E-Paper PDF 30th December (ISB)

CMYK

Monday, 30 December, 2019 I 2 Jamadi-ul-Awwal, 1441 I Rs 19.00 I Vol X No 180 I 60 Pages I Islamabad Edition

NAB lAw AmeNded for ‘effective’ AccouNtABility, sAys Pm's Aide g

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Shahzad akbar claimS amendmentS won’t help govt, allieS, termS them attempt to ‘Strengthen’ inStitutionS SayS in a caSe of power abuSe, nab will only act when there’S perSonal monetary benefit attached ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

s the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) faces a volley of criticism from the opposition parties and analysts for promulgating a controversial National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019, the two government ministers on sunday held a press conference to assuage the concerns expressed about the newly-approved law. special Assistant to Prime Minister on Accountability shahzad Akbar, flanked by Communication Minister Murad saeed, said the amendment in the NAB law would not benefit the sitting ministers and termed it a move to “strengthen institutions”.

The ordinance had come under vehement criticism, being dubbed as NRO-Plus by the opposition lawmakers, who alleged that the ordinance would facilitate Prime Minister Imran Khan, his ministers and ‘friends’ to save their skins. It was also challenged in the courts.

Interestingly, the ordinance that highlighted the news on Friday — the day it was approved by the federal cabinet– was devoid of many of its clauses when it was issued by the Law Ministry with a new title ‘Revised Updated NAB Ordinance’ on saturday.

The revised ordinance didn’t restrict NAB from taking up cases involving corruption or

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akbar SayS nab lawS regarding bail and remand are not changed; tax evaSion will be dealt by fbr

SayS if ordinary perSon haS diSproportionate aSSetS, he will be probed by fbr, while nab will inveStigate govt officialS in Such inStanceS

corrupt practices below an amount of Rs500 million as well as from issuing public statements at the stage of inquiry/investigation of a complaint. The new law neither specify any time period for completion of an inquiry nor bar NAB from reopening any inquiry/investigation.

The procedure to appoint prosecutor general accountability, the 90-day period of physical remand and shifting of burden of proof that rests on accused were not even touched in the new ordinance. There is no mention of a six-member “scrutiny committee”, suggested in the earlier version, whose permission was necessary for NAB before conducting any inquiry, investigation or arresting a government servant.

The same was relayed by the PM’s aide in his presser, probably to remove the confusion prevalent in the certian sections of media about the fate of NAB. He said that the amendment does not change the laws pertaining to bail and remand.

Giving reasons for the amendment in NAB, he said that matters pertaining to federal and provincial taxation, levies or imposts will not fall under the ambit of the accountability watchdog and the cases will be handled by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) instead. “similarly, the watchdog will not scrutinise any person or entity, or transaction in relation thereto, who or which are not directly or indirectly connected with a holder of public office,” he added.

Akbar said another aim of bringing in the

amendments was to address the clause of “misuse of authority”. He said previously the law was such that a person could be embroiled in a NAB case simply for having made a wrong decision. “so an addition to the clause has been made whereby when a person is using their authority — whether its a public office holder or a minister or a businessman — and they are charged with having misused it, it will be examined whether there was personal monetary benefit attached to their decision.” “If such an advantage emerges only then will it be considered corruption.”

The adviser said that section 4(2) B was also a very important section. Under it, it has been outlined that the NAB law will not be applicable to any person who himself is not a public officer holder, has no relation with a public office holder, and does not have any means of “using authority”.

“Cases in which government officeholders have used their authority for kickbacks already do fall within the scope of NAB’s investigations.

“In cases of ‘assets beyond known sources of income’, a government official can be probed

by NAB but not a common man. In the case of the common man, he will be investigated by FBR,” explained Akbar. Akbar said that if a common man or businessman cheats the public at large, for example with a modarba scam, the case will fall within NAB’s jurisdiction.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 02

pm amended nab law to save ministers, allies: ppp STORY ON BACK PAGE

PM directs Punjab, KP govts to provide shelter to homeless STORY ON PAGE 03

at least 50 dead as cold wave sweeps through bangladesh STORY ON BACK PAGE

in today’s issue

CMYK Monday, 30 December, 2019

02 NEWS

Pakistan a land of untapped tourism potential: PM ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday said that Pakistan was a land of unimaginable beauty, hidden natural wonders, and untapped tourism potential.

The prime minister said this in a comment on his Twitter handle while retweeting an article titled “9 of Pakistan’s most breathtaking natural wonders” published

by Wanderlust, a British Travel magazine.

According to its website, Wanderlust is the UK’s leading independent travel magazine, delivering inspiration and advice to the travellers seeking unique and enriching travel experiences that cover destinations near and far and combines indepth practical information with breathtaking photography and award-winning editorial.

Highlighting the tourism potential of the country, the magazine says, “from magical Himalayan valleys to lunar landscapes of bubbling mud volcanoes, Wanderlust’s 2020 Hot List destination Pakistan offers a diversity of extraordinary natural beauty without the crowds…”

Modi has polarised indian society: Qureshi MULTAN

F Among the natural wonders of Pakistan, the magazine enlisted Baltoro Glacier, Neelum Valley, Hingol National Park, Trango Towers, Deosai Plains, Thar Desert, Saiful Muluk, Hunza Valley and Attabad Lake.

The article is followed by links to another three articles including “13 of the best things you must do in Pakistan,” “Pakistan’s 7 most beautiful mosques” and “4 experiences that will make you fall in love with Pakistan” published by the same magazine in the recent past depicting Pakistan’s culture, traditions, and heritage.

STAFF REPORT

OREIGN Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Sunday the Narendra Modi-led government in India has divided India into two parts with its controversial pieces of legislation. “There are the people who have a secular mindset, while the other type adheres to Hindutva philosophy,” he said while talking to journalists in Multan.

Qureshi said all minorities and enlightened Hindus were protesting against India’s new Citizenship Amendment Act 2019. He added 25 people have thus far been killed in the raging protests in the neighbouring country. He said the chief

The law of this land CiTy NOTES M.A. NiAzi The government is appealing everything. That means it can find lawyers from among those who are still on strike against the arrest of those who trashed the Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC). I suppose it is because the government cannot find lawyers that Rana Sanaullah got bailed from the high court.

Some think he took his time getting bail, but that was more his tailor’s fault rather than his lawyer’s because no court will give you bail unless you go there in a black dhoti and a qameez reaching well below your knees.

Sanaullah has the right type of moustaches, though they could be heavier. Another reason was that Sanaullah wanted bail to be given on a murder charge. Only when one gets bail for murder is one respected among ones biradari. Anyone remember the buffalo theft charge of Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi?

Now that was approved by a mind that knew rural values well. You see, buffalo theft is not going to demean you in the biradari. At the same time, the charge is so palpably ridiculous that it means the state is going to crush you. It tells everyone that the state can.

Like the Narowal Sports City charge against Ahsan Iqbal. That charge tells all and sundry that the most ridiculous charges are going to be enough if you are in opposition.

The ANF may have done things wrong, but probably someone prefers it that way. After all, if all the legal requirements are met, then the arrest would be justified. The might of the state can only be realised if the charge is patently ridiculous. If the accused is ashamed to offer a defence, the government will know it succeeded.

The government seems to have panicked, and given up the AntiNarcotics Force (ANF) in favour of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). I wonder what is the full story behind the FIA raid on the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretariat? After all, the FIA did get a new director general (DG), and that too the head of the joint investigation team (JIT). To top it all, the previous DG Bashir Memon resigned just days ahead of retirement, almost as soon as he came back from a leave which had begun on September 28. It seems that he was transferred from his job as if to make way for FIA becoming flavour of the month.

If the government does not have any compunction about drug charges, it should not have any about following the last Western fashion, which is for rape charges, like onetime IMF chief Dominque Kahn or WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Perhaps our law enforcers can bring about some progress, and make arrests for child abuse. The members of the opposition had better be ready to pay the price of speaking their minds. They should look to the fate of Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian politico, who has spent since 1998 fighting off charges of sodomy. He only beat the first rap in 2007, and then was charged again in 2008, only getting out in 2018 on a pardon, after Mahathir Mohammad was reelected as the prime minister.

His relationship with Mahathir has been up and down. Mahathir won him over from PAS to UMNO (somewhat like winning over someone from Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to the PML) and made him his deputy PM. Then came the sodomy charge. Mahathir retired, but Anwar Ibrahim kept at it, and only when he placed his movement under Mahathir, now 90, but ready for a comeback, did they topple UMNO. Anwar got out of jail, Mahathir became PM, but

promised to make Anwar his successor in a year or two.

Mahathir, however, is hanging on, and Anwar, who is now 72, has had another sodomy charge laid at his door. This came after hints that Mahathir should step down, and after he hosted a summit to which Prime Minister Imran Khan first promised to go, then did not. The Saudis were watching the closest as to which way the Pakistanis were going to jump, and to make sure that they made the right decision, had Imran visit them so that he could be told some home truths about who exactly had paid vast sums into the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), who was giving Pakistan oil on credit, and who was charging Pakistan cash for its palm oil.

Of course, opposition figures made uncomfortable by Anwar Ibrahim’s fate were not given any relief by this wing, not if they remembered what happened to Jamal Khshoggi. They did not like the question being asked, whether you would choose a sodomy charge, or getting chopped up in little pieces.

Be that as it may, at least no one’s calling them a traitor. That is what General (r) Pervez Musharraf is convicted of being guilty of high treason. So he is appealing, first to the Lahore High Court (LHC). I imagine that someone will tell him to appeal further upstairs, because though the original tribunal tried him in original jurisdiction, it did consist of high court judges. The judge before whom the case was fixed has asked for a larger bench. I wonder who will be on the other side. I would imagine the government to take the plea that General (r) Musharraf did nothing wrong, and presidents could impose emergency and sack superior court judges at will. I mean, under Musharraf’s rule, would Sanaullah have got bail? Would corrupt elements been able to flee abroad?

Every district to get a university, vows CM LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Sunday vowed to set up a university in every district of Punjab. “We will set up a university in each district of Punjab and varsity of global standards in every division,” the chief minister said in a Twitter statement. The incumbent government after assuming office worked on bringing reforms to the existing universities, he said, adding that a total of 16 vice-chancellors and top management of various universities were appointed on merit, new courses designed and the exam system improved. Usman Buzdar said work on eight universities has already begun this year and their basic necessities have been met. Among them are Kohsar University Murree, Rawalpindi University, North Punjab University Chakwal, Thal University Bakhar, Mianwali, Baba Guru Nanak University, South Punjab University Layyah, and IT University Rawalpindi, he added. STAFF REPORT

CMYK

ministers of India’s five states refused to implement the controversial citizenship law. He said international newspapers and magazines were carrying articles criticising the Indian government that is pursuing the Hindutva agenda.

The foreign minister said the Indian government enforced curfew and communication blackout in occupied Kashmir but entire India cannot be put under curfew. He added the world has seen the real face of India. Shah Mahmood Qureshi said India has been carrying out ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and the fencing along the LoC has also been cut at five places.

He said he has sent his seventh letter to UN Security Council president, apprising

him of situation on the ground. He added UN Military Observers Group should brief the UN Security Council about the situation prevailing along the Line of Control. FM Qureshi said Pakistan desires an early meeting of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the human rights violations in occupied Kashmir to

send across a message of the entire Ummah on the issue.

Responding to a question about NAB Amendment Ordinance, he said PPP and PML-N desired review of the NAB law and now as the government has proposed some amendments, the opposition parties are trying to give it a new color. He said the matter can be resolved through mutual consultations.

Role of referral system in streamlining healthcare service delivery DR YASMIN RASHID Finally, we have been able to put in place the pilot of the much-awaited Patient Referral System in Lahore. In infancy stage yet, the Referral System has a huge potential to quintessentially transform the health landscape of the province. The Patient Referral System envisages development of direct online linkage system among healthcare facilities of key tiers.

Currently, we face an overwhelming turn out at Tertiary Care Hospitals. This is largely due to general perception that all required facilities for patients are available at Tertiary Care hospitals. Keeping this convenience in view, people try to visit Tertiary Care hospitals which become overcrowded by patients who could easily have been dealt with at the smaller clinics and smaller health unit developed by govt. of the Punjab all over the province.

In order to streamline healthcare service delivery, the government has taken a revolutionary step and is setting up Referral System at Jinnah and Mayo Hospitals as a pilot project.

The appalling spectacle of overcrowded hospitals where two to three patients are forced to share a bed (the situation aggravates in epidemics) creates serious discomfort for all health managers. This over-crowding leaves an impact on performance of doctors and paramedical staff as well, resulting in high incidence of misdiagnosis and wrong treatment. A fair distribution of workload among facilities will reduce burden at Tertiary Care Hospitals and ensure optimum utilization of the Primary Health facilities. Also, one solution to our burgeoning population is optimum utilization of all public health facilities already available at the doorstep to majority of people.

It is pertinent to mention that amongst our many other failures, one was not being able to catch up with the innovations and developments in the rest of the world. Our part of the world, especially Iran, have successfully adopted the referral model with a great degree of success. It is tragic we could not learn from the best practices from our immediate neighbors, as merely replicating them with minor adjustments was not a big deal. Not that the previous government was not spending money, it is the fact that money was not being spent in proper direction. In contrast, our top priority remains the streamlining of the functional components of the department for best possible service delivery. Our primary focus is on prevention, then enhancing the efficiency and strategic placement of the available resources.

Keeping the above in view, the Referral System is being introduced in areas around Tertiary Care Hospitals. As a pilot, the dispensaries and Filter Clinics in Jinnah Hospital zone are linked with it. In total, Lahore has been divided in five zones for the larger Project. The existing local dispensaries, Filter Clinics and Family Units in Jinnah Hospital zone are being renamed as Jinnah Satellite Filter Clinics and will provide treatment to population at their doorstep. For more serious patients, these Clinics will serve as referral platforms for the Tertiary Care services. On

referral, the data of the patient will be updated at the respective Tertiary Care Hospital simultaneously. The patient will reach the Referral Desk of the respective Tertiary Care Hospital with specific color forms and bar codes that can be scanned and then will be admitted straightaway.

The first tier in the healthcare hierarchy are Dispensaries/Family Unit/Filter Clinics which are providing services to the community and are largely underutilized. There are 103 dispensary Units in Lahore and in the first phase we plan to modify a total of 15 Dispensaries around the three Tertiary Care hospitals (Jinnah Hospital, Mayo Hospital and Services Institute of Medical Sciences) into state-of-the-art Satellite Units which will provide health facilities such as, obstetrics including Ante-natal care, delivery services, Immunization, screening clinics, minor surgery, ENT and eye. Under the Referral System, cases requiring serious surgery and advanced medical treatment will be referred to the attached Tertiary Care hospital for further treatment and hospitalization.

In the pilot phase, the dispensaries of Sabzazar, Wahdat Road and Township are attached with Jinnah Hospital Lahore whereas Shadbagh, Qila Lachman Singh, Sanat Nagar and Lytton Road are being attached with Mayo Hospital Lahore. The facilities are being renamed as Jinnah Satellite Filter Clinics to ensure ownership and familiarity. The Hospital name shall be used with attached primary facilities. Consultants of Medicine, Pediatrics, Gynecology, Surgery, Eye and Diagnostics are being provided at the selected Satellite Clinics by the relevant Tertiary Care hospital.

The outcome of this patient Referral System will be reduced burden of patients at Tertiary Care Hospitals. With proper Referral policy in place, the staff can provide better services to patients at all levels, minimize duplication, reduce overcrowding in urban hospitals and ensure accessibility, affordability, equality and equity in health services. It will also introduce accountability, transparency and responsiveness among healthcare professionals and institutions. As discussed above, these Satellite Clinics will provide medical facilities to walk-in patients and only those patients who need advanced treatment shall be referred to nearby OPDs. Once Sehat Insaf Cards are available to majority population, we will scale up the Patient Referral Services to Private Hospitals and General Practitioners as well so that the ultimate aim of quality and low cost treatment is achieved. The Referral System provides a seamless integration of Primary & Secondary Healthcare Department and Specialized Healthcare & Medical Education Department. It will provide an opportunity for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department to train doctors at the facilities of the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department.

The writer is the Punjab Health Minister

CMYK Monday, 30 December, 2019

NEWS

pM directs punjab, Kp govts to provide shelter to hoMeless people IMRAN SAYS NOBODY SHOULD BE LEFT OUT IN THE COLD WITHOUT A SHELTER ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

RIME Minister Imran Khan on Sunday directed the governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to set up temporary shelters for the homeless people who could not be accommodated in the existing Panaghs in this extreme cold weather. In a tweet, the prime minister said that given the extremely cold weather conditions, he had asked the chief ministers of Punjab and KP to ensure that no person is left out without shelter.

“Their administrations must take immediate action to provide temporary shelters plus food for those who cannot be accommodated

in existing Panagahs,” the prime minister directed. The establishment of Panagahs was one of the foremost projects executed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI) government soon after it came to power. On November 10, 2018, the prime minister broke ground for the construction of tent shelters in Lahore to provide a roof to homeless people. Under the banner of Panagah these shelters were temporary until permanent structures were built.

Taking notice of the fact that the people were sleeping along almost all major intersections, markets, and bus and railway stations, the PM said is the establishment of Panagahs was the “first step towards transforming Pakistan into a welfare state”. Following the PM’s orders,

the Punjab government set up makeshift shelters at Data Darbar, Railway Station and Thokar Lorry Adda. There are tents functioning near the Railway Station, Thokar Niaz Baig and Sabzi Mandi. One tent can accommodate 30 to 70 homeless people or travellers who usually recline on the footpaths.

They are provided free pillows, mattresses, comforters, and food, including breakfast and dinner.

On November 25, 2018, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar arranged and overviewed tents and food for homeless people sleeping on footpaths after directives issued by the prime minister. The premier had asked the Punjab CM to set up tents and provide food to the homeless people sleeping on footpaths. In his tweet, the premier had maintained that the homeless must be facilitated until the shelters are built as the weather is gradually turning colder. “I have asked CM Punjab to set up tents for

people sleeping on footpaths and provide them food until the Panahgahs are built, as the weather is turning increasingly cold,” he had said.

The prime minister had stressed the poor and the homeless needed to be protected and taken care of and added that the PTI government was committed to building a social net for them so that everyone had a shelter and access to health and education.

He had said that those coming to the Panahgahs represented the voiceless who were not even voters. He had added that the visitors should also be offered food. He had further said that a Board of Governors (BoG) would oversee the maintenance and functioning of these centres. The BoG will finalise the policy for the shelter homes, he had added. Similarly, the KP government was also providing roof and food to the homeless people in different cities. The federal government had also established a couple of such facilities in the capital.

Industrial units closed as gas crisis grips Punjab, Balochistan, Sindh LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Several industrial units in Lahore and Faisalabad remained closed on Sunday as the gas crisis continues to persist in parts of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh.

Sources told INP that the crisis has intensified following an increase in demand for Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) due to the drop in temperature across the country.

The domestic sector is also facing extremely low gas pressure, creating difficulties for people in heating their houses, cooking food, and water for bathing and performing other operations.

On the other hand, gas supply was restored to CNG stations in Sindh from morning to 7 pm.

On December 22, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (PM) on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan, while addressing a press con-

ference in Sialkot, stated that the government had directed the relevant authorities to ensure gas supply to households even if it means curbing the supply to CNG stations. She maintained that false claims are being perpetuated regarding a hike in gas prices. “The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) is merely a regulator which, keeping in mind ground realities, forwards its input to the government. She stated that a continuous wave of winter has gripped the country which is why there has been an increase in the demand for gas.

“Keeping this in mind, there has been a 12 per cent increase in gas pressure while overall utilisation has increased by almost 2.5 per cent as compared to last year.”

Earlier on Saturday, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani had said that the provincial cabinet had received two projects, which the federal government pursued and

the Sindh government had gone “out of its way to solve Centre’s problem”.

Ghani said the federal government had never contacted the provincial government for the project Ayub was referring to. He claimed that matters relating to a third pipeline were never discussed with the provincial energy minister either. While Ayub had placed “complete responsibility” for the gas shortage on the Sindh government and the PPP government, Ghani said, “We are not getting gas in any department and the blame has been put on the provincial government. The federal government is responsible, this is the job of the federal government.”

Ghani said the federal government had complete responsibility of both utility companies — Sui Southern Gas and Sui Northern Gas. He said that under Article 158 of the Constitution, the province

that produces the gas has the first right to it, after which the remaining gas can be distributed to other provinces.

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

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

Meanwhile, industries in Sindh have announced to protest from Monday against the prevalent gas crisis in the country.

“We have started laying off daily wagers while regular employees have been served termination notices,” chief coordinator of Karachi Industrial Forum, Javed Bilwani said on Thursday.

03

there’s no let-up in anti-graft drive: Firdous ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Sunday Prime Minister Imran Khan’s drive against corruption continues with “full force”. In a series of tweets, she said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is supposed to carry out action against mega corruption scandals and it would do its job with reinforced commitment. She said action would definitely be taken against those government employees who have secured personal interests through procedural flaws or departmental lacunas. She said public office holders, who have increased their assets manifold, misusing authorities won’t be spared either. Awan said under the National Accountability Bureau Amendment Ordinance, “honest public office holders would be able to make decisions in public interest fearlessly” to perform their constitutional responsibilities. She regretted that Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) spokespersons, who frequently spoke against NAB, were doing politics on the ordinance. She said even the strong opponents of Imran Khan have failed and would fail to level allegation of corruption against him. She said Imran Khan has no fear of accountability as the country’s apex court has declared him “truthful and righteous”.

cleric eludes police in rape case MANSEHRA iNP

Police on Sunday arrested four men in connection with the alleged rape of a 10-year-old boy by a cleric in Mansehra, with the key suspect being on the run. The child was hospitalised after being subjected to rape and torture by his seminary teacher, named as Shamsuddin, in the vicinity of Phulra. Reportedly, Shamsuddin raped the child every other day. “The arrested suspects are relatives of the victim child,” the police said, adding that Shamsuddin’s brother is among them. Earlier on Saturday, KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan took notice of the child’s plight at the hands of religious scholars. Mansehra DIG relayed the seminary being operated by the “paedophile cleric” has been sealed while he currently remains on the run. “The child has undergone tremendous physical and mental torture and his health remains serious at this point in time,” he said. The madrassah, which was unregistered and being privately run, housed 120 students.

pakistan railways bans smoking in trains, stations NEWS DESK Pakistan Railways has banned smoking in trains, railways stations and its offices across the country, said a circular issued by Inspector General of Railways Police said on Sunday. The ban was imposed under the Anti-Tobacco Ordinance 2002 on the recommendation of the Ministry of National Health, the letter said. The smoking will also be banned for vendors, waiters, hawkers, coolies and others at a railway station. The order warned of punitive action under the relevant law in case of violation of the smoking ban. The train driver, conductor guard and waiting room managers will be authorized officers to enforce the law, the letter further said.

Meanwhile, the ASI or higher officers of the railway police will be authorised to act under the law and the police will be responsible for enforcement of the law at a particular railway station, the circular added.

NAB law amended for ‘effective’ accountability, says PM’s aide cONTINUED fROM pAgE 01 Also, if there is criminal breach of trust by an ordinary man whereby, for example, he cheats someone out of money kept with him for safekeeping, it will be a case NAB will investigate.

The third exception is breach of trust in the capacity of merchant, attorney, bank or agent. If any of these professionals cheat the public, they will be held accountable by NAB. He also explained a sub-section of the

ordinance pertaining to procedural lapses.

“If there is a procedural lapse, if a rule has been violated but there is no element of corruption and no undue advantage, [it won’t be taken up by NAB].”

Akbar then explained a sub-section which states that no action will be taken against any public office holder over the rendition of any advice, opinion or report by them unless proof of corruption or benefit is provided.

He said that another sub-section also explains that assets when assessed will be

valued according to whichever is higher among the DC (government) rate or the FBR rate.

The PM’s aide also explained another clause regarding “defence of good faith” contained in Section 36 of the existing law. “For example, NAB makes a case against a person who is later exonerated.

He will have to take the action in good faith. He will not be able to file a case against NAB officers and allege that they committed injustice.

“If they had evidence and went for-

CMYK

ward with the case, they had no ill will.

Unless the person can prove personal enmity.” He said the same good faith defence was available to civil service officers and bureaucrats unless corruption is proved against them.

The adviser on accountability also clarified that the ordinance will remain in effect for a period no less than four months and up to eight months “after which it will go to the parliament”.

He said the government will not compromise its core pledge of holding corrupt

elements accountable before the law.

The special assistant said that the process of accountability will continue and the government is taking steps to revamp and strengthen institutions and to make them more powerful.

“The economy was in ICU when PTI assumed power but now it is out of danger and is moving towards growth,” he said, adding that incumbent government is working hard to make the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) an effective institution as well.

04 ISLAMABAD

Monday, 30 December, 2019

WEATHER UPDATES MONDAY

160C

030C

TUESDAY

150C

040C

WEDNESDAY

170C

070C

THURSDAY

140C

060C

Zero visibility: Fog makes commuters miserable in capital ISLAMABAD

Z

APP

ERO visibility fog engulfed the federal capital has posed serious hazards for the commuters who travel daily to and from their destinations for work, study and other purposes especially at morning and night time.

The federal capital witnessed unusual dense foggy weather conditions on Saturday night when visibility level lowered to almost zero after 9:00 pm creating difficulties for the travellers who were just re-

turning to their homes from offices.

Murad Khan, a journalist living in Islamabad for the last 17 years said “The unusual foggy conditions during Saturday night after 9:00 pm were very unusual for him as visibility level reduced to almost zero”. “Such situation I only experienced before when I was travelling to Faisalabad with my family during the last winter season”, he said.

Rehana Amin, a working woman said, “I travel from Sadar to my office in Islamabad daily to perform my official duty in evening shift. Foggy conditions prevailed during the last two

kp govt extends winter holidays by one week

days especially Saturday has made it difficult for me to go back to my home in low visibility”.

It is good that my kids are not going to school these days due to winter vacations, she said while urging the government to bound the educational institutions either to change the timing of schools in morning or extend the winter vacation for safety of children.

Another working woman , Shagufta Shahid said, “I was coming from Rawalpindi to Islamabad on Saturday night with my small kids and observed unusual dense foggy conditions after

crossing Zero point”.

“I was unable to drive due to low visibility and called someone from my home to take us to our destination considering it risky for my kids safety, she said.

Talking to APP, Director at Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), Dr. Zaheer Ahmad Babar revealed that the dense foggy conditions will prevail in plain areas of the country as well as those areas with vegetation till the next rain spell. The dense foggy conditions in Islamabad are unusual during night time and will subside after the wet spell expected in the first week of January.

PESHAWAR: People gather around the fire to keep themselves warm as the weather gets colder in the provincial capital. ONLINE

He said the country is passing from the prolonged dry spell which has increased the intensity and density of fog in the plain areas of the country during the last few days. The official said the visibility level in Islamabad was below 50 meters on Saturday however it varied in different areas of city.

He said the situation will continue till the next rain spell and the citizens have to take extra precautions while travelling.

The department has already issued advisory for the commuters to avoid unnecessary travelling and use fog lights to avoid any untoward situation.

Demand of dry fruits increases as weather gets colder ISLAMABAD

Schools across the province to reopen on January 7, 2020

APP

As the weather gets colder, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has extended the winter vacations in schools across the province for another week and the schools will now reopen on January 7, 2020.

Adviser to KP Chief Minister on Education Ziaullah Bangash made the announcement, saying the decision has been taken on the directions of CM Mahmood Khan. Meanwhile, the Federal Government Educational Institutions (FGEI) Cantt and Garrison have also extended winter vacations to keep the children safe from the harsh weather and the schools will now reopen on January 6, 2020.

FGEIs Directorate has issued a schedule to enhance the winter vacations in view of the prevailing cold weather. NEWS DESK

ADB approves up to $150m infrastructural connectivity in Galliyat ISLAMABAD

Skardu remains the coldest part of country with -21° C

APP

ISLAMABAD: Dense fog is prevailing covered Islamabad, most plain areas of Punjab and upper Sindh and in a few districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan Meteorological Department said in its weather report on Sunday. According to the weather office Skardu remained the coldest place in Pakistan with record minus 21°C. Weather remained cold and dry elsewhere in the country while very cold in upper areas, the met office report said. In Punjab dense fog made the driving very difficult as several sections of the motorway were closed for traffic due to poor visibility. Lahore, Gujranawala, Gujrat, Narowal, Sargodha, Layyah, Bhakar, Khusab, Mianwali, Mandi Bahauddin, Sialkot, T.T Singh, Hafizabad, Jhang, Faisalabad, Okara, Sahiwal, Multan, Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, D.G Khan and Rajanpur were engulfed by the fog in the night and morning. In upper Sindh moderate to dense fog prevailed in Sukkur, Larkana, Rohri, Padidan and Jacobabad during morning and night hours. Cold and dry weather is reported elsewhere in the province. INP

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved amount of up to US $ 150 million for different road infrastructure project included major roads to provide connectivity and links between the different regions of Galliyat.

The Galliyat Development Authority (GDA) would execute different projects connectivity to enhance the facility of integrated tourism in region for building road links in Galliyat region including Nathiagali Bakote road, Kalabag Havalian and Shaglagali to Monal Islamabad road to promote tourism in the region.

Director General, Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) Raza Ali Habib told APP here on Sunday that 24 km Nathiagali Bakote road would be required up to Rs 336 million, which was provided by ADB and informed that feasibility report of this project been prepared. He said GDA also wanted to enhance the road connectivity between other different tourism potential regions of Galliyat to facilitate the tourist coming from

all over the world.

Replying to a question regarding other project for development of tourism in Galliyat region, he said idea of Adventure Theme Parks in Ayubia and Food Street in Nathiagali was also in pipe line and would start in coming years to provide facilities to the tourist according to the modern trends.

Raza reiterated that to create an enabling environment for local and international tourism saying that GDA would provide world-class facilities that commensurate with our rich cultural heritage, rare archaeological treasures and exquisite environmental beauty in close partnership and coordination between the public and the private sector.

Replying to a question he said after the revival, automation and modernization of this project, GDA would earn more revenue for enhance the infrastructure to facilitate tourists.

He said according to the new master plan, GDA would have automated the whole infrastructure for providing the new modern facilities for the local and interna-

tional visitors.

He said through the new master plan, GDA has also adopted a strategy to promote the concept of education and health tourism to give new concept for investment and create employment opportunities for local people according to the vision of the PTI government.

To a question regarding the upcoming mega projects under GA he said, "We want to establish four star hotels in Nathiagali to attract more tourists and create new job opportunities in in the region.

GDA is committed to introduce the model of Integrated Tourism Zones (ITZs) in 'Thandiani Galliyat' with innovation to integrate all services at one place for attracting more tourism in the region, the Director General, GDA said.

Integrated Tourism Zones (ITZs) was new concept of modern tourism, which was followed by provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) for launching modern idea of one window operation and one stop shop to evolve and integrate all services under one place, he said.

As cold intensified across the country, the demand for 'Dry Fruits' including roasted cashew nuts, almonds, walnuts, dates, pine dates, pistachio, peanuts have increased in small and big markets across the country. According to a report aired on a private news channel, the street vendors with carts full of dry fruits can be seen parked in number of localities are doing their good business.

Dry fruit shops everywhere in the country including capital city are witnessing tremendous rush of customers who want to buy variety of dry fruits as eating dry fruits is one of the favorite pass timer of the people during the cold season. Huma Saeed a customer in Rawalpindi talking to APP said that with the increasing foggy cold weather many shopkeepers are offering wide variety of dry fruits in different price ranges so that people from both low-income and high-income group can buy them. Another citizen Hania Usman said, women buying different types of dried fruits and arranging them in beautiful dishes and put those dishes on the floor for guests. Another buyer commented that dry fruits were mostly used in winter season to get relief from cold and argued that the rates were normal and there was no price hike. gossiping and chatting in foggy nights having a hand full of dry fruits in the chilly winter become a perfect idea of a small party with the friends and family members, said a dry fruit lover Dua Kamran. On the other hand, some of buyers also complained that prices of dry fruits were high and becoming out of their reach. Medical experts also give advice to use dry fruits for better health as dry fruits are one of the healthiest alternatives to fried or oily snacks and a great way to satisfy food cravings in the winters. “These nuts specially for school kids are very useful when grind them and mix the powder with milk,” Dr Tassaduq said. Dry fruits also carries many skin benefits and thus form key ingredients in beauty products also, he added.

Pakistan listed top holiday, adventure travel destination for int’l tourists ISLAMABAD APP

The world’s best and award-winning USbased luxury and lifestyle travel magazine, Condé Nast Traveler listed Pakistan as the top holiday and number one adventure travel destination among 20 holiday destinations across the world for 2020.

Pakistan has ranked number one on the basis of various reviews from travel bloggers, Youtubers and tourism publications. The list has been compiled while keeping in view geographical diversity of the destination — ranging from ecotourism to adventure.

No doubt, in the recent past, the country has seen an influx in international tourists and travel bloggers. The country

had also been ranked as the world’s top travel destination by the British Backpacker Society, which described Pakistan as “one of the friendliest countries on earth, with mountain scenery that is beyond anyone’s wildest imagination”.

The magazine cited Pakistan's exquisite landscapes, featuring towering mountains and green spaces in the North.

Boosting some of the tallest mountains in the world, the magazine said that Pakistan is ‘an almost magnetic spot for adventure travellers and intrepid hikers. It termed Pakistan ‘a must-visit place’ for adventure travelers while highlighting mesmerizing scenic beauty of the country.“Pakistan has more peaks taller than 22,965 ft than China and Nepal combined, making it an almost magnetic spot for adventure trav-

ellers and intrepid hikers”, it noted. “Visitors can follow in Michael Palin’s steps while traversing the 12,250ft Shandur Pass, home to the world’s highest polo field, or meet with the Kalash people of the Hindu Kush, famed for their cowrieshell headdresses and brighter-than-bright embroidery,” it added.

But the country’s majestic mountain ranges aren’t the only attraction, according to Conde Nast Traveller. “In Lahore, the sight of 100,000 worshippers crammed into the sandstone 17th-century Badshahi Mosque will leave you breathless, while Mughal-era architectural masterpieces stand resplendent on bustling street corners,” it said of the provincial capital of Punjab.

The magazine also highlighted the re-

CMYK

cent visit of Britain’s Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, to Pakistan and the measures taken by the incumbent government for boosting tourism in the country. “Owing to the relaxed visa restrictions and highprofile royal visit, the country is finally getting the focus it deserves”, reads a feature published on its website.

“Hardy visitors will find that little has changed since Mughal times—with the peaks’ gemstone mines, fairy meadows and winding trails worn into the ground by heavy-laden yaks—while the Karakorum, stretching upwards from the northwest frontier and carved into the ancient bedrock, is one of the world’s most astonishing highways,” it adds.

Talking to APP an official source in

the PTDC said, “The number of foreigners, who visited Pakistan in 2018 on tourist visa stands at 17,823, which was 10,476 in 2017.” He said as many as 60,070 foreign travel enthusiasts visited tourist attractions in the country during the last six years, especially to the mesmerizing places located in the northern parts of the country.

A local tourist, Hamid Khan said that Pakistan topped in ranking due its geographical location, historical places, land of high adventure, nature, culture, trekking, mountaineering, mountain and desert High Himalayas, Karakoram and the Hindukush ranges with their alpine meadows and permanent snow line, its most hospitable people, Himalaya series of mountains, rivers, deserts, its weathers, fruits.

Monday, 30 December, 2019

Monday, 30 December, 2019

NEWS

05

Imran IsmaIl holds government responsIble for gas crIsIs

s

INDH Governor Imran Ismail on Sunday placed the responsibility for the province’s ongoing acute gas shortage on the provincial government, explaining that it had refused to buy Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

While speaking to the media, the governor said that he will urge the Sindh government to review its decision about the LNG to mitigate the province-wide gas crises. He said that the gas issue could be resolved by overcoming theft and leakage of gas in the province.

The governor said that the masses pinned allot of expectations with the PTI’s government and added that it will fulfill the expectations as it is committed to make life easier for the masses.

Earlier in the day, Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) stations had reopened in the morning as the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) resumed gas supply for a day.

Long queues of all kinds of vehicles had been witnessed at the CNG stations which opened at 7am. A spokesperson for the SSGCL said CNG stations will remain open across Sindh until 7pm.

He had said gas pressure had improved to a great extent yet the gas utility faced hardships to ensure smooth gas supply to domestic consumers and industries due to a widening demand-andsupply gap.

Earlier on Saturday, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani had claimed that the federal government was respon-

sible for the shortage in gas supply in Sindh, refuting Federal Power Minister Omar Ayub Khan’s remarks that the federal government was not allowed to lay a gas pipeline in the province.

Following a visit to the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) headquarters in Karachi on Friday, Omar Ayub had said that the provincial government had not given SSGCL the “right of way” for a long time, which

“was the fundamental reason compressed natural gas (CNG) shutdowns were taking place in Sindh”.

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

Speaking to reporters in Islamabad on Saturday, Ghani took exception to Ayub’s statement, saying the provincial

CMCH Larkana faces multifarious problems

cabinet had received two projects, which the federal government pursued and the Sindh government had gone “out of its way to solve Centre’s problem”.

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

While Ayub had placed “complete

15 more HIV positive cases surface in Hyderabad HYDERABAD INP

LARKANA PPI

Chandka Medical College Hospital (CMCH), Larkana, having 1500beds, is facing crisis-like situation since past one year as SNEs of projects completed between 2007-10 have not yet been approved which has multiplied woes of the patients on one hand and has caused acute shortage of medics and paramedics on the other because these new schemes are being managed with meager staff transferred from other wards.

These schemes include 40-bedded Extension of Eye Ward, 40-bedded Accident and Emergency Center, 8-bedded Thalassaemia Centre which has been handed over to a private party, 8-bedded Burns Center, Benazir Bhutto Skin Disease Complex and Establishment of Dental and Hepatology Department.

Another scheme FaryalTalpur Cardiac Complex was handed over to NICVD. The required costly machinery, equipment & instruments were

procured for these new departments which are lying either idle or used elsewhere. The CMCH authorities have written several reminders to Health Department, but all have been ignored despite the fact that PPP rulers had been claiming that vision of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto was to give top priority to Health & Education Sectors but the rulers have now forgotten her priorities as both these sectors remained neglected during past 12 years. Annual budget of the hospital is over one billion rupees but poverty-stricken needy patients have to procure medicines from the open market as central procurement system has ruined the old system of medicines' purchase which were previously procured by the concerned Medical Superintendent (MS).

Major diagnostic MRI machine is also dysfunctional since several months. X-rays and ultrasound machines are very old which need to be replaced forthwith. Laundry machines have become outdated which were procured during 70s by Sha-

heed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto where over 1100 bed sheets and other OT clothes are washed daily. Laundry building has also become dilapidated and dangerous but no repair & renovation work has been carried out.

Sources claimed that laundry staff is not discharging duties but just drawing salaries while sitting home.

Costly over nine ventilators have not yet been installed and made functional due to unavailability of trained staff. Sanitation issue has become very acute due to shortage of sanitary workers. Untrained staff was recruited in the past on technical posts which also added to the miseries of the poor patients.

Ghost employees' issue has also multiplied as they are drawing salaries while sitting at home and no stern action is taken by anyone against them which too has ruined the working of this hospital. Frequent transfer of BPS-20 MS has also brought bad governance as mostly BPS-19 doctors who are blue-eyed boys, are given charge against apex court order.

KARACHI: A beautiful view of Mughal Garden at Karachi Zoo. oNLINE

CMYK

responsibility” for the gas shortage on the Sindh government and the PPP government, Ghani said, “We are not getting gas in any department and the blame has been put on the provincial government. The federal government is responsible; this is the job of the federal government.”

Ghani said the federal government had complete responsibility of both utility companies — Sui Southern Gas and Sui Northern Gas. He said that under Article 158 of the Constitution, the province that produces the gas has the first right to it, after which the remaining gas can be distributed to other provinces.

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

Ayub on Friday had said the Sindh government was not ready to accept liquefied natural gas (LNG) under Article 158 of the Constitution, which he said could improve the gas situation in the province.

He said the provincial government should cooperate with the Centre, adding that he was hopeful that the Sindh government would review its decision, accept LNG and cooperate with the federal government as well as Sui Southern Gas Company Limited officials in providing them right of way and assisting in the laying of pipelines. NEWS DESK

At least 15 more HIV positive cases have surfaced during a recent screening of the patients in Hyderabad, sources in health ministry said on Sunday.

“The new cases of HIV were confirmed during screening of around 900 people in nine villages from December 20-26,” sources said.

The number of HIV positive cases in Hyderabad (rural) taluka has reached to 215 with addition of the new cases.

It is to be mentioned here that 140 confirmed HIV positive cases, were earlier reported in Hatri area of Hyderabad over the past year during blood screening by Peoples Primary Healthcare Initiative (PPHI) but the provincial

health authorities seem not to have taken the issue seriously.

The most affected areas are located in union councils of MassuBhurgari and Hatri of Hyderabad (rural) taluka. According to PPHI sources, the patients were among age groups ranging from one-month-old to 61-year-old man.

Moreover, some women are also suffering from the deadly disease.

The screening began after a doctor suspected two cases in the area and reported them to the authorities concerned.

The number of HIV positive cases rose to 58 during screening and laboratory tests later confirmed them from April to December 2018, sources said.

Larkana district of Sindh remained in the headlines since April after surfacing of a large number of HIV positive cases.

Pak Navy holds industrial seminars KARACHI APP

Pakistan Navy Operational Commands Seminar- 2019 and 3rd Pakistan Navy Industrial Seminar were held here.

Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi graced the occasions as chief guest, says a press release of ISPR-Navy issued here on Sunday.

During Operational Commands Seminar 2019, latest developments in the realms of Cyber and Space warfare vis-avis regional security situation were thoroughly analyzed by the panels participating in the seminar.

The chief guest appreciated the quality of the papers and recommendations presented by the panelists.

The Naval Chief emphasized on moving forward while comprehending hybridization of contemporary warfare in all domains including Cyber and Space warfare.

While addressing the Industrial seminar, the Admiral expressed deep satisfaction over the performance of the newly established Navy Research and Development Institute (NRDI) and appreciated

progress of the institute in various projects. He also praised the collaboration of NRDI with local industry and academia and said that such interactions provide opportunities to seek long term joint ventures/ collaboration in various emerging naval systems and technologies.

The chief guest lauded the valuable and informative participation by the representatives of various industries from private sector.

He further said that in the era of globalization and technological innovation, we need to join hands for concrete collaborations and partnerships that can add value to our national economy and strength of our national defence.

Appreciating the response of private sector in a technologically challenging environment, the Chief Guest said that a truly “Made in Pakistan” warship is the ultimate realization of the dream of self-reliance.

Speakers from different organizations also highlighted importance of Indigenization and Self-reliance.

The seminars were attended by a large number of Naval Officers, dignitaries and representatives of Local Industry and prominent members of academia.

Monday, 30 December, 2019

06 WORLD VIEW

J+J meeting that What Will force Mr Modi to change didn’t happen course Will be the outcoMe of THE INDIAN SIDE OBJECTED, TEMPERS FLARED, ACCUSATIONS SWIRLED AND CONFUSION REIGNED. SOME BRIDGES WERE BURNED. ENGEL REFUSED TO EXCLUDE JAYAPAL AS REQUESTED

econoMic tiMes seeMa sirohi

These are testy times for both democracies. Polarised politics have stretched them to the maximum. To conduct regular business of State against this dark background and growing concerns about where Narendra Modi’s India is going and where Donald Trump’s US stands — or doesn’t —is not easy. Yet, last week, professionalism of both sides was on display as they completed the second round of the ‘2+2 dialogue’.

They recorded major progress across domains, announced new initiatives, agreed to a wider concept of what constitutes the IndoPacific, and signed important agreements, including one on sharing of classified information between private defence sector companies.

Trump found time to meet external affairs minister S Jaishankar and defence minister Rajnath Singh, even as the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives was getting ready to impeach him later in the day. That’s notable.

But a meeting that wasn’t held overshadowed the many that were. An important interaction on Capitol Hill was cancelled because of a surprise guest — Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat and vocal critic of India’s Kashmir policies. She has moved a House resolution demanding all restrictions be lifted in Indian held Kashmir ASAP. Jaishankar was scheduled to meet the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) leadership. But as things transpired, Jayapal suddenly appeared on the list of attendees — she is not a member of HFAC. Apparently, the request to attend was initiated by her office two days before and accepted by HFAC chairman Eliot Engel.

The Indian side objected, tempers flared, accusations swirled and confusion reigned. Some bridges were burned. Engel refused to exclude Jayapal as requested — an impossible demand — and cancelled the meeting.

The story was promptly leaked to The Washington Post, a fact that reinforced the feeling on the Indian side that Jayapal’s idea was to embarrass the minister, not to conduct a dialogue.

Even if the meeting were held with Jayapal attending, there was no guarantee she would have kept the discussions private and not taken to Twitter to pronounce judgment. It was a PR problem either way.

The chronology is important to fully understand where things went awry. The Indian embassy made the initial request for a meeting to HFAC in the first week of December. Both sides agreed to keep it small — the chairs and ranking members of HFAC and the Asia subcommittee.

Jayapal was not on the list. The Indian embassy was told only on December 16 — two days before the actual meeting — that she was invited. By most definitions, it would be considered a ‘last minute’ inclusion, which created a sense of an ‘ambush’.

Things went south from there and that’s where we are. There is rancour on both sides. Congressional insiders are angry because Engel, as a matter of courtesy, had agreed to postpone the ‘mark-up’ of Jayapal’s resolution until after the lawmakers heard from Jaishankar.

And, continued attempts to assign blame are only adding fuel, further complicating the picture. The result: Jayapal’s resolution will now definitely be marked up, most likely next month, unless there’s a Christmas miracle. It picked up 10 more co-sponsors in the immediate aftermath of the J+J episode.

From India’s point of view, it would be best if it didn’t come to the House floor for a vote. It’s not difficult to imagine that more Democrats may vote for it now to send a message, especially if political detainees are still not freed and internet restrictions remain.

Jayapal has somehow managed to keep the resolution alive. After struggling to find co-sponsors, she has enlisted 29 members, including two Republicans.

Continued detention of Kashmiri politicians and widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) have solidified support.

But it’s also worth remembering that some liberal Dems are really not interested in dialogue.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar was hardly an example of openness during the infamous hearing in October.

Jayapal, too, attended both Kashmir-related hearings, but mainly to present her critique and leave. She didn’t stay to listen to the other side. Many ‘concerned’ Dems also haven’t responded to the Indian embassy’s repeated offers to help their constituents connect with family members back home.

So, instead of being a punching bag for what was seen as agenda-driven politics of a few lawmakers, the Indian side decided to ‘punch first’. The wisdom of the action is debatable. But Jaishankar was clear he didn’t want to meet people “who have already made up their minds”.

the state elections in 2020-21

indian express

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P chidaMbaraM

WO maps were published in many newspapers on December 24, 2019, the day after the Jharkhand election results. In 2018, the BJP ruled 21 of 28 states in India; by the end of 2019, the number had shrunk to 15.

In 2018, the BJP governed 69.2 per cent of the population and 76.5 per cent of the area of the country; by end-2019, those numbers had reduced to 42.5 per cent (population) and 34.6 per cent (area).

Of the big states (defined as states with 20 or more Lok Sabha seats), the BJP has its party chief minister only in three: Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. Three other big states — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu — are in the NDA column, but how long they will remain there is uncertain.

In my view, what will force Mr Modi to change course will be the outcome of the elections to the state legislatures that are scheduled in 2020 and 2021 (leaving aside, for the present, elections in 2022 and 2023).

SHOCK AND AWE There was shock and awe among other political parties after the BJP’s overwhelming victory in the Lok Sabha elections of May 2019 — 303 for the BJP alone and 353 with the allies. Mr Narendra Modi and the Home Minister, Mr Amit Shah, acquired a larger-than-life, all-conquering image, and the opposition parties retreated further into their corners. Mr Modi and Mr Shah wasted no time in reinforcing their image as no-nonsense, ruthless rulers. They unveiled one ‘muscular’ measure after another, that were intended to send the message that they were like the emperors of the past and their goal was to build a Hindu Rashtra or a Hindu Nation.

The first step was the Bill to criminalise instant triple talaq. Neither the Congress nor the other parties had opposed the outlawing of triple talaq — they were opposed only to the clause that sent the husband to jail. Yet they emerged out of the debate as appearing to support an anachronistic and evil practice. Next was the brutal NRC exercise in Assam that has left 19,06,657 persons ‘non-citizens’ or ‘Stateless’ persons. On August 5, the BJP launched an unprecedented assault on the Constitution of India, placed 7.5 million people of Indian held Kashmir under an indefinite siege, dismembered Indian held Kashmir, and reduced the three regions to two Union Territories. The final assault on the basic tenets of the Republic was the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill that was passed, assented to and notified as a law within the space of 72 hours.

BEGINNING OF RESISTANCE These were not acts of democrat-

ically elected leaders, these were acts of bullies. The dictionary defines ‘bullying’ as the use of coercion or threat to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. Bullies do not heed advice, they do not acknowledge an opposite view, they do not tolerate dissent, and they are never wrong. Bullies succeed if you allow yourself to be bullied. I am afraid that is what happened to opposition parties in the first six months of NDA II. The first signs of resistance were seen in West Bengal. Ms Mamata Banerjee gave it back as good as she got it from the BJP. A more determined pushback was led by Mr Sharad Pawar in the Maharashtra elections. After the results, when Mr Pawar combined resistance and political craft, he dealt the first major defeat to the BJP. It was at this time that CAB was bulldozed through Parliament and students’ protests broke out across the country. The Maharashtra success and the antiCAB protests, by all accounts, galvanised the political workers of the JMM and the Congress in the Jharkhand elections. In less than a fortnight (December 12 to 24), the nation found its soul and stood up to the bullies. Where does the country go from here? Mr Modi has a balance tenure of 4 years and 5 months and, therefore, it is naive to expect a change of guard in Delhi. According to some observers, what is possible is that the people’s resistance may force Mr Modi to change course, although I have reservations.

STATE ELECTIONS ARE THE KEY In my view, what will force Mr Modi to change course will be the

outcome of the elections to the state legislatures that are scheduled in 2020 and 2021 (leaving aside, for the present, elections in 2022 and 2023). Here is the schedule: 2020 January-February: Delhi October-November: Bihar 2021 February-March: Indian Held Kashmir April-May: Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal In each of the states listed above, the BJP is defeatable. Mr Amit Shah has created the myth that the BJP is an invincible political machine. The BJP has its strengths, bolstered by money power, but it is also plagued by the usual weaknesses of all political parties — factions, dissidents, rival candidates and, in states where it is the ruling party, anti-incumbency.

In the last two months, the BJP was dented in Haryana, denied in Maharashtra and defeated in Jharkhand.

This success can be taken forward if non-BJP parties rally around the strongest party in each electionbound state. That would mean, for example, the Congress in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, and the DMK in Tamil Nadu. State-specific arrangements have to be worked out for Bihar and West Bengal. As things stand at present, the BJP is not a certain winner in any of the above states.

The ultimate goal are the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. ‘Project Hindu Rashtra’ must be stopped well before 2024. And the Constitution of India must be saved by 2024, as Abraham Lincoln did in the United States in 1865.

New York Times sends a simplistic message on regional uprisings: Blame Iran COLUMN BY THOMAS FRIEDMAN FAILS TO TACKLE THE COMPLEX REALITIES BEHIND ONGOING PROTESTS IN BAGHDAD, BEIRUT AND TEHRAN Middle east eye Marco carnelos

A recent New York Times column by Thomas Friedman offers another useful opportunity to better assess the ongoing protests in the Middle East.

Friedman correctly explains why hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets in Baghdad, Beirut and Tehran: They wish to “be treated as citizens with rights, and not just members of a sect or tribe with passions to be manipulated” and to be ruled by “noncorrupt institutions”.

Unfortunately, he also seems to draw misconceptions about these events, significantly simplifying - and maybe even involuntarily manipulating - what is happening, especially by portraying the protests as a regional uprising against Iran.

He is right in seeing an anti-sectarian drift in the protests, but it is naive to attribute sectarianism solely to Tehran’s will. Not a word is spent on the predominant role that Saudi Arabia and its Wahhabi strand of Islam has played over the last four decades. Iran is portrayed as being “ready to arrest and kill as many democracy demonstrators as needed to retain its grip on Iraq, Syria and Lebanon” and as “the biggest enemy of pluralistic democracy in the region today”.

What Friedman neglects is that in Iran, Iraq and Lebanon, a highly imperfect form of pluralistic democracy with a multiparty system is struggling to affirm itself. Of course, it is subject to huge constraints, which also explains the ongoing protests; although the democratic models in these three countries cannot be equated to Scandinavian ones, their differences with some pro-US Arab autocracies remain striking.

Hopefully Friedman is not implying that Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt are better pluralistic democracies than Iran, Iraq and Lebanon? Or that if protests were to break out in the streets of Riyadh, Manama and Cairo, they would not be suppressed with the same determination so far deployed in Iran and Iraq?

According to Friedman’s narrative, “Iran has used its Shiite Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and Syria and its Popular Mobilization Forces militia in Iraq to try to snuff out all their bottom-up secular democratic movements”. The political dynamic between Iran and Hezbollah is much more nuanced; by no means is it a relationship of mere subordination of the second to the first. There is a much more complex reality than often escapes observers not fully aware of the real, and sometimes impenetrable, Shia dynamics.

REGIONAL STRATEGY Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is one of the few external political figures who holds significant influence within the Iranian political galaxy. Far from being a proxy who executes Tehran’s “instructions”, he contributes to elaborating them; it is a two-way relationship. This should not be a hard concept to grasp in Washington; looking at the longstanding US-Israel relationship may help. Friedman claims that since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, “Iran has never wanted to see a stable, multisectarian, secular democracy emerge in Baghdad”. While this could be true, what is again missed is that Iran’s main priority in Iraq has been the prevention of a new attack of the type it endured during the long and bloody 1980s war.

From Iran’s viewpoint, its regional “destabilisation” strategy is a mix of pre-emptive and preventive moves; a form of forward defence similar to the one Israel has used towards its neighbours for decades. Again, this should not be difficult to understand, although understanding does not imply legitimising.

The bottom line is: If Israel is granted the right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter - a right that is sometimes exercised in questionable ways - other countries may also decide to claim the same right and exercise it in an equally questionable manner.

Friedman correctly urges the US to support pluralism in the region through “creative diplo-

macy”. Sadly, we have to go back 40 years, to former President Jimmy Carter brokering the Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel, to see creative US diplomacy at work in the region.

Since then, Europe and the Middle East have hoped and prayed to see it in action again - but regrettably, with the notable exception of the short-lived Iran nuclear deal, they have gotten only a blind, binary approach that goes between bullying sanctions and the use of force, with a corollary of never-ending wars.

‘REVOLT AND BE SLAUGHTERED’ Friedman concludes: “But the bad guys at the top won’t go easily, quietly or bloodlessly.

And since no outside power will be riding to the rescue, it will take sustained, organized, bottomup mass movements - in Lebanon, Iraq and Iran in particular - to enable the future to bury the past and topple all those at the top who want to use the past to bury the future.”

Putting wisely aside the debate on who represents the past and the future when Middle Eastern policy is involved, those at the top who must go are in Baghdad, Beirut and Tehran; those in other regional capitals, who live as much in the past, can relax, for the time being.

To the extent that the past is a good guide for the future, Friedman’s conclusion echoes quite well the unfortunate experience of the first Bush presidency in the spring of 1991, when the Kurds and Shia of Iraq were urged to rebel against Saddam Hussein, just dislodged from Kuwait, only to be later abandoned to his brutal and vengeful repression. Today’s message to the Lebanese, Iraqis and Iranians seems as heartening as it was three decades ago: Revolt and be slaughtered under our watch.

Marco Carnelos is a former Italian diplomat.

He has been assigned to Somalia, Australia and the United Nations. He has served in the foreign policy staff of three Italian prime ministers between 1995 and 2011.

Monday, 30 December, 2019

FOREIGN NEWS 07

TuRKey SAyS wIll noT wITHdRAw FRoM ARMy poSTS In SyRIA'S IdlIb ANKARA

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AGENCIES

URKEY will not withdraw from its observation posts in Syrian rebel bastion province of Idlib which has seen an increase in violence carried out by regime forces supported by Russian airstrikes, the defence minister said.

The posts were established under a September 2018 deal between Syrian regime ally Moscow and Ankara, which backs the rebels, to avert an all-out Syrian government onslaught in Idlib.

Government forces surrounded one of 12 Turkish observation post in Idlib province on Monday after overrunning nearby areas in a push to take the last opposition holdout, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“We respect the agreement reached with Russia and we expect Russia to abide by this agreement,” Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said in comments published on Sunday on the

defence ministry’s Twitter account.

“We will by no means empty those 12 observation posts, we will not leave there,” Akar said. His comments came during a visit together with top army commanders to the southern province of Hatay on the Syrian border to inspect

Saudi Arabia sentences Riyadh concert stabber to death DUBAI: A Saudi Arabian court on Sunday sentenced to death a man accused of stabbing three performers at a live show in the capital Riyadh in November, state television said. Another man on trial for the same incident was sentenced to 12 and a half years in prison, al-Ekhbariya television said. The Nov. 11 attack occurred at King Abdullah Park, one of several venues hosting a months-long entertainment festival as part of government efforts to open up Saudi society and diversify its economy away from oil. The assailant had previously been identified as a 33-year-old Yemeni resident in reports broadcast by Ekhbariya. Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 against the Iranaligned Houthis. The victims of the attack, two men and a woman, sustained “superficial wounds” and were stabilized after receiving medical care, state media reported at the time. AGENCIES

More than 1,000 gather for rain-soaked Hong Kong rally HONG KONG: More than 1,000 people rallied in the rain in a park in Hong Kong’s financial district on Sunday, chanting slogans for democracy as they huddled under a sea of umbrellas. The crowd, a mix of young and elderly people, wore black and turquoise surgical masks to hide their identities as they listened to organizers speaking on a makeshift stage.

“There may be fewer people. We all know that no matter how many people come out or how many times, the government ignores you,” said a 30-year-old woman in black clothing surnamed Wong, who works in the legal sector. “Hong Kongers will never stop. We see unfairness, injustice. It contradicts our fundamental beliefs,” she said. Hong Kong has been convulsed by more than six months of protests, triggered by a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, where courts are controlled by the Communist Party. The demonstrations have since evolved into a broader pro-democracy movement and have again became more confrontational over recent days with police clashing with protesters at several shopping malls and busy tourist areas. On Saturday, riot police arrested about a dozen protesters and used pepper spray to break up a gathering aimed at disrupting retail business near the border with mainland China. More protests are planned in the next few days, including a countdown to New Year’s Day and a march on Jan. 1 that could attract a big crowd. Protesters are angry about what they see as increased meddling by Beijing in freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to Chinese rule in 1997. AGENCIES

Turkish troops on Saturday.

Turkey, worried over a new wave of refugees from the Idlib region, is pressing for a fresh ceasefire deal, as it sent a delegation to Moscow on Monday.

Akar’s visit to soldiers on the border region comes as Turkey is also

readying to send troops to support the UN-recognised government in Tripoli against strongman Khalifa Haftar’s self-styled Libyan National Army.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said Ankara would respond to an invitation from the Libyan national unity government and Turkish parliament would vote on a motion to send troops as soon as it returns from recess as early as next month.

Ankara signed in November a security and military cooperation deal with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) but in order to send troops, parliament needs to vote a motion like it does for Iraq and Syria.

The official Anadolu news agency, citing sources in Erdogan’s ruling party, reported that the timetable could be brought forward and the motion could be presented to parliament speaker’s office on Monday.

The General Assembly could vote the measure in an extraordinary session on Thursday, it said.

Libya’s parliament speaker urges rejection of UN-recognised govt TRIPOLI AGENCIES

The speaker of Libya’s parliament on Saturday urged the international community to reject the legitimacy of the war-torn country’s UN-recognised government which is pursuing closer military ties with Turkey.

Libya has been beset by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations in the east and the west vying for power.

In a reflection of the deep political divisions, the elected parliament in the east is allied with military strongman Khalifa Haftar, who is at war with the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA) recognised by the United Nations.

“In the coming days, the Libyan parliament will take action to ensure the withdrawal of international recognition of this government,” parliament speaker Aguila Saleh told AFP in an interview during a visit to Cyprus.

Saleh said he had asked Cypriot Foreign Minister Nicos Christodoulides to “convey a message to the European Union so that it withdraws its recognition of this government (the GNA).

“It is time to form a new government supported by the Libyan people and parliament.” Libya’s parliament has itself been weakened by the departure of several dozen anti-Haftar lawmakers for Tripoli.

Saleh’s visit follows a rise in tensions between Turkey on the one hand and EU members Greece and Cyprus on the other in a conflict over offshore hydrocarbon resources that has drawn in Libya. Turkey in November signed a deal with the GNA in Tripoli in which the two parties lay claim to much of the Mediterranean, conflicting with rival claims by Greece and Cyprus.

At the same time, Turkey is stepping up military aid to Tripoli, which is battling Haftar’s forces for control of the capital.

Saleh also met his Cypriot counterpart Demetris Syllouris.

In a joint statement, they called the Turkey-GNA agreement a violation of international law, labelled Turkey’s plan to send troops to Libya unacceptable and charged Ankara was escalating regional tensions, reported the Cyprus News Agency. They also discussed ways to counter Turkey’s two Libya agreements, which Cyprus strongly oppose.

One provides for a direct military intervention by Turkish forces in support of the GNA, a move Ankara says may begin as early as next month. The other sets a maritime boundary between Libya and Turkey, which has angered Greece and Cyprus as they step up plans to exploit offshore gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey invaded its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup seeking to unite the whole island with Greece.

The Cyprus government has no diplomatic relations with Turkey.

Iran blasts France for 'interference' over jailed academic ISFAHAN: Iran accused France on Sunday of “interference” in the case of an IranianFrench academic held in the Islamic republic, saying she is considered an Iranian national and faces security charges. France said on Friday it summoned Iran’s ambassador to protest the imprisonment of Fariba Adelkhah and another academic, Roland Marchal of France, saying their detention was “intolerable”. Their imprisonment has added to distrust between Tehran and Paris at a time when French President Emmanuel Macron is seeking to play a leading role in defusing tensions between Iran and its arch-foe the United States. “The statement by France’s foreign ministry regarding an Iranian national is an act of interference and we see their request to have no legal basis,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a statement. “The individual in question [Adelkhah] is an Iranian national and has been arrested over ‘acts of espionage’,” he said, adding that her lawyer had knowledge about the details of the case which is being investigated. Iran does not recognise dual nationality and has repeatedly rebuffed calls from foreign governments for consular access to those it has detained during legal proceedings. In its statement on Friday, the French foreign ministry reiterated its call for the release of Adelkhah and Marshal. It also reaffirmed France’s demand for consular access. AGENCIES

Turkish military plane to evacuate Somalia bomb victims MOGADISHU: A Turkish military plane arrived in Mogadishu on Sunday to evacuate those gravely wounded in a devastating bombing that killed 79 people and overwhelmed local health services, in the latest attack on a city dogged by insecurity.

The aircraft also brought doctors to help treat some 125 people injured in Saturday’s blast, which happened when a vehicle packed with explosives detonated at a busy security checkpoint. No group has claimed the bloody attack, however, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo has blamed Islamist group Al-Shabaab which regularly carries out car bombings and other attacks on the capital, in their decade-long bid to topple the internationally-backed government.

Saturday’s bombing was the deadliest since truck exploded in 2017 near a fuel tanker, creating a fireball that killed over 500 people. Farmaajo pinned the attack on the “terrorist organisation Al-Shabaab” in a televised message and slammed it as an attempt to “intimidate and terrorise the Somali public and to massacre them at every opportunity available”. AGENCIES

Tourists stay away from Taj Mahal, other Indian attractions as protests flare MUMBAI AGENCIES

India’s tourism industry has been hit by a wave of violent anti-government protests against a new citizenship law that have rocked several cities this month, with at least seven countries issuing travel warnings.

At least 25 people have been killed in clashes between police and protesters, and demonstrations against the law continue.

Officials estimate about 200,000 domestic and international tourists cancelled or postponed their trip to the Taj Mahal in the past two weeks, one of the world’s most popular tourist attractions.

“There has been a 60% decline in visitor footfalls in December this year,” said Dinesh Kumar, a police inspector overseeing a special tourist police station near the Taj Mahal who has access to visitor data. He said the decline was compared to December last year.

“Indian and foreign tourists have been calling our control rooms to check security. We assure them protection, but many still decide to stay away,” said Kumar. The 17th century marble mon-

ument is in Uttar Pradesh, the northern state that has witnessed the highest number of deaths and intense bursts of violence in two weeks of unrest. A group of European tourists travelling in a group across India said they now planned to cut short their 20 day trip.

“We are all retired folks, for us travel has to be slow and relaxing. The newspaper headlines have led to a sense of concern and we will leave sooner than we had planned,” said Dave Millikin, a retired banker living on the outskirts of London, who spoke to Reuters from the capital New Delhi.

The Taj Mahal, situated in the town of Agra, attracts over 6.5 million tourists every year, generating nearly $14 million annually from entrance fees. A foreign tourist pays 1,100 rupees (about $15) to enter the grounds, although nationals from neighbouring countries get a discount.

Managers in luxury hotels and guest houses around the Taj Mahal said last minute cancellations during the festive season have further dampened business sentiment at a time when the country’s economic growth has slowed to 4.5%, its slowest pace in more than six years.

In a bid to clamp down on violence and unrest, authorities have suspended mobile internet services in Agra.

“Blocking the internet has affected travel and tourism in Agra by about 5060%,” said Sandeep Arora, president of the Agra Tourism Development Foundation that groups over 250 tour operators, hotels and guides.

The United States, Britain, Russia, Israel, Singapore, Canada and Taiwan have issued travel advisories asking their citizens to either refrain from vis-

iting or to exercise caution when visiting regions embroiled in India’s protests. Jayanta Malla Baruah, the head of the Assam Tourism Development Corp., said the state, home to the world’s largest concentration of onehorned rhinoceroses, is visited on average by 500,000 tourists during December.

“But this time, due to the ongoing protests and travel advisories by various countries, the number is down by 90% if not more.”

Monday, 30 December, 2019

08 COMMENT

Citizenship rights in India and Bangladesh

Making excuses?

Imran’s praise for the Ayub era symptomatic

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rIME Minister Imran Khan told a meeting of the american Physicians of Pakistani Descent of north america (aPPna) that while he wanted to bring about change, corrupt elements among the politicians, the bureaucracy and the press were resisting him. considering that he was addressing one of his core constituencies, this sounded like he was making excuses.

The fact he was having to explain away is that despite over a year in office, the country has not improved. rather, as aPPna members must have heard from their relatives and acquaintances still in Pakistan, things have got worse. The Prime Minister cannot concede either that he is incompetent, or that he is wrong, and that ending corruption is the only answer. Therefore, he has to seek out enemies, all of whom he dismisses as corrupt.

That might provide a good basis for establishing a despotism, but it is not a good way of achieving prosperity. among other things, it allows the regime the power of ignoring any criticism made of it, no matter how wellintentioned or directed at reform and improvement. This claiming of unnamed enemies is dangerous, for it means that genuine opposition will be labelled corruption. This is apparently already happening, with naB being used to target opponents, who are then festooned with corruption charges.

Mr Khan also expressed admiration for the ayub regime, which might help explain part of the problem, and perhaps the whole of it. The ayub regime is held up as an example of high growth, industrial development and prosperity. however, such a laudatory view does not explain why East Pakistani alienation grew to the point that East Pakistan seceded within three years of his fall from office. This is apart from the fact that the constitution ayub promulgated, or the system of basic democracies that he introduced, did not outlast him. The presidential system, and one Unit in West Pakistan, were among the things characteristic of his regime, but which did not survive him. Imran changes models as frequently as he changes clothes: he started with the riasat-i-Madina, moved on to admiration for Mahathir’s Malaysia, for china, and now the model is ayub. This failure to settle on one model, or rather this dependence on models, is part of the reason why this government has not fixed anything.

Censors at work?

Why was Shuja Nawaz stopped from launching his book

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hE book launch functions of Washington-based Shuja nawaz’s latest book, The Battle for Pakistan, were cancelled after the author was told to do so. The reason for this censorship was not easily understood, for Shuja nawaz has hitherto enjoyed an impeccable reputation as one who has strongly supported the Pakistani position in the USa, where he is based, being a Distinguished Fellow of the South asia centre at the atlantic council. his previous books have been praised, including his two works on the Pakistan army, Crossed Swords and The Wars Within. There is some speculation that the book contains material uncomplimentary to the present government, but there is none of the certainty of an official statement.

The tendency, under the present setup, of ever-new forms of censorship, is now reaching out to Pakistanis whose patriotism was previously never in doubt. The thin skin of the present government, its fighting shadows, and its tilting at windmills, mean that opening one’s mouth becomes more difficult than ever, and criticism of the government becomes anathema.

It is perhaps paradoxical that the sale and distribution of the book have not been forbidden, which indicates that it does not contain any material which would justify a prohibition in court. The way the book launches, which were originally scheduled for Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, have been cancelled raise the unwelcome prospect of interference with distribution (as was done with that of a newspaper) in the past. It is true that freedom of speech does not mean license to make wild allegations, but it is equally true that any abuse of that freedom can only be so declared by a properly constituted court of law, and not according to the fiat of some junior official. as there is no legal method for any censorship unless a crime has been committed, it seems that an over-enthusiastic adviser has given some really bad advice. It is to be hoped that none of the strong-arm tactics used for newspapers are tried on the retailers of this book, especially where no cause of disagreement has been expressed.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

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India and Muslims are like Bangladesh and Biharis

ABiD HussAin

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hE citizenship amendment act 2019 passed by the Indian Parliament offers amnesty to non-Muslim illegal immigrants from three neighbouring countries afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan. The world’s largest secular state faced a catastrophic conflict and erupted in protest.

People in different provinces, especially in northeastern states, voiced their opposition to the controversial new citizenship law. It is said that the act is purely based on the hindu nationalist agenda. critics say it is part of a BJP agenda to marginalise Muslims. Protesters rampaged at the northern cities of rampur, Sambhal, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor and Kanpur and set fire to several vehicles, and approximately 40 people have been killed so far. Minority protesters are in a rage at being weeded out from the citizenship list. It is declared that two million people have suffered and are regarded as foreigners in a so-called secular state.

The act as a whole provides citizenship to religious minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and afghanistan. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denies that the bill discriminates against Muslims but BJP President and home Minister amit Shah has clearly articulated that the bill is against Muslim migrants from three neighbouring countries aforementioned.

The petition against this act has already been filed in the apex court of India but, a question has been raised whether the court will give a verdict in favour of minorities or not. It is also worth seeing that whether the protesters will risk their lives and livelihoods to demonstrate against the law or not. The Modi Government and the BJP will decide the future of hindustan.

India and Bangladesh have set relations in the war against Pakistan in 1971. They are good

friends and their friendship is mostly based on common reliance on an anti-Pakistan agenda.

Many Bangladeshi are pro-Indian rather than pro-Pakistani. Both countries exchange highlevel visits from time to time. Both have bilateral and institutional mechanisms, and both countries share the longest border of 4,096.7 kilometres and share 54 common rivers. India provides economic assistance to Bangladesh, and almost $8 billion have been spent by the Indian government for this in the last seven years.

They also share visa, cultural exchange, training and capacity building. It is said that more than a tens of thousands strong Indian community lives in Bangladesh. Indians in Bangladesh are regarded as respectable citizens for their hard and managerial skills and in this way, they are contributing well in a socioeconomic relationship.

The Indian-afghanistan relations is mainly based on a strategic partnership agreement known as SPa. Indian analysts argue that Indian involvement in afghanistan is to rebuild the infrastructure of various institutions in afghanistan but their main agenda is to sabotage the influence of Pakistan in the region. Both countries have a strong trade relationship. The Indian Foreign office website reflects that the Bilateral trade between both countries during 2016-17 was $800 million approximately and will be expanded in future. The Indian government has launched several projects in afghanistan such as KEc (Electrical transmission line), Phoenix (Electrical transmission) aIPL (hydropower projects) aPTEch (computer and management education), anaar Group (air India GSa) and Spice Jet, among others. The main reason for these projects is to counter Pakistan narratives in a broader sense.

The other citizenship rights bill is of Biharis in Bangladesh (The non-Bengali). The Bangladesh government and public servants have framed duplicitous policies against Biharis in granting them access to public education, health facilities, employments, passport facilities, driving licenses and so on. article 32 of the Bangladesh constitution defines fundamental rights to life and liberty, and worker migration to move abroad which will contribute in GDP to Bangladesh economy and many workers will

send remittance to their beloved ones on availing these opportunities in Gulf countries. as far as national and international courts are concerned, the Biharis are permanent citizens of Bangladesh and the apex court also declared them nationals of Bangladesh who should be treated as equal citizens in their fundamental rights. It has also been declared by the Supreme court of Bangladesh that people who were born after the 1971 war were regarded as citizens and shall avail their documents as per government rules, but they remain deviously marginalised as victims of sophisticated discrimination and systematically, they lag in quality education, employment opportunities in public and private selector, working abroad and most of them live in objective poverty. Bangladesh government must provide them with equal citizenship rights.

Biharis desired to go hand in hand with Bengalis in schools, colleges, mosques, madrassas and all social institutions. Mostly Biharis called upon Bengalis to change their mindset for the new generation. They should not punish the existing generations for the mistakes made by their older generation. They expect to be treated like brothers and argue that Bengalis have to protect their generation from perishing.

The legal definition for the term ‘minority’ was used by the Sub-commission on Prevention of Discrimination and protection of minorities in article 27 of International covenant on civil and Political rights (IccPr) in December 16, 1966. The article declares minorities ‘are considered to be a group numerically inferior to the rest of the population of the state, in a non-dominant position, whose members being citizens of a state, possess ethnic beliefs or linguistic characteristics differing from the rest of the population and show if only implicitly, a sense of solidarity directly towards preserving their culture, traditions, religions or language’. The minorities’ rights in India and Bangladesh are becoming highly debatable these days. The international organisations should take necessary action against these loopholes.

Abid Hussain can abidhussain@issi.org.pk

be

reached

at

Youth entrepreneurship in community A model to learn from

Dr Yossef Ben-Meir

M

oroccan youth today, whether urban or rural based, face enormous obstacles in achieving their self-development and in creating the improvements they seek for their families, communities, country, and even for the world. as they know all too well, they are confronted with the statistical reality which confirms the more educational credits they have, the more their income expectation is proportionately diminished. The higher the level of education results in fewer employment options available for them to consider. The backdrop of having little faith in the social system, its sense of fair play, clouds the real freedom available to join cooperatives, to form businesses their aspirations mirror, and to envision more rewarding accomplishments.

In rural regions youth unemployment is more severe. cash economies, dependent on estab-

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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lished day-labourer experience, offer little chance of job openings.

Urban migration is the only alternative for so many, even when their real desires would be to remain in their communities and to build on their local, heartfelt attachments.

The poor and unacceptable levels of rural education compel young families to relocate in cities. considering the strong incentives evident among youth to alter their realities, the success rate is low. The funding, secured for launching new projects, appears to be the exception.

This said, the bright light for change can be found rooted in the Moroccan condition. People’s participation in their own development is the law of the land, pervading the social structure by way of policies, programmes, and legal obligation.

Portions of these national framework guidelines for human development specify youth as a primary and potential vehicle in facilitating local participatory development movements the nation seeks. This is to say the direct engagement of youth, in bringing their respective communities together, in planning and in managing the projects, offers the fulfilment their lives deserve while providing a key causeway to Morocco’s best future.

Simply put: Moroccan sustainable development, the reality of its outcome for all people will be determined by the role its youth plays.

But how do we move forward, and how does this embody true entrepreneurship? as in ways of learning, of forging new skills, we do best by the practice of doing. We coordi-

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

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nate inclusive, local dialogue by assisting in that dialogue. We help others in defining their heartfelt projects directed towards a better future by doing just that: asking the questions, collecting the responses, aggregating them in helping others work through them until a common consensus and direction becomes defined.

In addition, we put forth successful project proposals by writing and submitting them with responsible follow-up. We learn how to create budgets by creating them. We build capacities around the evaluation of past actions in order to build future courses by engaging in them.

We learn from experience; so must our youth. Thankfully, there are no preconditions required to begin.

There is no educational degree we must have. There is no innate status or background needed to qualify.

We begin by beginning. Time and life are short, so we must begin now.

We are often taught to think that entrepreneurship comes from our own innovation. We are often encouraged to believe that to become the most creative, strategic, and successful is in doing that which arises from our own ingenuity, from our own personal business sense, and rests with our own ability to invent and to decide.

This outlook is categorically false, misleading, and even antithetical in effecting sustainable and progressive development towards a satisfactory society. Entrepreneurship rests on what we give towards drawing out and realising the ideas of the people. Innovation is the embodiment

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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of a thousand voices intersecting and resulting in one agreement for a collective, communal development. our creativity is a reflection of how we assist others in understanding and pursuing their hopes for the future.

Youth entrepreneurship is not an endeavour of separate individuals, but rather a concern of all youth, enriching themselves by building their communities’ development course and driven by public participation.

There is a heavy burden Moroccan youth experience, with trepidation the future must hold in their hearts. To even fulfil the promise of the light of people’s participation and development is truly painstaking and difficult, without certainty, and with non-linear progress. There is, however, reason for gratitude when national policies champion youth’s role in creating sustainable change, and sees everyone’s participation as vital to that change. The question before us is: will we give ourselves over to the cause of others; thereby to the vast multiplicity of entrepreneurship, with all the resources entailed, in order to walk this course?

Even though time brings us understanding, it is not presently our friend. There is urgency to this call in completing the Moroccan model in bringing, finally, mutual satisfaction; in the giving and the receiving our lives seriously need.

Dr Yossef Ben-Meir is an American sociologist with a particular interest in the MENA region and president of the High Atlas Foundation in Morocco. He lives and works in Marrakesh, Morocco.

E-mail: yossef@highatlasfoundation.org

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 30 December, 2019

COMMENT 09 Editor’s mail

Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

Nehru’s documented perfidy on Kashmir

Judicial dominance While no one denies that members of the military sacrifice their lives for us, that does not mean anyone can abrogate the Constitution

A

sYeD KAswAr GArDezi

free, independent and impartial judiciary forms the bedrock of a democratic society. It plays the role of an umpire keeping the executive, and sometimes the legislature, in check upon the touchstone of the constitution. If the judiciary of a country impartially dispenses justice, irrespective of whosoever is a party to a case, then the purpose of justice would indeed be served. It is the judiciary which is bound to avert any extra-constitutional steps taken in a particular jurisdiction. The judges’ oaths of office require them to stand up and be just no matter how high the stakes. Effectively, the law is what the judges interpret it to be. Though certain reservations, on the mode and manner in which subjective interpretations are made, can be raised, nevertheless, in general, a strong and independent judiciary plays a crucial role in sustaining a true democracy.

In Pakistan, unfortunately, the judiciary has always remained in the shadows, never too bold enough to step in and intervene where it was required to. Several times in the past the constitution, under which the judges derive their power to be labelled as “lordships”, has been abrogated and not once did the judiciary intervene to rectify these treasonous acts. on the contrary, such acts have always been ratified by employing the infamous doctrine of necessity which virtually is treasonous in itself. I believe the words ‘aiding’ and ‘abetting’ in their literal sense would include any judicial decisions made to ratify attacks on the constitution. history teaches us that the judges of the past have never been courageous enough to stay true to their oaths and have more often than not violated them.

The past cannot be undone, the doctrine of necessity used earlier cannot be overturned and history cannot be changed. however, as widely believed, nations prosper with time and mistakes are generally made to act as lessons for the future. The judiciary of the past may have made its fair share of mistakes in the past but the judiciary of today has left no stone overturned to learn from those errors.

Judges of the past would have acquitted Mumtaz Qadri and convicted aasia Bibi; the judges of today did just the opposite.

In recent years, the judiciary of Pakistan

has broken out of its shell and has emerged as tions endanger institutional harmony and proa strong, independent and bold institution mote hostility within the country. as disqualseeking to review all unconstitutional acts ir- ifying a Prime Minister and striking down of respective of the parties involved. The sen- a legislation as being in violation of the contencing of General Musharraf was a turning stitution, is not considered an attack on the expoint in our history which is tainted with oc- ecutive and the legislature in general, the casional attacks on our constitution. Even same way a judgement against a former milithough the decision has not been well received tary dictator should not be viewed as an asin many quarters, a clear message has been sault on the military as a whole. The same transmitted; all unconstitutional steps taken way, questioning the legality of the army would entail grave penal consequences, as chief’s extension was not a strike on the institution, but rather a provided by the constiquestion mark on the tution itself. The special vacuity within the law. court did not shy away nonetheless, the from sentencing a forcurrent judiciary has esmer military ruler in tablished its dominance spite of him having the by recent use of its pen. might of the military Nonetheless, the current The overdue shift from behind him. With the exception of paragraph judiciary has established its Mr Justice Munir’s doctrine of necessity to no. 66 which, in the dominance by recent use of considering abrogation words of Mr Justice of the constitution Shahid Karim, finds no its pen. The overdue shift ‘treason’ has finally basis under the law, the from Mr Justice Munir’s been made. The symrest of the judgement doctrine of necessity to bolic nature of the conelaborates the gravity of viction marks the abrogating the constituconsidering abrogation of beginning of a new era tion and its consethe Constitution ‘treason’ in the constitutional hisquences thereof. In tory of Pakistan; all are particular, Mr Justice has finally been made. The equal in the eyes of law.

Shahid Karim has elosymbolic nature of the The dominance of the quently carved out the judiciary should not be entire history forming conviction marks the misconstrued to be inthe inception of treason beginning of a new era in the terpreted as a free liand how it relates to cense for the judiciary.

General Musharraf’s acconstitutional history of the judiciary tions.

Pakistan; all are equal in the naturally, is also required to act Some might perwithin the limits preceive it to be an attack eyes of law. The dominance scribed by the constituon the military as an inof the judiciary should not tion and any stitution. however, such be misconstrued to be transgression should an apprehension is misalso be addressed with conceived. The judgeinterpreted as a free license vehemence. ment does not attack the for the judiciary. Naturally, It would be a diffimilitary as a whole but rather targets one indithe judiciary is also required cult task to analyse Pakistan’s progress this vidual who violated his to act within the limits past decade as far as seoath. no one, including curity, economy and the judiciary, can be alprescribed by the politics is concerned lowed to ridicule the Constitution and any but one can say with guardians of our borders as whole. In fact, an attransgression should also be certainty that the decade which started tack on the military in addressed with vehemence off with the judiciary itself would be unconstriving to revive and stitutional. The warriors restore itself is leaving and guardians of our behind the judiciary as borders who ensure the the strongest institution citizenry’s comfort and in the country, and sanctity within their rightly so. as for Genhomes, by spilling their own blood, deserves the highest of respect and eral Musharraf, only allah knows what his acnot once has the same been brought into ques- tual fate might be but it once again reminds tion. But when an individual acts out and me of Faiz’s eternal words: Jaza saza sab yahin pe ho gi, yahin seeks to abrogate the very constitution under azaab-o-sawab ho ga which all institutions of the country operate, Yahin se uthe ga shor-e-mehshar, yahin pe then such individuals should be vilified not roz-e-hisab ho ga only by the judiciary but by the military establishment itself.

Syed kaswar Gardezi is a lawyer and a Making General Musharraf answerable for his crimes should not be perceived as an columnist. He can be contacted at attack on the military establishment. Such no- kaswargardezi@gmail.com

aT heart, nehru never cared a fig for the disputed state’s constituent assembly, Indian Parliament, or the Un. avtar Singh Bhasin in his 2018 book, India, Pakistan: neighbours at odds, discusses nehru’s perfidy on Kashmir in chapter 5 titled ‘Kashmir, India’s constitution and nehru’s Vacillation’ (pages 51-64). The book is based on Selected Works of Jawaharlal nehru and author’s own compendium of documents on IndiaPak relations. Let us bare a few facts. nehru banked on the so-called Instrument of accession and its authentication by the ‘constituent assembly’. Later, at a press conference on June 11, 1951 he changed his view. he clarified, ‘We have made it perfectly clear that the constituent assembly of Kashmir was not meant to decide finally any such question, and it is not in the way of any decision which may ultimate flow from the Security council proceedings’. he wrote to the disputed State’s Prime Minister that ‘after consideration of the problem, we are inclined to think that it [plebiscite] should be held under United nations’ auspices (p. 28 ibid.). he reiterated in new Delhi on november 3, 1951 that ‘we have made it perfectly clear before the Security council that the Kashmir constituent assembly does not [insofar] as we are concerned come in the way of a decision by the Security council, or the United nations’. he never labelled Pakistan an aggressor. But he told parliament on March 1, 1954 that ‘aggression’ took place in Kashmir six and a half years ago with dire consequences. nevertheless, the United States has thus far not condemned it and we are asked not to press this point in the interest of peace (Bhasan pp. 55-56). Bhasin points out that ‘there was a perceptible shift in his [nehru’s] stand on July 24 1952 about the future of the State - if the decision of the Security council was at variance with that of the constituent assembly’. nehru said: ‘Unless the Security council functioned under some other Sections of the charter, it cannot take a decision which is binding upon us unless we agree to it. They are functioning as mediators and a mediator means getting people to agree’ (SWJ, Volume 19, page 241). Isn’t it eerie that now the whole architecture of India’s stand on Kashmir is erected on the mythical ‘instrument of accession’ and its endorsement by the disputed state’s assembly? Let India know that a state that flouts international treaties is a rogue state: pacta sunt servanda, treaties are to be observed and are binding on the parties.

MoHAMMAD ASAD MALik Rawalpindi

Acute shortage of anti-rabies vaccine hits the city an acute shortage of life saving anti-rabies vaccine (arV) at Dr ruth Pfau civil hospital Karachi (chK) has forced poor patients to buy it from the open market, causing tremendous hardship to them. as many as 100 people are brought to the hospital for vaccination on a daily basis after being bitten by a dog, but arV has not been available in the hospital for last 10 days due to a poor supply. This has caused tremendous difficulties for the people who are struggling to buy life-saving drugs trying to salvage their lives.

Dr Qureshi said that dog bite cases were common in the metropolitan and his hospital needed the vaccine immediately.

The city’s two other hospitals, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical centre and the Indus hospital, have limited stock of the vaccine while the other hospitals across the city have been facing a dearth of arVs since last week. according to the data from various hospitals of the city, over 18,000 dog bite cases have been reported in the last seven months.

AREEB NAvAiD karachi

Misuse of tariffs ManY agriculturists have constructed commercial swimming pools near their tubewells in central Punjab where they charge rs100-200 per person for swimming and bathing for a couple of hours. Every second day, the pool is filled with fresh water by using the cheap electricity. It is used to earn millions of revenue during peak summer season. Families and groups can also book these swimming pools by paying the fee upfront.

DIScoS have a clear policy on such misuse of tariffs and penalise by charging a detection bill on complaint. I had filed a complaint with the FIa after FESco chiniot Division confirmed the misuse of tariff by an influential family for the last 5 years. I request the Minister for Energy, as it is need of the hour, that Section 39 of the Electricity act be amended by adding imprisonment and fines for blatant misuse of tariff by these agriculturist businessmen.

TANWEER AHMAD HARAL Lahore

Sewage problem in Karachi SIr, through the column of your well-known newspaper, I would like to draw attention towards the bad condition of sewage system in our city and the various types of diseases rearing their ugly heads because of the sewage overflow.

I am a citizen of Karachi. The condition of the sewage system in our city is becoming poorer everyday. all the dirty water from sewage usually flows on to the roads which creates more difficulties for both vehicles and pedestrians. We have complained many times to the Municipal corporation but they paid no attention. I hope you will look into the matter and will take action to precipitate the repair of the bad sewage condition.

HAMzA FARooq karachi

Monday, 30 December, 2019

10 FOREIGN NEWS

norTh korea's kim holds Top parTy meeTinG ahead of us deadline PYONGYANG

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AGENCIES

ORTH Korean leader Kim Jong Un has convened a key meeting of top ruling party officials, state media said Sunday, ahead of a year-end deadline for Washington to shift its stance on stalled nuclear talks.

The plenary session, which opened on Saturday, follows widespread speculation that Pyongyang is preparing to test an intercontinental ballistic missile — as a threatened “Christmas gift” for Washington. Kim presided over the meeting

which discussed a new “transparent, antiimperialist independent stand”, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.

The ruling Workers’ Party of Korea will also “discuss important matters arising… in the building of the state and national defence”, KCNA added.

Talks on denuclearising the Korean peninsula have been largely deadlocked since the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed in Hanoi at the start of this year.

The opening of the plenary comes a week after Kim held a meeting of top defence officials and discussed boosting

military capabilities, and ahead of the leader’s New Year speech on January 1, a key political set-piece in the isolated country. Pyongyang has carried out a series of static tests at its Sohae rocket facility this month, after a number of weapons launches in recent weeks — some of them described as ballistic missiles by Japan and others.

North Korea is under heavy US and United Nations sanctions over its nuclear programme, but it has been frustrated at the lack of relief after it declared a moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests.

Russia and China — North Korea’s

Ukraine rivals begin prisoner exchange in controversial swap KIEV AGENCIES

Ukrainian authorities and Russiabacked separatists in the war-torn east of the country began a prisoner exchange on Sunday in a frontline operation that has stirred controversy.

The exchange came after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky held their first face-to-face talks in Paris on December 9 and agreed measures to de-escalate Europe’s only active war.

As part of the swap, Kiev was expected to hand over to separatists several riot policemen suspected of killing protesters during a pro-Western uprising in 2014, in a move that sparked public anger. “At the Mayorske checkpoint the process of releasing detained persons has begun,” the official Twitter account of the Ukrainian presidency said.

It was still unclear how many people were involved in the exchange. A Ukrainian source told AFP that the parties were still verifying the lists of those being exchanged. A representative of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk, Daria Morozova, said earlier that separatists would get 87 prisoners, while 55 people would be handed over to Kiev.

Earlier Sunday the two sides were seen preparing to exchange prisoners, with vehicles arriving near the village of Odradivka, some 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, an AFP correspondent reported from the scene.

The location was guarded by uniformed men with machine guns. The December summit between the Russian and Ukraine leaders, mediated by France and Germany, was the first of its kind in three years.

The latest swap comes three months

after Ukraine carried out a long-awaited exchange with Russia of 35 prisoners each. The last major prisoner swap between Kiev and separatists took place in 2017, with more than 230 separatists swapped for over 70 Ukrainians. Ties between Ukraine and Russia were shredded after the bloody 2014 uprising ousted a Kremlin-backed regime.

Moscow went on to annex Crimea and support insurgents in eastern Ukraine, who launched a bid for independence in 2014. Since then more than 13,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

ANGER IN KIEV: The potential release of the riot police has raised concerns in Ukraine, with many fearing the country is being pushed to pay too high a price for the swap.

They are suspected to have been involved in the bloody crackdown on protesters in 2014.

Some 100 demonstrators were shot dead during

main ally — have proposed easing sanctions in a bid to de-escalate tensions.

ImmINENT THREAT: The ongoing meeting could have Pyongyang announce “major policy shift” from its previous approach with the US, said Hong Min, a senior researcher at the South’s state-run Korea Institute for National Unification.

Earlier this month, North Korean media published pictures of Kim riding a white horse on a sacred mountain, imagery that experts said was heavy with symbolism and may indicate a policy announcement. “We’ll find out what the surprise is and we’ll deal with it very successfully,” Trump said.

the uprising.

Ahead of the swap, Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said that the trial of the five suspects would continue, warning the defendants would still have to appear in court. Three former riot policemen had earlier been released from custody while another two had been freed from house arrest.

Ahead of the swap, about 200 people protesting the release of the riot policemen gathered near the detention centre in the capital Kiev where the three suspects were held.

“This country has no future,” Volodymyr Golodnyuk, the father of a 19-year protester who was killed in the uprising, said on Facebook. In an open letter to Zelensky, the victims’ families warned the release of the suspects could lead to a “wave of protests”. Since coming to power in May, comedian-turnedpresident Zelensky, 41, has sought to kickstart a peace process to end the conflict. At the Paris summit, the leaders have sought to revive accords signed in Minsk in 2015 that call for the withdrawal of heavy weapons, the restoration of Kiev’s control over its borders, wider autonomy for Donetsk and Lugansk, and the holding of local elections.

Major world events of the year 2019 AGENCIES The year 2019 saw an explosion of demonstrations across the world as people demanded an overhaul of entrenched political systems and action on climate change.

Here is a look back at these and other events that marked the year.

PROTESTS SWEEP LATIN AmERIcA: On January 23, Venezuela’s opposition chief Juan Guaido declares himself interim president, escalating a long-running political and economic crisis.

He is recognised by more than 50 countries, including the United States. But the army backs President Nicolas Maduro and he remains in his post. In mid-September major demonstrations erupt in Haiti after fuel shortages, demanding the resignation of President Jovenel Moise. Violence claims more than 40 lives. A metro ticket hike in Chile’s capital midOctober is the trigger for protests that claim more than 20 lives before a referendum on reforms is agreed.

Bolivia is gripped by three weeks of demonstrations after President Evo Morales claims to win a fourth term on October 20. Dozens are killed. Morales resigns on November 10 and flees into exile as the government works on new elections.

Ecuador is paralysed by nearly two weeks of protests in October and in Colombia strikes and demonstrations against the right-wing government begin mid-November.

NORTH AfRIcA/mIDEAST fURY: On February 22, unprecedented protests break out in Algeria against a fifth term for frail President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in power for 20 years.

He loses the army’s backing and resigns on April 2. But demonstrations continue, demanding an overhaul of the entire political establishment and rejecting new president Abdelmadjid Tebboune, elected on December 12 in polls marked by record abstention.

In Sudan, the military on April 11 ends Omar alBashir’s three decades in power, a key demand in four months of nationwide protests.

Demonstrations continue until a hard-won agreement in August sets up a joint governing council to oversee a transition to civilian rule. More than 250

people are killed, according to protesters.

In Iraq, mass demonstrations erupt on October 1 against unemployment, corruption and poor public services, degenerating into violence that claims more than 460 lives.

On December 1, parliament accepts the government’s resignation.

In Lebanon, rolling mass protests start on October 17, triggered by plans for a messaging app tax and turning against the political elite. They continue even after Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigns on October 29, with protesters rejecting new premier-designate Hassan Diab, an engineering professor backed by Hezbollah chosen on December 19 to form a government. Iran sees an explosion of riots on November 15 after a fuel price hike.

IS LEADER KILLED: After a five-year offensive to seize vast Islamic State (IS) territory in Iraq and Syria, the militants were driven out of their last bastion in March by Kurdish-led forces.

On October 27, President Donald Trump announces that IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a US special forces raid in Syria, blowing himself up as he was pursued.

BOEING mAX GROUNDED: A March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash leads to the global grounding of Boeing 737 MAX planes. It follows a Lion Air crash involving the same model six months earlier, with 346 lives lost in the two incidents.

Boeing faces investigations and lawsuits, and is forced to upgrade its systems, in a crisis that costs it billions of dollars. In mid-December production of the plane is suspended. On December 23, Boeing chief Dennis Muilenburg resigns.

BREXIT SAGA: Britain’s March 29, 2019, deadline for leaving the European Union following a 2016 referendum is postponed three times, with the British parliament unable to agree to the divorce terms negotiated by Prime Minister Theresa May with Brussels, nor a second accord negotiated by her successor Boris Johnson.

After widely winning early elections on December 12, Johnson gets support at the first reading by the lower house for his accord. He seeks final adoption on

January 9, and to leave the EU on January 31, 2020. fIRST BLAcK HOLE PHOTO: On April 10, astronomers unveil the first photograph of a black hole, a phenomenon they were convinced existed even if it had never been seen before.

Drawn from mountains of data captured two years earlier by telescopes across the world, it shows a supermassive black hole 50 million lightyears away.

NOTRE DAmE fIRE: On April 15, flames destroy the spire and roof of Paris’s beloved Notre-Dame cathedral, but firefighters manage to save the gothic building, while many of its arts, relics and other treasures are rescued. Amid a global outpouring of emotion, nearly one billion euros ($1.1 billion) is pledged for its reconstruction, which will take years. For the first time since 1803, Notre-Dame does not celebrate Christmas mass.

IRAN EScALATION: On May 8, Tehran announces its first step back from the 2015 nuclear accord — exactly a year after the United States quit the deal and reimposed sanctions.

Over the next months Iran re-engages components of its nuclear programme that it had halted, including uranium enrichment. Tensions mount when Washington blames Tehran for a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf from mid-May. On September 14, Iran is again blamed when major Saudi oil facilities are attacked by Yemen’s Huthi rebels, which it supports. It denies involvement.

In six months Tehran has surpassed the stock of enriched uranium, the level of enrichment and heavy water reserves fixed by the accord and modernised its centrifuges.

HOTTEST mONTH EVER: July temperatures were the hottest ever recorded, US and European Union authorities announce in August.

Temperature records rise in Europe and the North Pole, and in August, Iceland loses its first glacier to climate change.Fires ravage Brazil’s Amazon and Australia, while Venice is swamped by flooding not seen in decades.

The extreme weather raises climate concerns, and rallies for action, initiated by Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg, spread worldwide.

“Everybody’s got surprises for me, but let’s see what happens. I handle them as they come along.”

But Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton — a longtime hawk on North Korea — has sharply criticised the president’s handling of the issue, and claimed that Pyongyang poses an “imminent” threat.

The US president has invested a huge amount of political capital in his attempt to persuade Kim to end North Korea’s isolation and give up its nuclear weapons.

There has been little progress, however, after three face-to-face meetings and numerous letter exchanges.

Greece proposes world Court if maritime dialogue with Turkey fails ATHENS: Greece’s Prime Minister said in remarks published on Sunday that if Athens and Ankara cannot solve their dispute about maritime zones in the Mediterranean they should turn to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to settle the disagreement. Turkey signed an accord with Libya’s internationally recognized government last month that seeks to create an exclusive economic zone from Turkey’s southern Mediterranean shore to Libya’s northeast coast. Greece and Cyprus, which have long had maritime and territorial disputes with Turkey, say the accord is void and violates the international law of the sea.

They see it as a cynical resource-grab designed to scupper the development of East Mediterranean gas and destabilize rivals. Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in an interview with weekly newspaper ‘To Vima’, said his intention is for Greece and Turkey to discuss their differences about maritime zones in the Aegean and east Mediterranean on a political and diplomatic level. “But we should say clearly that if we can’t find a solution then we should agree that the one difference that Greece recognizes (over maritime zones) must be judged in an international body like the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Hague.” Earlier in December, Cyprus petitioned the ICJ to safeguard its offshore mineral rights. There has been no response so far from Turkey to that initiative. Cyprus’s internationally recognized government discovered offshore gas in 2011 but has been at loggerheads with Turkey over maritime zones around the island, where it has granted licenses to multinational companies for oil and gas research. AGENCIES

5 wounded in stabbing at new york rabbi's house NEW YORK: An intruder stabbed and wounded five people at a rabbi’s house in New York during a party to celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah late Saturday, officials said. The victims, all Hasidic members of the Jewish faith, were transported to local hospitals — two in critical condition — the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC) tweeted after receiving a call at 9:50pm. A suspect has been taken into custody and a vehicle safeguarded, a spokesman for the NYPD told AFP. Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that he was “horrified” by the “despicable and cowardly act”, and had directed the State Police hate crimes task force to investigate. “We have a zero tolerance for anti-Semitism in NY and we will hold the attacker accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” he tweeted. CBS New York reported that a man brandishing a machete went into the rabbi’s property in Monsey, New York State, an area with a large Jewish population, and knifed at least three people before fleeing. AGENCIES

Monday, 30 December, 2019

BUSINESS 11

PaKistan’s reForm Programme on tracK, Producing results: imF ISLAMABAD

Knitwear worth $1.320bn exported in five months of FY2019-20 ISLAMABAD APP

Knitwear exports from the country during first five months of current financial year grew by 8.69% as compared the exports of the corresponding period of last year. During the period from July-November, 2019 about 51,240 thousand dozen knitwear worth $1.320 billion were exported as compared the exports of 48,315 thousand dozen valuing $1.215 billion of same period of last year, according the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. Meanwhile, readymade garments exports from the country during the period under review also grew by 13.19% as country fetched $1.156 billion by exporting about 26,181 thousands of readymade garments as compared the exports of 19,225 thousand dozen valuing $1.021 billion of same period of last year. During the period under review, textile group exports from the country increased by 4.68% as against the exports of the corresponding period of last year as textile products worth over $5.763 billion were exported as compared to exports of $5.506 billion of same period of last year.

Meanwhile, on month on month basis, textile exports from the country also grew by 7.03% in November, 2019 as it was recoded at $1.177 billion as against the exports of $1.099 billion of same month of last year.However, it was down by 3.10 % as compared with the month of October, 2019 as textile products worth $1.214 billion exported in previous month, the data reveled. During the period under review 206,971 metric tons of bed wear worth $1.013 billion exported as against the exports of 180,960 metric tons valuing $968.151 million of same period of last year. Whereas about 76,210 metric tons tons of towels worth $317.484 million also exported during the period under review as against the exports of 74,657 metric tons valuing $314.348 million of same period of last year, it added. In last five months, cotton cloth valuing $847.106 million exported as compared the exports of $880.050 million of same period of last year, it was decrease by 3.74%. The other textile commodities which witnessed increase in their respective exports included raw cotton 3.67%, cotton yarn 2.87%, cotton carded or combed 100% and yarn other than cotton 2.81%. The textile products that observed negative trend in their exports during the period under review included cotton cloth 3.74%, tents and canvas 1.41% and made up articles decreased by 6.25%.

u

GHULAM AbbAS

NLIKE the risks and new conditions attached with the loan program of International Monetary Fund (IMF), the first review report of the program for Pakistan shows many positive developments indicating that the program was on track and producing results.

As per a summary of the review report prepared by Ministry of Finance here on Sunday, decisive policy implementation has started to address the deep-seated problems of Pakistan’s economy and to reverse its large imbalances, preserving financial stability.

According to the ministry the IMF acknowledges that the business climate has improved, and market confidence is returning. IMF further adds in its assessment that the Government recognizes that structural reforms, especially in SoE sector are key to revive economic activity and growth.

The ministry says IMF has released SDR 328 million (about $ 452.4 million), bringing total disbursements to SDR 1,044 million (approx $1.45 billion). The report has confirmed that End-September performance criteria (PCs) were observed with wide margins. These include • Zero budgetary borrowing from SBP • Primary budget deficit ceiling • Ceiling on government guarantees • Zero external public payment arrears • SBP net international reserves (NIR), net domestic assets (NDA), and swaps/forwards targets all met In addition to above, all structural benchmarks (SBs) for end-September, except the SB on AML/CFT, were completed.

With regard to inflation outlook, IMF has lowered Inflation projection for FY20 to 11.8%, down from 13% earlier on account of this fact that the administrative and energy tariff adjustments are expected to offset the effects from weak domestic demand. Thereafter, inflation is expected to converge to 5-7%.

The report confirms that inflation has been started to stabilize, along with core inflation, and the SBP stance is appropriate (no need for further rate hikes).

However, we are of the view that we will do much better than IMF projection. As inflation during Jul-Nov was 10.8% and with measures taken we target to bring inflation down to 5% over the medium term.

With regard to the external sector, significant improvement has been witnessed. Overall, Current Account Deficit (CAD) shrunk by almost two-thirds (74%) in the Q1 FY 20 compared to the same period of FY 2019. CAD is projected to decline to 2.4% of GDP in FY20 (4.9%), which is lower than earlier IMF forecasts of 2.6%.

Total imports fell by 23% y-o-y in Q1 of FY2020, but imports of machinery and equipment were more resilient, rising about 2 % y-o-

y. Exports are showing some sign of recovery, up 2% y-o-y for the same period with 17% volume growth, mainly driven by food and textiles.

The report states that transition to a market determined exchange rate has allowed the rupee to find its new equilibrium quickly, thereby, successfully correcting the ‘exchange rate overvaluation’ of the last 5 years.

The report has also acknowledged strong Fiscal performance in the First Quarter of FY2020 while stating Primary surplus of 0.6% of GDP and an overall deficit of 0.6% of GDP, about 1% of GDP better than programmed.

In addition, Tax revenue growth was in double-digits (net of refunds) even though customs receipts and other external sector related taxes have suffered due to import compression.

Key ConCessions won by Government inCludes: • Ceiling on NDA of SBP (Performance benchmark) has been enhanced to Rs 9.1 trn (8.7), an increase of Rs 339bn in FY20.

• This is positive for growth and will be utilized for concessional financing for the export industry • Ceiling on government guarantees has been enhanced to Rs 1.8trn (1.6), an increase of Rs 252 bn in FY20 • This is positive for growth and will allow government to settle the outstanding stock of circular debt • Floor on FBR tax collections for FY20 has been revised lower to Rs 5.2trn (5.5), due to strong improvement in non-tax revenue • During H1 Fy20, government non tax revenue collection has hit Rs 878 bn which is 75% of full year budgeted collection of Rs 1.16 trn.

• This is positive for growth and will ease the burden on public and businesses Current eConomiC PerFormAnCe: Regarding the current economic performance of the country the IMF report also acknowledges that the economy has witnessed significant improvements in recent months as evidenced from the performance of key economic indicators mentioned below: Exchange rate is stable for 5 months, Rupee appreciated by 3.2% (Rs/$ 160.1 to 154.89)(20th Dec, 2019), Stock Exchange 100-Index up 20.1 percent since 1st July, 2019 (33,996) to 40,832(20th Dec, 2019) , SBP FX Reserves increase to $ 10.8bn (13th Dec, 2019), from 7.2bn (June 2019) , Ease of Doing index up by 28 points (108/190) and World Bank rank Pakistan in Top 10 improvers.

After 4 years of outflow, total foreign portfolio investment up $ 1.2 bn during Jul-Nov FY20 (-330mn last year). FDI increased to 850mn (477.3mn last year)↑ 78.1%. Total foreign investment reached to $2 Bn (last year 147mn). Similarly, Incorporation of Companies increased 25.8 % (7,177 from 5,707) during JulNov FY2020.

FBR tax collection grew by 16.8% to Rs 1615.2bn during July-November, FY2020 against Rs 1382.9bn last year. Within total FBR

tax collection Domestic tax collection grew up 21.5% and Import taxes down 2.6% (import compression) On external side, Exports increased by 4.7% to $10.31bn during July-November, FY2020 against $9.85bn in the same period last year, while Imports decreased by 21.1% to $18.31bn during July-November, FY2020 against $23.22bn in the same period last year.

Consequently, Trade deficit decreased 40.1% to $8.002bn during July-November, FY2020 against $13.36bn in the comparable period of last year.

Cement dispatches increased by5.8% to 20.462 million ton (15.4million ton). Cement export increased 21.5% to 3.608 million ton (2.4 million ton). otHer develoPments inClude: PSDP releases system is accelerated. In this regard ways & means and Finance Division endorsement is eliminated.

As a major development, PSX becomes best performing market as per Bloomberg in last three months. PSX benchmark KSE 100-Index gained around 10,500 point in last three months.

Similarly, the Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Pakistan’s credit rating outlook to stable from negative. On external front, in the month of November, 2019 Exports increased 11.23% to $2.110bn against $1.897bn in the same month last year while Imports decreased 13.18% to $3.648bn as compared with $4.202bn in the comparable period last year.

In October 2019, on M-o-M, LSM registered a growth 4.01% (Sep 1.9%), indicating upward trajectory. Cement dispatches increased 10.6% in November to 4.35 million ton (3.9 million ton).

Another important development is that Karkey renegotiated to save Pakistan $ 1.2 bn.

CirCulAr debt: • Monthly flow decreased from Rs 38 bn in July 2019 to about Rs 10 bn. Targeted to be zero next year.

• Strategy for dealing with the stock of debt being finalized.

• Protection for lower end consumers <300 from price rationalization.

• More effective recovery/detection of electricity theft (>50 mn).

• Ministry of Energy will issue an additional Rs 250bn Sukuks (with government guarantee) in FY2020 to retire the CPPA liabilities of the IPPs. ComPACt For Jobs & GrowtH: • Scale up Affordable Housing devised by Naya Pakistan Housing Authority • Additional budgetary allocation of Rs 20bn to 30bn in FY2020 to cover the 10% down payment by beneficiaries of affordable housing. The total impact of this stimulus to the economy would be equivalent to Rs 200bn to Rs 300 bn.

• Tax Credits equal to 10% of the amount of expense related to these projects including labour related costs will be allowed to the developer for the first two years

Sahiwal Power Plant produces over 21.2bn kilowatt hours of cheap energy ISLAMABAD MiAn AbrAr

Sahiwal Coal-Fired Power Plant has produced more than 21.2 billion Kilowatthours of cheap and clean energy, which has filled a quarter of power shortfall in Pakistan that meets the electricity demand of more than 4 million typical households.

Li Xin, the Chief Executive Officer of Sahiwal Power Plant told Pakistan Today that NTDCL has declared Sahiwal Power Plant as the most reliable Plant in Pakistan.

“It has significantly alleviated the power crisis in Pakistan, while promoting the poverty relief of locals and boosting economic development of Pakistan.

“The Company has come to Pakistan to support Pakistan mitigate its power crisis as China and Pakistan are iron-brothers. We welcome people from all walks of life to visit Sahiwal Power Plant any time to personally experience”.

Asked to comment on questions being raised about the environment issues allegedly developing due to the coal plant, CEO of the company Li Xin said that the company has developed a gardenlike environment and anyone may visit and check the state-of-the-art equipment and clean production of energy here.

“Somebody once posted in twitter to question a splendid picture, ‘it’s very beautiful, but I don’t think it’s in Sahiwal’. Yes, the beautiful view is really in

Sahiwal Power Plant,” he says.

Li Xin says questions on pollution due to the Sahiwal Plant were groundless, inaccurate, misleading and unfair.

“We are using super critical technology and advanced equipment that help develop clean power generation with almost zero emissions,” he said.

Zohaib Hassan Khokhar, the environment engineer at Sahiwal Power Plant told this scribe that the company always abides by the strictest standards in the whole process of construction and operation and ensures all work is conducted in compliance with laws and regulations of all levels.

“As far as the environmental concerns being raised by a section of press, the reality is that there are no environmental issues and the Company has placed highest priority on environmental protection since its foundation in Pakistan,” he said.

Zohaib said that the world’s most advanced environmental protection equipment such as FGD, ESP, Low NOx Burners, etc. have been put into operation simultaneously with the generation units, and they are all run by local employees.

“The emissions of Sahiwal Power Plant are maintained well below the design value and far superior than the PEQS, NEQS and World Bank standard.

For example, regarding the emission standards of SOx, the NEQS Pakistan, World

Bank Standard, EU Standard, Japanese Standard are 1700 mg/Nm³, 850 mg/Nm³, 200 mg/Nm³, 172 mg/Nm³ respectively, while the SOx emission of Sahiwal Power Plant is as low as 90 mg/Nm³, much lower than the strictest standard.

The total emission of this power plant is much less than a brick kiln,” he added.

Zohaib Khokhar said that in order to ensure the accuracy and fairness of the emission data, EPA-certified third party environmental monitoring agencies are engaged to monitoring the quality of air, water and soil to ensure full compliance to standards.

“Moreover, a number of monitoring stations has been set up in the vicinity to monitor the air quality to ensure that it has no adverse effect on the crops or orchards of the surrounding villages. And the allegation that the floodlights from lamp destroyed the crops, are totally conflicts with the biological and physical theories,” he added.

“With the installation of state-of-theart environmental protection equipment, high-standard management, and plantation of more than 60,000 trees and 140,000 square meters’ turfs, Sahiwal Power Plant is a true example of environmental friendly project and wins the Annual Environment Excellence Award of National Forum for Environment and Health of Pakistan in 2019,” he said.

Zohaib said that according to the

world’s common practice of power construction, the site selection of a power plant should be at the load center.

“Sahiwal power plant is at this center with three major power consuming cities in its vicinity i.e. Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan, which used to cry out for electricity to overcome power crisis. The water used for power production is primarily sourced from Lower Bari Doab Canal and the Plant pay that to local Irrigation Department on monthly basis”.

He said only a small quantity of groundwater is pumped, which is mainly for potable and domestic use. “And the fluctuation of groundwater level is usually caused by the variation of precipitation and water level of the canal nearby but not by the power plant. It is proved if we compare this level with that of areas without any power plant,” he asserted.

He said Zero Emission of wastewater has been realized in Sahiwal Power Plant through comprehensive treatment by the Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Facilities.

“As the ground water samples are tested by the EPA-certified third party, there is no pollution of ground water caused by Sahiwal Power Plant. As per the data of water survey in feasibility studies of Sahiwal Project in 2014, the amounts of arsenic and other salts in ground water remain the same before and after the operation of this power plant,”

he maintained.

To find out the true condition of the local residents mentioned in the article, Pakistan Today visited the village near Sahiwal Power Plant and asked if there were any health hazards, the villagers unanimously rejected such accusations.

Doctor Mr. Allah Ditta, the only doctor in the village, said there were no health effects in the village. “Nobody got ill or sick due to Sahiwal Power Plant,” he said. He said there were some patients with chronic breathing problems developed before the power plant was built.

“The tap water in the village has already some problems before the erection of the power plant and it's not due to the power plant,” Nadeem, another villager says. “The health issues of the villagers before and after the construction of the power plant are the same, and they have nothing to do with the power plant,” the doctor added.

Another villager, Israr Ahmed, said that he and his mother got no problem due to Sahiwal Power Plant.

“In fact, I am very grateful that electricity could be available 24/7 nowadays because of this power plant and many people of his village got jobs at Sahiwal Power Plant,” he added. Some villagers reiterated that they had no such issues due to Sahiwal Power Plant and they would love to visit this power plant in future.

Monday, 30 December, 2019

12 BUSINESS

govt releases rs299.87Bn For develoPment Projects ISLAMABAD APP

t secP holds registrars’ conference titled ‘Winning the Business trust’ ISLAMABAD STAFF rEPOrT

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) two-day Registrars Conference began here on Saturday. This year the conference theme is “Winning the Business Trust”, where SECP’s Registrars from across the country shall deliberate upon improving compliance with companies law, advancing E-Services initiatives, setting new benchmarks for ease of doing business and digital transformation of Company Registration Officers (CROs). The topics of discussion also include enforcement of AML/CFT regulations, EServices integration with provincial departments, evolving new global practices, digitalization of CRO’s regulatory procedures under SECP’s flagship project “Leading Efficiency through Automated Prowess – LEAP” within two years. In his inaugural speech, the SECP Chairman, Aamir Khan said that Registrars are the face of SECP and their work, approach and behavior should be reflective of a model public sector organization. He underlined that Pakistan is fast moving into an era of transformation for laying the foundations of a transparent, digital and equitable economic landscape. Mr. Khan emphasized that line with the government’s agenda, the SECP has a vital role to facilitate businesses, investments and encourage new start-ups. This can be achieved through further amending our procedures to provide facilitation, reducing cost of doing business, and through provision of maximum guidance and information to our customers. Aamir underscore the importance of Secure Transaction Registry (STR) and introduce of Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) under LEAP as game changer for access to finance and much needed data analytics. The SECP Commissioner for Corporatization and Compliance Department, Shaukat Hussain said that besides modernizing its corporate registry, SECP has recently undertaken series of reforms for providing ease of business registration. These reforms and technological development have led to 39% increase in company’s incorporation in 2018-2019, while over 90% companies incorporated online, he added. Shaukat mentioned that with SECP’s simplified and hassle free procedures, now a new company can be registered within four hours through eService. Moreover, he said, the company incorporation and other regulatory fee has been reduced significantly and digital online payment facilities are also in placed. “Our next target is to integrate SECP’s eService with all provincial governments that will provide single step registration with all departments”, said Shaukat and announced that the SECP would establish dedicated customer facilitation centers to facilitate startups.

HE federal government has so far authorized release of Rs 299.87 billion for various ongoing and new social sector uplift projects under its Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2019-20, as against the total allocation of Rs701 billion.

Under its development programme, the government has released an amount of Rs135.176 billion for federal ministries, Rs102.55 billion for corporations and Rs 21.7 billion for special areas, according to a latest data released by Ministry of Planning, Development and Reform.

Out of these allocations, the government re-

leased Rs 26.78 billion for security enhancement in the country for which the government had allocated Rs 32.5 billion during the year 2019-20.

An amount of Rs 39.15 billion has also been released for the blocks managed by finance division under the government's 10 years development programme.

Similarly for Higher Education Commission, the government released an amount of Rs14.2 billion out of its total allocation of Rs 29 billion while Rs150.73 billion were released for Pakistan Nuclear Energy Authority for which the government had allocated Rs 301.48 billion in the development budget.

For National Highway Authority, the government released Rs 95.38 billion against its alloca-

tions of Rs154.96 billion.

Under annual development agenda, the government also released Rs 6.4 billion for Railways Division out of total allocation of Rs 16 billion, Rs 4.56 billion for Interior Division, and Rs 5.8 billion for National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination Division. Revenue Division received Rs 3.2 billion out of total allocation of Rs1.9 billion, whereas the Cabinet Division also received Rs 19.3 billion for which an amount of Rs 39.986 billion has been allocated for the year 2019-20.

The government also released Rs 12.8 billion for Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) block and other projects out of its allocations of Rs 27.26 billion and Rs 8.7 billion for Gilgit Baltistan (Block and other projects).

Govt to hire consultants for Islamabad’s Ghazi Barotha water supply project PTI MNAS SEEK PRIVATE INVESTMENT FOR THE RS100BN PROJECT AS IT FACES BUDGET CONSTRAINTS ISLAMABAD GHULAM AbbAS

As no progress has been made on the major water supply project in twin cities during the past one year, Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) led government has decided to hire consultants for revising the PC-I and seeking private investment on the long waiter Ghazi Barotha Water project.

The elected representatives of the party in Islamabad and Rawalpindi are much worried about the mega project, which they have promised with the people of the capital during the past election.

During the past couple of months the elected representatives of Islamabad Including Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Capital Development Authority (CDA) Ali Nawaz Awan, Minister of Planning and Development Asad Umar, Rawalpindi MNA Sheikh Rashid Shafique, CDA Chairman Amer Ali Ahmed and others had held various meetings e to discuss the project.

The progress on the long delayed project has reportedly been accelerated after taking charge as Minister of Planning and Development by Asad Umar, who was elected in one of the three constituencies of the capital. According to insiders a tender has been issued

for hiring consultant and the process will be completed in three months. After completion of the initial process, the government is planning to lay the foundation stone of the project by March 2020.

A committee on Ghazi Barotha Project, consisting of elected public representatives, has also approved publication of the tender. The committee includes Asad Umar, Sheikh Rashid Shafiq and Ali Nawaz Awan.

The important project, which is already facing delay of over 13 years, has been considered the only option of meeting the ever increasing water supply demand of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. However, as the project needed major investment for the pipeline of 45 kilometre from the Indus River at Ghazi Barotha to the twin cities, the incumbent government finds it difficult to fund the project from development budget, reliable sources informed Pakistan Today.

Insiders claim that the MNAs from Islamabad were much worried about the project which has been one of slogans of them during the election campaign. In a recently held meeting it was decided that since the execution of the project is difficult through PSDP or CDA funds for development budget’s constraints, the project, would be executed under Public Private Partnership mode.

According to the sources, it was also decided that the PC-I of the project would be revised with the fresh estimates and plan. The project which is facing delay since 2006, has escalated its cost to around Rs 100 billion from the Rs 37 billion estimated early.

“As the project remained in papers for over 13 years, people have

made constructions on the proposed land of pipeline of the project which may also an issue for early execution of the mega project,” said an official adding that the project also needed around 45 megawatt power supply system to pump the water at various terrain.

The project was envisaged to meet the water supply demand of entire Islamabad and Cantonment Board area of Rawalpindi by providing additional 100 million gallons per day (MGD) of water.

The meeting was also discussed options of liaising with the federal government, Rawalpindi Development Authority and other government and non-government organisations to explore opportunities to move forward with the project.

The project has been discussed since 2006, but work has not moved beyond discussion in more than 10 years. The capital, which has an overall requirement for 220 MGD of water in its urban and rural areas, receives on average 60 MGD for its urban areas while rural residents depend either on water boring or small supply schemes.

According to officials said that the urban and rural areas have been facing a shortage of water, particularly when the gap between demand

and supply widens during the summer. Islamabad, which was developed in 1960, still relies on old water sources such as the Simly and Khanpur dams and tubewells, and no new sources of water have been explored for several decades.

The project was conceived in 2006, and its cost was estimated at Rs37bn. The estimate was revised a few years ago and increased to Rs77bn, and sources said that new estimates could rise to Rs100bn.

Earlier on July 21, 2019 Prime Minister Imran Khan had also given go ahead to the CDA and Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) Rawalpindi to launch the project.

The project spreading over 3 phases envisages a 45-kilometre-long, 80inch-wide water pipeline from the Tarbela dam at Ghazi Barotha to a water treatment plant at Sangjiani for onward distribution. In the first phase, the twin cities will be provided with 200 million gallons of water a day out of which 150 million gallons per day for Islamabad and 50 MGDs each for Rawalpindi city and cantonment area.

Earlier Asad Umar said GhaziBarotha was the most viable longterm option to meet the water needs of the twin cities. He blamed Mayor Islamabad and the previous governments for their apathy to address the issue, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan would fulfil the promise he made with the people of Islamabad. The PTI-led government deems the project essential in view of the fast-growing population in the capital which more than doubled over the past 20 years, from just over 805,235 in 1999 to over 2.07 million in 2017. So is the case in Rawalpindi city which has also seen increase in its population.

Musk sees people-moving Las Vegas tunnel opening in 2020 LOS ANGELES AGEnCiES

A nearly mile-long tunnel in Las Vegas meant to showcase a “traffic busting” alternative for overcrowded cities should be completed next year, innovative entrepreneur Elon Musk said on Twitter.

The people-moving tunnel is being built by The Boring Company, one of several future-oriented enterprises founded by Musk, along with the Tesla electric-car company and SpaceX, which develops launch vehicles.

The 48-year-old billionaire tweeted late Friday that “Boring Co is completing its first commercial tunnel in Vegas, going from Convention Center to Strip.”

In a second tweet he said it would be “hopefully fully operational in 2020.”

The Las Vegas convention center is a sprawling complex being further en-

larged — the 0.8-mile (1.3 kilometer) tunnel would facilitate travel within the center and to the city’s famous Strip, where many of its major hotels and casinos are located.

Las Vegas officials selected The Boring Company in March to design, build and manage twin tunnels capable of transporting passengers in small, autonomous vehicles, each holding eight to 16 passengers.

City-to-City trAvel: The South Africa-born Musk, who is known for original and sometimes fanciful thinking, has long advocated a futuristic underground train system, called the Hyperloop, that would allow passenger capsules on Tesla-built chassis to move through low-pressure tubes at high speeds.

He aspires eventually to build such a system linking Washington and New York along the busy US Northeast corridor; he has also proposed projects for

Chicago and Los Angeles.

Musk’s company last year showed reporters a new test tunnel in California, but Las Vegas is Boring’s first paying customer.

The cost of the tunnel, originally estimated to be as low as $35 million, has since risen to $52.5 million, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Musk hopes Boring’s people-moving technology will help revolutionize urban transit in an ever more crowded world.

He says the idea came to him as he sat in growing frustration in his car, stuck in a traffic jam between his pricey villa in Bel Air, California and the SpaceX offices in Hawthorne, south of Los Angeles.

He envisions thousands of autonomous electric vehicles eventually moving millions of people underground at speeds up to 155 miles per hour (250 kph) — far higher than the moderate 35 mph speeds planned for the short Las Vegas link.

Flying SwiFtly to the heightS: MaShal Khan

1

How did you come into acting when doing modelling a couple of years back?

I never really got into modelling. I only did one fashion show and then moved onto acting.

Acting has always been my go-to.

Ever since I was a kid, I felt so safe when I was on stage. I felt liberation unlike any other because I could be anything I wished to be.

By KauKaB Jahan

2

What do you enjoy more; modelling or acting?

Acting, any day! It’s my safe place and my favourite thing to do. The hours fly by and I can’t wait to be back on set the next morning.

3 4 5

What is your dream role?

Don Corleone Which is your most favourite role yet?

Hareem from Thora Sa Haq

Your fiance is also a rising star. So, when viewers are going to see you both together in a project.

I haven’t announced an engagement yet

6

Who is your inspiration in life and work?

Robin Williams

7

Who/what would you be if had not joined showbiz?

I would probably be pursuing a PHD in mathematics.

8

We have come to know that you are already doing one?

I wishhhh that were true, but as per right now I’m not pursuing a PhD.

9

What would you guide to other new and young actors coming joining the field?

I would say, “Keep your mouth shut and your ears open!

Be kind; don’t be jealous, there’s enough room for everyone.”

Mashal Khan is among in those new additions to our entertainment industry, who because of her talent and hard work, has been noticed by viewers in a very short span of time. Started her career as a model, she very swiftly moved to showbiz and made her debut as a television actress in the 2018 sitcom series, Suno Chanda. She gained popularity by playing the role of Kinza in the serial which proved to be the breakthrough for her. Mashal reappeared next year in the same role in Suno Chanda 2, a sequel to Suno Chanda, after that she got several offers for different roles like an antagonist in ‘Mere Humdam’ and a strong supporting in popular serial ‘Khaas’. These days, she is appearing as second lead ARY’s drama serial ‘Thors Sa Haq’ alongside Imran Abbas and Ayeza Khan. This year, Mashal has also started as host in a travel guide show Amazing Nordics at Hum TV. This beautiful and young lady took out some time from her busy schedule to talk to Paperazzi to make her fans know about her work and a little bit about herself.

There are 71 streets in Atlanta with "Peachtree" in their name.

Goats have rectangular pupils.

HOLLYWOOD BOLLYWOOD

The bend in a flamingo's leg isn't a knee—it's an ankle.

Gotham Is 'Insane' In Birds Of Prey With Margot Robbie Images Released

Wonder Woman Is 'James Bond Of Superhero World' Says Patty Jenkins

New images from the upcoming Birds of Prey movie are released featuring Margot Robbie and the cast.

Producer Bryan Unkeless admits he's awestruck by star Margot Robbie.

"I feel most fortunate about meeting Margot Robbie than anybody in my life," he says in the latest issue of Empire Magazine. "Every day we're worried about a hundred things, but we're never worried about Margot." Margot Robbie adds that she loves the character of Harley Quinn.

"Harley's become incredibly important to me," she says with the article noting Margot Robbie got the idea for Harley to break away from the Joker, form her own female gang and become an anti-hero in her own Gotham -- "a more vibrant, more colorful, and frankly more insane-city."

Robbie also talks about the Joker break up.

“She’s trying to own it,” Robbie Says. “That felt like a real way to deal with a break-up. It’s not clean and easy to be a strong woman. It’s so hard.

Director Patty Jenkins compares Diana Prince to James Bond, as a new image from Wonder Woman 1984 has been released featuring Gal Gadot as the titular character as she uses her magic lasso to swing herself in the mall scene.

"I want Wonder Woman to be the James Bond of the superhero world," says director Patty Jenkins in the latest issue of Empire Magazine. "I set out to make a grand massive tentpole, a la the '80s."

Jenkins also talks about coming up with the story.

"This story came to me very early while we were making the first film," says Jenkins. "There were two things that I cared about. The first was separating it from the first movie. I didn't want to say, 'Here's more of the same.' One of my favorite things about comic books is you can take these incredible characters and experience such different stories through them even though they stay essentially the same."

I want this to feel like you're seeing a movie in the '80s, where all of the accidental 8'0's-ness feels almost like unconscious.

CMYK

Tanhaji The Unsung Warrior: Ajay Devgn says he wants to focus on stories that are ‘entertaining’ and ‘informative’ Actor-producer Ajay Devgn says starting from his 100th film Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, he wants to focus on stories which are not only entertaining but also informative. The Om Raut-directed movie, set in the 17th century, is based on the life of Tanhaji Malusare, the military leader of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

“Apart from the film being grand and carrying a message, it is also educative, it is informative. It is an interesting story to watch and such combination is rare.

“Besides the storyline, I am always inclined to create new things like when I wanted to make this film we worked on 3D and technology in a way that it should look new. Visually we are very happy with the film,” Ajay told PTI in an interview.

The 50-year-old actor added that with the movie he hopes to makes the audiences aware about the unnamed heroes of Indian history.

Monday, 30 December, 2019

14 SPORTS

LeiceSteR end PeLLegRini’S time At WeSt HAm, mAn Utd cLoSe on toP foUR BURNLEY

A

AGENCIES

much-changed Leicester inflicted the final blow of Manuel Pellegrini’s time in charge of West Ham with a 21 win on Saturday as Manchester United closed on the Premier League’s top four with a 2-0 victory at Burnley.

Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford struck late in each half to take United above Tottenham in fifth after Spurs were held 2-2 draw at Norwich.

Pellegrini was sacked soon after the Hammers succumbed to a Leicester side that made nine changes after a Boxing Day thrashing by Liverpool.

Jamie Vardy was among those missing due to the birth of his daughter, but Kelechi Iheanacho and Demarai Gray made the most of their chance for a rare Premier League start by scoring either side of half-time.

“Anytime you come in if you’re not playing so much you have to try and stamp your mark and get yourself in the team,” said Gray, who also saw an early penalty saved by Lukasz Fabianski.

The Foxes move 10 points behind Liverpool, having played two games more, and stretch their lead in second over Manchester City to four points.

Pablo Fornals levelled for the Hammers just before half-time, but a seventh defeat in nine games left them just one point above the relegation zone.

“It has become clear that a change is required to get the club back on track

in line with our ambitions this season,” said the Hammers joint-chairman David Sullivan. “We felt it was necessary to act now in order to give the new manager as much time as possible to try and achieve that goal.”

MISTAKES ANGER MOURINHO: United closed to within a point of fourth-placed Chelsea with Martial and Rashford again their talismen at Turf Moor. Martial produced a clinical finish after Andreas Perreira pounced on an error from Charlie Taylor a minute before half-time.

United had to wait till stoppage time to secure all three points when Rashford rounded off a rapid counter-

attack as they kept a first clean sheet in 15 league games.

“It is a big difference to get a clean sheet. It is important for us to know we can grind out results as well,” said United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Tottenham have also struggled for clean sheets under Jose Mourinho and their defensive deficiencies were again exposed by bottom-of-the-table Norwich. Mario Vrancic was afforded time and space to fire the Canaries into an early lead and only the finest of margins on a VAR review for offside denied Teemu Pukki putting Norwich 2-0 up before half-time.

Christian Eriksen’s brilliant free-

kick levelled for Spurs early in the second half, but Mourinho’s men shot themselves in the foot again soon after as Serge Aurier’s own goal restored Norwich’s lead. Tottenham’s dominance after the break was rewarded eight minutes from time through Harry Kane’s penalty after the England international had been chopped down inside the area. “We conceded two very, very bad goals,” bemoaned Mourinho.

“You cannot concede as many goals as we do but our defensive mistakes are match after match.”

ANCELOTTI’S FLYING START: Carlo Ancelotti’s flying start at Everton continued with a 2-1 win at Newcastle thanks to a double from the in-form Dominic Calvert-Lewin to move into the top half. The 22-year-old twice showed his predatory instincts from close range either side of Fabian Schaer’s equaliser.

Crystal Palace missed the chance to close to within three points of the top four as they surrendered a lead to draw 1-1 at Southampton as Danny Ings cancelled out James Tomkins’s opener.

Brighton climbed up to 14th, five points clear of the drop zone, as Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Aaron Mooy scored their first goals for the club in a 2-0 win over Bournemouth. Watford closed to within three points of safety thanks to a second home win in as many games under Nigel Pearson as Troy Deeney scored twice in a 3-0 win over Aston Villa 3-0 despite the Hornets playing half an hour with 10 men after Adrian Mariappa saw red.

‘Gutted’ Murray out of ATP Cup and Australian Open LONDON AGENCIES

Season over for Austria’s Reichelt, career at risk after knee injury CANBERRA: Veteran alpine skier Hannes Reichelt has been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a serious right knee injury in the World Cup downhill in Bormio, the Austrian ski federation confirmed on Sunday. “The season is over prematurely for Reichelt,” the Austrian team said in a statement. The 39-year-old former super-G world champion’s career now looks over as it was confirmed he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and damage to the outer capsular ligament.

Austrian Reichelt, who finished 12th in the first downhill on the ‘Stelvio’ piste on Friday, fell just 45 seconds into the second downhill on Saturday and had to be airlifted by helicopter after crashing into the safety netting. AGENCIES

Andy Murray said he was “gutted” to be missing next month’s Australian Open after being ruled out of the first Grand Slam of 2020 with a pelvic injury.

The 32-year-old Scot suffered the injury playing for Britain in the Davis Cup last month and will also miss the inaugural ATP Cup team event across three Australian cities in early January. “I’ve worked so hard to get myself into a situation where I can play at the top level and I’m gutted I’m not going to be able to play in Australia in January,” Murray said Saturday.

“After the AO (Australian Open) this year, when I wasn’t sure whether I’d be able to play again, I was excited about coming back to Australia and giving my best, and that makes this even more disappointing for me. “Unfortunately I’ve had a setback recently and as a precaution, need to work through that before I get back on court competing.”

Murray had hoped to make his return to Grand Slam action in Melbourne following a hip operation in January. But concerns over the fitness of the five-time losing Australian Open finalist were raised when he cancelled a scheduled block of training in Miami. As a result, he won’t be back at Melbourne Park, the scene of an emotional press conference this year where he suggested he might retire as a result of his hip injury.

Despite being less than fully fit Murray played a gruelling five-set loss to Roberto Bautista Agut.

A fortnight later the double Olympic gold medallist, twice a Wimbledon champion and the winner of the 2012 US Open singles, had hip resurfacing surgery and started his return to action at the Queen’s Club grasscourt event in London in June.

October saw Murray win the European Open in Antwerp, a victory that suggested he could still contend for major honours. But the latest announcement means he will not play again until February at the earliest.

“I know how excited Andy was about coming back to compete in Australia in January, and how disappointed he is not to make it for 2020,” said Tennis Australia chief Craig Tiley, who praised his “determination and iron will”. “Although we will miss him in January, we wish him all the very best for his recovery and look forward to seeing him back on court very soon.”

Peter Siddle announces retirement from international cricket ADELAIDE: Veteran Australian bowler Peter Siddle announced his international retirement Sunday after an 11 year, 67-Test career, with national coach Justin Langer praising him as giving his “heart and soul” to the team. The 35-year-old had been called up to the second Test squad in Melbourne but was not selected in the side to face New Zealand and decided to call it quits. “Just being able to play, to walk out, wear the baggy green -– I’d watched guys like Punter (Ricky Ponting), Steve Waugh, guys like that wear it, represent Australia,” he said.

“Every time I stepped out was amazing, I don’t think I could pick one special one. “At the end of the day, to play one is amazing, to end up playing what I did is truly special.” Siddle, who played a key role in helping Australia retain the Ashes in England earlier this year, went to the Australian dressing room at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to tell his teammates personally. “The year after I retired from playing, Matty Hayden and Ricky Ponting were raving about this guy called Peter Siddle,” Langer said. “If it came from them, you knew it was right and so it proved throughout his brilliant international career.

“He is an unbelievable bloke and an extremely good cricketer. He is the everything of what a team player is. He has given his heart and soul to the Australian team and the game of cricket.” Siddle took 221 wickets from his 67 Tests including eight five-wicket hauls. He is the 13th highest Test wicket-taker among Australian bowlers and is best remembered for the hattrick he claimed on his 26th birthday against England in Brisbane in 2010. He also played 20 one-day internationals and two Twenty20s. Siddle will continue to play at domestic level, including for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League and Victoria in the Sheffield Shield. AGENCIES

Williamson urges more fighting spirit from New Zealand ADELAIDE AGENCIES

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson said his team need to mirror the fighting spirit of century-maker Tom Blundell if they are to bounce back from their second-Test thrashing by Australia.

Opener Blundell was the last man out in Melbourne after compiling a battling 121 as team-mates threw their wickets away in the improbable 488-run chase to save the match.

Williamson called it a “magnificent” innings. “Obviously it was hard work out there, the task was immense. But you look at some small positives... that was a truly fantastic innings,” he said after

the 247-run defeat — their second Test loss inside four days. “He led the way and it is important that we all take something from that.

“The effort from the bowlers throughout was something that is inspiring to us as a team, that never-give-up attitude.“But at the same time if we are looking for areas to improve there are a few of them. We do need to try and put Australia under a bit more pressure before their first innings total gets past that point of control.”

Australia took the game away from New Zealand on day one after Williamson won the toss and took a gamble by putting them in to bat.

It turned out to be a poor decision, but

he insisted it was a reasonable one at the time. “I felt like there was enough in the surface to bowl first and it was obviously very important for us to be on top of our game and the surface did offer some sideways movement and swing,” he said.

“But credit to Australia for getting through that first session and put 400 on the board.” Williamson’s team must now regroup quickly with the third and final Test in Sydney later this week. The series has been lost and they will be playing for pride only.“All round from our perspec tive we need to be better in all departments. We do need to be better come Sydney,” he said.

“We haven’t been at our best, but it is important that we try and learn really quickly and improve in all areas.”

CMYK

Monday, 30 December, 2019

SPORTS 15

RoRy BURnS RePeLS SoUtH AfRicA to give engLAnd HoPe in foURtH inningS CENTURION

W

AGENCIES

ITH once again to the fore, unbeaten on 77- the eighth time out of 11 that he had been the man to produce a half-century at the top of the batting order - England strode to the close on 121 for 1, after an evening session of improbable serenity, punctured only by the lapse in concentration that ended Dom Sibley’s innings of 29 from 90 balls, and an opening stand of 92 that spanned 28 overs.

With two days to come, and 255 still required with nine wickets standing, one of these two sides is sure to head to Cape Town in the new year with a 1-0 lead in the series. And England, still a little bit giddy from their exploits at Headingley in the summer, will know that even a runchase of 376 - 125 more than has ever previously been achieved at this venue cannot be considered completely out of their reach.

After all, most of the men still to come in the middle order - Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow in particular - have spent the past four years making such chases seem commonplace in white-ball cricket at least, and perhaps relish the clarity that comes with a distinct endgame to their endeavours.

But this is also the side that has fallen in a batting heap on more occasions that they’d care to count in recent years - Mirpur 2016, Auckland 2017, Trent Bridge 2018, Bridgetown 2019, and the first innings of that self-same contest at Headingley in August, to name but a few. This could go down to the wire, or be all over by lunch. Neither upshot would be quite as eyebrow-raising as a common-or-garden 95-run defeat by mid-afternoon.

And in that context, it perhaps should not be surprising that England’s gains in an uplifting evening were offset by one of the worst mornings of Test cricket that even this yin-and-yang rabble has ever yet produced. Having come into the third day with the stated aim of limiting South Africa’s lead to a manageable 300 (and how cushty would their overnight posi-

ENGlANd 181 ANd 121 fOr 1 (BurNs 77*) NEEd A furThEr 255 TO BEAT sOuTh AfriCA 284 ANd 272 (vAN dEr dussEN 51, ArChEr 5-102)

tion seem had they done that?), England threw caution to the wind, tactics to the bin, and hope to the outer rim as , on debut, and , a nightwatchman with a previous Test best of 5 not out, thwarted their advances in a fifth-wicket stand of 91 that ate up the first 90 minutes of the day.

England, in some mitigation, were clearly distracted by dressing-room issues - or more accurately, issues in the field hospital-turned-”quarantine” where both Buttler and, for a time, the captain Root were housed after becoming the latest members of the camp to succumb to the unshakeable virus that has been plaguing the squad for a fortnight.

Buttler didn’t take the field at all - he was replaced behind the stumps by the man he replaced behind the stumps, Jonny Bairstow (who had replaced the man who had replaced the man behind the stumps, Ollie Pope, when he too fell ill on the eve of the game). And though

Root did reappear in a game attempt to reattach his side’s wobbly wheels, he looked like death warmed up as South Africa took full toll.

Most fundamentally, England bowled too short - blatently neglecting the lineand-length wiles that had earned Vernon Philander the first-innings figures of 4 for 16. And while this could partly be attributed to a lack of leadership, that didn’t exactly excuse the influence - or lack thereof - of James Anderson and Stuart Broad, whose combined 285-Test, 1000-plus wickets of experience surely includes the odd scenario that might have aided their game-plans in such circumstances.

Indeed it was telling that, at the eventual fall of Nortje for a feisty 40 - caught at short leg as Jofra Archer banged another one into his hip - Broad and Ben Stokes were seen having a pretty frank discussion in the team huddle. It ended with a conciliatory fist-bump, but also with Stokes tak-

ing the ball for his first over of the day, and immediately serving up a bouncer, length-ball one-two that scalped Dwaine Pretorius almost before he had begun.

England leaked 125 runs in the morning while claiming three wickets - among them van der Dussen for a debut half-century of immense resolve - and a further 75 thereafter, as Quinton de Kock and Philander took up the cudgels for their side - not least against the hapless Archer.

His pace may have been restored to familiar extremes but his methods came in for mockery from de Kock in particular, who set himself for the short ball and launched him high and mightily over the ropes for consecutive sixes in a 37-ball 34 that only ended when Stokes, once more, found his edge from another length ball.

At least Archer finished the innings with his second five-wicket haul and first overseas - an important milestone for a man who managed just two wickets in as

Trent Boult out of sCG Test after fracturing hand SYDNEY AGENCIES

New Zealand’s sorry Australian tour took another turn for the worse as was ruled out of the third and final Test in Sydney with a fracture on his right hand, sustained while batting.

Boult had been struck on the gloves by Mitchell Starc at the back-end of New Zealand’s first innings at the MCG, and went to hospital for x-rays during the tea break. The results confirmed a

fracture, meaning Boult will fly home after the Melbourne Test and be out for at least four weeks, although he did return to bowl towards the end of the day.

“Trent Boult suffered a fracture to the second-metacarpal of his right hand after being struck while batting on day three of the second Test against Australia in Melbourne,” a New Zealand Cricket spokesperson said. “An X-ray during the tea break confirmed the undisplaced fracture which will require around four

weeks of rehabilitation, meaning Boult will return home to New Zealand at the end of the Test. A replacement player will be confirmed in due course.”

Boult had missed the first Test of the series, in Perth, because of a side injury, but recovered in time to play the Boxing Day Test.

Opening batsman Tom Latham said that Boult’s recent run had been “gutting” for the left-armer and the team as a whole.

“It’s obviously gutting news for Trent and also for our group to have

someone like that ruled out with his injuries,” Latham said. “We’ll have to wait and see who the replacement is over the next few days, but I’m sure whoever will come in will be up for the task.”

Boult is the second New Zealand bowler to fly home from the tour following the injury sustained by Lockie Ferguson in Perth. Their next cricket after the Sydney Test is the T20I series against India which begins in late January and is followed by ODIs and two Tests in February.

many matches in New Zealand last month - but it was a pyrrhic victory in the circumstances, as he became the fourth bowler in Test history to claim a fivewicket haul while conceding a run-a-ball or more. The final insult to England’s performance came from the slap-happy Kagiso Rabada, who belted Sam Curran on to the grass in a 12-ball 16, before Philander, four runs shy of a richly deserved fifty, snagged another high bouncer from Curran through to the keeper.

And so the focus switched once again to England’s batting … and for the fourth time in as many innings, the umpire’s finger went up in the very first over. But whereas Anderson’s wickets had stood in both innings, Rabada was denied by DRS for the second time running, as Burns (who escaped had escaped first-ball on Friday) successfully reviewed an lbw decision that was shown to be missing off.

And thereafter, a curious serenity came across England’s batting, as some of the surface’s second-day life ebbed away. Burns eased into his work with a series of punches through the covers and a brace of clips off the pads from Nortje although he had a second stroke of luck on 20 when de Kock dived across van der Dussen at first slip, who spilled a low edge off the luckless Philander.

At the other end, Sibley settled in as the most junior of partners - content to watch his off stump like a hawk and let as much sail by as possible, which is an underrated tactic against bowlers of South Africa’s quality. He dragged himself into double figures with his first boundary, a clip off Nortje, from his 41st delivery, and had just seemed to be finding his feet at Test level when he scuffed a long-hop from the spinner Keshav Maharaj straight back to the bowler.

Joe Denly, however, was still in situ at the close, providing yet more improbable solidity from the No. 3 position that he is slowly but surely making his own.

No one else in the team wants it, of course, which epitomises the issues that England’s Test cricket has had for the past four years. But somehow, in spite of everything, they are making a fist of this contest. Albeit a ham-fisted one.

dECAdE rEviEW

PAkiStAn’S Homecoming LAHORE: One look at how Pakistan started the decade and the mere fact they are still in the conversation at the table of Full Member nations feels incredible. They entered the 2010s homeless because of a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, and now end it hosting the Sri Lankans at home once more. The Sydney Test to kick-start the decade was inauspicious, and the bans for spot-fixing for Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif disastrous. At rock bottom, though, Pakistan found an anchor in Misbah-ul-Haq, who led them not just to stability but prosperity. They would reach the top of the Test rankings six years later, and under Sarfaraz Ahmed repeat the feat in T20Is. A glorious Champions Trophy win was the jewel in the crown, but over the final three years of the 2010s much of the good work has been undone, and Pakistan have taken their place in the relative mediocrity of the lower-mid region of the table. Ten years ago, though, they would have snapped your hand off for suggesting they might end the decade like this.

HIGH pOINT: Easy choice. Barely eligible to qualify for the Champions Trophy, they rode their luck to the final, where India awaited them. Pakistan would roll back the years, India powerless in the face of a tidal wave of emotion and blinding brilliance. It’s obviously a one-off, and all the more special for it.

LOw pOINT: The Lord’s spot-fixing scandal that saw their captain and two best bowlers go to jail and be banned for five years. Pakistan’s ability to resurface may be exemplary, but that shame and its consequences still hurt both its cricket and its soul.

RESULTS TESTS: P83, W33, L37, D13 ODIS: P217, W104, L106, T2, NR5 T20IS: P122, W69, L50, T2, NR1 AGENCIES

CMYK

Monday, 30 December, 2019

NEWS

PM aMended naB law to save Ministers, allies: PPP KAirA criticises PM for hAviNg MAde PArliAMeNt ‘reduNdANt’ ISLAMABAD

t

STAFF REPORT

HE Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has censured the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government for amending the National Accountability Ordinance “to save their own allies and supporters”.

Speaking during a press conference in Islamabad, PPP Punjab President Qamaruz Zaman Kaira said that the government wanted to save its ministers and allies in the Malam Jabba case and the Peshawar BRT case, which was why the amendments were brought. In reference to lastminute changes in the ordinance, he said signs of worry can already be seen on the part of the government.

“The extent of their worry is such that when Zardari said on the floor of the House that NAB and the economy cannot run together, a lot of criticism

NAB is a ‘farce’, needs to be ‘abolished’: Bilawal ISLAMABAD: A A A Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari has said that the recent promulgation of the National A Accountability Bureau (NAB) A Ordinance is a tacit admission by the government that the corruption watchdog “is a farce” and should be “abolished”. Taking to Twitter on Sunday, he claimed that the ordinance was “proof that it agrees with President Zardari that NAB A and the economy cannot run together”. “Instead of clearly biased efforts, the government should work with the opposition,” he said, advising the government to do its “job and legislate”. The federal cabinet on Friday gave its approval to the NAB A Ordinance, 2019, which was also approved

by President A Arif A Alvi on the same day. Under the ordinance, NAB A will no longer be allowed to take action against government employees and businessmen. INP

was dished out,” he said, adding when the opposition wanted changes in the NAB law, the PTI accused it of seeking an NRO. “We told them that our bill is ready for discussion in the senate. But they resorted to badmouthing,” said Kaira.

Speaking more about the new ordinance, he said the after the promulgation of newly-amendment NAB law, the accountability watchdog cannot hold the army, the judiciary, the government, their allies, the bureaucracy, or the traders accountable.

“Only two parties –PPP and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) will now be probed and NAB will narrow its scope of investigation around these,” said the PPP leader.

“He says he wants change but his efforts are being denounced. He also says the opposition is nothing and can do nothing. Then who is he referring to? Who is countering his efforts?” said Kaira, continuing to raise questions on the premier’s remarks, made during an awards ceremony of the Pakistan Stock Exchange held in Karachi on Friday. “What actually

stands in his way are his own broken promises and his unveiled secrets,” said Kaira. He said that the “tsunami chant” the prime minister had loved to repeat during election campaigning “has come in the form of a plague and has drowned all schools of thought”.

“So as a result, when the people are raising condemnations and exposing the lies from within the party’s own rank and file there is a lot of frustration,” said the PPP leader.

“So there is no condemnation, rather a sense of reproachment that is rising from within your own self,” he said, addressing the premier. He also criticised the premier for having made the parliament “redundant”. “When the parliament had to play its biggest role and when we were calling for legislation, they didn’t want it then. Now an ordinance factory next to the parliament is legislating,” he said, in criticism of the President House.

Kaira also censured the administration for registering a “politically motivated FIR” against PPP workers for having allegedly raised objectionable slogans during the Liaquat Bagh rally held by the party on Friday to commemorate the assassination of Benazir Bhutto at the same venue.

50 dead as cold wave sweeps through Bangladesh CHITTAGONG AGENCIES

At least 50 people have died in Bangladesh as cold weather continues to sweep across the country, officials said.

The country’s lowest temperature this year was recorded at 4.5 degrees Celsius (40.1 Fahrenheit) early on Sunday in Tetulia, a border town in Bangladesh’s north, the weather office said.

At least 17 people died of acute respiratory infection and 33 from diarrhoea caused by rotavirus and other diseases across Bangladesh from November 1 to December 28, said Ayesha Akhter, a senior official of the government’s health directorate.

Hospitals have been crowded with people suffering from cold-related illnesses, such as influenza, dehydration and pneumo-

nia, she said.

Those on low incomes, particularly labourers, are the worst affected by the cold weather because they lack clothes while many others, especially children and the elderly people, are prone to diseases such as pneumonia, Akhter said.

The weather office said the cold snap, accompanied by chilly winds and dense fog, was likely to continue for few more days.

Thick fog forced authorities to divert several flights and delay others, aviation officials said. “I have no choice. I have to work regardless of the harsh weather to feed my family,” said Abdur Rahim, a rickshaw puller in the capital, Dhaka.

“The number of passengers has reduced sharply as people are avoiding going out. It is also getting difficult to pull the rickshaw as I feel like my body is frozen.”

The 'lathi': India's colonial vintage anti-protest weapon DELHI AGENCIES

As Indian protests against a new citizenship law have intensified, so has police use of “lathis”, sturdy sticks used to whack, thwack and quell dissent since British colonial times — to sometimes deadly effect.

At least 27 people have died in the past two weeks of protests, mostly from bullets, but hundreds more have been injured in clashes between demonstrators and riot police wielding the bamboo canes.

Images shot by AFP and other media of officers hitting people with them, in some cases apparently indiscriminately lashing out at passers-by and even minors, has only fuelled public anger.

One video of a group of Muslim women in New Delhi protecting a cowering male fellow student from a police lathi barrage spread like wildfire on social media in India.

Those who have experienced a blow from a lathi, measuring five or six feet (1.51.8 metres) and made of stout bamboo or plastic, say it leaves a numbing sensation that lasts for days. Multiple strikes can break bones, cripple and even kill.

“From being used as means to regulate crowds, lathi has turned into a lethal weapon,” said V. Suresh, the secretary general of the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), a non-profit rights group.

“It is… being freely used, so much so that as a country we have become inured to it. Lathi is seen as a normal but it is a horrible weapon,” Suresh told AFP. “Nothing legitimises its brutal use.”

FEAR AND AWE: Many believe the lathi

originated as a martial arts accessory in South Asia. It was also used by feudal landlords against poor peasants, emerging as a symbol of unquestioned power and authority.

In India, the weapon began to inspire fear and awe when the British used it unsparingly to disrupt protest marches that defined the non-violent independence movement in the late 19th and early 20th century.

The British even came up with lathi guidelines that included commands such as “jabbing”, which meant hitting people in the gut, and “cutting”, denoting a blow to the neck and head.

“The lathi is a legacy of the British colonial rule,” said Syed Ali Kazim, an assistant professor of history at Aligarh Muslim University. “There is clear historical evidence that (freedom fighter) Lala Lajpat Rai died because of the lathi blows on his head during a protest against the British,” he told AFP. The British left in 1947 but the lathi stayed in use, and not only for the security forces.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the militaristic parent organisation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, uses lathis in its early morning drills.

Last week, long-lines of white-shirted RSS members marched through the streets of Hyderabad beating drums, riding horses — and holding aloft their long sticks. “Lathis are not regular sticks. The cane is soaked, dried and then oil is applied to it — it goes through a treatment process to make it a deadly weapon,” said Suresh from PUCL. “They also put iron or steel at the tip which tears the flesh. It can maim and kill.”

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

CMYK

Blast hits military parade in Yemen, at least five dead DUBAI: A missile fired by Yemen’s Iranaligned Houthi group struck a military parade in Yemen’s southern separatist-held town of alDhalea, killing at least five people and injuring others, Yemen’s Security Belt forces said on Sunday. No claim of responsibility was made and Houthi media did not immediately comment on the blast or accusation. The Security Belt forces are part of a southern separatist front in south Yemen. At the same time, they are backed by the United Arab Emirates in a fight against Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group. Witnesses told Reuters that a blast occurred near a guest platform during the parade and that many were injured or killed. They reported seeing bodies at the scene. At least five people died and eight were injured, according to local health authority figures quoted by the Security Belt group and in a statement from the local media office of the forces which control al-Dhalea. A missile blast struck the military graduation parade area just after the ceremony involving Security Belt forces had finished, the statements said. Yemen has suffered from almost five years of conflict since the Houthi movement ousted President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi’s government in late 2014. The coup drew military intervention in 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, trying to restore Hadi’s internationally recognized government. The town of al-Dhalea is controlled by southern separatist forces.