E-Paper PDF 27th January 2020 (ISB)

CMYK

Monday, 27 January, 2020 I 1 Jamadi-ul-Sani, 1441 I Rs 19.00 I Vol X No 208 I 60 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Buzdar will stay: imran g

pm says sackIng wIll set a new precedent as Buzdar’s replacement won’t Be aBle to survIve 20 days

LAHORE

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staff report

rime minister imran Khan on Sunday held a meeting with Punjab lawmakers to put an end to the rumour mills churning out talks of Punjab Chief minister Usman Buzdar’s removal from office, saying the incumbent chief minister will continue to lead the government. He said this in a meeting with the disgruntled PTi lawmakers that followed his meeting with Buzdar on his one-day visit to Lahore. Soon after his arrival, he headed to the Chief minister’s Office for a meeting with Buzdar amid reports of a possible mutiny within his ranks. Over 20 mPAs had formed a forward bloc in Punjab because they were not happy with Buzdar who reshuffled the provincial bureaucracy without taking them into confidence and did not release development funds for their constituencies. in a subsequent meeting, imran took exception to the criticism against his ‘Wasim AkramPlus’ and said that Buzdar is going nowhere and he fully supports his government. “i know who is conspiring against the chief minister behind his back,” the Pm said, adding that person wanted the provincial government’s top slot for himself. He said that if he removes the incumbent chief minister, a new precedent will be set and his replacement would not even survive 20 days because he too would be forced out in a “similar” manner. “There was negative propaganda in the past few days that Buzdar does not have the required authority [to run provincial affairs independently]. “He, however, has complete authority in the province and the new chief secretary and in-

g

Imran says he knows who’s conspIrIng agaInst cm, tells them Buzdar enjoys complete authorIty In provInce

spector-general will work with him as part of his team,” the Pm added. “elimination of corruption is the manifesto of our political party. An organised mafia is promoting a negative impression against the government among nationals and the same people, who were misleading the nation for the last many decades, are now seen spreading confusion,” he added. The premier directed the lawmakers to defeat such elements by implementing positive administrative changes. He said that big fishes involved in criminal activities and running mafias were gripped across Punjab for the first time in the history. He also directed the Punjab government to quickly hold municipal elections at a villagecouncil level, emphasising that lower-level elections were the solution to the people’s problems. regarding inflation, the Pm tasked the provincial government to tell truth to people. “The ongoing higher prices were due to the prior governments’ bad policies. The Punjab government should tell people how those administrations ruined Pakistan,” he added. BUZDAR FACES WRATH OF LAWMAKERS: Buzdar is under a lot of criticism from his fellow party members and allied Pakistan muslim League-Q for his inability to run the administration in an efficient manner and failing to release funds for their areas. Federal minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry had also recently rebuked the Buzdar-led government for its “below-par performance” and accused the Cm of acting like a ‘monarch’ in the matter pertaining to the release of the uplift funds. He had also questioned Buzdar’s ability to run the province. The reports of a rift in the party also gained validation when Federal minister for railways Sheikh rasheed said on Saturday the ruling party

is responsible for its own sufferings as an “already inactive” opposition posed no threat to Pm imran’s office. On Sunday, the beleaguered Cm sought to allay concerns of lawmakers and ticket-holders belonging to his party by assuring them of allocation of development funds for their constituencies. ECONOMY TO BE STABILISED: Speaking about the economy, the Pm said 2019 was a year for bringing stabilisation in the economy, while 2020 would be the year for development as the country was heading on a right track. He said the previous governments had plundered the country mercilessly and pushed the public into unemployment and poverty. The prime minister further said they had introduced the best administrative team in the province of Punjab. A well-coordinated strategy was on the anvil for bringing about harmony among the administration and elected representatives and for better governance, so that public issues could be resolved on a priority basis, he added. He further said the masses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had expressed their confidence in the successful policies introduced in the health sector, local government system, especially in the functioning system of the police force. The main reason, he said, behind the success of this system was the political non-interference. Citing his recent visit to Davos where he attended the annual World economic Forum meeting, the prime minister said they had made record savings in the government’s expenditures, especially by cutting down expenditures on the foreign visits. The chief executive officers of a number of renowned companies were expressing their keen desire to invest in Pakistan which also spoke volumes about the successful visit to Davos, he added. Citing successes on the foreign policy, he said in the last year, Pakistan had emerged on the world scene as a significant and conspicuous country. Today, the world was criticizing india. Pakistan’s friendly ties with all the important countries had been restored because they trusted the incumbent leadership in Pakistan due to its transparency and honesty, he added. He also expressed his complete confidence in Punjab Chief minister Sardar Usman Buzdar..

pm to visit karachi today

Report doesn’t reflect increase in corruption, says TI Pakistan g

STORY ON BACK PAGE

India’s republic day celebrations marked with protests, blasts

STORY ON PAGE 03

Pakistani students, community members in Wuhan safe: FO

STORY ON PAGE 02

KP ministers lose portfolio over rift with CM

ngo says score lIes wIthIn standard margIn of error; polItIcIans, medIa outlets gave ‘false fIgures to damage reputatIon of country’

STORY ON PAGE 02

Afghan forces kill 51 Taliban in air, land assaults STORY ON BACK PAGE in today’s issue

attention Some readers have complained that they are not getting the magazine with their newspaper copy. Please call or WhatsApp us at the following number to register a complaint. Contact: 0307-7338168

STORY ON PAGE 02

irfan.farooq@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 27 January, 2020

02 NEWS

KP miniSterS lOSe POrtFOliO Over riFt With cm PESHAWAR

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INP

HREE Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) ministers have been kicked out of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet for allegedly conspiring against Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Sunday. A notification has been issued by Governor Shah Farman, removing Muhammad Atif Khan, who held the portfolio of senior minister for sports, tourism, culture and youth affairs, Health Minister Shehram Khan Tarakai, and Revenue and Estate Minister Shakeel Ahmed. CM Khan met the prime minister and told him that some ministers had been forming groups to conspire against

him. Their portfolios will either be given to other ministers already in the cabinet or new ministers will be inducted. The issues between these ministers and the

CM started when Mehmood was appointed as the chief executive of the province. For now, they have been removed from the cabinet, but they could

see further action against them. Sources said that the deposed ministers were allegedly acting as the masterminds of ‘a pressure group’ against the provincial government. KP Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said the leaders had opposed the government policies. He added the ministers had been given warnings many times and that the matter was also raised before the Prime Minister Imran Khan. Yousafzai further said the government took taken the final decision and sent these ministers packing. He further said the ministers were only removed from their position so far while the ruling political party will take the next decision regarding their membership later.

No coronavirus case in Pakistan: PM’s aide Pakistani students, community members in Wuhan safe: FO ISLAMABAD: Over 500 students and other Pakistani community members in Wuhan and other parts of China are safe and there has been no report of Coronavirus infection in any of the community members, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said on Sunday. “The community has been reassured of full support and requested to follow health protocols issued by the Chinese authorities and stay indoors. The current situation calls for great patience and perseverance,” she added. The ministry and the Pakistan Embassy in China are actively monitoring the outbreak situation in Wuhan, China. The embassy in Beijing and other sub-missions in China are in touch with the Pakistani community as well as the Chinese authorities. Noting the increase in the number of cases and its human-to-human transmission, the Health Ministry of China had put additional measures to reduce the risks associated with the viral infection. “We laud the resolute efforts of Chinese authorities in dealing with the outbreak of the virus,” the spokesperson said. She further said that all Pakistanis in China had been advised to regularly visit the Embassy’s website www.pakbj.org whereas unregistered persons are encouraged to register with the Embassy, online. For information and assistance, the following numbers can be contacted: Zulfiqar Ali, Third Secretary Embassy of Pakistan, Beijing (+8618501322992) and Muhammad Junaid, Third Secretary Embassy of Pakistan, Beijing (+8615652889195). APP

SAYS UTMOST VIGILANCE ON POINTS OF ENTRY, GOVT FULLY PREPARED, NO NEED FOR PANIC OR ALARM ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza has said that there is no confirmed case of Novel Corona Virus in Pakistan; the reports about cases in Multan are inaccurate. As per standard guidelines and procedure, any traveller from China having flu-like symptoms has to be isolated and monitored. He said that the patients being referred to by some have no serious symptoms- are responding to treatment and improving. In an official statement on Sunday, Dr Zafar Mirza assured the people that the government is closely monitoring the situation and all necessary measures are being taken to screen all travellers from China and provide hospital-care where required. Hee said that Thermo Scanners and Thermo Guns have been provided to well trained health staff at airports in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad to screen all passengers. Separately, a specially dedicated team is assigned for screening passengers arriving via flights from China. Since Friday, however, China has closed its outbound direct flights to Pakistan due to Chinese spring festival. According to the current schedule, South China Airline flights will resume from 29 January and China Airlines flights will resume from 3 February. Utmost vigilance is being maintained and an Emergency Operation Cell (EOC) in the Federal Health Min-

istry is monitoring the situation round the clock. Instructions have been given to all major hospitals to make arrangements to receive possible cases and provide the necessary care. “We have established contact with all Provincial Chief Ministers, Provincial Health Departments; relevant ministries including interior dealing with immigration, Aviation Division, NDMA to ensure there is seamless coordination and that our efforts are synergised, timely and effective,” said Dr Mirza. Considering that there will be heavy influx of travellers from China after 8th of February 2020 when the celebrations of Chinese New Year conclude, all relevant authorities have been asked to carry out robust surveillance for screening at the points of entry at Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi airports alongside seaports and land crossings, raising public awareness and ensuring hospital preparedness for management of potential cases. “I am personally monitoring the situation and we are meeting every 48 hours with heads of hospitals, health institutions and all relevant departments to review the situation and take necessary measures for optimal level of preparedness and mitigation in the event we have a suspected case. We are establishing a helpline to be functional from Wednesday for information on the disease and to respond to queries. There is absolutely no cause for panic or alarm. People need to take simple precautions for prevention against common flu like covering

the nose and mouth while coughing and sneezing, frequent hand washing for 20 seconds with soap, avoiding close contact with sick people, avoid contact with animals, avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands,” added Dr Mirza. Those who have or a person near them have travelled to or from China, within the last 14 days and developed suggestive symptoms including unexplained fever, cough or breathing difficulty, should seek medical attention. 2019 Novel Coronavirus as it is referred to is a new respiratory virus first identified in Wuhan, Hebei Province of China. The facility to confirm the new virus through a laboratory test is only available in a few countries of the world. However, the National Institute of Health in Islamabad is fully equipped to isolate corona viruses closely related to the Novel Coronavirus and thus the virus can be confirmed by excluding other types of Coronaviruses. “We are in touch with Chinese authorities and kits to test for Novel Coronavirus will be received in a few days shared the SAPM. Novel corona virus (2019-nCoV) with animal origin identified as the cause of this outbreak has to date caused at least 2000 cases and 56 deaths in China,” Dr Mirza said. Other countries including Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and United States, France and Australia have also reported few confirmed cases with travel history to China.

US embaSSy vehicle hitS car, WOman dieS, Five injUred in caPital ISLAMABAD: At least one person died while five others were critically injured when an over speeding US embassy vehicle hit a car here on Sunday. According to a private TV channel, the US embassy vehicle violated traffic rules by trying to cross a closed signal at Faisal Chowk because of which it hit a car. The woman, identified as Nazia, died on the spot. Her body and the injured persons were shifted to a local hospital. Margalla Police impounded the vehicle, arrested the Pakistani driver and have started an investigation after registering a case against him. INP

arrangements at all airports complete for screening of coronavirus, says Ghulam Sarwar ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan said arrangements have been made at all airports of the country for diagnosis and screening of Coronavirus. He said the situation is under control in Pakistan, reported a TV channel on Sunday. During a media talk at the inauguration of new Media and IT Centre at Meteorology Department in Lahore, the minister said screening facility with medical technicians have been provided at all international airports of the country where each incoming suspected passenger is properly checked by doctors and qualified medical technicians. However, he said the situation was satisfactory so far as no positive case of Coronavirus was reported. To a question, he said no political ally of the PTI government is leaving the alliance, nor any in-house change in the Parliament is in sight. Regarding new Chief Executive of PIA, Ghulam Sarwar Khan said the decision of the Supreme Court would be accepted in this regard. The Minister said under the new Aviation Policy 2019, talks are underway to bring international airlines to Pakistan, for which five new aircraft would be inducted in PIA fleet to successfully meet the competitive environment in the aviation industry. APP

Pm imran to visit Karachi today NEWS DESK Prime Minister Imran Khan will pay a oneday visit to Karachi on Monday to take part in a meeting with businessmen and partake in take part in Kamyab Jawan Programme cheque distribution ceremony. The Prime Minister’s Office tweeted that PM Imran will visit the metropolis for a day-long visit to meet a delegation comprising businessmen. The prime minister will take part in a fundraiser event for Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital.

Rain, snowfall expected in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkwa ISLAMABAD INP

A westerly wave is likely to approach northwest Balochistan on late Sunday and expected to approach central and upper parts of the country during next 24 to 36 hours, the met office forecast said. Mainly cold and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country. However, cloudy weather with light rain and snowfall over mountains expected at isolated places in northern Balochistan, upper Khyber Pakhtunkwa, central Sindh, south Punjab, Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has said in its forecast. Widespread rain with snowfall over hills is expected in northwestern Balochistan, upper Punjab, Islamabad, Gilgit Baltistan and Kashmir, at scattered

places in central Punjab, while at isolated places in south Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkwa and other districts of Balochistan on Monday. The met office has also cautioned about the risk of closure of inter cities connecting roads and landslides due to snowfall in Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan, upper hilly areas of Khyber Pakhtunkwa and north western Balochistan. Quetta is experiencing partly cloudy weather with the temperature at zero degree Celsius on Sunday noon. The met department has predicted rain and snowfall over mountains in Quetta, Zhob, Kalat, Qilla Saifullah, Qilla Abdullah, Loralai, Musakhel, Barkhan, Pishin and Ziarat in Balochistan. Light rain or drizzle is also expected in Gwadar, Jiwani and adjoining areas during the period.

Partly cloudy weather is expected in Karachi with minimum temperature 13.0ºCelsius today, while the maximum temperature will be between 26-28 degree. Humidity is expected to remain between 80 – 90 per cent in the morning and 40 – 50% in the evening in the city. The wind direction will remain westerly or northwesterly, according to the weather office. The met office has predicted partly cloudy weather with chances of drizzle in Karachi on Monday. Mainly cold and dry weather is expected in other parts of Sindh. However, light rain is expected at isolated places in Shaheed Benazirabad and Hyderabad. Today’s lowest minimum temperatures recorded at Skardu with minus 13°Celsius, Parachinar, Gupis -12°C, Bagrote -11°C, Kalam -09°Celsius, Astore -08°C and Hunza -07°Celsius.

CMYK

Monday, 27 January, 2020

NEWS

03

india’S rePUblic day celebratiOnS marKed With PrOteStS, blaStS

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AGENCIES

UNDREDS of thousands of Indians protested across the country on Sunday against a citizenship bill that many fear is discriminatory against the minority Muslim community. The protests, which began last month, gathered fresh momentum as India celebrated Republic Day, in commemoration of the day the Indian constitution came into effect. In the southern state of Kerala, organisers said more than a hundred thousand people formed a human chain. It was followed by public meetings at over 250 places across the state. “It was not a mere human chain, but a human wall against the violation of the principles of the Constitution,” said Kerala’s Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, addressing a public meeting in the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram. Another human chain spread over 11 kilometres was also formed in Kolkata, organisers said. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the National Citizens Register (NRC) were a key part of the election manifesto of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist party. The government believes the legislation is needed to protect refugees across South Asia. The CAA aims to fast-track citizenship for persecuted Hindus, Parsis, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains and Christians who arrived in

‘Kamal to remain balochistan cm’ QUETTA: Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani on Sunday endorsed Chief Minister Jam Kamal and said that the latter will remain the CM of Balochistan. Talking to Balochistan Assembly Speaker Abdul Qudddus Bizenjo, the Senate chairman underscored the need for dialogues to resolve issues. He said that Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) is a party of the masses and added that it had emerged as the largest party of the province in election 2018. Speaking on the occasion, Quddus Bizenjo said that there are issues in homes but it is the elders’ responsibility to resolve them. He said that the country will become stronger by strengthening Balochistan. It is pertinent to mention here that Bizenjo had submitted a privilege motion against Balochistan CM on January 24. He was of the view that the CM’s remarks about him were unnecessary and non-parliamentary. Earlier on January 23, Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal had said that he was not giving much attention to the remarks of the Speaker Balochistan Assembly Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and had said that the coalition government in the province had performed after coming into power. STAFF REPORT

nawaz wants ex-Pm abbasi to secure release on bail LONDON: Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) supreme leader and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who is said to be undergoing treatment in London, has asked incarcerated party leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to seek his release from prison on bail. Sources relayed the former premier instructed Abbasi to contest corruption allegations levelled against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after coming out of jail. Wasting energies in facing accountability based on political vendetta will serve no purpose, Sharif was quoted as saying that. INP

India before December 31, 2014, from Muslim-majority Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Clashes between protesters and police leaving at least 25 dead have been a regular occurrence since Dec 12, when the government passed the legis-

lation. Tens of thousands protested in India’s financial hub of Mumbai, as well as Lucknow, the capital of populous Uttar Pradesh state which has seen the highest number of deaths since the unrest began. Both were predominantly female-led. “Our protest against this discriminatory citizenship act … will continue until it is withdrawn by the government,” said Ambreen Rizvi, a female protester in Lucknow. The northeastern state of Assam witnessed five low-intensity explosions for which the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), a militant group, has taken responsibility. No casualties were reported. In New Delhi, the government hosted the annual Republic Day parade aimed at showcasing India’s military hardware and cultural diversity. Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro was the chief guest. Protesters also gathered in the capital, including in the area of Shaheen Bagh, where hundreds of residents have blocked a major highway since December. A women-only led rally with over 20,000 protesters also gathered in a suburb in Mumbai to mark their dissent against the new law.

Punjab lawmakers confident of Buzdar’s leadership, says Firdous SAPM URGES INDIA TO RECONSIDER POLICIES TOWARDS KASHMIRIS ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday said that lawmakers in Punjab, including those belonging to the government’s allied parties, have expressed confidence in the leadership of Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. Addressing a press conference in Sialkot, she refuted reports about the existence of a forward bloc in Punjab government, saying that the chief minister had met with provincial lawmakers and had heard them out and reassured them that their issues would be resolved. “After the chief minister’s reassurance, they ex-

pressed confidence in the leadership of Usman Buzdar,” she added. “Our coalition partners are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the government. Whether it is the Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) or other political parties, they are determined to put the country on the road to progress,” she said, adding that this is “surely not good news for ‘trend-setters’ and ‘agendasetters’ in the media and in the opposition”. “Ultimately, the people’s government is answerable to the people. Eventually, through the prime minister’s reform agenda, you will see that each new day will bring some betterment to the country and each attack by the opposition to make the government fail, will backfire,” she added. She also said called on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif to play his constitutional role in legislating because the people of the country want Pakistan to progress and for this purpose, it is necessary that parties that

have been given a mandate by the people for five years play their role. “Instead of speaking out against the government, and trying to lead the people astray, the opposition should fulfill their role in parliament and help the government in legislating,” she added. Talking about India’s Republic Day, which was observed as a black day on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC), she said that India’s illegal actions to suppress the freedom struggle of Kashmiris will not yield any positive results. “Minorities are being targeted in India and the international community is now wary of India’s status as a so-called secular state,” she said while urging India to reconsider its policies towards the people of Kashmir. She reaffirmed Pakistan’s political, diplomatic and moral support to the valiant Kashmiris in their just struggle for human dignity and their inalienable right to self-determination. She also urged the elected lawmakers to play their role in this regard.

Pakistan will continue to fight for Kashmiris: Fm MULTAN: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Sunday that Narendra Modi government’s cruel steps in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) had exposed its real face before the world. The international community should come forward to save 80 lakh innocent Kashmiris from atrocities of India, he said while addressing workers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in different areas of constituency NA-156 here. The human rights violation by the Indian government in the Valley must be stopped as early as possible. Qureshi vowed that Pakistan would continue to raise voice for protecting rights of innocent Kashmiris at every international forum. The foreign minister said the world should play its role in ending curfew in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and for peaceful resolution of the issue. “Jammu and Kashmir is no more a regional issue but it has become an international problem,” said Qureshi, adding “Pakistan successfully raised the Kashmir issue at the United Nations Security Council after 56 years.” Qureshi said he visited Saudi Arabia, Iran and America, following instructions for Prime Minister Imran Khan. He said his visit to these countries remained successful. Pakistan played a role to reduce tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, he added. Pakistan wished that there should be no confrontation in the region as the region could not afford another war, he said. Saudi Arabia was one of reliable friends of Pakistan. Similarly, Iran was also our friend and a neighbour, said the foreign minister, adding that Pakistan wanted that the issues should be resolved through dialogue process. “The whole world is appreciating Pakistan’s role in promotion of peace in Afghanistan. Pakistan believes that peace in Afghanistan would lead to peace across the region. A peaceful region is our top priority,” Qureshi said. About corruption, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government would never compromise on corruption and the corrupt elements. The incumbent government has zero-tolerance for corruption and the accountability process would continue without any discrimination, he reiterated. He thanked Allah Almighty as there was not a single allegation of corruption against the incumbent government. In the past, the menace of corruption damaged the country’s economy. APP

Govt approves bifurcation of 4pc job quota for erstwhile FATA, FB ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI

The government has approved the bifurcation of a 3 per cent and 1 per cent job quota for erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and GilgitBaltistan (GB), respectively in the federal services in accordance with the proportionate population figures of the 2017 census. The federal cabinet, in a meeting on January 2020, considered a report on the matter and decided that the bi-

furcated share of ex-FATA may not be merged into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the residents of the former will not avail the quota for the latter for the next ten years in conjunction with the development plan. However, residents of ex-FATA and GB shall continue to avail the quota in the provincial services of KP. According to the 2017 census, the population of ex-FATA was 5,001,667 (77 per cent) and the population of GB was 1,492,924 (23 per cent). Later, on April 23, 2019, the federal cabinet

formed under the chairmanship of adviser to prime minister on establishment and comprising secretary Establishment Division, secretary law and justice, secretary Kashmir and GB affairs and representatives of the governments of KP and GB to examine the issue of bifurcation of job quota and to make recommendations to the cabinet. Subsequently, the committee prepared a report and the Establishment Division moved the proposal for the bifurcation of the 4 per cent quota before the federal cabinet for approval.

“The bifurcated share of FATA may not be merged into KP and be observed independently for the next 10 years in conjunction with the 10-year development plan devised to bring the erstwhile FATA at par with the KP socially and economically,” the proposal read. The Establishment Division further proposed that another option could be that FATA and GB may be allocated their respective share in 4 per cent combined quota in accordance with the population census of 1972 which was 3.42 and 0.58 respectively.

04 LAHORE

Monday, 27 January, 2020

WEATHER UPDATES MONDAY

Seven-year-old boy raped in Gujranwala GUJRANWALA INP

A teenage student of a seminary allegedly raped a seven-year-old boy here on Sunday. According to the CCTV footage and the medical test, it was proved that the boy was raped. According to details, the incident took place in Majeed Colony area of Satellite Town in Gujranwala where an 18-year-old student took a seven-year-old boy to a room of the seminary and raped him. The affected child was shifted to the civil hospital where medical report proved the rape. The police also acquired the CCTV footage in which the accused was seen taking the child to a room of the seminary. A case was registered against the alleged rapist and local police have started a probe.

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MPS diScuSS Political iSSueS, uPlift PRojectS with buzdaR LAHORE

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APP

EDERAL Minister Sahibzada Muhammad Mehboob Sultan, MNA Ahmed Hussain Dehar and MPA Shahbaz Ahmad called on Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar at CM Office on Sunday in which matters of mutual interest and public welfare projects came under discussion. Usman Buzdar said on the occasion that a solid mechanism had been devised for transparent and timely completion of development projects across the province, according to a handout issued here. He said the office of chief minister was devoted to service of masses. Record leg-

islation had been done in the Punjab Assembly during a brief span of time, he added. The CM said new local government system would portray wishes of people in Punjab and they would be empowered in real sense in this new system. New change would take place with the introduction of new local governments system, he added. “With the grace of Allah Almighty, we were successful earlier and we will succeed now. We have taken up the task of rendering public service and the journey to provide public service will continue with full zeal,” said the CM. The process of meeting assembly members would also continue unabated, he concluded.

‘Rabid dog’ bites elderly woman

Cracks in ruling party visible: Siraj LAHORE

FAMILY SAYS HOSPITALS REFUSED TO TREAT VICTIM LAHORE INP

An elderly woman bitten by rabid dogs in Lahore was failed to get the anti-rabies vaccine at various hospitals of the city, family sources said on Sunday. Rehmat Bibi 70 bitten by a stray dog in Raiwind area of Lahore, when she was taking back her grandson from school. She was referred to the Rural Health Centre (RHC) Raiwind after non-availability of the anti-rabies vaccine at nearby hospital. The health centre staff also denied having the anti-rabies vaccine and referred Rehmat Bibi to Service Hospital Lahore. The hospital staff denied her vaccination and advised her to visit other hospitals of the city to get vaccinated for dog bite treatment. Disappointed elderly woman returned her home in Raiwind without vaccination for her dog bite injury. An alarming rise of dog-bite incidents being reported across the country with a common complaint about scarcity of the anti-rabies vaccine. The doctors advise inoculation of anti-rabies vaccine shortly after the dog bite. A victim of a rabid dog bite likely to suffer from hydrophobia – extreme fear of water, a symptom of rabies infection in humans.

Primary health secretary cancels general duty of employees LAHORE APP

Secretary Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (P&SHD) Capt (r) Muhammad Usman has issued orders to send back employees to their respective departments by cancelling their general duties at the P&SH Secretariat. Meanwhile, CO Lahore has written a letter in this regard. Employees from various districts including Lahore were posted on general duty to the secretary's office. A few days ago, Muhammad Usman had ordered for cancellation of general duties. The secretary said timely delivery of health services and facilities to people across province was top priority. Strict legal action would be taken against the staff who would not join their duties in their assigned districts, he added.

PPI

Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Senator Sirajul Haq has said that the cracks within the ruling party are visible which also indicate the government ministers are only interested in protecting their own interests and they have nothing to do with the public issues. Addressing a training workshop at Mansoora on Sunday, he said the PTI exposed itself in 16 months, leaving the masses in desperate situation and bringing disaster in every sector. He said serious political crises were developed in KPK and Punjab while the central

government and Sindh were at daggers drawn on the issue of a transfer of a police officer. The entire system was wrecked and needed a proper overhauling, he said, adding people must stand to protect their rights and get rid of the political elite. “There are sugar mafias and flour mafias and few families are sitting on the country’s resources.” Senator Siraj said the ruling elite had badly damaged the Islamic identity of the country and looted its resources with both hands. He said the PTI also proved itself an agent of the status quo and all the slogans it made with the public proved a pack of life.

Monday, 27 January, 2020

VArsItIes ‘PromotIng’ BooK PIrACy, PuBlIshers ComPlAIn IPO SAYS PUBLISHERS WILL BE MADE PART OF POLICY TO CURB COPYRIGHTS VIOLATIONS ISLAMABAD

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GHULAM ABBAS

S the Intellectual Property Organization (IPO) Pakistanan attached department of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC)- has recently drafted amendments in the copyrights’ rules, the publishers have come up with a complaint that major universities and educational institutions are facilitating ‘piracy’ in the country. During a meeting with the IPO Pakistan officials chaired by its Chairman Mujeeb Ahmed Khan, a group of representatives of publishing firms complained the universities were not only allowing students to purchase, use and sell illegally the copied books but also facilitating the illegal business of photocopying entire books through photocopier shops setup within the universities’ premises. The publishers who attended the meeting included PLD Publishers CeO Muhamamd Zuber Saeed, Mehboob Ali of Ali Brothers Publishers, Ahmed najib of Caravan Book House and others. national Book Foundation Director nuzhat Akbar was also present. According to the documents/minutes of the meeting, the IPO Pakistan had initiated an Outreach Programme on Copyright under which the organization

was consulting stakeholders for their inputs before initiating proper legislation to protect and promote the Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) in the country. The IPO has prepared draft amendments in the existing law and shared with the stakeholders for their inputs. The publishers informed the meeting that all the textbooks, teachers’ recommended books, and other publications were being photocopied within the universities and educational institutions because of the non-enforcement of IPRs rules by the Law enforcement Agencies (LeAs). “even the teachers and administrations of the universities encourage students to use illegally photocopied material as teachers place recommended books at photocopier shops and ask students to collect the photocopied sets,” one of the publishers informed the meeting. “There are unregistered polishers who reprint the costlier books illegally and sell those at a fraction of the original price,” he said suggesting a strict action against the pirates should be taken in order to protect the dying the publishing industry. He further said a number of local and international books related to history, science, politics, economy, business etc were also being pirated in the local market. According to the publishers, Pakistan lacked the environment of

IPRs protection contrary to the neighboring countries like India, Bangladesh, and China. To discourage this illegal business, the government should facilitate local publishers to sign agreements with the foreign publishers for publication of international books at a lower price in the country, they suggested. “This way we can discourage and control piracy, which is increasing day by day because of the steep prices,” publisher Muhamamd Zuber Saeed observed. “After the ban on Indo-Pak trade, the piracy of books has increased in the country as the same were previously being imported from the neighboring country,” he said, adding the Indian publishers were publishing international books at cheaper rates as they enjoyed contracts with foreign publishing firms. Another publisher pinpointed that they didn’t know which LeA had the mandate to act against pirates in case of

India has taken ‘ominous’ turn into religious intolerance, says WP article NEW YORK AGENCIES

The (Kashmir) valley looked like Switzerland but felt like the Gaza Strip,” is how a veteran American journalist with years of reporting experience in South Asia described India’s repression in the disputed state during one of her trips there even before it plunged into deeper crisis after new Delhi’s annexation on August 5. “I saw how the historic dispute (between India and Pakistan) had created a permanently open wound and a vicious cycle of protest and repression, often sparked by insurgent attacks,” Pamela Constable, a correspondent for The Washington Post, wrote in the newspaper she represents. “I drove past apple orchards and meadows and visited quaint house boats that bobbed on Dal Lake, waiting for tourists who never came. But the news that brought me there was depressing and often deadly. The local Muslim populace was always waiting for the next funeral.” Although correspondent Constable does refer to the repressive lockdown of Jammu and Kashmir after the revocation of the state’s special status, the main

CITY NOTES M A NIAZI

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RIMe MInISTeR Imran Khan met US President Donald Trump in Davos, where the latter said he would mediate over Kashmir if he was asked. Of course, you can’t trust Trump. And especially these days, when there is an impeachment trial against him underway. I must confess I haven’t been able to watch it, even though it is being telecast live. It’s at so unseasonal an hour that I can’t stay awake. especially not in this weather. I am not so concerned about Trump’s fate that I will sit in front of the idiot box, yawning and trembling. I’ve reached an age where I fall asleep in front of the TV, and wake up with an awful ache in my joints. Imran has got similar problems. There’s a forward bloc announced in Punjab, and there’s a group of MPAs in KP who don’t like the CM, Mehmood Khan and a load of ministers. The Punjab forward bloc wants Usman Buzdar replaced. There has been a suggestion that he himself behind the move, be-

focus of her article, entitled: ‘India’s iconic democracy feels like it is under siege’, is about the B.J.P. government’s push to promote the “Hindutva” ideology as well as the eruption of country-wide protests against its anti-Muslim measures. “These days, when I think back on the contentious but secular mosaic of India I experienced between 1998 and 2005, I am stunned to see the ominous turn it has recently taken into religious intolerance,” the article said. “At that time, Hinduism was dominant but not overbearing…,” she wrote in the Post. Correspondent Constable wrote, “Promotion of the “Hindutva” ideology, an all-encompassing guide for life, often took the form of public services, carried out by disciplined youth cadres…. But religious tensions remained close to the surface, especially between Hindus and Muslims, whose differences had festered since the chaotic partition of India in 1947. “Despite their huge numbers and a few high-profile celebrities, such as film star Shah Rukh Khan, Muslims remained largely second-class citizens with little political clout. My first encounter with such ‘communal’ hostility took place in my kitchen, where

NEWS

05

CoP KIlled In BlAst BAJAUR: One policeman was martyred and two others injured in separate bomb blast during search operations here on Sunday. According to details, the Bajaur police was engaged in search operation when a bomb exploded in Dara area of tehsil Salarzai of Bajaur. A cop Waqifullah was martyred in the blast. The second blast also took place in same locality during search operation in which two policemen were injured. The injured cops were shifted to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital Khar for treatment. Funeral prayers of the martyred cop Waqifullah was offered in Civil Colony Khar where a smartly turned out contingent of police presented guard of honour to the martyred cop. DPO Bajaur Pir Shahab Ali Shah, Commandant Bajaur Scouts Colonel Selman Khalid, Levies personnel, government officials and a large number of citizens attended the funeral prayers. INP

complaints. “numerous raids on Lahore’s Urdu Bazaar to check selling of infringed books have even failed to deter their suppliers.”The publishers, during the meeting, called for legislation against copy, import and download of books/material online especially in PDF format. IPO Chairman Mujeeb Ahmed said the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had the mandate to implement the IPRs rules, however, in some cases police also intervened. He said IPO Pakistan was taking up the matter with heads of FIA, Police and Customs to effectively implement the IPRs across the country. Ahmad informed the meeting that he had held a detailed meeting with the Higher education Commission (HeC) chairman to adopt a strategy to control piracy in universities. He said the inputs of publishers could be incorporated in the draft amendments in the IPRs rules.

the Hindu manager angrily upbraided the Muslim watchman for drinking from his teacup. In public, far uglier confrontations erupted periodically: In 1992, militant Hindu groups invaded and demolished the historic Babri Mosque; a decade later, Hindu-Muslim riots in Gujarat state left more than 1,000 dead…” “The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is the same Hindu nationalist group that dominated power during the years I lived there. But its once-inclusive message — then tempered by the opposition Congress party — has been replaced by an aggressive agenda of Hindu hegemony. And the prime minister is now narendra Modi, a religious hard-liner who was once accused of abetting the anti-Muslim rioters in Gujarat as the state’s chief minister. Modi’s election in 2014 was largely based on his record as a champion of economic growth. “But his reelection in May was stoked by a wave of patriotic and religious emotion after an especially deadly suicide bombing in Kashmir — which was followed by an aerial skirmish between Indian and Pakistani warplanes — brought the nucleararmed rivals dangerously close to war. “In August, Modi’s government abruptly revoked the semiautonomous rights for Kashmir that India’s constitution had granted in 1950, then flooded the region with troops, cut off the Internet and banned news coverage for months. Last month, after a semi-clandestine visit, the new Yorker journalist Dexter Filkins described the mood among Kashmiri Muslims as isolated, frightened and smouldering with anger.

Bilawal to start central Punjab campaign next month LAHORE: Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has decided to launch his political activities in central Punjab from the next month. According to the PPP sources on Sunday, the PPP chairman will start his activities from Sahiwal division and address worker conventions at Sahiwal, Okara and Pakpattan. He will also address a farmers’ convention in Okara in February. The PPP leader will meet women, youth, media representatives and students during his visit to central Punjab.Later, he will visit Gujranwala, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Jehlum and Gujjar Khan where he will address party workers and farmer conventions. APP

India neither democratic nor secular state: AJK president MIRPUR: Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has said that India's claims about being the world's largest democracy stand exposed to the entire world. "India is neither a democratic nor secular state where minorities and nonHindu people are being denied their right to live," he added. In a message released to the media on the eve of India's so-called Republic Day on Sunday, the AJK president said the freedom loving people across the world particularly the people of Pakistan and Kashmir were observing black day to expose India's hegemonic and fanatic designs, particularly the oppressive face of the Indian government, ruling Bharatia Janata Party, and its ally RSS. The AJK president lamented that even after 72 long years, India continues to occupy the Muslim majority state of Kashmir, and now under a diabolical plan, it was ousting the Kashmiri people from their homeland. "The plan is designed to ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri people and turn the Muslim majority of Kashmir into a minority," he added. APP

FROM DAVOS TO WUHAN (AND IN BETWEEN) cause he resents his loss of powers, which are exercised by the new Chief Secretary and IGP. It seems that the Forward Bloc wants development funds released. In short, MPAs heard that being elected meant being listened to by the district administration and the police, without any nonsense about merit or legality. Another aspect has been raised, that civil servants and coppers snootily refuse to do what elected politicians want, while doing each other favours. It’s not clear whether the objection is to the favours, or to the people doing them. Imran seems to have solved the flour shortage by deciding that there isn’t any. One hopes that he can solve all other problems that way. Kashmir? There isn’t a problem. Of course, the wheat shortage was wasted. It should have been blamed on nawaz Sharif. Don’t worry, there’s a sugar shortage building up, which can be blamed on Shahbaz. In case you think the PTI had made a mistake worrying about the Sharif

brothers going abroad even though Mian nawaz was healthy as a horse, as Dr Imran could see from the pictures of the back of his head, just look at the Transparency International Report, which actually said that Pakistan was more corrupt than last year. The precious thin reward for Imran Khan’s winning the World Cup. It’s obvious to the meanest intelligence, even Usman Buzdar, that the Sharif brothers misused their bail to persuade Transparency International to give a finding that makes Imran look bad, ignoring the fact that he built a cancer hospital. Imran and Trump might have agreed on Kashmir, but they probably disagreed on the Wuhan epidemic. Trump, fresh off ordering General Soleimani’s assassination, was probably paying back the Chinese for their conspiracy to stop America being great again: global warming. Trump has go the same solution for global warming as Imran does for the flour shortage: sating it doesn’t

CMYK

exist. That’s why Trump had to go to Davos, to combat the Chinese propaganda. If Trump is behind the Wuhan epidemic, then it won’t spread too far. But I am reminded of the origin of the Black Death, the bubonic plague which depopulated europe and probably destroyed the feudal system (because the shortage of labour changed the landowner-peasant relationship) by killing 55 million people. It started with rats bearing lice which in turn bore the plague virus. And the rats caught the lice in China, travelled to europe on trading ships, and then spread the plague in europe. This epidemic is travelling by jet. It’s already spreading to countries in the region, and there’s been a scare over here. As recently as 1855, there was a bubonic plague outbreak in China that reached here, in which 12 million people died. It shouldn’t be forgotten that one phase of plague, and the more deadly, was the one that involved the lungs. One of the

means of prevention is to wear a mask. Well, we’ve recently had some experience with that, what with the smog. Are we ready otherwise? I don’t know. There’s been a case reported from Multan, and there’s a load of Pakistani students in Wuhan. I’m sure their parents are frantic. I know I would be, if any of my kids were in Wuhan. Well, at home, the Bangladesh team is wondering why they bothered getting Test status, after the thumping they got in the first two T20s in Lahore. Today is the third, and I’d be very surprised if the result was any different. I know we want a successful return to Test cricket, but do we have to thump the other team so badly? That might explain why we aren’t getting, good teams, like england or Australia, to visit. Anyhow, Bangladesh is doing Imran proud, and proving that they are honest, and that the decision to pick Shoaib Malik was the right one. So next to be brought back could be Imran, right?

Monday, 27 January, 2020

06 WORLD VIEW

The world has a message for modi: Brand india is severely damaged

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SHeKHAR GUPTA

S the world always conspiring to pull India down? Are the big powers, especially in the democratic West, fearful of India’s rise? Is there, to use a term fashionable among the faithful lately, a Christo-Islamic plot against the rise of a Hindu India? Does the rest of the world hold India and other countries, say China, to different standards? All of the above are untrue, except the last, and for that there is a reason: The size and dynamism of China’s economy. The truth is, for seven decades now, almost all of the rest of the world has wanted India to succeed. Barring traditional adversaries Pakistan and China, it is difficult to name a nation that didn’t wish India well, or benefits from its failure. This, despite the fact that we’ve by now built a chronic habit of raising expectations every decade or so, and letting ourselves, and our global admirers, down. That, precisely, is the mood right now. India’s economic stall is a setback indeed. The bigger problem, however, is the precipitous fall of its moral stature, with struggling social indicators, falling rankings on democracy and corruption scales, spontaneous, peaceful nation-wide protests against CAA/NRC, and an establishment discourse that is getting angry, vengeful and exclusivist by the day. In three decades of Davos since the Cold War, whether or not India was among the flavours of the season, it was always looked at with a sense of expectation, and awe at the growing ease with which it was able to manage its diversity, change governments democratically, and globalise its thinking, economically and

INDIA’S IMAGE — AND BY EXTENSION MODI’S — HAS BEEN DAMAGED BY A COMBINATION OF IDENTITY POLITICS AND ECONOMIC DECLINE. BUT THE WORLD ISN’T WRITING US OFF, NOT YET strategically. These three decades have seen the world rocked by several major crises, precisely because of the failure of many other countries and regions to do this, from the Balkans to the Middle-East to pockets in Africa. India’s economy grew in the post1991 phase impressively, and that further enhanced Brand India. Look at this chaotic country that becomes socially and politically more stable by the year, and is now one of the engines of global growth. China kept way ahead of India, but it wasn’t setting an example with its authoritarian political economy that anyone wanted to, or could afford to, follow. Not even Putin’s Russia and Ayatollahs’ Iran. India was the opposite. An inspirational example to the rest of the world, that big, diverse nations could grow not “in spite of” democracy, but because of it. Imagine, if a nation as diverse as India did not have its liberal, democratic, inclusive political and social culture, where would it end up? It could break up like the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia or the Middle-East. Or go the authoritarian way of Russia, Turkey and China. A growing and increasingly secure and stable India, with its poverty, diversity and a million problems, was a valuable ambassador for democracy and liberalism. That, unfortunately, is under threat now. India’s friends and fans of decades now look askance at us. The question you

The war on drugs TWO BOOKS TRY TO UNRAVEL OUR CONTINUING FASCINATION WITH ILLEGAL DRUGS – WITH VARYING DEGREES OF SUCCESS

Guardian Will Self

There are two key problems with books that attempt to be objective about illegal drugs. The first is that for the most part their authors won’t admit to having used such substances for fear their own objectivity may be compromised. The second follows fairly logically from the first: who, precisely, are such books aimed at? If they are targeted at readers who already have a consuming interest in drugs (pun intended), then they are very likely – by definition – to know rather more about the subject than the author; and if they are for people who only have a tangential interest in the subject, why should they want to read about it at all? True, there may be such a thing as a “gateway” book about drugs that leads people deeper and deeper into compulsive reading about the subject, but I suspect neither of these titles will fulfil that role, no matter how vulnerable the reader is to literary addiction. Antony Loewenstein never explicitly says that he hasn’t used drugs in Pills, Powder and Smoke, but nor does he ever indicate that he has. The personal information we gather about him is that he is something of an ingenue when it comes to the messy business of reportage in compromised and difficult environments. In the Philippines, where President Duterte’s government has conducted a “dirty war” against drug users and dealers for some years now (it’s claimed anything between 5,000 and 20,000 lives have been lost), Loewenstein sees the corpse of a man who has been gunned down by the police: “It was the first dead body I had ever seen, apart from

hear most often is, so what is going on in India? Is it going to get worse? How did you get here? No one, no foreign power, political, corporate or opinion leader, is celebrating India’s stall. But the alarmed SOS, particularly from our friends is: India, we have a problem. We are not at a stage which you could describe as a fall from grace. Not yet. Because our friends are also incorrigible optimists, and inured to the idea of India flattering to deceive every now and then. They draw comfort from what they see as a brave pushback from at least some of India’s institutions, occasionally even the judiciary and some media, the youth and, of course — I say it bracing for the consequences — widespread protests by women, students and the Muslims. The message you hear often: You have problems. But in which other country, in such an environment, would you still have men and women, Muslim and Hindu, gathering in the streets, reading the Preamble to their Constitution? One instinctive hyper-nationalist counter to this would be, oh, what else would you hear if only people you are talking to are like yourselves: Editors, woollyheaded intellectuals and, that favourite slur, Left-liberal. You would expect them to detest India’s first democraticallyelected government of the Hindu Right. Two things need to be underlined, however. First, people in this category have traditionally been the biggest In-

that of a deceased relative. I felt fascinated and sickened, wondering if I was a vulture for taking so many photos.” No need to wonder, Antony, you were. Loewenstein is trying to give a grand survey of the contemporary, global “war on drugs”, but his choice of locations seems a little off kilter. The Philippines are certainly worth covering, as would be one of the major drugs trans-shipment locations for the South American cartels and European mafias that control the global trade. But Loewenstein goes to two: Honduras and Guinea-Bissau. Ditto, he visits and surveys three western countries’ drug policies – the US, Australia and Britain – despite opining that, really, the States has always been the sniffer dog wagging the other two nations’ tails when it comes to prohibition. So why not visit Mexico, that Pandora’s box of a nation, out of which have come all the misfortunes of its northern neighbour? (At least according to American politicians.) Or one of the major South American coca producers, for that matter – or Afghanistan, the narco-state that has played the most significant role in providing western governments’ military-industrial complexes with their raison d’être? When it comes to the dirty wars waged by the US Drug Enforcement Agency, which, after 9/11, created a fictitious bogeyman called “narco-terrorism” to partner “Islamofascism” as a casus belli, Loewenstein gives a thorough and convincing picture of an utterly failed policy, driven by racism, neoimperialism and mere professional closure on the part of politicians and police. But right-thinking people knew the war on drugs was futile years ago, didn’t they? The very name gives the game away, for how can a war against an inanimate object ever be won? For my part, I remember writing a feature on illegal drugs in Britain in the early 1990s, wherein I interviewed the then head of illegal drug interdiction for the NCIS (National Criminal Intelligence Service), who candidly admitted it was a waste of time and money trying to stop the flow of illegal drugs into the UK. Nowadays, it’s the Association of Chief Police Officers that is infinitely more radical than the political class – for its members see the dire consequences of criminalising drug users every day, in the form of ever more violent subcultures. In Britain, Loewenstein hangs out with sex workers in Newcastle, a homeless man next to King’s Cross station and interviews a trio of the usual reformist suspects: Dr David Nutt, the government drugs tsar who was sacked for saying taking ecstasy was less dangerous than riding a horse; Amanda “hole in the head” Fielding, who runs the Beckley Foundation for research into psychedelic drugs; and the head of Imperial College’s new centre for psychedelic research, Dr Robin Carhart-Harris. Just as in his reporting on the drug wars where he takes his lead from the likes of writers Roberto Sa-

dophiles. They’ve also been at the forefront of hailing India’s post-1991 rise, and back its battle with terrorism. Today, they watch in silent bemusement as Imran Khan grandly compares India going the way of Germany in the 1930s under the Nazis. They don’t agree, nor would they wish it were true. But they don’t know how to defend India. They exchange stories of visa troubles for academics and journalists, pressures on media, and ask why India is acting like China. And second, it isn’t just the intellectual/policy/media universe that is abuzz with these new doubts. The global corporates are concerned too: You used to have policy predictability, now it’s a yo-yo. New taxes and regulations pop up, some disappear soon, many linger. Your tax and regulatory processes, and top of it all, your judiciary, are muddled, and now the return of old socialist fixations such as importsubstitution, swadeshi, and a small-trader mercantilist ideology. On top of all that, your ministers admonish us. In short, in one sense or the other, most see India’s transformation into a prickly state. They don’t like it. The next counter would, perhaps, be the one of the obsolescence of soft power and the rise of hard power instead — that a new history began post-2014, and this India doesn’t bend over backwards to please others. We run into two problems again. First, that you could make that transition if you had built that kind of hard power

viano, whose Zero Zero Zero exhaustively chronicles who kills whom, and Jeremy Harding, whose superb Border Vigils correctly sites prohibitionism in the suite of anti-migrant measures adopted by the west, so in his reporting on harm minimisation, and the possible benefits of using (at least some) drugs, Loewenstein follows Michael Pollan, whose How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics has the virtue of being written by an author who admits to turning on and tuning in – if not dropping out. On page 304 of her exhaustive survey of psychoactive drugs, Suzi Gage writes: “I would not encourage anyone to take any of the substances mentioned here.” Which, following what I’ve written already, invites the question: who is this book aimed at? True, Gage deals with legal as well as illegal drugs and for the most part – saving her rather coy little autobiographical asides – this is a competent survey. But people who take drugs tend to know a lot about them – that’s what a drug culture is: a vector carrying information not usually, by definition, disseminated in the media. I reached page 50 of Say Why to Drugs before I learned anything new – and this was only that the somniferous herb valerian is not in any way related to the addictive benzodiazepine, Valium. Elsewhere, Gage – was she driven by nominative determinism to take up her calling as a drugs specialist? (gage being American slang for marijuana) – is less impressive, not seeming to be aware that cocaine is soluble (for injecting purposes) in water or that cannabis is a psychedelic. In common with many drugs specialists,

in the first place. Those who know better in the international strategic community, and are not impressed by our news TV channels, know that while the post-Pulwama 26/27 February action demonstrated a hard resolve on India’s part to retaliate and risk escalation, the lack of capability to deliver a decisive, unilateral punishment on a much smaller power like Pakistan was severely exposed. India, therefore, is getting caught up in its own rhetoric to prematurely declare itself as a new hard power, while giving up what was its strength so far. The message: There are perils in flaunting something when you haven’t got it. And second, as any marketing person would tell you, all brands, including nations, have some essential brand attributes. For China, it is a hard state, uncluttered, efficient governance, ethnic homogeneity and a super-power’s military. For Pakistan, our favourite reference point these days, we’d rather not even talk. But India’s core brand attributes are democracy, ease of living with diversity, a chaotic, cluttered but inclusive governance, and an argumentative, opinionated society. And it’s by no means a soft state. It can’t be, if it is the only large, diverse state to emerge after World War II to not only stay intact, but emerge stronger. All others, from the Soviet Union to Pakistan, the hardest of hard states, broke up. We can dismiss it all as Western prejudice with India, and especially with Hinduism. It won’t change the fact that a combination of identity politics and economic decline has severely damaged Brand India. Collaterally, it has dented Brand Modi as well. We need to take a deep breath, whisper mea culpa and start repairs. Of course, we can always say, do we care? At 4.8 per cent growth and the highest unemployment in 45 years, it simply won’t work.

she wants the latter to be in a class of its own, but this reflects its ubiquity rather than its pharmacology. Also, as with most who attempt a scientific analysis of the effect of psychoactive drugs on mental and physical health, Gage has frequent recourse to the observation that statistical regularities in trials may reflect the prior dispositions of users – for psychosis, depression or whatever – rather than being caused by the drugs they ingest. To her credit, she adopts Timothy Leary’s rubric of “set and setting” – without crediting him – for understanding the panoply of different effects the same substance can have on different people, in different environments, but she is unable to follow this idea through to its logical conclusion, which is that intoxicants can only be understood at all in the real world, not the laboratory. Really, this is the same as Loewenstein’s problem. At the end of his lengthy – and from my point of view, largely pointless – excursus, he contends: “As with climate change, small incremental shifts won’t ultimately suffice to address the drug war.” But really, healthy changes in the social use of intoxicants are always about small incremental shifts – it’s only addiction that courses through the body politic in great waves. Will Self’s memoir of his drug-addicted youth, Will, is published by Viking. Pills, Powder and Smoke: Inside the Bloody War on Drugs by Antony Loewenstein is published by Scribe (£16.99). Say Why to Drugs by Dr Suzi Gage is published by Hodder & Stoughton (£16.99).

Monday, 27 January, 2020

FOREIGN NEWS 07

More thaN 2,000 Now iNfecteD with coroNavirus; 56 DeaD iN chiNa BEIJING

M

AGENCIES

ORE than 2,000 people globally have been infected with a new coronavirus, the vast majority of them in China, where 56 people have died from the disease, according to figures released on Sunday. President Xi Jinping said during a politburo meeting on Saturday that China was facing a “grave situation”, as health authorities around the world scrambled to prevent a pandemic. The virus, believed to have originated late last year in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan that was illegally selling wildlife, has spread to Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the United States, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Australia, France and Canada. The World Health Organisation this week stopped short of calling the outbreak a global health emergency, but

some health experts question whether China can continue to contain the epidemic. On Sunday, China confirmed 1,975 cases of patients infected with the new coronavirus as of Jan. 25, while the death toll from the virus has risen to 56, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The outbreak has prompted widening curbs on movements within China, with Wuhan, a city of 11 million, on virtual lockdown, with transports links all-but severed except for emergency vehicles. The U.S. State Department said on Sunday it will relocate personnel at its Wuhan consulate to the United States and will offer a limited number of seats to private U.S. citizens on a Jan. 28 flight to San Francisco. Health authorities in Beijing urged people not to shake hands but instead salute using a traditional cupped-hand gesture. The advice was sent in a text message that went out to mobile phone users in the city on Sunday morning. On Saturday, Canada declared the

first “presumptive” confirmed case of the virus in a resident who had returned from Wuhan. The patient, a male in his 50s, arrived in Toronto on Jan. 22 and was hospitalised the next day after developing symptoms of respiratory illness, officials said. The outbreak has overshadowed the

start of the Lunar New Year, which is typically a festive time of year, with public events cancelled and many tourist sites shut. Many people on social media have been calling for the week-long holiday to be extended to help prevent further spread of the virus. TRANSPORT RESTRICTIONS:

Transportation curbs continued to widen, with the northern city of Tianjin to shut all inter-province shuttle buses from Jan. 27, the official People’s Daily reported on Sunday. It will halt all group tours, both at home and abroad, from Monday. On Saturday, Hong Kong declared a virus emergency, scrapped celebrations and restricted links to mainland China, while Australia confirmed its first four cases, Malaysia confirmed four and France reported Europe’s first cases on Friday. ANIMAL TRADE AND VIRAL OUTBREAKS: The animal-borne SARS virus 17 years ago was supposed to be a wake-up call about consuming wildlife as food, but scientists say China’s latest epidemic indicates that the practice remains widespread and a growing risk to human health. Like SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which was traced to bats and civets, the virus that has killed dozens

Iraq security forces clash with protesters in Baghdad, other cities BAGHDAD AGENCIES

Death toll in Peru tanker explosion rises to 14 LIMA: The death toll in the explosion of a gas tanker in Lima rose to 14 following the death of a woman hospitalized with severe burns, Peru’s Deputy Health Minister Victor Bocangel said Saturday. Bocangel, who met with a group of patients injured by the blast, told reporters that the latest victim was 39 years old. The dead also included five children and a 40-year-old man from Venezuela, the ministry said earlier. Nearly 50 people were injured, many seriously, when a tanker truck carrying 10,000 liters of liquefied gas exploded early Thursday, igniting a major fire that destroyed several houses and vehicles in the capital’s Villa El Salvador district. Investigators believe the explosion was caused when a fuel hose became detached as the tanker truck passed over a speed bump as it approached an intersection. The driver, initially reported to have died in the crash, in fact survived. AGENCIES

Iraqi security forces fired teargas and live bullets in renewed clashes with protesters in Baghdad and other cities on Sunday, a Reuters witness and security sources said, following a push to clear a sit-in camps across the country. Demonstrators are demanding the removal of what they see as a corrupt ruling elite and an end to foreign interference in domestic politics, especially by Iran, which has come to dominate state institutions since the toppling of Saddam Hussein in a 2003 US-led invasion. Iraqi populist cleric Moqtada alSadr called for demonstrations against the US Embassy in Baghdad on Sunday and in other cities. This followed a large march on Friday in which tens of thousands protested against the US military presence in Iraq. Protesters on Sunday threw petrol bombs and stones at security forces which responded by firing tear gas canisters and live rounds into the air. The authorities’ latest attempt to push back protesters and restore order came after Sadr, who has mil-

Nearly 50 dead, thousands displaced as storms lash southeast of Brazil

lions of supporters in Baghdad and the south, said on Saturday he would end his involvement in anti-government unrest. “We protest because we have a cause, I don’t think Moqtada Sadr or any other politician will change our mind,” said a protester in Baghdad who declined to give his name. Sadr’s supporters had bolstered the protesters and sometimes helped shield them from attacks by security forces and unidentified gunmen, but began withdrawing from sit-in camps on Saturday following his announcement. Security forces then removed

concrete barriers near Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, where demonstrators have camped out for months, and across at least one main bridge over the Tigris River. “I don’t go to protests often but I came out today because of what they did yesterday, I want to express my solidarity with my brothers in Tahrir,” said Hussain Ali, a student. Protesters in the capital were coughing and washing their faces and eyes to rid themselves of the effects of the gas while Iraqi Red Cross workers provided first aid, as the site was inaccessible to ambulances, a Reuters reporter said.

BRASILI: At least 46 people have died in Brazil and more than 25,000 have been displaced due to widespread flooding following storms and heavy rains that have swept across the south east of the country, authorities said on Sunday. Most of the casualties were in the state of Minas Gerais, including the capital Belo Horizonte, which had its heaviest rainfall over a 24-hour period leading to Friday since records began 110 years ago, O Globo newspaper reported. Local authorities in Minas Gerais said on Sunday that 37 people had died, while more than 17,000 were displaced or evacuated from their homes. A further 25 people were missing. In the coastal state of Espirito Santo, nine people died, more than 8,000 were displaced or evacuated, and three people were missing, authorities said on Sunday. AGENCIES

Hopes fade for those trapped as Turkey quake toll rises ANKARA AGENCIES

Hopes faded Sunday of finding more survivors from a powerful earthquake in eastern Turkey as more bodies were pulled from the rubble and the death toll climbed to 35. Nearly 4,000 rescue workers combed through debris in freezing temperatures, helped by mechanical diggers, in vain hopes of finding anyone alive in the city of Elazig. Three bodies were found in the city centre, 38 hours after the 6.8-magnitude quake struck Friday evening, bringing the death toll to 35 in Elazig province and nearby Malatya, Vice President Fuat Oktay said. Rescuers carefully cleared the remains of the collapsed four-storey building where the bodies were found, using buckets to remove broken material as a sniffer dog was brought to the scene. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu

told reporters that workers were searching for six people still under the rubble of the building. Residents nervously waited to find out what happened to their relatives. A group of women burst into tears when they learnt that the body of a relative was found, while one woman fainted, an AFP photographer said. Nearby a Red Crescent official tried to calm down another woman whose cousin was missing, urging her to be patient. “We are doing everything we can.” So far, the authorities say 45 people have been rescued alive but it is believed 14 people are still under the rubble in the region, according to NTV broadcaster. The government’s disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said 1,607 were injured including 104 still in hospital, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said. There was growing concern for residents amid the bitter cold, said Hasan Duran, a 58-year-old shopkeeper, who lives in Sursuru.

“If it was summer, people could maybe resist a little longer. But with this cold, it’s hard to imagine. Even we are freezing at home. May God give them strength”. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday “every effort was made to ensure citizens whose homes have collapsed or

been damaged will not suffer in this winter period.” He added every type of assistance was “swiftly” provided to the affected region from rescue workers to vehicles. MOTHER, TODDLER FOUND ALIVE: The epicentre of the quake was in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in

Elazig province, and also affected neighbouring cities and countries. With a population of around 4,000, Sivrice is located south of Elazig city on the shores of Hazar lake — one of the most popular tourist spots in the region. The US Geological Survey said the magnitude was 6.7, slightly lower than AFAD, adding that it struck near the East Anatolian Fault in an area that has suffered no documented large ruptures since an earthquake in 1875. There had been elation on Saturday when Ayse Yildiz and her two-year-old daughter were found alive by rescuers after 28 and 24 hours respectively. Nearly 80 buildings collapsed while 645 were heavily damaged in Elazig and Malatya provinces, AFAD said in a statement. Erdogan had promised Saturday during a visit to Elazig that Turkey’s housing agency TOKI would “do whatever is necessary and make sure no one is left without a home”.

Monday, 27 January, 2020

08 COMMENT Freedom of Expression Two PM’s Special Assistants hold forth

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M’s Accountability Special Assistant Shahzad Akbar has said that freedom of expression cannot be restricted in this day and age. Actually, he was right when he said this on Saturday at a dialogue on the future of parliamentary demoracy in Islamabad, but that has not stopped the government he belongs to from trying. There are multiple levels of censorship at work, despite the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Constitution, with shadowy figures creating a strange fear among newspapermen, as an incentive towards self-censorship, which would allow the government to claim that there was no censorship. What appears most enervating is the waffling by the government, which manifests itself in an apparent inability to decide who is disliked, and who is kosher. In the Ayub era, which Prime Minister Imran Khan has recently expressed admiration for, censorship did take place, but it was clear who was to be blacked out. PM’s Information Special Assistant Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, in her remarks to the press on the same day, while condoling the death of a TV cameraman the same day, said that the financial crisis of the media industry would be brought to an end. however, her relating this to the freedom of expression was making a connection where none exists. If anything, the absence of freedom of expression is another worry, along with the financial crisis, for workers and managers in the media industry, but how the two are linked, cannot be seen. Again, one has to hark back to the Ayub era, the creation of the National Press Trust, as an umbrella under which publications were drawn when they were nationalised to convert them from critics of the regime to mouthpieces. The government would do better to be part of the solution, than part of the problem, by allowing media an inevitable freedom. Part of the problem is the state allowing over-enthusiastic guardians of public morality freedom, while preventing artists from exercising their freedom. An exhibition in Karachi was the start, and currently a film is the subject of ire. It is possible to see all of this as a result of the success of the illegal and secretive restrictions on the media. Inevitably, restrictions degenerate, going from state interest to mere whimsy. That final stage, when no conceivable state interest can be perceived, has apparently been reached.

The Wuhan epidemic Pakistan needs to be careful

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he coronavirus epidemic in Wuhan has not yet been declared a worldwide epidemic, but Pakistan needs to take the issue much more seriously than it has so far. It is not only that Pakistanis in Wuhan are at risk, but there is the danger of the epidemic spreading in Pakistan now that there are four cases suspected in Multan and Lahore. The chances of students coming to Pakistan from China is remote now that the winter holidays are over, and term has resumed, but the Beijing embassy says there are about 1500 traders who come and go from China. There are also 800 resident traders, and around 28,000 students in the whole of China, of which 500 are enrolled in institutions in Wuhan. If any hostels are vacated in Wuhan, Pakistani students’ first option will be to return home. Another problem is the incubation period. While patients suffering from the disease are also carriers, and can be isolated at their port of entry, someone who has been infected may be travelling but without any symptoms that can be detected. Such an apparently healthy person may travel far indeed (even to Multan) before coming down with the disease. At that point, he will start infecting everyone with whom he comes into contact. Pakistan also has to keep in mind that it has more than one point of entry. There are the ports at Karachi and Gwadar, where passengers may not land, but will be visited by the crews of cargo ships. Further, there is the land route across the Khunjerab Pass. Quarantine arrangements must be made at all points, and healthy passengers arriving from China may need to be isolated from the general population for the incubation period. That period has not yet been determined, so the outside estimate should be used until there is a firm medical determination. It is unfortunate that the disease, which attacks the respiratory tract, is arriving at a time of great vulnerability, the depths of winter, but it would be better to take stringent measures, rather than risk another plague from China, like that of 1855, which killed 12 million people. That was the bubonic plague, which also affects the respiratory tract in its later stages.

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Revamping an economy in trouble Nothing that can’t be fixed JaWaD KaMal

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AKISTAN’S economy is in the throes of crisis and facing some serious quandaries, that have put the future of this nation at stake. There is no denying that the economy plays a crucial role in the progress and development of a country. In today’s globalised world where markets hold a vanguard position an economically strong state can play a proactive role to carry out its national interests. China and the USA are shining examples of this. Unfortunately, Pakistan has failed miserably to take advantage of today’s globalised village. If we check the sttistics, Pakistan’s economy is the 41st largest in the world. Its total size is $313 billion in terms of GDP. The Fiscal Year 2018 was the worst in the economic history of Pakistan. Additionally, increased oil prices, trade protectionism and regional rivalries affected many developed as well as developing economies. however, in Pakistan the situation became more threatening due to insufficient foreign exchange reserves, increased import bills, a deteriorating trade balance and stagnant remittances that had put the already fragile economy on the ventilators. Since Imran Khan occupied the leadership of the country, he had been facing some serious economic conundrums, and as a result, he failed to make the nation take off economically. On the one hand, Pakistan’ foreign debt has reached $106.9 billion and on the other hand the fiscal deficit widened to 8.9 percent of Pakistan’s GDP. The deficit amounts to Rs 3.445 trillion. Similarly, the trade deficit had also touched the historic heights of $31.8 billion, while foreign exchange reserves plummeted to a fatally low level. Pakistan was at the verge of default. So Imran Khan left with no other option than to knock at the doors of the IMF, UAe, Saudi Arabia and China for financial help. Furthermore, the energy crisis, water scarcity, over population, terrorism and non-traditional security threats are the prominent causes that have poured oil into the fire of an already devastated economy and

plunged the nation into the pit of obscurity. around 11 percent as compared to 2018 and the The repercussions of the abysmal economic number of people killed in these attacks reduced condition can easily be palpable in the form of by 40 percent. But the risk is still present, and it an increase in the inflation rate. According to the is still needed to make Pakistan a destination of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, inflation has peace, if foreign investment is to be attracted. reached 10.5 percent measured by the Consumer Thirdly, as afore-mentioned, the fiscal deficit Price Index. Moreover, the clouds of unemploy- had reached new heights and created economic ment are looming over the youth that comprises backwardness. The Government deserves ap60 percent of the total population. plause for starting an austerity campaign however, it is the need of the hour and a gi- throughout the country. It is a welcome sign, but gantic responsibility on the shoulders of Imran policymakers should chalk out some bold reKhan to take up the cudgels and brings Pak- forms, like cutting down the VIP protocol budget istan’s staggering economy from the present state that is five percent of total GDP. It is an irony for of distress to stabilizathat country which spent tion. Now, at this critical less than two percent of juncture taking into conits GDP on health. sideration some valuable Fourthly, Pakistan It is a well-documented fact possesses steps can easily keep the the great poteneconomy afloat. tial to become a tourism that Pakistan’s economy is Firstly, a friendly destination, especially rebusiness environment is a ligious tourism. Karon the ventilator and cornerstone in the develtarpur corridor is the clouds of distress are opment of any economy. prominent example. eyeNo doubt the World Bank catching and snowcapped hovering over it. But it is has shown that there are mountains of northern positive signs in the ease areas are yet to be discovevident beyond an iota of of doing business in Pakered abroad. Recently, doubt that various istan. In 2019 Pakistan the UN has listed Pakwas 136th now it jumped istan among the top 10 remedies can easily tourist destinations of to 108th position in its 2020. So, tourism can index. In addition, this reinvigorate the economy easily act as a harbinger has secured it a slot of economic revolution among the top 10 nations inside the country. with the most improved Fifthly, government business climate. But policymakers have to ensure the continuity of must increase its tax collection base through dithis trend and remove impediments that facilitate rect taxation system and by strengthening the Federal Board of Revenue. Similarly, exports are the flow of Foreign Direct Investment. Secondly, security is pre-requisite for pro- the touchstone for today’s modern economy. So, viding safe economic ambiance. There is no government must design policies that facilitate denying the impression that terrorism has en- exporters that ultimately benefit the economy. It is a well-documented fact that Pakistan’s gulfed the nation economically and wreaked havoc. Lamentably, this becomes the major economy is on the ventilator and clouds of discause of capital flying out to other countries. For- tress are hovering over it. But it is evident betunately, Pakistan has overcome this menace to yond an iota of doubt that by putting into effect a great extent and the credit goes to our brave the above-mentioned remedies can easily reinlaw enforcement security forces that fought gal- vigorate the economy. lantly and weeded out terrorism from the counJawad Kamal can be reached at try. In a report by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, terrorist attacks in 2019 decreased by Jawadkamal076@gmail.com

The BJP’s Hindu extremist politics Narendra Modi. Later Modi stated, referring to Muslims “it is a lesson to them who double the population”. Instead of any enquiry or criticism, janambhoomi and making a Ram Mandir in place the BJP declared Modi a hero, and he is now PM of the historical Babri Mosque, and in this regard of India. Under his premiership the Indian state the BJP managed to mobilize hindus in large is rapidly becoming a hindu rashtra. After passage of CAA & NRC, the Muslims numbers to destroy the Babri Mosque under leadership of L.K. Advani; and as a result horrifying and secular hindus are protesting in large numbers, but in accordance hindu Muslim riots with its extremist minderupted throughout India. set, the BJP government The BJP was openly is trying to suppress their working for India as a voice by force, and sevhindu nation, and in 1999 The BJP is an extremist eral people have died in when it came into power, party, originating from the police firing. Saddenits prominent leader Murli ingly BJP leader Dilip Manohar Joshi was asRSS (which the CIA Ghosh described them as signed the education dogs and said “their govMinistry with a specific classified as a terrorist ernment killed them like task. First of all he aporgnisation) which remained dogs”. The BJP is trying pointed hindu nationalists level best to shape in the text book board, the under ban thrice in India due its these protests as antiIndian Council of Social hindu, and are spreading Sciences Research and Into its violent activities. The hatred through hate dian Institute of Advance speeches. C.T. Ravi adBJP is fully committed to Studies aiming to hindumitted that they were beise the Indian educational fulfill Hindutva aspirations in hind Gujrat riots and system. The Information threatened to repeat again Ministry under the BJP which Muslims and Gujrat-like genocide. appointed hindu nationalRaghuraj Singh instiists on key posts in broadChristians are enemies and gated hindus to bury casting and allotted both have no right to stay in Muslims alive, another licences to their activists BJP leader Somashekara who worked to promote India, which could well lead Reddy threatened genohindu extremism. cidal violence against Former Indian home to the worst ever Muslims as hindus were Minister Sushil Kumar humanitarian crisis. If the in the majority. Shinde revealed at Jaipur Indeed, the BJP is an that Indian agencies reworld does not take notice extremist party, originatported that the BJP was ing from the RSS (which promoting extremism. Inof the BJP’s extremist the CIA classified as a deed, in the BJP criminals terrorist orgnisation) agenda then sooner or later and terrorists were honwhich remained under oured with pride as heroes, the region will be set ablaze ban thrice in India due to as when Pragya Singh its violent activities. The Thakur MP of BJP deBJP is fully committed to scribed Nathuram Godse, fulfill hindutva aspirawho killed Gandhi Ji, as a tions in which Muslims hero. Pragya Singh Thakur herself was convicted of the Malegaon blast but awarded the party ticket. and Christians are enemies and both have no right The Gujerat riot is the most horrifying act of to stay in India, which could well lead to the violence in the history of secular India in which worst ever humanitarian crisis. If the world does the state has shown completely irresponsible and not take notice of the BJP’s extremist agenda then discriminatory behaviour under then Gujerat CM sooner or later the region will be set ablaze.

The BJP is moving to make India a Hindu Rashtra Inshal Rao

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he time has gone when India was a secular state. Today the ruling party is one whose member was convicted of Gandhi’s killing and whose members are accused of the Malegaon Blast. It has stated that Nathuram Godse, who killed Mahatma Gandhi, was a deshbhakt (patriot). The time has gone when Gandhi’s ideas were dominant, and today India is in the hands of BJP which has routes in the RSS, which the CIA classified as terrorist organization. Since BJP was formed in 1980, it has been doing communal politics to consolidate hindu votes aimed at attaining religio-political goals, to achieve power for fulfilling its religious aspirations of making India a hindu Rashtra (nation) that would be governed by hindu principles. Since its inception with the coordination of Sangh Parivar groups, the BJP has created a climate of hindu extremism and of destroying the secular fabric of India. For attaining its goals the BJP set three religio-political schemes: first Ekmata Yajna (integration rite): in this scheme Bharat Mata (mother India) was portrayed as one of the most prestigious hindu divinities and its image was worshipped by thousands of hindus on yatra (pilgrimage) from one part to another part of India, which suggests that India is a holy land only for hindus and those who refuse to worship India as the divine mother are enemies of hindus. Muslims and Christians refuse to worship India as divine mother due to their monotheistic belief so they are being treated as enemies of hindus. Secondly, leaders of BJP in tandem with the RSS and VhP launched the scheme of Rath Yatra, which was designed as a holy war against enemies. The Rath was designed as a chariot of Arjun, so that the chariot would look like a war chariot. It started from Somnath and ended at Ayodhya. During the yatra BJP leaders instigated haters, as a result several communal riots occurred. According to K.N Panikker “from the very beginning of the Rath Yatra tensions created between hindus and Muslims, and 116 riots occurred in which 564 people died”. The third one Was re-establishing of the Ram

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Monday, 27 January, 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

Defining Pakistan MARTIN Luther King Jr once said ‘almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world a better place’. Jinnah wanted the Pakistanis to respect our minorities. I want to reiterate that Prime Minister Imran Khan had promised to give minorities their due rights. he envisioned following the model of the state of Medina. Mr Khan’s zeal was witnessed when he proposed that Dr Atif Mian was the panacea for the economic calamity of Pakistan. he desired to see Dr Atif as the Finance Minister in his ‘Naya Pakistan’. The desire was a rhetorical. Nevertheless, Mr Khan coerced Dr Atif to resign from the economic Advisory Council, owing to his faith; which is indifferent to our economy. Consequently, Dr Imran Rasul resigned in protest. This robbed our economic Council of competent members. however, Jinnah would have daunted the government’s decision because he guaranteed justice, equality, and opportunities for the minorities. Jinnah was a protagonist of minority rights. he stood for the Muslims when they were a minority in the colonial India. Jinnah must have been disenchanted following this inauspicious decision. BarriStEr arSaLan ChaudhrY narowal

Women empowerment

Insecurities in Punjab Buzdar has got a lot to answer for is beyond Buzdar’s control, all negativities are still attributed to him, regardless. Reportedly, Buzdar has been reluctant to induct certain individuals in his cabinet, owing to the long-standing insecurity in him. As if dissent within was not enough, recent reports have surfaced of PTI allies moving in to send Buzdar packing. Some suggest that in the days to follow, attempts are to be made to replace Buzdar. Naturally, these reports add to the insecurity of an already insecure Buzdar, huddled in the CM house with the elders’ protection. In order to cling to his chair, Buzdar was seen making efforts by reaching out disgruntled MPAs and attempting to resolve their reservations. Similarly, by keeping a bold front, he claims that the critics would be dissyeD KasWaR GaRDezI appointed as he isn’t going anywhere, and to be honest his claim has always been true till date. On many occasions it has been predicted VeR since Usman Buzdar took charge that Buzdar is counting his days and yet he has of Punjab, he hasn’t been in a position managed to stay on against all odds. Undoubtof much comfort. Initially, the public edly, he has the blessings and prayers of some wasn’t familiar with him and nobody nobility behind him, owing to which he rehad much to say except the fact that he mains the Chief Minister despite a shaky mawas an unknown figure, not essentially reprejority in the Assembly. senting the face of PTI. Second came the probBut the fundamental question which conlem of inducting ministers in his cabinet; cerns the general public remains. how can a careful choices had to be made. The person serve the general public if he powerful and more popular leaders himself is unsure about his position? had to be accommodated before emMost of the time that he has, goes into barking upon a quest to rule Punjab. countering his insecurities or comWithin days of taking charge, The Prime Minister must ready himself to plaining to the elders about potential the stench of incompetence filled Is this what the comanswer, inter alia, the aforesaid questions. insubordination. the corridors of power in Punjab. mon citizenry of Punjab deserve? A Buzdar’s inability to comprehend Minister, whose biggest threat The people who voted you into power would Chief the very basic of matters ricocheted comes from his own ministers. Is he of the Chief Minister’s chair. Some never forgive you for playing with their future going to be the anointed knight in even alleged that he couldn’t even these dark times? A leader whose chair by betting on Usman Buzdar, a man not read the files so presented to him. trembles every now and then? how Lack of experience on an adminiswould such a leader provide sanctuary capable of stopping his own chair from trative post did, indeed, reveal its to the common man when he himself ugly face. A man with such diverse is insecure about his grip on power? rocking. A leader whose biggest excitement set of skills is indeed bound to be inDoes the government not have bigger secure about his chair when he’s stems from affixing number plates from his problems to deal with than to making surrounded by more likeable and Buzdar continues? hometown, on the CM’s official cars. It is the sureThe competent leaders, worthy enough Prime Minister must ready to lead the most important province himself to answer, inter alia, the aforebiggest misfortune that Usman Buzdar has of the country. said questions. The people who voted As Buzdar himself wasn’t the been imposed upon us. It’s even more ironic you into power would never forgive face of a strong lobby, most prefor playing with their future by that such a leader has been introduced by the you dicted he wouldn’t last for long. But, betting on Usman Buzdar, a man not surprisingly, there is indeed some of stopping his own chair from so-called saviours and icons of democracy. capable power which has his back. he has rocking. A leader whose biggest exsurvived till now, defying most citement stems from affixing number Usman Buzdar’s heightened insecurity is prophecies about a shorter stint as plates from his hometown, on the going to be the bedrock of Punjab’s failure, CM’s official cars. It is the biggest the CM. Miraculously, even the very semblance of a threat to his chair is misfortune that Usman Buzdar has and IK will be made answerable for the nipped in the bud and is eliminated been imposed upon us. It’s even more before blossoming. Senior members ironic that such a leader has been inincompetence prevailing in Punjab of his own cabinet were whisked troduced by the so-called saviours and away by NAB as soon as their reicons of democracy. Usman Buzdar’s spective names shone through TV heightened insecurity is going to be the screens as potential candidates for bedrock of Punjab’s failure, and IK the Chief Minister’s slot. Other powerful leadImran Khan will have to answer for the will be made answerable for the incompetence ers are not even part of the cabinet so as to out- sorry state of affairs in Punjab. The half-witted prevailing in Punjab. shine him during cabinet meetings. It seems, decision to hand over Punjab to Usman Buzdar despite his unpopularity, Usman Buzdar finds would haunt IK in the years to come. With a Syed Kaswar Gardezi is a lawyer and a favour in some quarters; the ones which matter. failing economy, the affairs of Punjab only add columnist. he can be contacted at Under such circumstances, the Prime Min- to the misery of the people. even if something kaswargardezi@gmail.com

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ister expects Buzdar to, effectively, run Punjab and its tedious affairs. On more than one occasion, the Chief Minister has put forward his reservations before the Prime Minister, mostly citing a threat to his position in Punjab. Due to his insecure position, he hasn’t even been able to establish himself as an effective administrator with many government officials turning a deaf ear to his orders. One might wonder what is the benefit of a leader such as Usman Buzdar? Maybe, he is the front for a behind-the-shadow leadership? Or else, is easier to control by some. Only time would reveal the actual plot behind Buzdar’s story. Nevertheless, it is evident that each day in Buzdar’s government passes by with potential threats to his chair and growing insecurities. Till recently, only his appointment was the focal point of criticism and some commentators were of the view, that if he is able to serve properly then all would be forgotten. however, unfortunately, Buzdar hasn’t been able to come close to a good performance. The basic day-today running has also collapsed under his rule. The effectiveness of a Chief Minister has severely deteriorated since the days of his predecessor. The fate of Punjab has been jeopardized solely to keep him in his chair.

The term ‘empowerment’ is frequently heard today all over the world and it’s being used in a variety of contexts. But when it comes to ‘Women empowerment’ it has a very peculiar socio-economic and political connotation. It embodies an array of individual rights and civil liberties for women such as; freedom of expression, freedom of movement, right to inherit property, right to education, right to employment, right to vote, etc. The origins of the term can be traced back to the ‘Feminist Movements’ during the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in the United Kingdom and the United States, but with the technological advancements in world communication systems and the phenomenon of ‘Globalization’, the idea of women empowerment has acquired immense exposure across all types of societies world over. According to european School for Gender equality it refers to “a process by which women gain power and control over their own lives and acquire the ability to make strategic choices”. Although it’s apparently a ‘western’ concept propounded by the western feminists but due to the emergence of global human rights movements it’s got an impetus across all the societies of the world. India’s most renowned developmental feminist activist, Kamla Bhasin, writes in her book ‘From Patriarchy to equality: Feminism in South Asia’ that “The issues which contemporary feminists are raising in South Asia are based in indigenous culture. Issues of dowry, violence against women, rape, equal wages, discriminatory personal laws, the use of religion to oppress women, the negative portrayal of women in the media, all of these are local issues. Many of these have also been raised by western feminists but this fact neither makes them irrelevant for us nor proves that South Asian feminists are ‘followers’ of western feminists. If some forms of women’s oppression are universal then the struggles must and will also be universal. This is why women the world over have raised their voices against sexist media, discrimination in jobs, discrimination in religious institutions, and all kinds of violence against women, etc.” Today, gender bias continues to create huge barricades for many women. Ongoing struggles include ensuring equal economic opportunities, educational equity, and an end to gender-based violence. A cursory look at the history would show that women have made great strides in the struggle for equality, including women’s suffrage and inroads in equal opportunity at the domestic as well as professional fronts. Interestingly, the concept of ‘Women empowerment’ is gaining foothold in the contemporary world and finding acceptance in the mainstream media in the form of continued public discourse. But, in spite of tremendous progress made in the struggle for gender equality, women still face violence, discrimination, and institutional barriers to equal participation in society. tariquE ahmEd aBro hyderabad

Terror remains in Quetta TeRRORISM is an interminable issue which has coloured our lives with fear , anxiety, sentiment of repugnancy and hate. Mostly the people of KPK and Balochistan are suffering from this crucial issue. It has taken the lives of countless innocent people. Recently, in Quetta , there was a terrible bomb blast in a mosque, located in the city ghousabad neighbourhood in the Satellite town area. At least fifteen people were martyred and twenty were injured. The condition of six victims was critical. DSP Amanullah was among those people who lost their precious lives . his son was martyred one month before in a fire incident. Straightforward, the bomb blast took place in evening during (Maghreb) prayers. Inspector General of police Mohsin hasan Butt declared that it was an suicide attack . The head , legs and body of the suicide bomber were found in grim condition. The Chief Minister, Jam Kamal visited the civil hospital and administered the hospital authorities to render the best treatment to the injured. he said the patients who were in critical condition would be sent to Karachi for better treatment. Moreover, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Bajwa promised that the Pakistan Army will give complete assistance to police and the civil administration. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday demanded an immediate report on the Quetta attack. The Counter Terrorism Department registered an FIR against unknown terrorists . mahEEn rahEEm turbat

Monday, 27 January, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

truMP iMMigratioN claMPDowN May threateN aMericaNs' joBs, wages OMAHA

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AGENCIES

HE 20-year-old San Diego bakery Con Pane Rustic Breads & Cafe went out of business this month after an audit by US authorities found immigrants working there illegally. In April, a small Nebraska town lost a potato processing plant, and the local revenue it generated, in the wake of an immigration raid on its facilities. A restaurant in New York appears to have suffered similar fate in August. Farmers say they are planting less, turning to automation, eliminating some crops, leaving them to rot in the field or contemplating selling out of the business altogether — all because they cannot find enough immigrant labour. As the US birth rate is falling and a labour shortage is worsening, President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants could make the situation worse for businesses like these.

Trump and others who favour tighter immigration controls say low-skilled migrant workers compete for American jobs and drive down wages for all workers. But a growing body of research suggests the contrary: that removing immigrant workers can be destructive, resulting in lost jobs, lower wages, canceled investments and less affordable services — even for Americans. About 7.6 million unauthorized migrants work in the United States, amounting to 4.6 percent of the labor force, according to the Pew Research Center, and the share is shrinking even as demand for workers is strong. Immigrants staff major industries like food processing, farming and hotels as well as small businesses such as restaurants and building contractors and provide sought-after services such as child care and cleaning. In 2016, an analysis by the National Academy of Sciences found there was “little evidence” that immigrants affected

overall employment for the native-born. And Julie Hotchkiss, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, sifted through employer and wage records from

UAE tech ambitions tarnished by internet restrictions DUBAI

Renault, Nissan chief engineers to meet, revive R&D projects PARIS

AGENCIES

With its ultra-modern infrastructure and hyper-connected services, the United Arab Emirates is an emerging technology power, but a scandal surrounding a popular messaging application has highlighted tight controls on the internet. The oil-rich country has invested billions in new technologies and artificial intelligence “to become a forerunner in the provision of smart services” as part of its Vision 2021 development plan. But although more than nine million expatriates make up 90 per cent of the population, making a WhatsApp or Skype call to get in touch with loved ones back home is no easy task. While free voice over internet protocol (VoIP) telephony is commonly used across the globe, it is inaccessible through normal internet services in the UAE — except for on the Abu Dhabideveloped mobile application ToTok. “To speak with my family via WhatsApp, I buy a card every month,” one Pakistani worker told AFP, holding up a small ticket with a code to access a virtual private network (VPN), which allows users to bypass internet restrictions. While many opt to use VPNs — the legality of which is hazy — others have resorted to ToTok, which became popular in the Emirates and the Middle East after its 2019 launch.

the state of Georgia and found firms that hire unauthorized workers actually pay their legally authorized workers higher wages and stay in business longer.

AGENCIES

“I used ToTok because it is the only platform where video calls work properly,” said an Egyptian expat, who regularly uses the app to call his wife and daughter back home. However, a report by The New York Times in December accused the UAE of using ToTok to spy on users, prompting both Google and Apple to remove the app from their online marketplaces. The report said ToTok allowed the Emirati government to track conversations, movements and other details of people who installed it on their phone. CHINA MODEL: Google Play made the app available again in January, listing a series of “updates”, but it is still unavailable on the Apple Store. It remains unclear why Apple has

yet to restore the app, or if it ever will, but according to researcher Bill Marczak, the tech giant “is viewed as perhaps being a bit more privacy friendly”. He said the case of ToTok, which also won quick popularity in the United States, was unique in targeting such a large audience. “As far as I know this pretty much is the only case of a messaging platform created by an intelligence group,” Marczak, a senior research fellow with the Canada-based cyber security research group Citizen Lab, told AFP. “It’s a very unique case in that sense because they were trying to develop this app that was designed to be used by millions of people in the world.”

IMMIGRANTS A ‘NET POSITIVE’: “Paper after paper, I see a net positive impact from the presence of these workers,” she told AFP, stipulating that her views are her own. Employment for US citizens actually fell by 0.7 per cent in communities where authorities deported a half million mainly Hispanic immigrants between 2008 and 2015, according to research published in December by economists at the Universities of Colorado and California. Low-skilled immigrants often “complement” the skills of higher-skilled native-born and legally authorized workers — allowing businesses to thrive and employ more workers overall, they said. An English-speaking restaurant host, for example, will lose her job if immigrant cooks and dishwashers flee and the restaurant closes. A high-skilled construction contractor may be unable to complete a job without the low-skilled immigrant labor needed for preliminary demolition work.

Renault’s (RENA.PA) engineering boss will meet his counterpart at Nissan (7201.T) in Japan this week, two sources close to Renault said, as the carmakers seek to revive projects crucial to an alliance left reeling by the Carlos Ghosn affair. The Franco-Japanese alliance is wrestling with the fallout of the ouster and arrest of Ghosn, the architect of the partnership who now says it is at risk of collapse. Analysts say that in order to turn investor sentiment around, the firms need to make good on cost-saving joint engineering projects that have slowed since Ghosn’s departure. According to the two sources, Gilles Le Borgne, who was hired on Jan. 6 from rival automaker PSA (PEUP.PA), will meet Nissan’s Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, the Nissan executive in charge of delivering the joint engineering projects. Renault did not respond to a request for comment on Le Borgne’s meetings. Renault-Nissan’s cost-saving alliance is vital to both companies as the car industry battles a slowdown and huge investments in cleaner vehicles and automated driving. “The alliance has taken a hit, but the alliance engineering team is still there,” said a third source, who is close to the alliance. “You cannot, from one day to the next, stop something that’s been embed-

ded so deeply.” Japanese prosecutors arrested Ghosn — who was at the time the head of the carmakers’ alliance — in November 2018 and accused him of financial misconduct. Ghosn slipped out of Japan and fled at the end of December to Lebanon. He says the charges were fabricated to force him out of an alliance in which the Japanese side no longer trusted its French partners. FOCUS ON JOINT PROJECTS: Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard has said both sides are determined to make the partnership succeed, with the joint projects a major focus. Those projects will be on the agenda when the board of the alliance, which also includes Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi (7211.T), holds a regular meeting in Japan on Jan. 30. One area of focus will be hybrid power systems, a field where, analysts say, the alliance has not effectively pooled its research and development efforts. Each of the three members of the alliance has developed their own systems. “That’s been among the sources of the friction,” said the third source close to the alliance. “But now the three systems are there, we’ll need to use them in the most efficient way possible.” Nissan will use the E-Tech hybrid system developed by Renault on its Juke small SUV, while Renault will use the Nissan-developed e-Power system on its Kadjar model, particularly in Asia, according to the same sources.

Confidence rises in UK economy after election, but will it last? LONDON AGENCIES

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s emphatic December election win has triggered a burst of optimism among British businesses and consumers, weakening the case for a Bank of England interest rate cut this week. Johnson’s success in securing a large parliamentary majority, which ended a period of deadlock in Westminster, means Britain will leave the European Union on Jan. 31 and start an 11-month, no-change transition period. Although it remains to be seen if the pickup in confidence will translate into a meaningful boost to growth, economists have been heartened by the range of indicators that have perked up over the last month. At the end of 2019, signs of weakness in the labour market prompted two BoE rate-setters to vote for lower borrowing

costs. Three others, including Governor Mark Carney, hinted recently that more economic stimulus might be needed. But of the data published so far this year, arguably only retail sales for December were a disappointment. Below are some of the early signals for the economy in 2020 that members of the Monetary Policy Committee will weigh up before Thursday’s announcement. PMI JUMPS IN JAN: British companies are enjoying their best month in more than a year, according to the IHS Markit/CIPS UK Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), the strongest evidence yet of a post-election economic boost. The survey showed growth across services companies resumed in January for the first time since August, while a downturn in manufacturing eased. The PMI reading bettered the euro zone’s for the first time since December 2018. The PMI followed a Confederation of British

Industry survey that pointed to a record jump in confidence among manufacturers. CFOS CHEER UP: Accountants Deloitte said 53pc of chief financial officers were more optimistic about their companies’ prospects than three months previ-

ously, the highest share since records started in 2008. It survey was conducted entirely after the election. https://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/wpadmin/https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/

UK WILL SET OUT EU TRADE OBJECTIVES NEXT MONTH: BREXIT SECRETARY LONDON: Britain will set out more details about its objectives for a free trade deal with the European Union next month after the country leaves the bloc on Jan. 31, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay said. “We are going to publish our objectives for the negotiation (…) in due course after the 31st,” he told BBC television’s Andrew Marr program on Sunday. At stake are the terms of trade from 2021, when an 11-month post-Brexit transition period is due to expire. Negotiations between London and Brussels are expected to start in March. “The key issue is that we will have control of our rules, we will not be a rule taker, we will not diverge for the sake of diverging, we start from a position of alignment,” Barclay said. AGENCIES

CMYK

gfx/polling/1/652/648/deloitte.png CONSUMERS MORE CONFIDENT: The public became much more upbeat about the prospects for Britain’s economy after the election, according to a survey commissioned by payment card company Barclaycard. The proportion who said they were confident about the economy’s future rose 10 points to 41%, the highest since March 2017, according to the survey of 2,000 people conducted by Longitude Research from Dec. 17 to 19. However, there are doubts as to how much consumer confidence in the economy really matters. Britons have been among the most downbeat of all European Union consumers, according to European Commission data, but their spending has continued to power growth. And while the Barclaycard survey showed an increase in optimism among consumers, the British Retail Consortium reported dismal Christmas trading for major store chains.

Monday, 27 January, 2020

BUSINESS 11 Cutlery exports increase 7.39pc in six months ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

The cutlery exports from the country witnessed an increase of 7.39 percent during the first six months of current financial year (2019-20) as against the exports of corresponding period of last year (2018-19). Pakistan exported cutlery worth $47.415 million during JulyDecember (2019-20) against the exports of $44.154 million during July-December (2018-19), showing growth of 7.39 percent, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). On year-on-year basis, the cutlery exports from the country during December 2019 dipped by 6.81 percent when compared to the same month of the last year. The cutlery exports during December 2019 were recorded at $7.404 million against the export of $7.945 million in December 2018. Meanwhile, on month-on-month basis, the cutlery export in December 2019, also decreased by 12. 52 percent when compared to the export of $8.464 million in November 2019. It is pertinent to mention here that the country's merchandise trade deficit plunged by 33.67 percent during the first six months of the current fiscal year (2019-20) as compared to the deficit of the same month of last year. The trade deficit during July-December (2019-20) was recorded at $ 11.628 billion against the deficit of $16.771 billion during July-December (2018-19), the data revealed. The exports during the period increased from $ 11.181 billion during last year to $11.535 billion during the current fiscal year, showing growth of 3.17 percent. On the other hand, the imports into the country witnessed decline of 17.13 percent by falling from $ 27.952 billion last year to $23.163 billion during the current fiscal year, the data revealed.

Cement exports plunge 7.48pc in first half of FY20

US oppoSition to CpEC will not rEmain limitEd to StatEmEntS, SaYS EConomiC watChdog PEW SAYS WEST WORRIED OVER THE RISE OF CHINESE ECONOMIC MODEL ISLAMABAD INP

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HE Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Sunday lauded the stance of the government over China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) after the US criticism terming it encouraging and according to the national interests. The US should understand that Pakistan cannot abandon this most important regional project which has potential to turnaround our troubled economy, it said. The American opposition to the CPEC will not remain confined to statements and she would do everything to reverse it for which Pakistan and China must be prepared, said Dr. Murtaza Mughal, President PEW. He said that the latest US statement against CPEC has come at a time when President Trump

was claiming that his country and Pakistan had never been so close as now that exposes duplicity in policies. Murtaza Mughal said that Pakistan can never ditch China to please the US as both countries have a long history of helping each other in difficult times while handing over Gwadar Port to the US is out of question. He added that CPEC will benefit Pakistani

Foreigners, expats to get best facilities upon arrival: Hafeez Shaikh

economy while China’s international trade will be facilitated which will add to the global influence of Beijing which is not acceptable to the US. For the same reason handle like FATF is being used against Pakistan as it is an open secret that most of the dirty money finds refuge in the US and UK but FATF will never raise any objection about it, he observed. Most of the dollars received through the US in the shape of grants and loans find their way back to the US leaving Pakistan in debt but China has never resorted to such exploitation, he said, adding that Chinese support to infrastructure projects in Pakistan are visible to everyone. Dr. Mughal said that west is worried about the Chinese economic model which has the capacity to replace the crumbling capitalism which has aggravated poverty, frustration, and conflicts. Presently eight billionaires own more money than half of the global population while the crisis after crisis has become order of the day which snatches money from poor and adds it to the coffers of the rich. Developed nations are not interested in reforming the free market system but trying best to keep it intact which seems difficult, he said.

Soyabean, palm oil imports drop 9.58pc, 16.28pc, respectively in six months ISLAMABAD APP

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The export of cement recorded 7.48 per cent decline during the first half of the current financial year as compared to the corresponding period of last year. Pakistan exported cement worth $145.265 million during the July-December FY20 period against the exports of $157.006 million during the corresponding period of FY19, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) data reveals. In terms of quantity, the cement exports grew by 2.59pc from 3,671,485 metric tonnes to 3,766,631 metric tonnes. On year-on-year basis, the exports however plunged by 18.64pc during December 2019 as compared to the same month of last year. The cement exports in December 2019 were recorded at $21.062 million against the exports of $25.888 million in December 2018, the PBS data further revealed. On monthon-month basis, the cement exports decreased by 29.31pc in December 2019 as compared to the exports of $29.794 million in November 2019. It is pertinent to mention here that the country's merchandise trade deficit plunged by 33.67pc during the first six months of FY20 as compared to the deficit of the same month of FY19. The trade deficit during July-December FY20 was recorded at $11.628 billion against the deficit of $16.771 billion during JulyDecember FY19. The exports increased from $11.181 billion during FY19 to $11.535 billion during FY20, showing a growth of 3.17pc. On the other hand, the imports into the country witnessed 17.13pc decline by falling from $27.952 billion in the last fiscal year to $23.163 billion during the current fiscal year.

KARACHI INP

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Sunday assured to provide the best facilities to the foreigners and overseas Pakistanis upon their arrival in the country. Addressing a ceremony in connection with the International Customs Day, he praised the performance of Customs officials and highlighted the importance of their role in the national economy. “It’s necessary to provide the bestever facilities to the foreigners and overseas Pakistanis arriving in the country and that Customs officials will have to fulfill their responsibility while improving the impression of their institution.” The adviser said the number of people visiting Pakistan had doubled in the last one and half years. Pakistan Customs was the face of Pakistan and its role was extremely impor-

tant to achieve national targets, he added. The government had prioritised to promote global trade for economic uplift, Shaikh said, adding and the centre would also provide resources to Customs like other government institutions. Separately, addressing the PSX Top 25 Companies Award, Hafeez Shaikh said the effective policies and economic reforms introduced by the Imran-led government were bearing fruit. He further said the government had promoted a business-friendly environment and adopted effective measures to increase exports. The adviser said the government didn’t obtain any loan from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) from the last six months, claiming the prices of petroleum products were not increased from the last five months. He maintained that they (the government) would provide relief to the poor people despite budget constraints.

The imports of edible oil including palm and soyabean into the country during the first half of the current financial year reduced by 9.58 per cent and 16.28pc respectively as compared to the imports of the corresponding period of last year. According to data from the Federal Bureau of Statistics, during the period from July-December FY20, the palm oil import into the country was recorded at $842.418 million as against $931.661 million of the same period of last year. During the period under review, about 1.516 million metric tonnes of palm oil imported in the first half of the current financial year as compared to the imports of 1.449 million metric tonnes of the same period of last year. The imports of soyabean oil also decreased by 16.28pc and were recorded at 59,278 metric tonnes ($40.817 million) as against 65,854 metric tonnes ($48.756 million) of the same period of last year. During the period under review, the country also imported about 510,506 metric tonnes of pulses ($245.671) million as against 525,624 metric tons ($287.827) million of the same period of last year. It may be recalled that the food group exports from the country during the first half of the current financial year witnessed about 10.26pc growth as compared to the corresponding period of last year. Food commodities worth over $2.199 billion were exported during the period from July-December FY20 as compared to the exports of $1.994 billion of the same period of last year. On other hand, imports of the food commodities into the country during the period under review registered decreased of 13.48pc as it came down from $2.566 billion in the first half of the last financial year to $2.556 billion in the first six months of the current financial year. However, on a month-on-month basis, the food group exports witnessed a declining trend in December 2019 as it was recorded at $442.073 million as against the exports of $482.399 million of the same month of last year.

Boeing’s 777X jetliner successfully completes maiden flight SEATTLE AGENCIES

Boeing Co successfully staged the first flight of the world’s largest twin-engined jetliner on Saturday in a respite from the crisis over its smallest model, the grounded 737 MAX. The 777X, a larger version of the 777 mini-jumbo, touched down at the historic Boeing Field outside Seattle at 2 pm (2200 GMT) after a debut which began almost four hours earlier at Boeing’s revamped wide-body assembly lines north of the city. The decision to take advantage of a gap in clouds to start the months of testing needed before the jet can carry passengers came after two attempts had to be postponed due to high winds.

“It’s a proud day for us,” said the chief executive of Boeing’s commercial airplane unit, Stan Deal. As the 252-foot-long aircraft – the longest commercial jet by a whisker – drew to a halt before waiting VIPs, rows of undelivered 737 MAX stood idle nearby in a reminder of the crisis that has engulfed Boeing since it was grounded last year. “It made all of our employees proud one more time of who we are and what we get to do, by flying a brand new airplane that is going to change the world one more time,” Deal said. The aircraft is the larger of two versions planned by Boeing and will officially be called 777-9, but is better known under its development codename, 777X. Hallmarks include folding wingtips –

designed to allow its carbon wings to fit the same parking bays as earlier models – and the world’s largest commercial engines from General Electric, wide enough to swallow a 737 MAX fuselage. FAA COOPERATION: While eyeing hundreds of sales this decade, Boeing’s new 406-seater must overcome hurdles from regulators and buyers. The 777X will be the first major aircraft to be certified since the role of software flaws in two fatal 737 MAX crashes prompted accusations of cosy relations between Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration and heralded tougher scrutiny. The FAA has pledged to ensure the 777X review is conducted rigorously, while launch customer Emirates wants the plane to be put through “hell on

Earth” during testing to ensure it is safe and meets performance expectations. Boeing’s chief test pilot, who co-piloted Saturday’s sortie, said it would work closely with regulators. “We are going to follow the normal processes we always follow and work with the FAA and they are going to work hand-in-hand with us,” Craig Bomben told reporters. “We took the time to get the airplane ready for flight test so I think we are going to march through flight tests successfully and quickly and get it certified to the FAA standards.” The 777X is expected to enter service in 2021, a year later than originally scheduled because of development snags. It will compete with the Airbus A3501000 which seats about 360 passengers.

Big twinjets are steadily displacing the older four-engined Boeing 747 and soonto-be-axed Airbus A380. Yet experts cite worries about widebody demand due to overcapacity and economic weakness. Airlines canceled more than twice as many big jets as they ordered last year, according to Rob Morris, consultancy chief at UK-based Ascend by Cirium. While Boeing says it has sold 309 777X – worth $442 million each at list prices – many in the industry have questioned its dependence on Middle East carriers who are scaling back orders. “Longer-term, they’ll need more than those guys for that airplane. They’ll need the big network carriers to find routes that it works on,” said Aengus Kelly, chief executive of leasing giant AerCap.

Monday, 27 January, 2020

12 BUSINESS

Banking SECtor FloUriShES amid EConomiC CriSiS in pakiStan BEIJING

Zameen developments lays foundation stone of mall 35 in rawalpindi RAWALPINDI PRESS RELEASE

The foundation stone of Mall 35, a joint venture between Zameen Developments and Elahee Buksh Group, was laid during a ceremony in Rawalpindi on Thursday. The ceremony took place at the project’s site in Saddar, Rawalpindi, and was attended by Zameen.com CEO Zeeshan Ali Khan, Senior Director (North) Hasan Danish and others, while Elahee Buksh Group was represented by Chairman Faseeh-ud-Din and CEO Hassan Shaikh. The project, which will include hotel apartments and a shopping mall, is being built on 5.2 kanals of land. It will also include state-of-the-art facilities such as a restaurant, health and fitness club, play area, and meeting and conference rooms, along with dedicated parking areas in two basements.

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HE banking sector has topped among other businesses that thrived during the present times of economic crisis in Pakistan, China Economic Net (CEN) reports. Banks continued to earn higher profits during testing times as reflected by the increasing spread of every bank – the difference between the interest rate which banks charge from the borrowers and the interest rate they pay to the depositors. Higher spreads ensure higher profits to the banks. They are on a rise since the benchmark interest rate resumed its upward trajectory in January 2018. The spreads increased 2.13 percentage points to 5.13 per cent in December 2019 compared to 3pc in December 2018, said Arif Habib Limited

(AHL) while citing the latest data from the State Bank of Pakistan. "The spreads would continue to rise in the months to come even if the central bank cuts the benchmark interest rate on Tuesday (January 28) when it is scheduled to issue a new monetary policy statement for the next two months,” AHL Deputy Head of Research Tahir Abbas told a news publication. On average, the banks charged 13.84pc from the borrowers and paid 8.71pc to the depositors, resulting in a spread of 5.13pc in December 2019, he added. “The spreads adjust in accordance with the prevailing benchmark interest rate, but with a lag of a few months from the time changes are made in the interest rate,” Abbas maintained. The SBP’s monetary policy committee (MPC) may do anything, including leaving the interest rate unchanged at the prevailing eightyear high of 13.25pc next week. It may increase

the rate to contain the continuously increasing inflation or slightly cut the rate to let the economic activities step up in the country. According to Topline Securities, the profit of banks listed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) surged 48pc to Rs45.5 billion in the third quarter of July-September of 2019 compared to what they earned in the same quarter of 2018. Cumulatively in the nine months (JanuarySeptember 2019), the profit grew 20pc to Rs127.7 billion, it added. BMA Research Executive Director Saad Hashmi said the other day that there was only one sector – banks – which managed to thrive under the recent economic reforms as a majority of other sectors had been hit hard due to economic slowdown in the country. “Profit of the entire banking sector is estimated to grow by a hefty 40pc in the calendar year 2020,” he said.

pakistan post to open 125,000 franchises across country, says minister

KARACHI: A carpenter makes a furniture item. ONLINE

BUSINESS DESK Up to 125,000 franchises of Pakistan Post would be built across the country this yearas a part of a development programme, said Postal Services Minister Murad Saeed on Sunday. “These franchises will help create employment for young people from all parts of the country and eventually will boost businesses,” he added. The minister said the post offices would be updated with the modern equipment to facilitate people. “A home delivery service will be launchedfrom the offices to deliver essential household items at home.” A 24-hour service would be initiated through which facilities such as payment of bills, delivery of parcels, collection of remittances and ecommerce would be provided. “Around 200,000 to 300,000 people would be employed under the development programme,” Saeed said, adding electric rickshaws and bikes would also be provided. Another aim of the programmewas to enable businessmen in rural areas to reach customers in urban regions and expand their businesses, the minister maintained.

Customs and ASF foil smuggling bid, let culprits go ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

Three passengers who were travelling to Manchester from the Islamabad airport on Saturday night managed to fly despite recovery of 250 packets of branded cigarettes from their baggage. Pakistan Customs ‘foiled’ the bid to smuggler a large quantity of cigarettes to the United Kingdom. Officials told this scribe that three passengers namely Sultan Basit, Arif Akhtar and Hafsa Sultan

attempted to smuggle a large quantity of branded cigarettes to Maschastar with the alleged connivance of the Airport Security Force (ASF) officials. The suspects possessed around 250 packets of cigarettes valuing around Rs0.7 million. Sources claimed that an ASF official tried to clear the passengers without proper checking as they (passengers) reportedly were in contact with an ASF Inspector. When the suspects were standing in a queue for clearance, the Inspector took them out from the

queue and tried to clear them along with their luggage, sources added. After seeing the suspicious activity, sources said the customs official asked the three to get their luggage examined; however, the passengers pretended they were carrying only clothes in the bags. However, the customs officials opened the baggage to spot a large quantity of cigarettes, sources said. The passengers, sources added, requested the customs officials to confiscate cigarettes and allow them to travel abroad.

Upon this, the officials of both ASF and Customs allegedly allowed the three passengers to travel to the UK without their belongings. Terming it a routine matter, sources said the ASF official cleared the goods without proper checking and even other customs officials were also involved in this dirty business. The government has recently enforced new laws pertaining to carrying money and other goods abroad; however, sources claimed that the officials were not implementing these laws.

New US curb on Huawei in limbo amid pushback from Pentagon WASHINGTON AGENCIES

The U.S. Commerce Department has withdrawn a rule aimed at further reducing sales to China’s Huawei Technologies amid concerns from the Defense Department the move would harm U.S. businesses, people familiar with the matter said. The decision to pull the rule from the formal review process leaves its future in jeopardy and highlights deep divides within the Trump administration over how best to approach the blacklisted telecoms giant and the broader war with China over technological dominance. President Donald Trump’s administration plans a Cabinet-level meeting next week to discuss the rule, which could be revived, killed or rewritten, one of the sources said, amid pushback from the

U.S. Treasury Department as well. A Commerce Department representative said “if and when” the agency has something to announce, “we will do so.” Huawei declined to comment. The Pentagon and Treasury did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Commerce in May placed Huawei on a trade blacklist, citing national security concerns. That allowed the U.S. government to restrict sales of American-made goods to the company and a small number of items made abroad that contain U.S. technology. Under current regulations, key foreign supply chains remain beyond the reach of U.S. authorities, fueling frustration among China hawks within the administration and a push to expand U.S. authority to block more shipments to Huawei. Reuters reported in November that

the Commerce Department was considering broadening the rule that dictates how much American content in a foreignmade product gives the U.S. government authority to regulate exports. The United States, under current conditions, can require a license or block the export of many high-tech products shipped to China from other countries, if U.S.-made components make up more than 25% of the value. Commerce drafted a rule that would lower the threshold only on exports to Huawei to 10% and expand the purview to include non-technical goods like consumer electronics including non-sensitive chips. The draft rule was then sent to the Office of Management and Budget, where agencies, including the Department of Defense, were given until Wednesday to submit comments, one of

the people said. When the Pentagon expressed disagreement with the proposal, Commerce pulled it out of the review process in an unusual move. U.S. businesses have pushed back against the measure, arguing that enabling the government to regulate more sales to Huawei to include low-tech items made overseas with very little U.S. technology would end up needlessly hurting American companies while encouraging Huawei to source more goods abroad. But many in Congress and the Trump administration have criticized the Commerce Department for not doing more to thwart Huawei, and for its slow rollout of rules to limit exports of sophisticated technology to China. Senators Tom Cotton, Ben Sasse and Marco Rubio, all Republicans on the Select Committee on Intelligence, wrote to

Defense Secretary Mark Esper to demand a rationale for the department’s reported objections. “Huawei is an arm of the Chinese Communist Party and should be treated as such. It is difficult to imagine that, at the height of the Cold War, the Department of Defense would condone American companies contracting with KGB subsidiaries because Moscow offered a discount. We are concerned that the Defense Department is not appropriately weighing the risks,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter. Separately, Cotton said he was “deeply troubled” by the reports. They additionally asked how the Defense Department’s position affected its efforts to stop allies from using Huawei in their networks and asked for a briefing on the matter within 60 days.

The good, The bad, and The dazzlingly hoTTesT – hum sTyle awards 2020

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By AlizA AftAB KhAn

HOLLYWOOD BOLLYWOOD

he enchantment and glitz of a perfect Saturday night, and with the true spirit of a starstudded affair, hum Style Awards 2020 kickstarted the year with a bang. held at expo Center Karachi, the hum Style Awards was indeed filled with glamour and graced by big names of the fashion and entertainment industry and turned out to be a compendious evening. The red-carpet ceremony began with a spark with megastars including Reema Khan, Tariq Amin, Zara Noor Abbas, and Mira Sethi among many, walking along and flashing their brightest smiles and deluxe attires. however, the zing started to fade after a few hours, turning into a drabber experience, and the diminutive size of the red carpet relative to previous years just added to the walk being shorter and people getting bored quickly. The event turned out to be unusually timely, and before it was half past nine, the hall was filled and the show about to begin. The stage was remarkably gorgeous with the graphics setting a starry-night mood, mirroring the space with so many of the industry’s stars. Though the hall space was relatively cramped, making it appear congested at a few spots, especially when there was movement. And what better way to start the show, than with a splash of patriotism invigorating one’s spirits through our beautifully melodious national anthem. The boost of patriotic sentiment was followed by a performance by a rap dup, Young Stunners, which turned out to be moderately successful in energizing people. It even managed to make the audience laugh at some spots, especially with the comical references to videos of celebrities that went viral on social media – the actor Ali Rehman Khan’s video leak where he is repeatedly seen saying to a restaurant’s staff, “Aap ko pata hai main kaun hun?” (“Do you know who I am?”) Adnan Siddiqui, the host for the night, gave the show’s opening note, which was perhaps the only part of the hosting that can be termed enjoyable. The other hosts that followed, namely Aamina Sheikh and Usman Mukhtar, steered the event in a way which could have been made more entertaining if it were Adnan Siddiqui paired with Aamina for the show, as Mukhtar’s part sounded rather clumsy, with forced jokes in between. his hum Smile Awards segment left a lot of the peers watching the show super perplexed, as his supposed impression of PTV’s

host Tariq Aziz, was downright vague. The only thing that seemed spontaneously amusing about the hosting, was the use of political jokes here and there, which is rarely observed in Award ceremonies. From the comment on how Imran Khan is the only Prime Minister without his own business and hence, is bent on erasing all business from Pakistan, to the “boot polish” statement, the spritz of comedy was like a breath of fresh air in the otherwise mundane script. The performances were energetic, and made the audience recall all the classic, vintage Pakistani music, while appreciating the present-day music that is part of our television and film industry. The second performance by Ahsan Khan and Sara Loren was riveting, though if the music is to be viewed separately than the dances, both the performers lacked the energy and the vibe of the tunes, despite being great at dancing usually. The highlight of the event was the performance by Zara Noor Abbas, who appeared to be an embodiment of grace and art, rhythm and style, as she moved to the beat of the classical songs. her performance was thoroughly refreshing and delightful, one which reminds you of not only the beauty of the art itself, but also the ability of a great artist keeping the viewers fascinated, throughout.

Dancing to the superhit tunes of the blockbuster film of last year, Superstar, the power-couple Farhan Saeed and Urwa hocane brought life to the show, as they shook the stage with their dynamic moves. The flow of the choreography and the beat of the dance numbers kept the fun alive till the next performance, which was undoubtedly another key feature of hum Style Awards. The said performance was a splendid concert by Abrar ul haq, instantly making the audience fall in love and sway with the hit Punjabi beats. however, had the concert been live, it would have added more of a buzz in the environment. The Award Categories included the Rising Star 2018-2019 won by two of the Nominees including Mush Kaleem, the hair and Make-up Artist of the Year 2018-2019 secured by Qasim Liaqat, Fashion Photographer of the Year 2018-2019 bagged by Alee hasan, Best Model Female 2018-2019 won by Zara Abid, Best Model Male 2018-2019 won by Aimal Khan, Designer of the Year Lawn 2018-2019 received by Zara Shahjahan, Most Stylish Performer 2018-2019 won by Asim Azhar, Timeless Beauty won by Reema Khan, Most Stylish Actor Television 2018-2019 won by Sonya hussyn in the Female Category and Mikaal Zulfiqar in the Male Category, and Most Stylish Actor Film 2018-2019 won by Mahira Khan (Popular) and Kiran Malik (Jury) and Ahad Raza Mir in the Female and Male Category, respectively. Surprisingly, despite Superstar being one of the highest grossing film of the previous year, Bilal Ashraf was not nominated for the Most Stylish Actor Film category. If there were two awards given in the Female category in the name of Jury and Popular Choice, there surely could have been made room for two awards being awarded in the Male category as well, deservingly giving one of the awards to Bilal Ashraf. Other Categories included Most Stylish Sports Personality 2018-2019, won by hajra Khan, Captain of Pakistan Women’s National Football team. This was a novel deviation from the usual practice of recognition being granted to cricketers alone, as well as the fact that a woman bagged the award. Style Icon given to Aisha Omer, and other prestigious awards that were part of the ceremony were Best Model Male and Female, Designer of the Year Pret Wear, Bridal, Menswear, Demi-Couture, and Lawn, as well as Retail Label of the Year and excellence in Interior Designing and Furniture Manufacturing.

Calling “shotgun” when riding in a car comes from the term “shotgun messenger”.

If you point your car keys to your head, it increases the remote’s signal range.

The world’s largest grand piano was built by a 15-year-old in New Zealand.

The Batman Cast: Robert Pattinson 'Terrified' Of Table Read

Sonic The Hedgehog Zooms In With New Images Of Jim Carrey, More

Grammys 2020: Priyanka Chopra stuns in backless gown for pre-awards show bash

Robert Pattinson talks about The Batman cast while participating in a podcast with The Lighthouse co-star Willem Dafoe. empire Online uploaded the podcast Saturday which sees Robert Pattinson offer up The Batman cast is not just about big names but is a close-knit-group of actors. It's noted the cast surrounding The Batman is immense, which sees Robert Pattinson remark, "So cool," and the 33-yearold actor is asked how excited he is to get involved with those groups of people. "It's funny, they seem very cohesive. It's kind of, there is something... They all... I don't know. You can see why it's not just like 'get massive names.' It's a very particular kind of ilk. I can't way to start on this, it's going to be so cool." It's remarked that the first table read with The Batman cast is going to be something, with Robert Pattinson replying with a laugh, "It's terrifying... And like 'you're fired' [laughs].'" Pattinson has said the new Batsuit is very cool and was recently spotted sporting the Bruce Wayne look at a fashion show.

Paramount has released a batch of Sonic The hedgehog promo images for the moving featuring a look at the titular blue speedster as well as Jim Carrey, James Marsden and more. Also, check out the latest trailer below. Sonic the hedgehog gets released February 14, 2020 directed by Jeff Fowler; written by Fowler and Josh Miller; based on the video game of the same name; produced by Neal h. Moritz, p.g.a, Toby Ascher, Toru Nakahara, Takeshi Ito; executive produced by hajime Satomi, haruki Satomi, Masanao Maeda, Nan Morales, and Tim Miller, and stars James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter, and Jim Carrey. Based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega, SONIC The heDGehOG tells the story of the world’s speediest hedgehog as he embraces his new home on earth. In this live-action adventure comedy, Sonic and his new best friend Tom (James Marsden) team up to defend the planet from the evil genius Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and his plans for world domination. The family-friendly film also stars Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.

Priyanka Chopra is all set for the Grammy Awards 2020, which will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday (January 26) night. Ahead of the event, the actor took to Instagram to share pictures of her in a gorgeous satin backless gown and wrote, “Pre-Grammys.” It was Priyanka’s look for music executive Clive Davis’s preGrammys party at Beverly hilton hotel, where rapper, singer and music producer Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs will be honoured. Several celebrities complimented Priyanka on the stunning snaps. hilary Duff commented, “Pretty,” followed by a hearteyes emoji. Preity Zinta and Nargis Fakhri left fire emojis in the comments section. Fans also showered love on the picture. “Superb looking mam,” one Instagram user wrote, while another commented, “Omg!!!! So so so gorg!!!!” Priyanka also shared behind-the-scenes pictures and videos of her hair and makeup session, ahead of the big bash. Meanwhile, Priyanka’s husband Nick Jonas will perform at the Grammy Awards 2020 with his band Jonas Brothers (which also has Joe Jonas and Kevin Jonas).

CMYK

Monday, 27 January, 2020

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Bittersweet CoCo as DjoKoviC piCKs up steam at australiaN opeN Melbourne

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Agencies

eFeNDING champion Novak Djokovic swept into the Australian Open quarter-finals but 15-year-old Coco Gauff exited in tears on Sunday after her quest to become the Open era's youngest Grand Slam winner came screeching to a halt. As Melbourne marked Australia Day with formation jets and a 21-gun salute, world number one Ashleigh Barty had home fans celebrating as she beat America's Alison Riske 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. "I just had to hang in there and try and give myself a chance," said Barty, who recovered from losing the second set, and stays on course to become the first Australian champion since 1978. Djokovic, hunting his eighth Melbourne title, was remorseless against Argentina's Diego Schwartzman, crushing the 14th seed 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to book an 11th appearance in the last eight. The Serb's reward is a match-up with big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic, who is back in form after a run of injuries and dismissed 2018 finalist Marin Cilic 6-4, 6-3, 7-5. "I've got to be ready for missiles coming from his side of the net," said Djokovic, the 16-time Grand Slam winner. Gauff's giant-killing Australian debut generated intense hype as she attempted to become the youngest Major winner in the post-1968 Open era, breaking the record set by a 16-year-old Martina Hingis in 1997. Gauff beat seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in round one and title-holder Naomi Osaka in the third, but she came unstuck against a determined Sofia Kenin. COCOMANIA Gauff raised hopes by edging the first set but then

her fellow American took control and it was onesided at the finish as Kenin won 6-7 (5/7), 6-3, 6-0. "The thing I'm most proud of myself is how I handled it on the court," said Gauff, who shed tears after her defeat. "even though today I lost a set 6-0, I was still believing I could win it." Kenin, already on the best Grand Slam run of her career, next faces Tunisia's Ons Jabeur, who beat China's Wang Qiang to become the first Arab woman

to reach a Major quarter-final. Wang stunned Serena Williams in the third round but the 27th seed ran out of steam against Jabeur, who fought back from a break down in the first set to win 7-6 (7/4), 6-1. Jabeur, the highest-ranked Arab woman in history -- she reached a career-high 51 last year -- is the first Tunisian woman to win a main-draw match at the Australian Open.

Kyrgios plays down Nadal feud ahead of showdown

Melbourne Agencies

Tunisia's Ons Jabeur said she hoped to inspire young people across the Arabic-speaking world after she became the first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final on Sunday. The unseeded 25-year-old knocked out China's Wang Qiang, who upset Serena Williams in the previous round, 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 to extend her dream run in Melbourne. Jabeur, the highest-ranked Arab woman in history -- she reached a career-high 51 last year, and is now 78th -- will next play America's Sofia Kenin in the last eight. "I'm trying to inspire many (of the) young generation back home either in Tunisia or the Arabic world, especially in Africa, which is amazing," Jabeur said.

"I mean, it's not impossible. I made it. Like I said before, I've been practising in Tunisia from the age of three through 16 or 17. I'm 100 percent Tunisian product." Africa's number one, the first Tunisian woman to win a main-draw match at the Australian Open, said she had received messages from people watching in the early hours back home. Selima Sfar is the only other Tunisian woman to win at a Grand Slam after she reached the second round at Wimbledon, Roland Garros and the US Open in the 2000s. "I'm receiving a lot of messages, especially people waking up at 5 am in the morning to watch my match. I'm really proud," Jabeur said. "Hopefully they can still watch me and follow more, not just in the Grand Slam but the other tournaments. It will be really amazing.

Top seed Barty battles into Australian Open quarter-finals Melbourne

Melbourne

Jabeur aims to 'inspire generation' after Arab tennis breakthrough

"I'm really shaking right now, it's unbelievable, I can't describe how I feel," said the 25-year-old. Roger Federer plays Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in the late match as he seeks a record 15th appearance in the quarter-finals, two days after going the distance in a five-set thriller with John Millman. The winner will play unseeded American Tennys Sandgren, who upset Italian 12th seed Fabio Fognini in four tough sets, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4.

Agencies

Agencies

Nick Kyrgios says it's "pretty damn cool" to be playing Rafael Nadal for a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals, predicting a physical battle against "a hell of a player". The two men have had a running feud since the outspoken Australian called Nadal "super salty" and his "polar opposite" last year after the Spaniard complained he "lacks respect". But Kyrgios was keen to hose down any differences and focus on the task ahead after battling through the longest match of his career to beat Karen Khachanov 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (6/8), 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (10/8) on Saturday evening. "I don't really dislike him. I don't know him at all. Hell of a tennis player. Don't know him as a person. I'm sure he's okay," he said, adding that there was "a layer of respect" between them. "I'm super-excited honestly. Playing one of the greatest tennis players on centre court at your own Slam, it's pretty damn cool. "Obviously it's going to be another physical battle. Nothing comes easy with him. He had a relatively routine (third round) match, so he's going to be feeling good. I'm looking forward to it. That's why you play, I guess." Nadal earlier gave a cool response when asked whether he liked Kyrgios. "When he does stuff that in my opinion is not good, I don't like," said 19-time Grand Slam winner and top seed. "When he plays good tennis and he shows passion for this game, he is a positive player for our tour." The pair have faced each other seven times before, with the world number one holding a 4-3 advantage. Their last two encounters have been close affairs, including at Wimbledon last year when Nadal prevailed in a pulsating and bad-tempered secondround match over four dramatic sets.

Top seed and home hope Ashleigh Barty survived a scare to battle into the Australian Open quarter-finals in three sets on Sunday. The world number one beat American 18th seed Alison Riske 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 and next plays two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, her opponent at the same stage last year. Kvitova won on that occasion and Barty will be out for revenge, after she avoided becoming the latest big name to exit. Six of the top 10 women's seeds are already out. "It was third time the charm for me last week and it was third time tonight as well," said the 23-year-old, who also needed three sets to beat Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko in the first round. "I just had to hang in there and try and give myself a chance." On a day of celebrations for Australia Day, Barty got in the party mood by searing into an early 3-0 lead at a capacity 15,000 Rod Laver Arena. Barty, named Young Australian of the Year on Saturday, was broken by the 29year-old Riske but wasted little time in hitting back for a 4-2 lead. Barty nailed the first set in 34 minutes

CMYK

on her second set point when Riske -dumped out in the first round last year in Melbourne -- shot weakly into the net. The American had beaten Barty in both their previous meetings, the latest coming at Wimbledon in the fourth round last year. And the crowd fell quiet in the second set as Barty -- who once gave up tennis for professional cricket -- racked up 12 unforced errors. Riske, whose previous best Grand Slam performance was reaching the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last year, wrapped up the second set in 27 minutes to leave Rod Laver Arena stunned. They went to a decider and it was the French Open champion Barty who drew first blood, breaking for a 3-1 lead, but Riske broke back when the Australian planted a backhand wide. Barty, unflappable in her title charge up until now, kept making errors. She put a straightforward forehand long and Riske was level again at 4-4. Barty then gathered herself to hold serve. Riske was serving to stay in the tournament -- and she lost her nerve at the fatal moment, gifting Barty victory with a double-fault on match point. There is immense pressure on Barty to become the first Australian woman since Chris O'Neil in 1978 to win their home Grand Slam.

Monday, 27 January, 2020

aNother rahul 50 as iNDia Coast home iN seCoND t20 AucklAnD

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Agencies

I T H miserly bowling and another KL Rahul half-century, India again outclassed New Zealand as they coasted to a seven-wicket victory in the second Twenty20 match in Auckland on Sunday to go 2-0 up in the series. On the eden Park ground renowned for its short boundaries -- and which produced more than 400 runs in game one on Friday -- New Zealand struggled with the bat and posted a meagre 132 for five, batting first against a disciplined Indian attack. Rahul cracked his second half-century in as many matches to lead India's reply in which they reeled in the target for the loss of only three wickets and with 15 balls to spare. "Another good performance today, especially with the ball," said Indian skipper Virat Kohli who could scarcely contain his glee, exclaiming "oh happy days" when he lost the toss and heard New Zealand choose to bat first. Bowling first was India's strength, he said. "We demanded the bowlers stood up and took control of what we wanted to do out there, and our line and lengths... was a

three-day snow festival to kick-start at Galyat from jan 31 ISlAMAbAD APP

The Galyat Development Authority (GDA) has finalized the preparations for holding a three-day snow festival in the city’s different valleys in next week to promote winter sports and adventure tourism in the country.“The first-ever multi-locational snow festival will start at Galyat from January 31 to boost the tourism activities in the province under the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan,” the GDA spokesman told APP on Sunday. The event was aimed to promoting Galyat as a tourist resort for the entire year where the tourists visited only in tourism season, usually. He said a number of games and competitions had been arranged for the tourists including skiing, sculpture making, graffiti, tug of war, ice football, archery, snow tubing, and V-log and photography competitions. Besides, setting up stalls, the spokesman said motorbike and jeep rallies had also been arranged at Nathia Gali, Donga Gali and Ayubia, on February 1st and 2nd , adding that the jeep rally would be started from Kuza gali and culminated at Nathia Gali.He said the cultural and food stalls would be installed to showcase unique culture and splendid cuisine of the area. Music concerts had also been arranged to fascinate the visiting tourists.

very good feature. even with a low target to chase, India had an early blip when Tim Southee removed Rohit Sharma for eight and Kohli for 11. But Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, who set up India's six-wicket win in game one, were rarely troubled in an 87-run partner-

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so it was tough," he said. "But there've been good bits in both of these games without putting it all together. "On a small ground we knew if we were able to take early wickets and try and build pressure, like they did, then you never know." For a brief moment at the start of the game, it looked as if Williamson may have made the right choice when Martin Guptill smacked sixes IndIa off consecutive deliveries 135 for 3 (rahul from Shardul Thakur in 57*, Iyer 44, Southee 2- the opening over. But for much of the 20) beat new Zealand 132 remainder of the innings for 5 (SeIfert 33*, GuptIll it was the Indian bowlers who were in 33, JadeJa 2-18) by fIve charge. wIcketS When Guptill was dismissed for 33 he had faced 20 deliveries and only scored off 10 of them. Tim Seifert (33 not out) and Colin Munro (26) were the only other batsmen to ship to ensure victory. Iyer was eventually dismissed for 44 pass 20, while bowling for India, left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja had figures of two while Rahul was unbeaten on 57. Despite the comprehensive defeat for for 18 off his four overs. Jasprit Bumrah with one for 21 and New Zealand, captain Kane Williamson Mohammed Shami with none for 22 off stood by his decision to bat first. "India were outstanding with the ball their four overs were also miserly.

England lead by 217 runs as Wood ends South African resistance JohAnneSburg Agencies

Mark Wood finished with five wickets as england took a 217-run first innings lead on the third day of the fourth and final Test against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium on Sunday. South Africa were bowled out for 183 at lunch in reply to england’s 400. Fast bowler Wood had figures of five for 46. Quinton de Kock (76) and Dwaine Pretorius (37) held up england’s progress with a 79-run partnership for the eighth wicket but both were dismissed shortly before the scheduled lunch break. The interval was delayed and it only needed another six minutes for england to claim the last wicket. Ben Stokes made the crucial breakthrough when he had Pretorius caught at gully and Wood followed up by bowling De Kock and having Dane Paterson caught behind. england, leading the series 2-1, remained in firm control but De Kock and Pretorius prevented what threatened to be a rout when South Africa, resuming on 88 for six, lost the wicket of Vernon Philander to the sixth ball

of the morning. De Kock scored his fourth half-century of what has been a poor series for

the South African batsmen. His teammates have contributed only five other 50-plus scores between them.

Bangladesh set to tweak Xi as pakistan line up whitewash lAhore Agencies

Pakistan's dip in T20I form was a cause for concern, but they have shown signs of being dominant again with back-to-back wins over Bangladesh at home, the wins giving them an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the threematch series. The final game could be an opportunity to try out some new faces, but they would certainly want to make a statement with a series sweep. Not much has gone wrong for the home side in this series. They restricted Bangladesh to scores of 141 and 136 in the two matches, and then chased the targets down comfortably enough. The Lahore pitch hasn't allowed for much flamboyance so far, but that shouldn't bother a side that had lost eight out of their last ten T20Is before this series. Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez have made an impact with one good innings each, while Babar Azam led from the front in the second game. Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Hasnain bowled well in both games, while Shadab Khan has mostly been on the mark. Newcomers Ahsan Ali and Haris Rauf have shown glimpses of their ability too. Bangladesh, though, look unsure of how to go about handling Pakistan's bowling attack. It's not so much a lack of skills, but with roles not being defined clearly enough - there are six opening batsmen in the squad - it hasn't been straightforward for captain Mahmudullah and coach Russell Domingo.

wasim akram, yuvraj Singh join bushfire cricket bash Melbourne Agencies

Yuvraj Singh and Wasim Akram will take part in the Bushfire Cricket Bash next month with more cricketers and sportspeople from other codes confirming their presence for the fundraising match which will be staged ahead of the Big Bash final on February 8. Phoebe Litchfield, the 16-year-old batter who plays for Sydney Thunder, New South Wales and Australia A, has been included alongside elyse Villani and the big-hitting Grace Harris, who has been a star of the WBBL. From outside the world of cricket, fourtime Australian Rules premiership star Luke Hodge will join the game alongside New South Wales State of Origin coach Brad Fittler. Mike Hussey, Brad Haddin, Andrew Symonds and Matthew Hayden are other former cricketers set to put the pads on again. It had previously been confirmed that the two teams would be captained by Shane

Warne and Ricky Ponting. Last week, Sachin Tendulkar (Ponting XI) and Courtney Walsh (Warne XI) were named as coaches of the sides. Steve Waugh and Mel Jones will be involved in a non-playing capacity alongside former rugby league star Andrew Johns, who famously played two T20 games for New South Wales in 2007 before the current Big Bash was formed. The Bushfire Cricket Bash is part of a triple-header day of fundraising efforts for the Red Cross to support those effected by the devastating bushfires across Australia this summer. earlier in the day, Australia and India will play their women's T20I tri-series match in Melbourne before the relief match takes place ahead of the BBL final. The venue for the BBL final will be confirmed on January 31 after the Qualifier takes place. The Melbourne Stars are confirmed as hosting that match and will face either the Sydney Sixers or the Adelaide Strikers which means the final will be at the MCG, SCG or Adelaide Oval on February 8.

CMYK

Monday, 27 January, 2020

NEWS eu lawmakers concerned over india’s caa bill A group of 154 members of the European Parliament have drafted a resolution against India’s Citizenship Amendment Act, saying it could trigger the “largest statelessness crisis in the world”. The five-page resolution will be presented during the plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels next week. It describes the CAA as discriminatory and dangerously divisive but also a violation of India’s international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The lawmakers are from the S&D Group, a forum of leaders from 26 European Union countries. They aim to uphold the values of equality, diversity and fairness. India adopted the CAA, which has been called anti-Muslim, in December. Under the law, the naturalization of non-Muslim refugees from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan has been fast tracked. The government has claimed the law has been enacted to help “persecuted minorities” in those three countries. However, it blocks the naturalization of Muslims. It called the CAA “explicitly discriminatory in nature” as it excludes Muslims from having access to the same provisions as other religious groups. The resolution has also called on the Indian government to ensure the right to peaceful protest is allowed and to guarantee the life and physical integrity of those who choose to protest. It also denounced the CAA. NEWS DESK

Rockets hit near us embassy in Baghdad BAGHDAD: A volley of rockets landed near the US embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad Sunday, two security sources told AFP, in the latest unclaimed attack on American installations in the country. AFP reporters heard loud thuds emanating from the western bank of the Tigris, where most foreign embassies are located. One security source said three Katyusha rockets hit near the highsecurity compound while another said as many as five struck the area. There was no immediate word on casualties. AGENCIES

israel approves travel to saudi under limited circumstances JERUSALEM: Israel on Sunday announced that it would permit Israeli citizens to travel to Saudi Arabia for the first time, under certain conditions that include Israeli entrepreneurs seeking investments, in a signal of warming ties. Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, after consulting the country’s security establishment, issued a statement saying that Israelis would be allowed to travel to Saudi Arabia under two circumstances: for religious reasons on pilgrimage on the haj, or for up to nine days for business reasons such as investment or meetings. AGENCIES

RepoRt doesn't Reflect incRease in coRRuption, says ti pakistan NGO SAYS SCORE LIES WITHIN STANDARD MARGIN OF ERROR; POLITICIANS, MEDIA OUTLETS GAVE ‘FALSE FIGURES TO DAMAGE REPUTATION OF COUNTRY’ ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

day after the Transparency International Pakistan came under fire by the top government spokesperson, Firdous Ashiq Awan, the Berlin-based watchdog clarified the report that lowered Pakistan’s ranking on corruption index didn’t “reflect an increase or decrease in corruption as it is within the standard margin of error”. The CPI 2019, which was released on Thursday, ranked Pakistan 120 out of 180 countries. On a scale of zero (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), Pakistan was assigned a score of 32, a point lower than its score of 33 on the 2018 index and well below the global average of 43. In a statement on Sunday, the NGO stated that a number of politicians, TV channels and newspapers misreported CPI 2019 and gave false figures to damage the reputation of the country. It further stated that the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index 2020 which is provided only to the TI to form its CPI report has not been made public rather media used data from CPI 2018. It rejected accusations from a leader that the TI declared Musharraf’s government as the most corrupt followed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government as the second corrupt and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) one being the cleanest. “The reality is that CPI 2019 has not given any such rating for Pakistan, nor for any other country. TI does not have its own data input in CPI, and TI Pakistan has no role in the making of CPI, nor has any data input in it,” the statement read. TI Pakistan appreciated the National Accounta-

bility Bureau’s (NAB) performance and approved of the anti-corruption steps taken by the incumbent government. It clarified that the data in the NGO’s report is obtained by at least 13 different sources and not its own. On Friday, the PTI government had lashed out at Berlin-based TI for placing Pakistan further down in its corruption perception list, saying the report was a “huge question mark” on the transparency of the international corruption watchdog. Addressing a press conference in the federal capital, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan had said, “There is a huge question mark over the transparency of TI. It is necessary to expose the people and the data, on the basis of which this report was published, in front of the public.” “It is our fault that we did not fawn over the head of TI’s Pakistan chapter and allowed him to retire after the expiry of his term. This is contrary to what the PML-N did which explains why the reports during their term were so favorable,” she had said. “Who will respect the findings of a report that says the most amount of corruption was done during

the government of General (r) Pervez Musharraf, followed by Imran Khan’s government and then by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), placing the PML-N government at the very bottom?” she had asked. On Thursday, major opposition parties had termed the report a “charge-sheet” against the PTI government saying the report had “badly exposed” Imran’s claims about his government’s actions against corruption. “The TI report is a certificate of failure of the Naya Pakistan project,” PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb had said in a statement. “The report has confirmed that the level and amount of corruption committed by Imran Khan’s government in the past 16 months is more than any government in the entire past decade. This report is a slap in the face of the government as it has exposed all its lies about anti-corruption measures and good governance,” she had added. PPP leader Sherry Rehman had said the TI report had exposed the so-called accountability process in the country, adding that the curtain was about to lift from the corruption committed in the projects of Malam Jabba, Peshawar BRT, and other scams.

Afghan forces launch air, ground attacks on Taliban, killing 51 KABUL AGENCIES

Afghan forces used ground attacks and air strikes in multiple operations against the Taliban during the last 24 hours, killing 51 fighters in an escalation that signalled renewed deadlock in peace talks. Afghanistan’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday that government forces had conducted 13 ground offensives and 12 air strikes in nine provinces, adding that 51 “terrorists” had been killed, 13 wounded and six arrested. Local officials in the northern province of Balkh said at least three women and four children were killed in the air strikes, prompting protests in front of the provincial governor’s office. The government pledged to send a fact-finding

mission to investigate the reports of civilian deaths. Meanwhile, the Taliban said it had staged two more attacks targeting security forces over the weekend, following sporadic assaults last week. Afghan security forces’ checkpoints in Kunduz were attacked on Saturday night, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement, adding that 10 members of the security forces were killed and three wounded. Taliban fighters also captured a large weapons cache, he said. In a separate statement, the Taliban said its fighters had ambushed an Afghan forces patrol in Balkh, killing eight security personnel. The spike in hostilities comes as US and Taliban negotiators in Doha take a two-day break for consultations about how to overcome recent hurdles in the

talks, a source close to the process told Reuters. Negotiations between the two sides began last year in Doha but have been interrupted at least twice after Taliban attacks on US military personnel in September and December. Last week, another round of talks kicked off with US Special Representative on Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad meeting repeatedly with the Taliban’s chief negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Multiple sources close to the talks said the Taliban had agreed internally to halt attacks against US forces and “reduce” assaults against Afghan government interests. Over the last week, however, reports of attacks by Taliban fighters on government installations, including police stations continued to filter in from different parts of Afghanistan.

White House lawyers say voters should decide Trump’s fate WASHINGTON AGENCIES

White House lawyers began their defense of Donald Trump at his historic Senate impeachment trial on Saturday, saying the president did nothing wrong in his dealings with Ukraine and American voters — not Congress — should decide his fate. White House counsel Pat Cipollone said it would be a “completely irresponsible abuse of power” if the Senate follows the lead of the House of Representatives and votes to remove the 45th US president from office. “They’re asking you to do something that no Senate has ever done,” Cipollone told the 100 senators gathered on a rainy Saturday morning for a rare weekend session at just the third impeachment trial in US history. Democratic prosecutors from the House, which impeached Trump last month for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, had not convincingly made their case that the president had committed “high crimes and misdemeanors,” as demanded

by the Constitution, Cipollone said. “We don’t believe that they have come anywhere close to meeting their burden for what they’re asking you to do,” he told a hushed Senate chamber. “We believe when you hear the facts… you will find that the president did absolutely nothing wrong.” House prosecutors spent the previous three days laying out a detailed case that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine and a White House meeting to pressure his Ukrainian counterpart to open an investigation into political rival Joe Biden and the former vice president’s son Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian gas company. Adam Schiff, the chief House prosecutor, said the real estate tycoon turned politician poses an “imminent threat” to American democracy and his guiding principle is “Trump first, not America first.” Cipollone argued that Democrats were asking the Senate to “tear up all of the ballots” from the 2016 presidential election and attempting to prevent Trump from running for re-election in November.

“They are here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history and we can’t allow that to happen,” the White House counsel said. “Let the people decide for themselves.” DEATH VALLEY: The Democraticcontrolled House impeached Trump on December 18 in a party-line vote, setting up a trial in the Senate, where Republicans hold a 53 to 47 seat edge and the president enjoys the support of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. A two-thirds majority, or 67 senators, is required to remove a president from office and Democrats do not appear to have made any significant inroads so far in Trump’s wall of Republican support. Following the session, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said the president’s attorneys “made a really compelling case” for calling witnesses during the trial, a move Trump has opposed. Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah and occasional Trump critic, said he was “likely” to support the Democrats’ demand but other Republicans indicated that their minds were all but made up.

“Today we heard a case that was strong, that was clear and that completely undermined the case of the Democrats,” Senator John Barrasso, a Republican from Wyoming, said of the White House defense. Just before his lawyers began speaking, Trump fired off a tweet with insulting nicknames for leading Democrats and told his supporters to tune in to the live television broadcast. The White House lawyers kept their opening arguments short — just under two hours — in part, perhaps, because Trump, a former reality television star, had complained that Saturday is the “Death Valley” of TV viewership. IMPEACHMENT ‘HOAX’: Following the defense presentation, Trump claimed it had demonstrated how “unfairly” he has been treated and showed he was the victim of a “partisan Impeachment Hoax.” Trump’s lawyers will resume his defense on Monday. They will have 24 hours spread over three days for their arguments but have said they are unlikely to use all the time allotted.

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

CMYK

Saturday’s brief session was a relief to the four senators battling for the Democratic presidential nomination, allowing them to return to the campaign trail. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Colorado Senator Michael Bennet have been forced to remain in Washington while Biden and other candidates campaign in Iowa, which kicks off the nominating process on February 3. Senators will have 16 hours next week to direct questions to both sides and consider whether they should subpoena witnesses, something Democrats have sought but Republicans have opposed. The questions from senators will be submitted in writing to US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is presiding over the trial and will read them out loud. Americans appear about evenly split on whether Trump should be removed, though several polls show a healthy majority want the Senate to subpoena witnesses for Trump’s trial.