Sunday, 27 January, 2013 Rabiul awal 14, 1434Rs 25.00 Vol iii no 210 19 pages islamabad — peshawar edition

ISLAMABADTayyab hussain

THe ParliamentaryCommission on Cre-ation of NewProvinces gave final

touches to the constitutionalbill to carve out the “Ba-hawalpur-South Punjab”province on Saturday.

However, the report has al-ready attracted controversywith some politicians question-ing the scope of the commis-sion and others alleging thatthe “partisan commission” hadviolated the mandate it hadbeen assigned by the presiden-tial reference and the unani-mous resolutions passed byPunjab and National Assem-blies. The commission met andfinalised the recommendationsfor constitutional amendmentsfor making new province inSouth Punjab. Per the recom-mendations, the name of newprovince would be “Ba-hawalpur-South Punjab”, hav-ing 124 and 59 seats forprovincial and National As-sembly respectively.

The coalition governmentplans to lay the bill seekingformation of the new provincein the National Assembly onMonday. The recommenda-

tion draft, signed by members,has been sent to Ministry ofLaw and would be tabled inthe National Assemblythrough a bill – 24th Amend-ment Bill 2012 – on Monday.

The Punjab Assembly inits unanimous resolutionshad called for the creation ofSouth Punjab Province andthe restoration of provincialstatus of Bahawalpur, whilethe presidential reference hadalso directed the same to thecommission. However, thecommission has recom-mended the formation of anew province named “Ba-hawalpur-South PunjabProvince”, which is a mergerof the two demands.

The Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N), Mut-tahidda Mohaz Bahawalpurand Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) leaders from Mianwalihave rejected the recommen-dations of the commission.

“From day one, we knewthat this commission has beenformed by the government toachieve political gains and ourstance has been confirmedtoday. All such recommenda-tions of the commission whichare in violation of the unani-mous resolutions passed byPunjab Assembly will be re-

jected,” Chaudhry Saud Ma-jeed, PML-N MNA from Ba-hawalpur, told PakistanToday. He was nominated as amember of the commissionbut he did not participate inany of the meetings.

Former senator Moham-mad Ali Durrani, the archi-tect of the movement forrestoration of Bahawalpurprovince and chief of the Mu-tahidda Mohaz Bahawalpur,also rejected the report, stat-ing that the people of Ba-hawalpur would never allowany commission to decideagainst their will.

“We have been fightingagainst the dictatorial decisionof a dictator – General YahyaKhan – who had annulled theprovincial status of Ba-hawalpur. We will not allow theso-called democratic regime toact like dictators. We will getour right through strugglewhich has been going on since1970,” Durrani said.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) leader and grand-daugh-ter of Nawab of Kalabagh, AylaMalik has also rejected thecommission’s recommenda-tion to include Mianwali in theproposed new province.

“The demographic locationand tribal ethnicity of Mianwali

does not allow any merger ofMianwali into Seraiki province.We live in the Pothohar regionand hence are similar to thelifestyles of Pothohar and Khy-ber Pakhtunkhwa. We can’t bebullied on assumption thatsince the language spoken hereis similar to Seariki, so weshould be included into thenew province,” she added.

Mahmood Hayat TochiKhan, a PPP MNA from Vehari,also rejected the commission’srecommendations, stating thatthe Punjabi settlers had beentotally ignored in compositionof the commission and therewas no opinion of the Punjabisettlers who were major stake-holders in South Punjab. RECOMMENDATIONS:In violation of its terms of ref-erences (ToRs) and the presi-dential reference sent to theNational Assembly, the Par-liamentary Commission forNew Provinces recommendedthat instead of the previousresolutions passed by thePunjab and National Assem-blies, one new province beformed instead of the originaldemand of two and the newfederating unit be named as“Bahawalpur-South Punjab”.

Bill on ‘Bahawalpur-SouthPunjab’ raises eyebrows

ISLAMABADKashif abbasi

Apparently succumbing to pressure by theSupreme Court, the National Accountabil-ity Bureau (NAB) has approached the po-lice station concerned to lodge a firstinformation report (FIR) on the death of itsinvestigator seven days after the incident.

Investigating Officer Kamran Faisal, whowas probing the high-profile Rental PowerProject (RPP) corruption case involving theprime minister and others, was found hangingfrom the ceiling fan in his bedroom at the Fed-eral Lodges on January 18. Upon the applica-tion by the NAB chairman, the SecretariatPolice registered an FIR under Section 302against unidentified persons. According to theFIR, if proved, the forces that pressured Kam-ran Faisal into committing suicide would alsobe charged under Section 302 PPC.

The other day, NAB Additional Direc-tor (Coordination) Nauman Aslam, on be-half of NAB Chairman Admiral (r) FasihBokhari, submitted a written applicationwith the Secretariat Police Station, re-questing the police to register the FIR.

According to the application, “Investigationofficer of the NAB did not come to his office on18th of January, 2013. When his colleagues,tried to contact him by phone his mobile phoneremained unanswered. His colleagues then

went to his residence in the Federal Lodges tocheck on him where they found him hangingfrom ceiling fan. I’m directed to state that on ac-count of the dispread rumours and suspicionsthat Kamran Faisal’s death could be due tomurder, it is requested to register an FIR in thiscase in order to determine the cause of thedeath and to find out if this death was broughtabout by any undue pressure from any source.”

However, NAB deliberately did not re-quest the police to proceed against thoseNAB officials, who, after making several at-tempts by phone to contact Kamran Faisal,approached his residence, where they,without bringing the matter into the noticeof police, illegally kept Faisal’s room intheir custody for more than two hours.

Seven days on, NAB registers FIR ofinvestigator’s deathg FIR says forces that pressured Kamran Faisal into

committing suicide would be tried under Section 302g Police submits preliminary report in SC

Continued on page 04 Continued on page 04

g 24th Amendment Bill on new provinces likely to be laid in NA on Monday g ‘Controversial Commission’s’ recommendations attract controversy as Opp parties reject

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:42 AM Page 1

02News

Today’s

LookQuick

NewS

Story on Page 09

CARTOON

Page 11

INFOTAINMeNT

Story on Page 14

amin faheem elected as PPP president school cans guy over moose-butchering fantasy

Sunday, 27 January, 2013

Nisar announces sit-in in front of parliament LAHORE: expressing dissatisfaction over the verificationprocess of voters of Karachi, Leader of the Opposition in theNational Assembly, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturdayannounced to stage a sit-in outside the Parliament Houseand later march to the election Commission of Pakistanalong with his supporters. Talking to journalists after a partymeeting in Lahore, Nisar said the state of affairs in Karachiand Balochistan had deteriorated to such an extent thatholding free and fair elections was very difficult and thePML-N, along with other opposition parties, would stage asit-in outside the parliament and later march to the electionCommission. “Other parties like Jamat-e-Islami and PML-Fhave been invited to participate in the sit-in. A partial andpowerful election Commission is necessary for fair and freeelections. We want to make eC more influential andpowerful,” he said. Regarding the interim set up, he said theprocess of consultation amongst the opposition parties had

been completed and soon we would announce two names for the caretaker chief minister inBalochistan and Sindh “The opposition will not let Zardari set up a caretaker government of hisown choice in these two provinces,” he said. OnLinE

KARACHIismaiL DiLawaR

THe Sindh government onSaturday accused theTehreek-e-Taliban Pak-istan (TTP) of involvementin offences ranging from

extortions to deadly bomb blasts inthe provincial capital.

Speaking with journalists at theFederation House following a meetingwith the Federation of Pakistan Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry(FPCCI) members, Sindh Chief Minis-ter Qaim Ali Shah said the provincialgovernment was holding talks withBritish authorities to acquire modernanti-terrorism equipment for police,which would also be imparted ad-vanced training to effectively deal withterrorist threats.

The chief minister was scheduled

to meet the FPCCI members at11.30am, but he arrived at the Federa-tion House two hours late at 1.30pm.This annoyed the journalists who ulti-mately boycotted the event, but thenreturned after the chief minister andFPCCI Acting President Iqbal DawoodPakwala apologised for the delay.

Speaking about the TTP’s allegedrole in violence in Karachi, the chiefminister said that for last six to eightmonths, more than half of the unlaw-ful activities had been perpetrated bythe TTP.

Asked if his government was con-vinced that TTP’s existence had war-ranted military action in the city, thechief minister replied in negative. “Wethink no military action is required asthe police are showing results,” hesaid, adding that police and Rangershad already stepped up their activitiesin close collaboration with spy agen-

cies. “The intelligence agencies aredoing well and have pre-empted manyterrorist acts at some of our very sen-sitive installations,” he said.

Qaim pins Karachi lawand order blame on TTPg Sindh CM says Taliban involved in offences ranging from extortions to bomb blastsg Sees no need for military action; police and spy agencies delivering

KARACHIsTaff REPORT

Different political and religious par-ties belonging to opposition started athree-day sit-in on Saturday outsidethe office of the Provincial electionCommission Sindh to demand fairprocess of voters’ verification underarmy’s supervision.

Announcement of the sit-in wasmade on Wednesday, when differentopposition leaders assailed the elec-tion commission for not implement-ing the Supreme Court’s directivesregarding voters verification underarmy’s supervision and delimitation ofconstituencies in the metropolis.

Addressing the rally today, Ja-maat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chief

Muhammad Hussain Mehantithanked the participating political andreligious leaders. He said they all havegathered for seeking free and fair elec-tions and peace in Karachi.

Sirajul Haq of JI said all partici-pating parties will also stage a sit-inoutside the Parliament house if the SCorder is not implemented.

Gulzar Ahmed Soomro of SindhTaraqi Pasand Party (STPP) said thatpoliticizing of voter verificationprocess would usurp people’s freedomof choice. Speakers said the sit-in willcontinue on Sunday and Monday,adding that it would end when theelection Commission of Pakistan(eCP) will ensure presence of armypersonnel during the process of voterverification.

Restoration of lawand order toppriority: Nawaz LAHORE: PML-N President NawazSharif on Saturday said that if his partycame into power in the forthcominggeneral elections then the restoration oflaw and order, all over the country,including Karachi, would be his party’stop agenda. Talking to party leaders fromSindh at his Raiwind residence, he urgedparty leaders to prepare for theforthcoming general elections by keepinga close connection with the people and byforging alliances with the other politicalparties. “A plan would be chalked out inconsonance with all peace-loving partiesand the people to rid Karachi oflawlessness and crimes, in order to makeit a city of lights again,” he said. ThePML-N chief said, “If Karachi will bepeaceful, it will benefit the entirePakistan. The wheel of the country’seconomy moves in Karachi, its positiveimpact would be felt by the peoplethroughout the country”. He said that inorder to restore law and order in Karachi,there was a dire need for the re-organisation of the police force. When theleaders of PML-N Sindh said there was aneed to rectify the voter lists of Karachi,Nawaz Sharif directed PML-N SindhPresident Syed Ghaus Ali Shah to takeimmediate notice of the matter. OnLinE

Three-day sit-in for fair votersverification begins in Karachi

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:42 AM Page 2

03NewsedITORIAlhow allies see us:

COMMeNT

Articles on Page 10, 11

When outsiders teach us what democracy is.

humayun Gauhar says;Float a tender: The system will change you before you can change it.

Kuldip nayar says;

Lessons in politics: In India, secularism is at stake.

Raoof hasan says;

Criminals, Inc: No place left in the country for a measure of decency.

ARTS & eNTeRTAINMeNT

Story on Page 19

BuSINeSS

Story on Page 14

SPORTS

Story on Page 15

JLo had hard time getting out of bed during divorce imf chief tells Europe to take some time on deficits south africa win with six off final ball

Sunday, 27 January, 2013

ISLAMABADaPP

PReSIDeNT Asif Ali Zardari onFriday urged the Muslimummah to unite according tothe teachings of the HolyProphet (Peace Be Upon Him)

in order to face challenges in the worldand find their solution to the individualand collective problems.

Addressing the concluding session ofthe 38th Seerat-un-Nabi Conference onthe topic of “Concept and Significance ofthe Collective Justice in light of teachingsof the Holy Prophet (PBUH)” here atAiwan-e-Sadr, the president said, “Morethan one billion Muslim Ummah shouldunite at one platform to face the chal-lenges in the world and various Muslimcountries.”

The president said the Muslim worldwas bestowed with all necessary resourcesto grow and prosper including talent, ca-pabilities, population and wealth, and itonly needed unity to harness these re-

sources for the good of the individualcountries and the whole Ummah. He saidthat every act of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)was a source of guidance and inspirationfor every one in the world.

Referring to the multiple challengesbeing faced by the Muslim world includ-ing Pakistan, Zardari said that with collec-tive efforts and joining hands, the MuslimUmmah could easily face those challengesand ensure progress and prosperity intheir respective countries.

The president said the problems ofextremism and terrorism would also betackled through unity among the MuslimUmmah.

Referring to the conquest of Makkahby the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and his for-giveness for everyone in the city, the pres-ident said, “This act of the prophet is thebase of reconciliation policy, which hadbeen adopted by the present governmentand is still continued.”

He said the whole life of the HolyProphet (PBUH) was an open source ofguidance for every one.

We have everything but unity: Zardarig President urges unity among Muslims to face world challenges

ISLAMABADanwER abbas

Members of the National Assembly on Saturday sus-pended the agenda matter and called for following theteachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to establishpeace and promote interfaith harmony in the country.

The Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl opposed theremoval of Balochistan government and staged awalkout. The House unanimously adopted a motionto suspend the agenda items on order of the day allow-ing the members to speak on Prophet Muhammad(PBUH)’s message. Religious Affairs Minister Khur-shid Shah suggested the House to speak on the life andteachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), also pro-posing that in future, the House should exclusively dis-

cuss Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s way of life, a dayafter the eid Miladun Nabi every year. MNA NighatPerveen noted that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s lifewas a complete roadmap for the mankind and oneshould apply all of his teachings in daily life.

earlier, JUI-Fazl staged a walkout to protestagainst the imposition of governor’s rule in Balochis-tan. As the House was discussing Seeratun Nabi(PBUH), JUI-F lawmaker Abdul Malik Wazir opposedthe removal of provincial government and impositionof the Governor Rule, saying that “the decision was un-lawful and irrational as it was not only Balochistanwhere law and order situation was poor”.

Wazir stressed the government to restore peace inthe country through peaceful dialogue. Later, he, alongwith other JUI-F members walked out of the House.

Govt decides to dissolveassemblies on March 10ISLAMABAD: The government, after consultationwith party leaders and coalition partners, decided todissolve national and provincial assemblies on March10. The decision would be announced afterconsultations with its allies and with the government ofPunjab. According to reliable sources, Prime MinisterRaja Parvez Ashraf held an informal consultation withKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ameer HaidarHoti, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah andBalochistan Governor Nawab Zulfqar Magsi and sent areport to President Asif Ali Zardari. The prime ministerwould hold discussions with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif and Leader ofthe Opposition in the National assembly ChaudhryNisar Ali Khan next week. Sources said that the date ofthe dissolution of assemblies will be announced oncethe government of Punjab is taken into confidence. inP

No room fortechnocrat caretakersetup, says Kaira ISLAMABAD: Information MinisterQamar Zaman Kaira on Saturday said thatthere was no room for a technocratcaretaker government as politicians couldbetter manage the affairs of the country.Talking to reporters outside the ParliamentHouse, Kaira said that in the presence of ahost of honest and clean politicians, therewas no need to ask technocrats to work ascaretakers. He said that Pakistan wascreated by the politicians, who could betterrun its affairs. To a question, Kaira saidthat the negotiating team of governmentwould visit Lahore on Sunday (today) tohold talks with Tehreek-e-Minhajul Quranchief Dr Tahirul Qadri. In the meeting, LawMinister Farooq H Naek would present adetailed report, highlighting variousconstitutional aspects of implementing theIslamabad Declaration, he added. Thenegotiating team has already held ameeting with the election commissioner ofPakistan, besides consulting leadingconstitutional experts, he said. To anotherquestion, Kaira said former chief of Oil andGas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) TauqirSadiq was appointed as chief executive byformer prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilanion the recommendation of a committee andlatter could not be blamed for the sins ofhis any appointee.TAUQIR SADIQ: Regarding transparencyin the appointment, he said a committeehad short-listed four candidates out oftotal 17 candidates. Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf had not appointed TauqirSadiq, he added. MEDIA REPORTS: Responding toanother query, Kaira said media shouldfocus on court verdicts rather thanhighlighting remarks during theproceedings in order to avoid creatingsensation. aPP

NA calls for following teachings ofProphet Muhammad (PBUH)

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:42 AM Page 3

04 Sunday, 27 January, 2013

Sources insist that the said of-ficials should also be thor-oughly investigated as to whythey kept the room in theircustody. Faisal’s initial post-mortem report had declaredhis death a result of suicide;however, family members re-jected the report, saying theyhad seen torture marks on hisbody and wrists.The case is already beingheard in the Supreme Court,which during the last hearingsought all record of the casefrom NAB, police, PakistanTelecommunications Author-ity (PTA) and other relevantauthorities.

Sources said that policehave submitted a copy of thesaid FIR and other relevantmaterial to the SC. The PTAalso submitted the record ofFaisal’s calls and text mes-

sages. The next hearing is dueon Monday.

Meanwhile, police hasalso decided to contact thePunjab government to seekforensic report on Faisal’smysterious death.

In this regard, the federalpolice wrote a letter to thePunjab government. earlieron January 23, the PunjabForensic Agency had receivedthe samples from the de-ceased’s body.

Sajid Ali, who was Faisal’sroommate, has recorded hisstatement to police. In hisstatement, he said that he hadnever seen any laptop com-puter under Faisal’s use. Hestated that Kamran used med-icines regularly, but did notknow what type of medicines.Police has made Sajid Ali’sstatement part of the record ofthe case, which will be pre-sented, before the court on

next hearing. The police also submitted

its preliminary report onFaisal’s death in the SupremeCourt. A record of calls madeto and from Faisal’s mobilephone and a post mortem re-port were also attached to thepolice report. The preliminaryreport contains an applicationby a NAB official to register anFIR along with statements ofNAB officials and employeesof the hostel where Faisal hadbeen staying. The report addsthat the police was still await-ing the forensic report.

In a related development,an investigation team of thepolice reached Faisal’s nativevillage in Chak 129/15L, MianChannu. The team met withAbdul Hameed Chaudhry,Faisal’s father, who excusedhimself from recording a state-ment on account of grief.Chaudhry said he would onlydecide over a statement oncehe had seen an autopsy reportof Faisal’s death.

Seven days on

Per the recommendations,the name of new provincewould be “Bahawalpur SouthPunjab”, having 124 and 59seats for provincial and na-tional assembly respectively.Provincial election Commis-sion and High Court will alsobe established in the recom-mended province.

Talking to PakistanToday, PML-Q Secretary In-formation Senator Kamil AliAgha said that the newprovince would have twincapitals - one each in Multanand Bahawalpur - a claimcontradicted by anothermember of the commission -Jamshed Dasti, who said thenew province would have onecapital - Bahawalpur.

“Three divisions - Mul-tan, Bahawalpur and DeraGhazi Khan - would be in-cluded in the new provincewhile it has been recom-mended that Bhakkar andMianwali districts may alsobe included,” Agha said. Hesaid that an assembly hallwas already present in Ba-hawalpur while the chief min-ister would also sit there. Hesaid that Governor’s Housemight be established in Mul-tan, adding that all recom-mendations of thecommission would not bemade part of the bill.

Jamshed Dasti saiddraft of the bill for newprovince in South Punjabwas being prepared and rec-ommendations have beensent to law ministry.

The controversial 14-member parliamentary com-mission had beenconstituted in August of lastyear by the speaker of theNational Assembly and com-prises Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) Senators Farhat-ullah Babar and SughraImam, Awami National Party(ANP) Senator Haji Moham-mad Adeel, Pakistan MuslimLeague-Q (PML-Q) SenatorKamil Ali Agha and PML-NSenator Malik MuhammadRafique Rajwana, JUI-FSenator Maulana AbdulGhafoor Haidri, PPP MNAsArif Aziz Sheikh, JamshedAhmed Dasti, Ali Musa Gi-lani, PML-N MNAs TehminaDaultana and ChaudhrySaud Majeed, as well asMQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar.

Bill on ‘Bahawalpur-SouthPunjab’ raises eyebrows

Pakistani diplomats

Khurshid himself fieldedquestions about the issueas the ministry invitedjournalists to the venue ofhis call on the King ofBhutan, Jigme KhesarNamgyel Wangchuck,around noon. “Diplomaticrequests are made, fromtime to time, to theministry for travellingacross the country. Inmost cases, these requestsare… accepted. In somecases for specific reasonsat that time best known tothe ministry and otheragencies that areconsulted, we have to sayno,” he said, adding thatone should not confuseany “coincidence with anyspecific decision vis-à-visthe Jaipur LiteraryFestival, or for that matteranything else.” WhileMemon also wanted to goto Ajmer to visit theshrine of KhwajaMoiunuddin Chisti, theother diplomat, NaeemAnwar of the HighCommission’s trade wing,had sought permission tovisit Agra, where a tradepartnership summit wouldbe held. Memon, whowanted to be in Jaipurwhen Pakistani journalistsand authors visited thecity, was deniedpermission to go to bothplaces. Anwar also wantedto go to Agra, thoughPakistani presence at themeeting would be thinnerafter Commerce MinisterAmin Fahim cancelled hisvisit following theskirmishes along the Lineof control.

Kidnappers cut

off boy’s tongue

FAISALABADinP

Kidnappers on Saturdaycut off the tongue of a boywhose family failed toarrange for his ransom.According to the victim’sfather, Asif was kidnappedthree days ago and thekidnappers had demandedRs 500, 000 as ransom forhis release. “When we failed to arrangethe ransom for the boy, theabductors severed Asif’stongue,” the father said.A case was lodged inThekri Police Station andthe police said the incidentwould be investigatedthoroughly.

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD OnLinE

Indian President PranabMukherjee has warned Pak-istan not to take India’sfriendship for granted, hailedthe spirit of the Indian youthand said brutalizing womenamounted to wounding “thesoul of our civilization”.

In his maiden RepublicDay eve speech, the presidentreferred to the numerousdoubts and problems plaguingthe world’s largest democracy

but predicted a bright futurefor India. “On our 64th Repub-lic Day, there may be somereason for concern but nonefor despair,” said the veteranpolitician who became thehead of state in July 2012. “IfIndia has changed more in sixdecades than six previous cen-turies, then I promise you thatit will change more in the next10 years than in the previoussixty,” he said. “India’s endur-ing vitality is at work.”

Without naming Pakistan,the president spoke of “serious

atrocities” committed on In-dian troops on the Line of Con-trol (LoC) – an obviousreference to the killing of twoIndian soldiers. “Neighboursmay have disagreements; ten-sion can be a subtext of fron-tiers. But sponsorship ofterrorism through non-stateactors is a matter of deep con-cern to the entire nation.” “Webelieve in peace on the borderand are always ready to offera hand in the hope of friend-ship. But this hand shouldnot be taken for granted.”

ISLAMABADaGEnciEs

Interior Minister RehmanMalik on Saturday asked“the terrorists” to lay downarms and give up bloodshedor else declare themselvesnon-Muslims, as Islam hasno room for violence.

“Is this Islam? If not,then why do you not declareyourselves non-Muslims?We will have to end thishypocrisy,” the interior min-ister said while speaking inthe National Assembly.

On the occasion of eid Mi-ladun Nabi, he reiterated hisoffer to the militants to give upviolence and become “trueMuslims”. He said those whohad been killed in Karachi andQuetta were also Muslims,and questioned the terroristsas on whose behest they werecarrying out bloodshed. TALIBAN INTERESTEDIN TALKS: On the otherhand, the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP) has showneagerness in holding peacetalks with the Pakistani gov-ernment, saying the outfitwas seeking “serious andpowerful mediators” whocould freely negotiate on be-half of the army.

Talking to rediff.com froman undisclosed location, TTPspokesperson IhsanullahIhsan said, “The government

had made us an offer to cometo the table for talks. We areserious about talking. But wewill move after we see that ourinterlocutors are serious andthe talks could be result ori-ented.” He added, “We areready for talks for the better-ment of the Pakistani nationand for the sake of Islam. Wehave never rejected such offersin the past and we will neverdo so in the days ahead.”

The TTP spokesmanthough did not seem very op-timistic about any settlementwith the government in the fu-ture. “Despite the attitude ofthe government which showsthat it is not serious about thetalks, we will initiate it on ourpart so that people later do notblame us for not coming to thenegotiating table. We weremade an offer, we respondedand now we are awaiting thegovernment’s reply,” he said.

Asked about whom theTaliban would like as media-tors, he said, “We will negoti-ate through such negotiatorswho enjoy real power, whocan make decisions and im-plement them. The negotia-tors will have to give usguarantees from the army’sside, not from the politicians’side. The Pakistani army issuperior to the government.So the middlemen will haveto provide guarantees fromthe army side.”

Don’t take friendshipfor granted: Mukherjee

News

g Indian president says they are always ready to offerhand in hope of friendship

Surrender or declare yourselfnon-Muslims, Malik asks TTP

PEshawaR: children feast on rice served after a milad event on friday. OnLine

Rebels kill six peace

body members in

dera Bugti

QUETTAshahZaDa ZuLfiQaR

Baloch rebels on Saturdaykilled six members ofgovernment-backed peaceforce in Dera Bugti. In thesame area, an FC officialwas killed in a landmineexplosion. According to areport, an armed group ofinsurgents attacked a checkpost of peace force in DilbarMat of Gundoi, some 30 kmwest of Sui Town and killedone tribesman and injuredthree others. The insurgentsalso abducted five of them.Later, the insurgents killedthe five captives and threwtheir bodies. After receivinginfo the peace forcemembers, backed byFrontier Corps, and Levypersonnel were alsodispatched in pursuit toarrest the attackers. A Levyofficial said on the phonethat the attackers also killedthe five captives. Whileconfirming the attack,Home and Tribal Affairs’Secretary Akbar HussainDurrani said that themiscreants attacked a checkpost of tribal peace forceand killed one personneland injured three others.He said that forces hadbeen dispatched to arrestthe miscreants.

Shahrukh Khan divulges the ordeal ofbeing a Muslim in IndiaMUMBAI: Bollywood superstar Shahrukh Khan has exposed the so-called secular face

of world’s largest democracy India, expressing the agony he has beenfacing for being born as a Muslim. In his article titled “Being a Khan”written for the Outlook Turning Points magazine, SRK said thatmany politicians had asked him to go back to his native homelandPakistan, after 9/11 incident. “I sometimes become the inadvertent

object of political leaders who choose to make me a symbol of all thatthey think is wrong and unpatriotic about Muslims in India,” he wrote.

“There have been occasions when I have been accused of bearingallegiance to our neighbouring nation (Pakistan) rather than my

own country – this even though I am an Indian, whose fatherfought for the freedom of India. Rallies have been held whereleaders have exhorted me to leave and return what they refer tomy ‘original’ homeland,” he said. aGEnciEs

Continued fRom page 19

Continued fRom page 01

Continued fRom page 01

DAVOSOnLinE

Cricket legend-turned-politician Imran Khan saidthe Indo-Pak peace processmust continue at all costs,and should not be derailedby skirmishes.

“Our peace process hasalways been hindered. Whathappened (the LOC viola-tions) is unfortunate buttalks must continue uninter-rupted. The peace dividendwill be enormous. If the eUcan have free trade, whycan’t India and Pakistanfreely trade with each other,”said Pakistan’s formercricket captain on the side-lines of the WeF meeting.

Khan said India-Pak-

istan talks were always ham-pered by vested interests.

“We require a strong,credible leadership with apublic mandate, which thePakistan governmentdoesn’t have. In India, un-fortunately, the leadershipcomes under public pressurefrom the right,” he said.

Khan said if he became thePM, he would initiate a broad-based dialogue with India onall issues including Kashmir.

“The solution to Kash-mir should be found via dia-logue. Pakistan shouldensure there is no infiltra-tion, while India shouldagree to withdraw troopsfrom civilian areas,” he said.

elections in Pakistan arelikely to take place in May

after a caretaker governmenttakes over in March, andKhan said he was more con-fident than ever that hisTehreek-e-Insaf Party wouldwin the polls.

“There are 40 millionyoung people in Pakistanwho will vote for the firsttime. They will vote againstthe status quo,” he said.

Khan said he wouldfocus on dealing with themenace of terrorism.

He also called for nor-malisation of cricket ties be-tween the two countries.

“India has used Mum-bai to punish cricket. In-stead of the recent ODIseries, why didn’t we have aproper three test match se-ries,” he said.

Indo-Pak peace talks mustcontinue, says Imran Khan

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:42 AM Page 4

Sunday, 27 January, 2013

RAWALPINDIaPP

THe citizens on Saturday urgedthe district administration totake action against naan-makerswho increased prices of chappatisfrom Rs 5 to Rs 6 and naan from

Rs 6 to Rs 7 without any permission from thecity district government.

According to details, tandoor ownerswere charging increased prices for chappatiand naans for the past few days but appro-priate action could not be taken againstthem. The City District Government (CDG)had claimed that it was conducting raids tocheck prices of chappatis and various naan-makes who were found overcharging hadalso been imposed fines.

The authorities concerned further claimedthat special instructions had been issued tothe assistant commissioners to conduct raidsand impose fines on those selling chappati atRs 6 and naan at Rs 7.

Assistant Commissioner Fahad Azeem

said that they did not issue any notification re-garding increase in price of chappatis andnaan-makers could not increase the price ontheir own. The naan-makers were also warnednot to violate the orders of the administration,otherwise cases would be registered againstthose found overcharging.

However, contrary to the claims of the dis-trict administration, no one is selling chap-patis at Rs 5 and naans at Rs 6 as the NaanbaisWelfare Association (NWA) increased theprices of chappatis and naan citing shortage ofwheat as the main reason.

When contacted, Rawalpindi Naanbais As-sociation (RNA) General Secretary SardarNafees Ahmed said that they had increasedprices of chappatis and naan because of in-crease in prices of wheat. He further said thatlack of gas was forcing tandoor-owners to useexpensive coal to light their tandoors.

Wheat flour crisis hit the city with theprice of a 20 kilogramme bag jumping to Rs820 against the official rate of Rs 670.

After the increase, the prices of chappatisand other wheat products like bread and rusk

have gone up despite the City District GovernmentRawalpindi (CDGR)'s claim that there was no shortage ofwheat flour or an increase in the prices. Bread is availablein bakeries for Rs55 against the previous price of Rs 45.

A few days ago, the CDGR increased the price of the20 kilogrammes wheat flour bag from Rs 620 to Rs 670but the retailers refused to accept it and fixed the priceat Rs 820. The residents were seen shuttling betweenone market or the other in search of wheat flour at theofficial rate of Rs 670 per 20 kilogramme per bag. Atif,a shopkeeper at Peoples Colony Bazaar, said the whole-salers and millers had not been providing them wheatflour for the last two days. “Shopkeepers are not sellingthe commodity and turning away the buyers on the pre-text of unavailability. However, if they agree to sell,they insist on charging Rs 40 to Rs 45 per kilogramme,said Mushtaq, a resident of Dhoke Syedian.

He criticised the provincial government for its fail-ure to provide wheat flour to the public in a sufficientquantity. He also complained that the shopkeeperswere hoarding the commodity to sell it at Rs 800 to Rs820 per 20 kilograme bag.

Another customer said he had also visited a UtilityStore outlet where the 20 kilogrammes bag was avail-able at Rs 720. However, he added, the quality of thewheat flour available at the Utility Store was low.

The administration claimed that there was noshortage of wheat flour in the city and the shopkeeperswere following the prices fixed by the CDGR.

District Coordination Officer (DCO) Saqib Zafarsaid the district government was striving to ensure theavailability of wheat flour at the official rate. However,he admitted that there were some problems due to thegap between supply and demand.

nShortage of wheat leads to increase in prices of naan,chappati nCitizens call on authorities to take action

ISLAMABADaPP

Dysfunctional filtration plants installed byCapital Development Authority (CDA) inthe federal capital may cause diseases asthey are not maintained and are supplyingcontaminated water.

According to details, CDA has set upmany filtration plants, but they are no longerbeneficial for the people as they are notchecked regularly and human waste has beenfound in the water obtained from some filtra-tion plants. When contacted, Member SciencePakistan Council of Scientific and IndustrialResearch (PCSIR), Dr Tahir said that 45 per-cent of filtration plants in the federal capitalwere providing contaminated water, whichwas used by 75 percent of the citizens.

He said many filtration plants were pro-viding contaminated water.

Sources revealed that some filtrationplants were dysfunctional either due to theirdamaged taps or taps were stolen.

Spokesperson Pakistan Council of Re-search in Water Resources (PCRWR) LubnaNaheed said PCRWR had also developedlow-cost water testing and treatment tech-nologies which included field testing kits forbasic drinking water quality parameters, ar-senic removal technologies and chlorinatorsfor water purification. She said the develop-ment and installation of 24 low-cost waterconditioning and filtration plants for provi-sion of safe drinking water to the public wasin progress.

eight plants have been installed at Is-lamabad, Fatehjang, Sahiwal, Sialkot, underthe project Provision of Safe Drinking Water.

The results of various investigations andsurveys by several agencies have indicatedthat water pollution has become a seriousproblem in Pakistan. Most of the reportedhealth problems are directly or indirectly re-lated to water quality.

RAWALPINDI: The decision to hand over sanitation and solid waste departmentof district Rawalpindi to private sector on contract basis was announced onSaturday. According to details, in the first phase, the contract of sanitationdepartment will be awarded for five years and it will be made binding on thecontractors to induct new machinery and staff and introduce modern system ofsanitation. Furthermore, the existing staff will continue to work in the capacity ofgovernment employees. Five different national and international companies hadexpressed interest in obtaining the contract and two among them were not found up

to the mark by the provincial government. The contract will be awarded on one firmamong the remaining three firms in accordance with contract bylaws. The process ofscrutiny is continuing in respect of these three firms and a committee comprisingPlanning and Development chairman, local government secretary and financesecretary will take final decision about awarding the contract which will be sent tothe DCO Rawalpindi for his approval. Carrying solid waste and garbage in opencontainers and vehicles through the city will be banned. Closed containers will beplaced in streets, alongside roads and at public places to collect garbage. OnLinE

Dysfunctional filtration plants causing problem for people

Sanitation department to be handed over to private sector

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:42 AM Page 5

06 Islamabad Sunday, 27 January, 2013

RAWALPINDIaPP

EID Milad-un-Nabi was cel-ebrated on Friday with re-ligious zeal and fervorunder tight securityarrangements while all

roads, streets and main buildings in thetown were decorated with colourfullights and buntings.

A number of programmes werechalked out to celebrate the birth of HolyProphet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH)with great reverence and devotion. Dif-ferent Naat committees organised Naatcompetitions to celebrate eid Milad.

The government and religious or-ganisations arranged a number of activ-ities to celebrate the annual event. As atradition, Milad-un-Nabi processionswere held in all areas of the town.

Around 350 eid Milad-un-Nabi pro-cessions were taken out from differentparts of the city. The main procession ofMilad-un-Nabi started in the morningfrom Jamia Masjid road which passedthrough its traditional route, circularroad, Waris Khan, Murree road, Com-mittee Chowk, Iqbal road, FowaraChowk, Raja Bazaar and other areas.

The biggest processions appearedfrom Sihala, Gorakh Pure, Adiala Road,Pirwadhai, Fauji Colony,Tench Bhatta,Dhamiyal, People's Colony, Tipu Road,Chungi No22, Gulzar-e-Quaid,

Sadiqabad, Muslim Town, Kuri Road,Shakriyal, Khanna Dak, Golra Sharif,Mehrabad, Chur, Allahabad, Khayaban-e-Sir Syed, Waris Khan,Banni, Rawat,Soan, Dhoke Juma, Dhoke Kalhoor,Bakra Mandi, Baraf Khana and Morgah.

Similarly, dozens of big and smallprocessions appeared from other locali-ties of Rawalpindi.

The district government had allowed65 registered "sabeels" at different pointsthat were arranged under the supervisionof police and the City Peace Committee(CPC) for the participants of the proces-sions. All the routes of the processions ofeid Milad-un-Nabi had been cleanedwhile no person was allowed to stand onrooftops of the buildings along theroutes. Section 144 was imposed in the

city to ensure the security of citizenswhile there was ban on the pillion riding.Mobile phone service was also suspendedfrom 10 am to 8 pm. Drum beating andmusic was banned. The participants ofthe processions were passed throughwalk-through gates to avoid any unto-ward incident. The water tankers ofWasa and ambulances of the Health De-partment equipped with necessary med-icines, doctors and paramedical staff,police officials, volunteers of civil de-fence accompanied the processions.

Close circuit television cameras wereinstalled on the routes while the trafficwas closed on the routes of central proces-sion. All the streets were barricaded toprevent motorcyclists from entering theprocessions. City Police Officer (CPO)

Azhar Hameed Khokhar had warned allthe police officials deployed for security ofeid Milad-un-Nabi processions that theyshould perform their duties with dedica-tion and commitment failing which theywould face strict disciplinary action.

As per previous tradition, prizeswere distributed to the winners of com-petitions of Naat, Qirat and decoratorsof the best streets and stage. All kinds ofstreets, roads and buildings were deco-rated with colourful lights and banners.

A number of temporary stalls wereset up in many streets across the townwhere the sale of badges, stickers andflags was going on.

Strict security measures were takento maintain law and order on the day bythe city district government.

RAWALPINDIOnLinE

Rawalpindi Food Department on Satur-day decided to launch crackdownagainst the flour mills found involved inprofiteering by supplying atta at higherrate in the market.

The decision was taken under the di-rectives of Punjab Food secretary on the

persistent public complaints that theatta was being supplied by flour mills athigher rates than the price fixed by thegovernment.

Sources said that under the provincialfood department, city district governmenthad fixed flour rate in line with prices setby the provincial government in all theseven tehsils of district Rawalpindi.

As per government rates, all the

flour mills of Rawalpindi division willsupply atta at the rate of Rs 648 per bagweighing 20 kilogrammes. Its retail,prices will stand at Rs 670 per bag. Onthe other hand a 20 kilogram flour bagis being sold at the rate ranging betweenRs 700 and Rs 800 in the markets.

Atta dealers and shop keepers haveheld flour mills owners responsible forescalating prices of flour in the market.

Mill owners are supplying atta per 20-kilogram bag at the rate of Rs 650 andRs 655 under the pretext of carriagecharges.

The mill owners found responsiblefor selling flour at expensive rates willhave to face penalties in the form of fineranging from Rs 6000 to 16000, closureof mill for 6 days and cancellation ofwheat quota.

ISLAMABADsTaff REPORT

As many as 477 students of BahriaUniversity were awarded degrees inninth convocation of the universityon Saturday.

Students were also awarded goldand silver medals for their outstandingachievements in their academic career.

Pro-Chancellor of Bahria Univer-sity and Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS)Admiral Mohammad Asif SandilaNI(M) was the chief guest at the occa-sion and conferred degrees on thegraduating students of postgraduateand undergraduate programs.

In the postgraduate programs, 146students of Business Administration,Computer engineering, earth & envi-ronmental Sciences were awarded de-grees. At least 331 students ofundergraduate programs of BusinessAdministration, Computer Sciences,electrical engineering, earth and en-vironmental Sciences and Humanitiesand Social Sciences were awarded de-grees.

The Pro-Chancellor of Bahria Uni-versity, Admiral Mohammad AsifSandila NI(M) along with the Rector ofBahria University, Vice Admiral (Retd)Shahid Iqbal HI (M) awarded 19 Goldmedals and 14 Silver medals to various

students, who achieved top positions intheir respective departments. Goldmedals and Silver medals wereawarded to the students from each dis-cipline to acknowledge their outstand-ing performance.

While speaking to the students atthe occasion, Sandila congratulated thestudents and their parents on their suc-cess and said that the future of Pak-istan depended on the way the youthwas educated in the country. He fur-ther said that Bahria University wasproviding education of internationalstandard, adding that the universitywas on its way to providing the best ed-ucation in the country.

EID MILADUN NABI celebrated peacefully

Citizens demand banon ads displaying Indian modelsISLAMABAD: The citizens of the twincities on Saturday expressed concern overthe display of advertisements with Indianmodels saying that it was unfair sincePakistani players and actors had beenthreatened and sometimes forbidden inIndia. Talking to INP, citizens deploredthe attitude of the Pakistani governmentand Capital Development Authority(CDA) after tensions erupted at the Lineof Control (LoC). They said that giantbillboards displaying Indian models couldbe seen everywhere in the twin citiesdespite the fact that Pakistani artists andplayers were not only threatened butkicked out of India. Muhammad Shahzad,a student of Federal Urdu University,said, “We should ban such advertisementsafter witnessing bitter Indian mindsettowards our people. However, we arerather lenient and don’t even feel to dosomething in this connection.” ShahidAzim, a government employee, said that itseemed as if there was no local model oradvertising agency in the country as mostof international brands had ads of Indianfilm stars and models. inP

CDA negligence leadsto expensive golfcarts going to waste ISLAMABAD: The golf carts, importedfrom China at a cost of over Rs 30 millionare lying dysfunctional for past several yearsdue to the negligence of the CapitalDevelopment Authority (CDA). Accordingto details, the CDA had imported 24 golfcarts from China at a cost of Rs 30 millionduring the tenure of former chairmanKamran Lashari. The purpose of the cartswas to facilitate the elderly, thehandicapped and tourists at tourist spots.Two of these carts are currently standing inthe Prime Minister House, two in DamanKoh and two in Lake View Park while othersare not functioning and have been parked atthe environmental Directorate. Due to theabsence of these carts, the elderly andhandicapped are facing many difficultieswhile visiting popular spots. OnLinE

10 accused apprehended, recover739 bottles of wineISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Police onFriday claimed to have apprehended 10suspected criminals, recoveredammunition, 739 bottles of wine, threepistols and one stolen motorcycle fromtheir possession. According to details, apolice patrolling team was informed thatwine was being prepared and sold inPrince Road Street Number 1 of BharaKaho. Police raided the house andarrested Niamat Masih son of enayatMasigh, a resident of resident of districtMianwali and recovered 700 bottles andmaterial used in preparation of wine fromhis possession. Similarly, another team,apprehended a gang of dacoits from thearea of Aabpara Police Station andrecovered four pistols of 30 bore fromShah Wali, Misal Khan Mir Wali andNoorullah. Rajab Ali Shah, a SubInspector of CIA Police also recovered9 bottles of wine from the possessionof Bashir Javed. Sub Inspector ofWomen Police Muhammad Nawazrecovered 30 bottles of wine from hispossession. sTaff REPORT

Crackdown against flourmills owners announced

Bahria Universityholds 9th convocation

Official disappointed

at the pace of

construction work RAWALPINDI

inP

Rawalpindi Commissioner ImdadullahBosal on Saturday expressed hisdissatisfaction at the speed of theconstruction work on Pirwadhai Morr,Peshawar Road Flyover, UnderpassProject and services roads on Sixth RoadFlyover. The commissioner directed theofficials of RDA, WASA, RCB, PTCL, SuiGas and Wapda to complete theirrespective work at the site as soon aspossible. In a meeting with officials ofvarious departments, he said that hewould soon announce another meetingto review the pace of construction work.

G-6 weekly bazaar

without parking lotISLAMABAD

aPP

People visiting weekly bazaar at SectorG-6 face inconvenience due to non-availability of proper parking area."It is one of the oldest weekly bazaars inthe federal capital and a large number ofpeople come here, but the problem ofparking is worsening day by day", said asenior citizen Muhammad Sarwar. Hesaid both the stallholders and shopperswere in trouble due to lack of space forparking. A motorist Rehan Iqbal saidthat the visitors at market had to parktheir vehicles along the main road thatnot only creating traffic jams, but alsoresulted in inconvenience for thevisitors. Ziaur Rehman, a visitor at G-6weekly bazaar, said that if there wereproper parking arrangements at theweekly bazaars, no one would parkvehicles on the roads. A stallholder at G-6 weekly bazaar said that the lack ofparking space was affecting his businessand also creating problems for theshoppers. When contacted, an official ofCDA said that the civic body was awareof the problems being faced by thepeople and would try its best to addressthese problems.

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:42 AM Page 6

07IslamabadSunday, 27 January, 2013

low

High

MONdAy TueSdAy wedNeSdAy16°C I 05°C 16°C I 06°C 13°C I 07°C

PRAyeR TIMINGSFajr Sunrise zuhr Asr Maghrib Isha

5:43 7:09 12:19 3:09 5:29 6:56

CITy dIReCTORy

POlICe eMeRGeNCy 15

AMBulANCe 115

ReSCue 1122

HIlAl-e-AHMeR 9250488

edHI FOuNdATION 2827844

BOMB dISPOSAl 9270698

FIRe BRIGAde CeNTRe 16

CIvIl deFeNCe 9262830

eMeRGeNCy HelP

HOSPITAlS

BlOOd BANK

PIMS BlOOd BANK 9261272

POly ClINIC BlOOd BANK 9209123

COMPlAINT

wAPdA 111-000-118

SuI GAS 1199

RAIlwAyS

CITy STATION (eNquIRy) 117

ReSeRvATION 9273614

RAIlwAy POlICe 1333

AIRPORT

FlIGHT eNquIRy 114

PIA ReSeRvATION 111-786-786

COlleGeS / uNIveRSITIeS

INTeRNATIONAl ISlAMIC uNIveRSITy 9260765BAHRIA uNIveRSITy 9260002NuMl 9257677quAId-e-AzAM uNIveRSITy 90642098ARId AGRICulTuRe uNIveRSITy 9290151FJwu 9273235RIPHA INTeRNATIONAl uNIveRSITy 111510510NCA RAwAlPINdI 5770423PuNJAB lAw COlleGe 4421347

MAHROOF INT 2222920

PIMS 9261170

POly ClINIC 9218300

CdA 9221334

SHIFA INTeRNATIONAl 4603666

AlI 4444435

dISTRICT HqS 5556311-14

ulTRASONIC ClINIC 2824862

HOly FAMIly 9290319

Cloudy

weATHeR uPdATeS

14°C04°C

DanCe ClaSSeS with nighat

enroll now for dance classes atHunerkada with Nighat Chaodhrystarting November 5! limited spacesavialable. Contact Hunderkada fordetails and registration.

dATe ANd TIMe: 05:00 PM, weeKly eveNTVEnuE: THe CeNTRe FOR ARTS & CulTuRe

Our drumming circle is a (free!) ongoingevent and is held every Friday from 5pmto 6pm. we are having a great time, andwant to share the good time with you!Our drumming circle has children ...

dATe: ONGOING TIll APR 30, 2013 veNue: HuNeRKAdA

Yoga with ali tariq

This yoga course will creatively and mindfullyincorporate physical poses with the rhythmof the breath. The course will teach you thefundamentals of yoga, such as goodalignment, body mechanics, and breathwork.

dATe: 1ST NOv 2012 - ON GOINGveNue: KuCH KHAAS: ARTS &CulTuRe

Drumming CirCle

NEWS DESK

PROFeSSOR Ahmad Hasan Dani,who died in 2009, was Pakistan'sleading archaeologist and an au-thority on south and central Asia-narchaeology and history.

Whether addressing international conferencesor guiding schoolchildren on cultural ramblesaround Islamabad, Dani conveyed an enthusi-asm for learning that was infectious.

In 1945 he had worked with the greatBritish archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler onthe ruins at Moenjodaro, the 4,500-year-oldcity settlement in Sindh province, southernPakistan. Dani revealed fascinating detailsabout the site, proclaiming it "the first plannedcity in the world" and demonstrating that itsIndus Valley civilisation was one of humanity'sgreat foundational cultures, alongside egypt,Mesopotamia and China. He described a so-phisticated people who understood irrigation,traded with Arabia and ruled from Afghanistanto Rajasthan. He also showed how they prac-tised yoga and created statuettes of bangleddancing girls and stern-faced priest-kings thatdelight viewers to this day.

Rejecting academic super-specialisation,Dani synthesised disciplines to reconstruct thedistant past. He was fluent in 15 languages, in-cluding French, Tamil and Turkish. He wrote 30books. His last publication, a History of Pakistan(2007), which culminates in the republic's cre-ation in 1947, encapsulates 50 years of research.

Dani was born in Basna, a village nearRaipur, in central India. His parents were Kash-miri by origin and Ahmad was the first in hisfamily to be educated. He studied Sanskrit at

Banaras Hindu University, graduating as itsfirst Muslim student in 1944. He excavated withWheeler at Moenjodaro and Gandhara andworked at the Department of Archaeology ofBritish India at the Taj Mahal, Agra, before leav-ing for east Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1947.

From 1950 to 1962, Dani was east Bengal'ssuperintendent of archaeology, a history pro-fessor at Dhaka University and the curator atDhaka museum. He compiled definitive workson Bengali Muslim architecture between com-pleting his PhD thesis on the prehistory of east-ern India at London University in 1955, andworking as a research fellow at the School ofAfrican and Oriental Studies (1958-59).

Dani left for Peshawar University, where hecreated the department of archaeology and be-came its first professor. In 1971 he establishedthe social sciences faculty at Quaid-i-Azam Uni-versity in Islamabad, serving as dean until hisretirement in 1980. In 1993 he established theIslamabad museum.

From the 1960s, Dani shone light onGraeco-Indian remains in northern Pakistan.At the ancient city of Taxila, descendants of

Alexander the Great's troops had mixed with lo-cals, adopted Buddhism and crafted statues andtemples that bore unmistakable traces of anAegean provenance. In 1997 Dani becamefounding director of the Taxila Institute ofAsian Civilisations.

He also supervised exploration of a shrineat Murree, a hill station in Pakistani Punjab.Some believe it houses the remains of Mary,mother of Jesus.

At Rehman Dheri and Baluchistan, hehelped unearth traces of a proto-urban civilisa-tion that may predate Mesopotamia by millen-nia. From 1978 he and German colleaguesdiscovered rock art from the Karakoram moun-tains dating back 40,000 years. In 2007 healighted on a human footprint, possibly a mil-lion years old, imprinted in sandstone near theMargalla hills, north of Islamabad.

Often Dani swam against the tide. He sug-gested that Sufi meditation derived from earlierBuddhist customs; proved a casket bearing analleged ancient Persian princess was a fake; anddisputed the theory that today's southern Indi-ans descend from Indus Valley refugees drivenout by marauding Aryans.

He led path-breaking Unesco expeditionsalong the old Silk Road to China in 1990 andthe Soviet Union in 1991. He popularised his-tory through newspaper articles and ran cul-tural trips for Pakistanis as well as european,American and Japanese tourists, and lecturedinternationally. Imploring Pakistanis to cele-brate their pre-Islamic ancestors, Dani criti-cised nationalists and religious zealots whodestroyed traces of preceding cultures. He alsoinsisted that his countrymen radically reap-praise their outlook on history.

The greatest influence on Pakistan, he ar-gued, was neither the Hindu south nor the Arabwest but central Asia, in its Buddhist, Persianand later Sufi guises. As chair of the Pakistan-Central Asia Friendship Association, he wantedto revive "a genuine relationship - cultural, his-torical, commercial as well as religious", andadvocated reopening routes to the north thatSoviet rule had shut down in 1920.

Dani's many international awards includedthe Légion d'honneur in 1998. He is survived byhis wife of 60 years, Safiya Sultana, sons Anis,Navaid and Junaid, daughter Fauzia, fivegrandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

8 Ahmad Hasan Dani, archaeologist, linguistand historian, born 20 July 1920; died 26January 2009

Country’s leading

archeologist

rememberedDani worked

on Moenjodaroand the IndusValley civilisation

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:42 AM Page 7

Sunday, 27 January, 2013

54 die in Venezuelanprison riotCARACAS: At least 54 people were killed and 88others wounded in clashes at a prison in Venezuela’snorthwestern city of Barquisimeto, a hospital directorwho was at the scene has said. Most of those injured atthe Uribana prison in Lara state late on Friday sufferedgunshot wounds, Ruy Medina, the hospital officialsaid. Among the dead are a pastor and a member of theNational Guard - the rest are said to be inmates, thehospital director said. He called the death toll“alarming”, saying it was based solely on bodies broughtto the hospital. Saying that “prisons need to be places ofre-education not for crimes and mafia”, NicholasMaduro, Venezuelan vice president, said an “immediateinvestigation” had been launched into thecircumstances surrounding the deaths. Medina said theinmates began arriving at the hospital shortly beforemidday, and that 14 of the injured had wounds severeenough to require surgery. Iris Varela, the governmentminister responsible for Venezuela’s jails and prisons,said the riot was set off after inmates rebelled whenprison authorities launched a sweep of the facility insearch of illicit weapons. Varela had said earlier in theday that there was an “undetermined number” ofcasualties from the melee. The state of Venezuelanprisons have often been called into question, especiallyfor their overcrowding, which is among the worst inLatin America. While the country’s prisons have beenbuilt to house 14,000 inmates, there are almost 50,000prisoners behind bars. aGEnciEs

Troops capture anothertown in northern MaliBAMAKO: French jets have bombed rebel positionsas well as fuel stores and ammunition dumps neartheir Gao stronghold after capturing the town ofHombori in northern Mali. “At present, Malian andFrench soldiers are in Hombori,” said a teacher onFriday in the town, which lies 920km north of thecapital Bamako and 200km west of Gao. “There areno longer any Islamists on the ground.” Allied forcesare pushing ahead to Kidal and Timbuktu, where analliance of Tuareg fighters and al-Qaeda-linkedrebels seized the town back in April. To the west, thesource added, French-led forces who had recapturedthe town of Diabaly on Monday were pushingtowards the town of Lere with the aim of “takingcontrol of Timbuktu” further north. Gao, Timbuktuand Kidal were seized by an alliance of Tuaregrebels and Islamist groups last year. The Islamistshijacked the rebellion and sidelined the Tuaregs.But as the French-led assault against the rebelscontrolling northern Mali entered its third week,aid workers have warned about a growing foodcrisis for civilians. Hundreds of thousands ofMalians, mainly Tuaregs, are escaping rebel-heldareas in the north fearing a backlash. Refugees havebeen fleeing to the Malian-Mauritanian border, andthe UN expects as many as 700,000 civilians will bedisplaced by the fighting. aGEnciEs

Protests erupt afterFallujah killings

BAgHDADaGEnciEs

Hundreds of anti-government protesters have blockedthe main highway leading to the the Iraqi city of Fallujah, aday after at least five people were killed in troops firing. Theprotesters gathered in central Fallujah on Saturday for thefuneral of those killed in the shooting. Mourners hoistedcaskets and waved Iraqi flags while shouting “Allahu Akbar”!or God is great. At the protest, the latest in a series ofdemonstrations against the government of Nouri al-Maliki,the prime minister, shouts of “Listen Maliki, we are freepeople” were followed by “Take your lesson from Bashar,” areference to Bashar al-Assad, president of Syria. Theblocking of the highway, which runs to neighbouring Jordan,led to the deployment of federal police. The police presencecomes as a bid by the ministry of defence to defuse thesituation. Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad,said the protests were only the latest in “a tense situation”around the country. Friday’s deaths in the predominantlySunni town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, were the first sinceprotests began last month against alleged targeting of theSunni minority community by the Shia-led authorities. “I willnot be satisfied with compensation provided by the defenceministry,” said Ali Khalaf al-Ani, whose son Omar was killedon Friday, referring to an offer for financial compensation byBaghdad. “I want my son alive — that is my demand!” Malikicalled for restraint by security forces in a statement issued byhis office, but also said that soldiers had been attacked in thefirst place. “This is what al-Qaeda and terrorist groups areseeking to exploit,” he said. He also blamed “conspiracies”propagated by the intelligence agencies of neighbouringcountries, supporters of now-executed Iraqi presidentSaddam Hussein, and al-Qaeda. The defence ministry haspromised an investigation into the killings.

CAIROaGEnciEs

MOHAMeD Morsi, the egyptian presi-dent, has sent re-enforcements of thenational army to Suez, where fivedemonstrators and one soldier died inprotests to mark the second anniver-

sary of the uprisings that brought down former presi-dent Hosni Mubarak.

“egypt’s [security] apparatuses will chase the crim-inals and bring them to justice. They are also doing theirbest to protect and secure the peaceful demonstrations,”Morsi said on Saturday.

Morsi’s announcement that security forces willsearch for rioters he said were responsible for violentprotests across the country, comes a day after tens ofthousands of people took to the streets demanding hestep down. “I’m offering my condolences to all egyp-tians, the martyrs in Suez and the policemen who werethe victims of ugly violence,” he said. The protestershave demanded the establishment of an official mini-mum wage and a suspension of the new constitution,which opponents of the president say was rushedthrough. Others, want Morsi step down from power.

Al Jazeera’s SherineTadros, reporting from

Cairo, said that thecrowds were shout-ing “‘ irhal ‘ - leave,leave - in refer-

ence to Mo-hamed Morsi.The feeling

here on thestreet...is the

Muslim Broth-erhood aren’t

interested inmaking changesto better the livesof people,” said

Tadros.

Hisham Qandil, the egyptianprime minister, sent a message to thethousands gathered at the egyptian

capital’s now iconic Tahrir Square.Speaking at the World economic

Forum in Davos, Qandil said “after youhave aired out your voice and your state-ments, please go back to work. Workhard for yourself, for your people, for

your family - because that’s the only wayto achieve the aspirations of the egyptian rev-

olution”. A 14-year-old boy, was among the sixkilled in Suez, where protesters set ablaze a building

that once housed the city’s local government. Anotherperson died in clashes in Ismailia, another Suez Canalcity east of Cairo.

The army deployed troops to the port city late onFriday to take over control of the city’s security. In re-

sponse to the deaths, Morsi called on egyptians to rejectviolence. The president urged “citizens to adhere to thevalues of the revolution, express opinions freely andpeacefully and renounce violence,” said a messageposted on his Twitter account. Police fired tear gas atprotesters, as clashes broke out in two neighbourhoodsof Alexandria, egypt’s second city. Demonstrators alsostormed the governorate headquarters in the canal cityof Ismailiya and attempted to storm two other buildingselsewhere, witnesses said. Calls for mass street protestsagainst Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, fromwhich he hails, were led by the secular-leaning opposi-tion. Protesters were urged to use the same slogan usedduring the uprsing in 2011: “Bread, freedom, social jus-tice.” Mohamed el Baradei, an opposition leader andformer head of the UN’s atomic agency, wrote on hisTwitter account: “Go out into the squares to finallyachieve the objectives of the revolution”.

News08

CAIRO: Violence erupted in Port Said on Saturday after an egyptian court handed down 21 death sentences inconnection with the deadly riot last year at a football stadium in the Mediterranean city. At least 74 peoplewere killed in the riot on February 1, 2012, which began minutes after the final whistle in a game between al-Masry and the Cairo-based al-Ahly. Al-Masry fans stormed the pitch after their team won, throwing stones,bottles and fireworks at al-Ahly supporters. Witnesses said that police at the stadium did nothing to stop theviolence, which set off days of violent protests in the capital Cairo. The verdicts are not final; death sentencesmust be approved by egypt’s grand mufti, though that is largely a procedural formality. Defendants can alsoappeal their sentences, which could take years to carry out. After the verdicts were handed down, the families ofthe defendants tried to storm the prison, and police used tear gas to disperse them. There were reports ofgunfire around the prison, with 26 people killed, including at least two police officers who were shot dead.Police have now sealed off Port Said, and the army has been deployed to “restore stability”; a curfew has beenimposed in the area around the prison. “It has been decided to deploy some units to work for calm and stabilityand the protection of public establishments,” said General Ahmed Wasfi, in a statement carried by the officialMeNA news agency. Families of the victims inside the courtroom, meanwhile, reacted with joy and disbelief,cheering and holding pictures of their relatives. “The police are thugs,” yelled relatives before the judge took thebench. Hassan Mustafa, who had pinned a photo of his dead friend to his chest, said he was pleased with theverdict, but also wants “justice served for those who planned the killing.” The verdicts were also met with cheersby al-Ahly supporters who had gathered outside the football club in Cairo. But the rulings will likely be seen aspolitical - an effort to appease the “Ultras Ahlawy,” die-hard supporters of al-Ahly, who threatened unrest in thecapital if the rulings were not to their liking. Al-Ahly supporters have blocked roads, bridges, and Cairo’s metrosystem over the past few days. “Justice or blood,” they warned in a statement on Facebook. “There is nothing tosay these people did anything, and we don’t understand what this verdict is based on,” one of the defendants’lawyers told the Associated Press by telephone. “[This was] a political decision to calm the public.” Dozens ofother defendants, including security officials accused of failing to stop the violence, are expected to receive theirverdicts on March 9. All of this comes just hours after deadly protests that marked the second anniversary ofthe revolution that toppled longtime egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak. Ten people were killed on Friday in anti-government protests in Suez and Ismailia, and more than 470 people were wounded; Mohamed Morsi, theegyptian president, deployed the army in Suez to restore order. Representatives of the National Salvation

Front, the main opposition bloc in egypt, held a press conference on Saturday to condemn theviolence. The group demanded that Morsi appoint a new national unity government and form a

committee to overhaul the recently-approved constitution, and threatened to boycott upcomingparliamentary elections unless its demands are met. aGEnciEs

Morsi sends army toSuez after deadly clashes

Violence erupts after Egyptiancourt hands out death sentences

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:43 AM Page 8

09NewsSunday, 27 January, 2013

ISLAMABADanwER abbas

In year 2011-12, Pakistanis used149.278 million condoms, 6.223 mil-lion cycles of oral pills, 1.315 millioninsertions of internal uterine devices(IUDs) and 2.705 million vials of in-jectables, revealed a report released bythe Pakistan Bureau of Statistics(PBS).

The PBS report showed an un-precedented rise in the use of condomsas a contraceptive tool during the year2011-12 as compared to last year.

The Federally Administrated Tribal

Areas (FATA) witnessed a 60 percentincrease in the use of condoms whilethe federal capital stood second with arise of 27.9 percent.

In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ratioof using condoms as a contraceptivetool remained 24.5 percent whileSindh showed a rise of 20.7 percent. InPunjab, rise in the use condoms wasrecorded at 18.7 percent.

However, according to the reportmade available to Pakistan Today, acontradictory trend was witnessed inBalochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and AzadJammu and Kashmir where the use ofcondoms as a contraceptive tool saw a

decline in the year 2011-12. Balochistan recorded a decrease of

11.8 percent in the trend of using con-doms as a contraceptive tool whereasthe popularity graph of condoms felldown in Gilgit-Baltistan where a de-crease of 5.4 percent was recorded.

In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, therewas a decrease of 1.3 percent in the useof condoms.

For oral pills, the report showedthat FATA remained at the top with anincrease of 46.2 percent in their usefollowed by Gilgit-Baltistan with a riseof 20.8 percent and the third place wasoccupied by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with

12.0 percent.In federal capital, the use of oral

pills as a means of contraceptionshowed a rise by 4.5 percent, Punjab3.2 percent and Sindh showed a rise of2.1 percent.

Again in the case of Balochistan,the use of oral pills was discouraged bylocals. The report showed that the useof oral contraceptive pills had de-creased by 21.3 percent.

The province/sector-wise compari-son of contraceptive performance dur-ing the financial year 2011 -12 in termsof Couple Year of Protection (CYP) –an international indicator for data col-

lection – has been made with the pre-vious year 2010-11 which showed thatat the national level, an increase of 0.7percent had been observed for all pro-gramme and non-programme outletsduring 2011-12 as compared with 2010-11.

As far as the district Islamabad andFATA are concerned, the contraceptiveperformance for the financial year2011-12 compared with 2010-11 de-picted an increase of 19.5 percent and37.4 percent respectively, whereas adecrease of 2.9 percent and 12.0 per-cent had been recorded in AJK andGilgit-Baltistan.

ISLAMABADaPP

PRIMe Minister Raja PervezAshraf on Friday urged thenation to stand united andrise above petty differencesto thwart the designs of

those who benefit from dissent and divi-sion.

“Any division on the basis of caste,creed, language, or sect is bringing a badname to the religion of Islam and theteachings of the world’s greatest leaderHoly Prophet Muhammad (Peace BeUpon Him),” he said while addressingthe 38th National Seerat Conference atthe Pak-China Centre.

Ashraf said that for the believers,Islam was a religion of peace, brother-hood, tolerance and justice. “But whenwe speak of dissent, or try to imposeour way of life on others by force, itcreates serious problems, further divi-sions, hate and chaos,” he told thegathering of religious scholars fromvarious schools of thought.

“We loose temper over minor thingsand resort to violence, while knowingwell that we are the followers of oneAllah, one Quran and the Sunnah of HisProphet Muhammad (PBUH),” headded. The prime minister termed it adenial of the teachings and urged thatthe nation needed to stand united toconfront all internal and external chal-lenges.

When a religious scholar said thatthe entire community of clerics wouldsupport the prime minister if he raisedvoice against drone strikes, Ashrafreplied that the government had takenup the matter at all international fora.“We have always said that drone attacksare not the solution,” he said and addedthat the government condemned and re-jected all forms of terrorism that killedinnocent people.

The prime minister said US Ambas-sador to Pakistan Richard Olson, whoalso attended the conference, had alsobeen conveyed the same sentiments ofthe government. He said terrorism had

caused a lot of damage to Pakistan andtoday no one felt safe anymore. “Ourschools, homes and places of worship areno more safe. We live with a sense ofconstant fear,” he said. “It is time toshow collective wisdom and find a wayout, with patience, tolerance and unity.”

The prime minister said that Islamcategorically rejected all those who sup-ported violence, extremism and terror-ism, as those had no place in a religionthat stood for peace and tolerance, and aswas evident from the teachings and lifeof Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

He said that unfortunately a handfulof elements were trying to impose their

own specific agenda in the garb of Islamand were not only shattering peace andtranquillity of the country, but were alsobringing a bad name to Islam.

“Any follower of Holy Prophet(PBUH) and a true Pakistani cannever be part of such a satanic atti-tude,” he said. The prime ministerasked how the true followers of Islambe touted as terrorists. “Pakistanis areneither terrorists nor are they afraid ofthem, and by seeking guidance fromthe life and teachings of Holy Prophet(PBUH), they will defeat all the forcesof evil and prove that Islam stands forpeace and tolerance,” he added.

Pakistanis used 149.278 million condoms in 2011-12

PM urges nation to stand above

differences, defeat forces of dissent

operationS anD Drone attaCkS

Tribal eldersto meet civil,military high-upsPESHAWAR: In a bid to bring an end tomilitary action and US drone attacks in theFederally Administered Tribal Areas, tribalelders on Saturday decided to establishcontacts with both military and civilian high-ups. This decision was made at a jirga heldon the invitation of tribal MNA and ex-federal minister Hamidullah Jan inPeshawar. The jirga was attended by leadingtribal elders and representatives from allseven tribal agencies and six frontierregions. The participants discussed theongoing law and order situation of FATAand observed that tribesmen were sufferinga lot due to the so-called war on terror. Onone hand tribesmen, including women andchildren, are getting killed in militaryoffensives, and on the other hand they arebeing targeted by US drones. Theparticipants opposed both US drone attacksand military action in FATA. Tribal eldersfocused on plight of thousands of familieswho have abandoned their homes. Thesetribesmen are not only living in makeshifttents but are deprived of food, health andpotable water. In this connection, thespeakers at the jirga expressed concerns overpolicies of the government. A number oftribal elders also showed resentment overkilling of 18 tribal people, including twochildren, and urged the government to holdinquire in this regard. The elders not onlycriticised security forces for its failure inprotecting lives and property of innocenttribesmen but they also condemned policeaction against protesting tribesmen fromKhyber Agency. Later, the participantsagreed to form 40-member team to holdmeetings with high-ups. Hamidullah JanAfridi will head the team, which will meetthe president, the chief of army staff, KhyberPakhtunkhwa governor and corpscommander Peshawar. The main purpose ofthe meetings is to convince the governmentto bring an end to military action and also toforce the US government to stop droneattacks. A number of political parties,especially the Jamaat-e-Islami and JamiatUlema-e-Islam are also making similardemands. Whereas the ruling AwamiNational Party opposes such demands asthey believe tribal elders are being dictatedby militants. shamim shahiD

Landslide blocks flow ofRiver Baltoro in SkarduISLAMABAD: A massive landslide thatblocked water flow of River Baltoroformed a lake, resulting in submerging oflarge areas and sparking fear among theresidents in Skardu. The Gilgit-BaltistanChief Secretary has directed localadministration to install a warningsystem in the area, private news channelreported. He also asked thecommissioner and deputy commissionerto visit Shigar, a sub-division of Skarduwhere the mountain landslide fell downin the river in the suburbs of Hoto.Around 40 feet deep water submergedfour kilometers of area, blocking roadleading to K2, the second highestmountain on earth. The water alsoflooded agricultural land and uprootedhundreds of trees. Villagers called on thegovernment to take measures to evacuatethem from the affected areas. aPP

ISLAMABADaPP

Interior Minister Rehman Malik onSaturday said that illegal mobile SIMSare used in terrorist activities acrossthe country and that suspending cellphone services on eid Miladun Nabihelped stave off violence on eid Mi-ladun Nabi.

Talking to reporters outside theParliament House, Malik claimed thatdue to the closure of mobile servicesacross in over 50 cities and towns, noact of terrorism took place in violenceprone cities of Karachi and Quettaduring eid Miladun Nabi.Ministeradded that the decision to suspendcell phone services was not taken uni-laterally by the federal government,rather it was done on the request ofrespective provinces, including Pun-jab.BIOMETRIC SySTEMS AT SIMSALE POINTS: Malik on Saturdayasked the mobile phone operators tocomplete installation of biometric sys-tems, including fingerprint readers, atSIM sale points by February 28.

The minister said the biometricsystems can help confirm the identity

of mobile phone users since unregis-tered SIMs had become “instrumentsfor terrorists to unleash violence.”

After banning the sale of SIMs atretail outlets, the telecom regulatorhad asked all the mobile phone com-panies to install biometric systems attheir stores for verifying the identityof customers till February 28.

experts say biometric systems cancommunicate instantaneously withthe data servers and validate the Com-puterised National Identity Cards(CNIC) holders. Additionally, there isanother module that can use GPRS oreDGe services to communicate withservers and can be deployed at retailoutlets or at remote locations to verifythe customer’s identity against theprovided CNIC before selling a sim.

Furthermore, users have been di-rected to register their mobile sims byFebruary 1.yOUTUBE BLOCKINg: Respond-ing to a question, Malik said that thePakistan Telecommunication Author-ity (PTA) had been directed to installfiltration system for blocking un-wanted websites. After the installationof the filtration system, YouTubewould be unblocked.

no cellular services on eid Milad

prevented terrorism: Malik

Amin Faheem electedas PPP president

ISLAMABAD: Makhdoom AminFaheem was elected as the PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) president while PMRaja Pervez Ashraf was elected as thegeneral secretary during party elections.The election was conducted by theparty’s election commission, headed byLaw Minister Farooq H Naek. In Punjab,Manzoor Wattoo was elected asprovincial president and Tanveer Ashrafas the general secretary. Qaim Ali Shahand Taj Haider were elected as Sindh’spresident and general secretaryrespectively. Anwar Saifullah will headthe Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa PPP. SadiqUmrani and Baaz Muhammad KhanKhetran were elected as Balochistan’spresident and general secretaryrespectively. OnLinE

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:43 AM Page 9

Arif NizamiEditor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36375963-5 Fax: 042-32535230Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9 Fax: 021-35381208

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2287273Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

when outsiders teach us what democracy is

How allies see us

First it was the Pakistani media followed by the courtsthat had raised the issue. Now one of Pakistan’s keyallies, donors and trade partners has taken up thematter. Setting aside diplomatic niceties, the BritishHigh Commissioner has told journalists frankly that

Pakistan needed radical change. Sharing concerns expressed lastweek by IMF mission chief to Pakistan Jeffrey R Franks, hereiterated that Pakistan’s economy was not growing fast enough.As if this was not sufficient, he added, “Pakistan’s governments –federal and provincial – are not delivering enough to the people.”He listed the ailing economy, power crisis and raging violentextremism as outcome of the failures of the federal and provincialgovernments. In normal circumstances this would have beenconsidered an uncalled for interference in the country’s internalaffairs. Things have, however, gone to such an extreme that theenvoy of a country known for understatements has been forced tobreak the taboo. He also pointed out that democracy was not justabout elections. “It is about living up to the standards you set. It isabout politicians as role models. It is about earning the trust ofthe people and delivering for the people.” There is somethingseriously wrong when outsiders are forced to remind our leadersthat they are neglecting their responsibilities to their own citizens.

The ruling elite needs to ask themselves why Tahirul Qadri’sslogan for change in the system could charge tens of thousands ofpeople who followed him all the way from Lahore to Islamabadfor a change. Those who accompanied him in the march includeda large number of women, some taking their children along. Itwas easily forgotten by the people that Qadri had chosen toacquire the citizenship of Canada turning his back on the countryof his birth over six years back. People are fed up with theunending bloodshed in Karachi, forced disappearances inBalochistan, power shortages, lawlessness and rampantcorruption all over the country. even in Punjab, presented by thePML-N as an island of tranquillity and good governance, thingsare hardly any better. Dengue fever visited the province twice,killing 247 people in 2011 alone. Government’s negligence led tothe deaths of over 100 heart patients in Lahore caused by acontaminated heart medicine in 2011-12. In 2012, over 40 peopledied after taking a cough syrup which was injurious to health. Inbetween, thousands of patients had to face the consequences of anumber of strikes by doctors. Meanwhile, Lahore Metro BusService inauguration continues to be postponed prolonging themisery of the commuters and raising questions about the qualityof governance in the province.

What is needed is to urgently announce an election scheduleand appoint a consensus caretaker setup. Hopefully, the nextgovernment would learn from the mistakes of its predecessors.

Float a tender

The Prophet (pbuh) lost a tooth in theBattle of Uhud, not Badr as I wronglystated last week. Such memorylapses happen due to paucity of time:with fast unfolding events one has to

wait till the last minute before writing. Mine wasa memory lapse but Tahirul Qadri said manythings in the heat of rhetoric that he will live toregret. Such language suits run-of-the-millpoliticians, not revolutionaries claiming to be an-chored in the ideology of the Almighty.

Look at his intemperate language againstSharif Brothers Inc in his press conference afterhis march, during which he demanded that thepresident, the federal and provincial executives,and assemblies self-abolish themselves, or else.But when all politicians ganged up against himand Imran Khan refused to join his march, heembraced the sword of ‘Yazid’ and signed hisfour-point declaration with the prime ministerwhom he had earlier dismissed as ‘former’. Sincethen, he has not uttered a word against ‘Yazid’. Infact, many people think that his real purpose wasto ensure that ‘Yazid’ won the next elections too.

I had said in my first article that one mustseparate the message from the messenger.Qadri’s message had already been given byImran Khan and the MQM and was nothingnew. It was good, though limited. Limited be-cause it was good for the well healed, the thirdplayer in the equation, comprising Qadri’s spir-itual followers, those in his employ and, yes,thousands of ordinary middle class people fedup with the national condition. They wanted tomake a statement and they made it forcefully.

The fourth player in the equation was themedia. In telecasting Qadri’s procession 24-hours non-stop and still going on in discussionprogrammes, they gave Qadri the sort of boostthat billions of dollars could not buy. Still, hefell flat on his face.

The most important player in any equationis the ‘wretched of the earth’, the downtrodden,the unwashed, the unclean and the hungry,without a decent roof over their heads, the un-shod with rags for clothes, people whose chil-dren are bred and brought up in the streets ofthe urban jungle or in the dust raised by thewheels of the vulgar speeding vehicles of feudalrobber barons. They exist along with street dogsand vultures looking for scraps in the trashcans

of the rich and the mountains of urban wasteleft daily by municipal trash trucks. And that iswhere they die unnoticed, just another statistic.They were not in the equation because therewas nothing in Qadri’s message for them. Theycouldn’t care less about legal and constitutionalhairsplitting and niceties; whether certain arti-cles in the constitution are assiduously followedor not and the rest of the balderdash of theoverfed. They are concerned with sheer sur-vival, with food and jobs, a dignified and securelife, shelter and clothing, healthcare and educa-tion and everything that goes to make theirGod-given fundamental birthrights – Haqooq-ul-Ibad – in this hypocritical Islamic state ofours where there are accidental Muslims every-where with hardly any Islam anywhere, only rit-uals and customs and self-appointed ‘warriorsof God’ on a killing spree. They are concernedwith “self-evident truths” – “life, liberty and thepursuit of happiness”. Nothing less.

In parachuting down from Canada just be-fore elections, Qadri’s timing was right too –‘cometh the moment cometh the man’ they say.Qadri wasn’t the man – ‘cometh the momentcometh the pretender’. But he did show that col-lective action does shake up governments andpoliticians. He showed that Pakistanis are notwimps, unable to protest or launch revolutions.But he failed to show how to stand tall underpressure. Instead, he showed how to bend andbecome a player in the rapacious status quo.

I can’t understand people who call them-selves educated and take Qadri seriously. Hereeks of hypocrisy. I have heard him on televi-sion telling a Pakistani audience that the blas-phemy law was passed due to his efforts and thatit applied to both Muslims and non-Muslims. YetI have also heard him tell a western audience thatthe blasphemy law did not apply to non-Mus-lims. This is rank hypocrisy and opportunism.

I have heard him crying and telling his weep-ing audience that the Prophet (pbuh) came tohim in a dream and said that the was leaving Pak-istan for good, but on his beseeching he agreedto stay on condition that Qadri be his host, re-sponsible for his domestic travel, food and lodg-ing and his return ticket to Medina. The audienceof ignoramuses broke down. This is rank blas-phemy and opportunism, exploiting the religioussentiments of people in search of an emotionalhome to gain a following of the ignorant. Howcan such a man be taken seriously? He needs apsychiatrist and so do those who admire him.

But give the devil his due: Qadri did castthe first stone. Now it is for someone else topick up the ball and take it from where Qadridropped it in the ‘D’ and into the goalpost.Perhaps this is Imran Khan’s chance – his lastchance perhaps – but with ‘Makhdoom’ (let’sus just call them ‘doom’) feudal lords to theleft of him and to the right of him, not volley-ing and thundering but whispering and whin-ing in his ear, I don’t hold out much hope.

Though he talks revolution Qadri has joinedthe status quo little realising that while Islamicpolitics is revolutionary, western electoral poli-

tics is about preserving the status quo. Neitherdoes Imran Khan. You cannot expect to upturnthe status quo from within for it is so powerfuland seductive that it will change you before youcan change it – except for cosmetic changes thatdo nothing for the ‘wretched of the earth’. Ourelectoral system is so maleficent that it makesthe oppressed elect their oppressors to representthem. Only Lucifer could have thought up sucha system. You cannot expect the symptom tocure the disease, the headache to cure the cancerin the brain that causes it. It needs surgery.

Qadri’s mistake was to talk revolution andyet say that he would remain within the consti-tution. How? The ultimate preservation of ourman-eating system lies in the preservation of theconstitution that codifies the rapacious statusquo: this is what judges and lawyers are chargedwith, their purpose of existence. Yet Qadri ex-pects his gaggle of lawyers to bring revolution.Lawyers and judges are there to prevent it. Qadrimade many unconstitutional demands and gottrapped in a web of contradictions. Finally, hewas hoist on his own petard. He raised expecta-tions and fell short – far too short – and wasfound wanting, a poor specimen of a revolution-ary leader. A good revolutionary leader changesthe course of history, like Jinnah did and beforehim the greatest revolutionary of them all, theMessenger of God (pbuh). He changed thecourse of history, and how.

Had Qadri remained a traditional politi-cian and not talked big he would have beenjudged well. He was a traditional politicianbefore; he remains a traditional politicianstill. Pakistanis have been fooled yet again bya ‘messiah’ made of clay.

Qadri’s supporters will say that now thatthe constitutional qualification articles for par-liamentarians will be followed strictly thingswill start improving with better parliamentar-ians. Hardly: each politician not making thegrade will unleash his ‘Mini Me’ on us andthere will be many, for they will nominate theirsons in their stead – or wives and daughters,brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews…

The question arises: what legal or constitu-tional validity does Qadri’s declaration have,even though the prime minister and his coalitionhave signed it? How can they sign an agreementwith a private party that has no representationin parliament without floating a tender first, asthey do when a public sector entity wants to buygoods or services? Let anyone and everyone givetheir draft declarations and let the best bidderwin. As always, the Devil will take the hindmost.

The most heartening thing to come out ofQadri’s march is that people have come a longway in the last five years. Then they thought thatelections were the best panacea for their ills:democracy is the best revenge and all that jazz.Sure it is, and how. Now many have realised thatthe system is anti-people, anti-progress and thebest preservative of our satanic status quo. An-other five years and they will realise that thisalien system has been foisted on us by the con-stitution, which is the real disease.

By Humayun gauhar

The system will change you before you can change it

10 Sunday, 27 January, 2013Comment

January 30 is the day when MahatmaGandhi was shot dead by a Hindu fa-natic for partition of India. Nathu

Ram Godse who killed him remained unre-pentant and said in his defence in the Pun-jab High Court, where the case was heard:“Gandhi was a hypocrite. even after themassacre of the Hindus by the Muslims, hewas happy. The more the massacres of Hin-dus, the taller (he raised) his flag of secu-larism.” India paid a heavy price to upholdthe values of pluralism. Yet a similar kindof incipient group has crept up, with thesame ideas of eliminating those who are of

different religion or who have stuck to theideal of secularism. This group is attackingIndia’s polity relentlessly and adding to itsfollowers in the name of religion.

Union Home Minister Sushil KumarShinde has said that “reports have comeduring the National Investigation Agency(NIA) probe that BJP and RSS conduct ter-ror training camps to spread terrorism”.He further said: “Bombs were planted inSamjhauta express, Mecca Masjid and alsoa blast was carried out in Malegaon. Wewill have to think about it seriously...”

The statement may be a bit sensationaland I wish Shinde had not made it at thistime when there is a fallout in India on whatis happening at the border. And the facts heused at the Congress conclave at Jaipur raisedoubts about his intent. He looked as if hewas out to defame the BJP and the RSS. Ihave no quarrel with him because both bod-ies are out of step with the principles of sec-ularism we pursue. What Shinde shouldhave done is to produce evidence on whichhe has based his disclosures. A white paperbefore the next session of parliament in Feb-ruary is an appropriate measure. At a timewhen Islamist terrorism has already becomea nightmare for the authorities, Hindu ter-rorism can be a greater threat because it will

contaminate the majority community. Com-munalism by the minority community canbe tackled. But when it embraces the major-ity community, it can become fascism.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singhhas alleged again at the same conclavethat Hindu nationalist terrorism is theanswer to Muslim one that comes report-edly from Pakistan. This may be correctbut it does not help the situation devel-oping in the country.

A Muslim intellectual from Pakistanhas emailed his comment: “While thereis no denial that there is a Pakistani con-nection in some of the terrorist attacks inIndia such as 26 November, there shouldalso be no doubt about the equally truefact that Indian Muslims themselveshave many reasons to fight back on theIndian state that is treating them unfairlyfor now more than 60 years in India, justkeeping in view the Babri Masjid attackand the murder of Muslims in Gujarat.”

He further says, “In an increasinglyviolent world where the West is wagingwar for colonisation of natural resourcesand political influence everywhere, oneshould not be surprised to find out that vi-olence creates new violence. every actionhas a reaction as we have seen in Frenchmisadventure in Mali and Algiers.”

The response of the BJP is understand-ably hostile. It has demanded an apologyfrom the prime minister and has threateneda bandh throughout the country. Yet afterreadmitting Kalyan Singh, who was chiefminister when the Babri Masjid was demol-

ished to the last brick, the BJP’s anger haslost sting. It should be defensive in its ap-proach. Nonetheless, Shinde’s disclosureshave lessened the sheen of Rahul Gandhi’sanointment as number two in the Congress.But this has not mattered with the partymen who have suddenly begun callingRahul, not Mr but Ji, the nomenclature theparty uses for respect and acceptability.

By elevating Rahul from the positionof secretary-general to that of vice-presi-dent of the party does not declare if he isits nominee for the prime ministership inthe 2014 general elections. He says hewill build up the party. It looks rather oddthat his mother, Sonia Gandhi, the presi-dent and he the vice-president, should betogether building the party. But then theCongress, engripped by the dynastic pol-itics, cannot help. It has to carry outSonia Gandhi’s wishes, even though Man-mohan Singh has lost importance and hasbecome a lame duck prime minister.

True, Rahul made a good, emotionalspeech at Jaipur. But what did it say, evenif it is assumed that he wrote it himself?The observations like overhauling the sys-tem or fighting against corruption areempty words. How can he be taken seri-ously when he knows that his brother-in-law Robert Vadra has dishonestly acquiredlands in Haryana? People in India andabroad want to know Rahul’s views on theburning problems facing the country, nota goody-goody speech. He has never ut-tered a word on the international scene.Ordinarily, it may not be necessary to com-

ment on such subjects. But since he is acandidate for prime ministership he has toallow a peep into his mind on these topics.

My hunch is that Rahul may not bethe Congress candidate for the primeministerial position in the next election.Sonia Gandhi, who reportedly wept on hiselevation fearing that power was like poi-son, may carry on with Manmohan Singhas long as he lasts, if the Congress headsthe post-election government. Rahul maystep in after Manmohan Singh.

Some other person may also be a pos-sibility. Already Finance Minister P Chi-dambaram has engaged a tutor to learnHindi. Sonia Gandhi is herself givingprominence to Parliamentary MinisterKamal Nath and has nominated him tolead the delegation at Davos. CommerceMinistrer Anand Sharma is only a dele-gate, although in the past the commerceminister has headed such delegations.

The 2014 election may turn out to bea contest between secular and non-secularforces. However, the BJP will think twicebefore nominating Gujarat Chief MinisterNarendra Modi. One, he will polarise thecountry; and two, the BJP will find it dif-ficult to organise allies if he is projectedas prime minister. The party should recallhow the Vajpayee’s first government hadto resign after 13 days in office because noother party was willing to join hands withit. Those who do not learn from historyare doomed to repeat it.

The writer is a senior Indian journalist.

Lessons in politics

border crossingsBy Kuldip Nayar

in india, secularism is at stake

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:43 AM Page 10

Bureaucracy’s favoursAccording to a media report, senior

bureaucrats are putting pressure on theCapital Development Authority (CDA)to create plots in expensive sectors ofIslamabad for allotment to BS 22officers. The background of this story isthat the former prime minister hadapproved a scheme for allotment ofadditional plots for federal secretariesand senior bureaucrats in BS 22. Civilservants in BS 17 and above are allottedonly one plot at the time of retirement.This was a special favour for seniorbureaucrats to oblige them for theirservices beyond the call of duty. ThePublic Accounts Committee hasreservations about this scheme.

The report has published thenames of secretaries who have beenallotted costly plots in Sector D-12.Many senior bureaucrats have plots inexclusive schemes in their own namesor in the names of their familymembers. For example, some of themhave got allotted very expensive plotsin the National Police FoundationHousing Scheme in Sector e-11, atthrowaway price, though entitled anddeserving police officers have beendenied plots in this prestigious schemeby the NPF management. The marketprice of a kanal-size plot in e-11 ismore than two crore rupees. Invest amillion and earn 20 million. Simpleand easy way to become a millionaireovernight for senior bureaucrats.

Role of the civil service world over isto serve the people by making people-friendly policies. In Pakistan, the seniorbureaucrats make only self-servingpolicies; they are least interested inthe welfare of junior officers andcommon man. A national commissionis needed to probe the allotment ofplots and farm houses in the capital tobureaucrats and their cronies.

ASGHAR MAHMOODIslamabad

‘CSS age limit’This is apropos of the letter “CSS

age limit” by Ghulam Murtaza. Iwholeheartedly second the writer’sview that CSS exams are discriminatedagainst by the government and the

time is ripe that reforms must bebrought to the Federal Public ServiceCommission (FPSC) as soon aspossible. The age bracket should widenenough to accommodate the CSSaspirants who have been suffering atthe hands of discriminatory age policysince the last decade.

The president and the primeminister were requested, ChairmanFPSC was sought, the high courts werepetitioned but all that seems to havebeen beating around the bush andnothing else. What course of action theCSS aspirants ought to take that willgrant them their legitimate right?Those who can address people’sgrievances are busy playing roles inpolitical dramas. But every cloud has asilver lining, as they say, so CSSaspirants have pinned their last hopeon the Chief Justice of Pakistan now.Hopefully, the overage CSS aspirantswill reach the shore in this storm.

ASIF AMINIslamabad

Imported used carsI would like to draw your attention to

the recent news in the media regardinggovernment’s policy for reducing theused car import age limit to three years.

This is indeed a good step taken bythe government, as the decision willhelp save the country from turninginto a junkyard of imported used cars.And hopefully unfortunate consumerslike me will now have a lesser chanceof being ripped off by the dealer mafia.Buying an imported used car is not theissue; the issue arises when you spendyour hard-earned income on a car soldto you on false pretext of being inexcellent condition.

Being a victim myself, I canempathise with people who havesuffered a similar fate. In my case, Iown an imported used car Allion 1500cc, which appeared to be in goodcondition at the time of purchase. Butafter a while there were problems withthe suspension and to top it off, theshocks were not available in the localmarket and had to be brought fromDubai at an exuberant price.

I thought I had bought a car withinmy means but I ended up having itstuck at the mechanics instead of havingit running on the roads. For a change,the government’s policy to reduceimported used car age-limit not onlysupports the local industry and benefitsthe economy but is also favourable forthe consumers. With a shorter age limitof imported used cars, there is a lesserchance of having the junk of othercountries pile up in our midst.

ALAMGIR KHANKarachi

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to

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

Fax: +92-42-32535230E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk

Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

no place left in the country for a measure of decency

Criminals, inc

It is not fiction. It is not hyperbole. It is not a pack of se-mantics. It does not simply exist in one’s derangedimagination. It is also not the manifestation of any hal-

lucinatory trip. It is here, right in front of all of us. The an-tics of this bizarre government comprising allegedcriminals, murderers, looters, gangsters and a host of woe-ful aberrations are distinguished only by the extent of theircorruption, gross incompetence and arrogant defiance ofthe judiciary and the rule of law. An absolutely, unbeliev-ably abhorrent spectacle!

There is no shame. All this is being wantonly enactedin broad daylight. Victory signs are shown when beinghandcuffed. Lies are being told in public. Facts are beingtwisted openly. Achievements are being shamelessly con-cocted. Probing questions are being shunned. Honest in-vestigators are being eliminated. Thieves and looters arebeing patronised. Criminal mafias are being promoted andperpetuated. National interests and sovereignty are beingcompromised. energy is scarce. Utilities needed for border-line survival are being rendered inaccessible to humanreach. Banks are being looted and national coffers emptied.Contracts are being awarded to corrupt front men in a man-ner that cannot stand the test of scrutiny. Institutions arebeing liquidated. There is no strategy to fight the demonsof terrorism and militancy. There is no security for the com-

mon people who are being butchered inthe dozens on a daily basis. The countryhas been reduced to a string of no-goareas being controlled, among ordinarystreet criminals, by some coalition part-ners also who routinely indulged in pol-itics of extortion and murder. No one issafe. Leaving home, no one knowswhether they would return unscathedfrom the gangs ruling the streets.

If the going gets really tough, as itdid in case of the SC order to arrestsome top bunglers of the governmentincluding the prime minister, the goonsare let loose on investigators to havethem hung by the ceiling fan. The stateagencies are encouraged, spearheadedby that inimitable interior minister, tohelp criminals escape the clutches of lawusing official vehicles and means. erro-neous and deceptive briefs are preparedand submitted for decision-making pur-poses to facilitate the looting of the stateexchequer. Crooks and cronies arehoisted at all critical positions to spongeoff the state institutions.

This is the revenge of democracy. Itwas promised to us and we have it. Weare not supposed to protest. Instead, weare supposed to savour it and makearrangements to vote in the same crim-inals, or their close kith and kin whomay be even more adept at the Machi-avellian art of governance, to give us allthe next ‘healthy’ dose of this revenge.

We get it because we don’t protest.We get it because we are always schem-ing to become partners of the wily sys-

tem that is being practised in the country. We suffer be-cause we have lost our instinct to stand up for the rightcause. We are humiliated because we have lost our courageand our ability to resist. We have become complicit in beingled up a garden-path that inevitably perches us atop aprecipice with nothing but a steep fall in front of us. Wehave become pawns in the hands of criminal manipulatorswho use us when needed and then dump us in some for-saken corner in gunny bags cut into bits and pieces.

But we don’t learn. We are somehow convinced thatsuccess comes only to criminals and that we all have to be-come one to get anywhere. So we try to adopt the ways ofthe corrupt, the gangsters and the murderers. The more ef-fort we put in, the deeper we sink in the quagmire withouta way out. But success still evades us because we are onlyto be ‘used’. We will never get the reins to guide or control.Witnesses are brutally and systematically eliminated sothat there is no one left to prove a murder. With gangsterscalling the shots, there is hardly a place left in the countryfor a measure of decency.

The only occupation that is perceived to offer opportuni-ties to prosper is crime. If one hopes to get anywhere, the pre-ferred way to go is to become part of a mafia. The more‘criminal’ and the more ‘powerful’ the mafia, the morechances one has to succeed! For whatever may still be left,nepotism and patronising have been perfected to an art form.

With the brewing of frustrations, violence has increasedalarmingly. There are degrading symptoms visible allaround us. Tolerance and peaceful co-existence are valuesof the past. The society is militantly divided along religious,ethnic, social and cultural lines and the chasm seems insur-mountable. We are willing, even eager to kill if anyonedares disagree with what we choose to state. We stand onthe pulpit without the knowledge and learning of being aleader. We sit in the parliament without the ability andcomprehension to legislate. We are part of the executivewithout the honesty, ability and the commitment to takedecisions fearlessly. We are just about everything withoutbeing anything:

We are the hollow menWe are stuffed menOur dried voices, whenWe whisper togetherAre quiet and meaninglessAs wind in dry grassOr rats’ feet over broken glassIn our dry cellar

—T S EliotReligion has become a vehicle of spreading division

rather than bringing the scattered tribes together. It is usedas a convenient tool to distort history and fabricate half-truths that we all are supposed to believe. It is exploited asan instrument to exterminate those who disagree. It is alsomanipulated as a convenient cover to hide despicable crimes.Tragically, the voice from the pulpit is a voice of ignoranceand obscurantism. This is the kind of stuff that an increasingnumber of madrassas are dishing out without a break. Theirgraduates are all among us waiting for their chance to takeover and use their swords with abandon. Facing their on-slaught, we would not even be a speck on the wall.

The writer is a political analyst. He can be reached atraoofhasan@hotmail.com

11Sunday, 27 January, 2013 Comment

candid cornerBy Raoof Hasan

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:43 AM Page 11

12Sunday, 27 January, 2013

JAIPUR LITERARY FESTIVAL 2013

NEWS DESK

THe literature fest isno stranger toreligious controversy- but it isn’t usuallythe result of two

famous visitors snapping at eachother. Day 2, however, started offwith a row between Dalit activistand writer Kancha Illaiah andBollywood lyricist andscriptwriter Javed Akhtar right onthe venue’s front lawn. Illaiah,who was expounding on theequality of the two sexes thatBuddhism provided to itsfollowers, was confronted byAkhtar who, speaking as anatheist, said that no religion gaveequality to women and weakersections and choosing one’sreligion was in fact a bit like“choosing which cave one wantedto live in.” “Discussing religion

was like discussing which cavewill be better to live. If you wantto follow a religion, follow anyreligion. It does not matter. If youhave decided to commit suicide,does it matter how you do it?,” hesaid, to a round of applause fromthe audience, who were at a paneltitled, ‘God as a politicalphilosopher: Dalit perspectives on

Buddhism.’ Sharia law His ideawas opposed by the notedjournalist Mary Harper who saidthat scores of people were beingamputated, mutilated and stonedby groups who’ve adopted Shariaas their identity. The discussionon Sharia drew a lot of crowdmany of which did not miss achance to carry on their debates

with engineer well after thepanel officially disbanded.Salman Rushdie, whoseabsence has kept people talkingsince the event began, wasfinally mentioned briefly in adiscussion on classicalliterature. easing tensionssomewhat on the name thatmany thought must not bespoken aloud, Tom Holland,British novelist, nominatingMidnight’s Children as thecontemporary classicrhetorically asked permission

before he could utter the author’sname, “am I allowed to mentionthe Rushdie word?” The dayfinally ended with some Jewishhumour as booker prize winnerHoward Jacobson and novelistGary Shteyngart spoke about thecharacter of novels considered‘Jewish’ and the culturesurrounding it.

A Lesson in Sobriety

It was the longest 17 hours in JLF history.And the driest. everyone was forced intosobriety, thanks to a sudden decision bythe government that declared Jan 25 and26 as “Dry Days”, in obeisance to thebirth and death anniversary of theProphet Mohammed, and Republic Day.Life is currently being measured by coffeespoons, and the only form of intoxicationpermitted on the premises since the no-smoking ban was introduced today arethe panel discussions, most of which havebeen fairly excellent. Post-interview,there was a fine session by historian TomHolland who delivered a rigorous yetentertaining lecture titled “Persian Fire:The First Battle for the West” ending withan astute statement, “The impact ofPersia on posterity was no less than thatof Greece.” everyone was astonished andoverwhelmed by the packed-beyond-capacity seating space at the Mughal Tentahead of the session titled “Out of Africa”.However, when a housekeepingannouncement was made informing theaudience that the panel titled “Corner of aDistant Playing Field” was no longerhappening at the Mughal tent but at theFront Lawns, an exodus took place. TheAfrican writers clearly couldn’t competewith the magnetism of cricketer RahulDravid. everyone stayed put and enjoyedlistening to moderator Kwasi Kwartengput reporter Anjan Sundaram on thespot about his almost touristyperceptions of Congo, a site Sundaramhas been covering for internationalpublications like The Guardian and TheNew York Times. Award-winning writerAminatta Forna spoke about her memoir“The Devil that Danced on the Water”and Mary Harper, Africa editor for theBBC World Service spoke about herexperiences within the continent,making for a fairly memorable session.everyone is counting the hours until Day4, when we can finally break ourcollective fast and get into someseriously festive mood. cOuRTEsy bai

Where is MohaMMed hanif?

After all that outrage about Pakistani

writers threatened and then

welcomed, one of the biggest draws

of the festival has gone missing. No

explanations offered. Odd. Very odd.

What’s the press-to-

public ratio?

The sea of humanity which engulfed

Pico Iyer at the sixth edition of the

Jaipur Literature Festival, comprises

mostly of green ‘press’ card holders.

So who else, other than the media, is

attending the festival?

WHAT’S IN STORE fOR THE

PERSON WHO TWEETS THE

MOST fROM JAIPUR?

Because just about everyone here is

busy tweeting. either from a

publication’s official Twitter handle

or their own, everyone is tweeting.

While they are eating, while they are

getting books signed. While waiting

to use the washrooms, it’s all about

Twitter. So what’s the prize that all

the Twitteratis seem to be after?

WHERE DO I fIND A

CHARgINg POINT?

It’s obvious from the long lines, not

outside the loos, but beside charging

points, that the most in demand

gadget seems to be a Blackberry

charger. Be it a Macbook or an

iPhone, these things suck energy at

unimaginable rates and those who

are at the Diggi Palace all day long

need to find a charging point. Point

to be noted: Many a war has been

fought over a charging point.

HOW ExACTLy DOES ONE gET

THE BEST SEATS?

This question needs to be directed

towards certain groups of people who

somehow always manage to find

themselves the best seats in town. I

have even mulled landing up at the

preceding session just to be able to

attend a session of my choice,

peacefully seated. Yet to happen. (Not

counting the one time I was offered a

seat by a gentleman in pink.)

WHy IS EvERyONE DRESSED

EITHER fOR ExTREME

WINTER OR ExTREME

SUMMER?

It’s always sunny in Jaipur. It’s also

windy right now. But that still

doesn’t explain the extra large boots

made to order or the lack of a

bottom. It’s either way too many

clothes defined by the sweltering

foreheads, or lack of warm clothing,

evident by the shivering.

WHERE ARE THE

CONTROvERSIES?

everyone from Pico Iyer to Akash

Kapur seems to be gushing over

each other and creating mutual

admiration societies. So, where

did the spats and fights go? The

kind that the literary world is

infamous for.

NEWS DESK

After a quiet morning with sparse crowd,the Diggi Palace was suddenly overrun withvisitors aching to catch a glimpse of thefestival guest whose name was announcedjust a week ago - the Dalai Lama. “India isour guru,” the Nobel Peace prize winnertold the appreciative crowd, “and we areyour chelas. All the knowledge that hascome to us has come from India.”In ameandering conversation that coveredBuddhism’s relation to science, hisunderstanding of corruption andsecularism, the Tibetan leader insisted that- even at 77 - he is still discovering theworld. “I try to learn whatever I can,” the

Lama said, in conversation with Britishnovelist Pico Iyer. “I still consider myself astudent,” he added.After the session, heanswered questions about the nature ofIndian society, talking in particular aboutthe gang rape incident that has broughtyoung Indians to the streets.

Sex and Bollywood take Day 2 by stormA literature festival might conjure up images of fusty old professorial types discussing theintricacies of Shakespeare or foreigners explaining the difficulty of working in translation.And, while Jaipur has plenty of that, day 2 of the festival saw crowds gathering for reasonsmore familiar to the wider public - celebrities and sex. Bollywood loomed all over ‘filmyFriday,’ with audiences lining up half-an-hour ahead of time to grab seats for sessionsfeaturing legendary actors Shabana Azmi and Sharmila Tagore as well as festival regularsJaved Akhtar and Prasoon Joshi. “Back in the old days people were really star crazy,”Tagore insisted. “Those days when they saw us, we were really mobbed.” Predictably, inspite of her claim that things had changed, the Kashmir Ki Kali star was unable to makeher way off stage without security having to hold back adoring fans. The cinema has seenthe emergence of the ‘item’ girl - a stereotype that was squarely in Shabana Azmi’sgunsights during a session on sex in Indian cinema. “Women ought to fight the filmindustry’s motive of making an ‘item’ of them,” the renowned actor said. “Women shouldbe represented as they are in normal life: working middleclass with a lot of responsibility.”Lyricist Prasoon Joshi diagnosed the Bollywood tendency squarely enough to prompttitters from the audience. “In India everyone is crazy over breasts,” he said. “That’s whythey have those strange camera angles and women coming out of the water dripping wet...(but also) everyone in India wants to make a mother out of the women.” nEws DEsK

JLF doesn’t shy away from creating literary stormDiscussions on Sharia law, gay and lesbian literature and the 18th centurysexual revolution The Jaipur Literature Festival, which had hit the headlineslast year for protest against Salman Rushdie ‘s participation, is gearing up foranother explosive season. The festival, in its 6th year, has decided to includecontroversial subjects such as Sharia law, gay and lesbian literature and the18th century sexual revolution, among others. It is scheduled to be held fromJanuary 24 to 28. The organisers have claimed that the international list ofauthors participating at this year’s festival is the “most cerebral, intellectually-stimulating and high-powered ever fielded”. In fiction this year, the festivalproposes to host Commonwealth Prizewinner Aminatta Forna from SierraLeone, Booker Prize-winner Howard Jacobson, two Orange Prizewinners,Linda Grant and Madeline Miller, and Abraham Verghese - the bestsellingwriter of Indian origin in the US. Two of the respected novelists in the Arabworld - Ahdaf Soueif and Tahar Ben Jalloun - are also expected to attend thefestival. Sharing his enthusiasm festival co-director William Dalrymple said:“It’s going to be absolutely extraordinary five days and only wish it werepossible to clone oneself so that one could attend five sessionssimultaneously.” nEws DEsK

india is our guru and we areyour chelas: Dalai Lama

Javed Akhtar and Kancha Illaiahspar on gender equality in religion

A book signing session at the Jaipur literature Festival.

veteran children's book writer Ruskin Bond signs autographs for the visitors.

Author JM Coetzee arrives at the venue as writer william dalrymple makes way for him.

urvashi Butalia, founder of India's first feminist publishing house with one of the participants.

QUESTIONSFROM THELITFEST

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:44 AM Page 12

13Sunday, 27 January, 2013

aPPLe co-founder Steve Wozniak has come out and

said that the preview scene from the upcoming

Steve Jobs biopic is totally inaccurate, Gizmodo’s

Jesus Diaz reports. the scene depicts Steve Jobs trying to

persuade Wozniak to bring the idea of the operating

system to the public. In the clip, Wozniak, played by Josh

Gad, replies, “Nobody wants to buy a computer. Nobody.”

But Wozniak says that it’s “totally wrong.” “Not close...,”

Wozniak wrote in a comment on Gizmodo. “We never had

such interaction and roles...I’m not even sure what it’s

getting at...personalities are very wrong although mine is

closer...don’t forget that my purpose was inspired by the

values of the Homebrew computer club along with ideas

of the value of such machines and Steve J. wasn’t around

and didn’t attend the club so he was the one learning

about such social impact of the future.” nEws DEsK

Apple’s co-founder Wozniaksays Steve Jobs film inaccurate

it is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane

Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” is one of the greatest

stories of all time. Well, one of the greatest in 200

years at least. this year marks a major milestone for “Pride

and Prejudice,” first published in January 1813 and still one

of Austen’s most popular works. And the novel’s fan

following isn’t just because of colin firth’s portrayal of the

handsome and stoic Mr. Darcy in the 1995 “Pride and

Prejudice” BBc miniseries. even after two centuries, casual

readers and avid Austen fans — often referred to as

“Janeites” or “Austenites” — can still relate to the story’s

issues and characters. “It’s such a charming book, and it’s

so witty,” said elizabeth Steele, a Philadelphia resident and

member of the Jane Austen Society of North America. “I’ve

read this so many times, I don’t know how many times I’ve

read it. ten years ago, I lost count at about 20.” nEws DEsK

JeNNIfer Lopez has revealed that she was

struggling with depression during her divorce

from former hubby Marc Anthony while filming

her new movie Parker. the Latin diva told the New

York Post at the cinema Society screening at the

Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday that it was so

hard for her to get out of bed to go to the set. She

said that she was going through one of the hardest

moments of her life with her separation and the

kids. Lopez and Anthony ended their marriage after

seven years in July 2011. the singer admitted that it

was very difficult. “In front of the kids and at work

you have to be so professional and so up for your

children in that moment. I was lucky to be in front

of the cameras and act exactly how I felt,” she

added. nEws DEsK

Jane Austen’s ‘Pride &Prejudice’ turns 200

JLo had hard time gettingout of bed during divorce

CELEBRITY TWEETS

SHAZAF FATIMA HAIDER

ghoray baich kar sona: sleeping after horse-sale.

AYSHA RAJA

Would love to have seen Elif Batuman at JLF. Infact she, Ahdaf Soueif, and Selma Dabbagh are mydream ticket

ZOE VICCAJI I

Mohatta palace is hands down the most beautifulspace for a performance!

MUSHARRAF A FAROOQI

CTC shall rise from its ashes with a paratha rollin its maw.

SHARMEEN OBAID

Looking forward 2 being on a panel at#Jaipurlitfest 2 discuss the question of failedstates!

Actor raveena tandon who essayed the role of a woman who rises against all odds,

after going through mental and physical torture at the hands of her husband, in her

last film ‘Shobhna’s Seven Nights’ says that she feels strongly about the way men

treat women. “I am a daughter and I have a daughter. Sometimes I wonder where

this inhuman behaviour comes from. At times when I am waiting at signals and I see

some boys torturing a stray dog, I can foresee that these kids will eventually turn into future

sadists. What is really required is for parents to teach their children basic things like love and

compassion. And compassion comes from roots.” talking from personal experience, raveena

narrates an incident which was quite disturbing. “once I was invited as a judge for a reality show

on a popular music channel along with actor Arjun rampal and designer Manish Malhotra. there

was no security there. While the three of us were walking towards our seats, some guy standing

next to me passed an awful comment about me. My immediate reaction was anger and I

slapped the guy because of his comments. In response, the group of guys went to the bar,

got liquor bottles and poured it over me. Arjun started hitting the man and Manish covered

me. It is something that I can never get out of my mind because of the humiliation I had to

face. If I hadn’t hit the guy maybe nothing that occurred later would have happened. But my

question is why should any girl take this kind of behaviour lying down? I believe it is entirely

the government’s responsibility to make women feel safe in our country. It is important to

eradicate illiteracy, which is also a major cause of such problems,” raveena says. the

actor says that she is deliberately keeping away from films because she has been

offered ‘shoddy work in mainstream cinema’ and will take up offers that ‘allow me to

maintain my dignity’. nEws DEsK

Here are some “great” lip syncing per-formances throughout the ages. n In of the most famous lip-syncing

scandals ever, Rob Pilatus and FabMorvan – better known as MilliVanilli – were outed as lip -syncersduring a 1990 concert when theirpre-recorded track started skipping.When it was revealed they didn’teven sing on their studio albums,they returned their Grammys andquickly fell from grace. Their namesare now synonymous with faking it.

n Ashlee Simpson was outed during a2004 Saturday Night Live perform-ance when her backing track playeda song different from the one shewas singing. She tried to play it offby awkwardly dancing around thestage, but was the laughing stock ofthe entertainment world for a fewdays.

n At the 2007 BeT awards, 50 Centstumbled through his performance,missing cues and then being thrownfor a loop when his music startedlooping instead of playing the vo-cals.

n In 1983, Michael Jackson lip syncedhis way through “Billi Jean” during

a Motown anniversary special ontelevision. His performance of thesong was still so great, no oneseemed to care he wasn’t reallysinging.

n In an August 2003 show at MadisonSquare Garden, R. Kelly put downhis mic during a song and let thepre-recorded track go on singing.On purpose. The audience suppos-edly responded positively.

n At Super Bowl XLIII, Jennifer Hud-son lip-synced the National Anthembecause the producer said therewere too many “variables” to do thesong live.

n During this partially lip-synced per-formance on Good Morning Amer-ica, Mariah Carey actually sings thewords “Stop singing my part, baby”to a backup singer.

n Britney Spears, a repeat offender oflip-syncing crime, made her fake vo-cals so obvious during an Australianconcert that fans walked out.

n Not only did Luciano Pavarotti lipsync ”Nessun Dorma” during theopening ceremony of the 2006 Win-ter Olympics, but the orchestraand conductor faked it as well.

From Michael Jackson to Beyoncé,a brief history of lip syncing

NEWS DESK

An opera about Nazi atrocities onchildren suffering with physical andmental handicaps at a hospital in Vi-enna after Austria was annexed byNazi Germany had its world pre-miere Friday.

“Spiegelgrund” by contemporaryAustrian composer Hannes An-drosch was performed at the Aus-trian parliament. The composer hasdedicated the work to his great-grandfather, who died in a Nazi con-centration camp.

The opera deals with the atroci-ties at the Am Spiegelgrund clinic inVienna between 1938 and 1945,where many disabled children,mainly Jewish, died.

Revelations in recent years have

shown that thousands of frail chil-dren were murdered as part of theThird Reich’s “euthanasia” pro-gramme designed to rid society of

people deemed unfit to live.In the Vienna hospital alone, 789

sick and disabled children died.“It is the duty of each generation

to confront the tragedy of the Holo-caust,” said the 50-year-old com-poser.

In the opera, Androsch wanted totrace the continuing horror of atroc-ities against children from antiquityto Nazism.

His work includes descriptionsby Plutarch of the draconian treat-ment of children in the Greek state ofSparta, and traditional children’ssongs evoking the mistreatment andthe memories of those who survivedthe Vienna hospital.

The opera was unveiled as theworld prepares to mark HolocaustMemorial Day on Sunday, January27, the date in 1945 when the So-viet army liberated the Auschwitzconcentration camp in then occu-pied Poland.

Opera on nazi atrocities premieres in Vienna

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:46 AM Page 13

Pepsi yanks controversialGatorade ingredient

PePSICO is removing a controversialingredient from its Gatorade sports drinkfollowing customer complaints. A

spokeswoman says the move had been in the worksfor the past year after the company began “hearingrumblings” from consumers about the ingredient.She said it wasn’t a response to a petition onChange.org, which noted that the ingredient,brominated vegetable oil, has been patented as aflame retardant and is banned in Japan and theeuropean Union. (The petition has been updatedwith a “Victory” note.) The Pepsi spokeswomansaid the ingredient is used as an “emulsifier,”meaning it distributes flavoring more evenly sothat it doesn’t collect at the surface. She said it wasused in select flavors including orange and citrus.Brominated vegetable oil, or BVO, is still used inother PepsiCo drinks, including Mountain Dew.The ingredient is also listed in some flavors ofPowerade, made by rival Coca-Cola. nEws DEsK

German soldiers growingbreasts—on one side

AS part of their training, elite German troopsof the Wachbataillon do a lot of chest-beating, repeatedly whacking their rifles on

the left side of their chests. That’s stimulatingunusual hormone production, according to experts.The result: The guys are growing breasts—just onthe left side, the German Herald reports. Some74% of battalion members who approached armydoctors about the condition were diagnosed withone-sided gynecomastia. “They need to change theway they drill. The constant slamming of the riflesagainst the left-hand side of the chest is clearly asignificant factor,” says a military plastic surgeon.Military leaders say they’ll look into it and makeany needed changes. nEws DEsK

This may just be the weirdest story you readall day: A Columbia University-trained edu-cator was booted from his volunteer gig at aBrooklyn school because he emailed a femaleteacher ... about butchering a moose. JohnDeWind, 64, tells DNAinfo.com he was justtrying to show the teacher an example of oneof his assignments, in which students are toldto write about everything going wrong, andthat he was trying to be funny. But the email,which was apparently an invitation for thewoman and her boyfriend to visit his family’sVermont home, came out just plain bizarre:

It imagines the teacher and her boyfriendarriving with a box of cookies, only to findDeWind on the porch. “Little to [sic] youknow he has recently killed a moose andplans to give you five pounds of moose meat.”

The imaginary DeWind then, for somereason, thinks the boyfriend is a butcher and“envisages the two men bonding over thecarving of the rest of the corpse. How he gotthe impression your boyfriend was a butcheris not clear, perhaps in a dream, but what is

clear is that the encounter is going to be hor-ribly embarrassing for everyone, and thingsare made no better when John turns on yoursister and asks, ‘Well surely you know how tocarve up an animal.’” DeWind, who was vol-unteering as an adviser to the school’s liter-ary journal and newspaper, was asked not toreturn after the teacher reported the email.The school later filed a complaint with theNYPD, claiming DeWind had been sendingthreatening emails to officials and trespass-ing at school events. nEws DEsK

Sunday, 27 January, 2013 Infotainment 14

School cans guy over moose-butchering fantasy

SCientiStS revive Bird flureSearCh amid Contagion fear

Bosses held hostage over2-minute bathroom breaks

HUNDReDS of Chinese factory workersheld their Japanese and Chinesemanagers hostage for a day and a half

over ... strictly timed bathroom breaks. About1,000 workers at Shanghai Shinmei electricCompany kept the 18 managers inside the factoryin Shanghai starting Friday morning until justbefore midnight Saturday. The managers werereleased uninjured after 300 police officers werecalled to the factory. A security guard at the plantexplained that the workers “demanded the scrappingof the ridiculously strict requirements stipulatingthat workers only have two minutes to go to thetoilet and workers will be fined [$8] if they are lateonce and fired if they are late twice.” The managersapparently agreed to reconsider the rules. nEws DEsK

BIRD flu experts decided toshut down their researchlast year over governmentconcerns that samplescould cause contagion

outside the lab. Now, some 40scientists—in countries which haveset up research guidelines—are set todive back into their investigations,they say. The US hasn’t establishedits own rules yet, meaningresearchers here will have to wait alittle longer, the Los AngelesTimes reports. A top infectiousdisease official says the US, theleading pocketbook behind fluresearch, will have a fundingstructure in place “within a relativelyshort period of time—I hopemeasured in weeks.” Researchers saywe’d better hurry: The risk formutation into a more contagiousform “exists in nature already. Notdoing the research is really putting usin danger.” Just nine mutationswould be enough to make the virustransmissible, and in flu terms, “nineis almost none,” says a Wisconsinvirologist. Others worry, however,that reporting experiments couldgive less-cautious scientists a“blueprint” for their own work. “Ifthey go ahead and the virus escapes,it’s done,” says an expert. “Youcannot contain influenza.” nEws DEsK

HIV’s origins stretch backmillions of years

“COUSINS” of theHIV virus aremillions of years

old—not tens ofthousands, aspreviousresearchhassuggested, according to a new study. Researchersin Seattle examined HIV-like viruses in a range ofprimates. Genetic changes in monkey and apeimmune systems point to the development of suchviruses between five million and 12 million yearsago, the BBC reports. HIV-like viruses known aslentiviruses occur frequently in primates, and inthe 20th century, a similar pathogen transitionedfrom chimpanzees to humans. “While primatelentiviruses may have modern consequences forhuman health, they have ancient origins in our non-human primate relatives,” says a scientist. nEws DEsK

New bestseller: Novelabout ...Hitler’s return

ADOLF Hitlerdoesn’t seemlike a hilarious

subject, but a Germanwriter did indeed writea comic novel about theFührer, and it’s now abestseller in thecountry. er Ist WiederDa (“He’s Back”) byTimur Vermes imaginesHitler waking up in2011 with no memory ofthe previous 66years, AFP reports. Thenearly 400-page tomehas Hitler discoveringjeans and cookingshows, being surprised by the fact that a woman isin charge, and trying to create an email addressonly to discover that his preferred “Hitler89,” areference to his date of birth, is already taken.The book’s version of Hitler, of course, soonbecomes a reality television and YouTube star.Though some think the book is in poor taste,others see it as a political satire. The author’s take:“We too often harbor the negative attitude of thosewho see Hitler only as a monster to makethemselves feel better. I thought it was importantto show how he would operate and how he wouldact in today’s world.” An english-language editionis planned. nEws DEsK

Police are investigating after a premature babyin intensive care at scandal-hit Stafford Hospi-tal had a dummy taped to his mouth by a nurseto prevent him crying. The baby’s mother,Sarah Fellows, said the act was both cruel andpotentially dangerous. Staffordshire Policesaid they were in the early stages of an investi-gation into the baby’s treatment at the hospital,which is at the centre of a public inquiry intoserious failings of care. A nurse has been sus-pended while police investigate what hap-pened. The trust which runs the hospital hasapologised to the family of the baby, who wasnot injured in the incident. The latest scandalcomes after an an independent inquiry into thetrust found it had ‘routinely neglected pa-tients’, with calls for major NHS reforms as aresult. Mason Fellows, who was born 11 weekspremature weighing 2lb 10oz with twin Reeceweighing 2lb 5oz, was transferred to the hos-

pital in mid-November after suffering breath-ing difficulties. His mother told the Daily Mail:‘I’m so angry. Mason has a weak respiratorysystem because he was born premature and hecould have suffocated. ‘He may need to go backto hospital. It terrifies me that this nurse couldbe free to do this again to him or somebodyelse.’ She said whoever put the dummy inMason’s mouth ‘obviously couldn’t be both-ered to tend to a crying baby and just shovedthe dummy in to try and shut him up’. ‘evenafter all the horror stories surrounding StaffordHospital, I never thought it was possible forsomething like this to happen,’ the 28-year-oldtrainee nurse said. Mid Staffordshire NHSFoundation Trust’s director of nursing andmidwifery Colin Ovington said in a statement:‘We have a zero tolerance approach to poor pa-tient care and we take immediate, appropriateaction as soon as we know about any potentialserious incidents which happen in our hospi-tals. ‘One of our recent incidents involved adummy that was found taped on to a baby’sface. Fortunately, the baby was unharmed.” Aspokesman for Staffordshire Police said offi-cers from the Protecting Vulnerable People De-partment are ‘at the very early stages ofinvestigating a complaint concerning the treat-ment of a baby boy by a member of staff atStafford Hospital earlier this month’. nEws DEsK

Police investigate dummy tapedto baby’s mouth at hospital

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:46 AM Page 14

Sunday, 27 January, 2013

LAHOREsTaff REPORT

THe Pakistan cricket Boardhas lured in top five umpiredof the International cricketCouncil elite penal for the

Pakistan Super league. Apart fromAleem Dar and Asad Rauf, three otheresteemed international Match Officials– Mike Procter, Rudi Koertzen andRussell Tiffin– have confirmed theirparticipation in the inaugural PakistanSuper League 2013. The PSL manage-ment is excited by these appointmentsafter receiving positive responses frominternational players and match offi-cials over the past few days.

Mike Procter, the legendary SouthAfrican all-rounder of the 1970s and1980s vintage, who was a highly re-

spected ICC Match Referee, will be seenin action together with Rudi Koertzen,the much respected South African for-mer ICC elite Panel umpire, and Rus-sell Tiffin, the Zimbabwean umpirecurrently serving on the ICC’s interna-tional panel of umpires.

Currently in Bangladesh, MikeProcter said: “I am delighted to an-nounce that I have agreed to be one ofthe Match Referees in the upcomingPakistan Super League. I was ap-proached by the PSL management teamand after due consideration, I am look-ing forward to being a part of this excit-ing event in Pakistan. “I have alwaysthought very highly of the talent andpotential of Pakistan cricket and overthe years I have made many friends inPakistan cricket. It is unfortunate thatPakistan and its fans do not currently

enjoy their beloved internationalcricket stars at home and this cannotremain so. I am willing to get involvedand to help change perceptions aboutcricket being played in Pakistan.

On accepting the offer to officiate inthe PSL, Rudi Koertzen said from SouthAfrica: “We all know that Pakistan isgoing through a trying phase and we inthe cricket family need to do what wecan to help. It remains a very vibrantcricketing nation that always impressesus with its resilience. I have never hadany problem umpiring in Pakistan, andI am actually looking forward to go overand catch up with old friends"

Russel Tiffin, who has been on theICC International Panel of Umpiressince 1995, said from Zimbabwe: “Ihave been to Pakistan before on crick-eting assignments and I am keen to

take part in the PSL. With the talent weknow that exists in Pakistan, I am surethis competition will be quite a specta-cle and I cannot wait to be a part of it.

“I know about the challenges whichPakistan cricket faces and I know frommy own experiences at home how per-ceptions can cloud the realities. I amconfident that the PCB can deliver asafe and secure event.”

The five-team, 23-match, two-weekhigh-profile event is scheduled to com-mence on 25 March and end with thefinal on 7 April 2013.

Salman Sarwar Butt, the managingdirector of the PSL management teamstated that: “The PSL is in full steam re-cruiting top-notch match officials andexciting cricketers. In addition, prepa-ration is proceeding apace in all otheraspects and the team is well on trackwith its plans for broadcasters andsponsorship on-boarding.”

He was particularly excited by thepositive responses from players, andsaid that: “So far the response from in-ternational cricketers has been quitewarm and welcoming, which bodes re-ally well for the PSL”

ThE PsL REcEnTLy annOuncED ThE PLayER

sLabs anD basE PRicEs as fOLLOws:

DiamOnD usD 100,000

PLaTinum usD 75,000

GOLD usD 50,000

siLVER usD 25,000

EmERGinG usD 5-10,000

Top 5 esteemed officials tosupervise Pakistan League

CAPE TOWNaGEnciEs

A six from Ryan McLaren off the final de-livery and a rapid 116 by Graeme Smithhelped South Africa to a thrilling one-wicket victory over New Zealand in thethird one-day international on Friday.

The Proteas, who came into the gamehaving already lost the three-match se-ries 2-0, had been set a target of 261 afterhalf-centuries from Grant elliott (54),Colin Munro (57) and James Franklin(53 not out) had steered New Zealand to260 for nine in their 50 overs. Man-of-the-match Smith's knock seemed to haveput the home side on course for victorybut a lower-order collapse meant they re-quired three off the final delivery withjust one wicket in hand.

However, a six over fine leg fromall-rounder McLaren (25 not out) gaveSouth Africa their first victory of theseries and ensured they avoided a

whitewash. New Zealand had alreadyclaimed their first ODI series on SouthAfrican soil but still went wholeheart-edly for the final victory as they won

the toss and elected to bat. They madea slow start as a fine opening spellfrom left-arm seamer Lonwabo Tsot-sobe (10-2-45-4) helped restrict them

to 68 for four in the 22nd over. Thehalf-centuries from elliott and Munrosaw the Black Caps put on successivefifty partnerships and by the time bothmen had been dismissed, the visitorshad recovered to 196 for six after 43overs. Despite a late flurry of wickets,Franklin came in and played with free-dom. His undefeated innings wasrounded off in style as he reached hisfourth ODI fifty with a six in the finalover from Rory Kleinveldt.

The South African reply made abrisk start as the left-handed openingduo of Smith and Quinton de Kock (31)took the score to 54 without loss afterthe first powerplay. Franklin (6-0-38-2) made the breakthrough in the 16thover when he bowled de Kock but at 83for one, the openers had laid a goodplatform for the home side. Smithlooked undeterred by the loss of hispartner and later reached the fifty-mark in the 20th over.

South Africa win with six off final ball

woakes replacesBresnan in englandsquad for Nz

LONDON aGEnciEs

Young fast bowler Chris Woakes was theone new face as england named theirsquad on Thursday for the test series inNew Zealand, the 23-year-old replacinginjured Tim Bresnan. Bresnan's elbowproblem means he will be rested, hand-ing Warwickshire's Woakes a chance tostake his claim for the Ashes seriesagainst Australia later this year. Theother 14 players were all part of the eng-land squad which won the recent awaytest series in India. Woakes, 23, made hissenior international debut in a Twenty20game against Australia in 2011 but na-tional selector Geoff Miller said this wasa chance for him to broaden his experi-ence in the longer format. "With TimBresnan unavailable while his elbow isassessed there is a good opportunity forChris Woakes to gain further experiencein the international environment," Millersaid in a statement from the england andWales Cricket Board (eCB). "Woakes hasimpressed on the england PerformanceProgramme and with england Lions andWarwickshire in recent years as well aswith england in the limited overs for-mats." Bresnan underwent elbow surgeryin 2011 and has struggled to recapturehis best form, failing to take a wicket inthe two tests he was selected for in India."We have a busy international summerahead of us and the medical team feltthis was an ideal opportunity for Bresnanto take some time out to ensure his elbowis functioning effectively," Miller said.

SYDNEYaGEnciEs

David Warner's unbeaten 90 went invain as Sri Lanka beat Australia byfive wickets in the first Twenty20 In-ternational on Saturday to go 1-0 upin the two-match series. Shot-mak-ing was not easy on the drop-in pitchat Sydney's Olympic Stadium butWarner blasted an unbeaten 62-ball90 in a brilliant display of controlledaggression to power Australia to 137for three wickets.

Kushal Perera (33) and captainAngelo Mathews (35 not out) shonewith the bat for Sri Lanka beforeThisara Perera (19 not out) clobberedback-to-back sixes to see the visitorshome with seven balls to spare. Mel-bourne hosts the second and finalmatch on Monday. Australia were

reeling at 53-3 in nine overs afteropting to bat first on a tricky surfacebefore Warner added 84 runs in 11overs with Adam Voges (25 not out)to give the bowlers a decent total todefend. The hosts lost opener AaronFinch (one) in the second over whenKushal Perera took a diving catch atshort cover after Nuwan Kulasekarahad induced a thick leading edge.

Shaun Marsh (six) was sent backby Tillakaratne Dilshan's directthrow while Australia captainGeorge Bailey (11) did not last longeither, leaving the onus on Warnerto put up a fighting total.

Warner hit Kulasekara for aboundary to bring up his fifty beforehitting Mathews for a four and a sixin an eventful over in which Ku-lasekara dropped him at mid-wicketwhen the batsman was on 69. In

contrast, Sri Lanka were off to a fly-ing start with openers Kushal Pereraand Dilshan (16) adding 46 runs be-fore departing in successive overs.

Dilshan was soon in his ele-ments, bending down to play thataudacious scoop shot off MitchellStarc that sailed over the wicket-keeper's head for a six.

Two overs after playing the"Dilscoop", the right-hander sus-tained a nasty cut over his right eyebut batted on with a bandaged eye-brow until Ben Laughlin ran back-wards to take a spectacular divingcatch and send him back. GlenMaxwell removed Kushal Perera andDinesh Chandimal to trigger a mid-innings collapse but Mathews stayedput while Thisara Perera struck suc-cessive sixes off Laughlin to scorethe winning runs.

Sri Lanka beat Australia in Sydney T20

nEw ZEaLanD

m.Guptill c ingram b Tsotsobe 5

bJ watling c du Plessis b mcLaren 20

K.williamson c de Kock b Tsotsobe 6

G.Elliott c steyn b Tsotsobe 54

b.mccullum c steyn b mcLaren 13

c.munro c de Kock b Tsotsobe 57

J.franklin not out 53

n.mccullum c de Kock b mcLaren 2

J.neesham lbw b mcLaren 13

K.mills run out (du Plessis) 7

m.mcclenaghan not out 2

Extras (b-1 lb-10 w-17) 28

Total (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 260

fall of wickets: 1-15 2-27 3-46 4-68 5-129 6-196 7-199 8-216

9-234.

bowling: steyn 10-1-56-0 (w6), Tsotsobe 10-2-45-4,

Kleinveldt 10-1-44-0 (w4), Phangiso 8-0-43-0 (w1), mcLaren

10-0-52-4 (w2), behardien 2-0-9-0.

sOuTh afRica

Q.de Kock b franklin 31

G.smith c watling b williamson 116

c.ingram c Guptill b n.mccullum 25

f.du Plessis c Guptill b mills 19

f.behardien c & b williamson 4

D.miller b mills 15

R.mcLaren not out 25

R.Kleinveldt b mcclenaghan 6

a.Phangiso c b.mccullum b mcclenaghan 9

D.steyn c Elliott b franklin 4

L.Tsotsobe not out 0

Extras (b-4 lb-1 w-5) 10

Total (for nine wickets, 50 overs) 264

fall of wickets: 1-83 2-122 3-165 4-174 5-205 6-229 7-237 8-

251 9-258

bowling: mills 10-0-40-2, mcclenaghan 10-0-70-2 (w-3),

neesham 3-0-22-0 (w-2), n.mccullum 10-1-35-1, franklin 6-

0-38-2, Elliott 3-0-14-0, williamson 8-0-40-2

south africa won by one wicket

new Zealand won series 2-1.

scOREbOaRD

ausTRaLia:

D. warner not out 90

a. finch c K. Perera b Kulasekara 1

s. marsh run out 6

G. bailey c Dilshan b T. Perera 11

a. Voges not out 25

Extras (b-1, lb-2, w-1) 4

Total (for 3 wickets in 20 overs) 137

fall of wickets: 1-8 2-31 3-53.

bowling: mathews 4-0-39-0 (w-1), Kulasekara 4-0-21-1,

malinga 4-0-19-0, T. Perera 4-0-29-1, mendis 4-0-26-0.

sRi LanKa:

K. Perera c wade b maxwell 33

T. Dilshan c Laughlin b Doherty 16

m. Jayawardene b Doherty 8

D. chandimal c cutting b maxwell 5

a. mathews not out 35

L. Thirimanne c Voges b starc 20

T. Perera not out 19

Extras (lb-2, w-1) 3

Total (for 5 wickets in 18.5 overs) 139

fall of wickets: 1-46 2-53 3-61 4-69 5-104.

bowling: Doherty 4-0-21-2, starc 4-0-19-1 (w-1), cutting

3-0-27-0, Laughlin 3.5-0-46-0, maxwell 3-0-15-2, finch

1-0-9-0.

scOREbOaRD

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:47 AM Page 16

EAST LONDONaGEnciEs

THe Pakistanis collapsed spec-tacularly on day one of theironly warm-up match againstthe South African Invitation XI

at Buffalo Park in east London on Friday.The Pakistanis lost six wickets for just 45runs in the second session of the first daywith Kyle Abbott, Beuran Hendricks andSimon Harmer each picking up two wick-ets with the visitors ending the day on178-6, after winning the toss and choos-ing to bat first earlier in the day. The twoopeners had guided the Pakistanis tolunch on 100-1, but Abbott got the break-through shortly after the break when hedismissed Hafeez for 55 (95). The famil-

iar Pakistan collapse then started withAzhar Ali the first to fall, managingjust two runs before he was dis-missed by Simon Harmer. He wasfollowed by Younis Khan, caughtbehind byDane Vilasfor five as Hen-dricks picked uphis first wicket. Skip-per Misbah-ul-Haq could-n't stick around for muchlonger and he was gone forfour, becoming Hen-dricks's second victim.Disaster continued forthe visitors as AsadShafiq was clean bowled by Abbott andthe touring side had started to collapse

spectacularly. Through all the tumblingwickets it looked like Jamshed might beable to put up a fight and shepherd thetail, but he too departed soon, caughtby Cody Chetty of Harmer's bowling

for 68 (158). ThePaksitanis werein all sorts of

trouble, havingfolded from 105-1 to 145-

6, giving the hosts some im-petus leading into the finalsession of the first day. Thefinal session didn’t havemuch to offer, though, as itwas constantly interruptedby rain and bad light. The

two tailenders, Sarfraz Ahmed andUmar Gul could add just 33 runs before

stumps was called early due to badlight. Gul, though, never one to dothings quietly, did manage to spicethings up, hitting a six in the final overof the day to take him to an unbeaten23 while Ahmed ended the day on 10*.

TEams:

South African Invitation xI team:Justin Ontong (captain), Dane Vilas(w/k), Davy Jacobs, Andrew Puttick, Sti-aan van Zyl, Cody Chetty, Vaughan vanJaarsveld, Wayne Parnell, Beauran Hen-dricks, Simon Harmer, Kyle Abbott.Pakistanis: Mohammed Hafeez, NasirJamshed, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Mis-bah-ul-Haq (captain), Asad Shafiq, Sar-fraz Ahmed (w/k), Umar Gul, SaeedAjmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan.

Pakistan collapse against SA Inv XI dharamsala setfor Int’l debut

DHARAMSALA aGEnciEs

The cold and tranquil surroundings of thehill resort of Dharamsala are set to beabuzz with the clamour of internationalcricket. The curious choice of the newestentrant on the international cricketingmap in peak winter has generated consid-erable interest, but snow is unlikely tomake an appearance. The series havingbeen decided in Mohali, it's not surprisingthat cricket-talk has taken a backseat withplayers taking time out for sightseeing.However, the peaks around the pictur-esque valley stand tall as a constant re-minder of heights the two teams haven'tbeen able to scale with their cricket. Indiahave had a topsy-turvy time in the lastthree months, but the win has come asrespite from the losses they endured in theTest series and the ODIs against Pakistan.While have at least a semblance of answersto questions pertaining to the middleorder, bowling, fielding and, to some ex-tent, Rohit Sharma's role, others - for ex-ample, Ajinkya Rahane and GautamGambhir - remain unanswered. A win hereat least would keep the detractors rela-tively quiet for now. england, who playedso well in the Tests, are a shadow of them-selves. They have a young side, but it is theexperienced among them who have failedto inspire. Players like Ian Bell and eoinMorgan haven't done much of note. Butthey have had positives too - Steven Finnhas enhanced his reputation while JoeRoot has impressed with his composure.The team is headed to New Zealand fromhere and as they play the T20s and ODIsfirst up, they need more positives from thistour. He waited and waited for his chancein Tests, but when he got one, he made itcount. An agonising wait for an ODI debuthas continued though for Cheteshwar Pu-jara. Speculations that he would walk intothe XI once he became part of the squadwere quashed immediately by the Indiacaptain. With the series in the bag, willIndia give him a chance? Alastair Cook hasbeen as efficient as ever and has two half-centuries in the series. But three times hehas been out lbw, two times to deliveriespitching outside leg. While he will con-tinue to be the main man behind englandlaying the foundation for a big total, hewill hope the umpires allow him a full run.

Sports 16Sunday, 27 January, 2013

CUTTACKaGEnciEs

THe Women's World Cup has beenrunning since 1973 - longer than themen's event, which did not start until

1975. For the 10th edition of the tournament- and the third hosted by India - which startson 31 January, the format is unchanged fromthe 2009 event, with eight teams divided intotwo groups of four. each team plays the otherthree teams in its group once on a round-robin format, with the top three teams in eachgroup qualifying for the Super Six phase. Inthe Super Six, each team plays three gamesagainst the qualifiers from the other group,while carrying through their results againstthe other qualifiers from their original group.There are no semi-finals - the first and sec-ond-placed Super Six teams progress straightto the final on 17 February, while there arealso play-offs for third/fourth, fifth/sixth andseventh/eighth place. Here is the lowdown onthe eight competing teams, their tournamenthistory, prospects for the competition and theplayers to keep an eye on.

GROuP aEnGLanDTOuRnamEnT hisTORy: winners in 1973, 1993 and 2009,having been runners-up on three successive occasions in1978, 1982 and 1988.REcEnT ODi fORm: Came from 2-0 down to beat India3-2 in their last 50-over series, in July 2012.DiD yOu KnOw? Captain Charlotte edwards is the most-capped player in women's one-day internationals, with 160appearances including 86 as captain. However, she is 15short of the all-time women's OdI captaincy record, heldby Australia legend Belinda Clark.PLayER TO waTch: while wicketkeeper/batter SarahTaylor has taken the headlines after it emerged she couldplay men's county second XI cricket this summer, herSussex team-mate Holly Colvin has also been invited totrain with the men's second team. Still only 23, the left-arm spinner has played an increasingly important role inthe england attack and was one of the leading wicket-takers at the world Twenty20. Having hit the winning run

in the 2009 world Cup final, she has also shown steadyimprovement with the bat, when called upon.VERDicT: led well by captain edwards and coach Marklane, they have one of the most exciting talents in worldcricket in Sarah Taylor, while lydia Greenway is the star ofa slick fielding unit. The spinners will have a key role toplay, while pace bowler Katherine Brunt is a wicket-takingthreat with the new ball. The cup holders will settle fornothing less than retaining the trophy they won in Sydneyfour years ago - though Australia may stand in their wayagain.inDiaREcEnT ODi fORm: lost 3-2 to england, having led 2-0,in their last OdIs in July 2012.Raut made her international debut against west Indiesduring the last world Cup in 2009DiD yOu KnOw? wicketkeeper Karu Jain from Bangaloreis back in the India squad after more than four years inthe international wilderness - having played the last ofher 37 OdIs against england in September 2008.PLayER TO waTch: with India's fortunes often relying oncaptain Mithali Raj to lead from the front with the bat,opener Poonam Raut has a key role to play in takingsome pressure off the skipper in getting runs on theboard.VERDicT: Tournament hosts for the third time, a SuperSix place should be the minimum India will expect.Should be comfortable playing on home soil, but will stillface an uphill struggle to make the final ahead of eng-land, Australia and New zealand.wEsT inDiEsTOuRnamEnT hisTORy: Finished fifth in 2005 and2009, their best performances in the 50-over format.REcEnT ODi fORm: Came back from 2-0 down to draw2-2 with South Africa on home soil in January.DiD yOu KnOw? Barbados wicketkeeper Kycia Knighthas recently been joined in the windies squad by hertwin sister Kyshona. Team-mate Anisa Mohammed alsohas a cricketing twin sister, Alisa, who has played forTrinidad & Tobago but has not yet received an interna-tional call-up.PLayER TO waTch: Opener Stafanie Taylor has been theICC's reigning women's OdI cricketer of the year for thelast two years, setting the tone with some powerful hit-ting at the top of the order and providing a good platformfor deandra dottin and skipper Merissa Aguilleira.VERDicT: qualification for the Super Six should not be aproblem for west Indies, but their further progress maydepend on whether they can get their hard-hitting battingline-up to fire on a consistent basis as the tournament

goes on.sRi LanKaTOuRnamEnT hisTORy: quarter-finalists in 1997, theirbest finish was sixth in 2000.REcEnT ODi fORm: Their last OdI series was way backin April 2012, losing 2-1 to west Indies in the Caribbean.DiD yOu KnOw? All-rounder and former captainChamani Seneviratna is Sri lanka's most-capped player inone-day internationals, having played 67 games since herdebut in 1997, a few days after her 19th birthday.PLayER TO waTch: Captain Shashikala Siriwardene, whomade her international debut just under a decade ago,has a key role to play, both in the middle order and as afront-line off-spinner.VERDicT: will be Group A's outsiders, but if they cancause a shock against west Indies - as they did with aduckworth-lewis success at the world Twenty20 - thenthey could sneak into the Super Six.

GROuP bausTRaLiaTOuRnamEnT hisTORy: The most successful side inworld Cup history - winners in 1978, 1982, 1988, 1997 and2005, and runners-up in 1973 and 2000.REcEnT ODi fORm: Beat New zealand 3-1 in their RoseBowl series in mid-december.DiD yOu KnOw? Off-spinning all-rounder lisa Sthalekar,who was born in India, is the ICC's top-ranked femalebowler (and top all-rounder) in Twenty20 internationalcricket. She is second behind england's Katherine Brunt inthe OdI bowling rankings, and second in the all-roundercharts behind west Indies' Stafanie Taylor.PLayER TO waTch: Opener Meg lanning is in top form,hitting 87, 72, 103 and 38 in the four-match OdI seriesagainst New zealand before smashing 76 and 64 in twoT20 games against the same opposition. The 20-year-old,

who made her debut just over two years ago, averages 50in one-day international cricket.VERDicT: will be targeting their second world title infour months after pipping england to the worldTwenty20 in October. A strong all-round side have the po-tential to go all the way againnEw ZEaLanDTOuRnamEnT hisTORy: winners in 2000, runners-up in1993, 1997 and 2009.REcEnT ODi fORm: lost 3-1 to Australia in their RoseBowl series in mid-december.DiD yOu KnOw? lucy doolan displayed her all-roundcricketing skills in two matches against england at thelast world Cup. In the Super Six, she took over as wicket-keeper after Rachel Priest was hit in the face, took acatch behind the stumps, then bowled six overs afterPriest returned. Then in the final, doolan top scored with48, batting at number nine, before taking 3-23 from 10overs of off-spin.PLayER TO waTch: white Ferns captain Suzie Bates willenter the tournament on a good run of form with the bat,having made 38, 122 not out, 59, 49 and 54 in her last fiveOdI innings.VERDicT: will be determined to add to that solitary ICCglobal tournament win in 2000 - having been perenniallosing finalists or semi-finalists in recent years. Shouldhave no difficulty in making the Super Six, but may haveto beat either england or Australia to reach the final attheir expense.PaKisTanTOuRnamEnT hisTORy: Their best finish was sixth in2009.REcEnT ODi fORm: won a tri-series against Ireland andBangladesh in dublin in August 2012.DiD yOu KnOw? Pakistan have only competed at twoprevious women's world Cup tournaments, losing all five

games in 1997 - the last time India hosted the event.PLayER TO waTch: with spin likely to play a big role inthe tournament, slow left-armer Sadia yousuf, who wastheir joint leading wicket-taker at the world Twenty20,can expect plenty of bowling for Pakistan.VERDicT: with their preparations disrupted by theirgames being switched to Cuttack following politicalprotests in Mumbai about their involvement, the build-uphas not been easy for Pakistan. Realistically, they musttarget the game with South Africa, with the winner likelyto reach the Super Six phase.sOuTh afRicaTOuRnamEnT hisTORy: Their best performance camewhen they reached the semi-finals in 2000.REcEnT ODi fORm: drew 2-2 with west Indies in Janu-ary, having won the first two games.DiD yOu KnOw: South Africa are the only team to havehosted a world Cup and failed to finish in the top four onhome soil - coming sixth in 2005.PLayER TO waTch: Former captain Cri-zelda Brits is an-other player who has returned after taking a year's breakfrom international cricket. Her experience of more than adecade at the top level will be a vital part of South Africa'middle order.VERDicT: will take heart from their recent performances inthe Caribbean. If they can beat Pakistan, they should reachthe Super Six, which would be an achievement in itself.

LONDONaGEnciEs

england spinner Danny Briggs has been ruledout for the rest of their winter tour with asprained ankle.

The Hampshire left-armer, 21, suffered theinjury during a fitness session. He will miss Sun-day's fifth and final one-day internationalagainst India - the hosts lead the series 3-1 - aswell as the Twenty20 series in New Zealand.

Yorkshire batsman and part-time spinbowler Joe Root will replace him in the squad toface New Zealand, the england and WalesCricket Board has confirmed.

Briggs was the only member of the one-daysquad not to have played a single match duringthe India tour, but had been in contention to fea-ture on Sunday.

He will also miss the england Lions' tour ofAustralia next month.

Root's promotion means he will be part of allthree england squads for the New Zealand tour,which starts on 9 February in Auckland with thefirst of three Twenty20 matches.

The 22-year-old was named in the Testsquad ahead of eoin Morgan and Samit Patel onThursday, as well as being a late addition to the

one-day group.An england and Wales Cricket Board

spokesman said: "Danny Briggs has been ruledout of the current one-day series, the NewZealand Twenty20s and the Lions tour with aright ankle sprain sustained during a fitness ses-sion.

"Joe Root will replace Briggs in theTwenty20 squad in New Zealand."

england Twenty20 squad for New Zealand(updated): Stuart Broad (captain), JonnyBairstow, Jos Buttler, Jade Dernbach, StevenFinn, Alex Hales, Michael Lumb, Stuart Meaker,eoin Morgan, Samit Patel, Joe Root, JamesTredwell, Chris Woakes, Luke Wright.

EnGLanD's TOuR TO nEw ZEaLanD

4 & 6 february: T20 warm-ups v NewZealand XI (Whangarei)9, 12 & 15 february: T20 internationals(Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington)17, 20 & 23 february: ODIs (Hamilton,Napier, Auckland)27 feb-2 March: Warm-up v New Zealand XI(Queenstown)6-10 March: 1st Test (Dunedin)14-18 March: 2nd Test (Wellington)22-26 March: 3rd Test (Auckland)

england’s Danny Briggs out ofwinter tour with sprained ankle

ICC Women’s World Cup 2013 tournament guide

LAHORE: The International CricketCouncil (ICC) has changed the venueof Pakistan women cricket team’smatches for Women World Cup fromMumbai to Cuttack. According tosources the team had to play groupmatches in Mumbai and Ahmadabad.Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) re-quested ICC to change venue as ShivSena threatened PCB after tension atIndo-Pak border, sources added. ICCshifted the venue to Cuttack city ofOrissa state after considering PCB’sconcerns. The team will play allmatches in the city but if the teamreaches final, it will have to play finalin Mumbai, said sources. sTaff REPORT

iCC confirms venue change

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:47 AM Page 17

MELBOURNEaGEnciEs

Andy Murray did not just beat Roger Fed-erer for the first time in grand slam playat the Australian Open on Friday, the

Scot's relentless onslaught made the King of Coollose his cool. The regal Federer, whose grace andskill has dazzled the sport for a golden decade inwhich he has won 17 grand slam titles, rarely ap-pears ruffled by anything but on Friday, in theheat of battle, his mask slipped. Struggling to livewith Murray's power and unable to punchthrough the Briton's granite-like defences, the 31-year-old Federer fought like a cornered rat toforce a riveting contest into a fifth set.

Throughout the four-hour semi-final Murrayshowed scant regard for his opponent's reputation,engaging the Swiss maestro in the kind of close-quarters combat that left little room for the deco-rum and reverence often accompanying Federermatches. early on as Murray dominated BBC com-mentator Andrew Castle was forced to apologise onbehalf of the Swiss for an F-word tirade and when

Murray served for the match at 6-5 in the fourthFederer uttered some choice words in his direction.

Murray's nonchalant smirk across the net wasfollowed not long after by a drilled forehand aimeddirectly at the body of Federer - a tactic once thepreferred choice of Murray's poker-faced coachIvan Lendl. There was a palpable tension betweenthe two players who one imagines, unlike Murrayand Novak Djokovic or Federer and Rafa Nadal, areunlikely to be future drinking buddies. "Stuff likethat happens daily in tennis matches," Murray saidwhen quizzed by British reporters. "The stuff thatpeople say on football pitches and in basketball andall sorts of sports, I mean, it was very, very mild incomparison to what happens in other sports. "It'sjust one of those things."

While playing down the incident, the fact thatMurray clearly got under Federer's skin during thematch, then withstood a ferocious response fromhim to come out on top, will be stored away in theScot's memory bank. Federer gave everything hecould on the Rod Laver Arena, both mentally andphysically, but still came up short against a playertransformed from the one whose mental strengthwhen it really mattered was often questioned. Mur-ray's 6-4 6-7 6-3 6-7 6-2 victory took his careerrecord against Federer to 11-9 but despite those reg-ular triumphs, Friday's one seemed to be the mostsignificant. In last year's Wimbledon final, Murrayalso dominated before bowing to the old master ina tearful defeat and while he did gain revenge bywinning their Olympic gold medal duel a few weekslater, real bragging rights are earned at grand slams.MURRAy PLEASED WITH fOCUS: AndyMurray showcased his new mental strength afterblowing the opportunity to serve out his AustralianOpen semi-final against Roger Federer on Friday bydemolishing the Swiss in the fifth set. The 25-year-old Briton had been two points away from a finalagainst Novak Djokovic when serving at 6-5 in the

fourth set only for Federer to force atiebreak and then a decider. Mur-

ray, however, has discovered amental toughness in the last 12months under coach Ivan Lendland instead of brooding about

losing the set the Scot sat quietlywhile Federer took a toilet break

and figured out what he needed todo at the start of the fifth. The focusworked and Murray raced out to a 3-

0 lead then held on for a 6-4 6-7 6-36-7 6-2 win in four hours to set up the

final showdown with world numberone Djokovic on Sunday.

Federer’s maskslips as Murray getsunder his skin

USADA sets deadline forArmstrong’s full cooperationNEW yORK: The United States Anti-Doping Agency(USADA) has set disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong aFebruary 6 deadline to fully cooperate in the investiga-tion into cycling's darkest episode in return for a possi-ble reduction of his life ban. In excerpts of hisinterview with the CBS network scheduled for Sundaybroadcast, USADA CeO Travis Tygart said he had writ-ten a letter to Armstrong with the offer. Armstrong, 41,admitted in an interview with Oprah Winfrey last weekthat he had cheated his way to a record seven Tour deFrance titles with systematic use ofbanned, performance-enhancingdrugs. Last year he was stripped ofhis titles after being labelled a "ser-ial cheat" by the USADA. Tygartalso disputed Armstrong's claimsof a clean comeback in 2009."His blood tests in 2009,2010 ... one to a millionchance that it was due tosomething other than dop-ing," Tygart said. aGEnciEs

Melbourne: Victoria azarenka

holds her winner’s trophy while

li na returns the ball in the

final of the australian open.

Sports17 Sunday, 27 January, 2013

KARACHIsTaff REPORT

Living up to their potentials, team fromPakistan made their presence felt in thefirst Paoay International Area-Feara Re-gatta, by winning Feara Trophy. Morethan 100 rowers from clubs of India, Pak-istan, Srilanka, Bangladesh, Singaporeand the host Philippines participated inthis eight-day event. A total of elevenplayers including four women fromKarachi boat club (KBC) took part. Theteam of Karachi boat club won 6 medalsincluding one gold and one silver in 9events. In Feara Men Fours event teamcomprised of Arif Ikram, Benney, khur-ram Khawaja and Asghar Ali, won theFar-east Ameature Rowing Associataion

(FeARA) CUP for their country. CMePune club won the Area Trophy. InAmeature Rowing Associaation Of Theeast (AReA) event, KBC women teamwon a silver medal. Apart from that Pak-istani rowers won 4 bronze medals inFeara Men Pair, Area Men Singal, AreaMen Fours and Arae Woman Double.

REsuLTs

mEn fEaRa fOuRs 4- GOLD (fEaRa TROPhy):

Arif Ikram, Benney, Khurram Khawaja, Asghar Ali.

mEn fEaRa PaiR 2- bROnZE: Khurram Khawaja, Asghar Ali

umEn aRaE fOuRs 4- bROnZE: Ibrahim Hanif, Hassan

Currimbhoy, Manoucheher Munawar, Mirwaise Babai

mEn aRaE scuLL 1x bROnZE: Mirwaise Babai

wOmEn aRaE fOuRs 4-siLVER: Alizeh Premjee,

Shehla Sajjad Gokal, Aleena Abid, Salma Rabia

wOmEn aRaE DOubLE scuLL 2x bROnZE: Salma

Rabia Arif, Aleena Abid.

PAKISTANI ROWERS SHINE IN AREA-FEARA REGATTA ‘13

Maaz leadsin Royal PalmAnnual Golf

LAHOREsTaff REPORT

At the end of the first round, in theRoyal Palm Annual Golf Championship,in progress at the challenging RoyalPalm Golf Course, the golfer whoshowed good form was Mir MaazMehmood, who stuck to his game plan,rather devotedly and as a result findshis name on top of the leaderboard witha steady round of gross 76.Mir Maaz is a single handicapper whohas been away from the golf scene forquite sometime resulting in enhance-ment of weight and waist, but through alot of practice and recently developeddislike for wholesome 'kashmiri daalchawal' he is back on the scene with hissmooth golf swing and correct applica-tion of golfing skills. On the first dayyesterday,he kept the other challengersat bay and looks determined to main-tain the winning stance during the finalround on Sunday.The competitors breathing down hisneck are Sardar Murad Khan and AmirMehmood. No doubt these two con-tenders look poised to put up a realfight and certainly are capable golferswith competitive temperament. In thefirst round Sardar Murad had a roundof gross 77 and Amir too finished with asimilar score on the first day.Another solid contender, Azfar Hassanis at a score of gross 78. In the net cate-gory the youngster in command is Hus-sain Hamid with a first round net scoreof 70.One stroke in arrears is AmirRana at net 73. Sherazi at net 71 andAsad Hameed at net 72 followed byTauqeer Rana at net 73. The final roundwill tee off at 10am on Sunday.

MELBOURNE: Novak Djokovic and AndyMurray's burgeoning grand slam rivalry turnsanother page on Sunday, with the two iron-men of tennis bracing for a world of pain whenthey clash in the final of the Australian Open.Although good friends off the court dating backto their junior days, the two 25-year-olds holdno quarter once they cross thewhite lines, and have made ahabit of punishing each otherin gruelling five-set duels atthe grand slams. Briton Mur-ray lost a near-five hour bat-tle to eventual championDjokovic in the semi-finalslast year, but avenged the de-feat in a five-set thriller to winthe U.S. Open and his maidengrand slam title. "I hope it's apainful match because thatwill mean it's a good one,"Murray told the centre courtcrowd after grinding downRoger Federer in five sets inthe semi-final. aGEnciEs

Djokovic and murray

prepare to bring the pain

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:47 AM Page 18

MELBOURNE aGEnciEs

vICTORIA Azarenka tookeverything the Aus-tralian Open could throwat her and emerged a

champion. The Belarussian won hersecond successive title at MelbournePark on Saturday with a 4-6 6-4 6-3victory over China's Li Na, burstinginto tears as the emotion and stressof a fortnight came pouring out.

"You have to go through roughpatches to achieve great things,"Azarenka told Channel 7, the hostbroadcaster. "It's been tough but Iam happy here right now. Therewere new experiences for me in thelast couple of days. I have to saythanks to my team for being so sup-portive. It was a victory that ensuresshe will stay at the top of the worldrankings for at least a few moreweeks but winning a second grandslam title will be of even more satis-faction. When Li turned her leftankle early in the second set, thematch swung in Azarenka's favour.When the Chinese fell again in thethird and banged her head, it wasgetting surreal.

But the way the top seed dugherself out of a hole to clinch victoryshowed immense mental strength.

In her semi-final against Amer-ican teenager Sloane Stephens,Azarenka had incurred the wrath ofeveryone watching when she took a10-minute double injury timeoutjust as Stephens was serving to stayin the match. Her attempts to ex-plain it fell flat and when she wasintroduced to the Rod Laver Arenaon Saturday, a number of jeers rangout. "I was expecting way worse, ac-tually," she told reporters. "Butwhat can you do? You just have togo out and play your tennis.

"It was definitely not easy withall the attention, with all the pressaround. But it was definitely a newexperience for me that I think I han-dled quite well. "I can only learnfrom this experience and move for-ward and try to improve as a playerand as a person, as well."

During the match, one fancalled out "quiet please Azarenka",in reference to her high-pitchedgrunting and the crowd was firmlybehind Li. On the court, Azarenkacould not cope with the former

French Open champion's aggressivereturns, at times a little slow toreact after her serve. The first setwent to the Chinese but slowly andsurely, Azarenka began to work Liaround the court, extending the ral-lies and making her opponent workharder for her points. Azarenka tooka 3-1 lead in the second set and thenwatched as Li fell in pain after turn-ing her left ankle.

Considering the drama of hersemi-final, Azarenka must havewondered what was going on butshe kept her cool and stuck to hergameplan, levelling the match.

The drama moved up a levelwhen Li slipped and hit her head onthe court at 2-1 in the third set andwhen they resumed, Azarenkasaved a break point to square thedecider at 2-2. After breaking in thenext game, she came through a longservice game to stay ahead at 5-3and then broke Li again to clinchvictory. Her celebrations were sub-dued but when she sat down in herchair, the tears flowed uncontrol-lably. "This one is way more emo-tional (than last year)," she said."It's going to be extra special forme, for sure."

Azarenkaretains title

‘Mercedes seem hungrier than McLaren’BRACKLEy: Lewis Hamilton rejected talk of Mercedesbeing a team in turmoil on Thursday and said his newFormula One employers seemed even hungrier for suc-cess than McLaren. Before addressing Mercedes em-ployees at the team's factory near Silverstone in centralengland, the 2008 world champion told reporters hehad seen or heard nothing to cause him any concern."There is a great spirit here. The guys seem hungrierthan any group of people I've seen before. They seem se-riously hungry to win and excited they have anothershot at it this year," the former McLaren driver declared."every year there was always a great atmosphere atMcLaren. But it's a different environment to come toand a different feeling because it's new and fresh. Theguys seem to be just as on it if not more." aGEnciEs

watch it LiveESPNAustralian OpenTennis 201310:30AM

STAR SPORTS5TH ODI: India v England 08:30PM

1st Men, womenPowerlifting on 5th

LAHOREsTaff REPORT

The 1st Open Men and Women PowerLifting Championship (RAW) will be heldFebruary 5 at Green's Banquet Hall 23-C-III. Mercedez Show Room, M.M AlamRoad, Gulberg III, Lahore, near TotalPetrol Pump. According to OrganizingSecretary Aqeel Javed Butt, InternationalPower Lifter Championship will be held in3 events - Squat, Bench press, Dead lift.entries should be submitted upto January31 to chairman organizing committee AliAsif Waheed, national powerlifter and di-rector Greens Banquet Hall. entries arefree. Women body weight Classes are (inKg) 47, 52, 57, 63, 72, 84, 84 Plus. Weighin time for women is 9:00 a.m to 10 pm.Women competition will start at 11:00am. Noor Ud Mengal (DCO,Lahore), Mrs.Salma Butt, advisor to Chief Minister,Mrs. Abida Saif Principal Govt WomenCollege Shad Bagh will perform openingceremony and distribute medals amongwomen Players. The men weigh in will beheld at 10:00 am to 11:00 am in 8 bodyweight classes. Chief Guests ShahidMehmood Dar, ex.President PPA, Ghu-lam Muhud-ud-Din Dewan, Advisor toPM (AJK), Faisal Mukhtar Khan, DirectorSubway, ex Test Cricketer Shafqat RanaConvener Gymkhana Club will distributemedals , certificates , trophies to winners.Players from Lahore, Kasur, Gujranwala,Rawalpindi, Gymkhana Club, Shapes Cluband Other Clubs will participates.

Massa to have firstdrive in new Ferrari

MOSCOWaGEnciEs

Brazilian Felipe Massa will be the firstto drive Ferrari's 2013 Formula One carwith last year's championship runner-upFernando Alonso having to wait untilFebruary 19, the Italian team said onThursday. Ferrari said on their website(www.ferrari.com) that Massa, whoseplace at the team was uncertain formuch of last year before he secured aone-year extension, would be in the carat the first pre-season test in Jerez fromFebruary 5-7. Spanish developmentdriver Pedro De la Rosa, who raced forthe now-departed HRT team last yearand will carry out much of the simulatorwork this year, will take over for his Fer-rari debut on the remaining day.

DOHAaGEnciEs

Briton Chris Wood will take a three-shot lead into thefinal round of the Qatar Masters hoping to end an elu-sive five-year search for his first win on the europeanTour. The 25-year-old englishman looked set to havea promising career when in 2008, while still an ama-teur, he finish tied for fifth place behind Padraig Har-rington in the British Open at Royal Birkdale.

Since then his progress has been hampered by aseries of back complaints caused by the wide swing archis 6 foot 5 inch tall frame creates. In 2012 he didrecord his first professional victory in the ThailandOpen on the OneAsia Tour but then the injury re-turned. "Two or three weeks after I won. I had towirhdraw from a couple of events as my back went,"he said after reaching 15 under par on Friday.

"All of a sudden from going on a bit of a high afterwinning a tournament I had to pick myself up andstart again. "The confidence seemed to be shortlivedthen but I hope fully I can look back on that win and itwill help me in the final round."

Wood was two shots off the lead at the start ofthe day but worked his way to the top of leaderboardwith five birdies in his first eight holes and an eagleat the par five tenth in a round of 64. For most of thethird round his nearest challenger was Spain's Ser-

gio Garcia but he dropped back four shots off thepace after finishing his 70 with a bogey after findingwater by the 18th green. In a three way tie for sec-ond place are New Zealander Michael Campbell, an-other englishman Simon Khan and Sweden'sAlexander Noren. Khan began five shots off the lead

but sunk six birdies in his first seven holes on hisway to a round of 64. He followed up with two moreon the closing nine but felt he could have done evenbetter. "I was leading after eight holes," he said."But then I did the classic. I got a little bit ahead ofmyself and started thinking ahead.

Qatar leader Wood eyes maiden European Tour victory

18Sunday, 27 January, 2013 Sports

g The drama moved up a level when li slippedand hit her head on the court at 2-1 in the thirdset and when they resumed, Azarenka saveda break point to square the decider at 2-2

MELBOURNE: Li Na's bid fora second grand slam title endedtearfully with an injured ankle, abruised head and a heart-break-ing defeat to Victoria Azarenka,but she could still laugh off her"stupid" falls after a gallant fail-ure in the Australian Open final.Li raised gasps from the RodLaver Arena crowd as she rolledher left ankle twice in the 4-6 6-4 6-3 loss on Saturday, andbanged her head on the bluecentre court on the second fall,causing her to black out momen-tarily. "It was actually prettyheavy at that time. There wastwo seconds there where every-thing was black and I couldn'tsee a thing," the 30-year-oldChinese told reporters. "Sowhen the doctor and the physiocame out on to the court, I satup, but it took a long time tofully come around. aGEnciEs

li sees lighter side ofdefeat after black-out

SAN DIEgO: Little-known American BillyHorschel will enter the frenzy of 'Tiger territory'for the first time at the Farmers Insurance Open onSaturday and hopes his 2007 Walker Cup ex-perience will help him cope with the hugegalleries. Horschel, a member of that tri-umphant U.S. Walker Cup team at RoyalCounty Down in Northern Ireland, hasbeen grouped withtournamentleader Woodsand fellowAmerican CaseyWittenberg for the third round atTorrey Pines. "I know there aregoing to be crowds but it's noth-ing that I haven't dealt with be-fore," Horschel told reporters

after shooting a three-under-par 69 on the SouthCourse on Friday to end the second round twostrokes behind Woods. "I've played the Walker Cup

... and there was a guy I competed against threetimes called Rory McIlroy," he said of the cur-rent world number one from Northern Ire-

land. "So there may have been 10-12,000people following us, and only a couple ofthousand following the rest of the groups.

So I've dealt with crowds.It's going to be excit-ing." The Walker Cupis a biennial team

event played betweenthe top amateurgolfers from the UnitedStates and Britain andIreland. aGEnciEs

horschel relies on rory factor for tiger grouping

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:48 AM Page 19

Sunday, 27 January, 2013

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Editor: Arif Nizami

PESHAWAR OnLinE

As many as 50 militants were killed inclashes between the Tehreek-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP) and Ansarul Islam (AI)in Khyber Agency, according to mediareports. Officials and residents of the agencywere quoted by news channels assaying that clashes between the TTPand AI erupted in the remote TirahValley on Friday night. Sadat Afridi, AI spokesman, told aprivate TV channel that his group’sfighters had captured three Talibanbases in Maidan. The fight was still onfor a fourth Taliban base, he claimed. Afridi said his group had vowed toflush out Taliban militants from thevalley as they “carry out attacks onmosques and public places, which isagainst Islam”. He said AI would not allow the Talibanto continue “killing innocent Muslimsin the name of religion”. Both groups were using heavy weapons,including mortars, to target eachother’s positions. Officials were quoted as saying that 30Taliban fighters and 23 members of theAI had lost their lives so far. Dozens more were injured in thefighting, which continued until this

Saturday. People began fleeing theregion last night after the two groupsfired mortar shells at Maidan village,reports said. The clashes erupted in an area close tothe Afghan border where Pakistanisecurity forces have no presence, TVnews channels reported. Abdul Rashid Lashkari, a spokesmanfor the Lashkar-e-Islam, said his groupwould remain neutral in the clashes.“We are not (fighting) despite ouraffiliation to the Taliban and ourgrudges with Ansarul Islam,” Lashkariwas quoted as saying by the media.

Militant groups’clashes leave 50dead in Tirah

NEW DELHIOnLinE

Indian external Affairs MinisterSalman Khurshid said on Saturday that

two Pakistani diplomats had been de-nied permission to attend the JaipurLiterature Festival because of “inputsfrom various agencies”. But one of thediplomats, chief of Pakistan High Com-

mission’s media wing Manzoor Memon,said they were denied permissionthough they had registered themselvesfor the conference, reported The Hindu.

Pakistani diplomats barred from attending Jaipur litfest

JAMRUD: At least five people werekilled and 10 others were injuredwhen a mortar shell landed at acompound in the Tirah area ofKhyber Agency on Saturday.According to security sources, someunidentified miscreants fired theshell from an undisclosed placewhich landed at the compound,killing five people and injuringanother 10. The injured wererescued by locals. Sources said allthose killed were relatives. inP

5 killed in khybermortar attack

Continued on page 04

19

ISB 27-01-2013_Layout 1 1/27/2013 3:48 AM Page 20