e-paper pakistantoday 29th june, 2012

QUETTA/PESHAWARShahzada zulfiqar

At least 22 people, including 13Shias, were killed in Quetta andKhyber Agency’s Bara tehsil onthursday when a car bomb torethrough a bus carrying pilgrims

in the troubled Balochistan province andmilitants staged several attacks in thetribal agency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangviclaimed responsibility for the attack inQuetta and said it was a suicide attack tar-geting Shias.

Reports said the bus attacked inQuetta was carrying Shia pilgrims fromtaftan, Iran and was targeted near a fruitmarket in the provincial capital’s Haz-arganji area.

the dead included two women and twopolicemen escorting the bus, while overtwo dozen people were injured in the blast.

Some claimed that the blast was a sui-cide attack, but officials denied, withQuetta Capital City Police Officer MirZubair Mahmood saying the bus had beentargeted with an explosives-laden carparked along the road in Hazarganji. Hesaid the bus was carrying around 50 Shia

pilgrims of the Hazara community fromtaftan to Quetta.

the Bomb Disposal Squad said a re-mote-controlled bomb of around 50 kg hadbeen used in the attack.

DIG Investigation Hamid Shakeel con-firmed that passengers were pilgrims andwere returning to Quetta after performingpilgrimage in Iran.

Locals said the bomb blast was so in-tense that it engulfed the bus in flames, forc-ing it into a ravine 50 feet below the road.

People from the surroundings rushedto help the injured, while rescue officialsalso arrived at the scene some time later.

An emergency was declared in all hospitalsof Quetta. Quetta has been rife with sectar-ian violence in recent months and Shias ofthe Hazara tribe have specifically been thetarget of hardliner Sunnis.

Several dozens have been killed overthe past few months, but officials have onlybeen paying a lip service and no assassinhas been brought to the book so far.

In several chilling incidents, Shiashave been hauled off buses, identified andshot dead in cold blood. two such inci-dents occurred in September 2011 and inFebruary 2012.

On April 14 this year gunmen riding

a motorcycle in Quetta killed eight ShiaMuslims in two attacks just minutesapart. Such “sport” killing of Shias hasblemished the government’s already tat-tered image and brought condemnationsfrom around the globe.

Friday, 29 June, 2012 Shaban 8, 1433Lahore editionRs 15.00 Vol iii no 4 18 pages

g Banned LJ bombs bus carrying Shia pilgrims from Iran, 13 killedg Seven security personnel among 9 killed in militant attacks in Khyber Agency

Continued on page 04

LHR 29-06-2012_Layout 1 6/29/2012 4:04 AM Page 1

02Friday, 29 June, 2012

News

Today’s

LookQuick

NewS

Story on Page 05

lAhORe

Story on Page 06

cARTOON

Page 11

Sherry tells uS senators apology will help resolve supply lines issue haste makes waste

quETTa: Volunteers search the wreckage of a destroyed bus after a bombing on the outskirts of the city on

Thursday. at least 13 Shia pilgrims were killed and several others injured in the attack. afP

NEWS DESK

EvEN though the UShas designated a big-ger chunk of civilianaid for Pakistan in ef-forts to bolster good-

will in the country, it seems thatmoney has not been well-spent.Despite the uptick in aid, anti-U.S. sentiments continue to be onthe rise in Pakistan. the spate ofrecent events that have con-tributed to turbulent relations be-tween the two countries alsoseemed to have had an indelibleimpact on public perceptions.

According to the Los Angelestimes, a new poll released thisweek by the Pew Research Cen-ter’s Global Attitudes Projectfound that about 75% of Pakista-nis regard the US as an enemy.three years ago, 64% of Pakista-nis surveyed said they viewedAmerica as an enemy. A growingnumber of Pakistanis also feelthat improving relations withWashington isn’t a major priority,the poll found. Last year, 60% ofPakistanis surveyed saidstrengthening ties with the USwas important; this year only45% said they feel the same way.

the US channels hundreds ofmillions of dollars in military andeconomic aid to Pakistan everyyear. Much of that aid is sup-posed to target Pakistan’s biggestneeds, such as the country’s crip-pling power crisis and its weakeducation system. Nevertheless,the poll results indicate that Pak-istanis haven’t been swayed bythe assistance.

About 40% of Pakistanis sur-veyed said they think that US eco-nomic and military assistanceactually has a negative effect ontheir country. Only 12% said theybelieve that economic assistancefrom Washington helps solvePakistan’s problems.

Relations between the USand Pakistan are at their lowestpoint since the Sept. 11, 2001, ter-rorist attacks on the US Angerover American airstrikes thatmistakenly killed 24 Pakistanisoldiers last November was pre-ceded by the secret US com-mando raid that killed Osama binLaden in the military city of Ab-bottabad in May 2011, which Pak-istanis viewed as a blatant breachof their sovereignty,- and thekilling of two Pakistanis by a CIAcontractor in the eastern city of

Lahore in January 2011.those events have served as

rallying cries for a Pakistanipopulation that for years hasviewed Washington as arrogantand untrustworthy. the Obamaadministration’s heavy relianceon drone missile attacks as a pri-mary tactic against Islamic mil-itants in Pakistan’s tribalnorthwest has further intensi-fied Pakistan’s animosity towardthe US Pakistanis view thedrone attacks as violations oftheir country’s sovereignty andcharge that they kill civilians aswell as militants.

According to the Pew survey,only 17% of Pakistanis surveyedsaid they support US dronestrikes as a tactic against Islamicmilitants based in Pakistan. Pak-istanis also appeared less willingto back the use of their own mili-tary against Islamic extremists.Among the Pakistanis surveyed,only 32% supported the deploy-ment of Pakistani security forcesagainst extremist groups, a sizabledrop from 53% three years ago.

the survey was based on1,206 face-to-face interviewswith Pakistanis between March28 and April 13.

The countrywe love to hateg Anti-US sentiment on the rise in Pakistan

ISLAMABADSTaff rEPOrT

the restoration of NAtO supplies to Afghanistan isin the interest of Pakistan as well the US and therehas been some progress in talks with the US on thisimportant matter, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Ji-lani said on thursday.

talking to reporters, Jilani said the restorationof NAtO supplies was necessary for pulling out for-eign forces from Afghanistan, which was in the in-terest of Pakistan as well. He hoped that foreignforces’ withdrawal from Afghanistan would lead tostability in the country and would augur well for theregional peace and stability. Pakistan, he said, wasengaged in talks with the US on tendering a publicapology over the Salala incident and there had beensome positive indications from Washington in thatregard. to a question on recent cross border attacksfrom Afghanistan on Pakistani checkposts, Jilani

said Pakistan had serious concern over the safehavens of terrorists across the border in Afghanistanand it had taken up the matter with the Afghan au-thorities. He said, “We hope that the Afghan govern-ment will take all necessary measures to preventmilitant attacks on Pakistani border posts.” to aquery, he said he would leave for New Delhi for theforeign secretaries’ talks on various outstanding is-sues with India on July 3 and during the meeting, hewould also raise the vital issue of surge in cross Lineof Control (LoC) firing incidents from the Indian sideon Pakistani soil. He said the visit of Indian foreignminister to Islamabad was scheduled for July 18, butit had been put off due to some internal political de-velopments in India. On the Foreign Office briefingto the Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on thurs-day, he said the prime minister was briefed on Pak-istan’s relations with regional and other nations.“the prime minister was given a detailed briefing onvarious aspects of the foreign policy,” he said.

Resumed NATO supply inPakistan’s interest: Jilani

Pakistanis love Tsunami Khan!MILITARY MOST FAVOURABLE INSTITUTION

The military remains the most highly rated institution in

Pakistan – 77% say it has a good influence on the country,

nearly the same percentage (79%) as last year. However,

the military’s ratings have slipped somewhat from a high

of 86% in 2009. Large majorities also rate the influence

of the media (68%) and religious leaders (66%) as good.

In the past year, however, positive reviews of the media

have declined eight percentage points. Roughly six-in-ten

give the court system high marks. The courts’ ratings have

been relatively constant over the years, except for a dip

in positive reviews in 2011. As has been true in past sur-

veys, few (24%) say the police are a good influence.

Ratings of the national government are also very low –

just 24% of Pakistanis believe it plays a positive role in

the country. President Zardari receives even more neg-

ative reviews. Only 12% believe he has a good influ-

ence, while 84% say it is bad. Pakistanis who identify

with Zardari’s party, PPP, are more likely to give him

high marks, though they are still divided – 44% say his

influence is good, 48% say it is bad. Attitudes about

Zardari are particularly negative in Punjab (96% bad in-

fluence) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (95%).

ISLAMABADSTaff rEPOrT

Pakistan tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman, Imran Khan is themost popular leader in Pakistan with a 70 percent ap-proval rating. According to a survey from PEW ResearchCenter, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chiefNawaz Sharif is not far from Khan and has 62 percentvotes in his favour. While the PML-N president may onlybe 8 points behind Khan, Sharif held an approval ratingof 79 percent in 2009. With little change from last year,only 14 percent view President Asif Zardari favourably.the President has seen a significantdrop over the years, as his ap-proval rating stood at 64 percentin 2008. Recently disqualifiedprime minister, Yousuf RazaGilani, proves to be some-what better with 36 percentpopularity. Around 89 percentdescribe the national eco-nomic situation as bad; 85percent held this view in2011. An overwhelmingmajority rate unemploy-ment, crime, terrorismand corruption as verybig problems. About 87percent are dissatisfiedwith the country’s di-rection, compared to

92 percent last year. More than 50 percent rate Chief ofArmy Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and Chief Jus-tice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry as favourable. Ratingsfor both the army chief and the chief justice have slightlyslipped since 2010. Former military ruler General PervezMusharraf received relatively poor ratings with only 39percent approving of the ex-president.



NewsediTORiAlComing in from the cold:

cOmmeNT

Articles on Page 14

Pakistan needs a policy change pronto.

dr James J zogby says;

Double standards much?: Say No to anti-Semitism, but Islamophobia is fine…

Mubasher lucman says;

I am still around: The other side of the story.

ARTS & eNTeRTAiNmeNT

Story on Page 12

bUSiNeSS

Story on Page 18

SPORTS

Story on Page 14

lady Gaga faces flak for suicide song ‘Princess die’ unleash the beast inside you! Wary Sri lanka eye elusive Test series win

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

It is apparent that one cannot just bepopular and not get involved in con-troversies. this is exactly what hashappened to Pakistan’s first Oscarwinner, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who

has been accused of not providing financialcompensation to one of the characters in herdocumentary that catapulted her into acelebrity status overnight in Pakistan andabroad.

Her documentary “Saving Face” dealswith the victims of acid attacks in the countryand an attempt to provide them medical helpthrough medication and plastic surgery. thedocumentary was aimed at showing harrow-ing effects of this crime on the victims. thestory revolves around two such women, Zakiaand Rukhsana, and Dr Mohammad Jawwadwho came to Pakistan to perform plastic sur-gery on these women.

Ironically, it is Rukhsana, hailing fromMuzaffargarh, a district in South Punjab, whohas filed a case against Chinoy in the Multansessions court. She claims that she onlyagreed to appear in her documentary aftershe was offered monetary compensation, butChinoy did not fulfill her promise and has notcontacted her after the release of her docu-mentary, let alone giving her what she waspromised.

What Rukhsana is claiming in her suit isnot a trivial amount of money. She claimsthat she was promised a five-marla (126square-metre) house, Rs3,000,000 and plas-tic surgery in compensation for her role in thefilm. But she has been given nothing at all.She has also accused Chinoy of being themain cause behind her eviction from herhouse. Rukhsana claims this happened be-cause of her working in the documentary andthat she is now forced to live a nomadic lifewith her children.

Sharmeen Chinoy has strongly denied allthe allegations, claiming they were baseless.She gave her side of the story and spoke outagainst her on the social media website twit-ter. Ms Chinoy, on her part, does not appearto level any allegations against Rukhsanathough it is quite clear that she thinks of heras a victim.

Chinoy claimed that Rukhsana was notpromised anything by her, but by a donorwho had watched the documentary. It was hewho had promised her a house only. No mon-etary compensation was offered as it wouldhave made here even more vulnerable tobeing exploited by her husband and her in-laws. Pertinent to note is the fact that she stilllives with her husband who committed thecrime in the first place.

Sharmeen dupedme: acid victim

HOUSTONOnlinE

US authorities detained former ministerand Awami Muslim League (AML) chiefSheikh Rashid for over five hours at Hous-ton Airport on Wednesday night.

In reaction to Rashid’s illegal deten-tion at the airport, Pakistan’s Ambassadorto the United State Sherry Rehman regis-tered a strong protest on thursday.Sherry called the incident “a violation ofdiplomatic ethics”, adding that it is uneth-

ical to detain any political leader for in-vestigation at the airport. the US immi-gration authorities released SheikhRashid after the protest by the Pakistaniambassador. Sheikh Rashid told themedia that the immigration staff took histwo mobile phones into custody andcopied all the data on the phones, includ-ing phone numbers. He said the staff hadtold him that the investigation was beingcarried out under directions from Wash-ington. During the entire episode the staffdealt with him very politely, Sheikh

Rashid added. He said that he had a mul-tiple-entry US visa and that he wouldleave for Dubai after two days.

Sheikh Rashid lands into detention at Houston



News

ISLAMABADOnlinE

the National Assembly’sStanding Committee forRailways has asked theNational AccountabilityBureau (NAB) to take sternaction against corruptindividuals responsible forthe crisis facing PakistanRailways. A meeting of thestanding committee was heldin the Parliament House onthursday under thechairmanship of Ayaz Sadiq.the meeting was attended byits members from theMinistry of Railways and thehigh-ups of NAB. During the meeting, thestanding committee askedNAB to take action againstcorrupt officials, withoutdistinguishing betweencivilian and military officers. the committee chairman saidthat NAB arrests only thecivilians and does not actagainst the men in uniform,

adding that such doublestandards should beeliminated. He further allegedthat three retired army generals– General (r) Javed AshrafQazi, General (r) Saeed Zafarand General (r) Butt – had beeninvolved in illegal activities atRoyal Palm Club. He addedthat investigations were beingcarried out against an armybrigadier. He said that General(r) Javed Ashraf Qazi, duringhis stint as Railways’ minister,had imported 69 locomotivesalong with spare parts fromChina, adding that 80 percentof those spare parts went out oforder by 2009 because theyhad not been brought into use,resulting in the purchase ofmore spare parts at a cost 500times higher than the price ofengines. All this caused a loss ofRs 1.8 billion to PakistanRailways, he said. the standing committee alsopraised NAB’s performance ininvestigating cases ofmonetary corruption.

WASHINGTONOnlinE

PENtAGON has saidthat ISAF commanderGen John Allen’s

meeting with Pakistan armychief Gen Ashfaq Kayani hadbeen “very productive”.

Gen Allen had visited Is-lamabad on Wednesday todiscuss military-to-militarycooperation and issues creat-ing friction between the twosides over the last fewmonths. Pentagon Press Sec-retary George Little said thevisit was aimed at continuingdialogue with Pakistan on allcritical issues.

“this is an effort to con-tinue the dialogue we hadwith Pakistan on a range ofissues affecting the US Pak-istani relationship,” he saidwhile talking to reporters in

an off-camera chat. He, how-ever, reiterated that no agree-ment had been reached yet onthe ground supply routesfrom Pakistan. “Without get-ting into specifics of our dis-cussion with Pakistan, I thinkthere is reason for optimismhere. We are reaching a pointin our relationship with Pak-istan that suggests that thingsare settling down a bit,” he re-marked. George Little wasquick to point out though thatsome of the issues were stillunresolved. “I am not sayingthat all the issues are behindus, some of the issues are outthere, but important thing iswe continue to talk with Pak-istan on ground supply routesand a range of other issues re-lated to the bilateral defenserelationship,” he said.

Expressing hope for apositive outcome, he said

Pakistan and US were movingtowards a more routine sys-tem of dialogue. “I think, thebasis for some kind of anagreement on the GLOCs isthere and is real and we hopethat we reach a resolution onit. It has been over sevenmonths, and we obviouslywant to get through this issueand be able to use groundsupply routes inAfghanistan,” he pointed out.

He vehemently deniedreports that Gen Allen’s visitto Islamabad was a “last ditcheffort” to resolve ties withPakistan. “We are not viewingour ongoing discussions withthe Pakistanis as last ditch ef-forts. We are committed tocontinuing discussions withPakistan not only on supplyroutes but on a broad rangeof issues,” he argued. Re-sponding to another question

regarding attack by ttP mili-tants in Dir that killed 13 Pak-istani soldiers, he regrettedthe incident. “We deplore anyattack on our Pakistani part-ners. the ttP poses a threatto both Pakistan and to theUnited States,” he said.

“We take aggressive ac-tion against terrorists on theAfghan side of the border. Wewill continue to do so.Whether it is the Haqqaninetwork or the ttP, whetherit is al Qaeda, we will take de-cisive action on the Afghanside of the border,” he as-sured. “It is important for theUnited States and Pakistan towork closely with each otheron issue of insurgents thatcross the border and that iswhat we have called for in re-cent weeks with respect tosafe havens in Pakistan,” Lit-tle recalled.

LAHOREOnlinE

the Pakistan tehreek-e-In-saaf and the Jamaat-e-Islamaion thursday agreed to buildpressure on the government.

In a joint press confer-ence after a meeting of PtIChairman Imran Khan and JIAmer Munawar Hassan, bothleaders said they discussedminimum agenda on whichthe parties already agreed.

Both leaders expressed theresolve to protect the Supreme

Court of Pakistan. they saidthey were worried that the gov-ernment and corrupt elementsmight harm the apex court likethey did a few days ago, refer-ring to Malik Riaz-ArsalanIftikhar case. the PtI chair-man dispelled any possibilityto form an alliance with theforces of status quo sitting inparliament. However, heavoided to comment onwhether both the parties weregoing to make an alliance inthe next general election.\ Hesaid he didn’t see general elec-

tion taking place in the near fu-ture, however, he considerednew polls the only way of get-ting rid of the crises grippingthe country. Munwwar Hassanand Imran Khan demandedthat a list of those killed in theUS drone attacks be published,besides demanding a halt tothe attacks.Both leaders agreedthat there should be no role ofarmed forces in forming a gov-ernment in the country.

Hassan said that both theJI and PtI were alreadyunited on some issues.

ethnic cleansingof Shias continues

Meanwhile, at least ninepeople, including sevenpersonnel of security forces,were killed and severalothers injured in threeterrorist acts in Bara tehsil inKhyber Agency. those killedincluded a captain ofFrontier Corps and twovolunteers of peace lashkar. the most tragic terrorist actof the day occurred at Al HaajMarket in Bara where avehicle of security forces wastargeted by militants with anImprovised Explosive Device(IED). the official said sevenpersonnel, including acaptain were killed and fourothers injured. two hoursbefore of the attack, apatrolling party of securityforces was targeted bymilitants with an IED atQambarabad. threepersonnel of security forceswere injured in the attack.Early on thursday,volunteers of a peace lashkarwere targeted with a similarIED at Sheen Qamar area.the volunteers, Abdullah andtaj, were killed on the spot.

Taimur Azmat gets

additional charge of

establishment division

ISLAMABADaPP

Information and BroadcastingSecretary taimur AzmatUsman has been assigned theadditional charge of theEstablishment Division.According to the notification,Usman, a BPS-22 officer of thesecretariat group, would holdthe new charge immediately inaddition to his present dutiesuntil further orders.

OGRA suggests

another decrease

in POl prices

ISLAMABADaGEnCiES

the Oil and Gas RegulatoryAuthority (OGRA) on thursdayrecommended a reduction inpetroleum prices by up to Rs6.44 per litre. the OGRA hasdispatched the summary toslash the prices of petroleumproducts to the PetroleumMinistry. the OGRA summarysent to the prime ministerrecommends cutting down:petrol price by Rs. 5.02 perlitre; hi-octane by Rs 6.44,high-speed diesel by Rs 2.48and the price of light diesel byRs 2.86. If implemented itwould be a record second timereduction in POL prices in twoweeks. CNG prices are alsoexpected to come down by Rs 2per kilogramme with reductionin petroleum prices.

Continued FRom page 01

Gen Allen’s meeting withKayani ‘productive’: Pentagon

PTI, JI to jointly pressurise govt

nAB asked to act against corrupt civilian, military officials

No ‘slanging match’ withPakistan: KrishnaNEW DELHI: Refusing to debate the issue of 26/11 suspectAbu Jundal Hamza with PM’s Adviser on Interior RehmanMalik, Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna has saidthat India does not want to get into “any kind of slangingmatch” with Pakistani dignitaries. “We do not want to getinto any kind of a slanging match with any distinguishedpersons from Pakistan,” Press trust of India quoted Krishnaas telling reporters on the sidelines of an event to attractinvestments into Afghanistan. Krishna was asked for hisreaction on Malik’s rejection of Indian Home Minister PChidambaram’s claim on “state support” to the terroristsinvolved in the 2008 Mumbai attack. OnLIne

lhc grants bail to

Shahabuddin until July 3RAWALPINDI: the Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindibench on thursday granted interim bail to former federalminister for health Makhdoom Shahabuddin until July 3 in theephedrine quota case. A two-member LHC bench of JusticeAijaz Ahmed and Justice Ali Baqir Najfi heard the bail plea ofMakhdoom Shahab. the petitioner was of the view that it wasthe health DG not the minister who had the power to sanctionthe chemical quota, adding that he had not been named in thecase. He asserted that a conspiracy was being hatched to blockhis way to become the PM, accordingly, his plea should begranted. Granting him interim bail until July 3, the courtordered him to submit surety bonds worth Rs 100,000. OnLIne

the questionnaire had sug-gested that the US spies couldnot have dared to move freelyin Pakistan had PM Gilaniacted on the advice of thePakistan Army and the ISIand refrained from issuingvisas to thousands of officialsof private US security and in-telligence agencies.

the commission has al-ready completed its processand it has inspected the placeof the incident while views ofexperts and statements ofvarious officials involved with

the investigation have alreadybeen received.the commis-sion has recorded statementsof the heads of military andcivil intelligence agencies, Di-rector General Military Oper-ations, former ambassador ofPakistan to Washington,present and former foreignministers and foreign secre-taries, and the family mem-bers of Osama bin Laden andother people killed in the op-eration. the commission hasalso held interactions withsome politicians who hadprovided the commissionsome useful material.

Abbottabad Commission failsContinued FRom page 18


Friday, 29 June, 2012

05

PESHAWARShaMiM Shahid

PESHAWAR and its outskirtssaw widespread unrest as thenews of assassination of chief ofa pro-peace lashkar, BazidkhelQaumi Lashkar, Faheem-ur-

Rehman, and three of his associates, undermysterious circumstances spread out andwide on thursday.

the bullet-ridden dead bodies of Fa-heem and his friends, Altaf Bacha, Haji NiazMuhammad and Rahim Lala, were found ina white coloured Prado on Ring Road nearDalazak Road Chowk in the outskirts of Pe-shawar on Wednesday morning around 7am. Police officials claim that they were shotaround 10-12 hours earlier. they also saythat they were murdered at some other placeand their bodies were shifted to this placelater on. Police authorities have confirmedthat two police officials were missing who

were accompanying Faheem and his associ-ates who were on a journey from Peshawareither to Islamabad or thandyani, a touristdestination in Abbottabad. But throughsome highly placed sources, Pakistan todayhas come to know that they made it neitherto Islamabad nor thandyani. they were in-stead picked up by some unknown personsin between Peshawar and Nowshehra.

Faheem, who has been a staunch sup-porter of peace, was no stranger to attemptsat his life. He had already thwarted at leastseven attempts on his life, the last being onJune 12 in which two police guards werekilled. the whole episode smells of some-thing not being right as the news of his deathhad already reached his native village,Bazidkhel, a small village adjacent to Bad-habher town, by midnight while the policecame to know about it almost seven hourslater. What is even more astonishing is thefact that the vehicle in which their bodieswere found was parked opposite to a police

check post on the Ring Road, one of thebusiest roads of the city.

His relatives have confirmed that Fa-heem’s and his aides’ contact with them ter-minated when they left Peshawar.

the higher-ups are not divulging inproviding any information as to the cir-cumstances leading to their deaths or whothey suspect were involved in this heinousact. Still, many believe that it could be thework of someone close to him, someonethey could trust enough to go with themwithout any struggle.

In the last five years, militants from bothbanned Lashkar-e-Islam and tehreek-e-taliban Dara Adam Khel chapter had failedin all seven attempts, including three suicideattacks, against him. Only the people knownto him well could have done so in the well-protected areas of Peshawar.

Forensic and police experts say thatFaheem and his aides were brutally tor-tured by the kidnappers. the experts be-

lieve that Faheem and his associates madehectic efforts to escape and resisted thetorture during captivity.

Interestingly, police and civilian lead-ers have kept silent on this incidentwhereas on second day of Faheem’s death,activists of banned militant Lashkar-e-Islam have taken the responsibility of hisand his associates’ murder and will releasea video of his killing in a couple of days.taking advantage of the situation, mili-tants of the banned outfit have started ter-rorist activities in Bara Khyber agency.

Some experts believe that Faheem wasmade a “scapegoat” in a tug of war be-tween various law enforcing agencies, en-gaged in the war on terrorism but whohave their own objectives and goals toachieve, some of which don’t necessarilyalign with that of the other agencies. theysafeguard their own interests throughchiefs and commanders of traditionaltribal peace lashkars and militant groups.

It takes a silver bullet to killanti-Taliban peace lashkar chiefg bazidkhel Qaumi lashkar leader Faheem-ur-Rehman had already survived 7 attempts at his life

Katju’s crisp riposte to Haiderg indian judge, Pakistani senator battle it out in the blogosphere

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Justice Markandey Katju’s opinion piece

in The Hindu on issues of jurisprudence

and Pakistan’s judiciary on June 21 and

the subsequent blogs that he wrote at

various Pakistani sites have stirred up

quite a storm, inspiring many a comment

in defence of the chief justice and Pak-

istani judiciary.

The original piece was titled, ‘Pakistani

Supreme Court has gone overboard’, and

it contained a dissection of the Supreme

Court verdict in the contempt of court

case, concluding that ‘the Pakistani

Supreme Court has flouted all cannons of

jurisprudence’.

His subsequent blog in a Pakistani

newspaper under the heading ‘Judicial re-

sponsibility and organs of state’ not just

further elucidated his views on the ju-

risprudential issues. Senator Iqbal Haider’s

counter in another English newspaper

under the title, ‘Has SC really gone over-

board in Gilani case’ has drawn one final

response from Justice Katju. This is what

Senator Haider had to say: “The latest

judgment by the Supreme Court to dis-

qualify Mr Yusuf Raza Gilani under Article

63 (i)(g) has attracted a lot of controversy

and some severe and unjust criticism…

where many argue an elected prime minis-

ter could only be removed by a vote of no

confidence in Parliament and not by any

order of the Supreme Court. “…They are

unabashedly accusing the present

Supreme Court for the acts of former

judges who were used by dictators and

governments and who never exercised any

independence.

“…They are mainly using an opinionated

article by a former Indian judge, who hap-

pens to be a friend of mine and has my

greatest respect, but unfortunately is not

well informed about the details and merits

of the Gilani

case. This

campaign

is highly

derogatory and looks to be well coordinated

because some vested interests feel threat-

ened by the independence and the upright-

ness of the chief justice and the court he

leads, despite the nefarious conspiracy that

was recently unleashed against him but

died its premature death as it was mali-

cious and a perverted attempt using black

money, bribes, criminal intent and coer-

cion.” Here is how Justice Katju, a former

judge of India’s Supreme Court with a most

distinguished record, responded: “I have

already said what I had to say, and I have

nothing further to add. “I have read Sena-

tor Iqbal Haider’s article and I find that he

has not dealt with the issues I raised in my

article… and earlier on a blog. And was it

fair on his part to call my views opinion-

ated? I could have replied that in fact it is

Senator Haider’s view which is opinionated,

because he is a practising lawyer and so

has to keep the judges happy, but I refuse

to go down to that level.

“He writes that Mr Gilani [Syed Yousuf

Raza] should have appealed to a larger

bench of the Supreme Court against his

conviction. In my opinion that would have

been futile because it seems that all the

judges of the Pakistan have become docile

before the chief justice, and the proof of

that is that there was not a single dissent-

ing opinion of any judge.

“Under our common system of justice,

the chief justice is only the first among

equals, and is not their superior, but it

seems that all the Judges in the Pakistan

Supreme Court are kowtowing before the

chief justice and have become servile be-

fore him, otherwise why was there not a

single dissenting opinion? “Senator Haider

is not correct when he says that Mr Gilani

did not take the plea of the president’s im-

munity. In fact that was his main plea.

“However, I am not going to enter into this

debate any further because instead of deal-

ing with the jurisprudential issues I have

raised, some people are bent upon going

onto a personal level

by describing

my views as

‘opinion-

ated’ etc.”

Sherry tells USsenators apologywill help resolvesupply lines issue

WASHINGTONSPECial COrrESPOndEnT

Pakistan’s ambassador to the United StatesSherry Rehman met Senator MitchMcConnell, Senate Minority Leader, in hisChamber Wednesday afternoon anddiscussed Pakistan-US relations. SenatorMcConnell was joined in the meeting bySenator Rand Paul. According to thePakistani embassy here, the Pakistanienvoy also met with Senator Risch. “Bothsides agreed on the importance ofovercoming the current stalemate in thebilateral relationship urgently and to workfor robust and even keeled relationshipbased on mutual respect,” the embassysaid. Senator Mitch McConnell andSenator Rand Paul in addition to conveyingtheir concerns over the conviction andcontinued detention of Dr. Shakeel Afridi,urged Pakistan to open the GLOCs tofacilitate supplies to US/ISAF and to takeaction against Haqqani Network involvedin attacking US/ISAF from theirsanctuaries on Pakistani territory.



The railways’ slow death

PAGe 06

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Alarge part of a pedestrianbridge constructed onthe Harbanspura RingRoad collapsed on atruck that was passing

underneath it, killing two people onthursday. Punjab Chief Minister Shah-baz Sharif has taken notice of the inci-dent. the debris destroyed the truckcompletely. traffic from airport to Har-banspura was suspended. After the acci-dent, rescue teams reached the spot andremoved a dead body and a critically in-jured person after four hours. the driverof the truck, identified as Rana Sajjadfrom Sargodha, passed away on the spotwhile the seriously injured passengerpassed away on the way to the hospital.Lahore commissioner Javaid Rafiq Butt,police and other law enforcement agen-cies reached the incident site.

Meanwhile, the CM ordered im-mediate enquiry into the matter andalso ordered that a report be pre-sented to him within that day. He con-

stituted an investigating team com-prising chairman of MIt, C&W secre-tary, chief engineer south and dean ofUEt. “Strict action will be takenagainst those responsible for this acci-dent,” the CM said while talking to thereporters at the incident site. Policearrested the owner of Rauf Con-struction Company, Khalid Rauf, ondirection of the chief minister.Shadman Police handed Rauf overto the Anti-Corruption Cell wherehe will be investigated further. In-vestigations are underway regardingusage of substandard constructionmaterial in making of the bridge,police sources said.INITIAL REPORT:

Initial reports by the investiga-tion team revealed that the pedes-trian bridge was constructed inhaste and with low quality, substan-dard material. the welding and thebolts were also weak which led tothe collapse of the bridge. the teamalso raised questions regarding thequality of the other projects under-taken by the said company.

hASTE MAKES WASTE

g Two killed as pedestrian bridgecollapsesg CM takes notice, Rauf Construction Company’s owner Khalid Rauf arrested


Friday, 29 June, 2012 07

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

tHE Pakistan Medical Association hasannounced that privileged patients willno longer receive vIP treatment in theprivate wards of the public hospitals.the association also demanded the Pun-

jab Chief Minister to get personally involved in thenegotiations in this regard and to accept the gen-uine demands of the doctors’ community.

the PMA also warned the government againstany vindictive action taken against the doctors bythe government, saying the PMA will oppose anysuch actions at all forums.

It also announced to hold protests at the pressclubs of all the districts of Punjab and said aprovincial convention of the association is alsobeing called in which all the associations of the doc-tors will be invited.

the PMA also condemned the bureaucracy forpresenting false figures in the media regarding thedoctors’ salaries. the association’s doctors said thePMA had always played its role in resolving issuesbut that the bureaucrats were deliberately making

their attempts fail.they said the draft of the service structure had

been made by the PMA, YDA and MtA collectivelyand that the responsibility of the strike lay with theprovincial health department, who instead of seri-ously negotiating the issues, were only trying tocomplicate the situation.

the doctors added that the bureaucracy hadpresented false figures regarding the financialimpact of the demands of the doctors. they alsocondemned the character assassination cam-paign held against the doctors’ community bythe provincial health department.

the doctors who participated in the meetingincluded Society of Surgeons General SecretaryProf Hammad Naeem Rana, MtA PresidentProf tehsin Sahi, MtA General Secretary DrMoazam Naqvi, Academy of Family PhysiciansPresident Dr Mian tariq Mahmood, FamilyPhysicians President Dr Aftab Iqbal, Dr KhyzarGondal, Dr tariq Rehmani, Rana Sohail, PMAPresident Dr Ashraf Nizami, PMA Joint Secre-tary Dr Salman Kazmi.

Meanwhile, YDA continued its strike on the11th day, causing hardship to the patients.

Stop the drama,

Parliament is the

mama: badarLAHORE

aPP

Pakistan People’s Party Central SecretaryGeneral Jahangir Badar said the parlia-ment was the mother of all institutionsand there was no concept of democracywithout the parliament.talking to People’s Labour Bureauworkers on thursday, he said the PPPdeserved credit for ensuring the su-premacy of the parliament by restoringthe constitution in its real form.He said the parliament was free andplaying its role in determining the for-eign policy. He said the democratic pow-ers in the country were united andtackling the conspiracies hatchedagainst democracy and the democraticprocess. Badar said the PPP was leadingthe country on the road to progressunder the leadership of PresidentZardari. He hoped the PPP will win thenext elections with a prominent marginto form the next government.

Governor’s house

prepares for

Pm’s arrival LAHOREOnlinE

Newly elected Prime Minister Raja Per-vaiz Ashraf will arrive on Friday on hismaiden, two-day visit to the city.During his stay at the Governor’s House,he will meet with members of the as-sembly and office bearers and will listento their problems and work out a strat-egy to strengthen the party’s presence inPunjab. the PM will also address ameeting of the MPAs from Punjab as-sembly and will chair two differentmeetings. All the final arrangementshave been completed for the PM’s ar-rival at the Governor’s House.

hajj training starts

from monday LAHOREOnlinE

the training of the pilgrims intending togo on Hajj under the governmentscheme, will start from Monday, fol-lowed by a training programme forgroup leaders on 30th June, at the HajiCamp. Hajj Director Saeed Ahmed Maliksaid the Hajj training programmes in 25cities of Punjab will be held under thesupervision of the Hajj Directorate inLahore. He also advised the intendingpilgrims to attend the training pro-grammes and start learning the ritualsfor Hajj to perform these rites accu-rately. the trainings will be held on 2nd,3rd, 5th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 16th, 17th,18th and 19th July across Punjab.

POOR, AND DISCRIMINATED AGAINST!LAHORE: Residents of Mushtaq Colony, Shah Jahan ParkPakistan Mint held a protest demonstration against Water andSanitation Authority for depriving them of their share ofdrinking water and supplying it to a private housing societyinstead for bribery. they claimed that the tube well was in-stalled for their colony but instead it was supplying water tothe private housing society that was bribing the WASA staff toensure its water supply, which is short due to power outages.“We have visited the SDO but to no avail. Every day we aretold that an action would be taken but nothing is done,” saidNasir Akram, a resident of the locality, adding “I have to walka long distance every day in the heat to get water for my familyand so does every one in the locality. We arebeing treated unfairly.” they requestedChief Minster Shahbaz Sharif to take noticeof WASA’s incompetence. STaff rEPOrT

Public hospitals will not layout the red carpet for VIPs

Lahore

g PmA calls for cm’s involvement in initiative for ending ViP treatment,

demands acceptance of doctor’s demands as ydA continues strike

Shalimar Garden,

lahore Fort not in

danger anymore LAHORE OnlinE

the UNESCO World Heritage Commit-tee has recognised the success of Pak-istan, along with Philippines, inimproving the conservation of sites thathad been inscribed on the List of WorldHeritage in Danger. the sites in Pak-istan included the Lahore Fort and theShalimar Gardens. the committee ob-served that successful measures hadbeen taken to remove the threat to thebrilliant palaces, mosques and gardensof Lahore. It inscribed this outstandingtestimony of Mughal civilisation on theWorld Heritage List in 1981. Problems,including urban encroachment, hadwarranted the inscription of the site onthe World Heritage List in Danger in2000, at the request of the Pakistanigovernment. the committee noted thatmany of the site’s monuments havesince been restored. Better drainage andplanning have also improved the preser-vation of the site’s external walls andsolved problems of dampness. the Listof World Heritage in Danger is designedto inform the international communityof threats to the outstanding universalvalues for which a property has been in-scribed on the World Heritage List andto encourage corrective action.

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WALKING around the station oneday this summer, I met AbdulMajid. He was an old man withhennaed hair and heavy plasticspectacles. He wore a sparkling

clean shalwar kameez, and sat on a magnificentthrone raised on a mahogany dais above platform1. Above him was a plaque with the message ‘Ourobjective- Speed Cum Safety.’

Abdul Majeed told me that he had retired fromthe Pakistani Railways ten years earlier, but choseto come to the station and sit in the informationbooth by choice. “I spent forty years in the RailwayDepartment,” repeated Majeed, lowering his faceshyly. “I come back to this station because I lovethese railways of Pakistan- to them I have dedi-cated my life- and because my colleagues are mybest friends.”

I remarked to Majeed how many of the oldermen in the Pakistani railways seemed to regard therunning of the railways almost as a sacred duty.

“I think we should,” replied Majeed. “I alwaystook my duty as a sacred duty, just like my religiousfunction. I never came to the station without wash-ing myself, just as I prepare for my prayers in themosque.” I asked him how the railways hadchanged in the forty years he had been part of them.

“Sahib,” said Majeed. “It’s not only the rail-ways. the change is in the general sphere of life.”

“In what way?”“In the shape of corruption, in the shape of re-

quirements, in the shape of evils, in the shape ofthinkings, in the shape of harassment, in the shapeof sabotages. Now the young men are not so duti-ful, I think. there has been big change.”

“You think corruption has eaten into the rail-way system?”

“Sahib, you can imagine. When I was workingas a station master, people used to adjust theirwatches by the passage of trains. Now we adjustour watches from the public. today there is nopunctuality. Yesterday’s train arrives today andtoday’s train arrives tomorrow. No one thinks tomention it when a train comes in ten or twelvehours late. things are very bad.”

Abdul Majeed, it emerged, was born in the halfof the Punjab which is now part of India. Expelledfrom his ancestral village in early September 1947at Partition, he and his family were made to walkto a refugee camp in the Monsoon rains. therewere no facilities for drinking water or for even themost basic sanitation. Soon cholera broke out.

“In the camp my mother died at about 14

hours due to cholera,” said Abdul Majeed, eyes stilllowered. “the same day my father died at 2 am.”

“So you lost both your parents on the sameday?” “Yes. We buried our mother that evening,then buried our father on the morning of the 9thof October.”

“You had to bury them yourselves?”“Yes we buried them ourselves near a mosque,

offering our religious prayers. I was just fifteenyears old. the following day we were made to walkto the new place from where we had to catch atrain. In the crowd, my younger brother was sepa-rated from the rest of us. I never saw him again. Inthe morning, when the train passed the Beas RiverI looked down and saw hundreds of corpses scat-tered in the river bed from point to point, beingeaten by crows, dogs and kites, giving bad smell.After many hours we eventually crossed the Pak-istan border from Atari at about fifteen hours. Wewere stunned when people said Pakistan Zindabad[Long Live Pakistan!]. they welcomed us and gaveus food and water. We had not eaten for four or fivedays. then we thought, we are still alive.”

the longer I stayed at Lahore, the more I re-alised quite how cataclysmic Partition must havebeen. Pakistan’s birth pangs had also been India’sHolocaust. Everyone you met had their story: fifty-year-old tales of exile, death, massacre and be-reavement flowed from their lips as readily as if itwere new gossip. the most horrific were told to meby Majeed’s elderly friend, Khawaja Bilal who hadhad the unenviable job of being the station masterof Lahore in 1947.

“I have been coming to Lahore Station since Iwas a student,” Khawajah Bilal told me as we sat ona bench outside what had once been his stationmaster’s office. “Before Partition took place the sta-tion was a landmark of beauty. the platforms wereclean and the carriages were spotless. the peoplewere calm and quiet. the staffers were well dressed.the uniforms they wore were immaculate. the but-tons were polished; the braid was golden and shoneunder the lights. All that ended with Partition.”

“What happened?” I asked.“On the 14th of August I was on duty. We

heard an announcement that Partition had takenplace. Soon after that the killing started, theslaughter began. Everywhere we looked we sawcarnage and destruction of human life. there wasno law and order, even when the soldiers came andmade a barricade with barbed wire outside the sta-tion. Despite their presence, many were beingkilled on the platforms, on the bridges, in the ticket

halls. there were stabbings, rapes, attempts atarson. I had my charpoy in the station master’s of-fice: I didn’t dare go back to my house. But at nightI could not sleep because of the screams andmoans of the dying coming from the platform. Inthe morning, when the light came, bodies wouldbe lying everywhere.”

“One morning, I think it was 30th of August,the Bombay Express came in from Delhi viaBhatinda. there were around two thousand peopleon this train. We found dead bodies in the lavato-ries, on the seats, under the seats. We checked thewhole train, but nobody was alive except one per-son. there had been a massacre when the trainstopped at Bhatinda. the sole survivor told us hehad approached the train driver, an Englishman,who gave him refuge. He hid the man in the wa-tertank by the engine. When the Sikhs arrived theycould not see him so they went away and he sur-vived. Only one man out of two thousand. Afterthat every train that came from India was attacked.We used to receive one hundred trains a day. therewere corpses in every one.”

Listening to these horror stories it was clearthat for the people of India and Pakistan the hor-rors of Partition were not just the stuff of history,consigned to the memories of a few old men: formost people they were still livid scars, unhealedwounds which were still poisoning relations be-tween Hindu and Muslim, India and Pakistan,more than half a century later.

When Lord John Lawrence broke the earth onthe future site of Lahore Railway Station in Febru-ary 1859, the silver shovel he used bore the Latinmotto ‘tam bello quam pace’- better peace thanwar. the motto was appropriate because the rail-ways did play a vital part in creating a peaceful,united India. the irony was that less than a centurylater, they were also the instrument that made itsirreparable division feasible. the biggest migrationin human history was only possible because thou-sands of people could be moved from one end ofthe country to another by rail. It was two way traf-fic, and the slaughter which resulted was on a scaleso unimaginable, and the wounds created were sodeep, that to this day India and Pakistan are stillthe most bitter enemies. today the old main linefrom Lahore to Delhi, once the busiest line inIndia, is now the hardly used. these days only onetrain a week passes from Lahore Station down theline to Pakistan- and that is largely empty.

Based on the travel writings by William Dalrymple.

Three-PArT serIes on PArTITIon And The LAhore rAILwAy sTATIon

g Majeed, who worked for the Railways for over 40 years, visits the station daily only to

see more and more trains getting delayed as corruption eats through the strong walls

of the station g His friend, Bilal, was the station master on the eve of the Partition

The Railways’ slow death



Foreign News

Putin tells russiato be ready foreconomic crisis

MOSCOWafP

President vladimir Putin on thursday ordered hisgovernment to put aside billions of dollars in next year’sbudget to protect the country’s vulnerable economy in caseof a new economic crisis. Putin, who has in recent monthsfaced unprecedented street protests against his rule, saidRussia’s main priority was to ensure economic stabilitydespite its dangerous dependence on energy exports. “Wemust take into account any scenarios for the world andRussian economies and have the instruments andpossibilities to react,” he told the government and membersof parliament in an unusually stark warning of danger.“therefore I ask you to put into the coming year’s budgetenough reserves to realise anti-crisis measures, if, of course,the need arises,” he said in comments published on theKremlin website. Putin did not give figures but FinanceMinister Anton Siluanov said the government would alreadyin 2012 have the right to spend 200 billion rubles ($6billion) on anti-crisis measures. Siluanov had told Financialtimes earlier this month that Russia was ready to build up achest of $40 billion in the next years to combat the effects ofan economic crisis as Moscow nervously eyes developmentsin the eurozone. Putin admitted that the government’s high-cost programme of improving infrastructure in Russia,modernising social services and reforming the military nowneeded to be implemented in “complicated conditions”.“the world economy is going through a period of turbulenceand we need to be ready for any crisis,” he told the meetingon Russia’s budget policy to 2015.“Our main task is to preservestability of the macroeconomyand the budget. It’s clear that themain risk is the high dependencyon the fluctuations on globalenergy markets.” EconomicDevelopment MinisterAndrei Belousov said thatin the first quarter thisyear Russia enjoyedgrowth of 4.9 percent andgrowth was seen to be 4.0percent in the second.

DAMASCUSafP

TWIN bombs exploded outsidethe Palace of Justice in Dam-ascus on thursday as deadlyviolence raged across thecountry and turkey deployed

missile batteries along its border with Syria.With fighting in the 16-month-old re-

volt increasingly focusing on the capital,world powers were preparing for a crucialmeeting on ways to end the conflict andto discuss a plan by peace envoy KofiAnnan for an interim government.

the meeting in Geneva, only agreedafter wrangling between Moscow andWashington over the agenda and the guestlist, is to be attended by some regional gov-

ernments but not by rival Middle Eastheavyweights Iran and Saudi Arabia. Rus-sia poured cold water on Saturday’s meet-ing, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovsaying Moscow backs a political transitionin Syria but rejects Western pressure forthe ouster of President Bashar al-Assad.

three people were wounded when thebombs exploded in the car park outsidethe court complex in central Damascus,state media reported. A police source toldAFP that two magnetic bombs explodedin two judges’ cars and that a third wasbeing defused.

State television showed footage ofheavy smoke rising from the site as fire-fighters battled the flames. Elsewhere, vi-olence killed at least 69 people, including38 civilians, on thursday after one of the

bloodiest days of the 15-month revolt leftnearly 150 dead, a watchdog said.

Eighteen civilians were killed in thenorthern Damascus suburb of Doumawhen troops surrounded it and clashedwith rebel fighters, said the Syrian Obser-vatory for Human Rights, adding that 12were from the same family.

thursday’s death toll also included 23soldiers and eight rebels, said the watch-dog, adding that that regime forces,backed by helicopters, pounded severalareas of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.

Of the more than 15,804 people killedsince the uprising against Assad’s rulebroke out in March last year, nearly 4,700have died since April 12, when a UN-backed ceasefire was supposed to havetaken effect, the Observatory says.

On Wednesday at least 149 peoplewere killed – one of the bloodiest day ofthe conflict – said the Observatory.

turkey, meanwhile, has sent missilebatteries, tanks and troops to the borderwith Syria as a “security corridor,” afterSyrian shot down a turkish military jetlast on Friday, media reports said.

there was no official confirmation, butstate-run tRt television showed dozens of

military vehicles loaded with army personnelreportedly on the move for the volatile bor-der, in a convoy that included low-altitudeair defence systems and anti-aircraft guns.

About 30 military vehicles accompa-nied by a truck towing missile batteries lefta base in the southeastern province ofHatay for the border, about 50 kilometres(30 miles) away, the Milliyet newspaper re-ported. the turkish Phantom F-4 jet wasdowned by Syrian fire over the easternMediterranean in what Prime MinisterRecep tayyip Erdogan said was a “heinousattack” in international waters. Diplomats

at the United Nations revealed on Wednes-day that Annan is proposing setting up aSyrian transitional government to includerepresentatives of both sides in the conflict.

the proposed interim authoritywould exclude officials whose presencemight jeopardise the transition “or un-dermine efforts to bring reconciliation,”according to a summary given by oneUN diplomat.

“the language of Annan’s plan sug-gests that Assad could be excluded butalso that certain opposition figures couldbe ruled out,” said another UN diplomat.

WaShinGTOn: Supporters of uS President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare legislation celebrate after the uS Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality

of the affordable healthcare act, outside the Supreme Court on Thursday. AFP

BEIJINGafP

China on thursday said it would resolutely opposeany military provocation in its territorial waters, re-marks which appeared to be directed at the UnitedStates, vietnam and the Philippines.

China’s military has established routine naval pa-trols in the South China Sea, “indisputable territory”of the nation and a matter of “national sovereignty,”defence ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said.

“We will resolutely oppose any military provoca-tions,” Geng said in statements posted on his min-istry’s website. “the determination and will ofChina’s military to safeguard national sovereignty

and territorial integrity is unwavering.”Geng’s remarks came as the United States

launched the largest-ever “Rim of the Pacific” navalexercises in Hawaii, involving 22 nations, includingthe US, India, Russia, Australia and the Philippines.

China was not invited to participate or observe theexercises. tensions in the South China Sea have inten-sified recently with vietnam and the Philippines bothaccusing China of increasingly flexing its military mus-cle in the region, despite a pledge from all claimants toavoid actions that could further stoke tensions. Boththe Philippines and vietnam have also sought to shoreup relations with the United States to counter China’sincreasingly vocal assertions over the region that alsoincludes key international shipping routes.

british policeserve extraditionnotice on Assange

LONDONafP

British police on thursday served anextradition notice on WikiLeaks founderJulian Assange, who has taken refuge inEcuador’s embassy in London requestingaslyum. Scotland Yard said they hadserved a “surrender notice” on the 40-year-old Australian requiring him toattend a police station, adding that failureto do so would make him further liable toarrest. Assange faces extradition toSweden over sex crime allegations, havingexhausted his options under British lawwhen the Supreme Court overturned hisappeal against extradition earlier thismonth. Fearing Stockholm would passhim on to the United States, he soughtrefuge at Ecuador’s embassy in Londonon June 19, asking the South Americancountry for political asylum. ScotlandYard has “served a surrender notice upona 40-year-old man that requires him toattend a police station at date and time ofour choosing,” a spokeskan said. “this isstandard practice in extradition cases andis the first step in the removal process.“He remains in breach of his bailconditions. Failing to surrender would bea further breach of conditions and he isliable to arrest.” It is understood thatofficers from Scotland Yard’s extraditionunit delivered a note to the embassysaying Assange has to present himself to anearby police station at 11:30am (1030GMt) Friday, the domestic PressAssociation news agency said.

GUWAHATIafP

At least 27 people have died and 900,000 othershave been forced to leave their homes as monsoonrains swamp wide areas of the northeastern Indianstate of Assam, officials said on thursday.

A state government spokesman said 21 ofAssam’s 27 districts were hit by flash floods whichbegan last weekend as the rains lashed the tea andoil-rich Indian state. “So far, 27 people have diedin separate incidents including five who werekilled when their boat sank,” Assam AgricultureMinister Nilamoni Sen Deka told AFP in Guwa-hati, the state’s largest city. He also said theBrahmaputra river was overflowing its banks inmany places.

Deka said an estimated 900,000 people hadbeen displaced from their homes due to the flood-ing. “Most of the displaced people have beenforced to take shelter on raised platforms and intarpaulin tents,” Deka added.

“All major rivers are running menacingly highwith breaches reported in many places,” addedAssam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma asrescuers set up 1,500 temporary shelters for peoplestranded. In nearby Bangladesh, the death toll froma series of flash floods and landslides rose above100 on thursday. the annual monsoon, crucial toIndia’s food production and economic growth, ar-rived over the tropical country earlier in the month.Indian agriculture gets 60 percent of its precipitationfrom the rains and a bad monsoon can spell financialdisaster for the country’s 235 million farmers.

DEADLY SYRIA VIOLENCE,Turkey sends missiles to border

Floods kill 27, displace 900,000 in northeast IndiaMAYONg: A villager moves his belongings on a banana

raft from his half submerged house in flood waters at

the flood affected area at Mayong village in Morigoan

district, some 80 kms from guwahati, on Thursday. AFP

ChInA vows To oPPose MILITAry ProvoCATIon


Comment10Friday, 29 June, 2012

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Pakistan needs a policy change pronto

coming in from the cold

Pakistan has painted itself into a corner for too long. Ithas to come in from the cold now. the policy towardsterrorism requires a radical change to preservewhatever is left and to improve the image of the

country. that the world has developed a zero tolerance forterrorism should be clear from the way the Saudi authoritiesarrested Zabiuddin alias Abu Jundal and extradited him toIndia. the knee jerk reaction to reject any informationregarding terrorist activities coming from New Delhi as anti-Pakistan propaganda has to be avoided. Rehman Malik needs tolook at whatever evidence is sent after the completion ofZabiuddin’s interrogation. Maybe it can help in reaching themasterminds of the Mumbai terrorist attack. A persistent stateof denial would lead to the perception that the government ishesitant to identify them. On India’s part, Home MinisterChidambram should keep his impatience under control and letthe interrogation be competed and collated with other relevantdata before claiming that some state actors from Pakistan werebehind the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan should seize on any opportunity that brings it backinto the loop vis-à-vis talks on Afghanistan. Kabul’s new envoyfor peace Salahudin Rabbani has urged Islamabad to helprevitalise talks with the taliban. He has conceded that Pakistanalone has the clout to help kickstart the peace move. there is aneed to hold in-depth talks with the new chairman of theAfghan High Peace Council when he comes to Islamabad.Pakistan has to work devotedly and sincerely for the restorationof peace and security in Afghanistan as its own peace andsecurity, and to a considerable extent the future of its economy,depend on it. Karzai should meanwhile rein in those in Kabulwho are bent upon marring relations between the neighboursthrough irresponsible statements.

Unless Pakistan and US jointly find a way out of the presentstate of confrontation, both will be losers in human andmaterial terms. An apology from Washington has to be workedout to allay sentiments in Pakistan. this should be followed byopening of the Nato routes. the two countries also need to joinhands to bring the menace of extremism and militancy undercontrol. Pakistan needs Washington’s help to eliminate thettP elements operating from Afghanistan. Washingtonrequires Pakistan’s support to get rid of the Haqqani network.Both goals can be achieved through cooperation between theUS and Pakistan.

Yesterday, I gave the news.today, I am the news. What atransition. Interestingly, a

couple of months back I had writtena column about unethical reportingon social media. Little could I imag-ine that soon I would be its mostcelebrated victim and that themainstream media would jump inand join the bandwagon in haste.

What happened in the infamousMalik Riaz interview is now com-mon knowledge and I guess mil-lions have seen the video andcommented on it. Millions mayhave seen it but I have not. that’sright. For the last two weeks or so,I have not seen the television norread any newspapers out of seriousdepression. I even stayed awayfrom the social media except for ona few occasions. I do however getfrequent reminders by friends andfamily who tell me what’s on. thebest comment that came out was ona facebook page when a young ladyfrom USA commented, “I can’timagine all those who voted for ourcorrupt politicians to shout them-

selves hoarse and point out to a tel-evision show in mock horrorwhence they themselves have votedin the biggest corruption ever….”Maybe it is not a fair comment butit does give me some respite in ajungle of hateful and abusive re-marks.

Sadly all those so called sensi-ble journalists that teach us ethicsof journalism on television nevereven once asked for my point ofview, or my side of the story. Somuch for impartiality and fairness.

I did give my own version onthe same medium as I felt that Iowed it to my children, family andmost specially my viewers who havebeen loyal to me over the years.

they tell me each setbackmakes you a better man. I am notsure if one wants to be a great manat this cost? Something that dis-turbs me is how the on-screen andoff-screen tapes were edited andcombined to give a false impressionabout what transpired. Obviously,it does not matter now as somehave made up their minds, while

others may not appreciate the finedifference. Moreover, another thingthat baffles me was the barrage ofarticles and comments praising athief who stole the footage to up-load it on Youtube. I respect thegreat cause but how in the worldcan anyone justify theft for any rea-son whatsoever. So much for ourbroadsheet ethics. Sadly, I still be-long to the school of thought whichdoes not allow me to condone rob-bers and thieves.

When I uploaded my version onYoutube, I did ask some probingquestions of my peers. to date, noone has answered them or taken upmy challenge. What some televisionanchors made out to look likecrafted chatter off-the-screen isnothing compared to what actuallytranspires in their own shows. Anyjournalist who has spent a few yearsin the field will vouch for the factthat this is neither out-of-the-ordi-nary or unethical. Sadly, the biggestscoop of the day was made to looklike the greatest scam of the year.Quotes were edited to give false im-

pressions; a harmless phone callwas made to appear as dictation bythe federal government whilst a de-tailed text message by someone inthe opposition was forgotten as achild’s remark, for that suited them.

What actually transpired thatday is a story that I shall definitelytell but before that I must ruefullyexplain how my children were ha-rassed in shopping centres, myfriends laughed at and my viewersmade to duck in shame and, for awhile, it seemed the entire worldwould collapse. If it were not forfaith in God, my loved ones and myspecial friends who came in largenumbers and provided me withstrength and support, I would neverhave been able to rise above thestate I was forced into.

I still believe that the issue wasblown unfairly out of proportionand that my own colleagues wentaround in circles, not being able todecide where to begin. I am notpassing on the buck as none of thatmatters to me now but it left somedeep scars to serve as a painful re-

minder for years to come. In hindsight, some great things

happened. I must confess havingbeen robbed off the status of a soloanchor actually saved me for my co-host of the day and I never gotalong. Heaven forbid, if I had beenalone, I am sure I would have beenat ease and comfort and then therewould have been no respite for mewhatsoever. A harmless joke on theday comes back to haunt me assome took it very seriously.

On the fateful day, nothingwent right for me. A small car acci-dent, a ticket on the motorway, los-ing some neck ties and thenboardroom arguments that turnedunpleasant and so much more.

However, before I tell my ver-sion of the infamous Malik Riaz in-terview, I just wish to remind thoseso-called honourable newspapersthat published front-page news thatI had run away from the countrythat they were wrong in their re-porting: I am still around.

(Part 1 of a series of articles)

The other side of the story

I am still around

Double standards much?Say no to anti-Semitism, but islamophobia is fine…

Ralph Nader is without adoubt one of truly transfor-mational figures in contem-porary American history.We drink cleaner water,

breathe purer air, drive safer cars, andare better protected at work and at play,because of the movement he led.

Ever the innovator, Ralph has takenon a new challenge: to force open discus-sion about topics that had previously beenconsidered “off-limits” by “main-streammedia, legislative bodies or the electoralarena”. His project, called “Debatingtaboos” sponsors televised debates bring-ing these controversial issues into thepublic square. this past week, I partici-pated in one of these, on the topic—”Isthere a double standard in the response toanti-Semitism against Arab Americanscompared with the response to anti-Semi-tism against Jewish Americans?”

Some who had been invited to partic-ipate in the discussion declined. they ac-knowledged that “anti-Arabism” andIslamophobia are a problem but dis-missed Nader’s formulation of the topicas “utterly misconceived”, “misleadingand even tendentious”. they argued thatthe word “anti-Semitism” can refer onlyto Jews.

In reality, however, Nader has apoint since historically the animus thathas inspired bigotry directed againstArabs and Muslims, on the one side, andJews, on the other, has been cut out ofthe same cloth. It was a largely Westernphenomenon that emerged in full forcewith the emergence of the modern statesystem in Europe and was directedagainst two Semitic peoples - one whichthe West found living within its midstand which it identified as an internalthreat; and the other which the Westconfronted as an external challenge, butwhich it similarly defined as a threat.

As a result, both groups suffered ahistory of vilification and dehumanisa-tion enduring persistent and systematic

campaigns of intense violence. Jewswere segregated, tormented, targeted,and forced to endure repeated pogroms,leading to the horrors of the Holocaust.the dehumanisation campaigns againstArabs, on the other hand, were used tojustify imperial conquest, the colonisa-tion of Arab lands, and efforts to eradi-cate their identity in the Maghreb andtheir dismemberment and dispersal inthe Levant.

three decades ago, I collaborated ina study of political cartoons and otherforms of popular culture - comparing thedepiction of Jews in tsarist Russia andpre-Nazi Germany with those of Arabs inthe US in the 70’s and 80’s. In both con-tent and form, the treatments given toeach of the two groups were virtuallyidentical. the two most prevalent Ger-man and Russian depictions of Jews par-alleled the two most common images ofArabs projected in US cartoons. the fatgrotesque Jewish banker or merchantfound its counterpart in the obese oilsheikh, while the image of the Jewish an-archist, communist, subversive terrorist,morphed into the Arab and now Muslimterrorist. they differed only in attire.

Both were seen as alien and hostile.they were accused of not sharing West-ern values, being prone to violent con-spiracies, being lecherous usurpers of“our” wealth - and therefore threats toWestern civilisation.

to Nader’s point - it is a sad but truefact that while it has become unaccept-able to publicly express or manifest big-otry against Jews, anti-Semitism againstArabs - and increasingly, by extension,against Muslims - remains a part of ourpopular culture and our political dis-course. For several reasons, this type ofbigotry against Jews has become unac-ceptable. For one, the collective memorythe horror of the Holocaust looms large.then there is the fact that we have devel-oped a familiarity with the rich diversitywithin the Jewish community and areaware of the many contributions Jewshave made to our common heritage. Im-ages of Jews of all types are present inour popular culture. Finally, there is thereality that Jewish community organisa-tions with many allies across the ethnic,religious, and political spectrum havemade it clear that there is a price to payfor public manifestations of bigotry. (Ithas not gone away, to be sure. Rather, itsproponents have become marginalisedand gone underground).

Arabs and Muslims, on the otherhand, are still portrayed as more violent,less humane, not sharing our values, lessrational, more prone to anger, and lesstrustworthy than the rest of us. And

these notions are fuelled on a daily basisby our popular and political cultures.

Hollywood, in particular, has anArab and Muslim problem with negativestereotypes abounding. But our politicalculture is no better. For more than adecade now, some political leaders havebeen engaged in poisonous discoursetargeting Arabs and Muslims - culminat-ing in recent years in the mass move-ment to block the building of an IslamicCommunity Centre in lower Manhattan,a rash of referenda and legislation toblock the imposition of Sharia law inover two dozen states, and declarationsby presidential candidates insisting thatMuslims would have to take special loy-alty oaths before allowing them into pub-lic service. And it has been revealed thatmany in our military and law enforce-ment agencies have received deeplyflawed and biased training about Arabsand Muslims. And while this hate hashad devastating consequences for Arabsand Muslims - in crimes against theirpersons and rights, discrimination, andprofiling - the purveyors of the hate havereceived nary a slap on the wrist.

Racist books like Raphael Patai’s“The Arab Mind” continued to be used totrain our military through the end of theIraq war. Hate-mongers like MichaelSavage and Ann Coulter remain on theair and retain cult-like followings. Ob-sessed anti-Arab and anti-Muslim writ-ers and bloggers are quoted bypresidential candidates, law enforcementagencies, and hate criminals, alike.

And it is clear that there is a doublestandard at work in all of this. Ask your-self what the reaction would be if ArabAmericans wrote books about Jews likethose written by David Horowitz, DanielPipes, and Robert Spenser - what wouldwe call them? What would the reactionbe if Herman Cain had suggested thatAmerican Jews or Mormons or any otherreligious group be required to take a loy-alty oath before serving in government?And what if an Arab billionaire made anddistributed millions of copies of moviescharging that there was a massive and vi-olent Jewish conspiracy to take over theWest, would presidential candidates belining their campaign coffers with hismillions as they are with Sheldon Adel-son?

the bottom line is that Nader is rightto have encouraged this debate becausethere is a shameful double standard andit must end. And the sooner Americansaddress this problem and correct it, thebetter our country will be.

The writer is President of the Arab-American Institute.

Washington WatchBy Dr James J Zogby

By Mubasher Lucman


this is apropos of the news item about the strikeof Young Doctors in Punjab and the deadlock innegotiations between the government and YoungDoctors Association (June 27). It is very unfortunatethat people from this respected profession areprotesting for their demands. there is a close relationbetween rights and duties. Doctors must demand whatis possible instead of simply putting forward a long list of“unrealistic demands”. they have already been providedcertain incentives by Punjab Government last year.

the worst thing is that the medicalsuperintendents of public sector hospitals have failedto safeguard the rights of poor patients coming fromfar-flung areas who were denied treatment in thesepublic sector hospitals for the last 10 days or so.

I am of the considered opinion that governmentshould treat all their employees in a similar manneracross the board. Doctors are not the onlyprofessionals affected by inflation. Pharmacists,statistical officers, health educators, psychologists etcare equally affected. Why is the government then onlylooking to cut a deal with the doctors only?

these “young doctors” are playing into the handsof a few senior doctors who want to blackmail thegovernment through these tactics. It is fact that thisstrike is putting the rights of vulnerable patients atstake. the medical profession is a noble service andthe YDA should behave responsibly should make onlyjust and reasonable demands. these health managersof public sector hospitals have failed to safeguard the

rights of the common man. I believe that MedicalSuperintendents of public sector hospitals beingdoctor themselves have more sympathy for membersof their fraternity rather than for the poor patients.

It is also my considered opinion that there can beno improvement in public sector hospitals unless weappoint non-doctors as head of the institutions. Amajority of the doctors working at public hospitals alsohave private practices and some even go to privateclinics during their official duty hours because there isno accountability of doctors in the country. Moreover,the government should solve the problems of otherprofessionals of the health department besides doctors.

FAROOQ BASHIR BUTTLahore

why the silence?this letter is with reference to

beheading of security personnel bytehreek-e-taliban Pakistan (ttP). thisis not the first incident of this naturecommitted by the taliban rather theyhave committed this savagery severaltimes before. the most despicable partof this event is that the taliban not onlyowned up to the beheading but alsoinvited the media to see and broadcasttheir perverted philosophy to the world.

there is no denying the fact that itis a criminal and savage incident andmust be condemned by any person whocalls himself a human being. Butunfortunately, large sections of thepolitical world, the media, the legalcommunity and the ulema havemaintained a deafening silence aboutsuch actions.

the enormity of the crime isn’tadequately conveyed by such terms as‘war crimes’ or ‘human rightsviolations’. there is a dire need to payattention to the rising acts of talibansavagery and they need to becondemned by all factions of society.Letting the taliban’s cruelty be lost inthe din of Pakistan’s recurring politicalcrises would be disastrous. Stayingmum and silent on these inhumane actsis nothing but a greater source ofshame, which should be changed if oneis to recognise the harsh reality ofmilitancy in the country.

A’AYAN HUSSAINRawalpindi

(II)After a spectacular display of

judicial activism by the PakistaniSupreme Court during last few weeks,we witnessed an outstanding act ofjournalistic activism on June 25. thatafternoon, all of a sudden all tvchannels were in the grip of only onebreaking news that President Zardarihas commuted the death sentence of anIndian spy Sarabjit Singh who was

earlier convicted in the 1990 bomb blastcase. that was enough for the right-wing media mongers and religiousparties to create havoc on electronicmedia. Most of the tv talk showscompeted with each other to condemnthe president’s humanitarian act torelease a prisoner who has alreadyspent 21 years in jail. By late evening,the president’s spokesman clarified thatSarabjit Singh’s sentence had not beencommuted but another Indian spy Sarjitsingh was being released.

Keeping aside the mix-up of thespies’ names which kicked the right-wingers into a frenzy, I have only onequestion for these religious parties andtheir media-mongers who must havespent a sleepless night on June 25: whywas there was no hue and cry and con-demnation when the Swati taliban at-tacked Pakistani army posts last Sundayin Upper Dir wherein scores of soldierswere killed and injured. Later, the tal-iban released a video showing the re-mains of 17 beheaded Pakistani soldiers.

Why the religious partiesmaintained a pin drop silence on theDir atrocity. What should we call this –hypocrisy, double standards or simplycan’t afford to even pay lip service tocondemn our own ‘blue-eyed boys’.

MASOOD KHANSaudi Arabia

‘A new judiciary’A section of the English language

press (Pakistan Today of 28-06-2012)has reported a statement of Federal In-formation Minister Qamar Zaman Kairathat it is being planned to put in place anew judiciary. He has further said thatthe parliament was supreme as it hadcreated the constitution and it had thepower to create a new one. He conve-niently forgets that the 1973 Constitu-tion was created by a constituentassembly while the present assembly islegislative in nature. It can make

amendments but not a new constitutionand these amendments would again besubject to judicial review. Perhaps, thePPP wants to have a pliant judiciary andnot an independent one. But will thelawyers community and the civil societypermit this?

DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTILahore

comedy of errors?On 26th June , news were flashed

all over the media that the Aiwan-e-Sadr had pardoned Sarabjeet Singh andconverted his death sentence into lifeimprisonment. there were celebrationsacross the border and rightly so.

But on 27th June, it was clarifiedthat the orders for the release of SurjitSingh were issued instead. One feltsorry for the family of Sarabjeet Singh .

this comedy of errors emanatingfrom the Aiwan-e-Sadr and ourirresponsible media is nothing new forus Pakistanis . We have gotten used tosuch jokes. One would like to know thepublic at large is taken simply as foolsby design or due to incompetence?

SALMAN BABARLahore

let’s not splurgethe Election Commission has

announced the new code of conduct forpolls in accordance with a SupremeCourt judgment that calls for limitingexpenses while campaigning bycandidates. the notification states thatno candidate should exceed the electionexpenses limit of rupees 1.5 million.this is a step in the right direction bythe Election Commission, but the storydoes not end here. Several other stepsneed to be taken as well. the issues ofdual nationalities, fake degrees,declaration of assets and the like alsoneed to be taken seriously.

If the Election Commission is

indeed able to implement these steps, itwill be able to make the election processfree and fair and that is key for thecontinuation and strengthening ofdemocracy.

TARIQ HUSSAIN KHANKarachi

The right fuelthis is with respect to the recent

news in the publications regarding theintroduction of the Euro EmissionStandards by the government. the factis that this new policy of thegovernment is not being fullyimplemented in the country mainly dueto the unavailability of Euro II-compliant fuel in the market. the automanufacturers are already adoptingEuro II standards in all locallyproduced models. But, what about thecommercial vehicles that constitute ahuge part of the overall traffic?

the commercial vehicles are stillnot Euro II-compliant because they runon diesel, and the Euro II-compliantdiesel is currently not available in thelocal market. the reason behind this isthat oil refineries in the country are notequipped to produce refined diesel. thisobviously means that the produceddiesel does not meet the Euro II stan-dard. Even though the auto makers mayhave put catalytic converters in passen-ger cars, yet the commercial vehiclesare still emitting harmful substances,which are polluting the environment.

In order to protect the environmentfrom harmful exhaust emissions, thegovernment needs to pay attentiontowards the availability of Euro II-compliant diesel in the local market.For that, the oil refineries need to be re-visited and outfitted with necessaryequipment to produce Euro II Diesel, sothat commercial vehicles are alsocompliant with Euro II standards.

ALAMGIR KHANKarachi

Comment 11Friday, 29 June, 2012

Split loyaltiesNo political party, including

members of parliament, have a licenseto compromise state sovereignty just tokeep their numbers intact by allowingindividuals who have renounced theirloyalties to Pakistan and signed anoath pledging all their loyalty toanother state to hold public office. Asit is, this powerful lobby discriminatesagainst those citizens holding just aPakistani nationality for promotionsand foreign postings. All our politicalparties, which include PPP, PML(N),PtI, PML(Q), MQM, JUI(F) and ANPwho intend to amend, or support sucha move, are guilty of denting oursovereignty. Such individuals forwhatever reasons they may have,cannot and should never be allowed tohold any public office, whether electedor paid.

Let these individuals desirous ofholding public offices renounce theirpledges and sign a fresh oath of loyaltyto Pakistan, overriding any otherpledge that they may have undertaken,prior to being eligible to hold anypublic office of significance. thesesensitive services include all thoseregular employments which areconsidered essential services, or areliable to be declared as such, whichinclude service in law enforcement,judiciary, armed forces, civil servants,foreign service, national airline,NADRA, State Bank etc.

We cannot allow Quaid’s Pakistanto become a Banana Republic, wheresuch men plunder or conspire againstthe state and then depart with theirloot, evading any accountability. IfPakistan wants to be an independent,self-respecting sovereign state, itshould never allow men with splitloyalties, with no stakes to decide thefate of our motherland. Any such moveis tantamount to making Pakistan aslave to direct foreign influencethrough men who have pledged theirallegiance to a foreign state. It isagainst the basic foundations of ourconstitution.

ANEELA CHANDIOSukkur

doctors on strike

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to

Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-ShaareyFatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

Fax: +92-42-36298302. E-mail: [email protected].

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan

today exclusively.


12 Friday, 29 June, 2012

IN LIMELIGHT

Scarlett Johanssonmay get $66k compensationover nude photo hacking nEW YOrk: Scarlett Johansson should get more than 66,000 dollars from the hacker who leaked sexy snaps that were

meant for former hubby Ryan Reynolds, prosecutors said in a federal court filing. US attorneys in los Angeles said hacker

christopher chaney also should pay 7,500 dollars to singer christina Aguilera and 76,767.35 dollars to actress Renee

Olstead, a star on the hit Abc Family show ‘The Secret life of the American Teenager.’ Federal prosecutors made the

restitution request in a 19-page filing ahead of chaney’s expected sentencing July 23.

They mentioned victim mila Kunis but did not recommend money for the ‘black

Swan’ star, noting there was “no evidence that nude photos of mila Kunis were

stolen or posted by defendant.” The nude pics of Johansson that flooded the

internet last year showed the ‘Avengers’ star posing naked in a bathroom

mirror and lying topless in bed. “i know my best angles,” the 27-year-old

told Vanity Fair. chaney pleaded guilty to felony wiretapping and

unauthorised access of a computer in march in a plea deal that

spared him other charges. The Aguilera

photos hacked from her stylist’s email

account showed the 31-year-old singer

wearing little more than silver pasties.

Photos swiped from Kunis, 28,

leaked around the same as

Johansson’s. One was an innocent

shot of Kunis in a bathtub with

only her head showing. Another

was an explicit shot of an

unknown man. aGEnCiES

JESSICA BIELwas nervous aboutpunching KateBeckinsale lOS anGElES: Actor Jessica biel says

she did not want to punch her ‘Total

Recall’ co-star Kate beckinsale while

shooting the movie. The actress was

worried because beckinsale’s husband

and director len wisemen was present

on the sets of the 1990`s sci-fi remake,

reports contactmusic.com. “i was so

fearful of hitting her. i was thinking,

‘Please don’t let me hit this woman in

the face! her husband is watching!` And

then i hit her,” biel told empire

magazine. beckinsale said: “i like the

fact that there’s this fight between

Jessica and i and it doesn’t end up that

some one’s sleeve is ripped off. This was

as if it was two guys - and yet it was us

kind of madly apologising to each other.”

The 30-year-old biel plays female

protagonist melina while beckinsale portrays

the evil lori. aGEnCiES

3

MELBOURNEaGEnCiES

LADY Gaga is courting controversy after de-buting her latest song ‘Princess Die’. the‘Born this Way’ hitmaker unveiled thesong during her performance in Mel-bourne. Before breaking into the

song for her fans, Gaga said: “this song may ormay not be on my next album. the song is a lit-tle bit sad”. “And I am going to play it be-cause...actually I am excited and impressedwith how many super fans I have”, she added.the 26-year-old singer told her fans that thepiano ballad reflected the most “deep and personalthoughts” she’s ever had. the song, which wasuploaded to Youtube soon after theshow, is her darkest yet and dealswith suicide. Although Gagastressed that the song hadnothing to do withPrincess Diana, shespelled out thetitle just incase therewas anyconfusion -the lyrics dotouch on de-tails of theprincess’s life. theend of the song, the

chorus of which is “Princess Die, I want to see her cry”, is clearlyabout Diana’s tragic death in Paris in 1987. the 26-year-oldsinger may or may not include the dark song in her third still-

in-the-making studio album. the glum song is nowhereinfluenced by the singer’s mood. the fact that Gaga

is testing the waters with the song while on toursuggests she is very aware of its controversialthemes and the potential for backlash. ChrisWagner, the communications director for Life-line, said the song sent a worrying message to

Gaga ’sfans.

“ L i f e -line is very

concerned aboutthe nature of the

song, particularly as itclearly describes the method of

suicide and talks in depth aboutsuicide,” he said. “It doesn’t actually

have any message of hope, of helpseeking, or anything of a positive na-

ture whatsoever. We understandartistic licence and we get artistic ex-

pression, but celebrities need to recog-nise that they’re role models for young

people in the community. Young peopleoften live and breathe by the lyrics to

the songs of their favourite stars.”

faces flak for suicidesong ‘Princess Die’

LAdy GAGA

‘Spice Girls’ pick

Angelina Jolie to

play Posh in flickLOS ANGELES

aGEnCiES

Angelina Jolie will make a jolly good victoria Beckham in ‘Spice Girls the Movie’,or so feel Posh’s former band mates. If the musical is adapted for the silver screen,Geri, Mel C, Mel B, Easy v and Baby Spice have already picked out those starswho they’d like to play them. According to British vogue, Mel B wants actress ZoeSaldana to play her, Mel C hopes that ‘Friends’ legend Courteney Cox will portrayher while Geri Halliwell has set her sights on Cameron Diaz. Baby Spice EmmaBunton has opted for Kate Hudson while the lot of them agreed that AngelinaJolie will make a great victoria Beckham. “We are so proud of what we achievedas a group when we look back. Who knows where it will go next?” the Mirrorquoted Beckham as saying. “It would be great if it could become a film. I thinkwe’ll see how it goes, but it would be great,” Beckham added. the musical’s pressconference was held at London’s St Pancras Hotel, the very same hotel where 16

years ago the girls had filmed their debut ‘Wannabe’ video.

CHRIS HEMSWORTHhopes to winappreciationfor acting

lOndOn: actor Chris

hemsworth’s physique has

helped him to start his acting

career and he hopes his histrionics

will interest the audiences. “it’s

helped me get a job, sure. But you

hope it’s not the only thing that

helped,” femalefirst.co.uk quoted

hemsworth as saying. The 28-year-

old says he finds some other actors’

pre-shoot rituals strange. “i worked

with a guy once who would chant,

‘i’m beautiful and i have a secret, i’m

beautiful and i have a secret’,”

he said. aGEnCiES


13

After smokingfiasco, freshtrouble forRANBIR KAPOOR! MUMBAI: Actor Ranbir Kapoor, who hadbeen photographed smoking on the sets ofhis upcoming film ‘Yeh Jawani HainDeewani’ in Rajasthan last month, hasplaced himself in fresh trouble. RanbirKapoor was served summons by a local courtin Udaipur following the smokingincident, and was supposed to appearbefore the court on June 26. However,the actor failed to turn up for theaforementioned hearing. The localcourt in Udaipur has now asked Kapoorto appear before it on July 26. Theactor has been booked for violationof Rajasthan Prevention ofSmoking Act. In case the chargesagainst Ranbir are proved to betrue, he might have to undergo sixmonths of imprisonment or pay apenalty. AGENCIES

1 cENTURY cITY: Liam

Hemsworth accepts the

Breakthrough Award onstage at

Australians In Film Awards &

Benefit Dinner. AFP

2 NEw YORk: Blake Lively

attends the ‘Savages’ premiere.

AFP

3 NEw YORk: Taylor Kitsch

attends the ‘Savages’ premiere.

AFP

4 NEw YORk: Oprah Winfrey and

actor Hugh Jackman attended a

special screening of Walt Disney

Pictures’ new film ‘The Odd Life

of Timothy Green’. AFP

1 2

4

LOS ANGELES aGEnCiES

DESPItE reports that the ‘Firework’ pop star is intalks to play Freddie Mercury’s girlfriend, MaryAusten, in Sacha Baron Cohen’s upcoming biopicabout the late Queen frontman, Perry says shewon’t be somebody for Cohen to love in the movie.

“there’s something about the internet that’s sort of funny-it’sthat nothing is true on there,” the chart-topping hitmaker saidat the Hollywood premiere of her new documentary concertflick, ‘Katy Perry: Part of Me’. the buzz began earlier this monthwhen a British tabloid the Mirror claimed Perry was hoping toland the gig. “there’s been no formal offer,” she told us. “Al-though I do like the association and I like the company becauseI think Sacha Baron Cohen is hilarious.” But she said, “I haveto take a catnap first before I do anything.” She said: “I’m gonnaunplug, take my hair extensions out, feel my head again. I’mgonna unplug and recharge, if that makes any sense. I’m gonnago away. I’m sure you know it’s time for me to go away.” thestar has revealed that she’s planning to go on hiatus after shefinishes plugging ‘Katy Perry: Part of Me’ to clear her head. Shetold Mtv: ‘I’m going into hiding. I want to go and write songsin the woods or something.

A longtime Queen fan, Perry even dressed as Mercury toher 24th birthday party. Mercury died in 1991 at age 45 ofAIDS-related pneumonia. Although Perry’s only major actingcredit is a guest role on ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and a partvoicing Smurfette in ‘the Smurfs’, mega-producer Harvey We-insten has said he would love for Perry to play Marilyn Monroein a Broadway musical adaptation of his award-winning film‘My Week With Marilyn’. ‘Katy Perry: Part of Me’ follows thesinger’s life on and off-stage and documents her split from Rus-

sell Brand. Plans for the Mercury film were first announced inSeptember by producer Graham King. the film cast ‘the Dic-tator’ star Sacha Baron Cohen as Mercury. the producers alsosecured the rights to several of Queen’s classic songs, including‘You’re My Best Friend’, ‘We Will Rock You’, ‘Bohemian Rhap-sody’ and ‘Another One Bites the Dust’.

Katy Perry booted offFreddy Mercury movie

Pak singers denied

visa, ‘Cocktail’ music

launch cancelledNEWS DESK

A group of Pakistani singers who have lent theirvoices for upcoming film ‘Cocktail’, were deniedvisa in India. the movie stars Saif Ali Khan,Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty. If all hadgone well, the singers would have been part ofan event in Mumbai to officially launch themusic of the film. terming it unfair, producersSaif Ali Khana and Dinesh vijan have decidedto do away with the music launch. the eventwas scheduled for this month. “Among the foursingers, Arif Lohar is one of the biggest namesin Punjabi folk music and Javed Bashir is thelead singer of the Pakistani band Mekaal Hasan,” reports a tabloid. Sources close to producer Dinesh vijan told thetabloid, “the producer thought it is very unfair to these Pakistani singers, if they weren’t given their due in front ofthe Indian media. So they decided to entirely do away with the music launch.” ‘Cocktail’, which releases on July 13,is produced by Saif’s production house, Illuminati Films. the music of ‘Cocktail’, composed by Pritam, is makingwaves all over India. Songs like ‘tumhi Ho Bandhu’, ‘Daaru Desi’, ‘Yaariyan’, and ‘Second Hand Jawaani’ is indeedan interesting cocktail of melody, lyrics and romance.

JamesBondtops as No.1movie spyLos Angeles: James Bondhas been voted as the bestmovie spy of all time. Theiconic MI6 agent, currentlyplayed by Daniel Craig, 44,got 39 percent in a LoveFilmsurvey, the Daily Starreported. US action heroJason Bourne - alias MattDamon, 41 - polled 21percent in runner-up spot.George Smiley in ‘TinkerTailor Soldier Spy’ played byGary Oldman, 54, was thirdwith 7 percent. AgENcIES


friday, 29 June, 2012

Page 17

Fabregas sends Spaininto euro 2012 final

COLOMBOafP

SRI Lanka are determined toprevent a Pakistan resurgenceas they seek their first test se-ries win in three years when the

second match starts in Colombo on Sat-urday. the hosts will start as firmfavourites at the Sinhalese Sports Club(SSC) after thumping Pakistan by 209runs with a day to spare in the first testin Galle to take the lead in the three-match series.

Sri Lanka have not won a test seriessince defeating New Zealand 2-0 at homein August 2009 and have struggled tomake an impact after world bowlingrecord holder Muttiah Muralitharan quitthe five-day format in 2010. the islandershave lost five series and drawn three sincethe success against New Zealand -- twiceallowing the opposition to bounce backafter winning the opening encounter.

In 2010, Sri Lanka beat India in thefirst match in Galle -- Muralitharan's finaltest appearance -- before losing the thirdgame at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo.

then in March-April this year, thehosts triumphed over England at Galle,only to see Andrew Strauss' men win thesecond and final test at the P. Sara Ovaland retain their number one ranking. vet-eran skipper Mahela Jayawardene waswary of slipping on the proverbial bananaskin again. "We have to be positive," hesaid. "there are two more matches to goand we need to put the Galle match be-hind and keep improving. We need to bea lot more consistent with bowling, bat-ting and fielding. "A lot of hard work is re-quired going into the next test. We needto handle the conditions at SSC very well.We need to try and get on top of the op-position and keep the pressure."

the SSC has proved a happy huntingground for Sri Lanka, where they have notlost a test since 2004, and have won sixof their last 11 matches. the hosts arelikely to play an unchanged side unlessseamer Nuwan Pradeep, who took onewicket in Galle, is replaced by either this-ara Perera or Dilhara Fernando.

Fernando was drafted into the squadfor the second test in place of left-armseamer Chanaka Welegedara, who missed

the Galle match due to a shoulder injuryand was subsequently ruled out for therest of the series. Pakistan, meanwhile,will welcome back captain Misbah-ulHaq, who was banned for the Galle testafter his team's slow over-rate during thefinal one-dayer in Colombo on June 18.the tourists need Misbah's calming influ-ence as skipper and also his presence inthe middle-order after they were shot outfor 100 and 300 in Galle on a spin-friendly pitch.

Pakistan were let down by poor um-piring at Galle -- the Decision Review Sys-tem (DRS) is not being used in the series-- but they have themselves to blame fortheir first defeat in 10 tests. the battingfailed spectacularly in the first inningsand only veteran Younis Khan (87) andyoung Asad Shafiq (80) provided any realresistance in the second.

Mohammad Hafeez, who led Pakistanin Misbah's absence, said the second in-nings performance in Galle gave him con-fidence the tourists would do well in theremaining two tests.

"I liked the way the boys fought it outon the last day when the conditions were

tough," he said. "these are positive signsfor the team. All is not lost yet."

Pakistan will once again bank on theirspinners, who claimed 11 of the 14 SriLankan wickets to fall to the bowlers atGalle, with prolific off-spinner SaeedAjmal picking up seven in the match.

TEaMS:PAKISTAN (fROM): Misbah-ul Haq(capt), Mohammad Hafeez, taufeeqUmar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Moham-mad Ayub, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal,Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman,Mohammad Sami, Faisal Iqbal, JunaidKhan, Afaq Raheem, Aizaz Cheema.SRI LANKA (fROM): MahelaJayawardene (capt), tillakaratne Dil-shan, tharanga Paranavitana, KumarSangakkara, thilan Samaraweera, Di-nesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews,Prasanna Jayawardene, Suraj Randiv,Rangana Herath, Nuwan Kulasekara,Nuwan Pradeep, thisara Perera, JeevanMendis, Dilhara Fernando.UMPIRES: Ian Gould (ENG)and Simon taufel (AUS)MATcH REfEREE: David Boon (AUS).

Wary Sri Lanka eyeelusive Test series win

Ashes on Aussieminds aheadof england Odis

LONDONafP

England and Australia play the first of afive-match one-day international (ODI) se-ries at Lord's here on Friday but thetourists are already looking to their returntrip for next year's Ashes. Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has played in twoAshes test series defeats and is desperateto emerge victorious. "After being involvedin two Ashes losses now, it is a burning de-sire inside me to be a part of a successfulAshes series," Watson said. "Any time youplay against England you want success. Itis the ultimate rivalry and the ultimatechallenge for an Australian cricketer, toplay against England and win. "I haven'tbeen a part of that in test matches andnow is a time to be able to put some thingsin place so we can have some success whenwe come back here during the Ashes." Aus-tralia are the world's top-ranked ODI sidebut England come into this match on theback of six straight home series wins in the50-over game and a run of six wins in asmany completed matches. England's re-cent success has been built on their top-order batsman, with Ian Bell filling the gapas opener created by Kevin Pietersen's lim-ited overs retirement by scoring a hundredagainst the West Indies at Southamptonearlier this month. the hosts are likely toplay five specialist bowlers, with tim Bres-nan at number seven and medium-pacerWatson believes that if Australia can makeearly inroads there is an opportunity to putEngland's middle-order under pressure."For England to be able to go in with fourfrontline quick bowlers isa very good thing forthem against our bat-ting line-up -- but ifwe are able to makeinroads into theirbatting early theymay be one short,"Watson said. "We seeit is very important forus to have success hereis to try and make earlyinroads. that has beenone of England'sstrengths over thelast period of time,to be able toscore heavily.

KUALA LUMPURafP

WORLD cricket's new chief ex-ecutive thursday defended anembarrassing U-turn over ap-

peals technology and said he wouldn'tdrag powerful India "kicking andscreaming" into accepting it. DavidRichardson, who succeeded HaroonLorgat at the International CricketCouncil's (ICC) helm, admitted nearlyall players and umpires backed the De-cision Review System (DRS), whichchecks whether batsmen should begiven out. But, signalling a softly-softlyapproach towards the ICC's richest andmost influential member, Richardsonsaid he wouldn't try to force India tolower its staunch opposition to thetechnology.

the ICC was left red-faced at an-nual talks this week when chief execu-tives proposed mandatory DRS in testsand one-day internationals, only for theboard to reject the move and leave it asa decision for the two competing sides.India was the only country to publiclyoppose universal use of the ball-track-ing and thermal-imaging system, andwields strong influence over the boardowing to the revenues from its hugefan-base. "the point is that the BCCI(Board of Control for Cricket in India)need to make that decision for them-

selves," Richardson told a press confer-ence. "It's never good to take anyonekicking and screaming to do anything."the introduction of technology has al-ways been controversial... but slowlybut surely that's changed and I thinkwe're pretty much at that point whereeveryone is accepting, certainly at in-ternational level.

"I don't think (the decision is) neg-ative at all. We'll be seeing DRS used inthe majority of series going forwardand there would be no sense in forcinganything upon anybody." the South

African took up his post alongside newpresident Alan Isaac of New Zealand,who assumes the reins from India'sSharad Pawar, at the conclusion of fivedays of talks in Kuala Lumpur. the twoare tasked with steering the sportthrough a tricky period as it tries to re-cover from some damaging spot-fixingscandals and rationalise the demandsof its three competing formats. the ICChas also been urged to implement far-reaching reforms in an independent re-view which damningly termed the bodya "members' club", and recommended amore inclusive board and membershiprules. But talks on the reforms, whichare also opposed by India, made littleprogress in Kuala Lumpur. AndRichardson sounded an ominous notewhen he said nothing would changewithout the current board's approval.

"the bottom line is the ICC boarddetermines policy for the ICC going for-ward," Richardson said, although hedenied that dealing with India would behis main preoccupation as chief execu-tive. "I don't think will involve any spe-cial negotiations with India," he said."A lot is made of that but there are 10full members and I think our task is alot more simple and a lot more practi-cal than these high-level talks youmight imagine." the ICC also unveileda new post of chairman and decided torelegate the presidency to a ceremonial

role after Isaac's term finishes in 2014,measures which were "coincidentally"proposed in the independent review,Isaac said.

But Isaac, Richardson and outgoingchief executive Lorgat all warnedagainst expecting quick progress to-wards the more contentious reforms,

which will be discussed at the nextboard meeting in October. "I think itwould be unfair of any of us to expectovernight change," Lorgat said. India'sdeep suspicion of DRS stems from their2008 test series with Sri Lanka, whenthe technology was on trial and a num-ber of reviews went against them.

New ICC chief defends technology U-turn

cOlOmbO: Pakistan cricketer Umar Gul (l) with teammates Junaid Khan (c) and mohammadSami (R) look on during a practice session at the Sinhalease Sports club (SSc) Ground. AFP

cOlOmbO: Pakistan cricket coach dav whatmore (R) gives instructions to player mohammadhafeez (l) during a practice session at the Sinhalease Sports club (SSc) Ground. AFP

KUAlA lUmPUR: New icc Alan isaac, speaksduring the icc Annual Press conference. AFP

new bosses forworld governing bodyKUALA LUMPUR: Cricket's world body inaugurated a new chief executive andpresident thursday and announced a new post of chairman in a small step towardsreform after the sport was urged to modernise. Former South African keeper DavidRichardson succeeded Haroon Lorgat as the International Cricket Council's (ICC)chief executive, after his compatriot's four-year term ended, and New Zealander AlanIsaac became the body's new president. "We take over the game in extremely goodhealth but obviously lots of challenges," Isaac, the former chairman of New ZealandCricket, told a press conference. the ICC was forced into an embarrassing U-turn thisweek after its chief executives recommended mandatory use of decision review tech-nology, only for the move to be rejected by its India-dominated board. the body alsomade only slow progress towards wide-ranging structural reforms urged by an inde-pendent review, which damningly called it a "members' club" skewed towardscricket's leading nations. the new post of chairman, and reducing the presidency to aceremonial role in 2014, were recommended in the review. But more contentioustalks on changing the board's structure and membership rules were put aside.Mandatory decision review technology and internal reforms are strongly opposed byIndia, which provides the bulk of cricket's revenues due to its huge fan base -- andwields corresponding influence on the all-powerful board. Cricket is also trying to re-cover from damaging spot-fixing scandals which left four players in jail, and ratio-nalise its three competing formats in a crowded international calendar. afP


Sports 15Friday, 29 June, 2012

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

THE much-anticipated re-sumption of bilateral cricket-ing ties between Pakistan andIndia appeared to have hit a

snag again as officials from both theboards failed to agree upon confirmeddates and venues for proposed matches.

After positive signals from the In-dian Cricket Board, the PCB was hop-ing that one or two matches would beplayed in December to signal the re-sumption of bilateral ties, which haveremained suspended since the 2008Mumbai terror attacks. PCB officialshad indicated that they were hopefulthat dates and venues would be fi-nalised during the ICC meeting inKuala Lumpur.

"Unfortunately Indian board offi-cials rejected prospects of the matches

being played in Pakistan or at neutralvenues and said Pakistan could comeand play in India but for that also dateswould be finalised later on," reportsquoting source said.

"PCB's top officials also discussedrevenue sharing with the Indians inKuala Lumpur if Pakistan went to Indiafor the matches as India has yet to com-pensate Pakistan for the cancelled testtour in 2009," the source said.

He said the PCB officials had alsobrought up some other issues related tothe proposed matches but the BCCIpresident, N Srinivasan made it clearthat his board needed more time to fi-nalise things and would get back to thePCB after government clearances.

"the PCB officials though feel themeeting was a step in the right directionand the positive vibes from BCCI offi-cials remain," the source said.

the source said the BCCI officials

had, from the outset, told PCB that theycouldn't send their team to Pakistan atany time in the future because of the se-curity situation in the country.PcB, SLc AgREE TO ExcHANgEPLAyERS fOR DOMESTIc T20:the PCB has signed an agreement withSri Lanka Cricket under which the twoboards have agreed to allow their play-ers to take part in the domestic t20 pre-mier leagues of both countries.

the chairman of the PakistanCricket Board, Zaka Ashraf said fromKuala Lumpur that the document wassigned on Wednesday. "Under thisagreement we will allow our players togo and play in the Sri Lankan premierleague and Sri Lanka have agreed to per-mit their players to come and play inPakistan when we launch our premierleague," Ashraf reported to have said.

However sources said that under thecontract both boards could give clear-

ance to their players for the leagues butcould not force them to go and play ineither country.

While Sri Lanka will hold its pre-mier league from August 10, Pakistan isyet to announce dates for its leaguewhich is slated sometime in Novemberthis year. the PCB chief also said that hewas interested in signing a similar ex-change contract with the BangladeshCricket Board.

"But since the Bangladesh PremierLeague is not slated this year we haveplenty of time to negotiate with them."

Ashraf also said that he had spokento officials of other boards and had gotpositive response from the SouthAfrican, Australian and England boards.

"these boards have assured us thatwhenever we launch our domestic pre-mier league they will see if they canmake their players available for it,"Ashraf said.

PCB, BCCI officials fail todecide bilateral series dates

hughes leavesNSw forSouth Australia

SYDNEYafP

Former test opening batsman PhillipHughes has left New South Wales to sign athree-year deal with South Australia, theSouth Australian Cricket Association(SACA) said thursday. Hughes, 23, whohas played 17 tests for Australia averaging34.58 with three centuries, was theyoungest player to score back-to-backhundreds in the same match, in his secondtest against South Africa in Durban in2009. Hughes, currently playing in Eng-land with Worcestershire, missed out on acentral contract with Cricket Australia lastweek and said he was looking for a freshbeginning with South Australia. "thenext two years are the most critical in mycricket career and I'm not going to leaveany stone unturned to make sure I putmyself back into contention to play againfor Australia," Hughes said in a SACAstatement. "Missing a CA contract thisyear is not the end of the world. In fact,in lots of ways it's a new beginning."Hughes said the opportunity to play forWorcestershire in recent months hadgiven him the chance to refine his skillsand passion for the game. "the organisa-tion, their support of me and my abilityto focus a hundred percent on my gamehas been a real eye opener and my formwith the bat has obviously benefited fromit," he said. "that's what I expect themove to Adelaide to also do for me, and Ican't wait to get there and settle in."

Pakistan lodgecomplaint overpoor umpiring

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Pakistan has formally lodged a complaintover poor umpiring decisions in the first testagainst Sri Lanka at Galle, at a time when theInternational Cricket Council executive boardhas decided against making the Umpires De-cision Review System (UDRS) compulsory inall tests. Clearly buckling under pressurefrom the Indian cricket board's strong oppo-sition to the UDRS, the ICC board onWednesday decided to stick with the currentsystem of allowing boards to decide them-selves on having the UDRS in a bilateral se-ries. Presently Sri Lanka being the homeboard has not implemented the UDRS in theseries against Pakistan although when Pak-istan hosted the SL last year in the UAE theyhad enforced the UDRS technology with thehelp of sponsors. "Pakistan team managerNaved Cheema and coach Dav Whatore for-mally lodged a complaint over the umpiringwith match referee David Boon after the testended," reports attributing from the Pakistanteam quarters said. England's Ian Gould andAustralian Steve Davis were guilty of giving atleast 10 to 12 contentious decisions in theGalle test most of which went against Pak-istan who were outclassed in the match.

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Pakistan's disgraced batsman andformer captain Salman Butt is likelyto make some startling disclosuresrelated the spot-fixing case, whichsaw him jailed and banned from allcricket.

Reports coming fom close quar-ters of Butt said that the former testopener has decided to expose thenames of some bookmakers and fewplayers who were actively involvedin spot fixing racket. "Since he isaware that his international careeris more or less over he now wants toalso expose others," one source said.

Butt after returning to Pakistanlast week had pleaded innocencebut admitted he committed a mis-

take in not informing the ICC anti-corruption authorities about ap-proaches made to him to fixmatches.

Butt insists that while his agent,Mazhar Majeed made approaches tohim but he never did any spot-fixingand is innocent.

Interestingly, another sourcesaid that Butt has also decided tocash in on his high demand in themedia even during his ban period.

"He apparently has negotiated abig amount to give a press confer-ence and exclusive interview rightsto a broadcaster," the source said.

Butt had also appeared as an ex-pert on a Pakistani television chan-nel during the 2011 World Cupwhich led ICC asking the PCB to banhim from all media appearances.

LAHORE STaff rEPOrT

After the cancellation of first installer’s contract, thework on the much-awaited blue turf has finally beenstarted by the second bidder here at the NationalHockey Stadium.

the Sports Board Punjab cancelled the contract ofSwallow Internationals which failed to complete the taskon the given deadline of June 15, 2012. the second low-est bidder, tS Builders which were allocated the con-tract has started the work on world’s biggest hockeyarena by cleaning the asphalt surface to make it readyfor laying international standard shock pads on whichthe blue-coloured desso turf will be laid.

Workers were seen busy in cleaning the surface be-sides marking the arena to ascertain the condition of theasphalt. Fazle Mateen Qureshi, Chief Executive tSBuilders told media here on thursday that they arehappy to have the contract and they will endeavour to

lay a state of the art turf which will meet all the interna-tional standards. “It is world’s biggest hockey stadiumand it is a big honour for us to install a blue syntheticturf on it and we will do our best to complete it in trendsetting way in minimum time period,” he said.

“We have done the initial inspection of the arenaand have also inspecting the asphalt base. We are takingthe samples of the surface for lab tests just to ensurewhether it is fit to lay the shock pads and the turf or not.It would take about a day or two to test the samples butin the meantime we would work on other things on thebase of the stadium and hopefully complete the work be-fore time,” he said.

He said he will flying to Holland to meet desso’smanufacturers to order the turf and the shock pads. “Wewill be aiming to execute the work as early as possiblebecause the rainy season is fast approaching and it isnot possible to work during rainy days as it can damagethe material,” he said. He expressed his gratitude to SBPfor allocating them the project.

Rameez hitsback at mohsin

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Former Pakistan test captain RameezRaja has backed the decision to removeMohsin Khan as the chief coach of the na-tional team and made some scathing re-marks about him on his twitter page.Rameez reported to have said, 'when aperson is not capable of even walkingstraight under the influence of liquor thePakistan cricket Board took the right deci-sion to remove him'. Rameez's hard hit-ting remarks came after Mohsin appearingon the Geo super channel and claimedthat Rameez was behind the move to ousthim as coach despite his successful record.Mohsin also claimed that Rameez had in-fluenced the PCB Chairman to appointAustralian Dav Whatmore as coach in hisplace. Rameez though said that he had norole to play in the PCB decision to bring inWhatmore. "Mohsin was removed becauseof his own actions. the decision to removehim was totally that of the PCB and I hadno role to play in this," he clarified.Interestingly, Rameez was an advisor tothe committee appointed by the board toscout and recommend a new coach.the committee that included former testplayers Intikhab Alam, Zaheer Abbas andColonel (retd) Naushad Ali after a longdelay eventually recommended What-more for the job although insiders sayRameez also had a big role to play in this.Mohsin was removed as interim coachafter leading Pakistan to series wins overSri Lanka and Bangladesh and a historicwhitewash of England in the test seriesearlier this year. Whatmore's initial forayinto Pakistan cricket has not been so suc-cessful as after a tight Asia Cup title win,Pakistan has drawn a t20 series and lostthe ODI series in Sri Lanka and were alsohumbled in the first test in Galle.

Salman to open Pandora’s box?

KUALA LUMPURafP

WORLD cricket's outgoingchief Haroon Lorgat thurs-day admitted spot-fixing

scandals were a low point of histenure -- but insisted the sport wasnow in better shape to fight corrup-tion. Lorgat, who handed over tonew International Cricket Council(ICC) chief executive David Richard-son in Kuala Lumpur, said thesport's response to its worst bettingcontroversy in years would act as adeterrent to cheats.

"It's a lowlight, but in the man-ner we responded we demonstratedwe will not tolerate any form of cor-ruption and that we're going to pur-sue it to a logical conclusion," theSouth African told AFP.

three Pakistani players werejailed in England over the spot-fixing

affair after they were caught arrang-ing no-balls to order during the 2010test series against England.

During its annual talks, the ICCalso ordered all its members to up-hold a lifetime ban slapped on Pak-istan's Danish Kaneria by Englishauthorities over a separate scamwhich left English player MervynWestfield in prison.

the reappearance of cheating,which has also been alleged in sev-eral other competitions and interna-tional series, badly damaged theimage of a sport which was left reel-ing by a series of similar scandals atthe turn of the century.

But Lorgat said the prison termsand the reforms made by domesticbodies, including the adoption ofnew anti-corruption codes, had leftcricket better placed to battle cor-ruption. Mohammad Aamer, theyoung Pakistani caught and jailed for

deliberately bowling no-balls in Eng-land, has also appeared in a caution-ary video warning players about theconsequences of spot-fixing.

"there's a far greater apprecia-tion from (players) to be responsibleand to respond to approaches thatthey might face," Lorgat said.

"I think the positive out of thatscandal is that we've dealt with itand strengthened our processes. Partof that is the education process thatwe've also improved upon."

Lorgat said he considered lastyear's successful one-day World Cupin South Asia as one of the bestachievements of his four-year term.

But he warned not to expectquick progress towards reform of theICC, which has been strongly criti-cised over the power exercised byIndia, it's main revenue-provider. "Ithink it would be unfair of any of usto expect overnight change," he said.

Fixing row boosted graft fight, says Lorgat

KUAlA lUmPUR: New chief executive of the icc, david Richardson, speaks during the icc AnnualPress conference as former icc chief executive haroon lorgat (R) listens. AFP

blue turf installation work starts at NhS


The wIMbLedon dIAry

DONETSk: Spanish

players celebrate at the

end of the penalty shoot

out of the Euro 2012

football championships

semi-final match. AFP

Rising Stars, Vehariclubs remain goalless

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Rising Stars were held to a goalless drawby vehari Club in the 5th National Inter-Club Women Football Championship-2012 on thursday. Playing at Satellitetown, Higher Secondary School Ground,Bahawalpur under the supervision ofPunjab Football Association, Young Ris-ing Star WFC Layyah did what it has inits powers to turn the tide but vehariWFC stood like a wall abd neer allowedthe rivals to get to their goal.

djokovic a fan ofroof, lights, action

LONDONafP

Wimbledon may have built its reputationon being an uniquely grasscourt GrandSlam tournament but defending championNovak Djokovic is happy to play it under aroof, with the lights burning bright. topseed and world number one Djokovic gavethe Centre Court roof the thumbs up onWednesday after beating America's RyanHarrison 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the thirdround. With the roof closed after threehours of rain had brought a halt to actionon the outside courts, Djokovic was de-lighted to get a second chance to play thelate night entertainer. "It's hard to preparefor that because you play an indoor matchon the Centre Court maybe once every cou-ple of years. 2010 was my only match underthe roof aside from tonight's match," saidDjokovic. "It is quite different. I think thelights were really good. the attendance wasfantastic. the crowd enjoyed it. It was aspectacular match from a player's point ofview. "Sometimes it's good for a change tobe under the roof. It makes it more inter-esting as well I think, if you go to the latehours." Djokovic's match with Harrisonended shortly before 10pm (2100GMt)and he goes on to tackle either Czech vet-eran Radek Stepanek or Germany's Ben-jamin Becker for a place in the last 16.

LONDONafP

Former champions Maria Sharapova andSerena Williams took drastically differentroutes into the Wimbledon third round onthursday. top seed Sharapova, the 2004champion, had to dig deep to clinch a gritty7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (3/7), 6-0 victory over Bul-garia's tsvetana Pironkova, a semi-finalistin 2010 and quarter-finalist last year.

Sharapova, playing her first tournamentsince her maiden French Open triumph, hadrecovered from 5-2 down to take the first setand had just broken to move 3-1 ahead whenthe tie was suspended due to bad light onWednesday evening. On the resumption,Pironkova belied her ranking of 38 to levelthe tie as the Court One crowd sensed anupset. It was the first set the 24-year-old hadsnatched from the Russian in four meetings,but Sharapova took her 2012 three-setrecord to a perfect nine from nine by racingthrough the decider. She will next face tai-wan's Hsieh Su-Wei as last year's runner-uptries to reach the Wimbledon final for the

third time. "I started so slow today, but Iguess it's more important how you finish,"said Sharapova after sweating for over twohours. "She loves playing on grass and cameout firing. I was a bit tentative and justcouldn't get much rhythm. "But I tried tofocus on my game and I'm happy I reallystepped it up in that third set." Four-timechampion Williams reached the third round

with a 6-1, 6-4 demolition of Hungarianqualifier Melinda Czink.

Sixth seed Williams faces Chinese 25thseed Zheng Jie, who she beat in the 2008semi-finals, for a place in the last 16. "As thetournament goes on, you tend to play a littlebetter," said Williams, who fired 10 aces, hit22 winners and conceded just seven pointson her own serve in her 61-minute win. "It

was great to be back on Centre Court. It'samazing and I served really well." KeiNishikori, the 19th seed, became the firstJapanese man to reach the third round for17 years by beating France's Florent Serra 6-3, 7-5, 6-2. Nishikori had already made his-tory earlier this year when he became thefirst Japanese man to reach the AustralianOpen quarter-finals in 80 years.

Sports16Friday, 29 June, 2012

Aisam, Rojer cruise into second round

Sharapova, Serena into Wimbledon third round

THERE is good news and bad newsfor Pakistan tennis. AisamQureshi is through to the second

round of the men's doubles. the badnews is that there will be no Pakistani atthe Olympics event later in July-August.Aisam and partner Jean-Julian Rojercruised past the English pairing of JoshGoodall and James Ward in the firstround of the doubles event.

It was a tight contest in the first set,with Ward and Goodall taking it into thetie-break where they had an initial minibreak. But Aisam and Roger picked upthe pace and after the first tie break,Goodall was broken in the first game of

the second set. the writing was thenpretty much on the wall with the Englishpair wilting under the pressure imposedon them by the eighth seeds.

For Aisam and partner from now onthe challenge will get will have tougher.It would be premature to comment on thepair's chances in the tournament as thechallenge that they faced was not stiffenough to form any judgment. the firstset was not totally convincing and the op-ponents had lost the will o fight in thefinal two games. the duo will now belooking to build on this performance andshould take a lot of confidence from theirfirst outing. that neither player droppedtheir serve is a positive that should bidwell for the future matches.PTf’S fAILURE: the PtF had beenmaking some noises in the local press

about requesting a wild card for AqeelKhan and Aisam for the Olympics. ButAqeel has no AtP points and he andAisam have not played together on thetour even though they have combinedwell for the Davis Cup. Had the two evenplayed some Challengers together, it isquite possible that Aqeel could haveearned some points and qualified for theOympics. He is a big talent and it is onlybecause of the lack of resources that hehas been unable to make a bigger markinternationally.

Most of the favourites advanced inthe initial rounds at Wimbledon, withRoger Federer particularly impressive inhis straight set win over one time prac-tice partner, Italian Fognini. Rain hasdelayed many of the matches and NovakDjokovic has just taken the court against

the rising American Ryan Harrison.Harrison had beaten the taiwaneseAsian number one Lu in the first round.Harrison looks strong in the initialstages, matching the world number oneshot for shot. But Djokovic has the giftof finding his opponent's weakness anddismantling his game.THE INDIAN SOAP OPERA: the In-dian team of Bhupathi and Bopanna alsowent through comfortably, in the shadowof the Olympic Games doubles contro-versy which threatens to cast a pall onIndia's chances at the Games. India's topranked player Leander Paes has refusedto play with a lower ranked player whileBhupathi and Bopanna have refused toplay with Paes, saying that they are ateam and intend to play together. Staytuned as the drama unfolds.

FROM ALI AKBAR

at Wimbledon

wimbledON: Russia's maria Sharapova serves during her secondround victory over bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova. AFP

wimbledON: US player Serena williams celebrates her secondround victory over hungary's melinda czink. AFP

PORTRUSh: danish tennis player carolinewozniacki attends the 2012 irish Open heldon the dunluce links at the Royal PortrushGolf club. AFP


WATCh IT LIve

STAR SPORTSWimbledonTennis04:00PM

DONETSKafP

SPAIN reached their third con-secutive major tournament finalafter overcoming neighboursPortugal 4-2 on penalties in the

first Euro 2012 semi-final in Donetsk onWednesday. After an attritional game fin-ished 0-0 following extra time at DonbassArena, Cesc Fabregas swept home the win-ning spot-kick to put Spain in the final.Xabi Alonso and Joao Moutinho both sawtheir opening penalties saved, but Portugalblinked first when Zenit Saint-Petersburgcentre-back Bruno Alves slammed hisside's fourth penalty against the crossbar.

Fabregas stepped up and, just as hehad done in the penalty shootout win overItaly in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals, theBarcelona man held his nerve, steering theball into the bottom-left corner to sendPortugal home. "We are so happy to havereached another final. I don't know if thathas ever been done in history," Fabregastold Spanish television channel telecinco,his voice cracking with emotion. "they toldme I was going to take the second kick, butI said: 'No, I want to take the fifth one.'"Reigning world and European championsSpain, who are bidding to become the firstteam in history to win three major compe-titions in a row, will face either Italy or Ger-many in Sunday's final in Kiev. "We werestronger in extra time, but overall it was afairly even contest," said Spain coach vi-cente del Bosque. "It was tough. We took awhile to get into our stride. the Portuguesewere very well organised. Germany andItaly are equally strong."

It was a deeply disappointing end tothe tournament for Portugal captain Cris-tiano Ronaldo, who had threatened to firehis side into only their second major finalbut who did not even get a chance to havehis say in the shoot-out. "If I had to choosea way of losing, I wouldn't choose this,"said Portugal coach Paulo Bento. "But youhave to lose some way. Spain are a greatteam and we can leave the pitch with ourheads held high." A surprise inclusion inSpain's starting line-up, Alvaro Negredowas at the source of the game's first

chance, with Alvaro Arbeloa side-footingover after the Sevilla striker was crowdedout in the Portuguese area. Portugal'smatch-winner against both the Nether-lands and the Czech Republic, Ronaldowas a spectator in the first 10 minutes, butgradually his influence grew. After fluffinga free-kick into the base of the wall from atight angle on the left, he lashed a half-vol-ley high over the crossbar from the edge ofthe area and then drilled a left-shot nar-

rowly wide of the right-hand post. As inthe quarter-final win against France,Spain struggled to find holes in their op-ponent's defence, and it was a surprise tosee Alonso club a long ball forward in the29th minute. It produced a sight of goal,however, with Andres Iniesta bending ashot narrowly over the bar after Negredohad chased down Alonso's pass, held offFabio Coentrao, and worked the ballback to the edge of the area.

Fabregas sends Spaininto Euro 2012 final warsaw gears

up for its euro2012 farewell

WARSAWafP

Poland's capital Warsaw geared up thurs-day for its last Euro 2012 kick-off, with Ger-many playing Italy at the city's NationalStadium for a place in the competitionfinal. About 30,000 foreign fans are ex-pected to arrive in the city for the keymatch, including 20,000 Germans and3,000 Italians, organisers said. Some 6,000police officers will be out in force to keeporder, including 28 German and 10 Italianspotters expert in monitoring fans. "Polandhas never hosted such a match," a face-offbetween two giants of European football atan important stage of a tournament, notedthe Polish daily Rzeczpospolita. "Ourpreparations are complete," Poland's Euro2012 chief Marcin Herra said thursday,with the rush including an extra 20 charterflights and 85 small planes due to land atWarsaw's Chopin airport. "For air trafficcontrollers it'll be a real challenge. the air-port is 100 percent ready to welcome thistraffic," Herra said. Poland's state railwaysPKP meanwhile have added extra cars totrains leaving Germany, with one to bepulled by a locomotive painted in theblack-red-gold colours of the German flag.An immense red-and-white Polish flag anda giant banner with the words "thankYou" in 16 languages will be unfurledthursday night at the stadium, accordingto reports. "Let's celebrate this last day ofEuro 2012 in Poland. there's reason tocelebrate," Polish Sports Minister JoannaMucha said thursday, pointing to athumbs up for Warsaw from foreign fans.Around 1.1 million people have stopped bythe Warsaw fanzone for ticketless support-ers since the competition started on June8, organisers said. A recent survey byPolish independent pollster PBS pointedto high levels of satisfaction among1,000-plus foreign supporters surveyedon June 8 and 16 in the Polish capital.

Sports 17Friday, 29 June, 2012

LONDONafP

David Beckham's dream of playing in theOlympics he helped secure for his home-town came to an end on thursday after hewas left out of Great Britain's squad forthe Games. In a surprise announcement,Beckham confirmed he had not made thefinal 18-man squad as one of coach StuartPearce's three over-age players for theLondon sports extravaganza.

Pearce had travelled to the UnitedStates to assess Beckham's form for the LosAngeles Galaxy last week before makinghis decision. "Everyone knows how muchplaying for my country has always meantto me," Beckham said in a statement. "So Iwould have been honored to have been

part of this unique team GB squad. "Nat-urally I am very disappointed, but therewill be no bigger supporter of the team

than me. And like everyone, I will be hop-ing they can win the gold. "As a LondonerI was really proud to have played a smallpart in bringing the Olympics to my hometown ... and I can't wait for the Games tobegin and will enjoy every moment alongwith the rest of Great Britain."

British media reports said the threeover-age players chosen by Pearce wereBeckham's former Manchester Unitedteam-mate Ryan Giggs, Manchester Citydefender Micah Richards and WelshmanCraig Bellamy. Beckham, 37, had spokenrepeatedly of his desire to play in anOlympics staged in London despite accu-sations from critics that his participationwould devalue the football tournament.

the former Real Madrid star waswidely expected to be granted at least a

place in the squad as reward for his role inhelping London win the Olympics at the2005 International Olympic Committeevote in Singapore. the football superstar'spresence on the campaign trail is oftencredited as being one of the key factors intipping the vote London's way during thefinal few days of lobbying.

Beckham's presence in the Olympicteam had looked assured after he was in-cluded in a 35-man shortlist earlier thismonth. He had also accompanied theOlympic Flame from Athens back toBritain and carried it after it was lit beforethe torch relay got under way.

However British Olympic officialshad insisted Pearce would have a freehand in selecting his squad and wouldnot come under pressure to select Beck-

ham, who would have generated box-of-fice appeal for the football tournament."We have been very clear from the out-set, it's absolutely Stuart's choice and heis totally free to make the selection of theteam he believes will put in the best per-formance," British Olympic Associationchief Andy Hunt said.

"It's as simple as that." Beckham's ex-clusion won backing from Pearce's formerEngland team-mate Peter Shilton, whotold Sky Sports the midfielder was past hisbest. "I've not been watching David play inthe States but it's a different level of foot-ball over there," Shilton said.

"Stuart Pearce wants to do well andwin the tournament. to do that you mustwin so many games in so many days andthe older you get the less you can do that.

wz blues, Nzwhites victoriousin lRcA league

LAHORE STaff rEPOrT

West Zone Blues and North Zone Whiteswon their group matches of LRCA U-16League. At New Ittefaq Ground West ZoneBlues beat North Zone Blues by 10 wickets.ScORES: NZ Blues 175/9 in 40 overs, AsifIqbal 33, Chand Ali 26, Ismail Khan 3/22,Usman Bukhari and Ali Raza shared 2 wick-ets each, WZ Blues 176/0 in 26 overs, SafeerAzam 101*, Awais Mughal 50*, Safeer Azamwas announced man of the match. In an-other match at Model town Greens Ground,North Zone Whites beat West Zone Whitesby 52 runs SCORE: NZ Whites 244/9 in 40overs, Abubakkar Khan 81, M Umer 30,Mubshar Ahmed 3/33, Zeeshan Ameer andHaris Ashfaq shared 2 wickets each, WZWhites 190/10, Aqib Amjad 32, Faisal Ali30, Zahid Aalam Butt and MuhammadAadil shared 2 wickets each. AbubakkarKhan was announced man of the match.

Beckham misses out on Olympic dream

ronaldo all washed upas penalties pass him by

DONETSK: Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will have to wait another twoyears to see if he will grace a major final for only the second time after Spain edgedhis side 4-2 on penalties in their Euro 2012 semi-final here on Wednesday. How-ever, many will question what happened in the penalty shootout as he stood like aspare part - a disconsolate one at that - as Cesc Fabregas put away the winningpenalty leaving him as Portugal's fifth penalty taker superfluous to proceedings.Even more strangely, both centrebacks had preceded their captain to the penaltyspot, though Bruno Alves's first attempt was cut off in its prime as Nani ran up andtold him to go back. Alves was eventually to go fourth and miss opening the way forFabregas to squeeze his winner over the line. Portuguese coach Paulo Bento,though, was unrepentant about marking Ronaldo down in fifth. "If it had been 4-4and he had taken the last penalty, we'd be talking in a different way. It's aboutstrategy and we'd defined that before," said Bento. Ronaldo was phlegmatic aboutthe defeat, though, the disappointment was etched all over his face. afP

helSiNKi: France's Nicolas Figere competes in the men's hammer throw qualifications at the 2012european Athletics championships at the Olympic Stadium. AFP

Kenyan police probe stabbingof steeplechase champ NAIROBI: Kenyan police on thursday quizzed world 3,000steeplechase champion and London Olympic hopeful EzekielKemboi after a reported car jacking in which a woman wasstabbed, officials said thursday. Police said that Kemboi hadtold them his car was stopped by two men late Wednesday inhis hometown of Eldoret, some 315 kilometres (195 miles) westof the Kenyan capital, before they launched a bungled assault."Kemboi said they pounced on him, demanding money, andwhen they were told he had no money, one of them suddenlypulled out a sharp object trying to stab him," said local policeofficial Charles Jamanda. However, the 30-year-old athlete --who is also a police officer -- said that in the fight, a nearbywoman called Anne Njeri was stabbed in the chest. "Kemboisaid he dodged the object, which in turn stabbed Njeri," Ja-manda said. Kemboi, the 2004 Olympic champion, told localmedia that the lady was "part of the gang" that had tried to at-tack him, claims dismissed by Njeri's family. Njeri was admit-ted to a hospital in Eldoret. afP



18

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Editor: Arif Nizami

ISLAMABADTaYYaB huSSain

the Abbottabad Commission probingthe May 2 incursion into Pakistan by USSpecial Forces on an alleged hideout ofAl-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Ab-bottabad has missed its deadline of May2012 to finalise its report and it appearsthe report is unlikely to be completed byJuly due to “unhelpful” attitude by for-mer Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani,Pakistan Today has learnt.

Osama bin Laden was killed on May2, 2011, by Navy SEALs of the UnitedStates Naval Special Warfare Develop-ment Group, also known as DEvGRU orSEAL team Six. the operation was or-dered by US President Barack Obamaand was carried out in a Central Intelli-

gence Agency-led operation. the five-member commission, headed by formersenior judge of the apex court JavedIqbal, was reconstituted on June 21,2011, and despite lapse of over a year, thecommission has failed to finalise its re-port. A spokesperson of the commissiontold media on May 2 this year that thereport would be finalised on May 21 andit would be submitted to Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry within aweek after it is finalised. But till date, thecommission has failed to do so.

“the report could not be finalised andis unlikely to be finalised by next monthas well because Yousaf Raza Gilani did notsubmit his response to the commission.though the new prime minister has alsobeen issued a notice, we are yet to receivea response from him,” a source in the

commission told Pakistan Today. thesource added that the commission wantedto get input from the then chief executiveof the country as other stakeholders hadgiven their input about the matter. How-ever, he added, the former PM did not re-spond. “Other than the prime minister,the commission had also sent its question-naire to CIA, which has also not re-sponded,” the source added.

Reportedly, the commission hadquestioned Gilani why he had authorisedthe then Pakistan Ambassador to US Hu-sain Haqqani through his principal secre-tary, Nargis Sethi, to issue visas to 4,000Americans bypassing scrutiny process bythe Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) andother related organs of the state.

g Surjeet admits he was

caught spying for indian Army

LAHORESTaff rEPOrT

Indian prisoner Surjeet Singh, along with315 fishermen, was handed over to theIndian authorities at Wagah border onthursday. Indian spy Surjeet Singh wasfreed from Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail earlyon thursday after serving 27 years in prisonsince he was arrested on charges of spying.With a smile on his face, Surjeet hugged hisPakistani lawyer who was waiting for himbefore being taken away for completion offormalities to enable him to cross intoIndia. He was welcomed by his immediatefamily members from Ferozepur andaround 300 villagers at the Wagah Border.After his arrival at the Wagah Border, hetold anxious reporters that he wasextremely delighted to return home toreunite with his family members after 30years. Surjeet also confessed that he hadbeen sent to Pakistan to spy for the IndianArmy.“I will never return to Pakistan again,”Surjeet, who has a grey flowing beard, toldreporters in Punjabi with his head andfinger indicating a firm “no” gesture.

Abbottabad Commission failsto finalise its report, againg Official says no signs of report completion by mid-July g Gilani’s‘non-cooperation’ major hurdle in report compiling

Continued on page 04


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