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1 march, 2020 i 05 rajab, 1441 i rs 30.00 i Vol X no 242 i 84 pages i karachi edition

US and Taliban Sign afghaniSTan peace deal g

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JoInt stateMent by afghan and us govt says foreIgn trooPs wIll wIthdraw froM afghanIstan wIthIn 14 Months

pm welcomes ustaliban deal, says spoilers must be kept at bay STORY ON PAGE 03

Intra-afghan dIalogue to begIn on March 10, ghanI govt to seek reMoval of talIban MeMbers froM un sanctIons lIst PoMPeo urges talIban to keeP theIr ProMIse to cut tIes wIth al Qaeda and keeP fIghtIng IslaMIc state grouP PakIstan Played crItIcal role In brIngIng the two sIdes to negotIatIon table DOHA

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he United States (US) signed a historic deal with Taliban insurgents on Saturday that could pave the way toward a full withdrawal of foreign soldiers from Afghanistan over the next 14 months and represent a step toward ending the 18-year-long war there.

While the agreement paves the way for the US to gradually pull out of its longest war, many expect that talks to come between the multiple Afghan sides will be far more complicated.

The deal was signed in the Qatari capital Doha by US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. US Secre-

Pakistan coronavirus toll touches four

tary of State Mike Pompeo was on hand to witness the ceremony.

THE DEAL: Minutes before the deal was signed, a joint statement released by the US and the Afghan government said the US and NATO troops would withdraw from Afghanistan within 14 months.

About 14,000 US troops and approximately 17,000 troops from 39 NATO allies and partner countries are stationed in Afghanistan in a non-combatant role.

“The United States will reduce the number of US military forces in Afghanistan to 8,600 and implement other commitments in the US-Taliban agreement within 135 days of the announcement of this joint declaration and the US-Taliban agreement,” the joint statement said.

It added that the Afghan government will engage with the United Nations Security Council “to remove Taliban members from sanctions list by May 29”.

The talks were launched in 2018 as part of a push

by US President Donald Trump’s administration to strike a deal with the Taliban, which has been fighting the US-led forces in Afghanistan since it was toppled from power in 2001.

The peace deal also proposes an intra-Afghan dialogue with the government in Kabul and the release of 5,000 Taliban members from prison. The Taliban has so far refused to speak to the Western-backed Afghan government, saying it is a “puppet regime”.

The intra-Afghan talks are to begin on March 10 but no specific details have been given.

A weeklong “reduction in violence” between the

Taliban, the US and Afghan security forces saw a sudden drop in violence and casualties across the country after taking effect on February 22.

The Taliban now controls or holds influence over more Afghan territory than at any point since 2001 and has carried out near-daily attacks against military outposts throughout the country.

‘US TO WATCH TALIBAN COMPLIANCE’: Addressing the historic event, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington will closely watch the Taliban compliance to the agreement to be signed between the two parties. he said the Taliban have shown that they have the will to be peaceful during the recent ‘reduction in violence’ period. he added that the agreement will mean nothing “if concrete actions are not taken on commitments and promises”.

Pompeo called on the Taliban to keep their promise to cut ties with al Qaeda and keep fighting the militant Islamic State group.

Representatives from 50 countries, foreign ministers of different countries, including Pakistan’s Shah Mahmood Qureshi, attended the signing ceremony.

Pakistan, which neighbours Afghanistan, and has been a long-time ally in America’s war on terror, played a critical role in bringing the two sides to the negotiation table.

Khalilzad has on multiple occasions appreciated and thanked Pakistan for its constructive role in the peace process.

STORY ON PAGE 02

imran likens delhi riots to hitler’s anti-semitic pogrom

CONTINUED ON PAGE 03

STORY ON BACK PAGE

AfghAnistAn deAl is politicAl boost for trump but withdrAwAl could tAke yeArs

STORY ON BACK PAGE

govt reduces petrol price by rs5 per litre STORY ON PAGE 11

in today’s issue

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Afghan children buy balloons as they celebrate anticipation of US-Taliban agreement to allow a troop reduction and permanent ceasefire, in Jalalabad. agen c ies

irfan.farooq@pakistantoday.com.pk

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Sunday, 1 March, 2020

NEWS

Pakistan coronavirus toll touches four PM’S AIDE ON HEALTH SAYS GOVT TO BRIDGE HUMAN RESOURCES DEFICIENCY IN 2-3 DAYS, DESIGNATE CERTAIN HOSPITALS FOR CORONAVIRUS PATIENTS ISLAMABAD

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Staff RePoRt

WO more cases of coronavirus 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 Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Media Firdous Ashiq Awan, PM’s health adviser Dr Zafar Mirza said one of the patients was from Karachi while the other was from Islamabad and urged the masses to refrain from panicking. He said that the first two patients of the virus “are recovering and one of them will soon be discharged” and 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.

On Wednesday, Pakistan confirmed the first two cases of the highly contagious virus in the same areas mentioned above and both of them had travel histories to Iran.

Speaking about the meeting, the PM’s aide said: “We discussed how to reinforce our points of entry, our airports, and land routes so that any person returning from another country who has symptoms of coronavirus will be screened right there and will

be sent to isolation rooms in hospitals.”

Referring to the temporary reopening of the Pakistan-Iran border at Taftan, he said: “We have a plan at Taftan for returning pilgrims. I have visited it myself … this was a very effective visit because we cooperated with the Iranian government to make decisions [and] we have started receiving our pilgrims from there.” He added that the Pakistani government’s review of the situation is ongoing and air travel restrictions between the two countries will be lifted when “we feel it is alright”. Mirza also said that an extensive review has been conducted to ascertain whether the country has enough hospitals and people to deal with a situation if many people start testing positive for coro-

navirus. “We have shared the numbers with all provincial governments of the people needed to be deputed at the borders, at crossing points. “We will bridge the deficiency of human resources in 2-3 days. We also decided to dedicate certain hospitals to coronavirus so we can keep patients and suspected patients in isolation there.”

A three-member advisory committee has also been formed comprising representatives from the health ministry, the information ministry and the Inter-Services Public Relations, the military’s media wing, that will address people’s questions about the virus and inform them of measures to protect themselves from the infection. The body will come up with a national awareness plan for the people, he added.

“We are bringing the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on board and asked them to build stockpiles [of protective gear] and import if needed so that we can keep a check on prices. Local production

Firdous calls for calm amid coronavirus outbreak ISLAMABAD INP

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan on Saturday said there was no need to panic about the novel coronavirus as it has a 98% recovery ratio.

Awan, in a series of tweets, said Prime Minister Imran Khan had said the coronavirus epidemic should be taken head-on. “Provinces have been directed to send their reports regarding the steps taken to curb and contain the spread of the virus. “We will defeat the coronavirus the same way we defeated other diseases,” she said, adding that screening facilities are functioning in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi to help

identify incidences of the disease.

“More than 98 percent of those who fall victim to coronavirus recover,” Awan said, noting that the

coronavirus is not an incurable disease and that there was a cure for it. She added that it was important to take precautionary measures against the coronavirus.

More than 2,700 people have died in China since the outbreak began in December last year. More than 78,000 cases have been confirmed inside mainland China. Earlier this week, Pakistan reported its first two cases of the novel coronavirus, Covid-19.

The first case was reported from Karachi, in a 22-year-old who had recently returned from Iran on Feb 20. The other coronavirus patient is a resident of Islamabad who had been admitted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) where he is being treated and their condition is stable and improving.

is also being started in this regard.”

The SAPM added that “not everybody has to wear a mask … and when needed they should use the correct mask.”

He said an artificial demand had been created for masks. “If people understand when they need to wear the mask, that will have an effect on its demand and supply.

“If two ways are adopted, it (coronavirus) can be controlled very effectively. The first is responsibility; if you know a person who has recently returned from a country that has reported cases of coronavirus and they have symptoms, I urge you to call 1166.” He also advised people not to go to crowded places.

“Precautions and responsibility are needed more than panic,” he concluded.

Separately, Balochistan’s health officials on Saturday said that at least 252 pilgrims that entered Pakistan via Taftan border were cleared after screening. According to Levies officials, the pilgrims were cleared after they were screened by the health officials.

Another polio case reported in Sindh KARACHI Staff RePoRt

Another polio case emerged in Sindh on Saturday, raising the total number of cases in the ongoing year to 20.

According to the polio emergency operation centre Sindh, the case was confirmed in a twoyear-old minor. This is the seventh confirmed case in Sindh province this year.

On Thursday, polio case emerged in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan area. According to a report

by Punjab anti-polio program, the case was confirmed in the eightmonth-old minor in union council Taunsa of DG Khan.

Following the emergence of polio case, the provincial govt has announced to launch five-day anti-polio campaign in DG Khan from March 16.

The recently concluded antipolio drive across Pakistan yielded more than expected results as 124,000 more children than the set target were immunized during the country-wide campaign.

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

PM IMRAn welCoMes Us-TAlIBAn deAl, sAys sPoIleRs MUsT Be kePT AT BAy QURESHI SAYS PAKISTAN WANTS ‘RESPONSIBLE WITHDRAWAL’ OF US TROOPS FROM AFGHANISTAN isLaMaBaD

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staff RepoRt

RIME Minister Imran Khan on Saturday welcomed the deal between the United States and the Taliban, saying that stakeholders must ensure all spoilers are kept at bay.

Taking to Twitter, the prime minister described the deal as “the start of a peace & reconciliation process to end decades of war & suffering of the Afghan people”.

“We welcome the Doha Accord signed between US & the Taliban.This is the start of a peace & reconciliation process to end decades of war & suffering of the Afghan people. I have always maintained that a pol solution, no matter how complex, is the

only meaningful path to peace,” he tweeted.

He said that Pakistan was committed to ensure that the “agreement holds & succeeds in bringing peace to Afghanistan”.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan wants a “responsible withdrawal” of US troops from Afghanistan. He made the comments in Doha, where he was invited to witness a peace deal between the United States and Afghanistan. “It’s an important day,” Qureshi added.

“Hopefully it will set the tone for peace and stability in Afghanistan.” In a meeting with US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad, Qureshi also expressed hopes that the peace deal will pave the way for the intra-Afghan dialogue. Khalilzad apprised

Qureshi of the latest developments in terms of the Afghan peace deal. “Pakistan will continue its efforts for lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan,” Qureshi said while adding that the world will need to help Afghanistan in the rebuilding and restoration of its land. Earlier, in a meeting with members of the Pakistani community in Qatar, Radio Pakistan reported Qureshi as

LaHoRe Zaki abbas

Aasia Bibi hopes one day she'd be able to return home News Desk Aasia Bibi, a blasphemy accused who was acquitted by the Supreme Court on October 31, 2018, after spending eight years in jail, has expressed a desire to return to Pakistan. Bibi made the remarks on Friday in an exclusive interview with the BBC during a visit to France where she is promoting her memoir, “Enfin Libre!” (Finally Free), written with French journalist Anne-Isabelle Tollet. Bibi, who now resides in Canada following her acquittal in 2018, told the BBC that her Christian faith helped her through the ordeal. “They said change your faith, and you’ll be freed.

But I said no. I will live my sentence. With my faith,” she said. “I found out from my husband that the whole world was praying for me. And that even the Pope had prayed for me. That made me happy. And I found out the whole world was praying for my misery to end.

“That made me feel that their prayers would definitely free me.” Despite her ordeal, Bibi told the BBC that she still felt positive about Pakistan and hoped to return there one day. “It was my country that freed me. That makes me proud,” she said, while calling upon Prime Minister Imran Khan to free anyone unjustly accused or convicted of blasphemy and to ensure that the charges were investigated properly. “Innocents should not be punished for no reason and people who are innocent, in prison, should be freed,” Bibi told the BBC. She was accused of insulting Prophet Mohammad during a row with her neighbours in 2009. A court sentenced her to death in 2010 under Pakistan”s controversial blasphemy laws, sparking widespread outrage from national and international human rights groups. She was released from prison in November 2018 after being acquitted by the Supreme Court of blasphemy charges on October 31. Her acquittal triggered widespread protests by religious hardliners in the country where blasphemy is a sensitive issue with 97 per cent of Pakistan”s 180 million inhabitants being Muslims.

Access to quality education and effective political participation can help the minority communities of Pakistan in overcoming the challenges of poverty and illiteracy, according to a study.

The study titled “Index of Religious Diversity and Inclusion” authored by journalist and researcher Asif Aqeel with assistance from former lawmaker Advocate Mary Gill, Basil Dogra and Sunil Gulzar notes that a number of reports on non-Muslim communities often treat them as one homogenous group.

“Religious minorities are actually diverse not just in terms of their religion but in their culture, history, role in the creation of Pakistan, economic status, educational level, racial profiling, level of social acceptance, legal restrictions in profession of their faith, language, ethnicity, occupation and geographic dispersion etc,” Aqeel said while giving a presentation on the report at the Center for Public Policy & Governance (CPPG) of Forman Christian College University (FCCU) on Friday.

saying that the peace agreement between the United States and Afghan Taliban will open new avenues of development in the region.

“Peace in Afghanistan will open up our links with Central Asia,” Qureshi said while adding that with peace and stability, there will be numerous opportunities for promoting bilateral trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Study calls for inclusion of religious minorities in national mainstream “Hence, most of one-size-fits-all statements and recommendations on these non-Muslims are often not free of error,” he added.

The report provides a brief history of Pakistan in the context of minorities and then expands on various dimensions of their lives: neighbourhoods, worship places, graveyards and cremation grounds, institutions, experiences of violence and terrorism, harassment, forced conversion and marriages, freedom of belief, anti-blasphemy laws, socioeconomic conditions, stigmas, political participation and migration.

Elaborating on some keys findings of the study, Aqeel said that since 9/11, terrorism indiscriminately hit every section of society in Pakistan, including religious minorities, but Christians suffered the highest number of suicidal attacks. The Christian and Scheduled Caste Hindus suffered challenges like bonded labor, illegal settlement, lack of graveyards, high level of illiteracy,

poverty, ghettoized living and stigmas like “dark” colored and “untouchable”, it added. CPPG founder and head of the department Professor Dr Saeed Shafqat, who moderated the session, said that political participation and provision of education to minorities were key to pluralism and promoting diversity in Pakistani society.

He said that the CPPG would further work on the study and produce policy level recommendations.

FCCU Rector Dr James Tebbe, Bishop of Lahore Irfan Jameel, Professor Dr Farzand Masih, Professor Dr Christy Munir, Barrister Ambreen Qureshi, Pakistan Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee Vice-President Ravindar Singh, former Punjab Assembly Member Kanji Ram, Valmiki community representative Amarnath Randhawa, Punjab Assembly member Sadia Sohail, human rights lawyer Saiful Malook and several others participated in the event.

NEWS

PTA blocks 30m devices used in grey trafficking The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) blocked more than 30 million devices used in grey trafficking last year, according a report by the authority. Grey trafficking is the use of illegal exchanges to make international calls instead of through legal routes. “Grey trafficking is basically smuggling of voice and it’s the equivalent of stealing,” said Pervez Iftikhar, a telecommunications expert. “It is illegal and causes huge losses to the government because it encourages tax evasion,” he said. According to the report, in the past year, the PTA blocked more than 10 million mobile phones that were stolen, unregistered or smuggled. These phones were being used under the stolen identities of more than 50,000 people.

“Among the people involved in the crime were 15 officers of the Federal Investigation Authority,” the report stated. Earlier, mobile phone traders imported phones through a free trade system. “When the FIA introduced a tax net, they had given us time to sell the stock we had imported previously,” a mobile phone importer Umar Malik said. “But we were unable to sell that stock. Now, even after paying taxes, we are scared that we will come under the FIA’s radar,” he said. Malik added that in these circumstances, it’s the importers who suffer the most. News Desk

Construction of railway crossing gates is provincial matter: Rasheed LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Saturday said it was the job of the provincial government to construct gates at railway crossings. The minister was addressing a press conference here a day after 19 people lost their lives in an accident near Sindh’s Rohri area after a passenger bus tried to cross an unmanned railway crossing when a train was passing by. In his talk, Rasheed appealed to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to release pending funds to the railways department “so that these the gates can be completed”, adding that currently there were around 3,000 unmanned railway crossings between Karachi and Peshawar. He also announced that the Karachi to Peshawar Main Railway Line (ML-1) will be decided by May 10, as a result of which all manned and unmanned railway crossings will be removed. “All railway crossings from Karachi to Peshawar will be removed and the speed [for trains] will be limited to 160 km/h. staff RepoRt

US, Taliban sign Afghanistan peace deal CoNtiNueD oN page 1 More than 18 years since President George W. Bush ordered bombing in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks, the agreement will set the stage for the withdrawal of US troops, some of whom were not yet born when the World Trade Centre collapsed on that crisp, sunny morning that changed how Americans see the world.

Saturday’s ceremony also signals the potential end of a tremendous investment of blood and treasure. The US spent more than $750 billion, and on all sides the war cost tens of thousands of lives lost, permanently scarred and indelibly interrupted. Yet it’s also a conflict that is frequently ignored by US politicians and the American public.

‘A POWERFUL PATH FORWARD’: US troops are to be withdrawn to 8,600 from about 13,000 in the weeks following Saturday’s signing. Further drawdowns are to depend on the Taliban meeting certain counter-terrorism conditions, compliance that will be assessed by the United States. But officials say soldiers will be coming home.

Trump, as he seeks re-election this

year, is looking to make good on his campaign promise to bring troops home from the Middle East. Still, he has approached the Taliban agreement cautiously, steering clear of the crowing surrounding other major foreign policy actions, such as his talks with North Korea.

Last September, on short notice, he called off what was to be a signing ceremony with the Taliban at Camp David after a series of new Taliban attacks. But he has since been supportive of the talks led by his special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad.

In a statement released by the White House, Trump said on Friday that if the Taliban and Afghan governments live up to the commitments in the agreement, “we will have a powerful path forward to end the war in Afghanistan and bring our troops home,” “These commitments represent an important step to a lasting peace in a new Afghanistan, free from al-Qaida, ISIS and any other terrorist group that would seek to bring us harm,” Trump said.

Under the agreement, the Taliban promise not to let extremists use the country as a staging ground for attacking

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the US or its allies. But US officials are loath to trust the Taliban to fulfil their obligations.

NAYSAYERS IN US: The signing will likely be an uncomfortable appearance for Pompeo, who privately told a conference of US ambassadors at the State Department this week that he was going only because Trump had insisted on his participation, according to two people present.

Pompeo also did not mention the Afghan agreement as he touted Trump administration foreign policy achievements in a speech to a conservative group on Friday. He has expressed doubts about the prospects. Yet, he will give his imprimatur to an agreement which he also has said represents “a historic opportunity for peace” after years and pain and suffering.

“We are now on the cusp of having an opportunity which may not succeed, but an opportunity for the first time to let the Afghan peoples’ voices be heard,” he told reporters this week.

Already, some US lawmakers and veterans of the conflict have raised red flags about any agreement with the Taliban.

Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming led 21 Republican legislators in demanding that the administration not concede anything to the Taliban that would allow them to once again harbor those who seek to harm US citizens and interests. Cheney, the daughter of former President Bush’s vice president, Dick Cheney, urged Pompeo and Esper in a letter to reject any commitment to a full withdrawal of American troops.

Pompeo said, “We’re proud of our gains, but our generals have determined that this war is unlikely to be won militarily without tremendous additional resources. All sides are tired of fighting.”

On this, he is in rare agreement with Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who said this week in a Democratic presidential debate that the government has “a sacred responsibility to” American soldiers. “That is not to use our military to solve problems that cannot be solved militarily. We are not winning in Afghanistan.

We are not winning in the Middle East,” she said.

AFGHAN FUTURE UNCERTAIN: If the agreement is successful, Afghanistan, the “graveyard of empires” that has repeatedly repelled foreign invaders from imperial Britain and Russia to the Soviet Union, will have once again successfully turned away a world power from its landlocked borders.

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Sunday, 1 March, 2020

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SBCA hAS demoliShed 900 illegAl ConStruCtionS So fAr, info miniSter tellS open Court KARACHI

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STAFF REPORT

HE Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) has so far demolished 900 illegal constructions and the authority’s all those officers involved in permitting illegal constructions will be taken to task. The Sindh government will not surrender before any of the mafia.

This was stated by Sindh Minister for Information Syed Nasir Hussain Shah while speaking at an open court in district East of Karachi on Saturday. Sindh Minister for Revenue and Relief Makhdoom Mehboob Zaman, opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly Firdaus Shamim Naqvi, and members of JUI and MQM-Pakistan also accompanied him on the occasion. The info minister said that the Sindh government was making every effort to redress the grievances of the people of the province, as the idea of holding open courts had turned quite useful in this regard.

Shah said that the sole purpose of holding the open courts was to gain first-hand knowledge of the problems being faced by the people and take action for their immediate solutions. The info minister said that the officers of the various Sindh government departments, including Sindh Solid Waste Management Board,

Karachi Development Authority, Excise & Taxation, Karachi Water & Sewerage Board, Karachi Municipal Corporation, National Database & Registration Authority, Sindh, Anti Encroachment, Board of Revenue, DMC East, Katchi Abadi, District Police, Traffic Police, Cantonment Board, Education, Social Welfare, Sui Southern and K-Electric, had been called here in the open court for the prompt redressal of the problems being faced by the people.

He said that every minister, adviser or special coordinator to CM Sindh was holding open courts in various districts and talukas of the province to listen and resolve the troubles being faced by the people. Shah said that on the directives of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari last month, the cabinet ministers listened and resolved various issues of the people swiftly.

He said that the people complained against the pathetic behavior of the concerned officials and officers of various departments. These complaints had not only been noted, but they were also being addressed swiftly. He said that all the data of the open courts was being sent and monitored by the chairman office.

Shah assured the people that all their genuine problems would be addressed on priority basis. The minister also welcomed the leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Firdaus Shamim Naqvi, members of JUI and

MQM-Pakistan. He said that it was a positive sign that ‘we all are together here to address the problems of our people’. Shah said that the ministers of PPP were addressing the problems of the people even in those areas where they were not voted.

The info minister told the people that the Sindh government in collaboration with the World Bank had planned to initiate projects worth billions of rupees of water and sewerage for all parts of the province. Similarly, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had also issued directives for the expansion and development of road infrastructure, PPI learnt.

He said that the Sindh government would also welcome and cooperate with the federal government in any of its endeavor towards the betterment of the people of Sindh. Shah also said that the problems being faced by the people due to the lack of place reserved for graveyards would also be addressed. He told the people not to panic owing to the possible spread of the coronovirus as so far, according to him, everything was in control and the Sindh government was adopting every possible measure for the prevention of its spread.

He also welcomed the approval of the replacement of Inspector General of Police, Sindh by the federal government. “Sindh government will never let the officials of the Sindh police force down in any way,” he added.

Court acquits former pSm chief in corruption case

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Sukkur train-bus collision: official blames bus driver over failure to notice approaching train SUKKUR INP

A day after at least a train-bus collision killed 20 people and wounded scores, Sukkur Railways Divisional Superintendent (DS) on Saturday said that the bus driver tried to cross the track without noticing the approaching train. In a media talk, the DS said that a signboard was installed at the railway crossing. Further investigations into the matter are ongoing and responsible persons will be determined afterward, he asserted. On Friday, a Rawalpindi-bound passenger train, Pakistan Express, rammed into a bus at a railway crossing near Rohri in Sukkur division killing at least 20. Rescue teams reached the incident spot and shifted the wounded to the Civil Hospital Sukkur where ten persons are in critical condition. An emergency had been imposed at the hospital following the accident. On the other hand, train service resumed after completion of rescue work at the rail track. All the trains stopped at various stations between Punjab and Sindh were allowed to resume their journey.

Kidnapped baby girl recovered in Karachi KARACHI INP

Sindh police late Friday night recovered an infant girl, who was kidnapped the same day from the limits of Shahra-e-Noor Jahan police station. One-and-a-half-year-old Aaima was kidnapped by a beggar from her house as reported by her father to the police authorities. A First Information Report (FIR) was immediately lodged and the police initiated the search. Later in the day, the Station House Officer (SHO) at the Shahra-e-Noor Jahan received informed about Aaima, who was identified by her parents. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Hassan Javed said efforts are being made to apprehend the kidnapper.

KARACHI STAFF REPORT

An accountability court on Saturday acquitted former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) Moeen Aftab over lack of evidence in a corruption reference worth Rs490 million. Ex-PSM chief Moin Aftab Shaikh along with ex-director (commercial) Sameen Asghar has been accused of misuse of authority which caused Rs0.49 billion loss to the national exchequer. Accountability court last month had acquitted three accused including the former chairman of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) Moeen Aftab over lack of evidence in a corruption reference worth Rs900 million. PSM ex-chairman Moeen Aftab, director commercial Sameen Asghar and contractor Abdul Rasheed were nominated in the reference It is pertinent to mention here that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed nine corruption references against Moeen Aftab. The anti-corruption unit had opened an investigation into the matter in 2010, which was later transferred to NAB over directives of the Supreme Court.

police arrest 4, recovers looted gold KARACHI INP

Hyderabad: Firefighters try to put out fire that broke out in a store. Online

Sindh police on Saturday arrested a gang of four dacoits in Karachi and recovered gold worth over 10 million from their possession.

The gang was involved in robberies in bungalows in the city’s posh areas with the help of housemaids, Darakhshan police said. The accused have been arrested with gold ornaments worth over 10 million rupees, SSP South Sheeraz Nazir told the media. The accused in their modus operandi were arranging a job for one of the gang’s woman members at a house in the Defence area and later on the basis of inside information of the house provided by that housemaid, they commit robbery at the house, a police officer said. The arrested gang members included a woman and a watchman of a bungalow, the police officer said.

PHC condemns violence against Muslims in India KARACHI APP

Patron-in-Chief of Pakistan Hindu Council and Member National Assembly Dr. Ramesh Kumar on Saturday condemning the inhuman acts against the Indian Muslim minority said that Narendra Modi is Hitler of recent times.

In a meeting of PHC, the members of the Council expressed satisfaction over the practical steps taken by Prime Minister Imran Khan for the safety and protection of Hindu Community of the country, said a statement.

The members of the PHC on the occasion expressed grief and annoyance over the state backed violence against Muslims in different parts of India par-

ticularly in Delhi. The participants of the meeting also discussed viral videos of violence against Indian Muslims.

Dr. Ramesh Kumar said that the videos of violence being broadcasted by local and international media are heartbreaking. He said that he was deeply saddened over helplessness of Indian Muslim minority. He appealed to the international community to take notice of the deadly turmoil in India.

The attendees of meeting also condemned use of religious slogan by the mobs involved in violence.

PHC Patron-in-Chief said that every religion in the world teaches lesson of humanity and advises respecting other religions. He challenged the rioters using slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ to study

Ramayana and tell where it was written such horrific atrocities should be done against innocent human beings.

He said that it is the responsibility of state to protect its minorities, but unfortunately, in the past, Modi had shed the blood of Muslim minorities in Gujarat as Chief Minister and now, after becoming the Prime Minister, has bloodied the whole of India. MNA Ramesh Kumar said even those who do not support Indian oppressed Muslims are oppressive, he warned the Modi government that the extremists have put India's security at stake.

The Pakistan Hindu Council meeting once again rejected the Indian Citizenship Amendment Bill in clear terms, expecting that the Indian Supreme Court,

considering the violent situation, must repeal this controversial bill and restore the Indian secular constitution in its original form, otherwise India is rapidly moving towards more divisions.

He further said that every Hindu living in Pakistan considers this land as his/her mother, no patriotic Hindu can imagine leaving Pakistan's citizenship.

Dr Ramesha appealed the Hindus who migrated to India from Sindh to understand the aggressive intentions of the Modi government and return to Sindh.

The Pakistan Hindu Council, in its meeting, also appreciated all the Indian Hindus who for the sake of humanity played their part in protecting their Muslim neighbors from the evils of extremist rioters.

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

PTI ImPlemenTed ITs manIfesTo, focused on fulfIllmenT of PromIses: Buzdar

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STAFF REPORT

LAHORE Tahir Nararullah Warraich of the Asma Jahangir Group on Saturday was elected president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) in the annual elections of the bar here.

According to the results announced, Warraich secured 5,900 votes by defeating Maqsood Buttar of the Hamid Khan Penal who got 3,971 votes.

Usman Buzdar said that instructions have been issued to the health department and concerned institutions for the complete implementation on SOPs formulated in this regard.

He directed health department and other concerned institutions to remain alert round the clock.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Chief Minister expressed a

Vice president’s slot was won by Saeed Hassan Nagrah who secured 5,739 votes, his opponent Touseef Khatana got 1,541 votes. General secretary’s post was won by Haroon Dogal, who grabbed 6,270 votes.

Other candidates for the slot of general secretary were Akhtar Pidda (2,692 votes) and Daniyal Ejaz (1,513 votes) while Zeeshan Sulehria was elected Finance Secretary by getting 3,560 votes. A total of 10,543 voters used their right to vote in the elections.

Biometric system was used to cast the votes.

OIC welcomes US-Taliban agreement

ISLAMABAD APP

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Saturday welcomed the signing of the agreement between the United States of America and Afghan Taliban which it said would hopefully pave the way,

doctors recommend Khawaja saad’s vocal cord surgery NEwS DESk

Police arrest 14 after Pu clash

Tahir Nasarullah elected LHCBA president

STAFF REPORT

05

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique was advised to undergo vocal cord surgery by doctors on Saturday. According to the details, the PML-N leader, who is incarcerated in Parliament Lodges House that was declared a sub-jail, has been experiencing a throat-related health issue. He underwent a detailed medical examination, including tests, at Lahore’s Services Hospital. His test reports show a swelling around his left vocal cord, which is caused by speaking in a loud tone. Doctors have also suggested that he undergo a biopsy after the surgery.

LAHORE UNJAB Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has said that PTI government has strictly implemented its manifesto and fully focused on the fulfillment of its promises. He said that the obsolete system of the past has ruined the national institutions. Government is cleaning the corruption of decades. Opposition parties are not united and the only agenda they have to save their corruption.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, Usman Buzdar said that rulers of the past extended their corruption despite paying attention to the national progress and prosperity. Politics of those who looted national exchequer has come to an end.

PTI government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, has put the country in the right direction.

PTI government is bringing ease in the lives of the people.

PTI government will complete tenure as the public has given its mandate of five years, he added.

The Chief Minister said that all the precautionary and preventive measures from coronavirus have been taken.

The situation is normal in Punjab and there is nothing to worry about. People should ignore the rumours. He said that people attached with medical profession should play their due role for creating awareness among the masses about coronavirus. He said that all segments of society will have to play its due role in this regard.

NEWS

after long-last, for intra-Afghan negotiations and peaceful political settlement through Afghan-owned, Afghan-led peace process.

OIC Secretary General Dr. Yousef Al Othaimeen praised the successful implementation of “reduction of violence” throughout Afghanistan, and appealed to all parties to continue with the current arrangement and work diligently towards achieving “permanent ceasefire”.

“Afghan leaders and the people of Afghanistan have once again demonstrated that they are determined and capable of ending hostilities and moving towards lasting peace, security and stability to focus their efforts on the reconstruction, development of their country,” a press release received here quoted Dr Yousef as saying.

Referring to OIC’s Summit decisions and ministerial resolutions, and Makkah Declaration of 11th July 2018 adopted by “International Ulema Conference for Peace and Security in Afghanistan”, the OIC secretary general reiterated OIC’s strong determination and readiness to continue working with the government and people of the Islamic republic of Afghanistan, their neighbours, and the international community in laying down the foundations of lasting peace, security, stability, reconciliation, development and prosperity in Afghanistan and the region.

deep sense of sorrow and grief over the death of labourers due to blast of boiler in a factory near Chunian. He extended heartfelt sympathies and condoled with the bereaved family members. He directed the administration to provide best treatment facilities to the injured. He has also sought a report from the administration of the incident.

LAHORE: Punjab police on Saturday arrested fourteen individuals, currently enrolled at the Punjab University, a day after a violent clash between two student bodies erupted in university premises. A day earlier, up to 18 people, including 10 security guards, were injured when two student groups clashed with each other outside the Sociology Department.

According to PU Registrar Prof. Khalid Khan, the two groups had indulged in heated arguments in the morning but the spat was resolved. However, after Friday prayer, the argument aggravated and resulted in a confrontation. When security guards tried to intervene, they were assaulted by students.

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

06 WORLD VIEW

DelhI rIots: MuslIM woMen recAll horror of Molotov cocktAIls AnD Arson ‘SOON, THERE WERE FIRES BURNING ALL AROUND US, THEY WERE HURLING MOLOTOV COCKTAILS AND COOKING-GAS CYLINDERS, TARGETING SHOPS AND HOMES BELONGING TO MUSLIMS. HINDU HOMES WERE UNHARMED’

BBC Geeta Pandey

I

n a crowded large hall in the Indira Vihar area, scores of women and children displaced by the riots are sitting on carpets and mats. Many of the young women are carrying babies, but there are also toddlers, and slightly older children playing in groups.

The hall belongs to a Muslim businessman. It has been turned into a refuge for the displaced. The women and children here fled rioting Hindu mobs who attacked their homes in shiv Vihar, one of the worst-affected areas. A working class Hindu-dominated neighbourhood with a sizeable Muslim population, shiv Vihar is a maze of narrow bylanes situated next to a filthy drain. A couple of hundred metres, along the same drain, are the Muslim-majority areas of Chaman

Park and Indira Vihar. separating the Hindu and Muslim majority areas is just a road and the two communities have co-existed peacefully for decades. But all that has now changed. nasreen Ansari, who is among those who fled their homes in shiv Vihar, says their ordeal began on Tuesday afternoon, when only women were at home. Their menfolk were miles away in another part of Delhi, attending an Ijtema, a Muslim religious gathering.

"We saw about 50-60 men. I don't know who they were, we had never seen them before," says nasreen. "They told us they had come to protect us and told us to stay indoors."

As she and other women watched from their windows and terraces, they soon realised that the men were not there to protect them. she shows me a video she shot from the window. It shows some of the men, they are all wearing helmets and carrying long wooden sticks. nasreen says the men were shouting Hindu religious slogans like Jai shri Ram (Hail Lord Ram) and reciting lines from Hanuman Chalisa (a hymn praising the powers of Hanuman, the monkey god).

Her mother, noor Jehan Ansari, says a Muslim neighbour called her to say that her house had been set on fire. "From our window, we could see another Muslim neighbour's home and his medicine shop burning."

The attackers, she says, vandalised the electricity transformer and as dusk approached,

the area plunged into darkness. "soon, there were fires burning all around us, they were hurling Molotov cocktails and cooking-gas cylinders, targeting shops and homes belonging to Muslims. Hindu homes were unharmed," she says. "We never thought something like this will happen to us. Our only fault is that we are born Muslim." nasreen says the women made dozens of calls to the police. "every time they would assure us that they'd be here in five minutes."

At one point, nasreen says she called some relatives and told them that they were "not going to survive the night".

They were finally rescued at 03:00, 12

hours after the siege of their homes began, when police, accompanied by Muslim men from Chaman Park and Indira Vihar finally arrived. "We ran for our lives, with just our clothes on our backs. We didn't even have the time to put on our shoes," she says. several other women at the shelter recounted similar stories of what they were subjected to that night. shira Malik, 19, said she and her family took shelter in a neighbour's house. "We were trapped. stones and Molotov cocktails were raining in from the outside." Many of the women told me how close they had come that night to being sexually assaulted. The attackers, they said,

pulled their scarves and tore their clothes.

A mother of a one-year-old wept as she narrated how her clothes were torn to shreds by several men who entered her house. Another woman, in her early 30s, said the only reason she was alive was because of help from her Hindu neighbours. "My neighbours told the mob, 'she is one of us. There is no Muslim woman here.' When the mob went towards the back lane, they helped me escape," she said.

The senseless violence of the past few days began on sunday evening as a small clash a few kilometres from shiv Vihar between supporters and opponents of a new controversial citizenship law. Within hours, it had affected many other neighbourhoods, including shiv Vihar and Chaman Park. As I walk around the area, the roads still bear witness to the chaos that was visited here.

Dozens of riot policemen keep a watch, ensuring no fresh violence occurs.

Bricks and stones are strewn everywhere, there are burnt vehicles, shops and homes. In shiv Vihar, facing the drain is a mosque that was also set on fire by the vandals. Back at the shelter in Indira Vihar, the women say they have no idea when - if at all - they will be able to return home. shabana Rehman says her three children keep asking her when they can go home. "My home was burnt down by the arsonists. Where will we go now? What's the future of my children? Who will look after us? We have lost all our documents," she says, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Her home of decades in shiv Vihar is just a short walk away, but the gap seems unbridgeable.

In Afghanistan, peace or fragmentation?

WHAT ROLE DOES THE TALIBAN HAVE IN GOVERNMENT? WILL THE TALIBAN DEMOBILISE, AND THEIR FOOT-SOLDIERS AND COMMANDERS BE INTEGRATED INTO THE AFGHAN ARMY? WHO WILL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR COLLECTING TAX, AND WILL THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY CONTINUE TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO THE NEW GOVERNMENT?

Interpreter, Lowy InstItute

A

Srinjoy BoSe

sense of déjà vu prevails in Afghanistan – it’s 2014 again.

Only this time, a possible lasting peace is at stake. Hot on the heels of a U.s.-Taliban agreement to trial a seven-day “reduction in violence”, Afghanistan’s political order faces its worst political and constitutional crisis since John Kerry’s whirlwind shuttle diplomacy, which helped establish the national Unity Government – an ostensible power-sharing compromise – and stave off civil war.

Actually, it is February 2020 and Afghanistan’s Independent election Commission (IeC) recently announced Ashraf Ghani (the incumbent) as the winner of the september 2019 presidential elections, awarding him another five-year term. The result has been vociferously disputed by the Chief executive Officer (a Prime Minister–like post) and election challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, who has threatened to form a “parallel government”, in violation of the constitution. Just as in 2014, he has supporters who have backed his call – most notably Abdul Rashid Dostum, a former militia commander and Ghani’s current First Vice President). Unlike in 2014, however, a petulant U.s. President has made clear his intention to extricate the U.s. from involvement in Afghanistan, while swinging wildly in his views on the U.s.Taliban peace process since 2017, stopping and starting talks. It remains to be seen whether his administration will move to

appoint a diplomat to mediate between Ghani and Abdullah. But time is fast running out. The threat of a civil war, although unlikely, looms large over hopes of stability and peace. Abdullah has reportedly replaced provincial governors in the north of the country and appointed his own, railed against the eU for recognising the election results, and barred election officials from leaving the country.

The Afghanistan Analysts network’s Thomas Ruttig points out that a parallel government based in the north of the country may not be a far-fetched reality – in the late 90s, at the height of Taliban power, Dostum carved out a semiautonomous fiefdom with its own currency.

One potential implication of Abdullah taking his ball and going home, figuratively speaking, is that Afghanistan could split along ethnic lines (ethnic identity is relevant to both Ghani’s and Abdullah’s electoral constituencies). Violence manifest overtly between political factions would only benefit the Taliban and their insurgency movement: a fragmented opposition will be easier to defeat.

This confluence of an election crisis and a precarious peace process makes navigating either more challenging. Here are some of the key issues.

ONGOING ELECTION CRISIS: The 2019 election witnessed a record-low voter turnout. Ghani was re-elected with support from fewer than 10% of eligible voters, or just over 900,000 votes. “Whatever the election result, [this] will be used to question the legitimacy of whichever candidate attempts to form the next administration”. Added to this, allegations of election fraud have for months threatened to plunge the country into political crisis. The IeC’s February announcement – following an opaque and sloppy vote-count process – was not transparent enough to quash doubts of Ghani’s victory. In fact, Abdullah and his allies have labelled the result a “coup”, implying that the election was stolen.

In a slightly different context, analyst

Dipali Mukhopadhyay warned that Afghan power brokers must not be tempted “to go it alone and engage in predatory, even cannibalistic behaviour”. The sense of investment in the state’s survival that animated elites’ actions seems to have been unravelled by a creeping fear that the election results will deny them a piece of the pie. But why?

One answer is that Afghanistan’s winner-take-all presidential system concentrates power in the hands of a few, and the latest iteration of the democratic process motivates elites to act on interests based on short time horizons and low expectations for peace. As Jennifer Murtazashvili and Mohammad Qadam shah point out, the current political system drives both the insurgency and intra-elite factionalism. The president not only controls the budget, but appoints all ministers, provincial and district governors, and mayors too. Presumably, the sitting government in Kabul will play a lead role in intra-Afghan talks involving the Taliban, thereby determining the nation’s political order. Little wonder, then, that some elites feel powerless, their sense of feebleness exacerbated by the uncertainties of an impending U.s.-Taliban peace deal.

THE PEACE DEAL: On 14 February 2020, the U.s. announced a two-stage peace deal with the Taliban. In the first stage, the two protagonists will substantially “reduce violence” against each for seven days. If satisfied, the protagonists will sign a broader deal covering issues such as the withdrawal of foreign troops, thus fulfilling the Taliban’s major demand (indeed, their very raison d’être as a resistance).

What is the U.s. motivation for a reduction in violence? Beyond a showing of good faith, the most likely explanation is that the U.s. wants demonstrable assurance that the Taliban leaders have full control over their commanders and rankand-file fighters spread across the nation.

It is unlikely that the U.s. would agree to

Taliban demands if they suspect that individuals or groups will violate any peace deal in future. And so, on the eve of the first stage of the peace deal, the Taliban political office issued a decree that explicitly ordered Taliban commanders and fighters to cease attacks against the Afghan government’s provincial headquarters and foreigners based in the capital, Kabul. several observers have rightfully questioned the logistics and timing of this first phase of the agreement. Why now? The fighting season in Afghanistan starts in April, with the Taliban’s annual spring offensive. A better indicator of Taliban sincerity would be to implement the first phase when it would otherwise be opportune for the Taliban to continue to escalate violence and exhaust the beleaguered Afghan security forces. Further, how much violence is to be “reduced”? 20%? 50%?

One news agency reported that according to an anonymous Afghan official, the Taliban has committed to reducing its attacks from 75 per day to under 15. How will this be monitored? What is the mechanism for determining what is a skirmish (or not), and which ones to consider a violation?

The details remain sketchy and devoid of transparency, with no input from the Afghan government, adding to the widely held suspicion among Afghans and observers that the U.s. has hastily agreed to an agreement, interested only in their exit strategy – a “rotten compromise”. Curiously, who will monitor reduction in violence on the U.s. side? Afghanistan expert Barnett Rubin has stated that the U.s. and Taliban have agreed to a mechanism by which to share information and monitor violations. It remains to be seen whether a group that is responsible for the majority of civilian casualties can be entrusted to monitor a reduction in violence.

WHAT NEXT? The U.s.-Taliban reduction in violence agreement (and eventual peace deal) is only the beginning of a long and complex process. There are several other issues to

consider. As Afghanistan expert Jason Layall points out, the hard work will begin during the intra-Afghan talks, when the following issues will need to be sorted: what role does the Taliban have in government? Will the Taliban demobilise, and their foot-soldiers and commanders be integrated into the Afghan army? Who will be responsible for collecting tax, and will the international community continue to provide financial assistance to the new government?

These are extremely challenging political and legal issues, and the election crisis threatens to risk derailing the effective implementation of elements of the U.s.-Taliban peace deal (although not necessarily a U.s. withdrawal) and sink the possibility of intra-Afghan talks. This explains why the U.s. wants Ghani to postpone his planned inauguration, so as not to jeopardise the peace process.

Despite the challenges, there is a glimmer of hope. In 2018, when President Ghani called a unilateral ceasefire, the Taliban reciprocated by showing restraint and ceasing fighting for three days. Many were sceptical of the outcome and some were critical of the process which allowed Taliban fighters to move into governmentcontrolled areas. Others opined that not enough thought had gone into what a ceasefire could produce under circumstances where the Taliban insurgency was making progress. Despite these misgivings, citizens around the country embraced the respite and rejoiced at the potential of a more lasting peace. Taliban fighters interviewed claimed to be tired of fighting their brethren and expressed a desire to return home to peaceful lives.

Jump to February 2020, and the hope is palpable. The possibilities are endless, even if fragile. As new York Times senior Afghanistan correspondent Mujib Mashal wrote so eloquently on Twitter, “The road to peace is no easy road. But there’s a beginning of a road now…. Who knows, we may remember this stroke of midnight.”

One hopes that it does not end up being remembered for all the wrong reasons.

Dr. Srinjoy Bose is a lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of New South Wales, Sydney. He has observed Afghanistan’s 2014 and 2019 presidential elections, as well as the 2018 parliamentary elections.

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

FOREIGN NEWS 07

Biden counting on primary win in South carolina to revive hopeS SOUTH CAROLINA

v

AGENCIES

oters headed to the polls in south Carolina on saturday for the fourth contest in the Democratic presidential nomination race, with Joe Biden looking to salvage his flagging White House hopes with a big win. the former vice president is the firm fa-

vorite in the first state with a substantial African-American Democratic electorate to weigh in — but trails far behind frontrunner Bernie sanders in nationwide polls.

Both candidates will have a better picture of their overall prospects next week, when 14 states cast ballots on “super tuesday” — and a third of the delegates who formally choose the Democratic candidate to face President Donald trump in November are up for grabs.

Biden — the onetime race leader who failed to notch a win in Iowa, New Hampshire or Nevada — said he hopes south Carolina will propel him into national contention. Voters have until 7:00 pm (2300 GMt) to make their choice.

“I’ve worked hard to earn these votes, and I think I’ll do well,” the 77-year-old told CNN on Friday. “It’s been the launching pad for Barack and I believe for me,” Biden added,

referring to the nation’s first black president and his boss for eight years, Barack obama.

Biden leads in state polling, a dozen points ahead of sanders and 20 points up on billionaire activist tom steyer, who is gunning for a third-place finish. steyer has spent an extraordinary $23.6 million on ads in south Carolina, nearly 10 times the number two spender, former Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, according to Advertising Analytics.

At one polling place in a suburb of the state capital Columbia, about 20 people were lined up at 7:00 am when the doors opened.

In the first hour of voting, a steady stream of voters waited. For 67-year-old retiree samantha rogers, who is black, Biden is the right candidate to take on trump.

“He’s more experienced. He’s for all people, not just African Americans. He’s for everyone,” she told AFP.

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

08 COMMENT

Trump- Modi nexus

A historic deal

A golden opportunity amidst serious challenges

And our muted response

a

FTER the doha deal between the usa and the Taliban, peace in afghanistan is finally in sight.

The agreement signed on saturday however is only aimed at paving the way for an all-important intraafghan dialogue. While the deal is being widely welcomed, both in the war-weary usa and a war-ravaged afghanistan, it is accompanied by a number of challenges for the parties directly involved in the afghan war, the regional countries affected by the war, as well as the world at large which is worried about the terrorist threat emanating from organisations like al Qaeda and their offshoots currently active in afghanistan.

The first challenge is to the legitimacy of the afghan government. out of the 9.6 million registered voters, only 1.82m votes were declared to be genuine. President Ghani’s rival abdullah abdullah has refused to accept the results of the recent presidential election and threatened to announce a rival government with himself as President. The least that is required for intra-afghan talks to begin is for the usa and afghan groups is to resolve the dispute urgently.

The intra- afghan talks will have to settle knotty issues that include the political set up in the post-us troops withdrawal country, the rights of minorities and women and a permanent ceasefire. While sirajuddin haqqani, the deputy Taliban chief, is agreeable to a compromise on certain issues like women’s rights and establishing a relationship with Western countries including the usa, the Taliban leadership will have to persuade the hardliners among its commanders and sympathisers, failing which many could join the Is and al-Qaeda.

Pakistan will have to persuade Washington that the withdrawal of its troops doesn’t lead to the type of void that was filled by warring groups after the soviet withdrawal in 1989. hopefully it will be supported by equally worried neighbouring countries. While India has consistently opposed any talks with the Taliban, it is revising its policy by seeking a role in intra-afghan talks. What strengthens its position is the aid and investment provided to afghanistan. Islamabad can counter by treating afghanistan as a sovereign country and relying on the projection of Pakistan’s soft power like extending mutual trade and helping the country in education, health and manpower training.

aRif Nizami

C

uRIousLY, us president donald Trump’s reiteration of his offer to mediate on Kashmir on Indian soil during his recently concluded visit was hailed as a diplomatic snub to narendera Modi.

Predictably, the ruling PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf) propaganda machine and captive media went ecstatic. Various spokespersons were claiming that this was another proof of success of Khan’s proactive diplomacy. Trump, who excels in hyperbole, brought further joy for the PTI supporters by claiming that the Pakistani prime minister was his friend and he was very fond of him.

But alas the euphoria was short-lived. old allegations against Pakistan were repeated ad nauseam in the joint statement issued on the conclusion of Trump’s two-day visit.

Both countries denounced any use of terrorist proxies and strongly condemned cross- border terrorism in all its forms. no one can contest the veracity of this sacrosanct principal for the conduct of relations between states. But in the very next sentence of the joint statement the two leaders called on Pakistan that its territory is not used for terror attacks.

The usual suspects including the haqqani Group, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan) and Jaish-e-Muhammad were named as groups operating from Pakistani territory to launch attacks against India.

In his address to a one hundred thousand plus audience at the ‘namaste Trump’ moot held in ahmedabad, the us president did not mince his words in order to please his captive audience, chiefly Modi amongst them. To a cheering audience he declared that every nation has the right to control and secure its borders and both countries were committed to stop terrorists and fight their ideology.

In the very next sentence, he claimed that for this very reason his administration is working closely with Pakistan to stop terrorists working from its bor-

Sukkur incident More than an inquiry required

“I

F this were the uK, the Railways Minister would resign himself”. These were the words of Imran Khan a few years back when the PML(n) was in power; Khwaja saad Rafique was the Railways Minister and a train accident had taken place resulting in a high death toll. Like with most of his older statements, now that he is in power, when it comes to holding himself or his Cabinet to the same standards that he once preached, PM Imran Khan conveniently reneges. The incident in sukkur on Friday where a train collided with a bus at an unmanned railway crossing, leaving at least 20 dead and dozens more wounded, is the latest in a series of accidents under sheikh Rashid since he became the Federal Minister for Railways. Rashid, who pays little attention to his portfolio and more towards trading barbs with his political opponents, has naturally fixed the blame for the avoidable accident on the sindh government for failing to deploy personnel at crossings. according to sheikh Rashid there are around 3,000 unmanned railway crossings between Karachi and Peshawar; if in fact it is the provincial government’s job to ensure that railway crossings in their respective jurisdictions are manned, then the PTI, which is in power in all provinces but sindh, should put its house in order first and then deflect blame. sukkur is hardly an isolated incident; since Rashid took office in august 2018, according to some estimates, there have been at least 80 train accidents of varying intensity in terms of damage and casualties. Last year, owing to lax security protocols, a train caught fire killing 75 people after a gas cylinder that was smuggled on board by some passengers exploded. Failed signaling mechanisms have resulted in numerous other incidents as well. There are plans now to introduce new high-speed trains on the existing railway network. It would be a catastrophic mistake to introduce more speed on an infrastructure that his hardly manageable as it is. Pakistan Railway has all the problems that other publicly owned enterprises in the country also deal with; they are overstaffed, have lossmaking inefficient units rife with financial malfeasance that continues to go unchecked and are being run by incompetent persons at the top and middle. There will be no letup in the frequency of such accidents unless a competent professional who actually wants the job is hired to run it. That person, clearly, is not sheikh Rasheed.

Rabia ahmed

T

housands of brave Indian citizens have condemned the Citizenship amendment act (Caa) in India at their own peril, seeing that Indian authorities have banned protests against it. scores of people have lost their lives protesting. In delhi alone at the time of writing this column, after around 40 people have died as a result and more than 500 people have been arrested.

There have been more in the rest of India.

By now we all know what the Caa means, that it allows illegal immigrants to India access to citizenship so long as they are not Muslim, sri Lankan Tamils, Buddhists from Tibet, or Rohingya from Myanmar. In other words the act is based on religious discrimination which not acceptable on any level. other Indians around the world have also protested against the Caa. Kudos to them all for standing up for what is right.

There have also been vociferous statements by Pakistani authorities, including posters against the Caa in the cantonment in Lahore, and many selfrighteous, indignant comments against the government of India in newspapers.

While all protest against the Caa is commendable the authorities in Pakistan seem to suffer from a myopic vision, as do the people who make these angry comments in newspapers hurling taunts at the country across the border, its people and government.

You wonder just where they were when very similar

Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

Arif Nizami is Editor, Pakistan Today. He can be contacted at arifn51@hotmail.com.

supreme Court she left the country for Canada. The few people who stood up for her included the then Minorities Minister shahbaz Bhatti and Punjab Governor salman Taseer who were both assassinated for their courage. Many more protests than those against asia’s incarceration attended the execution of Taseer’s murderer Mumtaz Qadri, gatherings of tens of thousands of people who caused a great deal of damage as a result of which the army needed to be things happened in Pakistan itself.

Yes, the Caa is against the secular constitution called in. Qadri’s burial place somewhere near ‘Pindi of India. so is the Pakistani passport form, the one has become a pilgrimage site and is visited by scores you must fill out if you need a Pakistani passport, be- of people every day.

In 2013 the poverty-stricken Christian Joseph cause all Muslim applicants must fill out the following section. here is what it says for anyone who has Colony was attacked in Lahore. The excuse was alleged blasphemy committed by one of not noticed: the residents, sawan Masih, a I am a Muslim and believe young man with small children. in the absolute and unqualified Two churches were attacked, and finality of the prophethood of What prevents the many homes were torched. Most Muhammad (Peace be upon him) as the last of the Prophets. authorities in Pakistan from of the attackers were acquitted but sawan Masih was arrested; and (ii) I do not recognize any perdoing something about the remains in prison today. Meanson who claims to be a prophet time today President arif alvi in in any sense of the word or of discrimination in their own a tweet called the vandalising of any description whatsoever after a mosque in delhi a “disgraceful Muhammad (peace be upon country? These are act”. him) or recognize such a To deny these events or to claimant as a prophet or a reliundeniable, factual events. close one’s eyes to their taking gious reformer as or a Muslim.

They are recorded in place is like donald Trump (iii) I consider Mirza Ghulam denying that the usa has made ahmad Quadiani to be an impeople’s memories, and in discriminatory moves against poster nabi and also consider his followers whether belonging to the media – the same media Mexicans. or the Germans refusing to accept their anti-sethe Lahori or Quadiani group to that is so muzzled today, in mitic past. or the government of be non-Muslim Myanmar denying that it had It seems that to obtain Pakblack and white. To anything to do with the sudden istani citizenship one must first, as the very first act, condemn a acknowledge the problem is influx of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh. group of people and their set of What prevents the authoristep one. Only a fear for beliefs, and set one’s signature ties in Pakistan from doing against this condemnation to attheir own safety can stop something about the discriminatest to that fact. tion in their own country? These For all those so outraged at this step being taken, or are undeniable, factual events. what is happening in India, where is the condemnation for perhaps the fact that the They are recorded in people’s memories, and in the media – the discrimination against the ahmadiya sect? There was little authorities participate in the the same media that is so muzzled today, in black and white. when this group of people were discrimination.

To acknowledge the probdiscriminated against. or when lem is step one. only a fear for the shias were being killed and their own safety can stop this driven out, as were the hazaras. step being taken, or perhaps the There was not as much protest for what was done to asia Bibi when she was fact that the authorities participate in the discriminaimprisoned for ten long years as a result of a convic- tion. no Madina ki riasat this. not by a long chalk. tion for blasphemy by a Pakistani court based on frail Rabia Ahmed is a freelance columnist. Read evidence. several maulvis even posted rewards for her murder. When she was finally acquitted by the more by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com/

No Madina ki riasat this. Not by a long chalk

Arif Nizami

Joint Editor

The threat of being put on the black list of FaTF (Financial action Task Force) is real in the context of president Trump’s latest fulminations.

To further complicate matters, Pakistan is engaged in a $6bn EFF (Extended Fund Facility) of the IMF (International Monetary Fund). But at the same time it is facing an existential threat on its eastern border.

Modi has taken on 200 million plus Indian Muslims through his controversial Citizenship amendment act (Caa), thus depriving them of their basic human rights. Furthermore, atrocities by the Indian security forces continue unabated in the occupied Kashmir.

In this context, a beleaguered Indian prime minister, supplanted by BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) is quite capable of launching a military misadventure against Pakistan. In his reckoning perhaps, an internally divided and economically distressed neighbour could be made to further bleed by being forced to mobilise to defend itself.

The chief spokesman of the Pakistan military, Major-General Babar Iftikhar has correctly stated that, “there is no space for war between two nuclear powers”. But we are dealing with a mad man in the form of Modi who can go to any limits to forward his myopic and self-serving hindutva ideology.

While Trump was praising Modi for religious freedom, the Muslims of new delhi were subjected to the worst kind of violence and arson by hindu extremists resulting in the deaths of at least 40 people.

Thousands lost all their material possessions while Trump was wining and dining in the same city.

It is axiomatic that these are not easy times for Pakistan. hence it needs to pursue an aggressive diplomatic policy to deal with the emerging crisis.

Islamabad, through its foreign office spokesperson aisha Farooqui, has finally expressed its alarm at the defence deal between India and the us. But our foreign minister shah Mehmood Qureshi continues to be enamoured by the fact that he was invited to the signing ceremony of the us- Taliban agreement amongst fifty other countries.

It is interesting to note however that reportedly the contents of the deal were not shared with Pakistan, the primary enabler and facilitator of the deal.

It’s time that in the domain of foreign relations as well as the domestic front, instead of living in selfdelusion, Pakistan pursues well thought out policies based on ground realities rather than illusions.

Kudos to Indians

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

ders. unfortunately, Trump’s candid remarks were hardly reported in the Pakistani media.

Interestingly, the afghan Taliban with whom the us government signed an agreement yesterday after protracted negotiations, was not mentioned in the list of militants allegedly operating from Pakistani territory. It is no coincidence that the haqqani group has suddenly become somewhat kosher for Washington.

The other day its deputy leader sirajuddin haqqani penned an article “What We, the Taliban, Want” in the new York Times, the authentic voice of the us foreign policy establishment.

It’s nothing personal. Prime Minister Khan is a great friend of Trump’s but the country he rules harbours India specific terrorists of all hues and colour according to the us president.

‘The more the things change the more they stay the same.’ The truism sums up the realities of Pakistan-us relations. Essentially, we remain frenemies where both sides tend to use each other for real or perceived advantage.

Washington continues to engage Pakistan, a nuclearpowered country, for its own strategic and tactical goals.

Right now, Trump is desperate to virtually quit and run from afghanistan before his re-election in november.

In this transactional relationship it is using Islamabad’s links with the afghan Taliban to extricate itself from the afghan imbroglio as smoothly as possible.

If our leadership thinks otherwise it is suffering from an extreme form of naiveté. as a bulwark against a rising China, Washington co-opted new delhi long before Trump assumed the presidency. despite outstanding trade issues, the us considers India as a big market for trade and investment.

Trump who is driven by his signature Islamophobia, eyes Pakistan with suspicion. Islamabad on the other hand is inextricably tied with its long standing and reliable ally China. Its deep-rooted strategic and economic ties with Beijing are well known. despite these ground realities, our successive ruling elite pine for close relations with Washington harking back to the cold war era. Times have inexorably changed in the meanwhile. admittedly, Islamabad needs to work closely with Washington primarily for its economic and strategic interests. The us would be happy to fulfil Pakistan’s defence needs to an extent, provided it had the cash up front.

Right now, an impoverished Pakistan with its foreign exchange reserves comprised mostly of borrowed dollars is in no position to dictate to the us.

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Sunday, 1 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

Struggling economy

The tide is turning The promise, the challenges and the failures

Candid Corner Raoof Hasan “When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, when it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time when the tide will turn.”

—Harriet Beecher Stowe

P

rime minisTer imran Khan has been up against the wall virtually throughout the time that he has been in power– mostly because of the wreck that he inherited from his predecessors and the abominable lack of resources that he had to deal with it.

Alongside that, there has been ceaseless chanting by the opposition parties. each day, a new deadline is given for the Prime minister to pack up and go. it required nerves of steel to deal with such vile orchestration, drum-beaten with monotonous and malicious frequency. Anyone else would have happily taken the count, but not him. Though bruised, he has hung on, and has even begun to look better with each passing day.

Besides others, this fact alone is a testament to his impregnable resolve to ensure deliverance of this country from the tentacles of the mafias and their bootleggers. simultaneously, he has single-handedly catapulted Pakistan to the centre of the world stage where it is looked upon from a different perspective. Within a short period of time, Prime minister Khan has helped the country transcend from the stamp of terrorism to the promise of tourism. World leaders have undertaken visits with unprecedented frequency, each such visit displaying increased confidence in Pakistan’s vibrancy and potential to tide over difficult times. it has placed Pakistan in an enviable position to attract world attention as a potential destination of profit. There is need for taking this further by building a creative, vigorous and target-oriented promotional campaign and selling the country in the international marketplace as a competitive terminal for investment and business.

Pakistan has also taken strides in improving its relations with Turkey, malaysia, Qatar and iran. The recent visit of the Turkish President and his unequivocal support for the cause of Kashmir is an indication of the depth of these relations. Pakistan’s improved interaction with Qatar and our neighbour iran, and its efforts to forge closer relations with russia, are positives

vironment which offers no illicit opportunities which can yield far-reaching dividends.

The economy, so far the weakest link in the to fatten their bank accounts. They are on a sabgovernment’s armoury, has also shown signs of otage course. ever since the incumbent governstabilising. The rupee value has improved and ment assumed charge, they have been on an the tax base has expanded. Portfolio investment unannounced pen-down strike, thus betraying has also gone up as has the confidence of the the oath of their office as servants of the people.

The judiciary’s track record has never been business community. international credit rating agencies have also given a thumbs-up to Pak- elevating and it would take piles of paper to reistan’s economic direction. These are encourag- count even a short chapter of that history. From ing signs and it is hoped that, soon, Pakistan’s taking instructions from the rulers of the past on telephone, they have taken to relentlessly intrudtrue potential will unfurl for the world to see.

Pakistan has also played a constructive role ing into the executive domain, thus diluting the in handling thorny and long-standing regional is- writ and legitimacy of the government. Their pensues. its proactive involvement in helping the chant to gather around their kith and kin to save Taliban and the UsA initiate a dialogue for bring- them from charges of patent misdemeanour presing the war in Afghanistan to an end is worthy of ents a humiliating spectacle. such should not be appreciation. The same has been acknowledged the constituents of an institution that deems itself by the UsA, leading to improved bilateral rela- a key pillar of the state, responsible for delivering tions. The signing of the deal on February 29 is justice to the people.

Then there is the media which is perpetually the beginning of a possible resolution of the issue which has ravaged the neighbouring country for engrossed in conducting its outdated shows– on the screens and by blackenalmost two decades. ing reams of paper– with ficThough peace may appear tional projections of failure. a fair distance away, this There is no real substance. provides an auspicious beginning to a difficult The country is on the move, Only a vile and preconceived agenda is visible. Let’s grant process. on the up, and there is no that the government has demost praiseworthy of all has been the launch of reason why this trajectory prived the media houses of illegal dole-outs in the shape numerous public welfare should be disturbed. of political advertising, but initiatives by the governone cannot hold the state rement including the Ehsas Instead, given the inveterate sponsible for running their programme, loans for the businesses. Castigating the youth to start their own resolve and courage of government simply because businesses, empowering Prime Minister Khan, there it refuses to be blackmailed people living in villages to is no measure for gauging its become self-sufficient and is every reason for this performance. The media will building shelter homes have to move beyond their (free lodging and food) country to relentlessly past indulgences for underfor the poorest of the poor. pursue its extrication from taking an objective and nonBut, most significantly, it partisan critique of the is the effort to raise the esteem of the marginalised the clutches of mafias which government. some people around the communities that deserves have held it hostage and put Prime minister should not be plaudits.

Yet, there are forces it on course to redemption there while others should engage the mike less frewhich refuse to acknowlquently, but the edge these developments. government’s major failure Besides the opposition, a four-pronged challenge is visible: nAB, bureau- has been the gross inability of its information team to project its multi-sector accomplishments cracy, judiciary and the media. nAB’s performance has been an unmiti- and engage people at the grassroots level. They gated disaster. There is hardly a case it could have also been found deficient in responding efcite by way of proving its credibility, capability fectively to a spate of malicious, irrational and or worth. its investigation techniques have ill-founded propaganda by the opposition. The raised serious questions about its intentions. its predominant focus of the information team has principal focus is not on securing convictions been on remaining glued before the camera for the guilty, but negotiating plea bargains as rather than highlighting various facets of the its officials are direct beneficiaries of this government’s achievements.

There comes a time when one must applaud arrangement. While the criminals roam free, the premises of the nAB have become verita- what must be, of which there is plenty around. ble extensions of their incompetence and com- The country is on the move, on the up, and there plicity. Yet, every other day, the chairman of is no reason why this trajectory should be disthe Bureau delivers self-righteous proclama- turbed. instead, given the inveterate resolve and tions of not sparing the guilty. it is about time courage of Prime minister Khan, there is every that he was tried for the demise of the whole reason for this country to relentlessly pursue its extrication from the clutches of mafias which process of accountability.

The bureaucracy refuses to divorce itself have held it hostage and put it on course to refrom the Brown Sahib mantle that it has been demption. perched on ever since the country secured its inRaoof Hasan is a political and security dependence. The quotient of its members’ arrogance has multiplied in direction proportion to strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute the decline in their integrity and performance. – an Islamabad-based think tank. He can be Having partaken gratuitously of the corruption reached at: raoofhasan@hotmail.com; Twitter: of the past rulers, they refuse to serve in an en- @RaoofHasan

THe past present and future are intertwined, such that our actions in past impact our present and future. After the creation of Pakistan, those who assumed power did not lay foundations of a strong economy and tended to take the easier route of borrowing, which at that time was not too big a problem. However, without paying attention to economy borrowing is a slippery slope that traps a person or a country in a vicious debt trap. This is what happened to Pakistan too. Without the capacity to expand our exports and curb imports, we kept borrowing to retire old debts and fulfill our present needs. Little did our politicians realize that these actions of past and present will eventually lead to a horrifying future. The debts kept piling leaving the country at mercy of creditors and lending institutions which have little or no mercy for people. These institutions force the government to take measures that hurt people in the form of unbearable inflation. seventy-two years have gone by and we continue to borrow to repay borrowings of past and to fill the budget deficit without any attention to expand our agricultural and industrial output. Without robust exports and healthy GDP, we will keep sinking into this vicious debt trap.

However, our politicians seem oblivious to this situation and keep exchanging barbs as to who is responsible for the mess we are in today. even today, the ruling party blames the past governments and those in opposition cry that the government is incapable and inefficient. in reality every party / person has played a role be it corruption or incompetence.

The best course for our leaders is to make Confucius like confession and vow to believe that at the time of reckoning no one is better than the other.

They need to forge unity and move forward to rebuild the structure of the destroyed economy.

RaJa SHaFaaTuLLaH Islamabad

Shortage of masks On Wednesday 26th of February , Pakistan detected two patients of Coronavirus. One in federal Administration and the second case was detected in Karachi . After this news the rise in demand for masks has led to its prices getting increases , as masks that were being sold at seven rupees are now selling for fifty rupees . Whereas the n-95 mask is being sold at rs 400 to rs 500 instead of 60 rupees. medical store owners say that only one mask is being sold to one person, as supply is off for a week . One shopkeeper informed me that the mask was being imported from China , the supply shut down from China has led to the product shortage in the market. meanwhile , Citizens are also taking precautionary measures to combat the epidemic , and masks are a very effective tool to prevent the virus.

There are reports of a shortage of masks but the government says that there is no need to panic and the shortage of face masks is under control .

HaRum SHuJauddIn SIddIquI, Karachi.

Innocent students sTUDenTs, who are called the backbone of any nation and recognition of a country, are being punished brutally in Pakistan. They are facing a huge number of problems in their studying career especially if any student has no support of a rich or a politician will face many problems in the schools as well as in other learning institutions or Academies due to the fact, many students have committed suicide and some of them left studying. Who is responsible? The government or teachers? in my point of view, both are responsible because as a student, i felt it.

Because most teachers are just filling the formality of teaching and some teachers see no talent inside a students, they just see the power of students.

And the government doesn’t seem to watch inside the schools and other learning institutes. Therefore, this innocent, poor student requests the government and higher educational authorities to take care of the poor students. if you don’t decrease the fee, it does not matter.

PaRvEz mouLa BaKSH Karachi

Bleak future?

TO begin, as a member of Green club, i can assure you that littering in Karachi has gotten worse in the past few months.

You’re about to find out what green club found on cleaning up sea View. While we were cleaning up the beach and some of the walking tracks we found plastic bottles, wrappers of snacks, cigarette etc. Although the amount of rubbish wasn’t as bad as last year’s, i was still disgusted by the amount of plastic and cigarettes on the beach.

Littering is a crime but they are not enforcing the law. We need to educate our youths on why littering is bad and the effect litter has on oceans.i would like you and everyone reading this to help get the message out to “stop littering!”. What will our beaches look for future generation?

What will be left?. We are living on this planet as if we have another one to go to. Be a part of the solution, not pollution.

HaFSa nooR maLIK Karachi

End of an era THe name of maria sharapova has been attracting huge attention of all like media houses, the public the world over. i too have been a big admirer of this tennis player almost right from my professional days in Hyderabad in the years like 2006. she has been having a big name for her brilliance and beauty, almost turning a beloved sport personality for all including the international media houses. By definition, sports are something invigorating physically and mentally. The game shows have always been a big attraction for the people and the countries at the world stage to date. i have been encouraging my students in Korkai, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Kanyakumari, marthandam to take part at sports events to prove their skills. Added to this list, my native areas like Korkai, Tiruchendur, Tirunelveli, Tuticorin have been home to various sports activities like kabaddi, inspiring people around in other areas. such has been the trend now.

P SEnTHIL SaRavana duRaI mumbai

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

turkey'S erdogan aSkS ruSSia'S putin to Step aSide in Syria ISTANBUL AGENCIES

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UrkIsH President tayyip erdogan said on saturday that he had asked President Vladimir Putin for russia to step aside in syria and leave turkey to deal with syrian government forces alone, after 34 turkish soldiers were killed this week.

Government forces, backed by russian air power, have waged a major assault to capture the northwest province of Idlib, part of the last remaining territory held by rebels backed by turkey. syrian and russian warplanes on saturday kept up air strikes on the Idlib city of saraqeb, the syrian observatory war monitor reported. the strategic city sits on a key international roadway and has been a flashpoint of fighting in recent days. turkish strikes using drones and smart missiles late on Friday that hit Hezbollah

headquarters near saraqeb killed nine of its members and wounded 30 in one of the bloodiest attacks on the Iran-backed group in syria, according to a commander in the regional alliance backing Damascus. the syrian observatory said 48 proDamascus troops had been killed by turkish strikes in the past 24 hours.

With diplomacy sponsored by Ankara and Moscow to ease tensions in tatters, turkey has come closer than ever to confrontation with russia on the battlefield. speaking in Istanbul, erdogan said he had told Putin in a phone call to stand aside and let turkey “do what is necessary” with the syrian government. He said turkey does not intend to leave syria right now.

“We did not go there because we were invited by (syrian President Bashar alAssad). We went there because we were invited by the people of syria. We don’t intend to leave before the people of syria say,

‘okay, this is done,’” erdogan added.

As tensions rose, russia and turkey have held three rounds of talks, the first two of which did not yield a ceasefire. russia’s Foreign Ministry said on saturday that the two sides agreed in this week’s talks to reduce tensions on the ground in Idlib while continuing military action there.

But turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Doha that the Idlib issue can only be settled in a meeting between erdogan and Putin, which he said would take place on March 5 or March 6.

MIGRANTS: After 33 of its soldiers were killed on thursday, turkey said it would allow migrants it hosts to freely pass to europe. one more turkish soldier was killed on Friday, raising this month’s toll to 55. turkey hosts some 3.7 million syrian refugees, in addition to Afghans, Iranians, and Moroccans among others. It has warned that it cannot take another refugee wave

US regulators move to fine telecoms for selling location data WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Us regulators moved to impose fines Friday against the nation’s four major wireless carriers for selling location data of customers without their consent. the Federal Communications Commission proposed fining t-Mobile more than $91 million; At&t some $57 million; Verizon $48 million, and sprint $12 million. the wireless firms were accused of having disclosed mobile network user location data to a third party without authorization from customers, the FCC said. the FCC began an investigation after a report that a sheriff in Missouri used a “location-finding service” operated by a prison communications services company called securus to track whereabouts of people including a judge and law enforcement officers. the carriers provided access to customer location data to “aggregators” who then resold information to services such as securus, according to the regulator.

“American consumers take their wireless phones with them wherever they go,” FCC chairman Ajit Pai said in a release. “And information about a wireless customer’s location is highly personal and sensitive.”

Us telecom firms have been on notice for more than a decade that they are required to safeguard location data gathered about users, Pai added. sizes of the fines were based on how long carriers continued to sell customer location information without proper safeguards and how many parties had access, the

FCC said. the telecom companies will get to provide evidence and arguments to the commission before the fines are finalized. some privacy activists said the penalties failed to go far enough. Lisa Hayes of the Center for Democracy & technology, a digital rights organization, called the fines too little and too late. “this kind of egregious privacy violation and the weak enforcement response by the FCC further demonstrate why the Us needs a strong, comprehensive, national privacy law,” said Hayes. “the current lack of a law means that anyone willing to spend a few hundred dollars can buy the location data of another person at any moment in time.”

Gaurav Laroia of the consumer group Free Press said the FCC action comes more than a year after activists filed complaints on these practices.

“Press reports surfaced over a year ago that At&t, sprint, t-Mobile and Verizon were selling their customers’ real-time location information to data brokers,” Laroia said. “that information was then available on the open market, putting people in real physical danger.” sprint told AFP that it is reviewing the FCC’s notice regarding the proposed fine and had no comment other than to say it takes customer privacy seriously.

“When we learned that our location aggregator program was being abused by bad actor third parties, we took quick action,” t-Mobile said in response to an AFP inquiry. t-Mobile added that it will dispute the FCC’s conclusions and the fine. Verizon and At&t did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

AGENCIES

fthe United states will continue to work with egypt, ethiopia and sudan until they sign an accord on a giant Blue Nile hydropower dam, after failing to secure signatures from the three countries this week, U.s. treasury secretary steven Mnuchin said Friday. the three countries had expected to sign an agreement in Washington this week on the

filling and operation of the $4 billion Grand ethiopian renaissance Dam (GerD), but ethiopia skipped the meeting and only egypt has initialed the deal thus far.

In a statement released late Friday, Mnuchin said he held separate bilateral talks with key ministers from egypt and sudan over the past two days after ethiopia asked for a delay in what was to be the final round of talks. ethiopia on saturday expressed its disappointment at the U.s. statement follow-

ing the talks. the government is, however, “committed to continue its engagement” with egypt and sudan to finalize an agreement on the initial filling and annual operation of the dam, it said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear whether further talks would be scheduled.

Mnuchin said he looked forward to ethiopia concluding its internal consultations to allow a signing of the deal “at the earliest possible time”, and stressed that final testing and filling of the dam “should

AGENCIES

not take place without an agreement.” “the United states reaffirms its commitment to remain engaged with the three countries until they sign the final agreement,” he said. ethiopia is building the dam near its border with sudan on the Blue Nile, which flows into the Nile river – the main water source for egypt’s population of 100 million. the dam is the centrepiece in ethiopia’s bid to become Africa’s biggest power exporter.

Luxembourg becomes first country with free public transport LUXEMBOURG CITY AGENCIES

Luxembourg on saturday became the first country in the world to offer free public transport, as the small and wealthy eU country tries to help less-well-off workers and reduce road traffic. some cities elsewhere have already taken similar, partial measures.

But the transport ministry said it was the first time such a decision covered an entire country. the free transport, flagged as “an important social measure”, affects approximately 40 percent of households and is estimated to save each one around 100 euros ($110) per year.

Not all passengers were aware of the change, which was brought forward one day ahead of schedule. “It’s free? I didn’t know,” said a woman in her 50s who gave her first name as Dominique as she waited at Luxembourg’s main train station.

transport workers were concerned about what impact the measure would have on their job security.

“We don’t yet know” what will happen to their positions, said one ticket seller at the station who declined to give his name. “All the public transport workers are worried. It’s not yet clear.”

TRAFFIC WOES: the measure is part of a plan intended to reduce congestion.

Private cars are the most used means of transport in the Grand Duchy, accounting for 47 percent of business travel and 71 percent of leisure transport. With more than 200,000 people living in neighbouring France, Germany and Belgium who work in Luxembourg and most of them driving in, that makes for major traffic jams at peak hours. the population of the tiny country is just 610,000 and those cross-border workers account for half the total employees. the capital city of Luxembourg has invested in its public transport network, notably by building a tram

activist investor wants to oust twitter chief dorsey: media SAN FRANCISCO

US to keep working with Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan on Blue Nile dam WASHINGTON

from Idlib. Violence in the northwestern syrian province has displaced one million civilians since December inside the country near the turkish border in desperate winter conditions, in what is perhaps the worst humanitarian crisis of the conflict. erdogan said that 18,000 migrants has crossed the border to europe from turkey since the gates were opened, without providing evidence, and added that the number could rise to 25,000-30,000 on saturday.

Greece and Bulgaria, both european Union member states neighboring turkey, vowed not to admit the migrants. Greek police fired teargas toward migrants who were gathered on its border with turkey and demanding entry on saturday.

“We will not close these doors in the coming period and this will continue. Why? the european Union needs to keep its promises. We don’t have to take care of this many refugees, to feed them,” erdogan said.

network, but commuters complain it is still patchy.

It will be some years before the network links to the northern airport, for instance. “there’s been an enormous delay to the development of public transport,” said Blanche Weber, head of the Luxembourg ecological Movement pressing for better links on environmental grounds. “systematic and continuous investment is a sine qua non (essential) condition for promoting the attractiveness of public transport,” admitted transport minister Francois Bausch. sales of tickets on the domestic network — which cost two euros per journey — previously covered just eight percent of the 500-millioneuro cost of running the transport system. that shortfall will now be met from the treasury. ticket machines are to be gradually removed from stations, but offices selling tickets for international train trips and for first-class seating in Luxembourg — which continues to be a paying service — will remain.

An activist investor known as a major republican political supporter wants to wrest control of twitter from co-founder and Ceo Jack Dorsey, Us media reported Friday. elliott Management, founded by billionaire Paul singer, has acquired a stake in the social media firm and wants to remove Dorsey, CNBC said, citing an unnamed source. the firm pushed for the change stating that Dorsey’s attention is divided between running twitter and his financial transactions startup square, and that Dorsey intends to live part of each year in Africa. twitter early this month reported that it added millions of new users and boosted ad revenue in the fourth quarter, sparking optimism over its growth prospects. Dorsey said during an earnings call that the results capped “a great year for twitter” and that twitter has been able to boost users by making the service “more instantly relevant.” “this is an incredibly strong foundation to build upon,” he told analysts. the latest report suggested twitter is making headway as it seeks to keep pace with bigger social networks like Facebook and Instagram while it works to filter out abuse and manipulation. twitter will have growth opportunities this year from the 2020 Us elections and olympic Games. the platform has been seeking to expand its user base beyond celebrities, journalists and politicians. Dorsey has stressed that a priority for twitter is to “increase healthy public conversation” by rooting out inappropriate content and misinformation. Despite his plans to spend part of the year living in Africa, Dorsey said he won’t be hampered by his travel. “We do need to figure out how to build a company that is distributed, that is not burdened by time zones but advantaged by them,” he said.

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

BUSINESS 11

AfteR couRt oRdeR, LeSco StARtS iSSuinG ReviSed biLLS to teXtiLe miLLeRS LAHORE

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HASSAN NAQVI

HE Lahore High Court has stopped power distribution companies (DISCOS) -- Lahore Electric Supply Company and Faisalabad Electric Supply Company -- from charging arrears with retrospective effect till further orders.

Following the court's decision [taken on Friday], the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) has now started issuing revised electricity bills to textile millers, thus removing additional surcharges that were being charged to the millers with retrospective effect from January 2019.

As per details, APTMA on Thursday had filed a writ petition against the federal government, Ministry of Energy and DISCOs with a plea that the Power Division had issued a notification on January 13 to DIS-

COS, “wrongfully” asking them to charge the exports-oriented textile sector with additional surcharges, including positive fuel adjustments (PFA), financial cost surcharges and Neelum-Jhelum surcharges, with retro-

spective effect. The textile body maintained that the Power Division was not mandated to take such decisions.

On Friday, APTMA's counsel had requested the court to nullify the act of charg-

ing additional surcharges by the MoE. Hearing the case, Justice Qasim Khan inquired about the incumbent energy minister as well as others looking after power-related matters in the country. The government’s counsel replied that PM's Adviser on Petroleum Nadeem Babar was assisting the minister on matters pertaining to the energy sector.

“I have heard Nadeem Babar is the owner of an independent power plant (IPP) himself…is he the same person we are talking about? the judge asked.

Unsatisfied with the government's response, Justice Khan expressed displeasure over Nadeem Babar's appointment as PM's special assistant and remarked, "It seems that the cat is protecting the milk."

He continued, "The appointment of such a person as PM's adviser who has personal stakes (conflict of interest) in the industry is not a good omen for departments. In fact,

Sindh economy needs renewables, women empowerment: Ishrat Hussain KARACHI MEIRYUM ALI

Sindh’s economy will only improve with increased investment in renewable energy, and an increase in women education, said Adviser to Prime Minister on Austerity and renowned economist Ishrat Hussain.

The former State Bank governor was speaking at a panel on the second day of the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF), which will conclude tomorrow (March 1).

While most of the talks at the KLF were on culture and literature in Pakistan, the festival did host one talk on the economy: "Sindh's Economy: The Untapped Potential".

Joining Ishrat Hussain on the panel was Shamsuddin Shaikh, the former CEO of Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC) and current CEO of Natural Resources Ltd; and Tahira Raza, former CEO of First Women Bank and current director on the board of Pakistan Petroleum Ltd. Hussain, for his part, went out of his way to praise the efforts of SECMC, saying that the company had changed the lives people living there for the better.

Still, with that caveat, Hussain said that the future of Sindh’s economy

rested not on mining, but on renewable energy, like solar and wind energy.

“The current figure [for renewables] is 20pc; the government wants it to be 30pc,” said Hussain.

He said that the economics of Thar Coal Project still had to be figured out, citing the cost of the transmission lines, and the demand for energy in Karachi and Jamshoro.

In general, he deplored the state of government in Sindh, saying he was especially unimpressed with the civil service present in the province.

“Previously, people were chosen on merit; now they are often just some MNAs or feudal lords,” he complained.

As an example of merit, Hussain praised the fact that incumbent State Bank Governor Dr Reza Baqir, a “40year-old bacha”, was the boss of someone who was at least a decade older than

Baqir i.e. performance should be valued over seniority.

Tahira Raza spoke at length on women empowerment, saying that banks needed to get over the culture of waiting around for women to ask for loans, and instead, go with loans to women in rural communities.

She also said that banks should be more open to SMEs, saying that failure is normal and part of setting up a business, and banks should give chances to people who have ‘failed’ in business before.

She said it wasn't enough to invest in roads and infrastructure, but also in formal education for women, which required a cultural shift in our mindset.

She was also adamantly pro-affirmative action, noting that the parliament, for instance, has a 33pc quota for

women. The SECP also has mandated that at least one woman should be on a company’s board; however, several companies asked the SECP for relaxation in the policy.

“There should be no relaxation in affirmative action,” Raza categorically stated.

Despite being the current head of the company that explores mining options in Balochistan, Shaikh kept the focus not on mining or natural resources, but on social development.

Shaikh said he believed that social and human development is the ‘soul of a company’, a view he developed once he learnt about the conditions of Thar when SECMC was first set up there.

“We bought school uniforms for children in Thar, but a Class 5 student was wearing Class 2 child’s uniforms,” said Shaikh, noting that almost 45 per cent of children in Thar were stunted in growth.

Shaikh also said that in his experience setting up milk processing plants in Sindh, he had been more impressed with the female graduates from the University of Khairpur, labelling the male graduates as ‘beykaar’.

He said that his company had to fight strong cultural attitudes that did not allow women in Sindh to work.

Indian economic growth slows, with coronavirus impact to come NEW DELHI AGENCIES

India’s economy expanded at its slowest pace in more than six years in the last three months of 2019, with analysts predicting further deceleration as the global coronavirus outbreak stifles growth in Asia’s third-largest economy.

The gross domestic product (GDP) data released on Friday showed government spending, private investment and exports all slowing, while a slight upturn in consumer spending and improvement in rural demand lent support.

The quarterly figure of 4.7pc growth matched the consensus in a Reuters poll of analysts but was below a revised - and greatly increased - 5.1pc rate for the previous quarter.

The central bank has warned that downside risks to global growth have increased as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, the full effects of which are still unfolding.

“So far as the impact (of coron-

avirus) on India is concerned we will take some more time to arrive at more accurate conclusions, but coronavirus is definitely going to pull down global growth,” Shaktikanta Das, governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said in Mumbai.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has taken several steps to bolster economic growth, including a privatisation push and increased state spending, after cutting corporate tax rates last September.

In its annual budget presented this month, the government estimated that annual economic growth in the financial year to March 31 would be 5pc, its lowest for 11 years.

Modi’s government is targeting a slight recovery in growth to 6pc for 2020/21, far below the level needed to generate jobs for millions of young Indians entering the labour market each month.

The annual GDP figure for the September quarter was ramped up from an

earlier estimate of 4.5pc, while the April-June reading was similarly lifted to 5.6pc from 5pc, data released by the Ministry of Statistics showed on Friday.

CAPIAL INVESTMENT DROP: In the December quarter, private investment grew 5.9pc, up from 5.6pc in the previous quarter, while government spending rose by 11.8pc, against 13.2pc in the previous three months.

However, corporate capital investment contracted by 5.2pc after a 4.1pc decline in the previous quarter, indicating that interest rate cuts by the central bank have failed to encourage new investment. Manufacturing, meanwhile, contracted by 0.2pc.

“It appears growth slowdown is not just cyclical but more entrenched with consumption secularly joining the slowdown bandwagon even as the investment story continues to languish,” said Madhavi Arora of Edelweiss Securities in Mumbai.

Many economists said that the government stimulus could take four

to six quarters before lifting the economy and the impact of those efforts could be outweighed by the global fallout from the coronavirus epidemic that began in China.

“The coronavirus remains the critical risk as India depends on China for both demand and supply of inputs,” said Abheek Barua, chief economist at HDFC Bank.

Indian shares sank on Friday for a sixth session running, capping their worst week in more than a decade.

The NSE Nifty 50 index shed 7.3pc over the week, while the Sensex dropped 6.8pc, the worst weekly declines since the 2008-09 financial crisis.

Separately, India’s infrastructure output rose 2.2pc year on year in January, data showed on Friday.

A spike in inflation to a more than 5-1/2 year high of 7.59pc in January is expected to make the RBI hold off from further cuts to interest rates for now, while keeping its monetary stance accommodative.

they are the ones sucking the blood of the departments."

After 45 minutes of detailed arguments, the court suspended the notification regarding recovery of different surcharges from textile millers and issued notices to the federal government, LESCO, FESCO and MoE, seeking a reply in this regard by March 10.

The court also ordered all electricity cases pending before different benches to be clubbed and forwarded to the chief justice for the constitution of a larger bench.

The LHC directed the DISCOs to recalculate the amount of electricity bills by excluding the surcharges levied through the impugned notifications. It gave the distribution companies 10 days’ time to issue the revised bills.

Justice Qasim Khan is a senior puisne judge who was appointed as chief justice of the Lahore High court by President Arif Alvi on Friday (Feb 28).

Govt reduces petrol price by Rs5 per litre ISLAMABAD: The government on Saturday reduced the price of petrol by Rs5 per litre to provide relief to the consumers. According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Finance, petrol would now be sold at Rs111.6 per litre with effect from March 1 against Rs116.6 per litre during February. “The government is committed to extending relief to the public whenever fiscal space becomes available,” the statement added. It said that the price of high-speed diesel (HSD) has also been reduced by Rs5 per litre form Rs127.26 per litre to Rs122.26 per litre. Likewise, the rate of kerosene (SKO) has been reduced by Rs7 per litre from Rs99.45 per litre to Rs92.45 per litre, whereas that of light diesel oil has been lowered from Rs84.51 per litre to Rs77.51 per litre, a decrease of Rs7 per litre. APP

PSX witnesses biggest weekly fall in three years KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) dropped 2,265 points or 5.6pc to its three-year low during the outgoing week (Feb 28). The KSE-100 Index had closed the last trading session of the week (Friday) at 37,983 points. On February 27, the PSX saw its biggest intraday fall in a year after Pakistan confirmed its first cases of coronavirus the day before.

The benchmark KSE-100 index, a gauge to measure the overall market performance, had plunged 1,400 points or 3.5pc within the first two trading hours. It was the biggest single-day fall since February 27, 2019 (exactly one year ago) when the Pakistan Air Force had downed an Indian fighter jet and captured its pilot. Pakistan confirmed its first two cases of coronavirus on Wednesday evening, which caused panic among investors who were already concerned over reports of the deadly virus spreading to other countries. Investors across the globe had also resorted to selling, following reports the of a rise in the number of coronavirus cases, and turned to safe havens such as gold. ONLINE

Pharma exports up 4.5pc in seven months ISLAMABAD: The export of pharmaceutical goods from the country witnessed an increase of 4.49pc during the first seven months of the current financial year (FY20) as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The country's pharmaceutical exports were recorded at $129.1 million during July-January FY20 as against the export of $123.5 million during July-January FY19, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). In term of quantity, the export of pharmaceutical products also witnessed an increase of 8.25pc, from 7,588 metric tonnes to 8,214 metric tonnes.

However, on a year-on-year basis, the pharmaceutical exports saw a nominal decline of 0.41pc during the month of January 2020 as compared to the same month of last year. The pharmaceutical exports in January 2020 were recorded at $16.999 million as against the export of $17.069 million in January 2019. On a month-onmonth basis, the exports of pharmaceutical products decreased by 12.30pc in January 2020 when compared with $19.384 million in December 2019. It is pertinent to mention that the country's merchandise trade deficit plunged by 28.40pc during the first seven months of the current fiscal year as compared to the same month of last year. During the period under review, the country's exports registered about 2.14pc growth, whereas imports reduced by 15.95pc. APP

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

12 BUSINESS

PaKIstan EyEs CaPtUrIng UK MarKEt Post BrExIt LAHORE

Weekly inflation dips 0.16pc ISLAMABAD APP

The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)-based weekly inflation for the week ended on February 27 decreased by 0.16pc as compared to the previous week. The SPI for the week under review in the combined consumption group was recorded at 129.15 points as against 130.67points registered in the previous week, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The weekly SPI was 100 collected with base 2015-16, covering 17 urban centers and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. The SPI for the lowest consumption group, up to Rs17,732, also witnessed 1.34pc reduction as it went down from 134.03 points in the last week to 132.23 points during the week under review. As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group during the week under review witnessed an increase of 14.60pc, while for the lowest group, it increased by 12.94pc. Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption groups from Rs17,733 to Rs22,888, from Rs22,889 to Rs29,517, Rs29,518 to Rs44,175 and above Rs44,175 per month also decreased by 1.85pc, 1.23pc, 0.92pc and 0.75pc, respectively. During the week under review, average prices of 13 item registered a decrease, while that of 13 items prices increased with the prices of 25 items remaining unchanged. The prices of the commodities that recorded an increase in their prices during the week under review included LPG, bananas, onions, vegetable ghee, washing soap, mustard oil, rice, curd, milk fresh, cooked dal, pulse (moong) and cooked beef. The prices of following commodities witnessed reductions including electricity charges, tomatoes, eggs, chicken, sugar, wheat flour, pulse moong, firewood, pulse (mash) and gur.

SHAHAB OMER

t

HE Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) would hold consultative sessions with major Pakistani exporters to deliberate ways to capture the UK's Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Plus Scheme.

The sessions would be conducted in four major business hubs of the country; Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad and Sialkot, wherein TDAP would take input from different sectors, including cotton, leather, textile, IT, medical, and furniture.

According to details, the United Kingdom is

preparing its own GSP plus scheme or making a similar arrangement to maintain Pakistan's current level of merchandise exports to the UK. As per TDAP's GSP consultant Kamal Shahryar, "UK is currently in a transitional period which will continue till the end of 2020. But from January next year, the UK will run its GSP scheme so that its trade remains affected. Currently, there are 74 countries in the GSP scheme and the UK wants to give good arrangements to all."

Shahryar said the authority had already started initial level discussions with the UK officials.

"Previously, the UK deputy higher commissioner had visited two industrial units in the country where he held meetings with the exporters so as to

Poultry sector seeks reduction in input costs to avoid closures

Daraz launches bus ticket service to facilitate intercity travel BUSINESS DESK Daraz, the leading online marketplace in the country, is set to launch Dtravel, a channel through which the platform’s customers will have convenient and immediate access to bus tickets for intercity travel. "Launched in partnership with Bookme Tickets Pvt Ltd, this feature will allow Daraz customers to browse routes, timings and prices from 22 different bus services, including Daewoo Express, Bilal Travels, Qconnect, Road Master, ITC Cruzer, Skyways and Niazi Express," said a statement issued by Daraz. "Dtravel, therefore, will be a convenient and unique one-stop solution which will eliminate the need for customers to visit bus terminals or other ticketing platforms to search for tickets that suit their preferences." Commenting on the occasion, Bookme Chief Executive Officer Faizan Aslam said, "Today marks a great milestone for Bookme. Our partnership with Daraz has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for Daraz's customers who can now purchase their tickets seamlessly within Daraz App. We are confident that this partnership will not only strengthen Bookme’s platform but will also help further disrupt the e-ticketing ecosystem of Pakistan." "Daraz is a lifestyle app and our mission is to ensure that Pakistanis have easy and immediate access to everything that they need. Daraz Travel is another step towards that goal and we are confident that it will transform the travel landscape of Pakistan," Daraz Digital Goods and Travel Head Riaz Ali remarked. In 2019, Daraz focused on growing its product assortment and, at the close of the year, the platform’s catalogue came to boast 10 million products spread across more than 100 categories. This year, Daraz is focusing on strengthening the digital goods category and has taken the first step with the launch of Dtravel. Over time, the platform’s mission is to grow the new feature and offer customers access to flights, hotel bookings and rental cars to transform the travel landscape of Pakistan.

LAHORE STAFF REPORT

The poultry sector has asked the government to take serious measures to reduce the production cost of the sector, as it was incurring massive losses for the last couple of years mainly due to unprecedented hike in input costs.

Addressing a press conference at the Lahore Press Club on Saturday, Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) Vice Chairman Ch Muhammad Fargham said that the farmers were suffering badly for the last two years, with most of them losing their entire working capital, and were at the verge of bankruptcy.

"If the farmers don't get immediate relief in this regard, the county might witness the closure of up to 50pc poultry farms."

He said the cost of poultry feed has gone up in Pakistan, reaching the highest level in the last 10 years owing to huge depreciation of Pakistani Rupee against the US Dollar, record-high markup rate and continuous increase in power and gas tariffs. He maintained that the outgoing year was one of the worst for the poultry industry.

"During the last few years, there has been a gradual increase in the input cost of poultry production, but in the last couple of years, the hike has gotten steeper. This recent escalation in input cost has rendered poultry business unprofitable in the country."

He said that the industry was passing through one of its worst slumps and required urgent attention of the government so that the sector's concerns were addressed.

“As poultry is a perishable commodity, a farmer finds it hard to transfer this hike to the consumer as the prices are determined on a supplydemand basis. This high cost of production is also the main detriment in the export of poultry products, as it makes local poultry non-competitive in the export market."

Replying to a question regarding the existing trend of poultry rates, he said that poultry rates have not been increased at the same pace at which some other kitchen items had in the last 30 years.

"Poultry products have been resisting inflationary trends, as they never go up when other items register hikes in their rates due to high inflation.”

He maintained that the farmers' community, including poultry farmers, were among the most oppressed and vulnerable groups of the country, as they cannot fix the rate of their products as per to their cost of production.

"They are totally dependent on market forces, as against the manufacturers and dealers, who have full authority to set the price of their goods based on cost of production and other duties," he added.

He claimed that for most part of the year, chicken prices remained less than the cost of production. “Only for a few months in a year, a farmer gets premium which compensates his previous losses and that was how the year average price becomes viable for a farmer to continue his work.”

He said the biggest factor behind the increased cost of production was currency devaluation, as the cost of imported poultry medicines and vaccines in dollar terms had increased tremendously.

reach to a better decision with regard to GSP plus," he said. "The bottom line is that the UK wants to make a GSP scheme which is not less favourable in any way than the EU's GSP." Regarding the consultative sessions, he said the TDAP would discuss with exporters specific areas of cooperation, besides taking feedback for further improvements.

"We are trying to get feedback from our exporters and also to take their suggestions on what can be discussed at the government-to-government level," he added.

It is pertinent to mention that the UK is the third biggest export destination for Pakistani products, after US and China.

FIEDMC delegation leaves for UK to explore joint ventures ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

A high-level delegation of the Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) on Saturday left for United Kingdom (UK) on a five-day tour to promote bilateral trade and enhance close cooperation through private sector engagements. In a press statement prior to his departure, FIEDMC Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq said the purpose of this tour was to seek investment in different FIEDMC projects, especially in the Allama Iqbal Industrial City, which was a prioritised Special Economic Zone under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The Pakistani delegation would hold one-on-one interactions with business leaders, researchers and investors in the United Kingdom, he said, adding the 5-day trip would enable the investors to identify potential organisations to partner with and subsequently develop successful economic strategies. "Since the global economic gravity has shifted towards Asia and Pakistan, CPEC is opening new vistas of business opportunities to the advantage of the people," he remarked. "Pakistani market is mostly unexplored and has huge potential, thus offers lucrative investment opportunities."

Mian Kashif noted that the United Kingdom was the third-largest investor in Pakistan after China and the Netherlands and that it accounts for eight per cent of foreign direct investment to Pakistan. He said due to proactive efforts of the Pakistan High Commission, the British government had given a commitment that postBrexit, Pakistan would continue to enjoy similar market access which it was currently enjoying under GSP Plus. This development, he said, had removed the element of uncertainty and further boosted Pakistan’s exports to the UK market. He pointed out that the EU had not necessarily prevented the UK from doing trade and business. "But now Brexit allows the UK to focus more on countries outside the EU." Mian Kashif informed there were only 135 UKbased companies operating in Pakistan as compared to around 5,000 in the UAE, adding that it was high time for Pakistan to attract more UK firms, not only from Britain, but also those operating in the UAE. “With the potential of Pakistan’s economy, the history of strong economic ties and the UK’s unique understanding of Pakistan, we think that both countries should be making a step-change in their trade relationship,” he concluded.

World stock markets suffer worst week since 2008 financial crunch NEW YORK AGENCIES

Global stocks slumped to mark the largest weekly drop since the 2008 global financial crisis over fears the coronavirus could wreak havoc on the world economy.

Crude oil prices tumbled as well and analysts said that central banks, especially the US Federal Reserve, might have to shift into crisis-resolution mode with urgent interest rate cuts. But James Bullard, head of the Saint Louis Fed, warned that emergency rate cuts were “not the baseline at this time” for the central bank’s policymakers.

And “beyond helping to alleviate the cur-

rent stock market collapse, there is little any central bank could do to alleviate the potential repercussions of a global pandemic,” noted Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG. Frankfurt headed the losses in Europe, shedding almost 3.9 percent as the market closed.

Leading European stock markets have lost more than 10pc in just one week, with London’s FTSE 100, which fell by 3.4pc on Friday, giving up 11.3pc. But in New York, the Dow Jones index was 1.1pc lower in midday trades, while the broader S&P 500 was off by 0.7pc, coming back from steeper drops at the open.

On Thursday, the Dow suffered its biggest points loss on record, shedding al-

most 1,200 points as its 4.4pc drop marked the steepest decline in two years.

The markets in Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo all closed down 3.0pc on Friday, while Jakarta shed more than four per cent. The VIX “fear” index — which measures market volatility — is now at its highest level since the European debt crisis erupted in 2011.

“The panic mode is full on,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. “The coronavirus outbreak has certainly hit businesses, and it might have a longer-thanexpected negative impact on company earnings and global growth,” she added.

Meanwhile, the Japanese yen continued to benefit from its status as a haven invest-

ment in times of economic uncertainty, making solid gains against the dollar. Yields on 10-year US Treasuries were at an all-time low around 1.17pc.

Concern that global crude demand will crash meanwhile sent oil prices down again, by 3.1pc for Brent crude in London and by 4.6pc for US benchmark WTI crude, though they too appeared to be staging a late rally, of sorts. “Another day, another sell-off,” remarked analyst Stephen Brennock at energy consultancy PVM Associates.

“Risk assets took a significant step lower… as market players continued to squirm with unease over the growing coronavirus crisis.” In addition to central banks,

governments also faced pressure to provide support. French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the virus would be considered “a case of force majeure for companies,” meaning they would not be penalised if they failed to meet deadlines on public contracts. The virus has now proliferated worldwide, emerging in every continent except Antarctica, and prompting governments and businesses to curb travel and public gatherings.

The Geneva International Motor Show was the latest major event to be cancelled after Switzerland banned large gatherings.

The virus has killed more than 2,800 people and infected more than 83,800 since late December.

C M YK

13

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

A Devastating (and Darkly Hilarious) New Novel From the ‘westworld’ writer Charles Yu

o

BY Jeff VaNdermeer

VeR the past 15 years, Charles yu has carved out a fascinating, eclectic career as a storyteller, first receiving widespread acclaim in 2010 for his novel “How to live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe,” which showcased his ability to revitalize familiar tropes like time travel. this talent has only escalated in his writing for visionary tV shows like “Westworld,” “legion” and “lodge 49.” in his new novel, “interior Chinatown,” yu expands upon this approach in brilliant and unexpected ways. “interior Chinatown” posits that we are reading a teleplay about Chinatown — specifically the golden palace restaurant, which is the setting for a cop show called “Black and White.” through his protagonist, Willis Wu — who has a small part on the show — yu explores in devastating (and darkly hilarious) fashion Hollywood’s penchant for promoting clichés about asians and asian-americans. Wu has worked his way from “Background oriental Male” to “dead asian Man” to “generic asian Man number three/delivery guy” — a long way from “Kung Fu guy,” which is where he wants to be. although the lacerating humor in “interior Chinatown” never skips a beat, what makes the novel so compelling is its strong commitment to characterization, without which the

pointed commentary would be less potent. (yu’s work here, in all its complexities and contradictions, conjures up favorable comparisons to paul Beatty’s “the Sellout.”) early on, we are given a meticulous portrait of Wu’s father, Sifu, once “a young dragon” and martial arts expert but now an “old asian Man” who would “always be your Father, but somehow was no longer your dad.” Wu helps care for Sifu, “checking for dampness on his mattress pad, changing it if necessary.” an undercurrent of anger and sadness fuels

these scenes. it’s not so much that Wu is passive but that the author is so good at integrating his character’s point of view into what would be, in lesser hands, little more than scene description. this portrait of Wu’s father is rendered even more poignant in a scene about white people making fun of asianamericans doing karaoke. yu uses Sifu’s love of John denver songs to deepen not just character but also understanding: “When he steps up and starts slaying ‘Country Roads,’ try not to laugh … because by the time he gets to ‘West

Virginia, mountain mama’ you’re going to be singing along, and by the time he’s done you might understand why a 77year-old guy from a tiny island in the taiwan strait who’s been in a foreign country two-thirds of his life can nail a song, note perfect, about wanting to go home.”

Wu, in the meantime, dreams of bigger acting gigs, even though he feels he’s treated like generic asian Man in real life. He’s damaged, not just from enduring constant racism, but from the effort it takes to push back against

stereotypes instead of give in to them, and it’s unclear if some of the things he describes have really happened or if he’s imagined them. the distinction soon becomes irrelevant, though. We may be reading a teleplay, but Wu, as its narrator and writer, enters the story as a character to interact with characters that exist on different levels of fictionality. Here yu’s work on “Westworld” appears to have fed into his writing, given the clarity of these levels and the ways in which their intersection lifts up the novel. throughout, too, as anchor against the danger of metafictional aspects evaporating into postmodern mist, yu builds a lovely and detailed portrait of the golden palace building, where firstand second-generation immigrants live on the floors above the restaurant. a cracked shower pan on the ninth impacts the eighth in a way that allows us a useful glimpse of daily life, and these glimpses masterfully become plot over the course of the novel.

By the end of “interior Chinatown,” our sense of the real changes once again and even karaoke returns in a fresh and beautiful way. For the current moment, in which whitewashing still extinguishes opportunity and supports the status quo — despite gains both on the screen and in writers’ rooms — yu’s novel may seem topical. But it is so much more than that. “interior Chinatown” represents yet another stellar destination in the journey of a sui generis author of seemingly limitless skill and ambition. g

book review

13 New Books to Watch For in March

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The New York Times

By Joumana KhatiB

apital and ideology, by thomas piketty (Belknap/Harvard University press, March 10) a follow-up to piketty’s blockbuster about economic inequality, “Capital in the twenty-First Century,” this new book — translated by arthur goldhammer — suggests that wealth disparity is tied to politics and other human institutions.

‘The City We Became,’ by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit, March 24) a mash-up of fantasy, superheroes, hip-hop and comics, Jemisin’s new novel — the first in a projected trilogy — is a joyful love letter to new york that unfolds as five ordinary citizens who embody the very soul of the city find themselves struggling to save it.

‘Deacon King Kong,’ by James McBride (Riverhead, March 3) this novel, by the national Book awardwinning author of “the good lord Bird,” is practically impossible to categorize: it’s a crime story, a mystery and a darkly funny portrait of a community in revolt, all set off when a South Brooklyn deacon nicknamed Sportcoat shoots a local drug dealer.

‘The Exhibition of Persephone Q,’ by Jessi Jezewska Stevens (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, March 3) When percy receives a catalog for an art exhibition that features altered images of a nude woman in bed, it takes time for her to realize she is the woman in the photos. this dreamy debut novel follows percy in the aftermath of 9/11 as she contemplates her relationships and considers the real meaning of identity.

‘The Glass Hotel,’ by Emily St. John Mandel (Knopf, March 24) Vincent, once a bartender at an upscale hotel, marries a fabulously wealthy Madoff-like man who is running a vast ponzi scheme. as she did in her last novel, “Station eleven,” Mandel surveys the wreckage in the wake of disaster — in this case, the fallout after the fraud collapses.

‘Let the People Pick the President: The Case for Abolishing the Electoral College,’ by Jesse Wegman (St. Martin’s, March 17) a deeply researched, informative and timely argument in favor of abolishing the electoral College. Wegman, a member of the times’s editorial board, draws from the history of the

institution and information from campaign workers to make his case.

‘The Mirror and the Light,’ by Hilary Mantel (Holt, March 10) Mantel concludes her blockbuster “Wolf Hall” trilogy about thomas Cromwell, the cunning, wily minister to Henry Viii. picking up in 1536 with the decapitation of anne Boleyn, Mantel zeros in on Cromwell as he consolidates his power.

‘The Mountains Sing,’ by Nguyen Phan Que Mai (Algonquin, March 17) generations of a Vietnamese family grapple with the legacy of violence, colonialism and war as a woman tells her childhood history to her granddaughter during the Vietnam War. this is the first book that Que Mai, a celebrated Vietnamese poet, has written in english.

‘My Dark Vanessa,’ by Kate Elizabeth Russell (Morrow, March 10) a high school student’s stormy relationship

with her teacher, and her changing perceptions of it, are the focus of this unsettling debut. after the teacher is accused by another student years later, Vanessa reckons with fallout of her relationship, examining power, memory and trauma through a #Metoo lens.

‘Nobody Will Tell You This but Me: A True (As Told to Me) Story,’ by Bess Kalb (Knopf, March 17) Kalb, a writer for “Jimmy Kimmel live,” channels the voice of her beloved grandmother, Bobby, in this affecting project, which she calls an oral history of four generations of women in her family. the book brims with anecdotes, advice from Bobby, texts and even transcribed voice mail messages.

‘Sharks in the Time of Saviors,’ by Kawai Strong Washburn (MCD, March 3) When 9-year-old nainoa Flores is tossed overboard on a family vacation, the sharks soon

start circling. But instead of the worst, the animals safely return the child — a blessing his parents see as the work of ancient Hawaiian gods. Washburn’s buzzy debut novel explores the shifting bonds of family and the inescapable pull of home.

‘This Is Chance: The Shaking of an AllAmerican City, a Voice That Held It All Together,’ by Jon Mooallem (Random House, March 24) in 1964, disaster struck anchorage, alaska, in the form of a 9.2-magnitude earthquake. Mooallem reconstructs the event and the days that followed, when a plucky local radio reporter kept the city going through her tireless broadcasts.

‘Wow, No Thank You: Essays,’ by Samantha Irby (Vintage, March 31) irby, the hilarious author of “Meaty” and “We are never Meeting in Real life,” is bitterly funny on the peculiarities of aging, marriage and life in the Midwest. g

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

14 SPORTS

Nadal strolls iNto acapulco fiNal ACAPULCO

r

AGENCIES

AFAEL Nadal used a steady stream of blistering forehand winners and a heavy dose of precision serves to book his spot in the ATP Mexico Open final with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win over Grigor Dimitrov.

The two-time tournament champion will be the favorite to claim his third Acapulco title when he faces unseeded Taylor Fritz in Saturday's final.

It has been 15 years since world No. 2 Nadal won for the first time here. He also won in 2013 and improved to 18-2 at this event overall.

"I'm very happy. A great victory

Zidane says Clasico will not decide title, Setien puts pressure on Madrid MADRID AGENCIES

Zinedine Zidane said the Clasico on Sunday will not decide the title race even if Real Madrid lose to Barcelona and fall five points behind them in La Liga.

Yet opposite number Quique Setien believes Barca's two-point cushion at the top makes the match at the Santiago Bernabeu "much more important for Madrid" than his team.

Victory for the Catalans would effectively give them a six-point advantage over Madrid, given what would be a superior head-to-head, with 12 games left to play. But Zidane insists there would be still be a way back. "I don't think anyone will lose anything this weekend," he said in a press conference on Saturday. "There are still 12 games left, we'll still be in the title race regardless of the result. But we're going to try to win, 100 per cent."

Setien, also speaking Saturday, said the pressure was all on Real. "For Madrid

this match is certainly much more important than for us. In relation to their situation in the table, it is a key match, I don't know if it's decisive, but it's very important."After Madrid, Barcelona will only have one away game left against the top six, when they face Sevilla in April, yet Setien thinks there will be more twists to come. "A victory would give us an advan-

tage but I don't know if it would be enough," said Setien. "I think probably not because we've already seen a lot of surprises." Both teams have endured a bumpy few weeks but Barcelona arrive in a better mood after Madrid's 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Wednesday made it one win from five games for Zidane's side.

Asked if his job would be under threat if they fail to win the title this term, Zidane said: "I don't know, that's a question for someone else. I know what I have to do.

"We're going to try to win something, thats what we're working for but you can only have one winner."

"You lose two games, you get criticised," Zidane added. "I get it, I am responsible. It's what is happening, it's nothing new. But I have the strength to continue, I have faith in my players and I believe we can turn this around."

Barcelona have already sacked their coach this season, with Setien replacing Ernesto Valverde in January, while a number of off-field controversies have created

against one of the best players in the world and a good friend," Nadal said after his one-sided victory on Friday night. "I think I've increased my level during the match, so it's positive for me."

The top seed clinched the victory on his first match point. He fell behind 0-30 in the final game but rallied to win the next four points.

On match point, seventh seed Dimitrov hit a backhand that clipped the top of the net and bounced in. But it hung in the air just long enough for Nadal to race forward and blast a cross-court forehand that the Bulgarian had no chance on.

Nadal continued his dominance of Dimitrov, improving to 13-1 lifetime. Nadal has only lost 20 games in his first four matches

tension between key players and the board.

Former Real Madrid forward Jorge Valdano said this week the Clasico would be a battle of "two lame ducks" but Zidane said the criticism has been harsh.

"When teams start dropping points, people sometimes over analyse," Zidane said. "Real Madrid and Barcelona are first and second in the league so what does it say about the others?

"I don't think people can say we are a disaster if we are first and second in the table. There are always periods where you are good and periods where you are less good." Setien was at the Santiago Bernabeu to watch City's win over Madrid in the Champions League and spoke to Pep Guardiola after the match. "I didn't go to see Guardiola, I went to see the game and to watch an opponent very similar in terms of style to ours," Setien said. "We talked about different things. There are some things City did that could be good for us and other things that are not for us and we aren't interested in." Jordi Alba was given the green light on Saturday to play after recovering from an adductor injury while Setien confirmed Gerard Pique is fit, despite turning his ankle against Napoli on Tuesday.

"It's not damaged and he will not have any problem," Setien said about Pique. On Alba, he added: "We're feeling positive, it's just whether we start him or not. We'll see how he feels tomorrow."

FIFA warns coronavirus could postpone international matches BERN AGENCIES

Nina ortlieb claims first World cup win in super-G LA THUILE: Austrian Nina Ortlieb claimed her first alpine skiing World Cup victory in the super-G at La Thuile, Italy, on Saturday. Ortlieb, 23, daughter of former world and Olympic champion downhiller Patrick Ortlieb, clocked 1min 11.72sec to beat World Cup overall leader Federica Brignone of Italy by one hundredth of a second. Corinne Suter of Switzerland, who leads the super-G World Cup standings, was third, 0.07sec behind. Brignone now moves up to 1,378 points in the overall standings, with American Mikaela Shiffrin in second on 1,225, just ahead of Slovakian Petra Vlhova (1,189), with just eight races left in the season. AGENCIES

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has refused to rule out postponing international football matches in response to the escalating global threat of the coronavirus. This weekend's matches in the leading two divisions in Switzerland, where football's global governing body FIFA has its headquarters, were postponed on Friday after the government banned all events involving more than a thousand people.

Meanwhile five Serie A games in Italy will be played behind closed doors, with leagues in Japan and South Korea postponed earlier this week.

"The health of persons is much more important than any football game," said Infantino as he arrived in Belfast on Friday for this weekend's annual general meeting of the rulemaking International Football Association Board.

"That's why we have to look at the situation and hope that it (the coronavirus) will decrease rather than increase. At the moment it looks like it is still increasing.

"If games have to be postponed or played without spectators until it is over, then we have to go through that."

And while hopeful that next month's international friendlies will go ahead, Infantino added: "I wouldn't exclude anything at this moment. I hope we will never have to get into this direction. I think it will be difficult in any case to make a global ban because the situation is really different."

Infantino was sceptical about the prospect of a large number of matches being played behind closed doors.

"Every competition organiser has to decide what is best for him," he said.

"In the short term it can be a solution in order to move on but you cannot imagine a few months of a competition with several matches played behind

closed doors."

The new coronavirus has caused fixture delays across sport, with Ireland's Six Nations rugby union international at home to Italy, scheduled for March 7, postponed and no new date confirmed. In Asia, the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix in Shanghai, due to take place on April 19, has been postponed because of the virus while athletics' World Indoor Championships, scheduled to take place in the Chinese city of Nanjing next month, have been held over until 2021. The outbreak could yet threaten the continent-wide Euro 2020 football championships starting in June and the Tokyo Olympics, due to get underway in July.

this week and is yet to lose a set.

The unseeded Fritz defeated fellow American John Isner in the other semi-final 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

"He's playing well. He has a great serve, fantastic shots from the baseline. It's going to be a tough one," Nadal said of Fritz. "I know I'm going to have to be at my best and I hope to be ready for it."

This will be the first meeting between Nadal and 22-year-old Fritz.

The second set progressed nearly identically to the first set, with Dimitrov breaking early for a 2-0 lead before Nadal stormed back. Nadal finished out the night by going on a six-game run. His final forehand winner ended play after one hour and 41 minutes.

five-wicket haul for Jamieson as india fold for 242 CHRISTCHURCH: A maiden five-wicket haul for Kyle Jamieson saw India all out for 242 after being sent into bat first in the second Test against New Zealand in Christchurch on Saturday. Despite the green tinge, the wicket did not appear as threatening as expected, with Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari all collecting half centuries. Captain Virat Kohli again fell cheaply and there was little life in the tail. The last six wickets produced only 48 runs with 26 of them from Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah for the final wicket. The 2.03-metre (6ft 8in) Jamieson, who had a dream Test debut with bat and ball when New Zealand won the first Test by 10 wickets, was again to the fore. He halted Shaw when the opener seemed set to bat for a long time and then accounted for Pujara to start the beginning of the end for India.

He also removed Rishabh Pant (12), Ravindra Jadeja (nine) and Umesh Yadav (nought) to finish with five for 45. Kohli, who lost the toss, has had a disappointing tour of New Zealand by his standards although he insisted before the Test that he was not out of form. He only faced 15 balls for three runs before Tim Southee had his measure and he was trapped in front by an outswinger that seamed back and smacked into the pads. It followed scores of 19 and two in the first Test and from 10 innings across all three formats on tour against the Black Caps, Kohli has totalled only 204 runs. After Kohli's dismissal, Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari stabilised the innings in an 81-run stand for the fifth wicket before they fell either side of the tea break. Despite the bowler-friendly appearance of the wicket, opener Shaw showed signs of his prodigious talent during a bright start for India. But after bringing up his second half-century in only his fourth Test, the 20-year-old chanced his arm once too often just before lunch and was out for 54 of 64 balls. Shaw looked unconvincing in Wellington during his first Test after 16 months of injury and suspension, with scores of 16 and 14, but given a second chance in Christchurch he plundered runs off the best attack New Zealand could offer. AGENCIES

Sun Yang lawyer blasts 'lies' after eight-year drug ban BEIJING AGENCIES

Three-time Olympic champion swimmer Sun Yang came out swinging Saturday against his eight-year drugs ban, threatening legal action of his own as he attempts to salvage his broken career.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) hit the Chinese freestyler with the lengthy ban on Friday for refusing to give a doping sample in September 2018. It is the 28-year-old's second ban for doping, having served three months in 2014, and he said in the immediate aftermath that he would appeal at the

Swiss federal court. A lawyer for Sun, a hugely popular figure in China, issued a fiery statement on Saturday reiterating that he will appeal, based on "a series of procedural errors".

"February 28, 2020 was a dark day. It shows the scene where evil defeats justice and power replaces self-evident truths," Beijing lawyer Zhang Qihuai said in a statement.

"On this day, CAS listened to prejudice, turned a blind eye to rules and procedures, turned a blind eye to facts and evidence, and accepted all lies and false evidence." The statement reasserted Sun's defence that doping officials who came to his home were not qualified or autho-

rised, and it was they who decided not to pursue testing. Sun will sue a doping inspector who gave "false evidence", said the lawyer, also accusing the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) of "distorting facts and abuse of power".

NOTHING PERSONAL: With the Tokyo Olympics just five months away, the reigning 1500m freestyle world record-holder is fighting to save his career and reputation.

A vial of Sun's blood was smashed with a hammer during the contentious testing session in 2018, but he was acquitted by world swimming body FINA of anti-doping violations, agreeing that testers failed

to produce adequate identification.

But WADA took the matter to CAS, demanding a ban of between two and eight years for missing the out-of-competition test.

In its bombshell judgment, CAS said its panel "unanimously determined" that Sun, whose career has been overshadowed by numerous controversies, had tampered with his doping control. The severity of the ban reflected the fact that it was his second doping violation. He served three months in 2014 for taking a banned substance. Sun's downfall will be celebrated by clean athletes, but his arch-critic and rival Mack Horton said their bitter feud was

never personal. The Australian refused to shake hands with Sun after a medal ceremony at last year's acrimonious world championships in South Korea, after which Horton received death threats on social media.

It reignited a row from the 2016 Rio Olympics, where Horton la-

belled Sun a "drug cheat". "I think regardless of the outcome it was always going to be a statement to the world and my stance has always been about clean sport, never about nations or individuals," Horton told Channel Seven en route to training on Saturday.

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

SPORTS 15

Rilee Rossouw's 43-ball centuRy keeps Multan sultans on top MUlTaN

w

Agencies

HATEVER happened at the 10-over mark in the first innings, Multan Sultans need to patent. After a sluggish start from the hosts that saw them shuffle along to 65 in 10 overs, Rilee Rossouw caught fire all of a sudden, a stunning onslaught resulting in the fastest century in PSL history and an astonishing 134 runs in the final 10 overs that set Quetta Gladiators 200 to win, a target they fell short of by 31 runs.

Quetta, as you might expect, gave it as good a go as their capabilities might allow, with Shane Watson at one point looking like he might pull of a heist for his side. But Quetta's cack-handedness with the ball and in the field left him and his team with far too much to do and much too little time. Even as the sixes flew, the asking rate continued to balloon, and once Watson was dismissed, Quetta's fate was sealed.

The mood music at the start was worlds removed from its frenetic, runheavy conclusion. Shan Masood became the first captain to opt to bat this season, and Quetta looked like they would make him regret that decision when Zeeshan Ashraf fell early and James Vince searched unsuccessfully for the sweet timing he is so coveted for. Mohammad Nawaz stifled the batsmen at the start, while Naseem Shah begun brightly.

All of that went to ruin after the halfway mark, though. The moment Rossouw biffed Anwar Ali for a six the first ball of the 11th over, Quetta lost their collective composure. You could count the number of times they hit their spots from that point onwards on one hand, and Rossouw capitalised on the chaos. Just one over between 11 and 18 went for fewer than 12 runs, and while Masood got some of his own hits in, it was all about Rossouw. He would bring up his hundred in the final over; it had taken just 43 balls, including 10 fours and half a dozen sixes.

TODAY’S MATCHES VS 7:00 PM islaMabad united

kaRachi kings

heinrich klaasen's maiden international hundred lifts south africa to 291

MULTAN SULTANS 199 FOR 5 (ROSSOUW 100*) BEAT QUETTA GLADIATORS 169 FOR 7 (WATSON 80, BHATTI 3-26, TAHIR 2-27) BY 30 RUNS Watson tried his best to match that, and batting alongside Jason Roy, brought up the 50 partnership in the sixth over.

But soon after Roy holed out to deep midwicket, it quickly became clear this would be a one-person effort. That Watson took it as far as he did was achievement enough, and it isn't often a 41-ball 80 is on the wrong side of a PSL result.

But this was clearly Rossouw's game, and Watson was merely playing in it.

THE SUPPORTING ACT: Not many will come away from the game reminiscing about Masood's 32-ball 46, and why would they, given what else just happened in that first innings? But the value of it becomes clear when you notice it was the one thing Quetta lacked in the chase. Rossouw had, in Masood, the perfect foil on the other end, with his captain ensuring he didn't give his wicket away or hog too much of the strike. When Masood got the strike, he got away the odd boundary and turned it over quickly to the South African, neither heaping pressure on him nor starving him of the strike. Together, they put

RAWALPINDI

together a partnership that totalled 139 runs in 64 balls.

By contrast, Quetta managed no partnership greater than Roy and Watson's 57 at the top, and no other Quetta batsman could even reach 15. That meant the pressure was squarely on Watson's shoulders, further driving home the point if they were going to take it close, it was all on him. Other batsmen who had helped them win big games this season all failed, with Azam Khan falling early and Ben Cutting holing out for 12. The sort of innings Masood had played was absent from Sarfaraz Ahmed's side, and it wasn't a surprise to see the result pan out the way it did.

STAR OF THE DAY: Rossouw and Watson may get the hundreds and entertain the fans most, but in a game where 200 was nearly scored and then changed, perhaps the most remarkable numbers were posted by Imran Tahir.

While Watson and the rest of the Quetta top order ran riot, Tahir ensured the game wouldn't run away from Multan.

Varying his flight, pace and googly with all the experience any T20 side treasures in him, Tahir kept the Quetta batsmen guessing, and, even more importantly in such a high-scoring game, cautious.

It wasn't like he had all the luck, either. In his third over, as Watson's charge built up a crescendo, Tahir had him into skying a drive down to longoff, where Moeen Ali stood perched for a simple catch. Moeen somehow grassed the opportunity, but undeterred, Tahir dismissed Azam Khan the next ball. He wasn't done with Watson, either, coming back the following over and coaxing a nearly identical shot from the batsman. This time, Moeen would make no mistake. In a game where scoring ten an over was the order of the day, Tahir's figures of 4-0-27-2 didn't flatter him in the slightest.

Multan surged at the top of the table, having swept all three games in their home city. They now have four wins in five, while Quetta sit just below them, with three wins from five matches.

Rawalpindi: HBL PSL match at Rawalpindi abandoned due to rain. Both teams share one point each.

Paarl Agencies

Heinrich Klaasen's maiden ODI hundred and David Miller's second successive half-century in this format propelled South Africa to a competitive total in the opening ODI against Australia. The pair shared a 149run fifth-wicket stand to build on the 78-run fourth-wicket partnership between Klaasen and debutant Kyle Verreynne which put South Africa on track after a shaky start of 46 for 3. Australia's attack will not be too unhappy with their work in the field and their bowlers did not do much wrong. Their frontline quicks were effective while Adam Zampa put in a tidy effort in his 10 overs, but did not take any wickets. The fifth bowler, made up of Mitchell Marsh and D'Arcy Short, proved the most expensive, costing 70 runs in 10 overs. But, on a small ground and a surface that does not appear to be slowing up, it could be an exciting chase. More exciting, no doubt, than Janneman Malan's maiden international appearance which lasted just one ball, making him the first player to be dismissed by the opening ball of a match on debut. Mitchell Starc delivered a full, fast inswinger that hit Malan on the boot and although there was bat involved, Aaron Finch suspected it was the second sound he heard and reviewed. Replays proved him right and South Africa's first wicket had fallen. That brought together South Africa's most successful pair this summer, by some distance.

Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma have batted together six times and scored 496 runs at 82.66 (the next most profitable stand averages 35.00) but they were separated by the start of the seventh over.

Though Bavuma was confident on the cover drive, de Kock was tentative, especially against Starc and in his footwork. He was stuck in his crease trying to run a Josh Hazlewood delivery behind square when he nicked off. Bavuma should have been gone two overs later when he lofted Hazlewood over mid-on but Starc, running backwards, managed to get both hands to the ball but could not hold on. It was not an expensive mistake. Five balls later, Bavuma played on as he tried to cut Pat Cummins but misjudged the bounce. South Africa ended the first powerplay on 50 for 3 and with a lot for their middle order to do.

Though known for their aggression, between them, Verreynne and Klaasen only found the boundary four times in the 105 balls they were together as Australia tightened the noose. Klaasen was on four when Short appealed for an lbw and Australia reviewed but replays showed the ball was sliding down the leg side. Zampa, as he has done throughout the tour, orchestrated the squeeze with tight lines as pressure built. Eventually, it told and Verreynne became Cummins' 100th ODI wicket when he pulled a short ball straight to Marsh at square leg and fell two runs short of a maiden fifty. But Klaasen had grown in confidence through that stand and started to play more expansively, especially against anything short.

He brought up 50 off 65 balls with a pull off Zampa.

PCB hopeful England Lions will tour Pakistan next winter laHOrE Agencies

The PCB is hopeful that an England Lions squad will tour Pakistan next winter.

ESPNcricinfo understands that the PCB's managing director Wasim Khan has engaged in discussions with the ECB, with the hope that a successful Lions tour can act as a precursor to a full international tour down the line. England last toured Pakistan in 2005-06, while the most recent 'A' tour there was in 1995-96.

Pakistan has hosted several international games in the last five years, having spent almost ten years playing 'home' games in the UAE. Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have both

toured in the 2019-20 season, including the first three Tests played in the country since the terror attacks in Lahore in 2009.

Last month, the MCC led a tour to the country, while English players have regularly travelled to the country to play in the Pakistan Super League. In 2017, Dawid Malan, Chris Jordan and Samit Patel all travelled to Lahore for the competition's final the first PSL game to be hosted in Pakistan while as many as 15 England-qualified players are involved this season, with all games being played in Pakistan.

Last week, Clare Connor, the ECB's director of women's cricket, attended Multan Sultans' home fixture against Peshawar Zalmi during a stop-over en route to the

Women's T20 World Cup in Australia, and tweeted her thanks for "a wonderful welcome and an incredible first experience of the PSL". Asked after a Multan Sultans game if he thought England would tour Pakistan soon, Moeen Ali said: "I hope so, inshallah. It's something that I'm sure they're talking about. I know other countries are also talking about coming, so hopefully, in the future. It's great that English players are here‌ it shows that the guys are keen to come and play here."

England's next scheduled tour to Pakistan is in 2022-23, which will comprise three Tests and five ODIs. The Lions have played recent series against Pakistan A (recently rebranded as Pakistan Shaheens) in

2015-16 and 2018-19, with all games being held in the UAE. An ECB spokesperson said: "We welcome the fact that international cricket is beginning to return to Pakistan. Recently, we made a preliminary

fact-finding visit at the invitation of the Pakistan Cricket Board along with Cricket Australia and Cricket Ireland. For us this was a first step in assessing the viability of future tours to Pakistan.

Sunday, 1 March, 2020

NEWS

AfgHAnIstAn DeAl Is polItIcAl boost for trump but wItHDrAwAl coulD tAke yeArs WASHINGTON agencieS

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RESIDENT Donald Trump’s quest for a second term received a boost on Saturday from the deal with the Taliban for a troop pullout from Afghanistan but it could take time – possibly years – before all US forces come home from America’s longest war.

The fruit of more than a year of on-and-off talks, the agreement lets Trump claim a major foreign policy success, a prize that has eluded him on North Korea, Venezuela, Iran and other priorities.

The accord, however, faces numerous potential obstacles, such as sabotage by spoilers like dissident Taliban commanders.

And while the Republican president or a successful Democratic challenger in the Nov. 3 US election could order a total pullout before peace is secured, that would risk a Taliban takeover and a resurgence of al Qaeda Islamist militants that could require a new US intervention.

“A complete withdrawal of US forces raises the possibility that Afghanistan will become another safe haven for terrorist organizations under a Taliban government,” said Seth Jones, a former adviser to US special forces in Afghanistan with the Center for Strategic and International Studies thinktank. “The Taliban continue to have a close relationship with al Qaeda.”

The accord signed in Qatar calls for a long-planned initial drawdown to 8,600 US troops from some 13,000.

But it ties further decreases to the Taliban doing things

they may find difficult, especially cutting decades-old ties with al Qaeda and other militant groups so deep they include inter-marriages.

“Our commitment to act on the drawdown is tied to Taliban action on their commitments in the agreement, which include in detail the counter-terrorism commitments,” said a senior Trump administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “We will be the ones who look at what the Taliban do and determine whether or not they’re meeting their commitments.”

US officials also stressed that the pace of the drawdown depends on progress in so-called intra-Afghan peace talks due to follow Saturday’s signing.

“The core trade, if you will, is action on CT (counterterrorism) for drawdown,” said the administration official. “But the agreement also calls on them (the Taliban) to enter into negotiations, be serious about those negotiations,” including seeking an early “comprehensive and permanent ceasefire.” Some experts warn that the peace negotiations – due to open in Oslo by March 10 – could drag on for years because of the Afghan parties’ profound ideological and political differences.

Even before getting to talks with the Taliban, the country’s two main political rivals, President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, must settle a long-running dispute over which officials, opposition members and civil society activists to name to negotiate with the insurgents.

That process was further complicated last month when both Ghani and Abdullah claimed to have won a disputed Sept. 28 election.

AL QAEDA’S “SHUTTLE DIPLOMACY”: The requirement that the Taliban cut ties with al Qaeda may be one of the agreement’s hardest provisions to implement and – for US intelligence – verify.

Al Qaeda plotted the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people under the protection of Taliban rulers who were ousted by the subsequent US-led invasion. Al Qaeda members have married into Taliban families, trained their fighters and enjoy protection under Pashtun tribal code, experts say.

A United Nations report in January said al Qaeda representatives have been shuttling between various factions of the Taliban and field commanders, urging them to reject negotiations with the Afghan government and promising to increase financial support.

“If a peace agreement is reached, al Qaeda intends to develop a new narrative to justify continuing armed conflict in Afghanistan,” said the report, which estimated there are up to 600 al Qaeda fighters there.

The accord applies only to Taliban-held territory and not sanctuaries the insurgents have enjoyed for decades in neighbouring Pakistan, where their leaders are believed to maintain ties with al Qaeda and other militants.

A British government source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, doubted the Taliban would completely break with al Qaeda.

“The Taliban basically just want the US out and promise things that don’t come to fruition to get that,” the British source said. “I would be amazed if they disassociated themselves absolutely and honourably. I would be quite amazed.”

Coronavirus worldwide death toll hits 2900 SOUTH KOREA VIRUS CASES SURGE AS WHO SOUNDS MAXIMUM ALERT SEOUL agencieS

South Korea reported its biggest surge in new coronavirus cases on Saturday as concerns grew of a possible epidemic in the United States and the World Health Organization raised its risk alert to its highest level.

The virus has rapidly spread across the world in the past week, causing stock markets to sink to their lowest levels since the 2008 global financial crisis over fears that the disease could wreak havoc on the world economy.

More than 2,900 people have died and over 85,000 have been infected worldwide since it was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.

The vast majority of infections have been in China but more daily cases are now logged outside the country, with South Korea, Italy and Iran emerging as major hotspots.

South Korea has the most cases outside China, with 3,150 infections as 813 more patients were reported on Saturday — the country’s biggest increase to date.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned top party officials of “serious consequences” of failing to prevent an outbreak on their side of the border.

The impoverished nation, with a weak and ill-equipped healthcare system, has closed its borders to prevent the spread of the disease into its territory.

In the US, health officials reported three more cases of the new coronavirus transmitted to people who did not travel overseas or come in contact with anyone known to be ill, indicating the disease was spreading in the country. There are now four such cases in the United States, all on the Pacific seaboard, in addition to some 60 other infections in the country.

“The virus is here, present at some level, but we still don’t know to what degree,” said Sara Cody, director of public health for California’s Santa Clara County, the heart of Silicon Valley where tech giants like Apple and Google are based.

BORDER CLOSING: Azerbaijan said on Saturday it had closed its border with Iran for two weeks to prevent the spread of coronavirus, after the death toll in Iran rose to 43, the highest number outside of China.

Iran is at the epicenter of the outbreak in the Middle East, with several countries in the region reporting cases stemming from Iran. Two Azerbaijanis have been placed in quarantine after testing positive for the coronavirus, the government said in a statement, adding that both had arrived from Iran.

It said the decision to close the border had been taken “in light of the World Health Organisation’s recommendations and the experience of other countries related to the risk of the spread of coronavirus”.

The government will start a process to bring back its citizens from Iran, as

well as returning Iranian citizens living in Azerbaijan, the statement added.

Azerbaijan registered its first case of coronavirus on Feb 28. There are currently three people infected with the virus in Azerbaijan.

GATHERINGS BANNED: The French government banned public gatherings with more than 5,000 people on Saturday due to the coronavirus outbreak as France reported 16 new cases.

“All public gatherings of more than 5,000 people in a confined space are temporarily banned across France,” Health Minister Olivier Veran told journalists.

He also that the number of confirmed cases had risen to 73 and that there had been no new deaths.

AVOID TRAVEL: Kuwait called on its citizens to avoid traveling over concerns about the spread of the coronavirus, a health ministry official said at a media conference on Saturday.

The Gulf state has not registered any new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, she said.

Imran likens Delhi riots to Hitler's anti-semitic pogrom ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday compared the communal violence that gripped New Delhi this week to the organised massacre of Jews in Nazi Germany during the 1930s, adding that “the world must accept this brutal reality of [Indian Prime Minister Narendra] Modi’s fascist, racist regime and stop it”. Taking to Twitter, the prime minister shared an interview of a University of Cambridge lecturer, Priya Gopal, in which she compared the Delhi riots to Kristallnacht – or the Night of Broken Glass – when on the orders of Adolf Hitler and his minister Joseph Goebbels, bands of stormtroopers all over Germany and Austria burned down more than 1,000 synagogues and smashed up some 7,500 Jewishowned shops in 1938. In a series of tweets, Prime Minister Imran said: “Images coming out of Muslim homes and businesses being burnt, Muslims being beaten and killed, mosques and graveyards being burnt and desecrated are similar to Jews fleeing the pogrom in Nazi Germany.”

Protests against a contentious citizenship law had begun on a smaller scale on Sunday but had escalated on Monday — as US President Donald Trump started his two-day trip to India — and Tuesday into running battles between Hindus and Muslims in New Delhi’s north-east, where rioters armed with stones, swords and even guns were out in force. In his tweets on Saturday, the premier also said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu Supremacist agenda is akin to the Nazi pogrom of Jews in the 1930s while the major powers appeased Hitler. Modi conducted a pogrom against Muslims in Gujarat as chief minister and now we are seeing the same in New Delhi.” According to the Times of India, the death toll from the communal violence in the Indian capital rose to 42 on Friday. The violence began over a citizenship law that the Indian prime minister’s Hindu nationalist government introduced in December, providing a path to Indian citizenship for six religious groups from neighboring countries, but not Muslims. Critics say the law is discriminatory and comes on top of other measures such as withdrawal of autonomy for occupied Kashmir that has deepened disquiet about the future of India’s 200 million Muslims. Critics of the government however blamed this week’s violence on members of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was trounced in local Delhi elections at the beginning of the month. The BJP has denied the allegations. Ultimately, the violence morphed into street battles between Hindu and Muslim groups with the police largely ineffective in controlling the situation. This is not the first time Imran Khan has used strong words to condemn and criticise India’s Hindu nationalist government for its discriminatory policies against the country’s Muslim minority. Two days ago, the premier tweeted a video of renowned musician Roger Waters speaking out against the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act introduced by the Indian government. “When musicians who have all their lives rallied for peace, start taking notice of the massacres in India, it is time the world must stand up and take notice. Stand up on the right side of history,” PM Imran had written. Staff RepoRt

Malaysia's Mahathir out as PM as rival takes power KUALA LUMPUR agencieS

Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamad lost a power struggle on Saturday with a little-known ex-interior minister named as the country’s new prime minister in a surprise twist that returns a scandal-plagued party to power.

Muhyiddin Yassin will be sworn in as the country’s new prime minister on Sunday, royal officials said, after a week of turmoil that followed the collapse of a reformist government and Mahathir’s resignation as premier.

“The process to appoint the prime minister cannot be delayed because the country needs a government for the well-being of the people and the nation,” the palace statement said. The king appoints the country’s premier.

As well as ending the premiership of Mahathir, at 94 the world’s oldest leader, it also means there will be little hope of his designated successor Anwar Ibrahim becoming prime minister.

The crisis began when Mahathir and Anwar’s ruling “Pact of Hope” alliance, which stormed to a historic victory in 2018 against a corrupt ad-

ministration, collapsed a week ago.

Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad had earlier indicated that he will reconcile with the former ruling alliance he led with rival Anwar Ibrahim in an about-turn that follows a week of political turmoil that followed his resignation as prime minister.

Mahathir had said he met with leaders from Anwar’s Alliance of Hope early on Saturday and was “now confident that I have the numbers needed to garner majority support” in parliament to return as prime minister for the third time.

“I am therefore prepared to stand as a prospective candidate for prime minister,” Mahathir had said.

The decision will be conveyed to the king, he had added.

Mahathir had not made clear in the statement if he was restoring the former alliance, which won a stunning victory in May 2018 elections.

That victory ousted a ruling coalition, once led by Mahathir, that had governed Malaysia since independence in 1957 but had become entangled in a widespread corruption scandal.

The unlikely alliance between Mahathir and Anwar, longtime rivals, had crumbled on Monday after

Mahathir’s Bersatu party quit in a bid to form a new government with several opposition parties. Mahathir had resigned in protest of the plan, which would have required him to work with the governing alliance he ousted in the 2018 polls.

The Alliance of Hope had initially nominated Anwar as the next prime minister but had reversed the decision on Saturday to support Mahathir’s candidacy. It had condemned efforts to form a “backdoor government involving kleptocrats and traitors”.

“For the sake of defending the struggle, the Alliance of Hope expresses its full support for Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister,” it had said.

The move was believed to be aimed at countering plans by Bersatu to revive its bid to build an ethnic Malay-centric government after the party on Friday backed its president Muhyiddin Yassin, instead of Mahathir, to become prime minister.

Muhyiddin is seen as a more acceptable candidate as he was willing to work with the United Malays National Organisation, where several leaders including ex-prime minister Najib Razak are on trial for corruption charges.

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