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Friday, 29 November, 2019 I 1 Rabi-ul-Sani, 1441 I Rs 17.00 I Vol X No 149 I 16 Pages I Karachi Edition
ex-tension
SC OKAYS PM’S NOTIFICATION FOR EXTENDING COAS’ TERM FOR 6 MONTHS
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cJp khosa-leD bench orDers govt to pass legislation on extension/reappointment of army chief within six months ISLAMABAD
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staff report
he Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday announced through a short order that General Qamar Javed Bajwa will remain the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) for another six months, during which the parliament will legislate on the extension/reappointment of an army chief. A three-member bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Mian Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah — announced the much-anticipated verdict after being assured by the government that parliament will pass legislation within six months. According to the short order, the federal government “has presented this court with a recent summary approved by the president on the advice of the prime minister along with a notification dated 28.11.2019 which shows that Gen Bajwa has been
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Directs govt to reissue notification that incluDes Duration of army chief’s tenure, Description of his salary anD incentives
appointed as COAS under Article 243(4)(b) of the Constitution with effect from 28.11.2019”. “The current appointment of General Qamar Javed Bajwa as COAS shall be subject to the said legislation and shall continue for a period of six months from today, whereafter the new legislation shall determine his tenure and other terms and conditions of service,” read the court order. Before announcing the verdict, the court had asked the government to submit an undertaking that the parliament will pass legislation in this regard within six months; issue an amended notification that eliminates mention of the Supreme Court, includes the duration of the army chief’s tenure and the description of his salary and incentives. The SC’s ruling comes in the nick of time as Gen Bajwa was set to retire at midnight. Prime Minister Imran Khan had extended Bajwa’s tenure through a notification in August, but the top court suspended it on November 26 due to irregularities in the manner
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cJp says ‘it’s embarrassing that army chief has to keep an eye on summaries insteaD of country’s Defence’
of extension. ‘AG FAILED TO MENTION ANY EXISTING LAW’: The court, while pronouncing the decision, said that the government has been given six months to legislate on the duration of service of an army chief. It said that Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan has “categorically assured the Court” that the federal government “shall initiate the process to carry out the necessary legislation in this regard and seeks a period of six months for getting the needful done”. “We, while exercising judicial restraint, find it appropriate to leave the matter to the Parliament and the Federal Government to clearly specify the terms and conditions of service of the COAS through an Act of Parliament and to clarify the scope of Article 243 of the Constitution in this regard,” read the court’s short order. The order observed that the matter of the Army chief’s reappointment or extension had been challenged before the court. It also observed that in the three days of proceedings that followed, the govern-
trump reopens taliban talks during surprise afghanistan visit
ment kept changing its stance, interchangeably “referring to it as reappointment, limiting of retirement or extension of tenure”.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 02
Farogh says Gen Bajwa to remain COAS after deadline editorial: extension for six months STORIES ON BACK PAGE & 08
Imran rules out clash between state institutions STORY ON BACK PAGE
Daily hearing of Musharraf case from Dec 5 STORY ON BACK PAGE
STORY ON BACK PAGE
Pir Pagara calls on former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf at the latter’s ’ residence in Dubai to inquire after his health and well-being.
Friday, 29 November, 2019
02 NEWS Full text of sC’s order in Gen Bajwa’s tenure extension case the supreme Court on thursday granted Chief of army staff General (COas) Qamar Javed Bajwa a sixmonth extension in his tenure and asked the parliament to legislate on the extension/reappointment of an army chief. the three-member bench — comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) asif saeed khosa, Justice Mian Mazhar alam khan Miankhel and Justice syed Mansoor ali shah — announced its short order in the case after the government assured that it will come up with a legislation in given time. Here is the full text of the short order issued by the supreme Court: the extension/reappointment of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of the army staff (“COas”) has been challenged before us. in the proceedings before us during the last three days, the Federal Government has moved from one position to another referring to it as reappointment, limiting of retirement or extension of tenure and has also interchangeably placed reliance on article 243(4)(b) of the Constitution of the islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 (“Constitution”) and Regulation 255 of the army Regulations (Rules), 1998. However, finally today the Federal Government through the learned attorney General for Pakistan has presented this Court with a recent summary approved by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister alongwith notification dated 28.11.2019 which shows that General Qamar Javed Bajwa has been appointed as COas under article 243(4)(b) of the Constitution with effect from 28.11.2019. We (the court) have examined article 243(4)(b) of the Constitution, Pakistan army act, 1952, Pakistan army act Rules, 1954 and army Regulations (Rules), 1998 and inspite of the assistance rendered by the learned attorney-General, we could not find any provision relating to the tenure of COas or of a General and whether the COas can be reappointed or his term can be extended or his retirement can be limited or suspended under the Constitution or the law. the learned attorney-General has taken pains to explain that the answers to these questions are based on practice being followed in the Pakistan army but the said practice has not been codified under the law. article 243 of the Constitution clearly mandates that the Federal Govt shall have control and command of the armed Forces and the supreme command of the armed Forces shall vest in the President. it further provides that the President shall, subject to law, have power to raise and maintain the military, etc. and it is the President who on the advice of the PM shall appoint, inter alia, COas. article 243 of the Constitution, therefore, clearly shows that the President shall, subject to law, raise and maintain the military, however, the laws referred to above do not specify the tenure, retirement, reappointment and extension of the COas or of a General of the Pakistan army. the learned attorneyGeneral has categorically assured the Court that this practice being followed is to be codified under the law and undertakes that the Federal Govt shall initiate the process to carry out the necessary legislation in this regard and seeks a period of six months for getting the needful done. NEWS DESK
PML-N’s RaNa TaNveeR aPPoiNTed PaC ChaiRMaN ISLAMABAD
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akistan Muslim Leaguenawaz (PML-n) lawmaker Rana tanveer Hussain was appointed as the chairman of the Public accounts Committee (PaC) on thursday. the position fell vacant when national assembly Opposition Leader
shehbaz sharif resigned from the post earlier this month. Later on, national assembly speaker asad Qaiser had convened a meeting of the PaC for the election of its new chairman on nov 28. in his resignation note, which was submitted on november 18 – a day before his departure to London with his brother, former prime minister nawaz sharif – the PML-n president had nominated Hussain as his
replacement. “i would like to propose that Mna Rana tanveer may be considered for this position as decided by the joint opposition parties,” shehbaz wrote to the speaker. according to media reports, while the PML-n claimed that it had taken the other opposition parties on board on the nomination of Hussain as the new PaC chairman, a Pakistan People’s Party stalwart had said that they
had not been consulted before his nomination. However on thursday, Hussain’s name was endorsed for the position by Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf’s (Pti) sardar nasrullah khan Dreshak, PML-n senator Mushahid Hussain syed and PPP leader Raja Pervaiz ashraf. after his appointment, Hussain thanked his party and opposition party members. He promised that he would run PaC with neutrality.
SC approves 6-month extension in Gen Bajwa’s tenure CONTINUED frOM pAgE 01 the sC observed that the government had been relying on article 243(4)(b) of the 1973 Constitution and Regulation 255 of the army Regulations (Rules), 1998. the court observed that when it asked questions pertaining to the army chief’s appointment, duration of service and extension, the attorney general was unable to refer to any existing law. the court reviewed the laws contained within article 243 of the Constitution while deciding on the matter. “the court has thoroughly examined article 243(4)(b),” said Chief Justice khosa. the short order noted that according to article 243, the authority to appoint an army chief lies with the president. However, there is no duration of appointment specified in the article. (the legality) of Gen Bajwa’s appointment will rest on the government’s legislation, said the court, observing that prior to this occasion, the appointments had been made as per the existing practices. “the learned attorney-General has taken pains to explain that the answers to these questions are based on practice being followed in the Pakistan army but the said practice has not been codified under the law,” said the court order. ‘PUT YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER’: Before adjourning the hearing at 11:30am, the chief justice told Farogh naseem that the government should submit a written statement to ensure that the parliament will legislate on the matter within six months. “if legislation is not done within six months, the appointment will become illegal,” he warned. the chief justice observed that there was “ambiguity in the army act”. “Parliament has to remove that ambiguity,” Justice shah said and added: “there is no better forum than the parliament to fix the system.” Justice Miankhel said that it should also be clarified if, in future, the tenure would be extended or if there will be a reappointment. “the legal complications that we are pointing out will cause you difficulties but do not consider this embarrassing,” the chief justice said. Justice khosa also said to make sure that the court’s mention is removed from the summary and that the summary should also make no mention of the duration of the extension. “the parts about salary and incentives should also be removed from the summary,” he said. “We want all of this to be part of the record.” addressing attorney General of Pakistan anwar Mansoor khan, the top judge remarked: “Put your house in order.” PREVIOUS ARMY CHIEFS: at the outset of the hearing at 9:30am, the bench directed aG khan to submit the extension notification issued for former army chief Gen ashfaq Pervez kayani as well as that of Gen Raheel sharif’s retirement to the court. it is pertinent to mention that over the past two decades, Gen Raheel sharif is the only army chief to have retired on time. Gen kayani’s tenure was extended for another three years by the PPP-led
government in 2010. interestingly, the service extension given to kayani was also challenged in the islamabad High Court in 2012. However, it was dismissed by the bench as “non-maintainable” because article 199 (3) of the Constitution barred the high court from hearing a case against persons subject to the Pakistan army act (Paa). “Under what section was retired Gen kayani granted an extension?” the chief justice asked during thursday’s hearing. “We want to see what pension and perks Gen kayani got after retirement.” Referring to the retirement of army generals, Justice khosa said: “if an army general never retires, then under what rule did Raheel sharif retire?” “You said that generals never retire; if they don’t retire, then they wouldn’t be entitled to pension either,” he observed. the attorney general said that he wanted to assist the court on the matter. Justice khosa said that the court will examine the grounds on which Gen kayani was granted an extension and adjourned the hearing for 15 minutes. FAROGH NASEEM’S LICENCE RESTORED: Meanwhile, the Pakistan Bar Council restored the license of Farogh naseem, who stepped down as law minister to represent Gen Bajwa. the CJP had told him on Wednesday that the court did not want to waste time on a side issue and let the institution of army suffer and asked naseem to settle the licence issue or come with an associate if he wanted to argue on behalf of the army chief. COURT’S MENTION IN DRAFT NOTIFICATION: after the hearing resumed, the aG submitted the summary of the draft notification for Gen Bajwa’s extension prepared by the government on Wednesday. Following the court’s adjournment on Wednesday, an emergency meeting was called at Prime Minister House in the evening to debate the government’s strategy for thursday’s hearing. the meeting was attended by Gen Bajwa himself, along with Prime Minister imran and several ministers. Upon examining the summary, the CJP berated the attorney general over the mention of the sC’s proceedings in the draft notification. “Bear your own burden, why do you use our name?” Justice khosa asked. “Do your own work, why do you drag us in the middle?” He directed the attorney general to eliminate the mention of the court from the summary, saying: “the court’s name has been used so we cannot even point out what’s wrong.” He raised questions over the appointment of the army chief, noting that the post was already occupied by Gen Bajwa. “How can an appointment be made on a position that is already occupied?” the chief justice asked. it seems like this time a lot of thought has been put into drafting the notification, the chief justice remarked. “take out the part about the court’s advice,” Justice khosa directed the attorney general. “if the president seeks our advice, that is a different matter.” Referring to the army chief’s participation in
Pakistan hopes US-Taliban talks will bear fruit UNITED NATIONS APP
Pakistan on thursday expressed the hope that resumption of talks between the United states and the taliban would lead to a peaceful settlement of the conflict in afghanistan. speaking at a Un session on afghanistan, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the Un Munir akram pointed out that Prime Minister imran khan has responded to Us President Donald trump’s
request to help launch direct talks with the taliban. the United states (Us) on november 20 welcomed the release of two Western hostages, kevin king and timothy Weeks, from taliban captivity in southern afghanistan. the duo was handed over to Us forces more than three years after they were abducted in kabul. in a press release, White House’ Press secretary stephanie Grisham said two hostages freed by the taliban after more than three years in captivity are receiving medical care and other support from the Us government.
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yesterday’s meeting, Justice khosa said: “it is embarrassing that the army chief has to keep an eye on summaries instead of the country’s defence.” LOOPHOLES IN LAW: Justice shah noted once again that the law does not mention that the duration of the tenure is three years. the chief justice noted that the summary had mentioned that the duration of the army chief’s tenure will be three years. He said that article 243 does not mention the three-year duration. “if they find an extraordinary general tomorrow, will they grant him an extension of 30 years?” he remarked and stressed that there should be a clear system that everyone is aware of. He said that the three-year appointment will “become an example”. “the government may want to appoint the next army chief for one year,” he commented. the chief justice regretted that no one had examined the law while extensions were being granted all these years. “there is no check on the activities that are going on in cantonment or under which law an action is being taken,” he said. “now a constitutional institution is examining this matter.” He said that the process of appointment on a constitutional post should be clear and asked aG khan how long it would take for the government to draft laws in this regard. the attorney general told the bench that the government will require three months, adding that a separate law will be drafted in relation to the army chief. Justice shah, in his remarks, said that yesterday the bench had said that generals retire but the attorney general had insisted that they don’t. “the summary neither mentions the army chief’s salary nor the perks he is receiving,” Justice shah pointed out. “the attorney general too must have read the laws regarding the army for the first time.” “We are not telling you to pass legislation straight away,” Justice khosa said. “a law that has not been drafted in 72 years cannot be made in a hurry.” He added that the government had “reverted to the Constitution for the first time”. “When a decision is taken in accordance with the Constitution, our hands are tied,” the CJP said. “We were labelled as agents of india and the Cia when we examined the army act yesterday,” the chief justice regretted. aG khan told him that india “took a lot of advantage” of yesterday’s arguments. “it is our right to ask questions,” the CJP declared. the attorney general lamented that “social media was not under anyone’s control”. Justice shah asked the aG to “suggest how to fix laws regarding the army”. SUSPENSION OF NOTIFICATION: in an unanticipated development on tuesday, CJP khosa had suspended the federal government’s notification of Gen Bajwa’s extension and issued notices to the army chief, defence ministry and the federal government. the supreme Court said the aG could not refer to any provision in any legal instrument regarding extension in service of the army chief upon completion of his first term for his re-appointment.
Friday, 29 November, 2019
PM iMRaN’s TauNTs PRove he ‘was, is aNd wiLL ReMaiN iNePT MaN’: PML-N SC DECISION HAS DISAPPOINTED PAKISTAN’S INTERNAL, EXTERNAL ENEMIES, SAYS PM IMRAN
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akistan Muslim Leaguenawaz (PML-n) spokesperson Marriyum aurangzeb on thursday said that Prime Minister imran khan’s taunts at opposition parties following the verdict of the supreme Court in General Bajwa’s extension case had proven that the prime minister “was, is and will remain an inept man”. “Your ineptness was highlighted by the supreme Court time and again,” Marriyam said in a statement. “You are trying to put the burden of your lack of qualifications on others,” she added. Marriyum said that those whom the prime minister was accusing of being corrupt had been probed and
even an ounce of corruption couldn’t be proven against them. “With the presence of such a historically unqualified and inept man, the government doesn’t need any enemies,” she said. Marriyum said that it was disappointing how the country had become so insecure due to such an inept leadership. Prime Minister imran khan tweeted on thursday that Gen Bajwa’s extension did not result in a clash of in-
stitutions which would prove to be a great disappointment to those who expected Pakistan to be destabilised by a ‘ clash of institutions’. taking to twitter, the prime minister reacted to army chief Gen Bajwa’s extension. “today must be a great disappointment to those who expected the country to be destabilised by a clash of institutions. that this did not happen must be of special disappointment to our external
enemies & mafias within,” he tweeted. SC DECISION HAS DISAPPOINTED PAKISTAN’S ENEMIES: Prime Minister imran khan on thursday said that the supreme Court’s decision to grant six-month extension in the tenure of Chief of army staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa was “a great disappointment to those who expected the country to be destabilised by a clash of institutions”. taking to twitter minutes after the apex court announced its short order, PM imran said the fact that a clash of institutions was averted “must be of special disappointment to our external enemies and mafias within – Mafias who have stashed their loot abroad and seek to protect this loot by destabilising the country”. in another tweet, Prime Minister imran said 23 years ago, the Pti was the first political party to advocate for an independent judiciary and the rule of law. in addition, he said the Pti was at the forefront of the Movement for independence of the Judiciary in 2007 and he was “jailed for it”. “also, for the record, i have the greatest respect for CJ [Chief Justice asif saeed] khosa, one of the greatest Jurists produced by Pakistan,” the prime minister wrote.
IHC issues notice to NAB on Miftah Ismail’s bail plea ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
sC rejects Tallal Chaudhry’s review plea in contempt case ISLAMABAD: the supreme Court (sC) on thursday turned down review petition of Pakistan Muslim League-nawaz (PML-n) stalwart tallal Chaudhry against his sentence awarded in contempt of court case. tallal Chaudhry’s review petition was taken up by a five-member bench of the supreme Court, headed by Justice Musheer alam. the PML-n leader had challenged his disqualification in contempt of court case in the country’s top court, but his plea was rejected by a five-member bench of the court. Earlier on august 2, last year, a bench of supreme Court had disqualified tallal Chaudhry as he was found guilty for contempt of court and was handed over a sentence till the rising of the court. the sentence by a three-judge bench of the apex court headed by Justice Gulzar ahmed renders tallal Chaudhry disqualified to hold public office for a period of five years. tallal Chaudhry, during his speech at a PML-n rally in Jarranwala in January last year, had said: “there was an era when the kaabah was full of idols. today, the judiciary, which is the country’s highest institution, is also full of PCO [Provisional Constitution Order] judges.” the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian saqib nisar had taken suo motu notice of the contemptuous speech. the supreme Court in March, last year, had indicted Chaudhry for making contemptuous and derogatory remarks against the judiciary. He was indicted under article 204 of the country’s constitution, which provides for punishment of a person for contempt of court in accordance with the law. STAFF REPORT
the islamabad High Court (iHC) on thursday issued a notice to the national accountability Bureau (naB) on a bail petition of former finance minister Miftah ismail in Liquefied natural Gas (LnG) scandal. a two-member bench of the high court headed by Chief Justice athar Minallah summoned the naB’s reply over the bail plea on December 10. the court has also directed the accountability bureau to submit para wise comments on Miftah ismail’s bail after arrest petition. advocate Hyder Waheed represented the former finance minister before the court. Miftah ismail has pleaded for his release on bail until the final decision of the case. ismail, an accused in the LnG case, has been in adiala Jail on judicial remand. the court adjourned further hearing of the case till Dec. 10. ismail filed the bail petition after the high court granted bail to former managing director of Pakistan state Oil (PsO), sheikh imranul Haq, a co-accused in the same case. in his petition ismail made the national accountability Bureau (naB) and the secretary of Law as party.
Former prime minister shahid khaqan abbasi, former finance minister Miftah ismail, ex-PsO MD imranul Haq and others facing charges of corruption over awarding a LnG import contract allegedly at exorbitant rates in 2015, which caused a big loss to the national exchequer. naB sources said that abbasi, in 2013, had awarded a LnG import and distribution contract to the Elengy terminal in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory authority (PPRa) rules and relevant laws.
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Judges are called foreign agents for following law: CJP Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice asif saeed khosa on thursday said that when judges start taking a close look at law and constitution they are then dubbed as the agents of foreign intelligence agencies. “When we started taking a close look at the law and constitution, people started propaganda against us,” the CJP remarked while hearing the case of the Chief of army staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s tenure extension. “it was said that all three judges are agents of the Central intelligence agency (Cia),” he said, adding that people went to such an extent that they blamed the judges of working for india. NEWS DESK
Govt reappoints Farogh as law minister the government on thursday decided to reappoint Farogh naseem as the Federal Minister of Law, who had resigned a few days ago from the ministry to represent army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa in a case pertaining to his extension at the supreme Court. according to reports, naseem will take oath on Friday. Earlier in the day, the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) thursday restored the certificate of former law minister Farogh naseem as an advocate of the top court. it may be mentioned that the supreme Court (sC) had barred the former minister from giving arguments on Wednesday in the extension case of Gen Bajwa and asked him to address his license matter firstly. NEWS DESK
Fazl demands immediate polls SUKKUR: Jamiat Ulema-e-islam-Fazl (JUi-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on thursday demanded immediate elections in the country. addressing a JUi-F public gathering in sukkur, Fazl said that they have come out to save the economy of the country and would fight for the rights of the masses. “the only solution is that this ‘incompetent’ government should resign and go home,” he said. He also said that the incumbent government was not capable enough to carry out any legislation. He blamed the federal authorities for the recent controversy over army chief’s term extension and said that it happened after the competent officers were jailed under the guise of accountability. “the national accountability Bureau (naB) is being used against the politicians and the country’s economy is suffering due to the so-called process of accountability,” he added. the JUi-F chief expressed disappointment over the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) inability to take action in the foreign funding case involving the Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) during the past five years. He also announced that he would be participating in a protest rally outside the sindh Election Commission office on Friday against the delay. INP
Jurists stand divided on SC’s decision in Bajwa extension case ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR
the legal fraternity stands divided over the required future course of action for the implementation of the short order issued by a three-member bench of the supreme Court (sC) pertaining to the sixmonth extension in tenure given to Chief of army staff (COas) General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Conflicting opinions have emerged on whether the government needs an act of parliament, a constitutional amendment or a simple amendment in the army act to implement the apex court’s verdict. since the federal government led by Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) lacks simple majority in the senate, it may be difficult to get a constitutional amendment passed by both houses of the parliament. Perhaps, this was the reason why the government issued a late night order to cancel the national assembly (na) session summoned on December 2. Former supreme Court Bar associa-
CONFLICTING OPINIONS EMERGE ON WHETHER AN ACT OF PARLIAMENT OR A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT IS NEEDED TO IMPLEMENT APEX COURT’S VERDICT tion (sCBa) president kamran Murtaza told this scribe that the court used the term ‘act of parliament’ in its short order to resolve the anomaly in the matter. “However, i believe a simple act of parliament cannot serve the purpose as the government would also have to determine the allowances and salary of the army chief and for this purpose, it would need to get a constitutional amendment passed,” he said. Murtaza said that the government would have to include the term “extension in tenure” in the last clause of article 243. “since the government lacks a simple majority in the senate, it would be difficult to get the constitutional amendment passed unless the concerned quarters deliver the goods and all political parties agree to do it for greater national interest,” he added. senator Barrister Mohammad ali
said, an expert on constitutional affairs, disagreed with Murtaza on this. He said that there is no need for a constitutional amendment and a simple act of parliament would be enough to serve the purpose. “it would be foolish to add procedural details into the Constitution when the purpose can be served by amending the concerned rules or by adding definitions to the army act,” he said. saif said that the sC bench did not pass any clear directions for amending the Constitution, but rather it asked for an act of parliament. He said that rather than giving directions to the government, the apex court should have suggested an amendment in act as it is ultimately the prerogative of the parliament and no state institution should pass directions to the parliament. Moreover, he said, when the attorney general (aG) told the sC bench that the
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government can resolve the issue through legislation, the court did not raise any objection to amending the law. “if the court thought a constitutional amendment was necessary, it would have clearly suggested the same,” he added. Barrister saif said that the Constitution addresses general issues whereas the subordinate organic law or act is there to prevent unnecessary constitutional amendments. “since the article 243 empowers the prime minister to appoint the army chief, it also gives him the power to reappoint the said person or grant him an extension. the court can raise questions over ambiguities in any order but since the court has pointed out a flaw, the government now has the power to address the anomaly through a law. Hence, a simple act of parliament can serve the purpose,” he added. When asked to elaborate, he said that
the matter of statutory interpretation of law rests with the government. “there is no need to put details into the Constitution. a relevant section could be added in the definition of the army act and all details pertaining to reappointment, extension, salary and allowances of the army chief can be added in the sub-clauses of law without amending the Constitution,” he added. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senator Farhatullah Babar said that politicians and jurists were deeply divided over the matter and there is a need for detailed debate and consideration by the ruling party. “not only the lawyers are divided, but the political parties are also divided. PPP had an informal discussion over the matter but even our legal minds are divided,” he said. When asked about his own opinion over the matter, he said that there was no need for a constitutional amendment, but rather a simple amendment in the act would serve the purpose. “the government would find this easy since it would be difficult for them to get a constitutional amendment passed,” he concluded.
04 KARACHI PRAyER TImINgS FAJR SUNRISE
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Police fire tear gas on anti-encroachment protesters in city An anti-encroachment operation took a turn for the worse on Thursday due to a confrontation between anti-encroachment protesters and the police during protests against demolitions in the city’s Gulistane-Johar area. The demonstrators set a police vehicle on fire and termed demolitions in Blocks 10 and 11 of the KDA Scheme 36 neighbourhood the ‘anti-poor demolitions’. Large contingents of police officers in riot gear, shields, and batons charged protesters after the police vehicle was burned down, and started firing tear gas in order to curb the demonstrators. NEWS DESK
107 more dengue cases surface in city KARACHI: At least 107 more dengue fever cases were detected throughout the Karachi city in last 24-hours, taking the reported cases toll to 14,011 since Jan 1, 2019. Spokesman Prevention and Control Program for Dengue (PCPD) Sindh, , while talking to PPI, informed that as many as 115 new dengue fever cases surfaced across the Sindh province in a day, out of which 107 were reported in Karachi and eight in other districts. A total 40 people had been died in Sindh province so far out of which 38 in Karachi and one each from Hyderabad and Ghotki, respectively. In November, a total of 5,504 dengue positive cases emerged throughout the province out of which 5,035 were confirmed from Karachi and 469 from other districts. In 2019, a total of 15,058 dengue cases were detected in Sindh province so far out of which, 14,011 happened in Karachi and 1047 in other districts. PPI
Car of woman who threatened traffic cop impounded KARACHI: The police impounded on Thursday the car of the woman who misbehaved with a traffic police officer in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA). She had threatened the officer after he had stopped her for jumping a traffic light. The police raided her house in DHA Phase-VIII and impounded her White Toyota Corolla. According to the police, the woman was not at home during the raid. “We are searching for her using our location tracker,” said an investigating officer. “Her latest locations were Malir and District Central.” A video posted on Twitter by multiple users on November 26 showed that she was stopped by an on duty traffic police officer for jumping a traffic signal on DHA’s Khayaban-e-Shahbaz. The video seemed to have been filmed by the traffic official himself. In the video, the woman, instead of admitting her mistake started verbally abusing and threatening the traffic police officer for daring to confront her. The woman was also driving without a licence. The police have registered a case against her at the Darakhshan Police Station on behalf of Sub Inspector Nawaz Siyal. STAFF REPORT
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CM Murad reviewS agenda for CCi Moot partiCipation KARACHI
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STAFF REPORT
INDH Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah presided over a preparatory meeting for the CCI meeting which has been called by the prime minister on December 11, 2019. The chief minister reviewed the agenda and directed department of inter-provincial coordination (IPC) department to make necessary preparations for the meeting by arranging all the relevant summaries so that he could present his government’s point of view in all the important issues, including 1991 water accord, energy policy, return of withholding tax the FBR deducted directly from provincial excise department account and such others matters. The IRSA has issued NOC for installation of 25 MW hydropower project located along ChashmaJhelum Link Canal in October 2019. The provincial government is of the view that the IRSA was not a competent forum to issue such an NOC, therefore, the matter should be taken up in CCI. The chief minister said that CJ link canal was not a perineal canal and even not a flood canal. He added that when it had no allocation of water in 1991 accord how a hydro power project could be installed there. The chief minister directed the irrigation department to prepare a case and present him within a week. EOBI: By virtue of 18th Constitutional Amendment, the Sindh assembly had passed the Sindh Workers Welfare Fund Act, 2014 and the Sindh Employees Old-Age Benefit Act, 2014, therefore, the both workers welfare ordinances of 1976 and Old-Age Benefit Act, 1976 had been repealed to the extent of Sindh. The chief minister said that the federal government should hand over the administrative control of WWF and EOBI, including assets due share to Sindh. He directed Labour department to prepare the case accordingly. PEtROlEum POlICy 2012: The federal government has proposed an amendment to Petroleum (Exploration & Production) Policy 2012 under which 5 percent carried working interest concept had been incorporated. It means the provincial government will have to pay five percent expenditures of carried work even if the exploration is failed.
The chief minister said that his government was against such a ‘carried working interest,’ and it would be a big drain to the provincial resources. He urged the energy department to prepare a case accordingly. FOOd AutHORItIEs & PsQCA: An issue between the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) and provincial food authorities has emerged over their role as quality controlling and regulatory authority. The Sindh government feels that after the 18th Amendment, food articles being the provincial domain, is subject to be regulated, inspected, registered, licensed and enforced by the provincial food authorities in their respective province, the chief minister said and directed food authority to prepare the case and submit him for the meeting. Funding for devolved program: Ministry of health on June 30, 2011 had devolved all its vertical programs were devolved to the province. The CCI in its meeting on April 28, 2011 had decided
that federal government would provide funding only for the vertical programs till next NFC award. The chief minister said that around Rs13 billion, as liability or claim of Sindh government needed to be expeditiously disbursed by the federal government and directed health department to prepare a case for him. dEduCtIOn By FBR: The excise & taxation department told the chief minister that the FBR on account of withholding tax has deducted over Rs8 billion at sources from provincial government account. The chief minister directed the Excise & Taxation department to prepare the case in details and mention the meetings they had been holding with FBR so that the amount could be reimbursed from CCI forum. The chief minister told his cabinet members and concerned secretary to submit their detailed cases in his secretariat and he would hold another meeting to firm up his recommendations for the CCI meeting.
Mother of youth killed by police demands justice, laments corruption NEWS DESK The mother of a Karachi youth who was murdered last week by police when they fired at his vehicle before fleeing the crime site said on Thursday that she would not forgive anyone for the loss of her child while demanding justice for the loss of her child. “My son was murdered and this is not an ordinary thing. Give me my son back or give me justice. I will not forgive anyone,” she added. The statement was made during a press conference held by the relatives of slain Nabeel Hoodhboy, during which the victim’s family demanded justice for the incident that took place last Friday. “Police opened fire on Nabeel’s car which was not moving. Instead of taking Nabeel to the hospital, police fled from the scene,” Sheikh Javed, the family’s lawyer, emphasised. The lawyer added that such incidents have taken place before in district south of the city and are becoming a little too common now in the city of Karachi as a whole. He warned that such incidents they will keep happening if people did not raise their voices against police brutality. “Police were not including anti-terrorism provisions in the case,” he re-
vealed while further pointing out the unceasing blatant corruption of policemen who did not take any action against their colleagues. “Not even the Superintendent of Police (SP) or station house officer (SHO) was suspended after the
boy’s killing,” he said. The lawyer said that parents of the victim wanted justice so that the same thing did not happen to anyone else. Deceased Nabeel’s mother added that a naya Pakistan was not possible while
incidents of police crimes continued. “The police exist to protect people, not for killing unarmed citizens,” she lamented. “We request the chief minister (CM) to take notice of the incident,” said Sheikh. “According to us, the investigation is moving at a very slow pace.” Officials of Karachi police last week allegedly shot and killed an unarmed man while injuring another near the Cantonment Railway Station, according to local media channels. According to the details, police officials had been chasing the two men, who were in a car, and fired on them just as they stopped the vehicle near the railway station. The injured was identified as Raza Imam, who in a statement made to the police, said that the deceased was a friend with whom he was returning home after dinner when police started chasing them. He told that they stopped the car at the railway station after realising that the police were following them but heard gunshots immediately. Imam added that he and his friend used to run an import and export business. According to Senior Superintendent Police South Sheeraz Nazeer, the police officials used a 9mm pistol to fire on the car after it stopped following a ‘lengthy chase’.
MRI and CT scan machines out of order at CHK KARACHI PPI
The patients are facing grave hardships at the Dr Ruth Pfau Civil Hospital (CHK) as two important diagnostic machines CT scan and MRI are lying out of order sine several months. Senior official at Radiology Depart-
ment told that the CT scan machine has developed some technical fault about a year ago and this was yet to be repaired, while MRI machine was also lying out of order since couple of months. The CHK is a tertiary care hospital where score of patients are brought every day from different areas of Karachi and rest of Sindh some of them needed diag-
nostic services such CT scan and MRI. But since the major diagnostic machines are not functioning, the patients are referred to Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Institute of Trauma and private labs for CT scan and MRI tests. The private labs charged heavy fees for conducting diagnostics tests which are out of reach of poor patients. The Civil
Hospital Karachi is the only major hospital of the city that offers all kind of diagnostic facilities to patients free of cost. The ultrasound gel used in ultrasound machines was also not available in Radiology Department. The doctors were managing gel from their own pockets to reduce suffering of patients. An administrative official, while talk-
ing to PPI, said CHK management had ordered concerned company for early replacement of tube of CT scan to minimize the suffering of patients and tube is being imported from Japan. He however said out of order MRI machine would be made functional soon. Medical Superintendent, CHK, Dr Khadim Qureshi was not available for comments.
Friday, 29 November, 2019
NEWS
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Court issues notiCe to nAB on shehBAz's exemption pleA LAHORE
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APP
N accountability court on Thursday issued notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on an application filed by Opposition Leader in National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif for permanent exemption from personal appearance in Ramzan Sugar Mills and Ashiana-e-Iqbal cases. Accountability Court Judge Amjad Nazir Chaudhry conducted the proceedings whereas Hamza Shehbaz was also produced before the court on expiry of his judicial remand in Ramzan Sugar Mills case. A counsel on behalf of Shehbaz Sharif filed an application certified by the embassy concerned for permanent exemption of his client in Ramzan Sugar Mills and Ashiana-e-Iqbal cases. The court was apprised that Shehbaz Sharif had proceeded abroad for his
LHC ISSUeS notICe to nAB oveR YoUSAf ABBAS’ BAIL PLeA own and his brother's medical treatment. The court was also requested for granting one-time exemption to Shehbaz from today's proceedings. At this, the court issued notice to the bureau on Shehbaz Sharif's application for permanent exemption while allowing one-time exemption request. The prosecution apprised the court that supplementary reference had been filed in connection with Ramzan Sugar Mills case. To which the court provided copies of the supplementary reference to Hamza Shehbaz and extended his judicial remand till December 12 while adjourning further hearing. Meanwhile, Hamza Shehbaz was also produced before Accountability Court Judge Ameer Muhammad Khan in connection with illegal
assets/money laundering case. The court extended judicial remand of Hamza Shehbaz till Dec 12 and directed bureau for filing the reference. It is pertinent to mention here that strict security arrangements were made on the occasion. YOUSAF ABBAS’ BAIL PLEA: A bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday issued notices to Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and others over the bail petition of Yousaf Abbas Sharif in Chaudhry Sugar Mills case. A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi heard the petition and summoned reply of the NAB officials on December 16. Yousaf Abbas has made the Chairman NAB, Director General NAB Lahore and the investigation
officer as party in his petition. Yousaf Abbas in his petition said that Sharifs are a business family and believed in the rule of law. The NAB arrested him in Chaudhry Sugar Mills money laundering inquiry but presented no evidence against him the petition said. “The petitioner was detained 48 days on physical remand but nothing produced against him.” The NAB alleged Rs. 410 million money laundering but all transactions were on record and the money was arrived in Pakistan via the banking channels with taxes paid on it. The petitioner said that the accountability bureau has levelled baseless allegations against him and pleaded to the court for granting him bail in the case. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif,
KP CM launches mobile application for missing children PESHAWAR APP
Indian envoy to US calls for Israeli model in Kashmir An Indian diplomat has called for an Israeli model to be implemented in Kashmir. Speaking at a private event in New York last week, India’s ambassador to the US Sandeep Chakravorty told Kashmiri Hindus (also called Pandits) and other Indian nationals that India will build settlements modeled after Israel for the return of the Hindu population to Kashmir, reported the Middle East Eye. A video of his speech was uploaded on Facebook. “I believe the security situation will improve, it will allow the refugees to go back, and in your lifetime, you will be able to go back…and you will be able to find security, because we already have a model in the world. “I don’t know why we don’t follow it. It has happened in the Middle East. If the Israeli people can do it, we can also do
it,” Chakravorty told participants. The event had been organised to discuss Indian filmmaker Vivek Agnihorti’s upcoming project on the forced displacement of Kashmiri Hindus in the early 1990s. Chakravorty asked those present to give the government some time to implement its plans in the valley. Kashmir has been under lockdown since August 5 when the Indian government repealed Article 370 of its constitution and with it, Kashmir’s autonomy. The valley has had no internet or stable phone connections for months and thousands of people have been imprisoned. “I think the return of Kashmiri Pandits is being instrumentalized to justify a settler-colonial project in Kashmir,” Mona Bhan, an associate professor of South Asian Studies at Syracuse University in New York, told the MEE. NEWS DESK
Mohammad Rafiq Butt remembered on 71st death anniversary LAHORE: The 71st death anniversary of Mohammad Rafi Butt, 71, a close associate of Quaid-eAzam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and a prominent activist of Tehreek-e-Pakistan, was remembered with prodigious devotion and esteem on Thursday. The event was organised by Jinnah Rafi Foundation, the owner of the largest surgical instrumentation industry of sub-continental and First Muslim bank “Central Exchange Bank of India. Jinnah Rafi Foundation Chairman Imtiaz Rafi Butt, Raees Abbas Zaidi, Shahriar Rafi Butt and Shazil Rafi Butt were also present on the occasion. They paid tribute to Mohammad Rafi Butt’s outstanding services to Pakistan and committed to further his philosophy and vision whereas a Quranic recital was arranged for the late on this occasion. Mohammad Rafi Butt was a trusted ally of Quaid-e-Azam and his close adviser on the economic front. He played a vital role in the success of the Pakistan Movement and provided valuable financial services to the All India Muslim League (AIML) on various occasions. PRESS RELEASE
Man accused of raping, murdering minor arrested GUJRANWALA: Police on Wednesday arrested a man who allegedly raped and murdered an eight-year-old girl in Gujranwala. The Gujranwala RPO (Regional Police Officer) said that the suspect, Abdul Ghani was arrested within 24 hours after the incident was reported to the police. He said the body of the child was recovered from a field on information provided by the arrested accused. According to the victim’s family, the girl had left her home to buy milk from a close-by shop when she was picked up by the suspect who took her into the fields and assaulted her. STAFF REPORT
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan Thursday formally launched “Mera Bacha Alert” mobile application developed with aim to help people and concerned departments for recovery of missing children in the province. This application is a recent addition to the already available KP Citizens Portal and would also be included in Pakistan Citizen Portal. The Chief Minister appreciated the efforts of Performance Management and Reforms Unit KP in developing this important application saying that it would not only help to recover the missing children but would also be helpful in discouraging unpleasant incidents regarding innocent children in the province. “It is the priority of this government to ensure protection of children. Mera Bacha Alert application is a golden step in this regard”, he added. Earlier, the CM was briefed in details about preparation of application, its mechanism and features. It was told the idea of application came in reaction to various cases of child abuse. The application is providing complete mechanism for the parents to register a report if their child goes missing. They will be able to add a picture of missing child along with his/her attributes. The application will generate alerts and SMS to be sent to District Police Officer, RPO, IGP and Chief Secretary. All the details including registration of FIR, start of investigation, dispatching of team, evidence collection and completion of investigation would appear on the Dash Board of District Police Officer. The application would also help in developing a directory of all the cases of missing children at provincial level and could be monitored by the Chief Minister and Chief Secretary as well. Through public web portal, directory of missing/found children and contact directory of all police stations and Child Protection Centers would also be available. Furthermore, integration with Police Calls Centers and Safe City authorities, dedicated access to Edhi and other Child Protection Centers is also ensured in this application. The Chief Minister while appreciating KP Performance Management and Reforms Unit said this application has prime importance to address the issues of child abuse. He assured that his government will provide all out support in managing all the tasks and functions of this application. Advisor to CM on Merged Districts and Spokesperson of provincial government Ajmal Wazir, IGP Naeem Khan, Director PMRU Muhammad Fawad and others attended the ceremony.
CMYK
Maryam Nawaz, Hamza Shehbaz and Yousaf Abbas are being investigated in the reference filed by the accountability bureau over alleged money laundering through Chaudhry Sugar Mills. NAB Chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal had issued arrest warrants of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz Sharif on October 04. The NAB alleged that a $15 million loan was taken on the pretext to set up the Chaudhry Sugar mills despite the fact that it had already been established before the loan was acquired. The loan was never transferred to Pakistan as shown by the record of the State Bank of Pakistan, according to the accountability bureau. The probe stated that more than Rs7 million worth of shares were transferred to PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz in 2008 through mill’s shares, which were later transferred to Yousaf Abbas Sharif, son of the late Abbas Sharif, in 2010.
A brief look at General Bajwa’s career in Pakistan Army Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was given a six-month extension in tenure by the Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday has been serving as the country’s 16th army chief since September 22, 2015. Bajwa is a graduate of Command and Staff in Canada and later attended and secured his graduation from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, United States. He also attended the National Defence University. He was commission in the 16th Battalion of the Baloch Regiment at Sialkot Cantonment in 1980. This was the same unit his father had commanded. In 2003, Brigadier Bajwa commanded the Pakistan Armed Forces-Africa Command, attached to the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission MONUSCO, in Congo. In August 2011, he was honored with the Hilal-i-Imtiaz, and posted as an instructor at the School of Infantry and Tactics in Quetta, and later taught staff
course at Command and Staff College in Quetta, and course on national security at the National Defence University (NDU). He also served as the field commander of the X Corps from August 14, 2013 to September 22, 2015 which is responsible for the area along the Line of Control (LoC) at Kashmir. COAS Bajwa wisely handled the matters pertaining to anti-militant operations Zarb-e-Azb and Radd-ul-Fasaad and recognized peace in the country as his key mission. In December 2016, he was awarded Nishan-e-Imtiaz. Before he was appointed as the army chief, Lieutenant General Bajwa was posted in the General Headquarters (GHQ) as the Inspector-General of the Training and Evaluation (IGT&E) where he was a principal staff officer to then chief of army staff General Raheel Sharif. In October 2018, he was awarded the Order of the Military Merit by Jordan’s King Abdullah II. NEWS DESK
The curious case of serial petitioner Riaz Rahi A pattern has emerged in recent years wherein a low-key individual files a petition with the top courts over a burning political or constitutional issue, triggering a debate on the issue nationwide and sparking fears of judicial activism, before suddenly disappearing. The same pattern was repeated yesterday in a case against the extension in the tenure of Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. The petitioner who challenged the extension in the Supreme Court, named Riaz Rahi, wished to withdraw his motion. The top judge, Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, however, rejected the plea, observing it fell into the domain of public interest under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution. The petition of Rahi was converted into a suo-moto, and the notification of the extension of COAS was suspended. Nobody would have been more surprised with the outcome than Riaz Rahi, who is a serial petitioner. Over the years, Rahi has
filed several petitions with the top courts over matters of political and constitutional importance, with varying degrees of success. The timing and ground of the petition against the Chief of Army Staff was very important as General Qamar Javed Bajwa was set to retire on November 28. As the court rules on the legality of the tenure extension, the retirement date looms large over the verdict. In April 2018, Riaz Rahi had also challenged the appointment of Justice Qazi Faez Isa as a judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The petition seemed like an effort to undermine the credibility of a jurist who otherwise was known to be as an upright man among the legal fraternity. In March 2018, Riaz Rahi had filed two contempt of court petitions against former premeir Nawaz Sharif. In December 2013, the Islamabad High Court had rejected his petition challenging the constitution of a special court for the trial of former president General Pervez Musharraf. NEWS DESK
Friday, 29 November, 2019
06 WORLD VIEW
The new geogrAphy of globAl diplomAcy CHINA ADVANCES AS THE UNITED STATES RETREATS
Foreign AFFAirs
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bonnie bley
S China’s rise has become a central force in global politics, analysts and policymakers have tracked its path to potential preeminence on a number of fronts: the size of its economy, the scale and reach of its investment and commercial relationships, the budget and capabilities of its military forces. But as of 2019, China has surpassed the United States in an underappreciated but crucial measure of global influence: the size of its diplomatic network. For decades, Washington had the largest diplomatic network in the world. Now China does, boasting 276 diplomatic posts—including embassies, consulates, and permanent missions to international organizations. The United States’ network, meanwhile, stands at 273, down one post since 2017. This shift could mark a turning point in great-power competition. As Beijing becomes more and more willing to deploy its global power, seemingly no longer interested in former leader Deng Xiaoping’s instruction to “hide your strength, bide your time,” it has invested in active and far-reaching diplomacy.
Washington, meanwhile, has seen both a turn inward and a privileging of other tools. Where once the United States enjoyed global diplomatic primacy, the playing field is now leveling. HOW CHINA WIN-WINS China’s ascent to the top spot has been rapid. The Lowy Institute’s Global Diplomacy Index tracks diplomatic networks around the world. In 2011, Beijing lagged 23 posts behind Washington. By 2016, it was only eight posts behind, in third place behind the United States and France. In 2017, it climbed to second place, overtaking France, before moving into first place this year. This year’s index puts China in first place ahead of 60 other major diplomatic networks. Beijing has opened five new embassies in the last two years: in Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Gambia, and São Tomé and Príncipe. This list of countries is not random. Following a persistent campaign of what’s commonly referred to as “checkbook diplomacy,” Beijing has succeeded in picking off a handful of Taiwan’s last remaining diplomatic partners. China is unmatched in its number of consulates. Most recently, two countries in the hotly contested Pacific Islands region—Kiribati and the Solomon Islands—broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan and made the switch to China, reducing the number of countries recognizing Taiwan from 22 in 2016 to just 15 today (which include Guatemala, Honduras, and Vatican City). For Beijing, this strategy has both furthered Taiwan’s growing political isolation and increased China’s ability to advance its own economic and strategic interests. In short, it’s been win-win, except with both wins going to China.
China doesn’t have only breadth in its network; it has depth, too. While Beijing and Washington are neck and neck in terms of the number of embassies they have, China is unmatched in its number of consulates, with 96 compared to the United States’ 88. Whereas embassies reflect political power, consulates reflect economic power. China’s focus on boosting its consulates accords with its ongoing focus on advancing its interests through economic diplomacy over traditional diplomacy. Of China’s 96 consulates, 41 are located in Asia and 28 in Europe. This goes hand in hand with China’s Belt and Road Initiative, an infrastructure push valued in the trillions that seeks to better connect China with these regions. RUDDERLESS DIPLOMACY The United States’ diplomatic presence has been sclerotic since 2017. After closing the doors of its consulate general in St. Petersburg in 2018, amid rancorous relations with the Kremlin, and without any new openings in recent years, Washington reduced its total posts to 273. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department remains hollowed out: even as President Donald Trump approaches the end of a four-year term, only 73 percent of key positions are filled, according to a Washington Post tracker. Add to this the Trump administration’s desire to cut the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development budgets by up to 23 percent, and it is no surprise that U.S. diplomacy looks increasingly rudderless to other governments. Trump’s 11,000 tweets, over half of which attack someone or something, are no substitute for a properly functioning diplomatic network. U.S. diplomacy isn’t lagging on every front. Diplomatic influence comes not only from establishing a large presence abroad but also from being an important host to foreign missions. The United States remains by a wide margin the most popular place for countries to maintain
embassies and consulates. It is home to some 342 embassies and consulates belonging to the 61 countries included in the index. China, with 256, is a distant second. When permanent missions to international organizations such as the United Nations are added into the equation, the United States’ lead is strengthened further. Other governments are increasingly setting up posts in second- and third-tier Chinese cities—something to watch closely in coming years. Still, it would take a serious reshuffling of the global diplomatic order for the status quo on this particular metric to change in China’s favor in the near future. A BAROMETER OF NATIONAL AMBITION Alongside the realignment of U.S. and Chinese diplomatic reach, other global disruptions have spurred shifts in other governments’ diplomatic activities. Brexit in particular has driven a number of European governments to make changes. With successive Brexit deadlines looming, passing, and then looming once again, Ireland boosted its network by eight posts, causing it to rise three places in the index since 2017, the largest increase of any country. With Ireland facing a divorce from its largest import partner and second-largest export partner, its foreign minister has publicly tied this move to the country’s Brexit strategy. The Netherlands, too, has linked its recent diplomatic push to Brexit considerations, with seven new posts in two years and more openings expected by 2021. The United Kingdom, by contrast, has closed or downgraded 11 consulates and diplomatic offices since 2016, dropping from ninth place three years ago to 11th today. This runs counter to commitments to open three new posts in the Pacific and an additional 12 posts globally by the end of 2020. So much for promises of a “global Britain.” A country’s choice of where to ex-
pand its network is never uncalculated. Japan moved into fourth place in 2019, overtaking Russia for the first time. Faced with a shifting power balance in its neighborhood, including an increasingly assertive China, Tokyo has been quietly investing in its diplomatic footprint for nearly a decade now. The addition of seven new posts in strategically pivotal countries such as Cambodia, the Philippines, Seychelles, and Vanuatu brings Tokyo’s total posts to 247. Turkey, too, has boosted its network, keeping pace with its increasingly ambitious foreign policy and taking steps to diversify beyond its NATO allies. It has added six posts since 2017, ranking sixth for its diplomatic network despite having less than half the GDP of fifth-place Russia. Despite Turkey’s “Asia Anew” policy released in August, these posts haven’t been concentrated in Asia. With the exception of a new embassy in Laos, Turkey has geared its diplomatic expansion toward Latin America and Africa. A country’s choice of where to expand its network is never uncalculated. China, Ireland, Japan, and Turkey are signaling priorities about where they want to position themselves in the future. China’s newfound diplomatic heft is of particular significance. Under President Xi Jinping, Beijing continues to chip away at U.S. primacy, taking the lead across a growing number of metrics, diplomatic footprint being just one. (Others include global exports, rare earth metals production, and GDP measured by purchasing power parity.) Its newly preeminent diplomatic network is at the very least a symbolic victory for China. And while diplomatic networks can’t tell the full story about a country’s influence overseas, they do serve as a telling barometer of national ambitions. Bonnie Bley is a Research Fellow for the @LowyInstitute Asian Power and Diplomacy program, incl. Asia Power Index and Global Diplomacy.
A separate law on state surveillance
Are the Arab revolutions back?
THE LAW MUST DEMAND THAT ANY DEMAND FOR BREACHING ANY INDIVIDUAL’S PRIVACY MUST FIRST BE PLACED BEFORE A COURT AND SURVEILLANCE MUST BE CARRIED OUT ONLY WITH JUDICIAL SANCTION
THIS LATEST WAVE OF PROTESTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST SHOWS THE REVOLUTIONARY MOMENTUM OF 2011 NEVER DIED OUT
economic Times Justice B N Srikrishna, who headed the committee that drafted the data protection law that has been with the government for over a year, reiterated a point he had made in the committee’s report, that India needs a separate law to regulate how the State conducts surveillance of citizens. This is vital, to operationalise the fundamental right to privacy that the Supreme Court ruled as being immanent in the fundamental rights that are individually spelt out in the Constitution. Just as the right to free speech is not an unconditional right but is qualified, to ban incitement to violence, for example, the right to privacy also cannot be an absolute right. Criminals and suspected terrorists would need to be snooped on. This is the case in any country anywhere in the world. The question is how precisely this breach of individual privacy is conducted, in order to avoid misuse. At present, the State has virtually untrammelled access to just about anyone: electronic bugs turned up, reportedly, in the office of former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. The Niira Radia tapes made sensational headlines and endless debates on its contents, with scant attention paid to how private conversations came to be recorded and leaked. A senior civil servant has to determine that someone has to be put under surveillance, that is all. That determination is not held to scrutiny or account later. This must change. The law must demand that any demand for breaching any individual’s privacy must first be placed before a court and surveillance must be carried out only with judicial sanction. The judicial officer can hear the case in camera but must list the evidence presented and the reasons for granting or denying the executive’s demand. Thereafter, the acts of surveillance and their findings must be placed before a committee of Parliament, which should have the right to hold the agencies that carry out snooping to account. The US follows such a system. Such involvement of the judiciary and the legislature is necessary to temper the executive’s power to breach citizens’ privacy.
Al JAzeerA Hamid dabasHi
Lebanon has been witnessing unprecedented demonstrations against the government that suggest the country’s proverbial sectarianism seems suddenly to have disappeared. Similar demonstrations have been reported from Iraq and Egypt to Sudan, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. Since mid-November, Iran too has witnessed widespread protests. A common thread runs through these uprisings: all have much to do with economic collapse, social and political woes, violence, repression and the corruption of incompetent governments. So are the revolutions of the Arab world and its neighbourhood back? Or perhaps more accurately - did they go anywhere to begin with? How are we to read these seemingly similar uprisings reminiscent of the glorious days and nights of Tahrir Square writ large? REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST: Upon the publication of his pioneering book The Invisible Arab: The Promise and Peril of the Arab Revolutions in 2012, I asked Al Jazeera’s political analyst Marwan Bishara, if he thought the Arab world had reached the point of no return, to which his response was a resounding yes. Much has happened in the Arab world and beyond since then. Two counter-revolutionary forces have sought to derail the Arab revolutions: the governments of regional authoritarian powers (with the help of the United States and Israel) on one side and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) - the offspring of their geopolitical machinations - on the other. These two reactionary forces
have wreaked havoc, stifling the spirit of the Arab revolts. Over the past few years, it appeared they had succeeded - changing the headlines and the optics, from millions of human beings marching peacefully in the streets and squares of their homelands to violent gangs taking over military strongholds. They wrapped the uprisings in the veil of sectarianism. They threw doubt on the aims and desires of the defiant nations who rose up, presenting their protests as foreign plots. They blackmailed the world with scary words like “migration” and “terrorism” to justify violent crackdowns. They maintained that stability can only be achieved with an iron fist. But the moral, political and economic facts on the ground have defied all such scheming. It was not long before people came back to the streets across the region and resurrected the resounding slogan of the Egyptian revolution “bread, freedom, social justice!” IS THERE A LARGER PATTERN AT WORK? Since this new wave of protests began, various attempts have been made to explain them in the context of global or local trends. Similar demonstrations have taken place around the world and been attributed to the austerity measures of incompetent governments. In Chile, Ecuador, Argentina and elsewhere in Latin America, public anger with economic mismanagement has sent thousands of people on to the streets. In an article for the New York Times, Declan Walsh and Max Fisher suggest the turmoil from Chile to Lebanon is related to “wallet issues”. They propose: “Pocketbook items have become the catalysts for popular fury across the globe in recent weeks.” But seeking such facile links between these revolutionary uprisings risks misreading them all. More specific patterns of regional histories need
to be taken into account before we turn to more global trends. Here, the insights of those, like journalist Isma’il Kushkush and veteran analyst of Arab revolutions, Gilbert Achcar, who, among others, have closely followed the course of Arab revolutions are more crucial. Still, their necessary and insightful observations are insufficient. OPEN-ENDED REVOLUTIONS: In a book I wrote about the Arab Spring in 2011, I proposed two interrelated ideas as guiding principles for how to read these revolutions: Openended (as opposed to total) revolutions, and delayed (as opposed to exhausted) defiance. Within what historians call the longue duree frame of reference, the success of counter-revolutionary forces in derailing these uprisings is but a temporary bump. The fundamental, structural causes of the Arab (and other world) revolutions remain the same and will outlast the temporary reactionary stratagems designed to disrupt them. The idea of open-ended revolution deliberately overcomes the false promises of the postcolonial state formations as the teleological ends of revolutionary mobilisations. These postcolonial states across the Arab and Muslim world, all the way to Asia, Africa and Latin America have lost their raisons d’etre and therefore their legitimacy. In 1963, political philosopher Hannah Arendt published On Revolution, a comparison of the American and French revolutions. In it, she offered an enduring insight into revolutions: that uprisings are evidence of the cause of “public happiness”. I believe the smiling faces of defiant revolutionaries we see across the Arab world today show that insight endures. The notions of open-ended revolutions and public happiness lead to the idea of delayed defiance. Defiance of abusive state powers and their foreign backers -
think of the junta in Egypt and their US and Israeli supporters, or Bashar alAssad and his Russian and Iranian enablers - cannot be suppressed by yet another abusive total state. The statism at the heart of old-fashioned total revolutions - that one good state will follow one bad state - has long since lost its relevance and legitimacy. What we are witnessing today is the sustained synergy of delayed defiance, open-ended revolutions, and public happiness that in its revolutionary potential is far more enduring than the false promises a total state can deliver. What was clear to both me and Marwan Bishara back in 2012 has indeed been confirmed by the events that followed. The naked brutality of state powers in suppressing the transnational uprisings were clear indications of their absolute and final loss of legitimacy. The Arab and Muslim world today is at the epicentre of a new experiment with democratic governance that can no longer be fooled with the phoney fanfare of any state apparatus feigning elections. In its global configuration, that “democratic” spectacle has resulted in the murderous Hindu fanaticism in India (“the largest democracy in the world”) and the corrupt and ludicrous reality show of Donald Trump in the US (“the oldest democracy in the world”) or else in the boring banality of Brexit in the United Kingdom. The world has nothing to learn from these failed historical experiments with democracy. The world must - and in the unfolding Arab revolutions - will witness a whole different take on nations exercising their democratic will. Delayed defiance will systematically and consistently strengthen this national will to sovereignty and in equal measures weaken the murderous apparatus of total states which have now degenerated into nothing more than killing machines. Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.
Friday, 29 November, 2019
iRaqi foRceS kill 8 pRoTeSTeRS, aUThoRiTieS move To STem UnReST BAGHDAD
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AGENCIES
RAqI security forces shot dead at least eight protesters in the southern city of Nassiriya on Thursday and authorities set up joint military-civilian “crisis cells” to stem unrest after demonstrators burned an Iranian consulate. Security forces opened fire on protesters who had gathered on a bridge in Nassiriya before dawn, medical sources said. Eight were killed and dozens more were wounded in the incident, they said. A curfew was imposed in the southern holy city of Najaf where protesters stormed and set fire to the Iranian consulate. Businesses and government offices were closed in the city, state media reported. The torching of the consulate escalated violence in Iraq after weeks of mass demonstrations that aim to bring down a government seen as endemically corrupt and backed by Tehran. It was the strongest expression yet of the anti-Iranian sentiment of Iraqi demonstrators, who have taken to the streets for weeks in Baghdad and the Shia Muslimmajority south. Hundreds have been killed by Iraqi security forces. Iraqi authorities had set up “crisis
cells” in several provinces to try to restore order, a military statement said. It said the cells would be led by provincial governors but would include military leaders who would take charge of local security and military forces. The protests, which began in Baghdad on October 1 and have spread through southern cities, are the most complex challenge facing the ruling class that has controlled state institutions and patronage networks since the 2003 United States-led
invasion that toppled long-time ruler Saddam Hussein. Protesters are mostly unemployed youth who demand the departure of Iraq’s entire political elite. Security forces have used live ammunition, tear gas and stun grenades against mostly unarmed protesters. Some demonstrators have lobbed petrol bombs, bricks and fired slingshots at police. The violence has killed more than 350 people, according to police and medics.
FOREIGN NEWS 07
More than 5,000 measles deaths in DR Congo this year: WHO KINSHASA: Measles has killed more than 5,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo since January — more than double the toll in the country’s Ebola epidemic — the World Health Organization said Wednesday. “The DRC (measles) outbreak is the largest outbreak worldwide. It is one of the largest that we have seen,” Kate O’Brien, director of the WHO’s immunisation department, told reporters in Geneva. As of November 17, the country had registered 250,270 measles cases, including 5,110 deaths, the WHO said. DRC declared its latest measles epidemic in June, and in September the country launched an emergency vaccination campaign to counter the outbreak. WHO said that campaign was still ongoing, but was expected to be completed by the end of the year. O’Brien said the epidemic was still “all over the country”, pointing out that most of those affected were “children and babies”. Measles is a highly-contagious disease caused by a virus that attacks mainly children. The most serious complications include blindness, brain swelling, diarrhoea, and severe respiratory infections.The rapid spread of measles in DRC has garnered far less attention than the Ebola epidemic that has also been raging in the east of the country since August 2018. That outbreak has killed some 2,200 people. Ian Norton, at WHO’s Emergency Medical Team Unit, said the UN agency had begun training some of the Ebola teams in DRC to also manage measles cases, “because there is such a large burden”. Efforts to rein in the spread of both Ebola and measles are meanwhile being hampered by violence and unrest across the country, and especially in the east. On Tuesday, WHO said it had moved 49 Ebola-response staff out of the eastern town of Beni as insecurity in the area surged. Ninety-four civilians in the Beni area have been killed by armed groups since November 5, following the launch of an offensive by the country’s army, according to the Congo Research Group (CRG), a not-for-profit organisation. “The Ebola response is being hampered by the insecurity,” Norton told reporters. “The same can be said… for the measles response, not just in Beni but across the entire country,” he said. Attacks, even when not directed at medical staff or facilities, can block health workers from getting to work, and can prompt people feeling ill to stay home instead of seeking help. Norton said the WHO was “extremely worried” by the growing insecurity, warning it had a dire “impact on the management of disease”. AGENCIES
Iran arrests eight 'linked to CIA' in street unrest TEHRAN AGENCIES
47 Nigerian men plead not guilty to homosexuality charge LAGOS: Forty-seven Nigerian men pleaded innocent on Wednesday to a charge of public displays of affection with members of the same sex, an offence that carries a 10-year jail term. Homosexuality is outlawed in many socially conservative African societies where some religious groups brand it a corrupting Western import. The Nigerian men, who appeared at a court in the commercial capital Lagos, were among 57 arrested in a police raid on a hotel in the impoverished Egbeda district of the city in 2018. Police said they were being “initiated” into a gay club, but the accused said they were attending a birthday party. The trial is a test case for a law banning gay marriage, punishable by a 14-year jail term, and same-sex “amorous relationships”. It caused international outcry when it came into force under former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014. Nobody has yet been convicted under the law, prosecution and defense lawyers in the case told Reuters. But Human Rights Watch and other activists say it has been used to extort bribes from suspects in exchange for not pursuing charges. AGENCIES
Scientists spot black hole so huge it 'shouldn't even exist' in our galaxy CHAOYANG: Astronomers have discovered a black hole in the Milky Way so huge that it challenges existing models of how stars evolve, researchers said Thursday. LB-1 is 15,000 light years from Earth and has a mass 70 times greater than the Sun, according to the journal Nature. The Milky Way is estimated to contain 100 million stellar black holes but LB-1 is twice as massive as anything scientists thought possible, said Liu Jifeng, a National Astronomical Observatory of China professor who led the research. “Black holes of such mass should not even exist in our galaxy, according to most of the current models of stellar evolution,” he added. Scientists generally believe that there are two types of black holes. The more common stellar black holes — up to 20 times more massive than the Sun — form when the centre of a very big star collapses in on itself. Supermassive black holes are at least a million times bigger than the Sun and their origins are uncertain. But researchers believed that typical stars in the Milky Way shed most of their gas through stellar winds, preventing the emergence of a black hole the size of LB-1, Liu said. AGENCIES
Iran has arrested eight people it accused of CIA links and sending abroad information on recent urban unrest, days after the United States said it had received thousands of messages on a protest crackdown in the Islamic republic. New York-based Human Rights Watch has accused Tehran of “deliberately covering up” more than 140 deaths that it said came when security forces suppressed demonstrations against a sharp fuel price hike. Iran said that among the more than 500 people arrested were eight who were “linked to the CIA”, state news agency IRNA said late Wednesday, citing the head of the intelligence ministry’s counter-espionage department. “Some elements who tried to collect information about the recent riots and send them out of the country… were identified and arrested,” the director-general was quoted as saying. Six of them were alleged to have been at “the riots and carrying out orders,” IRNA reported, without naming the official. Two others were arrested before they
could leave the country, the news agency said, and all had been “trained in different countries on how to collect information… as citizen-journalists”. Iran’s arch-foe the United States has said it received thousands of messages from the Islamic republic about the protests, including photos and videos, after issuing an appeal for people to defy sweeping internet restrictions. “We’ve received to date nearly 20,000 messages, videos, pictures, notes of the regime’s abuses through Telegram messaging services,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday, referring to the encrypted app. The unrest came after a year and a half of biting sanctions reimposed by US President Donald Trump that aim to heap “maximum pressure” on Iran and contain its regional influence. The sanctions followed Trump’s decision in May 2018 to unilaterally withdraw the United States from an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran has also come under pressure in neighbouring Iraq, where protesters infuriated by Tehran’s influence on the government
in Baghdad torched its consulate in the city of Najaf late Wednesday. Tehran, which sees the nearly two months of protests in Iraq as a “conspiracy”, on Thursday demanded decisive action against the Iraqi “aggressors” behind the consulate attack. Iran has also blamed the unrest within its own borders on “thugs” backed by its foreign enemies, including the United States, Israel and the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, an exiled armed opposition group it considers a “terrorist” cult. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “the people foiled a deep, vast and very dangerous conspiracy on which a lot of money was spent for destruction, viciousness and the killing of people,” state television reported Wednesday. On Twitter, Khamenei expressed his “heartfelt gratitude and appreciation” to the Iranian nation in a post that featured pictures of a massive pro-government rally held Monday in Tehran. “The people proved again that they are powerful and great, and defeated the big conspiracy of the enemy with their presence on the scene,” he said.
Furious China threatens retaliation over US law on Hong Kong BEIJING AGENCIES
China threatened retaliation against Washington on Thursday after US President Donald Trump signed legislation supporting Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, just as the world’s top two economies edge towards a trade truce. Activists in the crisis-hit city hailed the move, saying it would help them pile pressure on Beijing-backed local authorities, and staged a “Thanksgiving” rally saluting Trump and US lawmakers. Trump signed the legislation under heavy pressure from Congress, where it attracted rare bipartisan support, and in a statement spoke of his “respect” for Chinese President Xi Jinping, calling for both sides to “amicably settle their differences”. But Beijing lashed out furiously, summoning the US ambassador, threatening unspecified “firm countermeasures” and
warning Washington not to implement the legislation. “The nature of this is extremely abominable, and harbours absolutely sinister intentions,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement. “China strongly urges the US side to correct mistakes and change course,” the ministry added later. In Hong Kong, the government expressed “extreme regret” after Trump signed the legislation requiring an annual review of freedoms in Hong Kong and banning the sale of crowd control equipment. “The two acts are obviously interfering in Hong Kong’s internal affairs,” the city government said in a statement, warning the move would “send the wrong message to the protesters”. Hong Kongers have protested in huge numbers over the last six months, fuelled by years of growing fears that authoritarian China is stamping out the city’s liberties. The territory’s Beijing-backed leaders
have offered few concessions and police have cracked down hard on protesters in increasingly violent confrontations. More than 5,800 people have been arrested and nearly 1,000 charged, with detentions skyrocketing in the last two months. On Thursday, police entered the campus of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, to which they have laid siege for days. Most protesters have now left, some of them arrested and beaten as they tried to flee, and police were collecting evidence including Molotov cocktails and archery bows at the ransacked site. The violence has done little to dampen public support though, with pro-democracy candidates winning a landslide victory in local council elections over the weekend. The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act requires the US president to annually review the city’s favourable trade status and threatens to revoke it if the semi-autonomous territory’s freedoms are quashed.
Friday, 29 November, 2019
08 COMMENT
Endangering the constitution
Extension for six months It’s government’s responsibility now to pass meaningful legislation
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O many in this country the supreme Court’s decision would come as a breath of fresh air. While the verdict confirms the independence of the Khosa Court, it also reasserts the supremacy of Parliament by maintaining that legislation on the issue of re-appointment/extension of the COAs can only be done by the supreme lawmaking body. If Parliament fails to enact legislation within six months, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s appointment would become illegal. The court proceedings also highlight the incompetence of the PTI government and its contingent of law experts and advisers who goofed up on the issue, causing embarrassment to the COAs and leaving the government with egg on its face. After promising a three year tenure to the COAs, the government now wants only six months for him! The court concentrated only on one item related to the Army affairs where opaqueness has been allowed to prevail, though it also mentioned that there was no check on the activities that are going on in cantonment or under which law an action is being taken. It came as a revelation to many that Article 243 does not lay down any limit on the Army chief’s tenure and that files do not reveal who gave Gen Kayani an extension. The government has submitted an affidavit assuring the court that within six months it will enact necessary legislation to comply with the court’s orders. The PTI has to realize that the commitment cannot be fulfilled through Presidential ordinances and will have to at the very least pass an act of parliament that requires a simple majority, which might be easier in the lower house, where it holds a razor thin majority, but not in the upper house where it is in a minority. The PM might therefore have to hold negotiations with the opposition which, after being pushed to the wall, is demanding nothing less than his resignation. For this the PM will have to drop his holier-than-thou posture and initiate a dialogue while conducting the necessary bargaining with the opposition. The opposition would do well to go for a package of constitutional reforms that address not only the issues pertaining to the COAs but also bring under law the agencies that have in the past interfered in political process by bribing politicians, forging political alliances, influencing the elections and pressurizing media. For this, Parliament has to prepare a charter that precisely defines the agencies’ role, their scope and well as their limitations.
Doing business with the USA A record number of US trade delegations, but are we ready?
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s Assistant secretary of state for south Asian Affairs Alice Wells kicked up a storm with her criticism of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in a paper read to the Woodrow Wilson Center last week, but in the same paper she did note that there would be 15 Us trade delegations visiting Pakistan next year. That is something to be welcome, not least because it shows the UsA’s willingness to engage Pakistan in a mutually beneficial relationship based on trade rather than aid, as has been said by Pakistani governments since at least the 1980s. While the UsA may have its trade difficulties with China, or with the European Union, Pakistan would like to expand trade with all three. One of the more important comments by Ms Wells in her paper was the need for the development of an effective regulatory framework, strong rule of law, fiscal health and an enabling business climate. Though Ms Wells was mentioning the needs of Us companies, these have a wider application, being required by all companies, no matter which country they might hail from. However, Pakistan should note that it has much work to do on all of these areas. Though Ms Wells took note of Pakistan’s moving up more than 20 places in the World Bank’s latest Ease of Doing Business Index, it should not be lost sight of that the country is still only at 136 out of 208 countries, which means that it is still a rather difficult place to do business. It should be kept uppermost in the mind by the government that the most enduring relationships, have always been based on mutual economic relationships. Ms Wells hardly propounded anything new in the conditions for successful attraction of investment. After all, businesses only invest because of the expectation of a profit. Trade delegations do not comprise only businessmen committed to invest; indeed, the majority consists of those who want more information before aking a commitment.
Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami
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How purity can prove a barrier at Penpoint M.a. Niazi
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T would be Prime Minister Imran Khan’s stubborn resistance against suspected corrupt elements, and his refusal to consult with the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly that is preventing the filling of the vacancies arising on the Election Commission of Pakistan, and is thus on the verge of rendering it non-functional. On the other hand, the ECP’s taking up of the PTI foreign funding case raises the prospect that rendering it nonfunctional is supposed to prevent it from reaching a decision in the case. Like any politician, Imran Khan has not studied the Constitution like a constitutionalist, but as someone out to get what he can from it, and to suppress anything that does not help him. He showed no hesitation in accepting the executive power that was consequent upon his party’s winning a majority. However, he has tried to avoid the restriction it places, that Cabinet members be responsible to Parliament, by appointing as advisers and special assistants, with Cabinet status, people without seats in Parliament. Another area Imran has shown discomfort with the Constitution is with the legislative procedure. Though he won in one House, he lacked a majority in the second, and thus could not legislate in it. His government resorted to the dubious method of legislating by ordinance. It is not a dubious method as such, but when an expired ordinance (which can only be valid for 120 days) is re-promulgated, the Constitution is being bypassed. One reason for the haste was to pass a law mandating C-Class jail for all NAB prisoners accused of defalcation above a certain amount. This would have ensured that some NAB prisoners, who claimed they were political prisoners, would be refused a better class, even though their cases had not yet gone to trial, let alone them being convicted. The ECP’s decision to take up the PTI foreign funding case is painful for the government on two counts. First, as PM’s Information Adviser Firdous Ashiq Awan has said, the ECP has not taken up the cases of PTI complaints about the funding of the opposition parties. second, the PTI counts overseas Pakistanis as an important
support base. It is perhaps a coincidence that the BJP in India and the Likud in Israel claim support among their respective diasporas overseas. Just like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Imran too has extensive experience overseas. Individuals and companies owned by individuals of Pakistani origin have donated, it appears, and they can, even though they cannot hold elective (or any other) office even if they have dual citizenship. Also, the PTI is accused of something it says it is allergic to– corruption. The ire against the CEC is because he has let it be known that he is determined to decide the case before he retires. As the case is five years old, his handing it over to a successor would be a slur on him. It is also puzzling that the PTI wants to keep it quiet. If the PTI is innocent, it should welcome the opportunity to prove its innocence, but it has so far tried to delay the case’s decision. Now, it may well be making the ECP become non-functional by virtue of its not having enough members. If the CEC does retire on December 5 on the expiry of his three-year tenure, he will leave the ECP with only two members, unless he is replaced. It would have been thought that the Government would have begun the process of finding a replacement, and it has, but it seems that if Imran, as seems likely, once again refuses to consult Mian shehbaz sharif because he is a corrupt person, there will be no replacement. In that event, the ECP will not be able to do anything. Past experience has not exactly helped. To fill the vacancies, Imran wrote shehbaz a letter, instead of having the consultation in a meeting. Mian shehbaz wrote back that this was not proper procedure. It is not that it will not be able to decide the foreign funding case. It will also not be able to hold by-elections. More importantly, it will not be able to hold a snap election. If the dissolution is premature, the Chief Election Commissioner issues an election schedule on the date which has been set. If the Assembly runs to full term, the Chief Election Commissioner issues an election schedule nonetheless, without asking anybody. If the Assembly goes to full term without a CEC, the House will stand dissolved, and the President will pick a caretaker PM (assuming the PM and Leader of the Opposition have not agreed on anyone). That caretaker PM will then advise the appointment of a CEC to conduct the election in time. What Imran seems to be ignoring is that the Constitution does not have any biases against cor-
ruption. A corrupt person would probably not pass the test of being sadiq and amin, which has been prescribed as essential for membership of any assembly. Further, anyone convicted of corruption, an offence of moral turpitude, would also be banned for a further five years. That puts the corrupt in the same category as liars, murderers and robbers. If a person becomes Leader of the Opposition, he has been elected, and has convinced the returning officer of his constituency that he is not a convict and that he is sadiq and amin. However, if some such person becomes Leader of the Opposition, it is for the courts to find that he is not fit to continue, and not for other people to decide that he is not only to be socially boycotted, but not even to be duly consulted. One reason that Imran cannot afford to associate with shehbaz is because of his base. For voters who picked him to end corruption, meeting shehbaz would amount to fraternising with the enemy. That is the same logic as his attempts to make it seem that his elder brother, Nawaz, whom he has portrayed as the source of corruption, is faking his illness. If he is genuinely ill, too questions arise. Imran’s attitude towards the ECP can be compared to what Us President Donald Trump is accused of in the ongoing Ukraine enquiry: misusing his office for personal ends. However, if Imran lets the ECP become non-functional, he would drag down the entire fabric of the Constitution, while Trump is only supposed to have harmed Us foreign policy. A lingering question remains from Imran’s attitude: what happens when consultations have to take place on judges’ appointments? The superior courts can only go so long without fresh elevations. Vacancies of chief justice will be filled on the basis of legitimate expectancy, as will elevations to the supreme Court. But what about vacancies in the high courts? The Prime Minister does not have to consult the Leader of the Opposition on these appointments, but the Parliamentary Committee that passes on the Judicial Commission’s recommendations after vetting, does include opposition members. What if any of them is corrupt, according to the PM? Does that justify his making recommendations as he did in the ECP members’ case? The belief that managing a parliamentary majority somehow means absolute power is not new with Imran, but it seems he too is getting it. M.A. Niazi is a member of the staff.
India transcends all bounds of insanity Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK). What Modi fails to appreciate is that intimidating Pakistan with such repressive measures would not frighten Readers must be acquainted with the IWT and it a bit. Pakistan will never get cowed down by also how it works. As articulated in the World such threats and will continue to assiduously raise Bank brief of 11 June 2018, the Indus Waters its voice in support of the subjugated people of Treaty was signed in 1960 after nine years of ne- occupied Kashmir at every international forum. gotiations between India and Pakistan with the It has done it in the recent past and it would conhelp of the World Bank, which is also a signatory. tinue to do so until India immediately stops comThe negotiations were the initiative of former mitting atrocities on innocent men, women and World Bank President Eugene Black. seen as one children in IOK, and the people of the occupied of the most successful international treaties, it has territory are granted the right to self-determinasurvived frequent tensions, including conflict, and tion as assured under the UN Resolution of 1948. has provided a framework India and Pakistan are at for irrigation and hylogger-heads with each other dropower development for over the grave issue of IOK. more than half a century. Emboldened by the silence The Kashmir imbroglio is of the world community and Former Us President Dwight Eisenhower defully backed by the belligeracquiring critical scribed it as “one bright spot ent Modi government, the vi... in a very depressing world cious Indian forces are dimensions. India’s picture that we see so often.” engaged in comdastardly threat to divert incessantly The Treaty sets out a mitting atrocities on the inmechanism for cooperation the western rivers’ flow nocent and totally unarmed and information exchange people of occupied Kashmir. away from Pakistan is between the two countries Human rights abuses being regarding their use of the by India in the definitely bound to further committed rivers, known as the Permaoccupied territory have nent Indus Commission, crossed all bounds of civility aggravate the already which has a commissioner and international law. Failure inflammable situation from each country. The of the international human Treaty also sets forth disrights organizations to pretinct procedures to handle vail on India to stop human issues which may arise: rights abuses in IOK is en“questions” are handled by the Commission; “dif- couraging India to blatantly pursue its policy of ferences” are to be resolved by a Neutral Expert; violence against the Kashmiris and deprive them and “disputes” are to be referred to a seven-mem- of their fundamental rights. ber arbitral tribunal called the “Court of ArbitraNeedless to say, with every passing day the tion.” Despite the fact that as a signatory to the Kashmir imbroglio is acquiring critical dimenTreaty, the World Bank’s role is limited and pro- sions. India’s dastardly threat to divert the western cedural, the World Bank remains committed to act rivers’ flow away from Pakistan is definitely bound in good faith and with complete impartiality and to further aggravate the already inflammable situtransparency in fulfilling its responsibilities under ation. The UN, the UsA in particular and the world the Treaty, while continuing to assist the countries. community in general, must take immediate cogiokModi’s venturing into a new escapade nizance of the threats that India is hurling at Pakagainst Pakistan, impudently threatening to stop istan, the atrocities its forces are brazenly water from the Indian rivers, reflects nothing but committing in occupied Kashmir, and its utter conhis insanity that has acquired irrepressible pro- travention of all international norms and resoluportions because of the volatile situation in the tions vis-à-vis issues of international significance.
Modi does not know that treaties must be observed M. Fazal Elahi
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s if all the insanity of the incumbent Indian government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has shown in the last almost three months has not been enough, India has now got down to audaciously threatening Pakistan of diverting the western rivers’ flow to Pakistan. The threat, one must know, has come from no less than Prime Minister Modi himself. Modi brashly said New Delhi will stop water from the Indian rivers that had been flowing to Pakistan and give it to the Indian farmers. Emphasizing his intent to do so, he said “This water belongs to the farmers of Haryana, Rajasthan, and the country, and we will get it”. All this was very proudly said while addressing an election rally at Charkhi Dadri in the Indian state of Haryana on October 15. Further elaborating, Modi informed his audience that work towards realization had already begun. He told them that India will put to use its share of water from the rivers flowing to Pakistan and assured that every single drop would be provided to the country’s farmers. One is at loss to understand why Modi, for one reason or another, always fails to appreciate that there are some laws and treaties that govern such vital issues and India cannot take such whimsical decisions unilaterally. If, however, Modi made this declaration exclusively for public consumption then it is quite understandable. Pakistan, as persuasively stated by Pakistan’s Foreign Office, has exclusive rights over the three rivers India is talking about, under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT). India, therefore, cannot stop water flowing from these rivers to Pakistan. In view of this, Pakistan has warned India to desist from diverting the western water flow to Pakistan. To further emphasize its stance on this critical issue, Pakistan has firmly said that any attempt by India to divert the flow of the Western rivers will be considered “an act of aggression and Pakistan has the right to respond.” Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9
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Friday, 29 November, 2019
COMMENT 09 Editor’s mail
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Fake accounts case
RAW raking up Balochistan issue Deflecting Indian atrocities in IOK
SultaN MEhMood hali
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N occupied Kashmir, contrary to the claims of ‘normalcy’ by Indian officials and media in New Delhi, the situation on the ground in the territory especially in the Kashmir Valley remains grim as the India-imposed lockdown entered the 117th straight day today. The despicable and illegal act of depriving the Kashmiris of their basic rights and illegally annexing the disputed territory of Kashmir into India continues to be protested by tem through unarmed civil disobedience despite the lockdown thrust on them by the Nsrendra Modi government. As part of the protest movement, the people stay away from businesses, educational institutions and offices while public transport is also off the roads to a large extent. Although shops do open for a few hours in the morning and evening and roadside vendors are also seen selling essential commodities, that is only aimed at catering to the daily needs of the masses. The heavy deployment of Indian troops and police personnel in every nook and corner have made the life of the residents a hell as they face immense difficulties in moving from one place to another. The continued suspension of prepaid mobile and internet services have also added to the miseries of the people. On the other hand, the Indian National Congress in a statement in New Delhi, while terming the present situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) precarious and worrisome, questioned the logic of claiming normalcy on one hand and prolonging the detention of political leaders on the other. Interestingly, the Indian Army is planning to throw technology into its fight in IOK. It is planning to get a new ally to counter stone-pelting and protest rallies in the Kashmir Valley. Robots engaging the front with weapons may still be a far-fetched thought, but India doesn’t
want to fall behind in providing its armed forces tention centres. These are imaginary and fictitious claims. with the latest equipment with Artificial IntelThe truth is that India has tried its level best to ligence (AI). The Indian Army is now afraid to face rake up the Balochistan issue as part of its grand Kashmiri freedom fighters. The backlash of agenda to destabilize Pakistan. India and its spy losses in life and material is the main concern agency RAW have a three-pronged heinous plot of Modi, as he wants to make his Kashmir pol- with respect to Balochistan. It feels threatened icy look successful. However, nowhere in the by the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor world has robotic assistance won a war. Indian (CPEC) and the development of the strategisoldiers will have to face freedom fighters’ cally located deepwater port of Gwadar. India wants the people of Balochistan, who had been fierce response. In a bid to deflect the growing international neglected by previous regimes, to rise against criticism of the atrocities carried out by India, the government so that chaos and mayhem preits Ministry of External Affairs as well as its spy vails. The third rationale for RAW and its masagency RAW are working overtime to spin ters is to draw international attention away from webs of conspiracy in Balochistan and malign the gross violations of human rights away from the ticking time bomb in Indian Occupied Pakistan. Kashmir. Reportedly, three The arrest of Comhuman rights groups workmander Kulbhushan suding to protect and promote hir Jadhav, alias Hussain the rights of the Baloch Surely India and its Mubarak Patel, on 3 people will jointly hold a one-day conference on the infamous spy agency RAW March 2016, during a counter-intelligence operasituation in Balochistan. The conference will be will not succeed in fooling tion in Balochistan is livheld in Berlin by the the world and hide its own ing proof of Indian atrocious plan in the reBaloch Human Rights machinations against the gion. The serving Indian Council (BHRC), the naval officer, who was in Baloch Human Rights OrKashmiris through possession of a genuine Inganization (BHRO) and the Human Rights Council fictitious and far fetched dian passport with the name Hussain Mubarak of Balochistan (HRCB) on claims about the Pakistan Patel, in his statement in December 11, according to the presence of a Firstthe official social media Army’s actions in Class Magistrate, conhandles of these groups. Balochistan fessed to be a senior RAW The conference comes at a operative. The Indian spy time when the Baloch peoprovided details of his ple are allegedly facing the clandestine operations in worst human rights abuses perpetrated by the authorities in Pakistan. It is Karachi as well as Balochistan, of his seditious being surreptitiously claimed that in recent and odious campaign against Pakistan. He reyears, the scale and impact of these atrocities vealed how he recruited disgruntled Baloch have increased exponentially. According to the youth, and provided them with terrorist training, unwarranted propaganda campaign, many ac- arming them and launching them for operations tions of the state in Balochistan come into the to wreak havoc in Balochistan and Karachi. The category of genocide, crimes against humanity terror-monger was tried by a Field General and war crimes. RAW has apparently invited Court Martial of the Pakistan Army since he is various speakers to the conference to highlight a serving Indian Navy Officer and sentenced to various aspects of the purported human rights death for his crimes against humanity. India apviolations in Balochistan. The event is aimed at pealed the death sentence to the International focusing on the supposed conflict, political ab- Court of Justice, got a stay on the death senductions, torture and extra-judicial murders, vi- tence and secured consular access but failed to olence against women and children and establish its claim that Commander Jadhav was state-sponsored religious extremism in the not a spy. surely India and its infamous spy agency province. Quoting RAW-sponsored Baloch human RAW will not succeed in fooling the world and rights groups, it is being ostensibly claimed that hide its own machinations against the Kashmiris the Pakistan army and the country’s spy agen- through fictitious and far fetched claims about cies, the IsI and Military Intelligence, are in- the Pakistan Army’s actions in Balochistan. volved in kidnappings, torture and Sultan Mehmood Hali is a retired Group extra-judicial killings of the Baloch people. Thousands of Baloch youth, including women, Captain and author of the book Defence & are missing and their families continue to Diplomacy. Currently he is a columnist, protest for their safe release from the secret de- analyst and TV talk show host.
THIs is reference to report that NAB has arrested key suspect Ijaz Haroon, in fake accounts and money laundering case. Ijaz Haroon was Chairman Overseas Cooperative Housing society, who has previously served as MD PIA from 2008 to 2010 and has a history of being involved in controversies, yet managed to get clearance for such executive assignments. What were the qualifications of this controversial individual that he was allowed to become Chairman of Overseas Cooperative Housing society? Those responsible for appointing him to head national airline PIA, in spite of never having got education beyond school i.e., O-Level are as much responsible for irregularities committed and assets beyond means that he owns in Pakistan and UK etc. From his involvement in Kidney Hill scam to investigation ordered by Ministry of Defence and conducted by Late AM Mushaf Ali Mir for gross financial misappropriation in recruitment of pilots, to allegations involving him in the case of smuggling rare artifacts abroad PIA cargo allegedly destined for surrey Palace. All state institutions and agencies responsible for background checks need to be probed who gave his security clearance to become MD of PIA. The national airline, which was once a profitable stateowned enterprise has been driven to technical insolvency by appointment of cronies over the years by successive political and dictatorial governments. When the state chooses to overlook glaring conflicts of interest of individuals appointed to head key state-owned enterprises, then they share responsibility for losses incurred. A Catering company located in Europe owned by family of Ijaz Haroon was designated as sole vendor for all flights that transit or terminate in Europe. No wonder PIA aircraft are searched for smuggling drugs at major airports. GuLL ZAMAN Peshawar
Curse of unemployment UNEMPLOyMENT due grave economic recession and poor governance has caused frustration and anger among educated youth. successive government policies, instead of addressing these issues have been captive to vested interests, rehiring retired civil or uniformed officers and judges making matters worse. Can anybody justify hiring retired paid state employees receiving pension and other benefits like allotment of real estate plots etc, including free medical coverage, on contract whilst more qualified and educated youth, with specialised professional qualifications and skills, remain unemployed. This has contributed to brain drain, growing discontent and frustration. The acute economic crisis that Pakistan faces is testimony, if any is required, that unless state employs highly qualified individuals who have specialised in economics, technology, medicine and science this country will not recover from the mess. British Raj trained civil and unformed bureaucracy was to run an occupied country, for the sole benefit of HM government. In the UK, UsA etc the state employs best qualified specialists at key assignments where policies are made, whilst civil service officers are confined to administrative posts only. If Pakistan wants to develop, it must invest in development and optimum utilisation of talent to keep at pace with fast technological changes. Our Civil service is outdated and not trained to serve people as public servants but have decadent mindset for which they were trained by the Raj to serve as agents of occupation forces. They continue to live on islands of prosperity in gated housing societies in palatial villas spread over acres, instead of modest houses at state expense, surrounded by a sea of people living in misery, denied even basic necessities like clean drinking water, with garbage dumps serving as breeding grounds for mosquitoes and an outdated sanitation system infected with polio virus, typhoid and blocked gutters. This is certainly not Jinnah’s Pakistan. ALi MALik TAriq Lahore
Ayub Park TODAy I visited Ayub Park in Rawalpindi after about 20 years and was very pleasantly surprised. I had expected things to be run down like most things that people complain about, but it was neat and clean; the staff was polite and respectful and knew what to do; the foliage looked well cared for. All in all, it was a very nice experience. The only thing maring the serenity of this lovely park was the constant noise from the highway. What I’ve noticed in other parts of the world with similar problems is that they build ramparts around the place where they wish to have some noise insulation. If one had a lot of money to spend, one could use industrially produced ramparts with special noise insulation properties. However I’ve seen quite a few places where the insulation is provided with a simple dirt wall, which works wonders. Considering that labour is cheap in Pakistan, I would think building a dirt hillock along the wall that borders the grand trunk road should be cheap and sufficient to provide the much-needed insulation. I’m sure better minds than mine can investigate the possibilities here, but not knowing who to mention this to, I thought I could write it in a letter to the editor, and hope that it reaches someone who has the will and the power to investigate what is possible. OMEr qAdir rawalpindi
Friday, 29 November, 2019
10 NEWS
US accUSeS RUSSia of helping SyRia coveR Up chemical weaponS USe AMSTERDAM
Three dead in attacks against Ebola response centers in Congo GOMA: Three health workers were killed and several injured in attacks against two Ebola response centers in eastern Congo early on Thursday, authorities and health services said. Violence and unrest have severely hampered efforts to contain the second worst Ebola epidemic on record, which has killed 2,199 people since it was announced in August 2018. Militias known as Mai Mai and local residents have attacked health facilities, sometimes because they believe Ebola does not exist, in other cases because of resentment that they have not benefited from the influx of donor funding. Mai Mai fighters simultaneously attacked Ebola centers in Mangina in North Kivu and Byakoto in Ituri, said Jean-Jacques Muyembe, head of the Ebola response for the Democratic Republic of Congo. “It is a blow to the Ebola response because we were eradicating the disease. These attacks are challenging the efforts to date,” Muyembe said. Police said the three dead were World Health Organization (WHO) workers. The WHO were not yet able to confirm if their staff were killed, and said the locations attacked were not hospitals or treatment centers. “This is the first time we have had an actual attack on our bases,” Margaret Harris, a WHO spokeswoman, told Reuters. AGENCIES
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HE United States on Thursday accused Russia of helping Syria conceal the use of banned toxic munitions in the civil war by undermining the work of the global chemical weapons agency trying to identify those responsible. The comments by the U.S. representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Kenneth Ward, drew a rapid denial from Moscow and came as Western powers and Russia clashed at the agency’s annual conference in The
Hague. Moscow has for months cited dissent by two former OPCW employees who leaked a document and an email as evidence that the OPCW doctored the conclusions of a March 1 report which found that a toxic chemical containing chlorine was used in a 2018 attack near Damascus. More than 40 people were killed in that attack in Douma, a town on the outskirts of the capital then held by rebels, on April 7, 2018. The United States, Britain and France retaliated a week later by firing missiles at Syrian government targets, the biggest Western military action against the Damascus authorities of the eight-year-old war.
Forty dead as families pulled from Albania earthquake rubble TIRANA: The death toll from the most powerful earthquake to strike Albania in decades rose to 40 on Thursday after more bodies were pulled from the wreckage overnight in a tragedy that has wiped out whole families. The 6.4 magnitude earthquake rocked the Balkan state while people were sleeping just before 4:00 am (0300 GMT) on Tuesday, razing buildings and trapping victims beneath the debris in towns near the Adriatic coast. Rescue teams were still shovelling away massive chunks of collapsed apartments and hotels in the coastal city of Durres, where nearly 30 buildings were badly damaged. Teams from around Europe have flown in to help with the effort, bringing dogs and specialised cameras to hunt for survivors, around 50 of whom have been pulled out alive, mostly on Tuesday. As the operation stretched into day three, rescuers insisted there was still reason to hope for more survival stories. “There may be hope for up to eight or ten days” for victims to live after an earthquake, Captain Joel Leroy, a French rescuer, told AFP. His team of around 50 was searching for two people believed to be buried at the site of seven-story building in Durres, where two or three floors toppled over and sunk into the ground. Victims may still be in “survival pockets” of air that allow them to breathe under the rubble, he explained. AGENCIES
Maldives ex-president sentenced to five years for money laundering MALE: Former Maldives president Abdulla Yameen was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering on Thursday – as dozens of his supporters gathered outside the courtroom saying his was innocent. Yameen, who ran the Maldives with an iron hand for five years, unexpectedly lost an election last year and has since faced investigations over a number of deals sealed during his tenure. He was accused of receiving $1 million of government money through a private company as part of a deal to lease a number of tropical islands for hotel development – charges he has repeatedly dismissed. Judge Ali Rasheed, who headed a panel of five judges trying the case, told the criminal court it had been established beyond any reasonable doubt that Yameen had taken money that he knew was embezzled from the state. “The judges took over 10 days to deliberate on this and this is the unanimous verdict of the five judges,” Rasheed said. AGENCIES
Syria and Russia deny there ever was a chemical attack in Douma, saying the event was staged using bodies brought from elsewhere, and that the OPCW’s report on Douma was doctored to justify Western military intervention. The OPCW has become the battleground for a diplomatic clash on Syria after Russia in 2017 vetoed a resolution to extend the mandate of the U.N.-OPCW Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM), which concluded in a series of reports that the Syrian military used both nerve agent sarin and chlorine as weapons. The OPCW’s own Investigation and Identification Team (IIT), which was established by a clear majority vote by its member states in June 2018, is looking into who was responsible for the Douma attack, among several other incidents. Its first report is expected next year. Russian Ambassador to the OPCW, Alexander Shulgin, repeated objections to the creation of the IIT, saying it was illegal and politicized. Syria’s representative to the OPCW on Thursday vowed not to cooperate with the IIT’s investigations. Ward said Russia and Syria were merely seeking to cover up the use of chemical weapons by undermining the OPCW. “Unfortunately the Russian Federation has played a central role in this cover-up,” Ward told delegates. “Russia and Syria may sit with us here, but they stand apart from us in a fundamental way. They continue to embrace chemical weapons.”
North Korea fires two 'unidentified projectiles' on Thanksgiving PYONGYANG AGENCIES
North Korea fired two “unidentified projectiles” on Thursday — the Thanksgiving holiday in the US — Seoul said, as nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington remain deadlocked. The projectiles were fired eastwards from South Hamgyong province and came down in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. They added that the launch, the latest in a series by Pyongyang, was carried out at 16:59 pm local time (0859 GMT) — or the early hours on the east coast of the United States, during one of the country’s biggest annual holidays. It was also one day short of the twoyear anniversary of the North’s first test of its Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, which analysts say is capable of reaching the entire US mainland. Pyongyang is banned from firing ballistic missiles under UN Security Council resolutions, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Thursday’s launch was the latest in a series of violations. “North Korea’s repeated launches of ballistic missiles are a serious defiance to not
only our country but also the international community,” he told reporters in Tokyo. Thursday’s launch came after Pyongyang fired what it called a “super-large multiple rocket launcher” system last month, and the JCS said the latest devices were presumed to be of a similar type. They flew 380 kilometres (236 miles) and reached a maximum altitude of 97 kilometres, the JCS added. Nuclear negotiations between the US and the North have been at a standstill since the Hanoi summit between President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong Un broke up in February, and Pyongyang has since demanded Washington change its approach by the end of the year. “North Korea is growing anxious as its deadline approaches,” said Shin Beom-chul of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. “That’s why it’s carrying out these provocations, which is the typical North Korean playbook to get more concessions from the US.” Last month Pyongyang also claimed to have tested a “new type” of submarinelaunched ballistic missile — a potential strategic game-changer. Trump has played down the recent launches, repeatedly pointing to North Korea’s moratorium on nuclear tests and in-
tercontinental ballistic missile launches as foreign policy successes for him. Trump and Kim adopted a vaguelyworded statement on the “complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula” at their first summit in Singapore in June last year, but little progress has since been made. North Korea is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes and lifting some of them was a key demand of the North’s in Hanoi. In June Trump and Kim agreed to restart working-level talks during a meeting at the Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula and the two sides met in Sweden in October, only for Pyongyang to walk away. Earlier this month, Seoul and Washington said they would postpone planned joint military exercises to ease diplomacy with the North, an announcement Pyongyang dismissed. The North has long condemned the joint drills, which it condemns as preparations for invasion, and carried out multiple missile launches in the summer in protest as the allies carried out their annual exercises. North Korea has issued a series of increasingly assertive comments in recent weeks as time runs down on its endof-year deadline.
UK election poll predicts Conservative majority LONDON AGENCIES
Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party would win a comfortable majority in Britain’s parliament if the upcoming election were held this week, according to a poll by respected research firm YouGov. Britain votes on December 12, with Prime Minister Johnson hoping to secure a majority to be able to push through his Brexit deal to take the country out of the European Union. YouGov’s poll, published Wednesday, said if the elections were held on Thursday the Conservatives would grab 44 seats from the main opposition Labour party to win a 68-seat majority. The data showed larger swings from Labour to the Conservatives in areas that are more pro-Brexit, especially in England’s northern and central regions. “As expected, the key thing deciding
the extent to which each of these seats is moving against Labour (is) how that seat voted in the European Union referendum” in 2016, said Chris Curtis, YouGov’s political research manager. The poll — the first in this campaign to predict election results seat-by-seat — uses a model that correctly forecast 93 percent of seats in the last general election in 2017, according to YouGov. It said the Conservatives’ total seat count would climb to 359, compared to 211 for Labour — predicting that the leftwing party would lose 51 seats overall. “In terms of seats won, this would be the Conservatives’ best performance since 1987,” said the pollster, who analysed data including interviews with around 100,000 people about their voting intentions. Johnson, who took over a minority administration in July and been unable to speed his EU divorce deal through parlia-
ment, has pledged to take Britain out of the bloc by January 31. If the centre-right Conservatives are returned to power in the third general election in four years, he is promising to bring back his Brexit deal to parliament before Christmas. Among the smaller parties in the House of Commons, the poll said the Scottish National Party (SNP) would gain eight seats to a total of 43, while the Liberal Democrats were predicted a total of 13 seats, Welsh party Plaid Cymru four and the Green Party one. It came as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn accused Johnson of plotting a “toxic” deal with Donald Trump to allow US pharmaceutical companies access to Britain’s state health service. Labour is currently being investigated by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) following a number of complaints about alleged anti-Semitism in the party.
Friday, 29 November, 2019
BUSINESS 11
CORPORATE CORNER Engro Fertilizers receives IFA Award in Paris
Govt fixes wheat support price at rs1,365 per 40kG ISLAMABAD
KARACHI: Engro Fertilizers Limited has been presented with yet another accolade in the light of its valid ‘Protect & Sustain’ certificates and participation in International Fertilizer Association’s recent safety, environment, and energy benchmarks. IFA President Mostafa Terrab presented Engro Fertlizers Ltd CEO Nadir S Qureshi with a symbolic gold medal at the Annual Strategic Forum held in Paris-Versailles during the IFA General Meeting. The gold medal recognizes the commitment of the company to operate at globally acclaimed standards of safety, environmental compliance and energy efficiency. On receiving the award, Nadir Salar Qureshi stated, "We are honoured to be recognised by the IFA for excellence in safety, environmental compliance and energy efficiency. This award is a testament to the phenomenal work our team in Daharki does and the care and dedication they demonstrate in their work every day." press release
LAHORE: Huawei on Thursday introduced its latest entrant to the phenomenally successful Y Series, the Huawei Y9s. press rel e a s e
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HE Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Thursday raised the minimum support price of wheat from the previously announced Rs1,350 per 40kg to Rs1,365 per 40kg in view of reservations from various farmers and growers' associations as well as the federal cabinet and the National Assembly's Special Committee on Agricultural Products. The ECC meeting, chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, took this decision to "compensate and safeguard the interests of growers and ensure food security for the masses". Earlier, the Ministry of National Food Security & Research briefed the ECC on the feedback received from various farmers' associations as well as different government forums and requested for fixing the minimum support price of wheat at Rs1,400 per 40kg. The committee deliberated on the proposal at length and in view of the discussion and input regarding the impact of any further increase in wheat price on food inflation and financial impact on the commodity stock operations, decided to raise the minimum support price of wheat to Rs1,365 per 40kg. Meanwhile, the committee considered a proposal from the Ministry of Energy regarding tariff rationalisation for power sector in the first
LAHORE: Zameen.com recently launched its brandnew tool “Plot Finder” during an event held at a local hotel. p r e s s r e l e a s e
suitable, by the ECC. The committee also considered a proposal by the Ministry of Communications that all cash development loans and foreign loans, whether direct or relent, including interest accumulated thereon, received up to June 30, 2019, by the National Highway Authority be converted into government grant or the government may either "write-off" the said loans. As per the proposal, for future, all PSDP allocations including relent/direct loans, both rupee and foreign exchange component i.e. for non-commercially viable projects and for strategic/defence roads to NHA, may also be provided a government grant. The ECC discussed the proposals and in view of input from the members constituted a committee, to be headed by Planning Minister Asad Umar, to examine the proposals and submit its recommendations to the ECC. Moreover, the ECC took up a proposal from the Ministry of Industries and Production for a technical supplementary grant of Rs6 billion to the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) for subsidy and procurement of essential commodities. The ECC discussed the issue in detail and in view of input from the members, asked the USC to prepare within the next few days a practical and comprehensive mechanism involving use of information technology to ensure the disbursement of specific food items to the poorest of the poor. The ECC also constituted a committee to advise and help the USC in this regard.
Proposals regarding duty-free import of hybrid cars opposed ISLAMABAD GHUlaM aBBas
LAHORE: Gerry’s dnata, the leading ground services provider in Pakistan, has been awarded for ‘Best Cargo Handling Operation’ at the 2019 Pride of Ground Handling Awards. The award was accepted by Gerry’s dnata Vice President Syed Haris Raza at a gala dinner in Amsterdam. press rele a s e
quarter of financial year 2019-20. The committee approved the proposal and notified the NEPRAapproved quarterly adjustment of 15 paisa per unit after incorporating additional charge of 11 paisa per unit to maintain uniform tariff on all categories of consumers except lifeline and domestic consumers. The increase, which would come into effect on 1st December 2019 for the next 12 months, would not be applicable to nearly 20 million using up to 300 units per month, while 600,000 of the remaining one million consumers would only pay 7 paisa per unit as a result of this increase. The ECC also constituted a committee, to be headed by Adviser to PM on Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, to examine the current framework of determining power tariff so that it could be made simpler in line with the practice in mature markets. Moreover, the ECC considered a set of proposals from the Ministry of Energy for risk mitigation post-privatisation of National Power Parks Management Company, especially the impact on fuel basket price due to non or reduced offtake of 66pc generation under the PPA till year 2024 and cost of diversion of Regasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) to other sectors with workable options to mitigate the risk. The ECC approved the proposals with a proviso that any other option that could be considered as part of the mitigation plan by the Power Division could also be taken into account and approved, if found
The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resources Development (MOPHRD) recently made a controversial proposal, allowing the overseas Pakistanis to import hybrid cars into Pakistan without any duty. The proposals, which are yet to be examined by the concerned authorities/ministries, would provide an extra benefit to the Pakistanis living abroad, as they would not be contributing in the tax revenue of the country. Officials at the Ministry of Industries and the Ministry of Commerce said under the proposed facility, the overseas Pakistani who remitted at least $100,000 in two years would be able to sell their vehicles without paying any duty. "Since they will be allowed to import vehicles up to 3,000CC, most of the hybrid vehicles would be sold out in the local market," they said, adding that this would ultimately encourage the illegal business of cars. "As luxury vehicles are being manufactured with small engines due to technological advancements, costlier vehicles of up to 3,000CC could be imported under the scheme," an official at Engineering Development Board (EDB) of Pakistan said. "The proposals of MOPHRD are not feasible." Meanwhile, a commerce ministry official, upon contact, informed that the proposal was initially shared with the ministry. "But we sug-
gested the MOPHRD consult concerned authorities including the Ministry of Industries, EDB, Federal Board of Revenue and others before making any proposals." He said the Ministry of Commerce, as per its stance, has opposed the move since it has always been against the import of used cars under gift/baggage system. "We only handle the import/export policy and tariff policy," the official said. "This scheme is being introduced only to facilitate a certain section of people in the country," a car importer alleged, adding that majority of overseas Pakistanis are labourers and earn little to share with their family in Pakistan. The FBR, as per the proposed plan, would emerge as the biggest loser as it would lose at least 50pc duty on import of hybrid vehicles ranging from 1,300CC to 1,800CC. As per documents, 50pc exemption from duty & taxes is admissible on import of Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) of engine capacity up to 1,800cc while 25pc exemption from duty & taxes is admissible on import of HEVs of engine capacity from 1,800cc to 2,500cc. There is 78.8pc duty on hybrid cars of 1,600 to 1,800CC and 154.29pc duty on 1,800 to 2,500CC cars. The duty on 2,500CC and above cars is 209.13pc. According to used car importers, the proposals of MOPHRD would be strongly opposed by the local auto industry, which is already crying over the reduction in sales. They said a similar scheme was also intro-
duced by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz government in 1998 to encourage remittances, but the scheme had failed miserably. "I don't see that this one will succeed either, as a majority of overseas Pakistanis don't remit over $4,000 a month to meet the condition of $100,000 in two years. Only those doing business abroad can remit this huge amount," HM Shahzad of All Pakistan Motor Dealers Association Chairman said. As per the proposals, the Pakistani diaspora would be allowed to import one hybrid car to home country — tax-free — upon presenting proof of remitting $100,000 through legal banking channels within two years. The move is aimed at helping the country improve its foreign exchange reserves. The ministry has forwarded the proposal to Ministry of Industries & Production and EDB for their opinion to formally grant Foreign Exchange Remittance Card (FERC) holders the privilege to avail the duty-free vehicle import. Following instructions from the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Delivery Unit, various departments have been requested to put up their concessional proposals which they could offer to the expatriated Pakistanis. Currently, Pakistan expatriates in the UAE are allowed to import a saloon car (up to three years old) and an SUV (up to five years old). However, they pay hefty customs duties — from 60pc to more than 100pc of the value of the vehicle they import.
Electric vehicles necessary to fight climate change: PM’s aide KARACHI: Telenor Microfinance Bank President & CEO Mudassar Aqil and PepsiCo Pakistan and Afghanistan CEO Furqan Ahmed Syed shake hands after signing a memorandum of understanding to launch merchant-todistributor payments. Queen Máxima of the Netherlands was also present on the occasion. p r e s s r e l e a s e
BUSINESS DESK: Adviser to Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam said on Thursday that electric vehicles have started penetrating all over the world and Pakistan must also embrace this technological shift in order to reduce carbon emissions and subsequently curtail the impact of climate change. Talking to media during an event organised by the Pakistan Electric Vehicles & Parts Manufacturers and Traders Association (PEVMA), the minister said that EV is the future of Pakistan, adding that it is revolutionary, as it will reduce the country’s oil import bill significantly. “It will help common motorists and passengers, but above all, the biggest beneficiary will be the bus and coach users, as electrification will help reduce the fares,” he said. The media was told that it was high time that Pakistan inducts and enforces EV transportation in Pakistan, as the country is purchasing fuel of around $14 billion (in year fiscal year 2019), thus burning the valuable foreign exchange earned with such difficulty in the competitive contemporary world. The PEVMA officials lauded the timely formulation and induction of EV policy in Pakistan and congratulated the Ministry of Climate Change for achieving this in a short period of time.
SBP reserves rise $240m to $8.68bn BUSINESS DESK
KARACHI: The recently concluded ‘Fourth Karachi International Water Conference’ brought together thought leaders, actors and leading water sector players working on Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus. press release
KARACHI: English Biscuit Manufacturers (EBM) has signed the presenting sponsorship agreement for AdAsia 2019, which will be held in Lahore from December 2-5 this year. p r e s s r e l e a s e
The foreign exchange reserves held by the central bank rose 2.84pc on a weekly basis, as per the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday. On November 22, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $8,682.3 million, up $240 million com-
pared with $8,442.1 million in the previous week. The central bank attributed the increase to official inflows. The overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $15,577.7 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $6,895.4 million.
Friday, 29 November, 2019
12 BUSINESS
pakistan, Qatar register 63pc growth in bilateral trade ISLAMABAD: The volume of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Qatar increased from $1.59 billion (5.8 billion Qatari Riyals) to $2.61 billion (9.5 billion Qatari Riyals) during the year 2018, projecting 63 per cent growth compared to 2017. The growth in bilateral trade was acknowledged during a recent meeting between Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development (OPHRD) Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari and Qatar Chamber's Second ViceChairman Rashid bin Hammad Al-Athba in Doha, according to a press statement issued on Thursday. During the meeting, both sides discussed trade and economic relations between the two countries and contemplated ways to facilitate Pakistani labourers working in Qatar. Al-Athba noted that Pakistan was among Qatar's important trade partners, saying that the 63pc growth in bilateral trade shows Qatar's willingness to extend all possible support to Pakistan in the field of trade and economics. He assured that concrete efforts would be made to protect the rights of workers and underlined the need to import skilled and qualified manpower from Pakistan, especially for FIFA 2022 event. Speaking on the occasion, Zulfiqar Bukhari lauded Qatar's 2015 decision to recruit 100,000 Pakistanis. The SAPM also discussed the possibility of establishing Qatar Visa Centres in Lahore and Peshawar in order to enhance people-topeople contacts. Zulfikar Bukhari is currently on a three-day tour to Doha, Qatar, where he is meeting with Qatari officials to promote tourism and investment in Pakistan, besides discussing labour-related issues. app
saudi, uae discuss $70bn crude refinery project in india DUBAI: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates discussed a planned refinery in the western Indian state of Maharashtra that will cost at least $70 billion, a figure that exceeds the initial $44 billion estimate previously announced. The new figure came from readout of a meeting in the UAE between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Wednesday evening. The statement said the two sides discussed the initiative, first announced in 2018, to develop the refinery and petrochemicals complex, which would secure the supply of 600,000 barrels per day of Saudi and Emirati crude oil for India’s market. The project, which would be run by a consortium that includes Saudi Aramco and ADNOC, has yet to get started or secure land. aGeNCIes
Govt Moves suMMary for revival of tuwairQi steel Mills ISLAMABAD
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MID serious reservations of the local steel industry, the government has planned to revive Tuwairqi Steel Mills Limited (TSML), as a summary in this regard has been submitted to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for approval. TSML, a joint foreign direct investment (FDI) project by Saudi Arabia’s Al-Tuwairqi Group of Companies and a South Korean firm, was established at Bin Qasim, Karachi, over an area of 220 acres. The Saudi firm had stopped its work on the plant after the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government had refused to provide gas at a discounted rate. The initial plan for TSML was to make it the largest steel complex in Pakistan, having a production capacity of 1.28 million tonnes per annum. It’s Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) plant was shut down for several months in 2014 due to the dispute over gas supply. The first phase of the DRI plant was completed at a cost of $340 million, while the capital injection in phase-II and III was expected to be in the range of $850 to $900 million. This investment was subject to the commercial success of the DRI plant. The TSML management had requested gas supply at Rs123 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) in order to effectively operate the plant. However, the previous government had refused, saying that this would amount to a subsidy of Rs25 billion over five years. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has now prepared a framework to re-
vive the mill. The framework, submitted to ECC on November 20, is based on talks held between TSML and the government on the revival plan for the entity with a fresh injection of around $700 million. As per the summary, the government would provide gas at the cost of $4.65 per MMBTU to a DRI unit based on first come first serve basis, to be used as feedstock for a maximum period of up to 10 years. “The investor under ‘green field’ category shall be entitled to receive system gas supply on commissioning of the unit while the investor under ‘brown field’ category shall be entitled to receive system gas supply alter three years of signing the agreement. This shall be reviewed alter every 5 years,” the summary added. In case of non-availability of gas, the government would help provide gas through other available resources, including imported RLNG, on terms and conditions with prospective investors to be decided on a case-to-case basis depending on the international price of RLNG. Industrial units operating on DRI need a regular supply of natural gas as a feedstock to produce approximately 97pc pure iron from iron ores. Apart from the cheaper and ensured gas facility, the government, through the summary, would also provide tax exemptions to the new investors as well as the new investment for the revival of plants. There will be a minimum turnover tax slab for the prospective investor on a case-to-case basis with the approval of the Federal Board of Revenue. Besides, there will be exemption from additional customs duty of 2pc on iron oxide pellets or any other intermediary product specific to
US to send 15 trade delegations to Pakistan next year
saudiGulf to launch religious charter flights to pakistan BUSINESS DESK
pM calls for measures to reduce agricultural input costs ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the officials concerned to frame a long-term policy regarding demand and supply of essential commodities, fixation of prices, and reduction in input costs of farmers. He gave these directions while chairing a meeting regarding fixation of the sugarcane price in Islamabad on Thursday. The prime minister directed that the policy aimed at reducing input costs of the farmers should be framed on priority basis. Imran Khan also directed the Competitive Commission of Pakistan to review the relevant laws and bring forward such amendments that could ensure stability in the prices of essential commodities and discourage monopoly in the market. He stressed that latest technology should be used for this purpose. Regarding the fixation of sugarcane price, the PM stressed that the price of the commodity should be fixed in such a manner that it should not only encourage the growers but also ensure the stability of sugar price in the market. The prime minister said the government is giving special emphasis to the equal development of both agriculture and industrial sectors, adding that strengthening of the agriculture sector and providing relief to the small farmers is among the top priorities of the government. ppI
DRI plant and not produced/processed in Pakistan shall be considered on a case-to-case basis by FBR without creating market distortions. For export of DRI products under this framework, the government shall encourage the DRI units to be set up in export processing zones or special economic zones subject to land availability. However, to avail the facility under the framework, the government has set $500 million as a minimum threshold of FDI, which is the main source of concern for the existing the steel companies as they cannot make such hefty investments. According to industry sources, the minimum threshold for investment in the sector is set only to facilitate TSML instead of providing a level playing field for both foreign and local investors. “Discouraging the existing steel companies and investors through such a move will not serve the industry and country. Protection of domestic industry is the priority of every country. However, the case in Pakistan is unfortunately different,” they added. Sources said the gas-based DRI would also not serve the local industry well because it doesn’t match the technical parameters of technology that is prevalent in Pakistan. He questioned the way subsidy is given to TSML on the basis of demonstrable export proceeds. “The same subsidy should also be given to local industry for export enhancement and import substitution,” he maintained. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the ECC, while discussing the summary, constituted an interministerial committee head by Planning Minister Asad Umar. The committee also includes FBR chairman, PM’s commerce adviser, special assistant on petroleum, finance secretary and industries secretary.
BUSINESS DESK US Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells has said that the United States has planned to send 15 trade delegations to Pakistan in 2020. "The US Commerce Department has already stepped up its activity in Pakistan with 15 trade delegations planned for the next year, and once the new expanded Development Finance Corporation or DFC is stood up, Pakistan is going to be a country of great interest," a paper read by Wells at a Washington think-tank, Wil-
son Centre, stated. As per the paper, the DFC will have more than double the investment cap than Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), increasing from 29 billion to 60 billion, "enabling projects that have high standards and are financially sustainable over the long haul." The paper further highlighted the commercial connections between Pakistan and USA. "A US firm 'Excelerate' is prepared to potentially invest more than $300 million to upgrade a floating storage regasification unit in
Pakistan's first LNG terminal. ExxonMobil has been working to support Pakistan's ambitious effort to access new LNG supplies. "Over the last five years, PepsiCo has invested $800 million to expand its infrastructure and diversify products, while Coca-Cola has invested $500 million in the last couple of years, providing thousands of jobs for Pakistanis. Uber Technologies entered the Pakistani market in 2016 and currently operates across nine cities, providing employment opportunities for thousands of Pakistanis."
SaudiGulf Airlines intends to launch religious charter flights to Pakistan and Iraq under a "transformation plan" led by new chief executive Abdulmohsen Jonaid. "The Dammam-based carrier expects to double its fleet next year," Jonaid said in an interview. "The airline will take delivery of three brand new Airbus A320neos in February, March and June, while it also aims to source another three A320 or A321 narrowbodies plus one A330 widebody from the secondary leasing market." The fleet expansion will not affect a separate order for 10 A320neos plus 10 options which is due to be fulfilled by Airbus from 2023 onwards. Jonaid said the widebody unit would be deployed on religious charter flights to Pakistan from Jeddah (near Mecca) and Medina, marking SaudiGulf's first significant offering in the Umrah pilgrimage market. "It wasn't a big part [of our traffic base] before, but it's becoming one," he told me. "It's the nature of the business in Saudi Arabia. It's a segment that you cannot ignore." Charter flights to the Iraqi cities of Baghdad, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah will also “definitely” be added, though recent instability in that country has delayed the announcement of launch dates. Scheduled flights to Cairo in Egypt and Khartoum in Sudan are also being evaluated. The airline currently has a presence in five domestic cities; four points in Pakistan; Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; and Amman in Jordan. Asked about the possibility of European route launches, Jonaid said the continent is a "legitimate target" for SaudiGulf but that regional expansion is a higher priority in the near-term.
MarkEt Daily
Stocks extend rally; index up 583 points KARACHI sTaFF repOrT
Bullish sentiments prevailed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday as indices rallied right from the beginning while volumes improved considerably from the preceding session. Foreign investors ended as net sellers for the fourth consecutive session on Wednesday with a net outflow of $0.302 million. On the political front, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in its short order, announced that General Qamar Javed
Bajwa will remain the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) for another six months, during which the parliament will legislate on the extension/reappointment of an army chief. Meanwhile, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has enhanced payment limit against freelance services from $1,500 per individual per month to $5,000 per individual per month. The development aims to broaden the scope of businessto-customer transactions through home remittance channel. Adding 724.47 points, the benchmark KSE-100 Index marked its intra-
day high at 38,847.19. The index settled higher by 583.55 points at 38,706.27. The KMI-30 Index gained 919.99 points to end at 62,281.56, while the KSE All Share Index managed to collect 376.43 points, closing day at 27,439.12. The overall trading volumes increased from 228.42 million in the previous session to 348.53 million (+53pc). Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +3.31pc), Pak Elektron Limited (PAEL +4.92pc) and TRG Pakistan Limited (TRG +1.66pc) topped the volume chart. The scripts had exchanged 20.42
million, 19.77 million and 15.78 million shares, respectively. Sectors that added positivity to the benchmark KSE-100 Index included banking (+91.37 points), power generation and distribution (+75.5 points) and cement (+58.73 points). Among the companies, Hub Power Company Limited (HUBC +67.79 points), Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO +31.32 points) and MCB Bank Limited (MCB +29.91 points) remained the top positive contributors to the index. The oil and gas marketing sector gained +2.52pc in its cumulative market
capitalization. Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL +4.99pc), Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO +3.80pc) and Shell Pakistan Limited (SHEL +1.27pc) closed with decent gains. In a notification to the exchange, the Board of Directors of Akzo Nobel Pakistan Limited (AKZO +5.00pc) announced that the company has decided to apply for voluntary delisting of the company from PSX. Majority shareholder, ICI Omricron BV, has been authorized to buy back ordinary shares of the company at a price yet to be determined.
BetaBiyan is a journey Back to classical age of Pakistani cinema
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By Hasan Kazmi ITH the so-called revival of Pakistani cinema still going on, Pakistani Cinema’s latest upcoming film in Betabiyan which is due to release this
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Friday. Betabiyan, the film is claimed to be “a musical love story that basically targets Pakistani families especially women. Betabiyan’s writer Wasif Burney claims that this film is a classic romantic film which will take you back to the classic age of Pakistani Cinema when families use to come together and enjoy a romantic saga on a silver screen. This film is about a couple who, despite trying their hardest, cannot be together and yet they cannot remain separated from each other. The director and producer of Betabiyan Abdul Majid Khan reveals that “It’s a story of Niggi (Hiba) who loves Hassan (Babar), but before she can express her love for him, it’s too late. Hassan’s life revolves around his much-pampered daughter, Nida (Saima). He faces a huge setback in life when his beloved wife Rida passes away, leaving him shattered.” For a movie buff like me, I am actually looking forward to watch Saima Baloch on a Silver Screen. Saima Baloch is starring in Betabiyan playing her lead role whereas, she played a second lead in upcoming and much awaited Pakistani film The Legend of Maula Jatt.
About Saima Baloch Ammara Hikmat, the producer of The Legend of Maula Jatt, had told me that she was selected among 80 girls because of her dancing skills. The interesting fact about Betabiyan is that the film has 8 songs, all of which are composed by Ashan Bari Khan, whereas, the lyrics are written by Sabir Zafar and Wasif Burney. Out of those 8 so far 4 videos of these songs have been released on digital platforms including YouTube. These songs include Ho Kay Befikar, Lamhay, Kiyun along with the Title Track. However, I am looking forward to Shafqat Amanat Ali’s vocals in ‘Meri Jaan’ which is yet to be released. Apart from Shafqat Amanat Ali, the other singers include Humaira Channa, Sarah Haider, Nirmal Roy, Javed Basheer and Shiraz Uppal. The title track is a traditional light melodious duet by Shiraz Uppal and Nirmal Roy, also released in video featuring the lead pair Syed Arez and Saima Baloch that tells a little about the theme and story of the film. Betabiyan’s cast includes Baber Ali, Saima Baloch, Syed Arez, Hiba Ali, and veterans Javed Sheikh, Saba Pervez and Sangeeta among others. The character roles are full of Pakistani Cinema greats like Javed Shiekh, Sangeeta and Saba Hameed which is certainly the icing on the cake. Betabiyan is being released in Pakistan on 29th of November by Metro Live Movies, which has previously released films like Pari, Kataksha and Tevar recently.
The MLJ and EU host an event to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women The Federal Ministry of Law and Justice in collaboration with The European Union Delegation to Pakistan hosted a special event at the President’s Secretariat in Islamabad to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and to launch the #TimeForRealHonour movement. The honourable President of Pakistan His Excellency Dr. Arif Alvi graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. With the launch of #TimeForRealHonour at this event, Barrister Dr. Muhammad Farogh Naseem (Minister for Law and Justice) along with the Federal Ministry of Law and Justice, in collaboration with the European Union Delegation to Pakistan endeavoured to initiate a multistakeholder discussion and dialogue against honour killings across the country and to define more informed methods of implementation of anti-honour killing laws. Indeed, an estimated 1000 women are murdered under the pretext of honour killing in Pakistan each year. This illegal and inhuman practice continues to take place despite the enactment of stringent legislations, including the existing honour killing law in 2016 which mandates life imprisonment, 14 years in prison for convicted murderers and restricts the power of pardon by the family of perpetrators of such crimes. The #TimeForRealHonour event opened with the National Anthem of Pakistan and the recitation of Holy Quran followed by an introductory note by Barrister Maleeka Ali Bukhari (Parliamentary Secretary for Law and Justice) and addresses by European Union Ambassador to Pakistan H. E. Mrs Androulla Kaminara and Barrister Dr. Muhammad Farogh Naseem (Federal Minister for Law and Justice). The event then moved to a screening of two short films commissioned for the occasion, directed by two-time Academy Award Winning Director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, highlighting the existing legislative framework against honour based killings. The event concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Barrister Maleeka Ali Bukhari featuring Foreign Minister and Vice President PTI Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Additional Inspector General of Police, Punjab Mr. Inam Ghani, Advocate and Executive Director of Asma Jahangir Legal Aid Cell Ms. Nida Aly, Lawyer and Founder of Digital Rights Foundation Ms. Nighat Dad, and Ms. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, where they discussed antihonour killing laws in Pakistan and the administration’s efforts in further implementing and reforming these laws.
If you have the feeling you’ve experienced an event before in real life, call it déjà vu. If you feel like you’ve previously experienced an event in a dream instead, there’s a different term for it: déjà rêvé.
During Prohibition, moonshiners would wear "cow shoes." The fancy footwear left hoofprints instead of footprints, helping distillers and smugglers evade police.
Since founding the Imagination Library in 1995, Dolly Parton has donated 100 million books to children.
ROBERT PATTINSON SAYS THE BATMAN 'RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT' REUNITES TRINITY DISHA PATANI TAKES OFF ON A MINI NOT ABOUT TOYS (LIKE MARVEL?) VACATION WITH HER GIRL GANG "Release The Snyder Cut" continues to release cool new imWhile promoting the release of his latest movie, The Lighthouse, Robert Pattinson offers up why he decided to play the Batman, which sees the 33-year-old actor possibly take a jab at the Marvel movies. Pattinson appeared on EW's latest podcast where he says what he likes about Batman is that it isn't about cashing in on toys and such, but about being a good film: “There’s something that always appealed to me about it,” said Pattinson. “The Batman movies have always attracted really really good directors and really good actors playing it. It’s got a legacy and a lineage to it. It’s never seemed to me like it was just a cash-in. If you look at the Burton ones and even how the TV series was done. People still watch the TV series. That is a classic TV show. Its very very very well done and the performances are great. It’s a very interesting kind of pop art-y TV show. Yeah, I just always feel like it’s not like they just made a movie so they could sell toys.”
ages from the unseen version of the Justice League as Zack has posted the following pics on the Vero app. Zack posted a new image featuring DC's Trinity, Ben Affleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman (minus the mustache) and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. "Trinity Tuesday," Snyder comments. The second image features a look at Willem Dafoe as the Atlantean Vulko. "This guy is awesome in the movie," Zack offers. The next image features a different angle of Vulko talking to Jason Momoa's Aquaman. "A little context," Snyder says with an image of the air bubble included which enables them to converse underwater. The fifth image shows off a new look at Amber Heard as Mera with Vulko and Atlantean soldiers. "With Mera," Snyder says. "The Release The Snyder Cut" campaign has picked up major steam as of late as it is being reported it will get a release on HBO Max, WarnerMedia's upcoming streaming service that will be taking on Netflix and Disney Plus.
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Disha Patani, who just wrapped up Malang and started filming Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai, has flown out for a mini vacation with her friends. The actor has posted several pictures and videos with her girl gang from a temple on her Instagram stories. Soon after reaching the scenic destination, Disha visited a Buddhist temple and posted a few pictures on Instagram. Wearing a mint green blouse and a pink floral skirt, Disha can be seen posing in front of Buddha statues outside the temple. She also shared videos from inside the temple where she and her friend wrapped a pink piece of cloth around themselves.They can be seen walking around in the temple premises and soaking in the mood. She was spotted heading for the vacation at the Mumbai airport in a tee and shorts. Disha had wrapped up Malang last month and had shared a few pictures with co-stars Aditya Roy Kapur, Anil Kapoor, Kunal Kemmu and director Mohit Suri on Instagram. The film is scheduled to release on Valentine’s Day, February 14.
Friday, 29 November, 2019
14 SPORTS
Martinez, Lukaku sink sLavia to keep inter’s knockout hopes aLive MILAN
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brace from Lautaro Martinez and a Romelu Lukaku goal handed Inter Milan a 3-1 win at Slavia Prague on Wednesday, keeping the Italians in contention for the Champions League last 16. Inter are level with Borussia Dortmund on seven points each in Group F topped by Barcelona who clinched a last-16 spot after beating the Germans 3-1 at the Camp Nou. “The win is important for us, we had no choice but to win,” said Inter coach Antonio Conte. “We knew what to expect, the forward duo were decisive and I’m very happy for them,” he added. In the last round of games on December 10, Inter face Barcelona at the San Siro while Dortmund
host Slavia. “We gave meaning to this match against Barca by winning,” said Conte. “We are expecting a great match, hard, but we know that we can count on 80,000 people who
will come to the stadium to push us. That was what we wanted.” Martinez opened the scoring on nineteen minutes after Lukaku had picked up a pass, fought off two challenges and took the ball into the
box before cutting it back to the unmarked Argentinian. Martinez scored for the fourth consecutive Champions League game for Inter. Tomas Soucek levelled for Slavia from the penalty spot in the 37th minute after Stefan de Vrij had brought down striker Peter Olayinka in the box. Polish referee Szymon Marciniak first ignored the foul and let play continue with Lukaku scoring on the counter-attack before seeing his goal chalked off as the video referee took centre stage. Lukaku added Inter’s second nine minutes from the end after Slavia’s last man Michal Frydrych slipped and let him round keeper Ondrej Kolar. Martinez then volleyed home his second as Lukaku robbed the Slavia defence and provided him with a superb cross in the 88th minute.
Napoli leave Liverpool with Champions League work to do
LONDON AGENCIES
Liverpool are used to making life difficult for themselves, admitted Jurgen Klopp as a 1-1 draw with Napoli leaves the European champions with work to do to reach the Champions League last 16. Klopp’s men must avoid defeat away to Salzburg on December 10 to secure their passage into the knockout stages. Dries Mertens threatened to inflict Liverpool’s first home defeat in the Champions or Premier League since April 2017 with a sweetly struck opener midway through the first half. Dejan Lovren’s header protected that proud unbeaten run, but after a host of late winners in the Premier League this season there was no such joy for the hosts this time round. “Our way was always the hard one,” said Klopp.
“We have to go to Salzburg. If we had done it (qualified) tonight we would’ve tried to win there and we will do the same now.” Napoli remain a point behind Liverpool, but are well-placed to reach the knockout stages as they host winless Genk in two weeks’ time. “It’s not easy to get a draw here. We suffered under pressure and began to defend too deep, but there’s no other way to emerge alive from Anfield,” said Napoli coach Carlo Ancelotti. The Italians had travelled to Merseyside in disarray with Ancelotti seemingly on the brink of being sacked after a slump in Serie A. President Aurelio De Laurentiis has also threatened to sell the entire squad and take legal action against the players after they refused his orders to be confined to a week-long training camp earlier this month. However, the Italians are the only side to
have beaten the European champions this season and proved a thorn in Liverpool’s side again. “This is a healthy club within the locker room and with the desire of everyone to emerge from this difficult moment,” added Ancelotti. “I spoke to the president, he was very happy with everyone and congratulated us all on the performance.” Liverpool were unsettled by the early loss of Fabinho to an ankle injury and Klopp is worried that the Brazilian could be sidelined for some time. “The biggest thing tonight is the Fabinho injury,” added Klopp. “That’s massive, it’s still early and we hope it is not too serious but it is pretty painful.” The home side were still regrouping when the visitors opened the scoring on 21 minutes. Mertens leaned into Virgil van Dijk as the Dutchman headed clear and was left on the ground holding his side. Napoli played on and when the ball was played forward again Mertens was unmarked to run through before beating Alisson Becker from a narrow angle. After a VAR review for a potential foul and offside, the goal was allowed to stand and there were a few more nervy moments for the home fans before Van Dijk got back to his feet and was able to continue. Klopp grew increasingly frustrated on the touchline as Liverpool failed to find their rhythm before the break. However, a talking to from the German inspired a second half turnaround. Kalidou Koulibaly bailed out his goalkeeper with a clearance off the line from Roberto Firmino after Alex Meret dropped a simple cross into the box. It seemed a matter of time before the equaliser arrived, but when it did it came from an unlikely source as Lovren rose above Mertens to power home James Milner’s corner.
Messi toasts 700 games with a goal as Barca make last 16 BARCELONA AGENCIES
Lionel Messi marked his 700th game for Barcelona by scoring his 613th goal on Wednesday as the Catalans beat Borussia Dortmund 3-1 to go through as group winners to the Champions League last 16. Messi celebrated his anniversary in style by putting Barca two up before halftime, between laying on a pair of assists for Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezmann in a comfortable victory at Camp Nou. “He was incredible,” said Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde. “It’s all about what he does and when he does it. It was a performance to put us through.” England’s Jadon Sancho fired into the top corner for a late Dortmund consolation but the visitors were largely disappointing and now face a fight with Inter Milan to make it out of Group F. Dortmund will hope to beat Slavia Prague at home in a fortnight’s time while relying on Barcelona to play a strong enough team to avoid defeat at the San Siro, eight days before the season’s first Clasico at home to Real Madrid. “We got the most difficult group in the competition in my opinion,” said Valverde. “We are through with a game to spare, first in the group, and for the players that means a lot.” While Real have hit their stride in recent weeks, Barca have stumbled, even if the results have been good enough to remain top of La Liga on goal difference. For that they owe a great deal to Messi, who now has 10 goals in his last nine games, a timely surge into form ahead of the announcement of the Ballon d’Or in Paris on Monday, for which his greatest threat is Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk.
olympic chief says will ‘do everything’ to ensure russia at 2020 Games MOSCOW AGENCIES
Russia’s Olympic Committee will do all it can to ensure Russian athletes take part in the 2020 Games, its chief said Thursday, as the country faces a four-year doping ban. “We will do everything in our power to ensure our team is in Tokyo under the Russian flag,” news agency RIA Novosti quoted Stanislav Pozdnyakov as saying. He said there were no “objective obstacles” to the “vast majority” of Russian athletes fully participating in the Olympics. The compliance review committee at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Monday recommended a four-year sporting ban over falsified lab data it received from Russia. If WADA chiefs adopt the committee’s recommendations at a meeting in Paris on December 9, Russia faces exclusion from key sporting events including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The scandal has tainted Russia’s sporting reputation since the revelation of large-scale state-sponsored doping aimed at improving Russia’s medal performance at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Russian track and field athletes were barred from competing at the Rio Olympics in 2016 although Russians competing in other events were allowed to take part. The ban was widened to include all events at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, though Russian competitors who could prove they were above suspicion were able to compete as neutrals under the Olympic flag. Monday’s call from the WADA review panel came after Russian authorities were accused of falsifying laboratory data related to the country’s doping scandal, which were handed over to investigators in January.
Misbah’s deadcatting, and the decline of Pakistan’s pace factory LAHORE AGENCIES
Lynton Crosby, an Australian political strategist, came up with the concept of the Dead Cat Strategy, but Misbah-ul-Haq is the one who has exploited it to its full potential recently. Loosely defined, the tactic involves diverting attention from a complex issue you would rather not address to a simpler one, preferably with a populist appeal - Misbah’s squad selection for the Test series in Australia had the sort of effect Crosby himself would have been proud of. Sat in a press conference room at Gaddafi Stadium last month, Misbah reeled off the names of the teenaged fast bowlers Pakistan were taking to Australia: Shaheen Shah Afridi was going, of course, as was Mohammad Musa, and the real kicker, 16-yearold Naseem Shah. It led, predictably, to one of the most entrenched feedback loops there is in cricket: how much fastbowling talent there is in Pakistan, and how the production line never quite seems to run dry. It was undoubtedly a happier discussion as far as the head coach and chief selector - Misbah, both - was concerned. After all, his tenure had begun with a home T20I series whitewash to Sri Lanka, followed by the unceremonious removal of captain Sarfaraz Ahmed from the Test and T20I teams. The talk would move back to the sorry state of affairs after a genuinely horrific three-match T20I series
in Australia, but that’s when the trump card was rolled out. Naseem would make his debut in the first Test at the Gabba. Having lost his mother just a week earlier, his courage was to be lauded. For large stretches of the game, he was the quickest, regularly topping 145, and even going up to 148 occasionally. He dealt a painful blow in the elbow to Joe Burns, who had unwisely chosen to eschew an armguard when facing the debutant. He was exciting, fast, young, and Pakistani. The feedback loop went into overdrive. At the other end, Australia stuck with the three pacers they have used for the best part of the past decade. Pat Cummins was the least experienced of the lot, having played only 26 Test matches, largely because he spent half a decade out dealing with recurring injuries. Even so, that was 11 more Tests than the three Pakistan quicks at Brisbane had played combined. Josh Hazlewood, who made his debut less than five years ago, will play his 50th in Adelaide this week. In Pakistan’s history, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis are the only fast bowlers to have lined up in more Test matches. Mitchell Starc’s 228 Test wickets, or indeed Hazlewood’s 190, are also only bettered in Pakistan by those three fast bowlers. But let’s stick with the more immediate subject. The side had one of its most lethal fast-bowling partnerships in Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir ripped out following the spot-fixing scandal in August 2010, and had to start anew. But while the excitement around any new Pakistan pacer is always fairly fren-
zied, what’s also high is turnover. In the nine years since, Pakistan have handed three or more Test caps to 16 fast bowlers; for Australia, that number is nine. Now who, at this moment, would you reasonably feel will feature in a Test match for Pakistan in one of those fast-bowling slots? You might have said Mohamad Abbas last week, yet here we are. Afridi’s the next name on that list, but this, remember, is a 19-year-old who has played no more than four Tests, and opinions change rather swiftly in Pakistan. Hasan Ali’s injury came at an unfortunate time, but even when he was on top of the world in the ODI rankings, Pakistan never quite seemed sure about
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picking him in the Test side. It isn’t just a conundrum for this particular series, but one Pakistan has wrestled with for much of the past decade. Wahab Riaz’s hype and explosiveness could never stand up to the consistency of the longest format, and by the time he retired, he was never a serious red-ball option anyway. Pakistan struggled to manage Amir’s workload to his satisfaction, while he struggled to get his form back up to those frankly unrealistic levels of 2010. Imran Khan was, without putting too fine a point on it, the sort of bowler they wouldn’t have looked twice at while they still had the other Imran Khan fresh in their memories. And yet, there was a reason he made his debut when he did; Imran was, as were many like him, prolific on the domestic circuit. Aizaz Cheema, Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Talha and Bilawal Bhatti all played Test cricket for the same reason, though the lack of success they enjoyed at that level was perhaps the most eloquent rebuke to the quality of pitches in first-class cricket in Pakistan. Medium-fast bowlers just need to land the ball in the vicinity of a good length and allow the pitch to do the rest, and there was little motivation to improve one’s skillset. Bhatti, for example, averaged 48.5 with the ball in two Tests, 73.16 in ten ODIs and 51 in nine T20Is with an economy rate of 9.80. Yet, in the three seasons before he made his Test debut, on the domestic circuit he took 76 wickets at 18.73 (2011-12), 28 wickets at 24.03 (12-13) and 9 wickets at 23.77 (13-14).
Friday, 29 November, 2019
shaMarh Brooks, rahkeeM cornwaLL put west indies in siGht of BiG victory LUCKNOW
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AGENCIES
HAMARH Brooks' maiden Test century and Rahkeem Cornwall's match haul of ten wickets took West Indies to the doorstep of victory by the end of day two of the one-off Test in Lucknow. After starting the day on 68 for 2, West Indies batted on before being bowled out for 277, with Brooks' 111 giving them a lead of 90. The only bright spot for Afghanistan was debutant Amir Hamza, who ended with figures of 5 for 74. Then, just like in their first innings, Afghanistan squandered a good start and were stuttering at 109 for 7 at stumps, just 19 runs in front. After Afghanistan conceded a first-innings lead of 90, Javed Ahmadi and Ibrahim Zadran put up 53 for the first wicket. While both batsmen looked resolute in their approach, Ahmadi was helped by a slice of luck as well when a bat-pad catch was taken by Jason Holder at leg slip but replays showed Cornwall had overstepped. However, an error in judgement from Zadran brought an end to the stand as the batsman offered no shot to a Cornwall offbreak and was given lbw. That was followed by a horrendous mix-up between Ahmadi and Ihsanullah, resulting in the latter being run out. Cornwall then dealt two big blows, dismissing Rahmat Shah and Asghar Afghan in identical manner. Both of them got inside edges on to their pads,
Afghanistan 187 and 109 for 7 (Ahmadi 62, Chase 3-10, appeals turned down and Brooks and that added to pouched the Cornwall 3-41) lead West Indies their frustration, but chances at short 277 (Brooks 111, Campbell 55, in the absence of leg. Having picked DRS for the game, up 7 for 75 in the Dowrich 42, Hamza 5-74, there was no choice first innings, the offRashid 3-114, Zahir 2-53) but to accept the onspinner finished with field decisions. 10 for 116 for the game. by 19 runs Ahmadi brought up his fifty in the company of Nasir Jamal, and took Afghanistan to 96 for 5, but three quick strikes from Roston Chase under the floodlights dented them further. Jamal played down the wrong line and was bowled, while Hamza, the nightwatchman, and Ahmadi were taken at first slip. Earlier, Brooks showcased excellent mix of attack and defence against the Afghanistan spinners, who looked like they were trying too hard for wickets at most times. Rashid Khan, in particular, had a couple of strong lbw
While Afghanistan did make inroads and one wicket invariably brought another, Brooks stayed firm. After counter-attacking for the first half of his innings, he assumed a more measured approach, especially after lunch, but didn't miss out on the loose deliveries, which the Afghanistan spinners offered in abundance. Rashid, in particular, was at the receiving end as Brooks took 69 off 108 balls from the legspinner. In all, Brooks struck 15 fours and a six in his innings before being bowled by Hamza while looking for quick runs
with his side eight wickets down. John Campbell, the other overnight batsman, took to attack straightaway. The strategy paid off as he deployed a variety of sweeps - slog, lap, reverse - to counter the left-arm spin of Hamza and took 15 from the bowler's second over of the day. He brought up his maiden Test fifty with a single to deep square-leg, courtesy a conventional sweep. Brooks was more orthodox at the other end but no less attacking. In one Rashid over, he struck two fours and a six as West Indies went past 100. Campbell and he added 82 in just 19.1 overs before Hamza broke the stand with Campbell's wicket for 55, scored in 75 balls. But it was as much Ihsanullah's wicket too, as the slip fielder moved swiftly to his right upon seeing Campbell shaping up for a lap sweep, put in the dive and completed the catch onehanded. Shimron Hetmyer and Chase didn't last long after that. Hetmyer was trapped lbw by Rashid and Chase fell to left-arm wristspinner Zahir Khan, caught at short leg off an inside edge. At 150 for 5, it looked like Afghanistan had clawed their way back, but their hopes were thwarted by Shane Dowrich. Like the batsmen before him, Dowrich too started aggressively, hitting three fours in no time to move to 15 off as many balls. But it wasn't that the Afghanistan spinners didn't create any chances. Apart from the lbw shouts, Rashid got Brooks to edge one behind but Afsar Zazai failed to latch on. The batsman was on 59 at that time.
Root under pressure as New Zealand hope to showcase depth HAMILTON AGENCIES
If it wasn't already clear that New Zealand are the closest challengers to India's current dominance of Test cricket, then their comprehensive victory at Bay Oval last week came close to confirming it. While there are no Test Championship points at stake in this series, New Zealand do, at least, have the chance to close the gap on the runaway leaders of the ICC's rankings with a win at Seddon Park, and assert themselves as the side best equipped to beat them in a one-off final in two years' time. That status will only be confirmed with a competitive showing on their tour of Australia next month, but the Hamilton Test this week provides an opportunity for them to demonstrate a quality not always associated with a country so sparsely populated: depth. New Zealand coped perfectly well without Trent Boult on the final day of the first Test, but the news that he has been joined on the treatment table by pro-
lific allrounder Colin de Grandhomme leaves them two key bowlers down. The likelihood is that Daryl Mitchell - the seambowling allrounder - will make his Test debut in a straight swap for de Grandhomme, but it seems that New Zealand are not willing to let Lockie Ferguson off the leash just yet. Instead, Matt Henry - whose bowling average in the high-40s does little service to his control and pace - is set to come in for Boult; some English fans will remember his devastating spell as Kent's overseas player in 2018, which saw him take 75 Division Two wickets at 15.48 apiece. For England, the past week could hardly have gone worse. It quickly became clear as BJ Watling and Mitchell Santner ground them into the dirt while scoring at just over two runs per over that their hotlyanticipated new blueprint for Test cricket was little more than an attempt to play more like New Zealand, by batting long and bowling dry, and as Stuart Broad admitted on the final morning, the first-innings effort of 353 all out was anywhere up to 150 runs short of a good score on a flat pitch. Indeed, much of the post-match analysis has focused on Joe Root's captaincy, and perhaps with good reason. No Englishman has captained as many overseas Tests as Root's 14 with a worse win/loss ratio, and his ability to get the most out of Jofra Archer's talents in particular has been up for debate ever since the fast bowler's debut at Lord's. The rest
of the squad and the management have both publicly stood by their man, though Ashley Giles illustrated the hollow nature of that in his press conference this week. "I'm not quite sure what anyone is expecting me to say," Giles said. "'We'll see how we go'? That's not a great vote of confidence in a captain." Add into the mix the sad news that Chris Silverwood will return home after the second day of the Hamilton Test due to a family bereavement, and the racist abuse suffered by Archer on the final day at Bay Oval - not to mention an injury scare to Jos Buttler* - and it is clear that any attempt to start afresh has been wracked with difficulty. The best way to remove the spotlight from Root before next month's tour of South Africa would be to win convincingly and end England's miserable record overseas under his leadership. But given they are winless in their last 16 games in Australasia their last victory in this part of the world was the Sydney Test in 2011 - that is easier said than done. PITCH AND CONDITIONS: The pitch was very green on Tuesday - it looked as you'd expect a surface to look three days out, rather than two - but is likely to be cut. It has been hot in Hamilton, and the groundstaff have watered the pitch heavily. Seddon Park is one of the lower-scoring grounds in New Zealand, where the ball swings a bit more due to the humidity, and it is a typical 'look up, not down' surface.
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enGLand say archer 'fine' after racisM, reveaL ButtLer injury worry BRISBANE: England said Jofra Archer was ready to fire in the second Test against New Zealand despite suffering racist abuse, but a new injury concern has emerged over wicketkeeper Jos Buttler. As the search continues for the heckler who racially taunted Archer during the first Test, captain Joe Root said the Barbados-born bowler was "absolutely fine to play" in Hamilton. "He has dealt with it very well," Root told the BBC, after Archer wrote in a newspaper column that he has "moved on" and was primed to help England bounce back from their innings defeat. But Root told journalists England were not in a position to name their side on the eve of the second Test with a question mark over Buttler, who tweaked a back muscle while exercising. "We'll have to find out more information about that today and tomorrow to see where he's at," Root said. Although Ollie Pope was considered the leading contender to replace Buttler if he could not take the gloves, Root said there were a number of other possibilities which would depend on a pitch inspection before the toss. AGENCIES
pakistan-sL test series tickets to Be soLd for as Low as rs100
In a bid to lure cricket fans to stadiums, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has reportedly decided to set the ticket price for the upcoming Pakistan-Sri Lanka Test series as low as possible. While limited overs cricket is being staged regularly in the country since 2015, Test cricket has been absent since the infamous 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore. That will change when the islanders return to Pakistan next month for a two-Test series. Local fans, over the past few years, have grown accustomed to paying top dollar for Pakistan Super League (PSL) matches or when international teams visit for ODIs or T20Is. However, the board is purportedly cognizant of the fact that the fans’ interest in five-day format may not be as high as in shorter formats. To counter that, the PCB, as per a source, has decided that tickets for most of the enclosures during the Sri Lanka Test series will be available for as low as Rs100 and Rs200. The most expensive ticket will be sold for Rs500, the source added. Furthermore, school kids could also be invited to attend the matches and fill the stands. SPORTS DESK
Pakistan must switch on with Adelaide lights to match Australia ADELAIDE AGENCIES
Day-night Test matches have been the centre of much discussion in recent days with India hosting their first contest with the pink ball. The second game of this series brings us back to the original home of the day-night Tests as the Adelaide Oval hosts its fourth match under lights. Whether India are playing under lights here next year is currently the topic of much debate. Back in the present and the question is whether the different conditions will help or hinder Pakistan's chances of levelling the series. Given the struggle of the bowlers in Brisbane, if there is the prospect of their seamers getting more assistance it may narrow the gap, although
anything their quicks can do Australia's big three will be very confident of replicating. After flattering to deceive in the opening session at the Gabba, Pakistan were then so far behind the game after two days that even an improved showing could not prevent an innings defeat. However, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan - plus Asad Shafiq in the first innings - gave a template of how success can be achieved. It was difficult to pick holes in Australia's performance although Tim Paine said the performance of the pace attack was slightly below the high expectations they set themselves. The top order did an outstanding job, but it will be interesting to see how they respond if challenged with more movement than was on offer in Brisbane.
For Australia this is the first of backto-back day-night Tests with the opening game against New Zealand also under lights in Perth next month. While the format is still trying to find its feet around the world it is clear it is seen as a key part of the future of the game in Australia. After the underwhelming crowd numbers in Brisbane, how many come through turnstiles will be closely watched. PITCH AND CONDITIONS: Usually an excellent pitch for Test cricket, the Adelaide Oval surface has produced some exciting cricket when the added dimension of the pink ball and lights are added. The long summer nights mean it doesn't get fully dark until late, but the twilight period can remain tricky. The less promising news is that there is the chance of showers throughout the match.
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Friday, 29 November, 2019
NEWS
Musharraf treason case to be heard on daily basis froM dec 5 COURT SAYS MUSHARRAF CAN RECORD HIS STATEMENT ANYTIME PRIOR TO NEXT HEARING ISLAMABAD
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STAFF REPORT
special court on Thursday expressed its displeasure at the non-submission of a written response by former military strongman General (r) Pervez Musharraf’s government-appointed lawyer, Raza Bashir in a high treason case against the former president. While reserving its verdict in the case earlier this month, the special court, which was halted by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) from announcing its judgement, had ruled that Musharraf’s counsel could submit written arguments by Nov 26. The IHC had issued its ruling on a petition filed by the Interior Ministry which sought deferment of the announcement of the verdict in the case. “For reasons to be recorded later, we allow writ petition […] filed by the Ministry of Interior,” the court had said in its short order, setting aside the special court’s Nov 19 decision to reserve its judgment in the case.
SAYS SPECIAL COURT NOT BOUND TO IMPLEMENT ISLAMABAD HIGH COURT’S DECISION
During Thursday’s proceedings by a three-member bench headed by Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth, Advocate Bashir appeared in the court and informed the bench that they had submitted an application seeking Musharraf’s acquittal. A representative of the Interior Ministry was also in court. Justice Seth told the representative that the high court had granted the government time till December 5 to appoint a prosecution team. “After December 5, we will not give you further time,” he said, adding that they would hear the case on a daily basis after that date. The judge said that Musharraf could record his statements anytime prior to the next hearing, adding that they would not accept any application after the hearing. “We are not bound to implement the high court’s decision,” said Justice Shahid Karim, adding: “We are only bound by the Supreme Court’s orders.” “We will not comment on the high court’s decision,” added Justice Seth. The proceedings were adjourned until Dec 5.
Gen Bajwa to remain COAS after six-month deadline: Farogh
LHC asks govt to explain treason charges against Musharraf
ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
Former law minister Farogh Naseem on Thursday said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was granted six months to legislate on the issue of the extension of the army chief and that General Qamar Javed Bajwa will remain the chief of army staff even after the passage of six months. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad along with Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability Shehzad Akbar and Attorney General of Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan, Naseem, who represented Gen Bajwa in the court, hailed the Supreme Court ruling. Farogh Naseem said that Gen Bajwa’s extended tenure will begin on Thursday midnight. In its ruling on the extension of Gen Bajwa’s tenure, the Supreme Court said that the attorney general “categorically assured the court …government shall initiate the process to carry out the necessary legislation… in six months for getting the needful done”. “Therefore, the current appointment of General Qamar Javed Bajwa as COAS shall be subject to the said legislation and shall continue for a period of six months from today, whereafter the new legislation shall determine his tenure and other terms and conditions of service,” the court ruling stated, as it allowed extension of six months in the tenure of the current army chief. Addressing a press conference following the SC ruling, Attorney
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday directed the counsel representing the federal government to explain how former military dictator Pervez Musharraf’s case falls under treason and submit a complete record of the case on Dec 3. A special court had reserved its verdict in a high treason case against Musharraf for abrogating and subverting the constitution by proclaiming emergency in Nov 2007. However, the interior ministry and Musharraf’s counsel moved the Islamabad High Court and the LHC, respectively, against the special court, seeking a delay in the ruling. During the hearing on Thursday, the LHC asked the counsel to read Article 6 of the constitution and asked that if one act was made on October 1999 how an act that takes place on November 3, 2007, falls under treason. According to Article 6, “Any person who abrogates or subverts or suspends or holds in abeyance, or attempts or conspires to abrogate or subvert or suspend or hold in abeyance, the constitution by use of force or show of force or by any other unconstitutional means shall be guilty of high treason.” Advocate Azhar Siddique, the defence counsel, questioned the formation of the special court, no approval was obtained by the then federal government, hence the court was illegal. “It is not the jurisdiction of the special court to initiate trial against former president Musharraf,” he added. STAFF REPORT
Nawaz undergoes medical tests in London
Imran rules out clash between state institutions ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday emphasised the importance of harmony between state institutions and said that there will not be a confrontation between them in Pakistan since they treat one another with utmost respect. Addressing the Envoys Conference titled ‘Engage Africa in Islamabad’, the prime minister said that the previous governments appointed incompetent and inel-
PRIME MINISTER LAUDS SERVICES OF ENVOYS IN STRENGTHENING TIES ABROAD igible people in the past whereas the incumbent government is dedicated to the implementation of a system where appointments are based on merit. “It is necessary to ensure that envoys and bureaucrats be appointed on merit,” he added. Lauding the services of Pakistan’s envoys, he said that they have played a crucial role in strengthening the country’s ties
General Anwar Mansoor Khan said, “This is not a matter of adversity, as the government considered such legislation [amendement in Army Act] a matter of pride for the government. “Today’s decision is a historic decision. The way the constitution has been interpreted will provide guidance for us in the future,” said the attorney general. Speaking of the unprecedented nature of the case, he said: “It is important to state here that the Army Act is pre-partition and after 19-20 changes, it is being amended. It was never before challenged in court.” He said that was the reason why “no one ever realised the mistakes involved in the procedures that were being followed”. The attorney general said that prior to Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa’s appointment, many chiefs of staff were appointed and many got extensions using the same method that was employed this time around. “The summaries were the same and the rules were followed in the same manner. There were no additions or any changes made.” He said that it had been a custom to do things the existing way and so when the first notification was issued it was “a routine notification”. The AG said that the court, in its observations, had consistently referred to two things: a general (currently) does not have a superannuation age; no law talks about the chief of army staff – how he will be appointed or what his term of service will be.
with the international community. The prime minister said that Pakistan’s most important issue is of current account deficit and due to the government’s measures the threat has been thwarted as the flow of remittances has increased. He said that there were efforts to destabilise Pakistan but Pakistan’s economy is improving and the rupee has been stabilised. He also said that God has bestowed upon Pakistan great natural resources which can be utilised for uplifting the country.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday underwent a series of medical tests, including PET [positron-emission tomography] and CT Scan, at the London Bridge Hospital. The development was shared by Dr Adnan, personal doctor of the ex-prime minister, in a tweet. “Former PM #NawazSharif is undergoing a PET/CT FDG Scan at London Bridge Hospital under the care of Haematology/Haemoncology at Guy’s Cancer Centre, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Hospital, King’s College London,” he tweeted. Dr Adnan termed these tests a key to establishing the cause of severe Thrombocytopenia that the expremier was suffering from. On Monday, it was decided that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz
(PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif would be admitted to a hospital so that he could undergo angiogram and other medical check-ups. Earlier this month, Nawaz Sharif, who was serving a prison sentence in a corruption case, left the country to receive medical treatment in London. Sharif reportedly had an immune system disorder and other health problems. His brother Shehbaz – who also traveled with Nawaz – signed a court document that said: “If at any stage, the federal government has credible information that Nawaz Sharif is living abroad despite his fitness to travel, a representative from Pakistan’s High Commission would have a right to meet with his physician(s) to verify or confirm about his health.” NEWS DESK
Trump reopens Taliban talks during surprise Afghanistan visit BAGRAM AIR FIELD AGENCIES
President Trump paid an unannounced Thanksgiving visit to American troops here on Thursday, and said that he had restarted peace negotiations with the Taliban less than three months after he scuttled talks with the group. “The Taliban wants to make a deal, and we’re meeting with them,” Mr. Trump said here during a meeting with Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani. “We’re going to stay until such time as we have a deal, or we have total victory, and they want to make to make a deal very badly,” said Mr. Trump, who reaffirmed his desire to reduce America’s troop presence here to 8,600, down from about 12,000 to 13,000.
Mr. Trump made his first visit to Afghanistan under a shroud of secrecy, arriving in a darkened airplane just after 8:30 p.m. local time on a trip that the White House had concealed from his public schedule for security reasons. Mr. Trump carried out the traditional role of feeding turkey and mashed potatoes to American troops in fatigues, before dining, mingling and posing for photographs before he delivered remarks celebrating America’s military in an aircraft hangar. But his visit also had an important political dimension, and comes at a crossroads for Afghanistan and the United States military presence here months after Mr. Trump angrily called off his talks with the Taliban, which had produced a draft agreement that would begin the phased withdrawal of Ameri-
can forces from the country. Mr. Trump, who boasted of American military successes against Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, suggested that the Taliban is eager to make a peace deal, but that he himself is indifferent to that outcome.
“The Taliban wants to make a deal — we’ll see if they make a deal. If they do, they do, and if they don’t they don’t. That’s fine,” Mr. Trump said. He also said that the Taliban is now willing to agree to a cease-fire, a matter of
contention in the earlier talks and something that Mr. Ghani’s government has been insistent upon. “We’re saying it has to be a ceasefire, and they didn’t want to do a ceasefire,” Mr. Trump said of the Afghan insurgents. “Now they do want to do a cease-fire. I believe it’ll probably work out that way.” Mr. Ghani later joined Mr. Trump onstage for remarks to several hundred American soldiers gathered in an aircraft hangar. The appearance of a foreign leader before American troops was unusual. Mr. Ghani, giving an energetic, almost campaign-style speech, praised Mr. Trump as “the architect” of a strategy for “wiping out Al Qaeda” in Afghanistan, and hailed him for the killing of the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
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