E-Paper PDF 29th December (ISB)

CMYK

29 December, 2019 I 1 Jamadi-ul-Awwal, 1441 I Rs 27.00 I Vol X No 179 I 76 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Imran says wIll brIng reforms agaInst all odds g

PM sAys Pti govt’s efforts to BriNg chANge MeetiNg stroNg resistANce By those who wish for ‘olD, corruPt wAys’ to reMAiN

PESHAWAR

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STAFF REPORT

rime minister imran Khan on Saturday said that the Pakistan Tehreeke-insaf (PTi) government’s efforts to bring change in the country were being resisted by those who wish for the “old, corrupt ways” to remain.

Addressing a meeting of the Association of Physicians of Pakistani Descent of North America (APPNA) here, Pm imran said regretted that the efforts for reform had been met with a lot of resistance by the status quo.

“The status quo or mafia which derives benefit from the old, corrupt system, creates hurdles everywhere,” he said, adding that a lot of resistance is always put when change is brought in.

“Which is why i always tell people not to give in to fear. This was bound to happen and we were expecting it.”

“Two types of governments come: one that wishes to complete their tenure and our government is one that wishes to bring in reform,” said the premier.

He said it was the government’s task to withstand pressure and resistance to change, but one thing is clear: Pakistan can never

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urges PAkistANiAMericANs to rAise voice for MusliMs, couNter iNDiAN loBBy

progress without change. “Our corrupt status quo has destroyed our institutions.”

The premier said that a lot of governments fear that they will be dissolved and take a back foot when it comes to implementing change. “i assure you our government will in no way step back from reforms.”

“Quality is of extreme importance in Pakistan. Unfortunately, our institutional collapse is due to the fact that our quality has declined when it comes to our educational institutions and hospitals,” said the premier, adding that was the reason why hospital reforms were being brought in so that quality standards comparable to healthcare institutions abroad can be duplicated in Pakistan.

He said they purposely dub the reforms as privatisation knowing full well that is not the case. “They purposely do it to sway public opinion and to mobilise them for demonstrations and to sabotage our efforts.”

He said due to an overall “decay in the system” it was impossible to find quality healthcare in government hospitals.

“The hospitals have fallen under bureaucratic control and [the bureaucrats] have no idea of what the administrative structure of a modern hospital is.

He said with the reforms being brought in

in Punjab and KP, the aim is for government hospitals to compete with private hospitals.

“We are not privatising but the management structure of private hospitals will be implemented in government hospitals so the common man can avail good quality treatment,” he said.

He said the “old, corrupt ways” do not only pose a challenge in the health sector but across all sectors, such as FBr (Federal Board of revenue), the tax collection machinery in which the government is trying to bring automation.

‘PAK-AMERICANS SHOULD LOBBY AGAINST INDIA’: imran also urged APPNA members to step up their efforts to counter the indian lobby in the United States besides raising their voice for muslims suffering in Kashmir and india at the hands of the BJP government.

He said that APPNA is the most powerful and influential Pakistani group overseas. “You are the most educated, with the most awareness.”

The premier said that the Pakistan government not only wishes to have an institutional arrangement with APPNA but to have them lobby for the country. “india’s lobby in America right now is far more powerful than Pakistan’s. india’s point of view always overshadows that of Pakistan and American policies for Pakistan are affected by that viewpoint,” he explained.

“What india is doing right now in Kashmir and with muslims [in india] is in violation of all humanitarian laws and international laws. in the 21st century we are witnessing a fascist, racist government.

“The programmes they are bringing in are identical to those in Hitler’s Nazi Germany when they committed genocide of the Jews.

The exact same pattern is being followed by the rSS-led BJP government in india,” said Pm imran.

He said that while the Pakistan government has been trying to raise awareness in America on this, the APPNA group will prove instrumental in furthering the cause. “raise your voice for Kashmiris who have been suffering for five months in an open prison and not only for that but for the change in demography which is considered a war crime.”

Massive car bomb kills 76 in Somalia’s capital

oic to convene special moot in Pakistan on kashmir issue

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Moot to Be helD iN islAMABAD iN APril 2020 will Also Discuss eNActMeNt of ANti-MusliM lAw iN iNDiA STORY ON PAGE 02

Sindh shifts blame on Centre as gas shortage peaks in province

STORY ON PAGE 12

taliban kill 10 Afghan soldiers in attack on base

CONTINUED ON PAGE 02

STORY ON BACK PAGE

Amended NAB ordinance challenged in courts

STORIES ON PAGES 02 & 03

New NAB ordinance issued to ‘save PM’s friends’, says Durrani STORY ON BACK PAGE

PML-N terms NAB Amendment Ordinance ploy to give govt, allies NRO CMYK

CMYK Sunday, 29 December, 2019

02 NEWS

OIC TO CONvENE sPECIAL MOOT IN PAKIsTAN ON KAshMIR IssuE File Photo

Moot to be held In IslaMabad In aPrIl 2020 wIll also dIscuss enactMent of antI-MuslIM law In IndIa

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HE Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has decided to convene a meeting on the grim human rights situation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and enactment of an anti-Muslim law in India, according to a media report on Saturday.

According to the report, the ministerial level OIC meeting is expected to be held in Islamabad in April 2020.

The development comes after Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud’s maiden visit to the country earlier this month during which he extended riyadh’s “steadfast support to Pakistan’s core national interests” including the OIC’s greater role in the Kashmir dispute.

The visit of top Saudi diplomat had

come against the backdrop of the recently concluded Kuala Lumpur Summit, which Pakistan skipped after riyadh expressed it concerns and viewed it as an effort by Turkey, Malaysia, Iran and Qatar to create a new Islamic bloc. Islamabad defended its decision to pull out of the summit saying that it wanted to maintain “neutrality” and play the role of a bridge in the Muslim world. The report claimed that the official communique of the meeting will specifically mention the human rights violation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the passage of Citizenship Amendment Bill, which is fundamentally discriminatory against Muslims in India.

At least 25 people have been killed since the protests began earlier this

month against the citizenship legislation, which makes it easier for members of religious minorities from India’s Muslim-majority neighbours – Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan – who settled in India before 2015 get citizenship but does not offer the same concession to Muslims.

Insiders said the meeting will push

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lift the curfew in IOK — in place since August 5 when New Delhi revoked its special status in a bid to convert the region’s Muslim majority into minority. The forum would also put pressure on the Modi government to protect the rights of the Muslim community in India. NEwS DESk

KP cabinet likely to be reshuffled Imran urges enhancing employment opportunities in tribal districts peSHaWar STAFF REPORT

Prime Minister Imran Khan stressed upon the need for enhancing employment opportunities in erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) areas to ensure socioeconomic progress. Addressing the provincial cabinet here on Saturday, he said the purpose of merging tribal districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is to bring these areas equal to the developed parts of the country. “Creating job opportunities for the youth in the merged areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is among top priorities of the PTI government,” PM Imran said during the meeting. The premier underscored that the present government has provided record funds for the newly-merged tribal districts (NMTDs), and it is a huge achievement of the PTI government to take the merger process forward. PM Imran directed the concerned authorities to take effective steps to enhance trade and business activities for the socio-economic development of merged districts. Imran also stressed over focusing on the promotion of tourism in K-P and stated that all efforts should be utilized for the purpose. He urged for enhancing employment opportunities in the erstwhile FATA areas to ensure socio-economic progress of the region. Talking about tourism, PM Imran said, “Saudi Arabia has expressed interest to invest in the tourism sector and the K-P Government should focus on fully exploiting the tourism potential of the province.” KP Governor Shah Farman, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Provincial Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani were present in the meeting at the Governor House in Peshawar.

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DUrING his exile in Jeddah, Nawaz Sharif’s retinue used to keep calling him prime minister. And the man didn’t mind it one bit. His entourage in London still calls him the PM. A contrast with the late BB, whose martyrdom anniversary we observed a couple of days ago. Once, when a former diplomat referred to her as the PM, she quickly corrected him. But you were removed unfairly, he countered. Still not the PM, she insisted. * * * * * * * * * In the heat of the moment, PTI member, Pakistan red Crescent boss and Billo House Tour Operator Abrar-ulHaq seemed to provide a sort of a justification for the attack on Ahsan Iqbal last year. When co-panellist Waseem Badami urged him to take his words back, the singer, simple man, doubled down. An error in judgment social media won’t let him forget any time soon.

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf has decided to reshuffle the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa cabinet, according to a report in the local media on Saturday.

“In the first phase, some portfolios of the provincial ministers and advisors to the chief minister are likely to be changed,” the report stated.

“In the second phase, if they don’t deliver, they would be ousted from the cabinet and new people would be given the opportunity to serve,” the report quoted a senior PTI leader in Peshawar as saying.

According to the PTI leader, Prime Minister Imran Khan had already consulted close aides in the party regarding the performance of the cabinet ministers.

“The prime minister has many tasks to do, but he is well aware of the people in his party and their activities in KP and Punjab governments. He is the first prime minister who can be reached by senior and junior party activists,” said the PTI leader. Although the names of the ministers who are under the scanner were not revealed by

the PTI leader, he did add that the prime minister had never received any positive news about health and education departments.

“It is no more a secret that whatever was achieved by our previous PTI government in the health and education sectors had now been wasted,” he claimed.

“I personally know a lot of time was given to some of the ministers to improve their performance by ensuring merit and transparency in selection of key positions and transfers,” added the party leader. NEwS DESk

Imran says will bring reforms against all odds continued from page 01 The premier said that the Citizenship Amendment Act in India also poses a danger. “Even enlightened Hindus, Sikhs, Christians and Parsis have stood up against an Act whose purpose it is to target Muslims,” he said. “I don’t think you realise your lobbying strength. It is under utilised,” added the premier, urging the group to take advantage of their position in the US. He warned of India undertaking a false-flag operation to draw attention away from their actions which had for the first

time been met with international criticism. He urged the body to begin raising its voice because the “situation in India will further deteriorate”.

“Once this demon is out of the bottle, it will never go back in. This is what history has shown us. When a movement is launched based on hatred […] the Nazi Party created a Jew register before their genocide and in Myanmar, Muslims were asked to register,” he said, calling to attention similar moves being made by India. “To counter where all this is headed, you must be prepared beforehand and lobby with full force.”

Ehsaas Kifalat stipend enhanced from Rs5,000 to Rs5,500 ISLAMABAD: The government has increased the quarterly cash grant for 4.3million beneficiaries of Ehsaas Kifalat Programme of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) from rs5,000 to rs 5,500. This was announced by Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Protection Dr. Sania Nishtar. In a statement, she said this increase would mean that the government will provide rs8.6 billion more for cash transfers to the poorest of the poor. She said BISP has now 4.27 million active beneficiaries after delisting 0.82 million undeserving beneficiaries. She said that the increased stipend will be given only to the deserving beneficiaries.

Earlier, on Dec 26, Dr Sania Nishtar had said that the government had decided to strike 820,165 undeserving people off the database of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP). “The people who have been removed from the BISP database over failing to meet the merit. The deserving people had been apportioned after a survey conducted 10 years ago which is seemingly enough to change condition. Unmerited people were being paid since 2011. The government took the decision for restricting government employees to get registered in the programme.” STAFF REPORT

PML-N terms NAB Amendment Ordinance ploy to give govt, allies NRO LAHORE: The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on Saturday rejected the newly promulgated National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019. In a statement, PML-N Spokesperson Marriyam Aurangzeb said the ordinance was aimed at halting inquiries into the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s projects. “The NAB Ordinance is a ploy to give NrO to the corrupt government and its allies,” she alleged. The PML-N leader said former prime minister Nawaz Sharif presented himself for accountability. If the incumbent government has not been involved in any plunder of public funds, why is it bringing an ordinance to stop inquires, she questioned. Earlier on Saturday, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019 was challenged in the Supreme Court. A regular litigant Mehmood Akhtar Naqvi filed a petition at Karachi registry of the apex court challenging the amended law. STAFF REPORT

Army capable of countering Indian aggression: Sehgal KaracHi STAFF REPORT

Pakistani Armed Forces are well equipped and have great leadership that could respond promptly to the Indian aggression. India could again face Balakot like incident if it does any adventure with Pakistan, said defence and security analyst Ikram Sehgal. He was addressing an event organised by Oxford University Press (OUP) on the eve of launching of a book titled “Blood over Different Shades of Green (East Pakistan 1971: History revisited)” co-authored by Ikram Sehgal and Bettina robotka at a local hotel on Saturday.

The book examines the events of 1971 that led to the dismemberment of Pakistan. The authors describe these events as very significant milestones in Pakistan’s history. The book based on published and unpublished memories of the activists of 1971 attempts to give a critical assessment of the catastrophic developments leading to the separation of East Pakistan and spell out lessons that have to be learnt from it.

The event featured an invigorating discussion around the book in

which ex-Lt General Ali Kuli Khan Khattak, Sirajuddin Aziz, CEO, Group Financial Institutions, Habib Bank AG Zurich, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, politician and columnist Javed Jabbar, author and former minister and senator.

The author, Ikram Sehgal, was formerly, a young Pakistan Army Officer, hailing from what was then East Pakistan. He lived through the events he describes and was himself, a prisoner of war, who managed to escape Indian imprisonment.

While addressing the audience, Ikram Sehgal said that the events of 1971 can never be forgotten as history can never be changed. “We just tried to add missing details of the events to the history. No media outlet gave Pak-

CMYK

istani version in 1971 as what had happened because the international media persons were reporting the incident while sitting in India”, he added. “We have hundred percent better army as compared to 1971 and the leadership of armed forces have qualities to tackle with Indian aggression”, he said, adding that Pakistan Army is capable to combat internal and external enemies.

Lt General Kuli said that authors provided a balanced account of the events based on the personal experiences of Mr Sehgal, providing the readers with an alternative to more partisan narrations and analyses. He added that the book is genuinely objective chronicle that can give us a sound understanding

of the events of 1971 and especially of the Pakistani position on those events.

Earlier, while welcoming the participants, Managing Director, Arshad Saeed Husain said that Pakistan is a demographically young country. The age profile in the census shows that barely 11 percent of our present population were alive at the time of the traumatic events of 1971. Those events seem to be shrouded in clouds of confusion and misinformation, making it difficult to gain a valid perspective. Chronicles of all that happened then seem to have been examined through the refracting prisms of many preconceived interpretations that it has become difficult to view things clearly.

And it is still more difficult to derive any useful lessons from what occurred, he added. The other speakers also highlighted that the book addressed the dire need to set the record straight concerning the events and the role of man people which led to the breakup of Pakistan.

The discussion was moderated

by Dr Huma Baqai, Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, IBA.

CMYK Sunday, 29 December, 2019

AMENdEd NAB ORdINANCE ChALLENgEd IN COuRTs KaracHi/LaHore

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STAFF REPORT

HE National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 was challenged on Saturday through petitions filed in the Supreme Court (SC) and the Lahore High Court (LHC).

A petition was filed against the ordinance in the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry. It said the ordinance was likely to affect the concept of uniform accountability.

The petitioner said the amended ordinance was in contrast with the constitution and basic rights. NAB and its chairman won’t be able to act independently after the promulgation of the ordinance, the petitioner said. Its approval from the cabinet was also devious. The federal government, Ministry of Law, NAB chairman and others were made parties in the petition. A similar petition was filed in the Lahore High Court challenging the ordinance. The petitioner said, “All citizens are equal in the constitution of Pakistan, the amended ordinance is violation of the constitution and the fundamental rights of citizens”.

The federal cabinet’s approval to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance 2019, is unprincipled and dubious, the petition said. “The amended ordinance has pushed the NAB under the subordination of the scrutiny committee, which will thoroughly affect the utility and importance of the ac-

countability bureau.” “It is being feared that the ordinance will affect the possibility of an equal accountability of all,” petition said. “It is cooked up to protect favourite people from accountability cases,” petition claimed.

LAW MINISTRY ISSUES NOTIFICATION: The Ministry of Law on Saturday issued a notification regarding the NAB Amendment Ordinance 2019. According to the amendment, the NAB can now only take up cases involving corruption or corrupt practices exceeding an amount of rs500 million, and no action will be launched against government employees in case of departmental deficiencies.

“Notwithstanding anything contained in this ordinance or any other law for the time being in force, no inquiry, investigation, arrest or proceedings against a government servant, under this ordinance, either as an accused or witness, shall be initiated or conducted by NAB without prior approval of the scrutiny committee,” said a new clause inserted in Section 33-F of the ordinance.

Another amendment barred the accountability watchdog from confiscating property of any public office holder without prior approval of the scrutiny committee.

According to an amendment, “Inquiries and investigations shall stand transferred to the respective authorities or departments which administer the relevant laws of taxation, levies and imposts in

question. “Trials shall stand transferred from the relevant accountability courts to the criminal courts which deal with offences under the respective laws pertaining to taxation, levies and imposts in question.”

Furthermore, another amendment required the NAB chairman to devise a “complaint redressal mechanism for attending complaints against NAB” and present a quarterly report on its performance to the federal government. In a summary sent by the law ministry to the federal cabinet, the government claimed that the NAB was dealing a large number of inquiries and investigation including handling of mega corruption cases.

“Under the existing regime a number of inquiries have been initiated against the holders of public office and government servants on account of procedural lapses where no actual corruption is involved. This has enhanced NAB’s burden and has also affected working of the federal government.” It further pointed that the NAB had assumed parallel jurisdiction and was inquiring into matters pertaining to taxation, imposition of levies and interference in the domain of taxation regulatory bodies.

“It is therefore felt necessary to define through the subject amendments the operational domain of NAB,” it added.

The anti-graft agency’s jurisdiction over matters relating to tax, stock exchange and IPOs has been curtailed.

NEWS 03 New NAB ordinance issued to ‘save PM’s friends’, says Durrani iSLamaBad STAFF REPORT

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader and chief of the joint opposition’s rehbar Committee, Akram Durrani on Saturday said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019 has been issued after the NAB chairman’s statement that the “direction of winds are changing”. Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the rehbar Committee, Durrani said the NAB ordinance has been introduced to save “the PM’s friends”.

He alleged that cases are lodged against those who speak up openly, adding that Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) senior leader Ahsan Iqbal was arrested for his outspoken statements. Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was imprisoned in a cell of death

after un, us also recognises Malala as one of ‘most significant’ people of decade The United States Department of State on Saturday joined the United Nations in recognising Pakistani education activist and Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai as one of the “most significant people of the decade”.

“As we approach the end of 2019, we join UN in looking back on most significant people and events of the decade, including Malala, who received the 2014 Nobel Prize in recognition of her struggle against oppression of young people and for the right of all children to education,” said Alice Wells, the principal deputy assistant secretary of Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs .

‘TEENAGER OF DECADE’: Earlier this week, the UN had declared Malala as “the most famous teenager in the world” in its Decade in review. In part one of its review series, which takes into account events that happened between 2010 and the end of 2013, the UN had also highlighted the devastating Haiti earthquake in 2010, the beginning of the ongoing Syrian conflict for 2011 and Malala’s work in favour of girls’ education for the year 2012, as important events.

‘BRILLIANT, WORLD CHANGING’: The 22-year-old was also recently chosen by Teen Vogue as its cover person for its last issue of the decade. The magazine announced it had decided to “reflect” the last

ten years with the education activist.

“The last ten years have been rooted in the brilliant, world-changing demands of teens across the world. As Teen Vogue reflected on this, we knew there was one perfect person to sit down and reflect on this wild decade with: Malala Yousafzai,” the US publication said. In October 2012, Malala — then 15 years old — was shot in the head at point-blank range by Taliban gunmen as she was returning from her school in Swat valley.

She suffered bullet injuries and was admitted to the military hospital Peshawar but was later flown to London for further treatment.

The shooting drew widespread international condemnation. Since then, she has become an internationally recognised symbol of resistance to the Taliban’s efforts of denying women education and other rights. NEwS DESk

CMYK

row prisoners in jail and now a notice has been issued to Bilawal Bhutto, Akram Durrani said. “We don’t want confrontation among the state institutions and want that every institution must function in its constitutional limits,” Durrani said. Akram Durrani also alleged that Wajid Zia has been posted in FIA for making arrests.

Earlier, Durrani chaired a session of the rehbar Committee which was attended by PML-N leader Ayaz Sadiq, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Faisal Kareem Kundi, Awami National Party’s Mian Iftikhar Hussain and representatives of other opposition parties.

According to sources, army chief’s tenure extension, special court’s verdict in former military ruler Pervez Musharraf’s treason case and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) actions against opposition leaders and other issues were discussed in the meeting.

04 ISLAMABAD

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

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DIP In meRCURy InCReAses DemAnD of tRADItIonAl wInteR DelIgHts ISLAMABAD

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IP in mercury due to the recent cold wave gripping most parts of the country at the end of chilly December has increased the demand of the traditional local winter delights available at different food outlets of the federal capital.

December is the month when the temperatures drop significantly, compelling majority of the food lovers to consume popular winter delights like Chicken Corn Soup, Doodh Jalebi, Gajar ka Halwa, Kashmiri Tea, Samosas, Pakoras, fried fish and dry fruits etc. A number of stalls carrying these delights at various markets including Melody Market, Karachi Company, Jinnah Super Market,

Super Market, Abpara Market and F-10 Markaz are attracting a number of customers. Sobia Saad, a housewife at a famous fish point, said: “Fish is the most selling item of winter season which help reduce the impact of a cold wave on health by keeping us warm”. Talking to APP, she said, from December till the month of February, they all like to have fish barbeque parties or go for enjoying fried fish, however, my children prefer to eat finger fish. Ali Akbar, another buyer at the stall of Gajar ka Halwa, said, “I cannot resist buying when I see Gajar Ka Halwa at a famous sweet shop at Karachi Company while going home from my office”.

“Gajar Ka halwa is mostly liked seasonal delight in my family and I use to buy this almost twice a week as it is difficult to prepare it at home owing to the

Calligraphy exhibition showcased at PUCAR RAWALPINDI: An exhibition featuring calligraphy by eminent and established artists Elahi Bux Mattee, Shabir Ahmed Zia, Muhammad Azeem Iqbal, Muhammad Shakil Tabassum, Shahnawaz Ansari and Farkhanda was organized at the Rawalpindi Art Gallery of the Punjab Council of the Arts (PUCAR) on Friday. The exhibition was inaugurated by Calligrapher of Masjid-e-Nabvi Ustad Shafiq uz Zaman Khan (Pride of Performance) flanked by Naheed Manzoor and Director PUCAR Rawalpindi Waqar Ahmed. The exhibition showcased the traditional style of calligraphy as preserved, promoted and propagated by the exponents of traditional as well as contemporary calligraphy. Addressing at the inaugural ceremony, Ustad Shafiq uz Zaman Khan said that calligraphy is century’s old Islamic tradition which transmitted from generation to generation. “Over centuries, numerous styles of the script have come to be associated with Arabic. Yet, the form of writing remains the same in all of these varied styles”, he added. Naheed Manzoor said that it was a great honour for the Council to inaugurate the exhibition by Calligrapher of Masjid-eNabvi Ustad Shafiq uz Zaman Khan. The participant of exhibition Elahi Bux Mattee (Pride of Performance) has a prominent place in the field of calligraphy. The Kalma on Parliament House has the credit of Elahi Bux Mattee.

Muhammad Azeem Iqbal has been associated with traditional calligraphy for 30 years. He is recognized by portraying of Holy Prophet Era in his calligraphy. Shabir Ahmed Zia has proficiency in Khat-e-Thuls and has also thirty years in this field. He is from the family of Ibn-eKaleem. Muhammad Shakil Tabassum has also vast experience in this field and imparting his knowledge in a new generation. “The exhibition is an attempt to keep the tradition of calligraphic art alive and to acknowledge the dedication and commitment of the calligraphers who are continually practising this art form and in turn, imparting the sensibility and sensitivity of the art form,” said Director PUCAR Waqar Ahmed. The exhibition will continue for general public till the next five days. Staff RepoRt

low gas pressure”, he said. Murad Khan, a shopkeeper at a famous chicken corn shop at G-9 Markaz said, winter was the perfect time to earn handsome amount through selling chicken corn soup which is our trademark. He said most of the customers are youngsters especially students living in hostels who roam around the place with their friends in the evening time and visit us to enjoy the soup.

The health experts are also of the view that soup, fish, dry fruits and other such items must be consumed by the citizens as a preventive measure to save them from cold weather. Especially, children are the most sufferers of influenza, pneumonia and other diseases with a decrease in temperature and it is essential to include such food items in their regular eating habits.

Bad weather, poor visibility disrupt flight schedule at Islamabad airport ISLAMABAD: Dense fog and inclement weather in Islamabad resulted in flight schedule disruption causing diversion and delay of flights at Islamabad airport on Saturday. The visibility limit in Islamabad went down to below 200 meters causing disruption in the flight schedule.

More than a dozen flights were delayed due to the foggy weather, while some flights were also cancelled, airport sources said. A PIA flight, PK 246, from Damam to Islamabad was diverted and landed at Peshawar airport due to bad weather. An Islamabad bound flight from Dubai was also diverted this morning to Peshawar airport. A Skardu bound flight, PK 451, from Islamabad, and another flight to Dubai PK 211 were cancelled, while PK 603 left for Gilgit after a delay of two hours and 40 minutes. A flight from Islamabad to Quetta, PK 325 was also delayed. Another flight of foreign airlines bound to Karachi was also delayed for 1:50 hour.

Several other flights to or from Islamabad were delayed due to the bad weather. It is to be mentioned here that Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aeroplane was also diverted towards Peshawar due to inclement weather whereas it was scheduled to arrive in the capital city, Islamabad. Staff RepoRt

IHC warns staff of cyber-attack threat ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has warned all its employees of a possible computer virus attack named “Ransomware”, which has been launched worldwide to target machines running on Microsoft’s Windows operating systems. The virus specially targets computers running on Windows 7 and 10 and “encrypts the data and [then] the attacker demands[s] ransom from the user to restore the same,” read a circular issued by the high court’s additional registrar on Saturday. The warning, issued from the IHC’s computer network security team, barred users from plugging USBs into any of the official computers and surfing unnecessary websites or opening unauthentic web-links as well as installing new plugins in internet browsers. It also asked the users to create backup of the important official data in Z-drive of their computers and share the data by using email or through local network. A “ransomware” virus can be spread to computers through attachments or links in phishing emails, by infected web sites by means of a drive-by download or via infected USB sticks. Staff RepoRt

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NEWS

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2019: The year of high-profile arrests Asif Ali Zardari

Maryam Nawaz

Rana Sanaullah

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi

Former president Asif Ali Zardari was cuffed in July by the anti-corruption body, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in connection to a money laundering case. Zardari is accused of setting up fake bank accounts and siphoning billions of rupees out of the country. The money, insists NAB, was acquired through kickbacks and bribes. However in December, the Pakistan People’s Party leader was granted bail by the Islamabad High Court on medical grounds.

The NAB on August 8 arrested Pakistan Muslim League–Nawaz (PML-N) Vice-President Maryam Nawaz Sharif in the Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. NAB suspected Maryam of involvement in money laundering. It is alleged that she was involved in money laundering with the help of some foreigners during the period of 1992-93 when her father Nawaz Sharif was the prime minister. Maryam had approached the high court on September 30, seeking post-arrest bail in the sugar mills case. She was granted bail by Lahore High Court (LHC) on November 4. While the PML-N leader is embroiled in this legal battle, she is also fighting to get her name off the ECL to take care of her ailing father, who is in London for medical treatment after getting bail in another case.

The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) on July 1 arrested senior leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Rana Sanaullah, claiming that they had recovered a large stash of contraband from him. Minister for Narcotics Control Shehryar Khan Afridi repeatedly claimed to have substantial evidence against Sanaullah. Yet, after almost six months, the prosecution has provided no such evidence to the court. On December 22, the anti-narcotics court extended the PML-N leader’s remand by 14 days. However, the LHC on December 24 granted bail to Sanaullah in the narcotics possession case.

On July 18, the NAB arrested former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. He was accused of illegally awarding a contract for an LNG terminal while he was serving as the petroleum minister in former PM Nawaz’s cabinet. The bureau claimed the former government rented out a terminal of the Engro Group for 15 years at a cost of Rs27 million per day. The government, in April, placed a travel ban on him as well. Abbasi’s remand was extended on December 16 and he is to remain in NAB’s custody until the next hearing in his case.

Miftah Ismail

Faryal Talpur

Liaquat Ali Khan Qaimkhani

Hamza Shahbaz

Former finance minister Miftah Ismail was arrested on August 7 by the country’s anti-graft body, NAB, after IHC rejected his pre-arrest bail. Ismail was arrested in connection with an inquiry regarding the illegal awarding of LNG Terminal-1 to Engro Energy Terminal Private Limited. Miftah’s remand was extended on December 16 by 20 days. However, Ismail’s bail plea was granted by the IHC on December 23.

Member of National Assembly and senior leader of PPP, Faryal Talpur, was arrested on June 14

by NAB. Talpur along with her brother, former president Asif Ali Zardari, was accused of laundering money through fake bank accounts. NAB is investigating four cases where the former president and his sister are the prime accused.

The cases pertain to transactions worth hundreds of millions of rupees to both the leaders' private companies, allegedly, through fake bank accounts. The IHC on December 17 granted bail to Talpur in the fake bank accounts cases against surety bonds worth Rs10 million.

On September 20, NAB arrested Liaquat Ali Khan Qaimkhani — a former director general (DG) Parks and Horticulture of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, and advisor to Mayor Karachi. Qaimkhani is accused of involvement in the Bagh-e-Ibne Qasim scam and awarding fake contracts as DG Parks in the metropolis.

The anti-graft body had also accused him of embezzling at least Rs1 billion through fraudulent schemes. An accountability court on September 18 extended his judicial remand till January 9, 2020.

Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Hamza Shahbaz, was arrested on June 11

by NAB in the Ramzan Sugar Mills money laundering case and for allegedly owning assets beyond his means. On September 4, the accountability court sent Hamza to Lahore's Camp Jail on judicial remand after rejecting NAB’s appeal seeking an extension in his remand. His case hearing could not take place on December 20 due to a strike by lawyers. The hearing has been adjourned till January 3, 2020. Hamza remains in the custody of jail authorities.

Khursheed Shah

Aleem Khan

Agha Siraj Durrani

Ahsan Iqbal

NAB arrested senior leader of PPP Khursheed Shah on September 18. He was accused of allotting himself an amnesty plot illegally from a cooperative society in Sukkur. He is also accused of acquiring assets worth some Rs700 million in the names of his frontmen through ill-gotten money. An accountability court on December 17 granted bail to the PPP leader against surety bonds worth Rs5 million. The NAB approached the SHC and urged it to nullify Shah's bail as it was "against the law". On December 23, the SHC suspended Shah’s bail in the assets beyond known sources of income case.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf stalwart Aleem Khan was arrested on February 6 by NAB. Soon after his arrest, Aleem resigned from the post of Punjab local government minister. Cases pertaining to owning assets beyond his known sources of income and offshore companies led to the MPA’s arrest. On May 15, LHC granted him bail against surety bonds of Rs10 million. He still remains embroiled in a legal battle of a case pertaining to illegal acquisition of CDA land.

On February 20, the NAB arrested Sindh Assembly Speaker and PPP leader Agha Siraj Durrani. He was accused in three cases pertaining to illegal appointments, accumulating assets beyond means and embezzlement of funds.

After almost a year, on December 12, the SHC granted bail to Durrani and asked him to submit sureties of Rs1 million and his passport to the court. It was also ordered that his name be added to the ECL.

PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal was arrested on December 23 by NAB as he appeared before it in relation to a corruption case. According to NAB spokesman, the authority arrested the PML-N leader in relation to the Narowal Sports City Complex case. An accountability court on December 24 granted a 13-day remand of Ahsan in connection with the Narowal Sports City corruption case.

Kamran Michael

Mohsin Dawar

Ali Wazir

Khawaja Saad Rafique

NAB arrested former federal minister for port and shipping Kamran Michael on February 8, over allegations of illegally allotting three commercial and residential apartment plots at prime locations of Karachi Port Trust (KPT) Cooperative Housing Society to his favourite persons after allegedly receiving a huge sum.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) after almost 10 months, granted bail to PML-N stalwart on November 8.

Law enforcement personnel arrested leader of Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) and MNA Mohsin Dawar on May 30, days after the Kharqamar clash. The May 26 incident resulted in the deaths of 13 persons and left several injured during an exchange of fire and, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), was led

by Dawar and MNA Ali Wazir. On September 19, the Peshawar High Court granted bail to Dawar on the condition of submitting two Rs1 million surety bonds.

PTM leader and MNA Ali Wazir was arrested on May 26 shortly after the Kharqamar clash.

He was granted bail along his fellow PTM member, Dawar, on September 19, on the condition of submitting two Rs1 million surety bonds.

NAB on December 11, 2018 arrested PML-N leader Khawaja Saad Rafique and his brother Salman Rafique in connection to the Paragon Housing Society scam, after the Lahore High Court rejected their bail plea. The "accused has been and is continuously obtaining illegal/ illegitimate funds/benefits from said project as he obtained 40 kanal plots in his own name and the name of his brother Salman Rafique,” said NAB. Saad and his brother Salman were presented before a Lahore accountability court on December 23. Their judicial remand was extended by 14 days as their lawyers did not show up.

CMYK

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

06 WORLD VIEW

The coming boom Economy slows, protEsts in millennial wealth grow — modi has somE hard A NEW REPORT FROM YOUTH MARKETING EXPERTS YPULSE MAKES FOUR PREDICTIONS THAT ARE SUGGESTIVE OF A SIGNIFICANT TURNAROUND BEING ON THE HORIZON

Forbes Charles Taylor

Historically, much written on millennials has focused on economic strife and crushing student loan debt. While, as with virtually every other generation in history, many millennials have struggled financially during their youth, a new report from youth marketing experts YPulse makes four predictions that are suggestive of a significant turnaround being on the horizon.

Before getting to the predictions, it is important to take into account two key factors pertaining to Millennial wealth. First, the U.S. economy has been booming for a sustained period of time.

Unemployment reached the point in 2018 where there are more open jobs than workers, the stock market is up, GDP has been growing at a healthy pace, and average real earnings have been increasing.

In such an environment, those becoming established in jobs are in a better position to thrive. Moreover, many millennials have been known to be careful spenders on many consumer products.

A second factor that bodes well for wealth growth is that student loans are not the albatross they are made out to be for most millennials.

While this does not mean that a significant number of individuals do not struggle with student debt, when one takes a macro view of the situation, it is not as bad as it has often been made out to be. One needs to remember that average level of $30,000 of student loan debt in 2019 would have translated to about $4650 in 1970 when an average aged Baby Boomer was taking out loans.

While it surely is no fun to have to pay off $30,000 in debt, over time this is actually a level that most students can work their way out of. When one considers that nearly half (48%) of overall student loan debt comes from students in graduate school, which typically enhances the chance a higher paying job, the situation appears even more surmountable. Moreover, according to Brookings, fully 30% of students graduate with no debt at all and another 23% with debt of less than $20,000.

Fundamentally, the reason we appear to be at an inflection point in millennial wealth growth is that as an average aged member of this cohort will have turned 30 by 2020. As such, many are becoming established in the workforce and seeing their incomes rise. This will make it even more important for

marketers to understand millennial consumer motivations and behavior.

YPulse’s insightful predictions, discussed below, are suggestive of a dramatic increase in millennial wealth in the coming few decades.

While part of this phenomenon is normal in terms of the traditional family life cycle (i.e., most would expect to have more wealth at 55 than 35), YPulse points to four trends that will perpetuate millennial wealth growth: 1) THEY WILL START MAKING MAJOR MILESTONE PURCHASES It only makes sense that as millennials hit their 30s purchases will shift toward bigger ticket items such as homes and cars, as opposed to personal experiences and small pleasures. While YPulse’s own data suggests that some millennials may delay milestone purchases even a little further, these purchases are nevertheless a top goal of most members of the group.

2) MILLENNIAL SPENDING MAY ALREADY BE KEEPING THE US OUT OF A RECESSION YPulse points out that as more millennials have set up their own households, they are comfortable spending while paying off debt. Given that millennials overtook Baby Boomers as the largest cohort in population in 2019 and now spend more than any other group, this spending is critical to the long-term health of the economy.

Fortunately, millennial spending shows more signs of expanding than retreating.

3) MILLENNIALS ARE KEY TO THE HOME BUYING MARKET AND IT IS “JUST BEGINNING” By 2018, millennials accounted for 37% of home purchases, the highest of any age cohort. With many still in their twenties and early thirties, there are surely many more home purchases ahead. It appears that the group, who tend to looking for “good neighborhoods,” relatively short commutes and nice communities will be driving growth in housing markets for the next 20 years.

4) MILLENNIALS STAND TO INHERIT MONEY FROM THE BABY BOOMERS In spite of all too common derogatory remarks from some Boomers about millennials “living in basements” and the like along with the “Okay Boomer” comeback from some millennials, familial ties between these generations run deep. As more Boomers pass away in the next few decades, millennials stand to inherit $68 trillion. In part as a result, YPulse notes that millennials may end up as the richest generation in U.S. history. Of course there is also much reason to believe that large numbers of millennials will prosper financially over time on their own as well.

Collectively, these factors bode well for Millennial finances.

And the future starts now.

dEcisions to takE as 2019 Ends FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE HE CAME TO POWER IN 2014, MODI SEEMS CONCERNED ABOUT THE CHALLENGE TO THE BJP

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JyoTI MalhoTra

HIS week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has weighed in twice on the continuing protests around the Citizenship Amendment Act as well as the National Register of Citizens, even as two foreign nationals were picked up and questioned for participating in these protests in Chennai and Kochi.

As many as 19 people have died in the protest violence so far in Uttar Pradesh. Besides, 1,113 people have been arrested in 327 cases and another 5,558 people placed under preventive detention.

For the first time since he came to power in 2014, Modi seems concerned about the challenge to the BJP. As many as 10 Congress and non-BJP governments, led by Pun-

jab’s Amarinder Singh, have said they won’t implement the National Population Register (NPR) at the state level, because data generated by the NPR will become the basis for the nationwide NRC. As he backtracked on the BJP’s stated commitment to implement the NRC, even in the party manifesto, at the Ramlila Maidan, Modi denied the NRC had ever been discussed by his Cabinet since he came to power. The opposition, he said, was spreading “misinformation” and “lies”.

But a scan of recent Modi’s speeches has revealed the opposite.

At an election rally on 24 April in Ranaghat in West Bengal’s Nadia district, Modi not only spoke about the need to implement the NRC and the CAA, but also made a clear linkage between the two.

“We will take an important step when we win, related to Citizenship Act. Last time around, the TMC, the Congress and the Communists stopped the amendment, they will lose now. The people will make them lose. And we will pass that law in Parliament,” Modi says in the video.

“Alongside,” he added, “work on the NRC will also be started. So

that the people of West Bengal will be saved from illegal infiltrators.”

For the time being, in the face of the student protests, Modi and Amit Shah seem to have backed off on implementing the party manifesto’s section on “combating infiltration.”

The section states that “there has been a huge change in the cultural and linguistic identity of some areas due to illegal immigration…

We will expeditiously complete the National Register of Citizens process in these areas on priority.

In future, we will implement the NRC in a phased manner in other parts of the country.” Shah’s home ministry also seems to have other ideas. Apart from insisting that the NPR will be updated, which even the UPA government under Manmohan Singh had done, the two foreign nationals have been asked to leave the country for participating in anti-CAA protests.

For the first time as well, small protests in highly controlled societies in the Gulf are also taking place. In Dubai, an anti-CAA protest was allowed on 24 December Only in August, the UAE awarded Modi the ‘Order of Zayed,’ its highest civilian honour.

Even in Singapore, an Indian national was picked up for protesting against the CAA. Universities in Europe and in the US have witnessed several anti-CAA protests these past couple of weeks, although their capitals have officially kept mum.

But diplomatic sources in Delhi have told me that they are increasingly concerned about the trampling of India’s democratic tradition and are keeping a close eye on the evolving situation in the country. External affairs minister S. Jaishankar’s cancelling an appointment with the US Congress is believed to have not gone down well with the Americans.

As the PM heads into the Budget season, he will have to scramble to balance the demand to open up the economy to kickstart growth with demands to roll back measures like the NRC and the CAA. Many say that Modi and Amit Shah are using these measures to keep the fires of Hindu-Muslim polarisation alive. But along with a damaged economy, several NDA allies like the Akali Dal are also not happy with the CAA. Certainly, the time has come for Modi to take some hard decisions.

2020 outlook: Where is the Middle East heading?

WHO WILL DOUSE THE FLAMES OF MIDDLE EAST CONFLICTS?

by DaviD Hearst Well, we survived 2019 - just - but what beckons for the new year and the new decade cannot but make us hunker down even deeper in our bunkers. There is no doubt about it, even to the liberal globalists of the Financial Times, that the western world, long advanced as the example the rest of the world should follow, is in a profound political crisis.

Voters in England and Wales have just handed the most unstable prime minister in postwar history the biggest mandate since Margaret Thatcher. I say England and Wales because undoubtedly now, if given the chance, a majority of Scots would choose to leave the union first set up in 1707.

The virus of rightwing white nationalism has spread throughout Europe and the US. Watch out for the rise of the neo-fascist League in Italy in 2020, and the strong possibility it could form a government.

This and US President Donald Trump’s re-election will continue to have profound impacts on the Middle East. The unpredictability of western actions in the region, as well as the profound absence of a coherent policy, will affect regional actors such as Turkey, Iran and Israel.

The Gulf is on a hair-trigger, but my betting is still against war on Iran in 2020. Military action in the Gulf is unpredictable, and Trump fancies his chances of turning impeachment into an electoral asset and getting re-elected. That said, the region is so unstable, it would not take much to trigger a third Gulf war.

The Americans are worried, so they recently put substantial efforts into publicly embracing Qatar (Ivanka Trump showed up at this

year’s Doha Forum) in order to pressure Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman into talks aimed at ending the two-year blockade against Qatar. The talks themselves, however, are in their infancy, and both Bahrain and the UAE are against any change to the status quo.

The civil war in Libya could easily descend into house-to-house fighting in Tripoli, unless both Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin come to an Astanalike deal. The military balance has recently swung in General Khalifa Haftar’s favour with the arrival of hundreds of Russian mercenaries.

Overall, we enter a new decade with record temperatures, strong winds and bush fires raging throughout the region. There are limited means to fight those fires.

Will common sense break out, before vast tracts of the Middle East look like Syria? No time soon. ***** THREE UNPREDICTABLE vARIABLES

by Marco carnelos In 2020, the key trends for the Middle East will continue to be conditioned by the long-running clash between the socalled Arab Nato, consisting of the United States, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and the socalled Axis of Resistance, composed of Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Yemen. Both camps are contending the leadership in the region. The first one is attempting the reaffirmation of Pax Americana, the second one openly challenging it.

Russia, China and Turkey will be the spoilers. They will exert their influence from outside - which is

increasing anyway - and affect the balance of power between these two camps in a pragmatic way, on a case-by-case approach. In such an established geopolitical framework, three additional elements should be considered.

Firstly, there is the presidential election campaign in the United States, where the US role in the Middle East could be debated between Trump, who aspires to limit it, and Washington’s foreign policy and defence establishment, which remains inclined to persevere with endless wars in the region. To some extent, both mainstream Republican and Democratic parties remain subscribers to endless wars, adding further confusion to an already complex picture.

Secondly, there are the ongoing protests in several Arab capitals, mainly, but not only, Beirut and Baghdad. It remains to be seen whether, and how, the protests will be able to alter the balances in the region - and, in particular, Iranian influence.

Thirdly, the parliamentary elections in Iran, due to be held in February, could significantly constrain President Hassan Rouhani’s room to manoeuvre in a possibly controlled de-escalation with the US. The popular mood in Arab, American and Iranian streets will be one of the key, unpredictable, wild variables. In 2020, the street protests, more than those in power, could affect events in the Middle East. ***** A MAKE OR BREAK YEAR FOR TRUMP AND ISRAEL

by ricHarD silverstein Both the US and Israel face momentous elections in the coming year. Israel’s will be in early February, and the third such election in the past 12

months, an unprecedented political stalemate. It doesn’t promise to bring much in the way of change, regardless of who wins.

The US election in November promises to be much more pivotal, as it marks an opportunity to unseat Donald Trump, who has brought volatility and uncertainty to relations with the Middle East: from the precipitous withdrawal from Syria at the instigation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to the near-attack on Iran for downing a US drone (avoided at the last minute if Trump is to be believed), to a wholesale sellout of Palestinians in favour of Israel regarding the much-vaunted “deal of the century”.

Trump has been weakened by his impeachment in the House of Representatives, but it appears unlikely the Senate will convict him and remove him from office.

This means that he will limp into the November election as a wounded candidate. Nevertheless, he will retain much of his Republican support and still be formidable. If Trump loses and Democrats strengthen their hand in Congress, US policy will likely revert to the approach favoured by former President Barack Obama.

Though there will be little chance for improvement regarding Israel-Palestine, a Democratic president could ease tensions with Iran considerably.

Leading Democratic contender Joe Biden has not been known to stake out a clear policy towards the region.

Senator Bernie Sanders has been the most outspoken in his willingness to criticise Israel.

He is the first Democrat in decades to threaten to withhold US aid to Israel.

This marks a sea change among normally obeisant Democratic candidates who refuse to rock the boat on Israel.

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

PhiliPPines bans two Us senators, mUlls new visa rUles for americans MANILA

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Agencies

He Philippines has banned two U.S. lawmakers from visiting and will introduce tighter entry restrictions for U.S. citizens should Washington enforce sanctions over the detention of a top government critic, the president’s spokesman said on Friday.

President Rodrigo Duterte will impose visa requirements on U.S. nationals should any Philippine officials involved in the incarceration of Senator Leila de Lima be denied entry to the United States, as sought by U.S. senators Richard Durbin and Patrick Leahy.

Duterte’s move comes after the U.S.

Congress approved a 2020 budget that contains a provision introduced by the senators against anyone involved in holding de Lima, who was charged with drug offenses in 2017 after she led an investigation into mass killings during Duterte’s war on drugs.

“We will not sit idly if they continue to interfere with our processes as a sovereign state,” Philippine presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo told a news conference.

The Philippines grants visa-free entry for up to 30 days to Americans, 792,000 of whom visited in the first nine months of 2019, nearly 13% of foreign arrivals.

The U.S. embassy in Manila and the State Department did not immediately re-

spond to requests for comment, but Leahy’s spokesman David Carle called the charges against de Lima politically motivated, and added: “This is about the right of Filipino citizens - and people everywhere - to freely express their opinions, including opinions that may be critical of government policies that involve the use of excessive force and the denial of due process.”

Panelo said travel restrictions over de Lima’s detention were nonsense because she was not wrongfully imprisoned but detained pending trial for crimes.

“The case of Senator de Lima is not one of persecution but of prosecution,” he said.

Duterte makes no secret of his disdain for the United States and what he consid-

FOREIGN NEWS 07

ers its hypocrisy and interference, though he admits that most Filipinos and his military have high regard for their country’s former colonial ruler.

The United States is the Philippines biggest defense ally and millions of Filipinos have relatives who are U.S. citizens.

De Lima, a justice minister in a former administration, has won numerous

awards from human rights groups, who consider her a prisoner of conscience.

She has called for an international investigation into Duterte’s war on drugs, in which thousands of people have been killed.

Police say those killed were drug dealers who resisted arrest, but activists say many of the killings were murders.

Nearly 2,000 evacuated, one missing as 'scary' cyclone hammers Fiji WELLINGTON Agencies

Nearly 2,000 people took refuge in emergency shelters and one man was missing after being swept away in floodwaters as Tropical Cyclone Sarai pounded Fiji on Saturday causing widespread damage.

National Disaster Management Office Director Vasiti Soko urged locals and the thousands of tourists in Fiji not to be reckless as Sarai lashed the Pacific island nation with heavy rain and destructive winds.

With wind gusts strengthening to 150 kilometres (93 miles) per hour during the day, Sarai destroyed houses and crops, brought down trees, cut power and caused considerable flooding in low-lying areas.

Thousands of holidaymakers were stranded with flights to and from Fiji either cancelled or rescheduled.

New Zealander Melonie Sheppard, who was holidaying on Mana Island to the west of mainland Fiji, described the situation as “scary” and said their resort was in lockdown.

“We’re being hammered by intense winds and horizontal rains. The resort is providing packed meals and water direct to rooms when they can,” she told the New Zealand Herald.

“Wind is howling and tree debris flying about, doors and windows shaking, huge waves rolling into shore. Water now leaking into some rooms – it’s a bit scary at times.”

The Fiji government issued a statement warning of “destructive force winds with… coastal sea flooding to be expected.”

The National Disaster Management Office said as of mid-morning on Saturday, 1,970 people had sought emergency shelter and there had been no reports of any injuries.

However, there were fears for the safety of a man swept away as he tried to cross a flooded river while another man, reported missing at sea, was rescued in his fibreglass dinghy by police.

Acting police commissioner Rusiate Tudravu said it was disappointing that some people had disregarded the weather warnings.

“People themselves are irresponsible… we issued a warning prior to the cyclone through the relevant authorities, yet people saw it fit for themselves during the cyclone to take such irresponsible actions,” he said.

On its present track, the cyclone is forecast to pass adjacent to Fiji’s main island Viti Levu, then across Fiji’s southern islands before heading towards Tonga, which has activated its tropical cyclone warning centre with the storm expected to arrive late Sunday.

Japan police find human remains in boat suspected from North Korea TOKYO Agencies

Japanese police found the remains of at least five people in a wooden boat suspected to be from North Korea on the coast of one of Japan’s outlying islands on Saturday, a Coast Guard official said.

Police made the discovery in the wooden boat’s stem around 9:30am (0030 GMT) on Saturday on Sado island, which is off the coast of Japan’s northwestern prefecture of Niigata, Coast Guard official Kei Chinen said.

Police found the heads of two persons, as well as five bodies, Chinen said, adding that the cause of death is under investigation.

The official could not immediately confirm whether the heads belonged to the five bodies or were from two other people, saying that is being investigated.

The wooden boat had letters and numbers written in Korean on its outside, he added.

A police officer first spotted the wooden boat on Friday afternoon. Police waited until Saturday before entering it due to unstable weather.

The discovery on Saturday marks the second time since last month that a wooden boat has washed up on the shores of Sado island, Chinen said.

The grisly find adds to the troubles that Japan and South Korea have with their neigh-

bor North Korea, as strained diplomatic ties over the North’s nuclear arms program could make an investigation difficult to carry out.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has given the United States until the end of the year to propose new concessions in talks over his country’s nuclear arsenal and reducing tensions between the adversaries.

Also on Friday, Japanese public broadcaster NHK sent a news bulletin that incorrectly reported North Korea had launched a missile that fell into waters east of the Japanese archipelago, issuing an apology explaining it was a media training alert.

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

08 COMMENT

‘The year of living dangerously’

A belated move Unreserved support to NAB took toll of economy

2020 make or break year

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or over a year one man’s ego made the bureaucracy dysfunctional, the business community hesitant about making investments and the banks left without money. Meanwhile a whole lot of prominent opposition leaders were handed over to nAB, the Pakistani version of the medieval inquisition.

Fears of nAB had gradually grown among the PTi circles also, particularly among those against whom the nAB had conducted initial probes. There were strong pressures therefore on the Prime Minister from within the PTi leadership to change the nAB law.

The new provisions preclude the nAB from taking up graft cases below rs500 million. The remand period has been drastically reduced from three months to 14 days. Similarly, nAB officials will be barred from issuing public statements before filing references, thus ending the media trial aimed at character assassination of the accused.

With regard to procedural lapses in any government project or scheme, no action under the amended ordinance shall be taken against any holder of public office unless it is shown that he has gained any asset or monetary benefit as a result. instead of the accused providing proof of innocence, nAB will have to provide evidence of guilt.

There are still serious lacunae in the ordinance like determining the value of the accused’s immovable properties either according to the applicable rate prescribed by the district collector or the Federal Board of revenue (FBr), whichever is higher. A property acquired 30 years back for rs100,000 has now acquired the market value of rs10 million. it will be unfair to categorise it as an asset disproportionate to an accused person’s worth, as is being done in rana Sanaullah’s case. Lacunae of the sort can be removed if the new ordinance is passed as a bill through Parliament. The opposition which has suffered a lot under the previous nAB law is likely to cooperate if the government decides to approach it.

Much more needs to be done to make the wheels of economy run, including uninterrupted supply of gas and power to industry at affordable rates, reduction in the bank rate, stabilisation of the rupee and import of industrial raw material. A single measure will neither raise employment nor reduce poverty.

Where is the PPP headed?

Time to do address the one-province party problem

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or the first time in 12 years, since her untimely death, Benazir’s death anniversary was not an affair restricted to a day of mourning at garhi Khuda Bakhsh. it was instead organised as a public gathering at Liaquat Bagh where the two-time prime minister and leader of the PPP was slain in a gun-andsuicide bomb attack. Permission for the rally had been granted by the Lahore High court after the district administration of rawalpindi had initially declined, deeming it a security risk. The attempt to block the rally was just another example of the PTi government’s hostility towards the PPP and its chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, forcing him to lash out. As a result, the rally primarily circled around speeches taunting imran Khan and his government for being ‘selected’ and ‘incompetent’ while also criticising them for damaging the democratic process. Bilawal went a few steps further by predicting that there would be fresh elections in 2020. Perhaps that was an ‘in-the-moment’ statement considering how the PPP is in no way ready to contest another election at this time, especially in north Punjab where the party has been rendered almost non-existent.

For the past two election cycles the PPP’s success has remained confined to Sindh where it can depend on the ‘jiyala’ vote even if some of the more conventional voters have switched parties. This has enabled it to run the province for over ten years during which time, in Punjab, the PML-n ran things, only to lose the province to the PTi by a very slight margin in 2018.

The PPP emerged as the second largest party in the Punjab Provincial Assembly in the 2008 elections with 81 seats but this number fell drastically to an embarrassing 8 in the 2013 polls which could be attributed to campaigning restrictions due to security threats, but the 2018 result of only 7 seats cannot be justified using the same excuse. it is time Bilawal use the advice and experience of the senior party members around him and the younger lot in the party as well, to prepare a comprehensive strategy on how to attract the disgruntled PTi and PML-n voter and re-enter Punjab politics.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

I

aRif Nizami

A

S the year draws to a close, there is nothing much to cheer about except a perennial economic downturn and incremental threats to democratic values and media freedom. The prime minister last Thursday while addressing a public meeting roared that there was a mafia in the newspaper industry that was writing against the government on a daily basis since he had closed the door to their corruption.

According to Khan some journalists who made money and derived other benefits from the old system are against the government. He should name and shame such corrupt elements in the media instead of tarring the whole journalist community.

The harbinger of change has now promised that 2020 will be a year of progress and consolidation. The “new Pakistan” that was supposed to usher the country into a fresh era of economic development and pristine moral values hitherto has proved to be a damp squib.

Unfortunately, corruption has become a tag to malign those who are critical of the PTi (Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf) government. Whether it is the opposition politicians, independent journalists or even judges belonging to the superior judiciary, any institution or pillar of the state crossing the red line is deemed as being on the take. on the other hand, throughout the year the beleaguered opposition has been unable to get its act together. granted, that the two main opposition parties namely the PML-n (Pakistan Muslim League – nawaz) and the PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party) have been at the receiving end of the stick.

They are being hounded by the nAB (national Accountability Bureau) along with a rejuvenated FiA (Federal investigation Agency) under the aegis of its controversial director general Wajid Zia. Sadly, the AnF (Anti-narcotics Force) has also joined the fray-as in the curious case of rana Sanaullah.

The Sharif brothers while heading the rump of the opposition have been giving mixed signals

throughout the year. initially after being ousted the PML-n supremo nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam had adopted a hard-line not only against the government but were also extremely critical of the establishment.

The hawkish narrative of the PML-n gradually dissipated. Maryam who was banned from live coverage for her highly critical narrative after being granted bail suddenly became mum.

Her twitter account that she very frequently used became dormant. Suddenly Shehbaz Sharif who was shunned both by the elder brother as well as the niece became the dominant face of the Party. His soft line towards the military leadership became the new mantra of the Sharif family.

Post october Sharif was shifted to the hospital from Kot Lakhpat Jail after his blood platelets suddenly dropped putting Shehbaz clearly in the driving seat. He is credited for facilitating his brother to be allowed to proceed to London on the pretext of urgently needed treatment. ironically, ‘critical Sharif’, comfortably ensconced in his grand Avenfield London apartment has not spent a single night in the hospital.

Khan is ostensibly furious giving the impression that he was conned to let Sharif go. it is no coincidence that the younger Sharif who not only heads the party but is also the leader of the opposition in the national Assembly is also staying back in London on the nebulous excuse that he has to tend to his ailing brother.

The irony could not have been entirely lost on the PML-n leadership that while their leader is enjoying London virtually doing nothing, they are being hounded by the PTi government. Most of them are either in the slammer or facing the wrath of the nAB or FiA. Both the PML-n and the PPP only benignly supported the JUi-F (Jamiat Ulema-e-islam) chief Maulana Fazal-ur-rehman’s dharna that ended in november without a whimper. The top leadership of both parties remains ominously absent from the joint opposition forum- the socalled rahbar committee.

The PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari also has been released on medical grounds. Admittedly, Bilawal Bhutto, politically very active, is taking a belligerent line against the PTi government. But at the same time, he is careful not to ruffle any feathers in the gHQ (general Headquarters).

The most important phenomenon of the year is the reassertion of an independent superior judiciary. The former chief justice of Pakistan Asif Saeed Khosa virtually at the twilight of his term limited the tenure of the coAS general Qamar Javed Bajwa to six months pending the parliament enacting the rules for extension and appointment.

This was indeed another first in the troubled history of civil-mil relations of the country. A special court convicting former dictator general (retd) Pervez Musharraf for high treason also happened on justice Khosa’s watch.

The government that is bent upon its vindictive agenda is not taking the risk of settling the matter of the coAS extension through parliament. it has gone for a review petition instead, terming former cJP’s verdict as legally flawed.

The leader of the opposition in the national Assembly perhaps deliberately absent from the scene is ominously not taking any position on the issue.

By defanging nAB through a presidential ordinance the government betrays its dismissive attitude towards the parliament that remained dominant throughout the year. it simply does not want to engage the opposition considering it something below the bloated ego of the prime minister.

Perhaps the opposition, especially the PMLn, reckons that Khan is failing in any case.

Hence sooner or later the PTi government’s mentors will be forced to change horses.

That is why the so-called ‘minus-one formula’ is being bandied about. Quite obviously Shehbaz Sharif is positioning himself as the alternative leadership.

But as they say, “if wishes were horses beggars would ride.” At best, Sharif can take credit with his interlocutors for successfully silencing his brother and niece. But that the PTi government has lost support of its backers is assuming too much at this stage.

However, going by the law of averages no elected prime minister has been able to complete his term of office. Why would Khan be an exception?

The kind of tail winds Khan has enjoyed from the military leadership his predecessors could only dream of. regrettably he has squandered this support on quixotic crusades against the opposition and hair-brained schemes.

The next year will be seminal for the PTi. The government has been successful in stabilising the economy to an extent, by implementing the iMF conditionalities.

However, according to the international lending agency’s first quarterly report, there are shortfalls in many of the areas vital for the economy including the energy sector, circular debt and revenue collection. Unfortunately for the proverbial common man-that any elected government worth its salt is supposed to serve- it is becoming increasingly difficult to make ends meet.

Merely making empty speeches promising the moon will not do. Khan has to deliver, that so far he has been unable to.

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

On the verge of a new year There is a lot wrong, and no one seems to know how to fix it

Rabia ahmed

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ccording to research in the USA, the political system– as in democracy– has failed in that country. results show that the preferences of the average citizen have a ‘near zero’, statistically non-significant impact on public policy.

Jennifer Lawrence in her talk says that once they are in office politicians spend 70 per cent of their time raising funds to ensure that they get back into that office.

As 2019 draws to a close and we stand on the verge of a new year, the situation appears to be much the same in Pakistan where the average citizen is nowhere taken into consideration.

Karachi, the capital of Sindh is still the commercial hub of the country with the most industries. it is responsible for a sizeable chunk of the country’s tax collection, over a third of the total. Almost all of Pakistan’s international trade takes off from Karachi’s ports, and most foreign companies are stationed in that city. With its ethnically diverse Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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population Karachi is endlessly vibrant, one of the world’s fastest growing cities. Yet sadly, it is also one of the filthiest cities in the world and ranks high on the crime scale, although that has come down from the highest in the world since the rangers were brought in a few years ago. it is very obvious that the city of Karachi and the province of Sindh lack governance, much less effective governance.

The governing party of the province, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) is holding a rally in rawalpindi today on the anniversary of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. coinciding with this event is a heightened criticism of the Benazir income Support Programme.

The BiSP was set up as a support fund in 2008 for the very poor, women in particular. it has come under fire over the years for various reasons, for instance because of its name since the funds are not taken from Benazir’s personal money.

And now the programme has been accused of using the pay-outs as a means of rewarding support for the political party. More than 800,000 beneficiaries have been removed from its list because they were not among the very poor for whom the fund was originally intended.

Politicians have never been honest fighters in the ring, shamelessly using slogans, ideologies and

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

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whatever they can lay their hands on to gain support. To its credit the PPP has not hidden behind the religious card like most of the other players and has been a largely secular party. in the past many years, this has been its only plus point.

What started out as a lion has been reduced to a something like a rat with the passing of time and its original leadership. The PPP, once a nationwide movement has completely lost support in the Punjab where it was once powerful. it is now holed up in Sindh at the helm of the most incompetent government that province has ever seen. And yet it finds itself justified in criticising governance in the rest of the country. if the federal government’s assessment is correct and the Benazir income Support Programme is being used as it says, then Jennifer Lawrence’s observation regarding politicians in office spending most of their time ensuring that they get back into that office is as valid here.

There is also the fact that the PPP leadership has used the Bhutto name in a way that is nothing if not nauseating.

As for Lahore, the capital of Punjab and the country’s second largest city, it is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The atmosphere in this city that all citizens breathe ranks every day at hazardous, yet nothing, but nothing, is

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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being done to stem the pollution at its source. Factories continue to spew out noxious fumes and pour polluting chemicals into the waterways. The PML-n and PTi governments, much as they aim to stem the flow of PPP criticism, have achieved nothing in their turns. And all of them together are unjustified in criticising the indian government for its new and discriminatory citizenship laws, when nothing is being done to change the condition of minorities in this country, where the blasphemy law remains in effect and Junaid Hafeez remains imprisoned because of it.

At the end of the day, the people of this country are as tired of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s immature rants, the current Prime Minister’s U-turns and fiery bouncers, and the PML-n’s angry retorts. it is a depressing note on which to end the year, and one can only pray for some improvement in 2020. What little one could hope for though appears to have been ground into the earth by the last few lines of Justice Seth’s verdict regarding general Musharraf.

What hope is there for a country where a high court judge can pen such sentiments?

Rabia Ahmed is a freelance columnist. Read more by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com/

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

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

Mr PM be friendly with media PriME Minister imran Khan continues to be annoyed and angry with the media. only yesterday, he has charged that the newspaper media is writing against the government. The PM is persistently stepping on the wrong foot, to say the least. not all tv channels and not all newspapers are hostile towards the PTi’s federal and provincial governments. instead of lashing out at the media, which hardly suits the chief executive of the country, the PM should better pull up his teams of advisors and party media advisors and spokesmen and more importantly the federal and provincial govts public relations department and ask them as to what they are doing, why such hostile things are appearing in the media. if the newspapers are duly fed with pro and positive material by the Press information department of the federal government and directorate general of Public relations of the Punjab then quite obviously the newspapers have to publish whatever material they get from other sources. This scribe is witness to the Pid and dgPr’s failing in performing their duties of projection of the positive image of their respective governments and merely organising press conferences of the ministers and advisors and pulling up chairs for them. The newspapers main source of income is not from their circulation but from advertisements.

Federal and provincial governments advertisements in the newspapers encourage the private sector advertising parties to also get their advertisements published in the newspapers to reach the government quarters concerned. The former ruling parties were not only resorting to lavish advertising in the newspapers but their leaders were also pretty friendly with the media. The PM and cM Punjab are requested to be friendly with the electronic and print media people as well as the bureaucrats and get things going in right direction onwards, please. Thanks.

M Z RIFAT Lahore

Issues of ANF credibility

A vision that was not to be Deepening scars on the face of Pakistan

Candid Corner Raoof hasaN “You may choose to look the other way, but you can never say again that you did not know.”

– William Wilberforce

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S the world celebrated the birth of Jesus christ, december 25 provided us here in Pakistan a sombre opportunity to ponder the legacy of the Quaid, 143 years after his birth and over 71 years after he closed his eyes for the journey hereafter.

Much has changed since those days. His trailblazing pronouncement to follow the principles of “unity, faith and discipline” has been changed to “faith, unity and discipline”. it was not just the sequence of words that was altered. “Faith”, originally reflecting confidence in one’s inherent ability to surmount challenges, was given a religious dimension.

His oft-quoted injunction that the state would have nothing to do with one’s religion has since been overtaken by the objectives resolution and the Blasphemy Law. He advocated for a liberal, progressive and egalitarian Pakistan where the state would not dispense on the basis of a citizen’s colour of skin, caste or creed. What we have instead is an embodiment of theocracy, regression and intolerance.

He preached equity and equality as guidelines for progress, but Pakistan has since been reduced to becoming one of the most unjust, fanatical and bigoted countries in the world.

He wanted our diversity to be our strength saying “...and you will find that, in course of time, Hindus would cease to be Hindus, and Muslims would cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense, because that is the personal faith of each individual, but in the political sense as citizens of the state”. instead, we drove a wedge right in the middle separating Muslims from all other faiths, thus creating a chasm

which has only grown with the passage of time.

The travails of Aasia Bibi are known throughout the world as a living testament of religious radicalisation within our society. But, this treatment is not only administered to the followers of other religions. Smitten by sectarian divides, members of the Muslim community are not spared as is evidenced by the case of Junaid Hafeez who has been sentenced to death for committing blasphemy. Held in solitary confinement for six years, his eventual fate is just as unknown as was that of Aasia Bibi when she was languishing in prison.

Amnesty international called the trial “a travesty”. other rights groups have also taken strong exception to the award of death penalty to an academic through misuse of the blasphemy law.

The persistent problem with us is that the world may see it, but we don’t see it like that. it is as if nothing is wrong, and everything enacted in the name of religion has come from the heavens and, thus, must be practiced at its most vengeful. The story that started in March, 1948 with the adoption of the objectives resolution by the first constituent Assembly declaring islam to be the state religion and consigning the followers of other faiths to the “minority” status, has continued to germinate with time. Be it the blasphemy law, declaring the Ahmadi community non-Muslim, or a host of other discriminatory statutes, it is not a progeny that the state and its people can be proud of.

But to see it that way, we need to develop a different mindset and begin looking at things from a different perspective. That, some may say, is not possible, while others may dispute the very notion of there being anything wrong with the way we understand, and the way we see, things. This is an approach that we have been held hostage to through decades and there is not a ray of light that i see which would convince me that things may actually begin to change in the foreseeable future. in the meanwhile, the tentacles of bigotry and obscurantism would keep digging in deeper and, with time, we may become that much more obdurate in our refusal to change our perspective, and that much more intolerant to accept diversity in our midst.

Alongside making a passionate plea for the kind of Pakistan that he wanted to see, the Quaid also warned the people of three varieties of curses that could befall the fate of the country. The curse of bribery and corruption was on top of the list– a condition he said prepartition india was already suffering from.

The next in line was the curse of black marketing and the last on the list was the evil of nepotism and jobbery, a term for corrupt employment practices. now, if one looks around, these are the very curses which have plagued the country hollow in the last seventy-two years. Bribery

and corruption are celebrated here. Justice is a purchasable commodity. nepotism is a popular branded trademark used with gay abandon while crime is systematically solemnised. it is not individuals alone who have been afflicted with this scourge. Even the institutions of the state have fallen victim to this pestilence. The ones who land up in the arenas of power use their illicit billions to instil a culture of corruption through various strata of the society. That is how the ultimate division is created between the elite who have benefitted from their criminal indulgences and the poor who struggle to survive on the fringes. in addition to other ills which this inequitable dispensation has cultivated, it has also generated a hate syndrome in the society which has taken roots with the passage of time. in the absence of a desire for change, we are likely to remain trapped in the spiral of regression, thus weakening us from within. in the event of inordinate prolongation of this phase, a change will nevertheless take place.

But that change will not be one of our making, but sparked by the conditions that we have created. This change will ultimately overwhelm and consume us.

We have not been able to work for the Quaid’s Pakistan, but the kind of country that we have so laboriously created is plonked on wobbly foundations. it is not sustainable. it is a partisan and inequitable fabrication which works by the power and corruption of individuals, not by the enlightenment, vibrancy and justness of institutions. our plunge into regression has sown seeds of doubt in the minds of people who have been at the receiving end of what the beneficiary elite have dispensed.

This has inscribed deepening scars on the face of the state. For the Quaid, Pakistan was an ‘Ishq’. For succeeding generations since, it has been a burden that they have tried hard to dispose of. There is little pride associated with the state as we remain squeezed in the stranglehold of the dreaded curses– symptoms reflecting a poisonous malaise. instead of contributing to its perpetuation through our silence, we should dispassionately review the horrible mess we have made of this country. A few moments of meaningful introspection may enhance our understanding, expand our perspective and generate the drive to reverse the tide. it’s not an easy task, but a task that has to be accomplished, that is if we really want to see the advent of a progressive and enlightened country dedicated to the welfare of its citizens without any discrimination. otherwise, it is the hell that we live through.

Raoof Hasan is a political and security strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute – an Islamabad-based think tank. He can be reached at: raoofhasan@hotmail.com; Twitter: @RaoofHasan

QUAid-E-AZAM while addressing officers at Staff college Quetta stated “the defence Forces are the most vital of all Pakistan Services and correspondingly a very heavy responsibility and burden lies on your soldiers”. He told them that “executive authority flows from Head of government of Pakistan, and any command or orders that may come to you cannot come without the sanction of the Executive Head”, whose powers are derived from constitution, which is supreme. in the words of Edmund Burke “it is the love of the people; it is their attachment to their government, from the sense of the deep stake they have in such a glorious institution, which gives you your army and your navy—”. it is unfortunate that this trust and confidence received a blow in recent incident involving AnF and controversy that followed after allegation that an opposition politician was arrested with 15 Kg of heroine.

The officers of our armed forces must abstain themselves from getting involved in such assignments like AnF, given nature of the job and its sensitivity when in words of Lahore High court “political victimisation is an open secret of our country”. it is not just AnF but also ASF which has been deeply rooted in controversies like their use of fake bomb detector Khoji, derived from banned AdE-651, whose founder James Mccormick was sentenced to 10 years in jail by London High court, after proven guilty of manufacturing and selling fake bomb detectors to countries like iraq etc. There is also another controversy involving dHA Valley in islamabad which advertised allotment of plots in 2008 to general public measuring 5/8 Marlas and even after all instalments were paid, yet unfortunate beneficiaries have not received the land.

MALIk TARIq ALI Lahore

The Kashmir dispute TodAY, the Kashmir issue is one of the most sensitive and burning topics being discussed everywhere, not just in india and Pakistan. it has a vast historic significance, and a set of events have led both countries to wrestle with one another since the inception of the dispute. Eyeing the scenario in place, it is expressed with despair, that Pakistan seems to be in a no-solution situation up till now. clouds of despondency are looming large as subsequent to the verdict of Apex court of india and the abrogation of the articles of constitution 35-A and 370, the situation on both sides of the border have worsened and all sorts of bilateral and diplomatic ties have been reduced to a considerable extent.

To add more to the ongoing turmoil, Pakistan has faced a huge backfoot from every country including the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and wherever it has resorted for support in the light of the abrogation of the said articles by the indian Apex court. i believe that we are well aware of the economic disparity that our country faces, well aware that we cannot afford to wage a war with india. considering the very fact that india is a prosperous country and keeping aside our individual views on how the country deals with the minorities’ issues, alternatively speaking on the whole, it should be accepted that we are by all means far behind in all fields as compared to the present india.

Praising india isn’t on my agenda, nor is criticising my country my point. However, reality cannot be overlooked. i would only like to conclude by making a simple point clear that both the countries have wasted decades over conflicts and wars, why not give peace and diplomacy a chance. Why not fix the issues by amicably sitting on a platform and let both the sovereign leaders discuss the issue and come to a resolution. As the popular saying goes, “You can change your friends, but not your neighbours”. india should understand the fact that Pakistan has equal interests in Kashmir as india. Just blaming Pakistan on every front will not take india anywhere, and would rather aggravate the situation and increase tensions on both sides of the border, which may not lead to peace and harmony. india needs to let go of its superiority complex and behave like a developed nation which it claims itself to be.

AAMNAH MANSooR Lahore

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

10 FOREIGN NEWS

hUndreds join final Gaza-israel border Protests for three months GAZA CITY

h

Agencies

UNDReDS of Palestinians took part in protests along the Gaza-Israel border Friday, the last of the Hamas-backed demonstrations until March.

Amid heavy rain and wind, the rallies had the lowest turnout in months, with tensions far lower than in previous weeks and no live fire by the Israeli army, an AFP correspondent said.

The army fired however some vol-

leys of tear gas in the southern Gaza Strip after protesters in the border town of Rafah and in Khan Yunis approached the fence, hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at the soldiers on the other side of the frontier.

The often violent weekly protests began in March 2018, calling for an end to Israel s blockade of the Gaza Strip and for Palestinians to be allowed to return to their ancestral homes inside the Jewish state.

Israel contends that any return of Palestinian refugees or their descen-

dents would mean an end to its status as a Jewish state and accuses Gaza s Islamist rulers Hamas of orchestrating the protests as a cover for attacks.

At least 348 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza by Israeli fire since the marches began, the majority during the demonstrations, according to an AFP toll.

A further 7,800 people have been wounded by gunfire, according to the World Health Organization. eight Israelis have been killed during the same period in Gaza-related violence.

Organisers announced Thursday the

protests would halt until March 2020 amid dwindling turnout.

Hamas has over the last year shaped a precarious informal truce with Israel, which has slightly eased its blockade of the enclave in exchange for calm along the border, despite intermittent flare-ups.

As part of the agreements, Israel has allowed Gulf state Qatar to bring millions of dollars worth of fuel and cash into Gaza every month, easing a humanitarian crisis.

Israel and Hamas have fought three wars since 2008.

Iraq rocket attack kills US contractor, wounds military personnel WASHINGTON Agencies

A rocket attack in northern Iraq killed an American contractor and wounded several military personnel Friday, the first US casualties from a string of recent strikes, the international coalition against the Islamic State group said.

While the coalition did not attribute blame for the incident, it threatens to escalate already-high tensions between Washington and Tehran, which backs various paramilitary groups in Iraq that the United States has accused of being behind rocket attacks on its interests.

“One US civilian contractor was killed and several US service members and Iraqi personnel were wounded in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base

in Kirkuk,” the US-led coalition said in a statement.

Federal security forces and Shiite militia units — as well as Islamic State (IS) group sleeper cells — all have a presence in volatile Kirkuk province, which is claimed by both Iraq’s Kurdish minority and Arab majority.

“Iraqi Security Forces are leading the response and investigation” into the attack, which took place at 7:20 pm (2220 GMT), the coalition said.

A US official with knowledge of the investigation told AFP on condition of anonymity that at least 30 rockets hit the base, including an ammunition depot, causing more explosions, while four more rockets were found in their tubes in a truck at the launch point.

The official described the attack as the biggest in the series of rocket strikes launched against US interests in the country since late October, killing one Iraqi

soldier and leaving others wounded, as well as causing material damage in the vicinity of the US embassy in Baghdad’s Green Zone.

A US source has said that pro-Iran factions in Iraq are now considered a more significant threat to American soldiers than the IS — the threat that saw Washington deploy thousands of troops to the country to assist Baghdad in countering the sweeping 2014 offensive.

Five rockets hit al-Asad air base on December 3, just four days after US Vice President Mike Pence visited troops there.

More than a dozen rockets hit the Qayyarah air base in northern Iraq in November, one of the largest attacks in recent months to hit an area where US troops are based.

two dead in fire at russia's novatek oil and gas field: reports MOSCOW: Two people have been killed and one injured in a fire in an elevator at Russia’s Novatek northern oil and gas field, news agencies reported on Saturday citing emergency ministry officials. The fire broke out at east-Tarkosalinskoye field, Novatek’s most mature oil and gas field, in Yamal Nenets region, the Interfax news agency said. The blaze had been put out, it said. Novatek did not reply to a request for comment, the emergency ministry office in the region did not respond to phone calls. Agencies

Un raises 2020 budget, includes funds for war crimes probes UNITED NATIONS: The United Nations General Assembly on Friday adopted a $3.07 billion operating budget which for the first time includes funding for the investigation of war crimes in Syria and Myanmar. The budget represents a slight increase from 2019’s figure of $2.9 billion. The increase is due to additional missions assigned to the UN Secretariat, inflation and exchange rate adjustments, according to diplomats. These include the observer mission in Yemen, a political mission established in Haiti, the investigation of crimes committed in Syria since the outbreak of civil war in 2011, and in Myanmar after the 2017 crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority. For the first time, the budgets for the Syria and Myanmar investigations — which were previously financed by voluntary contributions — will in 2020 be transferred to the UN secretariat’s budget. Agencies

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

BUSINESS 11

GaLLuP, D&B PaRTNeR To cReaTe coNSumeR coNfiDeNce iNDex

CORPORATE CORNER

LAHORE

KARACHI: Bonanza Satrangi, the leading fast-fashion brand, recently launched its new store in Dolmen Mall, Clifton. PR

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ABDULLAH NIAZI

ALLUP Pakistan has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Dun and Bradstreet (D&B) Pakistan to create a publicly available Consumer Confidence Index (CCI), to be released every quarter staring Jan-Mar 2020.

The MoU was signed by Bilal Ijaz Gilani, Executive Director Gallup Pakistan, and Nauman Lakhani, Country Manager D&B Pakistan. Both Gallup and D&B have said the aim of the project is to develop an index of Pakistani consumers’ economic expectations and preferences, open for the public.

The CCI of a country is an important economic indicator that

measures consumer confidence, and is defined as the degree of optimism on the state of the economy that consumers are expressing through their activities of savings and spending. The index is calculated each month on the basis of a household survey of consumers’ opinions on current conditions and future expectations of the economy. While no indication has been given for what the initial sample size will be of this CCI or when it is expected to be launched, but it could prove to be a leading economic indicator for stakeholders across the board.

“Consumer Confidence Index is considered a crucial barometer of present and future economic situation in any country. Pakistan is poised to be a growth leader in South Asia and MENA with its youthful population and ever-rising

improved standing in Ease of Doing Business and other indices,” said Bilal Gilani, Executive Director of Gallup Pakistan. “Bringing CCI to Pakistan to us is, in this context, an important milestone in assisting Pakistan’s growth phase.”

He went on to say that Gallup Pakistan was best poised to help make this CCI a reality, and would use their expertise in public opinion and data collection, using very basic research methodology that will be used for collecting consumer opinions.

Dun & Bradstreet, with a global presence for over 178 years, is one of the world’s leading sources of business information and insights.

D&B has only recently started operations in Pakistan, and the company is confident that their understanding of data dynamics will be crucial for

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange recently held the ‘Top 25 Companies Awards Ceremony’, honouring the top companies of Pakistan. Dawood Hercules Corporation and Engro Corporation Chairman Hussain Dawood received four prestigious awards on the occasion from Prime Minister Imran Khan. PR

‘facebook’s Libra has failed in current form’

RLNG supply to industry from Tuesday: SNGPL The Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) has decided to restore RLNG supply to the industrial sector from Tuesday (December 31). “The decision has been taken due to resumption of gas supplies from MOL gas field as well as increased RLNG supplies,” SNGPL said in a statement issued on Saturday. “Reconnection of CNG stations will be carried out following the resumption of supplies to industrial consumers.” According to SNGPL, “These curtailments were necessitated owing to record low December temperatures arising from climate change on which the company has no control. Supply of RLNG to domestic consumers exceeded 500MMCFD in the last week of December, as against the average consumption of 150MMCFD on December 18. The company is undertaking all efforts to ensure gas supply to high priory domestic consumers.” BUSIBESS DESK

KARACHI: Gas supply to CNG stations across Sindh was suspended for an indefinite period. Online

PM to perform groundbreaking of Allama Iqbal Industrial City on Jan 3 LAHORE INP

Prime Minister Imran Khan would perform the groundbreaking of the state-of-the-art Allama Iqbal Industrial City, a prioritised project of the Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company’s special economic zone, on January 3rd.

Appreciating the economic policies of PM Imran Khan, FIEDMC Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq said on Saturday that the incumbent government was striving hard to ensure economic prosperity in the country.

“With trade and investment being an important pillar of the present government’s foreign policy, there is a positive sentiment among the international community towards Pakistan’s economy, and we must cash in on this sentiment,” he added.

the development of the index and for reporting findings.

“We are proud to partner with Gallup to publish the Consumer Confidence Index in Pakistan. This relationship is a natural synergy between the two global powerhouses and we look forward to working together on other such important matters in the coming years,” said Nauman Lakhani, Country Manager D&B Pakistan.

“The index is an important indicator globally, and will be paramount in gauging consumer confidence in Pakistan. Additionally, we aim for the CCI to become a leading indicator of economic performance, based in consumer spending patterns with the premise that higher consumer confidence leads to more economic activity and stronger economic growth,” he ended.

Highlighting the development projects of FIEDMC, he said that around Rs357 billion foreign and local investment would be injected into various projects of the economic zone. “This clearly indicates that investors have reposed complete confidence in the present regime.”

He said that the Allama Iqbal Industrial City would span over 4,000 acres of land, which was strategically located on M-4 Motorway near Sahianwala Interchange, Faisalabad. He added that the main boulevard, entrance gate and boundary wall would be completed within six months.

“According to the plan, new industrial units of different nature would be constructed in the Allama Iqbal Industrial City. Scattered industrial units operating in various congested localities of the city will also be shifted to this new industrial estate

after its completion,” he stated.

Mian Kashif maintained that the FIEDMC development projects were likely to create 250,000 jobs. “In order to prepare Pakistani youth to find employment opportunities, FIEDMC is planning to conduct short-term courses to train the aspirants in the respective fields, for which they align their future courses accordingly.”

Unemployment is one of the major challenges which the Pakistani government was facing. According to recent statistics of the World Bank, around 6pc Pakistanis were unemployed. “In order to resolve this issue, Pakistan would need to create more [employment] opportunities in the future,” the FIEDMC chairman said, adding that trained and skilled labourers and engineers would not only get good jobs in the SEZs but it would also enable Chinese and local

companies to find skilled professionals from local areas rather than hiring them from other parts of the country.

He said Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and Industries Minister Mian Muhammad Aslam Iqbal have already directed the departments to ensure the provision of basic infrastructure for the mega project. “Faisalabad Divisional Commissioner Ishrat Ali has also set up a special monitoring cell at his office to ensure strict compliance of the PM and CM directives.”

Mian Kashif said that FIEDMC Chief Operating Officer Muhammad Aamer Saleemi has been assigned a special task to form a close liaison with all provincial and federal departments, including Faisalabad Electric Supply Company and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited, for early completion of the mega project.

ZURICH: Facebook’s Libra project has failed in its current form and needs reworking to be approved, said the president of Switzerland where the cryptocurrency is seeking regulatory consent. “I don’t think (Libra has a chance in its current form), because central banks will not accept the basket of currencies underpinning it,” Ueli Maurer, who is Switzerland’s finance minister and outgoing president, told Swiss broadcaster SRF. “The project, in this form, has thus failed,” he added in an interview.

Libra did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Plans for the Facebook-led digital currency, which is to be issued and governed by the Geneva-based Libra Association, have raised concerns among regulators and politicians ranging from privacy to its potential to influence monetary policy and change the global financial landscape.

Officials running the project, including co-creator David Marcus of Facebook, have said regulatory hurdles could see the launch delayed beyond the planned June date. The cryptocurrency is to be backed by a reserve of assets such as bank deposits and government debt held by a network of custodians. That structure is meant to foster trust and avoid the price swings that plague other cryptocurrencies. AGENCIES

Recession, robots and rockets: another roaring 20s for world markets?

LONDON AGENCIES

Helicopter cash, climate crises, smart cities and the space economy — investors have all those possibilities ahead as they enter the third decade of the 21st century.

They go into the new decade with a spring in their step, after watching world stocks add over $25 trillion in value in the past 10 years and a bond rally put $13 trillion worth of bond yields below zero.

They also saw internet-based firms transform the way humans work, shop and relax. Now investors are positioning for the tech revolution’s next 10 years.

Could we see a repeat of the roaring twenties, as the 1920s were known — years of prosperity, technological innova-

tion and such social developments as women winning the right to vote?

Possibly. But there’s unease, along with all the euphoria. The current economic cycle is already the longest in US history and a recession looks inevitable in the new decade — which also will mark 100 years since the Wall Street crash of 1929. And solutions may need to be unconventional, even more so than the extraordinary policies of negative interest rates and bond-buying that eased the post2008 global funk. With those policies maxed out, “in the 2020s it seems inevitable that a world of helicopter money awaits,” Deutsche Bank predicts.

That would entail central banks or governments providing citizens with large amounts of money, as though it was

being dropped from helicopters, a strategy rejected even by the unorthodox policymakers of the 2010s. Another radical option under discussion is modern monetary theory, when governments create and spend as much money as needed, so long as inflation stays low. “Central banks have effectively invited governments to experiment with more unconventional policies,” Deutsche said.

However, those policies may pile up even more global debt, already at record highs.

So what will markets do?

A decade of rock-bottom interest rates didn’t revive growth and inflation in developed nations, but they certainly inflated markets, as prices for bonds, equities and real estate show.

The inequality they spawned have

also triggered a widespread backlash against globalization. The result is a deglobalizing world, or as Morgan Stanley puts it, “slow-balisation”.

The bank expects tech investments to outperform, in particular smaller internet firms in China, as protectionism hurts larger rivals. But it predicts less exciting returns — “a lower and flatter frontier compared to prior decades, and especially compared to the ten years post-GFC (global financial crisis).”

GLOBAL WARMING, PEOPLE AGEING: As market returns cool, the planet will continue to heat up. Carbon emissions, temperatures, sea levels and thus climate-induced poverty and immigration are expected to rise.

That should increasingly lead asset

managers to seek alternatives to pollutants, especially coal, use of which must cease in OECD nations by 2030 for the Paris Agreement to be met.

BofA expects clean energy and electric-vehicle companies to emerge as winners, estimating the clean energy market to be already worth $300 billion.

Ageing populations are another challenge, making demographics a key investment criterion. Deutsche Bank names Ireland, Rwanda, Ghana, Botswana and Laos as among the 22 nations in line for a “demographic dividend”, benefiting from growing working-age populations.

It also backed sectors like e-commerce as Generation Z, those who will be in their mid-20s to early 30s by 2030, exercise growing spending power.

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

12 BUSINESS Weekly inflation increases 0.65pc ISLAMABAD: The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI)based weekly inflation for the week ended on December 26 increased by 0.65pc as compared to the previous week. The SPI for the week under review in the combined consumption group was recorded at 130.87 points against 130.02 points registered in the previous week, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). The weekly SPI was collected with base 2015-16=100 covering 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups. The SPI for the lowest consumption group, up to Rs17,732, witnessed 0.25pc increase, from 133.67 points in the last week to 134.01 points during the week under review. As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group in the week under review witnessed an increase of 18.51pc, while for the lowest group, it increased by 17.89pc. Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption groups from Rs17,733 to Rs22,888, from Rs22,889 to Rs29,517, Rs29,518 to Rs44,175 and above Rs44,175 per month increased by 0.34pc, 0.45pc, 0.55pc and 0.81pc, respectively. During the week under review, average prices of five items registered a decrease, while that of 21 items prices increased with the prices of 25 items remaining unchanged. The prices of the commodities that recorded a decrease in their prices included tomatoes, onions, garlic and mustard oil. The items which recorded an increase in their average prices included LPG, chicken, bananas, pulse (moong, mash, masoor, gram), washing soap, eggs (farm), gur, sugar, energy saver, georgette, vegetable ghee (tin, loose), wheat (flour bag), bread (plain), rice (basmati, irri-6), cooking oil and firewood. Similarly, the prices of the commodities that observed no change in their price during the week under review included beef (with bone), mutton, milk (fresh, power), salt (powder), curd, chilly powder, tea, cooked beef, cooked daal, tea (prepared), cigarettes, long cloth, shirting, lawn, gents (sandal, chappal), ladies sandal, electricity charges, gas charges, matchbox, petrol, hi-speed diesel, telephone calls and toilet soap. APP

SiNDh ShifTS BLame oN ceNTRe aS GaS ShoRTaGe PeakS iN PRoviNce

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BUSINESS DESK

HE federal government was responsible for the shortage in gas supply in Sindh, claimed Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani on Saturday, refuting Federal Power Minister Omar Ayub Khan’s remarks that the federal government was not allowed to lay a gas pipeline in the province.

Following a visit to the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) headquarters in Karachi on Friday, Omar Ayub had said that the provincial government had not given SSGCL the “right of way” for a long time, which “was the fundamental reason compressed natural gas (CNG) shutdowns were taking place in Sindh”. The federal minister had

added that work was underway on two pipelines but the Sindh government had not yet given way to a third 125-kilometre pipeline by Parkland.

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad on Saturday, Ghani took exception to Ayub’s statement, saying the provincial cabinet had received two projects, which the federal government pursued and the Sindh government had gone “out of its way to solve Centre’s problem”.

Ghani said the federal government had never contacted the provincial government for the project Ayub was referring to. He claimed that matters relating to a third pipeline were never discussed with the provincial energy minister either.

While Ayub had placed “complete responsibility” for the gas shortage on the Sindh government

and the PPP government, Ghani said, “We are not getting gas in any department and the blame has been put on the provincial government. The federal government is responsible, this is the job of the federal government.” Ghani said the federal government had complete responsibility of both utility companies — Sui Southern Gas and Sui Northern Gas. He said that under Article 158 of the Constitution, the province that produces the gas has the first right to it, after which the remaining gas can be distributed to other provinces.

The provincial information minister said that despite the fact that Sindh has produced 70 per cent of the country’s gas, the province continued to experience gas load shedding and shortages.

“If the people of Sindh are not

provided with any gas at all, they will question why, despite producing the most gas, the people of Sindh are not being provided with gas facilities”.

“If Omar Ayub dislikes this question, he may do so,” Ghani added.

Ayub on Friday had said the Sindh government was not ready to accept liquefied natural gas (LNG) under Article 158 of the Constitution, which he said could improve the gas situation in the province. He said the provincial government should cooperate with the Centre, adding that he was hopeful that the Sindh government would review its decision, accept LNG and cooperate with the federal government as well as Sui Southern Gas Company Limited officials in providing them right of way and assisting in the laying of pipelines.

SUPPLY SUSPENDED: Meanwhile, gas supply to CNG stations across Sindh was suspended for an indefinite period after a brief opening on Friday night. The CNG pumps in Karachi opened on Friday night for eight hours and were ordered to close down for an indefinite period on Saturday morning.

Long queues had formed at CNG stations on Friday night after the news spread that stations have been allowed to supply gas to vehicle owners. The SSGC said that the stations would be allowed to open again as soon as the gas pressure normalises.

china slashes red tape for iPos Chinese lawmakers agreed Saturday to slash red tape for initial public offerings, approving an amendment to the country’s securities law that also aims to better protect investors and prevent insider trading. Mainland authorities have recently stepped up moves to attract listings of big tech firms, including launching a new technology board in Shanghai in July, as the country’s economy has stuttered to its slowest rate of growth since the early 1990s. “This amendment is a big breakthrough as it cuts red tape and the cost for companies when going public,” said Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute at Wuhan University of Science and Technology. “It is the most significant revision of the Securities Law in history.” The new registration-based IPO system in the newly amended law — which comes into effect on March 1, 2020 — requires strict information disclosures from companies seeking to list. The listings, however, do not need approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), according to a draft law published Saturday. It has also removed the need for companies to be profitable before listing. The revised law includes better protection for minority investors, said Gong Fanrong, director of the finance committee legal team under China’s National People’s Congress. It calls for companies to establish dispute resolution mechanisms to address shareholder grievances and improve transparency, he added. Companies found guilty of making false or misleading statements or withholding important information from shareholders could face penalties ranging from one to 10 million yuan ($ 143,000 to $1.4 million). It also includes tougher punishments for securities fraud and insider trading.

Individuals found guilty of insider trading will be fined two to ten times the value of their ill-gotten gains.

Intermediaries and professional services firms found guilty of faking information during IPOs will be fined two million to 20 million yuan, compared to 300,000 to 600,000 yuan at present. The law also says securities industry employees, including regulators and those who work for brokerages or stock exchanges are barred from trading in stocks. Lawmakers have debated amendments to China’s securities law for nearly five years. AGENCIES

RAWALPINDI: A vendor carries warm caps for selling purpose on 6th Road as demand of warm caps and clothes increased in winter season. ONLINE

SBP abolishes fee on payment of govt taxes through ADCs KARACHI INP

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced to abolish the fee on payment of government taxes and duties through Alternate Delivery Channels (ADCs) and Over the Counter (OTC) from January 1, 2020.

Presently, the taxpayers pay Rs10 to Rs50 per transaction for the payment of taxes through ADCs, depending on the amount of tax paid, and Rs50 per transaction for the payments through OTC. “This fee will be borne by SBP instead of taxpayers from January 1, 2020. The change has been notified through SBP Circular No.4 of 2019 (dated December 27),| the central bank said in a statement. The decision is part of SBP’s efforts

to promote digital payments and is likely to attract a larger number of taxpayers towards digital payment of government taxes and duties. “The mechanism for online collection of taxes and duties was introduced in March 2018 in collaboration with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) with the primary objective of taxpayers’ facilitation,” the statement read.

The taxpayers can pay their taxes from the convenience of their homes or offices using internet/mobile banking facilities, through 14,000 plus ATMs or any of the 15,000 plus branches of commercial banks across the country. So far Rs346 billion has been collected through this mechanism. The collections through the ADCs/OTC modes are likely to grow exponentially as the awareness about the mechanism improves.

SBP is also running an awareness campaign to familiarise the taxpayers, tax bar associations, chambers of commerce, clearing and forwarding agents and the business community at large about the ADC and OTC payment mechanisms. Seminars and awareness sessions are being arranged across the country through the field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation.

The first such seminar was held in Karachi on December 26, 2019, which was attended by corporate taxpayers, representatives from chambers of commerce, trade associations, commercial banks, tax bars and audit firms. The participants had appreciated SBP efforts for promotion of digital payments and said that such sessions are critically important for enhancing public awareness and allaying their fears and apprehensions about digital payments.

NAB team raids Fazaia Housing Scheme office, seizes record KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Acting upon the complaints of the affectees of Fazaia Housing Scheme scam, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team on Saturday raided the marketing office of the scheme and arrested Maxim Group’s Ch Tanveer along with his son Bilal.

The team of anti-graft watchdog, which raided at the marketing office of Fazaia Housing Scheme, also seized important record related to the scam. “Investigations have been initiated over the complaints of the affectees, which are more than 6,000 in numbers,” said NAB officials, adding that Rs13 billion was invested in the scheme. The officials said that NAB Karachi has

been tasked by the bureau chairman to complete the inquiry into the matter with immediate effect.

“No approvals from Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), Karachi Development Authority (KDA) or Malir Development Authority (MDA) were sought neither any worthwhile work was done on the site during the last five years.

All accounts of Fazaia & Maxim

have been frozen by NAB. The [NAB] teams are conducting raids to arrest other accused also.”

On November 30, NAB had announced a fresh inquiry against the Fazaia Housing Scheme regarding “allegation of cheating over 6,000 people” after scores of affected persons protested at its Karachi headquarters. Dozens of people, including women and chil-

dren, had also staged a protest demonstration at the Fazaia Housing Scheme office earlier last month. The event was widely highlighted on social media as the users shared the footage of the protest and interviews of the protesters.

In one of the videos, the protesters were seen exchanging words with a man in uniform who, while trying to pacify them, shared

a few details with regard to the progress made so far. “It is unfortunate that we got involved with wrong, untrustworthy and shameless people,” he had said while responding to the people’s demand for the refund of their money.

When asked for the refund, the uniformed official told the protesters in the video that “your money is currently in a joint account”.

CMYK

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Sunday, 29 December, 2019

Citizens join hands to revive Children’s Library

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EALTHY societies have spaces for learning and connecting, and there is no better institute to facilitate this than libraries, which have the potential of becoming useful hubs of community activities. Keeping this in mind, a group of citizens got together in early 2018 to form a volunteer effort called The Library Project, which aims to revive public libraries in Islamabad and help the authorities improve their services.

The group regularly hosts events at the various library sites, and this Saturday they arranged an engaging and colourful programme of Urdu storytelling and cartoons for the children of the city at the Model Children’s Library. The Model Children’s Library has recently been shifted from its H-9 premises to Aiwan-e-Quaid building in F-9 Park, making it much easier for parents and children to access it in the serene environments of the park. At the moment it comprises of haphazardly organised rows of books, some of which are outdated and in need of replacement. The space however has potential to become a sanctuary of book loving children, and parents looking for healthy options of spending leisure time with their kids.

It’s also an ideal venue to host storytelling and interactive events that can help spark the imagination of children and introduce them to the wonder of books. “The space can only improve if the citizens step forward and take ownership of the libraries, and actively participate in their

improvement,” said Mehreena Khan, who founded the Project and runs it with the help of a small group of committed volunteers. “The Library Project has been working since the past two years to host events at public libraries to bring people into libraries and get involved with their revival.”

Canadian blogger Tamania Jaffri, who runs a popular blog by the name of “Urdu Mom” on Facebook and Instagram, is visiting Islamabad currently and opted to host her regular Saturday Urdu storytelling session at the Model Children’s Library with her children. Tamania started live Facebook sessions a few years ago from her blog where she would read stories to her little daughter Zeynab in order to spark the love of Urdu and a

connection for her child to her native culture. The idea became popular with other moms who were in the same situation and needing a way to make Urdu language attractive and accessible to their children. The blog now has a following of more than 65k people around the world and Tamania also writes about various aspects of our local culture including Eid preps, recipes and desi event hosting ideas as well as stories and rhymes in Urdu.

She has been featured on international and local Canadian news networks and her online community continues to go from strength to strength.

“We are visiting family in Islamabad at the moment and thought it was a good opportunity to support the wonderful work of the Library

Project team is doing, and meet our Islamabad followers as well,” said Tamania, who led a sing-along of popular Urdu rhymes and songs with active participation from children in the audience and their parents.

Award-winning cartoonist and puppeteer Nigar Nazar of Gogi Studios also graced the event to introduce her latest books and animations. The children enjoyed watching her latest animations including “Babloo the boy who hated books” and “The Garbage Monster”. Nigar Nazar is the first female cartoonist of Pakistan and has been creating animations since the past four decades. She spreads social messages like peace, inter-faith and inter-ethnic harmony, women’s rights, environmental protection, sexual harassment and bullying etc., through her cartoon character “Gogi” as well as other minor characters. Nigar told the audience of her upcoming mission to set-up a cartoon mural at the National Library of Pakistan with the involvement of the local children.

“Reviving libraries and bringing children back to books is no easy task in these times of exciting technology especially with the generation which is born clicking. My faith however was restored today; thanks to the Library project which provided a platform to address a very crowded children Library space to parents and children. My way of combating this challenging position of technology versus old fashioned reading is by providing very attractive, colourful books, engaging stories that address current issues. So, my stories

supplemented by animations caught the fancy of many a reader – in fact we ran out of books to sell at the event.”

“I wish libraries in Pakistan could have public private partnerships to improve the overall state of affairs.

These places could serve as centres of creativity and character-building with interactive sessions from writers, artists and story tellers,” Nigar added.

“The Library Project has been working since the past two years to host events at public libraries to bring people into libraries and get involved with their revival,” said Mehreena Khan, Founder of The Library Project. “We want to give our talented local writers and storytellers a space where they can project their work and be acknowledged for their wonderful contribution to society.”

Mehreena said that through such events we want to give our talented local writers and storytellers a space where they can project their work and be acknowledged for their wonderful contribution to society.

“It is very important to socialise the act of book reading for children and such events will go a long way in encouraging children to pick up a book and love their local language,” she added.

The Model Children’s Library hosts more than 7,000 books for children and membership is free. g Tamania Jaffri blogs at @urdumom on Instagram and Facebook.

Nigar Nazar is on Facebook on @gogistudiosofficial The Library Project can be found on @thelibproject

In a collection of ‘Peanuts’ tributes, the gang is all here The New York Times

By John Williams

The Peanuts Papers Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life Edited by Andrew Blauner Illustrated. 338 pages.

The Library of America. $24.95.

“I

don’t remember ever thinking they were funny,” Ira Glass writes in a new anthology of writing about the quintessential American comic strip. “Whoever laughed at ‘Peanuts’?”

But Glass writes this in the context of his deep love for Charlie Brown and company. It’s just that instead of finding much humour in their stories, he enjoyed the comfort they provided to a “sulky little kid” who thought of himself as “a loser and a loner.”

“The Peanuts Papers” hammers home that fully appreciating Charles M Schulz’s juggernaut, which ran in newspapers from 1950 to 2000, requires looking aslant at its genre. It is, as John Updike once described it, a “comic strip at bottom tragic.” This collection of deeply personal essays will help you see it clear, if you don’t already, as a psychologically complex epic about stoicism, faith and other approaches to existential struggles.

Unsurprisingly, some of the keenest insight comes from Chris Ware, another chronicler of cartoon melancholy, who trains his expert eye on Schulz’s craft, the spatial and rhythmic decisions that create his effects. Ware also quotes Art Spiegelman, who once described “Peanuts” to him as “Schulz breaking himself into child-sized pieces and letting them all go at each other for the next half-century.”

It’s this splintered emotional drama that draws the attention of many others, including George Saunders, who sees the different segments of the self in “Peanuts” — “Charlie Brown as the tender loss-dreading part of me, Linus as the part that tried to address the loss-dreading part via intellect or religion or wit, Lucy as the part

that addressed the loss-dreading part via aggression, Snoopy via joyful absurdist sagery.”

The book’s most inspired match of writer to subject is Peter D Kramer’s entry on Lucy’s work as a psychoanalyst, which to my mind is like having Clayton Kershaw write about Charlie Brown’s pitching career.

Kramer takes Lucy’s practice (and her insistence on her five-cent fee) just seriously enough, playfully but profoundly drawing lines between her methods and those of influential 20th-century American therapists like Harry Stack Sullivan. He even finds value in her go-to advice: “Snap out of it!” “We are free to imagine that Charlie Brown gains something from Lucy’s brusque response,” Kramer writes. “He is being thrown back on his own resources, with the message that they may be more substantial than he believes. Lucy as therapist, I am suggesting, does not go entirely against the grain.” (An opposite and equally convincing line comes from Adam Gopnik: “Lucy is the least fit person to offer psychiatric advice in the history of fiction.”)

Many of the admirers gathered here were creative and probably wistful American kids in the Schulz vein: the Jonathans Franzen and Lethem, Chuck Klosterman, Rick Moody. One might be a little — or a ton — more surprised to find Umberto Eco in the table of contents. (He writes of Charlie Brown’s attempts to kick the football: “What weapons can arrest impeccable bad faith when one has the misfortune to be pure of heart?”) Most of the pieces in this book are original, though Eco’s appeared in The New York Review of Books in 1985. Maxine Hong Kingston’s “Duck Boy,” a brief essay that first appeared in The Times in 1977, is about her experience teaching a troubled teenager.

It’s a bracing but not very “Peanuts”-centric bit of work,

jarring among the others.

Some writers shine their light on one particular character: Ann Patchett on Snoopy; Mona Simpson on Schroeder; Elissa Schappell on Charlie Brown’s sister, Sally. Numerous contributors mention the running psychological portrait of Charlie Brown’s unrequited crush on the Little Red-Haired Girl — who, like Norm’s wife, Vera, in “Cheers,” never actually appears.

The roster of writers skews quite noticeably to the older and whiter side, and the book doesn’t reproduce any of Schulz’s strips, but there are original illustrations (though not of Schulz’s beloved but copyrighted kids) by some of the cartoonist contributors.

This is a collection full of “Peanuts” adorers, which is how it should be, but it might have been entertaining to see some dissent. I hadn’t realised, but I should have guessed, that there have been Snoopy wars. Sarah Boxer, a champion of the beagle, summarises the opposition, which believes that Snoopy’s increasingly baroque antics hijacked the franchise about halfway through its existence.

She quotes a piece by Christopher Caldwell, in which he judged that the centring of Snoopy was a “calamitous artistic misjudgement” that “went from being the strip’s besetting artistic weakness to ruining it altogether.”

The “meaning of life” makes it into this book’s subtitle, and close-reading projects like this one often have prescriptive angles. (“How Proust Can Change Your Life,” etc). But blessedly, if there is a lesson in “Peanuts” and in this anthology, it is, as Nicole Rudick writes, that “there are no answers to the big questions.”

Bruce Handy writes, in analysis that could apply to Sartre or Beckett: “What I took

away from Schulz is that life is hard, people are difficult at best, unfathomable at worst, justice is a foreign tongue, happiness can vaporise in the thin gap between a third and fourth panel, and the best response to all that is to laugh and keep moving, always ready to duck.”

There is nothing overthought about these pieces, even when they reach toward what Joe Queenan calls a tendency to “find more in ‘Peanuts’ than was really there.” Deep warmth courses through even the most eggheaded appraisal. And the eggheadedness that is present always feels fully backed up by the source material, as when Gopnik describes Linus as a “Pascalian intellectual — one whose learning has only increased his inner panic, and made him readier than not to make the gamble of irrational faith, on a blanket or a pumpkin-patch idol.”

Speaking of that faith, “The Peanuts Papers” is one of the more spiritual books I’ve read in years. Schulz was a devoted Christian (eventually calling himself a “secular humanist”), and “Peanuts,” Gopnik writes, like the work of Schulz’s contemporary Updike, illuminated “the same push and pull of faith and doubt, belief and self-mockery for believing.”

Perhaps the most moving piece, by Rich Cohen, delineates Linus’s faith as portrayed in “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” the classic 1966 television special in which Linus is left “chattering in the cold, waiting for what will never arrive.”

Several contributors go out of their way to establish their own faithless bona fides, perhaps as a way of legitimising their metaphysical reactions to the strip. (“I was born an atheist,” Ware writes; Handy was a kid “congenitally impervious to religion.”) Similarly, I should note at this late point that I’m not a “Peanuts” enthusiast. I have a deep well of affection for it, especially the TV shows that flickered against my youth, but I’ve certainly never considered myself a fanatic. But this charming, searching book made me wonder if I’m right about that after all. g Follow John Williams on Twitter: @johnwilliamsnyt.

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

14 SPORTS

Man City's title bid in tatters after defeat at Wolves WOlVERHaMPTOn

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Agencies

EP Guardiola admitted Manchester City’s faint hopes of retaining the Premier League title were in tatters as they blew a two-goal lead and had Ederson sent in a dramatic 3-2 defeat at Wolves on Friday.

Guardiola’s side recovered from Ederson’s 12th minute dismissal to take control thanks to Raheem Sterling’s double either side of half-time.

But City’s fatigued stars were unable to go the distance as Adama Traore’s goal started a thrilling Wolves fightback.

Raul Jimenez equalised with eight minutes to go and Matt Doherty hit the winner to send Molineux wild in the 89th minute.

“Always the goals can be avoided but sometimes it’s tiredness.

It’s a lot of minutes to defend with 10 men,” Guardiola said.

“No regrets, they did absolutely everything to defend a result for 80 minutes but it was difficult.”

Third-placed City trail runaway leaders Liverpool by 14 points and, Jurgen Klopp’s red-hot team have a game in hand, making it hard to imagine the champions getting their hands on the trophy for a third successive season. “It is a big gap for a long time. It’s not a race if you think about it,” Guardiola said.

“I have been asked the question for a long time and it is the same answer. It’s not realistic to think about the title race.

“We have to think of the next game and about winning our games.”

Wolves, flying high in fifth place, have contributed to City’s downfall more than most and, after winning 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium in October, they celebrated a top-flight double over the Manchester club for the first time since 1960-61.

The only blemish for Wolves were the missiles thrown from the stands when City celebrated their second goal, an incident that prompted the Football Association to launch an investigation.

Referee Martin Atkinson was seen passing a metal hip flask to the fourth official as an announcement over the tannoy warned “numerous instances of objects being thrown have been seen. CCTV will be used to prosecute offenders”.

It was a bitter night for Guardiola, whose team have lost five league games this season after being beaten just four times in the whole of last term.

City had looked closer to their best in recent wins over Arsenal and Leicester, but they could not have made a worse start at Molineux.

When Diogo Jota escaped with a well-timed run behind the City defence, Ederson rashly raced out of his area.

The Brazilian misjudged the bounce of the ball and clipped Jota, earning a red card. Guardiola then replaced Sergio Aguero with reserve keeper Claudio Bravo.

City responded by snatching the lead in controversial fashion in the 25th minute.

Riyad Mahrez made an incisive run that ended with Leander Dendoncker stepping on the Algerian’s foot, leading VAR to award a penalty.

That was not the end of the drama as Sterling’s spot-kick was saved by Rui Patricio, only for VAR to intervene again as the penalty was retaken for encroachment.

Relentless pRessuRe: Sterling shot to the same side with his second kick, but although Patricio saved again, this time the winger followed up to tap in the rebound.

When Sterling doubled the lead in the 50th minute, City looked in charge. Beating the offside trap with ease, Sterling ran onto Kevin De Bruyne’s pass and clipped a deft finish over Patricio.

But Sterling’s eventful night wasn’t finished yet and, when he surrendered possession careless in midfield five minutes later, Wolves took advantage to reduce the deficit.

Traore’s blistering pace makes him a tough opponent, so City backed off just enough to allow the wing-back to blast a low drive past Bravo from 20 yards.

The Lion returns: Ibrahimovic ready for new chapter at AC Milan Milan Agencies

Same look, same impressive build and same oversized ego: Zlatan Ibrahimovic returns to AC Milan for a final challenge seeking to prove that he remains the superstar he claims to be.

The 38-year-old Swedish striker signed a sixmonth contract with the struggling Italian giants on Friday vowing to help rescue their season.

"I'm coming back to a club I hugely respect and to the city of Milan I love," he said.

"I'll fight together with my teammates to change the course of this season. I will do everything to make it happen."

Ibrahimovic knows the game in Italy, having played for three different Italian clubs.

He first joined Juventus in 2004, moving on to Inter Milan after the match-fixing scandal in 2006, then arriving at AC Milan in 2010 on loan before making the move permanent.

In 85 games for AC Milan over two seasons, Ibrahimovic scored 56 goals.

One of the most successful clubs in the world, AC Milan are 11th in the league just seven points above relegation.

The club have come up short in their attacking

options with just 16 goals in 17 games.

Ibrahimovic left Los Angeles Galaxy last month after a two-year stay and 52 goals in 56 games, leaving him free to sign with another club.

Milan must hope that showy Swede, never far from the headlines, will bring some punch and a winning mentality to the locker room.

The son of a Bosnian and a Croatian, Ibrahimovic grew up in Rosengard, a tough working class neighbourhood of Malmo, Sweden.

Among young people with immigrant backgrounds, Ibrahimovic has become even more of a symbol, as have his cocky attitude, individualism and zealous ambition.

But he has fallen out of favour in his hometown where a bronze statue unveiled in his honour in Malmo in October has been vandalised by fans angry that he has bought shares in a club in Stockholm.

- 'Fascinating character' Ibrahimovic had turned out for many of Europe's top teams, such as Amsterdam's Ajax, AC Milan, Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, before he signed for US team LA Galaxy in 2018.

In his second autobiography entitled "Football is me," published in 2018 he claims to have changed the history of his sport.

"Now go back to baseball," he told his supporters at the Los Angeles Galaxy, where he was, between 2018 and 2019, the best player in the North American Championship.

"I came, I saw, I conquered. Thank you LA Galaxy for making me feel alive again."

During his time at PSG he promised to stay "if they replace the Eiffel Tower with (his) statue".

"I arrived like a king, I'm leaving like a legend," he said after he left the French club.

He proved in California that he still had legs after injuries precipitated his departure from Manchester United in 2017.

"Lions do not recover like humans," he said.

But Ibrahimovic's strength is that he has the talent to back up his verbal jibes.

He delighted fans with his "kung fu" goals, his outrageous overhead goal against England in 2012, or the slalom in 2004 with Ajax, dribbling past six players to beat the goalkeeper, which launched his career. At PSG, he became the best scorer in the club's history, with 156 goals in 180 games, before being overtaken by Edinson Cavani.

He was twice top Serie A scorer, in 2009 with Inter and in 2012 with AC Milan, he also has the record for the Swedish national team with 62 goals.

fury-Wilder rematch set for las vegas lOS anGElES Agencies

The Feb. 22 rematch between World Boxing Council heavyweight world titleholder Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury will take place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, promoters announced on Friday. Top Rank and Premier Boxing Champions said tickets for the highly anticipated bout would go on sale on Saturday, now that the venue has been confirmed. "I'm happy and I'm excited that the rematch is finally happening," said Wilder, who will make his 11th title defense. The American is coming off a seventh-round knockout of Luis Ortiz on Nov. 23 in Las Vegas, a victory that saw him improve to 43-0. "I want to give the fans what they want to see. I've been doing it with my last three outings — Fury, (Dominic) Breazeale and Ortiz," he said. "They've been spectacular events — from my ring walks, where I gather all the energy of the people, to my uniforms that I wear to help spread that energy. Then I give them what they all come for — the knockouts, and my knockouts have been amazing." Wilder and Fury fought to a split decision draw last December in Los Angeles. Former world champion Fury was leading on the scorecards before he was knocked down by the American in the 12th round.

The big Briton beat the count, but a second knockdown helped cost him a victory. "I proved myself the first time and I'm ready to do it again," Wilder said. "It was a very controversial fight. I promise my fans that there won't be any controversy with this one. I'm going to finish it."

Fury, who survived two severe cuts to beat Otto Wallin by unanimous decision in September, said he was looking forward to taking care of "unfinished business" against Wilder.

root, buttler join england sick list England captain Joe Root and wicketkeeper Jos Buttler joined England´s lengthening sick list on the third day of the first Test against South Africa at SuperSport Park on Saturday. Buttler did not take the field at the start of play because he was feeling "unwell". Jonny Bairstow kept wicket and was due to keep the gloves at least until lunch. An England spokesman said both Root and Buttler had remained at the ground but were in quarantine. Root was off the field for about 40 minutes on either side of the morning drinks break. Illness has swept through the touring party, with Jack Leach, Chris Woakes and Mark Wood remaining in quarantine at the team hotel on Saturday together with two members of the support staff. Ollie Pope had recovered enough to travel to the ground and was expected to train during the day. South Africa meanwhile were left without opening batsman Aiden Markram, whose series has come to an end after suffering a fractured finger while fielding on Friday. Agencies

We dare not lose CAF Cup match, warns Enyimba star Mbaoma JOHannESBURG Agencies

Enyimba star Victor Mbaoma says they dare not lose away to Paradou of Algeria Sunday if they hope to become the first Nigerian winners of the CAF Confederation Cup. "We have performed poorly in other African countries this season," said the forward, referring to three defeats in four CAF matches.

Leaders Hassania Agadir of Morocco look set to win Group D, leaving secondplace Enyimba, San Pedro of the Ivory Coast and Paradou to fight for the second ticket to the quarterfinals.

AFP Sport previews matchday three in the African version of the Europa League with giants Al Ahly and Zamalek of Egypt and TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo among previous winners.

Group A Egyptian big spenders Pyramids have hired former Croatia coach Ante Cacic after firing Frenchman Sebastien Desabre following two successive

domestic league losses.

The Cairo outfit are away to fellow Egyptian club Al Masry in a top-of-thetable clash after both beat Enugu Rangers of Nigeria and Nouadhibou of Mauritania.

Mohamed Farouk of Pyramids and Nigerian Austin Amutu of Masry are among the leading scorers in the competition this season with five goals each.

Enugu have disappointed under new coach Salisu Yusuf, conceding seven goals in two losses, and must beat Nouadhibou in Nouakchott to have any hope of reaching the quarter-finals.

Group B Renaissance Berkane of Morocco host Daring Club Motema Pembe of DR Congo in another top-ofthe-table clash after each side collected four points from their first two matches.

Both beat ESAE, the first Benin club to reach the group stage of a CAF competition, and drew with Zanaco of Zambia.

Berkane were runners-up to Zamalek last season while it is 25 years since Motema Pembe achieved their only CAF success, winning the now defunct African

Cup Winners Cup. Third-place Zanaco are away to ESAE and securing maximum points in Porto-Novo would keep them in contention for a last-eight spot.

Group C Guinean club Horoya have spared no expense as they chase a second CAF title 41 years after winning the

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African Cup Winners Cup. Club owner Antonio Souare has assembled a multi-national squad, including veteran Burkina Faso forward Aristide Bance, who has played for 22 clubs in Africa, Asia and Europe.

They lead Djoliba of Mali on goal difference after beating Libyan visitors Al

Nasr 3-0 in Conakry with Bance among the scorers after converting a penalty.

Bidvest Wits of South Africa, whose squad includes six-goal leading Confederation Cup scorer Gift Motupa, have home advantage over Nasr but only a win will keep them in contention.

Group D Former African champions Enyimba have lost in Burkina Faso and Sudan in the Champions League and in Morocco after dropping to the Confederation Cup. These results puzzle Mbaoma because, he says, the most successful Nigerian club in African competitions with four titles boast a squad "full of quality players".

CAF newcomers Paradou stunned record three-time Confederation Cup winners CS Sfaxien of Tunisia in a qualifier, but were outplayed by Agadir in Algeria this month.

After beating Enyimba and Paradou without conceding a goal, Agadir are away to San Pedro, who need a win to remain genuine contenders for a place in the quarterfinals draw.

Sunday, 29 December, 2019

Pat CuMMins' five leads disMantling of neW Zealand as dreaM falls aWay

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SPORTS DESk

AT Cummins put further daylight between him and next-most prolific bowlers of 2019 with another display of supreme pace bowling as he claimed 5 for 28 to help dismantle New Zealand on the third day at the MCG. James Pattinson and Mitchell Starc shared the other five as Australia took a huge 319-run before opting to extend that rather than enforce the follow-on Cummins was on a hat-trick at the start of his second over of the day when he removed Ross Taylor and Henry Nicholls and Pattinson's first blow left New Zealand 5 for 58 with the only question being how huge the deficit would be. In the end they were bundled out for 148, the first time they had been dismissed for under 200 in three consecutive innings since the 2007 tour of South Africa. Only Tom Latham, who faced 144 balls, passed 20 with a half-century of significant guts and determination but the rest of the New Zealand batting could not withstand the pace and consistency on display as their hopes of at least keeping series into Sydney all but vanished. To compound their woes, Trent Boult

Australia 467 and 4 for 137 (Wade 15*, Head 12*) lead New Zealand 148 (Latham 50, Cummins 5-28) by 456 runs

was ruled out of the final Test after suffered a fractured hand when hit by Starc while batting.

The rest of the day was a curious display from Australia who steadily increased their lead without showing much intent. There was a moment of huge personal satisfaction for Neil Wagner who claimed his 200th Test wicket - the second-fastest New Zealander to the mark behind Richard Hadlee - by removing Steven Smith for the fourth time in four innings when Smith helped a short ball off his hip to backward

square leg. It will not make a difference to the result, but it's a tale Wagner will be able to tell for years to come.

New Zealand's ambitions at the start of the day rested on Latham and Taylor but that lasted just 12 balls as technique and ticker was tested with every delivery. The first ball of Cummins' second over drew Taylor into a flatfooted drive with the thick edge flying quickly to Marnus Labuschagne at third slip where it was parried into the air and settled comfortably for Joe Burns at first. Next ball, Cum-

mins came around the wicket to Nicholls and pinned the left-hander lbw with the review from Nicholls showing it would have hit the top of leg stump.

With the roar of the MCG crowd behind him, Cummins ran in for his hat-trick ball but BJ Watling was able to keep it out. However, having managed to get onto the front foot a couple of times, Watling was not able to survive much longer when Pattinson, who was equally impressive on home soil, produced a beauty that bounced from short of a length and took the shoulder of the bat to first slip.

The bleeding was momentarily stopped by Latham and Colin de Grandhomme - helped by a surprising over for Matthew Wade which cost 13, four more than Cummins conceded in his initial five-over spell - as Latham continued to show great composure in the face of the onslaught. de Grandhomme was less convincing and it was not a huge surprise when he fended an edge to gully off Starc.

Two balls later Starc, and the rest of the Australians, became convinced they had another when Mitchell Santner fended a bouncer to leg gully. It was given not out on the field by Marais Erasmus and Tim Paine reviewed.

Cricket honored with Stokes and West Indies duo on New Year list lOnDOn

finger fracture puts aiden Markram out of remainder of england series South Africa opener Aiden Markram will miss the remainder of the four-Test series against England after sustaining a fracture to his left ring finger. Markram picked up the injury while fielding on the second day of the ongoing Centurion Test. It was reset at time and he continued to play, but x-rays taken afterwards suggested he should sit out.

Markram, who scored 20 and 2 in the match, is scheduled for surgery early next week and will miss at least eight weeks of action.

Before this game, Markram last played an international match in October, failing to get off the mark in either innings of the Pune Test against India. After his dismissal in the second innings, Markram fractured his wrist when he "lashed out at a solid object" in frustration and subsequently missed the Mzansi Super League. "Aiden sustained a fracture affecting the distal joint of his left ring finger," CSA's chief medical officer Dr Shuaib Manjra said. "After consulting with a number of hand specialists yesterday we arrived at a decision that the best outcome would be achieved through surgical reduction and fixation. Agencies

Agencies

Ben Stokes and several of his England Cricket World Cupwinning teammates were recognized in Britain's New Year Honors list announced on Friday, as two West Indies greats, Clive Lloyd and Gordon Greenidge, received knighthoods.

All-rounder Stokes was made an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) after scoring an unbeaten 84 as England's men won the World Cup for the first time by edging out New Zealand in a dramatic final at Lord's in July before his brilliant 135 not out secured a stunning one-wicket victory in the third Ashes Test against Australia at Headingley six weeks later.

For Stokes, playing in the ongoing first Test against South Africa at Centurion having recently been voted the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year, it was all a far cry from the career-threatening situation he faced before he was acquitted on a charge of affray in August 2018 after an early hours incident outside a Bristol nightclub the previous September.

Meanwhile Eoin Morgan,

who captained England to World Cup glory, was named a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire), one rank below a knighthood.

Wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and England's top run-scorer in the tournament and Test skipper Joe Root were both awarded MBEs (Members of the Order of the British Empire), the level beneath an OBE. Australian Trevor Bayliss, England's World Cup-winning coach, received an OBE while Colin Graves, the England and Wales Cricket Board chairman, was made a CBE. Morgan said: "I'm very

proud to have been awarded a CBE. Winning the World Cup has been a dream come true and the honors and awards that have come since that day at Lord's really mean a lot to everyone connected with the team."

Lloyd, the forerunner of today's modern power batsmen and brilliant fielders, hit a superb century as the West Indies beat Australia in the inaugural 1975 World Cup final at Lord's.

As captain, the Guyanese also played a key role in transforming the West Indies into the dominant side in Test cricket during the 1970s and 1980s.

Lloyd starred for Lancashire as well and the 75-yearold remained based in Manchester, home to the county's Old Trafford ground, long after he became a cricket official when his playing days had ended.

His knighthood means Lloyd will be officially known as 'Sir Clive'.

Opening batsman Greenidge, a key figure in Lloyd's all-conquering team, has been knighted on the recommendation of the government of his native Barbados, with certain Caribbean nations conferring their own honors.

SPORTS 15

Comanche claims sydney-Hobart yacht race victory SYDnEY Agencies

Race favorite Comanche snatched victory in the grueling Sydney-Hobart yacht race Saturday, edging InfoTrack in tricky conditions after a race that saw an ever-changing leaderboard. The maxi's crew cheered and shook hands as they crossed the finish line at Hobart's Constitution Dock in 1 day, 18 hours, 30 minutes and 24 seconds. More than 150 yachts sailed from Sydney into open ocean for the 75th edition of the annual race down Australia's east coast. Comanche had led after a slow start in Sydney, but the Frenchdesigned and US-built yacht pulled wide of the pack early in the race. That offered Hong Kong yacht Scallywag the lead temporarily, but Comanche's proved to be a wise decision as the field struggled in soft wind. Comanche struggled for speed on the final stretch and its lead over InfoTrack narrowed to seven nautical miles toward the finish line. That meant Comanche did not come close to its winning 2017 record of 1 day 9 hours 15 minutes 24 seconds over the 628-nautical-mile course. The yacht was also the 2018 runner up. After weeks shrouded in bushfire smoke haze that forced the cancellation of the Big Boat Challenge, an event that foreshadows the Sydney-Hobart, the race began under clear blue summer skies Thursday.

russia contests Wada doping ban MOSCOW Agencies

Russia on Friday formally contested a four-year ban from major sporting events over doping violations that President Vladimir Putin has condemned as “unjust,” the head of its RUSADA anti-doping agency said. “In accordance with established procedure, today we have sent a package of documents to the World AntiDoping Agency,” RUSADA director general Yury Ganus told reporters in Moscow. “The package contains a notice about disagreement with WADA sanctions.” Ganus, who has long argued for a major crackdown by Russia against doping cheats, warned that the legal challenge could backfire, however. The formal statement of disagreement with WADA will trigger an appeal process against the ban at the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

WADA confirmed Friday in a statement it had received the RUSADA package and would promptly refer the matter to the CAS, whose decision will be final and binding for all involved. Ganus, whose rigorous stance puts him at odds with his own government and supervisory board, argues that Moscow needs to accept the sanctions and own up to its faults in order to be able to reform. He, however, said he was obliged to relay the position of the supervisory board. He said he also sent a letter to WADA informing the anti-doping agency of his personal stance. “I regret to inform you that all my attempts, including attempts to introduce changes to the RUSADA notice, have failed,” said the letter.

Ganus told AFP on Thursday that “it is practically impossible” to contest the ban.

Arteta aims to solve Ozil issue as Chelsea clash looms lOnDOn Agencies

Mikel Arteta has backed Mesut Ozil to make the most of his fresh start as Arsenal’s new manager prepares for his home debut against Chelsea on Sunday.

Ozil has become a polarising figure at Arsenal after several seasons of lacklustre performances from the German playmaker.

He was a peripheral figure under former Gunners boss Unai Emery and looked destined to leave the club in January.

The 31-year-old was left out for Freddie Ljungberg’s final game as interim manager against Everton after reacting angrily to being substituted in the 3-0 loss to Manchester City.

But Arteta restored Ozil to his starting line-

up for his first match in charge as Arsenal salvaged a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth on Thursday.

Former City assistant coach Arteta, who was in the opposition dugout on December 15 when Ozil kicked his gloves having being replaced, has been encouraged by the mentality of the German World Cup winner since he took charge.

“To be fair his attitude in training since the day that I walked in the building has been incredible, and I’ve seen this,” Arteta said.

“I said I was going to give a clean slate to everybody and it was fair as well to give it to him.

“When we did the game preparation and we were watching the opponents, and where we could hurt them, we believed that he could be a key point. And we prepared the game

like this, with him.

“He responded, he did what he had to do and we could have put two or three goals because of him in the net.”

Given his previous antics, it was notable that Ozil was substituted without protest 15 minutes from full-time at Bournemouth after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had cancelled out Dan Gosling’s opener.

Ozil later expressed support for the methods of his new manager, finishing a tweet with the words “Let’s trust the process”.

Now Arteta hopes his faith in Ozil is rewarded with a commanding display in the London derby against fourth placed Chelsea.

Arsenal are eight points behind Chelsea in the race to qualify for the Champions League via a top four finish.

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Sunday, 29 December, 2019

NEWS

MAssIve cAR boMb kIlls 76 In soMAlIA’s cAPItAl

Indian cop tells anti-citizenship law protesters to ‘go to Pakistan’ A senior police officer in India’s Uttar Pradesh state has been caught on camera telling residents protesting the country’s new citizenship law to “go to Pakistan”, Indian Express reported on Saturday.

The video shared on Twitter was shot in the Lisari Gate neighbourhood of UP’s Meerut city on December 20, when five Muslim men died in clashes between protesters and police.

India has been convulsed by the broadest unrest in at least seven years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government brought in the Citizenship Amendment Act, which many see as discriminatory against Muslims, who make up 14 per cent of the population.

The law, which offers fast-track citizenship to nonMuslim nationals from three neighbouring countries, is the latest policy instituted by Modi’s government that critics accuse of marginalising Muslims in the Hindu-majority nation.

The video clip shows Superintendent of Police City Akhilesh N Singh saying: “Kahan jaoge, is gali ko theek kar doonga (Where will you go, I will sort out this lane)”, referring to four protesters that the police were chasing.

The officer then turns to three men standing in the mainly Muslim locality and says: “Yeh jo kaali aur peeli patti baande huye hain inse keh do Pakistan chale jao. Khaoge yahan ka, gaoge kahin aur ka? Yeh gali mujhe yaad ho gayi hai. Aur jab mujhe yaad ho jaata hai toh mein naani tak puhanch jaata hun (The ones tying black and yellow bands, tell them to go to Pakistan. You eat here but sing praises of another place? This lane is now familiar to me. And once I remember, I can even reach your grandmother.)”

The police officer, dressed in riot gear and accompanied by other personnel, can also be seen threatening the three men standing in the narrow lane.

“If something happens, you guys will pay the price.

Every man from each house will be arrested,” the official can be heard saying.

According to the report, SP Singh justified his remarks by saying “the context is that anti-social elements were making pro-Pakistan statements”.

“We had come to the area to see who all were making pro-Pakistan statements. When we arrived with force, they had run away. We found out that there were 3-4 such people who wanted to create an issue. We had discussions with the locals,” the police officer added.

Police have cracked down on the demonstrations that have spread across India, but Uttar Pradesh has seen the worst violence. At least 19 of 25 deaths have taken place there. UP, India’s most populous state with roughly 200 million people, is ruled by a Hindu priest and has a history of deadly Hindu-Muslim clashes. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has justified the police crackdown on demonstrations, saying the action has “shocked” every protestor into silence, according to Scroll.in. news Desk

MOGADISHU

A

Agencies

massive car bomb exploded in a busy area of the Somali capital Mogadishu on Saturday, leaving at least 76 people dead and scores injured.

The blast occurred in a busy area of the city where traffic is heavy because of a security checkpoint and a tax office.

The wounded were carried on stretchers from the site, where the force of the explosion left charred and twisted remains of vehicles.

Mogadishu is regularly hit by car bombings and attacks waged by Al-Shabaab militants allied to Al Qaeda. “The number of casualties we have confirmed is 76 dead and 70 wounded, it could still be higher,” the director of the private Aamin Ambulance service, Abdukadir Abdirahman Haji, told AFP. Police of-

ficer Ibrahim Mohamed described the explosion as “devastating”.

‘DEAD BODIES SCATTERED’: Mogadishu’s mayor Omar Mohamud Mohamed told a press conference that the exact number of dead was not yet known, but that around 90 people were wounded.

“We will confirm the exact number of the dead later but it is not

going to be small; most of the dead were innocent university students and other civilians,” he said.

“This was a devastating incident because there were many people including students in buses who were passing by the area when the blast occurred,” said another witness Muhibo Ahmed. Sakariye Abdukadir, who was near the area when the car

bomb detonated, said the blast “destroyed several of my car windows”.

“All I could see was scattered dead bodies […] amid the blast and some of them burned beyond recognition.” No group has yet claimed the attack. Al-Shabaab was forced out of the Somali capital in 2011 but still controls parts of the countryside and has also staged attacks in neighbouring Kenya.

Two weeks ago, five people were killed when Shabaab militants attacked a Mogadishu hotel popular with politicians, army officers and diplomats in an hours-long siege.

Since 2015, there have been 13 attacks in Somalia with 20 or more killed, 11 of which have been in Mogadishu, according to a tally of AFP figures. All of them involved car bombs. The deadliest attack in the country’s history was a truck bombing in October 2017 in Mogadishu which left 512 people dead and around 295 injured.

Russia says it has deployed first hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles

Taliban kill 10 Afghan soldiers in attack on base HELMAND Agencies

Ten Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack on a military base in the southern province of Helmand on Saturday, officials said. The Taliban dug a tunnel into the base in volatile Sangin district and then blew it up before their fighters could attack the compound, Nawab Zadran a spokesman for 215 Maiwand Army Corps in southern Afghanistan told AFP. “There were 18 soldiers in the base at the time of the attack providing security for the people of Sangin.

Four soldiers were wounded and four repelled the Taliban attack bravely,” he said.

Provincial spokesman Omar Zawak confirmed the attack and said the soldiers were killed by the powerful blast inside the base. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mu-

jahid in a statement sent to media claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack in Helmand comes as local and international forces brace for another deadly winter amid US-Taliban talks to end the violence in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, seven Afghan soldiers were killed in a Taliban attack on a base in the northern province of Balkh.

Winter once marked a slowdown in the socalled “fighting season”, with Taliban fighters returning to their villages while snow and ice made attacks more difficult to pull off. But in recent years, the distinction between seasons has all but vanished.

Deadly violence continues to grip Afghanistan even as the US and the Taliban negotiate on-off talks aimed at reducing America’s military footprint in the country in return for the insurgents ensuring an improved security situation.

MOSCOW: Russia deployed its first regiment of hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles on Friday, the Defence Ministry said, a move which President Vladimir Putin has boasted puts his country in a class of its own.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has informed Putin of the deployment, according to a ministry statement that did not disclose where the missiles were Russia says it has deployed first hypersonic nuclear-capable missileslocated.

The new system, called Avangard, comprises a hypersonic glide vehicle designed to sit atop an intercontinental ballistic missile, one of several new types of weapons Putin has touted as ahead of their time. Putin has said Russia’s new generation of nuclear weapons can hit almost any point in the world and evade a U.S.-built missile shield. Some Western experts have questioned how advanced some of the weapons programmes are. The Pentagon said in a statement that it “will not characterize the Russian claims” about the Avangard’s capabilities.

The United States has been developing hypersonic weapons since the early 2000s, according to a Congressional Research Service report published in July.

Russia said on Nov. 26 that U.S. experts had examined an Avangard under inspection rules of the 2010 New START treaty. A U.S. State Department official confirmed that inspectors examined an Avangard, but had no further comment. Putin said on Tuesday the Avangard system could penetrate both existing and any future missile defence systems. “Today, we have a unique situation in our new and recent history. They (other countries) are trying to catch up with us. Not a single country possesses hypersonic weapons, let alone continental-range hypersonic weapons,” said Putin.

Hypersonic glide vehicles are boosted on a rocket to altitudes of between 40 km (25 miles) and 100 km (62 miles) before detaching to glide along the upper atmosphere towards their target, say researchers. Agencies

India’s protests: why now?

NEW DELHI Agencies

Mumbai-based copywriter Sarah Syed says she was long alarmed by the Hindu nationalist direction of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi but felt powerless to stop it — until now.

Like many others taking part in the current wave of protests, the final straw

was Modi’s new citizenship law and then the images of students being tear-gassed when they demonstrated against it.

“It’s not as if one didn’t know that things were not right. But for many of us, politics was just too depressing to think about,” said Syed, a Muslim married to a Catholic. “Now though it feels criminal to sit out the protests and say nothing,” the 27-year-old told AFP.

The law, which offers fast-track citizenship to non-Muslim nationals from three neighbouring countries, is the latest policy instituted by Modi’s government that critics accuse of marginalising Muslims in the Hindu-majority nation.

During his nearly six years in power, Modi’s party has renamed places with Islamic-origin names, rewritten history textbooks to diminish or discredit the role of Muslim leaders, and stripped the Muslim-dominated region of Kashmir of its special autonomy. Modi has insisted the legislation will have no impact on Indian Muslims, however his party’s 2019 election pledge to conduct a nationwide survey to identify illegal immigrants has raised fears among Muslims of becoming stateless, with no fast-track naturalisation option available to them.

Mumbai-based lawyer Momin Musaddique, who has been providing free legal advice to people worried about the implications of the law, said years of

pent-up anxiety among Muslims have finally found an outlet in the protests rippling across the country. “People have been afraid for so long of this government’s Hindu nationalist agenda that they now feel like they have nothing left to fear,” he told AFP. “Now that their very survival in India is under threat, they have no option but to protest,” he added.

In addition to Muslims, the demonstrations have galvanised large sections of Indian society, from secular Hindus and members of other minorities to intellectuals and opposition politicians. Historian Zoya Hasan of Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University told AFP the protests represented “the biggest challenge to the Modi government in the last six years”.

Several local governments in opposition-ruled states such as Kerala and West Bengal have said they will not conduct surveys for the national citizens’ register, responding to the public mood and undermining the prime minister’s authority.

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

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Although the protests began as a fight against the citizenship law, many of the demonstrators are now seeking a rollback of the government’s push to remake officially secular India as a Hindu nation, said Hasan. Nevertheless, she added that the unrest was unlikely to derail Modi’s Hindu nationalist campaign and risk alienating his base which propelled him to a landslide re-election victory in May. “The government may take a step back as a result of the protests but they are not going to move away from their core agenda,” Hasan said. For first-time protester Syed, participating in the demonstrations left her with “goosebumps” as she described her elation at seeing people from different communities come together. “I used to feel so helpless before, like there was nothing I could do to change the way things were in this country,” she said. “The government’s strategy has been all smoke and mirrors”, she said. “Now we have woken up.”