Epaper – April 5 ISB 2020

CMYK

5 April, 2020 I 11 Shaban, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol X No 277 I 48 Pages I Islamabad Edition

Imran delIvers on promIse, goes after sugar barons g

pm formS Body to proBe SugAr priCe hike, ConduCt millS’ Audit After report pointS to top pti memBerS’ involvement ISLAMABAD

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staff report

Aking good on his promise of ensuring transparency and accountability in governance, prime minister imran khan on Saturday not only made the inquiry reports into the sugar and wheat shortage public but also ordered the formation of a commission to probe into the sugar crisis and to conduct a forensic audit of the sugar mills, including some owned by senior members of the ruling pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (pti). the directives came after an inquiry committee formed by the premier to probe into increase in sugar price found out that the export of sugar was not justified and the exporters, including prominent members of the ruling pakistan

tehreek-e-insaf (pti), benefitted in two ways by gaining subsidy and then fetching huge profit from the increasing sugar prices in the local market. the commission has been directed to complete its task by April 25. After the finalisation of its report, the findings will also be made public and any corrective and/or punitive measures required or recommended will be taken by the federal government. the commission has started its work and nine teams are already on the ground for carrying out forensic analysis of 10 sugar mills including Alliance Sugar mills ghotki, Al-Arabia Sugar mills Sargodha, Al-moiz 1 Sugar mills di khan, Al-moiz 2 Sugar mills mianwali, hamza Sugar mills ry khan, hunza 1 and hunza 2 Sugar mills faisalabad and Jhang, and Jdw 1,2, and 3 Sugar mills ry khan

pm SAyS CoronA CriSiS A true teSt for lAwmAkerS, urgeS them to Serve their ConStituenCieS LAHORE staff report

prime minister imran khan on Saturday assured the nation that the distribution of relief funds in wake of the coronavirus crisis will be done “purely on merit” without any “political interference”. “it will not matter who belongs to which party,” the premier said while addressing a fund-raising event at punjab governor’s house here. imran said the crisis will be a true test of how lawmakers serve their constituencies in this difficult time. “the field of politics has been stained with this belief that politicians say they will serve the people’s interests but only serve their own,” he added. the prime minister said the government will resort to countrywide lockdown if the coronavirus infection spiked exponentially, but for a curfew to be successful, it will need to provide food to people at their doorsteps. he added that the tiger force will be respon-

in today’s issue

sible for the delivery of food and that it needed to be fully operational when the tough time comes. he assured that all the donations and contributions to support the vulnerable segments of the society would be transparent. the prime minister said that Allah Almighty had always tested nations with trials and tribulations and those emerge stronger which faced such testing times with patience. “A good man faces hard times and often emerges from the trials without seeking shortcuts. it is a testing time for the nation to bear it with patience. it is a test of the nation, though it is indeed a difficult time as no one had the experience of how to deal with coronavirus challenge,” he added.

Speaking about measures to sustain the economy, the pm said his government’s entire efforts were geared towards protecting the most vulnerable sector— the daily wage workers.

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CommiSSion SAyS SugAr AdviSory BoArd fAiled to tAke timely ACtion to BAn export deSpite dwindling reServeS

and ghotki.

According to the report, sugar price was increased from rs 55 per kg in december 2018 to rs 71.44 per kg in June 2019, despite the fact that general Sales tax (gSt) increase was implemented from July 1, 2019. After the export of sugar in January 2019, its price started increasing immediately in the local market. the major beneficiaries of the subsidy offered by the government on export of sugar include ryk group, owned and controlled by makhdum omer Shehryar, a relative of federal minister for food Security makhdum khusro Bakhtiar, which availed 15.83 per cent of the total export subsidy amounting to rs3.944 billion. Chaudhry munir and pakistan muslim league-Quaid (pml-Q) senior leader moonis elahi are also partners in this group.

won’t discriminate in provision of relief funds, pm imran assures

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Govt ‘walking tightrope’ as corona tally crosses 2,700 Corona cases may reach 50,000 by April 25, SC told STORIES ON PAGES 02 & 03

Jdw group owned and controlled by senior pti leader Jahangir khan tareen availed 12.28 per cent of the total export subsidy amounting to rs3.058bn, while hunza Sugar mills availed 11.56 per cent of the total subsidy amounting to rs 2.879bn. hunza Sugar mills is owned by muhammad waheed chaudry, idrees Chaudhry and Saeed Chaudhry.

Sugar mills owned by the Sharif family availed 5.91 per cent of the total export subsidy amounting to rs1.472bn. the report also revealed that in the past few years the production of sugar was historically more than the local requirements, therefore it was imperative to probe and include this aspect related to export of sugar including any subsidy given, its impact on local sugar prices and eventually major beneficiar-

ies of such export subsidies. the production of sugar in 2016-17 and 2017-18 was more than the estimated domestic consumption of the country, hence the sugar was exported from pakistan. the estimated domestic consumption of pakistan is around 5.2 million metric tons per year. in the year 201617, pakistan had a record 7.08 mmt production of sugar while the production was 6.63 mmt in 2017-2018.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 03

Poor planning, flour mills’ malpractices caused wheat crisis, inquiry reveals STORY ON PAGE 05

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Sunday, 5 April, 2020

NEWS

QuReshi sAys AcQuiTTAls in DAniel PeARl cAse will be chAllenGeD in sc FM SAYS US GOVT’S APPREHENSIONS ON SHC VERDICT WERE ‘NATURAL’

cPne welcomes govt’s new advertisements payment method KARACHI PRESS RELEASE

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STAFF REPORT

INISTER for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said that the Untied States government’s apprehensions on the Sindh High Court’s decision to acquit four people earlier convicted in the kidnapping and murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl were only “natural”, adding that the decision will be challenged in the apex court.

The SHC had on Thursday acquitted the four, including prime suspect Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for masterminding Pearl’s murder. The other three had been sentenced to life.

However hours after the verdict, the Sindh Home Department issued an order late Thursday night to arrest and detain the four before they were released from prison, citing sufficient reason to believe that these men may act “against the interest of the country”.

The verdict however did not sit well with the United States, with the State Department condemning the overturning of the convictions and terming the decision “an affront to victims of terrorism everywhere”.

“Those responsible for Daniel’s heinous kidnapping and murder must face the full measure of justice,” senior US diplomat Alice Wells wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

Wall Street Journal reporter Pearl, 38, was investigating militants in Karachi

after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States when he was kidnapped in January 2002. He was beheaded weeks later. Foreign Minister Qureshi reiterated on Friday that the Sindh government would appeal the decision.

“Yesterday, the Sindh government had ordered the detention of the four sus-

pects for 90 days under the Public Safety Act,” Qureshi said, while adding that the decision to appeal the high court decision had already been taken.

“The forum of appeal exists, we are going to use it and then see if higher courts decide to keep the SHC’s decision intact or set it aside,” Qureshi said.

SAPM Mirza faces contempt plea in PMDC case

revive the Council under PMDC Ordinance of 1962.

The petitioner pointed out that the ad-hoc council has not come to a place till now which has resulted in the longstanding pending registrations of students and doctors and matters pertaining to international recognition with lost credibility of a prestigious authority at international level.

Before the PM&DC Ordinances, 2019 which disapproved by the Senate and Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance 2019 which was declared ultra vires of the Constitution by the IHC, the PMDC was fully functional as it was headed by its president, former SC justice Mian Shakirullah Jan. The counsel for the petitioner, Advocate Sharafat Ali Chaudhry urged the court for appropriate penal action against the respondents for their contempt of orders of the IHC, issued on February 11, 2020 while restoring the PMDC immediately.

ISLAMABAD TLTP

The former principal of KMU Institute of Medical Science on Saturday filed a contempt petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) over non-compliance with the court orders to make functional the country’s medical education regulator — Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC).

Filing the petition through Advocate Sharafat Ali Chaudhry, the petitioner Professor Dr Salim Khattak submitted that an ad-hoc council of the PMDC, constituted by the Supreme Court during 2018 is nonfunctional as Prime Minister’s Special Assistant (SAPM) Dr Zafar Mirza and Dr Tanvir Ahmad Qureshi, Secretary Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC), failed

to comply with IHC Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiani’s directives in the matter.

The petitioner further submitted that the PMDC remained locked due to which

Pakistan gives stranded Afghans four-day window to leave ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Saturday said that Pakistan, at the request of the government of Afghanistan, will allow Afghan nationals to return home through two land border crossings with the eastern neighbour. “At the special request of the government of Afghanistan and based on humanitarian considerations, Pakistan has decided to allow the exit of Afghan nationals in Pakistan wishing to go back to their country,” the FO said in a statement. The FO said the Torkham and Chaman land border crossings will be opened for a specific period from April 6 to April 9 to facilitate Afghan nationals. “As a neighbour and in view of fraternal bilateral relations, Pakistan remains in abiding solidarity with the people of Afghanistan, particularly at this time of global pandemic,” it said. Earlier, Prime Minister Imran Khan had directed authorities to open the Chaman-Spinboldak border between Pakistan and Afghanistan and said Islamabad would continue to support Kabul during the global coronavirus pandemic. “Despite the global pandemic of COVID-19, we remain committed to supporting our Afghan brothers and sisters. STAFF REPORT

Govt increases PTV fee from Rs35 to Rs100 ISLAMABAD: The government on Saturday increased the Pakistan Television (PTV) fee from Rs35 to Rs100. The PTV fee is collected by charging it to consumers’ electricity bills each month. This means that citizens have to pay the amount whether they watch the channel or not. The increased fee means that an estimated Rs21 billion will be collected from consumers annually. This will be significantly more than the previous collections, which amounted to Rs.7.5 billion per year. Separately, the government earns revenue from private advertisements run on PTV. It is pertinent to mention here that the government has not yet paid Rs6bn due to media houses for advertisements. STAFF REPORT

thousands of medical graduates including the daughter of the petitioner, could not get register as doctors at the time of pandemic COVID-19, when the health professionals are needed more than any other professional in the country.

Professor Salim Khattak added that thousand of doctors who are being denied registration with PMDC, due to its closure, are made to suffer; more than 1400 graduates only from the KMU of the KP are waiting to be registered. “These graduates are at loss of earning for themselves and as well as a loss for the state to provide assistance in the national pandemic.”

It is pertinent to remember that previously in response to a petition of Dr Salim and others, the IHC had declared that the Pakistan Medical Commission Ordinance 2019 being ultra vires of the various provisions of the Constitution and ordered to

PMA passing out parade held RAWALPINDI

cer Megolla from Sri Lanka and Chief of Army Staff cane was awarded to Course Under Officer Mahad Raza Khan from 10th Mujahid Course, while Commandant

Cane was awarded to Course Under Officer Ahad Amjad from 60th Integrated Course and Course Under Officer Eesha Iqbal from 15th Lady Cadets Course.

Railways incurring more than Rs1bn losses each week due to lockdown: minister LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has said the lockdown in the country due to the coronavirus pandemic has led to Pakistan Railways incurring more than a Rs1billion in losses every week.

“We are bound by the government’s decision, but if this lockdown is over, we will run 20 trains, as they are needed [in view of existing demand],” Rasheed said while addressing a press conference in Lahore.

He added that Railways will start its freight service with the prime minister’s permission from

Oic body slams india’s ‘draconian’ Kashmir domicile law NEWS DESK

STAFF REPORT

Passing out parade of cadets of 141 Long Course, 60th Integrated Course, 10th Mujahid Course and 15th Lady Cadets Course held at Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul on Saturday.

Cadets from Sri Lanka, Iraq, Palestine, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were also among the passed out cadets.

Inspector General Training and Evaluation (IGT&E), Lieutenant General Sher Afgan was the chief guest on the occasion. He reviewed the parade and gave awards to distinguished cadets.

Sword of Honour was awarded to Academy Senior Under Officer Muhammad Ahmed, President’s gold medal to Battalion Senior Under Officer Harris Sardar Chaudhry , Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Overseas Gold Medal to Under Offi-

The Council of Pakistan Newspapers Editors (CPNE) has welcomed the notification of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting introducing new payment procedure of the Govt. advertisements to newspapers, periodicals and TV channels. In a joint statement here on Saturday, the CPNE President Arif Nizami and Secretary General Dr. Jabbar Khattak said that it was a long-standing demand of the CPNE with the Federal Government to give 85 per cent share of the advertising dues to the newspapers directly through Press Information Department (PID) and remaining of 15 per cent share as commission to the related advertising agency. The CPNE has also welcomed the decision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Special Assistant on Information and Broadcasting Dr. Firdous Ashiq Awan to pay 100% payments of the classified advertisement to the newspapers and periodicals directly. The CPNE President and Secretary General said that the decision of direct payments would provide immediate relief to the newspapers, media houses, journalists and other media workers. They further demanded that the relevant stakeholders should implement in letter and spirit the government’s decision/notification immediately. Arif Nizami and Dr. Khattak recalled that the media industry is still waiting for the implementation of government’s circular dated February 03, 2017 envisaging attachment of Original Bill / Invoice of Publications with each advertisement Claim in addition to agencies’ own invoices.

The CPNE leaders expressed their concern over unfair distribution of Govt. Ads to regional newspapers and hoped that the Federal Ministry of Information would do away the present unfair distribution of the government’s advertisements to local medium & small newspapers through transparent and a legitimate share of public. They further said that the governments support to their institutions during the time of severe economic crisis, therefore, our government has to play its role to bring out country’s print media including local small & medium newspapers from this crisis.

the 15th.

“Before the lockdown, we started a record 20 trains and if, before the lockdown, we had not run 40 trains, passengers would have been stranded in Karachi,” he said.

“In the last two days before the lockdown, more than 165,00 passengers travelled in trains,” he noted.

The federal minister assured that pensioners and railway employees should not be worried as they had data of nearly 1,670 coolies, which has been sent to the Ehsaas Programme for income support.

“No employee of Pakistan Railways has contacted the virus and the

CMYK

situation in the country is better as compared to some other countries.

The situation will become clearer on April 14; if not, we will not resume train operations in the country,” he added. Last month, Prime Minister Imran Khan had given approval to Pakistan Railways for suspending train operations from March 24 to March 31 due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

The suspension was extended after the number of cases in the country jumped past 1,000.

More than 2,700 confirmed cases of the virus have been recorded so far in the country along with 40 deaths.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) human rights body on Saturday condemned the Indian government’s new domicile law — Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Order, 2020 — calling it “illegal” and a “violation” of international laws. The Indian government recently announced a new domicile law, under which an Indian citizen, who has lived in occupied Jammu and Kashmir for 15 years, can call the territory their place of domicile.

Through a gazette notification issued by the Indian government on Wednesday, a domiciled person has been defined as one who has resided for a period of 15 years in the occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir or has studied for a period of seven years and appeared in class 10 or 12 examinations in an educational institution located there. The Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) of the OIC in a tweet said that it condemns the promulgation of the new law which attempts to “alter the demographic and geographic” status of India-occupied Kashmir (IOK). Calling it a violation of international laws and United Nations Security Council and OIC resolutions on the issue, the international organisation asked India to repeal “draconian laws” and stop its human rights abuses in the region. Prime Minister Imran Khan had also strongly condemned the new law, calling it a “violation of all international laws and treaties”. Saying the timing of the move was “particularly reprehensible”, Khan said the action sought to exploit the international focus on the Covid-19 pandemic to further the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “Hindutva” agenda. Last month, Pakistan had called on India to lift the communication blockade imposed in occupied Kashmir and ensure supplies of essential commodities in the valley to contain the spread of Covid-19 and mitigate the suffering of Kashmiris.

The Indian government had on August 5, 2019 repealed Article 370 of its constitution, stripping occupied Kashmir of its special status. It also divided up occupied Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories; one Jammu and Kashmir, and the other the Buddhist-dominated high altitude region of Ladakh.

The bifurcation of the territory came into effect on October 31 last year. A strict lockdown and communications blackout has been in place in occupied Kashmir since August last year, with reports suggesting limited mobile data services and internet were temporarily restored in the region in January.

Sunday, 5 April, 2020

Corona Cases May reaCh 50,000 By aPriL 25, sC toLd GOVT FEARS 2,500 CASES COULD PROVE FATAL iSLamaBad

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STAFF REPORT

HE federal government on Saturday told the Supreme Court (SC) that Pakistan may face up to 50,000 coronavirus infections

by April 25, with 7,000 of them being critical in nature.

In a report submitted to the top court regarding the national action plan for combating the pandemic, the government assured the court the confirmed cases in Pakistan are expected to be lower than Europe. According to the breakdown, around 7,000 cases of the total are expected to be critical in nature while around 2,500 could be a cause for concern. The government estimated that at least 41,000 cases could be of a mild nature.

“In order to have a clear view of the situation, the government was trying to maximise its testing capacity,” the report added. The federal government has said that it has put in place an emergency plan costing $366 million and guidelines have been prepared in consultation from the medical experts.

“All the airports have special counters to monitor coronavirus,” it men-

tioned in the report, adding that around 222 suspected patients had been traced thanks to entry and exit point checking at airports. The areas adjacent to Iran and along the Balochistan border have declared an emergency to cope with incoming infected individuals, it said.

“Preparations were made to place patients in 154 districts under quarantine,” said the government report.

The report claimed that the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination (NHSRC) started off early preparations to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. These efforts included establishing Standard Operating Procedures for screening of people at all points of entry and issuing guidelines for contact management to all provinces.

According to the report, testing facilities have been established in all the provinces, Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan while indigenously developed testing kits by the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) had been sent to DRAP Technical Assessment Committee. If these testing kits are approved, they will then be made available to the public.

It also said some 13,000 surveillance

centres had been set up across the country which would submit data to the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) at the National Institute of Health, Islamabad. The EOC had also been made responsible to submit daily situation reports and to conduct data analysis and risk assessments.

“Funds from World Bank and Asian Development Bank were also used for

SC urged to reconsider decision against IHC ruling on UTPs release KHAWAJA HARIS SAYS HIGH COURT CAN GRANT BAIL TO UNDER-TRIAL PRISONERS UNDER EXTRAORDINARY CIRCUMSTANCES SUCH AS THE PREVAILING ONE iSLamaBad STAFF REPORT

Senior lawyer Khawaja Haris on Saturday urged the Supreme Court (SC) to reconsider its decision of revoking an earlier court ruling that granted bail to low-risk, under-trial prisoners during coronavirus pandemic.

In a set of recommendations submitted to the apex court, Haris said that the Islamabad High Court announced the verdict in line with the law due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

He said that it is imperative that measures are taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Shedding light on the IHC decision,

the legal practitioner said that a high court can grant bail to under-trial prisoners under extraordinary circumstances such as the prevailing one.

Haris said that the IHC verdict was not an impediment in the functioning of the executive branch of the government and the apex court should not declare it null and void, considering the pandemic.

“Until crime is proven the suspect is considered an innocent,” he said.

Last week, the SC suspended orders issued by the high courts relating to the release of under-trial prisoners amidst the coronavirus outbreak.

In its order, the top court said: “No further order shall be passed by any of the high courts and by any of the provincial

75 Labour MPs write to British foreign secy seeking repatriation of stranded British-Pakistanis neWS deSK Seventy-five members of the British Parliament, including Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn and shadow ministers, have written to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Dominic Raab regarding British-Pakistanis stranded in Pakistan. Gorton, Manchester MP Afzal Khan in a letter to the foreign secretary said there were around 100,000 British nationals stranded in Pakistan, as estimated by the British High Commission in Pakistan. “We are concerned that the High Commission in Pakistan is not adopting examples of best practices that we have seen from other UK embassies around the World,” Khan said. He added that many British nationals were either elderly, vulnerable or had an underlying condition and desperately need to access essential medicines and self-isolate safely.

“Airlines have cancelled flights and not given people cash refunds which have left them thousands of pounds out of pocket. People are running out of money and are going to need government support. The emergency travel loan is months out of date and nowhere near comprehensive enough to address the current situation,” he said. Khan said, “We have concerns about airlines charging passenger double, triple and in some cases five times more.

governments/ICT/Gilgit-Baltistan of releasing the prisoners from the jails.”

In a previous hearing, the IHC had ordered the release of 24 suspects under trial for various corruption-related references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Earlier, the IHC had ordered the issuance of bail for prisoners who were facing trial for minor crimes to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. IHC Chief Justice Minallah had issued the order after hearing a case regarding 1,362 prisoners incarcerated in crowded jails.

PUNJAB GOVT INFORMS SC ABOUT CORONA MEASURES: The Punjab government on Saturday submitted a report in the Supreme Court on the

strengthening preparedness and response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” the report said on financial preparation. It added that the Ministry of Finance had also released emergency funds for dealing with the coronavirus.

It also said arrangements had been made in 154 districts across the country to keep suspected patients of the virus under quarantine. coronavirus precautionary steps it had taken in prisons across the province.

The report stated that all jails across the province have been issued the World Health Organisation’s directives. Prisoners who are brought to the jails are separated for 14 days at first.

The report further said that a suspected patient of the virus in Camp Jail Lahore had been shifted to Mayo Hospital for treatment whereas the jail had been turned into a 40-bed quarantine centre.

The government told the apex court that it will have to bear a loss of Rs44.8 billion due to the coronavirus. In its report, the Punjab government informed the Supreme Court that it had earmarked Rs10 billion for the Insaf programme.

The Punjab government said that it had started taking these precautionary measures from January 13. It said that doctors were operating in prisons across the province on a temporary basis till new ones were not hired.

The report said that an emergency had been imposed across the province to deal with the pandemic and that a committee had been constituted to contain the spread of the virus. It will be headed by the chief minister.

Imran delivers on promise, goes after sugar barons Continued from page 01 According to the report, the export of 1 and 0.1million tonnes of sugar was approved on Oct 2 and Oct 4 respectively, which was not time-bound. In April and May 2019, Punjab raised concern over the increase in the sugar price, but export was not banned even though the meeting showed net stocks as negative 0.191 million tonnes. Finally, the export was banned in Feb 2020.

According to the report, the price Rs55 at the time of the approval of the export kept on increasing and the “market players knew that the sugar stocks are running low in the country, hence with increasing exports, the price kept on increasing consistently every month. In April and May 2019, maximum quantities were exported and the price jumped accordingly”.

Despite the Ministry of Industries and Production secretary’s letter to the provincial secretaries in Oct 2019 regarding the hike in the prices, no decision was taken. In fact, hoarding was to be blamed for the increase in the price, the report said. According to the report, the Sugar Advisory Board (SAB) in its meeting on June 20, 2019, didn’t ban the export despite clear calculations that the stock position will be negative after deducting the strategic reserves. “In 2018, the Punjab government allowed subsidy of Rs5.35/kg and a total of Rs3bn was allocated on the export of sugar. Hence, only the sugar mills of Punjab were entitled to the subsidy from Oct 2018 to Feb 2020.

However, in the wake of the increase in the prices, the subsidy was withdrawn in May 2019. According to the report, the Punjab government kept on providing the subsidy despite an increase in the price of sugar in the domestic market.”Out of the 0.762m tonnes, 0.474m tonnes (62%) were exported before the withdrawal of the subsidy and the remaining 38% was exported afterward.

“It is worth mentioning here that out of Rs3bn allocated by the Punjab government from Jan 2019 onwards,

Rs2.47bn were utilised from Jan1 to May 24.”

“It can be seen that sugar mill owners who availed max subsidy had political clout and influence in decisionmaking and they tried to gain max benefit in a limited time,” it added. According to the report, the advisory board failed to take a timely decision to ban the export, which led to the shortage of the commodity. It also questioned the delay mechanism in the lifting of sugar and advised that it be lifted in time to ensure smooth supply.

It also urged the government to crack down on satta players — a form of virtual gambling that affects the market price of sugar– who are “known well to the provincial special branch and intelligence agencies”.

According to the report, the production of sugarcane this year has actually been 1 per cent more than last year.

However, the area cultivated was lower than last year. It is also predicted that the quantity of sugarcane crushed will be higher than last year, so there should be enough sugar for need this year. However, given the narrow margin between demand and supply, there is a chance that the hoarders will swing into action. Therefore, the government should have enough stocks to stablise prices in such a case, it added. The committee has also pointed out the practice of ‘forward buying’ and satta practice which could take the sugar price upwards of Rs100 per kg by Ramzan.

The committee suspected the involvement of sugar mills and wholesale dealers of sugar in collusion behind this practice; however, it indicated that the commission constituted by the federal government can unearth evidence and parties involved. In response to an additional question, the committee responded with data of subsidy given for the last 5 years to the tune of almost Rs25 billion.

According to consolidated data, the RYK group has been the largest beneficiary with a total subsidy of Rs4bn, JDW over Rs3bn, Hunza Group at Rs2.8bn, Fatima Group at Rs2.3bn, Sharif Group at Rs1.4bn and Omni Group at Rs901m.

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Won’t discriminate in provision of relief funds, PM imran assures Continued from page 01 “The small shop owner, the rickshaw driver […] those in construction, the painter, the welder, they are all sitting at home right now.” He said there is a fine balance to strike between stemming the spread of the virus and taking care of the poor. “One the one hand we closed all places were people could gather, but on the other, we have to run our affairs in a manner that we do not let these vulnerable segments feel the financial crunch that comes from such measures,” he added. “We have opened the construction industry,” said the prime minister which will provide “the most jobs” in cities. He said in villages the agriculture sector had been allowed to function as usual as it is one upon which rural residents depend on for income. Urging patience on the part of all Pakistanis, the premier said the greatest quality one can possess is to exercise patience during tough times. “Those who are patient go far in life.

Those who throw their hands in the air and give up, they rank among the many who fail.” He said one has to admit these are difficult times. “It is difficult because no one has the experience to deal with such a crisis.” The PM urged people to exercise caution, adding despite many challenges faced by it, Pakistan will emerge as a stronger nation and become the welfare state. “It was a big vision which we have forgotten,” said the premier, adding that that was why the world didn’t respect Pakistan anymore. Citing the example of giant economies that have far greater resources and institutions, with health systems having more funding than Pakistan’s entire budget. “The US has prepared a $2,000bn relief package whereas we can barely manage $8bn.” He said that despite their resources, there is “a breakdown of their systems”. “If this is what can happen to them, our situation was dire to begin with.” He said that it makes him happy to see so many foundations and charitable organisations have opened, recalling how when he started the Shaukat Khanum, only Edhi’s name would be prominent in doing large scale charity work. PM Imran said Pakistan ranks as the fifth or sixth most charitable nation. He said people only donate when they have trust it will be utilised as intended.

He said with the assistance of Dr Sania, who is in charge of the Ehsaas Programme, a large database had been made and will constantly be updated with a list of families who are most deserving. The prime minister said a Facebook page will be launched next week which will identify which areas are the most in need of donations. He said all charities wishing to donate will all be registered under one platform and will be informed of which areas need funds, so there is no duplication, like in the times when earthquakes and floods struck Pakistan. “We must ensure the funds are utilised properly and for that we must be organised.”

‘LOCKDOWN AND STARVATION’: In a series of tweets, Imran said faced with the “stark” choice of having to balance between a lockdown necessary to “slow down/prevent” the spread of coronavirus & ensuring “people don’t die of hunger” and the economy does not collapse, the government was “walking on a tight rope”. The PM said that the government has a number of measures to ensure that “people don’t die of hunger” and the economy doesn’ collapse in the fight against the pandemic. He further said that for the continuity of the economic activities, they had decided to open up the construction sector, besides keeping the agriculture sector open. “We have locked down educational institutions, malls, marriage halls, restaurants & other places where the public congregates. But, to stop the devastation of the lockdown we have kept our agri[culture] sector open & now we are opening up our construction sector”, he added.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Imran announced a relief package for the construction sector that provides tax exemptions to the sector, in a bid to strike a balance between the “lockdown and regulation of economic activity”. According to the announcement, the government will not ask construction entities about their source of income for this year as well as approval of a fixed tax regime for the sector.

no gathering in Garhi Khuda Buksh to mark ZaB’s death anniversary LARKANA: The Bhutto mausoleum in Garhi Khuda Buksh presented a deserted look on Saturday on the eve of 41st death anniversary of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) founder Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, as the party suspended all activities due to coronavirus lockdown in the country. Annually the ground where a public meeting is always held is seen filled with the party activists to pay homage to their martyred leader. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, who is staying in Naundero for the past four days, went to Garhi Khuda Bux and prayed for the departed souls. In a video message, Bilawal said that “millions of party activists” used to gather here every year on April 4 to pay tributes to their leader but today he had come here alone due to the coronavirus pandemic. He said governments across the globe were taking tough decisions to save lives. He thanked the citizens for donating in this hard time to help the poor citizens. He said the Sindh government was trying its best to help the deserving povertystricken masses in Sindh along with other social welfare organizations. He again appealed to philanthropists to come forward to jointly mitigate the sufferings of the poor people. PPI

Sunday, 5 April, 2020

04 ISLAMABAD

WEATHER UPDATES SUNDAY

270C

140C

MONDAY

270C

150C

TUESDAY

240C

140C

PrAyer Timings FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

4:27

12:12

3:46

5:52

6:31

7:56

aJK president urges upon international community to quash unlawful domicile rules in IoJK MIRPUR APP

PESHAWAR: Security officials stop motorcyclists on Saturday during a lockdown in the city in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. inP

TIger forCe geTs unPreCedenTed resPonse; Crosses 500,000 In 3 days: usMan dar ISLAMABAD

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APP

PECIAL Assistant to the Prime Minister on Youth Affairs Muhammad Usman Dar Saturday said the Prime Minister’s Corona Relief Tiger Force received an unprecedented response from public, registering more than half a million people in last three days to help the government in carrying out relief efforts across the country in wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.

The Corona Relief Tiger Force, announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan,

started registering above 18 people at the Pakistan Citizen Portal (PCP)late Tuesday night (March 31) to hire the volunteer services of citizens to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.

“Since the launching of Tiger Force, over 567,000 volunteers have been registered online which shows that the youth has responded to the Prime Minister's call positively,” said the special assistant in a press release issued here.

The special assistant appreciated the passion of youth and thanked them for showing keenness in assisting the government in such testing time. “That is the spirit, we required from our youth to avert

ICCI welcomes PM incentive package for real estate sector ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has welcomed the incentivized package for construction sector

by Prime Minister Imran Khan in addition to giving it an industry status and resuming its activities from 14th April 2020 as it would boost business and economic activities in the country and reduce unemployment. Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said imposition of heavy taxes on real estate sector had badly affected its business activities and hoped that the relief package would give boost to construction projects in the country. He said the growth of around 65-70 allied was linked with construction industry and added that providing tax relief and introducing fixed tax system in this sector would accelerate the business activities of all related industries in the construction field. The ICCI president said due to tax issues and other problems, a lot of money had flied out of construction sector. However, he said under the relief package, the advantage of not asking about source of income from those would invest this year in this sector would bring back a great amount of capital and help in uplifting the economy. He said introducing fixed tax regime in construction would also promote investment in this sector as this fixed tax system would give more confidence to the investors and reduce their tax issues. He said setting up Construction Industry Development Board would help in better growth of this important industry and reduce its major issues. He urged that the government should also lift withholding tax from steel and cement sectors that would reduce construction cost and help people in building their own houses with more ease. APP

the prevailing crisis,” he remarked.

Usman urged the people to register themselves only at the PCP for joining the Coron Relief Tiger Force and warned against all other sources and platforms who had been offering such services.

According to the details shared by an official in the Prime Minister’s Office, some 383,240 people had signed up for the tiger force from Punjab, 85,889 from Sindh, 74,419 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 8,763 from the federal capital. More than 14,000 people from other areas including Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir also took interest in joining the force, he added.

KP CM directs for effective management of quarantine centres PESHAWAR APP

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan Saturday directed the concerned high ups for better and effective management of the quarantine centres and Isolation facilities set up for Corona patients across the province. He said the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) issued for the staff on duty in these facilities should be implemented in letter and spirit so that the the staff could be protected and the qurantined individuals could be facilitated to the maximum level.

He further directed the authorities to appoint the concerned health officials as focal persons in all the districts

for better management of these isolation and quarantine facilities and the districts administrations to ensure the strict implementation of social distancing and other preventive measures in shops of daily use commodities so that the possible outbreak of Corona pandemic could be avoided.

He was chairing a meeting of Health, Relief and Home Departments here to review the overall corona related situation across the province and measures taken by the provincial government to this effect.

The meeting was briefed that Covid Commmand and Control centres had been set up at provincial, district and Tehsil level across the province which are working round the clock to keep vigilance on the devel-

oping corona situation with teams of health, relief district administrations and other relevant bodies. "As many as 215 Quarantine Centres, 554 High Dependency Units and Isolation Centres with a total capacity of 2400 beds have been established in the province which can further be increased if need arises"; the meeting was briefed.

It was further informed that basic Personal Protective Equipments (PPEs) had been provided to all the front line staff deputed in these facilities, and its being further improved on daily basis.

Mahmood Khan also directed the health Department to take necessary steps on war footings to establish Corona Testing Labs at all divisional level.

Strongly denouncing the new domicile rules imposed

by India in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan said that the international community must not fail in responding to India’s unlawful and criminal plans to settle Hindus in the occupied territory. “This is a vicious plan to settle former military personnel and civil servants as well as their children and families, migrant workers and West-Pakistan refugees in the occupied territory. The ex-military officers and civil servants were, in fact, agents of the occupying power – India – and were instrumental in brutaliSing and torturing the people of Kashmir”, he said in a statement issued on Saturday. According to the details, Indian citizens who have lived in the occupied territory for 15 years, studied there for seven years or have appeared in secondary and higher secondary school examinations are eligible to become residents of the region. The AJK president lamented that the international community, especially the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the Human Rights Council and the ICRC, have failed to take notice of this flagrant violation of international law. “We understand that the world leadership is rightly focused on combating the coronavirus pandemic, but failure to call out India’s latest crime against humanity in IOK is a serious dereliction of responsibility,” he said. Sardar Masood Khan, however, thanked the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) for condemning India’s illegal domicile rules which aim to alter the demographic and geographic status of the occupied territory, in violation of international human rights law, Fourth Geneva Convention and OIC and UN Security Council (UN SC) resolutions. He called on the OIC to work with the UN to quash these rules which will turn Muslims in the IOJK into a minority, grab their land and deprive them of their established rights in regard to permanent residence, acquisition of property, education and employment. “This is a blatant attempt to colonise Kashmir and crush Kashmiris identity and rights”, he said. The AJK president said the international humanitarian law, especially Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention clearly states that "the occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own population into the territories it occupies"."This Article is a textbook case for application to IOK," he added. "India’s new domicile rules also breach Additional Protocol I and the Statute of the International Criminal Court which states that “the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the Occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies” constitutes a war crime," he said. In many other instances, the president said, demographic changes in occupied territories have been condemned by the UN SC and it has called on the occupiers to stop attempts to change the ethnic composition of the population. For instance, in its resolution 752 of 1992, in Operative Paragraph 6, the Council clearly prohibits “any attempts to change the ethnic composition of the population”. Besides, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Dimensions of Population Transfer declares that “implantation of settlers in the occupied territories” is unlawful action entailing criminal responsibility of the State concerned. Masood Khan said in the dead of night, while the world was preoccupied with the coronavirus pandemic, India stealthily introduced these rules to consolidate its occupation and alien domination in IOK.While the entire population of IOK has condemned and resolved to oppose these rules, the police chief of the occupied territory has threatened that the occupation forces will proceed against anybody who protests against these illicit rules.

COVID-19 patients tally rises in AJK as 3 more tested positive MUZAFFARABAD APP

Coronavirus infectious disease (COVID19) patients tally in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has risen to 14 as three more patients have been tested positive Friday while first victim of virus in the region has been discharged from the Hospital after recovered the illness.

Minister Health Dr. Najeeb Naqi said one patient was tested positive in CMH Rawalakot who had been part of a preaching party and had attended congregation in Raiwind (Punjab) last month and returned

home on March 21.

Naqi said all the people who might have met with him were being traced and would be kept in quarantine besides taking their tests. “Two other patients were tested positive in district headquarter Hospital Bhimber, one infected from her mother while other from a person who had returned from United Kingdom and already had tested positive few days earlier,” Dr. Naqi elaborated the details in a statement.

Meanwhile, the first victim of corona virus in AJK has heeled after treatment and has been discharged from the Hospital on Saturday after twice tested negative, the

minister informed.

“Liaqat Hussain resident of Plundhari district, a pilgrim return from Iran was admitted in Mirpur Hospital after tested positive on March 17, while his 4 fellows were kept in quarantine. All have been discharged after twice tested negative on April 1 and 2,” Dr. Naqi added.

The minister said 92 more coronavirus suspected people had been discharged from quarantines after tested negative while samples of 42 new suspected people had been taken for test.

It may be recalled that in AJK, a total number 385 people have been tested for

coronavirus so for and only 14 were found positive while no death has occurred so for and the first one has recovered.

Tests results of 86 people are awaited while 16 suspected patients are reported on Saturday in Muzaffarabad, 22 in new city Hospital in Mirpur and 4 in district headquarter Hospital Bagh whose samples for test have been collected.

A lab in Abbas Institute of Medical sciences (AIMS) conducts the tests of patients from Muzaffarabad division while other divisional and district headquarter Hospitals send their samples to NIH (National Institute of Health) Islamabad for test.

Sunday, 5 April, 2020

Poor Planning, flour mills’ malPractices caused wheat crisis, inquiry reveals REPORT HOLDS FOOD SECURITY SECRETARY RESPONSIBLE FOR FAILURES, PASSCO’S FORMER MD FOR MISSING WHEAT PROCUREMENT TARGET RECOMMENDS FORMULATING MECHANISM TO MONITOR EXPORT OF WHEAT AND WHEAT PRODUCTS BY PRIVATE SECTOR ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) inquiry into the recent wheat crisis has revealed that the shortage originated due to poor planning by the federal and provincial governments and malpractices of the flour mills. The report, presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday, states that the Punjab Food Department was unable to control flour mills and started collecting wheat after a delay of 20-22 days.

It further mentioned that the food department failed to come up with a process for the demand and supply of the product.

The report claimed that did not take decisions as the situation evolved.

Former food secretary Naseem Sadiq and ex-food director Zafar Iqbal have been blamed in the report for failing to handle the wheat crisis. Furthermore, the report claims that Punjab food minister Samiullah Chaudhry did not take the measures necessitated by the situation.

“No single individual can be held responsible for procuring inadequate wheat from Sindh,” adds the report.

The report said that the Sindh government did not take any decision on the summary for wheat procurement. It said that the responsibility of buying wheat in low stock cannot be placed on any single person.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Food Secretary Akbar Khan and Food Director Sadaat Khan have also been held responsible for not procuring wheat in accordance with the government’s target.

According to the report, PASSCO failed to meet its procurement target and fell short by 0.42 million tons in a year where the national carry forward stocks remained the lowest during the last five years.

The report said the ministry failed to grasp the market situation following low national produce and as such their recommendations to the federal government were routine and misleading.

The committee said the ministry’s decision to allow the export of other wheat products like Maida and Suji on August 7, 2019, was inexplicable. It observed that all wheat products were exported under the same code in the system of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and it was very difficult for even customs officers to say that the wheat flour was exported in the grab of line Atta and Maida.

According to the report, the ministry failed to timely advise the federal government for import of wheat, a policy intervention that could have effectively discouraged speculations, hoarding and profiteering that subsequently fueled wheat shortage and price hike.

The report held the Secretary MNFS&R responsible for failures, adding the responsibility of missing the procurement target of PASSCO lied with its former managing director.

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research (NFS&R) Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar had maintained distance from attending the meeting of Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet.

The minister, in a statement issued here, said it was a well-documented fact that “I have always maintained a distance and refrained from attending ECC meetings related to any sugar related decisions due to any perceived potential conflict of interest.”

At provincial level, the Punjab Food Department delayed procurement by crucial 20-22 days and ultimately failed to meet its target by 0.67 million tons, less in a year where its carry forward stock remained the lowest during the last five years.

The report also found that the Punjab Food Department failed to exercise control on flour mills, which resorted to profiteering campaigns as they sensed the government was ill-prepared to handle the wheat demand and supply chain.

A sample survey by ACE Punjab had identified some mill owners who were involved in malpractice and recommended that a post-audit of flour mills especially

involved in such practices needed to be conducted.

The report said the Punjab Food Department allowed, with tacit approval, the poultry feed mills to purchase huge quantities of wheat from the private market.

The Punjab government resorted to erratic transfers in the food department including posting/transfer of four food secretaries and of nearly all DFCs thrice during the year.

The Punjab Food Department failed to devise a mechanism to regulate the demand and supply of wheat, and keep track of the government and private stocks that started heading in every direction, without being accounted for. The report said the department did not put in place any reform to rectify the situation.

According to the report, the responsibility for failure to meet the procurement targets lied with the ex-food secretary and Ex-Director Food Punjab whereas the Minister for Food was responsible for not devising any reform agenda to address the chronic ailments in the functioning of Punjab Food Department.

In Sindh province, the provincial government decided not to procure stocks, whereas MNFS&R had set up a target of 1 million tons for the year, at a time when the national surplus remained the lowest during the last five years.

The Sindh government claimed having carry forward wheat stock to the tune of 0.98 million tons, whereas the veracity of those stocks was seriously put into question when the National Accountability Bureau found massive pilferage and theft in the Sindh wheat stocks.

The Sindh Food Department failed to lift wheat allocated to it by PASSCO in time, thereby allowed the shortage and price hike to continue, the report said, adding the department failed to devise a mechanism to regulate the demand and supply of wheat, and keep track of government and private stocks.

The responsibility for failure to procure could not be fixed in Sindh individually as the decision on summary to

procure wheat was not taken by the cabinet, it added.

The Food Department of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa failed to meet its procurement target for the last two years, it said, adding the responsibility lied with the ExSecretary Food Department and Ex Director Food Department and the Minister for Food.

RECOMMENDATIONS: The report recommended the NFS&R to devise a mechanism for accurate crop assessment, on scientific basis, in coordination with the provinces, adding the ministry should set up the procurement targets in accordance with the available carry forward stocks.

A minimum wheat stock should be calculated and agreed to which would serve as a standard for calculating procurement targets and the need to import or export wheat, it added.

The report recommended that the MNFS&R and provinces should strengthen a mechanism for policy formulation, planning, coordination and implementation effectively, especially those related to setting up and achieving procurement targets by PASSCO and provinces.

The ministry should formulate a policy and implementation mechanism for aggressive procurement this year as the opening stocks at the beginning of coming crop year would be the lowest in last 10 years. The minimum support price may also be enhanced to ensure competitiveness with market rates.

The ministry should have a mechanism to monitor export of wheat and wheat products by private sector for proper assessment of the situation and the requirement of any intervention.

The report recommended that the provinces should meet the national wheat procurement target set up by the MNFS&R, adding they should devise a mechanism for monitoring private stocks to ensure that prices were not manipulated by creating artificial shortage.

They should also devise an effective mechanism for safety of public stocks, including putting in place IT-based surveillance mechanism, to prevent pilferage and damage, besides devise an IT-based mechanism of QR codes for tracking every bag of wheat supplied to flour mills and flour bags produced.

The provincial governments should conduct post-audit of the flour mills to verify the allegations of malpractice in grinding of public wheat and recommended quota allocation of public wheat to flour mills, the report concluded.

NEWS

05

no govt authority mandated to check quality of sanitisers, masks ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

While Science & Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry claims to be inspecting the "quality" of hand sanitisers across the country, there is no government authority to officially check the quality and standard of this largely consumed product. Interestingly, neither the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) nor Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) has the mandate/authority to check the quality of sanitisers and masks, demand of which has increased manifold amid coronavirus pandemic. Although the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), soon after the outbreak of the virus, had issued standards for hand sanitisers, masks and ventilators, the concerned authorities in Pakistan are yet to adopt and implement the same in the country. The Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), which claims to have identified a number of sanitiser brands in nonconformity with the WHO standards, is also yet to implement the ASTM standards despite signing a memorandum of understanding with the American body. It seems the S&T minister, without getting any feedback from relevant people, has taken the lead in curbing the sale of substandard hand sanitisers in the country despite the fact that this product does not fall under the domain of any government department. The minister recently informed through his tweet that a lab test by PSQCA has shown that 23 brands of sanitisers being sold in the market were not in conformity with WHO standards. The minister also stated that relevant health departments have been advised to remove these 23 brands. When asked about the standard for sanitisers, a senior ministry official said that WHO is not mandated to set quality standards, and that the world body only gives guidelines. However, he claimed that most of the product standards in Pakistan have been adopted from the ASTM, which was established in 1898. The PSQCA only has 105 items on its website under the mandate 'Pakistan Standards'. These include toothpaste, skin cream, shampoo, hair dye, toilet soap, tea-whitener, packed milk etc. The list does not contain sanitisers A senior PSQCA official acknowledged that there are no standardsfor sanitisers with the authority, saying that since this product is a “disinfectant”, so it is under the domain of DRAP. Meanwhile, a DRAP official said that disinfectants are under the domain of the authority’s cosmetics division, but it covered only the surface disinfectants and equipment disinfectants. “Human disinfectants are not the domain of DRAP, which is why none of anti-bacterial products, including Dettol sanitiser, are registered with DRAP.” Incidentally, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has also initiated a preliminary inquiry over the mushroom growth of sanitisers in the country. An insider said, “Our domain is limited to protection of the consumer only...to ensure there are no deceptive marketing practices.”

Opp grills Imran after PTI leaders’ Traders fear colossal involvement in sugar crisis losses amid closure of LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) on Saturday took an exception to the involvement of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Jahangir Khan Tareen and Khusro Bakhtiar in the sugar crisis, saying Prime Minister Imran Khan has “thieves” in his own party.

PPP Secretary Information Nafisa Shah said that the people who created the sugar crisis in the country and minted money exposed as the financial facilitator of Imran Khan.

She said Imran Khan’s cronies have been caught stealing red handed and added the person who is known to level baseless accusations was also exposed as the patron of looters and plunders of peoples’ hard-earned money.

Secretary Information PPP said that the industrialist Jahangir Tareen who spent billions for Imran Khan to become prime minister has taken back the amount with interest.

PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday lashed out at the PTI government for having declared others thieves

while having “bandits” in their own ranks. “Those who declared others thieves had sugar and wheat bandits in their own ranks,” said Aurangzeb.

Her remarks followed a report by the Federal Investigation Agency which had been tasked to probe the recent sugar and wheat crisis in the country. The report claims top PTI members were among those who benefitted from the shortages.

“The people Imran sahab continues to blame are neither in the government, nor are they min-

isters,” she said, referring to the prime minister’s criticism of the previous governments which he says are to blame for the country’s financial turmoil.

Aurangzeb alleged that “under the patronage” of the prime minister, “Jahangir Tareen, Khusro Bakhtiar and the companies of allies continued to smuggle sugar” out of the country.

Addressing the premier, she demanded that he explain to the people why his “ATM” had robbed the nation twice — a reference to Tareen, who is among the wealthiest politicians in the country.

She said that the Punjab government had provided a Rs3bn subsidy to the “sugar bandits”.

“The report says that Tareen’s sugar mills received a 22% subsidy which amounted to Rs560 million,” said the PML-N spokesperson.

She said that the report has placed the blame on the provincial and federal governments “whose incompetence led to the wheat shortage”.

“Imran sahab, neither did the Sharif Group export even a kilo of sugar nor did it take even a rupee’s worth of subsidy,” she said.

Pak-Afghan borders A LARGE NUMBER OF FREIGHT VEHICLES THAT WERE EARLIER ISSUED GATE PASSES ARE NOT BEING ALLOWED TO CROSS TORKHAM BORDER PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

The Pak-Afghan border closure has led to a loss of millions of rupees, as a large number of freight vehicles, which were issued gate passes after customs clearance, were not being allowed to cross the Torkham border.

According to traders, a total of 1,400 freight vehicles were stuck at Chaman while another 115 were stranded at Torkham for almost three weeks, and that the vehicles were not being permitted to cross the border despite having all the required documents.

Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Senior Vice President Shahid Hussain stated opined that the Pakistani and Afghan authorities have no mechanism in mind to restore bilateral trade during the current situation created by coronavirus.

He said that the traders were earlier told that China would provide special dresses to drivers, but that too has not happened."Besides, they were told that a quarantine centres will be established at border points, but no action was taken in this regard."

He said the traders had suggested the government to keep the Pak-Afghan border open for three days a week so as to ensure smooth supply of food and medicines. However, he lamented, no attention was paid to this end.

He said that the trade between Iran and Afghanistan was

continuing but Pakistan has imposed a complete ban, which was not only increasing the problems for the business community but also for the public on both sides of the border.

The SCCI leader said that now it was right time to device a mechanism to restart bilateral trade.

Meanwhile, Frontier Customs Association President ZiaulHaqSarhadi told this scribe that the immobility of vehicles at Chaman and Torkham borders would spoil the goods inside the containers, and this would put a colossal burden on the traders.

Talking about quarantine centres at the border crossing points, he said a centre with 1,200 tents was set up at Chaman border, but no such centre has been setup on Torkham border. Sarhadi said as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's export was already affected by terrorism, the federal and provincial governments must not create further problems for traders and immediately clear all vehicles parked on Pak-Afghan border points.

Hakim Khan, a truck driver, who has been trapped at Torkham border for the past 20 days, said that despite receiving customs clearance and a gate pass, they were still waiting for permission to cross the border.

Khan said that freight vehicles on the border cannot be left alone, because the responsibility of goods was on truck driver and conductor. On the other hand, he added, owing to the lockdown situation, drivers were unable to find food with a number of them falling ill.

Sunday, 5 April, 2020

06 COMMENT

Waiting for Allah

No pies in the sky, please A realistic way to cope with coronavirus’ impact

And half-baked theories

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hE most powerful economies on the globe are caving in under the pandemic’s pressure. In the US the economic slowdown has turned into a crushing recession with sharp increase in unemployment. It has been estimated that unemployment in UK also could rapidly rise to more than 6 million, around 21% of the entire workforce. The situation is worse in continental Europe which is paying a heavy price while fighting coronavirus nearer home, India which had for a while outpaced China in growth is hunkering down to a lowly 3.5 pc growth rate according to Standard & Poor’s.

Pakistan has got itself into a more horrendous pickle.

Its growth rate ranges somewhere between World Bank’s 1 percent to ADB’s 2.6 percent. Two well-known independent economists have argued that the increase in the number of unemployed workers would be between 3.1 million and 5 million depending upon the severity of the crisis while the number of people slipping down the poverty line would range from 9 to 15 million. The lockdown would take toll of as many as 10.5 million daily wagers and contract/casual workers.

The notion that opening the housing and construction industry would initiate an industrial revolution is altogether unrealistic. For over a year and a half industrial construction has been in steady decline due to fall in the domestic purchasing power caused by increasing unemployment and millions more going below the poverty line. With demand suppression in Europe and the US there can be no expansion in Pakistan’s export industry either.

The only way to boost domestic demand is to divert a major portion of the budget to massive investment in the development of social sector including highways, roads, bridges, hospitals and educational institutions right up to the union councils’ level. There has to be more reliance on local manpower than imported machinery.

Both Pakistan and India have to heed Un Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ warning that the Covid-19 storm is now coming to all theatres of conflict requiring diversion of their resources to deal with the challenge.

While the world takes time to recover Pakistan needs to promote trade with all the countries in the region starting with neighbours including China, India Afghanistan and Iran.

aRif Nizami

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hE earliest case of COVID-19 pandemic was reported on november 17, 2019 in Wuhan, China. Since then in a relatively short span of over four months it has spread all over the world and no one knows where and when it will stop. Already the global virus cases have surpassed one million with at least 53000 reported deaths.

Although China has for now come out of the scourge of the coronavirus, it is the rest of the world that is bearing the brunt of the pandemic. Surprisingly the US, the leader of the free world, is the worst affected followed by Italy, Spain, the UK France and Germany.

It took 42 days to reach 100 cases in the US. But since then it is multiplying exponentially. By late Thursday, US states were reporting more than 241,000 cases, almost a quarter of confirmed cases in the world. Yesterday, the US reported the worst global single-day death toll, around 1500, bringing the total to over 7,400.

Initially, the US President was in a state of denial about the gravity of the crisis. In his usual blustering style, he boasted that the America will be open by Easter Sunday on April 12. The belated realisation has now sunk in that the US economy like the rest of the country is virtually shut down. The past two weeks have erased all job gains since president Trump’s election in november 2016. A record 6.45 million workers have filed for unemployment benefits. According to a report in the new York Times those relatively affluent sections of the society that could not ever conceive of going on dole have been rendered helpless. Being without a job and running out of cash, they have no recourse but to queue up for cash handouts and food rations.

In the UK the story is no different. Total number of those affected by the pandemic is more than 38,000 with numbers increasing by more than 4000 a day.

About 3500 Britons have already died as a result of the virus. The situation in Spain, Italy and France is no better. According to experts, countries like Singapore and South Korea that initiated early testing, lockdown and other preventive and remedial measures are better off today. It is stating but the obvious that the coronavirus pandemic has inexorably changed the world. Once the storm has passed, only then can the collateral damage be assessed in an objective manner.

But one thing is for sure; the world economy has gone into a nosedive. According to the Un Depart-

New payment rules for media A welcome step that provides some relief

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RIME Minister Imran Khan has announced new rules for releasing payment for government advertisements, which would entail 85 percent payment to be made directly to media outlets while the remaining 15 percent commission that goes to the agencies would be handled by the government as well. This thankfully eliminates the middleman (agencies) who not only delay payments but are also prone to defaulting on them. A further relief has been provided to newspapers who would get 100 percent payment for classified ads. This is a welcome step as it partially addresses some of the key issues that the media industry has been facing for the past few years. however, this new payment policy will not be successful if it is misused to dictate the editorial policy of dissenting media outlets. Apart from a significant reduction in the government’s advertisement budgets, close to Rs 6 billion in dues still remain unpaid.

The Coronavirus pandemic has amplified the crisisstricken media industry’s financial woes; falling revenues and circulation numbers. Commercial advertisements have dried up significantly as economic activity in the country has come to a standstill. With government departments shut down during the lockdown, the volume of that portion of advertisement has also been reduced significantly. Circulation numbers have also nosedived due to a massive cancellation of subscriptions of newspapers over fears that they could be contaminated with COVID-19.

All these issues have presented themselves simultaneously with much intensity, while cost of doing business has not reduced in the slightest. For those media houses who make it their topmost priority to pay their salaries, it will become difficult to fulfil their obligation to employees, leading to cuts, as has been done the world over.

While fuel costs may have reduced, the rupee depreciation has offset that benefit as well resulting in more or less the same fixed and variable costs. PM Khan has announced stimulus packages for the export and construction industry. Given his love hate relationship with the media means it is understandable that he cannot possibly replicate the same for them, but resuming advertisements of those newspapers and TV channels who have been placed on some sort of ‘probation’ and clearing outstanding dues, is not asking for much in these unprecedented times. Short of this, many prominent media outlets will have to resort to massive layoffs and closures. This eventuality should be avoided at all costs with the government’s much-needed help.

What the moon saw A look beyond the pandemic

Rabia ahmed “Tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” Malcolm X “Unless we see the new moon through these, our lowly eyes, neither the joys of Eid nor the mourning of Muharram can proceed.” Mullah in What the Moon Saw.

I

n 1967 Ghulam Abbas wrote a short story called Dhanak, one of the most remarkably prescient stories ever written. It is translated and included in a selection of Modern Urdu short stories by Amina Azfar. In the English version this story is called What the Moon Saw. In this tale Abbas talks about mullahs becoming increasingly bold in Pakistan, until they view any action by the government as interference in religion.

The legitimate government finally becomes unable to move, even to do what was right, and eventually the mullahs take the reins of government into their own hands. Section 144 is imposed, and there is a crisis in the country. Many professions come to an end, and thousands lose their livelihood. What was

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ment of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) the the draconian powers usurped by them.

In Pakistan as well the coronavirus pandemic is world economy could shrink up to one percent in 2020 owing to the adverse effects of COVID-19. It impacting the power structure, but not exactly in the could shrink further if restrictions on economic ac- same manner. The equation between the military and tivities are extended without adequate fiscal re- the civilian government is perceptibly shifting as a sponses. The worldwide social fallout of the result of the national emergency. But this is more so pandemic is even more far reaching. For far too long owing to the PTI being unable to take timely decithe first world had taken its unbridled affluence- often sions, rather than the military leadership’s desire to at the expense of the less fortunate sea of humanity amass more powers. Khan is in a constant state of denial about the antecedents of the coronavirus panin the rest of the world- for granted.

Perhaps those living in the West, leading relatively demic. Some of his cohorts reportedly believe that opulent lifestyles would belatedly realise that they are somehow South Asians are not so adversely affected as vulnerable to the vagaries and wrath of nature as by the virus as the rest of the world. Secondly, there is the hope that the COVID-19 will not survive in hot the rest. And that all human beings are born equal.

Despite the vast resources at the disposal of the mil- weather. These are half baked theories with no scienitary industrial complex, those who wield economic tific evidence as yet to support them.

That is why perhaps the prime minister is not in power and have a vast arsenal of nuclear weapons at their disposal, are equally at grave risk. Ironically the less for- favour of a complete lockdown. Thus, giving mixed tunate sections of the society, especially in the US are signals. The national Coordination Committee (nCC) that is chaired by the as exposed to the wrath of God as prime minister and attended by some of their brethren in the third the COAS (Chief of Army Staff) world. The social safety net is has been supplanted by the simply not adequate to shield them from such unforeseen disasSecondly, there is the hope newly formed national Command and Operation Centre ters. that the COVID-19 will not (nCOC) headed by a lieutenant COVID-19 has been termed general to act as the implemenas a tragedy of apoplectic proportions or even an Armageddon. survive in hot weather. These tation arm of the nCC. One of the key functions of President Trump has likened it to are half baked theories with nCOC is to ensure effective coora modern-day plague.

Despite the tremendous no scientific evidence as yet dination between federal and provincial governments. The body strides in modern technology to support them. will include representatives of there is no quick- fix cure for the various federal and provincial coronavirus. According to realisgovernmental agencies apart from tic estimates it would at least take nominees of the military and inanother year to evolve a vaccine telligence agencies. as an antidote for the virus. PerDG ISPR Major General Babar Iftikhar has haps the only pleasant off-shoot of the pandemic has been a cleaner environment free from pollution. Even termed the body as a one window operation headed in a heavily polluted city like Lahore clear blue spring by Minister for Planning Asad Umar. Such a body skies are noticeable as a result of transport and indus- was necessary to ensure operational co-ordination trial activity perceptibly dropping to a trickle. In some hitherto lacking. The prime minister has announced countries democratically elected populist despots have a major incentive package for the construction sector used the endemic crisis to consolidate even more pow- in order to strike a balance between “lockdown and ers in their hands. A glaring example is that of Viktor economic activity.” Why only the construction sector Orban the authoritarian hungarian prime minister. Sim- and not the rest? It is alleged by the opposition that ilarly, president Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has certain lobbies who got these packages approved will amassed emergency powers more than he already had. use it to launder their ill-gotten money.

On the other hand, Sindh chief minister Murad Even the British prime minister Boris Johnson, not exactly in the same league, has been accused of Ali Shah has again warned that coronavirus cases are amassing emergency powers using coronavirus as the under-reported owing to lack of testing facilities. Acexcuse. But the most glaring example is that of the tually, it is spreading at an alarming pace. hopefully Khan is right and Murad is proved Indian prime minister narendera Modi imposing a national lockdown on a four hours’ notice causing im- wrong; the virus goes away with the heat. If not, savmense hardships to millions of dispossessed Indians. ing lives will become even more paramount than reThe Indian media already under siege is being viving the construction industry in the coming weeks. further gagged in the name of coronavirus. Most anArif Nizami is Editor, Pakistan Today. He can be alysts are sceptical that once the COVID-19 pandemic recedes authoritarian leaders will not give up contacted at arifn51@hotmail.com.

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would they know what there is out there? Would they be able to think of anything other than a roof to sleep under, bread, water and – these days mobile phones?

Lacking education and even literacy, they do not possess the advantage provided by books, those extendable poles which look beyond immediate surroundings. The vision books provide might give them something to work towards. Is this why little efshown as likely to happen is eerily similar to what fort has been made to bring the two together?

If people come together with books they is now happening, a government too afraid to do might read in the same anthology Manto’s Jhooti what it thinks is right, if it has thought at all.

You wonder what, at the end of this worldwide Kahani, all about an ‘association of rogues and tragedy called COVID-19, the moon will see when it criminals,’ fighting for their rights, a satire on the workings of public office. looks down upon this shattered And these are only a handful earth. Will it see some people of our own stories. Others can be with blood on their hands, found on the faces of those who among them those who insisted have lost their livelihoods, and on gatherings and congregations The situation is not good, now have nothing to eat. even when quarantine was the Future generations need us in need of the hour? and the government is facing the present to pave the way for Will the moon see people an uphill task. Its fears are them to understand the challenges picking themselves up as if after they face. We do not need another a battle, dazed, surrounded by legitimate. But just as generation of ‘institutional decay, shells of homes and stubs of anarchy, intellectual degentree?. Will it see raiding gangs doctors and nurses all over social eration and urban decline.’ When and ravenous mobs devouring whatever comes their way, the world have rolled up their all this is over people need food, yes, and jobs, yes, and the means something like the Chinese peosleeves and carried on to survive. But most of all they ple whom we see fit to blame for this event? Perhaps the Chinese working even without proper need to be able to think for themselves. They must no longer be too learnt to eat anything and everything after exactly such a safeguards, the authorities led by the nose to drink at troughs in which the water has been laced calamity, and it is said that that need to stand up to the with brain-numbing drugs. is very possibly the reason. situation is not good, As for the people, they are hurdles it faces and do what and The the government is facing an now and will be even more so later too caught up in a frenetic is right, which is what they uphill task. Its fears are legitimate. But just as doctors and cycle of making ends meet and were elected to do. nurses all over the world have trying to survive, much too rolled up their sleeves and carcaught up to look for ways and ried on working even without means out of the situation. proper safeguards, the authoriWill the moon see a massive ties need to stand up to the hurand inevitable rise in violence and robberies, the only recourse for a desperate peo- dles it faces and do what is right, which is what they ple for whom help was announced with much fanfare were elected to do. but when it came to the point it was too complicated Rabia Ahmed is a freelance columnist. Read to work?

Even if people were to search for a way out, how more by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

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Sunday, 5 April, 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

COVID in Pakistan: challenges or opportunities?

Creativity in times of distress A voice to unite, a voice to inspire, a voice to rally

Candid Corner Raoof Hasan Loneliness like a familiar comrade of old Came by to quaff my desolate soul Together we wait for the moon to rise And see your image glow in every shadow

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ne often hears people say that they would like to be left alone, and one wonders whether that is really a state they would want to embrace. But, then, being alone is not really akin to a feeling of loneliness- a disposition which is born out of enduring pain. In that event, it could be a most excruciating state to be in, and not many people may be able to cope with it without experiencing varying degrees of physical, emotional or psychological damage.

There have been a number of artists who transformed such feelings into creative work and helped people understand the challenges of inhabiting a different world– a world they would want to be in without the fear of what it may bring. Such is the kind of poetry that Faiz Sahib penned for us to read, and continue reading. This form of poetry generates a languid feeling which transforms into a permanent state of mind. It is as if one is intoxicated in an ethereal, unreal condition which refuses to melt away. Instead, with time, one delves deeper into its myriad reflections and meanings. It is an endless curve which, simultaneously, is a source of pain and hope: Beyond the scaffold, in the haze of the distance, The red of your lips kept simmering, Your hair dancing with abandon, The silver of your hands kept glistening But, creativity does not end with the writing of an evocative work. It is for the readers to take it further and mould it to connect with their feelings and experiences because there is no one kind of pain. It lives in countless forms and shapes, each different from the other in substance, meaning and effect. Great writings have been the product of such experiences of pain.

Poets, story tellers, fiction writers – all of them have their tales to tell which inspire many more to try their hands at creativity, but the going can get immensely tough: Let the sails not be unfurled Of the ship of wine Let the hurricane of life Subside first

stirring juices of creativity. The alternate cinema There being nothing but lethal poison is an exciting medium employed to communiIn the tavern tonight cate societal discrimination and disparities.

Only those who are fit to die Moving from one period to the other, the art May stay to drink Creativity can also not be limited to a certain of creativity has worn different colours. This deframe of mind, a certain time period, or a certain pended on the challenges of the time. Great manner of thinking. It has this absolute power to Russian writers worked in an age of suffocation. adapt to all of this, yet create an aura solely of But, their creative faculties were never dulled its own to savour. The repertoire of eliot’s po- and they did not feel constrained in their desire etry, a fathomless reservoir of varying phases of to write. Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoyevsky, creative work, is an apt testament to mind’s Pushkin, nabokov, Gorki, Pasternak, Gogol and dominance over substance. It can create, it can others were all riddled by oppression and fear, chisel, and it can adapt. It can do whatever may but they produced some of the finest literary be essential to compose a piece that tells a story masterpieces of all times.

In present days, the ideological narrative ap- a story with the power to move, to inspire: parently has taken the sheen off creativity. The April is the cruellest month, breeding creative process seems to have stalled and we Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing are witnessing a period of near famine. This is Memory and desire, stirring contrary to what has been the norm through varDull roots with spring rain Creativity it is which would help one transit ious times and phases. Creativity never dries up. to an entirely different mould, a different way of It is always spurred by efforts to put it in chains.

It is never a hostage to anylooking at things, and a thing. It creates its own different manner of thinkspace even under the most ing. It is a singular state stressful conditions. In fact, which is laced with an inthe very best literature has tricate interplay of multiple An endless flow of been a voice of rebellion feelings and impressions: And we all go with creativity is needed in these against the shackles which were put to stifle it. Where them, into this silent futimes of distress. People are our poets, our writers? neral, Where are the likes of Faiz, nobody’s funeral, for need reassurance that this Manto, Jalib, Sheikh Ayaz, there is no one to bury.

Faraz, Munir niazi, Bapsi I said to my soul, be pandemic shall pass and Sidwa, Ibn-e-Insha, Mumtaz still, and let the dark come upon you they shall come out of it. Mufti, Krishan Chandar, Parveen Shakir, noon Meem Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in This is the time for creative Rashid, Ghani Khan, Ismat Chughtai, Fehimda Riaz, Raa theatre, writers to come forth as a jendar Singh Bedi and other The lights are extinsuch luminaries? What are guished, for the scene to bastion of support and they writing to evoke a rebe changed form movement, to espouse With a hollow rumble inspiration for them. Is a progressive culture? Their of wings, with a movejob is out in the front. They ment of there anyone around? can’t be hiding in some dark Darkness on darkDo I hear a sound, a stir? alleys, blocking the flow of ness... light. They should take on But, while creativity What deafening silence! the existent challenge of may be born out of a freeing the people from the process of enduring pain, What tragedy! shackles of a regressive narit is also a means of easrative. They have a role cut ing its impact. It is not out for them, but they are just a source of alleviating missing from the arena. suffering, but could also An endless flow of crebecome the means of near permanent healing. There is this intertwining re- ativity is needed in these times of distress. People lationship which binds creativity and pain to- need reassurance that this pandemic shall pass gether in an eternal embrace. It is like each and they shall come out of it. This is the time for flowing from the other, each sustaining the creative writers to come forth as a bastion of supother, each nurturing the other, and each being port and inspiration for them. Is there anyone around? Do I hear a sound, a stir? the other’s terminus.

What deafening silence! What tragedy!

Beauty, nature and its manifestations have One may grow old, but creativity is not imalso been the source of a mountain of creative works across many genres. A mere sight of pacted by the passing of years. It resides within something, or somebody, may generate an irre- you and will continue to find ingenious and elepressible desire to probe the web of words. vating ways to surge forth, clad in a different Greats like Shelley, Keats, Wordsworth, Byron, cloak, disseminating a new meaning: I grow old, I grow old Blake, Coleridge, and a host of others from an I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers incomparable period stand out as torch-bearers of various facets of creative writing, shaping in- rolled destructible tales with lasting impressions.

Raoof Hasan is a political and security Times of war and distress have generated their own creativity. The epic works of Homer strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute are rare examples of this phenomenon. The pro- – an Islamabad-based think tank. He can be fusion of inspiring poetry and singing in the reached at: raoofhasan@hotmail.com; Twitter: wake of the 1965 war is a testament to distress @RaoofHasan

ever since it became more apparent that the viral illness in China has the potential to become a pandemic, the world of economics went into panic. Stock markets crashed around the world. Millions of jobs lost in major economies. World growth predictions went negative. And along with the usual problems linked with economic distress there was bound to a health crisis and unfortunately the rising death toll became the norm of the day right across the globe. Like elsewhere Pakistan also faces challenges but Pakistan needs to look at those challenges in the light of its own demographic, social and economic realities.

Doing so might make Pakistan’s approach unique or somewhat different to the rest of the world and potentially transform those challenges into opportunities. With regards to health sector Pakistan should have the assurance that its young population demography is its advantage in this COVID crisis.

90% of Pakistani population is below 55 years of age and 60% below 30 years of age. We know from data obtained from China and elsewhere that risk of hospitalisation and death is considerably small in young people and rises sharply after 70years of age but above 55 years of age are also at significant risk particularly with medical conditions. For a population to achieve herd immunity about 60-70% of population should be immune and it may be Pakistan will get there with not many deaths. Any death is a tragedy and we should do whatever we can to stop that but in the bigger picture the economic crisis or slow down will lead to more deaths directly or indirectly.

One such example is the high infant mortality in Pakistan as compared to wealthy nations which is direct result of poverty in our country and those deaths or increase in similar deaths should not be discounted in the particular focus on COVID crisis. Pakistan’s policy regarding COVID is aggressive but directionless. Unfortunately, due to low testing figures Pakistan does not have enough data to build a representative picture on the spread of Corona virus. Putting aside the mistakes of Taftan and moving forwards it’s of paramount importance for Pakistan to establish at what stage of epidemic it is. I can see that Pakistan still remains focussed on containment measures like contact-tracing which is alright, but it does not know that there a tsunami of patients which will hit the health service for which I have seen little preparedness.

Pakistan needs to know that the disease has already spread across the country which is evident from the proportion of positive tests compared to the total number of tests. Moreover, a big proportion of domestic spread patients among the positive tested patient gives the same signal. Pakistan needs to put all this data to expert epidemiologists to ascertain the stage of epidemic. Focussing on containment when its not containable will be a waste of scarce resources. In UK here experts know that its not in the containment phase and hence it has stopped contact tracing or testing any COVID contacts. It only advises them to stay at home for 14 days. All its measures are to delay the peak of epidemic so all patients do not end up in the hospital at one time. Having worked in Pakistan and now in UK, I know that even tertiary care facilities had very limited oxygen supplies in Pakistan. Blood gases analysers were mostly non-functioning if at all present. There was very little understanding of non-invasive ventilation i.e.

CPAP/BIPAP. We need to get the basics right.

DR USmAn ALI LonDon

Lessons from the states THe wreckage appeared overwhelming the past few days as U.S. retailers furloughed hundreds of thousands of employees. The total might hit 1 million by week’s end. As the coronavirus pandemic keeps Americans confined to their homes, nearly every industry has been negatively impacted by the disease, and businesses losing out on cash flow have started laying off workers. In midfebruary Hilton, a hotelier, and its employees had something to celebrate.

For the second year running the company came top in Fortune magazine’s list of best American companies to work for. The perks provided to its 62,000 direct employees in America included extended parental leave, Under Armourbranded uniforms and facilities to let travelling staff ship breast milk home. A mere six weeks later, on March 26th, tens of thousands of those pampered employees were given notice that they would be thrown out of work because of the covid-19 pandemic. That was the day weekly jobless claims in America spiked by 1,000% to 3.3m.

The stratospheric surge of Americans seeking unemployment benefits contrasts with the situation in western europe. Companies there are struggling just as hard but many are keeping workers on the books at reduced pay.

That is a familiar story. In times of economic upheaval, european firms rely extensively on schemes in which the government picks up part of the wage bill, such as Germany’s Kurzarbeit, France’s chômage partiel and Italy’s cassa integrazione. Traditionally, America has shunned such feather-bedding.

From frontier days its labour laws have given employers leave to cull jobs almost at will. not for nothing did the country elect a president whose catchphrase was “You’re fired!”In the current crisis it may seem fair to ask American firms to take a more european approach. After all, business activity has collapsed not because of slothful work habits, but because governments have ordered people to stay at home. This is not a slump that needs to be fixed with an orgy of creative destruction in the jobs.

Syed Tahir Rashdi Shahdapur

Be responsible THe newly originated virus named by corona has become a serious threat to everyone especially children and olders due to this many people have lost their loved ones and many people are still in serious conditions. Who is responsible for this? Did you think about it? If not then now listen.

Those people who didn't take care of themselves are responsible. Yes, because we have been hearing about deaths of corona patients for many days but still we don't care. The government has locked down the cities and PM Imran Khan said on 2nd april that people don't have to go anywhere to earn money and also said he will give money to the citizens and fulfills all the needs of them. Despite, people are interested to go to outside which can also push them towards a catastrophe. Therefore, I request the people that please stay at your homes and cooperate.

PARvEz moULA bAkSH kARACHI

Sunday, 5 April, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

The callousness of IndIa’s coVId-19 response THE GOVERNMENT IS SHOWING HOW NOT TO HANDLE A PANDEMIC

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ViDyA KriSHNAN

Y now, the global timeline of the coronavirus’s development has been well established: The first case reportedly appeared in midnovember; in december, the Chinese government was still attributing hospitalizations to a peculiar form of pneumonia; through January and February, the outbreak began spreading around the world; and its epicenter is today firmly in Europe and the United States.

Throughout, another set of events were occurring here in india. Late last year, Prime Minister narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government introduced and passed a controversial new law, ostensibly in support of minorities in neighboring countries, that in fact openly discriminated against Muslims and undermined india’s secular foundations. Then, early this year, protests over that new law snowballed into a pogrom in which dozens of people—mostly Muslims—have been killed.

Yet even as india was gripped by demonstrations and violence, the coronavirus was making inroads into society here.

The country reported its first case on January 30, but authorities steadfastly insisted that cases were one-offs and no local transmission was taking place. in recent weeks, though, india has seen exponential growth in the number of cases. Today, we are three days into a three-week nationwide lockdown, a heavy restriction on a nation of 1.3 billion people that Modi and his government have insisted will help defeat the virus. in fact, it may well be too late. This lockdown is, in keeping with many of this government’s policies, a headline-grabbing

initiative announced with little warning, but one that will do little to address the myriad problems india faces in dealing with the coronavirus. it puts responsibility for containing the outbreak on citizens, instead of instituting a robust official support system. it is needlessly punishing for the most vulnerable in society. it does nothing to solve this country’s problems with public health and safety. and everything that is wrong with india’s response flows from that period late last year through the early parts of this year, in which the government set the tone for what is undoubtedly the world’s harshest lockdown with police brutality, a lack of transparency, and a shortage of compassion.

The restrictions themselves are onerous: indians should not be leaving their homes, all businesses were ordered to close, and no transport—via plane, train, or bus— would be allowed. The prime minister called for social distancing, urged his compatriots to avoid spreading rumors, and pledged financial support to strengthen the health-care system. Yet the announcement of the lockdown was remarkable not just for its scope, but for its timing. Modi made his speech at 8:00 p.m. on March 24, saying the restrictions would come into force just after midnight and be in place for three weeks.

By the time he spoke, shops had closed for the day, catching off guard people who had been repeatedly told not to panic-buy. The next morning, nothing was open in Goa, the state where i live. Elsewhere, such as in Britain, France, and italy, grocery stores and pharmacies have remained open to provide essential services, but here, they are closed. While most wealthy and middleclass indians will make it through these three weeks unscathed, able to hunker down, work from home, and access some modicum of entertainment, the country’s poor and its huge number of transient migrant workers (there are no official figures, but the most often cited number is 100 million) will struggle to survive.

The government is offering little in the way of a safety net. Only after the lockdown came into force, and amid growing outrage, did the finance minister finally announce an

aid package. Yet its $22 billion value is a pitiful amount compared with what governments elsewhere have provided: Whereas governments in Britain, Spain, and Germany have offered stimulus plans of up to 20 percent of GdP, india’s amounts to less than 1 percent of its GdP. it provides no help for day laborers or other workers in similar unorganized sectors. it contains no measures for migrant workers. The actual amounts of support—five kilograms of rice or wheat, and one kilogram of legumes, per person for the next three months, coupled with cash transfers, in some cases of 500 rupees, or $7, a month—have infuriated voters. Here in Goa, a lawyer has petitioned the high court to direct the state government to provide essential goods to the people, especially those who are living below the poverty line.

For the poor, work has dried up entirely, and so those migrant workers who could sought to beat the lockdown by heading home in huge numbers. Since the restrictions came into force, buses and trains have stopped ferrying passengers across the country, leaving them to walk, often for days, with their families back to their towns and villages. again, the authorities’ callousness has been on display: in one heartbreaking video that went viral, police in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh force young boys to perform frog jumps as punishment for violating the curfew. another video shows police waiting outside a mosque in the southern state of Karnataka, beating worshippers with a stick as they leave. Similar cases of police brutality have been reported around the country, and social media have filled with messages of people running out of food yet afraid to leave their dwellings, fearful of the police. all of that is to say nothing of the medical disaster that may well await india, one i am familiar with—i have covered health care in india for 17 years, and was previously the health editor of The Hindu, one of the country’s biggest newspapers. as the government focused in recent months on passing the controversial anti-Muslim law, stoking protests and eventually communal

violence, crucial time to prepare for this pandemic was lost. The World Health Organization warned on February 27 of a coming disruption in global supply chains, advising countries to create their own stockpiles of the personal protective equipment that medical workers would need. The indian government waited until March 19, however, to finally issue an order prohibiting the export of domestically made PPE, and a further five days to ban the export of respiratory apparatuses. There are more such delays: Only last week did the government finally allow health-care workers treating patients suffering from COVid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, to be tested; it also only recently began testing those without a travel history, a long-overdue implicit admission that the virus was being transmitted locally; and it has just issued notices to private hospitals to submit tallies of the number of intensive-care beds and ventilators available and to cancel nonessential surgeries, and directed facilities nationwide to ensure those suffering COVid-19 are neither stigmatized nor turned away. Even the measures the authorities have taken have had unintended consequences. The lockdown, for example, bars factory workers from going to work, leading to a shutdown of the medical-device industry, and prevents truckers from transporting materials and stocks to hospitals.

There is, unfortunately, good reason to believe that all of this will not be enough.

For one, india is still not testing enough people, having conducted the fewest number of tests of any country with confirmed cases of the coronavirus, at just 10.5 per million residents (South Korea, by contrast, has conducted more than 6,000 tests per million residents). That private laboratories are allowed to charge $60 per test— remember, just $7 a month has been offered as income support for some residents—means significant barriers to confirmation and treatment remain in place.

(The government argues that because of the size of the population, widespread testing is not feasible.) The authorities are also not meticulously contact tracing, people are fleeing isolation centers, and measures such as self-quarantines and social distancing are impractical in a country where much of the population lives in dense clusters in overcrowded megacities. Whereas the WHO recommends a ratio of one doctor for every 1,000 patients, india has one

It was already dangerous to be Muslim in India. Then came the Coronavirus THE ISLAMOPHOBIC HASHTAGS BEGAN CIRCULATING SHORTLY AFTER THE NEWS BROKE IN LATE MARCH

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Billy Perrigo

ndian authorities had linked dozens of cases of COVid-19 to a Muslim missionary group that held its annual conference in delhi in early March, and health officials were racing to track down anyone who had contact with the participants. Coronavirus fears and religious tension were already at a fever pitch in india, and it didn’t take long for the two forces to intermingle. Videos falsely claiming to show members of the missionary group spitting on police and others quickly went viral on social media, exacerbating an already dangerous atmosphere for Muslims. “islamophobia has been transposed onto the coronavirus issue,” says amir ali, an assistant professor of political science at Jawaharlal nehru University in delhi.

Since March 28, tweets with the hashtag #CoronaJihad have appeared nearly 300,000 times and potentially seen by 165 million people on Twitter, according to data shared with TiME by Equality Labs, a digital human rights group. Equality Labs activists say that many of the posts are in clear violation of Twitter’s rules on hate

speech and coronavirus, but have yet to be taken down.

Coming just weeks after religious pogroms conducted by Hindu nationalists left 36 Muslims dead in delhi, the surge in hateful tweets demonstrates how anxieties over the coronavirus have merged with longstanding islamophobia in india, at a time when the Muslim minority — 200 million people in a nation of 1.3 billion — feels increasingly targeted by the ruling Hindu nationalists. “One of the key features of anti-Muslim sentiment in india for quite a long time has been the idea that Muslims themselves are a kind of infection in the body politic,” says arjun appadurai, a professor of media, culture and communication at new York University who studies indian politics.

One of the most popular false #CoronaJihad tweets claims to show a Muslim man from the delhi congregation intentionally coughing on somebody. The tweet referred to Muslims as “such vile minded people” and listed hashtags including #CoronaJihad and #TablighiJamatVirus, a reference to the religious group that met in delhi. But the video featured in the viral tweet was actually filmed in Thailand, not india, and there is no proof that the man was a member of the delhi congregation. nevertheless, the tweet was still online as of april 3, with more than 4,200 retweets and 503 replies. another video shared on both Facebook and Twitter purporting to show Muslims intentionally sneezing on each other was debunked by the factchecking organization altnews. another tweet, which had around 2,000

retweets before it was removed for violating Twitter’s rules, featured a cartoon of a caricatured Muslim man labeled “Corona Jihad” trying to push a Hindu off a cliff.

“Corona jihad is this new idea that Muslims are weaponizing the coronavirus to target Hindus,” says Thenmozhi Soundarajan, executive director of Equality Labs. The tweet has since been removed for violating Twitter’s rules, but several other cartoons linking Muslims to the coronavirus, shared by the same account with more than 15,000 followers, were still online as of april 3. in india, where the politically dominant Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has increasingly launched dogwhistle attacks on Muslims since being reelected with a massive majority in april last year, the coronavirus is just “one more opportunity to cast the Muslim as the other, as dangerous,” says ali, the professor.

“People are talking about ‘bio jihad’ and ‘corona jihad,’” ali says. “These are just the latest in a series of different forms of ‘jihad’ that the media has talked about, that have been spread on social media, and that people are gleefully accepting.” Population jihad, for example, is a common trope in Hindu nationalist messaging, claiming that Muslims are trying to turn india into a Muslim nation by reproducing at a faster rate than Hindus. Love jihad is the idea that Muslim men are tricking Hindu women into romantic relationships in order to convert them to islam. “Corona jihad is the most outrageous one so far, because people are really being infected and dying,” ali says.

Social media companies have struggled

with hate speech for years, embroiling the platforms in a difficult tangle in which freedom of speech runs up against the companies’ responsibility to protect minorities. in the world’s first social media pandemic, hate speech related to the virus is spreading online almost as fast as the virus itself. But recent history demonstrates that inaction on the platforms’ part can allow hate speech to turn into violence. Myanmar’s 2017 genocide perpetrated by Buddhist nationalists against Rohingya Muslims was preceded by a campaign of dehumanizing hate speech on Facebook. Equality Labs’ Soundarajan says social media companies cannot feign ignorance on the issue because her group and others are flagging troublesome content. “They’re aware of it,” says Soundarajan. “Whether they allow it to go viral is now their own responsibility.” (Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TiME.) although this pandemic is uncharted territory when it comes to predicting the impact of virus-related hate speech, public health officials have warned against stigmatizing minority groups. Because COVid-19 originated in Wuhan, China, some — including the U.S. President — have called it the “China virus” or the “Wuhan virus,” a name that appears to be linked to an uptick in global violence against asians. in February, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the then-unnamed coronavirus would henceforth be known officially as COVid19 — a name which purposely did not include a reference to China. “Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing,” WHO director-General Tedros adhanom Ghebreyesus said at the time.

Some are working to prevent fears over the virus from becoming entangled with religious divisions. Sam Brownback, the U.S.

government doctor for every 10,000, according to the 2019 national Health Profile. a 2016 Reuters report noted that india needed more than 50,000 critical-care specialists, but has just 8,350. in short, the country’s health-care system is in no position to cope with an avalanche of patients with a contagious respiratory infection in the manner that China and italy have been doing—india’s continued inability to deal with the epidemic of tuberculosis speaks to that struggle. an added issue is the Modi government’s willingness to tolerate unscientific thinking. The prime minister and his colleagues have held intellectuals and experts in disdain, and promoted traditional medicine in the past, undermining the health ministry’s efforts to combat misinformation by endorsing homeopathic prophylactic treatment. india now has several hundred confirmed cases of the coronavirus, and has seen at least 17 deaths—both highly conservative figures. Thus far, the spread of infections has matched that of a textbook epidemic, yet the government’s response has been anything but. The lockdown may help “flatten the curve” and buy the authorities some time, but that means little if they do not take advantage by aggressively testing, isolating confirmed cases, and performing contact tracing. absent these measures, the lockdown will merely create concentrated pockets of outbreaks that will then expand rapidly once the restrictions are eventually lifted. during his first televised address to the nation on the pandemic—unlike leaders in other democratic countries, he has not given regular press conferences—Modi compared the effort to contain COVid-19 to the Great Wars, and asked citizens to perform their duties, without explaining what his government was doing.

Ramanan Laxminarayan, an epidemiologist and lecturer at Princeton University, used a different analogy. “imagine that you’re standing on the shore and you’re watching the tsunami come in,” he told the BBC. “if you are going to just stand there, and watch the tsunami, you are finished. if you can run as fast as you can, you have a better chance.” india is not running fast enough.

VIDYA KRISHNAN is a writer and journalist. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, is calling on governments to push back “aggressively” against the rising incidents of “blaming of religious minorities for the COVid virus,” including the rise in usage of #CoronaJihad and other hashtags trending in india. “The governments really should put this down, and say very clearly that this is not the source of the Coronavirus,” he said in a conference call with reporters on Thursday. “We know where this virus originated. We know it’s a pandemic the whole world is being subjected to. it’s not something from religious minorities. But unfortunately we are seeing that sort of blame game getting started up in different places around the world.” in india, activists fear the stigmatization of Muslims could exacerbate the coronavirus crisis. “Launching a witch hunt against the attendees of the nizamuddin congregation will be counterproductive from the public health point of view,” said several indian intellectuals in an open letter published Thursday, referring to the area of delhi where the conference was held. “The attendees should be identified without criminalizing them and put into quarantine as per norms.” The virus, they said, does not care about religious or national differences. “The solution will not come through the pursuit of divisive agendas but through scientific endeavors and human solidarity.” a final irony of the Tablighi Jamaat controversy — which escalated on april 3 when the indian government announced some members of the group would be charged under india’s national Security act for violating quarantine — is that it was just one of myriad religious groups that continued to meet after india unexpectedly announced its coronavirus lockdown, yet it has drawn the vast majority of attention.

“They are no different from any other people in india and around the world who have pushed the envelope in terms of good sense,” appadurai says of the Tablighi Jamaat congregation. “But of course, india is a very dangerous place for Muslims even apart from the coronavirus. it was asking for just the kind of thing that has now happened.”

With Reporting By Kim Dozier/Washington

Sunday, 5 April, 2020

BUSINESS 09

CovId-19: Goods transPorters Push PanIC button to wIn stIMulus PaCkaGe

CORPORATE CORNER

LAHORE

a

ISLAMABAD: Chenab Group CEO and Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq presents a Rs10 million cheque for PM's Corona Relief Fund. PRESS RElEASE

ICCI hails PM’s incentive package for real estate sector

HASSAAN NAQVI

MID coronavirus-fuelled panic across the country, goods’ transporters have raised fake alarm bells of hindrances by law enforcement agencies to get a stimulus package from the government, Pakistan Today has reliably learnt.

According to the sources, the transporters have started creating panic as “they want a stimulus package for themselves and they have started blaming the police and law enforcement agencies for creating hurdles in their movement despite Prime Minister Imran Khan’s order.

The PM had lifted a ban on goods’ transporters to ensure adequate supply of essential food items owing to the nationwide lockdown caused by coronavirus.

Pakistan Transport Council President Tanvir Ahmad Jutt alleged that the bureaucracy, police and other law enforcement agencies are creating hurdles in the transportation of goods.

Talking to this scribe, Jutt said that the supply chain or transportation of essential food items are likely to be interrupted if the bureaucracy, police and other law enforcement agencies allegedly continue to

create hurdles in the way of transporters.

“More than 50pc of our drivers are refusing to continue the supply of essential foods items due to the behaviour of police, but we are continuing [service] only to facilitate people in desperate need of daily use items,” Jutt said. “Otherwise, we would have gone on strike by now.”

He said the drivers work day and night to ensure that food essentials reach markets without any delay, “but the attitude of Punjab and Sindh police is unbearable, as some officials on check-posts even ask for bribes”.

“This undue interference by law enforcement agencies is causing disruption in the smooth supply of essential products, the prices of essential food items are likely to go up in the near future.”

Jutt claimed that just like doctors who are saving the lives of people from coronavirus, transporters are also burning the midnight oil to ensure that essential edibles reach markets on time and people are saved from starvation.

He demanded the government to provide relief to the goods’ transporters and reschedule the instalments of bank loans for trucks and waive token tax and toll tax for transporters.

“The government should further reduce the prices of diesel so that transporters could continue supplying

Govt striving to avert economic crisis amid virus outbreak: minister ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has lauded Prime Minister Imran Khan for announcing an “incentive package” for the construction industry, saying that the package would help attract massive investments in the country. “Resumption of construction activities from 14th April will boost businesses and economic activities and reduce unemployment in the country,” said ICCI President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed in a statement on Saturday. “Relaxation in different taxes for the industry will also uplift investor confidence.” He noted that the growth of around 65-70 allied sectors was linked with the construction industry, saying that introduction of a fixed tax system would accelerate the business activities of all related industries in the construction field. The ICCI president said due to tax issues and other problems, a lot of money had flown out of the construction sector. However, he added, under the relief package, the advantage of not asking about source of income from those who would invest this year would bring back a great amount of capital and help in uplifting the economy. He suggested the government to establish a ‘Construction Industry Development Board’ for early redressal for all major issues faced by the industry. He also urged the government to lift withholding tax from steel and cement sectors, as that would reduce construction cost and help people in building their own houses.

A RAY OF HOPE: Meanwhile, Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq has terming the PM’s relief package for the construction industry as “a ray of hope”, particularly at a time when the country's industry is in lockdown due to coronavirus outbreak. He said that PM Imran Khan deserves appreciation for announcing a subsidy of Rs30 billion for the Naya Pakistan Housing Scheme.

"There is a shortage of over two million homes in Pakistan right now, whereas the size of construction industry is over Rs250 billion. After the announcement, housing gap will be filled and jobs will be created.” He noted that the government had accorded the construction sector with the status of an 'industry’, which would increase the facilities available to it.

Science & Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Saturday that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was striving hard to safeguard the economy from coronavirus outbreak.

Talking in a radio programme, he said under the supervision of the federal government, three main schemes were underway purely to facilitate the deserving.

“Over 16 million people have applied for a cash assistance package but only 4 million have been selected as others

were unable to fulfil the criteria,” he added.

The minister said that all programmes initiated by the PTI government have "no political agenda, liking or disliking”, adding that payment would be made to deserving families through a transparent mechanism.

Lauding the PM's recently announced relief package for the construction industry, Fawad said that this step would help create thousands of job opportunities in the country.

“With the reactivation of construction industries, many other allied industries will also start op-

erations; sentries, tiles, paint, steel etc. rely on this industry.”

The minister maintained that the government’s decision would ensure massive relief for the masses, particularly under the current circumstances.

On a query, he said Pakistan has now started indigenous manufacturing of testing kits and sanitizers, and that these would be distributed throughout the country at a very low cost.

"The government is also motivating new graduates and researchers to come forward and help the government defeat COVID-19," he added.

KP businessmen lament ‘undue delay’ in payment of refunds PESHAWAR: The Business community of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has expressed grave concern over undue delay in the payment of outstanding refunds under the head of export, sale tax and income tax despite the announcement of Rs100 billion economic relief package

by Prime Minister Imran Khan to support industrial sector amid the challenging situation created by COVID19 pandemic. Chairing a meeting of industrialists, exporters and manufacturers via video link on Saturday, Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Engr Maqsood Anwar Pervaiz noted that the industrial growth was already stagnant owing to the recent outbreak of coronavirus pandemic in the country.

"Under such circumstances, unnecessary delay in the payment of outstanding refunds will create liquidity issues for the industries, which will further aggravate the situation and result in the complete closure of industrial process, besides triggering massive unemployment in the country," he added.

Despite announcement of the PM's economic relief package, SCCI chief said the payment of refunds

was still the biggest issue faced by the industries. He blamed the the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for playing a negative role in this regard.

"Delay in the payment of refunds to industries

by FBR is incomprehensible following the commitments made by federal government to resolve the liquidity issues being faced by industrial sector amid COVID-19 outbreak," he maintained. The SCCI chief urged Prime Minister Imran Khan and federal ministers to immediate order the relevant ministries, including FBR, to ensure immediate payment of all outstanding refunds in order to boost industrialization, exports and job opportunities in the country.

"The coronavirus-hit industries are no longer in a position to further withstand the ongoing crisis."

He, however, praised the government's decision to defer payment of electricity and gas bills for next three months, urging the government and its relevant subordinate institutions to ensure effective implementation of the decision to extend maximum relief to the crisis-hit businessmen. STAFF REPORT

medicine and other food without delays,” he said.

“We are helping the government and masses so the government should also provide us relief.”

Meanwhile, talking to Pakistan Today, Punjab Chief Secretary’s spokesperson Nabila Ghazanfar rejected the allegations levelled by transporters and dubbed them “absolutely baseless”.

She claimed that all deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners of the province have been ordered by the chief secretary to ensure uninterrupted supply of medicines and essential food items. “No one is stopping them from transporting essential food items,” she added.

“We have not received any complaints yet regarding the stoppage of essential items by the law enforcement agencies or bureaucracy,” she maintained, adding that if they have any such complaints they could inform the respective DCs or Chief Secretary’s office.

Moreover, sources in the police department maintained that they are not stopping transporters carrying essential goods.

“But we do check trucks for security reasons; we have found people hiding in the back or drivers using goods transport as mode of public transport despite lockdown in the province,” said an official.

oPeC+ meeting delayed as ksa and russia row over price collapse DUBAI/MOSCOW AGENCIES

OPEC and Russia have postponed a meeting planned for Monday until later next week, OPEC sources said on Saturday, as a row intensified between Moscow and Saudi Arabia over who is to blame for plunging oil prices. The meeting’s delay came despite pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, known as OPEC+, to urgently stabilise global oil markets. OPEC+ is working on an unprecedented oil output curb equal to about 10% of world supply, or 10 million barrels per day, in what member states expect to be a global effort that will include the United States. Oil prices hit an 18-year low on March 30 due to sliding demand caused by government lockdowns to contain the coronavirus outbreak, and the failure of OPEC and other producers led by Russia to extend an earlier deal on output curbs that expired on March 31. Washington, however, has yet to make a commitment to join the effort and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday put the blame for the collapse in prices on Saudi Arabia — prompting a firm response from Riyadh on Saturday.

“The Russian Minister of Energy was the first to declare to the media that all the participating countries are absolved of their commitments starting from the first of April, leading to the decision that the countries have taken to raise their production,” Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said in a statement carried by state news agency SPA. Putin, speaking during a video conference with government officials and heads of Russian major oil producers on Friday, said the first reason for the fall in prices was the impact of the coronavirus on demand. “The second reason behind the collapse of prices is the withdrawal of our partners from Saudi Arabia from the OPEC+ deal, their production increase and information, which came out at the same time, about the readiness of our partners to even provide a discount for oil,” Putin said.

Three OPEC sources, who asked not be identified, said the emergency virtual meeting planned for Monday would likely be postponed until April 8 or 9 to allow more time for negotiations. Sources later downplayed the Saudi-Russia row, saying the atmosphere was still positive, although there is no draft deal yet or agreement on details such as a reference level from which to make the supply cuts.

Virus lockdowns leave poultry industry on the verge of collapse LAHORE HASSAN NAQVI

Coronavirus lockdowns, which have led to the closure of marriage halls and restaurants across the country, have further dented the already struggling poultry industry, with many farmers expecting a surge in the prices of chicken during the month of Ramazan.

Talking to Pakistan Today, Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) Secretary Major (r) Javed Hussain Bukhari said most hatcheries are either throwing away chicks or destroying the eggs as high cost of production and lack of demand has made their businesses unviable.

“They [hatcheries] are not sending chicks to broiler farmers, and even the farmers are reluctant in taking them under the

'DUE TO THE CLOSURE OF MARRIAGE HALLS AND RESTAURANTS, POULTRY INDUSTRY IS INCURRING A LOSS OF AROUND RS1BN PER DAY' current circumstances. As a result, most of the chicks are dying at the hatcheries.”

He further explained, “For instance, if poultry farmers are spending Rs150 to produce one kg chicken, the same is available in the market at Rs90 per kg. This means the poultry farmers are taking a hit of about Rs60 per kg.

“Owing to high production cost, the poultry farmers are reluctant to produce chicken and this may lead to low production.

And when the demand will ultimely increase

in Ramazan, the prices will automatically go up as production (supply) would be less.”

Bukhari said before the Covid-19 lockdowns, poultry farmers were producing chicken for marriage halls and restaurants (major consumers). "Following the lockdowns, they have stopped buying our produce which has badly impacted our sales.”

He said the biggest reason behind high cost of production is the exorbitant cost of ingredients used to prepare chick feed, adding that farmers aren’t getting enough re-

turn from the market to cover the costs.

Agreeing with Bukhari, Irfanullah Malik, a poultry farmer and trader from Sahiwal, requested Prime Minister Imran Khan to help avert the prevalent poultry crisis and provide healthy, hygienic and economically-priced chicken meat to the nation, besides saving hundreds of thousands of people associated with poultry industry from unemployment.

He said the production cost of chicken has increased 50pc within the last two years, however, the “farm gate rate” and chicken’s “market price” on average has been on the same level for the last decade or so.

"We want the government to give a relief package to broiler poultry farmers, and also announce interest free and concessional loans schemes with easy terms and quick processing."

Malik further urged the government to

reduce taxes, custom duties on poultry feed, medicines, raw materials, utility costs, etc.

Meanwhile, former PPA chairman Abdul Basit informed that hatcheries produce around four million chicks on a daily basis (six million kgs of chicken). "But due to lockdown and closure of marriage halls, cumulative losses of poultry industry as a whole is around Rs1 billion per day."

He said as the government had announced to reschedule loans for industries and sectors that had defaulted after December 31, 2019, it should also reconsider this clause for poultry industry, which defaulted way before this date due to high cost of production.

“The government should defer the electricity and other utility bills for three months to help the poultry industry survive this tough period," he added.

Sunday, 5 April, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

Oil price barrels ahead as Opec flags meeting VIENNA

t

AGENCIES

HE price of crude oil surged again Friday after the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said it would talk to nonmembers, notably Russia, giving investors hope for an end to a price war which has created market chaos along with crushed demand because of the coronavirus.

OPEC oil producers and their allies will meet Monday via video conference, a source close to the cartel said. And Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country was ready to cooperate with Saudi Arabia and the United States on a production cut.

“There’s certainly a lot of optimism that a deal is going to be done,” OANDA analyst Craig Erlam told AFP. Despite the happy talk in the oil sector, global stock markets fell following another set of devastating American employment numbers, gloomy eurozone services data and

south africa rolls out mobile testing in virus lockdown

news that the number of declared COVID19 infections passed one million worldwide.

The US economy shed 701,000 jobs in March amid the damage inflicted by the coronavirus shutdowns — several times the market’s consensus forecast — while the unemployment rate surged to 4.4 percent, the Labor Department reported.

That sent Wall Street to a sputtering finish, with the Dow losing 1.7 percent and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq posting similar falls.

LIKELY TO WORSEN: “The markets are digesting a larger-than-expected drop in March employment, which is likely to worsen on the heels of the past two weeks of spikes in jobless claims that approached the 10 million mark,” analysts at the Charles Schwab brokerage said.

OPEC’s move meanwhile sparked fresh speculation of an oil production cut, one day after US President Donald Trump ignited a record crude price rally by hinting that Riyadh and Moscow planned to end their price war with a sharp reduction in output.

AGENCIES

AGENCIES

South African public healthcare workers dispersed into the buzzing streets of Johannesburg’s Yeoville neighbourhood on Friday as Africa’s worst virus-hit country rolled out mass door-to-door testing for COVID-19.

Armed with screening questionnaires and testing kits, medics and volunteers set up their testing station on the front porch of a block of flats in the gritty business neighbourhood.

Nurse Xola Dlomo told AFP they were asking one resident to mobilise fellow flat dwellers to come for screening and tests. “They’ve been coming for screening and they are even open to testing if they have symptoms,” Dlomo said. Already in a 21-day lockdown, South Africa is now embarking on the widespread testing and quarantine campaign involving some 10,000 field workers who are being sent out into homes in villages, towns and cities to screen for symptoms. The testing plan to break the chain of infection appears to be modelled on the South Korean strategy which saw the Asian country bring the outbreak under control. In Yeoville — a crime-prone area in Johannesburg’s hardscrabble central business district — eight small groups have been dispatched across an area covering one square kilometre. “The health of our people is our first consideration,” said Kegorapetse Ndingandinga, overseeing the Yeoville team.

SCALING UP TESTING: With his head tilted back, 58-year-old Michael Moshone, braced for his nasal swab, seated on a brick staircase in Yeoville. “It is a little bit uncomfortable but you’ve got to be strong… because you want to know exactly what is going on with you,” Moshone, wrapped in a green, gold and black scarf, said after his sample was taken. Before the rollout of mass screening and testing, more than 47,500 tests had been performed, 6,000 of them at public health centres.

Spain reported a consecutive drop for the second day in coronavirus-related deaths with 809 fatalities on Saturday, according to the official figures.

The total number of deaths in Spain now stands at 11,744, second only to Italy. A record 950 people died on Thursday.

The number of new cases also slowed at 7,026, taking the total to 124,736. Recoveries over the last 24 hours stood at 3,706, taking that total to 34,219. The Madrid region was the worst affected accounting for 40 percent of the deaths, 4,723, and 29 percent of the cases at 36,249. The northeastern region of Catalonia was in second place with 2,508 deaths.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is due to decide whether to prolong the emergency measures and confinement

declared on March 14 for another two weeks in order to get on top of the outbreak.

FIVE STAR HOTEL QUARANTINE: Meanwhile, the government ordered all hotels to shut to fight the pandemic, which has so far claimed 10,935 lives in Spain — the world’s second-highest toll after Italy.

Hotels across the country have been converted into medical care centres to free up beds in hospitals which have been flooded with COVID-19 cases.

In the Madrid region, the hardesthit area in Spain and the first to adopt the measure, there are now just over 700 patients in quarantine in hotels.

In second-city Barcelona, hoteliers have made 2,500 beds available.

The Melia Sarria opened to patients on March 29 and currently has 107 guests with 50 more expected each day until all 307 rooms are full.

Bolsonaro's disapproval rating rises amid virus havoc RIO AGENCIES

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s disapproval rating has surged as the farright leader has taken a vocal stance against coronavirus containment measures, two polls out Friday found.

Bolsonaro, who has compared COVID-19 to a “bit of sniffles” and criticized the “hysteria” around it, has found himself increasingly isolated on the issue as the pandemic advances.

Thirty-nine percent of Brazilians disapprove of his handling of the crisis, up six points from two weeks ago, polling firm Datafolha found.

That was similar to the result reported by polling firm XP Ip Espe, which found Bolsonaro’s disapproval rating hit

tary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva said already has plunge the planet into recession.

Swissquote Bank analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya told AFP the “complete shutdown of businesses worldwide is taking a heavy toll on the global economy.”

“The coronavirus outbreak hits all layers

of the population, has had an impact on each and every single business regardless of their size and paralyzed each and every household regardless of their wealth,” she said.

“You do not need to be an economist or an expert to predict a meaningful recession knocking on the door.”

Spain notes consecutive drop in Covid deaths for second day at 809 as hotels admit patients MADRID

CAPE TOWN

According to a Russian source cited by the TASS agency, US officials also have been invited to take part in the meeting.

“It is in all parties’ interests to agree to a significant cut,” said Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.

But even reducing output by 10 million barrels per day “is unlikely to be enough to push prices up much higher from here with demand on the floor,” Hewson cautioned.

Oil prices had plunged this year as the market reeled from the effects of the new coronavirus pandemic, which depressed demand amid a worldwide economic shutdown with WTI shedding around 65 percent of its value in the first quarter.

A price war, triggered last month by Saudi after Moscow refused to tighten oil supply to counteract the sharp drop in demand, added to the bloodbath.

RECESSION KNOCKING: Equity investors remain hostage to uncertainty as they try to gauge the long-term economic impact of the pandemic, which International Mone-

its highest level since he took office in January 2019.

Forty-two percent of Brazilians said the president’s overall performance was

“bad” or “terrible,” up six points in a month, it said.

Both polls found the president’s approval rating was essentially stable: 33 percent, in the Datafolha poll, which asked specifically about his handling of the coronavirus pandemic; and 28 percent, according to XP, which focused on overall performance.

Those numbers were down two points in both cases, indicating the president retains a relatively stable core of support even as his disapproval ratings rise. The polls, meanwhile, found a surge in approval for Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who has stood by international recommendations on taking aggressive measures to contain the new coronavirus, braving criticism from Bolsonaro. Mandetta’s

CMYK

“They are cases of people who are already OK, who have passed through the hospital and are in the final phase of their recovery here, in the hotel,” said Gemma Fanlo, a nurse at the facility. Staff at a nearby health clinic work round the clock to monitor COVID-19 patients recovering in hotels or at home, either in person or virtually, while at the same time still treating people needing help for other ailments.

“Healthcare professionals are working longer hours, and are even working from home, to ensure no one is left untreated. We are working at full stretch,” said Belen Enfedaque, care director of Barcelona’s network of health care clinics.

Catalonia’s regional health minister Alba Verges said these workers were the “containment line” that is preventing admissions to already overloaded hospitals.

approval rating leapt 21 points to 76 percent, Datafolha found.

Bolsonaro has faced nightly protests for weeks in some of Brazil’s biggest cities for his handling of the coronavirus crisis. Confined residents bang pots and pans out their windows, shouting, “Get out, Bolsonaro!”

His criticism of containment measures such as closing businesses and schools has increasingly isolated him in Brazil and abroad.

State and local authorities have largely ignored him to follow World Health Organization advice on adopting social distancing measures as Brazil has emerged as the hardest-hit country in Latin America, with 359 deaths and 9,056 cases so far.

The Datafolha poll was conducted by cell phone from April 1 to 3 with 1,511 adults nationwide, with a margin of error of three percentage points.

The XP poll was conducted from March 30 to April 1 with 1,000 people nationwide, with a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.

trump fires watchdog involved in impeachment probe WASHINGTON D.C. AGENCIES

President Donald Trump on Friday abruptly fired the inspector general of the intelligence community, sidelining an independent watchdog who played a pivotal role in his impeachment even as his White House struggled with the deepening coronavirus pandemic. Trump informed the Senate intelligence committee late Friday of his decision to fire Michael Atkinson, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. Atkinson handled the whistleblower complaint that triggered Trump’s impeachment last year.

Atkinson’s firing, which is part of a shakeup of the intelligence community under Trump, thrusts the president’s impeachment back into the spotlight as his administration deals with the deadly spread of coronavirus. As Trump was removing Atkinson, the number of US deaths due to the virus topped 7,000. Trump said in the letter that it is “vital” that he has confidence in the appointees serving as inspectors general, and “that is no longer the case with regard to this inspector general.” He did not elaborate, except to say that “it is extremely important that we promote the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs and activities,” and that inspectors general are critical to those goals. Atkinson was the first to inform Congress about an anonymous whistleblower complaint last year that described Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democrat Joe Biden and his son. That complaint prompted a House investigation that ultimately resulted in Trump’s impeachment. In letters to lawmakers in August and September, Atkinson said he believed the complaint was “urgent” and “credible.” But the acting Director of National Intelligence at the time, Joseph Maguire, said he did not believe it met the definition of “urgent,” and tried to withhold the complaint from Congress. The complaint was eventually released after a firestorm, and it revealed that Trump had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a July call to investigate Democrats. The House launched an inquiry in September, and three months later voted to impeach Trump. The Republican-led Senate acquitted Trump in February. Trump said in the letter to the Senate that Atkinson would be removed from office in 30 days, the required amount of time he must wait after informing Congress. He wrote that he would nominate an individual “who has my full confidence” at a later date. According to two congressional officials, Atkinson has been placed on administrative leave, meaning he will not serve out the 30 days. One of the officials said Atkinson was only informed of his removal on Friday night. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because Atkinson’s administrative leave has not been announced. Democrats reacted swiftly to Atkinson’s removal. The top Democrat on the Senate intelligence panel, Virginia Senator Mark Warner, said it was “unconscionable” that Trump would fire Atkinson in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. “We should all be deeply disturbed by ongoing attempts to politicise the nation’s intelligence agencies,” Warner said. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, (D-California), who led the House impeachment inquiry, said: “the president’s dead of night decision puts our country and national security at even greater risk.”

Sunday, 5 April, 2020

UEFA liFts sAtUrdAy AFtErnoon tV blAckoUt For EnglAnd, scotlAnd London

U

Agencies

EFA has lifted a ban on the live screening of Premier League games kicking off at 3:00 pm in England and Scotland for the rest of the season. The blackout has long been in place to protect attendances at matches. The move by European football's governing body is seen a step towards restarting some domestic competitions in Britain behind closed doors in order to complete the season, interrupted by the coronavirus crisis.

A UEFA statement read: "UEFA has lifted the 'blocked hours' protection granted to the UEFA member associations for England and Scotland for the remainder of the 2019/20 football season, following requests from the relevant national associations as a result of measures taken in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic."

The virus has caused mass postponements across league and cup competitions.

Football chiefs said on Friday that the game in Britain was on hold "until it is safe to resume".

UEFA has warned that clubs in competitions that it deems have been cancelled

prematurely may not be eligible to play in next season's Champions League or Europa League.

It followed a move from the Belgian football league to recommend that the cur-

rent season be declared finished early due to the coronavirus pandemic, with the present table accepted as final.

The Premier League and English Football League remain committed to complet-

Two small windows to reschedule PSL 2020 knockouts: Wasim Khan Lahore Agencies

Wasim Khan has said that the PCB's "first point of call" is to ensure that the knockout stages of the 2020 PSL can be played at some point, following speculation that Multan Sultans might be awarded the trophy after topping the group stage.

Speaking to ESPNcricinfo's Stump Mic podcast, Wasim, the PCB's chief executive, said that the fifth edition of the competition had been a "resounding success" and that the board has identified two

possible windows for the knockout stages of the competition to be played later in the year, after the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Meanwhile, Multan Sultans co-owner Ali Khan Tareen tweeted that it would be "ridiculous" for his franchise to be handed the trophy, and that the knockouts should be rescheduled for later in the year "so our local players get more opportunities to shine". Last week, franchise owners seemed divided upon the issue, with Multan's other co-owner Alamgir Tareen urging the PSL not to reschedule the unplayed

fixtures but stakeholders in the other semifinalists - Lahore Qalandars, Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi - hoping a window could be found for the games to be played. "We're currently looking at when we can reschedule the remaining matches to be played, and we're confident we'll get those done at the back end of the year, subject to obviously all things going well," Wasim said.

"From our point of view, the first point of call is to try and ensure that we get the remaining matches played. There are two small windows that we have identified at

Lahore We left for Pakistan on March 4, a day after our last league-stage match in the T20 World Cup in Sydney.

I have been home since.

Two or three days after we returned to Pakistan, there was news of a spike in infections across Australia and globally. I was a bit relieved that the World Cup was over before the lockdowns began because the final was a big event for women's cricket.

I've been using this break to do rehab on a few niggles I carried through the World Cup. I'm doing more shadow batting and hanging-ball batting drills to keep my body and mind in sync. My trainer sends me videos regularly with inputs on my rehab and fitness plans. During my 14-day self-isolation period after I returned from Australia, the habit of washing

hands multiple times got so deeply ingrained, it is now almost a reflex. I think I've become a sort of nuisance to my family. I live on the top floor of our house, so every day when I train, those who are below me need to put up with a lot of thumping noises. They've started wishing for the lockdown to be over so I can train outside!

There have been some positives. I've been able to do some spring-cleaning. Two or three suitcases full of clothes that had been gathering dust for months - I'm opening them one by one now, so that the clothes I barely use can be given away to those in need. I've also been finding photos from my college days, and souvenirs, cricket equipment and jerseys from my early days in international cricket.

I have been able to reconnect with many friends from school during this period. I had not spoken to

google doodle pays tribute to squash champion Hashim khan

Google has chosen to honour the iconic Pakistani sports hero, Hashim Khan. Featuring him on their homepage hitting shots at every stage of his life, the doodle “celebrates legendary Pakistani squash player Hashim Khan, widely revered as one of the sport’s all-time greatest players,” according to Google itself. Google chose to release the doodle specifically on April 4, the date that marks his British Open Squash Championships win that elevated him from obscurity to an international icon in 1951.

Born near Peshawar, young Khan practiced and perfected the spot barefoot on brick courts at a British officers’ club where his father worked. He was, in fact, a ball boy at the club’s squash courts. By the age of 28, he developed an understanding of the sport, enough to win him three All-of-India titles through 1944 to 1946. After the partition of India, Khan represented Pakistan at the 1951 British Open where he hit it off the court and bagged the grand prize, returning home as a hero to a million people waiting to greet him. news Desk

ing the 2019/20 season.

It was reported earlier this week that a World Cup-style camp is one solution being considered by Premier League clubs as a way of completing the campaign. the back end of the year.

"Ideally, you probably need no more than three or four days. So we're just working that out. We're going to be taking the views of the franchise owners into it, get their views on it, look at what potential format we can play.

"If you remember, initially it was based on qualifiers, eliminators and then the final, and then we moved to semi-finals and a final based on the shorter window because of safety reasons around the coronavirus. We are looking at that, and we are confident that we can get that done."

Elsewhere, domestic competitions have been abandoned early, with the team topping the table awarded the trophy: New South Wales were declared Sheffield Shield winners, Weillington were given the Plunket Shield title, while Lions and Dolphins were named as first-class and oneday winners in South Africa.

But Wasim pushed back against the idea that Multan, who topped the group stage with 14 points, should be given the trophy. "There's no fun, right, in just handing it over to Multan Sultans at the moment? Although they'll probably be pushing for that. Our first point of call is to make that happen.

"If it can't happen then as other leagues around the world have done is to then declare a winner. Them [Multan] being on top, that would probably be the case."

While Alamgir Tareen had pushed back against the idea of playing a knockout stage, saying he did not consider it to be "practical", Ali Khan Tareen tweeted that he had "differing views on the way forward" to his co-owner. "Finishing at No.1 means we were the most dominant/consistent team, but it doesn't mean we won," he tweeted. "It would be ridiculous for the PCB to just give us the trophy. All 4 teams have the same chance of winning. Trophies should be won, not given.

"And as I've always said, trophies are not important. Helping players develop, giving them a platform and watching them excel is so much more rewarding.

I hope we count our blessings when this is over: Javeria Khan Agencies

SPORTS 11

some of them in ages because of the demands playing cricket and travelling make on my schedule.

I've been able to spend quality time with my family, and also been reading the holy book - my mother helps me understand lessons from it. Overall, I've been appreciating things that you aren't able to in the hustle of an active professional career.

I'm watching a lot of sports-centred stuff on Netflix and Amazon Prime. I'm enjoying The Test, the docu-series on the Australia men's cricket team. I can recommend it to all cricket fans. The failures and disappointments of these players seem relatable at a very human level. Justin Langer's role in rebuilding the team after the ball-tampering episode was particularly fascinating to me. I rely on Twitter, not TV, for news. I find the latter aggravates fears. I use WhatsApp and Snap for messaging, and I've taken to watching TikTok lately.

rugby Australia moving to dump cEo castle: reports MeLbourne Agencies

Rugby Australia's chief executive Raelene Castle could be sacked within days with former Wallabies captain Phil Kearns lined up to replace her, according to media reports. Senior rugby figures in Australia were moving to end Castle's tenure after a dismal financial outlook triggered by the coronavirus-enforced shutdown of the sport, Sydney's Daily Telegraph reported Friday. The financial woes and several recent changes to Rugby Australia's board meant moves to oust Castle were gaining momentum, the paper added.

Castle announced this week that 75 percent of staff would be stood down for three months without pay and she would take a 50 percent cut to her US$500,000-plus salary.

Negotiations with players over pay were still ongoing but reportedly could cut as deep as 30 to 50 percent. "Aside from being there to support each other, it is vital that we all pull together," Castle said in a statement Thursday calling for unity during the crisis. Earlier, Castle said a worst-case scenario, in which the entire season was lost along with Wallabies Tests against Ireland and Fiji, would cost the governing body Aus$120 million (US$72 million) in revenue. The organisation posted a near Aus$10 million loss in 2019, worsened by a hefty payout to former Wallaby Israel Folau after his sacking over homophobic social media posts.

Sunday, 5 April, 2020

NEWS

World’s virus toll tops 60,000 as advice on masks shifts BEIJING

t

agencies

he global death toll in the coronavirus crisis soared past 60,000 on Saturday, as the US calls for the public to cover their faces reignited the debate on whether masks can be effective in stemming the pandemic.

The latest milestone came as Britain recorded a new daily high in fatalities, including a five-year-old child believed to be the nation’s youngest COVID-19 victim.

But hard-hit Spain recorded fewer deaths for a second straight day, providing a glimmer of hope in hard-hit europe.

China, where the virus first appeared late last year, came to a standstill to mourn the patients and medical staff killed in the outbreak.

Across the country, cars, trains and ships sounded their horns, and air-raid sirens wailed. “I feel a lot of sorrow about our colleagues and patients who died,” said Xu, a nurse who worked on the front lines in Wuhan, the city at the epicentre of the outbreak. “I hope they can rest well in heaven.”

While China appears to be over the worst, the virus kept up its deadly march across the globe.

More than 1.1 million people have now fallen ill and over 60,000 people have died, according to an AFP tally.

Billions of people are living under some form on lockdown, with roughly half the planet confined to their homes as schools and businesses have closed in a bid to slow down the spread of the virus.

NUMBERS ARE IMPROVING: europe continued to bear the brunt of the pandemic, but official figures suggested the unprecedented measures to restrict people’s movement were having an effect.

Although the picture was grim in Britain where the overall death toll climbed to more than 4,300 out of nearly 42,000 cases, other countries saw reason for cautious optimism.

Spain, which is under a near-total lockdown, saw a second successive daily fall in coronavirus-related deaths with 809 fatalities.

The total number of deaths in the country now stands at 11,744, second only to Italy.

Spaniard Javier Lara survived after

being put on oxygen in an overcrowded intensive care unit — a shock to a 29-year-old who was athletic and does not smoke. “I was panicking that my daughter would get infected. When I started showing symptoms, I said I wouldn’t hold her or go near her,” he said, describing facing death with an eightweek-old as the “worst moment” in his life.

The number of new Spanish cases also slowed. And Italy reported Friday that the daily rise of officially registered infections dropped to a new low of just four per cent, while the number of people who had fully recovered was rising.

“The numbers are improving,” said Giuli Gallera, chief medical officer of Italy’s worst-hit Lombardy region.

“Our hospitals are starting to breathe.”

A VOLUNTARY THING: But the situation is rapidly deteriorating in the United States, where worst affected New York state reported a record 630 deaths in a single day.

President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday suggested simple masks or scarves might help stem the rocketing infection rate.

Several Western countries including

Germany and France have in recent days changed tack and are now encouraging even the use of homemade masks despite earlier telling citizens only carers needed to cover their faces. The U-turn has angered and confused some citizens, and spurred a flurry of online tutorials for DIY masks.

But Trump himself said he wouldn’t be covering up. “It’s going to be really a voluntary thing,” Trump said. “You don’t have to do it and I’m choosing not to do it, but some people may want to do it and that’s okay.”

Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the National Institutes of health, cited “recent information that the virus can actually be spread even when people just speak as opposed to coughing and sneezing.”

The World health Organisation has been more cautious on the science, although it is reviewing its guidance.

The US recommendation will likely worsen an already severe shortage of masks in the US and europe, which both rely heavily on imports from China.

Officials in New York began advising people to wear masks some days ago. “I am

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

trying to protect me and my family. If everybody protects themselves, it’s better for all of us,” said eddie Marrero, a 58-year-old handyman.

In Turkey, all those going to shops or markets must wear a face mask from Saturday.

LOCKDOWN EXTENDED: Despite early indications that the lockdowns are starting to have an effect, european governments have warned citizens not to expect a loosening of the restrictions anytime soon.

In Germany, where the death toll rose again on Saturday, Chancellor Angela Merkel said figures showing the virus’s spread was slowing “give us a little bit of hope”.

“But it is definitely much too early to see a clear trend in that, and it is certainly too early to think in any way about relaxing the strict rules we have given ourselves,” she said.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced the extension of the country’s lockdown until April 25 to curb the spread and help the health system recover. “We know that these three weeks of isolation are bearing fruit,” he said.

In France, 160,000 police officers and gendarmes fanned out nationwide to ensure people were heeding confinement rules despite the start of easter holidays, when French families traditionally head to the beach, countryside or mountains.

WORST YET TO COME: There was yet another warning over the fate of the less developed world, especially conflict zones or places with large refugee populations.

“The worst is yet to come,” UN chief Antonio Guterres said, referring to countries such as Syria, Libya and Yemen.