E-Paper PDF 3rd January 2020 (ISB)

CMYK

Friday, 3 January, 2020 I 6 Jamadi-ul-Awwal, 1441 I Rs 19.00 I Vol X No 184 I 16 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Govt to table army bill with Pml-N’s ‘uNcoNditioNal’ suPPort g

g

PakistaN arMy (aMeNdMeNt) act, 2020, eMPowers PresideNt to exteNd arMy chief’s teNure By three years oN PM’s advice

g

LegisLatioN states No PersoN caN chaLLeNge arMy chief’s exteNsioN iN aNy court of Law

UAE crown prince announces $200m support after meeting PM

PML-N says Nawaz has fuLLy eNdorsed LegisLatioN, PPP’s BiLawaL says govt shouLd foLLow LegaL Procedure Before taBLiNg BiLL ISLAMABAD

t

staff report

he Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government will on Friday present the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act, 2020, in the National Assembly (NA) as the major opposition parties, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), took separate stances on the issue with the former extending its “unconditional” support to the legislation and the latter asking the government to follow “proper procedure” before tabling the document.

In November last year, the Supreme Court (SC), in a historic judgement, directed the government to “remove ambiguity” in rules on the issue of extension in an army chief’s tenure.

The bill to be presented in the Lower house on Friday will seek to amend the laws governing Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy.

According to the draft bill, the government has included a new section 8A in the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 (XXXIX of 1952) by amending Section 8.

In the Pakistan Army Act, 1952 (XXXIX of 1952), hereinafter referred to as the said Act, in section 8,- (a) in sub-section (2), after the words “Pakistan Army”, comma and the Words ” duly appointed by the President, in accordance with Article 243 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, (b) after sub-section (2), the following new sub-section, shall be inserted, namely:“(2A)” Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee” means an officer who has been appointed as the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, by the President, in accordance with Article

NaB rules amended in national interest, says imran STORIES ON BACK PAGE & 02

243 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, read with section 8D;”.

A new chapter will be inserted called Chapter IA in which appointment of the Chief of the Army Staff and the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee have been proposed.

8A deals with the Appointment of the Chief of the Army Staff which states that “the President shall, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoint a general as the Chief of the Army Staff, for a tenure of three (03) years. The terms and conditions of the Chief of the Army Staff shall be determined by the President, on the advice of the Prime Minister.

8B deals with Reappointment or extension in tenure of Chief of the Army Staff which states that “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law for the time being in force,

the President, on the advice of the PM, may reappoint the Chief of the Army Staff for additional tenure of three (03) years, or extend the tenure(s) of the Chief of the Army Staff up to three (03) years, on such terms and conditions, as may be determined by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister, in the national security interest or exigencies, from time to time”.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 02

FIA chief served court notice for raiding PML-N's Lahore secretariat STORY ON PAGE 03

govt seeks stay order on sc's verdict in army chief's extension case

6 polio cases emerge in first two days of 2020

STORY ON PAGE 03

STORY ON BACK PAGE

Friday, 3 January, 2020

02 NEWS sC returns petition challenging amended NAB ordinance ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday returned a petition challenging the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Ordinance 2019, by raising objections on it. The apex court refused to admit the petition for hearing on grounds that the petitioner, Farrukh Nawaz, has not approached the appropriate forum. Nawaz took the amendments in the NAB law to the court, requesting it to strike them down for being ultra vires to the Constitution and suspend its operation till the final decision on the petition.

He cited the Ministry of Law, Prime Minister Imran Khan, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as respondents. The petitioner contended that President Dr Arif Alvi promulgated the ordinance on the advice of the federal government, which was in violation of different provisions of the fundamental rights as guaranteed in the Constitution. “The new law is against the principle of elimination of exploitation provided in Article 3 and also against the Rule of Law and Procedure as contained in Article 4,” he argued. STAFF REPORT

transporters’ strike against hefty fines forces govt to put decision on hold ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Thursday decided to put on hold its decision to enhance the fine for speeding on motorways and highways hours after transporters across the country went on a strike in protest against the hefty fines. Responding to a point of order during the National Assembly session, Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said that the proposal to enhance traffic fines does not aim at increasing revenue but to protect the lives of innocent people on motorways and highways. He said this policy will be implemented after taking all stakeholders into confidence and thorough briefing on media. For the last many days, transport owners have been protesting against a massive increase in rates of fines on various violations at all toll plazas on highways and motorways. The increase ranges from Rs500 to Rs10,000 on various violations. On Monday, the transport owners had warned of the strike if their demands were not accepted. “We have been suffering from the highhandedness of Customs Department also whose teams continue disturbing us by stopping our vehicles on roads, checking goods, wasting time and energy and imposing heavy fines besides registering cases against us,” Public & Goods Transport Alliance Chairman Asmatullah Niazi had said on Monday. STAFF REPORT

NAB rules AmeNded iN NAtioNAl iNterest: Pm PM SAYS NAB AMENDMENT ORDINANCE 2019 SEEKS TO INSULATE BUREAUCRACY FROM ANTI-GRAFT BODY’S FEAR iSLamaBaD

P

STAFF REPORT

RIME Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said that the government’s decision to amend the laws of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was taken in the national interest.

On December 27, the government curtailed NAB’s powers by amending the country’s accountability law through a presidential ordinance. Addressing a gathering of civil servants in

the federal capital, the premier said that the main purpose of NAB Amendment Ordinance 2019 was to insulate the bureaucracy from NAB’s fear.

“The decision was difficult because a party that has had a 22-yearlong struggle against accountability and is considered strict and is viewed to have this mission, is under greater scrutiny,” said the prime minister, adding that “there was a lot of criticism, including by the opposition and it was not easy because we had to carry our party too because in a democracy you need to develop consensus within the party and its leadership.”

“For that, our governance system needs to be streamlined so decisions can be made expediently,” he said, adding that decisions were not being made due to a fear of NAB. The concerns were legitimate because so many were probed over procedural mistakes. So we realised we will need to take this step and offer bureaucrats protection, as well as

the business community,” he said.

He said that the business community does not fall within the purview of NAB as it is, “because the very definition of corruption is “using public office for private gain”. “If you read the amendment, you will see that it simply provides for NAB to not interfere in their business dealings. And the tax cases will be under the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as it is. They have nothing to do with NAB,” he added.

“Besides, we have the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to hold them accountable,” he added.

Prime Minister Imran said that he had repeatedly tried to make the NAB chairman understand the situation, however the accountability watchdog remained defiant in its actions. Speaking about the economic situation, the premier said that the economy of the country can only be strengthened with industrial growth. He said that the government has stabilised the country’s

NAB prosecutor in references against Zardari resigns NEWS DESK National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Prosecutor Mudassir Naqvi, who was representing the anti-corruption watchdog in two references against former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari resigned on Thursday citing his parent’s ailing health as the reason.

“On account of some personal reasons, I find myself unable to continue with NAB any further, thus constrained to tender instant resignation,” wrote Muddasir in his resignation letter addressed to the prosecutor general of NAB. NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal accepted his resignation.

Naqvi was a member of the six-member special prosecution team in fake accounts case and was representing the anti-graft body in two references, including Park Lane and Money Laundering reference.

Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, his son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and other accused face charges of corruption through fake bank accounts and embezzlement in the financial facility for Park Lane Private Limited and Parthenon (Pvt) Limited.

NAB has alleged that the national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs3.77 billion because of the irregularities. Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s records indicate that Zardari and Bilawal are 50 per cent shareholders of Park Lane, a real estate firm. As per the prosecution, the Park Lane case is being investigated under different sections of NAO 1999 and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010 for Zardari’s alleged involvement “in extending loan and its misappropriation by M/S Parthenon Private Limited, M/S Park Lane Estate Private Limited and others”.

The fake bank accounts case involves alleged money laundering worth billions of rupees through 29 accounts, which were found opened in three banks — Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and United Bank Ltd. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had named Zardari, Talpur, Omni Group chairman Anwar Majeed, his sons and over 10 others as suspects in an interim charge sheet filed in a banking court in August 2018. The case was transferred in March 2019 from the banking court in Karachi to the accountability court of Rawalpindi for trial.

economy and now efforts are being made to accelerate economic growth.

“Our real aim is wealth creation so the country which is buried under the burden of loans can be freed,” he said.

The premier said that in the last 10 years, Pakistan has mounted a debt of Rs24 trillion. “It was 6 trillion but from 2008-2018 it rocketed to Rs30 trillion.

Half of the tax we collected last year was spent on interest payments. The key right now is wealth creation in the country,” he reiterated.

He said that 2020 will be the year of growth and development and the development is not possible without wealth creation. He added that over 40 industries are related to the housing sector and promotion of this sector will help in creating job opportunities.

Referring to the New Pakistan Housing Programme, the PM said that the project’s aim to build 50,000 houses could not move forward without the bureaucrats’ help and support.

sBP reserves surge $582 million to $11.5 billion KARACHI: The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) increased 5.3pc on a weekly basis. According to a statement issued by the central bank, the foreign currency reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $11,489.4 million as on December 27, up $582 million compared with $10,907.3 million in the previous week. “This increase is attributed to bilateral and multilateral inflows including $452.4 million received from the IMF under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF),” the statement added. The overall liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $18,081.4 million. Net reserves held by banks amounted to $6,592 million. STAFF REPORT

3,240 Pakistanis still in saudi jails, NA told ISLAMABAD: A total of 3,240 Pakistani nationals are still languishing in the prisons of Saudi Arabia, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi informed the National Assembly’s session on Thursday. The foreign minister, in a written reply, said that Pakistan’s diplomatic mission in the Kingdom has been making efforts to secure the release of the inmates.

Qureshi said a total of 2,080 Pakistani prisoners were set free by Saudi authorities in the wake of an announcement by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman in this regard during his visit to Pakistan last year. About the prime minister’s efforts to help facilitate talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, he said the premier emphasised on easing tensions and resolution of all issues between the two regional rivals through diplomatic means. Prime Minister Imran Khan held meetings with Saudi and Iranian leadership in an effort to patch up the differences between the two. STAFF REPORT

Govt to table army bill with PML-N’s ‘unconditional’ support CoNtiNuED from pagE 01 Moreover, no one can challenge the appointment, reappointment or extension of the Chief of the Army Staff in any court of law. Under 8B, a Section 2 has also been included which states that “Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law, or any order or judgment of any Court, the appointment, reappointment or extension of the Chief of the Army Staff, or the exercise of discretion by the appointing authority in this regard, shall not be called into question before any Court on any ground whatsoever”.

“The retirement age and service limits prescribed for a General, under the Rules and Regulations made under this Act, shall not be applicable to the Chief of the Army Staff, during his tenure of appointment, reappointment, or extension, subject to a maximum age of sixty-four (64) years. Throughout such tenure, the Chief of the Army Staff shall continue to serve as a General in the Pakistan Army.”

The President may, on the advice of the PM, appoint a Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, from amongst Generals in the Pakistan Army, Admirals in the Pakistan Navy, or Air Chief Marshals in

the Pakistan Air Force, for a tenure of three (03) years. Government has also proposed in amending 176A in which after the word “Army”, the words and commas “including, appointment, reappointment., extension or retirement of the Chief of the Army Staff and/or the Chairman. Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee”, shall be added.

GOVT REACHES OUT TO OPP: Earlier in the day, PTI leaders separately met central leaders of the PML-N, PPP and other opposition parties in a bid to achieve the number required to amend the law through the NA and ratify it from Senate.

A delegation of PTI lawmakers comprising Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Leader of the House for the Senate Shibli Faraz and Senator Azam Swati called on PML-N leaders on Thursday morning, where the latter assured their support for the proposed amendments. The PML-N delegation comprised Khawaja Asif, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Rana Tanvir, among others. PML-N Senator Mushahidullah Khan, while talking to media, said that the party’s supremo Nawaz Sharif has given the nod to support the amendments through consensus. In the past few years, the PML-N has been at loggerheads with the country’s security establishment. The

former prime minister even accused a senior military official of rigging last year’s elections in an attempt to facilitate Prime Minister Imran Khan’s party.

The PML-N used to believe that the establishment was behind its downfall and Nawaz’s disqualification and conviction in corruption cases. After meeting the PML-N leaders, another PTI delegation comprising Pervez Khattak, Ali Muhammad Khan and Qasim Suri met the PPP leadership, including the party’s Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. The PPP leaders at the meeting that took place at Zardari House included Raja Pervez Ashraf, Nayyar Bukhari, Sherry Rehman, Raza Rabbani, Shazia Marri and Naveed Qamar.

According to sources, Bilawal urged the government delegation to follow the parliamentary rules and regulations regarding amendments in the Army Act. Nayyar Bukhari later told a TV channel that according to the legal procedure, the government has to first circulate the draft bill through the NA Secretariat among the opposition parties before presenting it in the NA. “We have told the government delegation to first follow the procedure and then we will take a formal look at the bill. We will

CMYK

discuss the contents of the bill with the government clause-wise and offer our support accordingly,” he said.

Later in the evening, Federal Minister for Law Farogh Naseem gave a briefing on the proposed amendments to a parliamentary committee of the opposition parties. Talking to reporters after the meeting, Naseem said that he had explained all the proposed amendments in detail to the opposition leaders and they were satisfied with the legislation.

However, PML-N leader Khawaja Asif told reporters that the law minister had failed to satisfy their queries. “The Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy Acts will also be amended,” he said.

‘NATIONAL ISSUES SHOULD NOT BE POLITICISED’: Meanwhile, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information Firdous Ashiq Awan, while addressing a press conference, said matters of national interest should not be politicised.

She said that she was hopeful that the parliament would play its legal and constitutional role to “once and for all” settle an issue currently being discussed in the parliament. While the premier’s aide did not specify the issue being discussed, she appeared to be referring to legislation on

the extension of COAS Bajwa’s tenure.

“We all have a responsibility to Pakistan’s institutions, which are the guarantors of national wellbeing,” she said.

Awan said that the parliament had been approached for a matter which falls under the executive domain of the prime minister. “God willing, with a consensus, we will settle this important issue and parliament will play a key role,” she said.

Apparently comparing the issue of extension in General Bajwa’s tenure to the appointment of India’s army chief as the country’s first Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Awan said in the “neighbouring country” (India) the defence minister had used the authority of the state’s executive branch for the appointment of the army chief as the CDS. “There (in India) you did not see any discussion or debate in the media and neither was this type of commotion created,” she added “Matters of national interest, connected to our national identity, should be devoid of politics and the tradition of politicising them in Pakistan should end,” the premier’s special aide said. She said the matter being discussed in the parliament concerned Pakistani institutions and not a specific political party or personality.

Friday, 3 January, 2020

NEWS

03

Govt seeks stAy order oN sC’s verdiCt iN Army Chief’s exteNsioN CAse PETITION REQUESTS APEX COURT TO STAY ITS DECISION UNTIL IT REVIEWS GOVT’S CHALLENGE AGAINST NOV 28, 2019, JUDGEMENT iSLamaBaD

t

STAFF REPORT

HE federal government on Thursday filed a civil miscellaneous petition in the Supreme Court (SC), seeking a stay order on the apex court’s verdict in the army chief’s extension case.

The petition requested that a stay order remains in effect until a decision on the government’s review petition on the verdict has been made.

Earlier, on Nov 28, 2019, a three-member bench of the top court announced that General Qamar Javed Bajwa will remain the COAS for another six months, during which the parliament will legislate on the extension/reappointment of an army chief.

In response to this, the federal government submitted a review petition on Dec 26, 2019, against the top court’s verdict, seeking for it to be set aside.

The review petition was filed after the government said that it found “glaring omissions and mistakes” in the verdict, arguing that a directive to the legislature could be given by courts only to avert a situation of unconstitutionality or illegality, not to convert a convention into codified law.

Thus the apex court could not interfere in the legislative domain or assume a parallel legislative function, it contended.

Through the Nov 28, 2019 verdict, the petition had argued that the SC stepped into the shoes of the executive, substituting its opinion when the Constitution

fiA chief served court notice for raiding Pml-N’s lahore secretariat ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday issued a notice to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Director General Wajid Zia on a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Zia and other officials for raiding its secretariat in Lahore. Last week, an FIA team had conducted a raid on PML-N’s central secretariat in Lahore’s Model Town in connection with former accountability court judge Arshad Malik’s video case. According to the party’s Deputy Secretary General Attaullah Tarar, the fourmember team seized a computer hard drive which contained data related to the party’s internal matters. However, a source said at the time the purpose of the raid was “to confiscate material related to the case”. A single-member bench, comprising IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, on Thursday heard the PML-N petition, which was filed

by Advocate Jahangir Jadoon. The petitioner complained to the judge that FIA has been harassing the party despite a court order, restraining the Agency from “harassing the party”. Jadoon said that the FIA official, Ijaz Shaikh, who headed the raiding team is nominated in a police FIR against him. Shaikh is currently investigating the aforesaid case. Following Jadoon’s accusations, the court directed FIA DG Wajid Zia to submit his response on the petition. The judge also summoned Ijaz Shaikh to appear in person at the next hearing. Later on, Justice Minallah directed the FIA officials to submit their written response before the next hearing and adjourned the session for two weeks. STAFF REPORT

eCP issues list of lawmakers who haven’t disclosed assets The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday revealed the names of the lawmakers who did not disclose their asset details before the electoral watchdog. Federal Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda, Federal Minister for Narcotics Control Sheheryar Afridi and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, former president Asif Ali Zardari, former Senate chairman Raza Rabbani, former defence minister Khurram Dastgir, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and National Party (NP) leader Mir Hasil Bizenjo did not submit the details of their assets and liabilities. According to the list, 32 members of the Senate, and 166 members of the National Assembly (NA) did not disclose their details of assets and liabilities. 190 members from the Punjab Assembly, 85 from the KP Assembly, 40 members from the Balochistan Assembly and 82 members from the Sindh Assembly did not provide any details of their assets to the ECP. NEWS DESK

never empowered the court to settle the tenure or terms and conditions of the army chief.

Meanwhile, the petition filed on Thursday asks for the SC verdict on the army chief’s extension to not be implemented until a verdict is announced on the review petition filed by the government.

It also asks for the previously filed review petition to be included in the latest application and for the constitution of a larger bench, comprising five judges, to hear the review petition.

CABINET OKAYS AMENDMENTS IN ARMY ACT ‘IN LIGHT OF SC ORDER’: In sharp contrast to its stance, the government on Wednesday, in adherence to the court’s Nov 28 decision, approved proposed amendments to the Constitution and the Army Act

in order to give a three-year extension to the army chief.

In the wake of the Supreme Court’s order to remove ambiguity in rules on the issue of extension in the army chief’s tenure, the government also decided to introduce the amendment bill in parliament on Friday after building a consensus with the opposition on the matter.

“According to an amendment, the maximum age limit for an army chief will be 64 years and this will be applied in case of extension in his term, but the regular age limit of COAS will be 60 years,” a cabinet member said, insisting that it would be the prime minister’s prerogative whether to give extension to the army chief in future. Prime Minister Imran Khan had previously extended Bajwa’s tenure through a notification in August 2019, but the top court suspended it on Nov 26, 2019, due to irregularities in the manner of extension.

FAROGH NASEEM TO REPRESENT COAS EXTENSION CASE IN SC ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Law and Justice Farogh Naseem has decided to represent the government in a civil miscellaneous petition filed with the Supreme Court (SC) seeking a stay order on the apex court’s judgement directing the parliament to legislate on the extension/reappointment of an army chief within six months. The government has also requested the court to form a five-member larger bench in the case. Meanwhile, a petition for Farogh Naseem to represent as an advocate has been filed in the SC. The law minister asserted that he does not require resigning from his portfolio for representing the case in the court, pointing out that a judicial decision allows him to appear as a lawyer without resignation. According to details, the government has filed two miscellaneous pleas seeking a stay order on the previous decision, and to form a larger bench following the review petition which was filed earlier. The government has requested the apex court to suspend the implementation of the decision of November 28 till the review petition’s verdict is announced. INP

Pakistan terms new Indian army chief’s jingoistic remarks as ‘irresponsible’ iSLamaBaD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan on Wednesday categorically rejected the Indian Army Chief-designate General Manoj Mukund Naravane’s statement regarding “pre-emptive strikes” across the Line of Control (LoC) – the de facto border between the two neighbors – in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), terming it as “irresponsible”.

In a press release issued here, the Foreign Office (FO) said: “There should be no doubt about Pakistan’s resolve and readiness to thwart against any aggressive Indian move, inside its territory or AJ&K. No one should forget Pakistan’s befitting response to India’s Balakot misadventure. “Despite India’s provocations, Pakistan will continue contributing to all efforts of promoting peace, security and stability in the region and beyond.”

Gen Naravane, who was appointed as India’s 28th army chief on Tuesday, barely

hours after taking charge said that New Delhi “reserves the right to preemptively strike across the Line of Control (LoC)”.

According to the report, in an exclusive interview with the Press Trust of India (PTI), the newly appointed army chief said: “If Pakistan does not stop its policy of state-sponsored terrorism, we reserve the right to preemptively strike at the sources of terror threat and this intent has adequately been demonstrated in our response during surgical strikes and Balakot operation.” Gen Naravane said a “strategy of resolute punitive response” has been evolved to tackle cross-border terrorism”.

While rejecting the latest remarks from the newly-appointed Indian army chief, the FO added: “We deplore the continuing proclivity of Indian political as well as military leaders to fabricate facts with regard to terrorism or the situation along the Line of Control (LoC) as part of their attempts to mislead the world and with the possible intention of staging some

false-flag operation. “They would be well-advised to look inwards and curb the growing ‘saffron terror’, which is increasingly a matter of concern for the international community.”

The FO reaffirmed Pakistan’s “unflinching support and solidarity” with Kashmiris as the lockdown imposed by the Indian government in occupied Kashmir on August 5, 2019, crossed 150 days, with the security and communication clampdown also continuing in full force. The press release said Pakistan will continue to raise the Kashmir cause on international forums. “India’s farcical claims of normalcy returning to the situation in IOJ&K carry no credibility whatsoever. We will continue to stress the importance of urgent and effective steps by the world community to address India’s state-terrorism against the Kashmiri people, who are demanding their legitimate right of self-determination as enshrined in the United National Security Council Resolutions,” the press release read.

Govt says missing persons’ lawyer Inamur Rahim is in state custody raWaLpiNDi STAFF REPORT

A representative of the Ministry of Defence on Thursday told the Lahore High Court (LHC) that Colonel (r) Inamur Rahim was in the custody of law enforcement agencies and is currently being interrogated.

The revelation came during the hearing of a case related to Rahim’s abduction from his home in Rawalpindi on the night of December 16. The court expressed its anger on the matter and summoned the additional at-

torney general for further queries related to the case before postponing the hearing until Friday.

Two weeks ago, Rahim, who has fought court cases on behalf of the families of several missing persons, had been picked up from his home in Rawalpindi by unidentified men. According to Rahim’s son Husnain Inam, his father was abducted from his home in the Askari 14 housing scheme of the garrison city. Husnain said that around eight to 10 persons had “picked up” his father from the house.

“They gained entry into our

CMYK

house by claiming to be my friends. My mother had opened the door [thinking they were my friends],” he had stated. “These people were armed, they forcibly woke my father up before taking him along,” he had said.

According to the son, his father was whisked away in a car with black mirrors, while another vehicle with black mirrors followed behind.

“The incident occurred around midnight,” he had said. In a monthly progress report last year, the Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances

(CIED) had reported that 6,051 cases had been registered before the CIED since March 2011.

Out of these, 3,793 cases had been “disposed”, while 2,258 cases were still pending. Significantly, out of the 3,793 cases “disposed” by the CIED, 743 “missing people” were traced to different internment centers.

Some 468 people were located in prisons; and 189 people were found to have passed away.

The Commission provided no information on steps taken to establish the circumstances behind these detentions or deaths.

04 ISLAMABAD

Friday, 3 January, 2020

WEATHER UPDATES FRIDAY

150C

030C

SATURDAY

160C

030C

SUNDAY

150C

050C

MONDAY

100C

070C

KP CM aPProves ‘Peshawar revival Plan’ PESHAWAR

K

STAFF REPORT

HyBER Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has approved the “Peshawar Revival Plan” with a major focus on efficient regulation and having fewer financial implications.

The main theme of the plan is “New Peshawar Old Charm” which has been prepared under the special directives of the chief minister with emphasis on implementing efficient regulations by PDA, TMAs, local government and dis-

trict administration.

After its successful implementation in the provincial capital, Mahmood Khan stated that it would also be extended to other divisional headquarters and major cities of the province.

He was presiding over an important meeting regarding Chief Minister’s “Peshawar Revival plan” at Chief Minister House Peshawar. Minister for Finance Taimoor Salim Jhagra, Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Shahab Ali Shah, Commissioner Peshawar, Secretary to Local Government and

Rural Development, Deputy Commissioner & other relevant authorities attended the meeting.

The meeting was briefed in details about the plan prepared under the special directives of Chief Minister aimed to revive and restore the old charm of Peshawar by focusing on the improvement of the regulatory regime.

The meeting was told that illegal advertisement, Bill Boards, Debris Building Materials, Temporary Encroachments, Banners, Streamers, Flags, Redundant Poles, Iron Structures, Rusted Vehicles, Broken/Missing, Tuff Pavers, Curves

Stones and dysfunctional streetlights are the major issues identified in the city.

Similarly, missing lane cat eyes, traffic congestion points requiring minor re-engineering, unattended public parks, open redundant spaces and jumbled up wires of various utilities were also identified as major issues causing bad outlook of the provincial capital.

The meeting was briefed that the plan envisages value addition in the city outlook by addressing the issues through the 7-Rs strategy including remove, repair, realign, renovate, restore and revive which will ultimately relax

seven injured in nowshera gas leakage blast

NA body adopts bill to create Federal Govt Employees Housing Authority

PESHAWAR APP

At least seven people sustained burns when a blast occurred due to gas leakage at a house near Labour Colony in Nowshera district early Thursday morning. According to a private news channel, seven members of the family were asleep when the gas leakage caused a huge blast. The rescue official said the seriously injured persons were shifted to the district headquarters hospital, Nowshera, where their condition was critical. Firefighters and rescue workers reached the site shortly afterwards, rescue official informed. The explosion was so powerful, residents of the area said.

Pos among 15 held with weapons, narcotics in capital ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Islamabad police arrested 15 outlaws, including proclaimed offenders, from various areas of the federal capital and recovered weapons, narcotics and wine from them, a police spokesman said on Thursday. Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan had ordered a crackdown against criminals especially drug pushers. Following these orders DIG (Operations) Waqar Ud din Syed has directed all zonal officers to accelerate their efforts to curb the crime in the whole city and no laxity would be tolerated in this regards. According to details, Aabpara police arrested Ghulam Abbas and recovered one 30 bore pistol along with ammunition from him. Secretariat police arrested accused Masroor Habib and recovered one 9mm pistol along with ammunition from him. Bhara Kahu police arrested a bootlegger Muhammad Qasir and recovered 08 wine bottles from him. Tarnol police arrested accused Asif and recovered 340-gram heroin from him. Sabzi Mandi police arrested accused Javed and recovered 230-gram hashish from him. Shahzad Town police arrested accused Qadeer Ahmed involved in the theft. Khanna police arrested accused Umer Hayat and recovered one 30 bore pistol along with ammunition from him. Nilor police arrested 03 accused Jabber, Waheed and Rashid and recovered 250-gram hashish and one dagger from their possession. Separate cases have been registered against these nabbed persons and further investigation is underway from them.

ISLAMABAD APP

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan presents a cheque to the chairman of drivers’ association as a token of appreciation for their role in facilitating the launch of private cab service. INP.

KP govt decides to extend ‘PM Poultry Programme’ to merged districts PESHAWAR APP

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to extend the Prime Minister Backyard Poultry Programme to extend erstwhile Fata to alleviate poverty and generate employment opportunities for poor tribesmen.

In the first phase, the programme was being extended to three tribal districts including Khyber, Bajaur and Kurram and later would be extended to South Waziristan, North Waziristan, Mohmand and Orakzai tribal districts.

Officials in KP Agriculture and Livestock Department told APP on Wednesday that this pro-poor initiative was a part of Prime Minister National Agriculture Emergency Programme under which chicken units package i.e ‘five female and one male’ would be distributed among each deserving family. Under this programme around one million poultry birds would be distributed among poor families on subsidized rates during the next four years in KP including merged areas.

The applicant was only required to pay Rs1050 for each unit of poultry and approximately 250,000 numbers of units would be distributed amongst deserving families

each year. The merged areas of erstwhile Fata have enormous potential for poultry farming and the livestock department would extend full technical support to farmers and livestock growers.

PC-I of two gigantic projects worth Rs 12 billion was prepared to strengthen agriculture and livestock services besides enhancing the productivity of different crops in the province. “The PC-I of these projects have been sent to the concerned forum for approval and practical work on it would soon commence,” he explained.

“The conversion of agriculture and cultivable lands into housing societies is a big challenge and the department has taken a principal decision to make necessary legislation for the protection of agriculture lands from unlawful housing societies,” the official maintained.

Out of 20.646 million acres land of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, around 4.627 million acres are under- cultivation while 16.18 million is uncultivable.

To bring this vast unproductive land under agriculture net, PC-1 of 15 new projects were prepared for 2019-20 under which 14 projects including 11 PSDP projects worth Rs 44 billion approved and funds for 14 projects were released by

the Government.

These projects would mainly focus on improvement in watercourses, protection of water resources in rainy areas, construction of small and medium dams, production of wheat, rice, oil besides fattening of calves of buffaloes, cows and strengthening of agriculture and livestock services in KP including merged areas.

The Federal and KP Governments have also joined hands to promote agriculture, fisheries and livestock services in merged areas to alleviate poverty and generate employment opportunities for tribal people.

To achieve these objectives, seven agriculture and livestock projects worth Rs 4.20 million focusing on increasing of meat and milk production, water conservation, livestock and dairy services have been approved for merged areas.

Likewise, the Government has developed a multifaceted Accelerated Implementation Programme (AIP) for merged areas during 201920 under which different agriculture programmes worth Rs 1970 million has been prepared primarily focusing on enhancement of crops’ productivity, producing of virus-free seeds, solarization of tube-wells and building of small dams.

Low gas pressure irks Pindi residents RAWALPINDI APP

Low gas pressure continued to irk the residents, especially in morning hours, where most of the localities are getting low gas pressure.

People residing in Jamia Masjid, Waris Khan, Akal Garh, Dhoke Dalal, Karimpura, Committee Chowk, Dhoke Khaba, Umer Road, Dhoke Ealhi Bukush, Nadeem Colony, Arya Mohal-

the environment of Peshawar metropolitan city. The plan would be implemented phase-wise for which initially different major arteries of Peshawar have been proposed that include university road, Ring Road, Khyber Road, GT Road, Circular Road, Dalazak Road, Nasir Bagh Road, Charsadda Road and Kohat Road. Construction of slip roads on congestion points at university road and restoration of Qehva Khanas, Historical Places, Arts & Crafts Shops along with the installation of heritage plaques and photo points have also been proposed under the plan.

lah, Pirwadhai, Adiala Road, Bakra Mandi, Dhoke Syedan, Tench Bhatta, Sadiqabad, Muslim Town, Shah Khalid Colony, Pindora and Shah Khalid Colony are facing difficulties due to low gas pressure.

Nafeesa bibi, a housewife, said people were facing problems because of the inefficiency of the department. “We pay gas bills every month but in every winter we have to face difficulties. We cannot buy breakfast, lunch and dinner

from restaurants,” she added.

Meanwhile, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) finally has decided to launch crackdown on the consumers using gas compressors.

Regional Manager SNGPL Javed Khan told APP that teams had been constituted to launch a crackdown against those who were depriving their neighbours of gas by using gas compressors.

The manager said there was no shortage of gas, however, there was a

CMYK

dire need to take measures to stop illegal practices. He said the residents use fridge compressor to suck in more sui gas to increase its flow that was very dangerous.

It was observed that the people were indulged in using alternate measures like using a cylinder, the compressor in their houses. This practice must be discouraged at all level, he added.

He said new pipelines of gas supply were being laid to increase its pressure.

The National Assembly Standing Committee on Housing and Works Thursday recommended to pass “The Federal Government Employees Housing Authority Bill, 2019.” During the meeting held under the chairmanship of Engineer Muhammad Najeeb Haroon, MNA, the committee was informed that the Federal Government Employees Housing Foundation (FGEHF) was mandated to arrange affordable residential accommodation to the employees of the federal government and other specified groups on the basis of no profit no loss. Its jurisdiction extends to the whole of Pakistan. The foundation was not a regulatory body and it had to go through a lengthy process of seeking permissions and NOCs from different authorities for launching its projects, the committee was informed. The maintenance of existing schemes was not possible until the foundation was not given the status of an authority. The ministry also requested the committee to pass the said bill. The committee, therefore, recommended that the National Assembly may pass the said bill. Regarding “The Recovery of Mortgage-backed Security Bill, 2019”, the committee was informed by the ministry that since “The Naya Pakistan Housing and Development Authority” was running its business under the direct command of the prime minister, thus, the said bill should be considered by the Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat. The committee decided to refer the said Bill to the Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat for consideration and report to the National Assembly.

IHC seeks fisheries dept's reply in plea challenging Rawal Dam's fishing contract ISLAMABAD APP

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday sought reply from Department of Fisheries Punjab within two weeks in a petition challenging the award of fishing contract of Rawal Dam. Chief Justice Athar Minallah remarked that whether the petitioner wanted that the contract shouldn’t be awarded to anyone and let the fishes die in the dam. He asked the petitioner what connection he had with this matter and did he want people to stop eating fish. The chief justice remarked that the sewerage of Banigala was being thrown into the dam and the petitioner should have moved the plea highlighting this grave matter of public concern. Chief Justice Minallah said it seemed that some local people had used the petitioner as their frontman. Why the petitioner wanted to stop the contract auction, the chief justice asked. The council said today his client was not in the court. At this, the bench served notices to the Department of Fisheries and adjourned the hearing of the case.

Friday, 3 January, 2020

NEWS

05

Action AgAinst HAfiz sAeed groups criticAL to dodge fAtf bLAckList L KK SHAHID

AST week Pakistan received 150 questions from the anti-terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) over the follow-up report submitted by Islamabad following the October review in Paris.

The review two months ago saw Pakistan fulfill five of the 27 suggestions by the FATF over the preceding 15 months.

The recent 150 questions seek clarifications from Islamabad over the achievements cited in the report and the plan of action heading into 2020 and beyond. Government officials confirm that Islamabad is seeking further extension once the FATF meets for a review in Beijing next month, as Pakistan hopes to stay in the grey-list and avoid the dreaded sanction-loaded black-list. In this regard, efforts were once again made to address activities of one group that has been cited in every single FATF meeting: the Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD).

On December 11, a Lahore-based Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) indicted JuD Chief Hafiz Saeed in a terror-financing case, after Saeed had already been booked for similar offences in July. On December 18, following a case filed by Gujranwala’s Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD), Saeed and his close aide Zafar Iqbal were indicted in another terror

funding case.

Following the latest hearing this week, the case has been adjourned by the ATC till the next hearing on January 2. On January 8, Islamabad will file its responses to the FATF questionnaire, before the scheduled meeting in Beijing on January 21-24.

This is not the first time Islamabad has looked to enhance its sanctions, and take increased law-enforcement actions, against Hafiz Saeed just before an FATF review.

On February 12, 2018, an ordinance passed by then President Mamnoon Hussain amending the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 sanctioned a nationwide ban on Saeed’s groups, days before the FATF meeting in Paris the same month.

The decision to relegate Pakistan to the FATF grey-list was taken in that meeting.

Pakistan was formally placed on the grey-list in June 2018, with Islamabad being repeatedly warned of potential blacklisting, given continued inaction over the funding of proscribed terror groups, with Jamaat-ud-Dawa being frequently cited. During the October review, Pakistan was given an “unsatisfactory” rating on 22 of the 27 mutually agreed points by the FATF. Among these concerns cited by the FATF is the example of JuD, which the terror watchdog officials and independent

observers reaffirm as a charity front of terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The FATF has reiterated that Pakistan has been unable to successfully deal with terror groups propping up under different banners, with many contesting last year’s general elections as well. After the LeT and JuD affiliated Milli Muslim League (MML) was barred by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) from participating in last year’s polls, it contested as the Allaho Akbar Tehreek (AAT).

The progress report filed by Islamabad naturally shows little progress being made in the two months since October. Of

the areas where Islamabad needs to right its wrongs – many of which apply to groups affiliated with Hafiz Saeed – the most critical are bolstering the mechanism to curb financial misappropriation and formulating a comprehensive security policy against all groups with any affiliation to terror groups.

In this regard, experts note, action against Hafiz Saeed’s groups will showcase a revamp on both these critical fronts.

“There has been an increase in global pressure on Pakistan to take action against all the groups that have been in-

ternationally declared terrorists. That would only be possible if Islamabad reviews its security policy and takes indiscriminate action against terrorist outfits, especially those that spring up under different names making any action against terror funding more complicated,” says Lieutenant-General Talat Masood, a former secretary of Pakistan’s Ministry of Defense Production.

The government has been urged to especially eye groups that reemerge under different banners. In the case of Hafiz Saeed, and the ongoing ATC proceedings, his defence lies in the very argument that he has nothing to do with LeT, which analysts argue can be refuted through JuD’s own literature and countless sermons of Hafiz Saeed.

Therefore, while there is sufficient action to take conclusive action against Saeed, the question marks continue to be raised over the state’s intent. However, what is clear is that if the state does not take decisive action, it could result in a fiscal catastrophe for an economy that has been pulverised over the past year or so.

“The FATF blacklist translates into international banking system boycotting the country, which brings into jeopardy any trade and investment in the country.

However, many positive steps have been taken in recent months to avoid the blacklist,” says former caretaker Finance Minister Salman Shah.

Senate body recommends releasing ‘Spiritual torture’: India’s crackdown hits religious freedom in occupied Kashmir Rs21bn to cash-starved HEC ISLAMABAD APP

The Senate’s Standing Committee on Science and Technology has recommended the federal government to release Rs21 billion to the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in order to avoid closure of universities.

Briefing the members of the Senate committee, HEC officials said the Commission was facing shortage of funds for running universities across the country. They apprised the committee that the commission had been allocated 45 per cent lesser funds by the authorities. The officials said that the federal government had been contacted for release of Rs21bn but it had not responded to the request.

They added the situation is worsening as the uni-

versities are unable to pay salaries to their employees. Moreover, HEC needs an additional funding of Rs10bn for research purposes.

Senator Gianchand lashed out at the government, saying it was launching ‘langar khanas’ after cutting funds of the HEC. Committee Chairman Mushtaq Ahmed urged the federal government to pay attention to the deteriorating financial situation of the educational institutions that could ultimately lead to the closure of many universities across the country.

He said that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had dedicated his property to the Peshawar University, which is now facing Rs600m deficit due to shortage of funds. It seems that education and research are not a priority for the government, he added.

Text messaging services only partially restored in IOK: report Authorities in occupied Kashmir have only partially restored text messaging services for the residents of the valley almost five months after India revoked the region’s special autonomy and imposed a strict communications lockdown, First Post has reported.

On Tuesday, local government spokesman Rohit Kansal had said that the authorities will restore text messaging services in the region from Dec 31 “after reviewing the situation”. However, according to First Post, text messaging services have only be restored for some cellular providers and not all. The region’s top administrative official, Baseer Khan, confirmed that text messaging services have only been restored for the users of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited. Meanwhile, an Airtel official stated that the order to restore services is “under implementation”, the report added. The partial restoration of text messaging services has angered citizens who mourned the fact that they were unable it get in touch with their loved ones as the new year rolled in, added the publication. NEWS DESK

Dr Sania Nishtar reviews facilitates provided under Ehsas programme ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Sania Nishtar who leads the Ehsaas programme paid a surprise visit to the Mandi More Panah Gah together with DC Islamabad and his team to review the facilities being provided by the government to people in need.

Dr. Nishtar took round of the facility and interacted with the people staying there. She talked to them, listened to their issues and assured them full cooperation of Ehsaas in their critical time. Free meal is served to 1,500 people at the Panah Gah every day. She reassured them that the Ehsaas would take similar steps to improve their economic conditions. She also appreciated the efforts of local administration for managing the Panah Gah. The Special Assistant shared that Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed all the Cabinet Ministers to visit Panah Gahs and ensure that nobody stays shelterless and hungry in this extreme cold weather. Adding further, she shared, “Ehsaas is committed to ensure that Panah Gahs serve the needy and poor across the country.” The people, labourers and needy travelers living in the Panah Gah, were happy to find Dr. Nishtar among them. PRESS RELEASE

JAMMU AGENCIES

For years Romi Jan’s mornings would begin with the plaintive call to prayer that rang out from the central mosque in Indian-occupied Kashmir’s largest city. The voice soothed her soul and made her feel closer to God. Not anymore. For nearly four months now, the voice that would call out five times a day from the minarets of the Jamia Masjid and echo across Srinagar has been silent, a result of India’s ongoing security operations in this Muslimmajority region. “The mosque closure is a relentless agony for me and my family,” Jan said. “I can’t tolerate it, but I am helpless.”

Already one of the most militarised places in the world, last summer India began pouring more troops into occupied Kashmir. It implemented a security lockdown in which it pressed harsh curbs on civil rights, arrested thousands of people, blocked internet and phone service, and shuttered important mosques.

All of this was laying the groundwork for the Hindu nationalist-led governments August 5 decision to strip occupied Kashmir of its semiautonomous status — moves it knew would be met with fury by Kashmiri Muslims, most of whom want independence or unification with Pakistan. The government claimed the restrictions were needed to head off anti-India protests and violence.

While some of the conditions, according to Indian authorities, have since been eased, some mosques and Muslim shrines in the region either remain shuttered or have had their access limited. Muslims say this is undermining their constitutional right to religious freedom and only deepening anti-India sentiment.

The centuries-old Jamia Masjid, made of brick and wood, is one of the oldest in this city of 1.2 million, where 96 per cent of people are Muslim. When it’s open, thousands of people congregate there for prayers.

Romi would take her two children there every day and sit inside

CMYK

the compound while they would play. “I would forget all my miseries there,” she said. Now, when her kids ask why they can’t go to the mosque, she draws a blank face.

“I open my window of the house which faces the mosque and show my kids the soldiers that are stationed outside it,” Romi said.

That it is a target for authorities is neither surprising nor new. Friday sermons at the mosque mainly revolve around the Kashmir conflict, and its surrounding neighbourhoods are often where stone-throwing protesters clash with government forces in the ongoing anti-India struggle.

Authorities have banned prayers at the mosque for extended periods during unrest in 2008, 2010 and 2016. Official data show the mosque was closed at least 250 days in those three years combined.

Mohammed Yasin Bangi, the 70-year-old whose voice has called out the prayers at the mosque for the last 55 years, said the current restrictions are the worst he has seen.

“During earlier restrictions, we would be sometimes allowed to offer evening prayers. But not even once during this time around,” he said. “The closure of the mosque has robbed me of my peace. I’ve been subjected to spiritual torture.”

A top police officer in the city, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with department policy, said authorities decided the mosque could reopen last month for Friday prayers but mosque officials refused.

A mosque official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared reprisals, said they refused because authorities sought assurances that there would be no protests or speeches against the Indian government.

Rohit Kansal, a government spokesman, declined to comment.

Officials from the Home Ministry in New Delhi, which oversees internal security in the country, did not respond to requests for comment.

Freedom of religion is enshrined in India’s constitution, allowing citizens to follow and freely practice religion. The constitution also says the state will not discrim-

inate, patronise or meddle in the profession of any religion.

But even before the current security operation in occupied Kashmir, experts say conditions for India’s Muslims have been growing worse under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which came to power in 2014 and won a landslide re-election in May. In June, the United States State Department said in a report that religious freedom in India continued a downward trend in the year 2018.

India’s foreign ministry rejected the report. In August, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation raised concerns about India’s lockdown in occupied Kashmir and called for authorities to ensure that Kashmiri Muslims could exercise their religious rights.

The ongoing restrictions in the occupied territory have also included gatherings at Muslim shrines and religious festivals. In August, worshipers were told to host the prayers for the festival of Eidul Azha inside small neighbourhood mosques rather than in the large outdoor gatherings that are normal. In September, authorities banned the annual Muharram processions that mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) grandson.

Last month, during the yearly celebration of the birth anniversary of the Prophet, authorities blocked all roads leading to Dargah Hazratbal, the region’s most revered Muslim shrine. Only a few hundred devotees were allowed to pray there far fewer than the tens of thousands the event has been known to draw.

Authorities on Monday allowed thousands of people to gather at a Sufi shine in downtown Srinagar for an annual celebration.

Restrictions on such gatherings are particularly galling to Kashmiri Muslims because they have long complained that the government curbs their religious freedom on the pretext of law and order while promoting and patronising an annual Hindu pilgrimage to the Amarnath Shrine in occupied Kashmir that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors.

Friday, 3 January, 2020

06 WORLD VIEW

Trump’S Iran polIcy IS faIlIng TRUMP’S POLICIES HAVE BEEN DEVASTATING TO US INTERESTS. HE SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL AND MADE FULL USE OF SANCTIONS AND DIPLOMACY

USa today

S

Wendy r Sherman

ECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo started having a tough 2020 only one day into the new year. He was forced to postpone his trip to Kyiv, Ukraine, this week to attend to the new crisis in Iraq. As fraught as Pompeo’s visit to Kyiv was going to be, in the shadow of the impeachment battle, Iraq trumped Kyiv after the New Year’s Eve attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

It is President Donald Trump’s failed policy toward Iran that has brought us to this combustible moment.

Iraq is a tough country under any circumstances, made more so after the 2003 U.S. invasion that upended the Middle East and cost so much in U.S. lives and treasure. But Iraq also created strange bedfellows. The U.S. troops worked alongside Iraqi and Iranian militia to destroy a common enemy, the Islamic State group. And even as the United States was confronting Iran over its nuclear program and malign behavior elsewhere, we main-

tained an uneasy coexistence in Iraq, where Tehran holds considerable sway.

That uneasy balance was destroyed when Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal. Like other critics of the agreement, Trump believed it should have resolved all of America’s issues with Iran. Trump believed we were giving Tehran benefits without a requisite return. He thought a “maximum pressure” campaign would ultimately bring Iran to its knees, or incite a popular uprising against its theocratic regime.

Like much of Trump’s national security and foreign policy, his Iran approach is tactical and not strategic. The results have been devastating to U.S. interests.

Iran’s most extreme hardliners, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force, who never wanted the nuclear deal, have gained more power, arguing that the United States couldn’t be trusted to honor any agreement. Iran’s nefarious activities in the region have increased, since terror is not an expensive undertaking and so is largely immune from economic sanctions.

Indeed, the IRGC has happily returned to controlling the lucrative black market

under Trump’s sanctions. And Iran, after complying with the deal for nearly three years, now confronted with “maximum pressure” and no diplomatic track, has begun to unwind its compliance.

In Iraq, Iranian backed militia, led by Kataeb Hezbollah, have worked to increase their power as the Iraq central government has nearly collapsed under the weight of months of popular protests against government corruption. A rocket attack by the Kataeb Hezbollah militia last Friday killed an American contractor and injured many.

The Trump administration retaliated with airstrikes two days later, leading to the Dec. 31 attack on our embassy.

Most would agree that the United States had to respond in some way to the death of an American, but whether the airstrike was the right and proportionate measure is debatable. Regardless, if the Trump administration really understood the dynamics of Iraq, it might have anticipated a move like the attack on the Embassy. Administration officials might have worked more closely with the Iraq government to think through the best way forward. Instead, in essence, Trump walked into Iran’s trap. For many Americans, the

The future of Putin’s information autocracy THE KREMLIN WILL BE FORCED TO DEDICATE A GROWING SHARE OF RESOURCES TO SILENCING THE INFORMED ProjEct SyndicatE SerGey Guriyev

From Hitler to Stalin, and from Mussolini to Mao, the world’s twentieth-century dictators took to heart Niccolò Machiavelli’s famous dictum that “it is better to be feared than loved.” Yet most modern dictators seem more concerned about maintaining their people’s loyalty not by giving them what they want, but by manipulating them into thinking they already have it. Nobody executes this approach more masterfully than Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Though Putin’s approval ratings have declined considerably in recent years, they remain high, with polls indicating that 61% of Russians evaluate his performance positively. If a presidential election were held today, 44% would vote for Putin. No other candidate would receive double-digit support.

Putin certainly does not owe his popularity to his economic leadership. Since recapturing the presidency in 2012, he has consistently failed to deliver on promises of reform, higher productivity and investment, and improvements in Russians’ standard of living. And his government does not seem to have any plan to kick-start stagnant GDP growth.

The International Monetary Fund expects Russia’s annual GDP growth to average less than 2% over the next five years. In 2021, Russia’s share of global GDP (in purchasing parity terms) is expected to drop below 3% for first time in modern times. In nominal terms, this ratio will be even lower — an estimated 1.8%. Most important, Russian households’ real incomes are currently 10% lower than they were in 2014, and show no signs of rising.

So what explains Putin’s enduring popularity?

As Daniel Treisman and I argue in a recent paper, the answer — for Putin and other modern autocrats — lies in the ability to control the information people receive, which enables a leader to convince most of the population that, despite the regime’s imperfections, it is the country’s best option.

In the digital age, this is no easy feat. A growing number of educated citizens — or, as we call them, “informed elites” – recognize the system’s deficiencies. It is thus imperative for autocrats to prevent these elites from communicating the truth to the public.

Repression plays an important role here. But far from the widely publicized mass repression of the past — aimed at scaring off all potential opposition — today’s repression is targeted and, critically, deniable. Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was officially barred from running in the 2018 presidential election not for political reasons, but because of his fraud conviction (subsequently overturned by the European Court of Human Rights). This approach enabled Putin to maintain the pretense that he secured power in a free and fair election.

Modern informational autocrats also make extensive use of censorship. Russia ranks in the bottom 20% of the press-freedom rankings compiled

by Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders.

Moreover, Freedom House’s Freedom on the Net Index shows that the Internet is less free in Russia than in Belarus, Kazakhstan, or Turkey, reflecting the importance of online censorship in an informational autocracy with high Internet penetration. According to the Google Transparency Report, Russia leads the world in official requests to remove online content. In the first half of 2019, Russia placed more than 10,000 requests to remove content. The second-place country, Turkey, had just 1,000 requests. (China is not included in the ranking.)

With Russia’s constitution explicitly outlawing censorship, one of the most important jobs of the Kremlin’s censors is to conceal information about their own activities from the public. And they are largely successful. As Treisman and I show, in informational autocracies like Russia, the general public is significantly more optimistic about media freedom than educated elites.

A third key tool for silencing the informed elites is co-optation. Rather than resist Putin’s regime, and face repression or censorship, Russian elites who choose to support it are rewarded handsomely. Indeed, for this corrupt system to work, Putin must ensure that it provides larger rewards than a competitive one would.

But, as effective as these tools have been, the challenge of controlling information is only intensifying. In particular, YouTube has become a powerful platform for independent and opposition bloggers, as well as political satire. And, given YouTube’s popularity as a source of entertainment for ordinary Russians, the Kremlin cannot simply block the platform without exposing the extent of its censorship activities.

China has managed largely to avoid this challenge, by building its own, controlled version of the Internet, including social-media and entertainment platforms. But it launched this strategy as soon as Internet penetration began, so Chinese users have never experienced a free YouTube. With Russians already integrated into the global Internet, it is too late to adopt such an approach.

Compounding the challenge, the cohort of informed elites in Russia is growing. As the top Russian propagandist Dmitry Kiselev recently acknowledged, “higher learning in the humanities (and social sciences) breeds social unrest.” Not surprisingly, he complained that “too many” Russians are studying these subjects.

The majority of Russia’s population will not become well-informed overnight. But, as the regime is forced to dedicate more resources to silencing the informed, the majority will suffer economically. Eventually, the reality of their empty refrigerators will overwhelm the eternally optimistic messages coming from their televisions and computers, and the foundations of Putin’s informational autocracy will begin to crumble.

Sergey Guriev is a Russian economist, the chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Baghdad militia chants of “Death to America” echoed the takeover of the American embassy in Tehran in 1979, raising the specter of another hostage crisis.

The immediate emergency at our embassy in Baghdad has subsided. Kataeb Hezbollah has withdrawn its militia from outside the embassy, declaring that they have delivered the necessary message to America. They want the 5,000 American troops out of the country. But perhaps even Pompeo understands that a longer term challenge remains, and thus his change of travel plans. Trump has repeatedly said he wants to withdraw American troops from just about everywhere. However, a withdrawal from Iraq at this moment only serves Iran’s desire to exert greater control over Iraq. To much of the world, it would signal U.S. disengagement and weakness — not strength.

Even some of the harshest critics of the Iran nuclear deal now understand that the perfect is, indeed, the enemy of the good; that in volatile international situations, solid, incremental progress trumps chaos. The Iran nuclear deal was meant to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, since such a capability would

project even greater Iranian power in the Middle East and deter the ability of Washington and its allies to build a lasting peace in the region.

Concerted action to curtail Iran’s malign behavior, human rights abuses, unlawful detention of Americans and state sponsorship of terrorism remains very necessary. Had President Trump stayed in the Iran deal and used not only the remaining sanctions in the U.S. toolbox but also built a coalition of diplomatic partners to challenge Iran to truly join the community of nations, we would be in a very different place today.

Three years into his presidency, Donald Trump owns the events and outcomes in Iraq and Iran, as he does in North Korea, Afghanistan, Venezuela, the Middle East, Russia, China and Hong Kong. Having diminished our State Department, intelligence agencies and military, the very institutions that could have helped him construct an effective national security and foreign policy, he is now on his own. He may like it that way, but a change in his secretary of state’s travel plans won’t be enough to save the day, let alone the decade.

Wendy R. Sherman, a professor and the director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard Kennedy School, was undersecretary of State for political affairs from 2011-15 and led U.S. negotiations on the Iran nuclear deal.

Internet censorship: When access is denied Editorial Guardian

For a long time, the seductive promise of the internet was of expanding horizons. Individual users would reach out, discovering new friends and new prospects. Nation would speak unto nation. That dream was not unfounded, but it was always an incomplete account, and the sceptics are increasingly being proved right. We are entering an age when what defines the internet may be not expansion but contraction; while the number of its users continues to grow, the imaginative and discursive space it offers is under threat. That space is constrained not only by tech firms’ decisions and customers’ choices, but by the diktat of governments.

Look to a new record set by India at the end of the year. In mid-December, the internet shutdown in Indian held Kashmir – one of several in the country – became the longest ever imposed in a democracy. The government celebrated with restrictions in Delhi, too.

India’s actions put it in bad but plentiful company. The year began with a 20-day shutdown in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sudan, Zimbabwe and Iraq are among those who followed due to protests.

(Ethiopia cut off access for fear of cheating in exams, as well as following the assassinations of officials.)

The effect was not only to prevent information coming in, or circulating internally, but to hinder news getting out. Access Now, an advocacy group dedicated to a free and open internet, says that shutdowns – sometimes targeting specific services, or throttling bandwidth rather than totally closing down access – leapt from 75 in 2016 to 196 in 2018. Last year’s tally, still being finalised, will show another rise.

SPREADING CONTROLS: Shutdowns are the most blunt and conspicuous aspect of internet restrictions. Other methods range from “fake news” laws in Singapore and Myanmar to the blocking of particular platforms. The US NGO Freedom House has recorded declines in net freedom eight years in a row.

In part, of course, censorship is rising because internet use is increasing. More than half the world is now online. Communities have found new sources of information and opinion, and a new way to magnify their voices. Some of the governments spending billions to get their peoples online are simultaneously finding ways to deny them access. The global tilt towards authoritarianism is another critical factor, and has helped drive demand for sophisticated censorship technologies. Leaders seeking to expand their traditional information controls (arresting journalists; closing printing presses) into the new realm are also taking cues from each other; when Benin shut down access last year, it followed the regional examples of Togo and the Gambia.

No country has done more to encourage the spread of internet restrictions than China, which has developed the world’s most sophisticated and widereaching censorship system, comprising internal controls, the Great Firewall blocking external services and, say researchers, the Great Cannon, a tool for DDoS attacks that overwhelm their targets with traffic. Though Beijing, too, has used shutdowns, for the most part it has ensured that it does not need to do so.

Five years ago, Iran announced that China would help to develop its “national information network” and ensure “safe and healthy domestic services”. In November, during widespread protests, it managed

to cut users off from the global internet while internal networks functioned relatively normally. Russia announced last month that it had completed tests to check that its internet services would work if the country were cut off from the world wide web. It follows a “sovereign internet” bill which substantially increases the government’s control, stating that all internal traffic should be carried within the country’s own networks, with other traffic going through registered exchange points.

There are economic benefits to persuading other countries to buy censorship technologies, as there are in making it hard or impossible for users to access foreign services, pushing them towards domestic rivals. But this is not just a commercial endeavour. Xi Jinping wants to transform China into a “cyber superpower”, touting the country’s regime as “a new option for other countries and nations that want to speed up their development while preserving their independence”. China is exporting not only its technology but its laws and skills, normalising its censorship practices. It has invited dozens of countries to seminars on legislation and policy. Freedom House has noted that soon after officials took such training, Vietnam introduced a cybersecurity law mimicking China’s own.

TESTING THE LIMITS: Tellingly, the Chinese state-run People’s Daily Online welcomed India’s internet shutdown in Assam and Meghalaya last month.

A commentary on the website suggested that this had “once again proved that the necessary regulation of the internet is a reasonable choice of sovereign countries based on national interests, and a natural extension of national sovereignty in cyberspace”.

It’s true that democracies – even those far more liberal than Narendra Modi’s India – set limits upon what can be published, sometimes wrongly. But they tend to restrict far less material than autocracies, and the distinction is qualitative too. There is an obvious difference between banning images of child sexual abuse, and barring any criticism of political leaders.

There is also a profound difference between a clear and transparent set of specific rules which can be challenged in independent courts and changed by a democratically elected legislature, and vague injunctions applied arbitrarily and behind a veil.

The most challenging issue may be how to respond when services are used to incite hatred and violence. Myanmar, Bangladesh, India and other places have experienced the deadly real-world effects of lies spreading at previously unimaginable speed online. Yet each claim that restrictions are needed to protect the public must be scrutinised; unscrupulous governments too often abuse them.

Even in immediate crises, closing off services can leave potential victims vulnerable and the information vacuum can magnify distrust. A better way forward is regulation which obliges tech companies to live up to their responsibilities. Introducing friction may be appropriate where prohibition is not.

WhatsApp limited how many times a message can be forwarded after the viral spread of false rumours about child abduction led to lynchings in India.

Where internet restrictions are needed, they must be both proportionate and transparent. Information matters. If it didn’t, autocrats would not be so anxious to control its flow. And the people they rule would not keep finding ways to circumvent those restrictions.

Friday, 3 January, 2020

FOREIGN NEWS 07

Erdogan SayS Up to 250,000 SyrianS flEE toward tUrkEy aS criSiS worSEnS ANKARA

p

AGENCIES

RESIDENT Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday up to 250,000 migrants were fleeing toward Turkey from Syria’s northwest Idlib region after weeks of renewed bombardment by Russian and Syrian government forces.

Turkey already hosts some 3.7 million Syrian refugees, the largest refugee population in the world, and Erdogan said it was taking steps with some difficulty to prevent another wave from crossing its border. With winter worsening an escalating crisis, the United Nations has said some 284,000 people had fled their homes as of Monday. Up to 3 million people live in Idlib, the last rebel-held swathe of territory after Syria’s nearly nine year civil war.

“Right now, 200,000 to 250,000 migrants are moving toward our borders,” Erdogan told a conference in Ankara. “We are trying to prevent them with some measures, but it’s not easy.

It’s difficult, they are humans too.”

Towns and villages have been pounded by Russian jets and Syrian ar-

tillery since a renewed government assault last month, despite a deal agreed last September by the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran to ease tensions.

At least eight people, including five children, were killed on Wednesday in on Idlib town when the Syrian army launched missiles that struck a shelter for displaced families, witnesses and

14 injUrEd aS nEw dElhi factory collapSES in firE NEW DELHI: A factory manufacturing batteries caught fire and collapsed in the Indian capital on Thursday, injuring 13 fire officials and one security guard, police said.

A fire official said three people were rescued from the debris of the building in Peera Garhi area in western New Delhi. Thirty five fire engines were at the site, and the rescue operation was continuing for some people feared trapped there. An eyewitness told New Delhi Television news channel he heard an explosion around 5am and the fire station reported the structure collapsed soon afterward. The fire official spoke anonymously because he was not authorised to release the information. There were no workers inside the building when the fire broke out around 4am, the police said. The fire officials received injuries during the rescue work, the police said. “They have been hospitalised.” The blaze was extinguished, but heavy smoke engulfed the rear portion of the building which collapsed.

It contained inflammable material like acid and plastic used for making batteries, the police said. Poor safety standards are a frequent cause of fires in India. Last month, a fire believed to be caused by an electrical short circuit engulfed a building in New Delhi, killing at least 43 people. AGENCIES

US consulate warns employees as gun battles rock Mexican border city MEXICO CITY: The United States consulate in Mexico’s border city of Nuevo Laredo issued a security alert on Wednesday, warning against gun battles and urging government employees to take precautions.

Gun battles have killed at least three people this week in the northern city bordering the Texas city of Laredo, media have said. It one of the Mexican cities where the US government has sent asylum seekers to wait as their cases are decided. “The consulate has received reports of multiple gunfights throughout the city of Nuevo Laredo,” it said in a Twitter post. “US government personnel are advised to shelter in place.” On Twitter, users purportedly from Laredo reported hearing gunfire ringing out from the neighboring Mexican city. In a Twitter post late on Wednesday, Francisco Cabeza de Vaca, the governor of Tamaulipas, the state home to Nuevo Laredo, blamed the attacks on its Cartel of the Northeast. “After the cowardly attacks on the part of the Cartel of the Northeast in Nuevo Laredo, the (government of Tamaulipas) will not let down its guard and will continue acting with strength against criminals,” he wrote. AGENCIES

residents said. In a report, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the city of Maarat al-Numan and the surrounding countryside “are reportedly almost empty.”

“Displacement during winter is further exacerbating the vulnerability of those affected. Many who fled are in ur-

gent need of humanitarian support, particularly shelter, food, health, non-food and winterization assistance,” the OCHA said.

It said those displaced in December were fleeing toward Turkey, other parts of northern Idlib or toward other areas in northern Syria such as Afrin and alBab that Turkey seized in previous cross-border military operations.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has vowed to recapture Idlib. Turkey has for years backed Syrian rebels fighting to oust Assad. Erdogan said last month his country could not handle a fresh wave of migrants from Syria, warning Europe that it will feel the impact of such an influx if the bombing is not stopped.

Moscow and Damascus both deny allegations of indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas and say they are fighting al Qaeda-inspired Islamist militants.

However, their advances also pile pressure on Turkey, which has 12 military posts in the area.

On Tuesday, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said it was out of the question for Turkey to evacuate its observation posts in Idlib.

Hundreds arrested in Hong Kong in New Year's Day protests

HONG KONG AGENCIES

Hong Kong police arrested about 400 people in New Year’s Day protests after what started as a peaceful pro-democracy march of tens of thousands spiraled into chaotic scenes with police firing tear gas to disperse the crowds.

The arrests take the total to about 7,000 since protests in the city escalated in June over a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extradition to mainland China, and will highlight the apparent absence of any progress towards ending the unrest.

The tension on Wednesday rose after some arrests were made in the Wan Chai bar district near a branch of global banking group HSBC (0005.HK), which has been the target of protester anger in recent weeks.

When scuffles broke out, large numbers of black-clad protesters rushed to the scene while other protesters formed human chains to pass them various supplies including bricks, forcing police to bring in their own reinforcements.

Police then asked organizers to call off the march early and crowds eventually dispersed as a water cannon truck and scores of police in riot gear patrolled the streets late into the evening. Jimmy Sham, one of the leaders of the Civil Human Rights Front that organized the march, criticized the police decision to get the crowd to disperse at such short notice and said they had arrested protesters indiscriminately. Police told media on Thursday they had arrested 420 people over the New Year holiday, most on New Year’s Day, with 287 of them in one sweep for illegal

assembly, including a 12-year old.

Police said they only made the arrests on Wednesday after they notified the march organizers and gave sufficient time for demonstrators to leave. Four officers were injured during the day, they said. Organizers estimated that just over one million people took part in the New Year’s Day march. Police put the number at 60,000 at its peak. Over the months, the protests have evolved into a broad movement pushing for full democracy in the Chinese-ruled city and an independent investigation into complaints of police brutality. Police maintain they act with restraint. Arrests were also made on New Year’s Eve, when protesters briefly occupied a major road on the Kowloon peninsula as crowds of thousands counted down to midnight along the Victoria harbor.

anti-iSlaMic SloganS Spray-paintEd nEar london MoSqUE NEWS DESK Anti-Islamic graffiti was painted on the walls of a building close to the North Brixton Islamic Cultural Centre in London, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, police were called to a building near the mosque and cultural centre at 11:00 AM (GMT) after receiving reports about anti-Islamic slogans being painted on the wall. “Inquiries are ongoing at this time as part of a full investigation,” said the metropolitan police in a statement, adding that they are working with local authorities to ensure that “the offensive remarks are removed as soon as possible,” the publication added. The police said: “All members of our communities have the right to go about their daily life without fear of verbal, physical or written abuse. The Met does not tolerate any form of discrimination […] we are committed to tackling offences like this as thoroughly as possible,” The Guardian reported. Taking to Twitter on Thursday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan denounced the incident, stating he was “disgusted to hear that Islamophobic slogans have been spray-painted near the North Brixton Islamic Centre”. “Let me be clear: all prejudice is cowardly and criminals will face the full force of the law,” he added. This is not the first incident in the city which has targeted Muslims. In 2018, citizens living in London reported receiving anonymous letters containing hate material targeting Muslims. The letters were titled ‘Punish A Muslim Day’ and were sent to families in East London, asking them to celebrate the day on April 3, 2018.

french police use tear gas to end protest over pension reform PARIS: French police used tear gas to disperse protesters blockading a Paris bus depot on Thursday, the latest confrontation between the authorities and unions over plans to reform the pension system.The protests, now in their 29th day, are the longest since 1968. Video footage from a BFM television reporter published on Twitter showed police firing tear gas into a crowd at the entrance to the bus depot. Police had no immediate comment. BFM television also showed a stand-off later in the morning in central Paris, near the Opera Garnier. The hardline CGT union has called for more strikes this month after President Emmanuel Macron promised to push through his pension reforms. Macron said in a New Year’s Eve address that he expected his government to reach a compromise quickly with unions on the reforms, but without departing from principles laid out by ministers. AGENCIES

‘Iran not heading to war but not afraid of conflict’ DUBAI AGENCIES

A top Iranian commander said on Thursday that Iran was not moving toward a war but was not afraid of any conflict, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported after U.S. President Donald Trump said Tehran was behind anti-U.S. protests in Iraq.

Trump accused Iran of orchestrating demonstrations at the U.S. embassy in Iraq on Tuesday and said Tehran would be held responsible. Iran has rejected the accusation.

“We are not leading the country to war, but we are not afraid of any war and we tell America to speak correctly with the Iranian nation. We have the power to break them several times over and are not worried,” Revolutionary Guards Commander Brigadier General

Hossein Salami was quoted by Tasnim as saying.

Trump had said in a tweet on Tuesday that Iran would be “held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat.” He later said he did not want or foresee a war with Iran. Iran’s Army chief Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Thursday his forces were ready to confront the “enemy”.

“Our armed forces … monitor all moves, and if anyone makes the slightest mistake, they will decisively react, and if the situation heats up, we will show our abilities to the enemy,” Mousavi was quoted as saying by state broadcaster IRIB. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday condemned U.S. attacks on Iranian-allied militias in

Iraq, blaming the United States for violence in Iran’s neighbor. Iran protested on Wednesday to a Swiss envoy, who

represents U.S. interests in Tehran, over what it called “warmongering statements” by American officials.

Friday, 3 January, 2020

08 COMMENT

Staying away from the Summit

Govt under attack in NA, Senate Pursuit of skin-deep bonhomie

W

iTH the government announcing a hefty rise in the petroleum and LPG prices and reports about flour also becoming costlier, the opposition had reasons to target the government’s performance in both National Assembly and Senate. The Prime minister’s absence from both Houses, despite an earlier assurance that he would attend the Senate sitting, provided another casus belli to the opposition. The opposition contended that the recently promulgated NAB Ordinance leaving the business community and bureaucracy out of the purview of NAB, and the holy cows allowed as before to be judged by their respective institutions, NAB’s role has been confined only to target politicians. An opposition member suggested that under the circumstances the parliamentarians too should be held accountable only by Parliament. To many the logic behind the demand would appear to be unassailable The opposition also criticised the government for its casual attitude towards Parliament including its flouting of parliamentary regulations and traditions. The government, it was pointed out, had stalled the Senate session for nearly four months ignoring the opposition’s demands to convene it. The government then suddenly called both Houses into session, with the news reaching the parliamentarians through media rather than through proper notification, making it difficult for many to reach islamabad amidst delayed flights due to exceptionally cold and smoggy weather.

The government is fond of making laws through presidential ordinances rather than through parliamentary proceedings. Dire necessity forced it this time to seek the opposition’s help on three legislative measures that can only be passed by Parliament, that is, the issues related to the tenure and extension in service of the COAS, the new NAB law and the appointment of eC members and the Chief election Commissioner. Science minister Fawad Chaudhry acted like the government’s cheerleader when NAB persecuted PmL-N and PPP leaders. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, he supports reducing NAB’s powers and wants the merger of NAB and FiA into a single premier agency. Again he has suddenly converted to the need for government and opposition to join hands on a minimum agenda, the three issues that led the government to convene the sessions of the two Houses post-haste.

Actions taken out of necessity, rather than for their innate importance, deserve little credit.

Confusion at the top Reconciling the trickledown theory with a welfare state

P

rime minister imran Khan has apparently got conflicting visions which produce the kind of cognitive dissonance that makes for unrealistic policymaking. On the one hand he has expressed admiration of the Ayub era, and on the other, as he told the foundation stone-laying ceremony of another campus of the Air University, he held up as his ideal the welfare state of the riasat-i-madina. Apart from the difficulties inherent in admiring the Ayub regime, which was presidential, corrupt and the result of the country’s first military takeover, not to mention its alienation of east Pakistan, and that its economics is not logically reconcilable with a welfare state.

The Ayub regime upheld the trickledown theory, which postulated that the way out of poverty rested on capital formation, and that if wealth was concentrated in a few hands, there would be a trickle-down to the ordinary man. it didn’t work. The 22 Families came into being, but the ordinary man remained as poor as ever. Such a concept is irreconcilable with the welfare state, which guarantees healthcare, education, and cradle-to-grave security. Supplyside economics, such as exemplified by the trickledown theory, does not allow such measures to be taken. After Science and Technology minister Fawad Chaudhry’s recent declaration that the private sector was supposed to create jobs, and the government was not supposed to give out jobs, may be taken as representing the supply-side school in the government. There is one hitch though: a welfare state aims at full employment, with the state as the employer of last resort. A capitalist state, on the other hand, disapproves of full employment, and ns by pleading for more time. wants the state to stay out of employment. mr Khan should clarify his own ideas about where he wants to take the country. He also predicted that 2020 was to be a year of economic recovery. That appears a dream, a self-serving one at that, which will only allow the party faithful to fend off the public’s ireful questions, especially after the multiple tariff hikes, which will not only add directly to the woes of the common man, but fuel indirect inflation as well.

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

Will the Special OIC Summit on Kashmir be enough?

At Penpoint

I

T

M.A. NIAZI

He Organisation of islamic Countries has decided that Pakistan is important enough a member for it to hold a Special Summit on Kashmir, which creates a dilemma for many members, particularly Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf countries, which were courted by indian Pm Narendra modi at the time of the clampdown in Kashmir.

The rather belated decision comes after the Saudi Foreign minister came to Pakistan, not after the original abolition of Kashmir’s special status on August 5, nor before, after or during modi’s visit to the Gulf States, at which the UAe and Bahrain gave him their highest civil awards, and when Audi Crown Prince muhammad bin Salam called him his elder brother.

The decision shows that the OiC is very much under the control of Saudi Arabia, something symbolised by the fact that its Secretary General, Yusuf ibn Ahmad al-Othaimeen, is a Saudi. So was his predecessor, iyad Ameen madani. madani had resigned, citing health issues, following egyptian complaints after he had mocked egyptian ruler Abel Fattah el-Sisi.

The OiC has had an alternation of Arab and nonArab Secretary Generals, with the first being a former malaysian Prime minister, Tunku Abdul rahman. A Pakistani, Sharifuddin Pirzada, has held the post, as has a Turk. The Saudis have been ex-ministers, which does not mean politicians in the sense that Pakistanis understand, but bureaucrats of high calibre.

The Kuala Lumpur Summit was not so much a rival to the OiC, as a precursor. it was formally a summit hosted by the malaysian government, and was attended by intellectuals, religious scholars and others, as well as the heads of government of iran, Turkey and Qatar. Pakistan was invited, but did not come.

Of these, the only Arab country was Qatar.

Thus, the Kuala Lumpur Summit might have created an Arab-Ajami divide. The Saudis have exerted power by virtue of the Saudi King also being Khadimul Haramain, and being very rich besides, because of oil wealth. They have also been very much a force in the Arab League. However, the OiC contains a number of non-Arab countries, the farther away from the Arab Peninsula one goes.

The first, of course, is iran. it is the standardbearer of a civilisation older than that of the Arabs. its civilisation was also spread in the areas which it provided the springboard for the spread of islam, Central Asia and the Subcontinent. At the time of its initial spread, iran was Sunni, so the Sunnis are

ArshAd MAhMood

I

N the aftermath of the creation of the UN and the demise of colonialism, democratic political regimes have grown worldwide. Democracy distinguishes itself from other forms of governments in recognition of peoples’ involvement in a state’s functioning, and recognition of their social, economic and political rights. While giving a Darwinian explanation, Tatu Vanhanen, a Finnish political scientist and author, terms democracy as a government of many in relation to autocracy as a government of the few.

He further contends that: “The concentration of power and resources leads to autocracy, and the distribution of resources leads to democracy.”

Various contemporary political analysts and research organisations while keeping a close watch on states’ performance maintain a comparative democracy index. The Economist has been publishing The Democracy index since 2007, based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture. The Democracy index 2018 considers only 20 countries (12 per cent) ‘full democracies’. A whopping 55 are rated ‘flawed democracies’, 39 countries ‘hybrid regimes’ and 53 ‘authoritarian regimes’. The five top-ranked countries are: Norway, iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Denmark. india’s elite and academia have long claimed india the world’s largest democracy. The claim is debatable. By virtue of its population, india is the world’s largest democracy, but certainly not its best one. According to the Democracy index, the state of india has never been among the world’s top democracies. in 2007, india was rated Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

in a majority in these areas, but it became Shia, and there is a strong Shia presence in all these areas. malaysia, though not Arab, converted to islam by the preaching of muslim seafarers who addressed the pagan inhabitants who were a sort of Hindu, as in the island of Bali in indonesia, another land converted by Arab seamen. Along with Brunei, these are the other branch of Ajami muslims.

Turkey is a unique case. it was not so much converted as conquered and then converted. it had been opposed to iranian power, in the shape of the Persian empire, but it did not take on the roman or Greek heritage of the land it had conquered, but instead followed the example of the Persians. it is symptomatic that the great Ottoman Turkish Sultan, Suleiman Qanuni, idolised even in today’s republican Turkey, wrote poetry with the takhallus (pen-name) mohibbi– in Persian. The tradition of writing Persian poetry continued for centuries, and it was only in the 19th century that Turkish poetry began to be written. Only Bosnia and Albania represent Turkish conversions in europe.

Another point worth noting is that Kuala Lumpur was without representation by any African state, thus representing another important group of Ajamis, the Sub-Saharan Africans. The Saharan or North Africans are all Arab, though mostly nonArab in ancestry. Also absent were a subset of the Subcontinent’s muslims, the Bangladeshis. Another absence was that of the Central Asian republics. it should be noted that the Arab-Ajami divide is accompanied by a sectarian one in many cases. iran is Shia, but the others are all Sunni. Still, within the Sunni sect, there are four schools, associated with particular nations. For example, Western North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa is mostly maliki. Central Asia and the Subcontinent are Hanafi. However, malaysia, indonesia and Brunei are Shafei: like most of the non-Peninsular Arab world. The Peninsula is Ahle Hadith. it is also pertinent to note that Saudi Arabia has problems with Turkey, iran, malaysia and Qatar individually, so none could easily be persuaded to backtrack. Turkey and iran further have difficulties with the USA, which Saudi Arabia considers the guarantor of its stability. iran’s difficulties with Saudi Arabia have to do with leadership of the region, which has recently brought them to the verge of conflict over the Straits of Hormuz. iran is also a virulent opponent of israel, towards which Saudi Arabia is softening, out of deference to the USA. Saudi Crown Prince muhammad bin Salman has partnered with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner in trying to solve the Palestinian question.

Turkey has problems with both Saudi Arabia and the USA over Syria. Apart from a direct clash of interests in Syria (with both Saudi Arabia and the USA), Turkey’s support of russia in that conflict has upset the USA. malaysia’s problems with Saudi Arabia are more personal. Saudi King Abdullah apparently gave about $2 million which went from 1malaysia Development Berhad, into the personal account of Najib razak, the Prime minister whom mahathir defeated last year.

The Summit was perhaps the result of too much Saudi deference to the USA. mahathir is known to be unhappy of the Saudi desire not to ruffle feathers, such as over the rohingya and the Uighurs. While the rohingya look to Bangladesh, they also look to malaysia as a more prosperous muslim country.

The Uighurs are seen as a peculiarly Turkish problem, which sees them as east Turkestanis. Now the Kashmir issue has cropped up, and before it could be settled, the Citizenship Act Amendment protests have started. With Arabs making peace with israel over the heads of the Palestinians, the problems left, apart from Syria, seem to be Ajami rather than Arab. That india is responsible for two, and supports myanmar in a third, sits ill with the Saudis, who are befriending india not just because they think it a good idea, but because india is flavourof-the-month in both Washington and Tel Aviv.

However, if Ajamis imagine that they can identify as muslims without the Saudis on board, they have got another think coming. The Harmain are central to muslim identity, and the Saudis have shown that they use access as a tool of diplomacy, as in their ban of iranian pilgrims for the Hajj. many iranians travelled on other passports, but it is not something that any government would like to explain to those intending to make the pilgrimage. This is a double-edged sword. muslims are uneasy about Saudi Arabian use of the Harmain for its own purposes. How will they react to Saudi Arabia using them for American?

There is a problem here. Saudi Arabia is not just not a democracy, it distrusts them. especially if they are muslim. Like malaysia and Turkey. Therefore, Pakistan has put itself alongside the monarchs against the elected. The USA is in the same place.

Pakistan was damaged hard by its last-minute abstention. Paradoxically, the lesson to Saudi Arabia will be that Pakistan cannot be trusted to keep its word. malaysia will have learnt that Saudi Arabia won loyalties not just by being Khadimul Haramain, but by having a lot of money and jobs to give. Does malaysia?

M.A. Niazi is a member of the staff.

The myth of Indian democracy Suppressing people works against democracy a flawed democracy at number 35.

True, general elections have been a regular feature. However, New Delhi’s power politics has finally reverted back– from the alliance-politics of the post-Nehru era – to single-party rule since 2014. However, the country’s performance has not demonstrated any improvement. Since 2007 New Delhi has been confined between 35th and 41st positions on the index.

All experts agree that ‘people’, being the real essence of democracy, cannot be divorced from state functioning. indian political history reveals the country’s leadership has always preferred their political interests over the people’s social needs.

The indian National Congress (iNC) had dominated the country’s domestic politics and remained in power for almost three decades. Though the iNC had abandoned its socialist philosophy and worked for societal development, its glacial pace never brought about any phenomenal change in the quality of life of its people– especially that of the lowest castes like Dalits and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The economic policies of Congress government with a measly 3.5 per cent GDP growth had never helped lifting the booming indian population out of poverty. Same was the case in other sectors like education, health and employment.

By late 1970s, a large majority of the oppressed class had reached the peak of frustration against the system and started challenging the state’s powerbrokers. even in the 1980s, when the indian GDP growth rate was around eight per cent, the chances

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

I

of iNC success in election were merely 50 per cent. Dividends of high economic growth had never reached the general masses which became the ultimate reason of Congress demise.

Today, the iNC– having lost its longsustained pre-eminence– is no more a shareholder in the state’s power politics.

The BJP’s story as the iNC’s successor is even worse. The relegation of the iNC in the race for New Delhi had created a vacuum in indian political horizon and many new actors emerged to fill it. The new political players tried to win popular support by addressing their grievances. The BJP proved to be the most successful political force out of the atypical and phenomenal growth of political parties which– like many others– had emerged on caste, creed and religious basis. Charged with Hindutva ideology, the rise of the BJP has totally transformed the social fibre of indian society, whereas, the question of social uplift of the country’s subjects is still a fantasy, presenting an extremely desperate picture of today’s india. in a population of 1.4 billion in india today, over 300 million (21.9 per cent) live below the poverty level and over 350 million (26 per cent) of its citizens are illiterate. These figures are more than the collective population of all indian neighbouring states less Pakistan. Similarly, the country’s GDP per capita is less than $2000 compared to that of USA at almost $60,000 and Japan and Germany with over $40,000. With 10 per cent unemployment and the same inflation rate, indian citizens are suffering from uncontrolled price hike.

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

I

Above all, with the alarming corruption in its public departments, india is 78thon the list of cleanest nations.

The most appalling statistics are related to human rights. Like any other country, the indian constitution provides six fundamental rights to its citizens: equality, freedom, right against exploitation, freedom of religion, cultural and education rights, and rights to constitutional remedies. early this year, the UN High Commissioner for Human rights released a report on gross violation of human rights in india and state-sponsored mob attacks on religious minorities to marginalise them and force acceptance of Hindu supremacy. The Human rights Watch reports as many as 18 such attacks in November 2018 alone by BJP activists against minorities. The main target of such attacks and discrimination in education and job is not just muslims, rather low-caste Hindus, especially Dalits and OBCs, without whose votes BJP would have never won.

The report also explains that the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) grants license to indian security forces to commit gross human rights violations in Kashmir on the pretext of establishing the state’s writ. The government decision to revoke Article-370 in Kashmir and deployment of over 700,000 troops there has generated serious human rights concerns in the Valley. The whole of indian-Occupied Kashmir today is locked down and over 14 million people are suffering for seeking their just right of freedom.

The prevailing state of democracy is alarming in india. How long will democracy survive if the situation continues? And, how long shall indian oppressed classes tolerate this decimations?

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Friday, 3 January, 2020

COMMENT 09 Editor’s mail

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

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

Tactile paths in Karachi THrOUGH the column of your newspaper, i would like to draw the reader’s attention towards the installation of tactile path (tenji blocks) in public places. A research on visually impaired people shows that 7% of people are completely visually disabled and cannot see anything, while the rest 93% are visually impaired or visually correct. it’s our social responsibility to help the visually impaired people of the society. Tactile paths are the best way to help these people. These are tiny blocks of dark colours, like red and yellow. This helps visually impaired people to locate their direction some through patterns of colours on the blocks.

These tenji blocks are very necessary in public places such as footpaths, parks, and shopping malls, because if we can’t help those people, with these tenji blocks they can guide themselves. in western countries these blocks are being used since the 90’s. Unfortunately, in our country we always talk about mainstream topics but neglect these important issues.

These people are an asset of Pakistan. i hope these paving these blocks will reduce some of their problems.

AdNAN KhAN Karachi

America in 2020

Fall of Dhaka was inevitable-III Mujib went into the 1971 election planning to secede

sultAN M hAlI

T

HiS is the last and final part of the series of articles. in the first part, factors leading to the Fall of Dhaka were examined. The previous week it was proved that the claims by Awami League regarding the number of Bengalis massacred in genocide and the women raped

by Pakistan Army are highly exaggerated.

Before we conclude, it is essential to examine the prevailing fable that Sheikh mujib, despite securing maximum seats in the 1970 elections, was denied power by conniving West Pakistani politicians. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto et al were ambitious but the truth can be gauged from the news report of APP correspondents interviewing Sheikh mujib in Dhaka after the elections, congratulating him on his victory.

They inquired of the Sheikh’s future plans after he would assume the mantle of Premiership of Pakistan. His response was that he would rather be the “Father of a Nation (Bangladesh)” than just a Prime minister of Pakistan. The die had already been cast. So much for the theory that if power had been handed over to Sheikh mujib, he would have behaved responsibly as the Prime minister of Pakistan.

Let us also delve deeper into the myth of Awami league’s majority in the 1970 elections and its overwhelming representation of the Bengalis. election Commission of Pakistan documents reveal that the voter turnout in east Pakistan was 56 per cent while the uninterested electorate in east Pakistan comprised 44 per cent. Of the overall votes cast in east Pakistan, Awami League actually received only 42 per cent of the votes. The question therefore arises how could only a 42 per cent mandate achieve independence without external (indian) support? if this was not true and a sizable population of the Bengalis did not support the idea of secession, and continued to regard the Pakistan regime as the legitimate government, why would Sheikh Hasina Wajid’s government now be putting its own citizens on trial for “treason” and sending them to the gallows? What is sauce for the goose is sauce for

the gander. if the rebels were fighting for a ‘noble’ cause for freedom, then in the same vein, the cause of those Bengalis supporting the regime was equally ‘noble’ as it was to sustain the unity and integrity of Pakistan, they had sworn allegiance to. if anyone needs to be tried, it is india, which had been planning the dismemberment of east Pakistan for ages. indian secret agency, the research and Analysis Wing (rAW), was created with the main task of destabilising Pakistan. The deliberate intervention of india in fomenting political trouble in Pakistan was in direct contravention to Article 4 of the UN Charter. Then indian Prime minister indira Gandhi had triumphantly claimed to have taken revenge for 700 years of muslim rule over Hindus and at the fall of Dhaka, had declared “today we have sunk the Two-Nation Theory of Pakistan in the Bay of Bengal”. more evidence was provided by the confessional statement of the indian role in the mutilation of Pakistan by india’s Prime minister Narendra modi during his visit to Bangladesh in June 2015, which is self-indicting under international law. india had planned to exploit the discord between two wings; hence, the drama of the Ganga hijacking on 30 January 1971 was orchestrated to ban Pakistan’s overflights and deny logistic support to the east from the West. indian intervention has been admitted by Field marshal Sam manekshaw in his memoirs. manekshaw discloses his meeting with mrs Gandhi in April 1971, when she divulged her intent of dismembering east Pakistan and asked manekshaw for the impending invasion of east Pakistan. Field marshal manekshaw requested seven to nine months’ preparation time which was granted by mrs Gandhi.

Just when the Pakistan Army was on the verge of controlling the armed insurgency by the Bengali mukti Bahini, being supported by india, the indian armed forces-initiated war in east Pakistan on 21 November 1971 on the pretext of Bengali refugees crossing into india. if this principle is to be applied today by other states as well; should Pakistan invade Afghanistan or europe overrun Syria?

Now let us look at some ground realities regarding Pak-Bangladesh relations. Pakistan and Bangladesh can either be friends or stay indifferent to each other. One thousand miles of hostile indian territory still separates Pakistan and Bangladesh and it is not physically possible for Pakistan to interfere in Bangladeshi affairs or vice versa. Bangladesh is enveloped by india, which foments troubles like water issues, border skirmishes, smuggling, drug trafficking and numerous other problems. it would be prudent for Bangladesh to resolve its problems with india rather than act as a proxy for india and hurl insults and accusations at Pakistan, which tends to gain nothing from the instability of Bangladesh.

True, Pakistan bears some blame for pre-

1971 atrocities and omissions but the grievances of economic poverty disparities, low representation of Bengalis in administration, industry, armed forces and so on were related to inter-province disparities and were not peculiar to east Pakistan and persist even today.

Currently Pakistan has approximately two million illegal Bangladeshis on its soil but has never made them a scapegoat for the turmoil in Karachi or its war against terror— nor are they living in squalor in specific camps— while Bangladesh is busy profiling Pakistani visitors and workers and harassing them with a vengeance. if the genocide claim by Bangladesh is to be taken as correct, then from 25 march to 16 December 1971 (257 days), the casualty rate on the average comes to 11,000 per day, which is highly questionable as no neutral source ever reported or confirmed atrocities on this mass scale. Apparently, Sheikh Hasina Wajid has banned any discussion or questioning the Awami League version of the alleged genocide just as the Jews have barred any debate on the Jewish Holocaust claims. if Hasina ponders even for a moment, she should pragmatically take cognisance of the fact that no distinction can be made between the liberation fighters and innocent Bengalis, and how many were killed by the indians, mukti Bahini or Pakistanis. By persistently blackballing Pakistan, the atrocities will not go away as they were not one sided.

The time has come for both Pakistan and Bangladesh to do some soul searching and move forward, and that would be the best closure rather than continuing to scratch old wounds.

Having undertaken visits to Bangladesh and hosted Bengali friends in islamabad, this scribe has reached the conclusion that sane elements reside on both sides, who are willing to move forward. Bangladesh has done well economically, and Pakistan is a well-wisher.

We should not let history remain a source of rancour and rather than nurture bitterness, we should be able to let go of the hate and animosity. The people of Bangladesh and Pakistan deserve to be closely associated in better relations. There is no need for forming alliances against any other neighbour but instead the coalition should be to combat poverty, terrorism and illiteracy. After all SAArC was the brainchild of former Bangladesh President General Ziaur rahman but has not been allowed to progress because of neighbourly hostilities. Lessons need to be drawn from other regional alliances like ASeAN, eCO, eU and so on, which have brought prosperity to their members. Surely South Asia too needs the space to rise to the full potential of its respective states and thrive in peace and harmony.

Sultan M hali is a retired Group Captain and author of the book defence & diplomacy.

Currently he is a columnist, analyst and Tv talk show host.

HULLABALOOS and noise have been doing the rounds regarding the upcoming 2020 presidential election in the USA. Big media houses like CNN and the Washington Post are shouting and screaming names like Donald Trump apart from disseminating the special and extra reports on the 2020 American election. The viewers like me often bump into the slogans like “make America Great Again.” This is quite interesting but different to me. For the most part, America has been an attractive country, getting attention from the international community.

As for Trump, with his cool composure and passion, he can still do a lot and strengthen his strategies in the best interests of the USA and the world at large. in the recent history, America’s name has been unnecessarily dragged into so many controversial issues around the world. it is time the USA, especially the Trump administration, should wake up to the reality. more to the point, the American media houses are generally kind enough to present the news in a proper way. in fact, i have observed the mentality of American media on TV channels like CNN and in newspapers such as the Washington Post. There is always gentleness in their writing and speech. (So far, i have met by chance many Americans in Tuticorin, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari.) The people known for their hard work, classic composure and traditional lifestyle from my native places like Tuticorin, Korkai, Tiruchendur, Tirunelveli, marthandam, Nagercoil, and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu have the natural tendency to appreciate others and be kind to strangers.

There is nothing wrong with admiring the beautiful things in the world. Finally, American President Donald Trump should showcase his kind facets to the world in order to win the coming election and make peace with the entire world.

P SENThiL SArAvANA durAi Mumbai

The loud problem THe inconsiderate use of loudspeakers has become a massive nuisance in our cities. The most provoking point is that loud speakers have been adopted in almost all celebrations. This endless problem has reached a point where occasions such as marriage ceremonies and birthday parties are quite incomplete without loudspeakers.

Keeping in mind that noise pollution is already a recognised problem, people in the cities have to deal with headaches. The worst affected by the improper use of loudspeakers are elderly and children.

Due to the un-moderated noise, the sleep of patients and the elderly is disturbed, while schoolchildren and college students cannot concentrate on their studies. it is high time the government and local authorities take serious action to regulate the use of loudspeakers.

ASiF MurAd uMrANi Karachi

Who are the winners?

WiNNerS are simply the people who do difficult and hard things successfully. Winners don’t do different things, but they do things differently. Their way of doing things is different from that of the common people.

The winners, before doing anything, will make a plan and understand the enormity of the situation. Then they will brainstorm to prepare the road of achievement. Through this road of achievement, winners will direct their actions which will reach the goal, making them successful. So, the difference between the winners and other people is that the winners plan their path. Other people are unable to make a plan, and are thus unable to understand the enormity of the situation. The road where the actions of ordinary people are played lacks a direction.

WAJid Noor Turbat

Friday, 3 January, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

indonESia floodS lEavE nEarly 30 dEad, SEvEral MiSSing JAKARTA

i

AGENCIES

NDONESIA’S disaster agency warned Thursday of more deaths after torrential rains pounded the Jakarta region, triggering floods and landslides that killed at least 29 and left vast swaths of the megalopolis underwater.

Tens of thousands fled to temporary shelters across the capital region — home to some 30 million — with scores of houses damaged in the deadliest flooding in years, after torrential rains on New Year’s Eve. Images showed waterlogged homes and cars covered in muddy floodwaters, while some people took to paddling in small rubber lifeboats or tyre inner-tubes to get around.

In Bekasi, on the outskirts of the city, receding waters revealed swampy streets littered with debris and crushed cars lying on top of each other — with waterline marks reaching as high as buildings’ second floors. “I saw the water coming and it just kept getting higher and higher,” said Deddy Supriadi, after a local river overflowed on the first day of 2020.

“It swept away 40 or 50 cars that were parked right here,” he told AFP. Rescuers used inflatable boats to evacuate residents trapped in their homes, including children and seniors. TV images showed the dramatic rescue of a baby saved by disaster personnel who waded through chin-deep water to the family’s

home and carried the infant away to safety in a small plastic tub. “We’ve been rescuing newborns, mothers who just gave birth and babies trapped in houses without food,” said Yusuf Latif, spokesman for the National Search and Rescue agency.

“In some places, the rescue operation was quite challenging and difficult. The water was deep with a strong current.

Some alleyways were so narrow that it was hard for our inflatable boats to pass through,” he added. Across the city, kids took the opportunity to swim in the floodwaters while some people grabbed fishing rods. “I saw people were fishing here so I followed them,” said 28-year-old Agung Rosiadi. “There were lots of fish before but I don’t know why they’re all

gone now,” he added.

At least 26 people died in greater Jakarta, while three more were killed by flash floods in neighbouring Lebak regency in the south of Java island, according to the local disaster agency.

Police in Lebak said Thursday they were searching for as many as eight people who could still be missing.

“We hope the toll won’t keep going up,” Social Affairs Minister Juliari Peter Batubara told reporters earlier Thursday.

Around Jakarta, an eight-year-old boy killed in a landslide and an 82-yearold pensioner were among the confirmed victims. Others died from drowning or hypothermia, while one 16-year-old boy was electrocuted by a power line.

“The floods hit without warning,” Munarsih, who goes by one name, said from her waterlogged neighbourhood in Jakarta’s western outskirts where dozens of families fled to safety.

“The water came very fast and it rose quickly. We couldn’t manage to get our stuff out, including my car,” she added.

Stories about animal rescues went viral online, including a dog chained to a fence that was plucked from certain death, while a drenched rat was filmed taking refuge on a floating plastic sandal.

On Wednesday, electricity was switched off in many Jakarta districts to prevent more electrocutions, with some train lines and one airport also shut. By Thursday, most service had returned to normal. The disaster marked Jakarta’s worst flooding since 2013 when dozens were killed after the city was inundated by monsoon rains. Jakarta is regularly hit by floods during Indonesia’s rainy season, which started in late November.

Authorities said Thursday that some 31,000 people had been evacuated, but that figure did not include residents in Jakarta’s satellite cities.

Australia orders evacuation of fire-ravaged Taiwan's top military chief towns before heatwave killed in helicopter crash

PERTH AGENCIES

Australia ordered residents and tourists out of the path of raging bushfires Thursday as the country braced for a weekend heatwave expected to fan the deadly inferno.

Catastrophic blazes ripped through the country’s south-east on New Year’s Eve, killing at least eight people and stranding holidaymakers.

New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a sevenday state of emergency that allows for forced evacuations beginning Friday, for the third time in Australia’s most populated region this fire season.

“We don’t take these decisions lightly but we also want to make sure we’re taking every single precaution to be prepared for what could be a horrible day on Saturday,” she said.

It came as the NSW Rural Fire Service declared two “tourist leave zones” stretching almost 300 kilometres (186 miles) from the town of Nowra along the picturesque coast to neighbouring Victoria state, where people are also being urged to flee.

Residents and visitors in two inland areas — which include popular holiday resorts in the Snowy Mountains — were also told to leave, with people given less than 24 hours to evacuate before a heatwave brings gusting winds and temperatures above

40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit).

That weather will create conditions officials say will be as bad as — if not worse than — Tuesday, the deadliest day in a months-long bushfire crisis.

At least 18 people are now known to have died in one of Australia’s most devastating bushfire seasons yet, and there are growing fears the toll could rise dramatically, with officials in Victoria saying 17 people were missing in the state. Many tourists and residents spent two nights isolated with no electricity or telecommunications, before authorities on Thursday declared some roads safe to use. NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance called it the “largest evacuation of people out of the region ever”, with queues of cars reportedly stretching for kilometres along roads toward Sydney and Canberra as thousands fled.

One driver told AFP it had taken her three hours to travel just 50 kilometres (30 miles). NSW Rural Fire Service deputy commissioner Rob Rogers said firefighters would be unable to extinguish or even control the raging blazes. “The message is we’ve got so much fire in that area, we have no capacity to contain these fires,” he told ABC. “We just need to make sure that people are not in front of them.”

John Steele, 73, who lives outside the south coast town of Merimbula, told AFP some people were “panicking” amid the warnings to evacuate.

Steele said he and his wife were staying put for now, but added: “We have our bags packed.”

The number of homes confirmed destroyed in recent days has topped 400, with that figure expected to rise as firefighters reach communities still isolated by flames. Two Navy ships arrived in Mallacoota — where people huddled on the foreshore for hours on New Year’s Eve as a fire bore down on the remote town — to begin evacuating up to 4,000 people in an operation officials say could take weeks.

Victoria joint bushfire task force commander Doug Laidlaw said the first evacuees would be moved onto the vessels Friday morning, with children, the sick and elderly taking priority. “If we need to reset and (return) again, weather permitting, that is exactly what will happen,” he said.

Military aircraft have also been working with emergency crews to drop relief supplies into isolated areas and continue assessing the extensive fire damage. This season’s blazes have destroyed more than 1,300 homes and scorched over 5.5 million hectares (13.5 million acres) across the country — an area far greater than Denmark or the Netherlands.

Suburbs of cities like Sydney and Melbourne, home to several million people, have also been hit by bushfires.

The blazes have shrouded Australia’s capital, Canberra, in acrid smoke haze that has travelled as far as New Zealand, turning the air over glacier peaks brown. The unprecedented crisis has sparked street protests calling on the government to immediately act on climate change, which scientists say is creating a longer and more intense bushfire season. Conservative Prime Minister Scott Morrison has come under increasing pressure for his actions, which included holidaying in Hawaii as the disaster unfolded and reiterating his support for Australia’s lucrative — but heavily polluting — coal mining industry.

In his first official press conference since the latest blazes flared, Morrison said Thursday said “every absolute effort” was being made to assist affected communities. “The best way to respond is the way that Australians have always responded to these events and that is to put our confidence in those who are fighting these fires,” he said, while defending Australia’s climate change policies as “sensible”.

TAIPEI AGENCIES

Taiwan’s top military chief was killed in a helicopter crash on Thursday, the defense ministry said, just days before the island goes to polls to elect a new president.

The chief of the general staff, Shen Yiming, was among eight senior officers — including three major generals — who died when their Black Hawk helicopter smashed into mountains near Taipei.

The 62-year-old general and his entourage were on a routine mission to visit soldiers in northeast Yilan county when the incident happened.

“Five have survived while the other eight of our colleagues on board were killed. We are deeply saddened […] and give our condolences to their families,” Air Force Commander Hsiung Hou-chi told reporters. Survivor Tsao Ching-ping told rescuers in footage broadcast on local TV: “I am okay […] two others are injured and only I can walk.”

“There is one more person who’s more seriously wounded and two or three people in the cabin […] while two more with no signs of life.”

President Tsai Ing-wen’s office said that she will cancel all campaign activities for three days after the tragedy. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party will also suspend campaigning for three days.

“As commander in chief President Tsai and the cabinet team will focus on the rescue operations as well as clarifying the

cause of the incident,” it said in a statement. Tsai is seeking a second term against Kaohsiung city mayor Han Kuo-yu of the Kuomintang (KMT) party in the Jan 11 elections when Taiwan will also elect a new parliament.

Han — who will stop campaigning for two days — and the KMT also expressed condolences to the victims. There have been a number of incidents involving Black Hawk helicopters — purchased from the United States — in recent years in Taiwan.

In 2018, a chopper belonging to a government rescue agency crashed during a medical mission off outlying Orchid Island, killing six people on board.

There were also two crash landings in 2016 and 2018 with no casualties.

The chopper carrying 13 people disappeared from radar less than 15 minutes after taking off, according to Hsiung, adding that the ministry had set up a taskforce to investigate the incident.

“We are investigating whether [the cause] was environmental or mechanical,” he said. An air force official said some on board were “trapped under fragments of the helicopter” without elaborating.

The ministry has dispatched ground troops and rescue helicopters to the crash site in northeastern Taiwan.

“It had been raining in the mountains in the past few days, the mountain roads are muddy and very steep. We are racing against time,” Chen Chung-chi, a supervisor of the operation, said earlier on Thursday.

Friday, 3 January, 2020

BUSINESS 11

Govt to SEt up NatioNal tax CouNCil for harmoNiSatioN of GSt

CORPORATE CORNER

ISLAMABAD GHUlAM ABBAS

t

LAHORE: Punjab Governor Chaudhary Muhammad Sarwar gives an award to a student during the 18th annual convocation of the University of Management Technology (UMT). PRES S R E l E A S E

KARACHI: Tri-Angles Electronics (Pvt) Ltd – the official manufacturers and distributors of Hisense LED in Pakistan – unveiled its plan for one of the most anticipated and mega football event, the ‘UEFA EURO 2020’ which is scheduled to kick- off from June 12, 2020. PRESS RElEASE

LAHORE: Jubilee Life Insurance, Pakistan’s largest life insurance provider in the private sector, recently bagged the second position in the Major General Saeed uzZaman Janjua Memorial Polo Cup 2019. P R E S S R E l E A S E

HE government has decided to set up a National Tax Council (NTC) to ensure the harmonisation of General Sales Tax (GST) across the country.

According to sources, the federal and provincial governments, in a meeting held last month, had finally discussed the unresolved issue of GST and had agreed on developing a mechanism in this regard which was acceptable to the centre as well as federating units.

The meeting was presided over by the finance secretary and attended by provincial finance secretaries, heads of provincial revenue authorities and representatives of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

According to sources, four options were discussed during the meeting, including GST collection on goods and services by FBR, unified tax collection by an independent agency, collection of taxes on the basis of territory, and GST collection by both federal and provincial government through a harmonised system.

Since the first three options needed constitutional amendments and legislation, the centre and provinces, after due deliberation, principally agreed on the last option of setting up a harmonised GST rate to be applicable across the country.

In this regard, a National Tax Council was proposed to be set up to fix the GST rate. The proposed council would have technical level representations from the federation and federating units.

As per the agreement, the decisions of the council shall be ratified by the Fiscal Coordination

Asad Umar stresses need to develop indigenous mineral resources ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Minister Asad Umar on Thursday chaired a meeting to review the works of Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation (PMDC) and other allied matters.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Coordination of Marketing & Development of Mineral Resources Shahzad Syed Qasim and Petroleum Division Secretary Mian Asad Hayaud Din were also present on the occasion.

The PMDC managing director briefed the meeting about the operations of the corporation and presented an overview of the minerals sector, the roles and responsibilities of federal and provincial departments, the development impediments and their remedial measures.

The meeting was informed that the board

and management of the organization had been revamped to make it a vibrant institution.

Asad Umar emphasised the need for coordinated efforts for accelerated exploration and development of indigenous mineral resources, especially large-scale mining, value-addition and promotion of downstream industries. He observed that a uniform policy and regulatory framework across the country would be beneficial to attract investment in the sector.

"While minerals are a provincial subject, the federal government can help and support the development of the sector by aligning its various policies towards that objective."

The minister said that the federal government would support the federating units to improve the mineral sector's contribution in the country's GDP, adding that both public and private sectors should come forward for optimum exploitation of indigenous mineral resources.

Etisalat submits proposal for settlement of PTCL dispute BUSINESS DESK LAHORE: The management of Bahria Foundation recently inaugurated ‘Bahria Dastarkhwan’ at Data Gunj Baksh. P R E S S R E l E A S E

ISLAMBAD: Hotel One of Hashoo Group has joined hands with National Logistics Cell to construct select service resort hotels under the brand name ‘Hotel One NLC Collection’. For this, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Hotel One (Pvt) Ltd and the National Logistics Cell. P R E S S R E l E A S E

UAE telecom giant Etisalat has submitted to the government a framework of settlement for the long-outstanding payment of $800 million against shares of the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL).

Etisalat had, on June 18, 2005, acquired 1.36 billion shares or a 26pc stake in PTCL for $2.598 billion. The government has a 62pc stake in PTCL. Etisalat's proposal, as well as the outstanding payment, came up during an inter-ministerial meeting chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in Islam-

abad on Thursday. Information Technology Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui was also present on the occasion.

Talking to a private media outlet, Privatisation Secretary Rizwan Malik without disclosing details of the proposal said the framework would be discussed by all stakeholders, including privatisation commission and ministries of finance and information technology.

It is exactly after 12 years that Etisalat has come up with a proposal for the settlement of the issue. The delay in settlement pertains to the non-transference of property to the telecom company due to legal complications.

"It is not only an issue of

the non-transference of property, but there are also some other elements in the framework of the settlement that require attention," said Malik, adding that a positive outcome of the exercise was expected by the end of the month.

During today's meeting, Shaikh urged the federal secretaries of finance, information technology and privatisation commission to come up with a final proposal for the resolution of the pending payments before the end of January.

“We want to move beyond the status quo maintained on the issue for over a decade and bring the matter to a final settlement beneficial for our country and our long-term business interests,” said Shaikh.

Committee (FCC) having ministerial-level representations. The decisions taken from the forum would be binding on the federation and provinces.

According to the initial drafting of the NTC, the council would be headed by the finance secretary, comprising provincial finance secretaries and FBR chairman as members and heads of provincial tax authorities.

Sources in the finance ministry informed that the Terms of References (ToRs) of the council have been sent to all provinces for their feedback.

It is pertinent to mention that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its recent report, had recommended Pakistan to establish a joint working group, comprising centre and provinces, to provide recommendations on GST harmonisation, to be approved by the Council of Common Interests (CCI) by end-March 2020.

MARKET DAILY

Bull run continues as KSE-100 surges over 1,000 points KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Bulls of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) continued with the positive momentum on Thursday, as the indices accumulated gains all day long, helping the benchmark KSE-100 Index storm past the 42,000 mark. Foreign investors remained net sellers in the previous session with a net outflow of $1.88 million. The KSE-100 index closed the previous year as one of the bestperforming indices in the region with a 10pc return. This news particularly bolstered investor sentiments and sparked a rally on the very first trading session of the year and continued for the second day as well. Meanwhile, the inflation reading for the month of December was largely in line with market expectations hence the mood at the bourse remained unchanged during the day. Inflation clocked in at 12.63pc in December 2019 against the market expectations of 12.813pc. Gaining 1,143.73 points, the KSE-100 index recorded its intraday high at 42,543.73. It ended higher by 1,080.76 points at 42,480.76.

The KMI-30 Index clenched 1,999.88 points or 2.98pc to close at 69,068.76, while the KSE All Share Index added 593.00 points, ending at 29,872.97. The overall market volumes inflated from 330.74 million in the previous session to 412.35 million. Shares worth Rs17.06 million were traded in Thursday's session. K-Electric Limited (KEL +0.21pc), The Bank of Punjab (BOP +2.64pc) and Pak Elektron Limited (PAEL +2.33pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 46.83 million, 27.92 million and 21.48 million shares, respectively. Sectors that helped the index accumulate gains included banking (+331.63 points), oil and gas exploration (+132.75 points) and power generation & distribution (+107.26 points). Among the companies, Hub Power Company Limited (HUBC +100.53 points), Habib Bank Limited (HBL +84.61 points) and Engro Corporation Limited (ENGRO +82.71 points) remained the top contributors to the index. The oil and gas marketing sector added +3.11pc in its cumulative market capitalization.

Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL +4.99pc), Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (PSO +5.00pc) and Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGP +3.96pc) ended with decent gains.

Govt makes taxation simpler to attract even more 'hot' money KARACHI MEIRYUM AlI

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday announced amendments in the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, to simplify the tax regime for non-resident companies.

The decision is designed to further encourage foreign investment in debt instruments and government securities.

“These amendments aim to deepen our capital markets, support the availability of long-term rupee financing sources, support competition in the local currency debt market, and diversify the source of funding for the government,” said the State Bank in a statement.

As per the SBP, the existing foreign

exchange framework allows non-residents to invest in debt instruments and government securities through Special Convertible Rupee Account (SCRA) maintained in Pakistani banks. There is no restriction on repatriation of funds from SCRA’s which incentivizes investment in the local debt market by non-resident investors.

But the existing tax structure for nonresidents was “historically complex”. The SBP listed some key impediments, including different withholding tax rates on profit on debt and capital gains tax, penal transaction charges for non-filers and uncertainty about tax applicability.

To combat these problems, the following changes were made in the ordinance:

1. The capital gains tax shall be subject to withholding at the rate of 10pc and shall constitute final discharge of tax liability.

2. No deduction of 0.6pc banking transaction tax under section 236P on transactions in SCRA. 3. No advance tax payment under section 147 on capital gains.

4. Dispensation from the requirement of registration under section 181, filing of return under section 114 and filing of a statement of final taxation under section 115 in respect of income solely from capital gains or profit on debt from investment in debt securities.

5. No distinction shall be made in terms of filer or non-filer;

Many non-resident investors currently benefit from tax treaties and already enjoy reduced rates of taxation of around 10pc, the SBP said, adding that the ordinance's key provisions will simplify the tax structure and process for international investors.

Withholding taxes on dividends for resident corporations is 7.5pc, while for non-treaty non-residents is 12.5pc. The tax rate varies for non-residents depending on whether the country has an existing tax treaty with Pakistan.

The announcement is part of the SBP’s recent effort to attract ‘hot’ money.

Bloomberg reported that the SBP was looking at ways to make foriegn funds stay invested for longer period, as global in-

vestors have poured $1.2 billion into localcurrency bonds in the year since July.

In an earlier statement issued in December, the SBP tried to allay fears, and said that international investors investing in debt instruments was a manifestation of their growing confidence in the positive outlook for the country.

That statement was an attempt to clarify ‘misconceptions’ about the investments in Pakistan’s debt markets. In fact, the SBP argued that international investors have been investing in Pakistan’s equity markets for a long time.

"Such investors have been able to move capital in and out of our financial markets without problems for the Pakistan economy," the statement read.

Friday, 3 January, 2020

12 BUSINESS Non-compliant debit and credit cards will not be blocked: SBp INSTEAD OF AN OFFICIAL CIRCULAR, SBP PRACTICALLY EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR BANKS TO CONVERT MAGNETIC STRIPE CARDS TO EMV THROUGH A PRESS RELEASE KARACHI

‘CEmENt iNduStry to opEratE at oNly 78pC CapaCity’ DEC 2019 SEES CEMENT DESPATCHES GROW BY MORE THAN 10PC ISLAMABAD

MEIRYUM AlI

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has categorically rejected media reports that the existing ATM cards with magnetic stripe have stopped working since December 31, 2019. "SBP has not issued any such instruction to card issuers (banks/MFBs). Customers who have still not received their Europay Mastercard Visa (EMV-Chip and PIN) cards can continue using their existing magnetic stripe cards till the time they have received and activated their new cards.

However, based on activation and delivery trends, the card issuers may block existing magnetic stripe cards to ensure complete migration to EMV (Chip and PIN) at a future date," according to a statement issued by the central bank. "We would like to recall that an SBP's circular 9 of 2018 had advised all banks/MFBs to re-card their existing card portfolios to EMV chip and PIN by June 30, 2019. However, upon the request of the industry, the timeline was revised to December 31, 2019, vide circular 1 of 2019." Earlier this week, this scribe had reported that the last date for banks across Pakistan to switch from magnetic stripe cards to EMV compliant cards was 31st Dec 2019. It was reported that the SBP had extended the deadline from June 30th to Dec 31st "as several banks had not made any significant headway in the process to replace old cards". It is pertinent to mention that SBP did not issue any circular with regard to a further extension in the deadline after Dec 31st. Also, despite repeated attempts to get some clarification, the SBP officials had remained unavailable to comment on the issue.

oil firm as trade optimism, mideast tensions support LONDON AGENCIES

Oil rose on Thursday as signs of improving trade relations between Washington and Beijing which eased demand concerns and rising tensions in the Middle East provided support. Brent crude futures were up 27 cents at $66.27 a barrel by 1456 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was 10 cents higher at $61.16 per barrel. The US military carried out air strikes against Iran-backed Katib Hezbollah militia group over the weekend. Angry at the air strikes, protesters stormed the US Embassy in Baghdad on Wednesday, although they withdrew after the United States deployed extra troops. “We do not see a threat to Iraq’s crude supply at the moment, other than a small wind down over the first few months of 2020 in line with its OPEC cut agreements,” consultancy JBC Energy said. “Nevertheless, heightened tensions in the region involving Iranian-backed forces may introduce a certain geopolitical risk,” they added. Oil was also boosted by optimism that trade talks between the world’s two largest economies will support demand. US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the US-China Phase 1 trade deal would be signed on Jan. 15 at the White House. “We may need to see that economic optimism turn into better data before we see more substantial gains,” analysts at OANDA said. January also marks the scheduled start of deeper output cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners, including Russia. The group agreed to cut output by a further 500,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Jan. 1, on top of their previous cut of 1.2 million bpd. The cuts come as Russia reported record high 2019 oil and gas condensate production of 11.25 million bpd, beating the previous record of 11.16 million bpd set a year earlier, Energy Ministry data showed.

t

STAFF REPORT

HE All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) has warned the government of increased unemployment in the industry if measures to boost the construction sector were not taken immediately.

"The industry is sitting on a huge unutilised capacity as it is expected to despatch just over 47 million tonnes cement this year (FY20) as against the installed capacity of 59.65 million tonnes," the APCMA spokesman said on Thursday. "This situation will not trigger any investment or expansion in the industry, and will eventually lead to an increase in unemployment." To support the sector, he suggested the government to start work on the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) and announce housing projects that could provide a much-needed impetus to the construction sector.

According to the latest data released by APCMA, the cement sec-

tor despatches continued with their six-month pattern, as the northern region excelled in domestic despatches but performed poorly in exports, whereas the southern region excelled in exports but its performance in the domestic market remained relatively slow.

Industry experts believe that the wide difference in local consumption in the north and south depicts "a lopsided growth pattern of the economy".

In the month of December 2019, cement despatches increased by 10.69pc to 4.3 million tonnes, compared to 3.9 million tonnes in the same month of 2018. Domestic consumption increased by 7pc, from 3.3 million tonnes in December 2018 to 3.5 million tonnes in

December 2019, while exports registered a significant increase of 30pc, from 0.6 million tonnes to 0.77 million tonnes.

During the month under review, the northern mills despatched 3.17 million tonnes of cement, 11.2pc higher than 2.85 million tonnes they dispatched in December 2018. Domestic despatches increased from 2.62 million tonnes in December 2018 to 2.96 million last month whereas exports decreased from 0.227 million tonnes to 0.207 million tonnes.

Southern-based cement mills despatched 1.135 million tonnes in December 2019, up 9.24pc from 1.039 million tonnes despatched in December 2018. The domestic consumption declined from 0.675 mil-

lion tonnes in December 2018 to 0.572 million tonnes in December 2019, however, exports from the region increased from 0.364 million tonnes to 0.563 million tonnes.

In the first six months of this fiscal, cement despatches in the country increased 6.51pc to 24.751 million tonnes as against 23.239 million tonnes dispatched during the same period last year. Domestic consumption registered an increase of 3.54pc, from 19.677 million tonnes to 20.373 million tonnes, while exports increased by over 22pc, from 3.561 million tonnes to 4.377 million tonnes.

The northern mills despatched 17.406 million tonnes of cement to the local market in the first six months of this fiscal, registering an increase of 11.65pc compared to the same period last year. Exports from the northern region could only reach 1.420 million tonnes, registering a decrease of 3.85pc.

The southern region despatched 2.967 million tonnes of cement for the local market in the first six months of this fiscal, 27.41pc lower than the despatches during July-December 2018. It is interesting to note that the exports from the South in the last six months almost matched the local consumption in that region. The exports stood at 2.957 million tonnes, an impressive growth of 41.87pc.

Govt reduces taxes on imported phones; local industry decries move ISLAMABAD SYEDA MASOOMA

Through a recently issued presidential ordinance, the government has reduced withholding and sales taxes on imported phones valuing between $30 and $100 According to the salient features of the ordinance published by Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), "Prior to the promulgation of the Tax Laws (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, the rate of withholding income tax on the import of mobile phones was Rs730 in case of a mobile phones having value exceeding 30 US Dollars and up to 100 US Dollars. In order to complement the efforts of the government towards promotion of financial inclusion, income tax at the import stage in respect of mobile phones having value exceeding 30 US dollars and up to 100 US dollars has been reduced from Rs730 to Rs100 per mobile phone.

"Sales tax on the aforementioned mobile phones has also been

reduced from Rs130 to Rs100. For mobile phones valuing above $100, the sales tax has been revalued from Rs1,320 to Rs200."

Prior to this move, the government in July 2019 had already revised the sales tax rates on mobile phones, reducing them from Rs1,470 to Rs1,320 for phones costing above $100. The maximum amount of sales tax, that is for phones above $500 value, was also

reduced from Rs10,300 to Rs9,270.

'COLD RESPONSE': Meanwhile, the response from the mobile manufacturing industry in the country to the above amendments has been that of exasperation.

One company in particular, Transsion Tecno Electric Pakistan, known for its multi-brand smartphones as its core products, published an advertisement in various newspapers, decrying the reduction

of taxes on imported phones. The company's opinion is that such a move will not only lead local manufacturers to go out of business and shut down but it will also lead to unemployment. The advertisement also warned of foreign investment not coming in the country to set up local factories and the likelihood of Pakistan's imports continuing to increase from countries like China, Vietnam, Bangladesh etc.

FBR's earlier move to reduce such taxes was "in line with its effort to eradicate the menace of smuggling". The move coincided with international travellers having to register their phones with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).

The latest ordinance has been issued in order to enable the sharing of information between FBR and Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) to facilitate the latter perform its functions as laid down in the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, and to ensure compliance with the Financial Action Task Force regulations.

Exchange-Traded Funds coming to Pakistan next month KARACHI MEIRYUM AlI

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) will begin to offer Exchange-Traded Funds (ETF) for the very first time in 2020, the PSX announced in a session with media on Thursday.

Though no tentative date has been set by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the ETFs will be available in anywhere between two weeks to one-and-half month’s time, according to Hassan Raza, Head of Product Management and Research at PSX. Two asset management companies in Pakistan, National Investment Trust Fund and UBL Funds, will be offering the ETFs. Both ETFs will be offered on the same date. Alongside the two authorized companies, JS Global will be the authorized market maker. Market makers are

PSX ALSO CONTEMPLATES PURCHASING A NEW TRADING SYSTEM typically large banks or financial institutions which help create a market for investors to buy or sell securities.

The process is in its final stages, with the offering document still being worked upon and completed by the SECP and the asset management companies.

In the run-up to the final date, Raza said the PSX was testing operational readiness in December 2019. In the last few weeks, the exchange was conducting mock sessions in the after-hours with around 15 brokers, to familiarize people with the new product.

What iS aN EtF: ETFs are similar to

mutual funds, in that an ETF owns the underlying assets (stocks or bonds) and offers investors a proportionate share in a pool of stocks, bonds, and other assets.

The ETFs have Net Asset Values (NAVs), which will be provided and listed on the PSX website.

However, unlike mutual funds, ETFs are ‘passive’ investment instruments, as they track a specific market index. Typically, the cost of investing in an ETF is generally lower than in a mutual fund.

According to Raza, ETFs are especially favoured by institutional investors and foreign fund investors.

An ETF is an SECP-approved product offered by asset management companies, and will be available to any investor with a brokerage account.

It is a fund or portfolio of securities, divided into units (shares) of equal value.

Similar to a normal share, it can be traded

at the stock exchange as well. The size of the portfolio can increase or decrease based on demand or supply.

In this case, the ETFs will either be a subset of the KSE 100 index or KSE 30 index. As per Raza, the funds will decide on the index criteria for the ETF, looking at aspects such as liquidity and performance.

The ETFs’ lot size is likely to be 500 shares. The SECP still has to approve the fund size.

“Our objective is to familiarize fund managers with this product,'' said Raza, “Practically speaking, there will be a learning curve,” Raza added that the market will grow when a suite of products is offered.

LONG OVERDUE: Discussions for the introduction of ETFs have been ongoing for the last few years. Previously, former CEO of PSX Richard Morin had said that

ETFs would be available in the second half of 2018.

In September 2019, the SECP approved the necessary regulatory changes required in the PSX rule book for ETFs to operate.

Though this is the first time ETFs are being offered in Pakistan, globally the ETF is a particularly popular method of investing. In 2019, the ETF industry in the United States crossed the $4 trillion mark. According to Bloomberg, ETFs took off after the financial crisis of 2008.

OthER iNitiatiVES: Looking forward, Raza said that the PSX will offer a new divided index. The process is in its final stages and will be offered in a month to two months’ time. The PSX is also working on an enhancement plan for futures. Finally, in the long-term, the PSX is tentatively looking to purchase a new trading system.

A Rising stARs to wAtch out foR in 2020!

The year 2019 gave us a bunch of new stars. The audiences fell in love with many while some faded away. With this article, we look forward to the year 2020 and list down the big names who could have a real impact in 2020 in their respective fields. AsjAd KhAn

KASHMIR THE BAND

HAMZA AKRAM QAWWAL

AMAR KHAN

They came, they saw, and they conquered.

These boys came together in 2012, and it took a while for the band to make their mark.

But Kashmir hasn’t looked back ever since winning the Pepsi Battle of the Bands season 2. This alternative progressive rock band has played at concerts across Pakistan and has now become a household name. Their latest single Pari struck a chord with the audiences as well as critics. As conditions in the country become more conducive for art events and concerts, we are sure that the brand will play a leading role in the revival of the old school music scene in Pakistan.

Blending old school Qawwali with contemporary music, Hamza Akram Qawwal and Brothers Taimur Akram and Abdul Akram have a very loyal following. Their popularity is not just limited to Pakistan. Their multiple US tours have been an enormous success. Governor of Maryland also bestowed upon them a citation certificate for their outstanding and spellbinding performances in the State.

The award-winning ensemble is playing a pivotal role in enhancing the soft image of Pakistan. Plus, by keeping this art form alive, they are inspiring a new generation to take it up. 2020 will surely bring more accolades and international appreciation.

Amar Khan’s portrayal of a witch in Belapur ki Dayan made a lot of people sit up and take notice of this outstanding performer. In an industry where young actresses usually stick to the tried and tested formulae, she was willing to take a risk. It earned her a Lux style award nomination for best-emerging talent. Her other roles in Dil e Ghumshuda, Choti Choti Batain, Dil e Bereham and others have followed in the same vein as she brings something new to each character.

Soon we will see her on the big screen, opposite Imran Ashraf, with Dam Mastam. 2019 was a dire year for Pakistani cinema as most films failed at presenting a solid enough script.

Amar Khan has penned the script of Dam Mastam. Given the work she has done so far, it will be fascinating to see how she, as an actress, depicts her creation.

YASHMA GILL

ABDULLAH QURESHI

HAMZA TARIQ JAMIL

In 1965, a Senate subcommittee predicted that by 2000, Americans would only be working 20 hours a week with seven weeks vacation.

For one day in 1998, Topeka, Kansas, renamed itself "ToPikachu" to mark Pokemon's U.S. debut.

HOLLYWOOD BOLLYWOOD

Having been around the periphery of the stardom, for a while, Yashma Gill really stole the spotlight in 2019. With her performances in Alif, Piya Naam Ka Diya, and Do Tola Pyar, she showcased her prowess as an actor. A brief but impactful appearance in Wrong Number 2 also had people talking.

However, fans got to meet the real Yashma on social media and her Youtube channel. Her candid mannerisms and admission about her spiritual struggles have resonated, especially with the younger generation.

The next twelve months are full of possibilities for this spirited and supremely talented performer.

Abdullah Qureshi’s Laapata was one of the songs of the year for us. Starting from the underground scene in Islamabad, Abdullah Qureshi has come a long way. At times people who make their name doing covers, struggle to make their own music. Abdullah has successfully transitioned from being a cover artist to create his own niche. Having headlined Levis Live Round and being the singer for Islamabad United’s famous anthem, Kitna Rola Dalay ga, things are looking upwards for this young starlet.

Like we said before, 2020 seems like the year when Pakistani musician can start to flourish again as the number of concerts and other such opportunities grow exponentially. This might be Abdullah Qureshi’s year.

What do we know? We know that Hamza can act and sing.

What do we want to know? We want to know if there any other talents of Hamza we haven’t seen yet.

As 2020 beckons, we would like to see a lot more of the ‘Neon’ lead singer. In the web series “Meray dost Meray yaar,” we saw an earnest actor. This simple yet engaging story of young friends has earned him a lot of praise. If he continues in a similar vein, it may be a prominent film director might come knocking soon.

Truman Capote said he was the only person who'd met John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Sirhan Sirhan.

Pedro Pascal Rumored For Moon Knight Jeffrey Dean Morgan Teases 'Masked Comeback' Akshaye Khanna says Vinod Khanna would never have returned if Osho’s US It's being rumored that Marvel is eyeing Pedro Pascal to play Jeffrey Dean Morgan rings in the New Year by teasing a the role of Mark Spector, the titular character, in the upcoming masked comeback on social media, with fans hoping Batman. commune wasn’t ‘disbanded, destroyed’ Moon Knight Disney Plus series.

The actor who is known for playing The Comedian in Zack It's said Pedro Pascal is on a shortlist of actors to play Moon Knight, but that nothing is set in stone, but that Marvel wants him on board to be Mark Spector Moon Knight.

Pedro Pascal is of course known for playing The Mandalorian, but his face rarely makes an appearance as "this is the way," and Pascal is also starring as the villain in the upcoming DC Wonder Woman 1984 movie.

Recent rumors also offer that Moon Knight may introduce both Dracula and Werewolf by Night as the series is said to be introducing the horror / supernatural genre from the Marvel comics.

Interestingly enough, Giancarlo Esposito, who recently appeared in The Mandalorian, is also said to be a possible contender to play Dracula.

Moon Knight also happens to have Jeremy Slater as its head writer who is known for horror projects as well as for developing the super cool Netflix series The Umbrella Academy.

Snyder's Watchmen posted a pic of himself with the mask on Twitter.

"Gus found the comedian mask. Still fits like a glove. And looks extra extra with my badass bifocals. Here’s to a masked comeback in 2020," the 53-year-old actor tweeted.

It's unknown if Jeffrey Dean Morgan is simply having fun, but fans immediately replied with the hope that he will be playing the Flashpoint Batman.

Snyder also cast Morgan as Thomas Wayne in Batman vs.

Superman, who in the Flashpoint comics goes on to become Batman.

"Thomas Wayne baby!! Flashpoint Batman," tweeted a fan.

"Oh my god!!!! I love this. I rewatched Watchmen recently!! Would love to see you as Eddie again. Or... can we finally have you as Flashpoint Batman? Thanks," tweeted another fan.

CMYK

Actor Akshaye Khanna is among the most talented yet least visible stars of Bollywood. The actor, who made a mark as a troubled youngster in Farhan Akhtar’ Dil Chahta Hai, returned to the big screen last year with The Accidental Prime Minister and Section 375. He will be seen next in Sab Kushal Mangal Hai. Akshaye spoke to Mid Day about his career and his relationship with his father, late Vinod Khanna.

Ever since the Netflix series on controversial godman Rajneesh, there has been a renewed interest in him and his philosophy. Unwittingly, Akshaye has had a close association with the cult, thanks to Vinod Khanna becoming an avowed follower to the guru. Speaking about the time Vinod Khanna decided to leave his family and the worldly life to become a sanyasi (monk), Akshaye said that he was only four or five when his father left them, adding that it was only when he turned 15 or 16 that he realised what had happened.

Friday, 3 January, 2020

14 SPORTS

ArtetA eArns first win As ArsenAl sink MAn Utd, bUt spUrs, ChelseA stUMble LONDON

A

AGENCIES

RSeNAL rang in the new year by giving boss Mikel Arteta his first victory as lacklustre Manchester United crashed to a 2-0 defeat, while Tottenham and Chelsea also slipped up in the Premier League's top four race on Wednesday.

Arteta had watched Arsenal take only one point from his first two matches, with last weekend's 2-1 defeat against Chelsea especially painful after the Blues scored twice in the final minutes.

But Arsenal had played well for long periods in that London derby and they produced an even more sparkling display to put United to the sword at the emirates Stadium.The Gunners took the lead in the eighth minute when SeadKolasinac's cross ran through to Nicolas Pepe at the far post and the Ivory Coast winger beat David De Gea from close-range.

Arsenal, who last won in the league at West Ham on December 9, got a deserved second goal in the 43rd minute when De Gea kept out Alexandre Lacazette's flick and Sokratis reacted quickest to lash home.

Arteta's team are nine points adrift of the top four, but their second win in

SYDNEY AGENCIES

Germany's Alexander Zverev said he felt in top shape for 2020 Thursday despite only starting to hit balls a week ago after an off-season curtailed by a lucrative exhibition tour.

The 22-year-old only won one title last year, in Geneva, not quite taking the step up that many had predicted as he slipped from fourth to seventh in the men's tennis rankings.

But Zverev remains a big drawcard and he finished 2019 playing a five-stop exhibition tour of South America and China with Roger Federer.

Although the tour meant a shorter off-season than normal, Zverev insisted it made little difference.

"I mean, still I think I had a good off-season. It was a little bit different. It was shorter this year, for sure," he said at the ATP Cup team event in Brisbane.

"I only started playing tennis a week ago, pretty much, so I don't have a lot of tennis practice yet, which I will build up.

"But I feel good. I feel pretty fit again. My physical (condition) was never really my problem. It was in

16 matches in all competitions offers hope of a brighter future under the former Arsenal midfielder's management. "It feels great, incredible. I'm so happy and proud of the players," Arteta said.

"Physically the level dropped in the second half but the commitment and desire was terrific.

"The performances are getting better so I was desperate for the win and we got it."

United are fifth, five points behind

fourth placed Chelsea, after the latest in a long list of underwhelming performances in a troubled campaign.

"We started decent the first five or six minutes, didn't capitalise, and then they played really well," United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said.

"We were too slow in the first half, but that's credit to them. Some tired heads maybe."

Chelsea remain in pole position to secure the fourth Champions League qualification place but manager Frank

Lampard will rue conceding a spectacular late equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Brighton.

Cesar Azpilicueta gave Chelsea the lead, tapping in from close-range in the 10th minute.

But Brighton scored the goal their persistence deserved in the 84th minute when Iranian substitute AlirezaJahanbakhsh acrobatically found the bottom-left corner with an overhead kick.

"It was frustrating for different reasons," Lampard said. "We weren't ruthless enough. We got the goal and we had the possession. But we just didn't kill the game off."

SPURS UNRAVEL: Tottenham fell behind to a 17th-minute Danny Ings goal and Kane injured himself as he converted Christian eriksen's freekick in the second half but was flagged offside.

Mourinho's frustration boiled over as he was shown a yellow card after an altercation with the Southampton bench. "I was rude," Mourinho said.

"I clearly deserved the yellow card. I had bad words." elsewhere at the top of the table, second-placed Leicester cruised to a 3-0 win at Newcastle and Manchester City beat everton 2-1 to hand Carlo Ancelotti his first defeat since taking over as manager.

Zverev says no concerns over curtailed o-season the beginning of my career, but in the last one, two years it's never been a problem.

"I know I can last matches, I know I can play longer than most guys."

While Zverev is confident about his on-court stamina, he admitted he could have played better last year and wants to put that right this season.

"For me I need to get my tennis back a little bit and kind of have a fresh start as well," he said.

"Obviously, the last year I finished number seven in the world. I had good tournaments, but it was still not the year that I wanted to have and I hope I can kind of improve this year."

Zverev is playing the inaugural ATP Cup under the captaincy of German great Boris Becker and he is confident they will do well, despite being in a tough group with the Nick Kyrgios-led Australia.

Under the tournament format, 24

nations are split into six round-robin groups across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney with only eight teams qualifying for the knockout phase.

"We have a good team. We have top doubles players in the world. We have myself, Jan-Lennard (Struff), Mats (Moraing), who are great singles

players," he said.

"So we want to give ourselves the best chance to win and I think Boris can play a big part in that.

"He can play a big part in what he will say on the bench, the energy that he has. I mean, he is one of the most iconic sportsmen in German history."

thiem confident 'big three' will be toppled at slams SYDNEY AGENCIES

World number four Dominic Thiem Thursday expressed confidence a new Grand Slam champion will be crowned in 2020 outside the big three of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

While the Austrian, Germany's Alexander Zverev, Greece's StefanosTsitsipas and others have had success at lesser tournaments, the big guns continue to dominate the majors.

Thiem, in Sydney for the inaugural ATP Cup team event, is one of the men tipped to make the breakthrough, with the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open, just weeks away in Melbourne.

He said the younger players were getting close.

"I think we challenged them already a lot. We also beat them especially on Masters 1000 stages and the ATP Finals," said Thiem, who was runner-up to Tsitsipas at the ATP Finals in London in November.

"I think the last stage we have to conquer is the Grand Slam stage, and I really think we'll see a new Grand Slam champion in 2020.

"I really hope that it's me, but you cannot guarantee anything. There are also many other very strong guys who can achieve that.

"Maybe it's also not happening and Big Three are taking all four," he added. "But we are trying everything to achieve top position, to achieve the biggest titles, Grand Slam titles."

Thiem, 26, won five titles last year at Indian Wells, Barcelona, Kitzbuhel, Beijing and Vienna, but he had a mixed time at the majors, falling at the first hurdle at Wimbledon and the US Open and in the second round in Australia.

However, he reached the final at Roland Garros, only to be beaten by clay king Nadal.

"I was really happy how my game developed, especially in the last part of the season in 2019," he said.

"So I just tried to improve that, to practise and keep improving the things which were going well and then add some new things to my game.

"I'll try everything to do my best this year."

Djokovic, Nadal lead calls for ATP Cup, Davis Cup to merge

SYDNEY AGENCIES

Superstars Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal said Thursday there was little point in having two men's team tennis compe-

titions so close together and suggested the new ATP Cup should merge with the Davis Cup. The ATP Cup is about to kick off its inaugural edition, replacing a number of previous Australian Open

warm-up tournaments.

It comes six weeks after the revamped Davis Cup, which also has countries playing each other in a round-robin format, was held in Madrid.

Canadian Denis Shapovalov suggested Thursday that the two events -one run by the men's tour, the Association of Tennis Professionals, and the other by the International Tennis Federation -should combine.

"It's a really similar event and it's literally back-to-back from the other one, so it's a little bit of a weird sensation coming from what felt like the world championships coming to play another world championship," Shapovalov said.

"So for me I don't see why they, the ATP and ITF can't combine, can't join, can't come to some agreement and make just one, really unique and special tournament for everyone."

When asked about the Canadian's comments, Djokovic, who heads the ATP players' council, agreed.

"We need to have one Super World Cup event, whatever you want to call it," he said.

CMYK

"That's not going to happen next year as well. But if the two sides, the ITF, the Davis Cup, and the ATP get together very quickly, it can happen possibly for 2022.

"I hope it will happen because it's kind of hard to get top players to commit to play both events, the Davis Cup and the ATP Cup. "And it's six weeks apart, so they're not really helping each other in terms of marketing, in terms of the value of the event."

TWO COMPETITIONS IS TOO MUCH: Djokovic's concerns were shared by world number one Nadal, who also questioned the timing of the events.

"Yeah, is confusing to have two World Cups of tennis in one month. For me personally that's not the ideal situation for our sport, but that's how it works today," he said in Perth.

Asked if the two should be combined into one world championship, he replied: "I think that tennis deserves something like this."

France's Nicolas Mahut also said having two men's team competitions was "too much".

"Obviously, we don't need two competitions the same way. Two team competitions is too much," he said.

Djokovic does not normally play in Australia before the year's first Grand Slam in Melbourne, but he will use the ATP Cup to prepare for his attempt to win an eighth Australian Open crown.

"The Australian Open courts, Melbourne Park was always very suitable to my game, and I can't wait to go back there," he said.

"Obviously, that's probably my most successful court in my career, in my life, so I love playing there."

Djokovic's first match in the ATP Cup will be against South Africa's Kevin Anderson on Saturday, while Nadal is set to face Georgia's NikolozBasilashvili on the same day.

"For me, that is a tough start to the season," said Nadal. "The great things, the only way to build important things is with daily work.

"So we (Spain) need to take care about our first tie against Georgia, and that's the only thing that is in our mind, just try to be ready for this one."

Friday, 3 January, 2020

SPORTS 15

CriCketers to pAy tribUte to AUstrAliAn firefighters, brACe for sMoke delAys MELBOURNE AGENCIES

A

USTRALIA and New Zealand cricketers will pay tribute to firefighters and bushfire victims during the third Test in Sydney, officials said Thursday, as they prepare for possible delays if air quality plummets due to smoke.

At least 18 people have lost their lives in one of Australia's most devastating bushfire seasons which has seen blazes raging across the country, including on the outskirts of Sydney.

The match, starting Friday, will go ahead but play will be suspended at the umpire's discretion, should smoke significantly affect air quality or visibility. Saturday is shaping as of most concern, when another heatwave is expected to sweep across the country and create dangerous fire conditions.

"Like rain, the rules are in place to add time, to suspend play (for Tests). But what we're finding is it (smoke) comes in quick but also goes quick," Cricket Australia's head of operations Peter Roach told cricket.com.au.

"It's unlikely, we believe, it'll be there for a

sri lanka pick Angelo Mathews in t20i squad for india series COLOMBO: Angelo Mathews has been named in Sri Lanka's squad for the T20I series against India starting January 5, and he could play his first T20I in nearly 16 months if picked in the XI. Mathews last played in this format for Sri Lanka as captain, in a one-off match against South Africa in August 2018, and scored a duck. August 2018 also happens to be the last time Mathews played T20s of any kind at recognised level. Mathews' career has infamously been stop-start due to recurring injuries, but he has been something of a regular in Tests and ODIs for Sri Lanka over the last year or so, playing as a specialist batsman rarely bowling. That makes him one of seven specialist batting options in the 16-man squad named for the tour. Fast bowler Nuwan Pradeep, who played in Sri Lanka's last T20I series against Australia in November, is out injured and has been replaced by KasunRajitha, who had originally been left out of the squad. ShehanJayasuriya misses out from that squad, and allrounder Dhananjaya de Silva is the other addition apart from Mathews. Squad LasithMalinga (capt.), DanushkaGunathilaka, Avishka Fernando, Angelo Mathews, DasunShanaka, KusalPerera, NiroshanDickwella, Dhananjaya de Silva, IsuruUdana, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Oshada Fernando, WaninduHasaranga, Lahiru Kumara, KusalMendis, Lakshan Sandakan, KasunRajitha. AGENCIES

full day. "We might see some challenges across that day, but we'll play it like rain or adverse weather. Time can be added on."

Before play on Friday both sides will take part in a minute's applause for fire and emergency serv-

New Zealand seek pick-me-up in hazy Sydney WELLINGTON AGENCIES

For so long a match given focus and attention through its association with the McGrath Foundation and breast cancer research, this year's SCG Test is being played against the literal backdrop of a mighty bushfire storm ravaging Australia's south-east.

There will be times when that backdrop will become very much the foreground, via the smoke haze that has enveloped Sydney at regular intervals over the past two months, forcing a Big Bash League match in Canberra to be abandoned and very nearly doing likewise for a recent SCG Sheffield Shield match.

While the Australian coach Justin Langer has publicly pined for rain - some of which is forecast to hit Sydney early next week - and offspinner Nathan Lyon has said that he will be happy to play through smoke relative to the trials faced by firefighters this summer, New Zealand are simply looking for some sort of turnaround to their on-field fortunes after a pair of heavy defeats under lights in Perth and during the day in

Islamabad United makes Radio Pakistan media partner LAHORE APP

Islamabad United a franchise of Pakistan Super League (PSL), on Thursday announced media partnership with Radio Pakistan's FM 101 channel for the upcoming PSL V season.

An Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between the two partners was held at the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) office here.

Islamabad United's owner Ali Naqvi and Director General PBC Samina Waqar signed the MoU while famous star spin bowling consultant of Islamabad United Saeed Ajmal was also present.

Speaking on the occasion, Ali Naqvi said: "We are extremely excited that all matches of the PSL season V were going to be held in Pakistan."

He said that 425 international cricketers had applied to play PSL in Pakistan which was a huge endorsement that Pakistan's grounds were actually open for international cricket. Whereas,89 alone english players have

ices workers and wear black armbands as a mark of respect for those who have died.

Cricket Australia also announced a fundraising drive for the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund during one-day matches between

Australia and New Zealand in Sydney in March.

"On behalf of Australian cricket, we wish everyone fighting the fires across Australia a safe New Year," Australia coach Justin Langer and captain Tim Paine said in a joint letter published in local media Thursday.

"We pray the conditions improve, the fires ease and the rains come. And, above all else, we hope all Australians pull together and help each other through this incredibly difficult time."

The issue of smoke is a difficult one for cricket officials, who currently rely on a mix of air quality guidelines from the International Cricket Council, state governments and the Australian Institute of Sport.

But there are inconsistencies on what is considered "unsafe".

A Big Bash League match in Canberra was abandoned this month because of toxic bushfire haze, but several have been played in Sydney since the season began two weeks ago.

At last month's Australian Open golf in Sydney, players complained of stinging eyes and trouble breathing, and New Zealand's Ryan Chisnall wore a face mask.

front of an enormous Boxing Day Test crowd in Melbourne.

There will likely be changes for the visitors, not least the inclusion of the former New South Wales off spinner Will Somerville, while illness has forced both Kane Williamson and Henry Nicholls to miss the leadup to the SCG Test. Williamson had spoken frankly about the need for his team to find ways and means to deal with the sustained pressure placed on them by Australia's pace bowlers in particular.

The counter-punching hundred by makeshift opener Tom Blundell at the MCG provided some clue as to the way forward, although this is far easier said than done.

Tim Paine's men, meanwhile, have the carrot of an unbeaten Test match summer within their reach, and also another 40 points to eat into India's runaway lead at the top of the World Test Championship table.

Their next five-day match is not until June and a scheduled series in Bangladesh, the major reason for the inclusion of the wrist spinner Mitchell Swepson in the squad.

PITCH AND CONDITIONS: The old adage about "in england you don't look down, you look up" for prevailing conditions will have a strange echo in Sydney this week, with the likelihood of smoke haze enveloping the SCG, particularly on

Saudi uses sports 'soft power' as lever of influence RIYADH AGENCIES

shown their availability to come to Pakistan and it was a self evident of PSL's success and efforts of Pakistan for international cricket at home ground.

He said the Radio Pakistan was heard all over the country and:" We are honored and looking forward to partner with the Radio Pakistan for the PSL", The whole plan was put a positive message of Pakistan through cricket in all over the world.

DG Radio Pakistan Samina Waqar said that it was a matter of great excitement that cricket was reviving in Pakistan as all matches of the PSL would be played at home grounds. She said that radio and cricket had historical relations and radio was also reviving cricket commentary in Pakistan.

She expressed the hope that PSL would continue to be held in Pakistan in future as well. To a question, she said that besides cricket, the Radio was also looking to jointly work with other sports like hockey etc.

Cricket star Saeed Ajmal said that in the last year's PSL final played in Pakistan, there was huge crowd participation and the players enjoyed a lot.

This year, he said that entire PSL matches were being played in Pakistan that was not less than a pride for the country and way to bring international teams to home grounds.

He said that PSL was included in top three cricket leagues in the world, stressing that maximum participation by the cricket lovers could add to PSL's popularity across the globe.

the Saturday, due to the unprecedented rolling thunder of bushfires across the south-east of Australia this summer. Some rain is also forecast for the final two days of the game The pitch can be expected to take some spin.

Saudi Arabia's hosting of the Dakar Rally this month is just the latest international sporting event to take place in the kingdom as part of a multi-billion-dollar push to boost its battered global image.

In recent months the ultraconservative kingdom -- under fire over human rights abuses -- has accelerated investment in sports, mirroring a longstanding strategy adopted by regional powers, the United Arab emirates and Qatar.

Saudi Arabia is seeking to use glitzy sporting extravaganzas as an instrument of soft power in its push for regional supremacy as well as to project a moderate image of a country long seen as an exporter of jihadist ideology. In 2019 the kingdom hosted a heavyweight boxing rematch between Anthony Joshua and Andy Ruiz, a Formula e motor race and a tennis exhibition tournament.

Women's wrestling, somewhat toned down from its usual razzmatazz, also made its debut in

CMYK

a nation where such events were once unthinkable.

In December, Cristiano Ronaldo and his Juventus teammates took to the pitch at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh for the Italian Super Cup. And in January, a Barcelona side featuring Lionel Messi will appear in the Spanish Super Cup, two months after the Argentine superstar played his first match on Saudi soil in a friendly encounter against Brazil.

But one of the biggest events is the coveted Dakar Rally, one of motor racing's most gruelling adventure rallies which starts in the kingdom on Sunday and lasts until January 17.

After more than a decade in South America, the rally is set to remain in the Arabian peninsula for at least five years.

SPORTS DIPLOMACY: De facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's sports push stems partly from an economic motive to lure international tourists and boost domestic spending as the OPeC kingpin

seeks to diversify its oil-reliant economy. But in a country where two-thirds of the population is under 30, critics say glitzy sporting events are aimed at blunting public frustration over an economic downturn and soaring youth unemployment.

Activists also accuse Saudi rulers of "sportswashing", using such events as a tool to soften their international image after long being condemned over human rights abuses.

The brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018, the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen and a sweeping crackdown on dissent have tarnished the kingdom's reputation.

Saudi Arabia executed at least 187 people on death row in 2019, according to a tally based on official data, the highest since 1995 when 195 people were executed.

And while Saudi women now have the right to drive, campaigners say jailed driving activists have faced sexual harassment and torture in detention.

Friday, 3 January, 2020

NEWS

UAe crown prince AnnoUnces $200m sUpport After meeting imrAn ISLAMABAD

A

STAFF REPORT

bu Dhabi’s Crown Prince sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan, who visited Pakistan along with a high-level delegation on Thursday, directed the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development to allocate us$200 million to support small and medium-sized enterprises in Pakistan.

This was announced by adviser to Prime Minister on Finance Dr hafeez shaikh in a tweet. he said that the money would be spent on small business promotion and jobs.

The crown prince arrived at the Nur Khan airbase earlier in the day where he was received by Prime Minister imran Khan and various government officials. setting aside the protocol, the premier himself drove the crown prince to the PM house from the airbase.

During the meeting, both the leaders discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations between the two countries and exchanged views on matters of mutual interest, as well as the regional and global situation. in a tweet via his official account, sheikh Mohamed said that he met his “friend Prime Minister imran Khan” and discussed “regional and international issues of mutual interest as well as ways to enhance bilateral ties”.

On the sidelines of his visit, the crown prince also directed the allocation of us$200 million to support economic projects in Pakistan.

“This initiative aims to encourage innovation in projects and support entrepreneurship, to assist the Pakistani government’s efforts to create a stable and balanced national economy that

PM IMRAN, UAE CROWN PRINCE DISCUSS BILATERAL TIES, REGIONAL SITUATION

will help achieve the country’s sustainable development,” reported Emirates News agency. “it is also part of the close ties between the united arab Emirates (uaE) and Pakistan and the keenness of their leaderships to strengthen and develop them, reflecting the development witnessed by their overall relations over the past decades,” the report added.

Earlier, uaE’s ambassador to Pakistan, hamad Obaid alzaabi, while announcing the islamabad leg of the crown prince’s trip, had that said it would be a daylong official visit for “strengthening the bonds of friendship between the two brotherly countries”.

Reportedly, the crown prince had been in the country for the past few days for houbara bustard hunting. The crown prince had last visited Pakistan on January 6 in 2019, just weeks after his country offered $3 billion to support Pakistan’s battered economy.

his visit, which is part of growing exchanges between Pakistan and arab countries, takes place less than a week after Emirati Minister for Tolerance sheikh Nahyan bin Mabarak alNahyan met the premier and President arif alvi to discuss possibilities of expanding bilateral ties.

Prior to that, saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-saud had toured islamabad and Emirati Foreign Minister sheikh abdullah bin Zayed bin sultan al-Nahyan had also visited Pakistan.

PM imran had visited saudi arabia, while Chief of army staff (COas) General Qamar bajwa had travelled to abu Dhabi on December 14.

The prime minister held consultations with saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin salman covering bilateral matters and regional developments.

General bajwa had meanwhile called on the abu Dhabi crown prince. The two

discussed “regional security environment and matters of mutual interest”.

The premier’s visit to Riyadh had followed a trip to bahrain where he was awarded the country’s highest civilian honour. The visit comes weeks after Pakistan skipped the much-trumpeted Kuala Lumpur summit in December last year.

Pakistan was one of the first countries with whom Prime Minister Mahathir shared his plans for holding the summit when he had met Prime Minister imran along with President Erdogan on the sidelines of the united Nations General assembly (uNGa) session in New York in september last year. Later on, PM imran had formally conveyed his acceptance of the invitation for attending the summit when Malaysian Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki bin haji Yahya had called on him in islamabad in November. however, clouds of uncertainty started to loom over Pakistan’s presence at the summit when PM imran went on a hurried tour to the kingdom on December 15, just three days before the event. a day earlier, COas bajwa had visited abu Dhabi where he called on Crown Prince sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin sultan al-Nahyan. subsequently, on December 17, the government had formally announced that it would not attend the event “at any level”. in a media talk, Foreign Minister shah Mehmood Qureshi had confirmed that saudi arabia and the uaE were “worried that the event could cause ‘division in ummah‘ and lead to setting up of an organisation parallel to the existing Organisation of islamic Cooperation (OiC)”. it merits a mention here that the OiC is under the influence of mega-rich kingdom.

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

CMYK

6 polio cAses emerge in first two dAys of 2020 NEWS DESK Five new cases of polio were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one from sindh on Thursday, taking the national total to 123 since January 2019. according to the National Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio, of the cases to have surfaced in KP, two are from Tank, one is from bannu, one is from Dera ismail Khan and one from Mohmand. in Tank, the two affected children were a 30-month-old girl and a five-month-old boy. in D.i. Khan, a 24-month-old girl, in bannu, a 26-month-old boy and in Mohmand, a six-month-old boy have tested positive for the virus. in sindh, the new polio case was reported from Dadu.

Of the 123 cases to have been reported since last year, 88 are from KP, 20 from sindh, nine from balochistan, and six from Punjab. it is worth mentioning that in 2018, only 12 cases were reported while in 2017, eight cases had surfaced.