E-paper Pkistantoday 11th August, 2012

Nawaz dancing to Nisar’s tune,

says Javed HashmiPAGE |03PAGE |02 PAGE |17

Saturday, 11 august, 2012 Ramadan 22, 1433Rs 15.00 Vol iii no 46 19 pages Lahore edition

After cancer fight, Yuvrajinducted in India’s World Twenty20 squad

Pakistan’s milliondollar archaeologicalsmugglers

g Decision aimed at givingprivate sector a chance toenhance investment

KARACHIzain ali

THe State Bank of Pakistan(SBP) has slashed discountrate by 150 bps to 10.5 percentfor a period of two months, avery surprising and welcome

decision for industrialists and busi-ness community in the country.The cut in policy rate was an-nounced by SBP Governor YaseenAnwar on Friday. The decision wasmade in the light of controlledinflation that came down to9.6% in July, while the in-

centive aimed at giving the private sec-tor a chance to enhance investment forsustainable economic growth.The reduction in interest rate is likely tostimulate the economy of the country ascredit to private sector is expected to in-crease to grow the business activities inthe country. The role of central bank isnot to control finance of the country butit also invigorates the economic activityin the country, Anwar added. The re-ceipts of $1.118 billion from US havegiven cushion to current account, on theother hand, remit-tance played a vitalrole in the stabilityof external account,he further said.He said that thee c o n o m y

seems to have settled at an unenviableequilibrium of high inflation and lowgrowth. The protracted energy crisisand weak fiscal fundamentals are themain reasons behind this outcome.Similarly, the declining trend in privateinvestment expenditures is continuingwhile strength of the balance of pay-ment position remains contingent uponforeign financial inflows.

LAHOREUmair aziz

As much else around these parts, the politico-bureaucratic nexus after successfully hushingup financial irregularities and alleged misap-propriations running into millions of rupeesin the Punjab Sports Festival by Sports BoardPunjab, are now all set to devour billions moreoff the public exchequer through the up-coming Punjab Youth Festival.

Pakistan Today has learntthrough unimpeachable sources thatserious breaches of financial disciplineand misappropriation of funds hasbeen observed in the or-ganization of the re-cently-held PunjabSports Festival,with DG SportsUsman Anweremerging as theprincipal character,who is at the very leastaccused of being eco-nomical with the truthin official correspondence with regards totransactions. Interestingly despite an initial up-roar created by the provincial Finance Depart-ment high-ups over such gross financialmisconduct, Anwer managed to suppress it inall the concerned departments – the Sports, theFinance and the Chief Minister’s Secretariat.

This raises questions on the probity ofhigher echelons of provincial bureaucracy. But

with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz(PML-N) heir-apparent MNA Hamza ShahbazSharif the driving force as the chairman of thisentire youth programme and Deputy SpeakerRana Mashud its chief of organizing commit-tee, expecting the Punjab bureaucracy to standup to it was expecting a little too much.

An official manning a high position on con-dition of anonymity confided with this scribe

that when DG Sports Usman Anwer askedthe Finance Department (FD) to transfer

funds from the Special Drawing Ac-count (SDA) – under the FD’s watch

– to its commer-cial accounton the pleathat thecheques tothe tune ofRs70 mil-lion givento ven-dors and

artistes had bounced. Thedeception came to light upon probe, as the FDfound that Anwer transferred the leftover moneyfrom previous years in the SDA to the commer-cial account, and all issued cheques had been ho-noured. A copy of the probe is available withPakistan Today. This made the finance secretary see red, andhe recommended “item-wise scrutiny” and“reprimand”, which the chief minister duly ap-proved.

Sports Board’s rip-off in the nameof Punjab’s youthg Billions of rupees allegedly misspent in festivals

SBP slashes interestrate by 1.5 percent

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Significant increase in fata school enrolment zardari’s ouster essential to save Pakistan: Shahbaz religiosity plummets and atheism is on the rise

Saturday, 11 August, 2012

Balochistan MPA gets 2 yearsin jail, fine over fake degree

QUETTA: A judge in Jaffarabad awarded two-yearimprisonment and a fine of Rs 0.5 million to formerBalochistan Assembly speaker Mir Zahoor Hussain Khosa onFriday for holding a fake degree. Khosa contested and wonthe provincial assembly seat as an independent candidate in2008 polls on a certificate issued by a religious seminary.His degree was challenged in the court. earlier, the SupremeCourt had declared his degree fake and disqualified himfrom the assembly seat, besides directing the electionCommission to register a case of forgery against him. Thecase was registered at Jaffarabad Police Station, and thepolice had submitted the challan in the District and SessionsCourt, Jaffarabad. Announcing the judgment, Judge AimalKhan Bazai awarded Mir Zahoor Hussain Khosa two years injail and a fine of Rs 0.5 million. Staff rePort

Two children die fromelectrocutionGUJRANWALA/ISLAMABAD: On Friday, two childrendied of electrocution following heavy rains in the cityAccording to media reports, on Thursday night torrentialrain started to fall in Gujranwala and continued on Friday,causing rain water to accumulate in several areas of the city.electricity wires fell into rain water in several areasresulting in the electrocution and death of two children.Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecastrain/thundershowers in scattered locations of northeastPunjab including Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala,Lahore and Sargodha divisions during next 24 hours.According to the synoptic situation, seasonal low lies overNortheast Balochistan and monsoon currents arepenetrating the northern regions of the country. Mainly hotand humid weather is expected in most parts of KhyberPakhtunkhwa, however, rain/thundershower is likely to takeplace in isolated regions of Malakand, Hazara, Peshawarand Kohat divisions during the next 24 hours. Mainly hotand humid weather is expected in most parts of Balochistanand Sindh in the next 24 hours. Partially cloudy weather isexpected with a chance of rain/thundershower in scatteredareas of Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan during the next 24hours. Maximum temperatures recorded during the last 24hours were as following: Islamabad 33 (C), Lahore 36 (C),Karachi 34 (C), Peshawar 39 (C), Quetta 37 (C), Murree 35(C), Muzzafarabad 34 (C), Gilgit 35 (C) and Faisalabad andMultan 40 (C). Relative Humidity recorded these days is 58percent. aGenCieS

Nawaz dancing toNisar’s tune, saysJaved Hashmi

MULTAN aGenCieS

Hitting back at the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) after Chaudhry Nisar AliKhan’s diatribe against Imran Khan, PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) President Javed Hashmiaccused PML-N President Nawaz Sharif ofdancing to Nisar’s tunes. Addressing a pressconference on Friday, Hashmi said that Nisar iscausing harm to Pakistan and his own party.“Chaudhry Nisar is responsible for theimposition of martial law in the past and he wasalso against the nuclear tests,” Hashmi said.Repeating the allegations levelled againstNawaz by PTI Chairman Imran Khan just a fewdays ago, Hashmi questioned why doesn’t hetake the writer, who accused him of corruption,to court? Hashmi said that the PML-N was‘surrounded’ by pretenders, adding that Nawazhas been enveloped by members who had leftthe party in difficult times and are now acting asparty’s stalwarts.

ISLAMABAD online

THe Supreme Court on Fridayasked the Punjab governmentto resolve the teachers’ salaryissue by August 15.

Hearing the case, Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry directedthe Punjab chief secretary to convene ameeting of the board of governors ofgovernment schools to resolve the mat-ter. He said violation of the teachers’fundamental rights was against the con-stitution, adding that it was the job ofthe SC to protect people’s rights. Thechief secretary argued that DivisionalPublic School Sargodha was an au-

tonomous institute, not a governmentschool. He said 42 such schools, whichwere functional in the province, were notgiven any financial support.

The chief secretary said only theboard of governors could increase thesalaries. However, the SC rejected thechief secretary’s reply and remarked,“Close the schools down if you can’t raisesalaries.”

The CJP said a board of governorsmeeting should be summoned to resolvethe matter and the pending salariesshould be disbursed. He said the courtwould issue an order if the Punjab gov-ernment did not resolve the matter andordered the chief secretary to submit areport within three days. The hearingwas adjourned until August 15.

SC rejects Punjab’sreply in teachers’salary case

Four ‘rapist cops’ arrestedFAISALABAD: Four policemen accused of gang raping agirl were arrested and a case was registered against themhere on Friday. According to details, four policemenpatrolling on Canal Road stopped a rickshaw, anddisembarked the girl. Reportedly, they took her to a hotel atSatiyana Road and gang raped her. After hearing about theincident, the Senior Superintendent of Police (Operations)took immediate action and ordered that all four copsinvolved in the crime be arrested. The victim girl was shiftedto Civil Hospital for medical tests. The SSP assured thatstrict action would be taken against the accused. inP

NATO truck set ablaze, two injuredQUETTA: Armed men ambushed a NATO supply containerin Dasht area, some 15 kilometers away from Quetta,injuring two men before torching the vehicle on Friday.According to the Levies, unidentified gunmen startedshooting at the supply truck with sophisticated weapons. Asa result, the vehicle’s driver Abdul Rehman, a resident ofMianwali, and cleaner Muhammad Naheem, a resident ofSahiwal, sustained serious injuries. Later the assailantsdismounted the driver and the cleaner from the truck,sprinkled petrol over it and set it ablaze before escaping fromthe site. Officials say that the container was going toKandahar from Karachi via Chaman border. Staff rePort

SRINAGAR: Kashmiri

Muslims pray at the

Hazratbal Shrine

during the third Friday

of Ramadan. AFP


03NewseditoriAlStopping Hindu pilgrims:

comment

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A senseless action.

arif nizami says;

Beginning of the end?: Supreme Court’s (over)steps.

raoof Hasan says;Dungeons of darkness…: …Or a quest for better alternatives?

ArtS & entertAinment

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Sushmita Sen robbed at athens airport rohullah makes history for afghanistan


CHARSADDAafP

When a family dispute over land degener-ated into cold-blooded murder, Zaman Khanwas quickly in over his head.

As cousins killed cousins, he borrowedmore than $18,500 to buy guns, ammuni-tion and guards. But soon debtors were de-manding repayment, leaving him sodepressed he contemplated suicide.

Then a friend came up with an idea.He took Khan to a site in northwest of

the country which dates back to the ancient

Gandhara civilisation where they dug up 18pieces of statue, selling them to markettraders for Rs 2 million.

After two more visits, Khan — AFP haschanged the names of all those involved inthe trade — had found enough statues, coinsand ornaments to not only settle his debtsbut also bankroll his long-running feud.

Thirty years on, he presides over a lucra-tive trade in illegally excavated treasures,smuggled to Thailand, europe and Americaas part of Pakistan’s sophisticated but under-world business in archaeological remains. “Ican fight against my enemies and my friends’enemies now. I’ve earned millions of rupees

fromt h i s

business,” he said, sitting next to a dozen au-tomatic weapons in Charsadda, 80 milesfrom Islamabad.

Pakistan is home to two ancient civilisa-tions, the Indus, which dates back to be-tween 2500 and 1700 BC, and the Gandhara,from 530 BC to 1021 AD. It is the Gandharaartefacts that are most highly prized.

Statues of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gau-tama, who was born in Nepal in the 6th cen-tury BC and whose teachings grew into amajor religion, can fetch thousands of dol-lars across the world.

“Whenever I’m on a digging mission, I

pay Rs 10,000 to the relevant police stationas a bribe in advance and Rs 1,000 a daywhile the work continues,” said Khan. Hesells the artefacts to dealers in Peshawar.“Then they sell them to dealers in Islamabadand other cities who then export them toThailand,” he said.

“To smuggle it from Peshawar to Islam-abad, they use ladies, who aren’t usuallychecked by police at the security posts.”

Smuggler Raja Javed has customers inPeshawar, Thailand and Japan. “I’ve beendoing this business for the last 20 years. I’vesold hundreds of art pieces worth millions ofrupees,” he told AFP at his plush villa, justmetres from the museum in the Gandharancity of Taxila.

Spread over almost an acre, the groundsof his home include lawns and guest houses,while the main residential building has thekind of huge dome usually found on tombsof Mughal kings and sufi saints.

“At a minimum I’ve sold 20 big Buddhastatues (weighing 40 to 80 kilograms). eachpiece sold for around $20,000,” said Javed.

He does not believe what he does shouldbe treated as a crime, but that the govern-ment should buy artefacts at market value.

The law forbids anyone from moving orselling any archaeological artefacts — stat-ues, gold coins, jewellery or utensils — evenif they are unearthed on their own property.

“They are the property of the govern-ment,” said Mehmoodul Hassan, a senior of-ficial of the archaeology department.

“Anybody who moves or sells an artefactcan face imprisonment of up to five years, ora fine of Rs 500,000 or both.”

But in the smuggling business, it is allabout who you know.

In Peshawar jewellery market, a hub forAfghan and Pakistani dealers, Javed andKhan’s main contact said, “One piece cancost up to $10 million, it depends on thequality, state and history of the particularpiece.”

“I can arrange dozens of precious origi-

nals and copies for you, but transportation ishard,” he told an AFP reporter who posed asa buyer wanting Buddha statues for London.

Fakes and replicas are another aspect ofthe trade.

In Taxila, which continues to attract for-eign visitors despite the terror threat in Pak-istan, one sculptor chisels Buddha statuesfrom new stone and paints them in mud tomake them look ancient.

“I can provide you copies and replicas ofany statue you want” he said, showing off hishandiwork. “I am an expert at making fast-ing Buddha and the goddess.”

Customs officials say they have crackeddown on the smugglers.

“The whole system is computerised nowand the chances of corruption are rare,” saidRiffat Shaheen Qazi, a customs spokes-woman. “Some individuals might be in-volved in smuggling artefacts but we’retrying to curb this menace.”

But an interviewee for this article sug-gested the names of two people in Islamabadwith a gallery in Thailand who could helptransport artefacts abroad. One of them livesin a fort-style farmhouse in the mountainsbetween Islamabad and Murree.

Sporting a beard, and wearing a bluekurta with baggy white trousers and a yellownecklace, the man said his activities had be-come harder to carry out, but by no meansimpossible.

“I smuggled antiques in my hand lug-gage while boarding a flight. But it has be-come much more difficult now. In the past,we sent a lot of huge items abroad, but noweverything is scanned.”

even so, he added, “If you want to buyanything, contact my son in Bangkok. Wealso have a person in London. He can serveyou there, but don’t try to make a deal overhere in Pakistan.”

Otherwise, he suggested Afghan smug-glers might be able to help.

“It has been four decades now,” he said.“I am a pioneer of this business, I am king.”

PAkiStAn’S million dollArArchAeologicAl SmugglerS

ISLAMABADaPP

THe Senate Standing Com-mittee on Water and Poweron Friday asked Water andPower Secretary ZafarMehmood to direct all power

distribution companies (DISCOs) to endunscheduled power load-shedding andtake action against the officials respon-sible for unscheduled load-shedding.

The committee, which met herewith Zahid Khan in the chair, wasbriefed about the pace of work on vari-ous ongoing projects, includingNeelum-Jhelum, Gomal Zam dam, Kur-ram Tangi dam and Dargai hydropowerproject.

General (r) Zubair, director of theNeelum-Jhelum hydroelectric project,told the committee that the 969 MWproject would complete by mid 2016with an estimated cost of Rs 275 billion,and would generate Rs 45 billion rev-enue annually to the national exchequer.

He said that the project was beingconstructed on run of river and no waterwould waste. He said the Water andPower Development Authority(WAPDA) had started initial feasibility

and design of the project in 1984. How-ever, the design was changed after themajor earthquake in 2005 and its re-shaping took about two years, he said.He told the committee that NeelumRiver had already been diverted on Oc-tober 15, 2011 for the project and damconstruction had started on November11, 2011. Zubair said a total of 59.6 kmlengthy tunnels would be constructedand about 23 km of tunnel have beenmined. Around 38.2 percent work ontunnels has already been completed. Hesaid that sophisticated Tunnel BoringMachines (TBMs) had been importedfor early completion of the project. Hesaid that the tunnels would be com-pleted in 30 months with the deploy-ment of TBMs as its excavation rateswere 12 to 16.5 meter per day.

WAPDA Chairman Shakeel Dur-rani apprised the committee that theproject would recover its cost in five tosix years and currently 1100 Chineseworkers were working on the project. Hesaid that the Norwegian company hadcarried out its basic feasibility study. Hesaid that an amount of Rs 57 billionwould be raised for the project throughsurcharge, and Rs 15 to Rs 16 billion hadbeen collected so far. Durrani said that

water reservoirs had lost 31 percent stor-age capacity due to silting and around0.5 million tons of daily silting was re-ported in Tarbela. He said Diamer-Bhasha dam was government’s toppriority as it would store 8.1 millionacres feet water besides generating4,500 MW cheap hydro electricity.

He said that Dasu dam was also lo-cated on the run of the river, andWAPDA had appointed a consultant forits detailed study which would be com-pleted by next year. Consultancy forMunda dam has also been awarded, hesaid. The committee was informed thatRs 500 million was allocated for KurramTangi dam in the current year PSDP andthe dam would also irrigate over 16,000acres barren land of North WaziristanAgency.

Durrani informed the committeethat Gomal Zam dam would be commis-sioned in January next year. However,it would start supply 17.4 MW electricityto national grid station in October.

The meeting was attended by Sena-tors Khalida Parveen, Abdul GhafoorHaideri, Hamayun Khan Mandokhel,Nisar Muhammad and Amer Jeet,Water and Power Secretary ZafarMehmood and other senior officials.

Senate body wantsunscheduledoutages ended


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The pace of increase in domestic debt isalso considerable and uncertain global eco-nomic conditions in the eurozone and theUS do not inspire much confidence either.According to the SBP governor, “The aver-age CPI inflation for fiscal year 12, at 11percent, was well within the target of 12percent for the year and on the lower sideof SBP’s earlier projections.”He stated that the main reason for thismoderation in inflation is a collapse in realprivate investment, indicating a struc-turally weak economy. However, it contin-ues to persist in double digits. Thispersistence is primarily due to entrenchedexpectations of inflation remaining high. Itseems that key drivers for this expectationare continued fiscal borrowings from theSBP despite legal restrictions and feareddepreciation of exchange rate even with amodest external current account deficit. “He asked that more recently, the year-on-year inflation has declined to 9.6 percent inJuly 2012 from 12.3 percent in May 2012.An unanticipated fall in international oilprices in May and June and a huge reduc-tion of 50 percent in the administeredprices of gas in early July 2012 are mainlyresponsible for this deceleration. The for-mer has already proved to be temporary as

the international oil prices have increasedsince then. The effects of the latter may alsoonly have transitory effects for a fewmonths. Nevertheless, the decline in infla-tion in July 2012 has created strong marketexpectations for a downward revision inSBP’s policy rate. There has been a notice-able reduction in yields on the governmentsecurities in the secondary market andKIBOR. In any case, it would be too early tocall it an emerging trend as there are stilldeep-rooted factors driving inflation. Stick-iness in both the core inflation measurespoints towards the persistence of inflationin low double digits. SBP projects averageCPI inflation for fiscal year 13 to remain inthe range of 10 to 11 percent, which ishigher than the announced target of 9.5percent for fiscal year 13. However, muchwould depend on fiscal restraint on bor-rowings from SBP, realization of estimatedforeign financial inflows, and improvementin energy shortages to increase the utiliza-tion of installed capacity.Anwar said the provisional National IncomeAccounts estimates show that real GDPgrowth of 3.7 percent in fiscal year 12 wasprimarily driven by consumption expendi-tures. Total investment and exports ofgoods and non-factor services show a sig-nificant contraction. The contraction in pri-vate investment, for the fourth consecutive

year, at 13 percent is particularly of concern.The total investment, as a percentage ofGDP, has fallen to 12.5 percent in fiscal year12, which does not bode well for the futureproductive capacity of the economy.For generating sustainable economicgrowth in the medium term, it is importantto stem further decline in investment.Similarly, given the fragile global economicconditions, an export-led growth also looksless likely to take place. Incorporating theseconsiderations, SBP projects growth in realGDP for fiscal year 13 to remain between 3and 4 percent; well below the target for theyear and the country’s economic potential.To revive economic growth, the focus mustbe on an endogenous reform process thatfocuses on improving infrastructure, pro-ductivity, and governance. The utilizationof credit by private businesses is one of theimportant ingredients of investment. How-ever, the net flow of credit to Private SectorBusinesses (PSB) was a meager Rs 18.3 bil-lion in fiscal year 12, which is a drastic de-cline compared to a net flow of Rs 173.2billion in fiscal year 11.Not only the amount disbursed to PSBswas small but the retirements from themwere also unusually high. Further, a dis-aggregated assessment shows that a largepart of total credit extended to the privatesector was in fact availed by the Non-bank

Finance Companies (NBFCs). The mainfactors that have significantly dampenedthe demand for credit by private sectorbusinesses are persistent electricity andgas shortages, security conditions, and achallenging political environment. Inthese circumstances, businesses areavoiding significant commitments interms of expansion and long term invest-ments. At the same time, scheduled bankscontinue to prefer government over theprivate sector. This is despite an improve-ment in the currency to deposit ratio anda considerable deceleration in growth ofNon Performing Loans (NPLs). Given thedesired expansion in the private sectorcredit and the growing need of the publicsector to borrow from the banking sys-tem, a consistent increase in deposits andimprovement in overall financial depth isimperative.The growth in both reserve money andbroad money (M2) in fiscal year 12 was pri-marily driven by fiscal borrowings forbudgetary support. Of the total expansionof Rs 223 billion in reserve money, Rs 505billion was due to direct fiscal borrowingsfrom the SBP. The difference is largely dueto a significant contraction of Rs 225 bil-lion in the Net Foreign Asset (NFA) of theSBP. Also, the pace of these borrowings in-creased significantly in the second half of

fiscal year 12, with Rs 306 billion borrowedin the fourth quarter alone. Not surpris-ingly, the provision of liquidity in the mar-ket by the SBP came down considerably inthe fourth quarter as well.The SBP governor said these borrowingsare despite commitments announced inthe fiscal year 12 budget, re-assurancesmade during the year, and more impor-tantly, requirements of the SBP Act.In particular, the act states that the fiscalauthority not only has to ensure no furtheraccumulation of their debt owed to the SBPbut also take steps to retire their borrow-ings from SBP over the course of nextseven years.The fiscal borrowings from the scheduledbanks grew by 50 percent in fiscal year 12and contributed 67 percent to the overallincrease of 14.1 percent in M2.Apart from crowding out the private sec-tor, these substantial and, at times, unpre-dictable fiscal borrowings createdsubstantial challenges for monetary man-agement. For instance, short term marketinterest rates remained volatile and on av-erage on the higher side, imparting inertiato other market interest rates. As a result,the decline in lending rates for the privatesector, after a 200 basis point reduction inthe policy rate in the first half of fiscal year12, has been less than desirable.

The then sports departmentsecretary Dr Allah BakshMalik proposed to the CMSecretariat that the S&GADshould issue ‘reprimand’, anda ‘special audit’ be initiated,expressing grave reservationsover the affairs of the SportsFestival.

The CM Secretariat didnot consent to the specialaudit, finding ‘reprimand’enough, to which Dr Malik re-marked: “either approve bothor leave it”, because one is notpossible without the other.

The entire communica-tion took place through theFD and the file was still therewhen an ‘unseen hand’ got DrMalik replaced with HaroonAhmad as new Sports Secre-tary, who is said to have pro-cured the file from the FD,sanitized it and closed theissue. Curiously the FD alsoallowed transferring Rs52million in addition to Rs75million to the commercial ac-count, probably at the behestof the same ‘unseen’ hand.Why? This is how a senior of-ficial explains: from the SDA,the DG is the drawing author-ity and thus directly responsi-ble, while the commercialaccount is operated by thedeputy director, who will copit if the scam is caught.

It hasn’t stopped here: al-legations galore over theSports Festival’s operations.Another document availablewith Pakistan Today revealsirregularities in the tenderingprocess, and how heftyamounts were spent on minorthings without any oversight.To cite a few cases: BlueMoon productions weredished out Rs8 million forlighting, and exorbitant sumsspent on purchase of caps anduniforms. These details wereamong others brought to theknowledge of chairman PSB,secretary sports, the auditorgeneral and the accountantgeneral but there was no re-sponse. Sources further allegethat out of around 15 sportsselected for the Festival in-cluding athletics, badminton,hockey, cycling, cricket, foot-ball, wrestling, kabbadi, tabletennis and the marathon onlya few were actually organizedat the union council andtehsil levels while charge was

footed for the entire list.And now billions of ru-

pees earmarked for it, thesame set of organizers is all setto reenact an even granderrip-off in the Punjab YouthFestival. A senior official seek-ing anonymity divulged thatthe DG Sports wanted 10 per-cent of the districts’ budget (awhopping Rs19 billion) to bededicated to the Festival, withthe FD again not willing togrant more than one percent.But since the DG PSB hasbackers in high places, theLocal Government Depart-ment has ordered the districtsto allocate four percent of thebudget – around Rs8 billion –to the Festival. This huge di-version from a cash-starveddepartment that spends froma total outlay of Rs186 billionaround Rs170billion onsalaries alone. Imagine he im-pact off the meager Rs16 bil-lion, half ripped off in thename of the youth to at thecost of public facilities!

As if that was not enough,the DG Sports is said to havemet with the IG Police, at oneof the many CM Houses, ask-ing with him to divert the Po-lice Sports’ funds to the YouthFestival. Finance SecretaryTariq Bajwa says: “The fi-nance rules cannot be com-promised. “If someone needsrelaxation in rules, it shouldbe sought before spending themoney, not after it. The FDhas made it clear to the SportsDepartment.” Sources how-ever reiterate that the fundsare in the commercial ac-count, though no fresh re-leases for the Youth Festivalhave been made so far.

DG Sports Usman Anwerwhen contacted threatenedthe scribe with “dire conse-quences”, adding, “I am notcommenting on this issue; wewill only do so if you publishthe story.” Sports SecretaryHaroon Ahmad first hung upwithout commenting, butlater conceded that the fi-nance secretary had “notedsome reservations on the fileand wanted the queries an-swered. It was a close officialmeeting; we will submit ourreplies soon,” he said, quicklyjumping to DG Sports’ de-fence, “If there was some-thing fishy in the conduct ofthe festival, he would nothave retained his post.”

SBP SlaSheS intereSt rate By 1.5 Percent

SPortS Board’S

Continued fRom page 01


Army vows to uphold

He said the ISI chief gave adetailed briefing to themilitary commanders on hisvisit to Washington and hismeetings there. “The armyleadership observed that tieswith the US in the futurewould be based on mutualrespect and equality,” theofficial said. He said the armyleadership vowed thatPakistan would continue withits counter-terrorism effortsand in this regard all possiblesupport would be extended tothe US, but Washington andits allied states must alsoacknowledge Islamabad’srole and the sacrifices that ithad made in the global waron terror. “The meeting alsoheld discussions on USdemand for a new militaryoperation in NorthWaziristan against theHaqqani network, which isallegedly based in that tribalregion. However, it wasdecided that any decision fora military offensive in NorthWaziristan would bePakistan’s own and it wouldnot be carried out under anyexternal pressure,” theofficial said. He said themilitary commanders haddetailed discussions on thesituation on country’sfrontier with India as well asthe Tribal Areas and took astock of army’s operationalpreparedness and otherprofessional matters.

ISLAMABADaPP

PAKISTAN and theUnited States are dis-cussing several propos-

als to bring their relationshipback on track, Foreign Officespokesman Moazzam AhmadKhan said in his weekly newsbriefing on Friday. Thespokesman, however, said nospecific details could be sharedat this stage. He said the recent

visit of the ISI chief to the USwas “very good and positive”.To a question, he dismissed theimpression that the US re-leased $280 million for powersector development in Pakistanin return for Islamabad’s com-mitment not to pursue Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project.

He said the US had re-leased the amount for ManglaDam and Kurram Tangi Damunder Kerry-Lugar Bill andthis had nothing to do with

Iran-Pakistan gas pipelineproject. To a question, thespokesman said Pakistan wasdeeply concerned about thedeteriorating situation inSyria and wanted a peacefulresolution to the issue basedon principles of non-inter-vention, non-interferenceand non-use of coercivemeasures or force. Thespokesman said Pakistan hadshown concerns over theplight of Muslims in Myan-

mar, adding that PresidentAsif Ali Zardari had written tohis Myanmar counterpart ex-pressing Pakistan’s concernover the issue and urging theMyanmar government to takeurgent corrective measures.

About the visit of theAfghan High Peace CouncilChairman Salahuddin Rab-bani to Pakistan, thespokesman said Pakistanand Afghan governmentswere finalizing the dates

that were mutually conven-ient for the visit.

He dispelled the impres-sion that the visit had beenrescheduled due to tensionbetween the two govern-ments. The spokesman saidPakistan attached impor-tance to the visit and thatwas why Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf had ex-tended an invitation for thepurpose during his recentvisit to Kabul.

Pakistan objects to indian

power project on river chenabISLAMABAD: Pakistan has raised objections against India’splans of building a power plant on the River Chenab. Accord-ing to a private television channel, India had presented blue-prints of the project to Pakistani authorities in June this year,which Pakistan returned to India after raising certain objec-tions. Pakistan has returned the file to the Indian Commis-sioner Sindh Taas Oranga Nath. In a letter addressed toOranga Nath, Pakistan has requested India not to start workon the ‘Meyar Project’ without addressing Pakistan’s reserva-tions against it. Pakistani authorities raised objections toplans of diverting a Chenab River tributary, constructing a 25feet high wall around the lake and raising its bed to 770 feetheight. The project aims to produce 120MW electricity. Ac-cording to the plan construction work on this project was tobe started in October this year. AgenCieS

Afghan policeman kills three

uS troops at mealKANDAHAR: Three American special forces soldiers werekilled Friday by an Afghan police officer who had invitedthem for a meal, Afghan officials said. The US military inAfghanistan confirmed that three US soldiers had been killedby “an individual in an Afghan uniform” in Sangin district ofsouthern Helmand province, but gave no further details. TwoAfghan officials told AFP the soldiers were shot dead by anAfghan police officer who had invited them for a meal at hischeckpost in the restive southern province. “Asadullah, thepolice checkpost commander, invited four foreign specialforces soldiers to a (Ramadan) breakfast at 2:30 am in Sangindistrict,” a senior security officer in the province said,requesting anonymity. “He later opened fire on the specialforces soldiers, killing three and wounding another, and hemanaged to run away.” AFP


Pakistan, US discussing several proposals to improve relations: FO

laHore: Drycleaners press clothes with a gas-heated iron on friday as there is no let up from excessive power load shedding. onLine


05


NEWS DESK

Bajaur, one of the seven administrative unitsin the Federally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA), has experienced a marked rise inschool enrolment since the beginning of theyear.

“enrolment has increased and this yearwe enrolled 39,000 new students,” Muham-mad Gul, an education officer in Bajaur, toldThe Guardian. “Yet 80,000 remain out ofschool.”

Gul believes poverty and illiteracy can bea potent combination in fuelling extremism.“If these kids don’t have a pen in their hands,they will grow up and take up the Kalash-nikov,” he says.

Part of the reason for the increased levelof enrolment in the area is the return of fam-ilies displaced by conflict in 2008-09.Around 250,000 people were still displacedfrom Bajaur at the end of 2009, according tothe UN Office for the Co-ordination of Hu-manitarian Affairs. But for many the incen-tive is the ration of four litres of cooking oil(worth around £3, or just under $5) distrib-uted every second month by the World FoodProgramme’s (WFP) Back to School, Stay inSchool programme. To obtain the oil ration,students – who also receive locally manufac-tured high-energy biscuits daily from theWFP – must attend school 22 days eachmonth.

The scheme was launched in January2011 in Fata and all four provinces of Pak-istan, but funding problems mean it is nowlimited to government-run schools in Fata(excluding North Waziristan, where the WFPis not working due to conflict).

WFP spokesman Amjad Jamal says theprogramme has a two-pronged strategy: toaddress short-term hunger and nutritional

deficiencies, and increase enrolment and re-tain those already in school. The WFP hasbeen engaged in school feeding in Pakistansince 1968. Gul says that, of Bajaur’s 616schools, 435 (of which 135 are girls’ schools)receive WFP help, benefiting 60,000 chil-dren. “Some areas are difficult to reach stilland thus left out from the loop,” he admits.

“We are seeking to make life easier forreturnees by helping to ensure the provisionof health and education,” says Jamal. TheNGO is supporting more than 990 schools,and 130,000 children take home the ration.The current programme ends in December,but will be renewed until 2015.

According to the International CrisisGroup (pdf), there were around 4,660 pri-mary schools, including 2,000 girls’ schools,in Fata at the end of 2008. However, literacyremains low, and more than half of childrenwho enrol in primary schools drop out beforecompleting class five due to “poor quality ofinstruction, corporal punishment, teacherabsenteeism, inaccessible locations andpoorly maintained facilities, including short-ages of furniture, clean drinking water andlavatories”. According to last year’s nationalnutrition survey (pdf), 43.6% of Pakistanichildren under the age of five are stunted,15.1% wasted, and 31.5% underweight. Ap-proximately 32% are suffering from severemalnutrition, and 62.5% are anaemic.

Data collected by the directorate of edu-cation in Fata shows that, as of the end ofMarch, 417 schools – including 133 for girls– had been blown up. Militants are still tar-geting educational institutions in the region,which is why parents are fearful of sendingtheir children to school. However, Gul insists“poverty is a much bigger issue”.

Irfanullah, 26, a taxi driver who has sixyounger siblings, has tried to break that tra-

dition by enrolling his two sisters into theschool along with his three brothers, but todo so he has had to give up his own studies.He is among the few young men in his villagein Bajaur who studied until grade 12. He saysthe rations his sisters get from school cuthousehold costs. “every little amount helps,”he says.

“If our women get educated, chances arethey will, in turn, ensure their children do notbecome militants,” Irfanullah says. His sis-ters started studying before the WFP pro-gramme began. “Their studies got disruptedfor almost a year when we had to flee the

fighting,” he says.Food-price inflation in Pakistan has av-

eraged 18% for the past four years, while thepurchasing power of the poor has declinedsignificantly. According to last year’s nationalnutrition survey, 57% of the country’s popu-lation of 184 million people face food insecu-rity.

Kausar Khan, a health practitionerworking with the Aga Khan University(AKU) in Karachi, is sceptical about the abil-ity of the WFP programme to improve thenutritional status of those involved. She feelsthe community’s involvement in the pro-

gramme “appears to be that of a passive re-cipient” rather than an active one.

Khan points to the 2005 government-funded Tawana Pakistan Project (TPP) – aschool feeding programme for girls, of whichAKU was the technical adviser and major im-plementer, where women were the centralactors. “They were introduced to the basicconcept of a balanced diet, to take stock ofthe food available to them, and prepare onebalanced meal in a day,” she says. The TPPprogramme ran in 29 high-poverty districtsof Pakistan, including Fata, and in nearly4,000 schools.

Significant increase in fAtA school enrolmentg Bajaur Agency has experienced a major rise in new students – but with another 80,000 still out of education, much remains to be done

SOUTH WAZIRISTAN aGenCieS

THe spokesman forbanned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP), ehsanullahehsan on Friday said

the Awami National Party (ANP)was deceiving itself by offeringto hold talks with Taliban andcriticized the current rulers asliberals and seculars with whomtalks seemed impossible.

Vowing to continue attackson NATO supplies, ehsan de-nied TTP’s connection withbombings in bazaars andmosques, adding that it werePakistan’s intelligence agenciesthat were involved in suchbombings “in order to defamethe Taliban”.

“There are no differences be-tween TTP chief HamkimullahMehsud and TTP’s SWA chaptercommander Waliur RehmanMehsud,” he said, adding thatthe Pakistani government waspropagating against the TTPcommanders, “but the fact isthat both commanders are inunity”. He said the TTP consid-ered the current leadership ofPakistan secular and non-Mus-lim, adding that all the parties inpower in Pakistan including theANP were considered by Talibanas slave to the US. He said theANP was deceiving itself by of-fering peace talks with the Tal-iban, adding that Taliban werevery strong in SWA and still atwar with the security forces of

Pakistan. He said the TTP fight-ers were attacking various citiesof the country the proof of whichwas clear to the entire world.

He said Taliban respected allIslamic festivals including Ra-madan and eidul Fitr, addingthat the TTP was not launchingattacks in Ramadan and instead

only involved in a defensive warwith the government of Pak-istan. He said toppling of theTaliban government inAfghanistan and usurping of thecountry by use of brutalities wasthe clear message of war againstIslam and Muslims from theNATO forces.

file PHoto

TTP considers current

Pakistani rulers

liberals, non-Muslim

PESHAWAR: Al Qaeda has urged its fighters to launch freshattacks on NATO supply convoys, traveling from Pakistan toAfghanistan, in order to secure the back of their ally, the AfghanTaliban. In a video posted on jihadi websites on Thursday, alQaeda’s spokesman for Pakistan, Ustad Ahmad Farooq, said, “Onthis occasion I urge our mujahid brothers from Karachi andMakran to Khyber that they must pay special attention to targetingAmerican and NATO supply lines.” Farooq said fighters shouldtarget not only the convoys, but also the owners of the truckingcompanies that are contracted to ship supplies to NATO forces inAfghanistan. “Wipe out these convoys with guerrilla operations.Target the owners of companies that have contracts for supply… inshort secures the back of the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan byany means necessary!” Farooq berated the Pakistani military andgovernment for their ties to the US, and for accepting thereopening of the supply lines and for allowing the continuation ofdrone strikes. He described Pakistan’s leadership as “slaves” whohave sold out Muslims, and who “safeguards its own seat of powerand protects its vested interests”. Farooq also urged “the scholarsof this nation, callers to the religion and all people of virtue andhonor in Pakistan to express their disavowal with this act oftreachery with the Jihad in Afghanistan”. He said Pakistan’sreligious political parties “still have enough power left that if theyseek Allah’s help, earnestly resolve to stop this series of treacherywith the Jihad in Afghanistan using all permissible means andstart a mass movement against drone attacks and NATO supplies,the government and army will be forced to submit to theirdemands in a matter of days”. aGenCieS

al Qaeda calls for fresh

attacks on nato suppliesQUetta: a tailor enjoys a nap at his roadside setup during load shedding on friday. inP

MUMBAIaGenCieS

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab wasbrought face-to-face with Abu Jundal,the Indian Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT)handler of the attacks, at the ArthurRoad jail on Thursday.

The two were questioned aboutthe attacks, the plot and the trainingimparted to the attackers. Accordingto sources, Kasab and Jundal identi-fied each other. Kasab admitted thatJundal had taught him Hindi and thathe (Jundal), along with top LeT com-mander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, waspresent at Muridke in 2008. The ques-tioning began at 6pm and ended at7.30pm. The crime branch had, lastweek, asked the state government forpermission to question Kasab on therevelations made by Jundal. The per-mission was granted on Thursday.

According to sources, the crimebranch wanted to verify the claimsmade by Jundal. The crime branchhad also prepared a detailed question-

naire for Kasab, they said. They plan tostudy the differences and discrepan-cies in the accounts of the two menabout the planning and execution ofthe 26/11 attacks. During his question-ing, Jundal had allegedly told the po-lice how the 26/11 terror attacks wereplanned. He had allegedly revealed

that he got involved in the planning inAugust 2008 and also named Kasaband the other operatives. The centralagencies had intercepted Jundal’svoice when he was giving instructionsto two terrorists at the ChhabadHouse. They will compare it with hisrecent voice sample.

Kasab identifies Jundal as

Mumbai attack handler


SeHer

IfTAr 06:52

fIqAH-e-HANfI fIqAH-e-JAfrIA

03:55 SeHer

IfTAr 07:02

03:45


LAHOREaGenCieS

PUNJAB Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif said on Fri-day that i t was inevitable torid the people from Zardariand his team to save the

country from further demise.While addressing a delegation of

parliamentarians, he said that thecorrupt rulers had aggravated the

problems of the masses by increas-ing load shedding, unemploy-ment, inflation and poverty inthe country.

He further said that the cor-rupt and incompetent group of

Zardari had exposed the na-tion to all sorts of trouble

and added that they would

be made accountable by the public in the next gen-eral elections.

Shahbaz said that the failure of the present gov-ernment could not be taken as a failure of the demo-cratic system of Pakistan.

He added that the people had been deprivedof their fundamental r ights by the presentregime which had badly affected the progress ofthe country. He added that the goals set for theprosperity of the country could only beachieved by the provision of basic educationaland healthcare faci l i t ies to the masses.

The CM vowed to put Punjab on the road toprosperity before the next general elections. He saidthat mega development projects had been completedin the province during the last four years to the ben-efit of the common man.

Shahbaz urged the elected representatives to su-pervise the development work in their constituen-cies and ensure timely completion of ongoingprojects.

independence

day preparations

begin with

enthusiasm LAHORE

aPP

Preparations for IndependenceDay have gained momentum inthe provincial capital.Stalls of buntings, flags, ban-ners, stickers and badges haveappeared in different parts ofthe city.A small flag is available on sale

at Rs 200-250, a medium sizedone can be bought for Rs 350-400 and a large one for Rs 600-650. even bigger, moredecorated flags are also availablefor Rs1000-1500. Other items, including picturesof national heroes, placards,stickers and buntings are beingsold at higher prices.Children were seen carryingflags to decorate their houses.Cars bearing small flags can beseen on the roads in anticipationof Independence Day. Public and private organizations,schools and departments areplanning to arrange seminars,conferences, exhibitions, tableaus,rallies, shows, walks and pro-grammes to celebrate the day.

robbers on

the rollMONITORING DESK

Robbers robbed MPA ChaudaryJavid of cash and mobile phone nearChief Minister’s House in ModelTown on Friday, City 42 reported.According to the report, Javid wasgoing to attend a meeting at the CMHouse at Model Town and stoppedhis car near the CM House to an-swer a call on his mobile phone.While he was talking, four robberswho were riding two motorbikesrobbed him off thousands of rupeesin cash and his mobile phone ongunpoint, and managed to flee.Javid refused to file a FIR againstthe culprits. In another incident,Shaukat, a resident of Amir TownRoad Harbanspura was deprived ofRs 200,000 on gunpoint by tworobbers outside his house. Policealso arrested the ring leader of arobber’s gang, Gaffar Mana from Al-lama Iqbal Town on Friday. Thegang was involved in many rob-beries in the metropolis. Police re-covered seven motorbikes, arickshaw and weapons from theirpossession.

LAHOREaPP

Ignoring the instructions of PunjabChief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, beg-gars continue to hound citizens andhave nearly invaded the city in an-ticipation of eid.

These beggars can be seen attraffic signals and crossroads and

sometimes even small streets. Peo-ple often encounter these beggars onshopping expeditions out side ofmalls and in bazaars and have com-plained about this botheration.

MAO College, Regal Chowk,Shadman, Muslim Town Morr,Garhi Shahu, Ichhra, Anarkali,Moon Market, Chowk Data Darbar,Chauburji, Baghbanpura, Railway

Station, Niazi Chowk, Lorry Addaand Badami Bagh are all flocked bybeggars.

When contacted, the CCPO La-hore said that he had strictly or-dered immediate removal ofbeggars.

“I have also directed the chieftraffic officer to ensure early re-moval of beggars”, he added.

LAHOREStaff rePort

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed MunawarHasan on Friday said that change could notcome in Pakistan without enforcing the in-junctions of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah.

Addressing a Friday congregation atMansoora, he referred to the Conquest ofMakkah as a historic milestone of Islamicchange in a society. He appealed to the peo-ple to pray for the Muslims of Kashmir,Afghanistan, Burma and Palestine.

He said that wars could not be won

solely with weapons, and strong faith wasalso required. He used the examples of thebattle of Badar and the Afghan jihad tostress his point. He also spoke at lengthabout Islam being the religion of peace,which preaches tolerance for the followersof other faiths.

The JI chief also talked about the up-coming elections in the country. He men-tioned the electricity crisis, the corruptionand poverty in the country, and said that de-spite all these problems, the leaders werestill expecting to get re-elected in the nextelections.

Zardari’s ouster essential tosave Pakistan: Shahbaz

Beggars invade city ahead of eid

Nothing will change without enforcing Sharia: JI chief

laHore: the Shias mourn during a procession marking Youm-e-ali in lahore. onLine


07Lahore

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LAHOREonline

THe Human Rights Commission ofPakistan (HRCP) has expressedconcerns on the forced migrationof religious minorities from Sindhand Balochistan. In a statement

issued on Friday, the commission said someminorities in Sindh and Balochistan arguedthat vested interest groups were threateningthem to leave Pakistan. “Religious minorities’continued migration from Sindh and Balochis-tan is a reflection of the state’s failure to save

these citizens from violence, discriminationand disgusting excesses such as forced conver-sion of young women,” the report noted.

In addition, the live telecast of a recentconversion of a young Hindu man on televisionis a particularly reprehensible and indefensiblemanifestation of the attitude towards non-Muslims, HRCP’s report argued. HRCP hopedthat the government addressed, in consultationwith the communities in question, the reasonsforcing religious minorities to flee the country.

It also urged civil society organizations andthe media to keep the spotlight firm on the is-sues related to minority groups.

LAHORE aGenCieS

early morning downpourlashed the city and its sub-urbs, inundating the lowlying areas and roadsaround the metropolis,media reports said on Fri-day. According to statistics re-leased by the Meteorologi-cal Department, the cityhas received 42 millime-ters of rains with 10 mmrecorded in the Airportarea. The morning showersbrought a pleasant changein the weather and pro-vided respite from ex-treme humidity to thecitizens. Many roads were sub-merged after the new waveof monsoon rains. Theworst deadlocks were wit-nessed on Ferozpur Road,Jail Road and Canal Road. Meanwhile the Met officehas forecast more showersin northern and centralPunjab, including Lahore,during the next 12 hour.

Morning downpourfloods city streets

Minorities’ forced migration from Pakistan must be checked: HRCP

laHore: a young girl runs for shelter during heavy rain in the city. onLine

MONITORING DESK

A 28 year old man was injured when the sharp thread of astray kite cut his neck. According to the report, Muham-mad Umer a resident of Krishan Nagar Islampura was re-turning home on his bike when the incident occurred.

StrAy kite injureS mAn


low

high

280cSundAy mondAy tueSdAy35°c i 28°c 34°c i 28°c 33°c i 27°c

PrAyer timingSfajr Sunrise zuhr Asr maghrib isha

03:56 05:23 12:09 16:48 18:52 20:22

city directory

reScue 1122

edhi control 115

motorwAy Police 130

Police 15

goVernor’S houSe 99200081-7

chief miniSter’S houSe 99203226

fire BrigAde 16

BomB diSPoSAl 99212111

mcl comPlAintS 99211022-29

lAhore wASte diSPoSAl 1139

emergency helP

hoSPitAlS

Blood BAnk

fAtmid 35210834-8

iSlAmic AlliAnce 37588649/37535435

comPlAint

wAPdA 111-000-118

Sui gAS 1199

rAilwAyS

city StAtion (enquiry) 117

reSerVAtion 99201772

rAilwAy Police 1333

AirPort

flight enquiry 114

PiA reSerVAtion 111-786-786

collegeS / uniVerSitieS

PunjAB uniVerSity 99231257kinnAird college 99203781-4queen mAry college 36362942goVt. college uniVerSity 111-000-010umt 35212801-10lumS 35608000uet 36288666lcwu 99203072SuPerior college 111-000-078

mid city 37573382-3

SerViceS 99203402-11

mAyo 99211100-9

generAl 35810892-8

Sheikh zAid 35865731

Sir gAngA rAm 99200572

uch 35763573-5

ittefAq 35881981-85

cmh 366996168-72

ShoukAt khAnum 35945100

jinnAh 111-809-809

Adil (defence) 36667275

children’S 99230901-3

defence nAtionAl hoSPitAl 111-17-18-19

PArtly cloudy

weAther uPdAteS

35°c

08Lahore

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dAte: july 20 to AuguSt 18

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LAHORE aPP

TH e L a h o r e H i g h C o u r t( L H C ) o n F r i d a y g r a n t e dp r o t e c t i v e b a i l t o T a u q e e rS h a h f o r m e r p r i n c i p a l s e c -r e t a r y t o c h i e f m i n i s t e r

P u n j a b , a n d s t a f f o f f i c e r T a l h a B u r k iu n t i l A u g u s t 3 0 . B o t h w e r e a c c u s e do f i n v o l v e m e n t i n t h e f o r m e r L H Cc h i e f j u s t i c e K h a w a j a S h a r i f ’ s a l -l e g e d m u r d e r c o n s p i r a c y .

Justice Ali Baqar Najf i passed theorders on a bail application f i led by theaccused.

The court directed the accused topay Rs 50,000 surety bonds to avail thebail and ordered them to appear beforethe respective court.

earl ier, the petit ioner’s counselKhawaja Harris submitted before thecourt that the accused had no connec-tion with the conspiracy but the FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA) had regis-tered a bogus case against them. Thecounsel pleaded to the court to grantprotective bail to the accused.

The accused were al leged to haveproduced a fabricated intel l igence re-port in an attempt to create differencesbetween the federal government,provincial government and the judici-ary.

The court directed to place on recordthe report of the judicial commissionconstituted to probe the matter alongwith the FIR.

PHySIcAL REMAND oF AccUSEDBLIND cANcELLED

The Lahore High Court on Friday can-celled the physical remand of a blind accusedfor involvement in a robbery case, declaringit illegal. The court also confirmed ad-in-terim bail earlier granted to the accused, sub-ject to furnishing of surety bond of Rs20,000.

Justice Ali Baqar Najfi passed the orderson a habeas corpus petition filed by NazirAhmad for the recovery of his relative HafizMuhammad Naeem.

Judicial Magistrate Mehr MuhammadZafar Iqbal Sial appeared before the court onbeing summoned and said that before grant-ing remand, he had a fair look of the accused.

Since the accused could see the remand wasgranted, he added.

However, the court observed that remandorders were illegal as the accused was blindsince birth.

The court cancelled the remand ordersand confirmed ad-interim bail earliergranted to the accused Hafiz MuhammadNaeem. The court criticized police perform-ance and observed that the case exposed theflaws in the system which ought to be duly in-vestigated.

The court also ordered to forward of thecopy of the order to DIG Investigation for in-formation.

earlier, the court had summoned the ju-dicial magistrate after it discovered that theaccused was blind but remanded in a robberycase. The Liaqatabad police produced the ac-cused on the court’s directions in a habeascorpus case.

The petitioner, in his petition, submittedthat Liaqatabad police took his relative HafizMuhammad Naeem from his house besidessnatching valuables.

He pleaded the court to recover the de-tention of his relative from illegal custody ofthe police.

Protective bail granted toaccused in Kh Sharif case

laHore: the residence of Chung protest against Cia model town in front of the DiG’s office. STAFF PhoTo


09


Foreign News

EL-ARISHafP

GUNMeN attacked a checkpoint inegypt’s Sinai Peninsulaovernight, causing no casualties,as the army massed troops toquell increasingly deadly Islamist

militants, a security source said Friday.At the same time, security sources said six

“terrorists” had been arrested in the Sinai.And egypt temporarily reopened the

Rafah border crossing into the Gaza Strip,which was closed after militants attackedtroops on Sunday and killed 16 soldiers.There were no further details on theovernight attack outside the town of el-Arishin a region that has been increasingly on edgesince Sunday’s raid. State news agencyMeNA said six “terrorist elements,” who asecurity source told AFP were known Is-lamist hardliners suspected of belonging to ajihadist group, had been arrested during pa-trols in North Sinai province.

On Thursday, trucks carrying dozens ofarmoured personnel carriers mounted withmachineguns rolled through el-Arish headingto the east, where Bedouin Islamist militantshave established a presence in villages nearthe borders with Gaza and with Israel. el-Arish and its environs were calm on Friday, anAFP journalist said. A number of armoured

vehicles had taken up positions in the town,and a tank sat behind a barrier of sandbagspainted with egypt’s black, white and red na-tional colours on which was written the slogan“victory or death.” The build-up comes afterstate television reported that military helicop-ters and soldiers killed 20 militants onWednesday in the first such operation in theSinai in decades, in retaliation for the raid.

Israel said on Thursday it gave egypt thego-ahead to deploy helicopters in Sinai, easingthe restrictions on military presence in thepeninsula set by a 1979 peace treaty betweenthe neighbouring countries. At a late-nightmeeting with Interior Minister Ahmed Gamalal-Din in el-Arish, roughly 50 kilometres (30miles) west of the Gaza border, Bedouin triballeaders demanded to see the bodies of the mil-itants reportedly killed on Wednesday.

“We demanded that they present us thebodies, just one or two bodies, so we can beconvinced,” said eid Abu Marzuka, one of theBedouin who took part in the meeting. Otherssaid they doubted the report, which a militarycommander in Sinai had confirmed.

On Friday, egyptian state television saidit had been decided to reopen the Rafah cross-ing in the Gaza direction only, to allow peoplein egypt to return home. Among them werePalestinian Muslims who were returning frompilgrimage to Saudi Arabia. It did not say howlong the “exceptional” opening would last.

Sinai checkpointattacked as Egyptarmy masses troops

KHARTOUMafP

The United Nations said Friday that25,000 people have been displacedin Sudan’s Darfur region after un-rest that began 10 days ago with thekilling of a government official.

“Reports received by the UN in-dicate that the entire population ofthe Kassab IDP camp — 25,000people — fled because of the fight-

ing,” the UN humanitarian agencyOCHA said in its latest weekly bul-letin.

The Kassab camp — home topeople who had already been dis-placed by Darfur’s nine-year-longconflict — is on the edge of Kutumtown, northwest of the North Darfurstate capital el Fasher.

The unrest, part of a surge in vi-olence in Sudan’s vast western re-gion, began on August 1 when a

district chief, Abdelrahman Mo-hammed eissa, was shot dead inKutum during a carjacking attempt.

Reports received by the UN saidmembers of eissa’s Jalul tribe thenkilled two displaced people and apolice officer, and destroyed a localmarket.

On August 3, “two members ofthe government delegation that ar-rived in Kutum for a meeting withthe governor were shot at and in-

jured,” OCHA said.“The UN also received reports of

looting of houses of displaced peo-ple, markets and businesses in theKassab IDP camp and Kutum town.”

State-linked media reported onSunday that two soldiers were killedwhen the army moved in to stop thelooting by “outlaws”.

The deployment was unusual ascivic law enforcement is normally apolice responsibility.

25,000 displaced by latest unrest in Sudan’s darfur: un

mUmBai: indian Hindu devotees pray before forming a human pyramid to break a dahi-handi, curd-pot, suspended in the air

during celebrations of Janmashtami, which marks the birth of Hindu God lord Krishna, on friday. Hindu men and boys receive

prize money by constructing a human pyramid till it is tall enough to enable the topmost person to reach the pot and claim the

contents after breaking it. AFP

TRIPOLIafP

Libya’s newly empowered top legisla-tive body elected as its president late onThursday a veteran opponent ofMoamer Kadhafi’s ousted regime whois seen as pro-Islamist.

Mohamed al-Megaryef, a foundingmember of the Libyan National Salva-tion Front, which grouped exiled oppo-nents of the now slain dictator, defeatedliberal independent Ali Zidane in a run-off by 113 votes to 85 in the 200-mem-ber General National Congress. Thevote in the assembly, elected in land-mark polls on July 7, came after the Na-tional Transitional Council handed over

power on Wednesday, in a symbolicmove marking the first peaceful transi-tion in Libya’s modern history afterfour decades of Kadhafi’s iron-fistedrule. The assembly is tasked withchoosing an interim government thatwill steer the country until fresh elec-tions can be held under a new constitu-tion to be drafted by a panel of 60members. Its new president is an econ-omist with a doctorate from Britain,who held leading posts in the Kadhafiregime in the 1970s before defecting in1980 to join the opposition in exile.

Hounded by Kadhafi’s intelligenceservice, Megaryef survived assassina-tion attempts in Rome in 1981, inCasablanca in 1984 and in Madrid in

1985, his daughter Asma said. TheKadhafi regime also took reprisalsagainst family members who stayed inLibya, jailing several of his brothers.Regarded as a moderate Islamist closeto the Muslim Brotherhood, Megaryefwas elected to the assembly on theticket of his former exiled grouping,now renamed the National FrontParty.

A member of the Brotherhood’sJustice and Construction Party (JCP),who asked not to be identifed, saidMegaryef’s election was “a victory forthe Islamists.” But an independent as-sembly member said several membersvoted for him on geographical and notreligious or political grounds.

Pro-islamist elected tohead Libya assembly

JERUSALEMafP

Talk of a possible military strike on Iran’snuclear facilities dominated the Israeli presson Friday, a day after Defence Minister ehudBarak said the issue had become more “ur-gent.”

“(Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahuand Barak are determined to attack in Iranin the autumn,” trumpeted a front-pageheadline in top-selling daily YediotAharonot. According to Nahum Barnea andShimon Shiffer, two of the paper’s most sen-ior writers, if Netanyahu and Barak were todecide on their own, they would likely orderan attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities “in thecoming months of autumn, before the USelections.”

“There is immense significance to thefact that these two senior figures, the primeminister and defence minister, are deter-mined to take the decision,” they wrote.

“It is no less significant that not one sen-ior official in the establishment — not in the

military, nor in defence establishment, noreven the president (Shimon Peres) — cur-rently supports an Israeli attack.”

The Haaretz newspaper led its weekendedition with an unnamed Israeli officialwarning that Israel was currently in greaterdanger than before the 1967 Middle eastwar.

“The sword at our throat now is sharperthan the sword at our throat before the SixDay War,” the official told Haaretz, stressingthat despite US commitments to prevent anuclear Iran, “Israel must responsibly ask it-self what a lack of action now would mean.”

And the Maariv newspaper’s front pagehighlighted an opinion poll which found that37 percent of Israelis believe a nuclear Irancould lead to “a second Holocaust.”

Netanyahu has warned that weapons ofmass destruction in the hands of “Iran’s ay-atollah’s” could lead to “another genocide,”and President Shimon Peres said that Iran’sPresident Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was“threatening a new Shoah,” the Hebrewword for Holocaust.

Talk of iran strikedominates israel press

Four killed iniraq attacks

BAQUBAafP

A bombing and a shooting against a police patrol and a city councilmember in Iraq killed four people and wounded four others on Fri-day, security and medical officials said. “Three policemen were killedand two others wounded by a bomb targeting their patrol in Al-Muqdadiyah this morning,” said a police lieutenant colonel in thetown, which lies in restive Diyala province. Dr Ahmed Ibrahim, fromthe main hospital in the nearby provincial capital Baquba, 60 kilo-metres (35 miles) north of Baghdad, confirmed the toll. And justoutside the city of Haditha, in Anbar province northwest of the cap-ital, city councilman Nabil Shaaker was killed and two of his broth-ers wounded when gunmen fired on their car, according to a policelieutenant colonel and doctor Dr Omar Adil at the city’s hospital.

Indian escapes from sleepingPhilippine captorsMANILA: An Indian man kidnapped more than a yearago on a troubled southern Philippine island escapedFriday when his Muslim captors fell asleep after fastingfor Ramadan, police said. Biju Kolara Veetil, 37, wasabducted by suspected Muslim extremists in June lastyear in Jolo while visiting his Filipina wife’s family onthe strife-torn island. But he snuck away from hissleeping captors before dawn Friday, hitching a ride thentaking refuge with a local official before contacting police,said local police chief Senior Superintendent AntonioFreyra. “The kidnappers were resting. They had beenfasting (for Ramadan) and they got tired and fell asleep,so he slipped away,” Freyra said. The Indian, who said helost 20 kilogrammes (44 pounds) in captivity, appeared tobe in good health, the police chief said. afP

N. Korea rejects South’s callfor talks on reunionsSEoUL: North Korea’s Red Cross on Friday rejected aproposal by its South Korean counterpart for talksaimed at restarting reunions for families separatedsince the Korean War, according to the North’s statemedia. South Korea’s Red Cross had proposed the talkson Wednesday to discuss a resumption of temporaryreunions for family members separated since the 1950-1953 war. But the North rejected the offer, accusing itsneighbour of blocking cross-border exchanges, andinsisting the South should first reopen suspended toursto its Mount Kumgang resort on the border. Familyreunions have been held at the resort since it wasopened in 1998 as a symbol of reconciliation betweenthe two Koreas. afP

2 Australians plucked from ocean as sharks circleSyDNEy: Two men were plucked from the ocean Friday as sharks circled after beingspotted by a television helicopter in a dramatic rescue involving five aircraft and five boats.It came after three men failed to return Thursday after setting out in a fishing boat fromLeeman, 270 kilometres (170 miles) north of Perth, sparking a search that covered 320square kilometres (125 square miles) of ocean. One of the men later died after being takenashore, while the other man was being treated for unspecified injuries, West Australianpolice said. The third man remains missing. “We haven’t spoken to the survivor yet anduntil then we don’t know what happened,” a police spokesman said. A helicopter forChannel Seven television spotted one of the men first, with the reporter on board, GrantTaylor, dramatically relaying the action as it happened. “When we first spotted him, one ofthe scariest things was there was a massive hammerhead shark not 20 metres (yards) awayfrom him, just slowly circling around him,” he told ABC radio. afP


“Ablack day – beginning ofthe end of democracy!”This is how AsmaJahangir, human rightsactivist and former

president of the Supreme Court BarAssociation, has reacted to the SupremeCourt’s show cause notice to Prime MinisterRaja Pervaiz Ashraf for not writing a letterto the Swiss authorities to prosecute thepresident on charges of graft.

The ball has been set rolling to disqualifythe prime minister – second within a span offew months – for not complying with theapex court’s orders.

One can take issue with Asma Jahangir’sdire prediction that democratic system isnow unraveling. Nonetheless those who hadthought that better sense would prevailwithin the government as well as the judici-ary have been sorely disappointed.

While the attorney general was seekingmore time to “find a way out” of the impasse,the apex court seeing it merely as delayingtactics ominously observed that it would notbudge an inch from its judgment on the de-funct National Reconciliation Ordinance.

What had probably miffed the honor-able judges was the government’s defiantnote a day earlier that while remainingwithin the confines of the constitution itwould resist new centers of powers con-fronting the parliament.

It is obvious that come what may, theprime minister is not going to write to theSwiss authorities on the oft-repeated pre-text that the president enjoys immunityunder the constitution.

Senator Aitzaz Ahsan thinks that theSupreme Court at times has overstepped itslimits beyond the ambit of the constitution.Aitzaz, who defended former Prime Minister

Yousaf Raza Gilani against his dismissal by theSupreme Court, has claimed in an interviewwith the BBC that in the last 500 years, sincethe emergence of the nation state, not once hasa government handed over its head of state tobe prosecuted by another government.

The senator is one of those jurists whowere perhaps the closest to Chief JusticeIfthikhar Chaudhry during the days of thestruggle for his restoration. He played a piv-otal role in the restoration of a free and in-dependent judiciary and was incarcerated byMusharraf for defying him. Hence his com-ments cannot be dismissed merely as fulmi-nations of a lawyer who just lost his case.

The question that begs an answer iswhat is ailing the system? Is it a clash of in-stitutions or of inflated egos? Whatever wayone looks at it, the standoff has dire conse-quences for the system.

The apex court thinks that there is nodanger to the system even if prime ministerscome and go in quick succession. After all,heavens did not fall when Gilani had to quitin the light of the Supreme Court’s verdict.

Nonetheless it is not a joke to givemarching orders to prime ministers at thedrop of a hat. The courts cannot make ‘myway or the highway’ as the bedrock of theirdecisions and observations.

They have to adopt ways to strengthenthe system, not weaken it. After all, at theend of the day an independent judiciary isa function of a flourishing democracy.

Judicial activism is not a phenomenongermane to Pakistan. In other democracies,including that of India, proactive courts canbe problematic for the executive. But, not tothe extent of packing off governments.Since judges are not elected officials an-swerable to the electorate, judicial restraintis as much a cardinal principal of democ-racy as judicial activism.

Recently, the US Supreme Court’s ver-dict on the Health Care Law is an epitomein judicial restraint. The court, contrary toexpectations, upheld the law in three opin-ions – one by Chief Justice John G Robertswho is a conservative nominated by the for-mer Bush administration, one representingthe court’s conservative members and oneby courts liberal members. They upheld thelaw but set boundaries on the powers of theCongress to impose taxes.

Justice Robert’s judgment plainly statesthat the court exists in a political world, butthe Congress is due to the court’s deference.Stating that the voters have the ultimatepowers, the prerogative to make policy judg-

ments, he ominously adds, “Those decisionsare entrusted to our nation’s elected leaders,who can be thrown out of office if the peopledisagree with them. It is not our job to pro-tect the people from the consequences oftheir political choices.”(emphasis added).

The perception amongst the ruling partyas well as a fairly large swath of the legal fra-ternity that the apex court in Pakistan isoverstepping its limits and is biased towardsthe PPP leadership needs to be corrected.

As is evident by numerous examples ju-diciary is not a monolithic entity thriving ina legal cocoon. Previously, it has been playingpolitics by legitimizing every usurper andcoupsters who trampled the constitutionunder his jackboots. Now the pendulum hashowever dramatically swung the other way.

The political opposition is deriving vi-carious pleasure from the fact that the rul-ing coalition has painted itself in a cornerwith the judiciary. But even they know thatthe judiciary cannot run the administrationin the name of activism.

Mian Nawaz Sharif, the born again cham-pion of an independent judiciary, when he wasprime minister, could not co-exist with a min-imally proactive chief justice, Sajjad Ali Shah.

The Chairman of the Indian Press Coun-cil and former judge of the Supreme Court ofIndia, Justice Markandey Katju’s recent re-marks made in an article penned by him inThe Hindu about Pakistan’s Supreme Courtcreated quite a stir.

These remarks are worth repeating here:The constitution establishes a delicate bal-ance of power, and each of the three organsof the state – the legislature, the executiveand the judiciary – must respect each otherand not encroach on each other’s domain;otherwise, the system cannot function.

It seems to me that the PakistaniSupreme Court has lost its balance and hasgone berserk. If it does not come to its sensesnow, I am afraid the day is not far off whenthe constitution will collapse, and the blamewill squarely lie with the court, and particu-larly the chief justice.

This is a harsh denouement. It smacks ofthe patronizing attitude amongst the eliteacross the border about Pakistan. No one, in-cluding the military, the judiciary or for thatmatter the politicians, are interested in de-railing the incipient democratic system. Nev-ertheless the stakeholders should giveserious thought to the views expressed byprominent jurists both here and abroad.

The writer is Editor, Pakistan Today

Comment10

Arif NizamiEditor

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

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

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

a senseless action

Stopping hindu pilgrims

While President Zardari reiterated on the WorldMinorities Day on Thursday that minorities would beprovided full protection, over two hundred Hinduswith valid travel visas were stopped from travelling to

India on the Wagah border. Speaking to the media Rehman Malikquestioned why India had granted so many visas “withoutascertaining the facts”. He maintained this was an indication of aconspiracy against Pakistan. A Hindu leader belonging toJacobabad has revealed what he considers to be “the facts”. Most ofthose traveling to India on plea of visiting the shrines had in factdecided to migrate because of the sense of insecurity prevailing inthe community in Sindh and Balochistan. Rehman Malik musthave come across reports frequently appearing in the Pakistanimedia regarding the kidnapping of Hindu businessmen andprofessionals for ransom in both the provinces. Stories of forcedconversion of Hindu girls have also made headlines in the media.In a few cases the Supreme Court had also initiated an enquiry.JSQM leader Abdul Wahid Arisar says the government isresponsible for creating conditions which are forcing the Hinducommunity to migrate.

Sindh suffered a lot when Hindus were forced to migrate toIndia in the wake of 1947 as a result of stage managed riots by thevested interest. These riots were strongly condemned by Jinnah.Those who were forced to migrate included doctors, lawyers andhighly educated people. Their departure caused a brain drain in theprovince. Among those who migrated were also people possessingentrepreneurial skills. The migration was a loss to the province aswell as the country.

The persecution of minorities is an all too commonphenomenon in the country. Besides Hindus, Christians, Ahmadisand Shias are also the target of the extremist elements and militantgroups. The laws that militate against the minorities continue to beon the statute book despite repeated promises by Musharraf andthen Zardari to change them. No action is taken against those whospread hatred against the minorities. It goes to the discredit of thegovernment that it has left the entire population in the country,irrespective of religion or sect, at the mercy of the extremists. Anineffective and unimaginative Rehman Malik routinely offersconspiracy as an explanation for his failures. It was highlyregrettable to stop the members of the Hindu community holdingvalid visas from traveling to India. The senseless action by theinterior ministry would not bring good name to Pakistan.

Beginning of the end?Supreme Court’s (over)steps

By Arif Nizami

…or a quest for better alternatives?

Dungeons of darkness…Candid CornerBy Raoof Hasan


The dynamics of the exist-ing inter-institution crisiswhich has already sent aprime minister packing

can be traced to the infatuation ofthe ruling coalition to save one per-son from any possible prosecution.How, otherwise, can the matters ofgovernance be allowed to grind toa halt and all institutions, energiesand resources of the state directedto bring ridicule upon that one in-stitution that is spearheading thebattle for the ascendency of ac-countability and the rule of law?

The job has been rendered sim-pler through the conduct of themain opposition party in the na-tional assembly. On the ill-con-ceived plea of not providing anychance to the military to walk in,the Sharif brothers have virtuallyallowed the reign of loot and plun-der to continue unabated and havereaped their own equally lucrativeharvest in Punjab. Their fake peo-ple-friendly claim has been amplydemonstrated by their recent re-fusal to appear before an account-ability judge hearing corruptioncases against them on the plea thatthey are leaders of ‘national cali-bre’. Grossly insulting that the pleais to the sensitivities of the people,it is tantamount to demanding thepromulgation of two laws in the

country: one for the ordinary ple-beians and the other for leaders of‘national calibre’ like the recipientof dole-outs from the establish-ment to topple a sitting govern-ment and his younger brother – theepitome of one-man rule in Punjab.They are the very same leaders whogo hoarse claiming irrevocablecommitment to the toiling masses.

Pakistan’s politics - or at leastpolitics that has been practised sofar – has been a crude combinationof deceit and cunning. It is basedon the premise that all men areequal, but some are ‘more equalthan others’. There is an unspokenconsensus among leaders of all po-litical mafias sitting in the legisla-tures about this – be they part ofthe government or the opposition.It is all about further advancing thecause of those who have used theinstruments of power to vanquishany prospects of relief for the suf-fering multitudes. Throughdecades of ‘democratic;’ and ‘dicta-torial’ rules, we have been the un-fortunate but silent witnesses ofthe advancement of this draconianand barbaric prescription. Does itreflect an acceptance of fate as or-dained? Is it indicative of a malaisethat runs deeper than that? Or, is ita combination of both maladies,thus readying ourselves to be con-

sumed by its evil infusions?One could continue in this vein,

but the inevitable reality is thatthose who have traditionally con-trolled the citadels of power in thecountry have seldom initiated orallowed any remedy for the benefitof the underprivileged and thedown-trodden. The system hasbeen modelled to work solely foradvancing the cause of the rulers ofall hues, shapes and sizes at thecost of the ruled, plunging themfurther into the dungeons of dark-ness. That’s where they have beenincarcerated generation after gen-eration and, in all probability, shallcontinue to suffer the same fatepartly because of the devilishmachinations of those whom theyhave deemed worthy of their votesand partly because of their own im-potence and lack of the fightingspirit. This is the classic but evilcombination that only perpetuatesthe status quo to the exclusive ben-efit of a select few and the detri-ment of the vast majority.

In a television programme re-cently, when there was criticalcomment on the corruption of thepolitical leaderships from bothsides of the divide, a representativeof a leading political party askedme to stop criticising on the pleathat angels are not going to de-

scend from the heavens to rule thiscountry and that we’ll have to makedo with the lot that is available. Inother words, it was a plea to acceptthe debilitating components ofdeep-set corruption, stark incom-petence, woeful inefficiency andthe likes because the likelihood ofthe emergence of better leadershipwas scant. Putting it differently,this is what the combine of politicalmafias which has ruled the countryfrom time to time would want thepeople to accept. This is tanta-mount to pleading for the accept-ance of the system that is drivingmore and more people below thepoverty line. The current povertyindex figures put the numbers ataround fifty percent of those whoare deprived of two basic meals ina day and are irremediably movingcloser to starvation.

In effect, no real remedy ap-pears in sight. Things are on adownward slide with the manipu-lators of the instruments of thestate becoming crueler by the day.They are focussed on aggrandiz-ing their personal accumulationsshowing scant sensitivity to theincreasing deprivations of thepoor. Yet, there is widespreadclamour for continuing the systemwith the hope that in the next onemillion years or thereabout, it

may after all change for the better.The question is not as muchwhether the system would changeand when. It is whether the coun-try has any more resilience left towithstand the criminal onslaughtof the ruling political mafias andtheir corrupt cohorts.

Of the many erroneous as-sumptions, one is that democracyis the only means to progress andthinking of any more beneficialoptions would be inviting the mil-itary intervention. A system thatworks by denying reform withinand spreading the fear paranoiaabout every effort that is directedat finding a more meaningful al-ternative is understandably af-flicted with incurable weaknesses.The quest for remedies is an in-herent right of the people and theycannot be deprived of it. Its needis increasing by the day as also itsrelevance. It is the only choice thepeople have to begin the struggleto extricate themselves from thetentacles of exploitation and slav-ery imposed on them in the nameof democracy. Not a day, not a mo-ment should be lost.

The writer is a political analystand a member of the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf. He can be reachedat [email protected]


Comment 11


whitelieSBy ess Aich

Ok, so the IMF’s outgoing regional bosswas in Lahore recently with hissuccessor. The duo had wanted to meet

up with the CM and his elder brother.The Khadim wouldn’t oblige. The whole

busy schedule routine. His team took a leafout of the legion of clerks’ book and relied onthe old kal-aaein-nahi-parson-aaein trick.

Now whether this was mere mismanagementor a snub-by-design is not clear.

The CM does like to play to the gallery andthe latter certainly doesn’t like the Fund. Plus,the issue of the Punjab government’smismanagement of its exchequer might havecome up and our man doesn’t like any talk ofthat.

For feedback, comments, suggestions and,most importantly, tips, contact us at

[email protected]

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Former dictator Pervez Musharraf mighthave a long list of people he’sdisappointed in but figuring chiefly on

the list is former premier Shaukat Aziz.We picked him out of nowhere and made

him the prime minister, Musharraf is tellingfriends these days, and he didn’t even standby the regime till the end.

This Judas-like Mir-Jaffarism is almost asif a general was made army chief way, way outof the order of seniority and he then stages acoup against your democratically electedgovernment. Umm.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Hate pundits? Hate televangelists?Well, you might have some tailoredspecifically for your tastes. Veena

Malik is doing a much-talked about religiousshow for Ramadan. Meanwhile, gaffe-a-minute Meera is also set to start her own showon Samaa TV after eid.

They’re almost as well-informed as mostof the other talking heads you see on TV. Thelatter only hide their ignorance withconfidence.

So, why the hell not?

learning from BangladeshIt has been reported from Bangladesh

that Hasina Wajid’s government has startedmonitoring weekly Friday prayer sermons toensure imams are abiding by the givenguidelines to highlight the dangers ofextremism (read religious militancy).Guidelines on anti-militancy sermons weresent to around 200,000 mosques all acrossthe country. Guidelines require clerics to notonly speak against religious militancy butalso take this topic in day-to-day interactionwith people attending 5-time a day prayers atmosques.

Bomb blasts by Islamic militants in2004-2005 prompted the government not totake any chance and start crackdown onreligious and sectarian outfits. Bangladeshlearned the lesson from the chaos wherein inlast two decades several countries in theregion such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, andSomalia etc have plunged into, only becauseof their inability to confront the militants onideological and material fronts.

Can Pakistan learn anything fromBangladesh? A lot —-in Pakistan mosquesand madrasas (religious seminaries) are infull control of religious/sectarian parties andtheir respective outfits. They take their partyline in daily interaction with general publicand weekly sermons which are either openpro-militants or offer concealed/disguisedsupport to them. They will never evercondemn the militant attacks; instead will tryto boost them as war between Islam andinfidels. Pakistani governments whether ofBenazir, Nawaz Sharif, Musharaf, or thepresent setup, all have miserably failed tobring the madrasas under any administrativecontrol. Moves to get the seminariesregistered and to audit their funds receiving/spending activities were a non-starter fromthe onset.

Our only hope lies with interior ministerRehman Malik’ bi-weekly declarations tostart crackdown against banned sectarianoutfits and not to allow them to collect Zakat,Fitra and other Ramadan related alums. Iwonder if Rehman Malik needs some specialglasses to see the huge banners erected allacross Karachi by Jamat Dawa/ LeT forcollection of funds this Ramadan. Perhaps wecan never learn from Bangladesh; we mighthave crossed the age to learn anythingtangible.

MASOOD KHANJubail, Saudi Arabia

Editor’s mailSend your letters to: Letters to Editor,

Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah,Lahore, Pakistan. Fax: +92-42-36298302.

E-mail: [email protected] should be addressed to

Pakistan Today exclusively.

Some questions on damsDid the yearly supplies to the canals in Pakistan

increase from 83 maf to 104 maf after theconstruction of Mangla and Tarbela dams? Hasthere been any increase in supplies since then forthe last 38 years? Has the population increasedsince then? Has the demand for water for irrigationalso increased since then? Can we meet theincreased demand with the same amount of waterthat we had 38 years ago? What can we do torectify the situation? Can we afford to wait 12 yearsfor a dam? Should we not go for a dam that can bebuilt in half the time? Should we allow the countryand its 18 crore people to be held hostage to theunfounded fear that one province will take thewater of another province? Can anything be moreabsurd in this day and age of technology?

The USA has landed a car sized rover on Marsand we can’t manage equitable distribution ofwater. These are some of the questions for somepeople; if only they would care to take their headsout of the sand and stop thinking that nothing badwill happen if we carry on like this.

ENGR KHURSHID ANWERLahore

thalassemia in SindhA very high prevalence of Thalassemia is

reported by the Sindhi newspapers and televisionchannels in Sindh province. Indeed, six percent ofthe population is thalassemia carriers and eachyear 700 new babies are born with thalassemia.Pity that hospitals have neither specialist doctorsnor proper blood banks nor offer any consultancy.

However, much needs to be done to makepeople aware and curb its spread to futuregenerations in the province. We need to createawareness about thalassemia so that it can bedetected at prenatal stage. Genetic counselling isalso very important as a family’s medical historyplays an important role.

Detection camps may be held in differenteducational institutions, including schools, collegesand universities, so that students may be tested for

thalassemia. This will also create greater awarenessabout the blood disorder among the youngergeneration.

The humanity saving organizations such asWHO, UNICeF, USAID, Save the Children,Children First, etc are appealed to come to therescue of thalassemia carries in Sindh, especiallythe children in Larkano, Qambar/ Shahdad Kot,Shikarpur and Jacobabad.

HASHIM ABROIslamabad

rise of hate crimes in uSAfter the killing of 6 men in deadly shooting at

a Sikh temple, a mosque burned to the ground inthe Midwestern United States. The building wascompletely destroyed. The blaze followed an attackon July 4, when an unidentified suspect threw apetrol bomb onto the roof of the same mosque,causing minor damage. The mosque’s surveillancecameras captured an image of the assailant’s face,and the FBI recently offered a $50,000 reward forinformation leading to the arrest of the man behindthe July incident, but no one has beenapprehended. Ironically, an advocate ofWashington-based ‘Sikh Coalition’ said that Sikhsare not Muslims, but their long beards and turbansoften cause them to be mistaken for Muslims.

This growing indiscrimination against Muslimsand hate crimes against them in the west needs tobe challenged. It is important to mention here thatduring the aftermath of September 11, media hasincreasingly been criticized for supporting negativestereotypes against Muslims, instigating hateattacks on Muslims and preventing them fromattaining their rights. Vicious attacks againstMuslims reached its climax in US-Israeli Media.Islamophobia is growing and spreading prejudiceagainst Muslims in the US and is being repeated ineurope and elsewhere also. Unfortunately,American Muslims face a rising tide of religiousdiscrimination in U.S. communities, workplaces andschools nearly a decade after the September 11 attacks.

ANZA KANWALRawalpindi

This is with reference to themosque burned to the ground inthe Midwestern United States onAugust 6 in a hate attack, lessthan a day after a deadlyshooting at a Sikh temple ofWisconsin.

These incidents are not onlysad but also alarming to see thegrowth of subculture of hate inUS against minorities. Thekilling of worshippers at a Sikhshrine in the US is indeed asenseless act of violence andshould have been condemned byall those who value humanity.The point of concern, however,here is that burning of mosquewas no less an important newsthan the killing at Sikh shrine in

US. But sadly, the shamefulincident of setting mosque onfire is not receiving the samenational attention as that ofshooting at Sikh shrine, what tospeak of international attentionon the incident.

Here it is also pertinent tonote that the shooting in Sikhshrine is being treated as an actof domestic terrorism committedagainst Sikhs who wear turbansand keep their beards long,characteristics that lead them tobe confused with Muslims. It isupsetting enough that there arepeople who immediately suspectmen wearing turbans or havingbeards as terrorists, Muslims ofscheming to commit acts of

violence and in same capacityeyes mosques with suspicion.This growing indiscriminationagainst Muslims and hate crimesagainst them in the west needs tobe challenged. It is time that thedouble standards of the west beexposed by own national mediaand extend as mush security toour Muslim brethrens livingabroad as possible. It is alsorequested to own media mongersto given more media coverageand condemnation for the rise ofunjustified hate attacks onMuslims and their holy places allover the world rather thanpleading other’s cases.

SHAMSA ASHFAQIslamabad

A sad state of affairs


12


Bipasha not as safe as shewas 10 years ago: Bhatt

FILMMAKER Mahesh Bhatt’s forthcoming

venture ‘Raaz 3’ which contains a slice from

Bipasha Basu’s life, says, the model-turned

actress is not having a good run in the industry

primarily due to the competition from the younger lot

in the tinsel town. A lot of films like ‘the Dirty

Picture’ or the upcoming release ‘Heroine’ revolves

around the meteoric rise and downfall of a superstar

or a supermodel. Vikram Bhatt’s directorial venture,

‘Raaz 3’ also appears to be similar, as it focuses on

two actresses - Bipasha Basu and Esha Gupta — with

Emraan Hashmi playing the role of a director. “the

need for Bollywood stories is enormous, people are

enchanted with it. there is a reality of the industry

that we know. We have given the film a horror idiom

by including black magic. the story is very much

true,” Bhatt said in an interview. newS DeSK

Junoon not to perform forIndian PM’s birthday

oN Wednesday news reports suggested that

Junoon, the Pak band that has a

considerable following in India, had been

signed on by India’s green crusader RK Pachauri to

play at a programme organized in PM Manmohan

Singh’s native village of Gah, Punjab, which now

forms a part of Pakistan. Salman Ahmad of the band

had also informed that he roped in Sunidhi Chauhan

to play alongside him in the event which was to be

held on September 26, the PM’s birthday. Now, in a

twist to the tale, RK Pachauri, reportedly helming this

bash, wants to clear the air. He says, “I am not

involved in celebrating the PM’s birthday in any

manner. the programme, which my organization has

organized in association with a Pakistani NGO to

promote sustainable energy, will be happening in

Lahore in September 14 and 15. there is no event, at

least of which I am a part of or which I have signed

on Junoon for, on September 26 in Gah.” newS DeSK

Sushmita Sen robbed atAthens airport

tHE beauty queen-turned-actress Sushmita Sen

who was recently on a vacation to the exotic

locale of Santorini has been stuck with tragedy.

the actress who was returning to Mumbai was robbed

at the Athens airport. Apparently, the robbery took

place at 13:05 hrs Greek time at the airport where

Sush was booked on a flight to Dubai, from where she

was to board a connecting flight to Mumbai. Since she

arrived about four hours early, Sushmita was waiting

outside an eatery, with her hand on her trolley. At

some point, she turned to speak to a man sitting

behind her when she was robbed. Obviously in a

state of shock, Sushmita immediately called her office

in Mumbai who in turn connected her to Farah Khan

Ali, who has friends in Greece. It was later with the

help of Farah’s friends who arranged for a lawyer that

Sushmita filed a police complaint and was given her

passport to travel back to India. In the incident,

Sushmita lost her mobile phone, iPad and credit cards

too that were in her handbag. She also lost her

passport and a 10-year visa to the uS and the uK that

were kept in the trolley. newS DeSK

O ut of the many jokes that

circulated on the net, post the

twipocalypse (i.e. the whole

Kristen cheating on Robert

Pattinson with her Snow White

And the Huntsman director, Rupert

Sanders, fiasco), the most telling one

was: “On the bright side, Kristen

Stewart finally destroyed her reputation

as the most boring person on earth.”

For too long, Stewart was the pale,

expressionless Bella to Pattinson’s

sparkly Edward. Who’d have guessed

that the same woman who could barely

mutter her dialogues throughout the

entire film franchise could actually have

an illicit affair with a married man and

the father of two children and drive a

stake through our beloved vampire

heart? Stewart has inspired such

intense hatred amongst the legions of

twihards that this whole cheating thing

might actually be working in her favour.

Case in point:

We cAN’t Stop tAlKING About

HeR

Remember ex-Scientology bride Katie

Holmes and how she dropped the bomb

that she was finally leaving tom Cruise

(even as the Church was out to destroy

her and Suri)? Did we, in our wildest

dreams, think there could be anything

more scandalous

than that? Enter

internet

pictures of K-

Stew

canoodling

with Sanders.

the rest, as

we say, is

gossip history.

Much has been

said about

Stewart, she

has been called

the P, W and S

words by many.

The rapper made an estimated 38 milliondollars from his ‘Watch the Throne’ albumand tour with Kanye West, continuing salesof his Decoded book as well as his manybusiness interests, which include a nightcluband Roc Nation record label, managementand music publishing company.

Jay-Z and BeyonceKnowles ($78 million)1 J

AY-Z and Beyonce Knowleshave topped Forbesmagazine’s World’s HighestPaid Celebrity Couples listfor the year 2012. The power

pair are estimated to have made 78million dollars together in the financialyear ending May 1, moving them fromsecond place in last year’s list, behindTom Brady and Gisele Bundchen, tofirst. According to Forbes, Beyonceearned more in the last year than herhusband, amassing 40 million dollarsfrom sponsorship deals, sales of her ‘4’album and royalties from her backcatalogue, the Daily Mail reported. Thefigure is particularly impressive, as shealso took time off to have the couple’sfirst baby, daughter Blue Ivy, who wasborn in January. newS DeSK

In fourth place are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie,who banked an estimated 45 million dollars.The couple is engaged and starring in moviesthat make loads of money. Brad’s Oscarnominations for Moneyball helped as well.

Brad Pitt and AngelinaJolie ($45 million)4

On the fifth spot were Will and Jada PinkettSmith who raked in an estimated 40 milliondollars. The couple’s recent films Men InBlack 3 and Madagascar 3 respectively havebeen a major reason.

Will and Jada PinkettSmith ($40 million)5

Relegated to second on the list weresupermodel Gisele Bundchen and NFLplayer Tom Brady, who brought in anestimated 72 million dollars, from herlucrative modelling deals and his four-year,72-million-dollar contract extension withthe New england Patriots. He has also madea foray into modelling, signing contractswith Under Armour and UGG Boots.

Gisele Bundchen andTom Brady ($72 million)2

Third on the list were fashion designerVictoria and soccer player David Beckhamwho are worth 54 million dollars.

Victoria and DavidBeckham ($54 million)3

5

did the cheating scandal


13


Lindsay Lohan signs up forScary Movie 5

lINDSAY Lohan has joined the cast of Scary

Movie 5, which also stars Ashley tisdale and

Charlie Sheen. this would be the Mean Girls

actress’ first appearance in the spoof horror

franchise, while Sheen will return for the third time,

despite his character tom Logan being killed off in

Scary Movie 4, Contactmusic reported. Malcolm Lee,

who will direct the movie, has also co-written the

script with David Zucker. the movie is slated for an

April 2013 release. newS DeSK

Jackson expresses desire fora national children’s holidayin audio recording

WHEN Michael Jackson died, he left behind

an unparalleled musical legacy. But the

pop icon, who died three years ago, was

also known—for better or for worse—for his

dedication to children’s causes. And it turns out he

envisioned the whole country setting aside a day to

honor young people, just as they do mothers,

fathers, veterans, momentous dates in history, etc.

In a recording obtained by E! News, Jackson can be

heard discussing his wish for a national children’s

day with confidante Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who is

now running for congress in New Jersey on a

platform that includes a proposal that, in his view,

could help keep his late friend’s dream alive. “If

there was a children’s day when I was little...do

you know what that would have meant for me?”

Jackson told Boteach. “that would have meant so

much to me, Shmuley.” newS DeSK

Aamir brings rani andKareena together t

HE special music video which was recently shot

for talaash with Aamir Khan, Kareena Kapoor

and Rani Mukherjee was actually Aamir’s idea.

He came up with this music video idea for a very

specific purpose. turns out in the entire length of the

film talaash, the three stars are not seen together in

one frame at any time. Aamir Khan, Rani Mukherjee

and Kareena Kapoor don’t come together in one shot

as they don’t have any scenes together. “Aamir

thought something should be done to get all three

actors together and be seen together. Hence he came

up with the idea of doing a music video where Aamir,

Rani and Kareena would be shaking a leg together

specially for the film. Aamir thought the audiences

would like to see all three of them together as this trio

has never been seen together on the screen ever”,

says a unit-hand. As the film’s script doesn’t give

them the opportunity to be seen together, Aamir

thought a music video would be an entertaining way

to make it possible. the official spokesperson of the

film confirms, “Yes it’s true! Aamir came up with the

idea of shooting a music video with all three stars

together and all instantly agreed. newS DeSK

But she has single-handedly

overshadowed all other news

headlines - Mila-Ashton’s weird

hook-up, JLo’s toyboy’s

alleged gayness and Johnny

Depp-Vanessa’s split.

SHe’S tHe MoSt HAted

WoMAN IN HollyWood:

Granted it isn’t quite in the

same category as Oscar-winner,

but the ‘most hated woman’ is

still a title. If one were to go by

the old showbiz adage, “Any

publicity is good publicity”,

Kristen is doing something right.

Rumours circulating about her

include - she hasn’t showered since the

break-up, she might have had another

affair and that she has been banned

from Pattinson’s latest movie’s

premiere. Not a day goes by without a

Kristen Stewart-centric headline and

this is after she and Robert practically

went into hiding. What will happen

when twilight 4 promotions are in full

swing? Wait and watch.

SHe’S AlSo tHe HotteSt WoMAN

oN ‘eARtH’: She beat Scarlett

Johansson and reigning Catwoman Anne

Hathaway to the title, and so close to

her cheating scandal too. Coincidence?

If you say so.

SHe’S lANded HeR FIRSt MAjoR

Role AlReAdy... and it’s one she was

fighting with Oscar nominee and Hunger

Games star Jennifer Lawrence for.

Sources added that despite her cheating

scandal, the film industry is still willing to

cast her as a leading lady and she

bagged the lead role in Lie Down In

Darkness, which is an adaptation of

William Styron’s realistic novel of the

same name. Judging by the last two

weeks already, her pre-cheating resume

looks far less impressive than the post-

cheating one! On the other hand, twilight

won’t suffer from the publicity either,

according to trade magazines. newS DeSK

help Kristen Stewart’s career?


Rocked in recent years by sex-abusescandals and crises in leadership,the Catholic Church in the Republicof Ireland has been struggling tokeep its members close.

But this week, a new global sur-vey on faith and atheism has re-vealed that the crisis of faith inIreland may be much worse thanpreviously thought. According to thepoll released by WIN-Gallup Inter-national, the traditionally Catholiccountry has seen one of the steepestdrops worldwide in religiosity.

The poll — which was based oninterviews with more than 50,000people selected from 57 countries —asked participants, “irrespective ofwhether they attended a place ofworship, if they considered them-selves to be religious, not religious,or an atheist.” In Ireland, only 47percent of those polled said theyconsidered themselves religious — a22-point drop from the 69 percentrecorded in a similar poll conductedin 2005. In addition, 10 percent self-identified as atheist.

The only country that registereda steeper decline in religiosity wasVietnam, which saw a 23-point dropfrom 53 percent to 30 percent.

However, Ireland and Vietnamwere not unique in this dip in faith.

According to the global index,there has been a notable decline inreligiosity worldwide. Current datashows that the number of peopleworldwide who call themselves reli-gious is now 59 percent, while 13percent self-identify as atheist.

However, according to trending

data, religiosity has fallen by 9 pointsglobally since 2005 and the numberof people who identify as atheist rosefrom 4 percent to 7 percent. Notethat only 40 countries were polled inboth 2005 and 2012, so there are twodifferent sets of data available. TheU.S., France and Canada joined Ire-land on the top-10 list of countries tohave experienced a “notable declinein religiosity” since 2005. The num-ber of people in the U.S. who self-identify as religious dropped 13points to 60 percent. In addition, 5percent of Americans declared them-selves atheists, an increase of 4points since 2005. Yet, despite thisglobal decline in faith, the focus atthe moment seems to be on Ireland,where Catholicism has had a long

and rich tradition. Since the poll re-sults were made available to thepublic, many have lamented thedrop in Ireland’s religious feeling,with one Guardian writer calling it“the end of Catholic Ireland.”

However, some Irish Catholicofficials and organizations are in-sisting that the poll may not showthe full picture and have cautionedagainst taking the index as a com-prehensive indicator of Irish faith.

For example, a spokesperson forthe Catholic Communications Officetold the Belfast Telegraph that thelanguage used by the poll may havebeen misleading. “The word ‘reli-gious’, if left unqualified, is too gen-eral to be used as the keyword in asurvey questionnaire — especially in

the Irish context — where peopleprefer words such as ‘spiritual’.Being ‘religious’ is a very subjectivemeasurement,” he said. Indeed, thesame Guardian writer who hinted atan impending collapse of Catholi-cism in Ireland also noted thatthough “the traditional structures of“religion” [may be] weaker, there re-mains a strong deposit of “faith”among the people.”

Nonetheless, the Archbishop ofDublin, Diarmuid Martin, said thatthe global index has undoubtedlyhighlighted the challenges facing theCatholic Church in Ireland. “TheCatholic Church, on its part, cannotsimply presume that the faith willautomatically be passed from onegeneration to the next or be lived tothe full by its own members,” he toldthe Belfast Telegraph.

Sinead Mooney, deputy manag-ing director of ReD C Research —the company that conducted theIrish poll — told Reuters that therewere two factors that likely con-tributed to Ireland’s sharp decline inreligiosity. “Obviously, there were allthe scandals in the Church over thatperiod — that was massive,” shesaid. “Also, as countries get richer,they tend to lose some sense of reli-gion. We did become richer — atleast at the beginning of that period.”

According to the poll, the mostdevout region of the world is Africa— and the countries where mostpeople self-identified as religiouswere Ghana (96 percent), Nigeria(93 percent) and Macedonia (90percent). newS DeSK

T YPeWRITeRS are intricatemachines—complex littleboxes that require an abun-dance of ingenuity to pro-duce. They are often

beautiful, and they occasionally findwildly imaginative ways to conduct thedelicate dance between the hammersand the keys. So much of the way weinteract with machines today—QW-eRTY keyboard, hello!—directly linksto the innovations pushed forth bytypewriters in the late 19th century. Infact, it’s hard chart the progression oftechnology without considering thetypewriter. So here’s a look at 10 of ourfavourite typewriter designs of all time.

Scholes & Glidden Typewriter

Manufactured beginning in 1873,the Scholes and Glidden Typewriterwas the first mass-produced type-writer to find commercial success. Ifyou ever want to know the names ofthe men responsible for forcing youto learn the QWeRTY Keyboard, lookno further than Christopher LathamScholes and Carlos S. Glidden.

Crandall New Model

The Crandall New Model, whichfirst appeared in 1885, is great becauseit’s like a typewriter skeleton. Nothingmore than what needs to be there. Justpure, unadulterated machinery.

The Mignon typewriters

The Mignon typewriters weresome of the world’s first electric type-writers. These used an 84-characterindex map, with an electric indicatorneedle that would tell the typewriterhow the type cylinder should be po-sitioned. A print key could executethe command. The Mignon 4 from1923, pictured, happened to be theprettiest of the 6 models made.

Hermes 3000

The Hermes 3000 is nothingshort of iconic. Introduced in the1950s, its curvy lines and top-notchtyping comfort made it a favourite oftypists for decades. even today, fewtypewriters are looked upon so fondly.

Underwood No. 5While the Scholes and Glidden

typewriter came first, it’s the Under-wood No. 5 that set the standard allother typewriters would follow after1900. Legendary due to sheer quan-

tity alone, the Underwood was thefavourite of professionals everywherein the first half of the 20th century.

Hansen Writing Ball

Arguably the weirdest of alltypewriter designs, the HansenWriting Ball first appeared in 1865.It required typists to hover over itstop-mounted keyboard and peckdown onto the paper below, whichwas stretched over an arched frame.The most famous Writing Ballowner? Friedrich Nietzsche.

The Lettera 10 typewriter

The Lettera 10 typewriter isn’tnecessarily flashy, but the combina-tion of curved surfaces, sharp angles,and a generally minimal approachmake this typewriter seem the mostsci-fi influenced of them all.

Hammond 1880

First produced in 1880, theHammond 1880 typewriter instantlygrabs your eye with its flat, roundedbody. It also happens to have a smil-ing face, hiding in plain sight.

The Simplex

The Simplex, with its disc-cum-key-board, was first introduced as a serioustypewriter, but quickly evolved into a“toy” for kids. Rotate, depress and rotateagain. Great fun! You know, if your ideaof fun at the turn of the century was typ-ing out dictionary entries or something.

1970 Olivetti Valentine

If the clean lines of the 1970 OlivettiValentine typewriter don’t do it for you,then maybe you’ll get a kick out of thekeys, which look like they’re beingspewed forth from an open mouth.

14Infotainment

10 of history’s most beautiful typewriters

Norwegian tourist falls asleepon airport baggage belt

ROMe’S Fiumicino airport has defended itssecurity procedures after a drunkenNorwegian tourist fell asleep on a baggage

belt and travelled 160 feet before being identifiedby an X-ray scanner. The 36-year-old, who has notbeen named, arrived at the international terminalof Italy’s busiest airport at the end of last monthwith a backpack and a can of beer in his hand. TheNorwegian was due to check in for a flight to Osloand when he found no one on duty at the airlinedesk he leapt across the counter and fell into adeep asleep on the baggage belt with his bagbeside him. As the belt began to move theunsuspecting tourist reportedly travelled for 15minutes through the secure baggage area inTerminal 3 before officials spotted his body curledup in a foetal position in an X-ray image on theirmonitors. He slept through the whole episode andairport police had trouble waking him when theywere called to thescene to investigatewhat had happened.newS DeSK


Religiosity plummets and atheism is on the rise

Spider climbs into woman’s ear canal

IF you’re arachnophobic you should probablylook away now. For peering back at you fromthe inside of one unfortunate woman’s ear is

a rather miffed-looking spider. The horrifyingpictures were taken at China’s Changsha CentralHospital, after the patient checked in, complainingof itching inside her left ear. Doctors were leftwith the challenge of extracting the spider whiletrying to ensure it would not burrow deeper oreven bite the woman. After much discussion it wasdecided to fill the woman’s ear with saline, in thehope the spider would come out of its own accord,the Xiaoxiang Morning News reported. Thankfullythe plan worked and Dr Liu Sheng was able to givethe good news to the patient, who promptly burst

into tears of gratitude. Itlater emerged the

spider had probablybeen living in herear canal for up tofive days and may

have crawledin while

she slept in her

homeduring

renovations. newS DeSK

US tourists complain about ‘Hitler Wine’

coNFESSIoN TIME: we have more thanonce been known to purchase a bottle ofwine purely because we like the picture on

the label. (A cute kangaroo gets us every time.)We only mention this not-so-astonishing factbecause the flipside to this is surely that certainother label images could definitely put people offbuying. You know? Like a picture of Adolf Hitler,for instance. Nevertheless, a supermarket inGarda, northern Italy, has come under attack forselling bottles of plonk sporting labels depictingthe Nazi dictator in various poses. Prosecutorshave now opened an investigation after twounderstandably startled US tourists complained tothe police, reports the Corriere della Sera. “Theonly crime that could be currently attributable tothis is that of apologising for fascism,” prosecutorMario Giulio Schinaia told news agency ANSA. “Atthis point, though, it would be opportune to inventthe crime of human stupidity.” newS DeSK


Saturday, 11 august, 2012

Page 17

Bolt, rudisha: two legends in london

LONDONaGenCieS

THe Netherlands easedinto the men's Hockeyfinal with a 9-2 victoryover Host Nation GreatBritain at the RiverbankArena. Both sides deliv-

ered on their promise to attack and enter-tain, but it was the Netherlands who madeit through to set up a meeting with defend-ing champions Germany in the final.

Both GB coach Jason Lee and Dutchcounterpart Paul van Ass are devotees ofattacking hockey but even they musthave been surprised by the first half,played at a high speed with barely apause for breath. The Netherlands lostmidfielder Klaas Vermeulen to a shoul-der injury early on following a collisionwith Glenn Kirkham, but that was a raremoment of physicality as the flow of thegame soon took over.

Considering how open the gamewas, it was surprising that the first threegoals came from penalty corners.

Roderick Weusthof powered in oneflick high, Ashley Jackson respondedwith a low effort of his own beforeWeusthof added his second from thebreakdown at another set-piece.

There appeared to be no lack of con-fidence from the hosts, epitomised whenBarry Middleton tried an outrageous de-flection over goalkeeper Jaap Stock-mann with his back to goal from MattDaly's pass. even when a Mink van der

Weerden corner crept under JamesFair's right hand there was no let up, al-though the goalkeeper was forced intotwo good saves from Teun de Nooijerand Floris evers.

That ambition bordered on over-confidence and when players werecaught upfield, the Netherlands

launched a swift multi-pass counter-at-tack which resulted in Billy Bakker con-verting from close range. After thebreak, there was an early penalty cornerchance for Jackson but as the home sidepushed further forward the Netherlandsjust picked them off almost at will.

Bakker scored twice to complete his

hat-trick, while veteran De Noiijer, onhis penultimate international appear-ance after a 16-year career, evers andWeusthof were also on target.

Moore slid in a late consolation togive the appreciative home crowdsomething of their own to cheer, but itwas to no avail.

Holland face Germany in final

LONDONaGenCieS

Turkey's Servet Tazegul won gold in themen's -68kg Taekwondo competitionafter defeating Mohammad BagheriMotamed 6-5 while Afghanistan's Ro-hullah Nikpah won second Olympicsmedal of career. The top seed continuedhis winning form as he manoeuvred hiskicks intelligently around the Iranian.

Bagheri Motamed tried unsuccess-fully to land some kicks on Tazegul'storso but could not get past the worldchampion's defences. Tazegul was ec-static with the result, and said: 'Youdon't know how special it feels to takethe gold back home. This is what wedream of when we take up Taekwondo.'

The first bronze was claimed byUSA's Terrence Jennings, who made acomeback from the repechage and de-feated Brazilian Diogo Silva 8-5.

Afghanistan's Rohullah Nikpahovercame Great Britain's Martin Stam-per 5-3 to add another bronze to his col-lection after winning the first at theBeijing 2008 Games.AFGHAN PRESIDENT coNGRAT-ULATES oLyMPIc MEDALLIST:Afghanistan's first medallist in the Lon-don Olympics received a personalphone call of congratulation from thewar-torn country's president Friday.

Rohullah Nikpah took a taekwondobronze medal, repeating his perform-ance in the 2008 Beijing Games whenhe became the nation's first-everOlympic medal winner.

President Hamid Karzai calledAfghanistan's team in London Friday tocongratulate Nikpah and all the Afghanathletes, his office said.

"Afghan athletes have shown in re-cent years that they don't have less tal-ent than the athletes of other countries

and with hard work and effort they canhoist the flag of Afghanistan in the in-ternational sports arena," Karzai's officesaid. Nikpah's victory was greeted withjubilation in a country ravaged by warfor three decades, setting social mediasites alight with pride. Another AfghanTaekwondo hope, Nesar Ahmad Ba-hawi, began his quest for a medal Fri-day with a victory in his first bout.

Thanks to Nikpah and Bahawi, taek-wondo has become one of the most pop-ular sports in Afghanistan. Around25,000 competitors practise in hundredsof clubs around the country, and eventswith the Afghan fighters in London wereshown live on several TV channels. Be-fore the 2008 Games, the country's pre-vious best Olympic finish was a fifthplace in wrestling in 1964. NATO hassome 130,000 troops in Afghanistanhelping Karzai's government fight a Tal-iban Islamist insurgency.

Rohullah makeshistory for AfghanistanTazegul takes tight fight for gold

Austria laments

worst games

in 50 yearsVIENNA

afP

Days before the London Olympics drawto a close, Austria was already lamentingits biggest washout in half a century Fri-day, with no medals to show for and poorperformances by some of its biggesthopes. "Biggest Olympic disaster now of-ficial," a headline in the tabloid Oesterre-ich read, after the country's last big hope-- canoe-kayak pair Yvonne Schuring andViktoria Schwarz -- finished fifth inThursday's final. "Olympics: it's over," the daily Die Pressealso titled, while the SalzburgerNachrichten asked "What went wrong inLondon?" and spoke of a "lack of winningmentality" in the Austrian team. A handful of athletes had yet to competein the marathon, the modern pentathlon,mountainbike and rhythmic gymnastics,but the common conception was that thebiggest medal chances had already comeand gone.The only other time Austria went homeempty-handed at the Olympics was in1964 at the Tokyo Games.In an interview with the daily Kurier Fri-day, Sports Minister Norbert Darabos ex-pressed his disappointment and calledfor a "total reform of sport funding."After a week of competition, Darabos al-ready deplored what he saw as "Olympictourism" last week. "Only travelling to the Olympics and en-joying the great atmosphere, that's notenough... the aim is to bring homemedals," he said angrily. This Summer Olympics fiasco is onlymade worse by Austria's regular bril-liance at Winter Games, where it domi-nates alpine skiing. Despite what was considered a poor yearfor the men's ski team, the small countrybrought brought home 16 medals fromVancouver in 2010, including four gold."But winter's coming soon... by then theflop from London will be water under thebridge," the Salzburger Nachrichten sawthe silver lining.

cash, land for indian

medallist kom

NEW DELHIafP

India's latest sporting hero Mary Komwill receive five million rupees ($90,400)for winning a bronze in the Olympicwomen's boxing competition, a reportsaid on Friday.The mother-of-two from the north-east-ern state of Manipur had to settle forbronze along with the other losing semi-finalist after she was beaten 11-6 byBritain's world number two NicolaAdams in the 51kg category on Wednes-day. The Manipur government decided tohonour Kom after a cabinet meeting ledby Chief Minister Ibobi Singh gave its ap-proval, the Press Trust of India quoted astate spokesman as saying in local capitalImphal. "Kom has made the name of Ma-nipur known in the sports arena in theworld and brought prestige for the wholecountry," the government spokesmansaid. The boxer, who won five world ti-tles in the 46kg and 48kg categories, hadto move up a weight category to fight inLondon since her favoured events werenot part of the inaugural Olympic com-petition in women's boxing.Kom would also be promoted to the rankof additional police superintendent andgiven two acres (0.8 hectare) of land inthe state, he said. "We are certainlyproud of her," chief minister Singh saidat the cabinet meeting. The boxer, whotook up sport as a path out of poverty, isthe only Indian boxer to win a medal inthe London Games.Her feat ensuredIndia will return from London with itsbiggest Olympic haul, surpassing the onegold and two bronzes it won in Beijingfour years ago. India has so far won a sil-ver through pistol shooter Vijay Kumarand three bronze medals by badmintonstar Saina Nehwal, rifle marksmanGagan Narang and Kom.

french runner hirt

fails drugs test

LONDONafP

French Olympic Games 5,000m runnerHassan Hirt has tested positive for thebanned blood booster ePO, a source withknowledge of the case said on Friday.Hirt, who was eliminated in the heats ofthe event, failed a drugs test on August 3.He has been suspended by the Frenchathletics federation and removed fromthe squad in London."The test was carried out on August 3 atRouen (in northern France) where theathlete was based (before coming to theGames)," a French team source told AFP,confirming a report carried by sportsdaily L'equipe on its website.

london: Billy Bakker, (right) scored three times as great Britain ran out of clues.


Sports16

20-Sports Pages-Aug-11

heartbroken

Stevenson considers

taekwondo future

LoNDoN: Twice world championSarah Stevenson, who went into theOlympics heartbroken by the death ofboth her parents, will consider her fu-ture in taekwondo after crashing out inthe first round on Friday. The 29-year-old fourth seed lost 5-1 to AmericanPaige McPherson but said the "horren-dous" last 18 months, in which she lostboth parents to cancer, had helped herfind a balance in her life. "The last yearhas helped put this event into perspec-tive. I wanted to be here, I wanted togive 100 percent and I wanted to fight,"she said. "This is the Olympics, it's notlife or death, it's meant to be fun. Thereare more important things in life thantaekwondo." And now Stevenson, abronze medallist in Beijing four yearsago, is considering life after taekwondo."I'm going to have a holiday, rest, timeout with family and think about wherethe future lies - maybe with taekwondo,maybe not." afP

iraq power woesshort-circuitolympics viewingBAGHDAD: Saad Ghayib al-Lamitakes to a cafe to watch the Olympics,while Muheeb Khodr tunes in on a smalltelevision at work. Both want to avoidthe continual power cuts that interruptthe games at home."When we follow the game at home,every five minutes the electricity isgone," said Lami, a 37-year-old truckdriver who was at a cafe in central Bagh-dad to watch Olympic football.The Iraqi national grid only supplies afew hours of electricity per day, inter-rupted by multi-hour outages, andIraqis either have to make up the short-fall with private generators or do with-out electricity during the cuts."The electricity in Iraq has become like achronic disease, and all the people aresuffering," said Lami, an ardent footballfan who was sitting with five of his chil-dren around a table near a televisionshowing the Olympics, smokingflavoured tobacco from a water pipe."I follow the Olympics every day," hesaid, adding that he usually watcheswith friends, but "today was for the fam-ily." afP

ekimov inherits dope

cheat hamilton gold

LoNDoN: Russia's Viatcheslav eki-mov was finally awarded the 2004Olympic Games cycling time trial goldmedal on Friday, a year after dope-tainted winner Tyler Hamilton gave itup. An International Olympic Com-mittee (IOC) spokesman said thatAmerica's Bobby Julich, who wasthird in Athens, will be handed thesilver medal with Michael Rodgers ofAustralia taking bronze. In May 2011,Hamilton admitted doping and re-turned his gold medal from the 2004Games. afP

LONDONafP

RIO 2016 organizers will try to pack asmuch of the joy and color of their sprawl-ing country as they can into the eight min-utes they are alotted in the London 2012closing ceremony on Sunday. The tradi-tional flag-handover during the ceremony,

in which the Olympic banner will be passed from London tothe next Games host city, will be a brief chance to introduceRio and Brazil to the world.Daniela Thomas, one of theartistic directors of the programme, said Rio hopedto show the transformative spirit of their coun-try, where diverse influences have blended toproduce a vibrant and complex culture.

"We reinvent. This is our spirit," saidThomas, adding that rather than shy awayfrom cliched images of Rio the creative teamwould try to show the deeper truths behindthem. In all this they'll be aided by some ofBrazil's biggest stars, including singer MarisaMonte -- our "diva" Thomas said -- Brazil-ian rapper Bnegao, and actor, singer com-poser Seu Jorge. Also featured will beRenato Sorriso, the sambadrome streetsweeper whose impromptu dances in hisbright orange work jumpsuit have made him apop culture sensation. The flag will actually behanded over to two Brazilian Olympic goldmedallists -- Maurren Maggi, who won thewomen's long jump gold for Brazil in 2008, and two-time Olympic gold medal-winning sailor Robert Scheidt.Plenty of dancers -- some from Brazil and some culled fromsamba schools in Britain -- will play a role, and Thomas saidshe believed Rio's effort would stand up well in a ceremonyexpected to feature some of the greats of British pop music."It's never easy to do the flag handover," said executive pro-ducer Marco Balich, noting it often came across as dull butpromising Sunday's would be "full of passion, even if it'ssmall ... full of light."

mellouli digs deep

to win landmark

10km swim

LoNDoN: Tunisia's Oussama Melloulisurvived a late surge from his rivals towin the men's 10km swimming marathonon Friday and become the first person tohold Olympic titles in both pool and openwater races. Mellouli broke clear at thestart of the last lap and clung on in thefinal stages to hold off Germany's ThomasLurz and Richard Weinberger of Canada.The Tunisian, who also came third in the1500m freestyle on Sunday, finished3.4sec ahead of Lurz in a superb time of1hr 49min 55.1sec at a sun-soaked HydePark. World champion Spyridon Giannio-tis of Greece finished just outside themedals in fourth place, with GreatBritain's Daniel Fogg fifth. Mellouli's vic-tory represented yet another milestonefor the pioneering 28-year-old. In 2008 inBeijing, three months after returningfrom an 18-month doping ban, he becamethe first African man to win an Olympicgold swimming medal when he toppedthe podium in the 1500m freestyle. He isthe second man to have tasted victory inthe Olympic open water swimmingmarathon, after Dutchman Maarten vander Weijden won the inaugural event inBeijing four years ago. Mellouli also col-lected a bronze in the 1500m at theseGames last weekend. afP

london: Britain's Alex danson (r) celebrates with teammates after scoring during the women's field

hockey bronze medal match between new zealand at the riverbank Arena. Britain won 3-1. AFP

Rio out to win hearts asLondon Games close

rio 2016 chief defends'havelange' stadiumLoNDoN: Rio 2016 chief executive Leonardo Gryner in-sisted Friday that holding the Olympic athletics competi-tion in a stadium named for bribe-tainted Joao Havelangewouldn't be a black eye for the Games. "I don't think thenaming of a stadium after Joao Havelange will be a badthing for the Games in Rio," said Gryner as he had to fieldseveral questions on the issue at a press conference to dis-cuss Rio's plans for its role in the London Olympics clos-

ing ceremony on Sunday. "Whatever he did wrong, hewas punished by the justice and did his penalty."

Gryner also noted that it wasn't up to Rio or-ganizers to name the stadium, which wasnamed by the city for the former FIFApresident who was found by a Swiss courtto have pocketed at least 1.5m Swiss

francs (£986,000) in bribes.Havelange, who was instrumental inbringing the Olympics to Rio de Janeiroand to South America for the first time,remains "a great legend" in Braziliansports, said Gryner.

Prior to becoming the powerful head of worldfootball's governing body and eventually anInternational Olympic Committee member,

Havelange competed at two Olympic Games, in1936 as a swimmer and in 1952 in water polo. Like

the late duo of Juan Antonio Samaranch in the IOCand Italian Primo Nebiolo in athletics he is credited withmodernising and commercialising sports in the 20th cen-tury. When first questioned on the stadium name topic,Gryner tried to sidestep the question by saing only: "Weare very proud of all our sportsmen," finally adding: "Ithink I've said before that we are very proud of what Mr.Havelange has done for sports worldwide. For what he didwrong, he was punished."afP


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Sports 17


coe says no drugs

concerns over Bolt

and jamaicansLONDON

afP

London Olympics chief organ-iser Sebastian Coe said Fridayhe was satisfied that doublesprint champion Usain Bolt andhis Jamaican team-mates werebeing properly drug-tested out-side of races.Coe was dragged into the rowthat erupted after Bolt said fol-lowing his 200m victory onThursday he had lost all respectfor Carl Lewis because the USsprint legend has doubted thetoughness of Jamaica's drug-testing procedures."I haven't heard those remarksbut my admiration for both CarlLewis and Usain Bolt is undi-minished," said Coe, who hasadmitted he wants to becomepresident of the athletics worldgoverning body IAAF in the nextfew years. Coe said he had "noreason to believe" that Jamaicanathletes were not being testedout of competition -- the sort oftests that are considered essen-tial in the fight to detect sys-tematic doping."I have no reason to believe thatthey are not testing out of com-petition. I think the IAAF... (inour) domestic and internationaltesting arrangements have beenvery comfortable about how Ja-maica and the Jamaican trackand field federations are up-holding those values and proto-cols," Coe said. In his post-racepress conference after becomingthe first athlete in history to re-tain both Olympic sprint titles,Bolt said he had "no respect" forLewis, who won nine Olympicgolds spanning four Games inhis career."The things he says about thetrack athletes is really down-grading for another athlete tobe saying something like thatabout other athletes," the 25-year-old Jamaican said."I think he's just looking for at-tention really because nobodyreally talks about him," saidBolt. Lewis made his commentsabout Bolt after the Jamaicanachieved the 100m-200m dou-ble at the 2008 BeijingOlympics. "No one is accusinganyone," the American said."I'm not saying they've doneanything for certain... I don'tknow. But how dare anybodyfeel that there shouldn't bescrutiny, especially in oursport?" The American visitedthe London Games, but said hewas more interested in watchingminor sports such as BMX rac-ing than the athletics.

ehsan joins PcB as

director Security,

VigilanceLAHORE

Staff rePort

ehsan Sadiq, a PSP officer has joinedPCB as Director Security and Vigilance.He has replaced Tariq Parvez who re-signed from the post in May last.Before Joining PCB, ehsan Sadiq hasworked as Director General NationalCounter Terrorism Authority (NACTA)and DG Security in Islamabad Police. Hehas also worked in various staff & com-mand positions in different provinces.He has also served with the United Na-tions and Asian Development Bank.

india veteran laxman

gets test lifelineNEW DELHI

afP

Veteran Venkatsai Laxman was given achance to extend his international career afterbeing named Friday in India's squad for twohome Tests against New Zealand. The stylishmiddle-order batsman, 37, had been underpressure to retain his place after a dismal per-formance in India's last Test series in Aus-tralia early this year. Laxman managed just155 runs with one half-century in eight in-nings in the series, averaging 19.37 which wasmuch below his overall average of 45.97 in134 matches. He has so far scored 8,781 Testruns with 17 centuries. The national selectorsopted for experience at the start of a newhome season which will also feature fourTests each against england and Australia. Theseries against New Zealand will be India's firstsince the retirement of accomplished top-order batsman Rahul Dravid earlier this year.

india pick Yuvraj for World Twenty20NEW DELHI

afP

India on Friday selected Yuvraj Singh for theWorld Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, four monthsafter he was treated for a rare form of lungcancer. The 30-year-old left-hander, one ofthe most flamboyant batsmen in worldcricket and man of the tournament in India'sWorld Cup triumph last year, was named ina 15-man squad for the 12-nation tourna-ment which begins next month. Yuvraj, whocompleted chemotherapy in the UnitedStates in April to treat a germ-cell tumourbetween his lungs, has not played competi-tive cricket since two home Tests against theWest Indies last November. He only recently

began light training at the National CricketAcademy in Bangalore. "It is good to see Yu-vraj back. He is fit and has fought his wayback," chairman of selectors Krishna-machari Srikkanth told reporters in Mum-bai. "He has been one of the most importantmembers of the Indian team. With this com-bination, we have a great chance to win theWorld Twenty20." A delighted Yuvrajtweeted that it seemed he was making hisdebut all over again. "Can't explain how Ifeel!" Yuvraj wrote. "Feels like I'm going toplay for India for the first time. Its a specialday for me. "When I was diagnosed withcancer I always thought in my heart that oneday I will come back and play for India. Sohere I am ready to represent my country

once again."Its a huge honour. I can't wait tostep on the field and wave the Indian flag!"Yuvraj was a key figure in India's 50-overWorld Cup triumph last year, scoring 362runs and taking 15 wickets in nine matchesto be named man of the tournament. Herose to fame when he smashed england'sfast bowler Stuart Broad for six sixes in oneover during the inaugural World Twenty20in South Africa in 2007, which India wenton to win. India failed to reach the semi-fi-nals in the next two editions in 2009 in eng-land and 2010 in the West Indies. Thesquad, announced in a media release by theBoard of Control for Cricket in India, also in-cludes seasoned off-spinner HarbhajanSingh and seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji.

Bolt, Rudisha: twolegends in London

LONDONGianni merlo

THe London Olympics willgo down as the Gamesthat created two legends.The first to claim legendstatus was the Masai war-

rior David Rudisha. elegant, regal, andkind, Rudisha ran the 800 meters, set-ting a world record of 1'40 "91 in frontof Lord Coe, who is an expert in thisspecialty.

The other is the sympathetic actorUsain Bolt who gave us a great showdespite the fatigue. No one has ever hitthe 100-200 double in two successiveOlympic Games, not even Carl Lewis.

In the curve "The Cannibal" wassimply awesome, then his reserve tankof gasoline came into play giving himthe extra boost to nail the race and givehis friend, fellow athlete and country-man “The Big Cat” Yohan Blake a les-son. Nobody could expect that fellowJamaican Warren Weir would com-plete the trifecta, an astonishing resultas the three are all coached by the sameman, Glen Mills. The United States wasleft behind in Jamaican dust, theirfaces turning white.

Bolt led the race from the outset atworld record pace, exactly as Rudishawas in the lead from the very firstmetre. These two great championshave much in common: Fairness –They are both very correct, polite andrespectful of opponents and the publicand have never displayed arrogance.Height – Both are taller than their op-ponents and have developed softstrides, beautiful to behold.

400m – Bolt and Rudisha ran the400m when young although neitherwants to revisit the distance. Bolt willnot hear of going for the 400m andRudisha doesn’t want to hear about isa serious contender for the 1500m.Leaders - They do not need special in-

centives to express themselves on thetrack. They always do everything bythemselves. Rudisha does not needpacemakers nor rabbit and this is a rar-ity today. Differences - Bolt is exuber-ant and loves to be among the people

whose attention and passion feed himto greatness. Rudisha is a Masai war-rior and must maintain a level of dig-nity and formality that goes with hisstatus. He expresses his joy with agleam in his eyes.

LONDONafP

Jamaica's sprint kings will enter thehome stretch of their golden Olympiccampaign on Friday after Usain Bolt'shistoric defence of his 100m and 200mcrowns. A day after Bolt sprinted intothe pantheon of Olympic legends bybecoming the first man to win back-to-back 100m and 200m titles at consec-utive Games, Jamaica's men return tothe track for the 4x100 relay.

Bolt, who led a Jamaican 1-2-3 inThursday's 200m final, may be restedfor the opening round of the relay, al-though the Caribbean islanders shouldqualify for the final with ease given

their awesome strength in depth.Jamaica are bidding to retain the

relay crown which they won in Beijing,and only a disaster is likely to deny Boltthe sixth gold medal of his career as theOlympics head into their final week-end. Jamaica's women's 4x100m relaysquad meanwhile are also determinedto atone for their disastrous perform-ance in the 2008 final, where a bungledchangeover almost certainly cost thema gold medal. The Jamaican quartet --anchored by 100m winner Shelly-AnnFraser-Pryce -- qualified fourth fastestfor the final, where they will battlepowerful teams from the United Statesand Russia.

In other athletics action on Friday,

the United States one-lap specialistswill aim to extend their astoundingrecord in the 4x400m relay, where theyremain unbeaten on the track since1984.

Other medals to be decided in theOlympic Stadium on Friday include thewomen's 5,000m final, whereethiopian distance legend TiruneshDibaba seeks to defend her crown, andthe men's pole-vault, where reigningchampion Steve Hooker of Australia isfavourite.

"It's going to be a cracking final,"said Hooker. "everybody is in it to winit. There's still a bit to do, but I'm hereto see what happens. My training hasbeen good, my body feels fantastic."

Jamaica eye sprintdominance after Bolt heroics


PUnjaB yoUth FeStival 2012

icc Under-19 World cUP BeGinS today

Sports 18


rAnk country g S B totAl

1 uSA 40 25 26 91

2 chinA 37 25 19 81

3 BritAin 25 15 16 56

4 ruSSiA 14 21 25 60

5 South koreA 12 7 6 25

6 germAny 10 17 11 38

7 frAnce 8 9 12 29

8 hungAry 8 4 3 15

9 AuStrAliA 7 14 10 31

10 itAly 7 6 7 20

11 kAzAkhStAn 6 0 3 9

12 jAPAn 5 14 16 35

13 netherlAndS 5 5 8 18

14 irAn 4 5 1 10

15 new zeAlAnd 4 3 5 12

16 north koreA 4 0 2 6

17 BelAruS 3 3 4 10

18 cuBA 3 3 3 9

18 jAmAicA 3 3 3 9

20 ukrAine 3 1 6 10

21 South AfricA 3 1 1 5

22 ethioPiA 3 0 3 6

23 SPAin 2 7 3 12

24 romAniA 2 5 2 9

25 denmArk 2 4 3 9

toP 25 meDal CoUntrieS laSt UPDate at 1:00 am

meDalS taBle

russia maintain

synchro stranglehold

with team gold

LoNDoN: Hot favourites Russia wonsynchronised swimming team gold on Fri-day to maintain their total domination ofthe sport stretching back to the SydneyGames in 2000. The Russians, with atotal score of 197.030, were completingtheir fourth consecutive Games cleansweep after lifting the duet title on Tues-day. China, third in the duet, took second,with Spain the bronze medal. russia's tri-

umphant team comprised Anastasia davydova, winning

her fifth olympic gold, maria gromova, natalia ishchenko,

elvira khasyanova, daria korobova, Alexandra Patskevich,

Svetlina romashina and Anzhelika timanina. afP

japanese boxer bids to

end 48-year droughtLoNDoN: Japanese middleweightRyota Murata said he is determined towin his country's first Olympic boxinggold since 1964 after squeaking intothe final on Friday.The 26-year-oldhad to dig deep and win the finalround 8-4 to seal a narrow 13-12 winover Uzbekistan's Abbos Atoev at Lon-don's exCel Arena, setting up Satur-day's gold-medal bout against Brazil'sesquiva Falcao. afP

LAHOREStaff rePort

PAKISTAN starts its ICCUnder-19 World Cupagainst Afghanistan todayand captain Babar Azamagreed that his side was

one of the title contenders but empha-sised that his lads will have to quicklyadapt to the Australian conditions andperform consistently. “I think we are oneof the tournament favourites as we batdeep, have a couple of good all-roundersand also possess a few quality fast bowlersand spinners in the side.

“Moreover, our recent performance atinternational level is encouraging so Ithink our team could be termed asfavourite alongside some other teams.However, it will all depend on howquickly we adjust to the conditions inAustralia. We all know that pitches andoutfields in Australia are very hard andthere is extra bounce on the pitches.”

Meanwhile, most of what he knowsabout cricket Usman Qadir absorbedfrom his famous father. He picked hisbrain and copied his extravagant ac-tion, but also knew what a giant step itwould take to actually be like him,

writes a website.Of the 240 players from 16 countries

who will compete in the under-19 WorldCup in Queensland, from today, none ismore aware than the son of the great Pak-istan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir of the hugegap between this gathering of the bestyoung cricketers in the world and the realworld of international cricket. When yourfather is a magician, it's impossible tothink you have made it.

''He is my hero, too. I am trying tocopy him, but I can't do it because he is alegend. But still I try my level best,'' saidQadir, a budding leg-spinner in his fa-ther's image who has spent many hoursglued to videos of his bowling.

''The other guys, when they are start-ing cricket, they watch my father, ShaneWarne, Anil Kumble, all the leg-spinnerlegends in the world, watching videos, butmy idol is my father. He spend a lot oftime with me, teaching more deliveries.''

It was, he said, ''a very awesomething'' to play against Australia in thefinal of the previous youth World Cupin 2009-10, even if he felt like cryingwhen the Australians lifted the trophyat the end of it.

Of the 11 Australians who played inthat final, two (Josh Hazlewood and

Mitchell Marsh, another with strongcricket bloodlines) have graduated tolimited-overs internationals and all buttwo have reached first-class level. Ofthose who will defend the title over thenext three weeks, two (South Australia'sTravis Head and New South Wales bats-man Kurtis Patterson) have alreadymade an impression on the SheffieldShield scene. In a sign of the differentpaths open to this generation, a handful,including all-rounder Meyrick Buchananand fast bowler Gurinder Sandhu haveBig Bash contracts.

Australia begins its title defenceagainst england in Townsville today whilePakistan, also among the favourites, facesneighbouring Afghanistan (coached byformer Australian fast bowler Geoff Law-son) in Buderim.

Qadir learnt something aboutcricket, Australian style, from his father'srecollections of his fabled season withCarlton Cricket Club, the stuff of legendon the Melbourne district scene. ''Hetook a lot of wickets and break the record[for Carlton],'' said Qadir, who was athome in Lahore, aged four, when his fa-ther bewitched 72 batsmen and won theRyder Medal for the 1998-99 season. ''Hetold me when you are playing over there,

play positive. Stop the runs, then thebatsmen are giving you the wickets.'' Helearnt more still from playing a warm-upseries on the Gold Coast last weekagainst the Australians, who evidentlystart their sledging young. ''I havefriends in the Australian team,'' he said.''They are very nice guys. When they aregiving abuse, after the game they apolo-gise. I said it's OK, no problem.''

Though he can't yet boast a selectionof googlies as lethal as his father's, Qadirsays he has a big enough bag of tricks. ''Ibowl three deliveries, leg-break, googly,flipper. It depends what the batsman isdoing; if they are trying to hit every ballthen I try my trump card to get thewicket.''

Like his father, he intends to play clubcricket in Australia and is making plans tohead to Adelaide after the tournament.

For all the under-19 graduates whohave shone at international level, heknows there are years of hard work ahead,and plenty who will slip from the radar al-together. But Qadir hopes he will see hisopponents again on the big stage. ''Inshal-lah, a lot of players in this World Cupfrom Australia, england, India, Pakistan,after one, one-and-a-half years, they willplay in the national teams,'' he said.

Pakistan youngsters need toperform consistently: Azam

Strombergs defends

men's BmX titleLoNDoN:MarisStrombergs ofLatvia success-fully defended hisOlympic men'sBMX title hereon Friday. Aus-tralian SamWilloughby fin-ished second forthe silver withCarlos Oquendoof Colombia tak-

ing the bronze. Strombergs claimed themaiden Olympic men's BMX gold whenthe sport made its debut in Beijing fuoryears ago. And despite coming up against ahandful of younger riders who had showntheir mettle in the unforgiving quarter-fi-nals and semi-final races, the Latvianstepped up when it mattered most. He shotoff the eight-metre high ramp and hadquickly built a slight lead on the rest of theeight-man field. afP

LAHORE Staff rePort

All the players and teams of Punjabwho won different inter-provincialtitles over the last one year or sohave been asked to prepare for par-ticipation in the upcoming PunjabYouth Festival 2012, which beginsright after eid. The Sports BoardPunjab on Friday reviewed the per-formance of the provincial athletesand the tournaments conducted bythe board following the PakistanSports Board chart of events.

The SBP wants its players to winmaximum events of the Festival forthe province as their performancewas found to be satisfactory. ThePunjab team clinched five titles, re-mained runners-up in one event and

was third in one out of a total 13inter-provincial tournaments plannedby the Pakistan Sports Board fromwhich six were not held. The eventswhich were not conducted were eitherpostponed due to the non-participa-tion of other provincial teams or can-celled due to the security reasons.

The SBP held trials and eventsamong under-16 girls and under-14boys at tehsil, district and divisionallevels to select players for camptraining for preparation of the play-ers for participation in these events.As Punjab Sports Board follows theevents calendar of the PSB all theprovincial activities were conductedprior to the PSB events.

Punjab participated in all theevents organized by the PSB afterproper selection tournaments at

tehsil, district and divisional levels.The Punjab girls won the table tennisand judo titles and were runners-upin badminton while athletics, taek-wondo and swimming were can-celled. As of the Punjab boys, theywon volleyball, table tennis andswimming titles and were placedthird in badminton while athletics,karate and football were not con-ducted. Later all the Punjab playerswho won for the province were givenreception on their return after win-ning their respective events.

The Punjab girls and boys teamsparticipated in all the provincialevents apart from the mega event,Punjab Sports Festival 2012, con-ducted by the SBP in which apartfrom general public all the provincialplayers also participated.

Punjab players asked to start training



19

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

ISLAMABADSHaiQ HUSSain

expressing profound concernover the repeated terroristattacks from Afghanistan onPakistani border posts, thetop military brass on Fridayresolved to protect thecountry’s sovereignty at allcosts and take all possiblesteps to prevent suchassaults in which severalsoldiers have been killed andinjured so far.With army chief GeneralAshfaq Kayani in the chair,the top army brass helddetailed discussions onrecent cross-border attacksby Afghanistan basedPakistani Taliban on thecountry’s border posts duringthe Corps Commanders’meeting held at GeneralHeadquarters (GHQ)Rawalpindi, according toofficials privy to top levelmilitary consultations onvarious important matterspertaining to security and defense.The military commandersvowed that all steps would betaken to prevent militantattacks on the border posts inDir, Chitral and Bajaur Agencyand eliminate the miscreants.The meeting was told thatISI chief General ZaheerulIslam, who recently visitedWashington and met his CIAcounterpart David Petraeusand other senior Americanofficials, shared with them“concrete evidence” aboutthe hideouts of terroristsinvolved in attacks on

Pakistani border posts aswell as supply of arms andammunition to them on theother side of the Afghanborder, officials said.An official seekinganonymity said GeneralZaheer had demanded of USan immediate and effectiveaction against militanthideouts in Kunar andNuristan provinces ofAfghanistan.“The military leadership whileexpressing deep concern overthe repeated attacks byMaulvi Fazlullah-led PakistaniTaliban, also known as theSwat Taliban, on Pakistaniposts observed that Pakistanhas the right to go for ‘hotpursuit’ of these militants ifassaults continued. However,it was hoped that the situationwould not get that muchworsened and all necessarysteps would be taken on thepart of NATO and Afghanauthorities to eliminate thehideouts of these terrorists,”he said. Maulvi Fazlullah,head of the Swat Taliban, anddozens of his followers hadcrossed over to Afghanistanand reportedly taken refuge inKunar and Nuristan provincesafter they suffered defeat atthe hands of Pakistan Army inSwat a couple of years ago.Another official said,requesting not to be named,that the recent visit of the ISIdirector general to the USwas also deliberated upon atlength in the CorpsCommanders’ meeting.

LAHOREStaff rePort

A group of about 250 Hinduswere on Friday allowed to crossover to India for a pilgrimageafter being detained at theWagha border crossing due to acontroversy over reports thatthey planned to migrate to theneighbouring country due to anincrease in violence against theminority community in Sindhand Balochistan.

The Hindus protested at theWagah border after they weredetained for almost seven hours.Immigration authorities finallyallowed them to cross the fron-tier at about 2.30pm.

“We were given the go-aheadfrom the interior minister toallow about 250 Hindus to travelto India. They all have validtravel documents,” a senior offi-cial of the Federal InvestigationAgency said. “The Hindus have33-day visas for different Indiancities. We stopped them tem-porarily after media reports saidthey would not return because of

some problems they were facinghere,” the official said, addingthat a special FIA team had beenassigned to interview the Hin-dus. He said that the Hindus dis-missed media reports aboutthem and assured them that theywould not speak against Pakistanin India. He added that the FIAhad not sought any sort of under-taking from the Hindus. “Theypromised not to defame Pak-istan,” he said.

Though the Hindus gatheredat the border crossing at 8am,only two doctors and their fami-lies were initially allowed to crossto India. Both doctors had “no-objection certificates” and author-ities had earlier said they wouldonly allow people with NOCs tocross the border. Minister for In-terior Rehman Malik said Hindufamilies having complete traveldocuments and valid visa were al-lowed to proceed to India.

While chairing a meeting toreview migration of Hindu fami-lies from Jacobabad to India, theminister said a group represent-ing all Hindu citizens had as-

sured the government that theHindu families were going toIndia to visit religious sites.

“They will come back andwould not apply for political asy-lum in India,” Malik said, addingthat the government would pro-vide complete security to minori-ties and the agents involved inproviding political asylum to mi-norities would be taken to taskper the law of the land. He soughtreport on the issue from the FIADG at the earliest. Meanwhile inIslamabad, President Asif Zardaritook serious notice of the reportsregarding insecurity among theminority Hindus and directed theauthorities concerned to allaytheir grievances and submit a re-port to him. Spokesperson to thePresident Senator FarhatullahBabar said that President Zardarihad also constituted a three-member committee of parlia-mentarians comprising SenatorHari Ram, MNA Lal Chand andFederal Minister Moula BakhshChandio to visit different parts ofSindh to express solidarity withthe Hindus.

PAC chief warns of

reference against

SC registrarISLAMABAD

online

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chair-man Nadeem Afzal Chan on Friday warnedthat a reference would be sent against theSupreme Court’s registrar in parliament ifhe failed to appear before the committee.Talking to reporters outside the ParliamentHouse, Chan recalled that Justice KhalilurRehman had ruled in Para 93 of the PLD2010 that not everyone was a judge and thatregistrar was an assistant and helper.“Judges’ conduct cannot be debated,” he ad-mitted, but added that financial matters ofthe Supreme Court could come under dis-cussion. If a president and prime ministercould face financial accountability, theSupreme Court’s registrar was not above thelaw, he added. Chan said he had also soughtthe Law Ministry’s opinion in this regard.

hindu pilgrims allowed travel toindia on assurance they will returng Zardari forms three-member committee to allay minority community’s concerns

Army vows to upholdsovereigntyat all costs g All steps to be taken to prevent militant

attacks on border posts in dir, chitral, Bajaur


waGHa: Pakistani Hindu pilgrims cross the wagha

border checkpoint into india on friday. AFP


E-paper Pkistantoday 11th August, 2012

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