Motorway, Lahore airport shut Fog affects three provinces

LAHORE, Jan 1: A pile-up because of poor visibility on the National Highway left one person dead on Saturday as fog blanketed the plains of Punjab and adjoining regions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, disrupting air, road and rail traffic.

The authorities closed the M-2 (motorway) at 8.30pm and the airport an hour later. Temperatures fell as a thick fog blocked out sunshine almost the whole day in these regions.

According to highway and motorway officials, 35-yearold Khadim Hussain, of Pattoki, died after his car was caught in the pile-up caused by an oil tanker-trailer collision in Manga Mandi, on the outskirts of Lahore.

The Meteorological Department said the dense fog had enveloped most parts of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa because of high concentration of moisture in the atmosphere and low temperature. It is likely to continue for another 10 days in the plains in Punjab, upper Sindh and central and lower parts of KP.

The day’s maximum tem perature in the fog-hit areas of Punjab dropped by eight to 10 degrees Celsius and the trend is likely to persist. Air and ground traffic was likely to remain disrupted over the next 10 days, the Met Office said.

The motorway remained closed at all entry points of Lahore for traffic from 11pm on Friday to 10am on Saturday because of poor visibility. The Lahore-bound traffic from Islamabad was diverted to the nearest exit points by the motorway police.

Similarly, the National Highway also remained blanketed by fog from Jhelum to Rahimyar Khan and Sukkur, making travel risky because of poor visibility. However, things improved after 10am.

FLIGHT SCHEDULE: The Lahore airport officials said fog had disrupted the flight schedule. They said that although the fog cleared in the afternoon, they struggled to clear the backlog.

Passengers of a Kuwaitbound flight, which was delayed by several hours, were accommodated in a hotel.

Railways officials said that a number of trains were late, causing an unusual rush at the railway station, they added.

Road users in Lahore and elsewhere also faced a great deal of inconvenience during fog hours on the New Year night and in the morning. Visibility improved around 1pm.

The fog blanket blocked the sunshine, keeping the day’s maximum temperature to just 13 degrees C. The minimum temperature on Friday night was recorded at one degree C. In Murree, the maximum temperature was nine and the minimum zero degrees C.

The Met office said that fog cleared in Bahawalpur, Jhang, Jhelum Multan, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, Okara and Sialkot in the afternoon on Saturday. It stayed in Bahawalnagar till 5pm.

The Met office said that there was 80 per cent chance of normal winter rainfall in the country. However, northern parts may receive slightly above normal (+ 10 per cent) precipitation because of one or two strong rain spells expected in January and February.

The country normally receives 51.99mm rain between December and February.

US will ultimately stop drone attacks, says Gilani

ISLAMABAD, Jan 1: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday took a swipe at critics of the government who advocate a tit-for-tat reply to US drone attacks, explaining “we are trying to convince Washington that these strikes will eventually prove counterproductive”.

“Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state which cannot take any irresponsible step to stop US Predator attacks. We are, however, confident that we will be able to persuade the world and the US to stop the drone attacks as they affect attempts to isolate militants from non-combatants,” Mr Gilani said during a firstever live telecast from the Prime Minister’s House.

The programme was a joint presentation of the Pakistan Television and a private network.

Mr Gilani reiterated his stance about WikiLeaks, dismissing as concocted its “revelations” about his tacit approval of the use of drones.He described as unwarranted the strike observed on Friday over the blasphemy issue because the government had not taken any decision to amend the law.

He clarified, however, that concerns of minorities about misuse of the blasphemy law would be taken care of.

In reply to a question whether there was any hope of a breakthrough in talks with India, the prime minister said resumption of dialogue was the only way forward as no issue could be resolved through war.

“Although (Indian premier) Manmohan Singh agreed in several meetings with me that bilateral talks should not be made hostage to the (Mumbai attacks) tragedy, the Indian rulers seem to be under political pressure at home not to make any compromise with Pakistan,” Mr Gilani observed.

He asserted that his government was stable despite all speculations.

In reply to a number of queries, both from callers and anchors, about reports of corruption in his government, Mr Gilani said he was determined to stamp out wrong-doings of all sorts in the new year.

He justified what was termed as favouritism and nepotism in a number of high-profile appointments, saying all those appointed were holding high posts in the past.

He said: “I want that a consensus accountability bill is passed in parliament to make the process transparent departing from the past practice of political vendetta.” During the 50-minute programme two anchors took almost equal time in putting their queries giving remaining time to the general public across the country.

The prime minister ignored the demand of his replacement made by the estranged coalition partner Maulana Fazlur Rehman, saying “we should take the maulana’s criticism positively as he remained our ally and we would still like that he remains our supporter”.

So far as the MQM’s anger with the coalition government was concerned, he said the Muttahida had no complaints against him as most of them concerned with the Sindh government.

Reconciliation: Explaining the political reconciliation which is adopted by him as his government’s policy, the prime minister said: “It means a balance of relations and a consensus among all the organs of state, including political parties, establishment, media and civil society”.

Most of the callers from destinations like Rahim Yar Khan, Islamabad, Jhang etc., questioned the prime minister about the genie of price hike. The prime minister attempted to shift responsibility by linking inflation to the world economic recession in the first place, war on terror and lastly the floods in the country.

He defended construction of bombproof walls around the President’s House in Naudero and his own residence in Multan as security precaution when a caller invited his attention towards people’s agonies due to the economic recession while presidency and PM houses were spending hugely on their protection.

He said the government was fully conscious of the people’s sufferings due to the price hike but construction of bombproof walls around the president’s and his own house in Multan were requirement of security, adding that he had never stayed at his home residence and stays at circuit house due to lack of sufficient security at his residence.

Mr Gilani did not agree with a caller who asked him as to what the 18th and 19th amendments had given or would give to the common man who needed respite from the heavy cost of living and said civil liberties that had come through independence of judiciary and media were all due to the constitutional changes.

He admitted the sprawling unemployment especially among the 65 percent population of youth but explained that the government was not employment exchange but its job was to create opportunities through development of technical education, industrialisation and agriculture which it was doing.

JIT reluctant to record Malik’s statement

ISLAMABAD, Dec 30: A joint investigation team (JIT) of the FIA probing the assassination of Benazir Bhutto is reluctant to record the statement of Interior Minister Rehman Malik, although it is required under the UN commission’s terms of inquiry, sources in his ministry told Dawn on Thursday.

The JIT, headed by additional director general of FIA Khalid Qureshi, has sent a questionnaire to almost all those government officials and leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party who have been directly or indirectly accused of not providing adequate security to Benazir. But it is reluctant to send the questionnaire to the interior minister.

“I have not thought about sending the questionnaire to Mr Malik,” said FIA Director General Waseem Ahmed, who recently got an extension in his service on the recommendations of the interior minister.

Mr Malik had said in a statement that the questionnaire had been sent to all accused, including former Punjab chief minister Pervez Elahi and Intelligence Bureau chief Ijaz Shah. The two have been accused of not providing foolproof security to the PPP chairperson.

Senator Safdar Abbasi and wife Naheed Khan, Makhdoom Amin Fahim and some others, who had accompanied Ms Bhutto on the day of her assassination on Dec 27, 2007, have returned the questionnaire to investigators after filling it.

“My wife and I have replied to the questionnaire. We had earlier recorded our statements before the Scotland Yard and UN investigators and the JIT,” Senator Abbasi told Dawn.

The sources claimed that the FIA had also prepared a questionnaire for the interior minister, but could not dare send it to him.

But the FIA chief rejected the claim. “The FIA has never prepared any such questionnaire for the interior minister nor is it thinking about it.” Mr Malik, who was in charge of Benazir’s security, has been accused of leaving the place a few minutes before the gun-and-bomb attack. He was in a PPP substitute vehicle, along with the present presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar and Law Minister Babar Awan. According to the party arrangement, he was supposed to be behind Ms Bhutto’s vehicle.

Former Rawalpindi police chief Saud Aziz, who is under detention, claimed in a statement that Mr Malik was responsible for poor security arrangements which led to Benazir’s assassination. He said the minister was in close contact with police and it was his responsibility to stop her from standing up and looking out from her jeep.

Members of the UN inquiry commission had met the minister a number of times and also visited his residence to record his statement. He had reportedly said that he was ready for questioning.

In the light of the UN commission’s report, the JIT recorded the statements of a number of people, but not of the interior minister.

The JIT also sent a questionnaire to former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf, who is in London. He has been accused of not providing adequate security to Benazir Bhutto during her last public meeting in Liaquat Bagh.