NEW DELHI: India's cricket board on Tuesday criticised authorities in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh after they refused to provide security for an upcoming India-Pakistan World T20 tie, citing a January attack on an Indian army base.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh said Sunday that the match should be moved to another venue out of respect for the “martyrs” killed in the assault by militants on an Indian air force base in neighbouring Punjab.

He has threatened not to provide security for Pakistan's players at the Himachal Pradesh cricket ground in the Himalayan town of Dharamsala where the clash is due to take place on March 19.

“We are not willing to provide security for the match,” a senior state government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“It's just one match that we are bothered about because it involves Pakistan and our decision reflects the sentiments of the people of Himachal.”

Indian cricket board secretary Anurag Thakur accused the state of playing politics and said the country regularly provided security for Pakistani sportsmen and women.

“The venues of the World Cup matches were decided one year ago, the allotment of matches was decided six months ago,” said Thakur.

“By claiming that you cannot provide security, you are only giving credence to Pakistani claims that there is a security threat to their team in India. It's about the country's image.”

Pakistan have already voiced concerns about security in India, saying there were specific threats from Hindu activists who forced the cancellation of a meeting between cricket officials from the two countries in Mumbai last October.

The South Asian arch-rivals have not played a bilateral series for more than three years amid diplomatic tensions.

Those were worsened by the January attack on the Pathankot airbase, which came days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise peacemaking visit to Pakistan in December.

The raid led to the postponement of peace talks between the nuclear-armed arch-rivals, with Modi urging his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to take “firm and immediate action”.

New studies suggest that we can get hooked on sugar just like drugs or alcohol. Is it solid science or scare-'em-straight hyperbole?

In the summer of 2014, registered dietitian Carole Bartolotto asked 20 of her colleagues at California-based managed-care giant Kaiser Permanente to do the unthinkable: cut out all added sugars and artificial sweeteners for two weeks. To rally her coworkers, she used the motivation tactic du jour and called it a "challenge." The instructions: No added sweeteners of any kind (including honey, stevia, Splenda). No processed foods exceeding five grams of added sugar per serving. And no more than five servings of fresh fruit daily—no fruit juice.

The results surprised Bartolotto. After two weeks, 95 percent of participants reported that sugary foods and drinks tasted sweeter or too sweet. And 75 percent said that foods such as baby carrots, even crackers, tasted sweet. "It only took two weeks for people to completely reset their palates," she says.

The first part of the experiment wasn't pretty, however. More than half the group described intense, uncomfortable sugar cravings that only subsided after three days. For another third, it took six days. Participants suffered headaches, reported that the diet modification required a "great deal of willpower," and called the first days "brutal."

Many of us have observed that sugar begets sugar. Think of the holidays, when after days of bingeing on cookies, pie, and the neighbor's homemade peppermint bark, you wake up the next morning with a great idea: gingerbread Bundt cake for breakfast!

But Bartolotto's small survey, published in the peer-reviewed Permanente Journal, is fascinating because it's one of the few to document that we go through an actual withdrawal process when we stop eating sugar. It also confirms the informal stories shared over the years by sugar detoxers: that eliminating sugar causes low energy, depression, flulike symptoms, and mental fogginess, at least temporarily.

Zainab Chottani opened her first store in Karachi’s Khyaban-e-Bukhari this past weekend, very cleverly choosing an ideal time to launch into the market. Lawns are yet to begin their onslaught and the first fashion week of the season is still a few weeks away.

“Right after fashion week, bridal season will begin,” points out Zainab. “I wanted my store to be up and running, with initial hitches ironed out, before bridal orders gained steam.”

It makes business-sense and that’s something Zainab has aplenty. She’s adroitly showcased at umpteen fashion weeks, roped in the right celebrity showstoppers and cashed in on the media mileage with a bridal business that has grown from strength to strength. With her new store, Zainab dips her toes into prêt.

“The prêt line will hopefully appeal to the older conservative crowd as well as young, trendy girls,” says Zainab.

“Prices will generally begin at Rs 10,000 for designs. There are light formals and capes that can be worn at parties and off-the-rack wedding formals. The entire building is dedicated to my business – my craftsmen sit on another floor – so clients can get alterations done right then and there. Also, I wanted a space where a client could shop for prêt while simultaneously sit in for a bridal appointment. I may eventually set up shop in a mall in the future but this is how I wanted my initial store to be.”

Has she also considered branching out to cities beyond Karachi? “For now, we just take online orders through our website and via e-mail. Bridal consultations are conducted over Skype,” says the designer.

With some very pretty, wearable designs on her retail racks, the Zainab Chottani store may just prove to be a fabulous addition to Karachi’s style directory.

WASHINGTON: The United States expressed concern on Friday over the security of Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons. The statement followed the US announcement about its intention to sell F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.

At a State Department news briefing, Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner said that tensions between India and Pakistan were equally worrying and urged the two nations to continue their dialogue to alleviate some of those tensions.

“We’re concerned both about the security of those nuclear weapons, and that’s been a common refrain in our discussions with Pakistan,” said Mr Toner while responding to a question about the alleged increase in Pakistan’s tactical nuclear weapons.

“But we’re also concerned, clearly, about tensions between India and Pakistan in the region, and we want to see a dialogue between those two countries, clearly, to help alleviate some of those tensions,” he said.

Earlier this week, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry dismissed claims that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal programme was the world’s fastest growing, and repeated Islamabad’s demand for induction into a club of nuclear trading nations.

The foreign secretary also said that the Nuclear Suppliers Group’s “discriminatory waiver” to India and the Indo-US nuclear deal had allowed New Delhi to increase its fissile material and disturb the strategic stability in South Asia.

A recent joint study by the Carnegie and Stimson research organisations estimates that Pakistan has the capability to produce 20 nuclear warheads annually while India appears to be producing about five warheads.

“Pakistan only goes for credible minimum deterrence. Our nuclear deterrence is for self-defence. It is not status driven,” he said.

He also dismissed safety and security concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons, saying the United States “in unambiguous terms” has appreciated the safety measures Islamabad has taken over the past 15 years to prevent proliferation.

The US Defence Intelligence Agency director, Lt Gen Vincent Stewart, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week that Pakistan continued to take steps to improve nuclear security and was aware of the threat presented by extremists to its programme.

But the general also said that Islamabad’s nuclear stockpile continued to grow.

WASHINGTON: Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz urged the United States on Monday to show a greater understanding of Pakistan’s security concerns as US Sec­retary of State John Kerry asked Islamabad to consider reducing its nuclear arsenal.

The two top diplomats made these remarks at the inaugural session of the US-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue, which both sides used also to vent their concerns on pressing issues instead of confining themselves to traditional bonhomie exchanged at such occasions.

“Nuclear safety is of obvious concern to both our countries, and I expect that we will continue to discuss the obligations of being a responsible state with nuclear weapons in the coming year,” Mr Kerry said.

He recalled that the US and Russia once had more than 50,000 atomic warheads each but they reduced those to 1,500 each and were working on further reductions.

“I think it’s important for Pakistan to really process that reality and put that front and centre in its policy. And we look forward to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s participation in the Nuclear Security Summit next month,” he said.

Pakistan argues that it will not accept any unilateral curb on its nuclear programme and that any reduction should apply to India as well and the US should also consider Pakistan’s concerns on the growing weapon disparity.

Mr Aziz, while responding to Secretary Kerry’s remarks, also referred to Pakistan’s position on this issue.

“Our engagement on non-proliferation and strategic stability will continue and Pakistan hopes to see greater US understanding of Pakistan’s security concerns and its desire to contribute actively as a mainstream nuclear power,” Mr Aziz said.

He also talked about a contentious sale of F-16 fighter jets, thanking the US for endor­sing its position that the planes would stren­gthen its ability to mount counter-terrorist operations and promote regional stability.

“We appreciate the public assessment of the US leadership in response to congressmen’s enquiries that Pakistan uses the F-16s effectively against the terrorists in the region,” he said. “The prospective sale of F-16s will strengthen Pakistan’s capabilities to successfully continue these vital operations for our mutual benefit and stability in the region.”

Mr Aziz urged the Obama administration to do more “to bring Congress fully in the picture about the positive steps taken by Pakistan to further our mutual interests and the very significant change in ground realities that has taken place in the past two-and-a-half years”.

Mr Kerry commended Pakistan’s counter-terrorism operations. “Groups like the Haqqani network or Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, all of these groups are literally stealing sovereignty of the nation. And they are stealing the future of the nation. It is important for us to stand up to them.”

“We welcome Pakistan’s commitment not to differentiate between terrorist groups... Groups like the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba seek to undermine Pakistan’s efforts to foster strong, positive relationship with its neighbours,” he said.

Instead of asking Pakistan to do more, Sec­retary Kerry said: “We recognise that every country can do more to intensify, to destroy and defeat violent radical extremists.”

Mr Aziz noted: “Regrettably there is tendency to blame Pakistan in a simplistic fashion for most of these challenges. We are blamed to be pursuing a duplicitous policy.”

He said that nothing could be “farther from truth than to hold Pakistan responsible for the Afghan imbroglio”.

“Who would like to set one’s neighbour on fire with the hope to save one’s own backyard?” he asked.

Last year in February 2015, a group of activists, including myself, werearrested outside the CM House in Karachi for protesting against terrorism.

A year later, another activist, Alamgir Khan was arrested from the same place. This time for protesting against mismanagement of waste disposal in Karachi.

From terrorism to waste management, the Sindh government has failed utterly to address the myriad issues plaguing the citizens of Karachi.

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The two arrests, albeit at different periods in time, is reflective of how it refuses to wake up from its slumber, and, despite its so-called progressive manifesto, finds it convenient to use state oppression and authority to silence those who remind it of its job.

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While I do not know Alamgir Khan personally, I am aware of his work. A young educated man, he has dedicated time and put his reputation on the line for raising awareness about open manholes — an issue that poses a threat to millions of motorists and pedestrians daily.

Championing the cause has earned him severe criticism, much of it unwarranted, and at best, the product of resentful minds.

Take a look: 'Fix it' is not going to fix Pakistan

Being a senior office holder of the Insaf Student Federation (ISF), Alamgir does not hide his support for Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) — the party that he represents.

His Twitter handle contains the acronym “PTI”. Those who follow my commentary know that I am not a big fan of most of PTI’s policies.

But is it fair to mar someone's good work because of their political affiliation?

If anything, I am glad that a mainstream party like the PTI has proactive citizens like Alamgir within its ranks.

And I can only hope that the APMSO, IJT and PSF also produce similar members who dedicate their time for causes important to the people of Pakistan.

Additionally, Alamgir's detractors say that he only targets the Sindh CM, deeming it a conspiracy on his part. His critics should know that being an ISF member, he would have no qualms criticising a mayor belonging to another rival party such as the MQM.

In fact, Karachi in recent years has been at the epicentre of a bitter PTI-MQM rivalry, with the PPP being virtually non-existent during the recent by-elections.

The CM remains the 'target' then because if one followed the legislative amendments taking place in Sindh, such as the Sindh Local Government Act, 2013, one would realise that the two main departments responsible for waste collection and disposal in Karachi, KMC and DMC, directly report to Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, via the Local Bodies Minister Jam Khan Shoro.