Epaper – November 11 KHI 2020

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020 I 24 Rabi-ul-Awwal, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 132 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition

Army suspends IsI, rAngers personnel Involved In sAfdAr Arrest epIsode RAWALPINDI STAFF REPORT

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He military on Tuesday said officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Sindh Rangers involved in the noisy arrest and subsequent release of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Captain (r) Safdar Awan have been suspended for acting “overzealously ”. Awan was arrested last month for slogan-mongering inside the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah — a crime which is punishable by “imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or a fine, or both”.

Subsequently, PML-N claimed the personnel of Sindh Rangers “kidnapped” Sindh police chief Mushtaq Ahmed Mahar to “force” police into arresting Safdar. A short while after, an audio clip — purportedly of Muhammad Zubair, spokesperson of PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz — surfaced on the internet, “confirming” the claim.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said that the court of inquiry constituted on the orders of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has been completed.

“The court of inquiry has established that on the night of Oct 18/Oct 19, officers from Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and ISI sector Headquarters Karachi were considerably seized with the fall out of the desecration of Mazar-e-Quaid,” the statement said.

“They were under increasing public pressure to ensure prompt action as per the law. Assessing the response of police authorities against this developing yet volatile situation to be slow and wanting, in a charged environment, the concerned officers decided to act, rather overzealously,” it added.

“They were indeed experienced enough to have acted more prudently and could have avoided creating an unwarranted situation that led to [a] misunderstanding between the two state institutions.”

“Based on the recommendations of the court of inquiry, it has been decided to remove

CoronAvIrus In

pAkIstAn

CONFIRMED CASES:

346,476

LAST UPDATED AT 7:54 AM ON NOVEMBER 10, 2020

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

23

RECOVERED:

NEW CASES:

1,637 DEATHS:

319,431 7,000 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

150,834

107,329

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

40,843 AJK/GB:

4,830 / 4,378

16,152

ISLAMABAD:

22,110

the concerned officers from their current assignments for further departmental proceedings and disposal at GHQ,” the statement added.

Last month, the ISPR said that the army chief had taken notice of and ordered an immediate inquiry into the “Karachi incident”. At the time, the military’s media wing did not specify which incident it was referring to. However, the statement came minutes after Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on General Bajwa and ISI Director General Lt Gen Faiz Hameed to investigate the circumstances surrounding Awan’s arrest.

Safdar had arrived in Karachi a day before his arrest as part of the PML-N caravan to participate in the second public gathering of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the 11party anti-government alliance of major opposition parties, including PPP. His arrest had come hours after police booked him, his wife Maryam, and some 200 others for violating the sanctity of the mausoleum. The complainant, Waqas Khan, alleged that the PML-N leaders, along with 200 of their followers, reached Jinnah’s grave where Awan jumped over the grill surrounding it.

He said that he had tried to stop him from

doing so but Safdar “got out of control” and started threatening him and his fellows that he would kill them. He added that Safdar later damaged government property before leaving the site with his followers.

“My complaint is that Safdar and his cohort violated the sanctity of the Quaid’s mausoleum and his grave. A case [should be] registered against him for raising political slogans inside the mausoleum complex, death threats against me, and for damaging government property.”

According to the FIR, a case was registered on Section 6 (a convening of meetings or processions in the mausoleum), Section 8 (entry into the mausoleum with a weapon) and Section 10 (the penalty for contravention of provisions) of The Quaid-e-Azam’s Mazar (Protection and Maintenance) Ordinance, 1971.

However, surprisingly, Karachi police on Monday declared the FIR as fake in the charge sheet submitted to a local court.

The investigation report concluded that neither the complainant, Khan, had joined the investigation nor was the veracity of his claims established during the probe, which showed that he was not present at the mausoleum when the alleged offense took place.

PM Imran continues fight against Islamophobia at SCO-CHS conference ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

Prime Minister Imran Khan, during his address at the 20th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – Council of Heads of State (SCO-CHS), spoke against the rise of Islamophobia in the world.

“It is critical to address terrorism in all its forms,” the premier said. “We must also continue to steadfastly oppose extremist and xenophobic tendencies — including racist ideologies inspired by neo-Nazis — and Islamophobia.”

In his remarks during the Summit meeting, Prime Minister Imran Khan shared Pakistan’s perspective on a range of global and regional issues – including Covid19, multilateralism and United Nations’ (UN) role, need for implementation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions for peaceful settlement of outstanding disputes, Afghan peace process, countering terrorism, combating Islamophobia, stemming illicit financial flows, addressing climate change, poverty alleviation and role of youth.

PM Imran, while stressing on the need for “mutual respect for all religions and beliefs”, urged the SCO member countries to work together to put an end to the discriminatory policies and to improve inter-faith relations across the globe. The premier spoke on Pakistan’s efforts against terrorism while highlighting its role in the organisation’s multi-sectoral agenda for regional peace and security. Last month, PM Imran had posted a letter on Twitter against the French President Macron’s actions in the face of blasphemous caricatures of Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) being shared.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Journalist Protection Bill to be tabled in parliament soon: Faraz ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz has said that the Journalist Protection Bill will soon be tabled in the parliament for approval. In a tweet on Tuesday, the information minister said that the draft bill has been finalized by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Human Rights Division.

The minister said that protection of the rights of journalists and media workers is a priority of the government.

“We will continue making efforts for independent and responsible journalism in the country,” he added. Two weeks ago, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) released its Global Impunity Index

2020 where it spotlighted countries where journalists have been slain and their killers set free.

Pakistan is the ninth worst country on the list, just rising up one place from 2019, when it was the eighth worst country. Somalia, Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan are on the top of the list, in that order, because of war and political instability.

The CPJ report found that corruption, weak institutions, and lack of political will for solid investigation were some of the reasons why countries including Pakistan, Mexico, and the Philippines have impunity. In the case of Pakistan, there are 15 unsolved murder cases of journalists. According to the CPJ database 61 journalists have been killed in attacks since 1992. Separately, while talking to a local news channel, the information minister said that political parties

were dragging feet from Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). He said that Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was not supporting Nawaz Sharif ’s narrative which he had adopted against the national institutions He also said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was showing that it had believed in supremacy of law, but Nawaz was absconder declared by the courts.

The information minister said that Nawaz Sharif was trying to create unrest by giving anti-Pakistan statements from abroad, adding that PML-N had ruled the country from many years but failed to improve capabilities of the institutions and destroyed them through nepotism and redundant policies. Replying to a question, he said that all political parties should show responsibility regarding implementation of standard operating procedure (SOPs) of coronavirus during their political public gathering, adding that coronavirus pandemic was increasing day by day so everyone should have to take it serious otherwise the deadly virus could spread at large scale in the country.

more inside

Cabinet observes heated debate over fixing wheat support price

Armenia, Azerbaijan agree to end fight in Nagorno-Karabakh STORY ON BACK PAGE

STORY ON PAGE 02

Wedding halls refuse to shut down in defiance of govt’s order STORY ON PAGE 03

Taliban call on Biden to stick to US troop withdrawal deal STORY ON BACK PAGE

02

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

NEWS

CabiNet observes heated debate over fixiNg wheat suPPort PriCe ISLAMABAD

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MIAN ABRAR

HE federal cabinet on Tuesday had a heated debate on the fixation of support price for the upcoming crop of wheat as ministers offered a divided opinion over the issue.

The meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan, discussed the overall political and economic situation of the country.

According to a source, at least four cabinet ministers strongly supported fixing wheat support price

at Rs1,800 but the rest of the cabinet wanted to keep the support price minimum as raising the wheat price would lead to skyrocketing prices.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Nadeem Afzal Chan supported the idea for raising the price of wheat to Rs1,800 and said that if the support price of wheat did not increase, wheat production would decline next year.

Federal Minister Sheikh Rasheed opposed fixing the price, as this could lead to skyrocketing prices in two months.

He further said that the mafia was behind the increase in the

Court declares Nawaz fugitive, orders seizure of properties LAHORE: An accountability court in Lahore on Tuesday declared deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif a proclaimed offender in a case related to a 1986 land transaction and involving Jang group chief Mir Shakilur Rehman. The court issued perpetual arrest warrants for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader and ordered the seizure of his properties. It also directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit a compliance report in this regard on the next hearing. The court recalled it had issued proclamation notices summoning Sharif but he did not turn up. An execution report of his warrants was presented before the court. Sharif has been residing in London since November last year on the pretext of medical treatment. His party insists that despite being summoned by the courts, who declared him a proclaimed offender in the Toshakhana corruption probe, the former premier will only return after the “completion” of his treatment. The former premier did not appear in court to face charges despite being given 30 days to surrender, the judge said. The hearing was subsequently adjourned till November 26. NAB arrested Shakil on March 12 over “illegally” acquiring 54 kanals of lands in Johar Town neighborhood. The anti-graft watchdog accused then Punjab chief minister Nawaz Sharif of, in violation of relevant rules, allotting the land to him 34 years ago. The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday granted bail, after eight months in jail, to Shakil in the case against a surety bond of Rs10 million. Jang/Geo group has always denied the allegations against Shakil, saying all taxes and legal requirements pertaining to the property purchase had been fulfilled. It claimed the graft agency had only arrested Shakil because of investigative pieces his channels and newspapers had conducted into its operations. APP

Counter-terror court sends PML-N leader to jail on judicial remand LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore on Tuesday sent Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Imran Nazir to jail on judicial remand in the case related to the violence at the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Lahore office during party’s Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s arrival there in August. The investigation officer in the case said the custody of the MPA was required for a photogrammetric test. In August, violence had erupted outside the agency’s office as heavy police contingents and workers of the PML-N confronted each other shortly after the arrival of Maryam there in a land acquisition investigation. Many people, including some officials, were injured and around 50 men were rounded up after police fired tear gas besides hurling stones at the activists, with each side blaming the other for triggering the clash. Nazir was arrested by police on November 7 when authorities stopped his vehicle on Model Town Link Road and told him that the car was wanted by police in the case. APP

support price of wheat and the country could not afford to bear more inflation.

During the debate, the prime minister said that he would take steps to ensure that there was no crisis in wheat and flour and would take concrete steps to reduce inflation.

The cabinet also decided not to hold any more public meetings due to the spread of coronavirus.

Minister for Planning Asad Umar said that the government would be held responsible if the coronavirus pandemic got out of control and said the government should lead by example.

Defence Minister Pervez Khattak suggested that the government may be allowed to hold a public meeting on the opening of the Rashakai Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which was a landmark step to push China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

The source said that the federal cabinet agreed with Asad Umar’s proposal to cancel the meetings. Due to cabinet concerns, Rashakai’s meeting is also likely to be cancelled.

Furthermore, the cabinet members opined that the subsidy is only the right of the poorest people and backward areas.

SAPM on Revenue Dr Waqar Masood gave a detailed briefing to the cabinet on the rationalisation of subsidies and grants, including a comparative overview of revenues and expenditure, subsidies and grants for the last 13 years.

The SAPM said that at present most of the sectors of the economy including energy, agriculture, industry and other sectors are being given subsidies and grants which is putting an undue burden on the national exchequer. At present, the total volume of subsidies and grants is 4.5 per cent of GDP, he added.

The premier directed that a mechanism of targeted subsidy should be devised which would benefit the poor and backward areas in particular.

It is a great achievement of the present government that the deposits of government institutions in the scheduled banks have been transferred to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which has resulted

Pia announces fare, rules as umrah flights restart

Smart lockdowns in several localities of Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi as cases rise LAHORE STAFF REPORT

While Punjab reported more than 400 daily cases on Tuesday for the first time since July, the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department declared several neighbourhoods in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan as coronavirus hotspots, announcing to put them under strict restrictions.

According to a notification from the department released late Monday night, there had been a “constant increase in positivity percentage and prevalence of Covid19 in the province of Punjab during the last two weeks which poses a serious and imminent threat to public health”. To curtail the spread of the disease, it further said, the government decided to enforce a lockdown in certain residential neighbourhoods in the three metropolitan cities “with immediate effect” until November 19.

The neighbourhoods in Lahore selected for the lockdown include New Muslim Town; Raza, Sikandar and Umar blocks of Iqbal Town; certain blocks in Garden Town; Cavalary Ground; DHA Phase 1 (AA Block); DHA Phase 6 (L Sector, A Sector); Askari 11; Anarkali; Mozang; Shadman and certain parts of Gulshan-e-Ravi.

Fauji Foundation University, New Lalazar; Government Girls Highschool, Kahuta and Satellite Town and Abbasi Abad were locked down in Rawalpindi.

Whereas in Multan, Naqshband Colony; Gulgasht Colony/Khairabad; Mepco Colony; Khwajabad/Multan

in significant savings, he added.

He also directed that a detailed review of all the sectors in which targeted subsidy could be given to the poor and backward areas and a comprehensive plan with a period of implementation be presented.

The cabinet approved the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to be given the status of registrar under Geographical Indication (GI) registration.

This approval has been given to give a distinct identity to Pakistan’s products and products in the world.

Pakistan’s speciality products including basmati rice, canoe, mango, ajrak, cutlery, etc. are linked to the geographical identity of the country and thanks to them, Pakistan’s exports have a unique identity.

Meanwhile, the summary for nominations of the board of directors for Saindak Metals Limited and reorganization of the Pharmacy Council of Pakistan were put on hold.

Kacheri and Sadat Colony were put under restrictions.

The notification further said that all possible measures needed to be taken in the said localities to control the spread of the virus.

According to the notification, all markets, shopping malls, restaurants and offices would remain closed in these areas while movement would be restricted and all public gatherings would be banned. Grocery stores, fruit and vegetable shops, tandoors and petrol pumps would be allowed to remain open between 9:00 am and 7:00 pm on all days of the week. Milk shops, fish and meat shops, and bakeries would be allowed to open from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm.

All medical services, including hospitals, clinics and pharmacies would remain open 24 hours a day, the notification said. Pakistan on Tuesday reported 1,637 infections of the novel coronavirus after conducting 31,904 tests—a positivity ratio of 5.13 percent.

Earlier this week, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said that around 4,136 micro and smart lockdowns have been imposed across the country to curb the spread of the pandemic. It noted that the positivity ratio was mounting in major cities once more, with many regions now exceeding 10 percent, including Multan, Gilgit, Muzafarabad, and Mirpur. The health authorities have been sounding the alarm about a second wave of the virus for several weeks now, with health officials warning it appears deadlier than the first.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Tuesday restarted its Umrah flights from different parts of the country to Jeddah and Medina. According to PIA spokesman Abdullah Khan, this special service will continue till 31st of next month. He said as per the arrangement, return airfare inclusive of all relevant taxes for economy class from Karachi will be Rs91,000 while that from other cities will be Rs96,000. The maximum limit for baggage will be 36kgs for each passenger travelling from Pakistan to Jeddah or Medina. Passengers of the executive economy class will be allowed to carry 40kg baggage, whereas pilgrims will be permitted to carry five litres of Zamzam excluding the baggage limit. A 10kg baggage allowance is granted in case of an infant. The national carrier has also commenced bookings for groups of Umrah pilgrims to which minimum size shall comprise 10 passengers. The validity of the air tickets will be a month from the date of departure. Under the rules, PIA will facilitate passengers in terms of Change of Booking (COB) without receiving any charges for one count if it is requested seven days before the date of departure. Sending waves of merriment across the Islamic world, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had last Thursday allowed international airlines to fly in pilgrims with valid visas which it had earlier suspended due to the spread of coronavirus. TLTP

Court reserves verdict on remand of accused in Arzoo case KARACHI TLTP

A local court reserved its decision over further remand of accused in the Arzoo Raja case on Tuesday.

Arzoo Raja, a Christian girl, was allegedly abducted and forced to convert and marry to a Muslim man, Ali Azhar. “Arzoo is minor and her age has now been proved,” the complainant’s lawyer told the court. The

medical report with regard to the age of the girl was submitted in the court. Investigation officer of the case sought physical remand of accused Ali Azhar from the court, adding that the age of the girl has been determined.

“We have to question accused Ali Azhar and arrest the co-accused in the case,” the investigation officer said. “Who has added the Child Protection Act in the charge-sheet?” the judge asked, and learned it was the prosecution’s decision.

The court reserved its decision over the plea of the police for further remand of the accused. Earlier, a fivemember medical board was constituted by the Sindh High Court to determine the girl’s age. “Arzoo Fatima has been an age of between 14 to 15 years,” the medical board had informed the high court bench in its report.

The parents of the girl had complained that Arzoo Raja, alias Arzoo Fatima, was abducted and forced to convert and marry Ali Azhar.

NA committee questions legality of ‘headless’ CPEC Authority ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

As the ordinance of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority had expired on May 31, 2020, the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives on Tuesday revealed that currently there was no one managing the affairs of the authority.

Against the common perception that the CPEC Authority was being headed by Lt Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa, the planning ministry officials, during a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, claimed that Bajwa "was not working as chairman", and that he only "coordinates the affairs of the authority".

According to details, committee member Naveed

Dero had sought details regarding the status of CPEC Authority following the expiry of the ordinance.

He also inquired about the functions of the CPEC Authority in the absence of an ordinance. "Was there any agreement or MOU signed by the CPEC authority chairman after the expiry of the ordinance?" he asked.

On this, the planning secretary said that there was no agreement or MOU signed by the chairman in this regard. MNA Agha Rafiullah demanded the planning ministry to immediately issue a statement and inform media that currently there was no chairman of the CPEC Authority. Meanwhile, Committee Chairman Junaid Akbar asked about the perks and privileges given to the CPEC Authority chairman following the expiry of the ordinance, directing the ministry officials to provide complete data in this regard during the next meeting.

Earlier, the NA committee considered 'The China Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2020'. Under the bill, the position of CPEC CEO is being abolished and that a chairman will lead the authority. The chairman will be appointed by the prime minister and he will only report to the PM. On the clause 23 of the bill, members requested for some time to reconsider and deliberate upon the same.

Hence, the committee unanimously recommends that the bill may be deferred till next meeting.

The meeting was attended by MNAs Sher Akbar Khan, Saleh Muhammad, Syed Faizul Hassan, Nawab Sher, Sardar Nasrullah Khan Dreshak, Imran Khattak, Muhammad Sajjad, Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhary, Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar, Naveed Dero, Syed Agha Rafiullah and Abdul Shakoor.

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

weddiNg haLLs refuse to shut dowN iN defiaNCe of govt’s order LAHORE

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SHAHAB OMER

HE Punjab Marriage Halls Association (PMHA) and Punjab Caterers Association (PCA) have refused to implement the government’s latest order to close marriage halls from November 20 to January 31, and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

The development came during an emergency press conference held by the association at Lahore Press Club here on Tuesday wherein All Pakistan Marriage Halls Association (APMHA) President Mian Khalid Idrees Bhatti, APMHA Senior Vice President Malik Aqeel

Sarwar, APMHA General Secretary Rao Tariq Islam and other officials participated.

Addressing the press conference, Bhatti accused the government of discrimination. “Was there no danger in the recent demonstrations in Hafizabad where the prime minister addressed crowds? What about the threat of the spread of coronavirus in opposition rallies, religious gatherings, railway stations, airports and transport, etc.? ” he said.

The association’s patron lamented that wedding halls were closed before any other business when the first lockdowns began and reopened last.

“After that, the business was at a bare

Nawaz rejects army’s report on safdar’s arrest Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday called the report of the inquiry carried out by the army into the events leading up to and following the arrest of his son-in-law, Captain (r) Mohammad Safdar, as a “cover-up”.

“Inquiry report on Karachi incident is a coverup scapegoating juniors and shielding the real culprits. Report “Rejected”,” the former premier said on Twitter. Earlier on Tuesday, the military had said that officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Sindh Rangers involved in the arrest and subsequent release of PML-N leader Safdar have been suspended for acting “overzealously”. The ISPR said in a statement issued on Tuesday that the court of inquiry constituted on the orders of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa has been completed. “The court of inquiry has established that on the night of Oct 18/Oct 19, officers from Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) and ISI sector Headquarters Karachi were considerably seized with the fall out of the desecration of Mazar-e-Quaid,” the statement said. Based on the recommendations of the court of inquiry, it has been decided to remove the concerned officers from their current assignments for further departmental proceedings and disposal at GHQ,” the statement added. NEWS DESK

minimum due to Muharram and Safar.

Now, just as work has resumed, an order to shut down has been issued again,” he added.

Officials of association called on the prime minister, chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) and chief of army staff (COAS) to protect their businesses.

“We demand that the order be withdrawn as it is a question of our livelihoods,” they said, claiming “we have already been allowed to arrange functions only under strict SOPs, none of which have been violated in any marriage hall in Punjab.”

Furthermore, the association threatened to hold press conferences in all districts of the province and simply

reject orders if their demand is not met.

“If the government does not accept our demands, we, including our employees, will block the roads. In any case, we will not allow wedding halls to be closed from November 20,” it was said.

The association also expressed distrust in the qualifications of Federal Minister Asad Omar and demanded his removal.

On the other hand, the Punjab government has decided to formulate alternative proposals for opening marriage halls; the government will present its recommendations at the next National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) meeting in this regard.

Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine not suitable for Pakistan: Dr Atta KARACHI TLTP

Renowned scientist and Prime Minister’s Taskforce on Science and Technology Chairman Dr Attaur Rahman has said that Pfizer coronavirus vaccine is not suitable for Pakistan due to various reasons.

Talking to a private television channel on Tuesday regarding the Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine, Dr Atta said that it is too early to celebrate the success despite the manufacturer claiming that it is more than 90 per cent effective. “The first problem is that the US drug regulatory authority has not given the approval, which will take two months,” he opined. He added that the regulatory bodies will have to see the results first then allow the company to move on to the next stage of the vaccine finalisation process.

The other problem that the scientist highlighted was that the vaccine needs to be kept at a temperature of -80 °C, which in his view was a major problem for third world countries, including Pakistan.

The former HEC chairman said that the third world countries, including Pakistan, do not have the “cold chain” that will allow them to transport the vaccine in

required temperatures from the point of origin to the hospitals. “The third biggest problem is that you do not know for how many days it is effective,” Dr Atta said. He explained that right now there was no “evidence or any result” that has been seen by Pfizer and BioNTech to determine its effectiveness.

“In the beginning, it is effective but [you do not know] for how many months the antibodies remain in your body,” he said. The other two problems shared by the scientist were of large-scale production, wherein he feels it would take a year for the vaccine to pass all the steps required. The last problem he shared was the price of the vaccine. He said that the coronavirus vaccine developed by a Chinese pharmaceutical firm is better suited for Pakistan and other developed countries.

“Pakistan is conducting trials of two Chinese vaccines which are also showing positive results,” he said. “One Chinese vaccine, by Sinopharm, is in phase 3 clinical trials and has shown good results in multiple countries but they have not highlighted it like Pfizer and are working quietly”. He added that the trial of the vaccine is being administered in Karachi University’s International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences and Indus Hospital.

PM imran’s assets valued at rs80.6mn: eCP

3-day Pak-China industrial expo to commence from 13th

A detailed report released by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) revealed the asset details of Prime Minister Imran Khan, which were valued at Rs80.6 million. The premier owns 10 properties in the country, and inherited a seven-Kanal house in Zaman Park, Lahore, which is valued at Rs40.5 million. Furthermore, PM Imran received one property as a gift – a 300 Kanal house in Bani Gala, which later incurred additional construction costs of Rs10 million.

The report also provided details about his other properties, such as a six-Kanal plot in Mohra Noori worth Rs0.5 million, and five inherited plots in Mianwali, Bhakkar, Sheikhupura, and Khanewal. Furthermore, the premier has two apartments in Shahra-e-Dastoor in Islamabad, for which he paid Rs10.2 million. His other assets include four goats worth Rs200,000, Rs50.6 million in a local bank account, and a further Rs10.9 million in cash. NEWS DESK

Pakistan China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry would conduct its first ‘Offline/Online Pakistan China Industrial Expo 2020’ from 13 till 15 November in Lahore The concept regarding offline/online exhibition, to be held in collaboration with Everest International Expo Pvt. Ltd, is to provide choice to the participants to attend exhibition physically or by practicing social distancing, said PCJCCI President SM Naveed during a press conference on Tuesday.

The event was attended by Everest International Expo Pvt Ltd CEO Frank Fa, PCJCCI Senior Vice President Daud Ahmed, Vice President Khalid Rafique Choudhry and Secretary General Salahuddin Hanif.

SM Naveed said under the under prevailing global

rupee strengthens as dollar continues to shed value

STAFF REPORT

KARACHI: Pakistani Rupee continued to gain value against US Dollar in the interbank market, adding another 22 paisas on Tuesday. According to a State Bank of Pakistan tweet, the US Dollar opened at Rs158.91 on Tuesday and closed at Rs158.69. PKR has gained Rs2.28 against the greenback during the last two weeks. "Uptick in remittance inflows ($2 billion per month since the beginning of FY21), a quarterly current account surplus ($792 million) after more than five years (last time a surplus was recorded was in 3QFY15) against a deficit of $1.49 billion in the same period last year coupled with the dollar depreciating against all major currencies (the dollar index is down 10pc since March) are some of the factors that led to appreciation of the rupee," said Sana Tawfiq, analyst at Arif Habib Ltd. The deferment of $1.8bn loan repayment to G20 till December 2020 – with a further relaxation anticipated till June 2021 – and expected improvement in inflows with the launch of Roshan Digital Account have also helped stabilise the exchange rate, she added. TLTP

NEWS DESK

pandemic, it would be inconvenient to hold meetings and conferences at massive levels. “The current initiative has been taken to digitally link our member companies with Chinese enterprises of CNC machinery, construction machinery, new energy, building material, agricultural machinery, plastic machinery, hardware, chemical, and auto parts.”

He said that all business-to-business meetings will be held online via terminal equipment which is installed on every booth. In this way, the event would go on with a minimal impact of Covid-19.

Wang Zihai, PCJCCI executive member and the representative of Everest International Expo Pvt. Ltd expressed stated, “Our Company is one of the prestigious companies and our aim is to promote and enhance bilateral relations between Pakistan and China.”

CPNE VP Ikram Seghal battling Covid-19 since two weeks LAHORE Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE) Vice President Ikram Sehgal is seriously ill with Covid-19 since the past 12 days.His family and friends have requested prayers for his early recovery from this deadly infection.

Sehgal is a Pakistani defence analyst and security expert.

He is a retired Pakistan Army officer. He is also the chairman of Pathfinder Group Pakistan, which includes two of the country's largest private security companies.

NEWS

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iNdiaN trooPs Martyr two KashMiri youth iN shoPiaN ISLAMABAD: Indian troops in their fresh act of state terrorism in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) martyred two Kashmiri youth in Shopian district on Tuesday. An official told local media that the youth were killed during an encounter during a cordon and search operation jointly launched by Indian Army, Central Reserve Police Force and police in Kutpora area of the district. Indian authorities have suspended internet service in Shopian and Kulgam districts. Meanwhile, the Tehreek-e-Wahdat-e-Islami has said that the Narendra Modi-led fascist Indian government is working on a wicked plan to deprive the Kashmiris of their land making them strangers in their own homeland. The party’s Chairman Khadim Hussain, in a statement, appealed to the Kashmiri people to thwart India’s nefarious designs with unity. “After the unilateral and illegal move to end the special status of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019, India has now started a never-ending game of enforcing colonial-style laws in IOK,” the statement read. He said that Indian Home Ministry has recently amended the land laws to pave the way for Indian Hindus to acquire land in the occupied territory. The Tehreek-e-Wahdat chairman said that hundreds of kanals of land had recently been allotted to the Indian forces for setting up more camps and colonies in Srinagar and other parts of the territory. TLTP

aNother doCtor dies of CoroNavirus iN Peshawar PESHAWAR: Another doctor died of coronavirusrelated complications in Peshawar on Tuesday, highlighting the vulnerability of health professionals to the pandemic. Dr Bashir contracted the disease while performing his duties and was under treatment. Paying rich tribute to the doctor, the Provincial Doctors Association (PDA) said the virus has claimed the lives of 21 doctors and 40 health workers in the province so far.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has recorded most coronavirus cases among health workers, say reports. Earlier this month, a senior dental surgeon, Dr Sultan Zeb, died of coronavirus at the Hayatabad Medical Complex. The death of Dr Zeb, associate dean at the Khyber College of Dentistry, took the number of health professionals killed by the virus in the province to 21, the second-highest in the country after Sindh, where the Covid-19 death toll is 34. STAFF REPORT

Pakistan, russia joint 'friendship' exercise underway: isPr RAWALPINDI: Pakistani and Russian troops, around 70 from each country, were engaged in a joint military exercise codenamed Dhruzba (friendship) 5 in Tarbela, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Tuesday. Pakistan and Russia, in an effort to improve bilateral military cooperation, inked an agreement in 2018 that allows for the training of Pakistan troops at Russian military institutes. “The participating troops busy in practicing Counter Terrorism drills and procedures, rappelling and preparations for sky diving,” the military’s media wing said. “Sports activities are also part of [the] exercise,” it added. The Russian defense ministry had earlier said the exercise was aimed at strengthening military cooperation between the two countries.

“Opening ceremony of DRUZHBA — V held at Tarbela today. Pak-Russian Federation Special Forces are participating in two weeks long counter terrorism exercise,” the ISPR had said last week.

“The ceremony was attended by Russian ambassador to Pakistan, Mr. Danila Ganich. Senior officials from both the armies were present on the occasion,” it had said. STAFF REPORT

Cabinet ratifies ECC decision to allocate 38mmfcd gas to SSGCL ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI

The Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) will receive additional 38 Million Cubic Feet per Day (MMCFD) gas to meet its demands, as the federal cabinet has ratified the decisions of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) taken in this regard.

According to sources, the federal

cabinet met on Tuesday under the chair Prime Minister Imran Khan to take certain important decisions, including ratification of ECC decisions taken in its Oct 28 meeting.

As per the sources, additional allocation of 38mmcfd gas will help SSGC meet its demands, besides enabling the company to avert the looming gas crisis.

Talking to this scribe, an SSGC official, on condition of anonymity,

confirmed the decision taken by the cabinet for additional allocation of gas to SSGC, adding that a notification in this regard would be issued soon.

The Petroleum Division had earlier approached the ECC to accord a formal approval for allocation of 38mmcfd gas from three new wells (Rehman 6, 7 & 8) to SSGCL. The ECC, in its Oct 28 meeting, had considered the Petroleum Division’s summary and approved the

same.

Rehman gas field is being operated by Polish Oil and Gas Company (PGNiNG SA) located in district Dadu. The joint venture comprises PGNiG SA with 70pc share and Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) with 30pc share. The company had requested the Petroleum Division to allocate additional gas volumes under commercial production to the government nominated buyer i-e SSGC.

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

04 NEWS

Xi uRgeS SCO StateS tO build COMMunity OF SeCuRity FOR all MeMbeRS ISLAMABAD

C

MIAN ABRAR

HINESE President Xi Jinping has urged the countries of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to jointly safeguard security and stability and build a community of security for all member states.

Addressing the participants of the 20th Shanghai Cooperation Organization Council of Heads of State (SCO-CHS), in a video conference format, President Xi said that security and stability are the number one precondition for a country's development, and thus concern the core interests of all countries.

"We need to act on the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, address all forms of threats and challenges effectively, and foster a sound security environment in our region," he said.

Xi said that “we need to firmly support countries concerned in their

URGES OPPOSING ATTEMPTS TO POLITICISE PANDEMIC OR MISLABEL THE CORONAVIRUS, AND JOINTLY RESIST ANY 'POLITICAL VIRUS' law-based efforts to steadily advance major domestic political agenda, firmly support countries in safeguarding political security and social stability, and firmly oppose interference by external forces in the domestic affairs of SCO members under whatever pretexts”.

"We need to deepen solidarity and mutual trust, and resolve disputes and differences through dialogue and consultation, in order to cement the political foundation for SCO development. It is important that we forestall terrorist, separatist and extremist attempts to exploit the pandemic for disruption, curb the proliferation of drugs, crack down on Internet-based propagation of extremist ideology, and deepen SCO members' law-enforcement cooperation," he added.

He also said that it is important

SC issues contempt notice to Pakistan Railways A three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday issued a contempt notice to Pakistan Railways with regards to the failure of implementing orders related to the Karachi Circular Railways (KCR) project.

The bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmed, asked why the railway was still non-operational and directed Sindh chief secretary, railways secretary, and the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) director-general to appear before the court at the next hearing to explain the lack of progress. “We will call everyone. If need be, even the premier and chief minister will be called,” observed the top judge. Last month, Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed had said that the KCR would be completed in three phases. In September, the apex court had directed Pakistan Railways to retrieve its land along the KCR and demolish encroachments on the track in an effort to revive the project. In August, the railways secretary had claimed that the land had “almost” been cleared of encroachments, but that proved not to be the case. NEWS DESK

that we uphold bio-security, data security and outer-space security, and engage in active communication and dialogue in this field.

"China has launched the Global Initiative on Data Security, which aims to galvanise efforts to shape a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative and orderly cyberspace. We welcome the participation of all parties in this Initiative,” he further said.

Thanking President Putin and Russia for the thoughtful organisation of this meeting during its presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Xi said that Russia has earnestly performed its duties and advanced the SCO's sound development despite the impact of Covid-19.

China highly commends Russia for its contribution, he added.

He said that the Covid-19 pan-

demic has accelerated shifts in the international landscape and the world is entering a period of turbulence and transformation. "The international community now faces a major test with choices to be made between multilateralism and unilateralism, openness and seclusion, cooperation and confrontation. What is going on with the world? What shall we do about it? - These are the questions awaiting answers from the people of our time, " he observed.

Xi Jinping said that humanity lives in a global village where the interests and destinies of all countries are intertwined. People across the world increasingly yearn for a better life.

"The trend toward peace, development, cooperation and mutual benefit is unstoppable. History has proven and will continue to prove that good-neighborliness will prevail

over a beggar-thy-neighbor approach, mutually beneficial cooperation will replace zero-sum game, and multilateralism will win over unilateralism, " he said and added that in the current circumstances, the SCO is required to carry forward the Shanghai Spirit and deepen solidarity and collaboration.

"Together, we will contribute more to the stability and development of countries in the region and take more steps toward building a community with a shared future for mankind.

First, we need to step up antiepidemic cooperation and build a community of health for us all. Right now, Covid-19 is still presenting an ongoing threat. To fight the virus that respects no borders, we must take up the most powerful weapon of solidarity and cooperation, and rise up to the most imperative task of saving people's lives,” he said.

The Chinese leader said that “we need to strengthen our joint response to Covid-19, support each other's containment efforts, and uphold regional

Sweden halts 5G auction after court grants relief to Huawei STOCKHOLM AGENCIES

Swedish telecoms regulator PTS on Monday halted 5G spectrum auctions after a court suspended parts of its decision that had excluded Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei [HWT.UL] from 5G networks.

Sweden last month followed the United Kingdom in banning Huawei equipment from its 5G network citing national security risks and asked companies taking part in 5G spectrum auctions to remove components from the company by Jan. 1, 2025.

Huawei last week appealed against the decision.

Certain parts of PTS’ decision prior to the upcoming 5G auctions will not apply until further notice, the Stockholm administrative court said in a decision which would allow Huawei’s involvement in Sweden’s impending 5G spectrum auction.

Huawei has no plan for more legal action at this point and is waiting to have constructive dialogue with Swedish authorities, Kenneth Fredriksen, Huawei’s executive vice president, Central East Europe and Nordic Region, told Reuters.

“We are willing to cooperate fully in terms of any future requirements they may put as a supplier of 5G

equipment that will enable us to be a certified vendor,” he said.

The auctions were expected to start from Tuesday, and would have benefited Nokia and Ericsson as PTS had asked companies taking part in them to remove Huawei and ZTE equipment from their infrastructure.

PTS said it had informed the operators about the auction halt and would review the possibilities of starting the process as soon as possible.

“This is not a victory for Huawei and it is not a loss for the Swedish government,” said industry consultant John Strand. “The uncertainty related to the condition for the auction is the reason PTS is halting the auction process,” he said.

The auctions, which were delayed earlier due to security review, would allocate frequencies in the 3.5 GHz and 2.3 GHz bands, crucial for 5G as those bands can support advanced applications due to their high data carrying capacity.

“The decision granting a stay means that the terms concerning, among other things, the use of products from Huawei until further notice do not apply during the Administrative Court’s continued deliberation of the case,” Senior Judge Johan Lundmark said in a court statement.

Timeline: Huawei feeling the heat as it eyes Honor sale SHENZHEN AGENCIES

Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL] plans to sell its budgetbrand Honor smartphone unit in a 100 billion yuan ($15.14 billion) deal after years of pressure from U.S. trade curbs made on grounds that the technology firm is a national security threat.

The world’s biggest maker of mobile telecommunications equipment has repeatedly denied the accusation, but in May this year its rotating chairman acknowledged it was in survival mode. For Reuters’ exclusive report on Huawei’s plans to sell Honor, please click on The all-cash sale will include almost all of Honor’s assets including brand, research & development capabilities and supply chain management, sources told Reuters. Divestment will mean Honor is no longer subject to Huawei’s U.S. sanctions, analysts said. The following is a timeline of Huawei’s struggles with U.S. authorities that led to this point: October 2012 - An 18-month, White House-ordered review of Huawei and ZTE Corp 000063.SZ finds no clear evidence Huawei spied for China, though it warned of vulnerabilities hackers could exploit. The review came amid broader concerns about Chinese spying capabilities.

December 2013 - Honor becomes a Huawei sub brand.

December 2017 - Members of the U.S. Senate and House intelligence committees send a letter to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to raise concerns about carrier AT&T Inc's T.N plans to sell Huawei smartphones. January 2018 - Huawei’s deal with U.S. carrier AT&T Inc to sell its smartphones in the United States collapses. April 2018 - Reuters reports that U.S. prosecutors in New York have been investigating whether Huawei vi-

olated U.S. sanctions in relation to Iran.

August 2018 - Australia bans Huawei from supplying equipment for its 5G mobile network citing national security risks. December 2018 - Canadian police arrest Meng Wangzhou in Vancouver as she changes planes, as the U.S. attempts to have her extradited on charges she covered up efforts by Huawei-related companies to sell equipment to Iran, breaking U.S. sanctions against the country. May 2019 - The U.S. Commerce Department adds Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and 70 affiliates to the ‘Entity List,’ banning it from buying parts and components from U.S. companies without U.S. government approval. May 2019 - The U.S. Commerce Department grants Huawei a licence to buy U.S. goods until Aug. 19 to maintain existing telecoms networks and provide software updates to Huawei smartphones. September 2019 - Huawei accuses the U.S. government of instructing law enforcement to “coerce” and “entice” its employees to turn against it.

January 2020 - The European Union said countries can either restrict or exclude high-risk 5G vendors from core parts of their telecoms networks, a move targeting Huawei but falling short of a U.S. call for a complete ban. May 2020 - The U.S. Commerce Department expands U.S. authority to require licences for sales to Huawei of semiconductors made abroad with U.S. technology, vastly extending its reach to halt sales to the company. July 2020 - the UK government says it will ban Huawei from Britain’s 5G network by ordering telecoms companies to remove its equipment by 2027. August 2020 - Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Unit, says that from Sept. 15 the company will not be able to produce its flagship Kirin processors, which power its high-end smartphones, due to the U.S. curbs.

and global public health security”.

"We need to support the World Health Organisation's (WHO) crucial leadership role, oppose attempts to politicise the pandemic or mislabel the coronavirus, and jointly resist any 'political virus'. We need to put the SCO's health cooperation mechanisms into full use, and deepen exchanges and cooperation in epidemic monitoring, scientific research, and disease control and treatment,” he said.

Xi proposed that hotline contacts be created between SCO members' centers for disease control (CDCs) for timely updates on cross-border transmission of communicable diseases. "The unique value and important role of traditional medicine has been highlighted in the battle against Covid-19, and we need to continue to hold the SCO Forum on Traditional Medicine to deepen exchanges and mutual learning in this field. Vaccines play a vital role in defeating the virus. China has joined the COVAX facility, and will actively consider SCO countries' need for vaccines to help protect people's safety and health in our countries, " he added.

Xi said that the situation in Afghanistan involves the security and stability in the wider region and we need to make good use of the SCO-Afghanistan Contact Group to help the country realise peace and reconstruction.

PKM seeks crackdown on unauthorised sugarcane purchasing centres Pakistan Kissan Movement Secretary General Hanif Gujjar, while reaching Bahawalpur on Tuesday after completing his visit to Rahim Yar Khan, said in Rahim Yar Khan he witnessed lot of middlemen busy in purchasing sugarcane from farmers through unauthorized purchasing centres at Rs170Rs180 per 40kg. However, he appreciated action taken by the Punjab cane commissioner by directing the Rahim Yar Khan deputy commissioner to seal all those purchase centres who were busy in this sugarcane mafia business. He said that similar situation was witnessed in Bahawalpur as middlemen were busy in purchasing cane at Rs170/40 kg through their unauthorized purchase centres and transporting that cane to sugar mills in Sindh. “The Bahawalpur deputy commissioner should seal the purchasing centres and arrest the middlemen so that this illegal practice could be brought to halt.” He also appealed the Punjab cane commissioner and chief minister to take strict actions against these middlemen while police should be ordered to arrest such people involved in this illegal practice. NEWS DESK

Food authority seizes 30,000kg ‘unhealthy’ besan PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Food Safety and Halal Food Authority has seized more than 30,000kg of ‘unhealthy’ besan [Gram flour] from a factory in the Hayatabad Industrial Estate, said a statement issued on Tuesday. According to KP FS&HFA Director General Suhail Khan, the factory was mixing ‘unhealthy’ broken rice along with other unhealthy items in the production of besan, which he said, is harmful to the public health. Khan added the factory was supplying unhealthy besan to various districts of the province. “The factory was preparing besan in complete violation of standard operating procedures. During the inspection, the hygiene arrangements were found to be very poor, and the factory was found to be involved in Mislabelling,” he added Assistant Director Farman Ali and other food safety team members of food safety officers took part in the intelligencebased operation. The director-general said that to ensure quality food in the province, food-related businesses were urged to follow the basic hygiene principles in food premises.

Khan said that the authority would ensure food quality at any cost and action would be taken as per law against the factory owners involved in manufacturing substandard besan. AZIZ BUNERI

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

HOw PfIzer vaCCIne COuld be COld COMfOrt fOr SOMe aSIan natIOnS tOKYO AGENCIES

With tropical heat, remote island communities and a dearth of ultra-cold freezers, many Asian countries aren’t betting on Pfizer’s experimental vaccine solving their Covid-19 crisis any time soon.

The world cheered on Monday when Pfizer Inc announced its shot, jointly developed with BioNTech SE, was more than 90% effective based on initial trial results. Yet health experts cautioned that the vaccine, should it be approved, was no silver bullet - not least because the genetic material it’s made from needs to be stored at temperatures of minus 70 degrees Celsius (-94 F) or below.

Such requirements pose a particularly daunting challenge for countries in Asia, as well as in places like Africa and Latin America, where intense heat is often compounded by poor infrastructure that will make it difficult to keep the “cold chain” intact during deliveries to rural areas and islands.

That is a problem for everyone in the world, given the World Health Organization estimates about 70% of people must be inoculated to end the pandemic, and Asia alone is home to more than 4.6 billion - or threefifths of the global population.

Some Asian countries are prioritising containing the novel coronavirus rather than looking to stockpile vaccines, while others are looking for alternatives to the messenger RNA technology used by Pfizer that re-

quires such ultra-cold storage. “On the cold chain requirement of -70 degrees, that is a hefty requirement.

We do not have such facility,” Philippines’ Health Secretary Francisco Duque told Reuters.

“We will have to wait and see for now,” he added.

“The technology Pfizer is using is new technology. We don’t have experience with that, so risks can be high.”

Pfizer told Reuters that it had developed detailed logistical plans and tools to support vaccine transport, storage and continuous temperature monitoring.

“We have also developed packaging and storage innovations to be fit for purpose for the range of locations where we believe vaccinations will take place,” it said. ‘VACCINE IS STORY FOR FUTURE’ Yet even wealthier nations like South Korea and Japan are managing expectations. “Storage is going to be a big challenge for us,” said Fumie Sakamoto, infection control manager at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo.

“I’m not sure how well prepared our government is with regards to maintaining the cold chain. Hospitals in Japan usually do not have ultra-cold freezers, but I think it’s high time we started thinking about the logistics for the vaccine.”

Japan is among three countries in Asia Pacific that have announced supply deals for the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. It has signed a deal for 120 million doses, while Australia has secured 10 million doses and China’s Fosun has secured 10 million doses for Hong Kong and Macau.

Japan’s PHC Corp, which supplies medical freezers, told Reuters that demand had shot up 150% this year and that they were increasing production to meet demand. Kwon Jun-wook, an official at South Korea’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), said it wanted to see how vaccination progressed in other countries first and would thoroughly review its supply chain.

The country had recently experienced the problems of cold storage when it had to discard about 5 million doses of flu vaccines because they were not stored at recommended temperatures. A 2018 study commissioned by the agency found that only a quarter of 2,200 private clinics it surveyed had medical refrigerators, with 40% using household refrigerators.

For some countries, it’s still very early days.

Indonesia, whose 273 million people are scattered over more than 17,000 islands, is considering a variety of vaccines, but the Pfizer one is not yet among them, said Airlangga Hartarto, who heads the country’s Covid-19 response team. Vietnam, which successfully contained its outbreak through aggressive mass testing and strict border controls, said it would continue to focus on containment effort. “The vaccine is a story for the future,” Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, told a government meeting on Friday.

“Demand is far higher than supply, and we have to pay large deposits to secure our position, which I see as very high risk and a waste of money and time.”

BioNTech to price vaccine below market rates, differentiate between regions fRaNKfuRt AGENCIES

BioNTech, first in the race to produce evidence of a working Covid-19 vaccine, is planning to price the two-shot regimen below “typical market rates” and would differentiate pricing between countries or regions. Speaking at a Financial Times online event, the German biotech firm’s strategy head Ryan Richardson said the price tag of the vaccine, which is co-developed with Pfizer and which has yet to win regulatory approval, would reflect the financial risks that its privatesector investors have incurred.

“We’ve tried to pursue a balanced approach that recognises that innovation requires capital and investment so we plan to price our vaccine well below typical market rates reflecting the situation that we’re in and with the goal to insure broad-based access around the world,” Richardson said at the FT event.

“I expect there to be differential pricing in certain

regions of the world,” he added, declining to elaborate on the different price tags.

The vaccine was on Monday shown to be 90% effective, based on preliminary trial results, a key milestone in the war against a virus that has killed over a million people and battered the world’s economy.

In July Pfizer had agreed with the U.S. government the supply of 100 million doses of its potential vaccine at a price of $39 for a two-dose immunisation, or $19.5 per dose, with the option to sell another 500 million doses under conditions to be negotiated separately.

The European Commission will discuss on Wednesday the adoption of a supply contract with Pfizer and BioNTech. The bloc earlier this week said a contract for up to 300 million doses was close to being signed, without providing financial terms.

Richardson also said that the two partners’ goal to supply 1.3 billion doses in 2021 would be the result of a ramping-up efforts well into the second half of next year. While there would be “significant supply” during

the first half, scaling up output would continue throughout 2021. BioNTech’s strategy chief stressed that, even though the German group had received public-sector backing, the risks taken by its investors would merit some financial rewards from a future vaccine.“We incurred considerable financial risk. We have raised capital in the capital market,” he said.

Richard Hatchett, chief executive officer of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), said at the FT event that the Pfizer and BioNTech project was the only one among the 10 leading vaccine developers that had not received “substantial public sector financing”. In June the European Investment Bank, the EU’s financial arm, awarded BioNTech 100 million euros in debt financing for its Covid-19 vaccine development and manufacturing.

Germany’s research ministry in September granted BioNTech 375 million euros, subject to meeting certain milestones, also to ramp up vaccine development and production.

NEWS

05

PM Imran continues fight against Islamophobia at SCO-CHS conference Continued from Page 01 “In Europe, mosques are being closed, Muslim women are being denied their right to wear clothing of their choice in the public domain even as nuns and priests continue to display their religious clothing, and covert and overt discrimination is widespread against Muslims living in those countries,” he had written while urging leaders of Muslim states to “collectively take the lead in breaking this cycle of hate and extremism”. In September, PM Imran had called on the United Nations (UN) to declare an international day to combat Islamophobia in his United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) address.

He stressed the importance of providing relief to the poor segments of society. In this context, he thanked all members for supporting Pakistan’s initiative for the establishment of an SCO Special Working Group on Poverty Alleviation. “We are thankful to all the SCO members for helping us in this regard,” he said. PM Khan also highlighted that Pakistan stands with the SCO’s commitment towards climate change, noting that the South-Asian country has been “mitigating the adverse effects of climate change” through different initiatives. “We have launched an ecosystem restoration initiative under which we plan to plant 10 billion trees in the country,” he said. Furthermore, the premier highlighted the importance of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in SCO’s vision of regional connectivity and economic integration, saying that CPEC is complementing SCO’s pivotal role in the emerging confluence between the Belt and Road Initiative and the Eurasian Economic Union. The Prime Minister underscored the imperative of common approaches to limit the spread of infectious diseases, ameliorate their effects, and develop potential remedies. He emphasized the central role of WHO in addressing the Covid-19 pandemic and offered to share Pakistan’s experience in combating the pandemic in an effective manner. The Prime Minister also lauded China’s effective handling of the pandemic and thanked China for extending material and technical support to other countries, including Pakistan, in their efforts to contain the virus. The Prime Minister also highlighted China-Pakistan collaboration in vaccine development.

The Prime Minister highlighted his “Global Initiative for Debt Relief” for developing countries to mitigate adverse economic effects of the pandemic. Welcoming measures taken by G20, the Prime Minister stressed the need for further steps to help improve liquidity in developing countries and restore growth. The Prime Minister reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to the central role of the United Nations in maintaining international peace and security and advancing global sustainable development.

He particularly stressed the importance of faithful implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions as a pre-requisite for creating an environment of stability and cooperation. The Prime Minister called for strong condemnation and resolute opposition of unilateral and illegal measures to change the status of disputed territories in violation of UNSC resolutions. On the occasion, he reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast support for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process and warned against the role of “spoilers” both within and outside Afghanistan.

He stressed that the return of Afghan refugees to their homeland with dignity and honour should be an essential part of the peace negotiations.

Nong Rong, the new Chinese ambassador to Pakistan

ImtIaz RafI Butt On 5th November, 2020, Mr Yao Jing was re-assigned from the post of Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan to a position in Beijing. Mr Jing proved to be one of the most successful ambassadors to Pakistan. He served for almost three years. His tenure was marked with break-speed progress in CPEC and OBOR activities. The bi-lateral ties between the two nations are truly reaching the objective of “all-weather” relations. Even more significant is the appointment of the new ambassador Mr. Nong Rong. To begin with, Mr. Rong is not a Government diplomat but a respected Minister of the Guanxi province. Researchers and geo-political analysts are referring to this appointment as a rare occurrence, but one only has to look at the origins of Pak-China relations to comprehend this intelligent move by the Chinese Govern-

ments and the potential it has for the future of CPEC and OBOR. Pakistan China relations began as soon as Communist party declared independence in Beijing. The remarkable change came with the appointment of General Geng Biao by none other than the great Chairman Mao Zedong. It was the ominous 1950s. Chairman Mao Zedong, foreseeing the events in Pakistan, assigned the task of Chinese ambassador to Pakistan to Geng Biao, transferring him from Sweden. General Ayub khan was the then President of Pakistan. General Geng was tasked with the responsibility to breathe a new life into Pak-China relations.

General Geng like the present Mr. Nong Rong, was a political figure in the Chinese Communist party and the central committee.

On his appointment, General Geng Biao revolutionized the relations between Pakistan and China. To this day, he is referred to as the architect of Pak-China ties. General Geng setup his office in Karachi. Just after a few months, he shifted his family to Pakistan. On his arrival, he brought with him the famous bamboo tree seeds from his home, the Hunan province in China. He planted those bamboo trees in the embassy and to this day, the bamboo trees have grown similar to Pakistan-China friendship.

General Geng biao observed the Government and people of Pakistan. After afew months of appointment, he returned to Beijing reported the potential of an iron brotherhood. He was a strategist and a military genius who had direct access to Mao Zedong. His reporting of Pakistan and relationship potential lead to the construction of the great KKH(Karakorum Highway). From an

analytical point of view, CPEC and OBOR are the descendants of the Karakorum plan to connect China and Pakistan. Later on, General Geng Biao continued to strengthen the ties between Pakistan and China and opened new chapter of joint collaborations and co-operations. Later on, upon his promotion, General Geng Biao received Xi Jinping as his staff officer. It is a extra ordinary fact that the same Xi Jinping who served as a support officer to General Geng Biao, the architect of Pak-China relations, is now the President of People’s Republic of China and the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist party. And without a doubt, he has learned a lot from his former boss.

Mr. Nong Rong is the second ambassador after General Geng Biao who belongs to the political cadre of the communist party. He joined the Chinese communist party in 1987 and is a minister from the province of Guangxi. He has a degree in Business Administration and has held key positions in the Chinese Government related to International Trade, Commerce and Religious affairs. He is known to a visionary and his success stories are already echoing in Islamabad. HE is the 18th Chinese ambassador to Pakistan but only the second of his kind, that is, a member of the central Communist party. His appointment shows the commitment of the Chinese Communist Party to achieve new milestones in Pak-China Friendship. Diplomats are excellent but are in the end, career oriented. Mr. Jing, before Mr. Rong, achieved notable progress but his actions were mostly, a continuation of the previous strategies. Mr. Rong, as a political figure, a mayor of a Chinese city, would be expected to revolutionize

CMYK

and bring about new avenues of co-operation.

From Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping, the single aspect that defines the political leadership in China, is their ability to innovate and give new shape to old ideas and that is what is the new ambassador is expected to do. The new ambassador has called on key figures in Pakistan like the President, Prime Minister, Chief of Army Staff and Finance Minister. The word that keeps being heard from the Minister is “model relations for the world”.

The year 2021 is an auspicious one. It will be the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Chinese Communist party and 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Pakistan and China. CPEC and OBOR are in full swing. The Lahore Orange Line Train is one of many early harvest projects of completed under CPEC. It’s a 27Km stretch with 25 stations, a joint collaboration between of Govt of Pakistan, Daewoo Company and Chinese Rail. Company Ltd. The Lahore Orange Line is set to serve around 150,000 citizens a month and the Line can be extended to cover many other key points of a city, a feat to behold for the people of Lahore. In the same intensity, Pakistan is now almost overcome its power shortage and numerous sectors are set to be invigorated by the dividends of CPEC initiatives.

Mr. Long Dingbin the Consul General in Lahore is also pointing out key opportunities for collaboration between China and Pakistan in the region of Punjab. He will be a meaningful figure in the tenure of Mr. Nong Rong as he has previously worked with him in the Ministry for trade and commerce. A synergy can be expected.

Pakistan and China are committed to the

formation of a model for bi-lateral relations for the world. In China, Pakistanis are perceived as “iron brothers” instead of diplomatically aligned countries. At times, the highest echelons of Chinese leadership have regarded Pakistan as China’s only International Ally.

More so, the new ambassador vividly mentioned “Naya Pakistan” as the image that China shares for Pakistan. It is a reminder of deeply ingrained understanding of the Chinese leadership when it comes to domestic challenges in Pakistan. CPEC is entering its second phase. The appointment of Mr. Asim Bajwa has accredited stability and assurance to CPEC projects, despite the controversies.

A new beginning is in the offing.

The year 2020 has been a backbreaker for world economies. Covi-19 has played havoc with the richest and the poorest of nations. China and Pakistan has achieved progress even in these troublesome and tumultuous times. The range of sectors where China and Pakistan are co-operating continue to assimilate new areas of interest. The Government of Pakistan is also in the process of working out detailed plans for the introduction of vaccinations and strategies to control Covid-19 with the Chinese Government. The brotherhood is delivering results in vital aspects of governance. Overall, the political appointment of ambassador to Pakistan in these hard times shows trust, commitment and visionary resolve. The people of Pakistan warmly welcome the new ambassador with new promises of forming an unbreakable bond between our two nations.

(The Writer is Chairman of Jinnah Rafi Foundation)

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

06 COMMENT

These things are clear

Hazards of relying on sycophants Imran Khan should wake up and smell the coffee

Washington Watch

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NTHUsED by the large gatherings that welcomed him in swat and Hafizabad Prime Minister Imran Khan has come to believe that his popularity in the country continues to increase. He has also concluded that complaints made by some of his own legislators and allies regarding the erosion of the government’s approval rate due to rising prices were inspired by the opposition’s propaganda. This is what some of the sycophants gathered around him were already telling him. Listening to sycophants has caused the downfall of many a ruler in the past. In the case of Imran Khan the denial of the prices of food items continuing to grow could be the beginning of the end.

In swat where the PM held the first rally, all the three National Assembly seats of the district had been won by the PTI. A PTI ticket holder also occupies the single National Assembly seat from Hafizabad. KP and Punjab being run by the PTI, the district administrations too helped and assisted those organising the rallies. Would Imran Khan have received the same enthusiastic reception in Abbotabad or Gujranwala?

Imran Khan had several times earlier admitted that his government had failed to control the prices. Important members of his cabinet told people not to get restive as the administration was taking measures that would bring the prices down in a couple of months. With the cut-off date fast approaching and the prices still increasing, Mr Khan has decided to take yet another U-turn. He now maintains that the opposition is putting spin on the inflation issue. He has also directed his economic team and spokesmen to turn their guns on the opposition while highlighting the efforts being undertaken by the government to improve the lot of the masses.

Imran Khan has claimed that his administration has overcome the bad effects of the economic decisions made by his predecessors and the economy is witnessing stability. There is a need to realise that the success of a government is judged not by its claims or the efforts it makes but on the basis of its success in delivering on its promises. It is here that the PTI government is widely seen to be deficient.

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s I sit to write this piece four days after the election, Joe Biden is leading in enough states to make it clear that he will win enough electoral college votes to become the 46th President of the United states. What was also clear is that Republicans will likely retain control of the senate and the Democrats,while still the majority in the House, have lost some seats. We are a deeply divided country. That much should be clear.

If this were a normal election year, that might be the end of the story. Alas, it is not. In 2020, nothing is normal and this crazy election is not going to be over for a while.

Donald Trump is not now nor ever been psychologically able to accept the reality of losing or being second best. Even when he doesn’t win or isn’t the best, he has been prone to create “an alternate reality” in which he convinces himself: that he really has won; that he was a victim of someone else’s cheating; that someone else is responsible for the setback; or that he is the victim of a conspiracy.

Trump has been preparing the ground for contesting a loss ever since winning in 2016. Not able to accept that Hillary Clinton had won more popular votes, he charged that millions of her votes were fraudulent.

He even appointed a partisan presidential commission to validate his claim. Despite the fact that the commission was comprised of his supporters, it disbanded after several months unable to prove any widespread cheating. Nevertheless, Trump has continued to make this same charge about fraudulent 2016 votes.

For the past three months Trump has been claiming that Democrats were going to try to steal this election. He made the groundless accusation that hundreds of thousands of mail-in votes were going be used to “stuff ballot boxes” or that votes for him were going to be tossed out.

Recognizing the danger posed by the pandemic, several state legislatures approved plans to provide voters a mail-in option. Polls show that Democrats took advantage of this option. At the same time, a sizable majority of Republican voters waited until Election Day to vote. Because the in-person votes were counted first, on election night, Trump led. But as the mail-in votes were counted, Biden’s totals eventually eclipsed Trump’s.

In response, Trump angrily tweeted “sTOP THE

Gutter politics Gandapur’s statement reveals PTI mindset

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s all major national political parties continue campaigning for the upcoming Gilgit-Baltistan elections, the rhetoric coming out of the PTI camp, headed by Kashmir and Northern Areas Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, is simply deplorable. speaking at a recent rally, he passed some extremely sexist and misogynistic remarks regarding PML(N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, saying: “she is beautiful, but only because she has spent millions of taxpayer money on surgeries to look the way she does”. He went on to target Bilawal Bhutto Zardari in similar fashion, asking him to “be a man”. Both Ms Nawaz and Mr Bhutto Zardariare representing their parties in the opposition-alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) that has held three successful public gatherings and pulled large crowds, making fiery speeches against the government and establishment. It seems some of that has gotten under the ruling party’s skin as even Prime Minister Imran Khan could not help himself from taking a jibe at Ms Nawaz, stating that although she is a grandmother she is still a child and the only reason she is still in the country and her brothers and father are not is because “she knows we will not put her in jail.” Apart from the unnecessary reference to her age, PM Khan has conveniently brushed over the fact that she spent more than four months behind bars under the PTI government last year.

Personal politics was a hallmark of the 1990s, being a largely male-dominated space, and the country’s first and only female Prime Minister, the late Benazir Bhutto, had to face her fair share of crass and crude sexism from her political opponents, most notably the PML(N) under Nawaz sharif. That this practice ended overtime and is now again evidently forming a prominent part of a political party’s (ruling) strategy to handle the opposition is unfortunate. For Federal Human Rights Minister, shireen Mazari, to claim that her party is “committed to ensuring an end to discrimination against and harassment of women ... to empower women and girls”, is laughable in light of the comments her fellow cabinet ministers are making. The PML(N)’s reaction to Mr. Gandapur’s comments has been relatively subdued, which is welcome. One hopes the PTI understands that such a vile outlook about women emanating from within the party does nothing to progress the cause for women’s rights in the country, something which is already an uphill task.

Why no focus on jihad in Hinduism, Bible or Torah? amJeD JaaveD

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RANCE is a cradle of modern human rights.

How come its slogan `liberty, equality and fraternity’ allows it to drag out mosque-goers from inside the mosques? Or insult them in a myriad ways? France continues to publish and republish cartoons injuring sentiments of Muslim community. some leaders have called for banning Muslim immigration to France.

Long before Islamic jihad, terrorism was a familiar phenomenon. The anti-Muslim media exploited 9/11 to tarnish the image of Islam. Islamic jihad fascinates people more than terrorist outfits such as the Irish Republican Army, the Ku Klux Klan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and so on.

The term has meant different things to different people. The oldest ‘terrorists’ were holy warriors who killed civilians. Recent examples of religious terrorists are Aum shinrikyo (Japanese), Rabbi Meir Kahane and Baruch Goldstein and Yigal Amir (Jews). The Jewish-controlled media describes Hezbollah and Hamas as ‘religious terrorists’. In first-century Palestine, Jews publicly slit Romans’ throats. In seventh-century India, thugs stranguled gullible passersby to please the Hindu goddess Kali. And in the 19th century, adherents of Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will) mercilessly killed pro-Tsar rivals. The term `terrorism’ became notorious during the French Reign of Terror in 1793-4.

It is now common to dub one’s adversary a ‘terrorist’. Doing so forecloses the possibility of political negotiation, and gives the powerful definer the right to eliminate the ‘terrorist’.

Non-Muslim writers not only mistranslate the word jihad for qitaal (blood-shed), but also distort the true meaning of Quranic texts by quoting them out of context. The Qur’an gives a clear instruction that there is no compulsion in religion (2: 256). It states that people will remain different (11: 118), they will always have different religions and ways and this is an unalterable fact (5:48). God tells the Prophet that most people will not believe ‘even if you are eager that they should’ (12: 103).

Quran enjoins wars are to be avoided (Quran 8:61, 47:35; Bukhari 56:112, 156:94:8 sahih of Muslim).

Islamic jihad (Al-Quran 25: 52) does not mean ‘Holy War’. That term does not exist in Arabic and its translation from Arabic sounds quite alien. Jihad is always described in the Qur’an as fi sabil l’illah. It

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and immigration systems by President Trump’s excessive use of Executive Orders.

Not only President Biden and Democrats, but Republicans as well, will need to deal with the reality that Trumpism will remain a potent force in Us politics. When the GOP funded and organized the Birther Movement and the Tea Party to counter Obama’s appeal, they ushered in a wave of racebased populism. This may have served the Republican’s short-term goal of taking control of Congress in 2010, but the angry beast they created back then, devoured them first. Across the country, fearful of alienating this base, more traditional conservative Republicans felt forced to take increasing hardline uncompromising stances.

When Donald Trump first entered the 2016 pcontest, the GOP establishment dismissed his candidacy certain that a more traditional Romney-style conservative Republican would win the nomination. They were wrong. And despite their initial disgust for Trump’s xenophobia and bigotry, crude and vulgar language, and his shocking incitement to violence, they eventually fell in line, once again fearful of angering his supporters- the very base they had helped to create.

As a result, new and more virulent movements have taken root in this base- from the QAnon conspiracy cult, to the xenophobic and racist Christian Patriot churches, and militant groups like the Proud Boys, the bogaloo bois, and a host of armed militias that have sprung up nationwide. All of which have received varying degrees of Trump’s endorsement.

That Trump won the votes of over 70 million Americans means that while he lost, his appeal will remain. Republicans will either make a concerted effort to tame this phenomenon or they will see not only the continued drift of their party toward extremism, but the danger of violence in cities across the Us. It seems clear that, as Trump said a few weeks ago “This will not end well.” Far from being over, this election may very well continue to play out for weeks to come. Trump and the GOP have been telegraphing their strategy for over a month now. They will continue to challenge the validity of the vote in court.

They will demand recounts. They will incite their followers to demonstrate at vote-counting facilities. In the end, many Americans will lose faith in the electoral process and America’s democracy will be tarnished in the eyes of the world. That much is clear.

The writer is President of the Arab American Institute

Misperceptions about Islamic jihad

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Dr James J Zogby

COUNT” and in some cities his supporters stormed polling places. The president’s lawyers filed numbers of lawsuits demanding, among other things that many legally cast mail-in votes be disqualified. And on Thursday, Trump delivered shocking remarks from the White House calling into question the integrity of the entire election. A number of Republican governors and senators were so stunned that they felt compelled to quickly reject the president’s behavior.

Trump will not accept losing, will not concede, and will use every available path to challenge the outcome. He and his supporters o on calling the election fraudulent and calling on supporters to “go to war” to protest the vote. The misinformation they are spreading on social media is flagrantly false. It is designed to cast doubt on the entire process and to incite anger – causing confusion and unrest, with the possibility of violence. The uncertainty will only lead to deeper division, casting a pall, not only over this election, but the foundations of our democracy. We will in all likelihood not see a peaceful transition of power.

Also clear is that when Joe Biden is sworn in, he will inherit this division and the dysfunctional political system spawning it. Gone are the days when despite differences Republicans and Democrats worked together to solve te nation’s pressing problems.

When Newt Gingrich became House speaker, he ushered in an era of hyper-partisanship that worked to stymie then President Bill Clinton’s every move.

When Barack Obama was elected president, then-Minority senate Leader Mitch McConnell declared that he would do everything in his power to ensurehe was a one-term president. After McConnell became Majority Leader, Republicans routinely blocked Obama’s appointments and refused to pass compromise legislation.

At the ceremony announcing his last supreme Court nominee, Trump noted that it is a president’s responsibility to fill vacancies to the federal courts. He chided Obama for being irresponsible, as when he entered the Oval Office in 2017. there were over 100 court vacancies. What Trump didn’t acknowledge was that this wasn’t because Obama hadn’t named replacements, but because McConnell wouldn’t let the senate approve them. Unless Democrats can win the few senate seats that remain to be contested in January 2021, Biden will confront the same obstructionism.

To succeed, Biden may have to play by the rules Republicans have created. To get things done, he will be forced to issue Executive Orders by-passing the senate, as Obama had to. He will also need to use Executive Orders to undo the damage to our regulatory

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can mean preaching, donation or actual fighting. The term, which is specifically used for fighting, is qitaal (a compulsion when you are attacked and flushed out of your homes).

Quranic verses were twisted out of context to show that they are incendiary and fan hatred against other communities. since 9/11, the world has been fixated on Islam and trying to prove that terrorism was ushered in by Islamic tenets.

Verse 191 Chapter 2 of the Holy Quran is often quoted to argue that Islam is a violent religion: “And kill them wherever you encounter them and expel them from where they expelled you. Oppression is indeed worse than murder. Do not fight them at the Masjid Al-Haram (Ka’aba) unless they fight you therein. If they fight you, then kill them; such is the penalty of the disbelievers.” 2: 193 says: “And fight them until there is no more oppression and the religion is for God, but if they cease, then no aggression is permitted except against the transgressors.”

191: 2 was revealed when Muslims on the Hajj pilgrimage were attacked and killed by the non–Muslim Quraysh who had signed a treaty with the Prophet to not attack pilgrims.

Verse 193 is no different from what Krishna taught Arjun. How is this any different from Lord Krishna telling Arjun in the Bhagavad Gita to fight as his dharmic duty? BG 2.33: “O Arjuna! If you do not fight for this religion and turn away from your religion, then you will lose your fame and glory.” surely, Hindus will know the context.

Bible: Deuteronomy 20:1-4: “When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory’.”

Numbers 31:1-10 say: ‘The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Avenge the Israelite people on the Midianites; then you shall be gathered to your kin.”

Moses spoke to the people, saying, and “Let men be picked out from among you for a campaign, and let them fall upon Midian to wreak the LORD’s vengeance on Midian. You shall dispatch on the cam-

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paign a thousand from every one of the tribes of Israel.” … “The Israelites took the women and children of the Midianites captive, and seized as booty all their beasts, all their herds, and all their wealth. And they destroyed by fire all the towns in which they were settled, and their encampments.”

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata wars elucidate various types of yuddha (wars). In ancient India there were three schools of war. Bhishma’s school of warfare belonged to dharma yuddha (ethical or just war). Two other schools, Brihaspati’s and Krishna’s school of warfare belonged to koota yuddha (all-out war) or maya yuddha (war by tricks or stratagems).

There is much negative publicity about Islamic jihad.

But, there is little attention to koota yuddha, which signifies all-out, no-holds-barred or unethical warfare.

Bhishma stressed chivalry and ruled out surprise and deception. But, Brihaspati recommended that the king should attack an enemy only if the enemy’s strength is one-third of his own (Udyog Parva). He suggested that the king should never trust the enemy or spare him, no matter how old or virtuous. similarly, the keynote of Krishna’s military philosophy was `end justifies the means’. He laid great stress on deception. `Truth may often have to be sacrificed in pursuit of victory’ (Karma Parva). He advocated use of force to defeat the enemy if he was superior in strength or capability (shalya Parva). Opportunity once wasted never returns (shanti Parva).

Hindu military writers believe India’s prosperity, for example during the Maurya and the Gupta periods, rose or fell with the rise or fall of military leadership (Major General Rajendra Nath in Military Leadership in India: Vedic Period to Indo-Pak War). since Partition, Hindu leaders put a lid on their desire for koota yuddha with Pakistan because of political expediency. India’s confidence-building measures did not contribute to the solution of the Kashmir, or sir Creek issues.

India is now engaged against Pakistan in what Kautliya calls maya yuddha (war of tricks) or koota yuddha (all-out warfare). she is out to isolate Pakistan, get it dubbed as a terrorist state. Pakistani leaders, including ex-PMs and PMs-to-be should take off their blinkers and try to understand how India, through koota yuddha, hands in glove with likeminded countries, is trying to wreck the economy and country.

Amjed Jaaved is a freelance journalist, has served in the Pakistan government for 39 years and holds degrees in economics, business administration, and law.

He can be reached at amjedjaaved@gmail.com.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

COMMENT 07 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

Why creative learning should replace rote learning

Low-cost housing for the poor A kickstart for the pandemic-hit economy

malik muhammaD ashraf

F

OOD and shelter are the most inescapable basic human needs and owning a home is the dream of every individual and family. states with a welfare creed and agenda strive to ensure that all the people living within their territorial limits are provided with some kind of shelter called a home, according to their needs and range of affordability. The issue of housing has economic, social and political dimensions both for the families owning the house and for the government pursuing this strategic goal. For political parties vying with each other for political power by winning the franchise of the people, housing invariably is an important issue and a great catalyst for their electoral victories.

The PTI’s rise to power owes, among other things, to its manifesto promising 10 million jobs and five million housing units for the lower and lower-middle income groups by playing a role of enabler and facilitator. Pakistan faced an overall backlog of 11.2 million housing units. Therefore immediately after assumption of power, the Prime Minister launched the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme to fulfill his promise, also being mindful of the fact that the project also had enormous potential to kickstart the fallen economy and generate millions of jobs due to the connectivity of the housing industry to other industries and the multiplier effect of the investments made in it.

The fact that PTI inherited an economy in complete shambles did not deter the government from taking the plunge, besides taking other steps to revive the economy including macroeconomic reforms, documentation of the economy, broadening the tax base and the enactment of the Benami Act. The estimated financing requirements for building 5 million houses stood at around Rs 16 trillion. It envisaged that 20 percent of the cost of houses would be borne by the house owner while the remaining 80 percent would be provided by bank borrowing. Reportedly, the Prime Minister, in a meeting held on October 22 in regards to implementation of the programme, was told by the Governor of te state Bank and heads of the banks participating in it, that the procedure for obtaining loans had been simplified and separate desks had been established in the concerned banks. The programme is being faithfully implemented by the Naya Pakistan Housing Authority created for the purpose, notwithstanding the hit inflicted on the economy by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Federal Employees Housing Authority

has launched different schemes, including joint up will be five percent, while for a 10-marla ventures on Private land; government pro- house the interest will be seven percent. The govgrammes on government land and joint ventures ernment has also announced a subsidy of Rs with provincial governments. It is currently 300,000 each on the first 100,000 houses which working on Bara Kahu project where 3282 plots are built after the announcement of this scheme. some people are critical of the initiative taken are planned; sky Garden in Islamabad with 5198 plots and 3240 apartments in G-13 Islamabad. It by the government, saying that it has provided the has recently also launched new projects, includ- opportunity for people to whiten their black money, ing the construction of 1467 apartments in G-13 not realizing the fact that extraordinary situations Islamabad, 3432 apartments at Chaklala need extraordinary responses and policy initiatives.

Heights, skyline apartments in Islamabad num- Their criticism smacks of cynicism as it lacks conbering 3945and Life style Residency Lahore textual relevance. Further it is not desirable to condemn a policy or a scheme before it has run its full with 1258 apartments.

The Federal government has also signed course. In my estimation the collateral benefit of MOUs with provincial governments for housing this scheme would be a boost to the efforts of documenting the economy projects, including as well as increasing 46,000 apartments in government revenues Balochistan, out of due to the new and which 16,000 will be The successful implementation recorded investments. given to fishermen, and According to the 798 apartments in AJK. of the schemes as envisioned FBR, 127 projects have Acquisition of land in been registered till 19 different cities is in will unleash huge economic October 2020 with a progress and in some proposed cost of Rs.63 cases planning and activity in the country, which billion. In addition a other legal requirewill not only reinforce the total of 108 persons are ments have also been also in the process of completed. It is perticonstruction industry but also registering 114 projects nent to point out that the at a projected cost of number of people who help in the emergence of Rs.109 billion. The regapplied for the houses downstream industries besides istered projects from ran into millions. Hopemajor cities include 61 fully by the time the the creation of millions of jobs. projects in Karachi, 44 PTI government comin Lahore, 30 in Islampletes its tenure, the The multiplier effect of this abad, 19 in Rawalpindi, bulk of the housing prohuge investment will accrue 10 in Faisalabad and the gramme would have in other cities. More been completed. infinite impetus to the economy rest and more people are exIn the wake of the pected are expected to coronavirus pandemic as a whole. Hopefully by the come forward by 31 Dethe government took a very prudent decision to time the government completes cember, the last date for registering projects give the status of an inits tenure the combined effect under this new initiative. dustry to the construcIt all seems very tion sector, designed to of the foregoing initiatives, to a encouraging and indirevive the economy and cates the commitment to mitigate the adverse great extent, would have of the government to impact of the coronfulfilled the government pledge the revival of the fledgavirus. The Naya Pakling economy as well as istan Housing Authority of building five million houses solving housing probalso announced a packlems of the lower-inage for facilitating inand 10 million jobs. It is come groups. Only vestments in the housing noteworthy that the economy time will reveal the sector as well as cheaper final outcome but the loans for the people to has already started showing beginning is quite ausbuild their own homes. picious.

The fact that no quessigns of revival The successful imtions will be asked about plementation of the the source of money for schemes as envisioned investments made in the will unleash huge ecosector is a big incentive for the people to play their role in the revival of nomic activity in the country, which will not only the construction industry as well as contributing reinforce the construction industry but also help in their bit to the overall health of the economy. The the emergence of downstream industries besides construction industry is connected to nearly 40 the creation of millions of jobs. The multiplier efother industries. Its rejuvenation would certainly fect of this huge investment will accrue infinite impetus to the economy as a whole. Hopefully by have a spill-over effect on them.

Apart from the concessions given in different the time the government completes its tenure the taxes for investment in the housing projects combined effect of the foregoing initiatives, to a launched by the private sector the government has great extent, would have fulfilled the government also made sure that the poor people who do not pledge of building five million houses and 10 milhave houses of their own are also provided with lion jobs. It is noteworthy that the economy has the opportunity to have their dreams fulfilled. The already started showing signs of revival. banks have earmarked Rs.300 billion for advancMalik Muhammad Ashraf is an academic. ing loans to the people at very low mark-up. For a house to be built on five-marla plot, the mark- He can be contacted at: ashpak10@gmail.com

ROTE learning should have never been a norm in the first place.

Memorizing long paragraphs, complex mathematical equations and lengthy answers to difficult questions hardly constitute quality education.

This process does, however achieve the opposite of quality education. schools and colleges expect students to memorize their curriculums in a manner that is strictly robotic. There is no substance and joy in studying subjects that are supposed to be taught creatively. It is only useless to regurgitate information that our instructors expect from us in a classroom setting. The purpose of education is to “educate” others. If we continue to depend on rote memorization, what exactly are we preparing our future generations for? Rote learning stays with us on a temporary basis. It is a part of our short-term memory. However, learning that is free of rote memorization stays with us long-term.

Creative learning should come into play to solve the problem of poor education. You don’t need a fancy infrastructure to enable fast-paced, long term learning when you have creative means to make students shine. All schools and colleges require are trained instructors who are willing to tailor curriculums to the needs of every student, bridge learning gaps, steadily fast-track growth of slow learners and address pertinent questions that may be causing confusion relating to an array of topics.

Instead of verbalizing in class, opt for an alternative method of giving examples or demonstrating the same concept using imagery. students who may not be so good at comprehending a spoken sentence may respond better if the instructor uses visual aids. Each student learns at his or her pace. The idea that every student should be on the same footing as others is causing our current education system to suffer.

Moreover, it is imperative that learning is made fun. Having topical discussions and allowing students to collaborate with one another can foster growth and account for better learning outcomes.

We live in a time where technology can be amalgamated with education to make digital lesson plans and better curriculums. Use of simpler, easier to understand language to explain a complex concept is critical to factor in here. Animated videos can also be made to allow students, especially younger children the time to comprehend concepts according to their mental capabilities. Use of friendly graphics and virtual instructors give students an opportunity to enjoy what they are studying.

For this reason, education-technology startups are working relentlessly to ensure that education is immersive, collaborative and engaging.

It is high time that schools, universities and teachers realize the responsibilities they have on their shoulders. Education is an investment in our youth’s future and is not a matter to be taken so lightly. Our current education system is not only frail but robotic.

HaidEr riffat LaHorE

Another trouble INFLATION has made the lives of people more difficult. People are unable to buy essential items for the comfort of their lives. The major problem that people are facing is the hike in food prices. The high prices of foods in the country have soared dramatically during the last year. It has increased again in this year which has brought more troubles for people, with the recent increment, poor are being deprived of eating good foods by making them more expensive. On the other hand, the rates of all foods have been increased, now people are facing more problems especially people who are unable to buy good foods. so, the government should do something to decrease the rising price of foods so that the poor should get good foods.

SamEEr aSLam awaran KuLLi

Remembering Iqbal I feel very glad to see a poet, namely Allama Iqbal which is his 143rd birthday being celebrated today. In fact , he was born on 9th November in sialkot. However, he was a Muslim poet, a philosopher and a politician and is considered to be one of the greatest of this modern era . His name is given highly important in the world’s poets list. We recognize the reality he had worked for Pakistan’s being in the British time of rule . Allama Iqbal’s teachings on Islam and his philosophy of” Khudi” that believed in the promotion of self respect and human dignity, to make Pakistan a prosperous nation. Paying rich homage to our philosopher and a nice poet of Pakistan who was a great Benefactor of Muslim subcontinent and is remembered in our Pakistani denizens hearts.

BarKatuLLaH turBat

Transforming Myanmar MYANMAR has been awaiting new transition to take place through the current election. There has been wide talk about Myanmar election in the media circle. But the actual roadmap for peace and prosperity in the region must be supported and accelerated by all the stakeholders and well-wishers out there. sadly, Myanmar and its areas have been in the grip of many unresolved internal issues and external factors over and over again.

Possessing beautiful geographical structure and natural resources, this Asian nation has been topping the charts of school syllabus up till now.

Many interesting tidbits about Myanmar like natural resources, largest rice production had all beautified our schooldays in Korkai, Tuticorin, Tirunelveli, Tiruchendur, Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu in the early 1990s.

In this era of telecommuting worldwide, great technological advances have not yet reached the Myanmar region calling for attention from world leaders and philanthropists. This country and people have long been in ruins/disintegration due to various conflicts, both ethnic and outside.

It is time for Myanmar to turn the corner in terms of education, economy, democracy, employment and wealth. This is not the time to rig the election result but to create a ray of hope in the region and among the people. The neighbourhoods, diplomats like Aung san suu Kyi and world bodies like the UN should take bold steps to put Myanmar on the front burner politically and economically.

P SEntHiL Saravana durai mumBai

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

YeS, There waS elecTion fraUd THE QUESTION IS HOW MUCH

FederalIst marGot ClEvEland

“M

y fellow Americans, the people of this nation have spoken. They have delivered us a clear victory. A convincing victory,” Joe Biden proclaimed late Saturday night after news outlets declared him the winner of the 2020 election. Biden’s speech came while several battleground states remain mired in too-close-to call tallying and litigation, and while recounts promise to delay the official outcome in the additional states Democrats claim as securing Biden 279 electoral votes.

If history is a guide, the certified winner will match the press’ preordained victor, but all Americans should nonetheless want the process to proceed because we know there was fraud and we know there were illegal votes tallied. The only question is how much and who was complicit.

Was the fraud just at the fringes? Or was there fraud on the scale former Illinois governor and corruption-connoisseur felon Rod Blagojevich suggested on Friday?

“If the question is, are the Democrats stealing votes in Philadelphia, my answer is,

‘Is the Pope Catholic?’ It’s a time-honored tradition,” Blagojevich said. “Big Democratcontrolled cities like Chicago, my hometown, Philadelphia, to do precisely what they’re doing now I’ve never seen such a magnitude because this I think is an indication of just how widespread it is, how deep it is.”

“And I don’t think it’s just confined to Philadelphia. My instincts, again coming out of Chicago Democratic politics, my instincts tell me it’s going on in Atlanta, it’s going on in Detroit, it’s going on in Milwaukee, it’s going on in Las Vegas,” Blagojevich continued. “It’s like what Justice Powell said about pornography: ‘you can’t define it, but you know when you see it.’”

“And coming out of the Democratic Chicago political establishment, I know how they operate. They control polling places, they stop votes when their candidate’s behind, and then in the wee hours of the morning, in the dark of night, the stealing starts.

And we’ve seen that in big numbers, unprecedented numbers in this election in Michigan and Philadelphia. It’s outrageous, and the fact that they’re doing it with impunity . . .”

Again, we know there was fraud, for instance, with the dead rising from the grave to vote and Pennsylvania election officials tossing military votes for Donald Trump.

The problem with fraud, though, is proving it, and that’s what Trump’s legal team is attempting to do with recounts and litigation throughout the country.

“There have been disturbing reports of fraud and procedural irregularities in key states, and on top of that, election officials in Democrat-controlled jurisdictions have put illegal roadblocks in the path of Repub-

lican election observers,” Michael Thielen, executive director of the Republican National Lawyers Association, told The Federalist. Thielen added that while “election observers from both parties are authorized under state laws to view the voting and counting process to provide sunshine and ensure the rules are being followed, the Trump campaign has repeatedly had to go to court to allow Republican observers to see the processing of ballots.”

One of the main focal points for Republicans is Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes, which Trump won in 2016, but with the uncertified count for 2020 putting Biden ahead by about 20,000 votes currently. While much of the focus in Wisconsin is in the Milwaukee area and the capitol, Madison, another area of concern is Green Bay. Green Bay, Wisconsin, rests in Brown County, where Biden reportedly accumulated a 10,000-plus surplus over Trump. Andrew Kloster, a long-time attorney volunteering with the Republicans, has been on the ground in Green Bay area for nearly a week.“It’s bad,” Kloster told The Federalist, detailing multiple voting irregularities. “We had two [George] Soros-connected guys handling ballot boxes and instructing poll workers,” Kloster noted, until one of the activists was removed. “We had chain of custody issues.

We had workers curing Biden ballots,” the D.C.-based attorney noted.

While addressing voter irregularities there may be unlikely to change the outcome, as former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker wrote last week on the need for a recount, both mistakes and fraud may be at issue. In one earlier election, about 7,500 votes “from the City of Brookfield were found to have never been submitted to the Waukesha County Clerk.”

And then there was the 2000 election that pitted George W. Bush against Al Gore.

While that fight ended up playing out in

Joe Biden will not be able to unify the US

Florida, Republicans had considered Wisconsin for a recount. “We had, on video, images of a Park Avenue socialites going to Milwaukee area homeless shelters and offering packs of cigarettes for people who voted early for Al Gore,” Walker detailed.

John Solomon’s new venture, Just the News, reported in more depth on the illegal “curing” of ballots in Wisconsin. “Curing” is when officials count a ballot that is legally disqualified or difficult to read.

“Wisconsin Statute 6.87(6d) stipulates that any ballot ‘may not be counted’ if it is missing the address of the voter’s witness,” and in August, the Wisconsin Elections Commission “issued a directive to voters that reaffirmed that statute: ‘If [the witness signature and address] is missing, your ballot will not be counted.’” But then, according to Just the News, “in mid-October, the Wisconsin Elections Commission issued a directive to the state’s county clerks appearing to give them the authority, in contravention of state law, to fix incomplete (or ‘spoiled’) ballots that are missing witness signatures.”

Trump is seeking a recount in Wisconsin and will likely push to have ballots that failed to comply with the requirements established by the legislative body tossed as illegal votes.

The illegal “curing” of ballots in Pennsylvania appears to have gone a step further, with the secretary of state instructing election officials in Democratic-run areas to “cure” votes in violation of state law, while not providing election officials in Republican areas the same directive.

Those Democratic counties then contacted voters to fix mistakes that would have rendered the ballots invalid, while voters in Republican areas lacked this same opportunity, a local Republican election official told The Federalist. The Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore held that using different standards within the same state violated the Equal Protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, suggesting possible recourse in Pennsylvania, which is also facing a court challenge to the state’s extension of its voting deadline beyond Nov. 3.

These challenges may be unlikely to

FInancIal tImes Janan GanESH

On course for 300-ish electoral college votes, the US president-elect aimed to “bind the wounds of division” and serve “all Americans”.

The prospect of “one united people” was not so exotic to a man reared in the bipartisan midpoint of the 20th century.

Perhaps Donald Trump suppressed a smirk as he offered that olive branch four Novembers ago.

But then Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton made the same noises upon their own ascensions to the White House. Whether we blame them or the implacability of their opponents, each failed. No doubt, Joe Biden, who “doesn’t see red states and blue states”, will be fifth time lucky.

This is a crass moment, I know, to play down the change of president. Washington and other liberal cities caroused as news of Mr Biden’s projected victory spread on Saturday. Killjoys must — the ghastly demotic is fitting for once — read the room.

It is just that a blast of cold water to the face is so plainly in the offing. Whatever Mr Biden’s achievements as president, such as a rolled-out vaccine, or a resurgent Nato, national unity will not be among them. Once he is sworn in, Republicans are liable to rediscover

Biden’s pledge to “heal” and “unify” can seem, as jarring as this is in a 77-year-old, childlike in its innocence.

Because he rose in a bipartisan Washington, where Republicans voted to impeach their own Richard Nixon, Mr Biden tends to see it as the natural order of things. And conflict as aberrant, easily transcended with goodwill and blarney around the deal table. The trouble is that 1970s Washington was never natural or typical. It was the product of contingent circumstances that no longer hold. Among them was the hugely disciplining presence of a foreign enemy.

In retrospect, the end of the cold war scrambled the civic life of the winning nation, not just the loser.

While the US faced an external threat, there were prudent limits to its domestic squabbles. Within my lifetime, it was normal to see a unanimous confirmation of a Supreme Court justice and a 400 electoral-college vote score for a presidential candidate. There hasn’t been one of either since 1988. An unchallenged nation has felt at liberty to pick at its own seams. In theory, the Chinese threat will usurp the Soviet one as the great American adhesive. It is taking its time.

To say the US will remain unhealed is not axiomatically to be bleak about it. The bipartisanship of yesteryear was often purchased at grievous cost: the splitting of differences on big questions, the skirting of them altogether. Core to the postwar inter-party truce was a tacit agreement to put off the civil rights issue, for instance. Mr Biden’s best shot at a harmonious four years is to attempt nothing of note. If only a stricken US economy, or the global one it helps to drive, could afford benign neglect.

Margot Cleveland is a former full-time faculty member and adjunct instructor at the college of business at the University of Notre Dame.

The Pfizer vaccine is not the silver bullet to fighting coronavirus THE PRACTICAL LOGISTICS OF SUPPLYING AND DISTRIBUTING THIS VACCINE LOOK ABOUT AS CHALLENGING AS YOU CAN IMAGINE

NO PRESIDENT CAUSED AMERICA’S RIFTS AND NO PRESIDENT CAN HEAL THEM the fiscal conservatism they unaccountably mislay between Democratic presidencies. Their new Congressional members, elected under Mr Trump, will bring freshness to the partisan fray. A President Biden will be stymied at all turns.

His two Democratic predecessors were so tenaciously resisted as to have their legitimacy impugned.

Each lost Congress in their first midterm elections to insurgent movements that strayed into the wilder edges of rhetoric. The hope that Mr Biden will escape their fates seems to rest on his personal emollience and unthreatening, milk-andwater centrism. But Mr Clinton had more of both and Mr Obama was not wholly lacking in either. It made little difference. Partisanship is in the structure and culture of Washington. It is not a matter of this or that president.

This is still a country in which a large minority of Democrats would be unhappy if their child married a Republican — Republicans are only slightly breezier about the inverse.

It is one where the victorious running mate, Kamala Harris, can equate her party’s win with nothing less than that of “science”. There is self-flattery and bad history in the global left’s recent pose as the Enlightenment Party. It used to be they, inspired by French academe, who saw truth as relative or “constructed”. Whatever the conceit, though, Ms Harris is clear-eyed enough to see that Americans inhabit distinct mental worlds now.

What counts as a fact is in dispute.

In her glumness, she is more realistic than her boss. Last week, Mr Trump showed that a president can do almost anything and win near to half of the vote, while his enablers can make gains in Congress. Next to group loyalty on this scale, Mr

change the outcome in Pennsylvania, but they prove up the problem of changing the rules mid-course. And while the media (and some courts) may view curing ballots as protecting voters, absent a clear, pre-defined set of standards by the state legislature, the franchise (or disenfranchisement) of voters will rest in the hands of partisan officials.

Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan are also in the mix, with a recount in Georgia permitted if a margin of 0.5 percent or less separates the candidates. Michigan allows a recount either if winner and losers are separated by 2,000 total votes or less, or if there is a “good-faith belief that but fraud or mistake, the candidate would have had a reasonable chance of winning the election.”

Arizona, however, seems unlikely to qualify for a recount, as under state law, “an election has to be decided by 200 votes or less, or one-tenth of one percent of the votes cast, whichever is the smaller number,” and the margin between Trump and Biden is currently too large to merit a recount.

Notwithstanding these legal challenges and rights to recounts, calls are being made for Trump to concede. Americans are understandably weary of relitigating the election, especially after Democrats subjected the country to four years of resistance to his win in 2016. But just as Trump exposed “Fake News” and “the Swamp” and began to peel back the shroud of the D.C.-establishment, such as the Biden and Kerry families enriching themselves by selling access, if these prove to be the waning of the Trump administration, the president’s last hurrah should be to spotlight the crumbling legitimacy of our voting system.

Of course, the usual suspects will chastise Trump if he continues to question the outcome of the election. And some of Trump’s more vocal supporters may well join in the calls for him to accept defeat, casting his comments challenging the election as unpatriotic or dangerous.

Independent Ian HamIlton

It’s hard not to be excited about the news that Pfizer has developed a vaccine for Covid. So far, the pandemic has felt like a one-sided fight and not in our favour. This announcement gives us all some hope.

For once, the government even seems to have planned ahead, and has ordered 30 million doses of this new vaccine.

So far, so good. But then the detail starts to emerge. Those 30 million doses, for example, won’t treat 30 million people as the vaccine needs to be given in two doses, so will be sufficient to treat 15 million. Clearly, there will be tough decisions about who will be prioritised and who will be left out. Although it may seem obvious to prioritise some groups such as frontline NHS staff and vulnerable individuals, there are no guarantees at this stage.

Pfizer says its phase 3 trial data shows the vaccine is 90 per cent effective.

Impressive as this is, that still means one in ten won’t be protected. If we know who doesn’t respond to the vaccine in the way we would hope, then we could save 3 million doses and prevent raising false hope for that group. The problem is we don’t know if Pfizer is able to predict who doesn’t respond to the drug. However, the good news is that those from black and minority ethnic communities respond just as well to this new drug.

None of us represent the “average” result so there are likely to be differences in the way individuals respond to this vaccine, even using basic demographic variables such as age or gender. Hopefully Pfizer not only has that data but will make it available but there is no obligation for it to do so – remember, this is a commercial project by a publicly listed company, not an act of charity.

The practical logistics of supplying and distributing this vaccine look about as challenging as you

can imagine. The drug needs to be stored at minus 80C. That’s not the kind of facility that many, if any, GP surgeries have. This will also present challenges for the manufacturing of this vaccine at scale. Add to this that we are not the only country competing to secure sufficient doses. It will be critical that we are able to add to the initial order of 30 million doses to ensure the whole population is protected.

This vaccine is given in two doses three weeks apart. Compliance with this will also be challenging, as people forget about follow up appointments or misunderstand about the need for the second dose.

The so-called Hawthorn Effect tells us that people behave differently in research trials when they are being observed compared to how they act in real life.

Fortunately, consideration has been given to the workforce needed to distribute this vaccine, and the list of permitted health care workers has been expanded. However, these are not additional new staff: they are drawn from the existing workforce.

We don’t know how long this vaccine provides immunity for. The phase 3 trial was based on immunity at 28 days. Clearly, if it were limited to that time period, it would also have limited utility.

Pfizer recruited over 40,000 people into its trial.

That sounds a lot but it’s only when you scale up these vaccines that many of the safety problems emerge – they could be minor but this new vaccine may cause problems that some individuals decide are not worth it. An obvious group is pregnant women, rarely included in such trials, but no less in need of a vaccine.

Undoubtedly, it’s time we had some good news in relation to Covid and have at least one weapon in the fight to defeat it. But this won’t be a complete game changer and needs to be viewed alongside all the measures that we’ve become familiar with.

It is telling that we have developed a vaccine before we have what should be a much less challenging component in our armoury, which is an effective test and trace system.

Ian Hamilton is associate professor of addiction at the University of York.

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

BUSINESS 09 CORPORATE CORNER

M A Latif elected ICAP vice president KARACHI: The Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) elected new office bearers for the year 2020-21 in its 334th meeting held in Karachi. The council unanimously elected M Ali Latif as Vice President. Muhammad Ali Latif is a Fellow Member (FCA) of the ICAP. He is a practicing chartered accountant working as Tax Partner in "M/s Muniff Ziauddin & Co., Chartered Accountants". Latif is a second generation Chartered Accountant and son of a wellknown practicing chartered accountant, MTK Rehmani (Late) - who practiced under the name & style of "M/s Rehmani & Co, Chartered Accountants." Latif has more than 15 years of varied professional experience in areas of public financial management, tax planning, business advisory, corporate finance and corporate affairs. He is a Council Member of ICAP since 2017.

CCP Issues show CAuse notICes to PsMA, 84 MeMber MILLs over CArteLIsAtIon ISLAMABAD

t

SHAHZAD PARACHA

HE Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has issued show cause notices to Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) and its 84 member mills on multiple instances of prima facie cartelisation in violation of Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2010.

The show cause notices have been issued after the CCP decided to initiate proceedings under section 30 of the act on the recommendations of an inquiry into the anti-competitive activities in the sugar sector.

The CCP's inquiry has found multiple instances where PSMA is acting as a front-runner for cartelisation in the sugar industry. Evidence gathered during search and inspections conducted on the premises of PSMA and JDW Sugar Mills seem to suggest these anti-competitive activities have continued since 2010.

The impounded data included exchange of emails between "a senior official of one of the sugar mill" (member of PSMA) and PSMA Punjab zone office bearers regarding sensitive commercial information such as mill-wise, district-wise sugar stock position,

and even the quantity of cane crushed, sugar produced, recovery percentage, carry forward old/raw sugar, total sugar, quantity sold, balance and sold percentage. During an analysis of the WhatsApp messages exchanged in a group of PSMA officials, the same senior official of that sugar mill was found to be in constant communication with regard to price and stock related data of sugar mills. The impounded data indicated the senior official's continued involvement in sharing/receiving sensitive information regarding the sugar industry since 2012 when he was nominated as the focal person for coordinating the sugar stock position by PSMA. Furthermore, the PSMA’s platform was also being used by member sugar mills to collectively make commercially sensitive decisions such as reduction in domestic stocks/supplies of sugar, which led to an increase in or maintenance of desired price levels in the relevant market.

"PSMA and its members have been provided an opportunity of hearing to plead their case with reference to the prima facie specific violations indicated therein," the CCP stated. "The association and all 84 sugar mills prima facie violated the act by collectively deciding to export sugar and thereby fixing the quan-

mARkeT DAily

PSX mimics global markets, gains 369 points on Covid vaccine hopes KARACHI STAFF REPORT

KARACHI: Kim Haksung, newly arrived Consul General of the Republic of Korea, receiving shield from Sardar Kamran Lasi, Chairman Balochistan Fishermen's Society Ltd, during a meeting at the Korean Consulate.

KARACHI: Sehat Kahani, one of the leading tele-healthcare service providers in Pakistan, congratulates their Co-founder & COO Dr Iffat Zafar Aga for becoming the first Pakistani female recipient of the Elevate Foundation Prize Award 2020.

KARACHI: K-Electric teams seek support of community leaders (Jirga) to enable the installation of aerial bundled cables and regulated electricity metres in Faqeer Colony, Orangi Town.

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Tuesday closed in green in line with global markets, which rallied on hopes of a potential breakthrough in the search for a vaccine against Covid-19.

“Pfizer’s announcement of Covid vaccine turned global markets hopeful of resumption of pre-Covid business activities.

Besides, the local bourse reacted positively to the surge in international crude oil prices as well as a rise in US stocks (+2.5pc).

Buying activity was more pronounced in exploration & production stocks, followed by banks and oil & gas marketing companies,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read.

The benchmark KSE-100 Index started the session on a positive note, accumulating 813.29 points to touch its intraday high at 41,597.33. It ended higher by 369.01 points at 41,153.05. Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index gathered 952.42 points to close at 65,935.93, while the KSE All Share Index added 190.58 points, settling at 28,861.45.

The overall market volumes appreciated from 276.79 million shares in the previous session to 355.98 million shares (+29pc). Average traded value also increased by 59pc, from $60 million to $95.4 million.

TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG 5.36pc), Pakistan Refinery Ltd (PRL +1.83pc) and Al-Shaheer Corporation Ltd (ASC +6.30pc) led the volume chart,

exchanging 30.91 million, 23.53 million and 21.65 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that kept the benchmark index in green included oil & gas exploration (+176.60 points), banking (+136.40 points) and textile composite (+34.39 points). Among the companies, United Bank Ltd (UBL +66.09 points), Pak Petroleum Ltd (PPL +61.51 points) and Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC +55.46 points) remained the top contributors.

Adding 3.81pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the oil & gas exploration sector emerged as the session’s top performer, with OGDC (+3.97pc), Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (MARI +2.09pc), PPL (+4.38pc) and Pakistan Oilfields Limited (POL 4.71pc) posting decent gains.

Former BDA chairman, TCC security officer remanded in Reko Diq scam NEWS DESK Quetta Accountability Court on Tuesday remanded former Balochistan Development Authority (BDA) chairman and former Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) security and government affairs officer into NAB custody for their involvement in Reko Diq scam. The former BDA chairman and the former TCC officer were arrested from Islamabad four days ago.

After taking transit remand from Islamabad court, the accused were produced before Quetta Accountability Court judge Munawar Shahwani wherein the judge approved NAB plea for 15-day remand.

It may be mentioned that the

National Accountability BureauBalochistan, after the approval of NAB Chairman Justice Javed Iqbal, had filed a reference against 26 accused, including the former officers of Balochistan government and international companies, in the Reko Diq case.

The accused, in connivance with each other, had caused billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer. In 1993, the Chaghi Hills Exploration Joint Venture Agreement was signed between the BDA and an Australian company Broken Hills Proprietary, in which the later was illegally benefited by corrupt officials, particularly those belonging to the BDA. "The Balochistan Mining Concession Rules were not only

illegally amended to further strengthen the terms of this agreement, which was in conflict with the national interest, but also by repeatedly entering into illegal sub-agreements and introducing a new company namely TCC, more financial benefits were obtained," NAB observed. In addition, there were serious irregularities in the allotment of land and other matters by the officials of the revenue department, while the accused also confessed of taking financial benefits in this regard. Examination of records and statements of witnesses revealed eye-opening facts that TCC operatives were found to be involved in bribing government employees and illegally gaining interests.

tities of sugar to be supplied in Pakistan."

Similarly, they also violated the act by reducing stocks of sugar through exports; hence collectively raised and maintained prices of sugar in Pakistan.

In the crushing season 2019-20, 15 sugar mills in Punjab, under the auspices of PSMA, collectively decided to delay crushing of sugarcane leading to reduction in quantity supplied in the market. In Punjab, 45 sugar mills used PSMA’s platform to share business sensitive information with each other.

Lastly, PSMA and sugar mills divided quantities of sugar in tenders issued by USC on various occasions. The CCP found 19 mills in Punjab to have violated the Act with reference to a tender dated 2019 whereas, 30 mills from all over Pakistan have been issued show cause for an earlier tender.

The findings of CCP’s previous sugar enquiry report in 2009 had found that PSMA and its members had engaged in fixing of prices and collusion in the purchase of sugarcane, production of sugar, and sale or trade of sugar. In the instant matter, it appears that PSMA and its member mills sought to keep prices stable, inter alia, by controlling supply of sugar available in the domestic market.

KP govt approves handing over five more rest houses to tourism authority PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government on Tuesday approved to handover five more rest houses to the provincial tourism authority for the promotion of tourism in the province. The KP government had earlier decided to hand over all 169 government rest houses in the province to the tourism authority so as to provide better accommodation to national and foreign tourists. Under this policy, several government rest houses at various tourist destinations have already been handed over to the tourism authorities. According to Chief Minister's Information Adviser Kamran Bangash, the provincial cabinet has approved the outsourcing and online booking of five rest houses in Galyat.

These include Speaker Himalaya Rest House, Police IG House, Karnak House, while the remaining two rest houses -- Governor House and Chief Minister's House -- will be handed over to the tourism authority after renovation. It may be mentioned that a total of 169 rest houses were decided to be handed over to tourism authority, of which 48 rest houses have so far been advertised for outsourcing purposes.

GroupM chief strategy officer Kiran Khan Ali resigns KARACHI BABAR KHAN JAVED

Kiran Khan Ali, the chief strategy officer of GroupM, has resigned from the media investment firm. Her resignation comes just as Amna Khatib was promoted to chief digital officer, replacing Kiran as the sole female C-suite leader at GroupM Pakistan. Sources told Profit that Kiran worked on several initiatives to build new media products with a special focus on emerging categories like eCommerce. As the first female executive promoted to the C-suite at GroupM Pakistan, Kiran has had one of the fastest career progressions of any female media executive in the country. After graduating in 2004 with a master’s in business administration from the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, Kiran joined Mindshare as an assistant media planner in 2005. Within two years, she was promoted to senior media planner and by 2008 she was promoted to the head of planning for the Unilever account. In this role, Kiran won the “Best use of TV” award at the Purple Head Media Awards for her work on Surf Splat Re-launch.

Pakistan can save $5bn by scaling up renewable energy: WB ISLAMABAD APP

A World Bank (WB) study launched Tuesday suggests that a major scale-up of variant renewable energy (VRE) could help Pakistan save US$5 billion in costs over the next 20 years, mainly from reduced fuel consumption.

“Pakistan should quickly implement a major scale-up of solar and wind generation,” the report advised.

The study, titled Variable Renewable Energy (VRE) Integration and Planning, finds that Pakistan needs to urgently implement a major expansion of solar and wind “variable renewable energy”, to achieve a share of at least 30per cent of total capacity by 2030.

This would help lower the cost of power, achieve greater energy security, and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

“A large and sustained expansion of solar photovoltaic and wind power, alongside hydropower and substantial investments

in the grid, is both achievable and desirable”, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan Najy Benhassine said.

“Such an initiative would lead to immediate and long-term economic and environmental benefits. It would enhance the security of supply as well as positioning Pakistan at the forefront of the global energy transition. We stand ready to support Pakistan in achieving the goal of affordable, reliable power for all by 2030,” he added.

According to the study, many sources of

fossil fuel generation are no longer competitive and should be retired or their use significantly reduced.

This includes domestic and imported coal, which is not economical over the next 10 years compared to VRE and has the additional downsides of GHG emissions, air pollution, and use of scarce water resources.

The study, based on an hour-by-hour analysis of all generation options, finds that a substantial and immediate scaling up

of VRE capacity represents a “least-cost” strategy for expanding capacity in Pakistan, including consideration of the costs of integrating the variable supply from solar and wind.

It may be noted that short term reductions in demand growth—even stagnation in demand as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic—does not impact this finding, and the country’s energy policy needs to be considered over much longer time horizons.

Wednesday, 11 October, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS aiQ, G42, Schlumberger sign pact to develop ai for oil market HOUSTEN AGENCIES

AIQ, Schlumberger and Group 42 (G42) have signed an agreement to collaborate on the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and data solutions for the oil and gas industry. AIQ is an Abu Dhabi-based joint venture company between G42 and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) that specialises in the development of AI products and applications for the global oil and gas industry, and G42 is a leading AI and cloud computing company based in Abu Dhabi.

Schlumberger is the world’s leading provider of technology and digital solutions for reservoir characterization, drilling, production, and processing to the energy industry. Under the terms of the agreement, the three companies will leverage their combined domain knowledge in digital technology, high-performance computing and cloud storage capabilities to develop and commercialise market-leading AI products for the global upstream Exploration and Production (E&P) market. Speaking ahead of the official opening of the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition Conference (ADIPEC), Abdulmunim Saif Al Kindy, Chairman of the AIQ Board, said: “We look forward to bringing together the teams’ combined Upstream industry expertise and AIQ’s AI modelling and supercomputing capabilities to develop and commercialize advanced AI solutions.” As part of the partnership, AIQ will work on developing and deploying AI modelling and supercomputing solutions using Schlumberger’s open cloud-based software platforms. The deployment will be hosted on G42’s cloud infrastructure.

The combined team will also cross-share relevant proprietary research technology and work to identify pilot projects that have potential to be commercialised in the global E&P market.

australian state unveils $23.3bn renewable energy roadmap CANBERRA AGENCIES

Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) state said it would shift toward renewable energy from coal and aimed to lure A$32 billion ($23.3 billion) of private investment into the sector in the next decade. Australia’s most populous state said it would cut red tape and speed up approvals for businesses to invest in renewable energy projects, with four of its five coal-fired power plants expected to close in the next 15 years. The plans would create close to 10,000 jobs and aimed to bring 12 gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar power and 2 GW of storage, such as pumped hydro, online by 2030, state Energy Minister Matt Kean said in a statement.

The opposition Labor Party said it would support the plans although they came “after a decade of delay”. Most Australian states support greater use of renewable energy but the federal government has refused to match other developed countries in setting a target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Instead, Canberra says zero emissions will be reached some time after 2050. Australia is so far well short of meeting its Paris accord target of cutting carbon emissions by 26% to 28% from 2005 levels by 2030. U.S. president-elect Joe Biden could encourage Australia to meet its emissions targets, the Australian Industry Group said, as he has said his administration will rejoin the Paris climate deal and aim to achieve zero emissions by 2050. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Biden’s election would not change Australia’s climate policies. “Australia will always set its policies based on Australia’s national interests,” Morrison told reporters in Canberra.

dry bulk market could rally if scrapping activity picks up ATHENS AGENCIES

The dry bulk market could be heading for a rally, if ship owners commit to more scrapping. In its latest weekly report, Shipbroker Intermodal said that “as the end of the year approaches, one would definitely notice that the new building order book for bulk carriers is significantly smaller compared to the levels of the same period last year; a year where new building orders were also down compared to the year before”. According to Intermodal, “starting with the Handysize sector, a total number of 109 units are on order compared to the 127 units for the same period last year (5% vs 4% today in terms of order book to fleet ratio). In the Supra-Ultra segment, 233 ships were on order last year vs 188 units until today (5% of the fleet today vs 7% the year before). Moreover, regarding the Panamax-Kamsarmax front is concerned, from a total orderbook of 193 ships last year, the current one now consists of 121 ships (9% vs 5% today). Finally, the orderbook of Capes/Newcastlemax stands today at 126 units vs 201 ships during the same period last year (7% and 12% of the existing fleet respectively)”. The shipbroker added that “although the slow newbuilding contracting activity is evident and welcomed by all dry bulk ship owners, it is very interesting to undergo a more detailed research of the reasons that led to the above slump of orders.

Renewed eURopean loCKdownS to delay oil demand ReCoveRy: FitCH NEW YORK

R

AGENCIES

ENEWED European lockdowns will delay demand recovery in the global oil market, particularly if these measures are extended into 2021 or further restrictions are re-introduced in the US or other regions, Fitch Ratings said. However, OPEC+ supply adjustments should mitigate the impact of demand volatility on oil prices. “We expect global demand to be stronger during the current lockdowns than in April-May and have kept our oil price assumptions unchanged.”

In September and October oil consumption was about 5% lower than before the coronavirus pandemic, although this was a dramatic improvement compared to April, when demand was about 20% lower yoy. European lockdowns, even if extended, should not result in a massive fall in demand as Europe accounts for just about 15% of global oil consumption. Furthermore, the current lockdowns are less strict, which means demand for vehicle fuel will be less affected. “However, we expect a combination of the lockdowns and rising infection rates across the

world to delay a full demand recovery beyond 2021.”

Under the original OPEC+ deal reached in April, members would increase production by about 2 million barrels per day (MMBpd) from January 2021.

However, we expect that OPEC+ is likely to at least extend the cuts by several months in order to avoid production surpluses and rapidly falling prices. Saudi Arabia and Russia have already indicated that they are considering extending the existing production cuts by three months or making even larger cuts. We believe that OPEC+ will continue to make timely changes to supply in 2021, which should reduce oil price volatility. The next OPEC+ meeting is scheduled for 30 November and 1 December.

“We estimate that even if demand remains at the current levels of about 95MMbpd throughout 2021, OPEC+ should be able to keep the market broadly balanced by maintaining its production.” Any decisions to increase production could result in oversupply and reverse the progress achieved in oil inventory normalisation.

Growing production in Libya, which is a member of OPEC but is exempt from production cuts alongside Iran and Venezuela, is another factor that makes

EU hits Amazon with antitrust charges over merchant data BRUSSELS AGENCIES

Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner who oversees competition, will announce formal antitrust charges against Amazon on Tuesday over how it uses data about the merchants on its platform, according to two people with knowledge of the announcement.

The case focuses on the online retailer’s dual role, both as a marketplace for third-party vendors and also as a competitor which sells its own goods, these people said. The charge sheet, which is part of a probe that started nearly two years ago, fleshes out concerns that Amazon may be abusing its role by using the data it gathers on merchants to compete against them.

Amazon declined to comment. In the past the company has played down antitrust concerns, noting that many retailers have their own private label offerings, and that online sales represent only a small

sliver of the overall retail sector. Independent merchants are free to use some or all of Amazon’s services and can expand their reach and start selling online with limited initial investment, the company has noted.

Amazon’s business practices have been under scrutiny elsewhere in the EU and in the US. In 2018 the German antitrust watchdog launched a probe into its dual role as both marketplace for seller and seller of its own brands, looking into whether it used its market power to set illegal contract terms. In the US Amazon is part of a group of companies under scrutiny by the House Judiciary Committee. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission have also launched antitrust probes against Amazon.

The formal charges against Amazon will reinforce Ms Vestager’s reputation as a tough enforcer with an emphasis on tackling market rigging, consumer abuse and tax dodging.

Iran’s mega South Pars gas field nears completion TEHRAN AGENCIES

Despite being technically bankrupt, Iran is nearing completion of South Pars Phase 11, one of the world’s largest new natural gas developments.

The net present value of Iran’s supergiant South Pars natural gas field has jumped from an estimated $116 billion at this point last year to $135 billion now, a senior oil and gas industry source who works closely with Iran’s Petroleum Ministry exclusively told OilPrice.com last week.

The key reason behind this valuation boost is that progress across all areas of the development, including the controversial Phase 11, has picked up pace on the back of an increase in the involvement of various Chinese companies who operate under the US’ sanctions radar through individual contact-only projects, not as official field developers. Given this, it is now expected by Iran’s Petroleum Ministry that the entire South Pars project will be producing at or near fully Phase 1 capacity well in advance of the March 2022 official completion date.

Thus specific project-by-project ‘contract-only’

mode of working has been employed by China at scale in Iran ever since it – officially at least – China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) withdrew from the flagship Phase 11 development of South Pars in October last year. It was obvious to anyone who knows how China works in such situations, including in neighbouring Iraq, that it was not going to walk away from its investment either in Phase 11 or in Iran as a whole, especially as it was in the process of widening out the 25-year deal with the country,” said the Iran source.

Indeed, quite aside from the massive geopolitical importance of Iran (and close ally Iraq) to China, the 25-year deal means that in exchange for at least $400 billion from China, Chinese companies will be given the first option to bid on any new – or stalled or uncompleted – oil, gas, and petrochemicals projects in Iran. China will also be able to buy any and all oil, gas, and petrochemicals products at a minimum guaranteed discount of 12 percent to the six-month rolling mean average price of comparable benchmark products, plus another 6 to 8 percent of that metric for risk-adjusted compensation.

a cuts extension more likely. Libya increased production from almost zero to 0.5MMbpd in October, and is planning to ramp up its output to 1MMbpd.

US shale production remains an important market driver. It is currently about 2.5MMbpd below the pre-crisis level, and we do not expect it to fully recover in the medium term, although better-positioned companies may start to increase output. Many US shale-focused companies went through bankruptcy and the industry is consolidating, which should make it more resilient to oil price shocks. However, constrained access to funding for high-yield issuers and producers focusing on breakeven price reduction may constrain further growth. However, the number of oil drilling rigs bottomed out in June-July, which suggests that the worst could be over for the US shale industry.

We rate through the cycle and the renewed market volatility should not have a material negative impact on our oil and gas ratings portfolio. We maintain our assumptions for Brent averaging USD45/bbl in 2021, USD50/bbl in 2022 and USD53/bbl in the long term. However, lower-rated companies with liquidity issues will be more vulnerable if volatility persists.

US sanctions 4 more Chinese officials over Hong Kong row WASHINGTON AGENCIES

The United States has slapped sanctions on four more officials in the mainland and Hong Kong, accusing them of threatening the peace and security of the semi-autonomous city over their role in enacting the national security law imposed by Beijing at the end of June. The US Department of State identified the four as Deng Zhonghua, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office; Edwina Lau, deputy commissioner of police in Hong Kong, and Li Jiangzhou and Li Kwai-wah, two officials at the newly established national security office in Hong Kong.“These individuals will be barred from travelling to the United States and their assets within the jurisdiction of the United States or in the possession or control of US persons will be blocked,” said Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state. “These actions underscore US resolve to hold accountable key figures that are actively eviscerating the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong and undermining Hong Kong’s autonomy,” he added.

Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung said the sanctions were “absolutely unacceptable, blatant – and I would use the word ‘barbaric’ – interference”.

“We are not going to be intimidated,” Cheung told reporters, speaking at a regular news conference held on Tuesday morning in Hong Kong. Washington has already imposed similar sanctions on Hong Kong’s top leader, Carrie Lam, as well as the city’s current and former police chiefs. Lam downplayed the effect of the measures in August, but acknowledged that she had had trouble with a credit card after the sanctions. Washington has called China’s enactment of the national security law in Hong Kong an unacceptable breach of the “one country, two systems” commitment made on the city’s handover from Britain in 1997.

The new legislation, imposed on June 30, punishes anything Beijing deems secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison. Last month, the US State Department also warned international financial institutions doing business with individuals deemed responsible for China’s crackdown in Hong Kong that they could soon face tough sanctions.

Delhi residents complain of breathlessness as air quality worsens NEW DELHI AGENCIES

Air quality in India’s capital deteriorated to its worst this year on Tuesday prompting a social media barrage of residents complaining about stinging eyes, sore throat and breathlessness in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

New Delhi’s overall air quality index, which measures pollutants including PM2.5 particles, rose to 488, its highest level in a year, according to

government data. That was up from 477 on a scale of 500 yesterday.

The data showed the deadly particulate matter PM2.5, which can cause cardiovascular and respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, also reached its highest levels since November 2019 and stood at more than 30 the World Health Organization’s safe limit.

This comes as Delhi, suffering a “third wave” of coronavirus infections, is facing one of the worst spells of pollution in years, partly due to crop waste

fires in neighbouring states and local emission from vehicle exhausts.

“About 85 percent of households in Delhi had at least one person complaining of difficulty in breathing, among other symptoms,” said Sachin Taparia, founder of LocalCircles.

Delhi had almost disappeared earlier this year, when the government imposed a nationwide lockdown to contain the coronavirus but has returned since the government began lifting restrictions at the end of August.

Authorities have banned the sale and use of firecrackers ahead of the Diwali festival in a bid to curb pollution, but environmentalists have called on the government to do more.

“Delhi’s air has turned hazardous.

Coal plants around Delhi need to be shut down immediately along with construction activities,” said Vimlendu Jha, the founder of non-profit Swechha. Officials and businesses worry that a halt in industrial activity could hurt an economy only just bouncing back from a record slump in the second quarter. SAFAR, India’s main environment monitoring agency, has forecast severe conditions over the next 24 hours due to stagnant winds and rising humidity levels, which trap pollutants longer.

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

PakiStan beat ZiMbabwe by 8 wicketS, SweeP t20 SeRieS AGENCIES

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AKISTAN thumped Zimbabwe by eight wickets in Elton Chigumbura’s farewell international match and swept the Twenty20 series 3-0 in Rawalpindi on Tuesday. The 34-year-old Chigumbura received a guard of honour from the Pakistan players when he came out to bat for the last time. The veteran Zimbabwe batsman lasted four balls before he was caught behind for just two runs in a belowpar total of 129-9.

Legspinner Usman Qadir stunted Zimbabwe hopes of a challenging total by taking 4-13 and finishing his debut T20 series with eight wickets. Left-arm spinner Imad Wasim finished with 2-27. Pakistan raced to 130-2 in only 15.2 overs against a listless Zimbabwe bowling attack.

Abdullah Shafiq, promoted on debut as an opener ahead of captain Babar Azam, went 41 not out, and Khushdil Shah, playing in his fourth T20, smashed 30 not out off 15 balls with three fours and three sixes. Zimbabwe captain Chamu Chibhabha achieved his top score in the series of 31, but his teammates were outfoxed by Qadir’s googlies and sharp legspin. The home team won the first match by six wickets and the second by eight.

Babar Azam named Pakistan Test captain, takes charge of all three formats AGENCIES Pakistan named Babar Azam as their new Test captain on Tuesday, putting the batsman in charge of teams across all formats.

Azam replaces Azhar Ali, who led Pakistan to a 10 series defeat in England earlier this year. Ali led Pakistan in eight Tests since he was appointed captain last year. He won two home Test matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh but lost in Australia 2-0 and in England 1-0. Azam is the third Pakistan Test captain in 13 months after Sarfaraz Ahmed was sacked in October last year. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made the announcement after Azam led the team to Twenty-20 and one-day international series victories over Zimbabwe on home soil. According to a statement by the PCB, the decision was confirmed after subsequent meet-

ings with Ali and Babar. “As we are looking into the future, it is appropriate that we appoint him the captain now so that he continues to grow stronger with every match,” PCB chairman Ehsan Mani said in a statement.

“I wish Babar all the best and remain optimistic that he will help Pakistan cricket make an upward movement across all formats not only through his performance but also with his positive attitude and result-oriented approach.” Mani also lauded Ali for “stepping up [...] by captaining the side in what was a historic first home Test series in over a decade”. “I believe Azhar still has a lot of cricket left in him and Pakistan cricket can continue to make the best use of his experience and knowledge as specialist top-order batsman moving forward,” Mani was quoted as saying by the PCB press release.

Azam has been a prolific scorer for Pakistan and currently ranks among the top five batsmen in all three

formats. The 26-year-old’s first assignment as Test skipper will be the ICC World Test Championship matches against New Zealand, which will be played in Mount Maunganui and Christchurch from December 26-30 and January 3-7, respectively.

“I feel truly honoured to have been appointed Test captain and join some of the most iconic players who have captained Pakistan in the purest format of the game,” said Azam, who took charge of Pakistan’s limited-overs teams earlier this year.

“I am ready and prepared to take up the additional responsibility and the fact which gives me additional confidence is that I can do the job is the experience that is available to me in the changing room in the shape of the players and support staff.”

Azam also thanked his predecessor Ali for taking up the “difficult” task of captaining the Test team. “I want to thank Azhar Ali for the way he captained the team in the last season, which was a difficult one, but I know that he will leave no stone unturned in giving his very best to the team,” the skipper was quoted as saying by the PCB. Ali congratulated Azam on his appointment as Test captain and assured him of his “full support”. “May Allah help you achieve many glorious victories for Pakistan,” Ali said in a tweet.

SPORTS 11 Rossi explains why Suzuki’s MotoGP package is so strong in 2020 Valentino Rossi says Suzuki team boss Davide Brivio’s ability to “fuse” the Japanese factory with its MotoGP race team based near Milan is the reason for its stellar 2020 season.

Suzuki is nearing victory in all three world championships this season, with Joan Mir needing just a podium finish in this week’s Valencia Grand Prix to win the title after moving 37 points clear in the standings with his maiden victory in the European GP. The Japanese marque also leads the constructors’ standings by seven points, and is 82 clear in the teams’ rankings. Suzuki has won two races in 2020 and nine other podiums, while many riders have often cited the GSX-RR as the “perfect” motorcycle.

When asked if he was surprised at the step Suzuki had made this year, Rossi said: “For me, Suzuki work very well because I think Brivio made a fantastic job because he’s able to fuse the work from Japan with the very strong work in Italy.

“Especially, he’s able to convince the Japanese to work together to with the Europeans and the Italians, and he makes a very strong team.

“And it’s not a case that the bike is so fast and it improved like this. I think it’s for this reason [I mention].” Yamaha by contrast has managed more wins, with its riders scoring six wins across the 2020 season.

But all of them have lacked consistency, with Fabio Quartararo - who is still second in the standings - failing to score a podium outside of his three wins, while Rossi, Maverick Vinales and Franco Morbidelli have added just four other top three results to Yamaha’s tally.

Alex Rins sits joint-second with Quartararo in the standings and explained Suzuki’s step forward with its bike has come from the Japanese manufacturer properly actioning the riders’ feedback.

“Well, the bike has changed a lot,” Rins said when asked how far the bike has come since his debut in 2017.

“2017 we took a bad engine option. Then we changed the engine, we changed the chassis, we changed a lot of things like the fairing.

“They are really doing a good job, altogether with our comments, with our feedback to improve the bike.

“And now you can see, we are leading the constructors’, the teams’ and the riders’ standings, so I think we are on a good way. AGENCIES

Formula 1 announces provisional 23-race calendar for 2021 AGENCIES Formula 1 has revealed the calendar for the 2021 season, with 23 Grands Prix on the provisional schedule for next year. The season will start in Australia in mid-March, finish in Abu Dhabi in early December, and feature the first-ever World Championship race in Saudi Arabia.

PROVISIONAL 2021 F1 CALENDAR: 21 March – Australia (Melbourne) 28 March – Bahrain (Sakhir) 11 April – China (Shanghai) 25 April – TBC (TBC) 9 May – Spain (Barcelona)* 23 May – Monaco (Monaco) 6 June – Azerbaijan (Baku) 13 June – Canada (Montreal) 27 June – France (Le Castellet) 4 July – Austria (Spielberg) 18 July – United Kingdom (Silverstone) 1 August – Hungary (Budapest) 29 August – Belgium (Spa) 5 September – Netherlands (Zandvoort) 12 September – Italy (Monza) 26 September – Russia (Sochi) 3 October – Singapore (Singapore) 10 October – Japan (Suzuka) 24 October – USA (Austin) 31 October – Mexico (Mexico City) 14 November – Brazil (Sao Paulo)* 28 November – Saudi Arabia (Jeddah) 5 December – Abu Dhabi (Abu Dhabi) *Subject to contract The announcement follows an unprecedented year for Formula 1 in which the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a revised 2020 calendar of 17 races, as F1 became the first international sport to resume its season.

“The plans for 2021 have involved extensive dialogue with all promoters and their local and national authorities at a time of ongoing fluidity related to the global pandemic,” read an F1 statement. ”Formula 1 and the FIA put in place robust health and safety measures to allow the revised 2020 season to restart and run effectively.

“Our hosts for 2021 are reassured by our safe return to racing this season and confi-

dent that the plans and procedures we have in place will allow us to return to a level of normality for the 2021 season.

“As we have said before, we expect fans to return for the 2021 season and for the calendar to look similar to the originally planned 2020 season. We will continue to work closely with our promoters and partners and look forward to the start of the sea-

son on the 18th March 2021 in Australia.”

Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO of Formula 1, said: “We are pleased to announce the 2021 Formula 1 provisional calendar after extensive conversations with our promoters, the teams and the FIA. We are planning for 2021 events with fans that provide an experience close to normal and expect our agreements to be honoured.

CMYK

“We have proven that we can safely travel and operate our races and our promoters increasingly recognise the need to move forward and manage the virus. In fact, many hosts actually want to use our event as a platform to show the world they are moving forward. “We are delighted to see Saudi Arabia become part of the schedule and are equally excited to return to the venues we hoped to

race at in 2020. We want to thank all our promoters and partners for their ongoing enthusiasm and collaboration and look forward to giving our fans an exciting season on the track.” The provisional F1 calendar for 2021, along with those for the FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 Championships, remains subject to approval by the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council.

Wednesday, 11 November, 2020

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ArmeniA, AzerBAijAn Agree To end fighT in nAgorno-KArABAKh YEREVAN

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AGENCIES

RMENIA and Azerbaijan announced an agreement early Tuesday to halt fighting over the Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan under a pact signed with Russia that calls for the deployment of nearly 2,000 Russian peacekeepers and territorial concessions.

Nagorno-Karabakh has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed

by Armenia since a 1994 truce ended a separatist war in which an estimated 30,000 people died. Sporadic clashes occurred since then, and full-scale fighting began on Sept. 27.

Several cease-fires had been called but were almost immediately violated. However, the agreement announced early Tuesday appeared more likely to take hold because Azerbaijan has made significant advances, including taking control of the strategically key city of Shushi on Sunday.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol

Pashinian said on Facebook that calling an end to the fight was “extremely painful for me personally and for our people.”

Soon after the announcement, thousands of people streamed to the main square in the Armenian capital Yerevan to protest the agreement, many shouting, “We won’t give up our land!” Some of them broke into the main government building, saying they were searching for Pashinian, who apparently had already departed.

The agreement calls for Armenian forces to turn over control of some areas it held outside the borders of NagornoKarabakh, including the eastern district of Agdam. That area carries strong symbolic weight for Azerbaijan because its main city, also called Agdam, was thoroughly pillaged, and the only building remaining intact is the city’s mosque.

Armenians will also turn over the Lachin region, which holds the main road leading from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. The agreement calls for the road, the so-called Lachin Corridor, to remain open and be protected by Russian peacekeepers.

Taliban call on Biden to stick to US troop withdrawal deal KABUL: Afghanistan’s insurgent Taliban on Tuesday called on the incoming administration of US President-elect Joe Biden to stick to the February agreement to withdraw American troops. The United States has been pulling out troops under the deal which envisages the withdrawal to be complete by May, subject to certain security guarantees, while the Taliban holds peace talks with the Afghan government in Doha. “The Islamic Emirate would like to stress to the new American president-elect and future administration that implementation of the agreement is the most reasonable and effective tool for ending the conflict between both our countries,” the militant group said in a statement, its first substantive comment on the results of the United States presidential election. However, violence has been ramping up throughout the country with the Taliban attacking provincial capitals, in some cases prompting US airstrikes, as talks in Qatar’s capital have been mired in delays.

Groups such as the United Nations have also raised questions over Al Qaeda with a senior UN official telling the BBC last month that the group were still “heavily embedded” with the Taliban.

Outgoing US President had made ending the war in Afghanistan a major campaign promise and had said in a Tweet in October that troops could be out of Afghanistan by Christmas, though officials such as his national security advisor have said that they were working to the May 2021 deadline. AGENCIES

In all, 1,960 Russian peacekeepers are to be deployed in the region under a fiveyear mandate. The agreement also calls for transport links to be established through Armenia linking Azerbaijan and its western exclave of Nakhcivan, which is surrounded by Armenia, Iran and Turkey.

Azerbaijani forces on Monday shot down a Russian helicopter that was flying over Armenia near the border with Nakhchivan, killing two servicemen. Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said the helicopter was flying low and “in the context of these factors and in light of the tense situation in the region and increased combat readiness in connection with possible provocations of the Armenian side, the duty combat crew decided to open fire to kill.”

The seizure of Shushi, which Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev claimed Sunday and was confirmed by Nagorno-Karabakh’s presidential spokesman Monday, gave Azerbaijan a significant strategic advantage. The city is positioned on heights overlooking the regional capital of Stepanakert, 10 kilome-

ters (six miles) to the north.

“Unfortunately, we are forced to admit that a series of failures still haunt us, and the city of Shushi is completely out of our control,” Vagram Pogosian, a spokesman for the president of the government in Nagorno-Karabakh, said in a statement on Facebook. “The enemy is on the outskirts of Stepanakert.”

Since the 1994 end of the previous war, international mediation efforts by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s “Minsk Group” to determine the region’s final status faltered and the region was separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by a demilitarized zone.

Aliyev on Monday urged US Presidentelect Joe Biden to intensify mediation efforts. In a congratulatory letter to Biden on his election victory, Aliev said, “Azerbaijan expects the United States and other OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to step up their efforts to find a just solution to the conflict.”

Armenia says more than 1,200 Armenian troops have been killed in the war.

Azerbaijan hasn’t stated its losses.

Biden camp considers legal action over agency’s delay in recognising transition AGENCIES United States President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team is considering legal action over a federal agency’s delay in recognising the Democrat’s victory over President Donald Trump in last week’s election, a Biden official said on Monday.

The General Services Administration (GSA) normally recognises a presidential candidate when it becomes clear who has won an election so that a transition of power can begin.

That has not yet happened despite US television and news networks declaring Biden the winner on Saturday after he secured enough electoral votes to secure the presidency.

The law does not clearly spell out when the GSA must act, but Biden transition officials say their victory is clear and a delay is not justified, even as Trump refuses to concede defeat.

Trump has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that there was widespread voting fraud and has filed a raft of lawsuits to challenge the results.

Election officials across the country say there has been no evidence of significant fraud, and legal experts say Trump’s efforts are unlikely to succeed.

GSA Administrator Emily Murphy, appointed by Trump in 2017, has not yet determined that “a winner is clear,” a spokeswoman said. A source close to Murphy said she was a thorough professional who would take her time making a careful decision.

A Biden transition official told reporters on a call that it was time for the GSA’s administration to grant what is known as an ascertainment recognising the president-elect, and said the transition team would consider legal action if it was not granted.

“Legal action is certainly a possibility, but there are other options as

well that we’re considering,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declining to outline other options.

The delay is costing the Biden team access to millions of dollars in federal funding and the ability to meet with officials at intelligence agencies and other departments.

The transition team needs to be recognised to access funds for salaries, consultants and travel, as well as access to classified information, the official said. In addition, the team has no access to the State Department, which usually facilitates calls between foreign leaders and the president-elect, the official said.

A senior administration official said the agency did not approve the start of a formal transition process in 2000 for five weeks while Republican George W Bush and Democrat Al Gore battled over an election that came down to just hundreds of votes in Florida.

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one in 5 Covid-19 pATienTS developS menTAl illneSS wiThin 90 dAyS: STUdy Many Covid-19 survivors are likely to be at greater risk of developing mental illness, psychiatrists said on Monday, after a large study found 20 per cent of those infected with the coronavirus are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days.

Anxiety, depression and insomnia were most common among recovered Covid-19 patients in the study who developed mental health problems, and the researchers also found significantly higher risks of dementia, a brain impairment condition.

“People have been worried that Covid-19 survivors will be at greater risk of mental health problems, and our findings … show this to be likely,” said Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at Britain’s Oxford University. Doctors and scientists around the world urgently need to investigate the causes and identify new treatments for mental illness after Covid-19, Harrison said. “[Health] services need to be ready to provide care, especially since our results are likely to be underestimates [of the number of psychiatric patients],” he added.

The study, published in The Lancet Psychiatry journal, analysed electronic health records of 69 million people in the United States, including more than 62,000 cases of Covid-19.

In the three months following testing positive for Covid-19, 1 in 5 survivors were recorded as having a first time diagnosis of anxiety, depression or insomnia.

This was about twice as likely as for other groups of patients in the same period, the researchers said.

The study also found that people with a preexisting mental illness were 65pc more likely to be diagnosed with Covid-19 than those without.

Mental health specialists not directly involved with the study said its findings add to growing evidence that Covid-19 can affect the brain and mind, increasing the risk of a range of psychiatric illnesses.

“This is likely due to a combination of the psychological stressors associated with this particular pandemic and the physical effects of the illness,” said Michael Bloomfield, a consultant psychiatrist at University College London. Simon Wessely, regius professor of psychiatry at Kings College London, said the finding that those with mental health disorders are also at higher risk of getting Covid-19 echoed similar findings in previous infectious disease outbreaks.

“Covid-19 affects the central nervous system, and so might directly increase subsequent disorders. But this research confirms that is not the whole story, and that this risk is increased by previous ill health,” he said. AGENCIES

Testing timeline: What’s ahead for Covid-19 vaccines WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Pfizer’s surprising news that its Covid-19 vaccine might offer more protection than anticipated — an announcement right after a fraught US presidential election campaign — is raising questions about exactly how the different shots will make it to market.

Pfizer Inc. and the maker of the other leading US vaccine candidate, Moderna Inc., have been cautioning for weeks that the earliest they could seek regulatory approval for wider use of their shots would be late November. In Britain, AstraZeneca recently said it hoped to prove its own vaccine was effective by year’s end.

Late on Monday in a series of tweets President Donald Trump accused the US Food and Drug Administration and Pfizer of waiting until after the election to announce its positive vaccine news for political reasons. Pfizer did not receive data from independent trial monitors until Sunday, however. The FDA was not involved in Pfizer’s decision to announce its early results and made no announcements of its own.

The hard truth: Science moves at its own pace. While Covid-19 vaccines are being developed at record speeds in hope of ending the pandemic, when they’re ready for prime time depends on a long list of research steps

including how many study volunteers wind up getting the coronavirus — something scientists cannot control.

Here’s a look at the process: HOW THE STUDIES WORK: Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have enrolled nearly 44,000 people in the final testing of their vaccine. Neither participants, their doctors nor Pfizer know who gets the real vaccine and who gets a dummy shot. They get a second dose about three weeks after the first.

And then another week after the second dose, key tracking begins: Counting anyone who experiences Covid-19 symptoms and tests positive for the virus as participants go about their daily routines, especially in hot spots. Late-stage testing of other vaccine candidates is similar, varying slightly in the number of volunteers and timing.

HOW TO TELL SHOTS WORK: Every vaccine study is overseen by an independent “data and safety monitoring board,” or DSMB. These boards include scientists and statisticians who have no ties to the vaccine makers. Before a study is complete, only the DSMB has the power to unlock the code of who got real vaccine and who got placebo and to recommend if the shots are working well enough to stop testing early.

Those boards take sneak peeks at pre-determined times agreed to by the manufacturer and the Food and Drug Administration.

The first interim analysis for Pfizer came Sunday. The company reported its data monitors had counted 94 infections so far — and that among those initial cases, the vaccine appeared 90 per cent effective.

But the study isn’t stopping: To be sure of protection, it’s set to run until there are 164 infections. The more Covid-19 cases occur in the trial, the better idea scientists will have of just how protective the shots really are.

COULD THAT SNEAK PEEK HAVE COME EARLIER? Pfizer’s initial plans called for evaluating when just 32 infections had been counted. But many scientists warned that was simply too small to draw conclusions about a vaccine needed by billions.

Pfizer said it reconsidered, going back to the FDA for permission to change the plan and do its first interim analysis when there were more cases. By the time Pfizer made the change and caught up with a backlog of virus tests, the DSMB had 94 infections to analyze. The higher number increases confidence in those still preliminary results, said Dr. Jesse Goodman, a former FDA vaccine scientist now at Georgetown University.

Moderna, AstraZeneca and other companies not quite as far along in their final testing all have set slightly different timepoints for when their data monitors will peek at how the shots are working.

DON’T FORGET SAFETY: Safety is the

top priority. Monitors also watch for unexpected or serious side effects. Earlier this fall, separate studies of vaccine candidates made by AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson were temporarily halted after some participants experienced health problems, delaying the research until safety investigations allowed both to resume.

Pfizer said Monday no serious safety concerns have emerged so far with its vaccine. But the FDA is requiring that companies track at least half of study volunteers for two months to look for side effects before asking the agency to review their vaccine.

That’s about when side effects have cropped in studies of other vaccines.

Pfizer and Moderna both expect to reach

that safety milestone later in November.

WHAT HAPPENS THEN? Companies are expected to seek permission for “emergency use” of their vaccines, rather than waiting to fully complete their studies and then seeking traditional approval. The FDA’s scientific advisers will debate each company’s study findings in a public meeting before the agency decides. Manufacturers already have begun stockpiling vaccine doses in anticipation of eventual approval, but the first shots will be in short supply and rationed. And the first people vaccinated will need to undergo extra safety tracking, as the government watches for rare side effects that might crop up when the shots are given to many more people than were in the research studies.

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 66-C, 1st Floor, 21st Commercial Street, Phase-II (Extension), DHA Karachi and printed at Ibn-e-Hassan Printing Press, Hockey Stadium, Karachi, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 021-35381208-9. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk