Pakistan lose to Britain 2-3 in Azlan Shah hockey

 

IPOH, Malaysia: Pakistan after recording two successive victories were beaten by Britain 2-3 in the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup men's field hockey here on Sunday.

Britain took the lead when Robert Moore made a goal in the eighth minute but Sohail Abbas leveled the score in the 31st minute before the half-time.

However in the second half, Jonathan Clarke got Britain take lead again netting a goal in the 39th minute and in the 63rd minute he made another goal to strengthen Britain’s position.

Just a minute later, Pakistan reduced the margin as young Abdul Haseem Khan scored goal but then the Green Shirts could not make another goal to equal the score and in the end Britain emerged victorious 3-2.

In another match, Australia were held by India to a 1-1 draw after a hard contest.

For Australia, Jacob Whetton and for India, Rupinderpal Singh made goals as both teams were playing 1-1 draw at the half-time.

Joint ventures to be pursued with Kuwait

President Asif Ali Zardari with the Amir of Kuwait, Sheikh Saba, Al-Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah on his departure after the two days official visit to Kuwait on Sunday. – Photo by APP

KUWAIT: President Asif Ali Zardari and Kuwait Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah agreed on Sunday to set up a high-powered committee, which will meet immediately to identify areas of investment in Pakistan by Kuwaiti entrepreneurs.
The two leaders discussed at length the prospects of enhanced bilateral cooperation in various fields, especially the commercial, manpower and energy sectors, president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar told APP after the talks.
There was unanimity of views on various issues of regional and international importance, as the two sides exchanged views on the challenges faced by the Ummah, particularly the situation in Afghanistan, the Middle East, fight against terrorism and Pakistan’s role for peace and stability in the region.
About the situation in the Middle East, President Zardari said the use of violence and destruction of assets was counter-productive and it was time that individual and collective capabilities were utilised to bring stability and peace to the region.
He apprised the Kuwaiti leader of the many security and economic challenges faced by Pakistan and the impact of last year’s floods on its economy.
He said Pakistan needed the support of its true friends like Kuwait at this critical juncture to deal with the various problems it faced.
The president praised the role of the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development vas-a-vis development projects in Pakistan, including the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project.
He said the Kuwaiti government could help Pakistan by encouraging the fund as well as the Kuwait Investment Authority to finance development projects and invest in various sectors of its economy.
He said the Kuwaiti public and private sectors could take advantage of Pakistan’s investment-friendly policies and invest in various sectors, including agriculture and energy.
President Zardari expressed his gratitude for the people and government of Kuwait for their generous support to Pakistan in difficult times, particularly after the 2005 earthquake and last year’s floods.
He thanked the Kuwaiti amir for hosting and looking after around 150,000 Pakistanis working in various fields and said recruitment of more skilled and semi-skilled Pakistani manpower would help Pakistan overcome unemployment.
He called for easing visa restrictions to resolve the problems faced by Pakistani businessmen, bankers and other professionals in visiting Kuwait.
President Zardari called for increased defence and parliamentary cooperation through bilateral visits.
Praising the role of the Sabah family and the Kuwaiti leadership in strengthening relations with Pakistan and their close association with the Bhutto family, he said that during all the PPP governments there had been a marked upswing in relations between the two countries.
The amir of Kuwait praised Pakistan’s support in efforts to liberate his country following the invasion by Iraq in 1991 and offered his support for increased cooperation between the two countries.
BUSINESSMEN: Talking to a delegation of the Kuwait Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the president promised full protection of foreign investment and invited Kuwaiti businessmen and entrepreneurs to take advantage of Pakistan’s investment-friendly policies.
He said that as Pakistan had steadfastly pursued liberalisation and de-regulation of the economy as well as a privatisation process, there was no upper limit on foreign equity and no restriction on repatriation of capital, profits and dividends.
The president, who arrived here on Saturday for a two-day visit, said that with an attractive package of tax incentives, investment in Pakistan was given comprehensive legal protection.
He said that after a bilateral Agreement on Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investment during the visit of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in February, concerns that a prospective Kuwaiti investor might have about the safety of investment should be put to rest.
He said a number of areas, including energy, downstream oil industry, port development, mining and minerals, corporate agriculture, livestock and dairy development, construction, textiles, banking and financial sectors, offered lucrative opportunities and were open for investment in Pakistan.
The president said that despite a complex regional situation, Pakistan had done remarkably well in the economic field; the stock exchange was thriving, foreign remittances and foreign currency reserves are reaching a record level and exports were expected to touch a new high figure in the current financial year.
He said there remained an untapped potential for a quantum jump in the volume of trade between the two countries.
He said the trade volume in 2009-10 was $2.2 billion, with Pakistan’s exports at merely $87 million against $2.1 billion imports, primarily of
high speed diesel.
The president said Pakistan was universally acknowledged for its basmati rice, textiles and clothing, sports goods, surgical instruments, carpets, marble, tents and many other products and increased buying of these products by Kuwaiti importers could help address to some extent the imbalance in    bilateral trade.
A senior executive of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, Sheikh Talal Al Khalid Al Jabbar Al Sabah, also called on the president.
Bhasha, Tarbela dams
The Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) announced that it would participate in the financing of Bhasha Dam and desilting of Tarbela Dam projects in Pakistan.
The announcement was made by DG Kuwait Fund Abdulwahab Ahmad Al-Bader during his meeting with President Zardari here at Bayan Palace on Sunday after the president invited the Fund to participate in the desilting of Tarbela Dam project, the feasibility of which would be ready by July this year.—APP

PPP, MQM agree to keep LG system in Sindh

The proposal to change the local government system in Sindh was believed to be one of the main differences between the PPP and MQM. – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People`s Party and Muttahida Qaumi Movement have decided to keep the local government (LG) system of Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf in force in Sindh, sources told Dawn on Sunday.

They said that the commissionerate system would not be introduced in Sindh because the two parties had reached a fresh understanding which led the MQM to announce that it would rejoin the federal cabinet.
“It has been decided by the two parties that unlike other provinces the commissionerate system will not be introduced in Sindh,” said MQM leader Zahid Mehmood.
He said his party had been urging the PPP to hold local body elections which were due last year.
President Asif Ali Zardari`s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said: “The PPP had once decided to table the commissionerate system bill in the provincial assembly after the MQM parted ways with the government.”
The proposal to change the local government system in Sindh was believed to be one of the main differences between the PPP and MQM.
Besides replacing the old LG system, the commissionerate system envisaged the division of Karachi into four districts as had been done in Hyderabad, but the MQM has opposed the proposal.
The commissionerate system bill was to be tabled in the provincial assembly on January 7, but the MQM put pressure on the PPP not to change the LG system.
Other three provincial governments have already wrapped up the local government system, but have not come up with an alternative so far.
The Balochistan government has enacted its own LG law, but it is reported to have many flaws.
The draft of LG law prepared by the Punjab government also has several discrepancies.
Punjab Minister Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman told a private TV channel recently that his government had prepared the draft law which would be approved by the cabinet soon and tabled it in the provincial assembly. The new law, he said, would remove the flaws in the previous system.
Former chairman of the NRB Daniyal Aziz told Dawn that the draft prepared by the Punjab government had a number of flaws and it could not be implemented. He said he would brief the media on the issue in a couple of days

Provinces asked to prepare surplus budgets

Deficit provincial budgets have been one of the major reasons behind the government`s failure to contain fiscal deficit within the target of 4.7 per cent agreed with the IMF for the current year, later revised to 5.5 per cent. – File Photo

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has urged the provinces to announce surplus budgets ahead of its crucial talks with the International Monetary Fund for preparing by May 17 a consolidated federal budget with less than five per cent deficit.
A senior government official said the economic team would hold a final round of internal consultations on Tuesday about the outlines of next year`s fiscal and monetary policies, setting the macroeconomic policy direction before going for a formal dialogue with the IMF in UAE on May 11 and 17.
“The budget will be finalised by May 17 in Dubai in consultation with the IMF,” he said.
The broad contours of the budget are almost ready based on suggestions made by political parties that will be shared with the lending agency with confidence about next year`s fiscal and monetary framework.
Deficit provincial budgets have been one of the major reasons behind the government`s failure to contain fiscal deficit within the target of 4.7 per cent agreed with the IMF for the current year, later revised to 5.5 per cent.
“There are indications to suggest that the fiscal deficit will be higher than six per cent of GDP if grants are also accounted for,” the official said.
This time, the centre wants the provincial governments to prepare written statements to be able to ascertain which provincial government will offer how much of surplus cash to ensure that the consolidated deficit does not go beyond five per cent of GDP and it does not keep fluctuating throughout the year as during the current year, attracting criticism from lenders and political leaders abroad.
Officials said that persuasions by the federal government had finally led the provincial governments to come up with cash surpluses during the current year although they had announced budgets with more than Rs80 billion of combined deficit.By the end of April, three provinces are reported to have come up with surplus cash while Punjab and Azad Kashmir are in minor deficits.
When the government team opens talks with the IMF mission, it will have some `honoured commitments to start with`.
The officials said the government would present to the mission an overall tax rationalisation plan under which regulatory duties on almost all imports would be done away with.
At the same time, the government plans to reduce customs duties on a range of imports, mostly machinery and equipment to promote investment.
The government has already finalised two budget plans and discussed with the National Assembly`s standing committee on finance and separately with major political parties.Under its plan A, the government envisages tax revenue target of Rs1.952 trillion with Rs72 billion additional income from reformed general sales tax while plan B envisages Rs1.968 trillion revenue with Rs90 billion coming from withdrawal of zero ratings and tax exemptions.
The government expects additional revenue of about Rs254 billion because of increase in the size of economy and higher inflation.
The economic advisory council, headed by former adviser on finance Hafeez A Pasha, has advised the government not to expect more than Rs1.880 trillion to avoid facing shortfalls and higher deficits at the end of the year.

World Bank team due in Pakistan on Friday

The World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank had postponed their visits, all citing security risks caused by Bin Laden’s killings. – File Photo

WASHINGTON: The World Bank is sending a delegation to Islamabad on Friday, ending a temporary travel ban on Pakistan imposed after Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s killing in a US raid last week.
The International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank also are expected to send their delegations soon, diplomatic sources told Dawn.
An IMF delegation was scheduled to arrive in Pakistan in the first week of May to review economic and policy developments, and discuss the budget for the fiscal 2011-12.
The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank also had postponed similar visits; all citing security risks caused by Bin Laden’s killings.
But the UNDP, which determines security risks for international organisations, has since reduced its security alert level for Pakistan, enabling the World Bank, IMF and ADB to reschedule their visits.
Last year, the IMF withheld $3.5 billion from an $11.3 billion loan package for Pakistan in a bid to persuade Pakistani authorities to cut their budget deficit.
Pakistan hoped that the talks would lead to a possible deal on the disbursement of the much needed loan. The World Bank, however, has assured Pakistan that the delay would not affect loan disbursements for development and social projects. Funding for rebuilding of areas devastated by massive flooding last year would also continue, the bank said.
The IMF – a major donor to Pakistan – worries that unless the Pakistani government boosts tax revenue, its economy may unravel through escalating inflation. Now, the government finances much of its budget by borrowing from the central bank – essentially printing money.
Bin Laden’s discovery in a compound in Abbottabad has further increased Pakistan’s economic concerns. US lawmakers have urged the Obama administration to reconsider billions of dollars of US military and economic assistance to Pakistan over Osama bin Laden’s presence in a garrison town close to Islamabad.
But Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh told reporters in Islamabad on Saturday that the United States would not suspend its assistance to Pakistan over the dispute.
“There is no threat to the assistance because economic relations with the US are at government to government level,” he said.

Q`s new demands met ahead of NA session

President Pakistan Muslim League, Ch. Shujaat Hussain and Senior Federal Minister, Ch. Pervez Elahi meeting with Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani at PM House on Sunday. – Photo by APP

ISLAMABAD: As Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani prepared to make a policy statement in the National Assembly on Monday on the killing of Osama bin Laden by US commandos, he had to spend most of Sunday on efforts to repair fissures which appeared to be developing in his party’s new alliance with the PML-Q.
Mr Gilani needed to act effectively to satisfy his new allies particularly because he will need their support in the lower house where PML-N is planning an all-out assault on the Osama issue; with a demand for him and President Asif Ali Zardari to accept responsibility for the Abbottabad fiasco and resign.
At the request of the Chaudhrys of Gujrat, Mr Gilani had to change the portfolio of Q-League’s Riaz Hussain Pirzada from minorities’ affairs to health.
At a meeting with the prime minister, Pakistan Muslim League-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and Senior Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi took up grievances of the newly-inducted ministers from their party and urged him to immediately address them.
The Chaudhrys are facing a difficult situation because some of the ministers who are unhappy with their ‘lowly’ portfolios have threatened a rebellion if they are not given high-profile ministries.
There is a feeling in the PML-Q ranks that the PPP has given them the ministries which are to be devolved to the provinces under the 18th Amendment by the end of next month.
An official announcement said the prime minister also changed the name of the ministry of minorities’ affairs to interfaith harmony. This portfolio, according to government sources, is also expected to be given to a PML-Q nominee.
It is not clear which portfolio will now be allotted to Chaudhry Anwar Ali Cheema who has taken oath as federal minister for health.
Earlier in the day, Minister for Production and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PML-Q chief Amir Muqam threatened to resign from the cabinet and set a one-week deadline for the Chaudhrys to meet his demands.
“I will quit the ministry if Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain does not meet the demands of the party workers from the province,” he said at a meeting of members of the PML-Q general council from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
Mr Muqam is among the seven PML-Q men who were administered oath by President Asif Ali Zardari as federal ministers. He is now asking the leadership of his party to call a meeting of the central executive committee to get approval of the decision to join the ruling coalition. The same demand has been made by some PML-Q dissidents who have criticised the Chaudhrys for taking the decision in haste without consulting party workers and office-bearers.
Mr Muqam, who is apparently unhappy over bifurcation of the ministry of industries and production, also said the PML-Q would not sit with the Awami National Party (ANP) in the provincial assembly. He, however, has no objection to sitting with the same party at the centre.
He urged the PML-Q leadership to put pressure on the PPP to explain its position on the May 2 US military operation in Abbottabad.
The US forces carried out the operation hours after the PPP and the PML-Q agreed on a power-sharing formula under which 14 new ministers took oath the following day despite the fact that the nation was in shock over the silence of the civilian and military leaders over the Abbottabad incident.
At the regional party meeting, some speakers made harsh remarks against the Chaudhrys and accused them of getting positions in the government for their relatives and favourites.
Sources in the PML-Q said a group of party dissidents, headed by the most vocal opposition MNA Marvi Memon and Awais Leghari, was set to submit an application to the speaker of the National Assembly seeking allocation of their seats on the opposition benches.
Five dissident senators, besides members of the breakaway Likeminded faction of the PML-Q, have already submitted an application to the Senate chairman for separate seats and refused to sit on the treasury benches.
In another development, the prime minister appointed Privatisation Minister Ghaus Bakhsh Maher as Chairman of the Privatisation Commission.

Obama`s visit put off amid new pressure

President Barack Obama walks down the stairs from Air Force One upon arrival at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. on Friday, May 6, 2011. – Photo by AP

WASHINGTON/ NEW YORK: US President Barack Obama said on Sunday that Osama bin Laden had a support network in Pakistan, as his senior aides spelled out a strategy that seeks to punish those responsible for hiding the Al Qaeda leader in Abbottabad where he was killed last week by American commandos.
“We think that there had to be some sort of support network for Bin Laden inside of Pakistan,” President Obama told the CBS show ‘60 Minutes’.
US National Security Adviser Thomas E. Donilon went a step ahead and categorically declared that “there was a network in Abbottabad, Pakistan, which supported Bin Laden”.
Mr Donilon also announced that President Obama had no plans to visit Pakistan in the near future. “There is not a visit on his schedule at this point. If he’d go to Pakistan, but there was at this point scheduling before the events of last Sunday,” when US commandos killed Bin Laden in his hideout.
The top US security official, however, acknowledged that he had “not seen evidence” to suggest “that the political, the military or the intelligence leadership would have foreknowledge of Bin Laden”.
Senator John Kerry, the US Congress’s top foreign policy official, further elaborated this point: “There is no evidence that at the highest level, General Pasha, General Kayani, the president of Pakistan, knew this, there’s no evidence at this moment.”
But, he added, “It is extraordinarily hard to believe that he could have survived there for five years or more in a major population centre without some kind of support system and knowledge.”
The statements give a clear picture of America’s post-Bin Laden strategy towards Pakistan, which not only requires Islamabad to break its ties with all terrorist groups but also to expose and punish those still having links with people like Osama.
But they also indicated that the United States wanted to achieve this objective by increasing its engagement with Pakistan and not by isolating it. Explaining what he wanted Pakistan to do now, President Obama said the US did not yet know “who or what that support network was”, which was supporting Bin Laden but would like to know.
“We don’t know whether there might have been some people inside of government, people outside of government, and that’s something that we have to investigate and, more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate,” he said.
“They have indicated they have a profound interest in finding out what kinds of support networks Bin Laden might have had,” Mr Obama said.
National Security Adviser Donilon said the US had already told Pakistan that “we will act to protect our interests”.
“They need to provide us with intelligence by the way from the compound that they gathered including access to Osama bin Laden’s three wives whom they have in custody,” he said. “We have had difficulty with Pakistan but we’ve also had to work very closely with Pakistan in our counter-terror efforts. More terrorists and extremists have been captured or killed in Pakistan than in any place in the world.”
In their first interviews since Bin Laden’s elimination, President Obama and his senior aides defended not informing Pakistan before sending their troops to the Abbottabad compound.
Mr Donilon rejected the suggestion that the US did not warn Pakistan before sending its troops inside the country because they did not trust the Pakistanis.
“That’s not a matter of trusting or not trusting and let me address that. It’s a matter of operational security,” he said. “To share it with any government outside the US would have been to lose control of dissemination which would not have been in the national interest.”
Mr Donilon and Senator Kerry also rejected the suggestion that Bin Laden was killed unarmed and while he was ready to surrender.
The US commandos “entered the compound and were fired upon. They had to breach several walls and doors to get to where Osama bin Laden was. At no point during the course of this operation did Osama bin Laden indicate that he was prepared to surrender”, said Mr Donilon. Like other senior US officials and politicians who participated in television talks shows on Sunday, Senator Kerry said Pakistan should increase its efforts to fight terrorists but added that this should be done by further engaging Pakistan, not by isolating it.
“I think this is a time of enormous opportunity. It’s opportunity for our relationship in Pakistan and an opportunity for our policies in Afghanistan. And obviously they are very, very linked,” he said.

Nadal, Federer set-up Madrid semi-final clash

MADRID: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will meet for the 24th time on Saturday when the two superstars clash in the Madrid Masters
semi-finals.

Top seed Nadal, who beat his Swiss rival for the 2010 title at the Caja
Magica here, marched into the final four when he snuffed out Frenchman Michael Llodra's challenge 6-2, 6-2 in little more than an hour.

It took more effort from third seed Federer as he held off two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 in his quarter-final.

The second semi-final will feature second seed Novak Djokovic against
unseeded Brazilian Tomaz Bellucci.

Djokovic took his streak to 30 victories with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win over
Spain's David Ferrer, the third-best winning start to a season in history.

Federer and Nadal will be meeting in Madrid for the third consecutive year.

The Swiss won the title in 2009 with a victory over Nadal, with the Spaniard taking it back 12 months ago.

Federer earned the only break of his match against Soderling, taking a 5-4 lead on a volley winner and serving out the victory after one and a
three-quarter hours.

Nadal's victory over Llodra was his 36th in succession on clay - his last
loss on the surface came in the fourth round to Soderling at the 2009 French Open.

The top seed has charged through another clay campaign this year with titles in April at Monte Carlo and Barcelona so far.

Nadal was untroubled by Llodra, a classic serve-and-volleyer who was simply out of his depth on clay against the best the game has to offer.

The world number one did not lose a point on serve until his third game and was never under pressure from Llodra who saved two match points before Nadal secured the victory after 74 minutes without facing a break point.

Bellucci became the first Brazilian into the semi-finals of a Masters since three-time Roland Garros champion Gustavo Kuerten in 2003 thanks to a 7-6 (7/2), 6-3 defeat of Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych.

Bellucci is coached by "Guga's former mentor, Larri Passos. Bellucci
achieved his second Top ten victory in less than 24 hours after dispatching world number four Andy Murray in the Madrid third round.

On the women's side, Julia Goerges booked the first of the semi-final
spots, defeating Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 6-2.

She will Saturday tackle fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, a winner over Czech Lucie Safarova by 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

In other quarter-finals, China's sixth seed Li Na beat American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and will face Czech Petra Kvitova, who put out Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.