Monday, May 13, 2013 B
World
Promises on priority: Party says it wants Pakistan to be secure
PML-N swears by anti-terror policy
ISLAMABAD, PTI: The Pak-
istan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N), which is set to
form the next government
in Pakistan, will frame a na-
tional policy to counter ter-
rorism after consulting all
political parties and stake-
holders, a close associate of
party chief Nawaz Sharif
said on Sunday.
“We have to make Pakistan
a secure nation. This is the
duty of the government and of
all state institutions. A national
policy will be made on (terror-
ism) after consultations with
all parties and stakeholders,”
said Pervaiz Rashid, a member
of the Senate, or the upper
house of parliament.
“The PML-N will implement
this national policy,” he told re-
porters after a meeting of the
PML-N’s leadership in Lahore.
Rashid said it was “too early”
to talk about the PML-N form-
ing a coalition at the centre.
“Let the final results come
in. After that, we will work with
every political party, whatever
their number of seats (in par-
liament), to solve Pakistan’s
problems.”
“Let the final results come
in. Once the results are final,
the government will automat-
ically be formed,” Rashid said.
Analysts said that the PML-
N was expected to form the
government at the centre with
the support of independents
and smaller rightist parties like
the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, set-
ting the stage for a third stint
as premier for Nawaz Sharif.
Rashid said the PML-N was
prepared for talks with other
parties on all issues confronting
Pakistan. “We were in contact
with these political parties ear-
lier and these contacts will con-
tinue,” he said. The PML-N re-
spects the mandate of all parties
elected to the parliament and
will accept whatever role they
want to play in national politics,
he said. The PML-N is ready to
take all elected political parties
on board to transform Pakistan
into a developed country, he
added.
US town has
4-year-old
as a mayor
NEW YORK: A four-year-old
US boy, who hasn’t even
passed kindergarten yet, is
calling the shots as mayor in a
small town in Minnesota.
Robert Tufts was selected
mayor last year of Dorset, a
town in Minnesota, which has
a population of a mere 22
people.
Residents say that Tufts is a
“ball of fire”, and while the kid
may not have the academic
credentials for the job, they
claim he’s got the chops – and
the mouth – to run the town,
reported New York Daily
News.
“He’s amazing. He’s just
completely amazing,” said
Kathy Schmidt, whose family
has lived in the area for four
generations.
“He’s right in your face and
well-spoken. You can’t imagine
what a ball of fire he is,” said
Schmidt.
According to a radio station,
the mayor can sing and dance
with the best of them, he
guides his citizens safely across
the street, big stick in hand.
He is also an expert fisher-
man, and knows how to dole
out advice about the best bait
to use.
Tufts was chosen as the
mayor at last year’s “Taste of
Dorset” festival. The small
town selects its leader through
a draw during the popular
event.
Campaigns don’t cost much
in Dorset – just $1 will get your
name in the hat. You don’t
even have to live there.
At one point, a five-year-old
from Chicago was running the
town.
Dorset became a dot on the
map nearly a century ago,
sprouting up around a railroad
that passed through the area.
The community allegedly
lost its town status years ago
“when they took away the zip
code,” said Schmidt.
Decisions about Dorset are
made by the businesses that
operate there – meaning that
the mayor does not have too
many responsibilities, said the
report.
Dorset describes itself the
“Restaurant Capital of the
World” because it has the most
restaurants per capita.
PTI
IN NAWAZ’S NAME: Supporters of former Pakistani prime minister and head of the Pakistan
Muslim League-N Nawaz Sharif celebrate the party’s victory a day after landmark general
elections, in Lahore on on Sunday. AFP
The ‘Lion of Punjab’ has a lot to live up to
ISLAMABAD, PTI: Nawaz
Sharif, called the “Lion of Pun-
jab” who has promised to
restart peace process with India
and is set to be elected for a third
stint as Prime Minister, is seen
as someone who can fix Pak-
istan’s bleeding economy but is
considered soft on the Taliban.
A steel tycoon-turned-politi-
Pope Francis declares 800 Israel looks to stop
Italian martyrs saints Russia from selling
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis
on Sunday proclaimed as saints
some 800 Italians killed in the
15th century for refusing to
convert to Islam, and said
many Christians were still be-
ing persecuted for their faith.
He made his first appeal as
pope against abortion, saying
life must be “respected from
the moment of conception”
and throwing his support be-
hind an Italian group pro-
moting legal protection for
embryos.
The Vatican seemed at pains
not to allow the first canonisa-
tions of Francis’ two-month-old
papacy to be interpreted as
anti-Islamic, saying the deaths
of the ‘Otranto Marytrs’ must
be understood in their histori-
cal context.
The Italians were killed in
1480 during the siege of Otran-
to, on the southeastern Adri-
atic, by Ottoman Turks who
sacked the city, killed its arch-
bishop and told the citizens to
surrender and convert. When
they refused, the Ottoman
commanding officer ordered
the execution of all men aged
15 or older, most by beheading.
“While we venerate the
Vox populi
Britons want queen to step down if she is too ill
Queen Elizabeth II
cian, Sharif has made an as-
tounding comeback after being
toppled in a 1999 coup, jailed
and exiled for seven years.
While votes from Saturday’s
elections were still being count-
ed on Sunday, he declared vic-
tory at the Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz headquarters.
He managed to navigate
LAUDED LADY A church is decorated with a poster of Mother
Laura Montoya at her hometown in Colombia on Sunday as
Pope Francis beatified her at a ceremony in Rome. AP
Otranto Martyrs, we ask God
to sustain the many Christians
who, today, in many parts of
the world still suffer violence,
and give them the courage to
be faithful and to respond to
evil with good,” Francis said be-
fore more than 70,000 people
in St Peter’s Square.
He did not mention any
countries, but the Vatican has
expressed deep concern re-
cently about the fate of Chris-
LONDON: Queen Elizabeth II
should step down from the
British throne and allow her
son Price Charles to become
king if ill-health prevents her
from performing her public
duties, a survey has revealed.
While a majority 53 per
cent of voters still believe the
87-year-old monarch should
rule for life, only a minority of
43 per cent said she should
continue even if she was too ill
to continue.
The gueen has been ruling
since 1952.
Significantly, a solid 48 per
cent believed she should stand
down in those circumstances
and allow the throne to pass to
her heirs, The Sunday Times
survey conducted by YouGov
this week found.
The latest figures mark a
cricketer-turned-politician Im-
ran Khan’s “tsunami” as his
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had
a projected win of only 34 seats.
The 63-year-old has prom-
ised to transform the country’s
economy, end graft in state-
owned enterprises, build a mo-
torway from Lahore to Karachi
and launch a bullet train.
tians in parts of the West Asia,
including Coptic Christians
who have been caught up in
sectarian strife in Egypt.
A booklet handed out to par-
ticipants said the “sacrifice” of
the Otranto Martyrs “must be
placed within the historical
context of the wars that deter-
mined relations between Eu-
rope and the Ottoman Empire
for a long period of time”.
Reuters
turnaround from March when
51 per cent thought she should
carry on even if she were ill
and other members of the roy-
al family had to take over
many of her duties.
The poll comes in the wake
of an announcement earlier
this week that the Queen’s son
and heir, Prince Charles, will
take her place at this year’s
Commonwealth Heads of
Government meeting in Sri
Lanka – a biennial conference
she has not missed since 1973.
She has also cancelled a few
other official engagements af-
ter being briefly hospitalised
in March for a stomach bug.
Public opinion also seems
to simultaneously indicate a
surge in popularity for Prince
Charles, as 50 per cent of
those polled said he would
Several big-ticket
leaders bite the dust
ISLAMABAD: Many stalwarts
of Pakistani politics, including
former Prime Minister Raja
Pervez Ashraf, bit the dust in
the polls that saw a large num-
ber of people exercising their
vote for a historic democratic
transition.
The biggest upset was of
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
Ashraf, who suffered a humili-
ating defeat in Rawalpindi-II
(National Assembly-51), Geo
News reported.
As per unofficial and initial
results, Pakistan Muslim
League-Nawaz (PML-N) can-
didate Raja Mohammad Javed
Ikhlas won the seat.
Other top leaders of the PPP
also lost their seats. Those who
were defeated included former
information ministers Qamar
Zaman Kaira and Firdous
Ashiq Awan, Punjab president
of PPP Manzoor Ahmad Wat-
too, former Public Account
Committee chairman Nadeem
Afzal Gondal, and Bushra
Aitzaz, wife of Barrister
Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan.
PPP’s central leader and for-
mer federal minister Nazar
Muhammad Gondal and
Tasleem Qureshi were also
among the losers.
Similarly, both of Gilani’s
sons, Ali Musa and Abdul
Qadir, lost in polls from their
Multan constituencies. Abdul
was kidnapped by suspected
Taliban terrorists last week
while he was campaigning.
Sharif’s last term as Prime
Minister ended in 1999 when
then Army Chief Pervez
Musharraf carried out a blood-
less coup.
In a dramatic fall from grace,
Sharif ended up in jail, convict-
ed of hijacking charges for try-
ing to stop a plane carrying
Musharraf from landing.
missiles to Syria
JERUSALEM: Israeli Premier
Benjamin Netanyahu is “fully
determined” to try to halt
sales by Russia of advanced
missiles to Syria when he vis-
its Moscow for talks with
President Vladimir Putin, a
minister said on Sunday.
A reported Russian plan to
sell Damascus S-300 missile
batteries “worries us at the
highest level and the prime
minister is fully determined
that this contract should not
be fulfilled,” Energy and Wa-
ter Minister Silvan Shalom, a
member of the security cabi-
net, told public radio.
“Such a sale to Syria would
alter the balance of forces in
the region and these weapons
could fall into the hands of
Hezbollah,” the Lebanese
militia ally of Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad and Israel’s
arch-foe Iran, Shalom said.
Should Syria obtain the ul-
tra-modern Russian weapons,
which can destroy aircraft or
guided missiles, “action by
countries seeking change in
Syria would become much
more difficult,” he added.
make a good king – a 13 per
cent increase since May last
year. Only 23 per cent still
have doubts about his abilities,
considerably lower than 37
per cent last year.
However, there still seems
to be very little support for his
wife Camilla, the Duchess of
Cornwall.
Only 16 per cent believe she
should become Queen, 46 per
cent prefer the title of Princess
Consort and 11 per cent be-
lieve she should have no title
at all.
The younger generation of
royals remain largely popular,
with 85 per cent saying Prince
William – the second in line to
the throne – makes a positive
contribution to the royal fami-
ly.
His wife Kate, the Duchess
Former Pakistan PM Raja
Parvez Ashraf and cricketer-
turned-politico Imran Khan
In a shocking result, Awami
National Party (ANP) chief As-
fandyar Wali Khan suffered an
upset defeat in Charsadda’s
NA-7 constituency at the hands
of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl
candidate Maulana M Gohar
Shah, who won with 53,492
votes. Chaudhry Anwar Ali
Cheema, a veteran politician
who has been winning elec-
tions since 1985, ran out of luck
this time. Contesting on a
PML-Q ticket, Cheema lost the
2013 election to PML-N candi-
date Zulfikar Ali Bhatti.
Cricketer-turned-politician
Imran Khan, in a setback, lost
from a Lahore constituency
against PML-N candidate Sar-
dar Ayaz Sadiq. Khan’s loss in
Lahore was seen as a major up-
set and a psychological defeat
for the party.
However, the Pakistan
Tehrik-e-Insaf chief won from
Mianwali in Punjab province,
Peshawar and Rawalpindi.
PTI
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
US hails results
US President Barack Oba-
ma has congratulated Pak-
istan on completion of
polls, and said his adminis-
tration is ready to work “as
equal partners” with the
new government, reports
PTI from Washington.
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Russian and Israeli officials
have said the two leaders are
to meet shortly, with Russia’s
Interfax news agency quoting
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry
Peskov as saying the visit was
being planned for next week.
“Netanyahu and Putin will
discuss the Russian arms
sales to Syria, in particular the
sale of advanced S-300 anti-
aircraft missile systems,” Is-
rael’s Haaretz newspaper re-
ported on Friday, adding that
the Israeli premier would also
seek to raise the Iranian nu-
clear issue.
Israel twice last week car-
ried out air strikes near Dam-
ascus, attacks a senior Israeli
source said were aimed at pre-
venting the transfer of sophis-
ticated weapons to Hezbollah.
US Secretary of State John
Kerry has warned that the
sale of S300s to Damascus
would be “potentially desta-
bilising” for the region.
Russia however refuses to
rule it out however, saying
that it has to honour existing
contracts.
AFP
of Cambridge, was also rated a
high 79 per cent in terms of
her contribution since the roy-
al wedding while colourful
younger brother Prince Harry
managed a decent 72 per cent.
YouGov questioned 1,945
adults on May 9 and 10 for its
latest sample survey.
PTI
MARVIN
IT plans to earn more
with fewer techies. P14
World at a glance
9 arrested over attacks in
Turkey near Syria border
»
Authorities detained
nine Turkish citizens
believed to have links to the
Syrian intelligence agency
in connection with two car
bombs that left 46 people
dead in a Turkish border
town, officials said on Sun-
day, as Syria rejected allega-
tions the country was be-
hind the attack, reports AP
from Ankara.
The bombings marked
the biggest incident of
cross-border violence since
the start of Syria’s bloody
civil war and have raised
fear of Turkey being pulled
In this May 1, 2013, photo, client Danny Thomas, left, hugs
Anthony Cymerysin Hartford, Connecticut, United States.
For 20 years, Cymerys has cut hair for the fee of a hug. AP
Bangladesh toll nears 1,200
»
More than two weeks
after an eight-storey
building collapsed in the
Bangladesh capital, the
death toll approached 1,200
Sunday, said officials, re-
ports agencies from Dhaka.
Tarekul Alam of the Dha-
ka district administration’s
control room told Xinhua
that the confirmed death
toll stood at 1,126 at 3 pm.
The control room was set
up near the building site at
Savar on the outskirts of
Dhaka to coordinate rescue
operations. He said 63
Indian killed in Malaysia
» An ethnic Indian was
killed by unidentified as-
sailants on Saturday night
in Malaysia’s Kedah state,
PTI reports from Kuala
Lumpur.
Kulim district police
chief, Supt. Ghuzlan Salleh
said the victim, identified as
K Thangaraja, 31, was driv-
ing his car on Saturday
night, when two men, be-
lieved to be armed with a
Singer Britney Spears attends 102.7 KIIS FM's Wango
Tango 2013 held at The Home Depot Center on Saturday
in Carson, California, United States. AFP
Israel PM rapped for bed
»
Officials close to Israel’s
prime minister says he
will use alternate sleeping
arrangements when travel-
ing after receiving a sky-
high bill for installing a cus-
tomised bed on a recent
flight to London, reports
AP from Jerusalem.
Channel 10 TV said Ne-
tanyahu spent $127,000 of
public funds during a five-
hour flight to attend Mar-
garet Thatcher’s funeral.
® By Tom Armstrong
DECCAN HERALD 13
»
deeper into the conflict.
Harsh accusations from
both sides signaled a sharp
escalation of already high
tensions between the two
former allies. “This incident
was carried out by an or-
ganisation which is in close
contact to pro-regime
groups in Syria and I say
this very clearly, with the
Syrian mukhabarat,” said
Interior Minister Muam-
mer Guler. Among the nine
people detained overnight
was the mastermind of the
attack and more were ex-
pected, Guler said.
corpses were still at a near-
by school ground for identi-
fication. “We are preserving
tissue suitable for DNA tests
of the unidentified bodies,
many of which have also
been buried,” he said. Res-
cuers say the stench of de-
caying bodies was still
strong in the rubble of the
Rana Plaza that crumbled
April 24. Rescuers have
pulled out alive 2,438 peo-
ple, including a female gar-
ment worker named Resh-
mi, a seamstress buried for
16 days in the debris.
pistol, fired several shots at
the victim hitting his face
and right arm. “This caused
the victim to lose control of
the car, which skidded for
about 70m to the left road
shoulder where he died,” he
said. Thangaraja worked as
a shop assistant for a used
goods business. Ethnic Indi-
ans comprises eight per
cent of Malaysia’s 28 million
people.
Netanyahu’s office initially
defended the decision, say-
ing that the prime minister
had a busy schedule ahead
of the flight and needed to
be fresh for important
meetings in Britain. But
following a public uproar,
officials close to Netanyahu
said he had been unaware
of the cost, and once in-
formed, he ordered the
bed be cancelled on all
future flights.