E-Paper PDF 31th December (ISB)

CMYK

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019 I 3 Jamadi-ul-Awwal, 1441 I Rs 19.00 I Vol X No 181 I 16 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Bilawal proposes, MQM-p disposes Ministries offer g

PPP ChIeF OFFers MInIstrIes tO MQM-P In exChange FOr endIng Its allIanCe wIth PtI

KARACHI

H

staff report

ours after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari offered ministries in exchange for breaking alliance with the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQMP) declined offer, saying the party cares about the welfare of the people instead of seats.

In a statement, MQM-P’s spokesperson said that the party formed an alliance with the federal government for the welfare of people of Karachi not for the seats in federation or provincial government set-up.

He said that MQM-P will not decide to leave the federal government on the wish of someone, adding that the party believes in the politics of rights of people instead of seats.

The -P spokesperson urged Bilawal to empower local bodies by introducing a bill in sindh Assembly. “Instead of offering us to join sindh government, PPP should empower local bodies by laying bill in the provincial assembly,” he said, adding that MQM-P will fully sup-

g

MQM-P sPOKesPersOn says Party BelIeves In the welFare OF the PeOPle, nOt seats

port PPP in this step.

He demanded that provincial government should transfer institutions like; Karachi Water & sewerage Board (KW&sB), Karachi Development Authority (KDA), sindh Building Control Authority (sBCA) and others to the local government.

Earlier in the day, addressing a ceremony in the provincial capital after inaugurating four development projects, the PPP chief said that his government would offer an equal number of ministries to the MQM-P if it breaks off its alliance with the Imran Khan-led federal government.

“Topple it, topple it, topple Imran’s government,” he added.

“For Karachi’s sake, all the ministries that the MQM-P has in the Centre, we will give them in sindh. But the only condition is to send him [Imran Khan] back home,” he said.

“Today or tomorrow, all the facilitators, all the allies will have to take this decision, will have to save Pakistan and end Naya Pakistan,” he added.

It is worth mentioning here that MQM-P is one of the core allies of the federal government and its MNAs Farogh Naseem and Khalid Maq-

bool siddiqui hold the federal ministries for law and information technology, respectively.

The scion of the Bhutto dynasty also criticised the PTI government over its decision of removing 800,000 people from the Benazir Income support Programme (BIsP), saying that it was “cruel and unjust of the government to snatch rs1,000 from the poor women in this economic situation”. He vowed to challenge the exclusion of the more than 800,000 people from the programme in a court of law. “The entire nation is embroiled in a plethora of issues. The problems of the masses are escalating every day,” he added.

He said that the government’s anti-encroachment drive was rendering the residents of shantytowns homeless in extreme winter. He also urged the mayor of Karachi to halt the antiencroachment drive to protect the people from the cold weather.

Condemning the government’s gas policy, the PPP chairman said that the people of sindh were suffering due to suspension of gas supply, adding that, “We will have to snatch our share from the government.”

He lamented that the federal government was not providing sindh its rightful share in resources and funds, adding that the PPP cannot “compromise” on the province’s rights.

“At the same time, we will have to think and come up with a way to expand the scope of our development. How can we work more with fewer funds,” he said, adding that public-private partnership was one way to work on mega-development projects.

Bilawal said that PPP had initiated several development projects in Karachi, which include the construction of two bridges and an underpass which, he said, were “obviously very important for Karachi’s communication network” and will help in improving the city’s traffic woes. He said that Karachi’s development was important for the entire country, not just the city’s residents.

“PPP government is the only government in the country that is working and we can show that,” he said but acknowledged that his party’s efforts to provide health, education and other facilities to sindh’s people were not enough to “meet the demand”.

However, he further said that foreign publications too have lauded the policy of the sindh government.

India amends rules to appoint retiring army chief as first Chief of Defence Staff

Facebook blocks PBC news bulletins for live streaming IOK protests

STORY ON PAGE 03

No ceasefire plans in Afghanistan, say Taliban edItOrIal: a lost opportunity for peace in afghanistan STORIES ON BACK PAGE & 08

Filmmaker Jami names Dawn CEO Hameed Haroon as his alleged rapist STORY ON PAGE 03

Pakistan to welcome New Year with further hike in POL, gas prices g

STORIES ON BACK PAGE

PM launches health cards for transgender community

POl PrICes lIKely tO Be InCreased By uP tO rs3.10, whIle lPg PrICe exPeCted tO surge By rs20 Per Kg FrOM Jan 2020

STORIES ON PAGES 11 & 12

CCI decides to allow provinces to implement ‘uniform standards’

CMYK Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

02 NEWS

GovT worKInG on Two-PronGed STrATeGy To enSure Gen BAjwA’S TerM exTenSIon ISLAMABAD

T

MIAN ABRAR

HE Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is working on a two-pronged strategy to give Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa an extension in his tenure.

Informed sources claimed that besides challenging the Supreme Court’s verdict in the extension matter, the government is also planning to move the parliament for legislation in this regard. A month after the SC ruled on the army chief’s extension, the government filed a review petition last week raising 26 questions of law against the judgement while pleading for “preservation of two leading institutions” for a “healthy democracy”.

The government also apprised the top court that Gen Bajwa’s contributions to national security “will go down in history” and the “public at large has warmly welcomed” his reappointment.

On Nov 28, a three-judge bench – headed by then chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa – had given the government six months to legislate on the tenure and other service terms of a COAS or else appoint a replacement of Gen Bajwa.

According to a source, the government would try to get the law passed to accord extension to the army chief with a simple majority while the court has been moved to restore its moral authority as there were “glaring mistakes” in the judgement. Commenting on the issue, Advocate Khawaja Shahid Rasool said that moving the SC with a re-

‘State fulfilling responsibility by providing free shelter, food’ Special Assistant to the PM on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan on Monday said the state is fulfilling its responsibility by providing free shelter and food to the needy. In a series of tweets, Awan said the provision of shelter to the homeless people suffering from severe cold reflects Prime Minister Imran Khan’s feelings for the lower strata of the society. She said the foundation of new Pakistan has been “laid on these [compassionate] feelings”. She added the welfare of humanity is the mission of Imran Khan’s life. The SAPM said Prime Minister Imran has continuously been taking measures for the betterment of the lower segment of the society. NEWS DESK

Pervaiz rasheed records statement in judge video case LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) leader Pervaiz Rasheed on Monday recorded his statement before the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a case involving the scandalous video of accountability judge Arshad Malik. When asked, Rasheed responded that he was asked questions in a disorderly fashion. “I was asked who were present during the press conference [wherein the scandalous video was released]?” “Did you call me here to ask this,” he questioned. “Everyone knows who was present at the press conference.” STAFF REPORT

view petition was not a good move as the scope of the petition is too limited to get a favourable verdict.

“The prime minister has an option to give extension every six months. The other option is amending the law with a simple majority which the government already has. So I wonder why the law minister has decided to move a review petition to the same bench with little scope available for a favourable judgement,” he said. Rasool said that the prime minister was ill-advised by his legal team and Law Minister Naseem Farogh should be penalised for causing embarrassment to the prime minister time and again. “I wonder why law minister is giving bad advice to the prime minister. Either he is incompetent or he wants to embarrass the prime min-

ister,” he asserted.

“The bench cannot give an entirely different decision in a review petition.

Normally, a review petition is filed where minute mistakes are found in the judgement. We know that only a full bench can overturn the judgement in a fresh petition but the judgement can’t be reversed in a review petition,” he added. He said that since the government enjoyed simple majority in the National Assembly it should make a move to amend the law. When contacted, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry confirmed that the government was adopting a twopronged strategy over the issue by moving the apex court and the parliament.

“Apparently, yes. The government is moving on both forums,” he said.

Govt introduced ‘NRO plus’ to protect aides, alleges Marriyum ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday claimed that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government introduced what she dubbed as the “National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) plus” to protect its leaders from corruption references.

In a statement, Marriyum said

that innocent members of opposition parties are bearing jail terms for 15 months without any concrete evidence. “Ahsan Iqbal’s only crime that he exposed ineligible leaders of PTI,” she said.

Earlier, Marriyum Aurangzeb said that the prime minister cannot become a capable person by putting the opponent behind the bars.

False allegations were leveled against the PML-N leaders, but

courts granted them bails, she went on to say.

The PML-N leader said: “The selected government is about to be toppled,” she said and added those swearing to allegations against Rana Sanaullah should resign.”

“The former prime minister made the country an atomic power, laid the network of motorways and brought the country out of darkness,” she stated.

KIU students block CPEC route after govt cancels scholarships Hundreds of student from the Karakorum International University (KIU) took to the streets on Monday, boycotting classes and blocking the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) route on the Karakorum Highway to protest the government’s move to cancel their scholarships.

Students from the PhD, MPhil, and the Masters programs blocked the Karakorum Highway’s GilgitRawalpindi section and rallied near the Mehsul Chungi at Grand Trunk (GT) Road after some of them were not allowed to appear for exams following an arbitrary cancellation of scholarships. In a video of the sit-in posted on Twitter by political activists Ammar Rashid, students were seen protesting peacefully on the highway. The students blocked the route “after being prevented from sitting for their exams following the arbitrary cancellation of their scholarships,” he said.

According to a Facebook post by the Gilgit-Baltistan Awareness Forum, the protesters demanded the Fee Reimbursement Scheme — introduced in 2011 for students in under-privileged areas — be restored. The protest were

held over the federal government’s alleged inefficiency and its lack of attention towards the demands of the students, who had been asking for their rights since after four months. Students claimed that by dissolving the scheme, the future of thousands of underprivileged students had been put at risk. The protests are said to continue until the demands are met. NEWS DESK

CMYK

TTP leader Saifullah Mehsud killed in Afghanistan KABUL: A key commander of outlawed militant outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Saifullah Mehsud was killed in Afghanistan. The group has confirmed the death of the head of its suicide bombing wing. Mehsud was shot dead by unknown gunmen outside the Guloon camp in Khost province of eastern Afghanistan, foreign media reports said. Mehsud was notorious for preparing suicide jackets and suicide bombers for terrorist acts and was among the terrorists most wanted to Pakistan for his involvement in several terror attacks in the country, the report said. Mehsud was the mastermind of a tragic bus attack in the port city of Karachi that had killed around 59 people in 2015 and he had also claimed the responsibility, a foreign media report said. Saifullah Mehsud was fled from the country to Afghanistan after a security operation launched in the Waziristan region, according to the report. Analysts have termed the killing of Mehsud a big hit to the terrorist outfit TTP. STAFF REPORT

Pakistan to raise Kashmir issue at all forums: Imran

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that Pakistan would become the ‘voice of innocent Kashmiris’ by raising the issue at every forum. “Pakistan will continue to extend political, diplomatic and moral support to Kashmiris,” the prime minister said in a meeting with renowned Kashmiri activist Tony Ashai at the Prime Minister’s House. The two discussed the current situation in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir with security forces indulging in severe oppression and barbarity against innocent civilians. Prime Minister Imran called upon the international community to realise the antiMuslim agenda of Indian premier Narendra Modi, terming it a “threat to regional peace.” “The RSS and Hindutva ideology is an attempt to erase the identity of millions of Muslims, residing in India,” he said. Tony Ashai thanked PM Imran for effectively raising the issue of Kashmir at international level, including the United Nations. Ashai apprised the prime minister of his efforts to update the American Senators and Congress members about Kashmir’s humanitarian crisis. APP

CMYK Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

NEWS

PM lAunCheS heAlTh CArdS for TrAnSGender CoMMunITy ISLAMABAD

P

STAFF REPORT

RIME Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched the Sehat Insaf Card facility for the transgender community for the first in the country’s history to provide succor to the most vulnerable segments of the society.

Addressing a ceremony held in this regard in the federal capital, the prime minister regretted that the previous governments never took responsibility of the most vulnerable segments of the society, including the transgender community. The incumbent government, he said, had taken the responsibility of transgender community and would give them ‘a sense of ownership’. Pakistan was created on a great idea based upon sense of justice, humanity and humane feelings for the downtrodden, he added.

Criticising the past regimes, he said that they did not even accept the existence of the transgender community but the incumbent government would, however, provide them full protection in the society by removing negative perceptions about them. The government is determined to provide health cards and

insurance to all the weaker segments of the society, he added.

The initiative will cater to the individuals of transgender community registered with the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) from the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) and all other provinces. About the economic turnaround, PM Imran highlighted that the government faced the most difficult economic challenges last year, but the year 2020 would dawn with progress and prosperity for the countrymen.

The government took steps for the economic stability during 2019 and now would focus on creating jobs for the youth along with boosting the industrial sector, he said and mentioned that the recently-introduced National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019 is a step in the right direction. The prime minister also referred to the government’s flagship social security programme Ehsaas for the alleviation of the economic ordeals of the poor families. He said that through the Utility Stores, subsidised food would be provided to the public.

“The issuance of ration cards is on the

anvil to enable the deserving people to get food items,” he added.

Moreover, the network of ‘Lungar’ would be spread so that no needy person is left hungry, he further said, adding that loan facility was also being extended to the youth.

“In the year 2020, we will now move forward on the path of progress and prosperity,” he added.

The prime minister further observed that with the Sehat Insaf Card, the poor families would have confidence to get treatment facilities in different health facilities of the country. He recalled how the poor families could not manage treatment of their ailing members due to their meager financial resources.

PM Imran also appreciated Dr Zafar Mirza for floating the idea for extending such facility to the transgender community, saying they had been facing multiple social problems.

Dr Mirza said that a total of 6.8 million families had been provided with the Sehat Insaf Cards and they were making strenuous effort to target all the 15 million deserving ones by the end of next year. The Sehat Sahulat Programme was launched in 84 districts where a total of 300 private sector hos-

Filmmaker Jami names Dawn CEO Hameed Haroon as his alleged rapist HAROON REJECTS ALLEGATION, SAYS ‘ACCUSATION FABRICATED AT INSTANCE OF THOSE WHO WISH TO SILENCE ME AND MY NEWSPAPER’ Film director Jamshed Mehmood Raza, known popularly as ‘Jami’, has accused Dawn Chief Executive Hameed Haroon of rape, an allegation that Haroon categorically denied through a statement issued Monday, terming it “simply untrue and intentionally fabricated”.Jami had first come forward in October earlier this year, saying he was “brutally raped by a very powerful person in our media world”. He had said he was speaking up to show solidarity with survivors of sexual violence and the #MeToo movement.

At that time, he had refrained from naming the alleged perpetrator but claimed that he (the perpetrator) belonged to the media industry.In a Twitter thread on Saturday, Jami named Haroon as his rapist and said: “Im ready now. R u ready to print this @dawn_com?” However, Haroon “categorically [denied] the allegation of rape” in his statement and announced that he was “initiating legal action to clear my name and reputation, and to safeguard the freedom of the press”. “But since I had not been specifically named in the [earlier] tweets, I was advised, that even though I had a fair idea of who was prompting Jami Raza, I should exercise restraint until I was specifically named. On 28th December, Jami Raza specifically named me and it has therefore become necessary to respond,” he added.

The Dawn CEO also “unequivocally

condemn[ed] such dastardly acts” and said he “always demonstrated sympathy and support” for victims. However, he also talked of false allegations “leveled by powerful groups to serve their own social and political agendas with the calculated motive of destroying the reputation and dignity of a person”.

He noted that he was “convinced that the false and malicious allegation has been leveled at the instigation of powerful interests in the state and society who, for their own motives and the promotion of their own repressive narrative, wish to destroy my credibility and as a consequence thereof, the credibility of the newspaper group that I am associated with”.

“So far as the tweets and some newspaper reports are concerned, I am initiating legal action to clear my name and reputation, and to safeguard the freedom of the press by bringing to justice all those responsible for these false and malicious allegations against me,” he added. In a statement responding to Haroon, Jami rejected the assertion that he was acting on behalf of anyone by accusing Haroon. “I’m from a family where we don’t use any illegal means to serve any purpose at all. Rest we will see in court. This is for victims and survivors. We put our neck out (because) #metoo died here in Pakistan (because) of all these dirty tricks,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter. NEWS DESK

CMYK

pitals had been providing health services to the deserving people, he added.

He said that about 50 per cent of the country’s total population, who had been living below the poverty line, can benefit from the insurance facility.

Dr Mirza said that they had discussed the idea in the cabinet which had approved it. He said that the government’s social security programmes would have far reaching effects upon the vulnerable communities.

Under a decision of the prime minister, they had given Sehat Insaf Cards to all families in Tharparkar and tribal districts and now they were working on provision of cards in AJK and GB, he added. The special assistant said they had collected data about the transgender community with the assistance of their leaders. He said that with such facility, the families would get the facilities of surgeries and treatment for different chronic diseases.

Dr Mirza also lauded the promulgation of Transgender Protection Act ensuring the equal citizenship by ending discrimination against them in all the sectors. The prime minister also distributed Sehat Insaf Cards among the members of the transgender community.

03

nAB Amendment ordinance 2019 challenged in SC ISLAMABAD: A petition was moved in the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday against the recently approved National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019. Petitioner Farrukh Nawaz Bhatti has sought an immediate suspension of the ordinance until the petition is decided. In his petition, Bhatti questions whether the amendment is in violation of Articles 8, 9, 10(a), 14, 18 and 25, as well as the preamble and Articles 2(a), 3, 4, 5, 37 and 38 of the Constitution. It also asks if the NAB Amendment Ordinance is “liable to be struck down and be declared void ab initio being inconsistent with and in derogation of the said articles of the Constitution”. Terming the amendment “highly discriminatory,” the petitioner says that it is an attempt to create different classes in the society based on “have” and “have nots” on the principles of “might is right” instead of “equality and the “rule of law”. The petitioner stated that the amendment divides the concept of corruption into “slabs” and “classes” where the definition of what is corrupt for some and not for others is a violation of Article 25 read with Article 3 and 4 of the Constitution. He questioned whether the PTI government is attempting to “legitimize the corruption and corrupt practices for a selected class of persons having financial power to bulldoze the constitutional order in Pakistan”. STAFF REPORT

04 ISLAMABAD

Tuesday, 31 December 2019

WEATHER UPDATES TUESDAY

220C 060C

WEDNESDAY

220C 070C

THURSDAY

230C 060C

CAPItAl getS two More SHelter HoMeS ISLAMABAD

t

APP

HE Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) has established two more shelter homes (Panaah Gah) one at Bharakahu and the other in the area of Tarnol for the homeless and needy people.

The decision was taken owing to rising number of homeless people and cold wave across the city, Deputy Commissioner, Islamabad, Hamza Sahfqaat told APP on Monday.

“All the basic and necessary arrangements are being ensured like bedding, quilts, heater, water and meal to the visitors at the shelter homes,” he added.

The each ‘Panaah Gah’ presently set up on tents would provide accom-

modation to approximately 60 persons, he said, adding the new set up would be shifted to fabricated material structure in three to four days.

In response to a question, Hamza said, the expenses at the shelter homes

would be borne by the philanthropists while local administration staff would also provide technical assistance to run the affairs at the ‘Panaah Gah’.

To another query, he said, in existing three ‘Panaah Gah’ only one or

two women seldom visited at I-11 shelter home, adding if women comes here at the news shelter homes the authority would make separate arrangements for them.

Meanwhile, Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting Faisal Javed visited new shelter home and reviewed the facilities being provided by the administration to the homeless people over there.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that the government was taking steps for the betterment of the weaker segments of the society.

The Capital city had already three 'Panaah Gah' functional across the city including I-11, Peshawar Morr and Tarlai, but after the inclusion of two more the Islamabad stands at five shelter homes, he added.

FRIDAY

210C 060C

Mercury drops to -1 Celsius in Peshawar PESHAWAR APP

Like other parts of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was under the grip of extreme cold weather conditions where for the first time the temperature dropped to -01 in provincial capital. According to Meteorological Department, the intensity of the cold would further increase throughout the province during next 24 to 48 hours. The lowest temperature recorded in different parts of the province during the last 24 hours was Kalam -05C, Parachinar -04C and Chitral 03C. Some districts of KP would witness severe thunderstorms at night and early morning while in the plains areas the weather would remain cold and dry during the next 24 hours. The cold weather condition in provincial capital increased the demand of hot and spicy chicken corn soup, Kashmiri tea and traditional Peshawari Qehwa (Green tea) in main markets and bazaars. The prevailing foggy weather condition in the metropolis confined the people especially children to the houses, as the Education Department has also extended the winter vacation till January 7, 2020. The health experts have advised people to keep mask on the face and use warm caps to avoid adverse effects of the smoggy weather. The district administration cautioned the masses from use of coal stove at homes especially during night as it causes suffocation in room and could result in any fatal incident. Meanwhile, the Motorway M-1 was closed for all kind of traffic due to dense fog and vehicles were diverted to Grand Truck road.

IHC seeks written reply from ASA over teachers’ protest ISLAMABAD APP

ISLAMABAD: Renowned Qawwal Rahat Fateh Ali Khan performs during a ceremony held to mark the 8th anniversary of a private hospital. OnlinE

NA urged to pass amended rent control bill in next session ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Acting President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Saif ur Rahman Khan and Senior Vice President Tahir Abbasi have said that Federal Minister for Planning & Development Asad Umar and all elected MNAs from Islamabad had presented an amended bill of rent control act for Islamabad in the National Assembly that have also been passed by the NA Standing Committee on Interior and called upon the parliamentarians to pass the amended bill in

the next session of NA for resolving this longstanding issue of local traders. This was stated by them on Monday while addressing a meeting of ICCI Traders Committee. The meeting was attended by Khalid Chaudhry Convener, ICCI Traders Committee, Khalid Iqbal Malik, Zahid Maqbool, Sheikh Baser Daud, Ashfaq Chatha, Irfan Chaudhry and others.

The Acting President and Senior Vice President ICCI said that due to absence of rent control act, local traders were feeling insecure as due to high inflation, rents of shops were rising leading to evictions of some traders from shops.

They said that according to amended rent bill, a reconciliation committee would be setup to resolve out of court rent disputes. They said that Ajmal Baloch, President, Traders Action Committee and Markazi Anjiman-e-Tijaran were in contact with relevant quarters for the said committee.

The ICCI office bearers appealed to the Prime Minister Imran Khan that as traders of the country have been provided relief from NAB law, the traders of federal capital may also be provided relief by meeting their demand for promulgation of a balanced rent control act in Islamabad.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday sought written reply from ASA by Tuesday in case against the teachers' protest in Comsat University. Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the petition filed by the three students of Comsat University challenging the protest of Academic Staff Association (ASA). The petitioner stated that the protest could affect the examination process which was scheduled to begin Tuesday. The ministry had already declared ASA as illegal, they said. Counsel for ASA Syed Murtaza Ali assured the bench that the protest of teachers wouldn't affect the students' exams. The teachers had played their positive role in the examination process, he pleaded. He contended that the teachers had prepared papers and submitted it to the controller examination of the university. He further argued that it was the responsibility of controller to hold examination of the students and his clients had no role in it. The bench also sought written reply from ASA till Tuesday besides summoning secretary MoST.

Half of KP students enrolled under voucher scheme quit education: report NEWS DESK More than half of the out of school children enrolled by the provincial government in private schools on its expenses have again quit education owing to nonpayment of their fee for the last two years, according to a media report.

The provincial government has been supporting the poor out of school children under Iqra Faroghe Taleem Voucher Scheme since April 2015.

The scheme is being executed through Elementary and Secondary Education Foundation.

Since the start of the voucher scheme, 79,000 out of school children were enrolled in private schools across the province. However, the report said, their number was reduced to 34,000 during the

last two years after the foundation stopped payment of their monthly fee.

They said that reduction in the enrolment of students was noticed in the physical verification of each and every student carried out by the foundation recently.

Instead of releasing payment to the private schools, the foundation has surrendered around Rs3 billion to the finance department during the last two financial years. “Similarly, the foundation has also failed to launch campaign for the enrolment of another 125,000 out of school children because of the NAB inquiry and non-payment to the private schools,” the report quoted sources as saying.

They said that currently, 2.1 million school age children were out of the school. The foundation stopped releasing monthly fees to the schools since January

2018 when the National Accountability Bureau and Provincial Inspection Team launched inquiries into irregularities in the voucher scheme, initially unearthed in Mansehra district.

According to the report, the NAB inquiry was still underway while PIT in its report directed the foundation to register FIRs against six schools that were not fulfilling criteria but were included in the voucher scheme.

A senior official of the foundation, when contacted, said the voucher scheme was defamed by the previous administration of the foundation.

“Now the current administration has decided to start releasing monthly fee to the private schools from next month,” he said. He added that new enrolment of out of school children would also be started

CMYK

from the next academic year.

The official said that the owners of private schools lost trust in the foundation owing to non-payment of fee to them during the last two years. “We are also making efforts to restore the trust of the private schools and in this connection we would take different associations of the private schools into confidence,” he added.

The official said that the current administration had also decided to release funds to the private schools soon after the completion of NAB inquiry.

It is pertinent to mention here that under the voucher scheme, the government has taken the responsibility of enrolling out of-school children in private schools in the areas where no government school exists within 1.5 kilometres.

The voucher scheme has been

launched to help the poor parents, who don’t have access to government schools and can’t afford the expenses of private schools.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Free Compulsory Primary and Secondary Education Act, 2017, binds the government to provide free and compulsory education to the children up to 16 years of age.

Under the scheme, EFF pays Rs500 to the private schools through vouchers as tuition fee for each primary student, Rs600 for the students from grades VI to VIII and Rs800 for 9th and 10th graders.

In addition, the students get Rs2,500 each to purchase uniform and stationery.

The foundation has signed agreements with 1,036 private schools in the province for the enrolment of out of school children.

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

neWs

05

BAttle AgAInst corrUptIon to secUre FUtUre oF coUntry, UpcoMIng generAtIons: pM

Mufti Kifayatullah to be booked if he gave refuge to Mansehra rapist: prosecutor

Literate people, cleanliness facilities and a disciplined society were the basic factors behind the success of tourism sector in Switzerland, he added.

The prime minister said a long term future planning was essential to utilize the human resource and counter the national challenges as had been done by China.

Referring to the issues of water in Quetta, Lahore and Karachi, the prime minister said such serious problems had been ignored in the past that had led to their deterioration.

He said unfortunately the pace of country’s agriculture development was lower than the developed countries despite the country being rich with fertile land and sufficient water.

The national economy could be stabilized to a great extent only if the country enhanced its agriculture produce by taking advantage of the latest technology. The government had decided to take benefit from the Chinese expertise in the sector and was focusing on the agriculture technology transfer, he added.

Responding to a query about corruption cases in Balochistan province, Imran Khan said for nabbing white collar crimes, special expertise was required and the government was paying special attention on the capacity building with respect to elimination of white collar crimes, the effective prosecution of these cases leading to the logical end.

To other questions, he said the government was paying full attention to the infrastructure development and economic prosperity of Balochistan province, noting that exploration of mineral resources and their proper utilization would open a new chapter of progress and prosperity in the province.

The prime minister maintained that the federal and the provincial governments had been cooperating to provide sports facilities and play grounds to the youth of the province.

The province was rich with resources and the international companies had been expressing their keen interest in the provincial resources under the present government’s policies, he added.

A case could be filed against Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl's (JUI-F) Mufti Kifayatullah if it is proved that he provided refuge to a child rapist from Mansehra, the assistant public prosecutor in the case said Monday. The prosecutor made the comment as the primary accused, a religious teacher at a madrassa, was handed over to police on five-day physical remand. The accused was given refuge for three days, the prosecutor added. The Qari had allegedly raped and severely beaten a 10-year-old boy on December 25 in the city's Thakar Mira neighbourhood and had since been on the run until his arrest Sunday night when Kifayatullah and other local religious leaders had handed him over to police. Police on Sunday night had confirmed that the religious teacher had been arrested alongside four alleged accomplices, including his brother. They were relatives of the accused, police had added.

RAPE CONFIRMED: A medical examination of the survivor confirmed that he was raped and subjected to torture, police said. The report detailed that the boy had wounds on his elbows and his eyes were swollen. The boy had been admitted to a local hospital on December 25 in critical condition. On the other hand, the madrassa where the Qari taught denied the allegation levelled on its faculty member, saying another student with the same name had been involved in a fight with the survivor.

MADRASSA SEALED: It denied any knowledge of the rape incident but said the teacher had been wrongfully blamed due to similar names. It also claimed that the religious teacher had surrendered to the police himself instead of being arrested.

Police had sealed the madrassa while the provincial department of education has initiated an inquiry against the Qari, who is a government employee. NEWS DESK

ISLAMABAD

p

INP

RIMe Minister Imran Khan has said the country could not make progress when its resources were plundered and the corrupt criminals kept on stuffing their personal coffers, and declared that the ongoing battle against corruption and corrupt elements would help secure future of Pakistan and its upcoming generations.

While addressing an 87-member delegation from Balochistan province, participating in the National Security workshop on Monday, Imran Khan said that the elements who nurtured fears that their corruption would be exposed, and that they would be nabbed, had been crying hoarse.

The participants belonged to different spheres of life, PM office media wing in a press release said.

The prime minister said a country could not progress when criminals held the high offices. Few elements were asking the government to focus on other issues and neglect those criminals who had never been sincere with the country, he added.

He said a leader did not instill fear in the nation to secure their votes but a real leader always gives hope.

Referring to the recent incidents in India, Imran Khan said leaders never divide the nation or society by misguiding it or through creation of an atmosphere of fear.

About government’s reforms, the prime minister said they faced fiscal and trade deficit challenges but due to the government’s efforts on the economic front, stability was achieved as manifested in the economic indicators of the country.

The year 2019, was a year of economic stability and in the upcoming year of 2020, efforts would be made for economic growth rate and promotion of the economic activities, he added.

He expressed his resolve to focus on those areas which lagged behind in terms of social and economic progress.

About China Pakistan economic Corridor

(CPeC), the prime minister said it would benefit the whole country specially Balochistan province and would usher in an era of progress and prosperity in the province.

He observed that with the development of Gwadar port as an economic hub of the country, the whole province would reap fruits.

The prime minister said the economic stability was a vital component of the national security and the nations facing the burden of debts had to face numerous national security issues.

He said the nations facing economic challenges could not utilize resources for the human development which was inevitable for the national development. exemplifying Germany, Japan and US, the prime minister said by focusing upon the human development, Japan had joined the comity of developed nations despite having faced immense losses during the World War-II. He told the delegation that Pakistan had been blessed with huge resources and human resource capital with a great potential.

He said the Northern Areas of Pakistan were double the size of Switzerland besides being rich with picturesque beauty. There existed a huge potential of tourism in Northern Areas as well as the religious tourism which had faced neglect in the past.

He said Switzerland generated revenue of around $80 billion merely from the tourism sector which was more than the total exports of Pakistan which stood at $25 billion.

No US drone strike in Pakistan in 2019: report ISLAMABAD HAMID KHAN WAZIR

The outgoing year is quite significant as this marked the first year since 2004 that there were no drone strikes in Pakistan, as compared to four drone attacks in last year, resulting in death of 13 militants.

According to the Annual Security Report 2019 released by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), a drastic decline was witnessed in terror and counter-terror related fatalities in the outgoing year, as 30.71 per cent drop in fatalities was observed in 2019, declining from 980 in 2018 to 679 in 2019, which indicated significant improvement in security situation in the country.

However, the most significant development of the drone strike related development as no drone strikes reported, as since 2004, the US drone strikes were quite common in Pakistan especially its bordering areas with Afghanistan.

The report showed that the largest drop in fatalities was observed in Balochistan (44.2 per cent), followed by erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) (39 per cent), which

were once known for terror-related incidents.

The data showed that only two militant outfits, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) splinter groups and the Islamic State (IS), claimed responsibility for 12 and 1 attacks respectively, but their own ranks depleted by nearly 30 per cent, while civilian fatalities declined by about 36 per cent.

According to the report, if the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) province and the former FATA are counted as separate regions, Balochistan still remains most affected of militancy and insurgency. The largest drop in fatalities was observed in Balochistan (44.2 per cent), as a total of 405 fatatlities were reported in 2018 as compared to 226 in 2019. Similarly, 39 per cent drop in fatalities was observed in FATA, as 192 fatalities were reported in 2018 as compared to 117 in 2019.

The report showed that the drop in fatalities was observed in Sindh (19 per cent), and Punjab (11.8 per cent), in KP 5 per cent, while no fatality reported in Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) in the outgoing year.

The report indicated that nearly 370 terror attacks were reported during 2019 that left 518 persons dead in the country, as compared to 739 fatalities in 400 terror attacks in 2018. Suicide

attacks also declined significantly this year, dropping from 26 in 2018 to 9 this year, resulting in the loss of life of 295 individuals in 2018, but dropped to 56 persons in 2019.

The report showed although civilians were the most terrorism-affected group, the overall civilian fatalities declined by about 36 per cent.

Government and security officials’ fatalities were dropped by 19 per cent while the militants and insurgents had a 30 per cent drop in their fatalities.

According to the report, the number of attacks and associated fatalities dropped significantly, as the IS claimed a single attack, while TTP and its splinter groups Hizbul Tahrir and Jamat-ul-Ahrar claimed 12 attacks.

One of the causes in bringing militancy under control was the apprehension of the outlaws belonging to various banned outfits during this year. Of the 141 militants arrested, 32 were TTP, 11 were Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, 3 were alQaeda in the Indian Sub-Continent (AQIS), 4 were IS, 2 were Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), and 5 of Baloch Republican Army (BRA). In addition, 24 militants belonging to Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and 2 from Jamat-udDawa (JuD) were also arrested.

FIA asks UK authorities for video testimonies in Imran Farooq case ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday asked the UK government for recording testimonies of the witnesses via video link in Dr Imran Farooq murder case. According to reports, the prosecution team, in a fresh letter to the British authorities, has sought testimonies of the witnesses in the case. “An anti-terrorism court (ATC) has approved a plea to record statements of more witnesses from United Kingdom (UK) through video link and directed for making arrangements at the Pakistani high commission in London,” the letter read. The FIA has sent a list of the witnesses to British authorities and asked about their availability for recording testimonies in the case. “The letter has been written to the UK Border Agency through the Foreign Office,” sources said. The prosecution team of the FIA waiting for a response from the British authorities over the matter, sources added. It is pertinent to mention here that the intelligence agency had also requested the court in a previous hearing to include Imran Farooq’s wife among 32 British witnesses for the recording of statements. The witnesses also include British fingerprint experts, the director of the London Academy of Management Sciences and forensic experts. The ATC had approved the intelligence agency’s plea for recording more statements of UK witnesses through video link and had adjourned the hearing till January 13. Dr Imran Farooq was stabbed to death near his apartment in London in September 2010. STAFF REPORT

Akhbar Farosh Union President Chaudhry Nazeer Ahmad addresses the annual meeting of the union in Lahore.

With purifiers and lawsuits, Pakistanis fight back against smog LAHORE AGENCIES

For the past few months Hasan Zaidi’s phone has been ringing nonstop with calls from desperate residents in Pakistan hoping to get their hands on his newly invented air purifier as smog blankets the country.

“Some days, I had so many calls that I couldn’t answer,” says Zaidi during a recent interview with AFP in his workshop.

Tired of choking on putrid air, Zaidi spent six months perfecting his homemade device as he looked for a low-cost solution to battle the increasingly toxic scourge overwhelming Pakistan.

During this winter alone, the 31-yearold engineer has already sold some 500 units, which are priced at just 16,000 Pakistani rupees ($103) but admits to refusing hundreds of orders in recent weeks due to lack of manpower and resources.

In cash-strapped Pakistan, Zaidi’s “Indoor Forest” purifiers are cheaper than

imported models, which typically cost about two to five times more.

“Now it is less of a luxury and more of a necessity,” explains Sadia Khan, whose company Autosoft Dynamics recently acquired a dozen of Zaidi’s purifiers so its 180 employees can “breathe safely”.

135,000 DEATHS: In the past five years, air pollution has worsened in Pakistan, as a mixture of low-grade diesel fumes, smoke from seasonal crop burn off, and colder winter temperatures coalesce into stagnant clouds of smog.

In 2015, 135,000 Pakistanis died due to poor air quality, according to a study published in the scientific journal The Lancet.

Pollution tends to be at its worst in the Punjab during winter, particularly in the 12 million strong city of Lahore near the border with India. In November schools were closed for several days across the province with the level of PM2.5 — tiny particles that get into the bloodstream and vital organs — repeatedly exceeding 200

microgrammes per cubic meter of air.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) recommended safe daily maximum is a measurement of 25.

Pakistan is ranked one of the worst countries in the world for air quality and Lahore consistently ranked in the top 10 most affected cities, according to the pollution monitoring site AirVisual.

But Tanveer Waraich, director general of the Punjab’s environmental agency, dismisses those figures, saying pollution readings cited by monitors and activists are not from “authentic machines”.

“To say that Pakistan and Lahore are among the top polluted cities […] this statement is not based on facts,” he says, but concedes the country’s air quality is largely unacceptable. Public awareness about the issue is growing due to increased activism on social media about the dangers of pollution and the dire challenges climate change is bringing to Pakistan.

Yann Boquillod, who co-founded

CMYK

AirVisual, said subscribers to the site from Pakistan have increased tenfold this year.

“In Pakistan, there was a problem but no one knew about it. Pakistanis are (now) mobilising,” Boquillod says.

GAS CHAMBER: With officials slow to act, ordinary Pakistanis have increasingly taken measures into their own hands.

In 2016, Abid Omar launched the website PakistanAirQuality (PAQ) dedicated to compiling data about air pollution in the country and publishing its findings.

According to PAQ, Lahore only experienced “10 hours” of good quality air based on WHO standards during the first eleven months of 2019.

Conversely, air quality in the city oscillated between “bad” and “hazardous” for a total of 223 days so far this year.

The smog “has made our lives miserable,” laments a pedestrian in Lahore buying a mask. Pressure on officials is building.

Ahmad Rafay Alam, one of the few environmental lawyers in Pakistan, filed

a suit against the Punjab government on behalf of his daughter and two other teenagers in November, saying officials having underreported the problem.

Outside of activism and lawsuits, others are trying to minimise their exposure to the harmful toxins in the air. “Last year, it was just bizarre how everybody seemed not concerned,” says Ayza Omar, director of interiorsource.pk, a site offering high-quality face masks and other anti-smog products.

“This year, it has been crazy. We were sold out within the first two months,” she adds, saying they sold thousands of masks this year compared to dozens last year.

In an attempt to improve the situation in Lahore, a group of environmentalists are planning to unveil an eight-metrehigh air purifier that will remove harmful particles from the air.

Maryam Saeed, one of the designers, says of the device: “It will help to ease the problem, but it won’t change the whole picture.”

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

06 WORLD VIEW

end Of the AmericAn erA in the middle eAst THE US PULLBACK FROM SYRIA HAS EMBOLDENED RUSSIA AND IRAN

Financial Times

f

Gideon RachMan

OR centuries, the Middle East has been dominated by outside powers. The collapse of Ottoman rule at the end of the first world war was followed by a century in which western nations — first Britain and France, then the US — were the most powerful external actors. But that era of American dominance is now coming to a close.

The decline of US influence in the Middle East was captured by an impotent tweet from President Donald Trump on Boxing Day: “Russia, Syria, and Iran are

killing, or on their way to killing, thousands of innocent civilians in Idlib Province. Don’t do it!” Underlying the president’s hand-wringing about Syria is a rapid decline in the ability and willingness of the US to shape events in the Middle East — leaving a gap that is being filled by other powers, such as Russia, Iran and Turkey.

Of course, if the Americans are directly challenged they can and will respond forcefully — witness the bombing raids that the US staged on an Iranianbacked militia on the Iraq-Syria border this weekend. But the appetite for broader strategic plays in the Middle East seems to have largely disappeared from the White House.

As recently as 2011, the US, Britain and France staged a military intervention in Libya which toppled the Gaddafi regime, while Russia fumed impotently on the sidelines. However, the west’s unwillingness to manage the aftermath in Libya — or to get seriously involved in

Syria — left an opening for Moscow.

Russia’s unexpected military intervention in Syria in 2015 was treated with scepticism in the west. But Russian forces have waged a brutal campaign that has helped the Assad regime regain control of most of the country — with the assault on Idlib potentially opening the way to a conclusive victory.

Two events in recent months have rapidly accelerated the decline in US power in the Middle East. In September, Iranian missiles struck the oil facilities of Saudi Aramco. Since Saudi Arabia is one of America’s closest allies, it was widely assumed that the US would inevitably stage a military response. In the event, the Trump administration did nothing.

The following month, Mr Trump announced a pullout of American troops from Syria. In a symbolic move, Russian forces moved in swiftly to occupy evacuated US bases, with television reporters sending home incredulous dispatches, surrounded by discarded American kit.

The US had abandoned not just its bases, but its Kurdish allies, leaving them to the mercy of a Turkish military offensive.

The American pullback has further emboldened Russia and Iran, while causing US allies to rethink their dependence on Washington. Russia, Iran and China have just

staged their first ever joint naval exercises in the Gulf of Oman, a stretch of ocean traditionally dominated by the US fifth fleet and crucial to the global flow of oil.

Russian “mercenaries”, connected to the Kremlin, have also now intervened in Libya to back the rebel forces led by General Khalifa Haftar, potentially increasing Moscow’s influence over both the country’s oil and the flow of refugees to Europe. In Libya, as in Syria, it now appears that Turkish forces will intervene on the opposite side to the Russians. However, this proxy conflict has not prevented a certain closeness emerging between Russia and Turkey.

The Turks are not the only regional power that is looking with increasing interest towards Moscow. In the wake of the Trump administration’s inaction over Aramco and Syria, Mr Putin paid a successful visit to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, prompting Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, de facto ruler of the UAE, to announce improbably: “I think of Russia as my second home.”

Mr Trump and his supporters shrug their shoulders at this declining influence.

After the costly debacles of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, Americans are understandably wary of further military involvement in the region. In another recent tweet, the US president said that all out-

siders, including “Napoleon Bonaparte”, were welcome to help the Kurds, adding, “we are 7,000 miles away”.

European powers, which are much closer to the Middle East, cannot afford to be so casual. But their policy towards the region is even more impotent and inward-looking than that of the US. When Mr Trump announced his pullout from Syria, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Germany’s defence minister, tentatively suggested that Europeans should think about deploying a peacekeeping force.

The idea gained no traction whatsoever.

Instead, EU nations are watching the Russian-Syrian offensive with a mixture of horror at the humanitarian consequences and dread that a new flow of refugees will soon be heading towards Europe. Already some 235,000 people have fled from the Idlib area, adding to the millions internally displaced within Syria, and the roughly 4m refugees across the border in Turkey. The Europeans are also alarmed that Islamist fighters may soon be streaming back into western Europe.

In the long run, even the US may pay a price for frittering away its regional influence in such a casual manner. As the past century has demonstrated, turmoil in the Middle East and Europe has a way of eventually crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

Arms And India’s founding values are threatened by the mAn: On sinister new forms of oppression Gen rAwAt’s cOmments

BY EMPLOYING DRONES AND FACIAL RECOGNITION AGAINST THE OPPOSITION, NARENDRA MODI SEEMS HEEDLESS OF CIVIL LIBERTIES AND JUSTICE

GENERAL RAWAT CROSSED THE LINES OF MILITARY PROPRIETY IN MAKING POLITICAL COMMENTS Hindu If a diplomat should think twice before saying nothing, an army general should not think of saying anything at all. The Chief of Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat, should have known better than to offer his views on political controversies and agitations of the day. In making thinly veiled comments on the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019, the General crossed the line of military propriety. The egregious remarks on student protests and leadership of agitations constitute a serious error in judgment. If the task of a leader is to lead by example, and in the ‘right direction’, as he himself put it, then Gen. Rawat, who heads nearly fifteen lakh men in uniform, sent out all the wrong signals. The Army Chief’s remarks could have been discounted as an unfortunate slip of the tongue or a oneoff instance, if it were not for the frequency with which he weighed in on matters he ought to have been extremely circumspect about, in public at least. Berating students from a seminar podium is bad enough but last year, Gen. Rawat felt compelled to point out, at yet another seminar, that the All India United Democratic Front (AIDUF) — led by Badrudin Ajmal — had grown much faster than the BJP in Assam. “Finally, what will be the state of Assam, we have to take a call,” he had said, throwing in the politically incorrect word “lebensraum” into the mix for good measure, while referring to migration in the region. On matters such as education in Indian held Kashmir too, the General’s unsolicited views have stirred controversies.

It is possible to argue that since the Army is so heavily and continually deployed in these areas, the north east and Indian held Kashmir, where the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act operates, the Army Chief can make comments on other aspects of governance and politics as well. The argument that the Army has a political voice in these States will not travel far, though.

Among other things, it reflects the failure of the political class to keep the Army confined to duties that they are meant to carry out. If what Gen. Rawat said was deplorable, what V.K. Singh, the Minister of State for Road Transport, spoke in his support was most unfortunate. Especially since he himself was the Army Chief not so long ago. It is likely to encourage soldiers in the making and those in uniform to move in wrong directions. But it is also notable that not many others have flocked to Gen. Rawat’s defence. Allowing chiefs of the three services to make political statements undermines the civil leadership in the long run. It is to be hoped the government makes the lines clear to them so that such incidents do not recur.

Guardian Madhav Khosla

The anger is extraordinary for its depth and ferocity. In protests that have spread across the world’s largest democracy, Indians of all stripes have taken to the streets. Two weeks ago, the government amended the citizenship law to speed up applications for refugees from surrounding countries who are Hindu, Christian, Parsi, Jain or Buddhist – but not Muslim. The law coincides with an attempt to create a new list of India’s citizens, a task whose precise mechanism has evolved in recent days. Regardless of the details, it will be a Kafkaesque exercise during which poor people with few official documents will have to prove their citizenship. If they happen to be Muslim, the citizenship law means the consequences they face will be different. Detention centres mushrooming across India reveal what those might be.

The pan-Indian nature of the outcry is striking. India has long been home to disobedience, but the scale and reach of the present discontent is rare. Though the protests have been painted as a conspiracy limited to Muslim and elite forces, elements that have come together to suppress the real India, there seems to be genuine and diverse opposition to the plainly exclusionary citizenship law.

As the drama and horror have unfolded, both the protesters and the state have acted in familiar ways. We have seen student agitations, silent marches, legal orders, police brutality and recriminations. Yet there is something special about this episode, something new on each side.

Unlike many an agitation in Indian history, these protests have not centred on specific goals and policies.

While the context is the citizenship law, the message has been that India’s essence hangs in the balance. For its independent history, the nation has mostly been liberal and democratic, in stark contrast to much of the postcolonial world. Now, with the country’s identity being framed in terms of

its majority Hindu population, its status is changing. Importantly, the communalisation is taking place with state absolutism. In Indian held Kashmir, for example, where the region’s constitutional autonomy was annulled in August, there has been a lockdown spanning travel, communications and ordinary life. With institutions such as the judiciary hardly visible, state authority has faced few obstacles.

The protests have expressed concern at both the redefinition of Indianness and the decline in democratic freedoms. A noticeable feature in the outrage has been an emphasis on the constitution. The document expresses a strong commitment to individual autonomy. For Jawaharlal Nehru, the country’s first prime minister, the only way to “consolidate India” was “by removing all sense of difference from the political point of view between the so-called majorities and minorities”.

India’s birth, as I have argued in a forthcoming book, was the first major attempt to create democracy in a nonwestern land burdened with poverty, illiteracy and diversity. The present discontent has highlighted the contrast between the ideals on which the nation was formed and the direction in which it is quickly heading.

The symbolism is powerful, but it can only do so much. No constitution can provide for its own success or failure. It depends on the political forces that exist. The protesters are brave and numerous, but they are headless.

While recent outbursts have seen some regional governments pushing back against the central government, the political opposition is far from coordinated and clear, and India’s federal scheme tilts heavily in favour of the central government. The success of the outcry will turn on whether it can shift from social unrest to a political alternative. The constitution cannot save India but, if such a transition occurs, India may well save it.

If the protests have stood out for framing the moment in existential terms, the state’s reaction has been noticeable for a different reason. There have been some expected reactions, such as the extreme use of a colonialera law to prohibit assemblies, some dramatic measures, such as widespread internet shutdowns, and some ghastly episodes, especially in India’s most

populous state, Uttar Pradesh, where there is a great feeling of terror and communal tension. What is most startling, however, has been the coming together of technology, surveillance and coercion to produce an entirely new machinery of state power. Indeed, India’s protests may well mark the first moment when the new arsenal of the state is deployed on such a large scale.

Automated facial recognition systems have been used to identify and to exclude protesters, based on earlier protest videos taped by police. The software used was originally developed to trace missing children. It is now being deployed to act against individuals, thereby not merely preventing them from protesting but doing so without any establishment of guilt.

This year, the government issued a tender for an automated facial recognition system on a nationwide basis, whose end date has been extended five times.

This is despite the absence of any clear legal framework to guide the use of such technology. The tender explicitly notes the benefits of the technology for crime prevention but omits any reference to privacy or sensitisation.

In parallel has come the deployment of drone technology to capture images of protesters. In response, the Internet Freedom Foundation, a not-

for-profit advocacy group, petitioned India’s directorate general of civil aviation seeking an independent legal opinion on the legality of drones. IFF has pointed out that the DGCA’s guidelines appear to have been openly flouted for the purposes of surveillance. As in the case with facial recognition, there are no clear parameters on when miniaturised drones can be flown with video cameras and visual recognition software. The state is exercising great power, and great power without authority.

These technological moves should raise alarm bells. India has the world’s largest biometric database, with few checks on information processing and data mining, and it recently tabled a personal data protection bill in parliament that does little to address nonconsensual data profiling by the state.

With communal identification and a hegemonic political configuration on the one hand, and with powerful technological instruments on the other, India stands at a curious junction. It faces a medieval politics being driven by the weapons of the future.

Madhav Khosla teaches law and politics at Columbia Law School and Ashoka University and is the author of India’s Founding Moment.

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

FOREIGN NEWS 07

iranian-baCked Militia grouP vows to exaCt revenge after us strikes ISFAHAN

a

AGENCIES

N Iranian-backed militia said on Monday that the death toll from United States military strikes in Iraq and Syria against its fighters has risen to 25, vowing to exact revenge for the “aggression of evil American ravens”.

The announcement in Baghdad came a day after US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Washington had carried out military strikes targeting the Iranian-backed Iraqi militia blamed for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor in Iraq last week.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strikes send the message that the US will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardise American lives.

The US military said “precision defensive strikes” were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria.

“Our battle with America and its mercenaries is now open to all possibilities,” Kataeb Hezbollah said in a statement around midnight on Sunday. “We have no alternative today other than confrontation and there is nothing that will prevent us from responding to this crime.” The US blames the militia for a

rocket barrage on Friday that killed a US defence contractor at a military compound near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. Officials said as many as 30 rockets were fired in that attack.

Iraq’s Hezbollah Brigades, a separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.

The Popular Mobilization Forces said on Sunday that the US strikes killed at least 19 of Kataeb Hezbollah’s members. But Kataeb Hezbollah spokesman

China jails scientist who gene-edited babies BEIJING: A Chinese court on Monday sentenced the scientist who claimed to be behind the world’s first gene-edited babies to three years in prison for illegal medical practice, state media reported. He Jiankui, who shocked the scientific community last year by announcing the birth of twin girls whose genes had allegedly been altered to confer immunity to HIV, was also fined three million yuan ($430,000), Xinhua news agency said. He, who was educated at Stanford University, was sentenced by a court in Shenzhen for “illegally carrying out the human embryo gene-editing intended for reproduction”, Xinhua said.

Two of his fellow researchers were also sentenced. Zhang Renli was handed a twoyear jail term and fined one million yuan while Qin Jinzhou was given 18 months, suspended for two years, and fined 500,000 yuan. The trio had not obtained qualifications to work as doctors and had knowingly violated China’s regulations and ethical principles, according to the court verdict, Xinhua said. They had acted “in the pursuit of personal fame and gain” and seriously “disrupted medical order”, it said.

The researchers had forged ethical review materials and recruited couples where the husband was HIV positive for their geneediting experiments. AGENCIES

Mohammed Mohieh told The Associated Press on Monday that the death toll rose to 25. At least 51 militiamen were wounded and some of them were serious condition, he said, adding that the militia group’s commanders would decide on the retaliation. In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi condemned the US strikes against Kataeb Hezbollah as an obvious case of terrorism and accused Washington of ignoring Iraq’s sovereignty.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah also blasted the “brutal American aggression”, saying those who took the decision to carry out the attack “will soon discover how

stupid this criminal decision was”.

Kataeb Hezbollah is led by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, one of Iraq’s most powerful men. He once battled US troops and is now the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces. In 2009, the State Department linked him to the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, designated a foreign terrorist organisation by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

The US maintains some 5,000 troops in Iraq, at the invitation of the Iraqi government to assist and train in the fight against the militant Islamic State group. The attack that killed the American contractor and US counterstrikes come as months of political turmoil roil Iraq. About 500 people have died in anti-government protests, most of them demonstrators killed by Iraqi security forces.

The mass uprisings prompted the resignation last month of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who remains in a caretaker capacity. In a statement, Abdul-Mahdi said Esper had called him about a half-hour before the US strikes on Sunday to tell him of US intentions to hit bases of the militia suspected of being behind Friday’s rocket attack.

Abdul-Mahdi said he asked Esper to call off the plan.

Turkey fast-tracks bill to deploy troops to Libya ANKARA AGENCIES

The Turkish government is sending to parliament on Monday a bill mandating the deployment of troops to Libya, said Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, accelerating a high-stakes plan that Ankara outlined last week.

Last week, President Tayyip Erdogan said his government would seek parliamentary consent to deploy troops to Libya after Fayez alSerraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) requested support.

The GNA is fending off an offensive

by Khalifa Haftar’s forces in the east of the North African country.

Erdogan had said on Thursday the bill would pass around Jan. 8-9.

But Cavusoglu, after meeting with Turkish opposition leaders to seek support for the legislation, told reporters the bill would be submitted to parliament later on Monday.

“As the Foreign Ministry, we presented the mandate to the Presidency for it to be sent to the parliament. And as of today, we have

Merkel, erdogan and Putin disCuss diPloMatiC solution for libya BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed efforts to reach a diplomatic solution for the Libyan conflict in separate phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, whose government intends to send troops to Libya, a government spokesman said on Monday. Turkey’s foreign minister has warned that the Libyan conflict risks sliding into chaos and becoming the next Syria, as he sought to speed up domestic legislation to allow Ankara to send troops to the North African country. Last week, Erdogan announced his government’s decision to seek parliamentary consent to send troops to Libya, at the request of Tripoli. The troops would help to defend Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord against General Khalifa Haftar’s forces, which get military support from Russia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. AGENCIES

learned from the President’s office that the mandate will be sent to parliament with the signature of the Honourable President within the day,” Cavusoglu said. Earlier on Monday, Turkey’s main opposition party said after talks with Cavusoglu that it opposes the bill, arguing that such a move would exacerbate the country’s conflict and cause it to spread across the region. [L8N2941HH]

Cavusoglu later met with the opposition Iyi Party, which he said would evaluate the bill. Ankara has already sent military supplies to the GNA despite a United Nations embargo, according to a U.N. report seen by Reuters last month, and has said it will continue to support the GNA. Haftar’s forces have received support from Russia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.

death toll in somalia bombing climbs to 81 MOGADISHU: The death toll from a massive car bomb in the Somali capital has risen to 81, a government spokesman said Monday, as rescue workers pursued their search for the missing. The bombing Saturday at a busy intersection in Mogadishu was the country’s deadliest attack in two years. No one has claimed responsibility, though President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed blamed Islamist group Al-Shabaab, which has regularly carried out car bombings and other attacks as part of its decade-long bid to topple the internationally-backed government. “The overall number of the dead stands at 81 currently. Two more people died from their injuries,” Ismail Muktar, a spokesman for Somalia’s information ministry, told AFP Monday. One of the new fatalities was among the injured who had been evacuated to Turkey via a Turkish military plane on Sunday, Muktar said. Muktar said the death toll could climb further as rescue operations entered a third day. Around two dozen people were listed as missing after the attack, but 12 have been located — five of them dead — and the rest remain unaccounted for, he said. Some 125 people were injured in Saturday’s blast, a caseload that has overwhelmed health facilities in Mogadishu. At least 16 of those killed were students from the capital’s private Banadir University, who had been travelling on a bus when the car bomb detonated. The attack was the biggest to hit Somalia since a truck exploded in 2017 near a fuel tanker in Mogadishu, creating a fireball that killed over 500 people. AlShabaab was blamed for that strike too, though it never formally claimed responsibility — as it often does not do when there is a large amount of civilian casualties. The United States military said Sunday it had killed four “terrorists” in three airstrikes targeting Al-Shabaab.US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said two militants were killed and two vehicles destroyed in Qunyo Barrow, while two more militants were killed in Caliyoow Barrow. The US regularly carries out airstrikes in Somalia, though the frequency of such operations has risen sharply this year. AGENCIES

two men shot dead in eastern saudi city were driving car bomb DUBAI: Two Saudi men shot dead last week in the eastern city of Dammam were driving a car loaded with explosives and were planning an “imminent terrorist operation”, the SPA state news agency said on Sunday, citing security forces. The two were found with explosive paste in the car, SPA said. They started shooting at security forces when they were approached on Wednesday and were shot dead. Five kg of paste was taken from the car and found later to contain the explosive RDX, SPA said. Police named the two men and said a third unnamed man had been arrested. AGENCIES

Hong Kong to end year with multiple protests, kick off 2020 with big march HONG KONG AGENCIES

Hong Kong will end 2019 with multiple protests planned for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day aimed at disrupting festivities and shopping in the Asian financial hub, which has seen a rise in clashes between police and protesters since Christmas.

Events dubbed “Suck the Eve” and “Shop With You” are set for New Year’s Eve on Tuesday in areas including the party district of Lan Kwai Fong, the picturesque Victoria Harbour, and popular shopping malls, according to notices on social media. A pro-democracy march on Jan. 1 has been given police permission and will start from a large park in bustling Causeway Bay and end in the central business district.

Organizers Civil Human Rights Front were behind the peaceful million-plus marches in June and held a mass protest earlier in December, which they said around 800,000 people attended.

“On New Year’s Day, we need to show our solidarity … to resist the government. We hope Hong Kong people will come onto the streets for Hong Kong’s future,” said Jimmy Sham, a leader of the group. The protests began in June in response to a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, where courts are controlled by the Communist Party, and have evolved into a broader pro-democracy movement.

Police said they would deploy crowd control patrols on Tuesday and urged marchers on Wednesday to remain peaceful. In a Facebook post, Police Commissioner Chris Tang thanked his frontline officers for guarding Hong Kong’s “safety and stability” and issued a warning to protesters. “If you use violence, you will not get public support. We, police, will do all we can to arrest you,” Tang said.

The demonstrations planned for New Year follow a pick up in clashes since Christmas Eve, when riot police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters following

scuffles in shopping malls and in a prime tourist district. While the protests — now in their seventh month — have lessened in intensity and size in recent weeks, marches or rallies continue to occur almost daily. Hundreds of people gathered in the central district on Monday night to remember people that have been killed or injured during the protests.

More than 2,000 protesters have been injured since June. While there is no official count of deaths, student Chow Tszlok died after a high fall during a pro-democracy rally in November. Multiple suicides have been linked to the movement. “For most Hong Kong people, Christmas and New Year’s don’t mean anything to us anymore,” said Roger Mak, a 35-year old who attended Monday’s rally.

“What we’re fighting for is our future,” he said, adding that he planned to attend both protests scheduled this week.

Police arrested 34 over the weekend and used pepper spray to break up a gathering aimed at disrupting retail business

near the border with mainland China.

More than 6,000 protesters have been arrested since challenges began to the extradition bill, seen as an example of meddling by Beijing in freedoms promised to the special administrative region when Britain returned Hong Kong to China in 1997. China denies the

claims and says it is committed to the “one country, two systems” formula put in place at that time, and blames foreign countries including Britain and the United States for inciting unrest. The protests have battered Hong Kong’s economy, already reeling from the fallout of the U.S.-China trade war.

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

08 COMMENT

A year in retrospect

NAB law amendments rolled back

I

Who does it really help?

T would have been better if the much-needed amendments to the nAB law had been announced more responsibly, without prematurely leaking them to the media after the cabinet meeting, leading to contradictory reports about what had actually been decided. Original reports had all but rendered the nAB toothless, taking away its core powers by restricting lengthy detainments without bail and reduction in the remand period from 90-days to 14-days. Both these features of the nAB law have now been rolled back.

These were welcome changes as they brought some rationality to the detention of someone accused of having committed a white-collar crime. So the amendment does little to provide relief to the opposition that has been at the receiving end of the PTI’s vengeful politics à la nAB. Most of the senior leadership of both the PML-n and PPP are either still in the slammer or out on bail as charges are yet to be proven. It is therefore no wonder why they are calling this amendment, promulgated through a presidential ordinance no less, a massive nRO that Prime Minister Imran Khan is giving to save people in his party and his friends. The Peshawar BRT and Malam Jabba cases, if treated the same way as other investigations into malfeasance, would result in some uncomfortable arrests for within the PTI government.

Perhaps those cases cannot be held-off or ignored the way they have been any longer. Most of the relief in this amendment is for the business community that will no longer fall into nAB’s jurisdiction. The bureaucracy may feel less hesitant to sign off on official documents now as well. But it should be asked of the PTI government’s accountability masters, starting from the very top, as to why they were, only a few weeks ago, praising nAB for its work, and criticizing those calling for amending the institution’s law ‘corrupt and guilty individuals trying to escape justice’ only to clip its wings in a heartbeat when its suited themselves. The motives behind this move are being peddled as a way to make accountability more ‘effective’, but that is hard to believe given its timing and method.

A lost opportunity for peace in Afghanistan Another bloody winter for the country

O

n Monday morning international media across the Atlantic reported that the Taliban Council had agreed to a ceasefire in Afghanistan to be followed by talks for a peace deal with the US, and intraAfghan negotiations within two weeks of the signing of a US-Taliban peace deal. This has now been denied by the Taliban who have stated categorically that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has no ceasefire plans. The Taliban, it appears are adamant over the demand that Washington remove all of the approximately 13,000 American forces and let the Taliban deal with the Afghan government itself.

The implications of the Taliban stand are clear. In days and weeks to come the fighting inside Afghanistan will become deadlier than before. Last week a US. Army Green Beret became the 20th American service member to be killed by hostile fire this year in Afghanistan. More than 2,400 American forces have been killed in Afghanistan since the US invaded that nation and overthrew its Taliban-controlled government.

The biggest sufferer would however be the Afghan civilians and the government troops. Airstrikes have intensified with US aircraft dropping more munitions on Afghanistan in September than in any other month since October 2010. Overall, in the first nine months of 2019, United nation Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UnAMA) documented 8,239 civilian casualties (2,563 killed and 5,676 injured). The Taliban have meanwhile accelerated attacks on government troops. Any large scale uprooting of the population in Afghanistan due to the escalation of the conflict will burden Pakistan with more refugees. With little leverage with the Taliban or the Afghan government, Pakistan cannot do much to avert the catastrophe.

Pakistan’s clout with the Taliban has declined with the passage of time. It is indicated not only by the shifting of Taliban-US talks to Qatar but also by the display of self-confidence by the Taliban who have set up independent ties with different countries. While supporting peace, Pakistan should remain neutral in the conflict. It should treat whosoever comes to power in Afghanistan as a representative of a sovereign state. Islamabad should be sensitive to the Afghan government and people’s concerns who can only be won over if treated as equals.

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

I

The good, the bad and the ugly from 2019

haSaN aFTaB SaEED

T

HE year 2019 had many things in common with past years. As usual, it was a year replete with mutually contradictory conspiracy theories. There was the usual doom and gloom on the part of the anchorpersons. There were the usual predictions about the demise of the government (all incorrect). The Coke Studio continued to sell old merchandize in new packaging. There was another novel (and a drama serial) by Umera Ahmed. In what follows, however, are some things that justify an honorable mention for 2019 in the annals of history.

In March, najam Sethi did a Shahid Masood by announcing on national TV that Imran Khan’s marriage with the first lady was on the rocks and only a timey intervention by well-wishers had averted the ultimate disaster. Sethi went on to say to the host that being a newly married man the latter could well imagine the trouble if there was no love and peace between a couple. Eight months down the line, and much to the disappointment of those who had raised their hopes on this front, the first couple is still very much united in holy matrimony.

Of course, Khan had responded immediately, in true ‘Till death do us part’ style, that the marriage was going to last till the last breath. While it was

reassuring for the nation, it had also left quite a few countrymen wondering whose last breath the prime minister may have been alluding to.

We have had twitter, Facebook, and YouTube celebrities making their way to mainstream fame, but 2019 saw the first Pakistani TikTok celebrities crossing that threshold. It’s a sad indictment of the Islamic Republic that in the social influencing stakes, Hareem Shah and Sundal Khattak today have arguably a larger reach than all our other ‘influencers’ on all socialmedia forums combined. Talk about making up for a late start!

In 2019, Misbah-ul-Haq became the first man in history to be head-coach, batting coach, and chief selector of a national team, all at the same time. (For good measure, he is also the coach of Islamabad United in the PSL competition.) Misbah was part of the team that recommended axing of the former head-coach Mickey Arthur, only to apply for the vacant position himself. Equipped with all the qualities needed to become the next Intikhab Alam, Misbah is likely to continue ‘serving’ the PCB till 2060 or the Apocalypse, whichever comes earlier.

‘Mere paas tum ho’ was undoubtedly the cultural highlight (or lowlight) of the year (depending on one’s taste in such things). In most households one could see men and women cheering Danish on when he started losing patience with Mehwish after putting up with her for an unreasonably long time. The emotional peaks came in the form of those famous slaps, which were celebrated by millions across the country.

It also transpired that no matter how completely Mehwish may have atoned for her sins, the collective conscience of the nation wasn’t prepared to forgive, let alone forget. Those who are old enough to have watched Pakistani movies in theatres would have been reminded of similar scenes on the front benches when the hero finally started getting the better of the villain.

This year also saw a refreshing throwback to the days when judges, in the interest of impartiality, used to shun newspapers and television. Those days are long gone of course, but it’s gratifying to know that some chips off the old block have survived to this day. Like Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth

of the Peshawar High Court, who observed during a hearing that the only television he ever watched was wrestling. He was responding to a lawyer who was had praised him for his poise despite the nationwide criticism of the rather gory paragraph 66 the judge had recently penned. While fully appreciating the judge for avoiding the media, it did leave aesthetes like the present author secretly wishing that the disclosed entertainment of choice was something other than noora kushti.

One of the ways in which Khan was to be cut down to size during the year was the no-confidence vote against Sadiq Sanjrani, the Senate Chairman. This was supposed to be the first of the in-house setbacks for Khan. Sixty-four opposition members had helped pass the resolution, by show of hands, to move the no-confidence vote; and needing a mere 54 votes to oust Sanjrani, the opposition sat pretty. Until the secret ballot that is, when 14 votes went missing, never to be found again. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction.

For a few days in november, everybody was talking about Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s dharna.

While the PPP and the PML(n) were content to pay lip service to the dharna, the desi liberals harbored high hopes for the Maulana to get rid of their nemesis. The message, before they eventually abandoned the sinking ship, was loud and clear: Anybody but Imran Khan! (The alternative could be the devil himself, and the liberals wouldn’t care.) To its credit, in response to Maulana’s bravado the government couldn’t have been calmer. To any and all plans announced by the Maulana – Plan A, B, C and the rest – the government seemed to have just the one plan: Plan L (Leave it all to Providence). For once, it worked like a charm.

The best piece of news for men came at the very end of the year when one Farrukh Iqbal made history by becoming the first male CEO and president of the First Women Bank. One hopes that in the coming years more men will stand up for their rightful share in the society.

Hasan Aftab Saeed is a connoisseur of music, literature, and food (but not drinks). He can be reached at www.facebook.com/hasanaftabsaeed

Of false idols and sham ideologies And why we keep on falling for them over and over again

Shah Nawaz Mohal

A

nSWER this: Do you think of ideology as a man-made monster, hatched to experience a feel-good gush within ourselves and act sanctimonious without warrant? If you do, you and I are on the same page. If you think differently, well, you must have your reasons.

Ideology allows an individual to merge himself in the collective and purge himself of solitary, at times nagging, other times emphatic, conscious. Ideology dictates us mortals to take pride in things that are simultaneously petty, futile and downright unnecessary; it loudly brandishes the placard ‘I hail from the most VITAL group of people’. It would be erroneous to believe that ideologies are plain, simple narratives believed by some, ridiculed by others. no, they are not. Ideologies are promoted, raised and protected by those who accrue benefits from their perpetuity. There are strings attached, narratives fine-tuned and tickets sold. The show mimics the Sisyphus and his ordeal. It never ends, never.

Ideologies, in mythic and Marlovian terms, make heaven out of hell, hell out of heaven.

Let’s turn to a widely-accepted text-book Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

definition of the word. Oxford dictionary defines ideology as a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy. Plain and dull, isn’t it? Well, these textbook definitions are general, modest and rudimentary for the greater good of university students and masses en bloc. More advanced souls have to delve further deep and return more muddier.

But, textbooks are read and forgotten as soon as exams are passed. So, let us embark on a quest and drill down the mythical meaning of the ‘Ideology of Pakistan’ which, for the majority, is unfortunately the only ideology to ever walk on the face of earth shoved down our windpipes by leaders of all ilk.

Mind you, no matter what bracket our kingpins hail from, they own a movable dais, a microphone, couple of speakers, a huge brigade of votaries available anywhere at a moment’s notice, and are buzz-worthy. According to them, and this includes our bearded, cleanshaved, and mustached bigwigs, the panacea to all that ails us is ‘implementation of nazriyae-Pakistan’.

And this magic bullet or dare I say, ‘manjan’ will right every wrong. It will mend the economy, reduce crime, ameliorate our battered education system, skyrocket exports, reduce imports, revolutionize the health sector in its entirety, assassinate the behemoth of unemployment, protect CPEC, tame India, destroy Israel, protect Palestine, clobber America, spread Islam all over the world, increase the reverence for our passport, and InshaAllah eventually we’ll rule and reign till eternity and beyond.

The above lines are neither a drunken banter nor a sally. It actually maps out the grand plan our lot daydreams on boring, eventless days. And in it lies our comfort and dire straits we never freed ourselves from.

Why we do it? Why do we delude our children by hammering propaganda in their syllabus? What good does it do, if any?

The answers may go something like this: Because it is convenient, it doesn’t rock the boat.

Because ideology is a social construct that blurs

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

I

the stark, glaring realities. Because it peppers a sense of purpose on everything institutions do.

Because it perpetuates the notion that state has a greater purpose than all the individuals combined. Because individuals are means, state is the end and means can be slaughtered at the altar of End. And lastly, because ideology saves the sacred cow that has convinced us of its necessity and programmed our minds to buy a particular brand of porridge (and revere the institution it shares its name with).

For the bulk, ideology answers all the grand questions pertaining to ‘why’ of individual identities and entities, be them big or beyond. And that’s so because of our innate urge to worship simplicity when answers are either unpalatable or unacceptable. Since time immemorial, we humans have settled for explanations that soothe us, their veracity matters little. We humans are hard-wired to believe; everything makes pictureperfect sense when the inquisitive, curious voices inside our brains are rendered aphonic.

The most menacing usage of ideology is the ‘other-ing’ of people, tag people you don’t like; cite their rituals as offending on a very deep, very personal level, hate them for the color of their skin or their eating habits, isolate them.

And finally be done with them; this is precisely how we lost ‘them’ i.e. former Pakistanis/present day Bangladeshis, no one snatched them away. We tossed them out.

Let me leave you with a scenario to contemplate for a minute or two. Where exactly do you see our ‘Sabz-Hilali Parcham’ amidst the red crescent-carrying flag of Turkey and the starstudded Chinese banner; the former, a state rebelling against its own self, the latter, a country hell bent to sell its ‘goods’ and ‘gadgets’ to friends and foes alike. And don’t forget to behold the splendid sight of ‘Foton’ Tunland police vehicles plying the roads alongside ‘Albayrak’ buses on spick and span roads of twin cities.

And the story keeps on going.

Shah Nawaz Mohal is a law graduate and journalist based in Islamabad. He can be reached at mshahnawazmohal@gmail.com

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Tuesday, 31 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

Don’t create problems THE recent controversy involving India, Pakistan, and the USA over the Kashmir issue is very unfortunate in the first place. I have been watching the whole news of controversy even amid my tight schedule at work.

I have been reading the problems between India and Pakistan right from my school days in the early 1990s in Tuticorin, Tirunelveli in Tamil nadu. Of course, there have been many issues left unresolved to date. The message that something seriously bizarre has been right there in front of both India and Pakistan is clear to the whole world. I have been concerned about those inherent issues.

Actually, numerous hard rules and scores of draconian regimes worldwide have stopped many interesting things from happening in the world. This having been the fact, the situation still remains the same at the world stage. As a student, I remember studying in Tamil literature and world history many curious instances of ancient mediators resolving issues between countries through great efforts and unflinching understanding.

Mediation is not a [that] bad word in the world. At the same time, sovereignty, freedom, and basic rights cannot be taken for granted. Yet, seeking help from others, that too in times of crises will only create great understanding before the resolution of core issues.

P SENtHIL SArAvANA DurAI Mumbai

Moving from London to Madina ‘Chalo Chalo Madina Chalo’.

Dr. FariD a Malik

T

ILL 1858 Governor Generals (GG) of India were appointed by the board of East India Company, it was called Company Raj. It was then converted to British Raj when the Monarch took control of India. All colonized nations reported to London, the capital of United Kingdom. It was said that, “sun never sets on the British Empire” as it covered a huge area of the globe.

After the Second World War most colonies gathered the courage to demand freedom.

On August 14, 1947 the Indian Subcontinent was divided on the basis of religion. Pakistan emerged on the world map as the first Islamic democracy. After freedom it continued to be a member of the British Commonwealth of nations with its headquarter in London. Despite freedom, the umbilical cord with the capital city of the colonizers was not fully severed.

The elected government of Bhutto tried to break loose but the detachment was short lived.

Today most black money through laundering by the corrupt is parked in London. Expensive real estate is owned by unscrupulous elements of the Islamic Republic. Conspiracies are regularly hatched there to derail the democratic order. London has become a haven of illgotten wealth, where the ‘Money Launderer’s freely live and enjoy their bounty while Pak-

istan sinks in debt and poverty. A major course correction is needed to recover the loot and arrest the culprits who have robbed this nation.

Despite the fact that Pakistan today is an Islamic Republic it continues to be influenced by the capital of the Commonwealth of nations.

Why can’t we move towards our Islamic roots in the direction of Madina, the first capital of Islam? The Prophet (PBUH) himself changed the name of the city upon his arrival in 622 from Yathrib to Al Madina Al Munawara.

Riyasat-e-Madina, the first welfare state came into being whose light then spread all over the world. After Mecca, Madina is the second holy city for the Muslims where Prophet (PBUH) lays buried with his two companions Hazrat Abu Bakr (RA) and Hazrat Umar (RA). There is no city in the world like Madina. The Holy Quran was compiled here; 15 million visitors come every year to pay homage to the greatest human being that walked on the earth. Mount Sudah stands tall here, where the famous battle for the survival of the revolution was fought.

Having spent a considerable time in both the cities, I can comfortably say that London is nowhere close to Madina in its hospitality and benevolence. This is not an endorsement of the rulers of Saudi Arabia or the House of Saud; it is about the uniqueness and the holiness of the city itself. The love and the open heartedness of the people is unmatched and then Jannat-ul-Baqi where the founders of Islam lay buried in ordinary graves with no fanfare or marble mausoleums and well carved

tombstones. The individuals who changed the world sought no personal favors; they lived, struggled and perished after spreading light for humanity.

If the Islamic Republic of Pakistan desires to replicate the Riyasat-e-Madina it has to have a major presence there. A research center should be established in the city of the Prophet (PBUH) to study his revolutionary framework that dominated the world for centuries. The degeneration started in the 18th century, till the fall of the caliphate. The Ottoman Empire, Safavid Iran and Mughal India emerged as great world powers that dominated the universe.

In the 19th and the 20th centuries Europeans took control.

Pakistan under the leadership of Imran Khan desires to build a modern welfare state on the lines of Riyasat-e-Madina.

While the five nordic Welfare states of the 20th and 21st century are based on the same model yet some differences remain which have to be understood.

An organized effort is needed to move the Islamic Republic in the direction of Madina with 21st century upgrading and without the influence of the House of Saud.

The affinity with the European colonizers will keep us away from our mission. London is the capital of the exploiters from where no good can be expected. Only the color of the skin has changed while exploitation of the people continues unabated through their leftovers.

By moving out of the British Commonwealth of nations in the seventies, the elected government of Bhutto sent a clear message to the former masters. He then re-energized the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) by holding the grand Summit at Lahore in 1974.

The headquarters of this important organization is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia which has dampened its performance. Mecca is the holiest city for the Muslims followed by Madina and Jerusalem. The Prophet (PBUH) left the city of his forefathers to settle in Madina which then became the center of his revolution. It is time to revive the old spirit by returning to the origin. The city of Madina will play a key role in the rejuvenation of Islam which the spiritless commercial hub of Saudi Arabia, the port city of Jeddah has not been able to. Let us shun London and focus on Madina en route to creating the first Islamic Welfare State on the lines of Riyasat-e-Madina.

The love and the open heartedness of the people is unmatched and then Jannat-ulBaqi where the founders of Islam lay buried in ordinary graves with no fanfare or marble mausoleums and well carved tombstones.

Dr Farid A Malik is ex-Chairman, Pakistan Science Foundation. He can be contacted at: fmaliks@hotmail.com.

Kashmir case WHILE Pakistan approaches the ICJ, it should keep in view India’s defence line. India would invoke jus cogen ‘clausula rebus sic stantibus’, things as they stand, or fundamental change of circumstances. The principle stands codified in Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

India could plead the UnO resolutions stand antiquated under afore quoted principle as Pakistan failed to pull out all its forces as stipulated by UnO. It could also plead ‘lex posterior derogat priori’, later treaty abrogates the earlier one. The principle is enshrined in Article 59 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties.

We better not discuss the legality of Article 370 revocation. It has been challenged by Kashmiri appellants who accept jurisdiction of India’s Supreme Court, and by corollary IHK’s assembly’s accession-to-India resolution. India’s Supreme Court alluded to Article 370 as permanent, but it never clarified what ‘permanent’ actually means. none of the Supreme Court’s decisions explicitly equated such permanence to the Article being a basic feature. Also, unlike the IHK’s High Court, the Supreme Court never mentioned any bar on the amending power of the Parliament in these decisions (SC case: Sampath Prakash and Santhosh Gupta, the IHK’s High Court’s case: Ashok Kumar’s case).

Let us be cool. Keeping in view the moral credibility of our likely pleader Ben Emerson, and Reqo Diq lesson. Fools rush in where angels dare not tread’.

KHALID MASooD rawalpindi

Judge Caprio’s court JUDGE Caprio’s court in America has gotten famous across the world because it disposes cases of traffic violations swiftly.

In his court everyone regardless of their colour and country of origin is treated with kindness, consideration, and dignity.

Violators of traffic rules who are found guilty are fined nominal charges. A Pakistani-based American national who was charged three parking tickets was fined nothing as he was a student and thus qualified for some help, being worthy of it.

The televised version of the court of Judge Caprio is termed ‘Caught in Providence’.

Well, why can such cases be tried by such judges in our country? Can the services of Judge Caprio be hired for consultancy to ensure speedy and justified judgments?

On the contrary, former Chief Justice was engaged himself to collect funds for building dams while thousands of cases were pending. Our judges, by watching Judge Caprio’s court proceedings, should learn something.

Hope for the best. Sooner or later it would happen so in our country as well.

FAISAL ANSAr Karachi

The car is ready for stealing DEAR sir, through your paper I would like to address those people who are always ready to live and die for their cars, but are not able to secure it from being stolen and when it has been stolen ask the world how the thief could have opened the door and started their car from parking or outside my home, etc.

I am sorry to say that actually these types of people are overconfident or perhaps too casual in normal routine of their lives. First they go to the car-wash center, explain the specifications of the car, its qualities, show the engine sounds to others and chillness of the air-conditioning and tell the current market value of the car. In the end, these owners give the key of the car, in a very friendly way, to the car wash service and tell them “I am going for some piece of work and will be back after a few hours, you just change my oil filter, engine oil, fill some great quality of coolant in radiator and wash the car.” now your car is ready for stealing, as it is possible someone makes a duplicate of your car key. So be careful and don’t be too casual with new people, as it is your own responsibility to look after your assets instead of asking the state to recover it.

FAyyAz ASHFAq Karachi

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

10 FOREIGN NEWS

frenCh governMent, unions exChange barbs in strike deadloCk PARIS

t

The strike — now longer than the notorious 22-day strike of winter 1995 — has lasted 25 days and is on course to surpass the longest transport strike in France which lasted for 28 days in 1986 and early 1987. Aside from two driverless lines, the Paris metro was again almost completely shut down on Sunday while only a fraction of high-speed TGV trains were running.

The government and unions are only due to hold their next talks on January 7, two days ahead of a new day of mass demonstrations against the reform which is championed by President Emmanuel Macron. In an interview with the Journal

AGENCIES

HE French government and a key trade union on Sunday exchanged bitter accusations over who was to blame for France’s over three-week transport strike against pension reforms, as the stalemate showed little sign of relenting.

Deputy Transport Minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari accused the hardline CGT union of a “systematic opposition to any reform” while the union’s chief Philippe Martinez charged the government with strewing “chaos” in the conflict.

China jails Protestant pastor for 9 years for 'inciting' subversion BEIJING: China on Monday jailed the leader of an unofficial Protestant church for nine years for “incitement to subvert state power”. Pastor Wang Yi, whose Early Rain Covenant Church was the target of a government crackdown last year, was also found guilty of “illegal business operation” by a court in southwest China’s Chengdu, according to an announcement on an official court website. Wang was detained in December 2018 in a raid by authorities in which dozens of members of his “underground church” disappeared.

Protestants in the country are split between unofficial “house” or “underground” churches like the Early Rain Covenant Church and state-sanctioned churches where Communist Party songs also feature in the order of service. Catholics are similarly divided between unofficial churches led by bishops recognised by the Vatican and those who follow official prelates. China’s officially atheist government is wary of any organised movements outside its own control, including religious ones. Chengdu’s official court system website said Wang had been convicted in an open trial by a court in the city, where Early Rain Covenant Church had been based.

The charge of inciting subversion has often been used against dissidents as a way to silence criticism of the government and the Communist Party. Shortly before being detained, Wang wrote a post on his church’s Facebook page criticising the Chinese government for repressing Christians in the country, saying the “Party can flourish for a while, but it cannot last forever.” AGENCIES

de Dimanche newspaper, Djebbari angrily accused the CGT of “attitudes of intimidation, harassment and even aggression” against railway workers who had opted not to down tools.

He accused the CGT of showing a “systematic opposition to any reform, of blocking and sometimes intimidation”.

“The CGT wants to make its mark through media stunts. But the French are not going to be duped by the extreme-left politicisation of this movement,” he added.

‘LIKE THATCHER’: But in an interview with the same newspaper, Martinez accused the government of trying to ensure the conflict deteriorated further.

“Emmanuel Macron presents himself as a man of a new world but he is imitating Margaret Thatcher,” he said, referring to the late British prime minister who sought to break the power of the unions in 1980s standoffs. “There is real anger. Of course, not being paid for 24 days is tough. But the conflict is the result of two-and-a-half years of suffering,” Martinez added. He said he was awaiting concessions from Macron in a New Year’s address Tuesday evening as well as recognition that “most people are not happy and that he (the president) was wrong”.

The French president, elected in 2017 on pledges to reform France, has remained

All eyes on 'new way' in Kim Jong Un's New Year speech PYONGYANG AGENCIES

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for “offensive measures” to strengthen security ahead of a New Year speech that could flesh out the nuclear-armed nation’s threat to seek a “new way” forward after the expiration of its year-end deadline for US sanctions relief.

Kim’s latest comments, made during a meeting of top ruling party officials in Pyongyang, came amid concerns that the North could formally close down dialogue with Washington and resume nuclear and long-range missile tests.

Addressing the officials, Kim stressed the need “to take positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country,” the state news agency KCNA reported Monday.

Nuclear talks between the North and the US have been largely stalled since the collapse of a February summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Hanoi.

Pyongyang has been demanding the easing of international sanctions imposed over its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, while Washington is insisting it takes more tangible steps towards giving them up. The

North has not so far specified the “new way” it would adopt if the US does not offer fresh concessions by the end of the year, and Kim is expected to make it clearer on Wednesday. This month China and Russia — the North’s biggest economic partners — proposed loosening UN sanctions against Pyongyang, and analysts say Kim is likely to seek to exploit rivalries between Washington, Beijing and Moscow.

The “new way” was more likely to be an old way with denuclearisation firmly off the table, said Henri Feron, Senior Fellow at the Center for International Policy in the US. “What North Korea refers to as a new path is new in the sense that it will differ from its relatively engaging posture the past two years, but will actually be a return to the posture it maintained notably in the Obama era,” he told AFP. “It will focus on developing its military leverage and economic resistance to sanctions, while demanding unconditional peace and normalisation before there can be any talk on denuclearisation.”

Speculation has mounted that Pyongyang could abandon its moratorium on intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests — although its ominous threat of a “Christmas gift”

to the US appears to have fizzled.

US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said that Washington would be “extraordinarily disappointed and we’ll demonstrate that disappointment” if Pyongyang carries out a long-range missile test.

“But we have a lot of tools in our toolkit, and additional pressure can be brought to bear on the North Koreans.” Wednesday’s speech will be Kim’s eighth New Year address, after he revived the tradition started by his grandfather — North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung — but discontinued during his father’s rule.

It is a key moment in the North Korean political calendar, reviewing the past and setting out goals for the future, and printed in full in the Rodong Sinmun mouthpiece newspaper. “Kim’s delivery of New Year’s speeches has evolved over time, from standing before a pulpit in a party uniform in his early years, to sitting in an office in a Western-style suit and tie in 2019,” said Rachel Minyoung Lee, senior analyst at specialist site NK News. Pyongyang has been ramping up the pressure with static tests at its Sohae rocket facility and a series of weapons launches, some described as ballistic missiles by Japan and others — which are banned under UN resolutions.

Bushfires reach Melbourne as heatwave fans Australia blazes MELBOURNE AGENCIES

Around 100,000 people were urged to flee five Melbourne suburbs on Monday evening as Australia’s spiralling bushfire crisis killed a volunteer firefighter battling a separate blaze in the countryside.

Authorities in the country’s secondbiggest city downgraded an earlier bushfire emergency warning but said residents should steer clear of the blaze, which has burned through 40 hectares (nearly 100 acres) of grassland.

In Bundoora — just 16 kilometres (10 miles) north of the city centre and home to two major Australian university campuses — the fire’s spread toward houses had been halted for now but it was yet to be brought under control, said Victoria Emergency. Local media showed images of water bombers flying over neighbourhoods, and families hosing down their homes in the hope of halting the fire’s spread.

A volunteer firefighter died in New South Wales state and two others suffered burns while working on a blaze more than five hours south-west of Sydney, the Rural Fire Service said.

“It’s believed that the truck rolled when hit by extreme winds,” the agency said in a tweet. Ten others, including two volunteer firefighters, have been killed so far this fire season.

The crisis has focused attention on climate change — which scientists say is creating a longer and more intense bushfire season — and sparked street protests calling for immediate action to tackle global warming.

While conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison belatedly acknowledged a link between the fires and climate change, he has continued his staunch support of Australia’s lucrative coal mining industry and ruled out further action to reduce emissions. The blazes have also destroyed more than 1,000 homes and scorched more than three million hectares (7.4 million acres) — an area bigger than Belgium.

A heatwave sweeping the country Monday fuelled the latest destruction in Australia’s devastating summer fire season, which has been turbocharged by a prolonged drought and climate change.Conditions worsened on Friday

with high winds and temperatures soaring across the country — reaching 47 degrees Celsius (117 Fahrenheit) in Western Australia and topping 40 degrees in every region — including the usually temperate island of Tasmania.

More than a dozen blazes are also raging in Victoria’s East Gippsland countryside, where authorities said “quite a number” of the 30,000 tourists visiting the usually picturesque region had heeded calls to evacuate. Some of the fires were burning so intensely that hundreds of firefighters were pulled back beyond a front estimated to stretch 1,000 kilometres (600 miles). It was deemed “unsafe” for them to remain in bushland areas, Gippsland fire incident controller Ben Rankin said, describing the situation as “very intense”.

TOO LATE TO LEAVE: Authorities had warned tourists enjoying Australia’s summer holidays in East Gipp-

CMYK

sland that the fires would cut off the last major road still open.

Victoria Emergency Management commissioner Andrew Crisp said residents and holiday makers still in the area faced being stranded as it was now “too late to leave”, with his agency warning it was “not possible” to provide aid to all visitors in the area. Neighbouring South Australia is also experiencing “catastrophic” fire conditions. The Country Fire Service’s Brenton Eden said it would be a “very dangerous” day for people in the state, with “dry” thunderstorms — which produce thunder and lightning but no rain — already sparking a number of fires, including an emergency-level blaze on Kangaroo Island.

“Winds are gusting and unfortunately this is a dry lightning front that is going to move rapidly across South Australia,” he told national broadcaster ABC. Conditions were also expected to deteriorate in worst-hit New South Wales, where 100 fires were burning Monday morning including more than 40 uncontained. Sydney and other major cities have been shrouded in toxic bushfire smoke haze for weeks, forcing children to play indoors and causing professional sporting events to be cancelled. The capital Canberra has cancelled its New Year’s Eve fireworks display due to a total fire ban in the Australia Capital Territory, while several regional towns have also followed suit.

virtually silent on the standoff, save for a call for a Christmas truce that went unheeded and a vow not to take a presidential pension. This will intensify attention on December 31 address, with all eyes on whether Macron offers steps to defuse the conflict or indicates he is ready for a long, grinding standoff. The unions are demanding that the government drops a plan to merge 42 existing pension schemes into a single, points-based system. The overhaul would see workers in certain sectors — including the railways — lose early retirement benefits.

suspect denies stabbing five at new york rabbi's home NEW YORK: A suspect appeared in a New York court on Sunday charged with five counts of attempted murder after a stabbing spree at a rabbi’s suburban house that left Hanukkah celebrants throwing furniture to defend themselves. It was the latest in a spate of attacks on Jewish targets.

Grafton Thomas, 37, allegedly entered the property in Monsey, Rockland County, during celebrations on Saturday evening for the Jewish Hanukkah festival, knifing several people with a machete before fleeing. US media reported that the suspect was covered in blood when officers detained him. Thomas was ordered held in custody after appearing in Ramapo Town Court, where he denied the charges. The attack at the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg was quickly condemned as another incident underscoring growing antiSemitic violence in the United States.

President Donald Trump tweeted that Americans “must all come together to fight, confront, and eradicate the evil scourge of anti-Semitism.” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told reporters at the scene on Sunday that “these are people who intend to create mass harm, mass violence — generate fear based on race, color, creed.” The New York Times quoted Taleea Collins, a friend of the suspect, and his pastor Wendy Paige, as saying the suspect had struggled with mental illness.No official details were released about the victims. Local media said one person was seriously injured. Thomas was reportedly arrested in his car about 30 miles (50 kilometers) away, two hours after the attack. “Everyone was screaming and panicking and shouting ‘out out out.’ It was chaos,” Joseph Gluck, 30, told reporters. “I threw a coffee table at the guy. Then he started to come after me.” AGENCIES

Mauritius closes main airport as cyclone Calvinia approaches PORT LOUIS: Mauritius closed its main airport on Monday and shops and other businesses in the capital also closed as the tropical cyclone Calvinia approached. The Indian Ocean island’s meteorological service said Calvinia had remained almost stationary for some time at about 120 kilometres (72 miles) east of Mahebourg, a small village in southeastern Mauritius. “A movement towards the west will bring the center closer to Mauritius,” the weather service said in a statement. Gusts of up to 120 km an hour were expected to hit Mauritius by early afternoon on Monday and the airport, Port Louis Harbor, was ordered closed from noon local time. The meteorological service declared a class III alert — indicating a storm with winds between 111 and 129 miles per hour — for the cyclone and Air Mauritius, the national carrier, postponed all arrivals and departures until further notice, it said in a statement. Port Louis Harbor is Mauritius’s principal gateway and handles about virtually all external trade, including key imports for the population of 1.3 million such as food and oil. AGENCIES

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

BUSINESS 11

CCI dECIdES to Allow provInCES to ImplEmEnt ‘UnIform StAndArdS’ PSQCA ASSIGNED WITH REGISTRATION OF PRODUCTS AND SETTING NEW STANDARDS ISLAMABAD

A

GHULAM ABBAS

fter a long fight between the Center and provinces over establishing a uniform standard for food and other consumer items across the country, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) has decided to give the power of enforcement of standards to provinces, a way out agreed upon by all stakeholders.

According to reliable sources, all provinces agreed on a uniform standard of food and other consumer products, set by Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), an attached department of the Ministry of Science and technology (MoSt) during a recently held meeting of CCI whereas the Center also agreed to give up the power of enforcement and monitoring of the new standards, thus allowing the provincial government and food authorities to implement the new standards.

However, an official at MoSt claimed that the CCI will discuss the

criteria and terms for enforcement of the new standards in its next meeting again. It may be noted here that the provinces were previously sceptic of PSQCA's role as the sole body for registering, monitoring and implementing consumer items. the PSQCA, which was worried about stripping its mandate of inspecting the quality of over 100 selected items, had reportedly suggested that CCI allow it to standardise consumer items at the very least whereas provinces and their food authorities may be allowed to enforce and implement the standards in their jurisdiction.

According to sources, Punjab was reluctant to accept this proposal saying that the provincial governments will develop standards of food items on their own, adding that the Punjab food Authority (PfA) had already developed various standards of food items. According to sources, PSQCA, which has failed to ensure manufacturing, import and supply of quality items for its incapability and corruption of officials, the provincial authorities had practically taken control of the mandate, being exercised

by PSQCA. resultantly the manufacturers of consumer/food items including the national and multinational companies were much disturbed over the inspection/monitoring and licensing by both PSQCA and provincial authorities.

Since the process of inspection, certification, licensing involve fee, money and bribe, the central and provincial authorities were reluctant to give up the mandate and power to the Center. As the corporate sector being tortured by the more than one authorities had complained about the practices requesting for harmonization of food in the country, the process of developing consensus among Center and provinces was started a couple of years ago.

However, after going all efforts in vain, Ministry of Law, which was looking into the matter, had sent the matter to the CCI. In the absence of consensus for the past two years, no development was made regarding the formulation of national standards, registration and licensing of manufactures and trading houses in the country and conformity assessment i.e. enforcement of standards across the country. taking notice of the issue CCI had decided to re-

solve constitutional and legal ambiguities, review Provincial food Authorities Acts and suggest a mechanism for enforcement of applicable technical regulations. following the 18th Amendment in the constitution and creation of food authorities and subsequent enforcement of different laws by provinces, the interprovincial trade and manufacturer of food items across the country were badly affected.

As per the PSQCA, the law has mandated the authority to include food items and non-food items in Compulsory Certification Mark Scheme under which the authority has so far notified 105 mandatory items including 40 food items. In case of inspection and licensing by provincial authorities, the corporate sector will also suffer from multiple rules being implemented in different provinces.

It may recall here that with the involvement of federal and provincial food authorities, food industries especially edible ghee and oil manufacturing industry, dairy industry, packed spices industry and other food processing industries are confronted with business risks due to absence of harmonised standards.

The decade that saw volatility trading come of age NEW YORK AGeNCIeS

What do you do when daily stock market gyrations all but dry up? Apparently, trade volatility like never before. Among the myriad Wall Street legacies of the soon-ending 2010s has been the emergence of market volatility - or the magnitude of security price swings over short time spans - as an asset class unto itself. It is all the more notable against the backdrop of the decade’s fairly persistent market calm. the Cboe Volatility Index .VIX - nicknamed as ‘Wall Street’s fear index,’ - is on track to end the decade at a level about a third lower than its lifetime average, according to refinitiv data. With the S&P 500 Index nearly tripling since the end of 2009,

the average level of the VIX this decade is the lowest of the three since it launched in the early 90s, even with a number of periodic spikes higher. Nonetheless, trading volatility, or “vol” in Wall Street parlance, came of age in a big way in the ‘10s. While vol has been around for as long as markets have existed, as an asset class it had remained out of reach of the average investor. that changed over the last two decades. the launch of futures and options on the VIX in the mid-2000s led the way for the rollout of sophisticated exchange traded products (etPs) near the end of that decade and provided everyday investors the first chance to trade vol on its own. A small legion of volatility-linked etPs followed over the next 10 years. Some al-

CCI decides to allow provinces to implement ‘uniform standards’ ISLAMABAD: After a long fight between the Center and provinces over establishing a uniform standard for food and other consumer items across the country, the Council of Common Interests (CCI) has decided to give the power of enforcement of standards to provinces, a way out agreed upon by all stakeholders.

According to reliable sources, all provinces agreed on a uniform standard of food and other consumer products, set by Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), an attached department of the Ministry of Science and technology (MoSt) during a recently held meeting of CCI whereas the Center also agreed to give up the power of enforcement and monitoring of the new standards, thus allowing the provincial government and food authorities to implement the new standards.

However, an official at MoSt claimed that the CCI will discuss the criteria and terms for enforcement of the new standards in its next meeting again.

It may be noted here that the provinces were previously sceptic of PSQCA's role as the sole body for registering, monitoring and implementing consumer items. the PSQCA, which was worried about stripping its mandate of inspecting the quality of over 100 selected items, had reportedly suggested that CCI allow it to standardise consumer items at the very least whereas provinces and their food authorities may be allowed to enforce and implement the standards in their jurisdiction. According to sources, Punjab was reluctant to accept this proposal saying that the provincial governments will develop standards of food items on their own, adding that the Punjab food Authority (PfA) had already developed various standards of food items. StAff report

lowed investors to bet on stock gyrations rising, while others let traders bet on the opposite outcome. With the launch of these etPs, trading in volatility was no longer limited to the futures and options market, where it all began. Investors could finally place bets on volatility as easily as trading stocks.

Investors plowed billions of dollars into both long and short volatility etPs, with assets of select leveraged and inverse volatility etPs hitting about $4 billion by the end of 2017.

Assets in top volatility-linked etPs now stand at about $3 billion. While most of these products started out being used by institutional players as hedges, an extended period of stock market calm in 2016-2017 boosted the returns for some short volatility etPs, including the VelocityShares

Daily Inverse VIX Short term etN XIV, attracting ever more speculative players. Yield-starved investors had stumbled upon what looked like the proverbial free lunch.

In an environment where the VIX plunged to new lows, buying short volatility etPs reaped gold.

Volatility selling became such a rage that analysts warned that the trade was creating a feedback loop where the more investors sold volatility the lower it slipped. that is until a sudden drop in the U.S. stock market in february 2018 wiped out most of the value of these etPs and led to the collapse of some products, including XIV. As the decade ends, the volatility etP landscape looks much more stable than it did in 2016-2017, even as interest in trading volatility looks here to stay.

EU seeks reset in trade talks with US DUBLIN: the european Union’s new trade commissioner, Irishman Phil Hogan, was quoted on Monday as saying he would seek a reset of eU/US trade relations on a number of contentious issues when he meets his U.S. counterpart for the first time next month. the trump administration imposed tariffs on european steel and aluminum in mid-2018. It has done the same to $7.5 billion worth of eU products over a dispute about subsidies for european planemaker Airbus (AIr.PA), and is threatening action against france over a digital services tax. Hogan, who was promoted from the role of eU farm chief this month, spoke to U.S. trade representative robert Lighthizer just before Christmas, he told the Irish times newspaper. “We agreed to meet in Washington in mid-January to discuss the long list of issues causing strain in the relationship between the eU and the US. there is no point in getting into the details of resolving trade irritants unless we agree a line on a common trade agenda,” he was quoted as saying. “I will be seeking a reset of the eU/US trade relationship on issues like tariffs on steel and aluminum and the threat of US tariffs in response to a digital tax in europe.” the two sides are in theory trying to forge a deal to remove overall import duties, but are stuck over farm products, which Washington says must be included and Brussels says cannot feature. they are also at odds over Washington’s paralysis of the World trade Organization’s judicial arm, a vital part of the global trading system. the european Commission has said the bloc will act as one over the planned U.S. tariffs on french goods, and that a threat this month to increase eU-wide tariffs in relation to the Airbus dispute would make a settlement more difficult to achieve. AGeNCIeS

CORPORATE CORNER

KARACHI: Avari Towers Hotel celebrated the festive occassion of Christmas at Asia Live's Christmas Munch. pr

LAHORE: Fatima Group and Telenor Microfinance Bank officials at the MoU signing ceremony held at Fatima Group's head office. pr

The decade of debt: Big deals, bigger risk NEW YORK AGeNCIeS

Whatever nickname ultimately gets attached to the now-ending twenty-tens, on Wall Street and across Corporate America it arguably should be tagged as the “Decade of Debt.” With interest rates locked in at rockbottom levels courtesy of the federal reserve’s easy-money policy after the financial crisis, companies found it cheaper than ever to tap the corporate bond market to load up on cash. Bond issuance by American companies topped $1 trillion in each year of the decade that began on Jan. 1, 2010, and ends on tuesday at midnight, an unmatched run, according to SIfMA, the securities industry trade group. In all, corporate bond debt outstanding rocketed more than 50% and will soon top $10 trillion, versus about $6 trillion at the end of the previous decade. the largest U.S. companies - those in the S&P 500 Index .SPX - account for roughly 70%

of that, nearly $7 trillion.

What did they do with all that money? It’s a truism in corporate finance that cash needs to be either “earning or returning” - that is, being put to use growing the business or getting sent back to shareholders. As it happens, American companies did a lot more returning than earning with their cash during the ‘tens.

In the first year of the decade, companies spent roughly $60 billion more on dividends and buying back their own shares than on new facilities, equipment and technology. By last year that gap had mushroomed to more than $600 billion, and the gap in 2019 could be just as large, especially given the constraint on capital spending from the trade war. the buy-back boom is credited with helping to fuel a decadelong bull market in U.S. equities.

Meanwhile, capital expenditure growth has been choppy at best over 10 years. this is despite a massive fiscal stimulus package by the trump administration, marked by the reduction in the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%, that it had predicted would boost business spending.

One byproduct of stock buy-backs is they make companies look more profitable by Wall Street’s favorite performance metric - earnings per share - than they would otherwise appear to be. With companies purchasing more and more of their own stock, S&P 500 ePS has roughly doubled in 10 years. Meanwhile net profit has risen by half that, and far more erratically.

KARACHI: Indus Motor Company CEO Ali Asghar Jamali receives PSX Top Performing Companies Award for 2016 and 2018 from Prime Minister Imran Khan. pr

KARACHI: United Bank Limited CEO Sima Kamil receives the PSX Top Performing Companies Award from Prime Minister Imran Khan. pr

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

12 BUSINESS Huawei gets India nod to participate in 5G trials the Indian government has allowed Chinese telecom company Huawei technologies Co to participate in trials for 5G networks, a company spokesman said on Monday. India’s nod to Huawei comes at a time when the global rollout of 5G technology has been complicated by US sanctions against the company. the United States has been lobbying allies not to use Huawei’s network equipment in their 5G networks. Indian television channel CNBC-tV18 reported the news first, citing a senior official. the trials will be held in January, according to the official, the channel reported. India's telecom department was not immediately available for comment outside regular business hours. the telecom department will meet operators on Dec 31 to confirm the timing for 5G trials, CNBC-tV18 reported, saying all wireless operators in India had received inprinciple approvals to conduct the trials. AGeNCIeS

Saudi Arabia may cut light crude prices to Asia in february SINGAPORE: Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, may cut the prices of its light crude grades sold to Asia in february on signs of slowing demand ahead of the region’s peak refinery maintenance season, six trade sources said on Monday. the official selling price (OSP) of flagship Arab Light crude in february could fall by 20-30 cents a barrel, four of six respondents in a reuters survey said. State oil company Saudi Aramco raised the Arab Light OSP to the highest in six years in January, the fourth month of increases.Aramco may cut the OSP as the price structure for Middle east crude benchmark Dubai indicated falling crude demand in february as cargoes loading that month are likely to arrive when Asian refineries begin shutting for maintenance in March, the sources said.the average backwardation between the first and third month cash Dubai price so far this month narrowed by 15 cents from the previous month, reuters data showed. In a backwardated market prompt prices are higher than those in future months.the OSPs are also likely to drop as the gross product worth, which measures the value of a crude in terms of the fuels it yields after refining, for Saudi oil grades are lower than last month because of falling refining margins, one of the respondents said.“refining margins are under pressure,” he said.Arab extra Light may see a bigger price cut in february after naphtha cracks weakened this month, the sources said.However, firm demand for January-loading cargoes and rebounding fuel oil margins will support the OSPs for heavier Saudi oil, they said.Most of the survey respondents expect the february OSP for Arab Medium to remain unchanged or drop slightly while the view was split between an expected price hike and price cut for Arab Heavy.Supplies of these grades could remain tight as demand from new Chinese refineries will continue to rise in 2020 even as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are working on resuming output from their joint production in the Neutral Zone between them. Saudi crude OSPs are usually released around the fifth of each month, and set the trend for Iranian, Kuwaiti and Iraqi prices, affecting more than 12 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude bound for Asia.Saudi Aramco sets its crude prices based on recommendations from customers and after calculating the change in the value of its oil over the past month, based on yields and product prices.Saudi Aramco officials as a matter of policy do not comment on the kingdom’s monthly OSPs. AGeNCIeS

GOVT WILL WITHDRAW 3PC REGULATORY DUTY, 2PC ADDITIONAL CUSTOMS DUTY AND 5PC SALES TAX ON IMPORTED COTTON FROM JAN 15 ISLAMABAD

StAff report

Under the chairmanship of Adviser to Prime Minister on finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, the economic Coordination Committee (eCC) on Monday decided to withdraw 3pc regulatory duty, 2pc additional customs duty and 5pc sales tax on imported cotton from January 15, 2020.the

pAkIStAn to wElComE nEw YEAr wItH fUrtHEr HIkE In pol, GAS prICES POL PRICES LIKELY TO BE INCREASED BY UP TO RS3.10, WHILE LPG PRICE EXPECTED TO SURGE BY RS20 PER KG FROM JAN 2020 ISLAMABAD

A

AHMAD AHMADANI

special "new year gift" awaits Pakistanis as the Oil and Gas regulatory Authority (OGrA) has suggested up to rs3.10 per litre hike in the prices of petroleum products for the month of January 2020.

According to sources, the regulatory authority (OGrA) has worked out rs2.25 per litre increase in the price of high-speed diesel (HSD), rs2.61 hike in the price of petrol, rs3.10 in the price of kerosene oil and rs2.08 in the price of light diesel oil for the upcoming month of January 2020. A summary in this regard has been forwarded to the Petroleum Division.

Sources said that OGrA had suggested a hike in the prices of petroleum

products after holding detailed consultations with the country’s oil marketing companies. they said that the Petroleum Division would forward the oil prices summary to the finance ministry for a final decision in this regard. "the Ministry of finance will then announce the final decision regarding oil prices after getting the nod from Prime Minister Imran Khan," sources said. "the finance ministry will also take a decision on the ratio of taxes and levies imposed on oil prices before announcing the final decision."

It is pertinent to mention that if PM khan approves to pass on the suggested hike in oil prices, then petrol would be available at rs116.6 per litre, HSD would be available at rs127.26 per litre, kerosene oil at rs99.45 and light diesel oil at rs84.51 per litre in the open market.

‘RECORD HIKE’ Meanwhile, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Distributor Association Chairman Irfan Khokar said on Monday that LPG prices would witness a record hike from January next year, as necessary preparations to jack up LPG prices have been done by OGrA. "In line with the increase in the international market, OGrA has worked out a hike of rs20 per kilogramme in the price of LPG which will be effective from 1st January 2020," he an-

nounced. He said that after the proposed rs20 per kg hike in price, LPG price would reach at rs150 per kilogramme in Pakistan. He said OGrA would jack up the price of each domestic gas cylinder by rs250 and price of each commercial cylinder by rs900.

"As a result of this hike, the price of each domestic cylinder will be rs1,760, and that of a commercial cylinder will be rs6,810 from 1st January 2020."

Social development among top CPEC targets for 2020: envoy ISLAMABAD MIAN ABrAr

Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing said on Monday that China and Pakistan have identified new projects in education, health, agriculture and construction sectors for the year 2020 under the new phase of the China, Pakistan economic Corridor (CPeC).

Addressing the participants of Sangam Club Gala 2019 at the Chinese embassy, the envoy said that both China and Pakistan had set the targets for the year 2020 after detailed delib-

erations under the joint cooperation committee and its joint working groups. He said that China and Pakistan would further their defence cooperation keeping in view changing regional and global dynamics. “targets have also been identified for cooperation in poverty alleviation and social sector development for 2020." the envoy maintained that both friendly countries had pinned high hopes in their youth, as the younger generation would take the friendly relations between the two countries to new heights. Speaking on the occasion,

Chinese embassy's Commercial Counsellor Wang Zhihua said that industrialist cooperation between Pakistan and China would be focused on priority in 2020. Higher education Commission's Mohammed Asghar lauded the China leadership and workers for striving hard to make CPeC a success. He said Chinese education institutions had grown immensely over the past few decades and it was time for the world to adopt the 'Look east' policy.

"Over 28,000 Pakistani students are studying in China; the best model for students before travelling to China

is to learn about Chinese language and culture." the ceremony concluded with a number of cultural performances, including a martial arts display by Pakistani students and a performance by a collaborative musical band that had both Chinese and Pakistani members. the purpose of the gala was to get the people of both countries together under one roof where they could share their diverse experiences, exchange notes, and provide suggestions to further promote people-to-people exchanges between Pakistan and China.

Market Weekly: KSE-100 falls flat amid volatility KARACHI StAff report

the Pakistan Stock exchange (PSX) started the first session of the week on a positive note but failed to sustain the gains in late hours, closing flat on Monday. the benchmark KSe-100 Index, which opened the session at 40,971.38, touched its intraday high at 41,295.28 after accumulating 446.75 points. the index then reversed its direction during the final hour and posted its intraday low at 40,815.80. It ended higher by 39.09 points at 40,887.62. the KMI-30 index gained 488.99 points to close at 66,441.83, while the KSe All Share Index managed inched up by 84.27 points, ending at 29,101.84.

Sectors that wiped away gains accumulated in the morning session included banking (-153.45 points), oil and gas exploration (-29.48 points) and transport (-3.58 points). On the other hand, fertiliser sector (+61.57 points),

power generation & distribution sector (+44.63 points) and cement sector (+34.07 points) managed to keep the

index afloat. the overall market volumes remained thin and were recorded at 165.83 million, of which 110.68

million came from the KSe-100 scripts. Shares worth rs6.64 billion were traded on Monday.

K-electric Limited (KeL +7.14pc), Unity foods Limited (UNItY +1.34pc) and Worldcall telecom (WtL 0.00pc) remained the volume leaders of the day. the scripts had exchanged 19.11 million, 10.74 million and 9.12 million shares, respectively.

Meanwhile, sugar players announced their results for the year ended 30th September 2019. Sanghar Sugar Mills Limited (SANSM 0.00pc) announced earnings per share of rs8.28; Al-Abbas Sugar Mills Limited (AABS +4.92pc) posted an ePS of rs64.05 along with a final cash dividend of rs30; Mehran Sugar Mills Limited (MrNS +3.75pc) declared an ePS of rs9.97 along with a final cash dividend of rs1.00 and 15pc bonus shares; Baba farid Sugar Mills Limited (BAfS -4.99pc) registered a negative ePS of rs-72.24.

ECC allows withdrawal of duties on imported cotton decision was taken in the light of the information provided to the eCC after the first Cotton Crop Assessment Committee's meeting held on October 4, 2019, in which it was briefed that against the production target of 15 million bales of cotton for fY2019-20, the cotton production at the year-end would be 10.20 million bales. the chair was briefed that the bulk of the cotton would be lifted from local farmers by January 1, 2020 and the given exemption would not adversely affect the interests the local farmers. On the other hand, it was also assured by the ministries of commerce and national food security & research that the import shall facilitate the textile sector exports which were

showing a rising trend. the chair, in the interest of the local farmers, directed the Ministry of National food Security and research to devise a comprehensive policy, in consultation with all the relevant stakeholders, which could help improve local cotton production and serve the interests of the local farmers. Shaikh directed that the policy shall be presented within one month's time to the eCC. Meanwhile, the eCC approved a technical supplementary grant of rs6.21 billion for the current financial year to recur the cost of Special Security Division (North) of Pakistan Army. two other technical supplementary grants were also approved by the eCC for "internal security duty allowance"

to Pakistan Army (rs4.966 billion) and for the "construction of community bunkers" (rs500 million). the eCC also allowed the import of cotton from the torkham border through land routes from Afghanistan and Central Asian states; similar to last year, fumigation arrangements were allowed to be made at designated areas for 2019-20. the Ministry of National food Security and research and the Ministry of Commerce were directed to engage the importers for the establishment of facilities at torkham. Necessary steps would be initiated in Plant Quarantine rules to provide the facility of meeting SPS requirements for the import of cotton through land rules. Moreover, the eCC allowed

the consortium with Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) as the operator and Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Mari Petroleum Company Limited (MPCL) and Government Holding (Private) Limited (GHPL) as partners to submit the bid directly or through their subsidiaries in Abu Dhabi 2019 bidding round for one block and make initial investment through their own resources in proportion to their shares. Any additional financial requirement shall be met by the Pakistani government in case the need arises. the approval for bidding was given in view of enhancing the technical skills of the consortium and to bring an additional foreign exchange to the country.

Abdullah Akbar, Munaza Rajpoot, Ayesha Rajpoot, Khawar Riaz, Fatima Jilani, Umer Butt

Aden & Rehan Babar

Adeel

7UP Bonfires was recently organized at various Desi restaurants in Lahore to ring in Lahori winter with live music and delicious food at events organized by Verve Events & PR

In 1946, Boston owner Walter Brown chose the nickname Celtics over Whirlwinds, Olympians, and Unicorns.

Anushka, Ali, Natasha Qizalbash & Anoushay Ashraf

Farzeen Malik

After It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown aired, Charles Schulz was overwhelmed with candy shipments sent from kids who were concerned for Charlie, who got rocks instead of treats in his Halloween sack.

Ali Arif & Imtisal

Nida & Aimen

HOLLYWOOD BOLLYWOOD

Mahroosh Faysal with her daughter

Rubia Moghees

Zahra, Azam, Yashfa & Areesha

Qirat

Kiran & Nimra Butt

One of the world's largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons—a U.S. Navy base near Seattle—is partially defended by trained dolphins.

'Rise Of Skywalker' Continues Tanking At Box Office

'Phantom Stranger' First Look With Peter Serafinowicz and Michael Rosenbaum

Kangana Ranaut impressed Deepika Padukone with her act in Panga

Estimates once again offer that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker continues tanking at the box office as its second weekend is down considerably with a near 60 percent drop.

While the Hollywood trade sites like Deadline are trying to spin things like the numbers are good, bear in mind fewer people went to see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on its opening weekend than The Last Jedi.

So while Skywalker and The Last Jedi had basically a similar second-weekend box office, the only reason The Last Jedi had a bigger second-weekend drop of 67.5% compared to Skywalker's 59% drop is that more people went to see The Last Jedi when it first opened.

The Rise of Skywalker is also underperforming compared to The Last Jedi as Skywalker trails around $6.3 million behind Last Jedi at the same point in time.

Also bear in mind the estimates from the Hollywood trade sites have been over-exaggerated with the actuals lower, so the drop for Skywalker could be even larger.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases a first look at the upcoming Phantom Stranger animated short that will be attached to the release of Superman: Red Son. Peter Serafinowicz of The Tick fame voices the Phantom Stranger with Smallville's Michael Rosenbaum voicing the mysterious Seth.

Phantom Stranger has Bruce Timm (Batman: The Killing Joke) at the helm as executive producer and director, and the short is written by Ernie Altbacker (Teen Titans: The Judas Contract). Set in the 1970s, the short follows young adult Jess as she joins her friends at a party in a dilapidated mansion hosted by the mysterious Seth. When odd things begin to happen to Jess and her friends, the Phantom Stranger intervenes to try and save her from a dreary fate. In addition to Serafinowicz and Rosenbaum, Phantom Stranger also features the voices of Natalie Lander, Grey Griffin and Roger Craig Smith.

DC’s acclaimed Elseworlds story, Superman: Red Son, the next entry in the popular series of DC Universe Movies, arrives from Warner Bros.

Bollywood actor Deepika Padukone has showered praise on Kangana Ranaut and the trailer of her upcoming film, Panga.

Directed by Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, Panga stars Jassie Gill, Richa Chadha and Neena Gupta in important roles.

“I watch a lot of trailers for films with my cast and when I get time, I watch these films as an audience.

Panga’s trailer impressed me a lot. Looking at this trailer, which is painted by Kangana Ranaut’s performance, it seems that this film will also be very good,” Deepika said.

She was speaking on the sidelines of a promotional event for her upcoming film Chhaapaak that hits theatres on January 10.

Kangana’s sister Rangoli Chandel, who also acts as her manager, acknowledged Deepika’s appreciation in a tweet along with emojis of folded hands.

Deepika also stressed upon the importance of good films faring well at the box office, irrespective of whether they feature herself or other actors.

CMYK

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

14 SPORTS

Labuschagne achieves career-best no 4 sPot in test rankings DUBAI

a

AGENCIES

career-best fourth position for Marnus Labuschagne and a move up to No. 10 for Quinton de Kock were the headlines of the year-end ICC rankings for men's batting in Test cricket. India captain Virat Kohli stayed on top of the list - for 274 days in 2019 - with second-placed Steven Smith, who was the No. 1 batsman for 91 days earlier in the year, behind him.

Labuschagne's scores of 63 and 19 in Australia's 247-run win against New Zealand in Melbourne pushed him up by one slot from No. 5. He began the year ranked 110th, with only two Tests against his name, but was prolific in his 11 outings in the format since, making 1104 runs in 17 innings at an average of 64.94.

Wicketkeeper-batsman de Kock, meanwhile, advanced eighth places to

get in the top ten following his Playerof-the-Match contribution, with scores of 95 and 34, in South Africa's 107-run victory in the series-opener against England in Centurion.

Australia fast bowler Pat Cummins retained his spot atop the bowler's rankings in Tests following his first-innings five-wicket haul in

Melbourne. He has occupied the top position for 322 days this year, while South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada, who was No. 1 for 44 days after starting 2019 in top position, finished the year at No. 3.

Replacing Rabada in the second spot was New Zealand quick Neil Wagner, who climbed one position on

the back of his seven-wicket match haul in Melbourne. The retiring Vernon Philander advanced three positions up to No. 5 to complete the top five on the bowlers' rankings alongside the fourth-placed Jason Holder, who continued to lead the allrounders' rankings in Tests. Save for the fifth-placed R Ashwin, who climbed up one spot, the top five allrounders in Tests Ravindra Jadeja, Ben Stokes and Philander the others - retained their spots.

As far as team rankings for the World Test Championship (WTC) go, Australia consolidated their position in second place of the points table. They added 40 points from their win in Melbourne to take their tally to 256 points from nine games. Top-placed India are 104 points clear of Australia while South Africa collected 30 points after their first win in the WTC and trail New Zealand and England, who occupied the fifth and sixth positions with 60 and 56 points respectively.

Pakistanis never discriminated against me over religion, Kaneria clarifies SportS DeSk

Du Plessis criticises ‘big three’ move JOHANNESBURG: South African cricket captain Faf du Plessis believes cricket needs more, not fewer, elite nations. Speaking after South Africa’s 107-run win in the first Test against England on Sunday, Du Plessis was asked his opinion about plans for an annual ‘Super Series’ of one-day games, involving the so-called ‘Big Three’ of India, Australia and England, with one other country to be invited on a revolving basis. "The last year or so you can see what's going on in terms of the big three countries," he said. "There's a lot of movement going towards that, a lot more matches being played against the top three, or big three. It's probably better if you include more teams, the better to grow the game as much as you can." Du Plessis pointed out that there was inequality of fixtures, especially in Test cricket, with new Test nations such as Ireland and Afghanistan struggling to get fixtures. "There's a lot of smaller nations not playing a lot of Test cricket, they're actually playing less," he said. AGENCIES

Former legspinner Danish Kaneria on Saturday clarified that he was never discriminated against on the basis of religion during his playing career for Pakistan, but did claim that he was treated differently by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after he was found guilty in a spot-fixing scandal.

Kaneria made headlines this week after former teammate Shoaib Akhtar said that the leggie was discriminated by some Muslim members of the Pakistani cricket team because of his Hindu faith.

The spinner had later backed Akhtar’s explosive claim, and thanked him for “telling the truth to the world”.

However, following public backlash, Kaneria detailed in a series of tweets on Monday that he has a bone to pick with the authorities and not the public.

“The people of Pakistan never discriminated against me on the basis of religion,” he said.

Kaneria did say though that he did not get any support from the PCB or the Government of Pakistan after being banned — unlike “other players in similar situation”.

Though he did not name names, Kaneria’s gripe stems from the PCB’s handling of Mohammad Amir and Sharjeel Khan — both of

JaPan's nishikori out of austraLian oPen anD atP cuP SYDNEY: Japanese star Kei Nishikori pulled out of the Australian Open and the inaugural ATP Cup Monday as he continues to struggle with an elbow injury that has kept him out since the US Open. The former world number four, who has slipped to 13, said he was disappointed not to be able to begin his season as hoped for in January.

"Unfortunately I have to pull out of the ATP Cup and the Aussie Open," he said in statement.

"Today, together with my team, we have made this decision as I am still not 100 per cent ready or healthy to compete at the highest level. "This decision was not taken lightly as Australia is one of my favourite places to compete," he added.

Nishikori's elbow needed surgery in October and he has not played since. Yoshihito Nishioka will replace him as the top-ranked player in Japan's ATP Cup team in Perth. Yasutaka Uchiyama also withdrew from the event earlier this week, with Toshihide Matsui called up instead. Nishikori's absence follows Britain's Andy Murray also pulling out of both tournaments over the weekend with a pelvic injury. The innovative ATP Cup, from January 3-12, offers $15 million in prize money and a maximum of 750 singles and 250 doubles ATP rankings points in the new men's warm-up tournament for the opening Grand Slam of the year. It will see 24 nations split into six groups, with eight teams emerging from the round-robin stage to compete in the knockout phase. Sydney will host the finals, along with group games which will also be held in Brisbane and Perth. AGENCIES

south africa coach boucher remains a fighter

whom were found guilty in separate spot-fixing scandals. Amir admitted his guilt, served his time and has since largely been forgiven and become a regular fixture of the national team. Sharjeel, too, has completed his rehab and been picked by the Karachi Kings for the Pakistan Super League 2020, after which a national recall could also be on the cards.

Having said that, it took Kane-

ria — banned for life by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2012 — six years to admit his guilt in the spot-fixing scandal of 2009.

By that time, he had lost his cricketing utility for the national team and the PCB. Kaneria’s case has similarities to that of former Pakistan captain Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif, both of whom have complained of being treated differently than Amir.

JOHANNESBURG: During a playing career of 147 Test matches, Mark Boucher had a reputation as a fighter, always prepared to take on a challenge. It’s a character trait which looks likely to continue in his new career as South Africa’s head coach. It was a “great feeling” to be in a winning Proteas dressing room after the first Test against England on Sunday, seven years after his playing career ended prematurely with a freak eye injury ahead of a Test series in England in 2012. “Just watching the guys walk in, there were a couple with lumps in their throats. It means a lot for them to win a game of Test cricket,” he said. But it was only a beginning. “There’s still a lot of work to be done for the rest of the series.”

Boucher gave two indicators of his coaching philosophy when he discussed wicketkeeperbatsman Quinton de Kock and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, in both cases stressing a preference for taking the fight to the opposition. De Kock’s first innings of 95 turned the match in South Africa’s favour. In the second innings he hit three sixes off England’s fast bowling hope Jofra Archer in a brief but spectacular statement of intent. AGENCIES

Managers who like David Moyes returned for second spell at same club LoNDoN AGENCIES

David Moyes returned to manage Premier League strugglers West Ham for a second time on Sunday.

West Ham fans who hope Moyes can save them as he did in a six month spell in the 2017-2018 season may not be encouraged as AFP Sports picks out three other managers who had two spells at the same club with mixed results: JOSE MOURiNHO (CHElSEA): His first spell from 2004-07 justified the never shy Portuguese handler's self-anointed 'Special One' status. Two Premier League titles -- they never lost a home league game in his first spell -- an FA Cup and a League Cup as well as two Champions League semi-finals had Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich grinning from ear to ear. However, his relations with Abramovich soured and he walked out in September 2007 when he dared the Russian to sack him following a brief exchange in a corridor when he had been told the team had to improve.

Chelsea came calling again in 2013 after a disappointing spell at Real Madrid and initially Mourinho's magic touch continued delivering another

Premier League title in the 2014/15 campaign. However, the following season things fell apart from the start and having lost the dressing room he was sacked in late December -- hours after hosting the squad's Christmas lunch -- with the Blues having lost nine of their 16 league matches. "There obviously seemed to be a palpable discord between manager and players and we feel it was time to act," opined technical director Michael Emenalo.

NEil WARNOCk (CRYStAl PAlACE): The combative Englishman -- who slightly belies that image by penning poetry in the rare moments he is not in a club's dug out -- needed that trait to battle through a turbulent three year stay (2007-2010) in the second tier Championship which resulted in the 'Eagles' entering administration. Warnock had said this would be his final managerial role and guided them to the 2007/08 play-offs. However, he went back on his promise to hang up his tracksuit and left ailing Palace -- who had been docked 10 points for being placed in administration -- in March 2010 to take over another struggling London club QPR. The administrator of the club claimed Warnock had said he 'lacked the stomach for the fight' which the manager dismissed as rubbish.

Back came Warnock in August 2014 with Palace

in the Premier League but he failed to last through to 2015 being dismissed in December with the club in the bottom three. The by then 66-year-old took the sacking philosophically: "I've watched seven episodes of Downton Abbey in the last few days -– you miss out on things like that … things are not all

doom and gloom." kEviN kEEGAN (NEWCAStlE): The former England striker enjoyed iconic status both in Liverpool and then Newcastle as a player. His appointment as manager in 1992 was greeted with delight by the fans and this enthusiasm was reflected eventually on the pitch as through several wise acquisitions including rising star Andy Cole he guided Newcastle back to the top tier. A third-placed finish followed in the 1993/94 season but it is the '95/'96 title race which remains embedded in Magpies fans memories as they let slip a 10 point lead and lost out to Manchester United. The pressure appeared to get to Keegan, who lost his cool live on TV with a tirade aimed at United manager Alex Ferguson: "I would love it if we beat them! Love it!". Despite being dubbed 'King Kev' during this spell by fans he resigned out of the blue in January 1997 months after signing hometown boy Alan Shearer for a then world record fee. "It was like losing a family member," commented the chairman at the time Freddy Shepherd.

The King returned from exile in a surprise move in January 2008 but it all quickly soured largely due to disagreements with controversial owner Mike Ashley. Keegan's gripe was a lack of funds for transfers, and he walked out in September 2008.

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

NEWS

15

NeWSMAKeRS 2019

Malik Riaz

Waqar Seth - Point 66:

Maulana Fazlur Rehman

Prime Ministers may change; the army’s top brass as well, but one name tends to stick around, making headlines, mostly for the wrong reasons, year after year. 2019 was no different, in fact worse for the guy than previous years.

The Supreme Court slapped a fine of Rs460 billion on him, yes; billion with a ‘b’, after being found guilty of selling land at a ridiculous profit that he basically got for free. Just for some perspective, that translates into an eye-popping $2.91 billion. And how does Riaz react? Not a sweat broken. ‘Here’s your cash, now don’t bother me with this NAB business-I’ve got a business to run’.

That is what you call ‘Eff-U’ money. This confidence makes even more sense when you consider how the PTI government, on discovering the UK’s National Crime Agency seized assets worth £190m belonging to Riaz that included an apartment once owned

by Hussain Nawaz, remained mum, not a word on it, in fact a cabinet level instruction was issued that no one from the administration was to comment on it. Had it been literally anyone else; the PTI, a slave to its ‘accountability’ fetish would’ve pounced on it. A London apartment and corrupt money being repatriated to Pakistan, one can only imagine the restraint that must have been required to direct blood back northwards. As they say, money talks and the proverbial walks.

The question is, what were the courts supposed to do - not declare Pervez Musharraf guilty?

The former President had been a lot of things in his time. A veteran of three wars, a retired four star general, head of state, and yes, a committer of high treason.

The conundrum was a nasty one. Here was the harbinger of enlightened moderation, and here was the law saying he committed treason. But while a guilty verdict was likely, what no one expected was for there to be a point saying that the former President’s body would be hung at D-Chowk for three days if he dies before the execution of his death sentence.

Reading the now infamous point 66, some would even say there was some beef between the judge and the defendant, almost as if Musharraf did something to the judiciary in his time? Musharraf’s supporters are definitely saying it, nevermind that point 66 is more obiter dicta than anything else.

Waqar Seth was the judge responsible for authoring the judgment. One only wonders why he did not get more creative. He is a self admitted fan of wrestling, and if he had truly wanted to sully his own judgment, he could have added a suplex or two to the mix.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman has had some year. Temperamentally, he has always seemed a languid, lurking figure - always around but never quite center stage, and content in his ways.

But there was a point this year where the constant, looming threat of the Maulana and his bearded hordes materialized. After a lot of will-they-won’t-they, Maulana Fazlur Rehman took his seat atop a container on October 27, declaring he was not going to budge until the Prime Minister resigned.

Imran Khan will have felt some deja vu, of course. And it must have hurt that the Maulana managed to get decent crowds more consistently than the tsunami march did back in 2014.

While the Prime Minister did not end up resigning by the time the sit-in ended on November 14, the Maulana’s gambit managed to expose other important fissures. The first thing it tested was the PML-N’s willingness to be an anti-establishment party, and true to precedent, Mian Shehbaz gently put a toe in and out of the water, joining the first day of protests but not the sit-in.

The Azadi March also had the rumour mills working over time, and as extension fever took over, there was talk of a split in the King’s court and the march being little more than the Maulana saying ‘my turn.’ Whatever else it may or may not have been, it kept the Maulana in the limelight for 2019.

Hafeez Shaikh and Reza Baqir

“Tomatoes are selling at Rs17/Kg”, these were the words of de facto Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Sheikh while speaking to a

swarm of reporters inquiring about a massive hike in vegetable prices,in particular tomatoes that were costing close to Rs400 a kilo. Hafeez was off, way off.

Governor SBP Reza Baqir, an IMF export, has made some contradictory and confusing statements as well during the year. For example “the economy has stabilized but now it is time to translate that into on-ground change to ease the suffering of the common man” to be followed soon after by “inflation will persist and till then we have to keep the interest rates where they are”.

Any way you slice it; record high inflation in 2019 will continue to remain the bane of PTI’s remainder in power and the technicalities behind it do not matter to those who used to buy vegetables and other food items much cheaper. The positives are there of course, a record reduction in the current account deficit and a better foreign exchange reserves number on the back of foreign loans that understandably were the figures quoted most by the government in its generic updates on the economy. The sad reality is that the persistence in inflation is also the IMF’s fault to which we are heavily indebted, allowing them to dictate hikes in gas and fuel prices, while those in charge of controlling prices are not really in control of anything.

Farogh Naseem and Mansoor Ali Khan

Babar Azam 2019 was a year of dismal lows for Pakistan cricket dispersed with a few flashes of brilliance. The biggest, brightest, and the shiniest of these flashes has been the advent of Babar Azam. In every high point that Pakistan has had this year, the chief architect has been Babar Azam.

Test cricket returned to the country this year with a mostly rained out game in Rawalpindi. But even as Abid Ali made history by scoring a hundred on the final day of the dead test, the crowds were chanting Babar. And when he walked out there, he did not disappoint, scoring an effortless hundred like it was nobody’s business. The game was a draw, but for the packed crowds, it was a dream return.

Misbahul Haq and Younis Khan were admirable leaders for Pakistan’s near decade long winter of discontent in exile, now it is the summer of Babar Azam, who ends the year ranked 6, 3 and 1 in Tests, ODIs, and T20s respectively with a world cup hundred to boot.

No matter that he is the cousin of the Akmal brothers - the sin of that association has been atoned for in thousands of runs. We have been spoiled for pace and spin often enough, but this is special. This is finally a real batsman, and all that matters is that cover drive, and how it is being heard around the world.

Shehryar Afridi The cattle theft case against the late Chaudhry Zahoor Elahi was clearly a farce. So much so, that if it was meant to tarnish the man’s image, it clearly failed because no one believed it. But perhaps that was the point. Perhaps there was a performative aspect to the Bhutto regime’s registration of this case, meant to deliver a message: We run this country.

We can make anything stick. The sheer implausibility of the case, therefore, added to its appeal.

In the current era of the witch hunt against opposition members, there is a new bar for implausibility: the narcotics case against former Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah. Granted, the man isn’t exactly an ethics professor at a local college, but even his most vociferous opponents back in Faisalabad guffawed at the ludicrous charge.

But ShehryaarAfridi, the PTI’s drug czar, insists that not only does Rana head a cross-border narcotics cartel, but also that he transports some of the ware himself in his car. And that he has video evidence of the bust to prove this. And, in his signature demeanour (part-macho-part-pious) he flitted from channel to channel, press conference to parliament, saying (ad nauseum) that he is telling the truth because he has to give his life back to the Creator.

When Rana finally got bail from the court, Afridi changed tack, saying he never said he had video evidence but ‘footages.’ His other two claims (that Sanaullah is a druglord and that Afridi has to give his life back to the Almighty), however, remain unchanged.

PAF Respectively Law Minister and Attorney-General, FaroghNaseem and Mansoor Ali Khan have something else in common than an admiration of Imran Khan: they have been Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s lawyers. The past year has seen them presiding over teams that have lost for the government repeatedly, which might explain why General Musharraf got the death sentence for high treason. The first major loss they suffered was in the Supreme Court, where Gen QamarJavedBajwa’s extension was challenged. The drafter of the extension as Law Minister resigned and went to represent General Bajwa and lost the case as did Mansoor Ali Khan. General Musharraf’s death sentence was a win for them, though the lawyer FaroghNaseem engaged had all his applications rejected by the special court before it gave its verdict. General Musharraf is going into appeal before the Supreme Court, and it is expected that they will probably argue in his favour, as they try to throw the case they had won. FaroghNaseem, though, alone deserves the credit for the sacking of the ANF Court judge who was sacked by Whatsapp just before a hearing of the RanaSanaullah case.

The Pakistan Air Force has covered itself in glory in the past, both in the 1965 War and in defending Pakistan during the Afghan Jihad in the 1980s. It continued successfully defending the motherland by shooting down two IAF jets when they had intruded at Balakot after the Pulwama incident in February. One of the downed jets came down in Pakistan, and its pilot, Wing Commander AbhinandanVarthaman, was captured by Pakistan Army troops. He remained in Pakistani custody for 60 hours, before he was handed back to the Indians. He was awarded the Vir Chakra later, probably the first time that a pilot has won a gallantry medal for being shot down.

The PAF has over half a century of competition with the IAF, and in this latest test it came out ahead on all counts. It did what an air force is supposed to, which is the reason why countries have air forces– to defend their airspace. Compared to that, the rolling out of the JF-17 (the two-seater version of the F-17) may have seemed tame, but it is steps like that which enable the shooting down of intruders like Abhinandhan’sMiG 21.

CMYK

CJP Khosa There has been no word on former CJP Saqib Nisar throughout 2019, since he retired, thanks to the ‘no extension - thank you for your service - now goodbye’ transfer of powers feature of the superior judiciary. Either it was impossible to further lower the bar of professional adjudication, or Nisar’s successor was a different breed of judge altogether, or perhaps both; when CJP Khosa took over the reins to repair the image of a battered judiciary in desperate need of some healing and stability, and he delivered just that. He actively avoided the practice of taking suo motu notices that have brought the judiciary into disrepute so many times before, not taking a single one in his eleven months as CJP. Throughout his stint, things had remained pretty boring and who doesn’t enjoy a little action from the Supreme Court? And CJP Khosa would’ve left a legacy centered on the panama verdict that ousted Sharif, calling his clan a Sicilian Mafia had it not been for his last month in office.

COAS Bajwa’s extension, approved with much haste by the PTI, was put in limbo, with the SC directing the government to pass legislation in order to define its tenure properly, a first in Pakistan’s history. Few days later former dictator Musharraf was found guilty by a special court of high treason, another first. Although CJP Khosa had little to do with the latter judgment, both will be attributed to him for years to come.

Javed Iqbal

‘NAB raided my home; you were my only asset.’

Not the only bit of rickshaw poetry referencing the corruption watchdog, with some of them (obviously, this is repressed Pakistan) going into risque territory. TikTok ‘the Twitter of the streets’ - also has a spate of videos on it, firmly ensconcing it in the national pop-cultural conversation.

Everyone knows these fellows are something to be feared, with Grade22 officers breaking a sweat when they are informed Grade-15 NAB Investigation Officers have reached the office ‘just for a chat.’

The problem, of course, is that these Grade-15 investigation officers, their bosses, their bosses’ bosses, have been displaying glaring lapses of judgment and knowledge of the law and rules of procedure. And a demeanour insulting enough to lead to a suicide or two.

But even those aren’t the most serious charges against the Bureau, which is accused of being a mere front for the deep state to settle scores against the political class and non-pliant segments within the civil bureaucracy.

The man at the helm of the burgeoning NAB bureaucracy is former Supreme Court Justice Javed Iqbal. His predilection for giving clearly political statements have given more grist to the League, PPP mills. But that’s not where the justice’s penchant for self-sabotage stops. A scandal, involving a rather racy, subsequently-leaked telephone conversation between him and a lady who, along with her husband, was under investigation by the Bureau, has had the chairman’s reputation in a tumble.

And then, of course, is his public statement demanding Saudi-style sweeping powers to be able to get back ‘nation’s looted wealth’ from the corruption accused, much like a torture specialist swearing he’ll make a suspect sing if given one hour - and a crowbar - with him in a damp cell.

With the bureaucracy displaying clear signs of a ‘go slow’ (irritating, yet not demonstrably illegal) the gears of governance have grinded to a near halt. The civil servants have seen Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s case unfold; it doesn’t matter if the Bureau can’t find anything on you; they can still keep you.

Tuesday, 31 December, 2019

NEWS

NO CeaSeFIre PlaNS IN aFghaNIStaN, Say talIBaN KABUL

t

AGENCIES

HE Taliban on Monday denied agreeing to any ceasefire in Afghanistan after reports emerged of a potential deal that would see a reduction in fighting after more than 18 years of war.

The statement from the insurgents comes as local and international forces brace for another bloody winter amid renewed USTaliban talks after President Donald Trump called off the negotiations earlier this year over insurgent attacks. “In the past few days, some media have been releasing untrue reports about a ceasefire… The fact is that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has no ceasefire plans,” the Taliban said.

The US and the Afghan government in Kabul have long called for a ceasefire with the Taliban, including during the year of negotiations between Washington and the Taliban

that were abruptly called off by Trump in September.

However, the militants have repeatedly stated that any potential truce will only be ironed out after American troops withdraw from the country. The US-Taliban talks, held mainly in Doha, were aimed at allowing Washington to begin withdrawing troops in return for various security guarantees.

They were on the brink of a deal when Trump abandoned the effort in September, citing Taliban violence.

MUMBAI AGENCIES

Police in Delhi used facial recognition software to screen crowds at a recent political rally — a first for India — raising concerns about privacy and mass surveillance amidst nationwide protests against a new citizenship law.

The Automated Facial Recognition System (AFRS) software that the Delhi Police had installed to identify missing children, was used at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally on December 22, a police spokesman said on Monday, without giving further details.

It was the first time the technology — which is increasingly deployed in airports, offices and cafes in India — was used to screen the crowd at a political rally, according to technology analysts.

“The use of the system for profiling and surveillance at public congregations is illegal and unconstitutional. It is an act of mass surveillance,” said Apar Gupta, executive director of digital advocacy group Internet Freedom Foundation.

“From building an underlying database of people from public protests to running it on crowds of people attending rallies, this directly impairs the rights of ordinary Indians from assembly, speech and political participation,” he said.

The Indian Express daily cited a Delhi Police spokesman as saying the police had used the technology “based on credible intelligence inputs about possible disruptions”.

“Delhi Police assures that best industry standard checks and balances against any potential misuse of data are in place. Racial or religious profiling is never a relevant parameter while building these datasets,” the spokesman was cited as saying. Worldwide, the rise of cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies have popularised the use of facial recognition for a range of applications from tracking criminals to catching truant students. In India, facial recognition technology was installed in several airports this year,

Negotiations have since restarted in Doha, but were earlier this month put on a “pause”. Trump is looking to slash the troop presence in Afghanistan, potentially even before a deal between Washington and the Taliban is cemented.

Meanwhile, deadly bouts of fighting continue, with tens of thousands of Afghan security forces killed since they inherited combat operations from Nato at the end of 2014.

Every day Afghans also continue to bear the brunt of the bloody con-

flict. Last week the UN said the country had passed a grim milestone this year, with more than 100,000 Afghan civilians killed or wounded over the past decade.

A UN tally found that last year was the deadliest on record, with at least 3,804 civilian deaths caused by the war — including 927 children.

Afghanistan is also struggling with an ongoing political dispute after officials announced preliminary results in the latest presidential elections that put President Ashraf Ghani on track to secure a second term.

Elections authorities have yet to declare the results as final after receiving more than 16,000 complaints about the polls, with the ultimate tally expected in the coming weeks.

The Taliban have long viewed Ghani as an American stooge and have refused to negotiate with his government, leading many to fear that fighting against Afghan forces will continue even if the US secures an eventual deal with the militants to withdraw.

Use of facial recognition in New Delhi rally sparks privacy fears

India amends rules to appoint retiring army chief as first Chief of Defence Staff NEWS DESK India on Monday named Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat, who is retiring on Dec 31 (Tuesday), as its first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Indian media reported on Monday. According to The Economic Times, the CDS will be a four-star general and principal military adviser to the defence minister. The positionholder will head the newly-constituted department of military affairs which is tasked to ensure “jointness in training, logistics and procurement of the three services” ie army, navy and air force. According to the paper, India’s Defence Ministry recently amended the army, navy and air force rules by bringing in a clause that allows CDS to serve up to the maximum age of 65.

The existing rules state that an army chief has a threeyear tenure or up to the age of 62. The move comes amid high tensions within the Indian territory due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s controversial decisions, including the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian constitution which provided special autonomy to Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

India has also imposed an information and communication blackout in the occupied region, and more recently passed the anti-Muslim Citizens Amendment Act 2019. The situation along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan is also tumultuous with multiple ceasefire violations from the Indian sides. Gen Rawat has experience working along the LoC. Gen Rawat, a counterinsurgency specialist, succeeded General Dalbir Singh Suhaag. His appointment raised eyebrows among opposition parties because he was given the job ahead of two more senior candidates. The appointment was also questioned by Communist Party of India leader D Raja, but a spokesman for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said it was not a matter for political debate. Indian media reported that it was the first time since 1983 that the most senior candidate had not been chosen to replace an outgoing army chief.

Facebook blocks PBC news bulletins for live streaming IOK protests NEWS DESK

and the government plans to roll out a nationwide system, likely to be the world’s biggest, to stop criminals and find missing children.

Use of the technology at the political rally comes amidst nationwide protests against a new citizenship law, in which at least 25 people have been killed. Pictures of police holding video cameras at some protests have sparked concerns that images of protesters are being added to the facial recognition database. Indian authorities have said the technology is needed to bolster a severely under-policed country.

But “its use has strayed from finding missing children to being deployed in peaceful public

gatherings” with a complete lack of any oversight or accountability, said Gupta. India’s Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling in 2017 on the national biometric identity card programme Aadhaar, said individual privacy is a fundamental right.

Yet the ruling has not checked the rollout of facial recognition technology, Gupta said.

Technology site Comparitech ranked Delhi among the world’s most surveilled cities in a report this year. The Personal Data Protection Bill, introduced in parliament this month, empowers the government to ask a company to provide anonymised personal data and other non-personal data, for delivering welfare services and for policies.

Social media platform Facebook has blocked live streaming of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation’s (PBC) news bulletins for highlighting Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir, it emerged on Monday. However, temporary arrangements have been made to continue the live streaming of Radio Pakistan’s bulletins on YouTube. The posts in questions, screenshots of which have been uploaded to Radio Pakistan’s website, were news stories about the death anniversary of Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani in July and the curfew imposed after the death of Zakir Musa, a Hizbul Mujahideen commander, in May. In 2016, Facebook came under fire for censoring dozens of posts related to the death of Wani, reported The Guardian. Photos, videos and entire accounts of academics and journalists as well as entire pages of local newspapers were removed for posting about the occupied valley. More recently, Twitter faced criticism after rights activists voiced concerns over the removal of hundreds of tweets critical of the Indian government’s policies in occupied Kashmir, reported Al Jazeera. According to the Al Jazeera report, a study by a media watchdog revealed that nearly one million tweets had been removed since 2017. In August, Director General (DG) Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor had said Pakistani authorities had taken up with Twitter and Facebook the alleged suspension of Pakistani social media accounts posting in support of Kashmir.

In Afghanistan, jailed Taliban await peace, their freedom KABUL AGENCIES

Thousands of Taliban prisoners jailed in Afghanistan as insurgents see a peace deal being hammered out between the United States and the Taliban as their ticket to freedom.

They know a prisoner release is a key pillar of any agreement that brings an end to Afghanistan’s 18-year war, Washingtons longest military engagement.

A list of about 5,000 Taliban prisoners has been given to the Americans and their release has been written into the agreement under discussion, said a Taliban official familiar with the on-again, off-again talks taking place in Qatar.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. US and Afghan government officials have said a prisoner release is part of the negotiation.

But some analysts say freeing pris-

oners could undermine peace in Afghanistan.

“There’s a need for Afghan and US officials to do their due diligence on any Taliban prisoners they’re planning to release, in order to minimise the likelihood that they’ll set free jihadists that can do destabilising things and undercut a fledgeling peace process,” warned Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the US-based Wilson Center.

The Associated Press interviewed more than a dozen Taliban prisoners inside the notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison on the eastern edge of the capital, Kabul.

Several of them were nostalgic for the Taliban’s Afghanistan, ruled by the mighty hand of their previous leader, the reclusive one-eyed Mullah Mohammed Omar, who died several years ago.

But they also insisted that they accept it would not be the same now and that, though they still wanted what they call Is-

lamic rule, they no longer call for some of their strict edicts, like the ban on education and on girls and women working.

“We want women to be educated, become engineers, we want women to work in every department,” said one prisoner, Maulvi Niaz Mohammed, though he said the work must be “based on Islam”. He said young Afghans should not fear the Taliban, “it is they who will build our country and develop it”.

Taliban negotiators have taken a similar tone in the talks. But there is a deep distrust on both sides of the conflict and many in the public worry what will happen if the Taliban, who ruled for five years until they were toppled in the 2001 US-led invasion, regain authority.

On Sunday, the Taliban ruling council agreed to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan, providing a window in which a peace agreement with the US can be signed, Taliban officials said. They didn’t say when it would begin.

The Taliban have well-organised communication networks inside Afghan prisons that record the latest arrests, province by province, as well as who is sick and who has died. It all gets delivered to a prisoners commission, devoted to their release and headed by Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, who during the Taliban rule served as justice minister and the virtue and vice minister in charge of the religious police.

During that time, he was widely feared. Turabi was known to personally enforce the movements dictates, snatching music tapes from taxi drivers disobeying a ban on music and television, and stalking offices and businesses to search for violators who trimmed their beard or missed one of the five daily calls to prayer. Once in 1996, just days after the Taliban took control of Kabul from warring mujahedeen groups when the AP was interviewing a Taliban fighter, Turabi slapped the hulking, 6-foot-tall fighter in

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

CMYK

the face for talking with a foreign woman journalist.

Built in the 1970s to house 5,000 prisoners, Pul-e-Charkhi now has 10,500 prisoners, according to the warden, Akhtar Noorzoi. They are packed in 11 cell blocks surrounded by turrets, guard towers and walls topped with razor wire.

The around 3,000 prisoners classified as Taliban are in their own block. The caution, even fear, felt by the guards and the administrators was unmistakable as they entered the Taliban’s cell block, protected by a phalanx of guards in armoured vests and helmets, carrying bulky weapons that fire tear gas shells. Behind them on the dimly lit stairs were another half dozen guards, also in vests and helmets, automatic weapons at the ready.

The prisoners had free rein in a room where they could mingle, pray and study.

The room was lined with small desks at which the Taliban sat on the carpeted floor in traditional style.