The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Pakistan panorama US-Pak ties hit a new low as secrets get leaked syed talat hussain For decades, critics in Pakistan clamoured in vain for openness in their country’s dealings with the United States. They wanted to know what was happening behind the scenes. Now, finally, there is transparency — but of the kind that is making sober minds wish for a return to the old ways. Press leaks These days, when it comes to Pakistan’s relations with the US, it does not remain quiet for long. Press leaks have become so common that diplomats on both sides have almost given up on sticking to their mutual promise of retaining official secrecy. No sooner do their talks end than they begin to volunteer details to the charmed circle of the media. They assume that holding on to what transpired across the table is futile — that it would come out from the other side anyway. Officials have developed a strange habit of articulating only that side of the story that is embarrassing to the other, conveniently leaving out the totality of the discussion or the common ground that may have been covered in talks. Diplomacy is reduced to rhetoric and regurgitation of the popular line through unofficial means. Serious bilateral concerns that require deft handling have now become a plaything. The only recent exception to this dominant trend was the agreement that opened the blocked NATO supplies. This was conceived in a semi-secretive environment and - perhaps because of that — was delivered as a fait accompli to the public. But then, post-facto details started to emerge as soon as the news of the agreement hit the headlines. This soured the atmosphere. The Americans showcased the agreement on NATO supplies as a success of their no-carrot-and-long stick policy. Pakistan, on its part, portrayed it as a hard-earned climbdown by the US on the issue of not apologising for killing Pakistani soldiers on the border with Afghanistan. Reading post-agreement narratives from both sides makes one wonder whether the description is of the same or different events. Short-term gains As for the US, anything that can score a candidate or a party some publicity point is kosher for release. Whether the release makes or destroys whatever remains of the mutual trust with Pakistan is not given much importance. The immediate always defeats the long-term in Washington’s seedy power politics. No wonder then that last May’s raid at the Abbottabad compound that killed Osama bin Laden, which the Pakistani establishment was hoping would disappear from headlines with the passage of time, stands revived. Though not necessarily targeted towards Pakistan, a string of calculated debriefings by different power centres in Washington to the media have nonetheless vitiated an already tense bilateral environment. David Sanger in “Confront and Conceal” makes Barack Obama look like a giant of a decision-maker who single-handedly took the decision of sending in the raid team. Richard Miniter of The New York Times, in his “Leading From Behind”, tries to prove the opposite. He builds Hillary Clinton’s image as the real ‘man’ in Obama’s inner circle who convinced a reluctant, if not baffled president to sanction the mission. But both agree on one thing: Pakistan is the heart of the problem in anything that goes wrong in this part of the world. Season of sequels In this open season of deliberate declassification, even the silent Seals have started to sequel. “No Easy Day” by Matt Bissonnette, one of the Team Six that conducted the May 1 sneak and kill Osama bin Laden operation, promises to be an elaborate account of the event, crediting military leaders with medal-winning courage. But like the other two publications, this one too is likely to paint Pakistan in all possible shades of black. Needless to say, revival of the bin Laden matter is deeply embarrassing for the Pakistan’s Army, which sees this as part of a sly campaign to degrade its public esteem and drills holes in its image of a reliable fighting force. They hate the American establishment for doing it to them. Game of projection This leaking tendency is causing problems on less spectacular but equally important subjects. The statement two weeks ago by CIA chief Leon Panetta on military operation in North Waziristan, the last yet hardest bastion of assorted militants and Taliban, has cut Pakistan’s military establishment to the quick. Panetta implied that Pakistan’s military high command, by broaching the intended operation issue with the US, was perhaps levelling the ground for a joint operation. As a senior military commander told me, “If Panetta had kept his slanted mouth shut, or had spoken the full truth, we would have been finalising the operational details of the final assault. But now, we are considering the whole operation all over again because his remarks made it look like an American-sponsored effort, which it never was.” Days later, on the occasion of the visit of General James Mattis, commander US Centcom, a terse press release from Inter Services Public Relations took considerable pains to explain the difference between Joint and Coordinated Operations, ruling out completely the suggestion that Islamabad had any intention to do a tag-team with Washington in North Waziristan. Pakistan has counter-leaked, but in the manner that is befitting of a small country hobbled by internal strife and not in control of its external environment. Last year, immediately after the Salala checkpost attack by NATO helicopters, the military high command brushed aside Washington’s proposal for a joint investigation and declared through their own probe that the attack was deliberate with aggressive intent. An unprecedented, first-of-its kind media briefing was conducted in General Headquarters. So far, there is little evidence to suggest that these leaks are going to be plugged. These are now part of the alternate bilateral diplomacy whose undeclared aim is to trick and trump the other — even at the cost of closing critical avenues of cooperation. (The author, a Pakistan journalist, is presently associated with ExpressNews)
	Special to the sunday tribune UK woman faces flak for using Indian surrogate shyam bhatia in london Outraged reactions have followed an English house wife's disclosure of how she is using an Indian woman as the surrogate mother for her unborn child. Comments such as "arrogant", "vile" and "selfish" come after Octavia Orchard and her husband Dominic revealed they had paid £20,000 (nearly Rs 17 lakh) to a Hyderabad clinic so that their own biological baby could be born using the 'rented womb' of an Indian woman. The Orchards, who have one naturally conceived child already, named Orlando, have so far chosen not to get to know the 31 year old Indian woman - they say this is a strictly business deal - who is being paid between £3000 (Rs 2.5 lakh) and £6000 (Rs 5 lakh) to carry the baby created from their egg and sperm. "This is a business transaction", Orchard is quoted as telling the British media. There is no altruism involved on the surrogate's part: she is being paid to have our baby'. "Our baby has no biological connection to the surrogate," the Daily Mail newspaper quotes her as saying. "Her womb is just the receptacle in which it is being carried. Perhaps it sounds cold and rather clinical, but this is a business transaction. "There is no altruism involved on the surrogate's part: she is being paid to have our baby. It's a contractual arrangement. "Her function is to sustain the foetus we have created. Her blood is pumping around its body and she is feeding it through her placenta, but she is just a vessel. The baby she gives birth to on our behalf will carry none of her genes and bear no physical resemblance to her. "He or she will have white skin and, in all probability, red hair like my husband. Of course I want her to do her best to have a successful pregnancy, and I'll be very upset - quite devastated, in fact - if it doesn't go full-term." The Orchards' first child was born three years ago, but disaster struck when they subsequently tried to have another child. After a failed second pregnancy doctors diagnosed Orchard as suffering from Asherman's Syndrome, which means she can no longer become pregnant. It was after this failed second pregnancy that they researched the possibilities of a surrogate birth, discovering that higher costs and stricter rules for surrogacy in countries like the US and Australia. Last March they opted for the Hyderabad surrogacy option, saying they were confident the surrogate mother would be treated well and would be given the food and nutritional supplements to help their foetus develop. When the baby is born this coming November, the Orchard will fly out to Hyderabad to claim their child. They concede the surrogate mother may have formed a bond with the child, but do not anticipate any problems in handing it over. Medical experts say the practice of surrogacy is one of the most controversial procedures in the field of assisted reproduction. The British Medical Association has carried reports about how relinquishing a child may be distressing and cause psychological problems for the surrogate mother. For such mothers the risk of post natal depression, as well as feelings of anger or guilt, could also cause severe health problems. In the US experts still cite the famous 'Baby M' case from 1987 when a surrogate mother refused to relinquish her child.
	Your mobile may have more germs than a toilet seat! London, September 1 The next time you use your mobile phone, you might want to wipe it. Researchers have discovered there are more bacteria on an average mobile phone than on a toilet seat. A new study has found that there were up to 10 times the amount of bugs that can cause nausea and stomach problems in mobile phones than were present in a lavatory, the Daily Mail reported. Researchers at the University of Arizona said phones are often passed between people which spreads the germs around, but they are never cleaned, which means the diseases keep building up. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona, said he found that bugs get onto a phone because it is so close to our hands and mouths. Since mobiles are electronic, some people are reluctant to clean them. Phones are just not part of our cleaning routine whereas we should think about giving them a wipe with an antibacterial substance every now and then, Gerba told the paper. A previous research has found that other things we assume are clean are in reality rather disgusting. — PTI
	7 Shias killed in sectarian violence in Quetta Islamabad, September 1 Seven Shia Muslims were shot dead today in two separate sectarian attacks by unidentified gunmen in Quetta city of southwest Pakistan, triggering violent protests from the community which left two more people dead. In the first attack on Shias, the gunmen ambushed a vehicle with five persons in Hazar Ganji area of Quetta and fired indiscriminately at the car. All five persons were killed instantly, police and witnesses told the media. The gunmen, who were riding a motorcycle, escaped after the shooting. City Police chief Mir Zubair said the five men killed in the incident were vegetable merchants. All the dead were Shia Hazaras, witnesses said. In the second attack a short while later, two more persons were gunned down in Hazar Ganji area, police said. The victims, who according to witnesses were also Shia Muslims, were sitting at a hotel when they were attacked. Their bodies were taken to nearby hospitals. Policemen surrounded the area and carried out a search though no arrests were made. No group claimed responsibility for the incidents. Later in the day, angry members of the Hazara community protested in some parts of the city and resorted to aerial firing in which another two people were killed, Dunya News reported. — PTI
	Hillary set to decide on Haqqani’s terror tag New York, September 1 The US is inching towards designating the Pakistan-based dreaded Haqqani network as a terrorist outfit, with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announcing that she will report to the Congress in coming days of any decision on the issue. Clinton was quoted by the media as saying that she would meet the September 9 Congressional deadline that requires her to state whether the Haqqani network met the criteria of a terrorist group. "I am aware that I have an obligation to report to Congress. Of course we will meet that commitment," she said. Citing US officials, the New York Times said the terror designation would help curb the Haqqani network's fund-raising activities in Saudi Arabia, UAE and other countries and put pressure on Pakistan to launch a military action against it. — PTI
	In Brief Philippines Tsunami warning lifted:Tens of thousands of people on Samar island in Philippines returned home on Saturday after a tsunami alert was lifted following a 7.6 magnitude undersea quake, as local authorities began work to repair damages to public infrastructure. — Reuters LOS ANGELES Risk of deadly virus:Over 10,000 persons who stayed in tent cabins at California’s Yosemite National Park this summer may be at risk for the deadly rodent-borne hantavirus, which can kill one in three victims. — Agencies Washington Blasphemy case:As a young Christian girl, Rimsha Masih, charged with blasphemy continued to be held in a Pakistani jail, six US Senators have asked Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to take immediate action to release her. — PTI KABUL Suicide attacks kill 12:A twin suicide bomb attack targeted a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing eight civilians and four Afghan policemen, local officials said. The Taliban took responsibility for the attacks. — Reuters Washington Pentagon secrecy ‘intact’: An ex-Navy SEAL, who has written a book on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, has not violated any non-disclosure agreements, his lawyer said, rebutting Pentagon's charge that the author had leaked classified information. — PTI