We could have called police on Trott: Afridi

KARACHI: Pakistan’s one-day captain Shahid Afridi said Tuesday his team could have filed a police complaint against England batsman Jonathan Trott over an altercation with fast bowler Wahab Riaz.

Newspapers reports said Trott and Riaz had an altercation minutes before the fourth one-day at Lord’s, with Trott grabbing Riaz by the throat after both exchanged heated words in the net area.

Reports said the incident started when Trott accidentally struck Riaz with his pads as he took them off.

“When Riaz was returning after warming up Trott called him a ‘match fixer’ and that he (Riaz) was up to harming Test cricket and hit his face with the pad,” Afridi told Geo television in London.

“It could have been a police case because it is crime to hit someone, but we showed a big heart and did not press for it.”

Trott was also involved in an ugly exchange of words with Pakistan wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal during the first one-day game at Chester-le-Street on September 10.

Riaz, 25, was one of four Pakistani players interviewed by Scotland Yard earlier this month over claims in the News of the World that spot-fixing took place during last month’s Lord’s Test.

The three others were Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamir and Mohammad Asif. That trio have been suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

No charges have yet been levelled against any Pakistani player.

“The case is being investigated by the ICC and its anti-corruption unit and there are efforts to pressurise the Pakistan team on that,” said Afridi.

After the altercation between Trott and Riaz, Afridi confirmed that there were suggestionsPakistan should not play the match in protest.

“But we finally decided that it wouldn’t be appropriate,” said Afridi, praising his team for their spirit.

“There is a conspiracy to finish the Pakistan team, but Pakistani people are different, they rise under such a situation,” said Afridi.

Pakistan are facing fresh charges of spot-fixing during the third one-day at The Oval on Friday. British tabloid The Sun reported it tipped off the ICC that pattern of Pakistan’s scoring was pre-arranged with the book-makers.

The ICC has launched a separate inquiry on these claims.

PCB chairman Ijaz Butt’s claims that according to bookies, England players took enormous money to fix the Oval match, strained relations between the two boards and teams. -AFP

Delhi event in crisis as bridge collapses

NEW DELHI: A footbridge under construction near the Commonwealth Games main stadium in India’s capital collapsed on Tuesday, injuring at least 23 construction workers and throwing further doubt on the viability of next month’s multination games.

The injured people, five of them in serious condition, were taken to hospitals, police officer H.G.S. Dhaliwal said.

The overhead bridge was to connect a parking lot with the main Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which is to host opening and closing ceremonies as well as showpiece athletic events for the Oct. 3-14 games.

However, severe delays in the completion of the athletes’ village have thrown the sporting event into jeopardy. New Zealand, Canada, Scotland and Ireland have described the accommodations as “unlivable,” and the New Zealand delegation said Tuesday the village won’t be ready for its official opening this week.

New Zealand team manager Dave Currie told radio network newstalkZB that New Delhi organizers “are in severe difficulties,” identifying problems with cleanliness, plumbing, electrical wiring, internet access and mobile phone coverage. -AP

School bus plunges into Jhelum river

MUZAFFARABAD: A van carrying at least 30 schoolchildren plunged into a river in Kashmir on Tuesday, and most of the passengers were confirmed or feared dead.

The driver lost control of the vehicle and it plunged 50 feet (15 meters) into the Jhelum River from an elevated road in the regional capital Muzaffarabad, said local police chief Ghulam Akber. Authorities managed to save the driver and four children, he said.

But school teacher Bashir Mughal said rescue workers took more than an hour to arrive and it was local villagers who plucked the four children from the water.

Fifteen bodies have been recovered from various parts of the river, but the other children are still missing, Akber said. Some bodies may have been collected by local residents before authorities arrived, he said.

Mohammad Ramzan, a driver from Kanina village —home to most of the children in the van —said he lost four daughters and one son in the accident.

''God had given me those children and he has taken them away,'' Ramzan said, as his wife cried. ''All I can do is live with the sadness of this tragedy my whole life.''

His wife's cries were echoed by many other women in the village who had also lost their children. Some pounded their heads and chests as they wailed, while men dug new graves in the village cemetery.

Many other men from the village joined hundreds of people along the river who desperately searched for the missing children.

Rescue workers dove beneath the water looking for bodies as soldiers and police tried to hold back the crowds.

The children involved in the accident were returning from school after attending a function for Eid al-Fitr , said Akber, the local police chief.

Officials initially estimated there were 30 children in the van, but the number could be higher because some of the kids who attended the holiday celebration were not regular passengers, Akber said.

Rescue workers managed to remove the van from the river, but they didn't find any children inside, said Mughal, the school teacher.

''All the children washed away, and people are finding bodies alongside the river at distant places,'' he said.

Law enforcement agencies should change strategy: Malik

ISLAMABAD: Federal Interior Minister, Rehman Malik said on Tuesday that law enforcement agencies should change their strategy to curb terrorism.

Malik was talking to the media outside the Parliament House. He asked Shia scholars to remain calm as he blamed the enemies of the state for wanting to create conflict between Shias and Sunnis.

Rehman also said that scholars should learn lessons from the situation in Quetta, Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi.

Replying to a question about the killed leader of MQM, Rehman said that he was in contact with MQM 90 office and was ready to help if requested.

China confirms two nuclear reactors for Pakistan

China on Tuesday gave its firmest government confirmation yet of plans to build two new nuclear reactors for Pakistan, but a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said she did not know about talks over a bigger reactor deal.

The spokeswoman Jiang Yu said China plans to help Pakistan expand its Chashma nuclear energy complex in Punjab by building two reactors in addition to one already operating and another nearing completion.

Her comments also suggested Beijing may see no need to seek approval for the two new Chashma reactors from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), an international council of governments, some of whose members have voiced qualms about the deal.

“This project is based on an agreement signed between the two countries in 2003 about cooperation in the nuclear power field,” Jiang told a regular news conference, citing plans to build the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors of about 300 megawatts each at Chashma.

“China has already notified the International Atomic Energy Agency about the relevant details, and invited the IAEA to exercise safeguards and oversight of this project,” said Jiang.

Up to now, Chinese government officials have been tight-lipped in public about the planned new units at Chashma, although the Chinese companies picked to build them have announced contract signings.

Jiang's statement that the new reactors come under a 2003 agreement may ruffle other countries that have pressed China to seek a waiver for them from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 46-member consensus-based body that seeks to ensure nuclear exports are not diverted to non-peaceful purposes.

The expansion of China's nuclear power ties with Pakistan has magnified unease in Washington, Delhi and other capitals worried about Pakistan's history of spreading nuclear weapons technology, its domestic instability, and about the potential exceptions created in international non-proliferation rules.

Jiang was also asked about the China National Nuclear Corp's statement on Monday that it is in talks to build a 1-gigawatt nuclear reactor for Pakistan, in addition to the four smaller Chashma units built, being finished or planned.

But she had less to say on this.

“We don't understand this matter. You can make further inquiries with the company,” Jiang said.

Pakistan is a long-standing partner of China, and has been suffering chronic power shortages.

To receive nuclear exports, nations that are not one of the five officially recognised atomic weapons states must usually place all their nuclear activities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency, say NSG rules.

When the United States sealed its nuclear agreement with India in 2008, it won a waiver from that rule from the NSG after contentious negotiations in which China raised misgivings.

Washington and other governments have said China should at least seek a similar waiver for the planned new reactors in Pakistan.

But China now appears positioned to argue that the two new units at Chashma were part of an agreement made before it joined the NSG in 2004, and so do not need another waiver.

Beijing stayed quiet about Chashma at an NSG meeting in June and has not publicly sought an exemption.

Two killed in roadside bomb in Khyber Agency

PESHAWAR: A roadside bomb killed two paramilitary soldiers on a routine patrol in an area of northwestern Pakistan near the Afghan border, said Riaz Khan, a local administrator in the Khyber tribal area on Tuesday.

The bomb struck the soldiers' vehicle as it traveled along a road in the Sheen Qamar area of Khyber, said Khan.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban have carried out similar bombings in the area in the past. – AP

Commonwealth Games in jeopardy with 12 days to go

NEW DELHI: The Commonwealth Games are in jeopardy less than two weeks before the opening ceremony.

Severe delays in the completion of the athletes’ village led Commonwealth Games Federation president Michael Fennell to contact the Indian government Tuesday and urge them to finish work on the accommodation – which many have described as “unlivable” – in time for the October 3-14 games.

“Many nations that have already sent their advanced parties to set up within the village have made it abundantly clear that, as of the afternoon of September 20th, the Commonwealth Games Village is seriously compromised,” Fennell said in a statement.

“The CGF has asked the Cabinet Secretary to immediately deploy the necessary resources to fix all the outstanding issues to an acceptable level.”

The athletes’ village is due to open to the first 7,000 athletes and officials on Thursday. The Times of India newspaper reported that only 18 of 34 residential towers at the village are complete.

New Zealand team manager Dave Currie said the games may not go ahead.

“In the time frame that is left, unless there is tremendous effort and energy and problem-solving ability to get it done, it’s going to be extremely hard to get across the line,” Currie told New Zealand radio network newstalkZB. “If the village is not ready and athletes can’t come, obviously the implications of that are that (the event) is not going to happen.”

Currie said New Zealand would consult with other countries before making a final decision on whether it will take part in the games.

“That’s not a decision that we’ll make (alone), but there are some realities,” he said.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key also weighed in.

“The areas (of concern) aren’t insurmountable although there are real concerns about whether they can be achieved in the timeframe,” he said, adding that it was “unlikely that New Zealand would make a call that other countries weren’t prepared to make.”

The build-up to the Commonwealth Games has been plagued by problems with construction of venues and infrastructure falling behind schedule, causing concern over the safety and quality of the buildings and speculation of corruption in the awarding of contracts and structural compliance certificates.

But the delays in construction have been overshadowed more recently by safety concerns, heightened on the weekend after two unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle shot and wounded two tourists near the Jama Masjid, one of India’s biggest mosques.

Other countries also voiced concern about the athletes’ village.

Commonwealth Games Scotland said the area allocated to the team was “unsafe and unfit for human habitation,” while Commonwealth Games England said “there is a lot to be done in the village and this needs to be done with some urgency so that it is ready for the arrival of our first athletes on Friday.”

Australia’s chef de mission, retired marathon runner Steve Moneghetti, said that Indian organizers “have got two days to do what’s probably going to take about two weeks.”

Fennell said advance parties from the international Commonwealth Games Associations had been impressed with the international zone and main dining area within the village, but the condition of the residential zone shocked the majority of them.

“Despite (the CGAs) attempts to work with the organizing committee in a constructive manner since arriving on Sept. 15, significant operational matters remain unaddressed,” Fennell said. “The problems are arising because deadlines for the completion of the village have been consistently pushed out. Now, the high security around the site, while vital, is slowing progress and complicating solutions.”

CGF chief executive Mike Hooper said organizers had not lived up to promises on delivery dates.

“The conditions continued to be appalling and so we felt the matter needed to be elevated. That is why our chairman spoke to top Indian government officials,” Hooper said Tuesday in New Delhi. “Organizing committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi now tells me that the cabinet secretary took a round of the village and assured that everything possible would be done.”

Hooper said newspaper reports of human excrement around the village were true.

British bookmaker William Hill i offering 5-1 odds that the games will fail to go ahead as scheduled, and 2-1 that either England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland will pull out.

“Environment and accommodation are key components in the preparations of athletes. Should reports from Delhi be true, it is understandable why governing bodies would want to stay away,” Hill spokesman Joe Crilly said. —AP