E-PAPER 2 MARCH 2020 (ISB)

CMYK

Monday, 2 March, 2020 I 06 Rajab, 1441 I Rs 20.00 I Vol X No 243 I 16 Pages I Islamabad Edition

WHO says PakisTan Handling cOrOnavirus cases effecTively g

heALTh AGeNCy TO STeP uP SuPPORT SO GOVT CAN hANDLe SITuATION AS IT DeVeLOPS

Pakistan closes Chaman border amid coronavirus cases STORY ON PAGE 03

Sindh, Balochistan’s educational institutes to remain shut till 13th

Upgraded thermal scanners have been installed at all major airports of the country to improve the first line of defence against coronavirus.

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he World health Organisation (WhO) has expressed confidence in the way the Pakistani government is treating the coronavirus patients as per standardised clinical protocols. The health agency also announced that it is stepping up the provision of immediate support to the government so that preparedness and response measures are in place to handle the situation as it develops. “I am impressed by the swift and diligent way the government has handled the crisis so far, and WhO is committed to supporting them every step of the way,” said Representative of the WhO in Pakistan, Dr Palitha Mahipala. The organisation urged the public to obtain the latest information on COVID-19 from key sources and follow the recommended basic preventive and protective measures. It said Pakistani health authorities confirmed two cases of COVID-19. Both confirmed cases are from citizens who traveled

to Iran for pilgrimage and subsequently returned to their hometowns of Karachi and Rawalpindi with initial respiratory symptoms of the virus. [The number of cases touched four after emergence of two cases on Saturday]. Mahipala expressed concern over the current situation. he said that the COVID-19 outbreak was a public health emergency of international concern and all countries neighboring Pakistan like Iran, Afghanistan, China and India had registered at least one confirmed case of the virus. It was critically important that countries and international organizations to work hand in hand to minimize the spread of the virus, he said. To date, WhO has assisted Pakistan’s preparedness and response to COVID-19 in various ways. As a priority, screenings of travelers at all points of entry to the country have been set-up. Screenings are currently being carried out for international travelers who are arriving at airports in Islamabad, Lahore, Sialkot, Peshawar, Quetta and Karachi. Screenings at Gwadar, Taftan and Chaman ground-cross-

ing points have also been established for those entering from neighbouring Afghanistan or Iran. Moreover, WhO is supporting to bolster the surveillance system to ensure suspected cases are investigated in a timely manner and confirmed as per the set international standards. WhO has been supporting healthcare providers and facilities to build their capacity for preparedness and response. These measures included training health care providers on contact tracing and case definition for suspected and confirmed cases, case management and the infection, prevention and control measures, distributing personal protective equipment to health facilities, including at points of entry, for managing suspected and confirmed cases, activating or alerting rapid response teams and distributing information education and communications materials to raise public awareness and counter rumors and misinformation. To assist the response, WhO has provided eight kits of medical equipment to the relevant Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMA) and Departments of health.

Afghan President Ghani rejects Taliban prisoner release clause in US deal

STORY ON PAGE 03

Govt to approach uK for Nawaz's extradition, says Firdous

STORY ON PAGE 02

Govt to bridge FBR shortfall through non-tax revenue, other levies

New POL taxes may burden masses with Rs25bn STORIES ON PAGE 12

Pakistan supports Afghan-led peace dialogue, says Qureshi STORIES ON BACK PAGE & 02

OGRA reduces domestic LPG cylinder price by Rs150 STORY ON PAGE 11

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Monday, 2 March, 2020

NEWS

Govt to ApproAch UK For NAwAz's extrAdItIoN: FIrdoUs PM’S AIDE SAYS PML-N SUPREMO’S BAIL WAS CONDITIONAL TO HIS COMPLIANCE WITH THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES ISLAMABAD

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SAYS US-TALIBAN DEAL VINDICATES PM IMRAN’S STANCE OF DIALOGUE BEING VIABLE SOLUTION FOR AFGHAN CONFLICT

by the concerned authorities in this regard in the coming week. The PM’s aide claimed that a “section of media had created the perception” that if the PML-N leader was not allowed to leave for treatment abroad then his life might be in danger. It is worth mentioning here that the British government and Pakistan had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in May 2019 for initiating the process of extraditing former finance minister Ishaq Dar. The MoU was signed after Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar held talks with British Home Secretary Sajid Javid. Earlier, the Punjab government had asked the federal government to approach the court concerned against the extension in the former premier’s bail. “We have sent a letter to the federal government now they will take action,” Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat had said on Wednesday. The provincial government’s stance was supported by Federal Minister of Science and Technology Fawad chaudhry, who

STAFF REPORT

PEcIAL Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has decided to approach the authorities in the United Kingdom (UK) for the extradition of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif. Addressing a press conference in Sialkot, the PM’s aide said that Nawaz, who was allowed to go to the UK for medical treatment, failed to provide his medical reports to the Punjab government despite the fact that his exit was conditional to his compliance with the local authorities. “Now, the time has come that he should be brought back the country,” she added. She said that the government will write to the British authorities for the extradition of the Sharif brothers and steps will be taken

termed the decision as a “good step”. The minister had also called for the formation of an independent commission to confirm the authenticity of the PML-N supremo’s previous reports. On Tuesday, the provincial government had rejected Nawaz’s application for an extension in bail, stating that the former premier had failed to provide the required medical reports. Basharat, while addressing a press conference alongside Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid and Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hassan chohan, had said that the government had repeatedly asked the PML-N leader to furnish his reports. “He has not been admitted to any hospital since he went to London for treatment. We have repeatedly asked his physician Dr Adnan about the cardiac procedure. Dr Adnan failed to give any particular date,” Basharat said. “The Islamabad High court (IHc) had given eight weeks to Nawaz. In the last 16 weeks we have not received any new reports from London,” he had added. The provincial

law minister had said that a special board was constituted by the chief minister which kept requesting for fresh reports. “After seven to eight observations, the board asked for new reports, however, the response we received from them was that the reports that had already been sent were conclusive and a decision should be taken on them,” he noted. “Since no new reports were sent, the Punjab cabinet reached a decision on them and decided not to extend the bail,” Basharat said. ‘GOVT TO OVERCOME INFLATION’: Speaking about other issues, Dr Firdous said that the incumbent government is committed to its mission of overcoming inflation and providing immediate relief to the masses. She said that the prices of different edibles were decreasing because of the efforts of Prime Minister Imran Khan. “In order to reduce the burden on the masses, the government will ensure that these prices are further decreased,” she added. She also said that the country has been largely successful in addressing the chal-

Pakistan supports Afghan-led peace dialogue, says Qureshi FM SAYS PAKISTAN WILL PLAY ITS ROLE WHEN CALLED UPON, FINAL DECISION RESTS WITH KABUL

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday that Pakistan supports an “Afghan-led” and “Afghan-owned” reconciliation process. Qureshi was addressing a news conference in Islamabad a day after the signing of a deal between the United States and the Afghan Taliban that could pave the way toward a full withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan over the next 14 months and represent a step toward ending the 18year-old war in the country. Addressing the presser, Qureshi said that Pakistan will “play our role when we are called upon [but] it is their own country, it is their future and they will have to

make those decisions”. He added that it remains to be seen how much seriousness is shown in honoring the commitments made [in the deal]. Referring to the deal signed between the US and Taliban, which Pakistan hailed as a ‘harbinger of peace’, he said that the question now is how durable peace will be achieved. “It has to be seen whether the Afghan leadership agrees to sit and make a political roadmap and when [they decide to do that] … they are the ones who have to make the decision as to what kind of Afghanistan they want. “It will be a test for the [their] leadership. How much flexibility does the Afghan government show [for negotiations], will it keep Afghan interests fore-

most or its own interests … are they ready to compromise for larger interests? “Will the Taliban cut off contacts with Al-Qaeda and others and will the world be satisfied?” he questioned. Qureshi told the media that he had met with US Special Envoy for Afghan Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad before the meeting, who said that “they had not seen such a reduction of violence in the past”. He added that the Taliban have shown that they have been successful in reducing violence across the country. Qureshi also said that Pakistan’s role [in the Afghan peace process] is being heralded and appreciated by the world community. “The role that Pakistan has played as facilitator was being acknowledged and praised [at the ceremony]. People who used to criticise Pakistan were appreciating its role yesterday,” he added. The minister remarked that “Pakistan will be the net beneficiary of peace in Afghanistan. If peace is established there, the trade will flourish … we will get access to central Asia. “Yesterday’s ceremony generated very positive momentum. It is my opinion that maintaining this momentum is in all our interests. One thing that can do this is the release of prisoners. We have to see how progress can be made and how fast.” He expressed the hope that Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani will realise the “importance of releasing the prisoners”. QURESHI URGES US TO ‘DETER SPOILERS’:The foreign minister said that he met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after the signing and used the opportunity to exchange thoughts. Qureshi said that he had brought four points to

Pompeo’s notice — deterring spoilers, optics of the next phase of the intra-Afghan dialogue, addressing political uncertainties in Afghanistan and mobilising international support and resources for rebuilding the country. “There are spoilers both within Afghanistan and outside, you will have to keep a lookout for them and deter them. You have to identify them and put them to blame and shame. A mechanism is needed for that.” He said that the optics from yesterday’s ceremony were beamed throughout the world and had its own significance and added that optics for the next phase were also necessary. He also emphasised that the next phase in the dialogue process should not be delayed. “The third point is that [the US] will have to address political uncertainties in Afghanistan.” He added that America can play an important role in this. Qureshi said the US should mobilise international support and resources for two things — postconflict building in Afghanistan and the return of refugees. Qureshi said that he also met with the foreign ministers of Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan who were present at the ceremony and told them that [our] next step should be increasing regional connectivity and access to the central Asian republics. Qureshi also said that he met with Norway’s minister and assured her that “Pakistan is committed to an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned reconciliation effort.” The minister also said that Pakistan expects Afghanistan will “not let any country such as India or any other country use their soil against Pakistan”.

Patwaris: Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em LAHORE SHAHAB OMER

Despite tall claims of eliminating patwari culture, the Punjab government is planning to once again award the powers of land mutation, demarcation and management to the patwaris through tactful ways. Sources in the Board of Revenue (BoR) informed this scribe that land mutation powers were taken from patwaris when the data was digitised and the powers were instead shifted to assistant directors land records (ADLRs) of the Punjab Land Record Authority (PLRA). Since the land record has been digitized, the services of issuance of fard (land record document), mutation and verifications were the being provided by service centres which were established by PLRA in different districts of Punjab while the patwaris’ powers were limited to demarcation of land and field surveys. Sources said that some high-ups of the BoR and influential bureaucrats closely allied to patwaris were trying to them back in power for their own interests because the patwaris are liable to share bribes at all levels. Sources revealed that the plan aims to em-

power the patwaris at the kanungoi level for example if there are two kanungois in one estate then one would remain with the service centre and the other with the patwari. Sources added that previously, the Punjab government had denied the plan but now planning for the same is being done secretly through different channels. A dubious letter about ‘Provision of Services at The Revenue Estate Level’ in the same context has also been written by the BoR secretary to all divisional commissioners in Punjab. “I am directed to convey that as discussed in the video link conference held on January 15, 2020, under the chairmanship of senior member, BoR, Punjab, and as informed earlier two kanungois in each division in two separate tehsils have been identified for the issuance of computerised fards, entry and updating of revenue record at the revenue estate level,” the letter read. “The divisional commissioners/deputy commissioners were requested to identify the available government buildings and make necessary arrangements for the provision of essential equipment i.e. computers, printers, scanners and internet facilities, etc. for the purpose,” the letter added.

“It is, therefore, requested that the necessary arrangements for the above-mentioned services at the revenue estate level must be ensured by Monday i.e. March 3, 2020. Board of Revenue (BoR)/PLRA will subsequently provide the requisite paraphernalia/equipment under a development scheme,” the letter further stated. “I am further directed to convey that teams from the Punjab BoR will visit the centres to observe the functionality of these facilities,” the letter concluded. When contacted, PLRA Director General Moazzam Iqbal Sipra was of the opinion that since the last 12 years, patwaris have not been recruited. “There are 4,000 seats vacant for patwaris and almost 2,500 to 3,000 patwaris are presently working while most of them are near retirement. Maybe the very few literate ones would be included in the integrated system but we are not sure about it as only the pilot plan has been planned for this system,” he said. However, Punjab Revenue Minister Malik Muhammad Anwar, while speaking to this scribe, agreed to the integration of patwaris in the planned system. Justifying the importance of patwaris, he said, “Until now many of the tasks related to land are being carried out through patwaris.

lenges it faced at the economic front due to the prudent economic policies of the incumbent government. Talking about the Afghan peace agreement signed in Doha a day earlier, she said that the deal vindicated PM Imran’s longheld narrative that dialogue was the only viable solution for peace and stability in the region. She added that Pakistan will continue its policy of supporting the Afghan people in their efforts to achieve lasting peace, stability and development in Afghanistan.

FIA detains Karachi man over sextortion The cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency has arrested a man for blackmailing a woman in Karachi’s Nazimabad. In its report submitted to a court, the FIA said that the suspect had been blackmailing the woman for the past three years and was arrested on the complaint of the victim. The report said that the woman and man became friends on Facebook and later started meeting at restaurants. It added that the suspect had warned the woman that he would tell her family about their relationship if she didn’t meet him. According to the FIA report, the suspect forced her to have sexual relations with him on various occasions and recorded it every time on his cell phone. NEWS DESK

66pc pakistan wary of ptI govt: Gallup At least 66 per cent Pakistanis have expressed dissatisfaction with the performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, said a Gallup survey. According to the survey, 59 per cent believed that the ruling PTI’s performance was worse than that of the previous governments. Further, 62 per cent Pakistanis have opposed the policies of the current government whereas 35pc feel that the country is heading in the right direction. In the survey, it was said that those who felt the country wasn’t heading in the right direction were only 48 per cent in 2018 — a figure that significantly shot up since the PTI came into power. Regarding the perception of the federal government’s performance, only 1 in 3 Pakistanis is satisfied (very or somewhat). Only 32pc are satisfied with the performance of the PTI. NEWS DESK

Monday, 2 March, 2020

sindh, balochistan’s educational institutes to remain shut till 13th KARACHI STAFF REPORT

the provincial governments on Sunday extended the holidays announced for educational institutes in the province in the wake of coronavirus and announced that all institutes in Sindh will remain closed till March 13. the decision was made by Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah during a meeting that was held to discuss the preventive measures taken against coronavirus. A previous notification from the provincial government had announced the closure of educational institutions from february 27 to March 2. However, on Saturday, two more cases of coronavirus surfaced in Karachi and Islamabad Capital territory (ICt) on Saturday, taking the total number of such cases to four. Coronavirus has killed an estimated 2,700 and affected 80,000 around the world so far. According to CM’s spokesperson, the government decided to shut down educational institutes to prevent the virus from spreading. the extension in holidays would give the authorities time to ascertain how many of the people returning from Iran had met their children and relatives. the meeting was told that 738 passengers had arrived in the city at Jinnah terminal since Jan 15, 2020. the figures received from tafftan, Yob reveals that 13,098 passengers have reached from Iran. the chief minister directed all the agencies, including the federal Investigation Agency (fIA) and the health department to keep close coordination with the concerned officers working at the taftan border so that they keep sharing day to day data of the passengers arriving there. Shah said the data must contain the passenger’s name, date of arrival, district, taluka and complete address, CNIC number, mobile number etc. so that they could be tracked accordingly. the meeting was told that the airport authorities had started enforcing all effective screening measures so that no active case could be able to enter into Karachi. the CM also directed the concerned authorities to visit the Karachi airport regularly; he was told that the Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar, the commissioner and others had visited the airport on Saturday night and found that the best screening arrangements were operational. In his message to the people of Sindh, Shah said there was no need to be worried. BALOCHISTAN SCHOOLS TO REMAIN SHUT TILL 13: Similarly, public and private schools will remain closed till March 13 in Balochistan. the provincial government had announced that matriculation examinations under the Balochistan Board of Intermediate and Secondary education (BBISe) had been postponed and the same will be reorganised at a later date. “We have received reports of two more positive cases of coronavirus, one has been reported in Sindh province, (the) other in federal areas,” Dr Zafar Mirza, Pakistan’s health minister, had said during a press conference on Saturday. However, the health minister had assured people not to panic over the outbreak of the novel infection in Pakistan. He said that the two patients undergoing treatment were getting better and one of them will soon be discharged from the hospital.

respiratory masks’ availability to be ensured: draP ISLAMABAD: On the direction of Ministry of National Health Services, regulations and Coordination, Drug regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DrAP) has taken steps to ensure availability of personal protection equipment (PPe) especially masks in local markets. According to an official of the ministry, keeping in view the emergent situation arising due to coronavirus, the ministry also directed the DrAP to constitute teams comprising federal inspector of drugs to coordinate with provincial health authorities to ensure availability of PPe at reasonable prices in local markets of the country. As per direction of special assistant to the prime minister on health, federal inspector of drugs teams would ensure availability of tyvek suits, disposable gowns, face shields, surgical mask, biohazard bags, goggles, shoe cover and hand sanitizer in the country. the team would ensure free availability of these items besides identifying the stockist who were involved in black marketing and take actions against such culprits in collaboration with local administration and law enforcement agency. APP

Pakistan closes chaman border amid coronavirus cases GOVT INSTALLS THERMAL SCANNERS TO DETECT TEMPERATURES OF PASSENGERS AT CHECKPOINTS AND AIRPORTS PESHAWAR

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fter the emergence of four cases of coronavirus in the country that have foreign travel histories, Pakistan on Sunday shut down the border with Afghanistan for one week to prevent the spread of the virus. According to a notification issued by the Interior Ministry on Sunday, the Chaman border, which is a prominent land crossing both for cargo and passenger transport, will remain closed for a week from March 2. “During the period, necessary measures will be taken to safeguard the health of the people of both countries,” the notification read. In addition to this, strict precautionary measures have been put in place in the areas near the border, including the establishment of an isolation ward at DHQ Hospital, Parachinar. Isolation wards have also been set up at the Pak-Afghan friendship Hospital, Landi Kotal, and hospitals in Jamrud.

According to the provincial health department, more than 10,000 people have undergone screening in the last five days at the Chaman border. It is worth mentioning here that Afghanistan has detected one case of coronavirus as yet. SCANNERS SET UP AT MAJOR AIRPORTS: Meanwhile, the federal government has installed automatic thermal scanners at major airports across the country. the Ministry of National Health Services joined hands with the Aviation Division to install the scanners at the New Islamabad International Airport, Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport and the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar. the thermal scanners, equipped to detect temperatures of passengers at the security checkpoints, are part of the screening mechanism put in place at all points of entry. the health and regular surveillance staff have been provided with protective equipment and kits.

CORONAVIRUS TOLL TOUCHES FOUR: two more cases of coronavirus had surfaced in Karachi and Islamabad Capital territory (ICt) on Saturday, taking the total number of such cases to four. Addressing a press conference along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza had said that one of the patients was from Karachi while the other was from Islamabad and had urged the masses to refrain from panicking. He had said that the first two patients of the virus “are recovering and one of them will soon be discharged” and had added that their clinical treatment was satisfactory and according to the guidelines of the health ministry. the presser was held on the sidelines of a government meeting held to discuss the control and prevention of coronavirus with a focus on two themes: scaling up efforts and increasing coordination.

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coronavirus patient still in quarantine, says sindh health secretary KARACHI: Sindh Health Secretary Zahid Ali Abbasi on Sunday said that the Karachi University student, who tested positive for coronavirus, is being kept in isolation. Abbasi was commenting on a statement of the Karachi University Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Khalid Mahmood Iraqi who had denied that the student was affected by the virus infection. “there is no truth in the statement [of the vicechancellor]. the youth was kept in isolation after found coronavirus positive,” the health secretary said. He will be discharged from the hospital after he will test negative from coronavirus, the health official said, adding that the family members of the patient tested negative. the condition of the patient is gradually improving, Abbasi added. He said the public and the media being regularly informed about the situation and advised people to avoid irresponsible behaviour as to misinformation over the issue. earlier, a spokesperson of the health department said that the patient, who had earlier tested positive for the virus, was still under quarantine at the hospital, refuting rumors of his release from the hospital circulating on social media. the spokesperson added that the “family of the patient was also cleared and released from isolation as their results were negative”. APP

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Monday, 2 March, 2020

WEATHER UPDATES SUNDAY

240C 100C

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PrAyEr TImINgs Fajr SunriSe

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PM launches Multi-billion ruPees Project in caPital ISLAMABAD

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rIme minister Imran Khan on Sunday launched the multi-billion Islamabad Blue Area commercial project, saying that two mega projects, one each in Karachi and Lahore, will be inaugurated soon. Taking to Twitter, the prime minister announced that the project will provide jobs and attract investment from overseas Pakistanis. “Launching the Islamabad Blue Area multi-billion rupees

commercial project today. This will not only provide jobs but will also attract investment from overseas Pakistanis. One mega project to be launched in Lahore and one in Karachi soon,” he tweeted. The prime minister was briefed about the receipts of the commercial auction, which will be held from April 14-16. He was told that the funds will be used to rehabilitate the city, in the provision of services and to improve the environment. To curtail unemployment and establish a passive income source for construction under the Naya

Pakistan Housing Scheme, the government has decided to expand the existing commercial area in Islamabad. This has been done by building another commercial zone. The area opposite to the F-9 park in Islamabad will be utilised to build the commercial zone. This is the first time in the history of Islamabad that a government has decided to expand the commercial zone. According to a local report, 170 Kanals land would be allocated near Sector F-9 Park while international standards would be followed in the construction of the new commercial zone.

ISLAMABAD: Women observe a painting during an art exhibition held at the Nomad Gallery in the federal capital. ONLINE

Residents excited to welcome spring festivities ISLAMABAD

Development works top priority of PM’s aide on CDa affairs ISLAMABAD APP

APP

After spending a long time behind the doors to avoid chilly weather, the residents of the capital city are excited to welcome the onset of Spring season featuring budding flowers and trees, echoes of cheering birds, vibrant hues and colourful festivities. The nature lovers after bearing chilly season of Winter, were enthusiastically waiting for the spring season to arrive so that they can freely move and enjoy the beauties of nature along with realizing the embedded messages of rebirth, life, growth and purity behind Spring season. The duration of the spring season has reduced with the passage of time from months to few weeks, which according to the weather experts is, due to the rapid climatic changes but still the unsurpassable charm of this flowery season continues to appeal the senses of every human being. Saima Khan, a visitor at a popular park of the city said, “It is very unfortunate that we do not find leisure from our daily humdrum routine to commune with the beauties of nature. The seasonal beauties of nature especially flowers and birds are the source of relaxation and create a positive impact on our minds and hearts”. With the influx of latest information technology equipments, the physical activities have lost charm among the people who once used to take their children and families for outdoor activities now prefer to stay at home due to their hectic routine, giving gadgets to their children to keep them busy and happy, she said while talking to APP. A lecturer at a local college, Hameed Shahid said spring is the season about which poets have written a lot and is always associated with rejuvenation, hope and courage. He said the beauty of federal capital is always worth seeing when flowers of spring season start blooming. Thanks to the authorities who have always focused on the beauty enhancement of the capital through planting flowers and trees. Flowers in any form either dry , fresh or artificial are not mere source of aesthetic pleasure for the nature lovers and inspiration for the artists but now used for embellishing outfits, jewelry and other accessories, he observed.

Special Assistant to Prime minister (SAPm) on CDA Affairs Ali Nawaz Awan Sunday said that the government had overcome difficult economic situation and development works in federal capital would be done on priority including uplift of markets and industrial areas. He said that underpasses on Kashmir Highway and express Way would also be constructed. He expressed these views while addressing a delegation of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) that met him at CDA Headquarters led by muhammad Ahmed Waheed its President and muhammad ejaz Abbasi, Convener, ICCI CDA Committee. CDA Chairman Amir Ali Ahmed and Director BCS CDA, Faisal Naeem Baig were also present at the occasion, said a press release issued here. muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that for the last many years no development work was done in markets due to which their basic infrastructure was now in dilapidated condition. He said that markets were facing acute problem of parking and urged that CDA to construct parking plazas in markets to address this key issue. The chairman ICCI said that CDA Board had approved amendments in industrial building byelaw, but they were not notified as yet and emphasized that the authority should notify the amended laws to facilitate the growth of local industry.

Monday, 2 March, 2020

AJK President cAlls For Joint eFForts For KAshMir cAUse KARACHI

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RESIDENT Azad Jammu and Kashmir Masood Khan on Sunday said that it is not only for the government but every person in Pakistan and AJK must play very active role and contribute for Kashmir cause as people there are struggle for their right of self-determination and liberty from Indian aggression. “We should not be looking to governments only or criticize them on Kashmir cause but, we as a whole society must add to the Kashmiris’ struggle by promoting awareness and by extending maximum moral and political support,” he emphasized while speaking at a seminar titled “State Terrorism, Kashmir and World Peace”. The civil society, students, teachers, historians, diplomats and retired armed

forces officers attended the event. The AJK President said “It is era of social media and through mobile phones, you can contribute to news on Kashmir.” Maximum awareness on UN conventions on Kashmir be created. He said when a nation rises, the history changes. Nations become successful if they move in right direction. He said for the success of Kashmiris’

PM launches multi-billion rupees project in capital ISLAMABAD

struggle, Pakistan needs strong defense system being vital for taking firm stand on important national and regional issues; Pakistan government and the nation’s increased moral and political support to Kashmiris; and more efforts diplomatic front to win world support on Kashmir issue. He urged the regional and international forums including United Nations and the world as a whole to raise their voice loudly and categorically against the atrocities being lashed by Indian government on innocent Kashmiris. It was not the issue of Kashmir but of the entire humanity. Reaction against Modi government’s hostile policies and actions has now spread all over India, he said. He said it was very encouraging for the Kashmiris that most of the world including international media and the Parliaments of many countries like Europe and United Kingdom were supporting Kashmir cause

NEWS and were critical on Indian government. “We should take benefit of the changed global environment and proceed with Kashmir cause more effectively,” he said adding that we should try to convince more countries in favour of Kashmiris. The AJK President said that since seize of Jammu and Kashmir by Indian armed forces and large scale protests throughout India against the black citizenship laws introduced by the government, the economy of India had suffered a lot; even economic growth was going downward. “Economy never grows where there is terror and genocide,” Masood Khan remarked. Dr. Khalida Ghous, an expert of international relations, said that through un-bridled brutalities against Kashmiri Muslims and other minorities, Narandra Modi’s government had negated India’s status of diverse and secular nation, and being a big democracy. Sense of threat of different kinds prevailed among the people of India, she said. She emphasized on making access to UN Working Groups and win their support on Kashmir issue. Rear Admiral (Retired) Arifullah Hussaini called for more effective diplomacy on Kashmir issue. Pakistan armed forces were strong enough to thwart any hostile attempt by the enemy, he said.

India put regional peace, progress at stake, says Fakhar Imam

INP

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday launched the multi-billion Islamabad Blue Area commercial project, saying that two mega projects, one each in Karachi and Lahore, will be inaugurated soon. Taking to Twitter, the prime minister announced that the project will provide jobs and attract investment from overseas Pakistanis. “Launching the Islamabad Blue Area multi-billion rupees commercial project today. This will not only provide jobs but will also attract investment from overseas Pakistanis. One mega project to be launched in Lahore and one in Karachi soon,” he tweeted. The prime minister was briefed about the receipts of the commercial auction, which will be held from April 14-16. He was told that the funds will be used to rehabilitate the city, in the provision of services and to improve the environment. To curtail unemployment and establish a passive income source for construction under the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme, the government has decided to expand the existing commercial area in Islamabad. This has been done by building another commercial zone. The area opposite to the F-9 park in Islamabad will be utilised to build the commercial zone. This is the first time in the history of Islamabad that a government has decided to expand the commercial zone.

MULTAN TLTP

Chairman Kashmir Committee Syed Fakhar Imam has said that incidents of worst violence in New Delhi have exposed the so-called democratic and secular face of India all over the world. Talking to media persons here on Sunday, he said that New Delhi is promoting violence, while Islamabad's peace overtures are being acknowledged at global level. Syed Fakhar Imam said that India's illegal and unilateral actions in Occupied Kashmir have put the regional peace and stability at stake. He said that peace and improved law and order situation are imperative for progress and prosperity of the region. Different forums like European Union (EU), Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), etc, formed alliances for peace and made immense progress, he added. Unfortunately, the Indian government is disturbing peace in South Asia,

he said adding the it is pushing the region toward disaster through its nefarious agenda of converting India into Hindu state only. “We have to organize ourselves and improve our economy and similarly it is only possible when we shall equip ourselves with science and technology and ensure massive level investment in the country”, Fakhar Imam maintained. He that the Pakistani nation and government welcomed peace deal between United Sates and Taliban. The chairman urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to understand importance of regional peace for progress. He said law and order situation in India was deteriorating as about 40 Muslims had been martyred in Delhi in recent riots. Similarly, 300 to 400 persons underwent injuries in the riots, he added. “Pluralistic and secular India is heading towards narrow minded state due to fascist steps of the Modi government,” Syed Fakhar Imam said adding that minorities were not safe in India. The Indian government

CITY NOTES M A NIAZI

Uniform curriculum from 2021: Fawad JHELUM INP

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Sunday said that the year 2021 would witness the implementation of uniform syllabus policy across the country till matriculation. “We have devised a policy under one-nation, one curriculum project and its implementation up to matriculation will begin across the country from 2021,” he said while addressing a conference at Pind Dadan Khan. He said that it was unfortunate that no attention was diverted during the past 70 years towards improving the situation of seminaries and the students there remained neglected and were not owned by the state. “Billions were earmarked for improving education standards but no money was diverted towards improving seminaries’ status.” He said that they have prepared the uniform syllabus with the consultation and approval of the seminaries. The federal minister further defended his views on using technology for moon sighting and sarcastically said the moon “would not change its way either on his or Ruet-e-Hilal committee’s wishes”. He lamented communal riots in India and recalled that during the past two days, 50 people were killed in New Delhi violence.

The government has legal troubles aplenty. The new Attorney General has recused himself from the Justice Qazi Faez Isa reference case on the ground that he had expressed himself on it, and so couldn’t represent the federation. Considering that he had been given the job after the resignation of the previous Attorney General over the remarks he made to the Supreme Court bench hearing the same case, that seems like the federal government needs to find a new mouthpiece. It will have to employ private counsel. The Attorney General is one part of the system used only by the British, where one can either be a solicitor or an attorney, the solicitor engaging the attorney, but the client going first to a solicitor. After all, a lot of legal work doesn’t demand the lawyer appear in court. A sale deed has to be properly drafted, and for that, one needs a solicitor. Pakistani lawyers are two-in-one; both attorneys and solicitors. You just go to a lawyer, and he undertakes to contest a case, appearing in court if necessary, and drafting all the legal documents needed. The AG is an attorney whose client is the federal government, and whose solicitor is the Law Ministry. The new AG has also prevented the Law Ministry from intervening in the AG’s office, which is a little like an attorney preventing a solicitor from picking his clerks for him. The Pakistan government is not the only one with legal troubles. Harvey Weinstein, who could be called the father of the #MeToo Movement, has finally been convicted, of rape, but not predatory sexual assault. Ali Zafar,

deprived 1.9 million peoples of Assam from citizenship through National Registration of Citizens (NRC), he added. The chairman pointed out Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) is also affecting muslims in India. He informed that Indian government is going to introduce facilities for Hindus, living in different parts of the country, to settle them in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJK) to dilute Muslims majority. The Indian government is persuading non-Muslims to purchase properties in IOJK, he added. Fakhar Imam stated that India wanted strategic hegemony in the region and sovereign and independent Pakistan was not acceptable for it. He paid tributes to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah for Two Nation Theory. It was two nations theory which led to sovereign and independent Pakistan, he stated. Later on, the Chairman Kashmir Committee attended a ceremony titled as “Two Nation Theory”.

‘hec taking steps to improve education quality’ ISLAMABAD APP

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has undertaken a number of initiatives for continuous improvement of quality of higher education in accordance with the global standards, a report said on Sunday. According to the sources, HEC revamped post-secondary education in order to improve the educational standards at the graduate level. Talking to APP, multiple sources said that the commission had also established National Academy for Higher Education with an aim to design and delivering generic and need-based capacity building and training programmes in teaching and research for faculty. It would also focus on academic governance and leadership for faculty and management, they added. “HEC also revamp Education Testing Council (ETC) under which the entry tests are standardized for public and private universities of Pakistan. The aim of the constitution of ETC is to hold uniform, accessible and competitive assessment bases for admissions to universities. The test under ETC will be free of cost for the students” they added. The HEC has revamped of National Research Framework for the promotion of academic as well as applied research culture in the higher education institutions, to address the significant societal issues and boost international compatible research for a sustainable and progressive research ecosystem in the country, the sources added. They said that academic research was a key element for the higher education sector’s growth, knowledge creation and building strategic partnerships. The Research Grant Framework an initiative of HEC offers research grants to creative researchers to assist them in research pursuits. The funds were included Grand Challenge Fund (GCF), Local Challenge Fund (LCF), Technology Transfer Support Fund (TTSF), Innovative & Collaborative Research Grant (ICRG), National Research Programme for Universities (NRPU) and Technology Development Fund. HEC was also preparing guidelines for a major fundraising drive for universities, which was culminated in 2019, they added. Under the drive, the universities set a target of mobilizing 20 percent of their revenue from non-government and non-tuition sources by 2020.

The lawyers and the law Pakistan’s own version, has been plunged into gloom by the decision. He will not feel vindicated unless Weinstein gets off in California, where he is to be tried on other charges, and on appeal in the present conviction. Hindu activists in New Delhi were not taking their case to court. They were busy taking direct action to stop the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act. While the central and Delhi governments squabbled over who should control the Delhi police, 42 people have been killed, mostly Muslims. The irony is that Donald Trump was praising India for its religious diversity. He shares Isalamophobia with Indian PM Narendra Modi. And I know realise what he has been trying to achieve with his hair.. It’s not red or blond. It’s saffron. And Modi has signed a $3 billion arms deal, which is something of a miracle, considering that those billions will come from the bones of poor Indians. Including Muslims massacred all over the place. The fate of Delhi’s Muslims is painful, but it seems that the old pre-Partition days were a little worse. It was bad enough that a mosque was burnt during the riots, but the attackers put up a Hanuman flag on one of its minarets. Was that a symbol of a takeover? Are mosques going to replace Lanka? That was what Hanuman conquered. And wat happened to the pre-Partition staple, throwing a slaughtered pig’s head into a mosque, preferably at prayer time. I suppose in those days, Hanuman flags were not too easily available. Back then, Hindus were satisfied with provoking a riot. Now, they can burn down the mosque.

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The revenge for Muslims would be to spread the coronavirus among Hindus. The Chinese would probably approve, more than they approve the cases in Iran. And Iran has proved to be the country from which Pakistanis caught the disease, instead of it coming into Pakistan through traders or students. China is not the only danger spot it seems, because the whole of South America had its first infection, in Brazil, a traveller from Italy. And he had a classically nightmarish way to spread it. He attended a family reunion. Some of them then went to the Carnival, which has just ended. The USA has also had its cases, and one of them, in California, may have been what is called community spread. Of course, Trump has finally woken up and blamed the spread of coronavirus on the Democrats. That should stir Imran. He should blame Nawaz Sharif. And per-

haps he will, once he gets Nawaz back, so that he can show off how healthy he is. I wonder when Imran will start treating the coronavirus, and when he will go to China to treat cases. Egypt should have invited him to treat Hosni Mubarak, who passed away at 91. Mubarak died young, apparently, for Mahathir Mohamad, who’s older than him at 94, recently resigned as Malaysian PM. Mahathir was a role model for Imran, who intends to break his record for age as PM. And Imran intends to win power at that point on the youth vote. Will anyone except him remember the World Cup victory on its Golden Jubilee? Of course, that will depend on whether he survives the coronavirus. He should watch the senior members of his team, for in Iran, it seems, the government is sharing the sickness. The Deputy Health Minister, for example, who first appeared on national TV to tell people how to escape the disease, and then appeared, from his hospital bed, with an upbeat message. A Tehran legislator and a vice-President (the one for women’s affairs) have also tested positive. These Iranian VIPs are among the 85,721 cases reported worldwide, but luckily not among 2933 who have died. Hopefully, they will be among the 39, 797 who have recovered so far. Of course, Imran has got his mind on higher things. Like Bangladesh beating Zimbabwe by an innings. Now maybe Bangladesh might feel ready to take down the West Indies. And then there’s the PSL, which has now moved to Rawalpindi and Multan. I think Umar Akmal has got a bum deal. First, he was dropped from the Pakistan team allegedly for being unfit, but actually for exposing himself in front of one of staff at the National Cricket Academy. And then got shopped for fixing a match

Monday, 2 March, 2020

06 WORLD VIEW

HoW tHe InDIAn government WAtcHeD DelHI burn THIS WEEK, ANOTHER REUTERS IMAGE EMERGED, OF A MUSLIM MAN ON ALL FOURS, BLOODIED AND BOWED, TRYING TO SHIELD HIS HEAD FROM THE DOZEN OR SO MEN ENCIRCLING HIM AND BEATING HIM WITH STAVES

new Yorker SAmANth SubRAmANiAN

Two things happened in Delhi on Tuesday, and the gulf between them illustrated India’s wild, alarming swerve from normalcy. At the Presidential palace, Donald Trump concluded a two-day visit by attending a ceremonial dinner: an evening of gold-leaf-crusted mandarin oranges, wild Himalayan morels, and gifts of Kashmiri silk carpets. Half a dozen miles away, northeast Delhi was convulsed with violence. Since Sunday, mobs had been destroying the shops and homes of Muslims, vandalizing mosques, and assaulting Muslims on the streets. In their chants of “Jai Shri Ram,” praising a Hindu deity, their loyalties were clear. The attackers were Hindu nationalists, part of a right wing that has been empowered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government; many of them were even members of his party. The Delhi police, who are supervised by Modi’s home minister, seemed to side with the mobs; one video caught cops smashing CCTV cameras, while another

showed them helping men gather stones to throw. Several reports said that policemen stood by while the attackers went about their business. In a few spurts, Muslims retaliated, and the streets witnessed periods of fullscale clashes. A policeman was killed, and an intelligence officer was murdered and dumped in a drain. At least thirty-eight people have died: shot, beaten, burned. At the Trump banquet, the Navy band played “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” The mayhem came after a winter of protest. Since early December, millions of Indians have assembled across the country to object to a new law that promises fasttracked Indian citizenship to Pakistani, Afghan, and Bangladeshi refugees of every major South Asian faith except Islam. The law is limited in its scope but momentous in how overtly it separates Indianness from Islam. It’s a move characteristic of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P.) and its allied groups, who regard India’s two hundred million Muslims as an undesirable part of an ideal Hindu nation. The protesters against the law have, in nearly every case, been peaceful, but their sit-ins and marches have been met with force by the government: tear gas, house raids, arbitrary detentions, police brutality, Internet shutdowns. In speeches, Modi’s colleagues have suggested that dissenters should be shot. The B.J.P.’s top leaders—the Prime Minister included—seem to excel at creating conditions in which violence can unfold. On Sunday, in Delhi, a local B.J.P.

politician named Kapil Mishra gave an ultimatum to the police: clear the roads of protesters or allow his followers to do so. His speech was inflammatory, but he faced no trouble from his party; the B.J.P. has a record of tolerating, and even rewarding, members who threaten to take the law into their own hands. (Yogi Adityanath, a Hindu cleric who regularly delivers hate-filled speeches and whose supporters burned a train in 2007, is now a B.J.P. chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state.) The government can claim that the gangs seeking out protesters and Muslims have acted of their own volition, outside the Party’s control. But the B.J.P.’s habitual rhetoric—stirring up hatred, advocating force, calling opponents “traitors”—not only incites mob savagery but also gives attackers the confidence that they’ll never be prosecuted. (Vigilantes who, while insisting that the cow is sacred to Hindus, have been lynching Muslims and lower-caste Hindus on the suspicion of smuggling cows or owning beef are operating out of a similar sense of security.) When the state knows that its right-wing affiliates will carry out the kind of violence that it cannot and should not pursue, then all it has to do is nothing. The slyness of this tactic is not without precedent. In 2002, when Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat, a weeks-long pogrom against Muslims left as many as two thousand people dead. Then, too, the police assisted the mobs of Hindu nationalists—or, at

best, did little to stop their rampage. Two witnesses later recalled that Modi had instructed the police to stand down while the brutality unfolded. One of those witnesses was found dead in his car the following year, while the other was sentenced to life in prison, last June, in a decades-old murder case that was suddenly resurrected. Modi was cleared of complicity in the 2002 riots by an investigative team appointed by the Supreme Court. But he is known to hold the reins of power so tightly, and to govern so absolutely, that it’s difficult to believe that Gujarat or Delhi could burn under his gaze without his sanction. This arm’s-length orchestration of anarchy has, in the past few days, made for some surreal scenes. Television journalists went out to work wearing cricket helmets, for safety; videos showed Muslim slums on fire; and the death toll climbed. Yet Ajit Doval, India’s national-security adviser, visited northeast Delhi on Wednesday and said, “Everything is normal. People of all communities are living in peace and love.” In the Delhi High Court, on Wednesday, the deputy commissioner of police claimed that he had not seen any footage of Mishra’s incendiary speech, even though it had been the spark applied to the tinder. Modi’s home minister, in charge of law and order, made no statements. Modi himself restricted his comments to just two tweets; in fact, he stayed away from the customary joint press conference at the end of Trump’s visit, leaving the American President to field questions about the tur-

Who will douse Delhi’s flames? ANURAG THAKUR’S CHANT, ‘DESH KE GADDARON KO…GOLI MAARON SAALON KO (SHOOT THE TRAITORS DEAD)’ HAS BECOME THE GO-TO

CounterPunCh FARZANA VERSEY

The dead are not spared. A part of Delhi, the national capital of India, has been reduced to ashes. They’ve desecrated a cemetery, mangled vehicles, broken homes, injured people, killed people – 39, as I write this. North East Delhi is a lower middleclass area, the residents are mostly small shopkeepers and labourers. On February 23, the eve of Donald Trump’s visit, mobs had collected in pockets and started torching houses. Their anger, apparently, was over the anti-CAA and NRC protests. According to the Citizenship Amendment Act, people from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan can seek asylum in India, but only if they are non-Muslim. In North East states like Assam, detention camps have already been built. To serve the government’s purpose, legitimate Muslim residents are being detained as illegal immigrants using the National Register of Citizens. If it is introduced in the country, there are fears Muslims will be most affected. The identification idea was expressed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he said that arsonists could be identified by their clothes. The mobs in Delhi had begun to place saffron flags outside Hindu houses to identity whom to not target. The rightwing has been on a high. Among them are two members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Anurag Thakur’s chant, “Desh ke gaddaron ko…goli maaron saalon ko (shoot the traitors dead)” has become the go-to anthem of the Hindutva herds. Kapil Mishra’s role can be directly linked to the present violence. “He threatened to mobilize a mob to clear out the protesters. He said he did not want to create trouble while Mr. Trump was visiting, but he warned the police that as soon as Mr. Trump left India on Tuesday night, his followers would clear the streets if the police did not. Tensions shot up. As Sunday evening approached, gangs of Hindu men and Muslim men began throwing rocks at each other. This quickly degenerated into wider violence, with Hindu residents accusing Muslims of attacking Hindu statues and Muslim residents expressing fear that a Hindu mob was forming to get them.” Shaheen Bagh has been the fulcrum of the protests;

women gathered here day and night to peacefully demonstrate. It spread to other areas and would have continued had the mobs not struck. This was clearly an attempt to derail the protests and to project the brute power of majoritarian politics. Is the world interested? At the press conference in Delhi, when Donald Trump was asked about the violence a few miles from where he was, he said, “As far as the individual attacks, I heard about it, but I didn’t discuss that with him (PM Modi). That’s up to India.” Bernie Sanders reacted: “Over 200 million Muslims call India home. Widespread antiMuslim mob violence has killed at least 27 and injured many more. Trump responds by saying ‘That’s up to India’. This is a failure of leadership on human rights.” ****** A few Muslim protestors were dragged along the ground, beaten up with batons, and made to sing the national anthem – not by the crowd, but by the police. The complicity of the police force has been evident for a few weeks now. In one chilling incident, a guy aimed his gun at protestors at the Jamia Millia University campus. The cops standing yards away from him merely watched. They watched silently as he shot at a Kashmiri student. Another time, the cops entered the university library and beat up the students. In N.E.Delhi there has been a repeat. Many people have said that the police were helping the goons, or had a tacit arrangement not to interfere. One mob leader said, “Give us permission, that’s all you need to do. You just stand by and watch. We will make sure you don’t get hurt. We’ll settle the score.” When mobs offer to protect the police, it ceases to even qualify as a police state. It is a gangster state that is asserting its religious identity by using nationalism as a trump card. As happened in Ashok Nagar. They set fire to a mosque, put up a saffron flag on its minaret while waving the national flag; they raised slogans saying, “Hinduon ka Hindustan”, the nation belongs to Hindus. In another mosque, they burned a copy of the Quran, the holy book. A man who probably had lost everything in the violence was collecting its singed pages. People are stopped at random and asked what their religion is. One man lied that he was Hindu; they asked him to recite the Hanuman Chalisa, a beloved verse for Hindus. He could not. They beat him up. Mohamed Zubair’s photograph pleading for mercy has become the face of these riots. “They beat me till they broke me. I begged them and they beat me some more, viciously. They made communally charged slurs and took (BJP leader) Kapil Mishra’s name. I don’t remember much. I just hoped my children were safe. I can’t bear to look at my photograph, my legs shiver with pain.”

85-year-old Akbari was burnt to death inside her house when they set it on fire. She was too old and frail to run and save her life. ****** After three days of silence, and two days of his ostentatious show with Donald Trump, Narendra Modi woke up to comment on what is happening in Delhi. He did not address the nation nor did he hold a press conference, but he tweeted to say: “Peace and harmony are central to our ethos. I appeal to my sisters and brothers of Delhi to maintain peace and brotherhood at all times. It is important that there is calm and normalcy is restored at the earliest.” There is violence in the streets. People are in hospital and dying. And all he can think of are homilies about harmony. There is no reaching out to the people, no assurances about how such normalcy will be achieved. There is no one to question him. Arvind Kejriwal of the Opposition Aam Aadmi Party (People’s party), and the chief minister of Delhi, took a bunch of his ministers to Raj Ghat, a memorial to Mahatma Gandhi, every politician’s favourite man for all seasons. Kejriwal has been mimicking Modi by taking a soft Hindutva stance, reciting verses on television and thanking Hanuman, the saviour of Lord Ram, in his victory speech. Politicians in India have to use religious nationalism to appease the majority that constitutes 80 per cent of the population. The role of mainstream media has been questionable. While the liberals among them give a fair exposure to both sides, as they must, it is the editorialising with such false equivalences that is problematic. There are indeed casualties on both sides, but a pogrom is a clear agenda against a particular group. There are other casualties. Tahir Hussain, an opposition politician, has been booked for arson and murder because they found petrol bombs on his terrace. Nobody is interested in facts – the fact that he called the police several times because a mob had gathered outside his house and he was taken to a safe place. One is not opposed to an investigation into the truth, but there is a definite bias. Ruling party members who called for the murder of Muslims, that resulted in Delhi burning, are free. The judge who asked the police to issue arrest warrants against them for incendiary speeches has been transferred. Delhi Police has told the high court that FIRs will be registered at an “appropriate time”. Are they waiting for more bloodshed? Is there a casualty quota they have to meet? The matter has been adjourned until April 13. In six weeks, there will be more destruction, evidence will be doctored, witnesses will be silenced, there will be more graves. And they don’t even spare the dead. Farzana Versey can be reached at Cross Connections.

moil. “He wants people to have religious freedom, and very strongly,” Trump said, of Modi. On Thursday, Modi’s Solicitor General told the High Court that it was “not conducive” to investigate B.J.P. politicians for hate speech—even though his government has kept a few key Kashmiri politicians under house arrest for more than six months, arguing that they’re liable to stir unrest. On Thursday, after paramilitary troops were deployed, and after northeast Delhi had somewhat quieted, the B.J.P. blamed opposition parties for instigating the violence. In 2002, a Reuters photo became emblematic of the riots, showing a Muslim tailor, his shirt flecked with blood, imploring security forces with folded hands to rescue him from a mob that was surrounding his house. This week, another Reuters image emerged, of a Muslim man on all fours, bloodied and bowed, trying to shield his head from the dozen or so men encircling him and beating him with staves. His manner is abject, desperate. There are no police in sight. The photo stands for what now seems to be the fate of India’s minorities, as designed by the B.J.P.: to find being heavily outnumbered a matter of life and death; to cower in perpetual fear; and to know that the state will bring no relief, because it’s the state that’s choreographing the fear in the first place. Samanth Subramanian is the author of “This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War.”

Air pollution has reached choking levels TIME TO ADDRESS THIS URGENTLY Star, BangladeSh The poor quality of air has been a pressing concern from the beginning of this month, when the High Court directed the public administration secretary to deploy five executive magistrates within a month under the Department of Environment (DoE) to take necessary measures in tackling air and environmental pollution across the country. What is shocking is the degree to which our air remains polluted. We get a picture of this from the 2019 World Air Quality Report released recently. According to it, Bangladesh has emerged as the country with the worst particulate matter (PM) 2.5 pollution in the world, followed by Pakistan, Mongolia, Afghanistan and India. As we continue to breathe in this air, we’re looking at a cocktail of health issues such as asthma, heart disease and lung cancer. And this toxic PM 2.5 had already hit New Delhi last year, before it made its way to us. Despite these glaring problems, what still prevail are the many man-made establishments and irresponsible societal habits that further contribute to our already toxic environment. From the illegal brick kilns in Savar and garbage strewn in every corner of the capital to dust from construction sites, burning of leaves, cigarette consumption, and the countless unfit buses releasing dark smog on the streets—all have played a substantial role in gaining us this notoriety. An effective way out of this would be to assess the types of local pollutants and seasonal public health status to better understand air quality management. It requires conducting a city-based evaluation of air quality, as per the Clean Air Act, with the help of multi-stakeholders. Also, there needs to be location-specific solutions for areas with industrial zones, waste disposal sites as well as market places. On a societal level, awareness needs to be spread among citizens, providing them with life choices that aren’t detrimental to the ecosystem or themselves. Additionally, the government needs to work on that directive sent by the HC earlier this month. It is evident from the PM count that merely shutting down brick kilns isn’t going to be enough. A report from The Daily Star had stated that the DoE had experienced a shortage of manpower in this regard, mentioning that a total of eight executive magistrates are needed to launch drives against environmental pollution across the country. With only three magistrates at hand, there’s little that can be done. In these trying times, it’s imperative that the government takes into account the understaffing issue of the DoE and equips the officials with necessary instruments and facilities so that measures to control air quality and protect the environment are not delayed further.

Monday, 2 March, 2020

FOREIGN NEWS 07 Migrants flock to greece as turkey opens floodgates

SEOUL: U Pedestrians glance at a stall selling face masks in the Itaewon area of central Seoul, South Korea. The country confirmed 586 more cases of the COVID-19 on Sunday, raising the total number of infections to 3,736, and death toll rose to 18. AGENCIES

MyAnMAr ArMy’s clAsh with insurgents kills five rohingyA YANGON

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AGENCIES

t least five ethnic Rohingya were killed, including a child, and several injured after troops clashed with insurgents in Myanmar’s conflict-torn western state of Rakhine, a lawmaker and two residents said on Sunday. Saturday’s fighting broke out after Arakan Army rebels attacked a military convoy passing the historic temple town of Mrauk U, the regional MP, tun thar Sein, and a spokesman for the armed group, Khine thu Kha, said. two military spokesmen did not answer telephone calls from Reuters to seek comment, and the army did not immediately issue a statement on its website. Khine thu Kha, the Arakan Army spokesman, blamed government troops for the civilian casualties. A government spokesman said he could not comment. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the details of the attack in the remote area, where journalists are barred and internet access curtailed. Myanmar army artillery shells hit the village of Bu ta Lone, killing four people, the Arakan Army spokesman said in a message. the MP, a health worker who treated the injured, and a villager said at least five Rohingya, members of a persecuted Muslim minority, had died. A 12year-old boy was among them, the villager said. Military spokesmen did not respond to phone calls from Reuters

seeking additional details. A government spokesman sent a text message saying he was in a meeting. there were conflicting accounts of the number of Rohingya injured, which ranged from six to 11, along with several members of the state’s Rakhine ethnic majority. Rakhine is the state from which more than 730,000 Rohingya were forced to flee for neighboring Bangladesh after a military crackdown in 2017 that the UN has said was executed with genocidal intent. Myanmar denies committing genocide.

Several hundred thousand Rohingya remain in Myanmar, many confined to camps and villages where they are caught in the middle of fresh fighting between the military and Arakan Army, which recruits from the mostly Buddhist majority in a drive for greater autonomy from the central government. that conflict has displaced tens of thousands and killed dozens. tun thar Sein, the Mrauk U MP, said troops responded with gunfire and shelling in two villages on Saturday after rebels attacked their convoy. “In response to that,

the military started firing at suspicious locations,” he said. A local health worker, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, said three of the Rakhine ethnic majority were also injured and one woman had died of cardiac arrest. TRAPPED BY FIGHTING: Journalists are blocked from travelling to most of central and northern Rakhine; now in the eighth month of a mobile internet shutdown, the government justifies on grounds of security. Many of the several hundred thousand Rohingya still in Rakhine are confined to apartheid-like conditions, unable to travel freely or access healthcare and education. “Five Muslims died as their bodies were found,” a Rohingya villager from the area told Reuters on Sunday, asking not to be named for fear of retribution. “their funeral was held today.” He said the bodies had bullet wounds. “We can’t go out and we can’t go anywhere,” he added. “We are just staying safe in our village. If this keeps happening, I feel like there is no hope.” Saturday’s attack was one of several to kill Rohingya this year. In early January, four Rohingya children died in a blast the military and rebels blamed on each other. Weeks later, two women were killed after shells hit a village in Buthidaung township, two days after the world court ordered Myanmar to protect the minority. At the time, the military blamed the Arakan Army for those deaths, saying it would not have carried out an attack just after a world court verdict in a genocide lawsuit brought by Gambia in November against Myanmar.

KASTANIES/LESBOS: Hundreds of migrants headed through permeable borders to Greece from turkey on Sunday as thousands more gathered on the turkish side seeking entry after Ankara relaxed curbs on their movement. At least 500 people had arrived by sea on three Greek islands close to the turkish coast within a few hours on Sunday morning. Seven boatloads reached Lesbos with more than 300 on board, four arrived on Samos with 150 and two on Chios with a combined total of 70-80 people, a police official said. On the mainland further north, groups waded across a river to the Greek side at Kastanies. Reuters reporters saw groups of up to 30 people, including an Afghan mother with a five-day old infant, on the side of a road, having crossed the river hours earlier. turkey said on thursday it would no longer restrain hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in its territory from reaching Europe despite an agreement to do so reached with the EU in 2016. Its announcement triggered an almost instant rush to the borders it shares with European Union member Greece. turkey’s turnabout came after an air strike killed 33 turkish soldiers in neighboring northwest Syria where Ankara has deployed forces to help secure its border against a new influx of refugees from the Syrian civil war. turkey has said funds promised by the EU to help it deal with 3.7 million Syrian refugees already in the country has been slow to arrive; Ankara had threatened several times in the past to open the floodgates if it did not receive more support. tensions rose at Kastanies, on northeast Greece’s mainland border with turkey, on Saturday after riot police used tear gas to repel hundreds of migrants on the turkish side seeking entry. A Greek government source put the number of people gathered on the border on Sunday at 3,000, while the International Organization for Migration estimated the number at 13,000. AGENCIES

Dozens detained at kazakh protests over activist’s death ALMATY/NUR SULTAN: Police in Kazakhstan detained dozens of opposition supporters on Sunday who took to the streets after the death of an anti-government activist in a detention center. Activist Dulat Agadil died in a jail cell on Feb. 25, a day after police took him in on charges of contempt of court and insulting a judge. the authorities – including President Kassym-Jomart tokayev – have said his death was caused by acute cardiovascular failure, ruling out any foul play. Agadil’s case has galvanized the oil-rich Central Asian nations’ opposition movement, triggering several small-scale protests during the week and calls for a larger one on Sunday that would bring together groups that otherwise rarely coordinate their activities. But police in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and the biggest city, Almaty, detained dozens of activists while they were still walking toward the rallying points. In Almaty, policemen including some in riot gear cordoned off the city’s main square and Reuters reporters saw them detain some 40 people. A few people shouted “Wake up Kazakhstan!” or “Old man, go away!” – an opposition slogan aimed at tokayev’s predecessor and patron Nursultan Nazarbayev who retains sweeping powers even after giving up the presidency a year ago. AGENCIES

Iranian dissident, teen abortion drama take top prizes at Berlin film fest BERLIN AGENCIES

Dissident Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof on Saturday won the top prize at the Berlin film festival for “there Is No Evil”, a searingly critical work about the death penalty in his country. Rasoulof, 48, is currently banned from leaving Iran and was unable to accept the Golden Bear in person. Accepting the award on his behalf, producer Farzad Pak thanked “the amazing cast and crew who, put their lives in danger to be on this film.” the film tells four loosely related individual stories about the death penalty in Iran, from the executioner to the families of the victims. Industry magazine “Variety” called it Rasoulof’s “most openly critical statement yet”. Rasoulof was sentenced to a year in prison last year for “attacking the security of the state”, and banned from making films for life. Speaking to a news conference via mobile phone, the director said his latest

film was about “taking responsibility” under despotism. “You can try to put aside your own responsibility and pass the buck to the government… but (people) can say no,” he said. TEENAGE ABORTION DRAMA: the runner-up jury prize went to Eliza Hittman’s teenage abortion drama “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”, which had been a favourite among critics. Sidney Flanigan plays a 17-year-old from Pennsylvania forced to travel to New York in order to abort an unplanned pregnancy. Hailed for its empathy and emotion, female solidarity is at the heart of the film, in which male characters are marginalised and often predatory. Audiences and critics were particularly enthralled by an intense, single-shot scene in which Flanigan’s character answers personal questions at a clinic. “While I was researching this film, I spent a tremendous amount of time inside planned parenthood and other clinics,” said Hittman. She added that she had been “hum-

bled” by that experience, before addressing the nurses and social workers who work in such clinics. “I want to thank them for their incredible service to our countries, for protecting the lives and rights of all people with uteruses.” Hittman’s success came in the wake of a controversy earlier in the festival over jury president Jeremy Irons’ past comments on abortion and women’s rights. In a 2016 interview with the Guardian, Irons had said abortion “harms a woman” and that the church was “right to say it was a sin”. At his opening press conference, the jury head was forced to clarify that he supported “wholeheartedly the right of women to have an abortion should they so decide”. the debate over women’s representation and the #Metoo movement continued throughout the festival, fuelled in part by news Monday of Harvey Weinstein’s conviction for rape and sexual assault. New festival directors Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek also came under fire for

picking one fewer female-directed film than in the previous year. And there was widespread outrage over the Russian film “DAU: Natasha”, whose cinematographer Juergen Juerges won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution on Saturday. Part of the sprawling, controversial Russian art project “DAU”, it was widely slammed for an interrogation scene which included a graphic sexual assault. the makers of the film were also forced to deny rumours of abuse on set. Ahead of the awards ceremony, a handful of protesters outside the venue held up a banner reading “DAU = violence and abuse”. Yet Juerges disputed those claims, saying that director Ilya Khrzhanovsky “may push boundaries professionally, but he does not cross them”. NAZI PAST SCANDAL: Another German, Paula Beer, won Best Actress for her role in Christian Petzold’s water-themed romance “Undine”. the award for Best Actor went to Italy’s Elio Germano for his portrayal of the mental and physical struggles of painter An-

tonio Ligabue in “Hidden Away”. “I dedicate this prize to all the outcasts, all the people who are a little bit strange,” said the 39-year-old. Germano also featured in “Bad tales” by Italian brothers Fabio and Damiano D’Innocenzo, which won Best Screenplay. the award for Best Director went to South Korea’s Hong Sangsoo for “the Woman Who Ran”, a minimalistic film about a woman whose husband is away on a business trip. Industry magazine IndieWire described the film as a “charming look at smart women dealing with annoying men”.

Monday, 2 March, 2020

08 COMMENT

Understanding global economic risks

A Taxing problem Even the new IMF target looks likely to be missed

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AxES are supposed to be inevitable as death, but it seems in Pakistan, the impossible happens. While no one has yet learned to stop the Grim Reaper from doing his job, it seems that it is possible to suborn the taxman. The ability to do so seems to be the only reasonable explanation for the inability of the current government’s failure to meet the collection target set by the IMF, even after it was revised downward. Now that the February collection figures are in, the picture for the financial year so far, July-February, does not present an appealing pictureis quite unappealing, not with the target missed by Rs 484 billion, and the final collection projected at Rs 4.8 trillion against a revised target of Rs 5.27 trillion, which would be a gap of Rs 447 billion. It is bad enough that there should be that big a hole in the national budget, but it also means that the IMF Extended Fund Facility will possibly go out the window. One reason is the absence of a firm hand at the tiller. The PTI had brought in a FBR Chairman from the private sector with much fanfare, and it seems that his sudden departure for health reasons is connected with this failure. The Member Administration, Ms Nausheen Amjad, has the additional charge, but not only is she the sort of tax official thought unable to deliver (and thus needing an outside chairman), but being merely a caretaker, she has not given the FCBR the sort of dynamic leadership[ it needs if it is to come near delivering on its target. The appointment of Haroon Akhtar Khan as PM’s Special Assistant on Revenue is being planned, but it is unlikely to do much. Besides, Haroon was SAPM to Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, so appointing him would fail to answer the question of how the PTI planned to raise revenue, besides adopting the baggage of the past. The situation has come about because the PTI as failed to develop a taxpaying culture. While picking the right FCBR chief matters, the PTI has also failed to show that it is worth paying taxes, that the taxpayer will get some benefit. Because of this ‘tax management’, a fancy way of saying ‘tax evasion’ continues, especially by businessmen who see that, for all its tough talk, the government caves in to street power, as shown in the recent traders’ strike.

Important lessons about over-reliance on monetary tools

Dr Omer JaveD

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HE World Economic Forum (WEF) recently launched the 15th edition of one of its flagship reports ‘The Global Risks Report 2020’, which is based on the WEF’s annual ‘Global Risks Perception Survey’. According to the President of the WEF, Børge Brende, the Report ‘comes as long-mounting, interconnected risks are being felt. The global economy is faced with a “synchronized slowdown”, the past five years have been the warmest on record, and cyber attacks are expected to increase this year– all while citizens protest the political and economic conditions in their countries and voice concerns about systems that exacerbate inequality... This comes as G20 economies hold record high levels of debt and exhibit relatively low levels of growth. Ammunition to fight a potential recession is lacking, and there is a possibility of an extended low-growth period, akin to the 1970s, if lack of coordinated action continues.’ As per the Report, according to the IMF (International Monetary Fund) expected the global economic growth at 3 percent to be at its lowest level since 2008–2009. Moreover, one of the main policy tools to help boost economic growth, trade, on the other hand has not been able to play much its part at the back of becoming more a source of ‘rivalry’ than bringing ‘global coordination in the form of global trade’, whereby ‘World Trade Organization (WTO) projected that growth in merchandise trade will slow to 1.2 percent in 2019 from 3.0 percent in 2018.’ To give an example, the US – China trade tensions ‘could cost US$700 billion in lost output in 2020’. This is indeed no small number, since according to the Report this amount of lost output is ‘almost the amount of GDP lost by the entire European Union due to the financial crisis (US$757 billion between 2008 and 2009). With regard to economic risks, the Report highlights ‘Low trade barriers, fiscal prudence and strong global investment– once seen as fundamentals for economic growth– are fraying as leaders advance nationalist policies.’ An important aspect being highlighted in the Report is about the effectiveness of traditional macroeconomic policy tools, whereby it points out, ‘The margins for monetary and fiscal stimuli are also nar-

The state of the minorities Pakistan needs to pay attention to its own minorities

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HILE Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has rightly pointed out the true face of India, and the mistreatment there of Muslims, who are in a minority there, a recent study of Pakistan’s own minorities has concluded that Pakistan’s own minorities need access to education and effective political participation if they are to be enabled to lift themselves out of poverty. The study, ‘Index of Religious Diversity and Inclusion’ makes an additional point that is often overlooked: there is more than one minority, and the various minorities face varied problems, which are not amenable to a one-size-fits-all solution. However, too great an emphasis on diversity, especially by the government, will create its own problems. One of the problems is a carryover from a very distant past, that of equality in drinking water. It should be recalled that Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman who fled the country after having her blasphemy death sentence overturned by the Supreme Court, got into trouble with her Muslim neighbours because of a common drinking vessel. This is symbolic of the whole untouchability issue. Because it is an inheritance from Hinduism, the issue affects Hindus as well. The report provides support to those who feel that while the minorities and the government need to take action, it is the Muslim majority that not only bears responsibility for the treatment of minorities, but also has to carry out the greatest changes in attitude among its members. It is true that the minorities in Pakistan are better off than they are in India. However, that is not a standard to judge by. The Muslim minority in India is being massacred? Does that mean there should be vengeance wreaked on innocent Hindus in Pakistan? Is there any credit to be claimed in refraining from bestiality? Muslims happen to belong to a religion which has not just enjoined tolerance of other religions, but dignified treatment of minorities. The ideal to be aspired to is some distance away, and until it is achieved, there is to be no call for self-satisfaction of any kind, let alone how other countries behave.

Dr Sara Gilani Let’s have a quick look at where we stand: As of 27, there are already over 82,294 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the world– according to WHO figures. The overwhelming majority of cases– 78,630 cases– are reported in only one country, China. The rest– 3,664 cases– are spread out across 46 countries of the world. The first confirmed cases of COVID19 were reported in Pakistan on 26 February. They are probably linked to the recent epidemic in Iran. These figures have been calculated using the present WHO-proposed definition, which has two elements: one, the patient must have severe acute respiratory infection and, two, the patient must either have a history of travel to an area where there is an active outbreak of COVID-19 or contact with a probable or confirmed case of COVID-19. What is COVID-19 and just how dangerous is it?: Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses which may cause illness in animals or humans. In humans, several coronaviruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The most recently discovered coronavirus causes coronavirus disease COVID-19. Contrary to the popular misconception, not everyone who is infected will die. From the limited data available, its case fatality rate is estimated around three percent. Most people who have died from it thus far are those who were severely ill and admitted in the hospitals. It is important to note that these statistics vary as the epidemic progresses. Why is there such a massive global media hype around Coronavirus epidemic?: The hype is primarily a result of WHO’s decision, taken on 30 January to declare this a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Once that happens, it is only natural

Editor Umar Aziz

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Executive Editor

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Dr Omer Javed holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at International Monetary Fund. He tweets @omerjaved7

At this stage, WHO does not recommend travel or trade restrictions based on current situation, as it can create undue fear. When people are afraid, they try to hide their symptoms or avoid reporting to health facilities. Strategies of mitigation, like avoiding big congregations and shutting down schools, have also not yet been recommended. But authorities can, and indeed should, tailor measures according to that the matter would occupy the airwaves in all coun- the prevailing situation in their respective countries. In all emerging infections, the people most at risk, tries. The media hype is useful to the extent it helps provide information to citizens on techniques of pre- unfortunately, are health workers. They can inadvervention. If people are aware of the signs and symptoms tently transmit it to their colleagues, families and communities leading to of the disease, they are amplification of the outmore likely to report susbreaks. Thus it is very espected infections, which sential that the health in turns allows governunder no circumstances should the workers use proper recments to respond more ommended protective effectively. Preventive personal identity and contact measures and follow the efforts are most effective isolation and contact tracin the early stages; thus information of patients be made ing procedures if they dethe frantic efforts public. This little mistake, which has velop symptoms. presently being made by Finally, under no cirgovernments. However, already happened in Pakistan at the cumstances should the media hype can also crepersonal identity and conate unnecessary stress highest levels of government and tact information of paand fan misconceptions. media, must not be repeated. This is tients be made public. What’s recomThis little mistake, which mended and what’s not only because it is unethical but has already happened in not?: Public health exat the highest perts around the globe also because it can discourage other Pakistan levels of government and advocate effective surmedia, must not be repotential suspected patients from veillance as the top most peated. This is not only strategy that is applicareporting. And lack of reporting is because it is unethical but ble to all countries. Suralso because it can disveillance is best done in perhaps the single biggest challenge courage other potential a fear-free environment suspected patients from where potential patients that the global public health reporting. And lack of revoluntarily opt for rapid authorities face when trying to fight porting is perhaps the sinreporting and testing of gle biggest challenge that suspected cases. Surany emerging disease the global public health veillance needs to be authorities face when trycoupled with strategies ing to fight any emerging of containment, that is, disease. isolation/quarantine of confirmed cases and active contact tracing and manDr Sara Gilani is an Epidemiologist and agement. Creating awareness about general hygiene measures that is, frequent hand washing and eti- researcher at the London School of Hygiene and quettes of sneezing and coughing to avoid droplet Tropical Medicine and teaches at University of Essex Online. transmission, is also very important.

Fear of reporting is the biggest danger

Arif Nizami

Joint Editor

barriers between one another.’ This trend needs to change, and should give way to more collaboration, so that global economic issues could be dealt with more effectively through a unified effort. The outlook for investment as per the Report is also not bright, primarily because ‘Globally, investment has been affected by low expected returns, uncertainty about economic policy in major economies, and ongoing and emerging geopolitical tensions. In our survey, “protectionism regarding trade and investment” and “populist and nativist agendas”– two major obstacles to the free flow of foreign direct investment (FDI)– were rated as the fifth and sixth risks most likely to increase through 2020. The Report highlighted that according to the IMF, globally private and public debt has been accumulating since the crisis... the global ratio of debt-to-GDP increased by 11 percentage points between 2009 and 2017. Across G20 economies, public debt is expected to reach 90 percent of GDP in 2019– the highest level on record– and to grow even more, to 95 percent in 2024.’ Moreover, as per the Report ‘The IMF has listed “rising corporate debt burdens” as a key vulnerability in the global financial system.’ As indicated earlier, there is a need to revisit the traditional macroeconomic policy tools. This is also important for the government and the IMF should look to re-think the policy emphasis of neoliberal economics in the current Extended Fund Facility (EFF) programme. In fact, the Report emphasizes revisiting in particular the new challenges facing monetary policy in particular, whereby with regard to this and to the overall needed re-think, it highlights ‘Financial market stress and strained public finances are creating uncertainty as to whether conventional monetary and fiscal policy instruments, which have worked to boost growth in the past, could be as effective in the future. As the IMF has signalled, interest rate cuts have helped boost growth, but they have also fostered higher debt and riskier rent-seeking, which affect financial market stability. In 2019, monetary policies worldwide saw profound reversals, with most central banks persistently cutting interest rates to very– sometimes historically– low levels... The role and reach of monetary policies are also challenged by wider factors such as technological change, climate change and rising inequality.’

Corona: What can we do?

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

rower than before the 2008–2009 financial crisis, creating uncertainty about how well countercyclical policies will work. Moreover, there is growing discontent overall with the way governments are attending to economic crises, where it is indicated Disapproval of how governments are addressing profound economic and social issues has sparked protests throughout the world, potentially weakening the ability of governments to take decisive action should a downturn occur. Without economic and social stability, countries could lack the financial resources, fiscal margin, political capital or social support needed to confront key global risks.’ The above is clear indication that national policymakers and global multilateral institutions will have to look beyond the traditional Neo-liberal/ Washington Consensus style of policies, which are entrenched in economic orthodoxy. Rather a heterodox and political economic approach to formulating economic policy will have to be adopted. Already, there is strong debate over increasing the role of government and fiscal policy, and on the other hand diminishing somewhat the role of monetary policy, to better approach macroeconomic and growth targets. At the same time, 78 percent of the respondents of the Survey on which this Report is based ‘expected “economic confrontations” to increase in 2020’. In this regard, the Report pointed out the importance of the USA and China in helping global economic recovery, whereby it indicated, ‘Together, these two countries account for over 40 percent of global GDP, and they are the world’s leading innovators. They are also the world’s top two emitters of greenhouse gases. Expanding the global economy, addressing climate change and realizing the full benefits of technology, therefore, depend on their ability to coordinate as part of a common global system that is capable of including other stakeholders.’ Having said that, as per the Report, rather than coming much together, the signs are on the contrary whereby ‘However, the trend today is not one in which these two countries are just competing across common domains but one in which each is looking to design its own systems– its own supply chains, 5G networks and global investment institutions. Already investment flows between the two have dropped, each has moved to restrict technology from the other, and some analysts predict China will look to reduce its dependence on the US dollar by holding more foreign currencies. Even if the current trade tensions cool, we risk heading towards an era in which the two countries disentangle their economies and create

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Monday, 2 March, 2020

COMMENT 09 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

Let there be light

How Jewish Republicans went after Sanders The Repulicans and Likud even share donors

Washington Watch Dr James J Zogby

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comment by Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders about Israeli policy and Palestinian rights and the resulting condemnation of his remarks by a pro-Israel group of Jewish Republicans opened a window into this issue’s state of play in both American and Israeli politics. Appearing on a televised CNN Town Hall, Senator Sanders was asked by an audience member to comment on “How do US-Israel relations look in your administration?” as the RJC inadvertently points out, Israelis have, in fact, become increasingly unified around hardline policies that can only be described as racist and contemptuous of Palestinian rights. In this, they are supported by today’s Trump-led Republican Party. Paralleling this development, and to some extent in reaction to both the Israeli policies and the virtual Likud/GOP marriage, Democrats have become far more critical of Israel. The result is the deep partisan divide we witnessed playing out in the reaction to Senator Sanders’ remarksHe went on to speak about Palestinian suffering, noting the severe restrictions placed on civilians in Gaza and Gaza’s 70 percent youth unemployment. He concluded that US policy “cannot be ... just proIsrael and ... ignore the needs of the Palestinian people.” The CNN audience vigorously applauded Sanders’ strong comments. The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC is a group funded by Sheldon Adelson – the billionaire who is closely linked to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump) immediately denounced Senator Sanders, issuing a statement calling it outrageous that “a mainstream US political party candidate for president would call the Israeli government racist.” The RJC statement went further, saying, “Sanders says he supports the Israeli people, just not their democratic government. As it happens, the policies that Sanders calls racist are supported by all the major contenders to be the next Israeli prime minister and by the vast majority of Israeli voters, because they defend the basic national security needs of the Jewish state.” What I found intriguing about this exchange was the fact that the RJC’s effort to rebuke

Sanders ended up shining a light on the nature policies– he can get loud audience approval for of what has become Israel’s dominant political these critical comments. Senator Sanders, once alone among Democulture. Instead of contesting the charge that the policies of the Israeli government are racist, the cratic candidates willing to take a tough position RJC justified them by saying that these policies on Israel, has this year been joined by a few are supported by the vast majority of the Israeli other leading Democratic candidates, including people and all of the major candidates to become Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg. They know that there is strong voter Israel’s Prime Minister. As if to establish the validity of Senator support for this position and very little support Sanders’ criticism, in recent weeks Israeli Prime for a hardline pro-Israel view. There is interesting evidence for the lack of Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued Israel’s suffocating chokehold on the people of Gaza, Democratic voter tolerance for strident pro-Isdenied West Bank Palestinians the right to ex- rael policies, in the strange behaviour of a proport produce to the outside world, announced Israel “dark money” group– Democratic over 4000 Jewish housing units that, when built, Majority for Israel (a group funded by a collecwill close Jerusalem off from the rest of the West tion of AIPAC donors and board members). Bank, imposed new restrictions of Palestinian DMI recently spent about $1.5 million in negative ads in Iowa and residents in Nevada urging DemoJerusalem, and decratic voters to reject clared his intention to bid for the annex “the Jordan As the RJC inadvertently points Sanders’ Presidency. What was Valley, the northern intriguing was that deDead Sea and all out, Israelis have, in fact, become spite the name of the the...Jewish commugroup sponsoring the nities large and small, increasingly unified around ads and source of their in Judea and hardline policies that can only be money, the DMI strateSamaria.” And to put gists knew that they icing on the cake, Nedescribed as racist and wouldn’t accomplish tanyahu continued to anything by challengArab-bait his political contemptuous of Palestinian ing Senator Sanders on opponents in the Blue rights. In this, they are supported the “Israel issue.” Inand White bloc by their attack ads telling Israeli voters by today’s Trump-led Republican stead focused on his age, his that “a vote for Benny heart attack, and his Gantz (of Blue and Party. Paralleling this support for democratic White) is a vote for development, and to some extent socialism. the Arabs.” There is no such Instead of disin reaction to both the Israeli problem in being an tancing himself from outspoken advocate for Netanyahu’s commitpolicies and the virtual Israel’s hardline views ments to annex Palestinian lands and Likud/GOP marriage, Democrats on the Republican side. In very real sense, the expand settlements, have become far more critical of GOP and Likud are like Gantz’s response has twins separated at been to embrace these Israel. The result is the deep birth. These parties very same positions. even share some of the He went further by partisan divide we witnessed same donors. A few Istaking a harder line on playing out in the reaction to raeli Ambassadors Gaza, and then made were originally US citit clear that Arabs Senator Sanders’ remarks izens and Republican “won’t be a part of my stalwarts. And the leadgovernment.” ing architects of So, the RJC is Trump’s Israel policy, right. While there may be some differences between Netanyahu, Gantz, including his attorneys and his son-in-law, are and other Israeli leaders in contention for the pre- financial supporters of Israeli settlements. Bottom line: as the RJC inadvertently points miership, in their racist disregard for Palestinian rights, they largely agree. And because the “vast out, Israelis have, in fact, become increasingly majority of Israeli voters” keep supporting these unified around hardline policies that can only be parties and, according to polls, support their poli- described as racist and contemptuous of Palescies that demonstrate contempt for Palestinian tinian rights. In this, they are supported by rights, it appears that the other RJC indictment today’s Trump-led Republican Party. Paralleling this development, and to some extent in reaction of Israel’s political culture is also on target. What this exchange also brought home is the to both the Israeli policies and the virtual extent to which a deep partisan divide has devel- Likud/GOP marriage, Democrats have become oped on issues related to Israel/Palestine here in far more critical of Israel. The result is the deep the US. Among Democrats and independents, partisan divide we witnessed playing out in the Senator Sanders not only can call the Israeli gov- reaction to Senator Sanders’ remarks. ernment racist, press for greater recognition of Dr James J Zogby is President, Arab Palestinian suffering, and propose that aid to Israel be conditioned on Israel’s human rights American Institute.

I want to call the attention of the concerned authorities towards the lack of street lights in University of Karachi (UoK). Being a student of UoK evening program every student faces a lot of troubles because of lack of street lights. Couple of days before I was standing with my friends after maghrib It was completely dark there. A girl was standing there for a lift after few minutes a rikshaw came with a girl in it. The girl sits in that rikshaw with no fair as we know people usually give and take lifts in UoK. After couple of seconds that girl who took lift start shouting and jumped out from the moving rikshaw. when rangers tried to stop that rikshaw it ran out from university and then rangers asked that girl what happened she claimed that both of them driver and that girl have some type of perfume implied cloth contained some kind of knock-out drug. Both of them were looking at each other through mirror and it seems suspicious to me. The street lights that have been installed are not switched on in the evening, causing difficulties to the evening students. Due to the high volumes of traffic on the road, there is always a fear of some major accident. In addition to accidents, cases of thefts and robbery are also rampant on the road. Therefore, I hope my request reaches the concerned authorities, and they act to solve the issue. It is requested you to publish this issue on your newspaper as soon as possible so we can get rid of this discrimination timely. WArIShA QAISEr ALI Karachi

Animal rights PAKISTAN Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) is doing an incredible job in helping stray animals and the ones who are lost and abused. Their only goal is to create a more and equitable relationship between humans and animals in Pakistan. As much as any other human being needs care and love, animals deserves it too. All these heartless people, treating animals in the worst condition causes animals to react in a poor way which is why the majority of our society wouldn’t promote this organization to help animals. Pakistan animal welfare society is a non profitable organization with no proper office and a care center for the animals that are being rescued. Instead of the government being aware less about animals violence, they should pay serious attention towards this because animals deserve to be treated well and a wealthy amount of donation should be given out to this society for better environmental for us also. More organizations for animals should be promoted to save innocent lives. DUA ShEIKh Karachi

Sanitation issues in Karachi WITH due respect I want to draw the attention of concerned authorities towards Karachi sewerage system. Karachi sewerage is totally damaged and there is no one to think and take care of the Karachi sewerage system. It’s been a long time since 2014 the green line project started and from that the roads and sewerage system left behind and the government is only busy in making green line but nobody in government is taking action over this big issue. People here don’t have water to drink water. The water is wasting on roads and merging in gutter lines and nobody is thinking about it. Please take action. hInA ShAmShEr Karachi

Corona panic A new respiratory coronavirus, 2019, is rapidly spreading throughout China, where authorities have imposed an unprecedented travel lockdown in 16 cities with a combined population of over 50 million. Cases have also been reported in several other countries, including Australia, France, Japan, Thailand, and the United States. As of Monday night, there were nearly 4,500 confirmed cases but our point is that how to stop panic in Pakistan. Because it’s not a deadly virus corona virus are not new in fact we have seemed them before corona virus is a large family of viruses that infect animals but now evolve and spread to humans. People should protect their self by follow the precautions don’t go in the crowd areas if people do overthink about this virus they can get anxiety and leave it on the mercy of God. God will do better for us. ArEEbA Karachi

While Delhi was burning THE so called February 24 North East Delhi violence is very unfortunate to the core. This is the first time I am writing on the controversial Indian Citizenship Amendment Act [CAA] to various English newspapers from countries outside India like Pakistan, Nepal. Initially, I had been largely hesitant to write to foreign English newspapers especially from Asian region on this Act as it should not send wrong signals across the region. But the unfortunate Delhi violence that has not only caused damage to public property but also inflicted heavy human casualties has now forced me to write this serious letter. True/agreed, there had been heavy protests against CAA across the whole of India in the first place. Yet again, such protests had been seen spilling over many parts of India, creating panic among the people. However, the way the protests have started turning has been disturbing and this unruly manner has raised many questions over communal harmony, togetherness and bond of love in the region. In fact, almost all the international media houses like CNN, BBC had started flashing the news of Delhi violence across the world. Clips of mourning after the human casualties have been really hard to digest, reminding me of recent sad demise of my father in my native district of Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu. In fact, people from all walks like Hindus, Muslims, Christians have been coexisting in my native areas like Korkai, Tuticorin, Tiruchendur, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Palayamkottai, Nagercoil, Marthandam in Tamil Nadu. P SEnthIL SArAvAnA DUrAI mumbai

Monday, 2 March, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

BliP or Bust: Coronavirus eConomiC imPaCt still in douBt PARIS

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AGENCIES

ARKETS have shuddered as the coronavirus spreads worldwide, but analysts doubt it will plunge economies into a crisis like the one that followed the 2008 Lehman Brothers investment bank failure. WHERE WILL THE MARKET SLIDE END? Stock markets held up fairly well in the first weeks of the coronavirus outbreak in China, but fell sharply when a large number of cases were reported in Italy. In one week more than half a year of gains were wiped out in a brutal swing reminiscent of the financial crisis more than a decade ago. Yet analysts note that such abrupt market corrections — a swift drop of at least 10 percent from a recent peak — have happened nearly every year over the past decade. “Drops of 10 to 20 percent, that’s nothing special,” said Alexandre Hezez, Group

Chief Investment Officer at asset manager Richelieu Gestion. But the shock wave differs from those felt in 2008, which ravaged the financial sector before paralysing the broader economy, and in 2000 when the internet bubble burst. This time, stock markets faced “an external shock,” Hezez said. “If investors do not see a political, medical and monetary response, the market could fall

lower still,” he forecast. Christian Parisot at the Aurel BCG brokerage felt however that “central bankers will keep us from arriving at that point.” AND THE REAL ECONOMY? Growth forecasts for the first quarter of 2020 and the year as a whole have been lowered by most economists, and that is based on a fairly limited impact from the virus

leading to a rebound in the second quarter. The slowdown will clearly be sharper in China. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised its growth forecast for the world’s second biggest economy down from 6.0 per cent to 5.6 per cent, and Moody’s expects it to be weaker still, at 5.2 per cent. That is certain to affect other countries, so Swiss bank Credit Suisse has trimmed its 2020 global growth forecast by 0.2 percentage points to 2.2 per cent. Countries such as Germany that export a lot to China will probably be hit hard, and some others could fall into recession. Japan is a case in point, given a drop in output already late last year, while a mini-rebound in Italy, the European country hit hardest by the virus so far, now appears to be in trouble. In 2019, Italy’s economy, the third biggest in the eurozone, grew by just 0.2 per cent. Across the Atlantic however, growth in the United States is fairly strong, owing to resilient consumer spending on the back of “solid job growth and real wage gains,”

noted Sara Johnson, director of the global economic unit at IHS Markit. In 2009, the world suffered an overall recession, with global gross domestic product (GDP) contracting by more than three per cent. COULD THINGS GET WORSE? “The longer this goes on the more people will become afraid, which will weaken confidence,” said Sylvie Matelly, deputy director of the French Institute for International Relations and Strategic Affairs. “There will be quarantines or cities blocked, and that means less economic activity and more ruptures in supply chains,” she added.Johnson felt that “the danger is that the outbreak spreads more widely and rapidly than we expected, leading to production shutdowns and travel restrictions outside of the Asia Pacific region.” While she believes that “financial markets have over-reacted to the downside risks to the global economy,” Johnson noted there is a danger “that reaction could have adverse consequences” to it, nonetheless. Matelly said that could happen if the market panic sparked runs on banks in China or other countries hit hard by the coronavirus where government finances are fragile. “That is the scenario that would lead to a very serious economic crisis,” she warned. But it’s not certain such a scenario will come to pass. “The hypothesis of a quick rebound” in the global economy has been discounted, said Christian Parisot.

Biden revives White House hopes with South Carolina victory WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Pope makes first public appearance following illness VATICAN CITY AGENCIES

Pope Francis on Sunday made his first public appearance in four days following what the Vatican has called a “slight indisposition” that forced him to cancel some audiences and activities. The 83-year-old Roman Catholic leader appeared at the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace to address thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square for his weekly Sunday noon message and blessing. It was his first public appearance since an Ash Wednesday Mass in Rome, during which he was seen coughing and sneezing. The Vatican has not specified what was ailing Francis. However, amid fears in Italy over an outbreak of coronavirus, spokesman Matteo Bruni dismissed on Friday speculation that the pope was anything more than slightly unwell. “There is no evidence that would lead to diagnosing anything but a mild indisposition,” he said. Italy is suffering the worst outbreak of coronavirus in Europe, registering more than 1,100 confirmed cases since Feb. 20. At least 29 people have died. Francis is missing a part of one lung. It was removed when he was in his early 20s in his native Buenos Aires after an illness. On Sunday afternoon, he and senior Vatican officials were due to travel to a Church residence south of Rome for their annual week-long Lenten spiritual retreat. Francis will have no official activities during the retreat.

Former vice president Joe Biden decisively won the South Carolina primary on Saturday, reviving his flagging campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and casting him as the leading rival to frontrunner Bernie Sanders. The victory was the 77-year-old Biden’s first in the race and may give him momentum going into “Super Tuesday” next week when 14 states go to the polls. “Just days ago the press and the pundits had declared this candidacy dead,” Biden told hundreds of cheering supporters at a victory rally in Columbia, the South Carolina capital. “We’ve just won and we’ve won big. We are very much alive,” he said. “You’ve launched our campaign on the path to defeating Donald Trump.” With 85 percent of the ballots counted in South Carolina, Biden had 48.5 percent of the vote. Sanders, the 78-yearold left-wing senator from Vermont, was next with around 20 percent followed by billionaire activist Tom Steyer with around

11 percent. Former South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, who has been challenging Biden for the centrist vote, had around eight percent while Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren had nearly seven percent. A South Carolina victory was seen as crucial to Biden in a state where he was counting on — and received — heavy support among African-American voters, who make up about 60 percent of the electorate. Sanders has been the clear leader in the race having won both New Hampshire and Nevada and finishing in a virtual tie in Iowa with the 38-year-old Buttigieg. ‘SLINGSHOT’: Biden finished fourth in Iowa, fifth in New Hampshire and second in Nevada and he desperately needed a win in South Carolina ahead of Super Tuesday. One-third of the delegates who formally choose the Democratic nominee at the July party convention will be up for grabs on Super Tuesday. “The biggest question is whether this will slingshot Joe Biden into victory in some Super Tuesday states,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

Sabato said Biden’s win will also increase the pressure on the other centrist candidates to drop out of the race. Steyer, who spent a whopping $23 million on advertising in South Carolina, announced following his disappointing third-place finish that he was ending his long-shot campaign for the nomination. “I can’t see a path where I can win the presidency,” Steyer said. But the other main contenders — Buttigieg, Warren,

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and billionaire Michael Bloomberg — made it clear they would stick around at least through Super Tuesday. “I’ll be the first to say that the first four contests haven’t gone exactly as I’d hoped,” Warren, who has been challenging Sanders for the progressive vote, told supporters at a campaign rally in Texas. “Super Tuesday is three days away,” she added, “and we’re looking forward to these big contests.”

Vatican opens archives on history's most controversial pope VATICAN CITY AGENCIES

The Vatican unseals the archives of history’s most contentious popes on Monday, potentially shedding light on why Pius XII stayed silent during the extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust. Two hundred researchers have already requested access to the mountain of documents, made available after an inventory that took more than 14 years for Holy See archivists to complete. Award-winning German religious historian Hubert Wolf will be in Rome on Monday, armed with six assistants and two years of funding to start exploring documents from the “private secretariat” of the late pope. Wolf, a specialist on the relationship of Pius XII with the Nazis, is anxious to discover the notes of the his 70 ambassadors — the pontiff’s eyes and ears during his time as head of the Catholic Church between 1939 and his death in 1958. There should also be records of urgent appeals for help from Jewish organisations, as well as his communi-

cations with the late US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The unsealed archives additionally cover a post-World War II era in which writers were censored and some priests hounded for suspected communist sympathies. The Vatican first published the essentials covering the Holocaust four decades ago, an 11 volume work compiled by Jesuits. But some crucial pieces are still missing, including the pope’s replies to notes and letters — for example, those about Nazi horrors. The Jesuits already published “documents the pope received about the concentration camps, but we never got to see his replies,” Wolf said in an interview. “Either they do not exist, or they are in the Vatican,” he told AFP. Historians have already examined the 12 German years of Eugenio Pacelli, the future pope’s real name which he used while posted there as the Holy See ambassador in 1917-1929 There, he witnessed the rise of Nazism, then returned to Rome to become the right-hand man of his predecessor Pius XI, elected in 1922. Past archives have revealed exchanges in which he was alerted about the extermination of European Jews once he himself became the pope.

“There is no doubt that the pope was aware of the murder of Jews,” Wolf said. “What really interests us is when he learned about it for the first time, and when he believed that information.” CRYPTIC CHRISTMAS MESSAGE: On December 24, 1942, Pius XII delivered one of history’s most debated Christmas radio messages. Buried in its long text was a reference to “hundreds of thousands of people who, without any fault of their own and sometimes for the sole reason of their nationality or race, were doomed to death or gradual extermination”. Was his message — delivered in Italian and aired just once, and which never explicitly mentioned either the Jews or Nazis — heard and understood by German Catholics? “The only ones who heard it were the Nazis,” said Wolf, noting that the radio waves were scrambled and that the pope could have spoken German — if he had really wanted to reach the German faithful. “After the war, Pius XII told a British ambassador: ‘I was very clear.’ And the ambassador will say in reply: ‘I did not understand you’,” the historian said.

Anti-graft party wins Slovakia vote haunted by journalist's murder BRATISLAVA AGENCIES

Slovak voters handed a resounding victory to the centreright, anti-graft OLaNO opposition party in Saturday’s general election, dominated by an angry backlash over the 2018 murder of a journalist probing corruption in the eurozone state. Having vowed to immediately push through anti-corruption measures when in office, OLaNO leader Igor Matovic galvanised voter outrage over the murder of Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, and the high-level graft their deaths exposed. Allegedly a hit ordered by a businessman with connections to politicians, the killings have become a lightning rod for public outrage at graft in public life. “People want us to clean up Slovakia. They want us

to make Slovakia a fair country where laws will apply to everyone,” Matovic told reporters as near full results showed his party had skyrocketed to victory. “It was the death of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova that woke up Slovakia,” he said, vowing later in the night that his administration will have “zero tolerance for corruption.” Outgoing Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini conceded defeat as near full partial results showed OLaNO outpacing his populist-left Smer-SD by six percentage points. “Congratulations to the election winner, good health, good luck,” Pellegrini told Matovic, adding “he has good marketing, but we will be interested in how he will handle his office.” OLaNO took 24.96 percent for 52 seats and could possibly clinch a majority of 77 or more in the 150-member parliament, near full results showed. Matovic said he would seek talks with the We Are Family

conservatives who scored 8.26 percent for 17 seats as well as the liberal Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party and the fellow liberal “For the People” party of ex-president Andrej Kiska — which got 13 and 12 seats respectively. The governing populist-left Smer-SD party won 18.39 percent support and 39 seats, while the far-right Our Slovakia LSNS got 17 seats. The result suggests Smer-SD lacks obvious coalition partners as it has ruled out teaming up with LSNS. Matovic meanwhile said he would not cooperate with Smer-SD. “No way. We don’t negotiate with the mafia,” Matovic said, in response to a quip from Pellegrini on the possibility of cooperation THIRSTY FOR POWER: Analysts suggest that OLaNO’s Matovic, a 46-year-old media-savvy but unpredictable politician, could become premier if he can unify the splintered opposition.

An eccentric self-made millionaire and former media boss, Matovic set up “Ordinary People and Independent Personalities — OLaNO” a decade ago. Matovic told reporters that he had agreed by phone to meet with President Zuzana Caputova on “Monday or Tuesday” and that he would begin talks with leaders of other opposition parties that made it into parliament on Sunday.

Monday, 2 March, 2020

GOvt’S dubIOuS ROLe queStIOned In PSM RevIvAL PSMC STAKEHOLDERS GROUP ALERTS SENATE BODY ABOUT GROWING LIABILITIES, DEMANDS PROBE ISLAMABAD

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GHuLaM aBBas

EMANDING an inquiry into the mismanagement and corruption in the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) from the period (2006-18), the Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC) Stakeholders Group has questioned the role of PTI government in the mills’ revival. In a letter written to the Senate’ Standing Committee on Industries and Production, the group had claimed that contrary to Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision, which he had shared prior to the general elections 2018 regarding revival/privatisation of PSM, the ruling party had done nothing during the past 17 months. Rather, the government had added over Rs56 billion in liabilities to the mills that was already facing over Rs460 billion liabilities during the 10-year period (2008-2018), the letter stated. The stakeholders group, in the written correspondence, alleged that Adviser to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production Abdul Razak Dawood was creat-

ing hurdles in the PSM’s revival plan. Dawood had compromised with the people at fault, who were involved in PSM’s losses/payables debts of over Rs460 billion during 2008-18, and were also beneficiaries (having interests in Aisha Steel, ISL, Auto Group and others) of the PSM’s closure, it was further alleged in the letter. The mills’ revival plan adopted by the MoIP was leading towards its further financial disaster, the group said and added the case was fit enough to be investigated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to identify the persons at fault and their facilitators in the power corridors. During a recent meeting of the Sen-

ate’s committee, convener of PSMC Stakeholders Group Mumrez Khan had alleged Minister Razak Dawood of facilitating the revival plan of private steel company Al-Tuwairqi Steel by providing undue gas and other facilities. However, the adviser, who was also present in the meeting, had rejected the allegations, saying he had nothing to do with the proposed revival plan of Tuwairqi as the plant was shut down even before the sitting government came to power. Dawood rejected the allegations leveled against him by the group during the meeting. In a reply to the questions raised by the group, the MoIP claimed that the stakeholders group had not

shared any revival plan of PSM, despite claims of having complete plan to run the mills in profit. Mumrez Khan, however, informed the committee that the plan was shared with the ministry multiple times but, since the adviser was not serious in reviving the mills, the ministry was going after unworkable plan. The stakeholders of the group also suggested the ministry to early reconstitute the Board of Directors (BoD) of PSM and appoint a professional management for three to five years. It also alleged that the present BoD, the adhoc management of PSM and the ministry had not initiated any measures to revive the mills or investigate the factors leading to the mill’s losses from 2006 to 2018. Keeping in view the 17 months performance of the incumbent government, it had wasted time and money, causing over RS 56 billion more liabilities to the mills with Rs120 million per day losses. The PSMC Stakeholders Group earlier had accused the previous government of Pakistan Muslin League-Nawaz of closing the mill since June 10, 2015, which was once a symbol of excellence and pride for the nation. As a result of complete shutdown of the mill, not only the employees- both retired as well serving- had fallen victims, but also the suppliers, dealers and all those having stakes in the successful operation of the mill continued to suffer immensely, the group further stated in the letter.

BUSINESS 11

OGRA reduces domestic LPG cylinder price by Rs150 The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) on Sunday reduced the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) price by Rs150 per 11.8 kilogram for domestic cylinder. A notification in this regard was issued by the authority, which says the move is aimed at providing relief to the masses. The household cylinder weighing up to 11.8kg would now cost in Rs1,530.17 as compared to its previous price of Rs1,680.21. The decrease in prices of LPG cylinders for households follows the reduction in petrol and diesel prices for the month of March. The government reduced one litre price of petrol by Rs5 to Rs111.60, and that of high speed diesel by Rs5 to 122.26. OGRA had earlier recommended a reduction in the prices of petrol and diesel. Business Desk

Govt notifies ban on onion exports amid 170 pending consignments ISLAMABAD: Almost 170 containers filled with onion and parked at the country’s ports may not be cleared for export after the Ministry of Food Security and Research issued a notification of ban on onion exports. According to the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA), millions of dollars’ worth of onion was all set to be exported tomorrow (Monday). However, after the issuance of the notification on February 29, the exports have been halted, resulting in huge losses to the exporters. Waheed Ahmed of PFVA fears loss of $2 million if the onion containers parked at the ports are not exported. According to the notification, the ban will last till May 31 this year. Earlier, the ECC had approved ban on February 19, but the same was later ratified by the federal cabinet on February 29. The exporters have demanded the ministry to allow them to export stranded 170 containers at port Earlier the PFVA had criticised the government’s decision of banning onion exports till May 31 without consulting exporters, saying it would result in major financial losses due to its short life. In a letter to Commerce Advisor Abdul Razak Dawood, the association had claimed the country had surplus quantity of onion to ensure price stability in the market and that the ban on its export would deprive them of earnings. Onion exporters had procured sizable quantities for export from the growers as per orders from foreign buyers. Following a hue and cry by the exporters, the government previously had delayed the issuance of notification for at least 10 days to facilitate them to export the consignments lying at ports. staff RepoRt

Saudi Aramco shares hit lowest since IPO, down over 2pc DUBAI: Shares of Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) hit 32.50 riyals ($8.66) in intraday trade on Sunday, the lowest since it began trading in December following a record initial public offering, as oil prices plunged amid worries about the global spread of the coronavirus. Aramco shares broke past their previous low of 32.60 riyals, but were still above their IPO price of 32 riyals. At 32.50 riyals they were down 2.55% on the day. The state-owned oil giant raised $29.4 billion in the world’s biggest IPO, by selling 1.7% of the company. aGenCies

PESHAWER: A labourer manufactures wooden boxes at his workplace at fruit marketi. i n p

Govt approves release of Rs464.7bn for development projects ISLAMABAD app

The federal government has so far authorized release of Rs464.707 billion for various ongoing and new social sector uplift projects under its Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) 2019-20, as against the total allocation of Rs701 billion. Under its development program, the government has authorized release of an

amount of Rs193.073 billion for federal ministries, Rs157.716 billion for corporations and Rs34.215 billion for special areas, according to a latest data released by the Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform. Of those allocations, the government has authorized release of Rs38.45 billion for security enhancement in the country. An amount of Rs77.655 billion has also been authorized to be released for the

blocks managed by the Finance Division under the government’s 10-year development program. For the Higher Education Commission, the government has authorized an amount of Rs22.38 billion out of its total allocation of Rs29 billion, while Rs229.470 million have been released for the Pakistan Nuclear Energy Authority against Rs301.48 million allocations in the development budget. Under the current year’s development

agenda, the government has authorized release of Rs145.009 billion for the National Highway Authority (NHA) against its allocations of Rs154.96 billion. Under annual development agenda, the government has also released Rs10.143 billion for the Railways Division out of total allocation of Rs16 billion; Rs6.087 billion for the Interior Division; and Rs7.53 billion for the National Health Services, Regulations, and

Coordination Division. The Revenue Division received Rs4.26 billion, whereas the Cabinet Division received Rs30.175 billion for which an amount of Rs39.986 billion had been allocated for the year 2019-20. The government also released Rs21.167 billion for Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) block and other projects out of its allocations of Rs27.26 billion and Rs13.047 billion for Gilgit Baltistan (block and other projects).

Monday, 2 March, 2020

12 BUSINESS

Tough decisions rescued country from bankruptcy: Hammad LAHORE TLTP

Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar on Sunday claimed that the government had taken difficult decisions to save the country from bankruptcy. Talking to reporters in the provincial capital, the federal minister said the economy would now take off towards prosperity. He said the PTI government had faced severe economic issues when it came to power and was forced to take strict decisions despite its reluctance. “If we have had not taken those decisions, the situation could be more than worst,” he said and added the government had brought the economy out of an intensive care unit and soon it would witness growth. Azhar said in the past, the downtrodden segments of the society were not provided with relief through welfare and development projects, adding their top priority was to develop under privileged areas of the country that were once neglected. “Earlier billions of rupees were diverted towards projects in the developed areas to facilitate the privileged class,” he claimed. About bringing the country out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, the minister said Pakistan was placed on the list in February 2018 and since after coming into power, they were able to implement on 14 points out of 28-point implementation plan. He said currently the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) was independent in its working contrary to the past practice. “The inflation has witnessed a decline and if this trend continues the interest rate could also come down,” the minister said. Azhar said the prices of petroleum products had been reduced to provide a relief to the masses, adding prices of commodities like onion, tomatoes and flour had already witnessed a sharp decline. He hoped the prices of other essential commodities would also be brought down in coming days.

GovT To briDGE Fbr sHorTFall THrouGH non-Tax rEvEnuE, oTHEr lEviEs

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SHAHzAD PARAcHA

HE Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) government has planned to bridge the shortfall, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) currently faces, through non-tax revenue and other taxes. Sources said the government had estimated to collect Rs112 billion from other taxes, such as Rs80 billion from petroleum development levy (PDL); Rs25 billion from the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC); Rs2 billion from mobile handset levy (MHL), while Rs5 billion from the Natural Gas Development Surcharge (GDS) in the remaining period of current fiscal year. The bureau had collected Rs158 billion against the yearly estimate of Rs267 billion from non-FBR tax revenue from the period, July to December, they added. Sources said the government had enhanced PDL on petroleum products with Rs7.5 per litre on diesel, Rs4.75 on petrol, Rs6.33 on kerosene oil and Rs1.94 on light diesel from March onward. With the imposition of PDL, the total levy on

diesel per liter had reached to Rs25.5, petrol Rs19.75, kerosene oil Rs13.33 and LDO Rs4.94, they added. The government would be able to collect around Rs300 billion from PDL on petroleum products to fill the revenue collection gap, sources said. Besides, sources said the Ministry of Finance also had estimated to collect Rs894 billion from non-tax revenue. The government had collected Rs718 billion in the first six months of FY20 with breakup of Rs110bn from surplus of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority; Rs2 billion from regulatory authorities; Rs12 billion from markup; Rs27 billion from interest collected form the public sector enterprises; Rs26 billion from dividend of Public Sector Enterprises; Rs425 billion (State Bank of Pakistan’s profits); Rs6 billion (Defence); Rs11 billion (foreign grants); Rs11 billion (UNO receipts); Rs11 billion (passport fee), Rs3 billion (windfall levy on crude oil), Rs1 billion from petroleum levy on LPG; Rs7 billion from discount retained on local crude oil; Rs43 billion from royalties on oil gas; and Rs17 bil-

lion from other non-tax revenue. Sources further said the PDL on petroleum products had been enhanced to increase FBR revenue, which was recorded at Rs2,718 during the first eight months against the target of Rs2,926 billion. They claimed the government had assured the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that it would try hard to meet the revised revenue target of Rs5,238 billion, which seemed impossible An upward collection under PDL and some other measures could help FBR to achieve maximum Rs5,000 billion revenue during FY20, sources further said. They said FBR was also considering to give accounts freezing powers to the field commissioners as in a recent meeting held under the chair of the FBR’s acting chairperson, the commissioners were directed to exercise their authority to generate revenues from industry and banks, which were not paying tax as per their original capacity. Earlier, it was reported that FBR had requested IMF to further downward the revenue target to Rs4,800bn, which was apparently rejected.

New POL taxes may burden masses with Rs25bn

Dubai’s Emirates Group sees slowdown due to coronavirus: document DUBAI AGENCIES

Dubai’s Emirates Group has seen a “measurable slowdown” in business due to the coronavirus outbreak and has asked staff to take paid and unpaid leave, according to an internal email seen by Reuters. Emirates Group, a state-owned holding company that counts Emirates airline among its assets, had more than 100,000 employees, including more than 21,000 cabin crew and 4,000 pilots, at end-March 2019, the end of its last financial year. “A particular challenge for us right now is dealing with the impact of the COVID-19,” the email to staff said, using the name of the disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. “We’ve seen a measurable slowdown in business across our brands, and a need for flexibility in the way we work.”

ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI

The federal government has almost made a ‘record increase’ in the ratio of taxes imposed on the petroleum products, which in result has added additional burden of approximately Rs25 billion per month on the masses who are already burdened with inflation and multiple taxes. Sources said the government actually hadn’t provided any relief to the masses in recently announced cut in

per litre prices of petroleum products if the reduction was to be compared with a decline in global oil prices. They said the government had reduced per litre prices of petroleum products by Rs 5 instead of Rs 15/litre, adding the government had fixed petroleum levy (PL) on high speed diesel at Rs25 per litre, which had failed to provide relief to the masses. Levy on petrol had been increased by Rs3.5 per litre. If the taxes weren’t increased, petrol price could have witnessed a decrease of Rs 9 per litre.

Likewise, instead of providing full relief to people in line with a decrease in global oil prices—which amounts to Rs13 per litre— the government had imposed an additional tax of Rs6 per litre on kerosene oil. Furthermore, the government was likely to earn Rs60 billion per month from various sorts of taxes already imposed on petroleum products, sources added. The sources further said the government had increased taxes on petroleum products ostensibly to meet the demand of the International Monetary

Funds (IMF). They said Prime Minister Imran Khan had earlier advised his team to provide up to Rs 15 per litre relief in the prices of petroleum products. However, Adviser to the PM on Finance Hafeez Sheikh managed to convince the premier to increase the taxes on petroleum products and avoid ‘mini budget’, besides $450 million dollar tranche from IMF. The PL on HSD was never imposed above Rs 8 per litre in the country's history, sources said.

Women financial inclusion: Pakistan still has a long way to go By ARIBA SHAHID Speakers of a session titled ‘Financial Inclusion And Women Empowerment’ underlined on Sunday the need to strengthen Pakistani women with more financial autonomy and equal status in working environment. The session, sponsored by Habib Bank Limited (HBL), was held at the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF). Panelists included Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Reza Baqir, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar, Adviser to the Prime Minister Imran Khan on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Ishrat Hussain, President Habib Bank Muhammad Aurangzeb, and CEO/ Managing Director of Pak Brunei Investment Co Ltd, Ayesha Aziz. Minister Asad Umer, speaking on the occasion, said the State Bank of Pakistan needed to revise its strategy for inclusion of

more women. He said the central bank had initially aimed at 15 million unique accounts for women, adding the target was later brought up to 20 million that still needed to be revisited. The minister commented on how policymaking could prove to be a gamechanger in terms of financial inclusion and help SBP in increasing the number of women bank accounts. He said through the Kafalat programme, the payments would be made to women while using digital mobile accounts, adding approximately 0.85 million women would get accounts through the programme. He informed the audience about the government’s initiatives of Kamyab Jawan and Ehsaas Programme. He said skill development, education, and provision of assets were three ways for women to be more empowered.

Umer asked women to move beyond the traditional skills of beauty parlor, knitting, and sewing. Speaking on the occasion SBP Governor Reza Baqir referred to leading women in the world of finance such as Christine Lagarde and Kristalina Georgieva. He pointed out that only 17pc women in Pakistan possessed bank accounts as compared to 50 per cent ratio in countries like Pakistan. Baqir said people often believed that a number of women with bank accounts in Pakistan was less due to regional culture or on religious grounds, but nearly 64pc of women in South Asia, 50pc in Saudi Arabia, and 90pc in Iran held bank accounts with Muslim countries averaging at 60pc. He underlined the need for financial inclusion of women. Dr Ishrat Hussain stressed the need for

inclusive environments for women and talked about how he created daycare centers at workplaces to encourage women to continue with their careers and not allow childbirth to act as a deterrence. “It's about patriarchal forces, but also patriarchal attitudes,” said Ayesha Aziz. She commented on how the workplace ecosystem was designed for men and recalled when she had started working she was the first to have taken maternity leave. Speaking about differences in salaries, Aziz said while blaming the patriarchy alone was not enough as women at workplaces lacked psychological empowerment to demand more. “They don’t fight for the promotion they strongly deserve. This lack of confidence is fading with the younger generation being more vocal than men,” she opined. Aziz commented on how the bias was

likely to stay unless women made it to the top, similar to how it was on a global level. Speaking about HBL’s efforts to make a change, HBL President Muhammad Aurangzeb commented on how financial inclusion didn’t just mean employment for women but also entailed women having their own accounts owing to financial freedom. He said HBL had added five million women account holders through HBL Konnect, hoping to add a further 10 million this year. Aurangzeb said a woman should have been at his position as women had a potential to lead. During session, all panelists commented on the lack of women representation in the panel. The panel that was set to discuss women empowerment comprised entirely men until an outrage on twitter had resulted in Ayesha Aziz’s addition to the panelists.

Nishat Linen celebrated the success of their S/S’20 collection 2020 Nishat Linen hosted a meet & greet at their Dolmen Mall Clifton outlet in Karachi which was heartily attended by a considerable number of media personalities, fashion bloggers, influencers and journalists.

Open Challenge Of Bhaee Of lahOre By KauKaB Jahan

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HOLLYWOOD BOLLYWOOD

hen it comes to the use of social media, Pakistanis are the ones who take it as a tool for expression and post whatever they want to say without checking the facts. But whenever it is used for a proper marketing strategy, it is thoughtful work and needs too much intelligence to how to design a plan. The recent example of the proper use of marketing strategy is #Bhaeehazirhai by Ali Zafar who used the social media to promote his upcoming song for the ongoing PSL. he has just released just a hint of his tune comprised of a typical Punjabi bhangra song, and the whole nation is in euphoria waiting for the full song. here he put the tune on his official social media, there was break out of the virus and everybody, especially youth (whom he has specifically targeted) seemed affected the most and obeying his request from his followers to send the

videos of their dance on the tune on a specified email address. he has also promised them to incorporate these dances in the video of song. Social media since then has been trending with the hashtag #Bhaehazirhai and people are posting their dance moves on the tune also on their facebook, instagram and twitter accounts. Interestingly it is still the myth the trending hashtag is actually the title of his song or just a promotional slogan. It all started when one of the singer of the current official song of PSL, Tayyar hain, Ali Azmat in a talk show with Wasim Badami, without saying any name, allegedly accused Ali Zafar to use some bloggers to undermine the song which also features Arif Lohar, haroon Rashid and Asim Azhar besides Ali Azmat. Ali took a flight from there and used this baseless criticism in his favour and instantly announced his special song for PSL on his social al media accounts. And rest is the history which has set the example of what is the correct use of marketing through social media, and how to convert disapproval into an opportunity. It was designed so promptly, that some social media users thought it a scripted strategy. Bhaeehazirhai, started with a promotional strategy then became a campaign, and now it has become a phenomenon which has taken the whole nation by storm. Furthermore, the full song with its video has yet to be released which means “Picture Abhi Baqi hai Dost”,

Brie Larson, Gal Gadot ’s viral pics have fans demanding a Wonder WomanCaptain Marvel crossover enough of Marvel Vs DC, fans now wants Marvel-meets-DC. And now, Captain Marvel herself, Brie Larson, has given a fillip to the demand by retweeting goofy photos that shows her ham it up with Wonder Woman, Gal Gadot. If that’s not a sign to powerful suits, we don’t know what is! Larson had earlier caused a mini upheaval in the geek world when she retweeted fan art that showed Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman goofing it up. She had captioned it ‘Mood’ as fans said it would be “so cool” if it really happened. It seems Larson turned that fan art into reality when she met Gadot at the Academy Awards. “Make love, not war,” both actors captioned the photo. As the two laugh at the camera, Larson is choking Gadot while she pulls at her earring. In another photo, the two hug and pose. natalie Portman, who was also a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, commented, “Legends”.

GEORGE WASHINGTON LOVED EXPLORING CAVES. Mehak, Fatima and Uroosa

Minna Tariq, Dr Alina Nasir and Mariyam De Rizwan

THE TV REMOTE IS THE DIRTIEST ITEM IN A TYPICAL HOUSEHOLD, HOSPITAL, OR HOTEL ROOM.

Noor e Sehar, Maliha Rehman and Anila Murtaza

Sara, Rehab and Zainab

Akshay Kumar donates Rs 1.5 crores for ‘first transgender home in India’ If there’s one Bollywood actor who doesn’t shy away from doing whatever he can to uplift the society, it’s Akshay Kumar. Right from supporting Bharat Ke Veer, to even taking care of his Mission Mangal director Jagan Shakti’s medical bills during an emergency, he’s always there. And yet again, he’s come out to support another good initiative. Filmmaker Raghava Lawrence took to Facebook on Sunday to announce that he is building a transgender home in Chennai, claiming it to be the “first time in India”, for which Akshay has donated Rs 1.5 crores. Raghava wrote in the post that it was during their film Laxmmi Bomb’s shoot that Akshay got to know about his initiative to help the community. Raghava told hT, “During the making of my film Kanchana, I had met transgenders, and listened to their painful stories, how they were suddenly orphaned, even when it’s how God made them. They would have to sleep at railway stations, (and other such random places). That’s when I thought about this shelter, for which I bought a land in my native place in Chennai, I was explaining it to Akshay sir one day, and he asked suddenly ‘can I build this building?’

THE HERCULES BEETLE CAN GROW BIG ENOUGH TO COVER AN ADULT HUMAN HAND.

Salman Khan celebrates 30 million followers on Instagram with an Andaz Apna Apna reference As the number of his followers on Instagram hit the 30 million mark, actor Salman Khan on Saturday took to social media platform to express gratitude towards his fans. The actor, who only follows 8 people on the social media platform, shared a video of himself where he is seen thanking his fans with folded hands and then saluting them. “Ouii ma 30 million! Thank u all!” the actor wrote in the caption. ‘Ouii maa’ was a phrase used by Salman’s character in Andaz Apna Apna that saw him collaborating with Aamir Khan, Raveena Tandon and Karisma Kapoor. A flop when it released, the film is now considered a cult comedy with fans often hoping for a remake. The 54-year-old actor was last seen in blockbuster hit Dabangg 3 which is the third installation of his widely-acclaimed franchise. he will be next seen in Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, which he is co-producing with Sohail Khan and Atul Agnihotri under the banners Salman Khan Films, Sohail Khan Productions and Reel Life Production.

Monday, 2 March, 2020

14 SPORTS

Nadal cruises past Fritz to wiN acapulco title acapulco

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Agencies

ORLD number two Rafael Nadal captured his first ATP Tour title of 2020, easily defeating unseeded Taylor Fritz in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, in the final of the Mexico Open on Saturday. The 33-year-old Nadal, playing in his first tournament since losing in the quarterfinals at the Australian Open last month, didn't drop a set all week and improved to 19-2 all-time at this event. He nabbed his third Mexico Open title to go with victories in 2013 and 2005. "I couldn’t be happier. I played a great event from the beginning to the end," Nadal

said. "Acapulco was the first big title that I won in my career, so to be able to stay here after 15 years is amazing. "I can't thank enough the people who make me feel at home every single time." Nadal wasted no time figuring out Fritz's game in the first career meeting between the two. The 19-time Grand Slam winner made eight unforced errors and needed just one ace but it came in the final game of the second set to get to championship point. Nadal closed it out with a blistering serve that handcuffed Fritz and gave Nadal his 85th career title. Nadal ceded the world number one ranking to Novak Djokovic after the Australian Open, where the Serb won a record eighth title. Nadal could have regained the top spot

with a win in Acapulco, but he also needed Djokovic to fail to reach the final in this week's Dubai event. Djokovic extended his win streak to 21 matches by beating Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 earlier Saturday to lift the Dubai trophy. Nadal won the final eight points to take the first set. He seized control by breaking Fritz's serve in the ninth game to go up 5-4. He then served for the set, winning four straight points. On set point he hammered a serve which Fritz barely got back. That set up an overhead smash for Nadal which he put away nicely. Nadal broke Fritz twice in the second set, including the fifth game to go up 3-2. He broke Fritz again to take a 5-4 lead and then served out the match.

Fleetwood seizes one-stroke lead at PGA Honda Classic Florida Agencies

Britain's Tommy Fleetwood birdied four of the last six holes, including two spectacular birdie putts from beyond 40 feet, to grab a one-stroke lead after Saturday's third round of the US PGA Honda Classic. The 29-year-old Englishman, runnerup at the 2018 US Open and 2019 British Open, fired a three-under par 67 to finish on five-under 205 after 54 holes at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. Fleetwood, who began the day three strokes off the lead, made six birdies against three bogeys on a wild day where he was the only player to shoot a round under par in the final eight groups. "It's funny, really, how tough certain shots can play," Fleetwood said. "There are just so many factors on a golf course. You can only hit golf shots and see where they play." American Brendan Steele, the 36-hole leader who was three ahead of Fleetwood when the day began, fired a 71 to stand second on 206 with England's 46-year-old Lee Westwood and 42-year-old Luke Donald both on 207 after 71s Saturday.

"I didn't have my A-game today," said Westwood, seeking his first US PGA win since 2010. "Struggled with my game a little bit. Stayed patient and ground it out. I don't think I did too much damage." Fleetwood dropped the ball within six feet at the par-3 sixth and made the birdie putt, then suffered a three-putt bogey from 85 feet at the par-3 seventh. He answered

wilder exercises rematch clause for third fight with Fury

with a five-foot birdie at the ninth but needed four shots to find the 10th green and took a bogey. His closing charge began with a "lovey putt" for birdie from 14 feet at 13, followed by a monster 45footer for birdie at 14. "Just looking to lag that one up close. Wasn't expecting it to go in," Fleetwood said. "Bit of a bonus there."

After finding sand with his first two shots at the par-3 15th, Fleetwood blasted out and sank a testy 10-foot bogey putt. "The putt at 15 for bogey was big," Fleetwood said. It bolstered his confidence heading to the finish and at the par-3 17th he rolled in a 48-foot birdie putt. "At 17, again, another bonus one in there, just to walk it in," Fleetwood said. On the par-5 18th, Fleetwood became only the day's seventh player to reach the green in two, then rolled a 44-foot eagle putt to two feet and tapped in for birdie. Fleetwood, a five-time European Tour winner who is seeking his first US PGA title, has his first 54-hole lead on the US tour. WESTWOOD CONFIDENT: Steele birdied two of the first three holes but back-to-back bogeys at four and five and again at 10 and 11 were more than a 12foot birdie putt at 17 could offset. Westwood made three bogeys and two birdies in the first seven holes, then grinded out back nine pars with a birdie at 12 and a bogey at 16 after his 6-iron from 200 yards landed short and left of the green. "I wasn't as prepared as I'm used to when I pulled back on the ball," Westwood said of his round.

Birhanu wins for second year running at virus-hit Tokyo marathon Tokyp

New york

Agencies

Agencies

Dethroned world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has exercised his rematch clause and will fight Tyson Fury a third time, according to media reports on Saturday. BT Sport, citing promoters Bob Arum and Frank Warren, and Yahoo Sports, reported Wilder had officially exercised his contractual rematch clause and will take on Fury for a third time later this year. The news comes a week after Britain's Fury stopped Wilder in the seventh round of their heavyweight title rematch in Las Vegas. Despite clamour for a unification fight between Fury and fellow Briton Anthony Joshua, Wilder was widely expected to exercise his contractual right for a rematch -- likely to take place by July. In a video message posted on social media on late Friday, Wilder promised to return "in a few months." "I will rise again," Wilder stated. "I will be back. We will rise like a phoenix from the ashes and regain the title.

Birhanu Legese of Ethiopia won the virus-hit Tokyo marathon reduced from a mass participation event of 38,000 runners to just elite athletes on Sunday because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The race, which doubled up as an trial for Japanese athletes hoping to run in their home Tokyo Olympics later this year, was limited to 200 participants including wheelchair racers. Legese won his second successive Tokyo marathon in 2hr 4min 15sec with Bashir Abdi of Belgium second in 2:04.49 followed by Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia 2:04:51. "I'm very happy," said Legese, who crossed the line 33 seconds quicker than when winning last year. "The time is good, although I'd thought I would be able to run faster. "But today was a bit windy and my pace in the early stage of the race was not very good, so I accept it," he said. Lonah Chemtai Salpeter of Israel

won the women's race in 2:17.45 ahead of Ethiopian runners Birhane Dibaba and Sutume Asefa Kebede in 2:18:35 and 2:20:30 respectively. The Tokyo marathon is one of the biggest sporting events to be affected by the coronavirus in Japan, with the Olympic Games opening ceremony less than five months away. Last week, the International Tennis Federation said Japan's home Davis Cup tie against Ecuador in Miki next weekend will be played behind closed doors. The Japanese Football Association has postponed all top-flight J-League matches until March 15. The Interna-

tional Olympic Committee said last week it was "fully committed" to holding the 2020 Games in Tokyo as planned, despite the widening new coronavirus outbreak. The viral outbreak across Japan and dozens of other countries has fuelled concerns about the Summer Games, which open on July 24. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stepped up national measures to contain the virus, calling on organisers of large events to consider cancelling or delaying them. Disruption caused by the virus has affected Olympic qualifying in several sports, including football, boxing, badminton, handball.

india's badminton players urge extension of olympic qualifying MuMbai Agencies

Indian badminton star Saina Nehwal on Sunday urged the sport's world body to extend its Olympic qualification period as the spread of the coronavirus forces the cancellation or postponement of competitions. The German Open, which was to be held between March 3 and 8, has been cancelled while the China Masters and Polish Open have been postponed and dropped from the Olympic qualifying process. The Badminton World Federation has refused to extend its qualification deadline from April 28 for the Tokyo Games, which kicks off in July. Nearly 3,000 people have died and about 87,000 infected worldwide since the virus was first detected late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. "It will be unfair for most of the players who are really close to qualifying for Olympics 2020," Nehwal, the first Indian badminton player to win an Olympic medal with a bronze at the 2012 London Games, tweeted. Her husband Parupalli Kashyap, who also represents India, said he was concerned that qualification events were being cut. The loss of tournaments poses problems for many players including two-time Olympic champion Lin Dan, who needs a rapid rise up the rankings to win a place on the Chinese team. "We all had seven events starting from Spain Masters until the Singapore Open and few have the Asian Champs too," Kashyap wrote on Twitter. "It will be completely unfair for so many athletes who are on the borderline of qualification at this moment... I hope all the athletes have a fair chance to qualify for the Olympics." The top 16 players who make it to the Tokyo Games will be decided through their performances at coming tournaments, including the All England Open (March 11-15) and the India Open (March 24-29).

Five Serie A games o as coronavirus brings chaos to Italian sport roMe Agencies

Five matches in Italy's Serie A, including the heavyweight duel between champions Juventus and Inter Milan, were postponed on Saturday due to the spread of the coronavirus. Sunday's clash pitting Juventus and third-placed Inter in Turin was among those fixtures to be called off and rearranged for May 13. It had originally been scheduled to be played behind closed doors. The decisions also mean the Italian Cup final, initially set for May 13, has been pushed back to the fol-

lowing week on Wednesday, May 20. Juventus also announced that they are temporarily suspending the activities of their Under-23 squad after the team had played a third division fixture against Pianese who have several players affected by coronavirus. "The reason for this decision is the appearance of new cases of COVID-19 in recent hours among players of US Pianese that the Bianconeri faced on February 23," the club said in a statement. Juventus said that "six days after the match, the Bianconeri players showed no symptoms but remain

under medical supervision". However, the team will not practice until further notice. Four Pianese players have now tested positive for coronavirus. On Saturday, it was revealed that the number of cases of the new coronavirus in Italy had exceeded 1,000 with the death toll rising by eight to 29 in the past 24 hours. The number of cases has reached 1,128 since the start of the epidemic a week ago, up from 888 on Friday. The decision to postpone the five Serie A games had been taken in response to the "exceptional circumstances concerning protection of public health and security", the Italian league said.

HARD HIT: Lazio, meanwhile, did play on Saturday and moved top of Serie A with a 2-0 victory over Bologna. First-half goals from Luis Alberto and Joaquin Correa sent Lazio two points clear of Juventus and extended their unbeaten league run to 21 matches. Bologna had two second-half goals disallowed following VAR reviews. Lazio have played a game more than Juventus while Inter, who are eight points adrift, have two matches in hand on the leaders after their fixture with Sampdoria last weekend was also postponed. That was one of four games

cancelled. Two of those fixtures -Hellas Verona v Cagliari and Torino against Parma -- have already been rescheduled to March 11. But Inter v Sampdoria and Atalanta at home to Sassuolo have yet to be given a new date. Inter are also still involved in the Europa League, where they face Getafe at home on March 12 with the return on March 19 in Spain. On Thursday, their last 16 game against the Bulgarians of Ludogorets was played behind closed doors at the San Siro. Antonio Conte's team also face Napoli this Thursday in the Italian Cup semi-final second leg in

Naples, a region not currently affected by the measures introduced to counter the spread of the virus in the country. Napoli did play Saturday, beating Torino 2-1 thanks to goals from defenders Kostas Manolas and Giovanni Di Lorenzo. It was a fifth win in six games for Gennaro Gattuso's team who remain in sixth place in the table. Italian sport has been hit hard by the spread of the coronavirus. A Six Nations rugby match between Italy and Ireland in Dublin on March 7 has been called off, and the alpine skiing World Cup Finals -- due to take place in Italy next month -- will be held without any fans on the slopes.

Monday, 2 March, 2020

SPORTS 15

PSL 2020: Karachi KingS defeat iSLamabad United by 5 wicKetS raWalPindi

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Agencies

NBEATEN half-centuries by Luke Ronchi and Shadab Khan wound up being in vain for Islamabad United as Alex Hales' own rapid fifty chasing a target of 184 propelled the Karachi Kings to a five-wicket win with eight balls to spare. Ronchi and Shadab added an unbeaten 106 for the fourth wicket to end Islamabad's innings, and then maintained early momentum in the Karachi chase when Babar Azam was run out without facing a ball taking on Shadab's arm at backward point in the first over of the reply. But in a way it backfired for Islamabad because it brought Hales to the crease, who teamed with Sharjeel in a ferocious stand, adding 58 together off just 27 balls to put Karachi in command. Sharjeel was the aggressor, turning on the KARACHI accelerator in the fifth KINGS 187 FOR 5 over against Faheem Ashraf when he clob(HALES 52, SHARJEEL 38, bered a pair of pulls DELPORT 38) BEAT over backward square leg for sixes in the ISLAMABAD UNITED 183 FOR But by that stage space of three balls. there was little 3 (RANCHI 85*, SHADAB Sharjeel was evenwork left to do. 54*) BY FIVE WICKETS tually given out via DRS One last brief hiccup on 38 in the sixth over came via the run out of when replays revealed his atIftikhar Ahmed for 1, but tempted upper cut to a Rumman Chadwick Walton and Imad Raees slower ball was gloved on the Wasim were largely unfazed during way through to Ronchi diving forward. their unbeaten 48-run stand to close out But again momentum shifted quickly the match. Wasim blasted Ashraf for back to Karachi as Cameron Delport back-to-back sixes over square leg to picked up the slack from where Shar- start the 19th over to bring the equation jeel left off, crunching three sixes in his down to two off 10 balls. A single to 38 off 28 balls during a 64-run stand level the scores was followed by a four with Hales. struck by Walton over cover to clinch The pair got out in back-to-back victory. overs in identical fashion, bashing a six TURNING POINT: Islamabad could before getting out on the very next ball. not contain their excitement in the field

TODAY’S MATCHES VS 7:00 PM ZaLmi

RAWALPINDI

Karachi KingS

mendis, de Silva help Sri Lanka to 307 in third Odi

when Shadab's athletic charge from backward point along with a sidearm whip from 12 yards pinged the striker's stumps with Azam inches short of his ground in the first over of the chase. The run out was partly a consequence of Azam trying to take pressure off Sharjeel by calling for a tight run to get Sharjeel off strike after he had already gone scoreless in his first three deliveries. But rather than get mentally bogged down by the run out even further, Sharjeel responded in extremely positive fashion. His assault on Ashraf in the fifth over flipped momentum firmly back towards Karachi and his innings inspired Delport to follow suit. STAR OF THE DAY: Hales may have

been overshadowed by both Sharjeel and Delport in his half-century stands with them, scoring at a slower rate than either. However, he lasted longer at the crease and in the process brought up his maiden PSL half-century. He reached the landmark off 29 balls in style too, driving the spin of Ahmed Safi Abdullah over long-off for six. In addition to his fifty, Hales was also superb in the field. Perhaps his most underrated contribution towards receiving Player-of-the-Match honours was his sliding catch taken after charging forward about 25 yards from longoff to snare the wicket of Rizwan Hussain, who was looking very ominous having already struck two fours

New Zealand bowling 'pack' leave Kohli's India reeling at 90-6 ChristChurCh Agencies

New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult said his side's "pack" mentality had left India reeling a day two of the second Test on which 16 wickets fell including another cheap dismissal for Virat Kohli in Christchurch on Sunday. At stumps India led by just 97 lead with only four wickets remaining and three days to play. Kohli's side dismissed New Zealand for 235 to take a seven-run first innings lead, but they stuttered to 90 for six at stumps with Boult taking three for 12 off nine overs. "The bowlers obviously pitched the ball up nicely and got rewards seeing the ball move around like it did. I feel we're in a decent position," Boult said. "We're all enjoying hunting out there as a pack, getting the ball to move around, and I think the bowling unit is very clear about how we're trying to target the opposition." The tourists were left to rue their inability to remove tailenders when New Zealand's last three wickets put on 82, led by a pol-

INDIA 242 AND 90 FOR 6 (BOULT 3-12) LEAD NEW ZEALAND 235 (LATHAM 52, JAMIESON 49, SHAMI 4-81, BUMRAH 362) BY 97 RUNS

ished 49 from Kyle Jamieson. With a small first-innings advantage India needed to build a substantial total for New Zealand to chase but they went off script from the start with Mayank Agarwal out for three in the second over.

Prithvi Shaw followed for 14 and at 26 for two, with India needing a win to square the series, the opportunity was ripe for a captain's knock from Kohli. But on 14, a full delivery from Colin de Grandhomme cut back into his

pads and he was gone. "It was a good feeling to see the back of him," Boult said of Kohli's dismissal. "Obviously he's a big player for them and we were just try to put enough pressure on him, keep him quiet and it was nice to see him make a few errors." LATE-ORDER RUN SPREE: The 31-year-old, who came to New Zealand as the world's top-ranked batsman, has scored only 2, 19, 3 and 14 in the Series. Ajinkya Rahane was bowled for nine, Cheteshwar Pujara went for 24 and Umesh Yadav for one in the last six overs of the day. After New Zealand resumed the day at 63 without loss the combined efforts of Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Ravindra Jadeja has seen them slump to 153 for seven, before Jamieson, in his second Test, underscored his allround credentials having taken five wickets in India's first innings. Colin de Grandhomme with 26 and Neil Wagner's 21 were the other key contributors in the late run spree with Wagner's dismissal the result of an exceptional one-handed catch by a leaping Jadeja at square leg.

Pallekele Agencies

Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva smashed halfcenturies as Sri Lanka posted 307 in the third one-day international against West Indies on Sunday. Mendis top-scored with 55 while De Silva hit 51 after Sri Lanka -- enjoying an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the three-match series -- elected to bat first in Kandy. Paceman Alzarri Joseph claimed four wickets as Sri Lanka were bowled out in 50 overs. Avishka Fernando and skipper Dimuth Karunaratne gave the hosts a brisk start with a 60-run opening stand before the West Indies struck. Joseph got Fernando caught behind for 28, and spinner Roston Chase caught and bowled Karunaratne for 44. Kusal Perera, who made 44, and Mendis then rebuilt the innings during their 89-run stand to take the attack to the opposition. The in-form Mendis, who hit a century in his team's thrashing of West Indies on Wednesday, completed his 17th ODI fifty before falling to Joseph. Fast bowler Sheldon Cottrell bowled former captain Angelo Mathews for 12, but the rest of the batsmen kept up the charge. De Silva, who completed his fifty in just 45 balls with a boundary off Jason Holder, and Thisara Perera put on 64 runs for the sixth wicket. Joseph broke the stand with the wicket of De Silva and sent T. Perera back to the pavilion for 38, but the damage had already been done.

South Africa, England power into T20 World Cup semi-finals london Agencies

Laura Wolvaardt smacked a crucial 53 as South Africa whipped Pakistan to make only their second women's Twenty20 World Cup semi-finals Sunday, where they were joined by former champions England who swept past the West Indies. Proteas captain Dane van Niekerk won the toss and opted to bat on a slow track at Sydney Showgrounds, with her team making a competitive 136 for six, boosted by Wolvaardt's late fireworks. In reply Pakistan, missing captain Bismah Maroof who was ruled out of the tournament on Saturday with a broken thumb, could only manage 119 for five. "I'm really happy, but have to give credit

to Pakistan, they gave it a massive go and kept coming at us," said van Niekerk. "It was an incredible game to be a part of," she added, while paying tribute to Wolvaardt. "It's only her third time batting at five, she usually bats at the top, and to display her skills like that, she got us the winning total." South Africa have won three from three in Group B -- including a six-wicket humbling of England and a 113-run thumping of Thailand -- to make a second T20 semi-final following their efforts in 2014. England, 2009 champions and runners up at the last tournament, secured their place with a comfortable 46-run win over the West Indies, courtesy of fine bowling and a battling 57 from Natalie Sciver. India are already through from Group A,

with defending champions Australia playing New Zealand on Monday to determine who gets the last berth. The dangerous Lizelle Lee, who smashed a century against Thailand, immediately went on the attack as she opened the South African innings. But pace spearhead Diana Baig bowled a beautiful outswinger and she got an edge to Sidra Nawaz behind the stumps in a big breakthrough for Pakistan. Baig struck again with van Niekerk gone for three to leave South Africa at 17 for two. Mignon du Preez (17) and Marizanne Kapp (31) steaded the ship, then Wolvaardt played what proved to be a critical knock. She carved out a high-quality 53 from 36 balls, including fours off the final three deliveries.

Pakistan made a brisk start, whacking a quick 18 before Shabnim Ismail removed Muneeba Ali in a rare T20 wicket-maiden. Omaima Sohail lasted just three balls before being run out in a comical mix-up with stand-in skipper Javeria Khan, then the dangerous Nida Dar departed for three. A desperately unlucky Khan was batting beautifully in her 100th T20 when she was run out for 31. Needing 58 off the last five overs, Aliya Riaz (39 not out) and Iram Javed (17 not out) did their best but were denied by tight bowling. In the later game, England won the toss and powered to a competitive 143 for five, with the West Indies ending on a paltry 97. "It was just very professional, we knew we had to keep it simple and that's what we

did today," said England captain Heather Knight. "We've been playing knockout cricket from the second game and we've reacted very well. Hopefully we can carry that forward." It didn't start well for England with Tammy Beaumont trapped lbw on the fourth ball, but Danni Wyatt put on 50 for the next wicket with Sciver before she was caught for 29. Knight and Sciver kept the scoreboard ticking over with quick singles until the skipper was run out for 17. Sciver brought up her third half-century of the tournament before being dismissed an over from the end, with Amy Jones making a late 23-run cameo. The West Indies made slow progress in the run chase and disaster struck when dangerwoman Stefanie Taylor was stretchered off in agony, seemingly with a groin strain, on 15, and it proved to be pivotal. Shemaine Campbelle was bowled by Sarah Glenn for 10 the next ball and they never recovered.

Monday, 2 March, 2020

NEWS

afghan President ghani rejects taliban Prisoner release clause in us deal

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AGENCIES

fghanistan President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday that a seven-day partial truce would continue but he rejected a key component of a new US-Taliban deal that calls for the release of thousands of insurgent prisoners. The so-called “reduction in violence” period ran for the week preceding the signing of a historic accord between the US and the Taliban in Doha on Saturday.

The agreement spells out a withdrawal timeline of 14 months for all foreign forces, provided the Taliban honour several pledges and enter talks with Kabul for a more comprehensive peace deal. “The reduction in violence will continue with a goal to reach a full ceasefire,” Ghani told a press conference. “General (Scott) Miller has told the Taliban to do so. It is expected (to continue),” he added, referring to the US commander in charge of foreign forces in Afghanistan. A Taliban source did not immediately comment. The partial truce saw scenes of jubilant Afghans dancing in the street as hopes rose that Afghanistan’s 18-year-old war might finally come to an end. NO COMMITMENT TO RELEASE 5,000 PRISONERS: But, in a sign of a bumpy road ahead, Ghani pushed back against a clause in the deal that calls for the Taliban to release up to 1,000 prisoners and for the Afghan government to release up to 5,000 insurgent captives. “There is no commitment to releasing 5,000 prisoners,” Ghani said. “This is the right and the self-will of the people of Afghanistan. It could be included in the agenda of the intra-Afghan talks, but cannot be a prerequisite for talks.” He added that any prisoner release was “not in the authority of the US, it is in the authority of the Afghan government.” The president, who is mired in a politi-

PomPeo says road to afghan Peace will be rough NEW YORK:United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday that the road ahead in Afghanistan will be rough following the historic peace deal the U.S. signed with the Taliban this weekend. “It’s going to be rocky and bumpy,” Pompeo said on the CBS television networks’ “Face the Nation.” news programme. “No one is under any false illusion that this won’t be a difficult conversation, but that conversation for the first time in almost two decades will be among the Afghan people, and that’s the appropriate place for that conversation to take place.” Pompeo was in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday for the signing of the peace deal, which seeks to bring U.S. troops home following the 18-year conflict in Afghanistan. America’s longest war has claimed the lives of more than 2,400 U.S. service members and cost the federal government more than $750 billion. In Washington, however, the deal was not greeted with universal enthusiasm even by Trump allies such as Senator Lindsey Graham or by former presidential aides, among them the former national security adviser John Bolton. Many observers counselled caution and pointed to a difficult road ahead. AGENCIES

cal crisis following fraud allegations in his re-election, was referring to upcoming talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government that were agreed to as part of the deal. he Taliban had until now refused to negotiate with Ghani’s administration, which they considered a US puppet regime, but the withdrawal agreement hinges on Kabul and the insurgents reaching a separate peace deal through “intra-Afghan” negotiations. Ghani’s questioning of the prisoner release points to tough negotiations ahead in a country where leaders seem incapable of coalescing around important issues.

Washington has pointedly not yet acknowledged Ghani’s win, announced last week after months of delays while his top rival Abdullah Abdullah has vowed to set up a parallel administration. AFGHAN TALIBAN START DIPLOMATIC OUTREACH AFTER DEAL: The Taliban’s political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar has met with senior diplomats from countries including Russia, Indonesia and Norway, hours after signing a deal with Washington aimed at ending the Afghan war, Taliban said in a statement on Sunday.

China virus cases rise again, Trump urges calm after US death ITALY INFECTIONS EXCEED 1,000, DEATH TOLL REACHES 29 BEIJING AGENCIES

China reported a fresh spike in coronavirus infections on Sunday, as President Donald Trump urged calm after the first death on US soil and Australia registered its first fatality. The virus has spread to more than 60 countries around the globe, prompting the World Health Organisation to raise its risk assessment to its highest level. Worldwide, nearly 3,000 people have been killed and about 87,000 in-

fected since the virus was first detected late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan. China on Sunday reported 573 new infections, the highest figure in a week after a dip. All but three of them were in Hubei province, of which Wuhan is the capital. While the numbers in China are still far lower than the huge daily increases reported during the first two weeks of February, COVID-19 has spread rapidly across borders, with South Korea, Italy and Iran emerging as

hotspots. South Korea, which has the most infected people outside China, reported 586 new cases on Sunday, bringing its total to 3,736. Australia reported the first death on its soil — a 78-year-old man who had been evacuated from the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship

in Japan. There are fears the disease could hammer the global economy, and stock markets last week plunged to their lowest levels since the 2008 financial crisis. FIRST DEATH ON US SOIL:Global attention turned to the United States on Saturday after the first fatality on American soil was confirmed. “We’ve taken the most aggressive actions to confront the coronavirus,”

President Donald Trump said at a hastily arranged White House press conference. “Our country is prepared for any circumstance… There is no reason to panic at all.” The fatality occurred in Washington state’s King County, which includes Seattle, a city of more than 700,000 people, health officials said. The victim was in his 50s and had “underlying health conditions,” officials

added, as they also announced a possible outbreak in a Washington state nursing home, where a health worker and a resident in her 70s were both confirmed sick with the virus. Other residents and staff were “ill with respiratory symptoms or hospitalised with pneumonia of unknown cause,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Ph: 051-2204545. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk

syrian state media denies govt plane downed in northwest BEIRUT: Syrian state media denied a report on Sunday that a government plane had been shot down and said instead that its army had downed a Turkish drone in the Idlib region of northwest Syria. Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu Agency said a Syrian plane was shot down in the northwest, where the Syrian army, with Russia’s backing, is pressing an offensive against the last major rebel stronghold in the nine-year war. A witness told Reuters that a Turkish reconnaissance plane was shot down by mistake with surface-to-air missiles from territory under the control of Turkey-backed rebels. Reuters could not independently verify the accounts. Syrian state media said the aircraft crashed in Saraqeb town in Idlib, where the risk of a wider escalation has grown after 34 Turkish soldiers were killed in attacks by Syrian troops last week. With diplomacy efforts by Ankara and Moscow to ease tensions in tatters, Turkey has come closer than ever to confrontation with Russia on the tangled battlefield in Syria. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday he had asked Russia to stand aside in Syria and let Turkey fight Syrian forces alone. AGENCIES

new malaysia Pm sworn in amid crisis, mahathir fights on KUALA LUMPUR: A former interior minister was sworn in as Malaysia’s premier on Sunday, marking the return of a scandal-mired party to power after a reformist government’s collapse but ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad, 94, slammed the move as illegal. The Southeast Asian nation was plunged into turmoil after Mahathir’s reformist “Pact of Hope” alliance, which stormed to a historic victory in 2018, collapsed amid bitter infighting. Mahathir — who was the world’s oldest leader — initially quit as premier but then sought to return. He lost out however to little-known Muhyiddin Yassin, who heads a coalition dominated by the country’s Muslim majority. The king’s decision on Saturday to pick Muhyiddin as premier was greeted with shock as Mahathir’s allies claimed to have enough support, and sparked widespread anger that the democratically elected government had been ejected. Just before Muhyiddin’s inauguration, Mahathir accused him of betrayal and said he would seek a parliament vote challenging the new premier’s support — signaling the political crisis is far from over. AGENCIES