velop skill in sleep medicinepractice,” he said.

DUHS Vice Chancellor ProfDr Masood Hameed Khan saidthat the concept of sleep medi-cine belongs to the second halfof the 20th century. “It is arecognised sub-specialty in theWest, but in our country, it is aneglected field,” he said.

The vice chancellor said thatDUHS has taken the initiative toestablish the first public sectorsleep laboratory at its Ojha cam-pus, where a specialised and ex-perienced team of dedicatedsleep professionals would pro-vide the highest quality of carefor the evaluation and treatmentof people with sleep disorders.“The vision is to provide a state-of-the-art facility at affordableprice to all,” he said.

Ojha Institute of Chest Dis-eases Director Dr IftekharAhmed said that the coursewould raise awareness amongthe participants about sleep

disorders, help them in understanding and diag-nosing the problem in general, and the hands-ontraining would help them in building skill.


Editor’s mail 11tuesday, 10 April, 2012

Poor performanceIt is basically our responsibility, es-

pecially those of us who do not use theright of voting. It is not the responsibil-ity of any of the parties in power be-cause they focus their attention onhelping and pleasing all those whovoted for them.

Majority of the people are nothappy with both the parties and in theiranger, they decide not to vote for anyparty. even today I hear many peoplewho criticise the politicians vehementlyand as a reaction they say, "We will notvote at all". This mindset allows someparties to win the elections by baggingonly 15 to 20 percent votes of the totalregistered voters.

This has been happening in all theprevious elections. Once in power, theirmain focus remains on pleasing onlythose 15 to 20 percent of the voters andtheir policies are not meant for the en-tire country but for a small minorityand as such are counterproductive forthe economic development of the coun-try.

If all the registered voters use theirright of voting, we can be sure that noparty will be able to win the elections bygetting less than 45 to 50 percent of thetotal registered voters.

Under such a situation, we can besure that the winning party, even if ithappens to be PPP or PML(N), theywill not waste financial resources onschemes like Benazir Income SupportFund , Sasti Roti Scheme, distributionof lap tops, Yellow Cab scheme, or dis-tribution of rickshaws and insteadmake efforts to provide jobs and betteropportunities for majority of the vot-ers.

The policies of the same parties willchange in favour of the majority of thevoters which will help the economic de-velopment of the country.

Let's then decide that we must voteno matter which party we like.

DR MUHAMMAD SADIQLahore

foreign office‘Foreign Office says Pakistan could

go to UN against drone attacks’: ready,unsteady, go.

Z A KAZMIKarachi

Century-old villagesThe millions of residents of cen-

turies-old villages situated in the limitsof Karachi, despite being old citizens ofthe city, are still deprived of basicamenities even in computerised age foryears. Nevertheless, the present PeoplesParty’s government has launched aprocess of issuing allotment orders tothe beneficiaries of villages that ispraiseworthy.

It was very sad that those who claimbeing champion of Karachi and are giv-ing sermons on various private TVchannels from time to time, discrimi-nated old villages in Karachi in develop-ment projects miserably. The formerCity Nazim in Karachi tried his best toraze the villages completely instead ofproviding them basic facilities.

While appreciating the present gov-ernment’s efforts to issue allotment or-ders to the residents of such villages, Irequest the Sindh government to bring acomprehensive plan to provide all basicamenities to the residents of such vil-lages on priority basis.

MOHAMMAD KHAN SIALKarachi

Save fuelThe Second National energy

Summit 2012 is being held in Lahore onMonday, April 9. According to officialannouncement, it is being attended byall stakeholders including the federaland provincial governments officialsconcerned and it will mainly deliberateon five point agenda including finalisinga roadmap for meeting the nationalenergy demand and effective measuresfor power saving. All this, and hopefullyperhaps much more, will be discussedand decided through mutualcollaboration among all provincialgovernments.

While wishing the energy moot agreat success in achieving its targetedobjectives to further the nationalinterests, this is to suggest that besidesdeliberation on effective measures forpower saving that the participantswould also exchange views and come tosome positive conclusion regarding fuelsaving measures as well.

As per official figures, country ismeeting it 85 percent oil requirementsthrough imports and through adoptingfuel saving measures the oil import billcould be reduced and resources so savedcould be diverted towards energygeneration projects. Furthermore,power generation and oil consumptionare both inter-linked and inter-dependent on each other both directlyand industry.

ASIM MUNIRRawalpindi

our Siachin fightearly morning Saturday, April 07,

an avalanche of 1km×1km size, 60-80feet thickness smashed into a Pakistanarmy camp on Siachin glacier, buryingalive more than 124 soldiers and 11 civil-ians. Siachin glacier is world’s highestbattlefield, 6000m above sea level,wherein winter temperature drops tominus70 Celsius with blizzards gustingat speed of 160km/hr.

Siachin glacier was part of PakistaniKashmir since Indo-Pak war of 1948,however, Pakistan never kept its forceson the glacier in winter considering asunnecessary due to severe weather con-ditions. It was so until 1984’s winter

when the Indians quietly moved theirtroops and occupied around 70 percentof the ice mountain. By this Pakistanwas also forced to depute its forcesthroughout the year.

As per an estimate Indians are keep-ing a force of 5000 soldiers while Pak-istan’s strength is about half of that.Both countries are spending US$ 400 –500 million per year to keep their forcesover there.

In local Balti language Siachinmeans ‘valley of roses’, not valley ofdeath wherein more than 2000 soldiershave died due to extreme weather condi-tions.

As both countries realise that itswaste of resources and unnecessary bur-den on the forces, they have held dozensof meetings in the past to discuss a pos-sible withdrawal of forces from the gla-cier, nothing came out of these meetings– reason: ego, stubbornness, deficit oftrust. Indians have refused to withdrawuntil Pakistan recognises its troops’present position; India fears that in caseof its withdrawal, Pakistan may move itssoldiers to re-occupy the earlier lost ter-ritory.

Today the tragedy has struck Pak-istani soldiers; tomorrow it could bewith Indian forces, who knows. Then

why can’t this glacier be demilitarisedand made a mountain of peace?

Why can’t the political and militaryleaders on either side of the border takea back seat and let the sense to prevail –why to spend resources on a war whichis of no use (unless it satisfies some ego-ist evil minds), why to expose the poorsoldiers to severe weather, frost bite, in-hospitable terrain and possible death.Perhaps both India and Pakistan maylearn a lesson from this catastrophe andre-start the stalled dialogue on Siachinglacier and Sir Creek.

MASOOD KHANJubail, Saudi Arabia

What a tragedy!

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.

Street barriersThe practice of enclosing residential

streets by placing barriers on both theirends has increased a lot over the past fewyears in Karachi. The residents of differ-ent areas put blockades at the entrancesand exits of their streets so easily as if thestreet is their private property.

It can be understood that they do sodue to the fear of robbers and dacoits,whose intrusion can take place anywhereat anytime, and they also want to avoidoutsiders and extra people passing fromtheir street unnecessarily, but they mustrealize that they have no right to blockthe streets or prevent anyone from enter-ing them. These residents have theirrights only over their respective housesand not over the entire street. Locking astreet by putting barriers around it, is byno means a security measure, in fact, it isequivalent to claiming that a particulararea belongs to a certain individual or agroup of individuals, and this obviously,

is not the case.All roads, streets and thoroughfares

in all the cities belong to the state and aremade to facilitate people, thus they canbe used by all citizens. If someone wantsto go through a particular street or lane,it does not mean that the person is a tres-passer. And especially in a metropolislike Karachi, where the roads are occu-pied with heavy traffic most of the times,people tend to use service roads andsmall streets to quickly get out from anarea in order to save time and avoidthemselves from getting stuck up in atraffic jam.

But unfortunately, this convenienceis no more available to motorists inKarachi. Now, even if they avoid themain road and try to use the street as ashort cut, they usually get stuck in thearea soon after entering it because thestreets are enclosed with barriers. More-over, these barriers are mostly locked,with no guards near them to help the per-son out from that area or by just letting

him pass through the lane. The poordriver gets stuck up in a labyrinth ofstreets and is unable to find a way out.Ultimately, the whole episode turns outto be as bad as getting stuck in a trafficjam and instead of saving time, the per-son ends up wasting more time than hewould if he had gone straight through themain road or even if he had stuck up in ajam.

The entire experience is very ex-hausting and frustrating for a driver andthis fencing of streets even prolongs traf-fic jams because not even a small fractionof the traffic is able to divert onto theminor roads or streets. Therefore, all theresidents of such areas must realize thatthey cannot curtail anyone from passingthrough any road or lane as this is a com-pletely illicit act. They can do whateverthey want for the security of their ownhouses, but they are not authorized tolock the streets.

MADIHA VIQUARKarachi

How unfortunate that a country that is facing terrorism, warboth on its borders and inside its territory is so much dividedalong ethnic, religious and many other lines. Karachi, for exam-

ple, is held hostage to its ethnic and mafia lines. What a tragedy!KAINAT FATIMA

Lahore

The electricity crisis beingfaced in the country is dev-astating for the economic

survival as well as for the wellbeing of the population. Not tospeak of new ventures, existingfactories and businesses are beingshut down due to non availabilityof electricity which is renderingthousands of people out of job.The national debt is galloping andthe unrest in the population ismounting as there is no solution insight. The signals for the loomingcrisis were visible for the last sev-eral years, but unfortunately nopositive steps have so far beentaken to rectify the situation.

The main cause of electricitycrisis is the extremely high cost ofgeneration primarily due to thefaulty fuel mix being used to pro-duce electricity. At present thetotal generation installed capacityis 21,000 MW. The peak demand

is 15,000 MW, but the productionis only 9,000-10,000 MW, result-ing in 10-12 hours of load shed-ding. The root cause of the faultyfuel mix is the use of furnace oil asthe main fuel to produce thermalelectricity.

The months of January to Mayhave very low hydropower avail-able since reservoirs are emptyand snow melt will not, start tillJune. The Tarbela reservoir re-ceives about 95 percent of itswater through snow melt. The nat-ural gas is in short supply and isavailable only to produce 29 per-cent MW of electricity. As over 50percent of current generation isdependent on furnace oil, it is notviable for the government to pur-chase and provide oil at such highprice. Therefore, many plants areeither shut or producing muchbelow their capacity.

The price of furnace oil wasabout Rs 2000 per ton in thenineties. It started increasing in1999 and went up to Rs 10,000per ton in 2001. It rose sharply in

2006 to Rs 20,000 per ton, and in2008 it touched Rs 30,000 perton. There was a short durationdrop in 2009, but then onwards itkept on rising very sharply. In2010, it went up to Rs 40,000 perton and at present its price is al-most Rs 70,000 per ton. The priceof furnace oil has thus risen 30times since 1990 and seven timessince 2005.

There were plenty of warn-ings, and if an appropriate actionwas taken in years 2006-2008 byarranging alternative fuel, thepresent crisis could have beenavoided. The alternative fuel is'coal' that could have been initiallyimported and subsequently ob-tained by developing huge depositof Thar coal. We have been hear-ing about Thar coal since the lasteight years, but zero coal is ob-tained from this source up tillnow. Many proposals had comefrom foreign investors, but nobody has been allowed to touchthis coal. It is a great nationaltragedy. The cost of producing

electricity from furnace oil isabout Rs 16 per kwh. This is onlythe fuel cost, total cost to the con-sumer for such electricity is aboutRs 22-24/kwh, which includesfixed cost and transmission losses.

The supply of furnace oil tothe IPPs and rental plants is theresponsibility of the government,since fuel cost under the agree-ment signed is a pass throughitem. The government is unable topay the fuel cost to the generatingcompanies, with the result theplants are shut or running at avery low capacity. The generatingcompanies are thus unable to payto the oil companies and a highcircular debt is created. At presentthe circular debt is around Rs 400billion.

Unless this debt is cleared,there will be no immediate im-provement in electricity supply.everybody now seems to acceptthat alternative fuel to furnace oilis a must but nothing has so farbeen done. even if today the im-port of coal is started, it will take

about three years before the coalcan be obtained and some powerplants are modified to use differ-ent boilers etc. Then again onlythose plants can be converted tocoal which are near the coast. Totransport large quantities of im-ported coal upcountry will be ahuge task.

The other alternate fuel,again, for a short period could benatural gas. It is known that addi-tional gas can be extracted fromcertain fields by applying highpressure. The availability of addi-tional gas will take some time plusthe quantity of gas may not be suf-ficient to totally replace furnaceoil. Similarly, the open pit miningarrangement for Thar coal willtake a minimum of three years.This means that earliest thechange can take place is aboutthree years provided the work onthe alternatives is immediatelystarted.

Simultaneously, serious stepsmust be taken (i) to develop coalmines and gas fields immediately,

which is essential to replace thehigh cost of oil, and (ii) get rid ofthe circular debt and eliminateload shedding so that industry,commerce and living conditionsbe brought to normal levels. Obvi-ously some other expenses willhave to be cut during the nextthree years to accommodate thisessential subsidy for restoring theeconomy.

We must be determined to useindigenous resources which areplenty. Concentrate on Thar coal,supplemented by natural gasfields existing and new, and hy-dropower. A number of medium-size hydropower projects areready to be launched on theJehlum River, Kunhar River andSwat River, as well as in Dir, andChitral. These should be taken upeven if the mega multipurposeprojects like Bhasha, Kalabagh arenot yet started. Doing nothing isnot an option.

The writer is an expert in thewater and power sector.

electricity crisis and circular debtBy Amjad Agha


comment12tuesday, 10 April, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Talk it out

energy conference

Both the track record and capacity of the PPP governmentat governance leaves much to be desired. From foreigntrade to matters of law and order to the energy crisis,there is a quaintly auto-pilot feel to the way the

government goes about things.

But there are some things that it has proved to be excessivelyefficient at. evolving consensus and providing safety pressurevalves for dissent and outrage to fizzle out of. By passing thebuck to the parliament when it came to the issue of the Natosupply routes, it has ensured that the opposition also getsownership of any possible defence.

A similar attempt has been made on the energy front. Thesecond national energy conference was held in Lahore yesterday.A fitting platform for the opposition PML(N), which despiterunning the government in the Punjab, has taken to taking outprotest marches against the power shortages. Technicalconferences, it is assumed, cannot accommodate populistsloganeering, as opposed to rallies, TV shows or even theparliament. When put on the spot, the Leaguers would have tosay something. This would ensure the latter come out with anunpopular statement.

The chief minister was present at the conference but both thePunjabi Leagues’ presence was dismal. The failure of theconference to come up with anything has been attributed, by thefederal government, to this deficit in quorum.

The moot also rejected the earlier proposal, floated by QLeague chief Shujaat Hussain, to settle the circular debt bycutting of the NFC dues to the provinces. Though the veteranleader’s idea was (rightfully) shot down, it was still somethingtangible. These are precisely the sort of ideas that we need toovercome the problem.

This is a problem that requires holistic solutions. The Leaguewould think of itself as the government-in-waiting. It knows, it ispresumed, the scale the problem we have on our hands. Would itbe tutoring the PPP in the merits of keeping the issue abovepolitics then?

Post-script: the TV newsrooms might have had fun with thelights going out at the conference. The chiragh and the andheraplay. Had it not happened, the same channels would be decryinghow there is no loadshedding at high-falutin governmentconferences but none for the masses. Because of its activism, thejudiciary has been accused, in the recent past, of making sure thecountry is ungovernable. The mainstream media comes a certainsecond....

ignore the anti-india fringe

on improving relations

Pressing social and economic realities have forced thepeople on both sides of the Wagah border to realise thatmutual hostility is not in their interests. The dyed-in-the-wool anti-India fringe stands as isolated in Pakistan

as its counterparts in India. While it is understood thatoutstanding disputes that include Kashmir have to be resolved,the improvement in relations and the befits it would bring to thepeople on both sides would in itself constitute an incentive tosettle the differences. Despite being at daggers drawn with oneanother the PPP, PML(N),PTI and JUI(F) are all unanimous onimprovement of ties with India.

Pakistan has fought three wars with India withoutsucceeding to solve any outstanding issue. The wars in fact badlyimpacted the economic progress of the two countries, muchmore so in the case of Pakistan. european countries had foughtdevastating wars against one another but learnt the lesson muchearlier and decided to live peacefully. They are reaping thebenefits. Never in its past history were the people of thecontinent so well to do, so culturally advanced and with so highstandards of living. Wars have stood in the way of South Asia toachieve its immense potential for development. While the twocountries have enough nuclear weapons to destroy each othermany times over, they have yet to tackle poverty and socialbackwardness.

Opening up the trade barriers and reducing travelrestrictions to the minimum should be the first steps towards theimprovement of relations. It is a good step on the part of theTrade Development Authority of Pakistan and the private sectorbusinessmen to display Pakistani goods at an exhibition in India.Pakistan has enough to export that includes cement, textiles,garments and home furnishings. It can import the much neededpower and a variety of manufactured goods from India. The fearsof India dumping goods in Pakistani markets are unrealistic. Thepar value of the Indian currency is likely to act as a powerful nontariff barrier. What is more Article XIX of GATT provides thatwhen, as a result of tariff reductions, a country finds that aproduct is being imported to cause serious injury to domesticproducers, it can impose safeguard measures to restrict suchimports for temporary periods.

The Punjab's Youth Develop-ment Programme’s website(www.youth.punjab.gov.pk<http://www.youth.punjab.gov.pk/>/freelaptops.aspx) says:

“The objective is to provide free laptops to100 thousand brilliant students currentlystudying at public sector colleges and uni-versities or are high achievers of theBoards of Punjab in Matriculation.” So, itis not a scheme for the poor, it is a meritscheme for rewarding ‘brilliant’ students,though imposing the restriction that theyhave to be enrolled at public sector col-leges and universities and so imposingsome political correctness does take outthe minority that goes to higher cost pri-vate colleges/universities.

A caveat should be added here that au-tonomous institutions like GCU and Kin-naird are in the list and given that fees ofthese ‘autonomous’ institutions have beenallowed to increase substantially, the ‘pub-lic’ institution restriction, as a way of lim-iting the reach of middle or high incomegroups, gets less stringent.

The website goes on to say that stu-dents getting marks above a certain bar atthese institutions, all MS, LLM, M Philand PhD students (MA students stand ex-cluded) and top 100 position holders of in-termediate and secondary boards areeligible. Students from private institutionsand those who have availed such facilitiesbefore or are on HeC scholarships are noteligible to benefit from the scheme. Thosewho are eligible have to be registered andhave to be ‘revalidated’ from their respec-tive institutions, and they also have to signan ‘Undertaking’, before they can get thecomputer, that declares that they are eli-gible, they will use the computer for aca-demic purposes, they have not availedsimilar facilities before and they will notsell the computer.

There is the larger issue of why thestate felt that giving computers was a goodidea – it is spending Rs 4 billion, out ofmoney that was supposed to be for schoollevel education and not for higher educa-tion, on a hardware that loses value fast.But be that as it may. That has been done.

While some of the conditions thathave been imposed, for eligibility, makesense, the condition, in the undertaking,that the owner will not sell the computer,is the most curious one. There is a lot ofdebate, in economics at least, especially inthe welfare and social protection area,about the efficacy of such ‘conditions’ andabout ‘tying’ help to certain actions.

An economist did a very clever studysometime ago. He compared the pricepeople paid for Christmas gifts, bought for

loved ones, with the value that the recipi-ent would put on that gift. As expected,there was quite a difference between thetwo: recipients valued it for less than theprice paid as their ‘need’ for those goods,in general, tended to be less than what thegift-giver had assumed. Assessing theneeds of loved ones is hard enough, as-sessing ‘needs of strangers’ (Ignatieff'sbook by this title is a good introduction) isnotoriously hard. Then why ‘condition’their behaviour and try to constrain itand/or shape it. Is this sort of paternalism,clearly limiting the sovereignty of individ-uals, acceptable and/or needed?

Since there have been some newsitems saying that some of the computersthat the government has already distrib-uted have made their way to the HafeezCentre in Lahore, for resale, the govern-ment has asked the police to get more vig-ilant and prosecute those who sell and buythese computers. Is this the right way toapproach the issue?

The government decided that it willgive computers to people to: a) recog-nise/reward brilliant students, b) bridgethe digital divide, c) build political capitalthrough a quick and visible action, and d)appear to be doing something in educa-tion. Recognition of brilliance of studentsdoes not require for them to keep the com-puters, not does the building political cap-ital part, or the part about appearing to dosomething. It is only regarding the digitaldivide that Punjab government needworry, if students do sell their computers.But are students not in a better position todecide whether they need these computersor would rather have something else in theplace of computers? Why does the govern-ment want to insist that while they will ‘re-ward’ brilliance and transfer ownership ofthese computers but on the proviso thatpeople undertake not to sell them if theydo accept to take them? It is not reallyneeded.

As a general principle, when a person

decides to give something to another, theprinciple is that post transfer it belongs tothe other person, for them to use and dis-pose off as they deem appropriate. Whyruin a good gesture with impractical con-ditions?

The majority of students are likely tokeep the computers, while a minority willfind ways of selling them. Punjab govern-ment should not see this as a criticism oftheir policy choice of giving computers.There are plenty of other reasons for crit-icizing their policy choice. And the idea ofthreatening traders and potential sellersand buyers with police harassment andlegal action are just childish and churlish:just because you happen to be the govern-ment and have the police under you doesnot mean that you need to deploy them forthis as well. It is much better to let peoplebe: if they use the computers wonderful, ifthey need to do something else with themoney they can get from the second handmarket, so be it. They will always find away around prosecutions and harass-ment/prosecutions will only get PML(N)bad press, undermining their building po-litical capital objective that they had.

A lot of politicians have problems withthe BISP programme of giving Rs 1,000per household per month to the needy,and one of the reasons is they do not likegiving cash to people; but at the same timeon the one hand they are okay giving un-targeted subsidies like Sasti Roti, and giv-ing computers on the other. But thenwhen some people do not like what theygive, the threat is to use the law againstthem. Strange. Surely what is needed is adeeper rethink of the state’s role in wel-fare. And this needs to happen across allthe political players in the country.

The writer is an Associate Professorof Economics at LUMS (currently onleave) and a Senior Advisor at OpenSociety Foundation (OSF). He can bereached at [email protected]

By Dr Faisal Bari

Sovereignty and paternalismis free laptops a good initiative?

Pakistan and Afghanistan, while sharing a long porousborder, are in no position to help avoid a spell of eitherpositive or negative fall on each other in the wake of var-

ious developments.The situation of law and order in Pakistan first got upset

in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa wherein a chill of sabotage activitiesstarted with a growing intensity that cost hundreds of inno-cent lives. All this was blamed on the American attack onAfghanistan. Later on, it just got worse for Pakistan.

Chief Minister KP Ameer Haider Khan Hoti is candidenough in saying that the province’s peace is tied to the tran-quility in Afghanistan. He stressed the need for literacy en-hancement steps to help fight out this particular terrormindset with tolerance and broad mindedness.

Analysts of the gory conditions in the region are also unan-imous in saying that for either good or bad reasons both theneighboring countries Afghanistan and Pakistan cannot de-tach themselves from one another and for a lasting peace theremust be total peace in both countries.

In the current situation, peace in Afghanistan is a must ifwe wish to see any happy days again in Pakistan in general andKP in particular.

But lamentably self-serving motives of alien forces, includ-ing America’s, are maneuvering from their own point of viewand common masses in Afghanistan are second priority in thisregard. With this approach in Afghanistan there cannot be anyhope for peace in the region, provided Afghans themselves getunited to thwart alien hands at the cost of their lives.

– Translated from the original Pashto by Abdur RaufKhattak

Pakistan and AfghanistanPashtun Post

regional Press


comment 13tuesday, 10 April, 2012

Cell phones ring everywhere they mustn’t

The noxious weed

Well it’s finally happened. Ateenager has sold, not hismother, but a bit of himself

which comes to the same thing, to buyan iPhone and iPad. Master Wong ofChina, now suffering from kidney fail-ure was all of seventeen when he under-went a resection of one of his perfectlyhealthy kidneys. For this working organhe was paid the equivalent of $3,500 inYuan.

The middle man who recruited himoff an online chat room on behalf of il-legal organ traders was paid ten timesas much for his services. Such, sadly, isthe disproportionate importance of thiselectronic device.

They have their undoubted advan-tages – I certainly couldn’t be withoutmine – but cell phones, like weeds, canbe as unwelcome and noxious as theirbotanical counterparts.

For someone who has been awaysince shortly after Alexander GrahamBell’s death, it is one of the majorchanges in this country that every manin Pakistan now possesses a cellularphone. It is common for a rairi-wallah’sdhoti to burst into sudden and fervent

praise of the Almighty, asignal for him to pull outhis cell phone and in-dulge in loud and raucousconversation withwhomever at the otherend. Cyclists use phonesto while away the ride,teenagers to reinforcetheir nonchalance, yup-pies and their fathers toestablish their financialworth, and a woman tokeep track of every antthat crosses her path.

The cellular phone’sintrusive range extendsfrom the sublime to theridiculous because of itsability to reach peopleanywhere, from a place ofworship to a bathroom.

At theatre produc-tions in spite of repeatedrequests by management,Qari Waheed Zafar’s bell-like tones interrupt thepunch line or the Sabribrothers cause perform-ers to veer off note withtheir vociferous renditionof “Tajdar e Haram.” Cellphones ring in the midstof dinners and school lec-tures and everywhere elsethey mustn’t.

To give credit to

young girls and boys, their phones aregenerally accessible and easily switchedoff, for the simple reasons that they usethem so much, and know how to usethem.

But of older women (the most com-mon offenders), few know or bother toturn their phone off even when theymust. A woman’s phone generally ringsfrom the depths of a voluminous bag,the local dress code for some reasonbarring women from possessing pock-ets. It takes a couple of rings for the factto register with the owner, who thentries to ignore it.

No ma’am, the phone will not stopringing by itself, at least not for a while,and yes we know it’s yours, since the bagmaking that racket is resting on yourknee. So a couple of rings later, shedives into the bag and throws out itscontents: some lipsticks, several keys, adiary, a wallet, a tissue or two and apacket of something expired. Thephone, retrieved, promptly falls silent.

If, however, the owner manages toreach the phone in time she rarelyleaves the room before speaking in avoice that registers anywhere on thescale between Waheed Zafar to Sabri: ina stage whisper (‘tell him to take theMerc, not the BMW’), a sibilant hiss inthe midst of a quiet room, or in boomingtones in the middle of a funeral.

There are some things which oughtto be taught at a mother’s knee, or atleast in a class room: that Jinnah wasnot a Muslim saint is one and that younever enter a house from the ‘backside’is another. Yet another is cell phone eti-quette, a crucial aspect of decent man-ners.

Cell phones were not around at thetime, but had they been, there may havebeen a section nine of Maulana AshrafAli Thanvi’s ‘Bahishti Zewar’, all aboutcell phones and how and when to usethem: instructions for pious women andtheir offspring. As it is, in her article onthe subject of cell phone etiquette in theHuffington Post, Bianca Bosker listssome important rules:

Speak softly in public and avoid pri-vate remarks. Keep at least ten feet be-tween yourself and the nearest personwhen speaking in public. Avoid speak-ing or texting on the phone in the mid-dle of a face to face conversation, orobtain your companion’s permission.Turn your phone to silent or vibrate intheatres and restaurants, and do notdisplay a lighted phone screen in a darkspace such as a cinema hall. To phonewhile driving is not a good idea and totext at the wheel potentially lethal.

Maulana Thanvi would approve.

By Rabia Ahmed

Modern man has learnt tolive comfortably with theadvantages offered to him

by technology. even the most stub-born of old-timers have learnt toembrace newfangled gizmos such aselectricity, iPads and curling irons.Thanks to the cycle-makers Wright,we now have contraptions that soarover the night skies, much likePterodactyls, compressing centuriesof distances into mere hours. Sittingdown is now the most activity mostof us are required to do. Of course,this leaves us all a lot of free time todo absolutely nothing.

But one must have an outlet,even if it is for absolutely nothing.Hopscotch, deer hunting and tent-pegging were alright for the pre-In-ternet generation, but in the age ofWiFi and 3G, even these pastimeshave been confined to the touchscreen. In fact, as soon as a kid dis-covers the projectile powers of therubber band, he is handed aniPhone with Angry Birds prein-stalled. Just so he doesn’t hurt him-self trying to fire a pebble intosomeone’s ear. Or get his parentscalled to school. In which case,mommy will have to cancel her spaappointment. This usually makesher really mad. And if mommy getsmad, daddy doesn’t get any, whichmakes him doubly mad. All of this isvery traumatising for the little ras-cal, who just wants to make friendswith the little girl who sits next tohim in Social Studies class. Butsince he has the social skills of ababy walrus, speaking to her is notan option.

Cut to 10 years later and the lit-tle munchkin has grown into alarger troublemaker than before. Hehas now traded in his rubber bandfor a Moltov Cocktail and totes abandana. He rides a motorcycle,even though he cannot legally do so

for a couple of years still. All hisfriends smoke and he eats a lot ofsupari to conceal the tell-tale smellof tobacco on his breath, in casemommy wants a sniff when he getshome. even the local hooligans areafraid of him and the traders unionpay him and his merry me ‘protec-tion’ money, if only to ensure thatthey don’t start breaking shop win-dows when the mood takes them.But when it comes to talking to thegirl who has moved out of his SocialStudies class and into the houseacross the street, he still draws ablank.

When he goes out with his crew,he makes sure no other girls feel ig-

nored. At traffic signals, in the mar-ketplace and even at concerts, helets no opportunity slide in makingthem feel ‘special’. In a heavingmob, he cops a feel; at a traffic light,he sticks his tongue out and pre-tends to be a cunning linguist; in themarketplace he gets in the way anddoesn’t get out. Anything he can do,in fact, to make sure that any of theladies that come his way do notleave feeling at all comfortable. Andat the end of the day, he and all hisfriends go sit at a shady establish-ment to compare notes, exchangehigh-fives and crack obscenely lewdremarks about the size of, well, youget the picture.

Before you get back onto yourhigh horse and tell me that its justkids being kids, allow me to masterdebate. Social awkwardness is not adisease, it’s a condition; one thatcomes with years of conditioningand over (or under) protective par-enting. That your society is moreclosed and unforgiving than aCatholic confession booth on the

day of judgement also helps stuntthe boy’s emotional and sexualgrowth. To him, the acclaimed com-edy ‘40-Year-Old-Virgin’ was actu-ally a real-life drama that left himtrembling with fear. And no, even atage 25, he still hasn’t gotten up thecourage to go and talk to the prettygirl from fifth grade Social Studies,who has now blossomed into apretty young thing herself. “So muchso, in fact, that she is now beingcourted by the rich kid from fourblocks the block. Yes, the same kidwho drives into their street in hisAudi off-roader and holds his noseas he steps out the car. The same kidwho holds her hand as he leads her

to the passenger seat. Heavens! Heis stranger and he’s touching her.God only knows what else he does toher. And she probably lets him.What a slut!”

A few years later, he finds outthat the slut is marrying Mr Money-bags. “What a waste. She was sobeautiful, so charming. She could’vemade me a fine wife. Now she’s be-coming his slave. He’ll probably useher and throw her away, just like arazor blade. This won’t do at all. Ihave to stop her. But how? I know,I’ll go to her wedding and shoot her.That’ll teach her to not go out withme. So what if I didn’t talk to her in25 years, she saw the way I lookedat her everyday. She should knowthat she’s supposed to be mine. Abullet in her head will teach her.Sure, I’ll get caught, but they’ll letme go. After all, it’s a man’s world,isn’t it?

Follow @mightyobvious onTwitter for more incoherence in 160characters or less

Mighty ObviousBy Syed Hassan Belal Zaidi

it’s a man’s world out there. And it’s all in their heads

Bad romance

in fact, as soon as a kid discovers theprojectile powers of the rubber band, heis handed an iPhone with Angry Birdspreinstalled. Just so he doesn’t hurthimself trying to fire a pebble intosomeone’s ear. Or get his parents calledto school. in which case, mommy willhave to cancel her spa appointment. Thisusually makes her really mad.


NEWS DESK

The director of the two hard-hitting Pak-istani films ‘Khuda Ke Liye’ and ‘Bol’, whichleft a deep impact on both sides of the bor-der, is all set to make his third film. Thistime he moves out of his home territory to

focus on a much widerissue. The thorny

Indo-Pak rela-tions.Mansoor’stwo feature-films so far havedealt with thesocio-cultural,

religious and po-litical malaise in

Pakistan. He hasbeen seri-

o u s l ythreat-

e n e d

for raising his voice against Islamic funda-mentalism in Pakistan. He is now ready todo his third feature film. It would be a lovestory set during the 1947 Partition of Indiainto two nations. Speaking from his home,Mansoor said, “I’ve been deeply troubled bythe deteriorating relations between the twocountries. For too long now we’ve beenblaming extraneous forces and a third partyfor the decline in friendship between thetwo nations. Why not look within ourselvesfor reasons why the bonding across the bor-der has taken such a beating?” Since the re-lease of the widely-acclaimed ‘Bol’ in 2011Mansoor has been putting finishing touchesto his long-in-the-writing screenplay for hisIndo-Pak love story. Now he’s ready to tellhis story. “It cannot be a superficial boy-meets-girl-across-the-barbed-wire-fencestory. Cinema in both countries needs to godeeper to pin down the reasons for the rap-idly deteriorating relations between Indiaand Pakistan,” says Mansoor.

Junoon setto rock Mumbai

14 tuesday, 10 April, 2012

NEWS DESK

B ACK in 1997, ‘Sayonee’ createda rage in India and garnereduninterrupted airtime on TV.Now, Junoon, the band thatcomposed the song, will hit the

stage in Mumbai onApril 28. The two-hour long show thataims to attract acrowd of 10,000 willbe held at Malad’sI-norbit Mall. Before-Junoon gets on stage,an act spearheadedby Hanif Shaikh (of‘Paatshala’ fame) willperform. The Pak-istani Sufi rock bandis also scheduled toperform in Pune,Delhi and Bangalore.Says organiser Darpan Trisal, “We mightadd on some more cities on the road.Band member, Salman Ahmed has alsoconsented to perform a jugalbandi at theforthcoming WOW awards.” Junoon’s lastconcert in India was on Feb 6, 2010 inDelhi in support of the Lighting A Billion

Lives campaign. Having undergone nu-merous lineup changes since their incep-tion in 1990, Junoon currently consists offounder Salman Ahmed on guitar and vo-cals, John Alec on bass, Sunny Jain ondrums and Kedernath Havalar on per-cussion.Salman, who’s currently based in

the US, says, “Indiais the land of ‘junoo-nis’ and we want toinfuse it with somehigh-octane junooni(passion) soul! Mum-bai was the city thatembraced Junoonand ‘Sayonee’ first, soour yatra (journey)begins there.” Headds, “Many of myIndian friends in-cluding NaseeruddinShah, Shashi Tha-roor, Nobel peace

prizewinner Dr Rajinder Pachauri andNandita Das have told me that our musichas been instrumental in promoting har-mony between India and Pakistan. So it’sfitting that in the land of Hazrat AmirKhusrow and Khwaja Gharib Nawaz,we come with peace, joy and unity.”

Priyanka honoured as ‘Punjabi Icon’MUMBAi: Well-known actressPriyanka Chopra and formercricketer navjot Singh Sidhuwere honoured with Punjabiicons Award.Besides Priyankaand Sidhu, veteran actor OmPuri was also conferredPunjabi icons Award.“These eminentpersonalities wereselected for thehonours for theirsterling contributionin their respectivefields,” saidorganisers.Punjabipop singerharbhajan Maan,singer Satinder Sattiand comedian KapilSharma regaled theaudience with theirperformances.AGEnCiES

MUMBAi: finally, Bollywood has woken up tothe idea of adapting life and times oflegendary sports persons on celluloid. Afterthe humungous success of ‘Paan Singhtomar’ and the much awaited ‘Bhaag milkhaBhaag’ based on real life Indian athletesPaan Singh tomar and milkha Singhrespectively, a film on Indian hockey iconDhayan Chand is in the pipeline.And the factthat sports centric films are now beingconsidered as potential money spinner atthe Box office, filmmakers are vying for theheavyweights of B-town instead of the non-commercial actors.Buzz has it Shah rukhKhan has been zeroed in to play DhyanChand on-screen. the actor comes as anatural choice considering his inclinationtowards the sport and someone who hasalso played a significant role in the super hithockey film ‘Chak De India’ in 2007. talkingto a daily SrK confirmed, “Yes, I have beenapproached for a movie based on thelegendary Dhyan Chandji’s life. Hockey, as asport, isn’t new to me since I have been anathlete throughout my school and collegelife, and I’ve especially played a lot ofhockey.” many might not know that SrK,during his school days at St Columba’s,Delhi, captained the football and hockeyteams besides playing cricket at the zonaland national levels. AGEnCiES

‘Bol’ director to moveinto Indo-Pak territory

KARACHI: Models walk the ramp on day 2 of Karachi Fashion Week. PRFASHION

Imran Khan is all praise for Vishal Bhardwaj

MUMBAi: Actor imran Khan, who is working withfilmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj for the first time in ‘MatruKi Bijlee Ka Mandola’, says that the filmmaker is thefinest director he has worked with and praises himfor giving everyone a lot of creative freedom.”Vishalis a very hard working director. As a creative personhe is someone who works very, very hard. At thesame time, he gives a lot of freedom to othercreative people who are working with him,” the 29-year-old said while unveiling former Miss india andpainter Anjanna Kuthiala’s paintings celebratingwomanhood.”Be it set designer, cinematographer oractors like me, he always gives you a lot of freedom.it’s like, i trust you, do something good.”So far, i amvery happy with the way the film has come out. ihad an incredible time working with Vishal. This isthe first time i am working with such a seasonedand experienced director and now i understand howhe makes such good films,” added the 29-year-old.imran is working with Anushka Sharma for the firsttime in the film and said: “She is a very talentedactress. She is spontaneous on screen. in the 20-25days i have worked with her, i found that most of thetime her first or second take is the best,” saidimran.The actor has been sporting a beard for hischaracter in the film and has even pierced his ears.‘Matru Ki Bijlee Ka Mandola’ also stars Pankaj Kapurand Shabana Azmi. AGEnCiES


15

NEWS DESK

The late night show hostMathira does not feel it grungythat her top fell down whileshe was walking the ramp forFashion PakistanWeek 3.The koochiekoochie girl Mathirabetter knows to handleawkward situations, soas she kept on walkingdespite her top goingdown. Mathira faced awardrobe malfunctionthat left her partialyexposed as her whitetop slipped downwhen she was model-ing on fashion runway.Well! The blunt queenis witty enough to copewith the situation. Shecarried on as if all isok, leaving the crowdand cameras on a striptease. Later on,Mathira shrugged off

the fashion faux pass on twit-ter, writing, “Yeah so what ifmy top fell down. S*** hap-pens at fashion week.” OhMathira, if nothing else, welove you for your fortitude.

Mathira’s fashion week wardrobe malfunction

MUMBAi: Choreographer Ahmed Khan, a close friendof both ranbir Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor, wasrecently caught in a very uncomfortable situationwhere both the stars required his acumen.finallyranbir got Ahmed`s coveted dates, while Shahid shottwo of his songs with choreographer Chinni Prakash.However there are no hard feelings between Ahmedand Shahid.”It is true I had to opt out two songs withShahid for Kunal Kohli`s film to do the short film withranbir. But there was no other way out. ranbir`s filmis a totally new experience. He has narrated an entirelove story in four minutes,” he said. “we had to use a100 nissan cars, arrange expert drivers fromBangalore and mumbai. It was an entirely newexperience. In fact, Shahid was most co-operative. Headvised me to go for the ranbir project. I felt sorryto see Shahid do the two songs with ChinniPrakashji whom Shahid had never worked withbefore. But this film with ranbir was a completelynew opportunity for me. I couldn`t let go of it,” headded.Ahmed insists the last-minute opting out hasnot affected his long-standing friendship withShahid. “In fact, I am choreographing another numberwith Shahid for Kunal Kohli`s film. there are no hardfeelings between me and Shahid,” he said addingthat he`s taking a long sabbatical from choreography.“I’ve been at it since I was 19. I need a break tospend time with my children,” he said. AGEnCiES

Why did Ahmed Khan choose Ranbir over Shahid?

NEWS DESK

M USICIAN Jimmy Khan, whomade his debut with ‘PehlaPyar’ in 2011 to popularacclaim, now, releases hissecond single and video for his

original song, ‘Aisay Kaisay’, this April2012.Composed and written by Jimmyhimself, the song speaks about how oneforms perceptions about people andrelationships and his lyrics unfold how theseperceptions are often shattered. The video,directed by Taimoor Salahuddin of AflatoonStudios is first set in the prepartition/colonial era and through Jimmy

Khan and his bands’ performance of the song‘Aisay Kaisay’, transforms from this era intocontemporary times where only the subjectsremain the same as the song aims to be muchahead of its time hence the transformation.The set design for ‘Aisay Kaisay’ was done byZohra Rahman and costumes by MehrunnisaKhan.Speaking about the release of hissecond single, Jimmy Khan has said, “This isonly my second single and like any artist, Iam naturally excited and nervous, all atonce.” A keen musician whose instrument ofchoice is an acoustic guitar, Jimmy Khanrecorded his second single ‘Aisay Kaisay’ atTrue Brew Records by Jamal Rahman, whoalso produced the song, with final mastering

at The Lodge - New York. ‘Aisay Kaisay’features musicians Jamal Rahman onguitars, Sameer Ahmad (of Co-Ven andMauj) on bass and Kami Paul on live drums.A Lahore based artist, Jimmy has been anamateur performer since the age of 14 andhas been a definitive part of the Lahoreunderground music scene 2005. Over time,he has opened concerts for Pakistani musicgiants such as Atif Aslam, Noori and eP andwas also one of the vocalists for the aptlytitled ‘Cover Band’ which on numerousoccasions has been known to feature musicmaestros like Gumby and Mekaal Hasan. Heis also a resident performer at Lahore’spopular restaurant Gunsmoke.

Musician Jimmy Khan releases his second video single ‘Aisay Kaisay’!

WASHINGTONAGEnCiES

Lindsay Lohan, who has onlybeen off formal probationsince the end of March, is ac-cused of getting into an alter-cation with a woman in anightclub earlier thisweek.According tosources, a woman filedan incident report al-leging battery with theWest Hollywood Sher-iff’s Department. The25-year-old appar-ently got in a disagree-ment with a fellowparty-goer after shemade it clear that shewasn’t happy with thefemale talking to hermale friend and beganpushing and shovingher.Police sources saythey will investigatethe woman’s claims todetermine whether thedetails that she hasgiven them are true or

not.”Lindsay was absolutelynot involved in any sort of al-tercation whatsoever. This isclearly another case of some-one looking for money and 15minutes of fame,” TMZ quotedSteve Honig, Lindsay’s repre-sentative, as saying.

Lindsay ‘under investigation over alleged nightclub altercation’

Lady Gaga left fumingafter snapper ruined her driving lesson

WASHINGTONAGEnCiES

Lady Gaga was furious when anovereager paparazzo disrupted herdriving lesson. The ‘Poker Face’ hit-maker was behind the wheel when thesnapper attacked her.She then took toTwitter to tell fans that her fame is up-setting her concentration.”Maybewhile I’m learning to drive you don’tneed to sneak up on me and stick yourGiant camera In A Moving Vehicle,”Contact music quoted her as tweeting.

Anne Hathaway gets hair ‘hacked off’

LOS ANGELESAGEnCiES

Anne Hathaway, who usually shows offa thick mane of long brunette locks, haschopped off her hair to achieve the lookof her character in the upcoming flick,‘Les Miserables’.Bosses wanted the har-rowing scene in the film to be as real aspossible so her co-stars were asked tobe brutal with her locks.”Anne knewshe was going to lose her hair, it’s partof the storyline,” the Sun quoted asource as saying. “But it was still dis-turbing seeing it being hacked off.Thankfully she only had to film thescene once,” the source added.The 29-year-old plays Fantine who sells herhair and teeth to make cash.

MUMBAi: SonakshiSinha has turned downthe remake of Southventure ‘Vettai’ thathas Shahid Kapoor inthe lead.Apparently,the actress found theplot to be very maledominated and did notfind herself befittingthe role. A source said,“d1irector nlinguswamy especiallyflew down from theSouth to give Sonakshia narration. But at theend of it she felt thatthe story had little forher to do.” Afterplaying prominentparts in ‘dabangg’ andfilms Joker, ‘rowdyrathore’, ‘lootera’ and‘Once Upon A Time inMumbaai 2’, she felt‘Vettai’ would not be aright career move forher. AGEnCiES

Sonakshi rejects film with Shahid



16 Foreign News

TEHRANAfP

IRAN on Monday confirmed thatnuclear talks this week withworld powers would take place inIstanbul, dropping public reser-vations over that city as venue

following a sharp-worded row withTurkey. If the Istanbul negotiations withthe P5+1 group — the five permanent UNSecurity Council members and Germany— on Saturday prove fruitful, anotherround of talks could be held in Baghdad,the office of Iran’s chief nuclear negotia-tor, Saeed Jalili, said in a statement. “Thefirst round of talks between Iran and the

P5+1 will be held on April 14 in Istanbuland a second round will be held in Bagh-dad” at a date to be mutually agreed, saidthe statement from the Supreme NationalSecurity Council headed by Jalili.

The confirmation appeared to put anend to Iran’s see-sawing position on Is-tanbul that cast a cloud of doubt over thetalks in recent days. Tehran had at firstenthusiastically embraced the Turkishcity as the ideal venue for the talks. USSecretary of State Hillary Clinton evenwent as far as to declare that city as thehost of the talks. But last week Iranian of-ficials and politicians suddenly went coldon it, saying Turkey’s support of the op-position in Syria — Iran’s chief ally — ex-

cluded Istanbul as a venue. They pro-posed Baghdad instead, or possibly Dam-ascus or Beijing.

That earned an unexpectedly virulentrebuke from Turkish Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip erdogan, who had visitedTehran just days earlier to discuss thetalks with Iran’s leaders. “It is necessaryto act honestly,” erdogan said last Thurs-day. “They (the Iranians) continue to loseprestige in the world because of a lack ofhonesty,” he stormed. By Monday, Iranhad once again come around to acceptingIstanbul as the venue. In Brussels, aspokesman for eU foreign policy chiefCatherine Ashton, who is representingthe P5+1, said “we have agreed to launch

talks in Istanbul on April 14.” He gave noindication, though, of any discussionabout further rounds of talks, or whetherthey would be held in Baghdad. Jalili’sstatement underlined that Iran had setaside its reservations and was back onboard with Istanbul.

But the incident added to strains al-ready apparent in bilateral relations.Turkey, which lies over Iran’s northernborder, sources a third of its oil importsfrom Iran, and it has in the past two yearssought to position itself as a diplomaticbridge between the Islamic republic andthe West. But Ankara’s decision to installan early warning system for a NATO-ledanti-missile shield seen as protection from

Iranian missiles sparked unease in Tehranlast year. And in recent weeks, Turkey hasjoined US-imposed sanctions by cuttingIranian oil imports by 20 percent, trigger-ing further animosity. It is Turkey’s posi-tion on Syria, though, that has greatlyirritated Iran. On April 1, Istanbul servedas the venue for a “Friends of Syria” con-ference gathering countries sympathetic torebels seeking to overthrow the regime ofSyrian President Bashar al-Assad. Iran hasrepeatedly vowed to stand by Assad, andhas been giving him political and materialsupport as he cracks down on unrest. TheUnited Nations says more than 9,000 peo-ple have been killed in Syria since the vio-lence started a year ago.

BEIJINGAfP

Turkey’s Prime Minister oversawthe signing of two nuclearagreements with China Mondayon a trip to the Asian nation thatalso saw him make anunprecedented stop in ethnically-tense Xinjiang.

Recep Tayyip erdogan — onthe first official trip to China by aTurkish premier in 27 years — onMonday also held talks on Syriaand Iran in Beijing with ChinesePremier Wen Jiabao after hisstopover in the northwesternregion. The two agreements —announced at a ceremonyattended by Wen and erdoganfollowing their meeting — pavethe way for deeper nuclearcooperation between the twocountries, but few concrete detailswere made available. One of theaccords signed is a letter of intentbetween China’s National energyAdministration and the Turkish

energy ministry for furthernuclear cooperation, but no otherinformation was given.

At the start of their meeting,Wen said erdogan was the firstTurkish prime minister to havevisited Xinjiang — home toaround nine million mainlyMuslim Uighurs who sharelinguistic and religious links withTurkey. Ankara has in the pastheavily criticised Beijing’s actionsin Xinjiang — whose Uighurs havelong complained of repressionunder Chinese rule — but the twonations have nevertheless forgedcloser ties in recent years. Wensaid erdogan had left a “goodimpression” but gave no furtherdetails about the stopover inXinjiang’s capital Urumqi onSunday, which analysts say issignificant given Ankara’s pastcriticism. erdogan was the mostvocal foreign leader to criticiseChina following deadly riots inJuly 2009 in Urumqi that killed atleast 184 people. At the time, he

urged China to stop the“assimilation” of the Uighurminority, and blamed Beijing forfailing to stop the ethnic violence,which he compared to a“genocide.”

The Xinjiang stopover “isquite unexpected as... it’s verydifficult for Turkish diplomats togo to Xinjiang, they don’t easilyget the authorisation as theyspeak a similar language (toUighurs),” said Jean-PierreCabestan, politics professor atHong Kong Baptist University.“It shows that in the Sino-Turkish relationship, Turkey isnot in a weak position, and iseven in a strong position,” hesaid, adding China needsTurkey’s support in the Middleeast. During their closed-doortalks, Wen and erdogan touchedon the crisis in Syria as well asglobal tensions over Iran’sdisputed nuclear activities,China’s state television reported,without giving further details.

Mubarak spy chief, Brothers spar on presidency

CAIROAfP

egypt’s former spymaster Omar Suleimanlashed out at the Muslim Brotherhood andinsisted his candidacy for the presidencywould restore stability, as the two sidessparred Monday ahead of next month’spolls. The Brotherhood, which dominatesparliament and is heavily tipped for thepresidency, has “lost a lot of its popularity,”according to Suleiman, who was militaryintelligence chief under ousted presidentHosni Mubarak. “There has been a changeon the egyptian street. The practises of theBrotherhood and their monopolistic waysand unacceptable pronouncements havecontributed to the change in publicopinion,” he said in an interview. Suleiman,a sworn enemy of Islamists before lastyear’s revolution which brought downMubarak, vowed not to drop out of the May23-24 election despite alleged threats fromIslamists. “ever since the announcementthat I was running, I have received on mymobile and through friends threats andmessages that ‘We will take our revenge’from elements of the Muslim Brotherhoodand other Islamist groups,” he said. “Ifsome people think such threats will makeme go back on his decision, they aremistaken,” said Suleiman. The formergeneral played down his links with theousted regime or with the military whichhas been ruling egypt in the interim sinceMubarak’s fall. “If I was intelligence chiefand then vice president for a few days, thatdoesn’t mean I was part of a regime againstwhich the people mounted a revolt,” hesaid. “The revolution has created a newreality and noone can bring back a regimewhich has fallen and which the populationhas rejected,” he said.

libya trial for 20Ukrainians accusedof helping Gaddafi

TRIPOLIAfP

Twenty Ukrainian citizens accused ofbeing mercenaries for the regime ofMoamer Kadhafi appeared on Mondaybefore a military court in the Libyancapital, an army spokesman said. “Theyare accused of preparing land-to-airmissile launchers to target NATO aircraftcarrying out a UN-mandated mission toprotect civilians,” during the 2011conflict, Colonel Ali al-Sheiki told AFP.“Other charges directed against themrelate to helping the ousted regime putdown the revolution and attack civiliansthrough their work (as mercenaries) forKadhafi and his brigades,” he added. Hesaid that initial investigations, based onthe confessions of the accused, revealedthat they had come to Libya without theknowledge or the support of theircountries. “They are being considered asmercenaries of the former regime untilwe can prove otherwise,” Sheiki said,ahead of the second hearing on the casethis month. Two citizens of Russia andanother two from Belarus are being triedalong with the Ukrainians, he said.

TUniS: A veiled woman shouts at police during a demonstration on Monday. Police fired tear gas to disperse a rally on a central Tunis avenue where demonstrations are banned. afp

After row, Iran confirms Istanbul for nuclear talks

Turkey pM oversees nuclear

agreements with China

Kuwait mulls plans to dealwith Hormuz closureKUWAIT cITY: Kuwait is mulling “many scenar-ios” in case the strategic Strait of Hormuz isclosed, disrupting its vital oil exports, a top offi-cial said on Monday. “We are discussing manyscenarios but we have not decided which” plan toadopt, the CeO of national oil conglomerateKuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), Faruq al-Zanki,said without revealing specifics. “This is some-thing that needs to be coordinated with the (GulfCooperation Council) GCC states,” Zanki told re-porters on the sidelines of a Gulf Petroleum Con-ference. Iran has frequently threatened to closethe strategic strait, through where most Gulf oilexports pass, if it is militarily attacked over itscontroversial nuclear programme. Zanki said KPChas been asked to look into this issue. “KPC hasbeen asked to look into what we think (it can doabout the possible closure of Hormuz) and this issomething we are looking into,” Zanki said. Hesaid that such contingency scenarios were dis-cussed by the GCC states in the past and “we needto re-visit it and come up with a specific plan,agreed by all” states. He declined to say if theGCC states were currently engaged in studies overthe possible closure of Hormuz. Kuwait pumpsaround 3.0 million barrels per day (bpd) andmost of it is exported as crude and refined prod-ucts through the Strait of Hormuz. The UnitedArab emirates is currently constructing pipelinesthat would allow oil and gas exports to bypass thestrait, at the mouth of the Gulf. afp


Foreign News 17tuesday, 10 April, 2012

KANOAfP

Nigerian Islamists shot dead a seven-year-old girl during a failed attempt tokill her policeman father hours aftergroup members killed three people in aseparate raid, the army and police saidMonday. The latest violence blamed onBoko Haram Islamists comes after ablast near a church killed 20 on easterSunday, an attack reportedly carriedout by a suicide bomber driving an ex-plosives-packed vehicle.

Late Sunday, suspected BokoHaram gunmen opened fire into thehouse of a police sergeant in the north-eastern town of Potiskum, a policespokesman in Yobe State, ToyinGbadigisin, told AFP. “They fired shotsat him while sitting in the midst of hisfamily. He managed to avoid the bul-lets and scaled over the fence,”Gbadigisin said. “The gunmen shotdead his seven-year-old-daughter andseriously injured another 12-year-olddaughter and a 10-year-old-son whoare now in hospital.” In a separate at-tack in the northeastern town of Dikwaaround 1:30 am (0030 GMT) on Mon-day, Boko Haram gunmen killed a po-liceman, a civilian and a local politicianin coordinated attacks, the army said ina text message sent to AFP.

The attackers targeted a police sta-tion, a bank and a hotel but were quickly

repelled by army troops, according toLieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa,spokesman of the military’s Joint TaskForce (JTF) in Borno State. “Three BokoHaram terrorists were killed and manyescaped with bullet wounds,” Musa said,adding that “normalcy has been restoredand the situation is now under control.”In a wave of recent attacks that Nigeriahas struggled to contain, Boko Haramhas targeted the security services, othersymbols of authority and Christians.

early on Sunday with easter servicesongoing in the northern town of Kaduna,a bomber, apparently blocked from ac-cessing the grounds of a church, blew up

his explosives-packed car on a nearbyroad, rescue workers told AFP. Twentypeople were killed and 30 others injured,with motorcycle taxi drivers appearing tohave borne the brunt of the blast. TheNigerian authorities as well as foreign em-bassies had warned of the possibility of anattack on easter Sunday. The attack in theimportant cultural and economic centrewas a stark reminder of Christmas Day at-tacks that left dozens of people dead inAfrica’s most populous nation and largestoil producer. Late Sunday, another bombblast rocked an area of the central Nigeriancity of Jos, with an emergency spokesmanreporting a number of injuries.

BrATiSlAVA: Young Slovaks dressed in traditional costumes throw a bucket of water at a girl as part of Easter celebrations in the village of Trencianska Tepla on Monday. afp

‘Seven dead after two newattacks by Nigeria Islamists’

pope pays tributeto women in Christianity

CASTEL GANDOLFOAfP

Pope Benedict XVI paid tribute Monday tothe role of women in Christianity as hegave a post-easter prayer at his residencein Castel Gandolfo outside Rome. “Womenhave experienced a special tie with theLord,” the pope said, speaking in a firm buthoarse voice to several hundredworshippers gathered in the courtyard ofhis summer residence about 25 kilometres(16 miles) southeast of Rome. “In all thegospels, women play a large role in theaccount of the appearance of theresurrected Christ and also in the passionand the death of Jesus.” The pope calledwomen’s role “fundamental for theconcrete life of the Christian community”not only in the church’s beginnings but inevery era. Benedict, who has been popesince 2005, turns 85 on April 16. Afterreciting the Regina Caeli, the special prayerthat replaces the traditional Angelus duringthe easter season, he greeted worshippersin english, French, German, Italian andSpanish, drawing a shower of applausefrom Spanish-speakers who shouted “Vivael papa!” Benedict recently returned from asix-day visit to Mexico and Cuba, his first-ever visit to Spanish-speaking LatinAmerica. In his easter message Sunday, thepope appealed for peace and reconciliationaround the world, particularly in Syria. Healso condemned discrimination andpersecution of Christians, singling outNigeria, where a car bombing near achurch in the northern city of Kadunakilled 20 people on easter.

Indonesia’s acehvote tests fragile peace

BANDA ACEHAfP

Indonesia’s only province ruled by Islamiclaw went to the polls Monday to elect itspowerful governor, testing a fragile peacefollowing a 30-year war by separatist rebels.The elections in Aceh were the second sincethe province suffered 170,000 fatalities inthe Asian tsunami of 2004, and since thewar against Indonesian rule ended in 2005,having claimed 15,000 lives. Voters casttheir ballots for governor — the top post inthe province — as well as 17 district headsand deputies, with official results expectedin mid-April. Irwandi Yusuf, the 51-year-oldincumbent who was elected in December2006, is seeking a second five-year term asgovernor, with his main challenge comingfrom the powerful Aceh Party’s ZainiAbdullah, 71. A respected local survey groupsaid that a quick count from 350 randomlychosen polling stations — that did notreflect official results — showed thatAbdullah would win. At the village of UleeLheue on the outskirts of the capital BandaAceh, voters cast their ballots at theBaiturrahim Mosque, the only structure inthe fishing community that survived thetsunami. “We want a leader who will lookafter us,” said Bursiadi, a 38-year-oldfisherman who lost 20 family members andwas himself taken for dead until waking upin a body bag. “The tsunami was the lowestpoint for us all and we want to put thatbehind,” said Bursiadi, who like manyIndonesians goes by one name.

44 killed inQaeda clashes

ADENAfP

Forty-four people, including 14 soldiers,were killed in clashes with Al-Qaedamilitants who attacked an army barracksin Yemen’s restive south on Monday, amilitary official told AFP. “Forty-fourpeople, including 14 soldiers among theman officer, were killed” in the clashesbetween the army — backed by tribesmen— and Al-Qaeda, in the town of Loder,Abyan province, the source said.

DAMASCUSAfP

Apeace plan for Syria was injeopardy on Monday asfresh clashes raged afterPresident Bashar al-Assad’sgovernment laid down con-

ditions for it to pull troops and armourout of protest hubs.

Under a peace deal brokered by UNand Arab League envoy Kofi Annan,Syria’s armed forces are supposed to with-draw from protest centres on Tuesday,with a complete end to fighting set for 48hours later. But the truce already appearsin jeopardy after Damascus said it wouldonly carry its side of the bargain if rebelsfirst handed over written guarantees tostop fighting, a demanded rejected byrebel army chief Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad.

The 11th-hour demand came as weekendviolence claimed almost 180 lives, most ofthem civilians, a surge in bloodshed thatformer UN chief Annan described as “un-acceptable.” Making matters worse, freshfighting killed another 13 people on Mon-day, all but one of them soldiers, accordingto the Syrian Observatory for HumanRights. “The regime had thought that itwould control all areas (of rebels by April10). As this is not happening, it is procras-tinating to gain time,” said the Observa-tory’s Rami Abdel Rahman. “If the Annanplan does not work, no other plan would,and Syria would plunge into a civil war,”he told AFP. The Observatory also re-ported army operations in several otherparts of the country, and the killing of acivilian in ambush near the village ofSaida, in southern Daraa province.

Two Syrians also died of wounds after

fleeing to a refugee camp in Turkey followinga shootout with Assad loyalists at Salama vil-lage in the northern Syrian province ofAleppo, Anatolia news agency said, citing ahealth official. Diplomatic sources in Ankarasaid the two died in shooting from the Syrianside of the border into Turkey, and that aTurkish translator was wounded. Fifteenothers were wounded in the shootout, but itwas not clear if they were civilians or rebelfighters. Around 25,000 Syrian refugees arecurrently housed in camps in Turkey’s threeprovinces bordering Syria, where civilianshave been fleeing the deadly crackdown overthe past year.

The Milliyet newspaper reportedMonday that Turkey would considerusing troops to secure humanitarian cor-ridors in border areas should the numberof Syrian refugees swell to above 50,000.Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu

Weimin, meanwhile, urged the Syriangovernment to honour its truce commit-ments. “China urges the Syrian govern-ment and parties concerned in Syria toseize the important opportunities, to ho-nour their commitment of ceasefire andwithdrawal of troops,” said Liu.

Syrian Foreign Minister WalidMuallem was scheduled to fly on Mon-day to ally Moscow, which along withBeijing has blocked two UN SecurityCouncil draft resolutions condemningDamascus for its bloody crackdown. OnSunday, the Syrian foreign ministry out-lined the regime’s new conditions in astatement. “To say that Syria will pullback its forces from towns on April 10 isinaccurate, Kofi Annan having not yetpresented written guarantees on the ac-ceptance by armed terrorist groups of ahalt to all violence,” it said.

Syria peace plan in jeopardy as clashes rage

120 asylum seekerssit tight on vessel in Indonesia

MERAKAfP

Indonesian police and immigration officialsare trying to convince 120 Australia-boundasylum seekers to disembark from a vesseldocked off western Java, police saidMonday. A tanker travelling from Australiato Singapore found the asylum seekers, allbelieved to be men from Afghanistan andIran, on a sinking boat in Indonesian watersand rescued them Sunday, said Bantenprovince maritime police chief BudiHermawan. “The men are refusing to get offthe boat. The police, immigration and theInternational Organisation for Migration aretrying to negotiate with them to get themoff,” he said. “Based on the information fromthe field, they are 120 males that we suspectare from Afghanistan and Iran, but we arenot sure because we haven’t been able to dothe identification process,” immigrationspokesman Maryoto Sumadi said. TheSingapore-registered tanker is docked offthe town of Merak, where in 2009 scores ofAustralia-bound Sri Lankan asylum seekersrefused to get off a boat in a six-monthstandoff with Indonesian authorities.Hermawan said authorities had organisedbuses and accommodation at a nearby hotelfor the asylum seekers, should theydisembark. Indonesia has long been atransit country for illegal migration toAustralia. In December, a boat carryingaround 250 mostly Afghan and Iranianasylum seekers sank in Indonesian watersen route to Australia’s Christmas Island,with only 47 surviving.

fILe PHoto


Tuesday, 10 April, 2012

Page 20

new daddy watson wins the masters

KARACHIAfP

FORMeR Pakistan leg-spin-ner Danish Kaneria saidMonday he has hired a legalteam for an english cricketboard disciplinary hearing

over a spot-fixing case that sent his for-mer essex team-mate to prison.

Mervyn Westfield was jailed for fourmonths in February after admitting thathe accepted money to under-performduring a Pro40 match between essexand Durham in 2009.

The 23-year-old seamer namedKaneria -- arrested with him in 2010 butreleased without charge -- as the link be-tween bookmakers and players.

The england and Wales CricketBoard (eCB) said last week that West-field and Kaneria would face a discipli-nary hearing in May.

"Kaneria has hired three lawyers,two from the UK and one from Pakistanto represent him before the england andWales Cricket Board," said a statement

from the player's lawyer FaroghNaseem.

Naseem said Kaneria, who took 276

international wickets in 61 Tests and 18one-day games for Pakistan, denied theallegations.

"Kaneria pleads not guilty to thecharges... and also objects to any sanc-tion being inflicted on him," the lawyersaid.

Kaneria's legal team have asked theeCB to delay the hearing until at leastMay 10 to give them time to study a 400-page evidence bundle.

In February, London's Old Baileycourt was told Westfield was paid nearly$10,000 to bowl so that a specific num-ber of runs would be chalked up in thefirst over of a match between Durhamand essex in September 2009.

The 31-year-old Kaneria faces a lifeban from the game if found guilty at thehearing, where a number of essex play-ers are expected to give evidence.

He has not played for Pakistansince the Nottingham Test againstengland in August 2010 -- the sametour that saw the infamous spot-fixingepisode in the Lord's Test, which ledto then-captain Salman Butt andbowlers Mohammad Asif and Moham-mad Aamer being jailed on corruptioncharges.

Kaneria hires lawyers for ECB hearing national team

undergoes

fitness trials LAHORE

STAff rEPOrT

The Pakistan’s foreign coaching team onMonday conducted fitness trials of thenational teams to check the performancelevel of the players in all the departmentsof the game.The trials started at the National CricketAcademy (NCA) and apart from UmerAkmal and Mohamamd Hafeez, who willgive fitness test on Tuesday, all the play-ers were present at the NCA to showtheir level of competence.Pakistan head coach Dav Whatmore andfielding coach Julien Fountain super-vised the fitness trials.“We just want to record the fitness of theplayers and identify the areas we need towork on,” said Pakistan Cricket BoardDirector Intikhab Alam. “We have started with the senior playersand later the same practice will be ap-plied for the junior players,” he main-tained.” “It is PCB’s selection procedureto assess the players and pen down theirabilities to finalise the list for the centralcontract,” said he.

Dar hopeful ofinternational cricketreturn in Pakistan

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

PakistaniumpireAleem Daris hopefulof the re-turn of in-ternationalcricket inPakistansoon.Aleem Dar,two timeICC um-pire of theyear, has

initiated contacts with international um-pires in this regard. While talking tomedia in Lahore, he said that he madecontacts with international umpires andreferees to bring cricket charms back inthe country. No one was yet know readyto visit Pakistan, he said, added that, hewould continue his efforts to get interna-tional cricket on the gate of Pakistan.

NEW DELHIAfP

INDIA'S World Cup cricket hero YuvrajSingh returned home on Monday after re-ceiving treatment for a cancerous tumourin the United States.

Sporting a black jacket and red base-ball cap, the 30-year-old all-rounder gavethumbs up signs to well-wishers who hadgathered at New Delhi airport to welcomehim back.

"He is absolutely fine and will rest athome for another 10-15 days," his motherShabnam Singh told reporters at the air-port.

Left-handed Yuvraj, named man ofthe tournament after India's World Cuptriumph at home last April, was diag-nosed with a rare condition, mediastinalseminoma -- a malignant tumour be-tween his lungs -- soon after the event.

After completing three sessions ofchemotherapy in Boston in March, hehad moved to London before returning toIndia.

"Finally the day has come! i amgoing home tomorrow! cant wait, ex-cited to see my friends and family ..seeyou india!!," Yuvraj said on Twitter onSunday.

Thousands of well-wishers, politi-cians, his team mates and other sportspersonalities including US cycling greatLance Armstrong had sent messages tothe ailing all-rounder who is known forhis aggressive batting and disciplinedspin bowling.

"Today the entire country is happy,god is happy and I am very happy. My sonhas come back as a winner," Yuvraj's fa-ther Yograj Singh told the NDTV newschannel.

Yuvraj, who scored 362 runs andbagged 15 wickets in nine World Cupmatches, has not played competitivecricket since taking part in two of thethree home Tests against the West Indiesin November.

He has scored 8,051 runs in 274 one-dayers and 1,775 in 37 Tests since makinghis international debut in 2000. new DeLHI: Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh (C) gestures upon his arrival at Indira Gandhi International Airport after getting cancer treatment. afp

Yuvraj returns to india after cancer treatment

PUNECriCinfO

The thousands who made their maidentrip to the brand new Subrata Roy Sa-hara Stadium in the outskirts of Pune,proudly and loyally filling the standswith blue, got their money's worth asPune Warriors India pulled off a com-prehensive win against a strugglingKings XI Punjab. It was an all-roundperformance, led by an 81-run partner-

ship for the third wicket between RobinUthappa and Marlon Samuels which setthem to a competitive 166 before a com-bined bowling effort sealed the game.

A score of 166 is normally consid-ered slightly above par in these condi-tions, but Warriors made it a winningtotal by creating opportunities by soundground fielding, effecting two early run-outs and not giving Kings XI any leeway.Warriors recorded their second win in asmany games and now share the top spot

with Rajasthan Royals. Warriors madethe right move at the start, promotingthe experienced Samuels to No.3. How-ever, some circumspect running, and asubsequent run-out of an out-of-sortsJesse Ryder gave Kings XI early control.

Samuels combined well withUthappa to boost the scoring after War-riors were 43 for 2 after seven overs. Theeighth over went for ten runs and the10th, bowled by the left-arm spinnerBipul Sharma, went for 13. With themore experienced Praveen and DimitriMascarenhas proving more difficult toscore off with their restrictive stump-to-stump lines, also with the keeper up tothe stumps, the pair took to Bipul. Bothused their feet, clearing long-off for sixes,one of which just beat David Hussey'sdesperate leap at the edge of the rope.The duo also studied the field well, usingthe pace of the ball to fetch a couple ofboundaries off deft touches to third man,with the fielder within the circle.

Uthappa fetched an audacious six,off one hand, over long-off but thebowler Harmeet Singh got the better ofSamuels in the same over, bowling himoff a slower delivery. Harmeet's follow-ing over yielded just a run and thewicket of Callum Ferguson, but his nextwas bitter-sweet. After bowling Uthappawith another slower delivery, Harmeethad to be taken out of the attack for

bowling two full tosses above waistheight. Bipul completed the over, whichproduced three massive hits over the on-side thanks to Manish Pandey andSteven Smith. The 19th over produced27 runs, and from that point, Kings XIfound it hard to bounce back. The chasenever took flight for a sustained periodto threaten Warriors. The short of alength deliveries from Ashok Dinda andAshish Nehra skidded off the surface,making strokeplay difficult. Smith'sfielding created the opportunities to de-rail the top order with two run-outs.

Paul Valthaty sacrificed his wicketfor the experienced Adam Gilchrist. Fol-lowing an lbw appeal, the ball deflectedto the off side but Gilchrist's anxiety toget back on strike caused a communica-tion mishap and Valthaty helplessly am-bled out of his crease before the bailswere broken at the non-striker's end.The sacrifice didn't help as Gilchristhimself was run-out the following over,failing to beat an agile pick-up andthrow from Smith at short midwicket.

Kings XI were poking around at 13for 2 after five overs, with just oneboundary. The drought had extended to26 balls before Mandeep Singh cutRahul Sharma to the deep point rope.However, even Mandeep failed to set abase and fell for 24, nicking Ryder to thekeeper in an attempt to force the pace.

all-round Warriors ease to second win

PUne: Pune warriors India's bowler marlon Samuels (C) celebrates after taking the wicket of

Kings XI Punjab's batsman Dimitri mascarenhas during the IPL twenty20 match. afp


LAHOREAfP

Pakistan's opposition leader Nawaz Sharif onMonday called for reviving cricketing ties betweenPakistan and India to help improve relations be-tween the two countries.

All bilateral sporting ties including the mostsought-after cricket games were stalled after theNovember 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166people including some foreigners, blamed on mil-itants based in Pakistan.

"The Indian cricket team should come to Pak-istan and the Pakistan team should tour India be-cause cricket can bring the two countries closer,"he told reporters.

Sharif served as Pakistan's Prime Ministertwice in the 1990s and played one first classcricket match as batsman in 1974. Under Sharif'srule, Pakistan toured India in 1999.

"I am ready to do my part in reviving the ties.In fact I want to be part of the Pakistan team when

India come to play us," Sharif said jokingly.On Sunday, Pakistan President Asif Ali

Zardari, during his day long visit to India, re-quested that Indian Prime Minister ManmohanSingh resume cricketing ties between the twocountries.

Zardari reportedly said he was looking for-ward to the Indian cricket team travelling to Pak-istan to play cricket on Pakistani soil.

Singh told Zardari that he would take up thematter with the Board of Control for Cricket inIndia (BCCI).

The BCCI blames their team's hectic scheduleas the main obstacle to finding the time for thetour.

India and Pakistan are slated to play againsteach other in the Future Tours Programme of theInternational Cricket Council between 2012-2018,subject to clearance from both governments.

Pakistan last toured India in 2007 while Indiafeatured in the Asia Cup held across the border in2008.

sports 19tuesday, 10 April, 2012

BRIDGETOWNAfP

Afine opening spell fromWest Indies captain Dar-ren Sammy and a terriblemix-up that saw RickyPonting run out has

given the home side the edge on thethird morning (by lunch) of the open-ing Test.

Following his positive batting dis-play on Sunday, Darren Sammybrought himself on to open the bowl-ing at the Joel Garner end at the startof the morning.

Having added only one run to hisovernight score, ed Cowan was drawninto a shot just outside off stump andedged through to the keeper.

Shane Watson, batting for thefirst time in a Test at number three,was fortunate to survive twice whenhe had scored 5.

He left a Sammy delivery alonethat came back and hit his pad out-side off stump but the DRS resultwent in favour of the batsman, butonly just.

Next over Kemar Roach also ap-pealed for an lbw decision that wasturned down but replays showed that,on appeal, Watson would have beenon his way.

Sammy's persevering line justoutside off stump worked again whenDavid Warner played at a ball withoutmuch foot movement and DarrenBravo took the catch at second slip. Itset Sammy off on another major cele-bration with Warner having scored 42off 55 balls.

After the early scares Shane Wat-son had settled but when he turned aFidel edwards delivery to fine leg hewas looking for a second run which

would have been tight.After running the first Ricky

Ponting hadn't moved as KraiggBrathwaite pounced on the ball andthrew in one movement. He'd thrownit to the wrong end but there was somuch confusion between the twobatsmen that Ponting didn't havetime to turn back.

He showed his frustration as hestarted his walk back. DevendraBishoo's leg breaks were causing fewproblems but in the 36th over onestayed low and when Michael Clarke,on 21, cut at the ball the West Indieswent up for a catch behind.

Umpire Tony Hill gave it out butClarke immediately called for the

DRS. There was quite a bit of surprisewhen TV Umpire Marais erasmusoverturned the on-field decision asthere didn't appear to be conclusiveevidence in the favour of Clarke.

With the Australian skipper hav-ing been in such good form in recentTests, that decision could turn out tobe a key moment in the match.

Watson, Clarke rebuild afterSammy removes openers

BrIDGetown: west Indies captain Darren Sammy (L) celebrates dismissing Australianbatsman ed Cowan (r) during the third day of the first-of-three test matches at theKensington oval Stadium. afp

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

Amar Cables beat Khaniwal Loin by101 runs in the 14th National VeteranSenior Cricket Cup while LahoreWhite beat Multan Veteran by 71 runsto qualify the regional quarter final onMOnday.Playing at the Ali Garh Cricket Ground, Amar

Cables batting first 274/5 after 30 overs. Amer

Ilyas Butt 50 runs not out, Amir manzoor 55,

Dastgeer Butt 61, Ameer Akbar 61, Zahid Umar

18 & munir Shah 24 runs not out. Khaniwal Loin

bowling muhammad Ashraf 3/50 & Asif Shah

2/37 wickets. In reply Khaniwal Loin 173 all out

after 28.3 overs. muhammad Ali 25, tariq Baig

23, Kamran razzaq 20, muhammad Ashraf 18,

Khadim Butt 17 & Abid Ali 29 runs. Amar Cables

bowling Jahangir Khan 3/30, tariq raju 3/38,

Ameer Akbar 3/42 & tariq rasheed 2/38.

Javeed Ashraf, muhammad Kaleem Umpire,

Aziz-ur-rehman match referee, Azhar Hussain

& Qasim Shafique was the scorer. end of the

match Chief Guest Shafqat Butt give away man

of the match award to Ameer Akbar.

In the second match at okara Gymkhana

cricket ground, Lahore white batting first 213

all out after 30 overs. raza Khan 69, Ghaffar

Kazmi 31, Saleem malik 27 & Asim Sheikh 19

runs. multan veteran bowling Khalid Jameel

3/27, Javeed malik 2/33, muzafar Alam 1/42 &

Hussnain 1/34 wickets. In reply multan veteran

142 all out. Javeed malik 20, Khalid Jameel 16

& Ghulam mustafa 15 runs. Lahore white bowl-

ing Shahid Aslam 2/12, Saleem malik 2/20,

tariq Siddiqui 2/13, Khalid Chishti 1/17, Shahid

mir 1/5 & Asim Sheikh 1/33 wickets. Qaisar

waheed, Zia-ullah Umpire & Usman Hameed

was the scorer.

3rd All Pakistan

K21 tennis

Cup begins LAHORE

STAff rEPOrT

The 3rd Atlas Honda Cup began at K-21Club, Model Town with Pakistan tennisstar Aisam-Ul Haq performing the inaugu-ration here on Monday. “I feel very proudto inaugurate the championship and hopebest of luck for the participants as well asfor the organizers for the smooth run ofthis national level activity,” said Aisam inhis address. All Pakistan Atlas Honda CupTennis Championship has now becomeone of the most prestigious national rank-ing tournament on PTF’s board. Topranked players including Aqeel Khan hasconfirmed participation in the event whichwill conclude on April 15. Lush green grass courts with even bounceprovoke tennis enthusiasts to reach hereand enjoy the real taste of magnificentgame of tennis. “Grass courts of K-21Club are as good standard as it should beand now a days when hard court is re-placing grass court very swiftly, to getsuch wonderful grass court surface isgood luck for the participants “ said byrenowned tennis coach Mehboob Khanupon his last visit here at K-21 Club. Competitions to be contested in the cate-gories includes men’s singles, men’s dou-bles, ladies singles, boys singles u-18,boys singles under 14 ,boys singles u-12 ,veteran doubles over 60 years. The K-21club has also added school and college U-18 years category (team event) as part ofthe national ranking tournament withunderstanding that educational institu-tions can play vital role in promotion ofthe game. Shazad Alvi, ITF expert officialsupervised the draws ceremony andkeeping in view the long entries list inmen’s singles category it was decided tohold three qualifying rounds prior tostart of the main round of 64. Similarly,unranked players in boys singles U-18category will have to play two qualifyingrounds to reach the main round of 64. Total prize money of the event is worthof Rs 400,000 and the winner of men’ssingles will be awarded Atlas Honda CD70. Besides cash prizes, Certificates andtrophies will be awarded to the players.

P&t Gym marchLAHORE

STAff rEPOrT

P&T Gym has marched into the nextround of 27th Mohammad Yaseen AkhterMemorial event when they outplayedRaja club by 5 wickets played at ModelTown ground on Monday. Scores: Raja Club 128/9 in 20 overs. MSaad 33, Noman Butt 25, M Mustafa 16,M NAwaz 14. Karamat Ali 4/16, AsifGhafoor 3/13, Rohail Ali 1/29. P&T Gym130/5 in 17 overs. M Munan 52(no), MAqib 28, Asif Ghafoor 12, Tayab 12(no).Saad 2/29, M Nawaz 2/26, Ismail 1/10.

Pakistan women-Ateam named

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

The Pakistan Women-A Cricket Team isto tour Japan to take part in the Pak-istan-Japan 60thAnniversary CricketFestival scheduled from 25th April – 1stMay, 2012. The team is scheduled to depart from La-hore on 24th April, 2012. PCB WomenWing has announced the following 14members Women Team along with the 4stand-byes for this event.the players: Ayesha Qazi, HeC, mariam Hassan Shah

(C), Islamabad, Komal feroze, Lahore, Sidra Amin, HeC,

mahlaqa mansoor, Lahore, elizebeth Khan, Lahore, Sidra

nawaz, PK Boards, namra Imran, Lahore, Sania Iqbal,

ZtBL, Diana Baig, Islamabad, Sumaiya Siddiqui, HeC,

Sana Gulzar (vC), multan, Saima maqsood, HeC, Zeba

manzoor, HeC.

reserves:maryum Shafique, HeC, Aliya riaz, HeC, Sadia

Iqbal, faisalabad, madiha rajpoot, Lahore.

Syed Papers win byan innings, 70 runs

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

In the Patron’s Trophy Grade II matchSyed Papers won over Candyland by anInnings and 70 here at the Jinnah Sta-dium Gujranwala. Syed Paper batting first 406/8 after 76.1 overs. nouman

Anwar 118, muhammad Ayoob 94, Umar waheed 84 &

ehsan Adil 15 runs. Candyland bowling Altaf Ahmad

2/92, waqas Ullah 2/67, muhammad Bilal 2/77 & Adnan

mehmood 1/52 wickets. Candyland first innings batting

133 all out in 31.3 overs. najam Abbas 31, najam nisar 21

runs. Syed Paper bowling Imad Ali 3/34, Asif Ashfaq

2/39, ehsan Adil 2/32 & muhammad Irfan 1/28 wickets.

Candlyland batting second 203 all out after 47.4 overs.

Sohail Akhtar 36 & Shahan Akram 73 runs not out.

Syed Paper bowling ehsan Adil 3/39, muhammad Irfan

3/51, Imad Ali 2/32 & rizwan 1/20 wickets. Syed Paper

won by an inning & 70 runs. Aftab Gillani, Akmal

Hayyat Umpire & Sohail Zaidi was the scorer.

amar Cables, lahore White in quarters

Pakistan opposition leaderfor Indo-Pak cricket revival

West indies 1st innings (179 for 3 overnight)

A. Barath c Siddle b harris 22

K. Brathwaite c Wade b Siddle 57

K. Edwards c and b Warner 61

d. Bravo c hussey b Watson 51

S. Chanderpaul not out 103

n. deonarine c Wade b harris 21

C. Baugh run out (harris) 22

d. Sammy c Cowan b hilfenhaus 41

K. roach c Clarke b lyon 16

f. Edwards c hussey b Warner 10

d. Bishoo not out 18

Extras (b12, lb9, w4, nb2) 27

Total (9 wickets, declared, 153 overs) 449

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

(Brathwaite), 4-240 (Bravo), 5-285 (deonarine), 6-316 (Baugh),

7-369 (Sammy) 8-402 (roach), 9-421 (Edwards)

Bowling: Bowling: harris 29-8-83-2, hilfenhaus 33-12-67-1

(1nb), Siddle 31-10-83-1 (4w, 1nb), lyon 31-11-94-1, Clarke 2-0-

4-0, Watson 15-5-46-1, Warner 10-0-45-2, hussey 2-0-6-0

Australia 1st innings

E. Cowan c Baugh b Sammy 14

d. Warner c Bravo b Sammy 42

S. Watson not out 39

r. Ponting run out (Brathwaite/Baugh) 4

M. Clarke not out 27

Extras (lb6, nb1) 7

Total (3 wickets for, 42 overs) 133

fall of wickets: 1-50 (Cowan), 2-65 (Warner), 3-83 (Ponting)

Bowling: Edwards 12-2-36-0, roach 11-0-43-0, Bishoo 8-0-33-

0 (1nb), Sammy 10-5-14-2, deonarine 1-0-1-0

Toss: West indies

Umpires: ian Gould (EnG), Tony hill (nzl)

Match referee: Jeff Crowe (nzl)

Third umpire: Marais Erasmus (rSA).

SCOrEBOArd

LAHore: Chief Guest Shafqat Butt gives the

man of the match award to Ameer Akbar.

LAHore: the winner of the 1st Borjan-Digger Junior talent Hunt tennis

tournament receives the prize from the chief guest. STaff pHOTO


sports20tuesday, 10 April, 2012

AUGUSTA: Bubba Watson

drives off the 18th tee during

the final round of the 2012

Masters Tournament at

Augusta National Golf Club. AFP

wapda to holdnational women'sCycling in may

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

The 10th National Women CyclingChampionship will be convened fromMay 10 to 13 at the Lahore’s CyclingVelodrome. Syed Azhar Ali Shah, Secretary GeneralPakistan Cycling Federation informedthat all the affiliated units of PCF in-cluding Army, WAPDA, Railway, SuiSouthern Gas Company, Punjab, Sindh,Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtoonkuah andFATA will field their women cyclists inthe championship which will be hostedby WAPDA. During the championship One km timetrial, One km Sprint, Team Pursuit, In-dividual Pursuit, elimination, 20 kmsindividual road time trial, 30 kms teamtime trial and 50 kms Scratch road race. He further informed that prior to thewomen championship, the 1st Inter-Provincial Women Cycling Champi-onship will be held at Peshawar fromMay 7 to 8. The championship will beorganized by Khyber Pakhtoonkuah Cy-cling Association in which women teamsfrom all the four provinces, FATA andIslamabad will take part to compete in15 kms individual time trial, 20 kmsteam time trial, 30 kms scratch roadrace. Azhar Ali Shah informed that in October2012 KP Cycling Association will organ-ize the International Mountain Bike raceat Kaghan in collaboration with KaghanMemorial Trust for which eight Interna-tional teams have confirmed to partici-pate, till date. Regarding PCF's former Secretary IdrisHaider Khawaja's claim for organizingWomen Cycling Championship in whichaccording to him team from Afghanistanwill also participate, Azhar Shah statedthat any event in which foreign teamstake part cannot be called a nationalevent. He further explained that the so-called Afghan team which took part inan earlier event organized by IdrisHaider Khawaja was not an affiliatedteam of Afghan Cycling Federation. KhIdris is in practice of bogus claims sinceSeptember 24, 2011 when he lost his po-sition in PCF election held under thesupervision of POA, Azhar Shah added.

Pakistan Juniors beat malaysia towin hockey series

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

Pakistan Junior Hockey Team presentlyplaying league matches againstMalaysian and Korean Junior HockeyTeams at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) wonthe three-match series against Malaysiaby 2-1.In the series Pakistan scored 12 Goalsagainst Malaysia out of which 10 (FG)and 2 (PC) where as Malaysia scored 11Goals out of which 8 (PC), 2 (FG) and 1(PS).The Last match of the series was playedtoday Pakistan was losing 5-0 till theend of 1st half and finished 5-3. Pak-istan Junior team played sensible gameand scored all the three goals in the 2ndhalf the scorer was Muhammad Dilber,Muhammad Suleman and MuhammadUmair.The next two match series against Ko-rean Junior Hockey Team will be playedon 12th and 13th April 2012.

Hockey trials LAHORE

STAff rEPOrT

The trials to select the boys from PHFAcademies from all over Pakistan are inprogress from April 7. In all 125 boys participated in the trialsin Faisalabad on the opening day and 90appeared in Gojra on April 8 while thenext session will be held at Sialkot onApril 10.

AUGUSTAAfP

NeW Masters championBubba Watson is a newdad who doesn't knowhow to change a diaper,and he's hoping that his

first major title and a $1.44 million topprize might delay any lessons. Watsonparred the second sudden-death playoffhole on Sunday to defeat South Africa'sLouis Oosthuizen and win the 76th Mas-ters. exactly 35 years after Tom Watsonwon at Augusta National, there's a newWatson wearing a green jacket.

The long-hitting 33-year-old US left-hander became a father two weeks agowhen he and his wife Angie, who is un-able to have children, adopted a one-month-old baby boy named Caleb.

"I haven't changed a diaper yet soprobably going to have to change a dia-per pretty soon," Watson said. "I don'twant to change a diaper. Hopefully thiswill give me a week or two to just watchher again. Maybe not, though."

Thoughts of his new son and his latefather Gerry, who died of throat cancerin 2010, had Watson in tears on easterSunday, especially when embracing hismother Molly on the 10th green after thewinning putt was in the hole.

"My dad's not here, but he's watch-ing in heaven," Watson said.

Watson said that after a botched teeshot on the deciding playoff hole and anamazing recovery lob shot to set up twoputts for the title, his dad would have afew things to tell him.

"He would say, 'You still need to

practice. You missed that fairway. Youwere under the trees a couple of times.You missed the first putt,'" Watson said."No, he would be excited, just like mymom was excited. "We didn't have anywords, we just cried in each other'sarms." Before he tapped in for the vic-tory, Watson thought of South KoreanI.K. Kim's one-foot putt miss to cost heran LPGA major title at the Kraft NabiscoChampionship a week ago.

"I hate to say this but the young ladywho missed the putt at the ladies major,that putt, I thought about it," Watsonsaid. "I wanted to make sure I focusedhard on that putt, because I knew howdelicate these situations are and howthis may never happen again."

Watson tried to put the long-soughtmajor title in perspective quickly.

"Golf is not my everything," Watsonsaid. "I'm not going to go home and poutif I would have lost. I'd think about thegreat times I had. "Tomorrow there'sgoing to be a new tournament and y'allare going to write about other people.Y'all are going to forget about me tomor-row. I'm going to have to keep living mylife and do everything.

"But for me to come out here andwin, it's awesome for a week and thenget back to real life.

"Major champion. I think I'm done.I can't get any better than this."

For Watson, that means dealingwith realities like finalizing adoptionpaperwork that prevented the babyfrom leaving the state of Florida, keep-ing mom and son at their Isleworthhome near Orlando.

New daddy Watson wins the Mastersmajor agony forGarcia, Donald,westwood

AUGUSTAAfP

That's 0-54 and counting in golf's fourmajors for Sergio Garcia and the strainis beginning to show. The Spaniard wasin a black mood all week at AugustaNational, where Bubba Watson wonthe Masters at his fourth attempt and aclosing one-under 71 did little to lift hisspirits. Once again he had failed to wina major. Asked to confirm commentshe made to Spanish reporters after his75 in the third round on Saturday tothe tune that he was no longer capableof winning a major title, Garcia barkedback: "Do you think I lie when I talk?"everything I say, I say it because I feelit. If I didn't mean it, I couldn't standhere and lie like a lot of the guys do."If I felt like I could win, I would do it.Unfortunately at the moment, unless Iget really lucky in one of the weeks, Ican't really play much better than Iplayed this week and I'm going to fin-ish 13th or 15th." Asked what hethought was missing in his game, Gar-cia replied gloomily "everything!"It's all a long way since Garcia ex-ploded onto the golf scene as a 19-year-old who took on the emerging TigerWoods in a memorable showdown atthe 1999 PGA Championship.


sports 21tuesday, 10 April, 2012

watch It LIve

GEO SUPERIPL-5: Royal Chargersv Kolkata Knight Riders03:30PM

TEN SPORTSFirst Test: Australiav West Indies06:50PM

CHARLESTONAfP

FIFTH seeded SerenaWilliams captured her40th career WTA title byoverpowering ninthseeded Czech Lucie Sa-

farova 6-0, 6-1 at the Charlestonclaycourt tournament on Sunday.

The 13-time Grand Slam winnerneeded just 58 minutes to dispatchSafarova in her first final appear-ance since last year's US Open whenshe lost to Samantha Stosur.

"I definitely want to continuethis," said Williams who will movefrom 10 to nine when the new worldrankings come out.

"I've never played consistently atsuch a high level with low errors likethis, and the scary thing is I couldhave served so much better."

This marked Williams' first WTAtitle since turning 30 in Septemberand she is the first 30-year-old towin on the green clay in Charlestonsince Martina Navratilova in 1990.

Williams, who did not drop a setin Charleston, improved to a perfect5-0 against world number 26 Sa-farova. She won her quarter-finalmatch when German Sabine Lisickiretired after 40 minutes in the firstset with a foot injury.

Williams hammered five aces,27 winners and had just eight un-forced errors. She won 20 of 25 firstserve points and saved four of fourbreak point chances on Sunday.

"I did pretty well in (last) sum-mer, but then I dropped off againuntil this tournament. So I really amlike a floating bird," Williams said.

"It's motivating for me to gohome and work harder, because Iknow Lucie and Sam (Stosur) andeveryone is going to work hard,too. Now they know what to expecteven more when they play me. Thisis a battle, and I want to continueto win."

She now needs one more title totie Kim Clijsters (41) for 13th placeon the WTA all-time list.

This marked Williams' fourthcareer claycourt title and the secondat Charleston to go with her 2008victory.

Safarova was a heavy underdogagainst Williams, despite her one-sided 6-0, 6-0 win over PolonaHercog in the semi-finals.

Williams said the next time sheplays will be in another claycourttournament in Madrid, Spain.

Serena routsSafarova to winfirst title of 2012

LAHORESTAff rEPOrT

The Punjab Olympics Association instead of discouragingparallel bodies under its set up is encouraging the forma-tion of similar associations and the recent case is of Pun-jab Judo Association. According to Associated Press ofPakistan, the Punjab Judo Association has split into threefactions, each claiming itself as the genuine body andPunjab Olympic Association giving a free hand to all ofthem to conduct their elections.

Three weeks ago a group headed by a former Secre-tary, Pakistan Judo Federation, Naveed Mahmood, whois serving a five years ban, conducted the elections of PJA

and got himself (Mahmood) elected as its President.Few years ago Mahmood was thrown out of PJF

through a non confidence move against him for his illegaland unconstitutional acts. Interestingly, few days ago, an-other group, held the elections of the PJA and Asif IqbalKhan and Maqsood Ahmed were elected President andSecretary of the body. Punjab Olympic Association de-puted Khawar Shah to attend the elections as its ob-server. "We cannot stop any faction from conducting theelections of the body rather we monitor such elections bysending our representative," said Idris Haider Khawaja,PbOA. When his attention was drawn that another groupof PJA, led by Tariq Sheikh has announced their electionson April 13, he said, they are free to hold the elections and

PbOA will also send its representative to monitor theseelections as well.

In the given circumstances, it seems that PbOA ispromoting parallelism by encouraging the formation ofbogus bodies by giving them a free hand to hold theirmeetings and to elect office bearers.

"PbOA only recognises the body led by Tariq Sheikhbecause it is affiliated with us and their affiliation will ex-pire this month (end of April) but at the moment it is theonly genuine body of judo in Punjab", he added.

When asked why POAb did not play its due role tostop the formation of these bodies, he said, their job is toencourage the sports and not to take measures to halt theworking of the sports bodies.

KARACHI STAff rEPOrT

After the recent signing of Pakistan’sTop Golfers, Ufone hosted the first ofits kind Ufone Bankers Open 2012 atthe Karachi Golf Club.

Bankers from across the countrygathered to take part in this excitingevent, and were welcomed with greatfervor. The tournament started offwith a great drive by Abdul Aziz Pres-ident & CeO Ufone on a picturesquebright sunny day.

The tournament ended on a highwith an array of prizes for winners.The Net winner Mr. Ahmed SaeedDealer FX Sales at Silk Bank was pre-sented with a Rolex watch by AbdulAziz.

Ahmed Saeed said it is indeed anhonor for me to have participatedand excelled in this tournament

alongside some revered names fromthe banking industry. Kudos to Ufonefor conceptualizing and organizing anevent of this stature. Such events willgo a long way in helping to developthe game of golf in our country.

Speaking at the occasion SalmanWassay, Chief Commercial OfficerUfone said that this was the first ofmany other tournaments to come. Hesaid that Ufone is keen on hostingtournaments targeted specifically forBankers, Doctors, entrepreneurs andother industries.

Ufone has ventured into Golf witha vision to help promote the sportalongside our tournaments we willalso be hosting summer camps acrossthe country which will help both chil-dren and adults learn or even im-prove their game. Golfers acrossPakistan now have something to lookforward to.

Ufone tees off Bankers Open Golf 2012

punjab Olympics promoting parallelism

Czechs beat Serbia4-1 to reach DavisCup semis

PRAGUEAFPAfP

The Czech Republic beat Serbia 4-1 toreach the Davis Cup semi-finals for asecond time in three years after winningboth reverse singles on the clay court ofPrague's O2 Arena on Sunday.Tomas Berdych, the world numberseven, sealed victory beating eighth-ranked Janko Tipsarevic 7-6 (8/6), 7-6(8/6), 7-6 (9/7) in three hours and 45minutes as Serbia paid a heavy price forthe absence of world number one NovakDjokovic.Lukas Rosol, the world number 82, thenstunned 27-ranked Viktor Troicki 7-6(7/5), 7-5 in an hour and 49 minutes inthe dead rubber.Berdych had to come back in the firsttwo sets and then fought hard in thethird to outperform Tipsarevic who tooka 5-1 lead in the tie-break."It was a narrow escape in all three setsbut that's tennis today," Berdych toldthe public Czech TV. "You can't expectto win three easy sets against the eighthplayer of the world. I would definitelyfind a few things I could have done bet-ter but that doesn't matter now.

Big John targets majorfrench open surprise

PARISAfP

Big John Isner is developing such astrong affection for claycourt tennis thathe is emerging as a dangerous outsiderfor the French Open.Isner steered the United States into theDavis Cup semi-finals at the weekend,beating Gilles Simon and then Jo-Wil-fried Tsonga in four sets on the famousclay courts of the Monte Carlo CountryClub.France had been warned of the 26-year-old's ability after Isner defeated RogerFederer, also on clay, in February's firstround 5-0 Davis Cup whitewash ofSwitzerland.Just for good measure, Isner has alsobeaten world number one NovakDjokovic this year in the semi-finals ofthe Indian Wells Masters albeit on amore familiar hard court."I like playing on clay," said Isner. "Iplayed three of my best matches thisyear, my best wins have come on clay.It's a surface I enjoy playing on and asurface I feel I can do very well on."



22

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


ADDING to the frustration of theUS and NATO allies, the Parlia-mentary Committee on National

Security (PCNS) on Monday againfailed to make any headway in finalisingthe re-evaluation of some of its recom-mendations, especially about resump-tion of NATO supplies, as the JamiatUlema-e-Islam-Fazl and Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz members stayedaway from the committee’s proceed-ings. The PCNS is tasked with re-evalu-ating ties of Pakistan with the US andNATO following the attack in MohmandAgency on two Pakistani checkposts inwhich 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

Pakistan blocked NATO supplieson November 26 soon after the “unpro-

voked attack” by allied forces. The USadministration has been urging Pak-istan to restore NATO supplies and re-view its decision as its forces stationedin Afghanistan badly needed resump-tion of supplies.

The JUI-F shoora, meanwhile,turned down an appeal by PresidentAsif Ali Zardari to end its boycott of thePCNS and other parliamentary com-mittees. The PCNS members from thePML-N also did not attend the meetingdue to their participation in the energyconference being held in Lahore.

PCNS Chairman Mian Raza Rab-bani expressed utter disappointmentwith the boycott by the JUI-F chief andsaid he had played an active role in thecommittee’s recommendations. Heurged the JUI-F chief to review his de-cision and attend the meetings. He,

however, claimed that the PCNS wouldmake a breakthrough in its meetingscheduled today (Tuesday).

earlier in the day, the JUI-F parlia-mentary party meeting was held underthe leadership of Fazlur Rehman. Ac-cording to a JUI-F spokesman, it wasdecided in the meeting that the partyshould continue opposing the restora-tion of NATO supply routes and itwould not become a part of any suchforum that paved the way for therestoration of the blocked routes.

Also opposing the proposed bill forlaw against domestic violence, thespokesman said the bill was a plot todemolish the social structure and fam-ily system and if efforts were made toget this bill passed, a countrywideprotest would be launched in coopera-tion with other parties.

NEWS DESK

Indian government sourceshave claimed that New Delhihas already given solid evi-dence on Lashkar-e-Taibafounder and alleged 26/11 mas-termind Hafiz Saeed to Pak-istan, CNN-IBN reported onMonday. Rejecting Prime Min-ister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s de-nial that India had handed overany evidence, CNN-IBNsources said the evidence in-cludes Ajmal Kasab’s statementthat Hafiz Saeed was presentduring the selection and train-

ing of terrorists behind the26/11 attack. The channel’ssources also pointed out thatDavid Coleman Headley’sstatements about Hafiz Saeedsaying the Mumbai missionwas critical have also been sentout. They said that it was nowtime for Pakistan to act on theevidence provided. This cameafter Gilani reacted to PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh’sremarks to Pakistan PresidentAsif Ali Zardari in Delhi onSunday, linking progress in bi-lateral talks to action againstthe alleged 26/11 mastermind.

PCNS fails to make headway on recommendations ‘India has already given proof

against Saeed to Pakistan’


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