Epaper – August 14 KHI 2020

Friday, 14 August, 2020 I 23 Dhul-Hijjah, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 45 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition

israel, uae reaCh ‘historiC agreement’ to normalise ties g

TRuMP SAYS ISRAel-uAe DeAl On DIPlOMATIC TIeS wIll ‘SuSPenD’ ISRAelI AnnexATIOn Of PAleSTInIAn lAnDS

Imran inaugurates much-delayed Peshawar BRT service ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

WASHINGTON TLTP

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SRAel and the uAe have restored diplomatic ties after inking a deal with the uS that will see Tel Aviv temporarily shelve its annexation of the west Bank and Jordan Valley to focus on improving relations with its neighbors.

At uS President Donald Trump’s request, Israel has agreed to suspend its plans to officially engulf large areas of the Palestinian territories and instead focus on “expanding ties with other countries in the Arab and Muslim world,” according to a joint statement released by the three countries on Thursday.

Trump announced the “huge break-

through” on Thursday following a meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin netanyahu and the uAe’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.

Israel and the uAe will work together on developing a coronavirus vaccine, the statement continued, adding that the two nations would also work with the uS to “launch a Strategic Agenda for the Middle east to expand diplomatic, trade and security cooperation.”

The move represents a surprising reversal of the netanyahu government’s land-grabbing election rhetoric, which had set the international community on edge given the less-than-legal status of Israel’s occupation of the areas it planned to annex. uAe Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayad confirms in a tweet that Israel has

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

286,674

LAST UPDATED AT 09:35 AM ON AUGUST 13, 2020 DAY'S DEATH TOLL: NEW CASES:

10

753

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

SINDH:

PUNJAB:

264,060 6,139 124,929

94,865

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

34,947

12,044

2,164/2,402 15,323

agreed to suspend annexation plans, but says that the countries have only agreed to work toward the normalization of relations.

“During a call with President Trump and Prime Minister netanyahu, an agreement was reached to stop further Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories. The uAe and Israel also agreed to cooperate and to set a roadmap towards establishing a bilateral relationship,” he further tweeted.

Meanwhile, a senior Israeli official said that Israel remains committed to annexing parts of the west Bank. “The Trump administration asked to temporarily suspend the announcement [of applying sovereignty] in order to first implement the historic peace agreement with the uAe,” the official said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday inaugurated the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project almost three years after the work commenced on the project.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, the prime minister termed the service as “the best metro bus project in the country”.

“This will have an impact in Peshawar cause the city has one main artery that stretches from GT Road to Hayatabad, which chokes when under pressure, resulting in people sitting in traffic for hours which causes pollution and petrol wastage,” he said.

The premier maintained that the main artery was 27 kilometres long while the feeder routes were 60km. “This means that all of the city will be connected,” he said, adding that it was a modern transport system covering Peshawar in its entirety.

The premier also admitted to having “reservations” about the project. “I want to say I had reservations about the project. Today, I want to pay tribute to Pervez Khattak because he always said that you will realise the importance of this project once it is completed.

So all I want to say is that he [Khat-

Absolutely ready to take on our enemies: ISPR DG RAWALPINDI STAFF REPORT

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Babar Iftikhar on Thursday said that Pakistan Army is fully configured, prepared and determined to defend honour and territorial integrity of motherland.

Addressing a press conference, Major General Iftikhar said, “we are fully aware of hegemonic and expansionist designs of the enemy that are posing a threat to regional peace.” while wishing the nation a very happy 73rd Independence Day, he paid tribute to the struggles of national heroes, Quaide-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Dr Allama Iqbal, for achieving an independent state for the Muslims of the sub-continent.

Major General Iftikhar also paid tribute to the struggle of Kashmiri people who have been fighting for their right to self-determination for the last 73 years.

He said that innocent Kashmiris are being killed on the name of fake counter terrorism.

He said that India’s illegal acts in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) are aimed at changing the demography of the occupied territory and against all interna-

tional norms. He added that the local political leadership of IOK is under arrest.

The ISPR DG said that Pakistan has fully highlighted the severity of Kashmir issue at every forum and now it is being discussed all over the world.

He said that a recent united nations (un) report has pointed

out the existence of a terrorist outfit in India through which it plans its terrorist activities in neighboring countries. The He also said that resolution of Kashmir issue is the key for regional peace and even the secretary general of united nations General Assembly (unGA) has also stressed for it.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

GENERAL BAJWA TO VISIT SAUDI ARABIA TO MEND STRAINED TIES RAWALPINDI: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa will visit Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss regional security issues and Kashmir dispute with the Saudi leadership, as diplomatic strains occur between Islamabad and Riyadh over the Kashmir issue. Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) DirectorGeneral (DG) Major General Babar Iftikhar confirmed the visit while talking to a foreign news agency on Thursday. “Yes, he [Gen Bajwa] is travelling,” the Pakistan Army spokesman told the foreign media outlet. He added that the visit is pre-planned and “primarily military affairs oriented”. During the visit, General Bajwa will have meetings with top Saudi leadership. The two countries are traditionally close and Saudi Arabia in 2018 gave Pakistan a $3 billion loan and $3.2 billion oil credit facility to help its balance of payments crisis. But Riyadh is irked by criticism from Islamabad that Saudi Arabia has been lukewarm on the Kashmir territorial dispute, motivating COAS Bajwa’s fence-building visit on Sunday. Pakistan has long pressed the Saudi-led Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) to convene a high-level meeting to highlight alleged Indian violations in the part it controls. But the OIC has only held low-level meetings so far. STAFF REPORT

tak] was right and we turned out to be wrong,” he said.

The premier also commented that the ticket prices for the Peshawar BRT were “just right”. “Our programmes should give priority to improving the lives of the common man. everyone can afford the ticket which ranges from Rs10 to Rs50.”

There are also tickets for students to make their commute easier and hospitals have been connected so people will no longer face difficulties in this regard, he said.

He also said that the project will eventually increase the per capita income in Peshawar and bring prosperity. “when you have a good transport system, it brings change,” he added.

Started in October 2017, the project, which is built at a cost of Rs70 billion, is a 27.5 kilometerlong corridor track with 31 stations and seven feeder routes stretching 62km with 146 stops to facilitate thousands of passengers every day.

KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on wednesday said that the initial deadline set by his predecessor, Pervez Khattak, was a mistake.

However, he had launched the project to benefit the people of the provincial capital, he had said.

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more inside

Supreme Court’s GIDC verdict requires companies to pay Rs417bn STORY ON BACK PAGE

fO says Afghanistan border fenced to address 'security concerns' STORY ON PAGE 03

CJP grills K-Electric over outages despite court orders STORY ON PAGE 02

Pakistan on path to sustainable, inclusive growth: finance Division STORY ON PAGE 05

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Friday, 14 August, 2020

NEWS nation to celebrate independence day today

CJp grillS K-eleCtriC over outageS deSpite Court orderS TOP JUDGE SAYS COURT WON’T LEAVE PEOPLE AT THE MERCY OF KE KARACHI

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STAFF REPORT

hief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Gulzar Ahmed on Thursday grilled K-electric (Ke) for unannounced loadshedding in the port city despite the court’s orders for ensuring uninterrupted electricity supply.

The chief justice was heading a threemember bench that heard a case against unannounced loadshedding and deaths due to electrocution in the port city at the Supreme Court’s (SC) Karachi Registry.

The court was presented with a report on loadshedding in the city during the hearing.

The power supply company’s lawyer told the CJP that electricity was not being switched off. he added that 75 per cent of Karachi was facing zero loadshedding.

The CJP told Ke’s lawyer that loadshedding is happening in Delhi Colony, Mahmoodabad, and Phase-V and Phase-Vi of

Defence . “Power outages have occurred [in those areas] due to low gas pressure,” admitted Ke’s lawyer.

The top court also slammed Ke for taking bail from the Sindh high Court in cases related to deaths due to electrocution in the city. “People die and they go to get bail from the high court for Rs50,000,” remarked the CJP. he vowed that it is a matter of life and death, and the court will not leave the people at the mercy of Ke. The NePRA chairman who was also present during the hearing, also complained that the power supply company would take stay orders if the regulator takes action against it. he also told the court that there are problems in all matters related to the power supply company.

The regulator’s chairman presented a list of stay orders that Ke had obtained from different courts. he informed the court that Ke had also taken a stay order over the Rs40 billion it had to pay to consumers. The regulator informed the court that Ke has also taken

SC turnS down petition to reaSSign drain Cleaning to Sindh govt

LAHORE INP

KARACHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday turned down a petition requesting it to reassign the responsibility for cleaning Karachi’s sewerage system to the Sindh government from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) it had tasked to a day earlier. The court had tasked the authority with the cleaning of all stormwater drains in the metropolis and removal of encroachments from them in a period of three months, directing the provincial government to extend full cooperation to the NDMA and ensure resettlement of the affected people. During the hearing, the Sindh government presented a report related to its performance in the recent monsoon season and the measures it took to mitigate the problems caused by heavy rains. “You [Sindh government] show us pictures after cleaning up two nullahs and claim that [all of] Karachi has been cleaned up now,” the top judge remarked on the performance report. CJP Gulzar inquired that if the drains were being cleaned up as was claimed then why did water inundate the city during the rains. STAFF REPORT

a stay order against buying electricity from a private company.

Upon hearing this, the lawyer for the petitioners asked the court to carry out a forensic audit of the power supply company.

The CJP remarked that the power supply company should be “heavily fined” for its actions. he said that the Ke is busy minting money. The NePRA chairman complained to the bench that K-electric

gets a stay order from courts whenever action is taken against it. Advocate faisal Siddiqui said if action was taken against Kelectric earlier, people wouldn’t have died of electrocution this year.

The CJP further observed that people do not have water, power or any place to live in Karachi but government officials are enjoying themselves as nothing matters to them.

The nation will celebrate independence Day on friday with renewed resolve to work with the spirit of Pakistan Movement to make the country a true islamic welfare state. The day will dawn with 31-gun salutes in the federal capital and 21-gun salute in the provincial headquarters. Prayers will be offered for security and progress of Pakistan and well-being of the people. it will be a public holiday. National flag will be hoisted at all important public and private buildings.

The main feature of the celebrations will be a national flag hoisting ceremony at President house islamabad. President Dr Arif Alvi will be the chief guest on the occasion.

Similar flag hoisting ceremonies will also be held at provincial, divisional and district headquarters level throughout the country.

Public and private buildings as well as streets, bazaars and markets have been profusely illuminated. National flags, buntings, portraits of founding fathers, posters and banners are also seen everywhere as part of the celebration of independence Day. Radio Pakistan has also prepared comprehensive programmes to celebrate the day.

Pakistan lodges protest as Indian firing injures 2 along LoC ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan summoned a senior indian diplomat to the foreign Office (fO) on Thursday and registered a strong protest over the ceasefire violations by the indian occupation forces along the Line of Control (LoC) on Wednesday.

Due to indiscriminate and unprovoked firing by the indian occupation forces in Jandrot sector of the LoC, a 40-year-old Shakeela Bibi w/o Muhammad Rafeeq, and 12-year-old Ayesha Kausar d/o Muhammad Rafeeq, residents of village fanjot, sustained serious injuries.

The fO, condemning the deplorable targeting of innocent civilians by the indian occupation forces, conveyed to the indian side that such senseless acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and are also against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct.

These egregious violations of international law reflect consistent indian attempts to escalate the situation

along the LoC and are a threat to regional peace and security. it was added that by raising tensions along the LoC and the Working Boundary (WB), india cannot divert attention from the grave human rights situation in the indian Occupied Kashmir (iOK).

The indian side was called upon to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding; investigate this and other such incidents of deliberate ceasefire violations and maintain peace along the LoC and the WB. The indian side was also urged to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in india and Pakistan (UNMOGiP) to play its mandated role as per the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.

The indian occupation forces along the LoC and the WB have been continuously targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars, and automatic weapons. This year, india has committed 1961 ceasefire violations to date, resulting in 16 martyrdoms and serious injuries to 160 innocent civilians.

Imran vows to stand by the people of Karachi ISLAMABAD STAF REPORT

Prime Minister imran Khan on Thursday pledged that the government will not leave the people of Karachi alone in this time of crisis. he said this during a meeting with Law Minister farogh Naseem and Sindh Governor imran ismail, who called on him to discuss the situation in Sindh, especially Karachi, after the monsoon rains.

“We are fully aware of the hardships being faced by

the people of Karachi and we will not abandon them during the crisis,” the prime minister said.

Last month, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTi)led federal government had promised that it would not abandon the people of Karachi at such a stressful time during which the city is struggling with two problems: coronavirus and the aftermath of the monsoon rains.

PM imran also addressed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to submit a detailed report about the situation of nullahs in Karachi.

PIA pilots are overpaid, under-productive: audit report NEWS DESK An internal audit report of the state-owned Pakistan international Airlines (PiA) has revealed that the airline's pilots are overpaid and spend on luxurious hotels despite having low productivity.

According to a report published by a local media outlet, overpaying pilots and luxurious spending by the pilots causes billions of rupees in losses to the national flag carrier and the government.

The internal audit report by PiA and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), pointed out lack of productivity among PiA pilots. The report points out that despite the airline's pilots being highly paid, 49 to 81 per cent of the pilots were not completing their flying hours.

The internal audit also points out extravagant expenditure on hotels by the airline’s pilots and cabin crew members during travel within and outside the country. As a case in hand, PiA pilots and crew have been reported to book a five-star hotel in Karachi, despite the airline owning a 300-room hotel in the city.

Moreover, during travel outside Pakistan the PiA crew has been reported to prefer expensive hotels for their stay over budgeted ones. The report adds that major expenditure can be saved if pilots and crew members opt to use in house facilities or choose budgeted hotels while traveling outside Pakistan.

According to the report, stays in expensive hotels outside Pakistan has caused the national flag carrier a loss of Rs408 million.

Friday, 14 August, 2020

NEWS

FO says aFghanistan bOrder Fenced tO address 'security cOncerns' ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

HE Foreign Office (FO) has rejected Afghanistan’s insinuation that the Pakistan Army was conducting “illegal fencing” along the Afghanistan border, adding that it was being done to address “serious security concerns” including the presence of terrorist elements on Afghan soil.

In a statement issued on Thursday, FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said that the fencing was “fully in accordance with the established norms of international law without encroaching into Afghan territory”.

The Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday said they had protested

Zahid says fencing fully in accordance with established norms of international law the move through diplomatic channels.

In a statement issued by Tolo News, an Afghan foreign ministry spokesperson said, “Any action which has been taken

by Pakistan, the Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan has recorded its protest through the Afghan embassy in Islamabad to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul.” The report also quoted the deputy governor of Kunar as saying Pakistan was putting up fencing in a “shifty way” and claimed that residents

boi approves giving seZ status to allama iqbal industrial city ISLAMABAD: The Approval Committee of the Board of Investment on Thursday okayed 'Special Economic Zone' status for the Allama Iqbal Industrial City (AIIC), Faisalabad, and referred the applications of JW SEZ and Dhabeji SEZ for consideration of the Board of Approvals, chaired by the prime minister.

According to details, the committee reconsidered the zone application of AIIC and approved the SEZ status, subject to completion of all formalities. The approval committee also gave a go-ahead to the constitution of SEZ committees of AIIC, Bostan and Hub, allowing thereby the sale of plots in the respective zones as soon as the notification was issued. The SEZ committees would be tasked to administer and enforce SEZ benefits and rules as well as provide facilitation between the SEZ, its enterprises and the government.

The 'Draft Sole Enterprise SEZ Regulations' and 'Draft Sale of Plot Regulations' were referred to the board of approvals for a final nod. As per the documents, the draft Sole Enterprise SEZ Regulations would provide clarity on procedural guidelines and proposes certain parameters in addition to the zone approvals criteria provided in the SEZ Act and Rules to safeguard the socio-economic interest of the country and provide passage to only serious investors for the establishment of single-unit SEZs. Likewise, the draft Sale of Plot Regulations aims at providing the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to safeguard the interest of the zone enterprises while considering their applications by the SEZ Committee for admitting or otherwise into a Special Economic Zone (SEZ), and subsequent sale, lease or sub-lease of plots. Presiding over the meeting, BOI Chairman Arif R Bokhari said that significant progress has been achieved on SEZs development and colonization during the last few months. GHULAM ABBAS

living in remote areas of Kunar had also complained in phone calls to the media.

Reacting to the report, Chaudhri said that the Afghan side would be well-advised to engage on border matters through the relevant institutional mechanisms to “address any misconceptions”.

“Regrettably, Pakistan’s suggestion for conducting joint topographic surveys had not been positively responded to by the Afghan side,” he said.

The spokesperson also reaffirmed that Pakistan respected the territorial in-

tegrity of Afghanistan and conducted its relations with the brotherly country in accordance with the principles of the United Nations charter and expected “reciprocity from the Afghan side”.

On July 30, at least three people, including a woman, were killed and over 20 injured on the Pakistan side in a clash between an unruly mob and security forces at the Friendship Gate border crossing in Chaman, while a heavy exchange of fire also took place between Pakistani and Afghan security forces.

The FO had later said that Afghan forces had opened “unprovoked” fire on civilians gathered on Pakistan’s side of the Friendship Gate and the incident resulted in casualties after Pakistan’s troops responded to the fire “only in self-defense”.

Islamophobic Facebook post hurt Muslim sentiment: Qureshi ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that the incident of derogatory Facebook post about Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) in India’s Bangalore has hurt the sentiments of Muslims.

At least three people were killed in riots triggered in the southern Indian city, authorities said. According to Times of India, as many as 145 others had been arrested as of Thursday morning.

In a statement issued Thursday, the foreign minister, while condemning the incident, censured the Indian government for arresting Muslims. “[It is Muslims whose] sentiments were hurt yet police arrested Muslims,” he said. He said that the government had also taken up the issue with the Indian diplomat.

He reiterated the resolve to continue highlighting the issue of Islamophobia at all international forums.

“This [Islamophobia] is an international issue instead of a domestic one. Pakistan has to take it up [with the world],” he said.

Qureshi said he had also raised the issue with the president-elect of UN General Assembly Volkan Bozkir. He also condemned the construction of a Hindu temple at the site of demolished Babri Mosque, saying Indian Muslims were the victim of state oppression. He urged the international rights organisations including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International to take notice of the statesponsored religious oppression in India. The foreign minister was of the view that the incumbent Hindutva government had killed and buried the so-called secular image of India.

Court grants bail to 58 PML-N workers in NAB office clash case LAHORE STAFF REPORT

A local court on Thursday granted bail to 58 Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) workers involved in a clash with police outside the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) office in Lahore. The court directed the accused to deposit surety bonds of Rs50,000 each for availing the relief of bail. Judicial Magistrate Hafiz Muhammad Nafees Yousaf heard the bail application of

the accused at district courts. The defence counsel arguing before the court said that the police had registered a fake case against the accused, and they did not have any link with the commitment of the offence. He submitted that the accused were not required for the investigations, yet they were locked up. He pleaded with the court to grant the benefit of bail to them. However, a public prosecutor opposed the request and submitted that the accused were nominated in the FIR, and sufficient material was available to connect them with the commitment of the offence.

Faraz reaffirms govt’s commitment to transform Pakistan into an Islamic welfare state ISLAMABAD APP

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Thursday reaffirmed the government’s commitment to purge the country of corruption and transform it into an Islamic welfare state as envisioned by the Quaid-e-Azam. He was addressing the opening ceremony of a photo exhibition on the struggle for independence, organized by Directorate of Electronic Media and Publications on the occasion of 73rd Independence Day of Pakistan. He said that August 14 was not only a day to celebrate independence but also a day of hard work and renewal of the pledge to achieve the goals of an independent homeland.

The present government, he said, under the honest leadership of Imran Khan, was engaged in sincere efforts for economic and social change.

He said that the government has given a vision of Naya Pakistan and has been working for the welfare of the people including national development and prosperity and restoration of merit since Pakistan was created to achieve this goal.

Faraz said that multiple challenges, being faced by the country today, were due to the imprudent policies of the past rulers who gave priority to the personal interest over national interest and brought the country and the nation to this sorry state of affairs.

He said that the government will continue the process of accountability and will not spare any sacrifice for the rule of law.

He also said that it was a great pleasure for him to inaugurate an exhibition of rare photographs on the life of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Tehreek-e-Pakistan and Resolution. Like every year, this year also the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting organised this exhibition to revive the spirit of independence of 1947 among the people of Pakistan.

The exhibition, he added, was a reminder of the great leader’s principles and high ideals.

The minister remarked that the Independence Day photo exhibition commemorated the long struggle and everlasting sacrifices of the Muslims of the subcontinent to establish a new Islamic state on the world map under the visionary leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

03

two dead, 15 injured in chitral hotel balcony collapse CHITRAL: Two people were killed and 15 injured after a hotel balcony collapsed in Chitral on Thursday morning. 17 people, including children, were standing on the third-floor balcony when it collapsed. The hotel management is pinning the blame on the excess of people standing on the balcony. A severely injured married couple was taken to DHQ Hospital, but they succumbed to their injuries. According to the police, a group of 21 people (four families) was staying at the hotel. They had come from Punjab’s Kasur and had booked four rooms at the hotel. INP

Grenade attack leaves child dead, 7 injured in Quetta QUETTA: A child died and seven people got injured after unidentified men hurled a hand grenade at a shop on Thursday. According to police, unidentified people targeted a shop on Barori Road. The explosion injured several people including two children. The injured were rushed to Bolan Medical Complex where one of the two children, Mudassar Ahmed, succumbed to his injuries while four critically injured persons were shifted to the Civil Hospital’s trauma centre for treatment. TLTP

nab to file supplementary reference against Zardari in Park lane case ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday has decided to file a supplementary reference against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari in the Park Lane case. According to details, the anti-graft watchdog has stated that more evidence against the PPP leader will be presented before the accountability court. On August 10, 2020, NAB court had indicted Zardari in Park Lane reference on video-link. INP

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Friday, 14 August, 2020

NEWS

KaRacHI’s GReen LIne Gets GReen LIGHt to move aHeaD KARACHI

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TLTP

HE government has started the bidding process to procure buses for Karachi’s much-awaited Green Line BRT project on Thursday. According to details, the technical bids for Karachi Green Line BRT project will be opened on August 21. The federal government has released Rs5.5 billion for the Green Line bus project.

The government will award a tender to a successful company for the purchase of buses for the Green Line project in October. Overall, 12 international and national

companies have shown interest in the tender issued by the federal government for the purchase of buses back in April.

It may be noted that Karachi's Green Line BRT project with intersections is 24 km long which includes 12.7 km elevated, 10.9 km at grade, and 422 meters underground and has 25 stations.

The 95 per cent infrastructure of Green Line BRT has been completed while work on some stations is underway.

The construction work on Phase-II track of Karachi’s Green Line bus rapid transit project will also start in the ongoing month.

The track on MA Jinnah road will be completed with a cost of Rs2.5 billion.

Hyderabad to get first street library on Independence Day HYDERABAD

The phase-II corridor from Gurumandir up to Municipal Park with a length of 2.5 km has two underpasses at M.A Jinnah Road.

The track from Numaish Chowrangi to Capri Cinema has already been closed for traffic.

The Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited (SIDCL), a federally-run entity will look over the construction work of Karachi’s Green Line phase-II project.

The state-of-art underground bus terminal with parking facility and commercial mezzanine floor was also being constructed at Numaish. The construction work on Phase-I was started in 2016.

SHC orders action against schools refusing 20pc fee discount

INP

KARACHI

After Karachi, Hyderabad is all set to get its first street library on Pakistan’s 73rd Independence Day to be celebrated across the country on August 14. The Hyderabad administration has taken a new initiative to support education by developing a street library at Hyderabad’s famous cool breeze road ‘Thandi Sadak’ which would be inaugurated on August 14. Taking to Twitter, Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner, Fuad Ghaffar Soomro, said that the work on the street library has almost completed and he will inaugurate the project on August 14. The library will operate on the “take a book and leave a book” basis. The second-largest city of Sindh with a population of over 1.733 million has only two public libraries — Hasrat Mohani District Central Library and Shamsul Ulema Daudpota Library. Students in Hyderabad have appreciated the establishment of the library in the city as it will promote reading culture. It is pertinent to mention here that the first of its kind street library was inaugurated in Karachi surrounding the Metropole building on the birthday of Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in 2019.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday directed the authorities concerned to take action against those private schools which are refusing to give 20 per cent cut in monthly fee as announced by the government.

A bench of the high court (SHC) directed the director general of private schools to ensure implementation of the 20 per cent fee cut law and take action against schools charging full fee instead of 80 per cent of the total fee.

The court then disposed of the application after the DG assured that he would implement the orders and after no party to the case objected to the directives.

Private schools and non-gov-

TLTP

ernment organisations had respectively challenged and supported the Sindh Covid-19 Emergency Relief Ordinance that had bound educational institutions to not charge more than 80 percent of the total monthly fees.

The British Overseas School and other private schools had contended that the ordinance was promulgated at a time when the lockdown had effectively been lifted and many of the industries had already been allowed to resume operations.

According to them, the ordinance on such a belated stage contradicted the government’s policy of easing lockdown.

They argued that the legislation provides that relief shall be provided to the affected people of the province; however, the Sindh government under the garb of the im-

pugned ordinance is seeking its enforcement as applicable to all parents, which even includes parents that were not financially or otherwise affected on account of the pandemic.

They had further argued that private schools across the province were willing to provide concession of even more than 20 per cent to parents; however, the concession should be only for those parents who were affected by the pandemic lockdown, and the mandatory imposition of concession to all the parents was unjust.

The high court was therefore requested to declare the relief ordinance as well as the section 3 (2) (a) of the ordinance as ultra vires the Constitution as it placed unreasonable restrictions on the fundamental rights of the petitioners.

Hyderabad-Sukkur motorway to be completed through public-private partnership ISLAMABAD INP

Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said on Thursday that Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway will be completed through public-private partnership.

Addressing a ceremony in the federal capital, Saeed said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led federal government to start five mega projects in this current fiscal year. “Western route was a dream, which is now turning into reality,” he said.

He said that the prime minister is committed to transforming Pakistan into a welfare state in true spirit. Lauding the role of the motorway police, Saeed said that the force is doing its best to minimise the traffic accidents at the motorways, national highways.

The minister said that the government is doing its best to create ease for the senior citizens while traveling by road. On July 18, Lt General (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa, the chairman of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, had said the SukkurHyderabad (M-6) motorway project would bring a development revolution in interior Sindh.

In a tweet, Bajwa had said that the 306-kilometre highway was approved in a meeting of the executive committee of the National Economic Council (NEC) which will be constructed on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis. BOT is a model for large-scale infrastructure projects, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the public sector to finance, design, construct, own, and operate a facility.

Karachi woman moves court against encroachments, traffic on Korangi Road KARACHI: A woman approached the Supreme Court’s (SC) Karachi Registry on Thursday with a petition against encroachments and heavy traffic on Korangi Road. Korangi Road, which starts from Dawood Chowrangi and ends near the FTC flyover, is one of the longest roads in the city. Muhammadi, who lives near the Korangi Crossing, said that there are many encroachments on the road near the crossing. Big buildings are being constructed every day and heavy traffic moves during the day and there is no peace for residents, she claimed. “Who allowed heavy traffic to use the road during the day?” asked Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed. Their horns are loud enough to wake a person from a deep slumber, he remarked, adding that an alternative road should be constructed for heavy traffic. The commissioner told the court that heavy traffic was allowed to use this road because of the coronavirus lockdown. It has now been moved back to Northern Bypass, he added. The court has issued notices to the commissioner, KMC and DHA in the case. INP

Friday, 14 August, 2020

PAkISTAn on PATh To SuSTAInABle, IncluSIve GRowTh: FInAnce DIvISIon ISLAMABAD

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TLTP

HE Ministry of Finance has said that Pakistan is embarked upon sustainable and inclusive growth and all the economic indicators and recent developments signify the strength and reliability of the government's overall economic performance.

“The government is committed to correcting fundamentals of the economy through effective policymaking and targeted reforms with an aim to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth trajectory," said a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance to coincide with the Independence Day of Pakistan.

The ministry said a comprehensive agenda of economic reforms have been initiated through structural reforms. The measures paid off in terms of improved external and fiscal accounts, stability in the exchange market, growing investor confidence, and tamed down inflation.

The external sector has been stabilized as the current account deficit narrowed by 77.9pc during FY20. Until February 2020, Pakistan's exports were performing better than most of its competitors despite the challenging external environment.

Remittances increased to a historic high level of $23.1 billion as compared to $21.7 billion last year, with a growth of 6.4pc. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased by 88pc to $2.6 billion during FY20 as compared to $1.4 billion in FY19.

To further strengthen the external sector, the second phase of the Pak-China Free Trade Agreement was implemented. This will provide an opportunity for Pakistani manufacturers and traders to export around 313 new products to the Chinese market on zero duty.

In addition, the National Tariff Policy has been approved to remove anomalies in the import duty structure.

Similarly, the e-commerce Policy has also been approved with a vision of creating a business-friendly environment for holistic growth in all sectors especially e-commerce across the country.

During FY20, the fiscal deficit was contained at 8.1pc of GDP, as against 9.1pc of GDP last year. The decline in fiscal deficit has been realized on account of impressive growth in total revenues (28pc) relative to the growth in total expenditures (15.6pc). Non-tax revenues posted an historical impressive growth of 257pc while tax revenues grew by 6.1pc in FY20 over the last year.

Similarly, the primary balance which remained in surplus during the first nine months of FY20 converted into a deficit by the end of FY20 but still contracted to 1.8pc of GDP compared to 3.6pc of GDP last year.

Within revenues, FBR tax collection grew by 4.4pc to Rs3,998 billion in FY20 against Rs3830 billion in FY19.

It is worth mentioning FBR collected Rs91 billion more than the revised target set for FY20 even when economic activities were suffering from lockdown due to Covid-19.

Despite major developments, the government remained well aware of the challenges emerging due to stabilization measures like economic slowdown, price stabilization, low pace of job opportunities and resultantly its impact on the lowest income groups of the society. Keeping in view the painful impact of these policies, the government has initiated reforms in key sectors of the economy encompassing agriculture, industrial and services sectors.

The improvement in economic activities can be seen since the start of the new fiscal year (FY21). After four months of decline, export from Pakistan registered an increase of 25pc in July 2020 on MoM basis and 6pc on YoY basis. Imports reduced by 2pc to $3.6 billion against $3.7 billion last year. Consequently, the trade deficit reduced by 10.2pc to $1.6 billion against $1.8 billion last year.

People urged to follow Quaid’s principles ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) Women's Wing Central President and MNA Farrukh Khan, congratulating the nation on the auspicious occasion of Pakistan's Independence Day, urged the nation to follow the principles of the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Farrukh, in a statement, said that Independence Day reminds us the sacrifices and tireless struggle of this country. “Today is a great day to give thanks to God Almighty. Allah Almighty blessed the Muslims of the subcontinent with the blessing of freedom and gave them the opportunity to live in the open air according to their beliefs,” she added. The MNA said that the blessing of freedom was made possible due to the special grace of Allah Almighty, the selfless leadership of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the vision and dream of the poet of the East, Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal. She further said that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had dreamed of a democratic, prosperous and peaceful Pakistan where everyone had equal rights and was a perfect example to the world. She added that people had fought hard and sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the people. “Due to the efforts of the martyrs, today we are breathing freedom on our holy land,” she maintained.

CMYK

NEWS

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Imran inaugurates much-delayed Peshawar BRT service contInueD on pAge 01 Earlier in the day, the premier launched the Ehsaas Nashonuma Programme in Khyber district to prevent stunted growth in children. The premier also planted a sapling and giving polio drops to a young child, before being given a briefing by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Sania Nishtar. According to Radio Pakistan, Rs8.52 billion have been allocated for the programme under which deserving families will be provided nutritious food and a quarterly stipend. In the first phase, 33 centres will be established in nine districts of the country all of which will be established by the end of the month, the report said.

Absolutely ready to take on our enemies: ISPR DG contInueD on pAge 01 The ISPR DG said that it is very unfortunate that violations of the Line of Control (LoC) by India continue in which unarmed, innocent civilians are being targeted. Major General Iftikhar that Pakistan is playing its conciliatory role in Afghan peace process with sincerity. Terming the peace in Afghanistan means peace in Pakistan, he said, “We are the largest stakeholder of peace in Afghanistan.” He expressed hope that peace will be restored in Afghanistan soon through the reconciliation process. He said that once peace is restored in Afghanistan, the repatriation process will start in a dignified manner. The ISPR DG said under the border management policy, concrete steps are being taken along Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran borders to control the terrorism and smuggling of illegal goods. He said that fencing has been completed along the 1,700 km Pak-Afghan border while the remaining area will be covered in a very short time. Major General Iftikhar said that Pakistan has fraternal ties with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The military spokesperson, in response to a question regarding the visit of Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa to Riyadh, said that it is a preplanned visit and part of military-to-military exchanges between the two countries. “These relations are historic and very important. These have always been excellent and will remain so. There should be no doubt of this,” he said. “Nobody should doubt the centrality of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the Muslim world.

Friday, 14 August, 2020

06 COMMENT

The non-reciprocal relationship

Hazards of a loudmouthed Foreign Minister

Kashmiri freedom and the OIC

COAS has to attend to foreign affairs

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HiS is happening again and again and this does not help the country. What’s more, it reflects badly on the party running the country. The PTi has collected a rare variety of spoilers who lack diplomatic niceties and create problems for the country.

What is more, they create a highly negative perception about politicians.

Soon after the PTi came to power, PM imran Khan’s adviser on Commerce, Textile, industry & Production and investment, abdul Razak dawood, acted like a loose gun. He told The Financial Times that Pakistan was rethinking its role in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road plan. He was also quoted as saying that in the case of CPEC Pakistan "should put everything on hold for a year so we can get our act together." The stand was unexpected as Pakistan and China were already working together on CPEC which benefitted both, particularly Pakistan. in China, Mr Khan was known at the time as a man whose islamabad sit-in led to the cancellation of President Xi’s scheduled visit to Pakistan.

The grave mistrust in China led Chief of army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa to undertake a trip to Beijing where he met President Xi and assured him that the Pakistani side resolutely supported the Belt and Road initiative and Pakistan always placed relations with China at a primary strategic position and always sided with China on issues involving each other's core interests.

This time Foreign Minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi has acted as a spoiler in the country’s relations with Saudi arabia, one of Pakistan’s oldest allies and supporters. Mr Qureshi acted as man who has no sense of diplomatic niceties. He asked the Saudi arabia-led OiC to stop “dilly-dallying” on the convening of a meeting of its Council of Foreign Ministers on Kashmir. He also said Pakistan could not wait any further. didn’t Mr Qureshi know that Riyadh is yet to respond to Pakistan’s request to extend the oil credit facility?

Couldn’t the PM stop Mr Qureshi from proceeding to China now?

at Penpoint

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HE expression of disappointment by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the failure of the Organization of islamic Countries (OiC) to convene a meeting on the illegal indian occupation of Kashmir was a reflection of the reality that the concept of Muslim unity, which the OiC is supposed to represent, does not fit with the organization of the world into nationstates, which the OiC is supposed to reflect.

The OiC came into existence to bring to bear the weight of the Muslim world on the Palestinian issue, after a fire broke out in Masjid al-aqsa, which was then newly in the custody of israel. it has taken notice of the Kashmir issue, which arose just before that of Palestine, but which Pakistan saw even then as one of illegal occupation in defiance of the Un. israel’s existence was not really at stake for the arab states that went to war with it in 1948, but they certainly did not see as correct the British granting independence to Palestine, that little bit of the Ottoman Empire it had kept after World War i as a League of nations mandate, so that it could fulfill the Balfour declaration, in which it had promised the creation of a Jewish homeland. afterwards, the problem grew, as Palestinians formed a diaspora in the arab world. There were two more wars of arab states with israel, ending with the 1967 Six-day War, in which israel not only occupied the Palestinian West Bank, but also Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria’s Golan Heights. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s fight for Kashmir involved a war in 1965, and then in 1971, in which East Pakistan became Bangladesh with indian help. Egypt meanwhile redeemed itself partially by the Yom Kippur War of 1973, which was not a victory, but was not as crushing a defeat, and led to the 1977 Camp david accord, whereby Egypt recognized israel, and made peace with it.

Having got that deal done, the USa also spent time trying to get Pakistan and india to make peace and resolve the Kashmir issue, but could not manage it. Perhaps one reason was the USa needed Pakistan too much in the 1980s in afghanistan against the USSR, which led the USa to allow the nuclear development by Pakistan and to avoid peace with india.

However, one of the elements of the equation, that of indian influence in the Gulf, arose around this time. india was interested in relations with both the

Not a solution Making the wrong sort of waves

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HE attoney general for Pakistan, Mr Khalid Jawed Khan, told the Supreme Court that the federal government was looking at all the constitutional options available to it, and would act soon, in the matter of the Sindh government. He made this statement after the Court itself, which was hearing a petition about encroachments on nullahs, had made scathing remarks about the Sindh government’s failure to handle the problems of Karachi during the monsoon, where the rain has led to flooding and deaths by electrocution, because of the blocking of nullahs. Mr Khalid Khan’s remarks were taken, along with other recent developments, as an indication that the federal government intended to impose Governor’s rule in the province, and get rid of the provincial government.

The provincial government is a thorn in its side because it belongs to the PPP, while the federal government has been formed by the PTi. The role of Sindh Chief Minister Murad ali Shah during the covid-19 pandemic was seen by Prime Minister imran Khan as rivaling his own, but worse, whereas Mr Khan appeared at sea and indecisive, Mr Shah seemed to know exactly what needed to be done, and then went ahead and did it. along the way, he made it seem that he was leading the response, as what he did one day was followed the next by the rest of the country. an example was the lockdown issue. it seemed Mr Khan was allergic to the word, just because Mr Shah imposed one, while Mr Khan opposed it. Mr Khan did not rest until he coined the term ‘smart lockdown’ and insisted that the rest of the world was following him in this. Mr Shah also refused to join Mr Khan in bypassing the 18th amendment’s provision locking the provincial shares of the national Finance Commission award.

The provision for the provincial government should not be limited to political disagreements or personality clashes. There must be a severe breakdown of the constitutional machinery in the province, not just some federal disagreements with how the province is functioning. The opposition is already facing Mr Khan’s refusal to deal with it; any attempt to overturn its popular mandate will not be acceptable.

India’s handling of COVID-19 is a disaster How India mishandled the pandemic

Sultan M Hali

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ndia is heading for a major disaster because of its poor handling of the covid-19 pandemic. according to a BBC story titled: ‘Coronavirus: india becomes third country to pass two million cases’, the country confirmed the last million cases in just 20 days, faster than the USa or Brazil which have higher numbers. despite the fact that testing has been expanded considerably in india in recent weeks, the situation continues to deteriorate. Some major faux pas in governance have led to the catastrophe to get out of hand. Spurred by a low death rate, india continues to reopen even as new hotspots drive the surge in cases. india is now the third country to cross the two million mark. it reported 62,170 cases in a single 24-hour period, with its total tally up to Thursday reaching 2,397,403. Experts are accusing the indian government of undercounting Covid-19 deaths due to a variety of reason, from lags in reporting to rules on how india determines if a death was caused by the virus. Meanwhile, india has been steadily "unlocking" its economy since early June after a grueling lockdown that lasted nearly two months. Gyms and fitness centres are the latest to reopen. The rate of testing is also inconsistent.

While testing has gone up but it remains patchy, as some states are doing as many as 40,000 tests per million, and others as few as 6,000. Case numbers are ris-

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arabs and iran for any number of reasons, the main being that their crude oil fuelled its drive towards development. One benefit was that arab countries tended to backpedal on their support for Pakistan and the Kashmir cause. arab states were content with the situation where they backed the Palestinian cause because it was a pan-arab issue, Pakistan backed it because it was an islamic issue, but arabs were free to go soft on Kashmir because it was not an arab issue. Pakistan has only now made a public objection, because it feels it has been had. it had initially agreed to attend the Kuala Lumpur Summit, where two leading non-arab Muslim countries, Malaysia and Turkey, had invited Pakistan. Both had made strong statements criticizing india for its abrogation of indian-Occupied Kashmir’s special status last year, something which no arab state did. indeed, indian PM narendra Modi toured the Gulf at that time, and was decorated and feted. at one level, the arabs are right. The Kashmir cause might be similar to the Palestinian, but it is not an arab cause. The Kashmiris require arab sympathies because they are an oppressed people, not because they are arabs. in a world of nationalism, Kashmir is a Pakistani cause because it is the unfinished business of Partition, not because Kashmiris are fellow Muslims. What is the commonality between a Christian arab and a Sikh Kashmiri? Partition did occur on religious basis, not because religion is a basis of nationalism, but because the Muslims of india insisted they were a nation.

Other nations have been created on the basis of religion. israel itself has been created as a Jewish homeland. Judaism does not just represent a system of beliefs, but also a racial element which is included in nationalism. Cyprus has been partitioned on religious lines, though there is a strong cultural difference between the Turkish Republic of northern Cyprus and the Republic of Cyprus, which is not just Greek Orthodox in religion, but also Greek in culture. another concept has been tested: the power of money. Saudi arabia had withdrawn its deposit with the State Bank of Pakistan, placed to prop up forex reserves which showed that it could not force Pakistan to do just about anything under the pressure of its wealth. it had been used to doing so, and had correspondingly spent large amounts on the OiC. The OiC is a sort of mini-Un, and its ancillary organizations mirror those of the Un, while the islamic development Bank mirrors the World Bank.

However, the need to parallel the Un has to do with a vestigial memory of the Caliphate. it may be remembered that after three centuries of a shadow caliphate in Egypt after the fall of Baghdad to the

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ing rapidly, for instance, in the southern state of andhra Pradesh. it shot up the list this past month, and now accounts for india's third-highest caseload. according to BBC, india was a "slow burning coil" for a long time when it came to the spread of the coronavirus. in that sense, it was different from the USa and Brazil, the two other big countries badly hit by the pandemic. now it has taken 20 days for the country to progress from a million to two million cases. That is faster than the time the US (43 days) and Brazil (27 days) took to double from a million cases. However, india has recorded fewer fatalities than both these countries, which is dubious. india is also generating the highest number of daily new cases in the world. What is making it difficult to contain the infection is the country's size, population and heterogeneity. in what has become a "patchwork pandemic", infections are waxing and waning in different states at different points. india is lacking a robust federal strategy to contain a virus that is going to affect the world for a long time. The country needs to bring together "public health, health care, social support and financial sectors together" with strong political leadership at every level to forge a national containment strategy, says epidemiologist Bhramar Mukherjee. also, the strategies need to be different for different parts of india.

The country simply cannot afford another grinding lockdown. But, as dr Mukherjee says, "We cannot let our guards down and surrender to destiny".

The coronavirus took hold slowly in india, but six months after its first confirmed infection it has overtaken Russia to record the world's third largest caseload. With the world's second-largest population, much of which lives packed into cities, the country was perhaps always destined to become a global hotspot.

But the data behind its case numbers is questionable, because india is not testing enough, and an unusually low death rate has baffled scientists. The factors that must be taken into consideration are that india's cases are rising fast. india has seen a series of record spikes recently, adding tens of thousands of cases daily. it recorded most of its confirmed cases in June, within weeks of reopening after a rigid lockdown. in the first week of July, india had 742,417 confirmed cases.

But the true scale of infection rates in the population is unclear, according to virologist Shahid Jameel.

The government conducted a random sample of 26,000 indians in May, which showed that 0.73% had the virus. Some experts have reservations about the sample size, but others, such as dr Jameel, say it's the only country-wide indicator they have to work with.

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Mongols, the caliphate passed for the first time to ajamis, the Osmanlis, in 1526, and remained there until its abolition in 1924. The abolition allowed the arabs to reclaim their dominance over islam. Oil wealth accelerated this.

However, the uncertainties surrounding oil, now to be replaced by renewables, gives a horizon when the arabs will no longer be sitting on such a valuable commodity. ajamis are once again exerting themselves. ajamis have a point. The Quran is in arabic, and the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was not only the Universal Prophet, but he was the only one sent to the arabs. However, islam is not meant only for the arabs. The majority of Muslims is ajami. There is no single ajami group with a majority.

The main reason for the OiC is national interest: the need of Muslim countries’ governments to make a gesture towards the masses’ desire for Muslim unity. The problem is, the masses are not completely satisfied, and want more. Thus a purely nationalistic desire by the Pakistan government has come into conflict with Saudi national interests, and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister has to couch his complaint in terms of the OiC and the Ummah.

The Saudis are probably surprised, for it was only doing something the USa had done, which was stay out of the Kashmir issue as it warms to india. Pakistan has said nothing about the USa, though there has been some wondering about where the world powers are.

But then, Pakistanis do not really have a complaint against the USa for ignoring the plight of Muslims. another problem has been US influence on Saudi arabia. it might be possible to live with the OiC as a Saudi support group, but as an american? That never happened even during the USa’s crusade against Godless communism, precisely because it was a crusade. it is a little puzzling to notice that the Muslim countries silent on Kashmir are kingdoms and dictatorships whose governments’ right to speak for the people is untested, if not downright doubtful, while Malaysia and Turkey are democracies, whose governments must pay attention to public opinion. What does the arab street feel about Kashmir? not strongly enough to rebel against governments giving Modi medals, but it would be a stretch to assume that they are with their governments.

Pakistanis might need to realize that the goals of Ummah unity and Kashmiri freedom are inter-related. Only a united Ummah can free Kashmir (assuming that it can also avoid the risk of nuclear war). and that unity is not going to be delivered by the OiC, or some ajami-backed formation.

The writer is a member of staff.

Given that confirmed cases in india have been doubling every 20 days, that would put the current total between 30 and 40 million. The gap between confirmed cases and actual infections exists in every country, but to different degrees. Testing is the only way to bridge it. india's emphasis on test and trace early on limited the pool of people it was testing to high-risk cases and their contacts– and kept it from expanding to the wider population. Test and trace is insufficient once the infection starts to spread rapidly, said Himanshu Tyagi and aditya Gopalan, mathematicians who have studied covid-19 testing strategies. it helps with containment, but it does not discover new cases that have emerged undetected in the community, Mr. Tyagi and Mr. Gopalan said. india has to test a broad swathe of people for that to happen. But how do we know who india is testing?

Comparing testing numbers across countries is tricky because some count how many people they test, while others count how many tests they do. india does the latter and this number is slightly exaggerated because most people get tested more than once.

So instead, scientists prefer to calculate how many tests it takes to find a single confirmed case.

The more tests it takes, the wider you are casting your net. Here, india fares poorly compared to countries that have managed to control the spread of the virus.

The data suggests that those in india who have been diagnosed with the virus are recovering from it faster than they are dying from it. This is crucial, dr Jameel said, because it determines the strain on the health system. Currently, deaths are rising more slowly than confirmed cases or recoveries– but if that rate quickens, it would increase the pressure on hospitals, possibly driving up deaths. The caveat is that low testing rates means fewer new cases are recorded, and at a slower pace. That will quicken the recovery rate in comparison to that of confirmed cases.

Each indian state tells a different story. Since india is a large land mass, and is composed of various states, like the USa or the European Union, the handling differs, so the coronavirus statistics vary widely across india's states. Three states– delhi, Maharashtra, and Tamil nadu– account currently for about 60 percent of the country's caseload. However, india's response to the virus has so far been centralized, and that necessitates revisiting. india would have to be "broken down into districts" to implement a successful strategy against coronavirus, "because another national lockdown could be even less effective than the last one." Covid-19 is a global pandemic but the disaster in india is homegrown.

Sultan M Hali is a retired Group Captain and author of the book Defence & Diplomacy. Currently he is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Friday, 14 August, 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

SOPs for reopening institutions

Cast off despair Independence Day musings Roedad Khan

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was born in slavery. On 14th August 1947, I was a free man, proud citizen of a free, independent, and sovereign country which I could call my own, a country to live for and die for. I was young─24, to be precise, full of joie de vivre, idealism, hope and ambition. For me and, like me, for all those who belonged to my generation, Pakistan symbolized all our wishes and expectations.

Memories come back to me like shards of glass, prompting tears, sorrow, and anger. My sadness in following the events since Independence, is deepened by bittersweet memories of the euphoria of the Pakistan was so very and hopes were so very high.

Mr Jinnah envisioned Pakistan as a modern, progressive, democratic country, drawing its inspiration from the true, dynamic, pristine, revolutionary Islam of its early years with its emphasis on egalitarianism, social justice and accountability. Jinnah was a fervent believer in the sovereignty of the people, the incorruptibility of the Constitution, supremacy of civilian rule, an absolutely independent, incorruptible judiciary, Rule of Law and a strong, neutral, honest civil service. The ruling passion of Jinnah’s life was love of law and liberty.

As he left the constitutional convention of 1787, Benjamin Franklin was asked by an admirer, “Dr Franklin, what have you given us?”

Franklin turned to the questioner and replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it.” Not too long ago, we too possessed a great country earned for us by the sweat of the brow and iron will of one person.

Where giants walked midgets, pose now. Our past rulers, elected and unelected, have done to Pakistan what the successors of Lenin did to the Soviet Union. “Lenin founded our State, Stalin said, after a stormy session with Marshal Zhukov. The German army was at the gate of Moscow. “And we have …it up. Lenin left us a great heritage and we, his successors, have shitted it all up”.

Today, Pakistan which symbolized all our dreams, our hopes and aspirations, is a nightmare of despair and despondency, in doubt about its future. The rich are getting richer, and while life at the top gets cushier, millions of jobless educated youth and those at the bottom of the social ladder are forced to resort to crime, drugs and vagrancy merely to survive.

Parliament, the so-called embodiment of the will of the people, is fake, like a Potemkin village and is becoming more and more odious and irrelevant. Pakistan will be Pakistan again as soon as we have swept away this scum, and there will be no Pakistani who will not cry with joy when that happens. It is deaf and blind to the anguished cries rising from the slums of Pakistan! Give us bread! Give us drinking water! Give us light!

Give us the right to live! Its “stunning” performance fascinates only a few enlightened souls; whereas nine out of ten Pakistanis are totally indifferent and unaware of its existence.

The opposition languishes in torpid impotence. I have never seen as opposition so nonplussed, so impotent, so clearly without a shot in the locker. It is, I regret to say, not playing the role it should be playing in a parliamentary from of government. In the words of Hazlitt, “the two parties (PPP and PML(N) in our case) are like competing stage coaches which occasionally

splash each other with mud but travel by the sweeps the man of character to the forefront.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Today we same road to the same place”.

Democracy is a splendid conception, but it have both. The hour has struck. It has found the has a disadvantage: on occasions of placing in man who has the will and the power to restore the lead men whose hands are dirty, who are the Pakistan dream.

In contrast with the aging profile of the curmired in corruption, who are dodgy, who will sap the strength of a country, not in years, but rent political leadership, Imran’s supporters are over a period of months, who will demoralize all young. There was something very touching and encompass the collapse of a great nation in about the young men and women I met at the the space of a few months. When they go abroad dharna. So full of fire and promise and curiosity or speak to Foreign Heads of state, Pakistanis sit of life. Imran electrified them. He spoke with on the edge of their collective seats wondering buoyancy and hope. His message: No drone attacks. Our aim: revival of Jinnah’s Pakistan, a how their rulers will embarrass them next.

Pakistan has long been saddled with poor, sovereign, independent, corruption-free Pakistan even malevolent, leadership: predatory klepto- and alleviation of poverty. A wind of change has crats, military dictators, political illiterates and already begun to buffet Pakistan.

Today, Imran alone has that passion burning carpetbaggers. These leaders use their power not for the public good, but to enrich them- within him that will unleash people power and selves as quickly as possible. Once we were the set the nation alight. He will lance the poisoned envy of the development world. That is now the carbuncle and clean the country of all the mess.

He is, mark my words, destined to change the stuff of nostalgia.

We live in a beautiful country. But corrupt political landscape of Pakistan.

At long last, people have found a leader who leaders who have nothing but contempt for the people and no respect for democracy, freedom will light a candle in the gloom of our morale. or justice have taken it over. It is up to all of us Our nation has the heart of a lion. Imran would to take it back. And as Margaret Mead said, give it the roars as Churchill did to England in “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, World War II. Imran will reclaim our sovereignty, our self-recommitted citizens spect, our sense of can change the pride, our moral world; indeed, it is compass. Pakistan only thing that ever Thanks to corrupt political leaders, will regain its soul, has.” its elan vital. PakIn this country, today Pakistan is a ghost of its istan will be misnothing has so alformer self. If it were to look into a tress in her own tered the fortunes of house and captain of so many people so mirror, it won’t recognize itself. her soul. suddenly as political Imran in the only power. Here money Today Pakistan looks like a bad leader who will tell and power seed the Americans: each other. No wonparody of the miracle we enough is enough. der, the business of witnessed on 14 August 1947.

No more violation of politics attracts the our airspace. No community and a more drone attacks, legion of no more interference scoundrels. In the name of democracy, unspeakable sins are com- in our internal affairs. He will lead the nation and mitted. These practitioners of the art of grand the country back on to broad uplands where freelarceny, loot, and plunder in broad daylight, with dom shines. He will lead the people out from the no fear of accountability, reminiscent of the East dark forest into the board sunlit plains of peace, staIndia Company, Lord Clive and the Nabobs who bility, good governance and genuine democracy.

Imran will give the country the lift of a shining looted and plundered Mughal India.

Thanks to corrupt political leaders, today dream and drag the nation to its feet again. This, of Pakistan is a ghost of its former self. If it were course, is asking for the impossible. But pursuing to look into a mirror, it won’t recognize itself. the impossible and asking for the impossible is one Today Pakistan looks like a bad parody of the good definition of a Revolution…. Imran will electrify this country, because we live in darkness. miracle we witnessed on 14 August 1947.

One of the earliest and most spectacular acts The ossified political parties are out of sync with the spirit and essence of times and are fast be- of the great uprising in Paris in July 1789 was to coming irrelevant. Nature abhors a vacuum. So pursue the economic vampires who were widely does politics. A vacuum was awaiting a star who rumored to have secreted away their booty. had both integrity and credibility. Destiny beck- “Tremble, you who sucked the blood of poor unoned Imran, a leader of great integrity and credi- happy wretches”, warned Marat. “These blood bility, a whirlwind of a leader, a harbinger of suckers either give an account of their latency or change, a man of unbounded vitality. More and restore to the nation what they stolen or else, but more people are looking up to him to deliver shock delivered to the blade of law”. This is also one therapy to the corrupt, encrusted, two-party duop- of Imran’s top priorities. He is relentlessly pursuing the economic vampires of Pakistan. He oly which until recently ran the show in Pakistan.

Imran has a shrewd sense of timing. He saw has zero tolerance for mega-corruption.

The dark long night is about to end? The the tectonic plates shifting. He sailed with the wind until the decisive moment when events propelled time has come for us to leave the valley of dehim into the centre of the storm. Otto Von Bis- spair and climb the mountain so that we can see marck famously said that political genius entailed the glory of another dawn? So cast off despair. hearing the hoofbeat of history and then rising to Buckle up, be up and doing! catch the galloping horseman by the coattails.

Roedad Khan is a former Interior Secretary When a crisis comes, a kind of tidal wave

EARLIER on July 9, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood had announced to reopen educational institutions from September 15 with strict enforcement of standard operating procedures (SOPs).Addressing a press conference here in Islamabad, the education minister had said that the government had decided to resume educational activities from September 15 and provinces had been asked to formulate SOPs for school’s reopening in this regard.It further states that all the people will have to wear face masks and morning assemblies are also banned. Vans [meant for pick and drop] will leave 50 per cent of seats vacant in order to maintain social distancing. Only 30pc of students will be allowed to reside in hostels. All the staff and students will also have to wash hands and educational institutes will ensure availability of soap and sanitiser.The notification says students and staff members of educational institutions suffering from any respiratory disease will have to stay at their homes.The educational institutes will have to launch cleanliness and disinfection drive on their premises three days before opening of the campuses.The institutes will also be disinfected on a daily basis and six feet social distance will be ensured on their premises.It says students will not be allowed handshake.

Students and staff will ensure social distancing during entry and exit timings. Teachers will have to ensure social distancing during lectures and students will have to bring their lunch from homes. The institutes will make adequate arrangements for collection and disposal of solid waste.Body temperature of students will be checked with a thermal gun and a separate health logbook will be prepared for every student.The institutes will have to ensure display of awareness standees on Covid-19 prevention at entrances and in classrooms. Health professionals from neighbouring health facilities will be invited to conduct awareness sessions with parents, teachers and school health clubs. Teachers should conduct daily sessions on Covid-19 prevention and students may be tasked with preparing posters, speeches and essays on coronavirus.

Irfan Khan KarachI

Malpractices in mainstream media THIS is with reference to a recent news story broadcast on a few TV channels in which Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) condemned the grave malpractices by one of the electronic TV channels i.e. BOL News. The channel has allegedly been using pressure and blackmailing tactics for extortion from various advertising agencies and professionals.

I have been religiously reading newspapers for the past many years and believe that malpractices are not confined to electronic media only but print media also. Reportedly, there are various print media outlets that resort to blackmailing as their source of income, without having any fear of retribution or social and legal consequence.

At a time when media has grown so massively in Pakistan over the last decade or so, there is a dire need for an authority to keep a check on print media indulgence in shady activities meant to either mint huge amounts of money or damage an organization’s reputation.

Such irresponsible and unfair practices in print media should also be highlighted in addition to electronic media for a progressive and transparent journalistic environment.

MohaMMad rohaIl haSSan KarachI

Monsoon destruction A monsoon is a seasonal change in the direction of the prevailing, or strongest, winds of a region. Monsoons cause wet and dry seasons throughout much of the tropics.

Monsoon is likely to be start on July to September vanishing most important parts of country with the adequate rainfall. It has been active in most parts of Karachi now seeing the roads flooded and causes of unhygienic environment . It is to be consider a fact that every find rain destruction is hitting Pakistan very hardly especially the monsoon heavy rain and urban flooding. Karachi was the most affected city of Pakistan receiving monsoon ràin and the problems of sewerage hurts the residents very much. There is seen the mixture of rain water and sewerage making the situation harsh. Now we are taught to be alert by a monsoon warning and tropical storm in majority parts of Sindh and areas of Balochistan.

From the 1st of July weather system is likely to interact with monsoon .

The meteorological department has issued an alert for thunderstorms in more than a dozen . So therefore government should maintain the preparations of monsoon this time .

MIr MEharUllah MEnGal KarachI .

No time for complacency ONE of the greatest danger we face now is complacency, but this virus is extremely dangerous. However, tht world population remain constant in terms of strengthening the neglected sectors. Recently The Educational Minister said government will reopen the schools, universities on September 15 if the situation would improve . I felt excited listening this, since my self could experienced good moments while schools shut down in the time of COVID-19 inorder to safe ourselves . Remember citizens the virus is not fully under control or curbed . It is continued until a vaccine found .

Although Pakistan's hardworking efforts brought changes as recently Microsoft Founder ( Bilgates) praised Imran Khan Although the online learning is not satisfactory in our homes and centers without the unavailability of internet connection. According to reports crores of students have been affected by child labour jobs and it could be impossible to once again shift them in school. COVID-19 has put the educational sector into a tailspin . Actually the economic harm of closing schools is significant. But the question initially arises what remains for the future name of education?

Will tht nations sink ? I am much obscured that government is convinces aboreut the value of education. Secondly a news emerge and narrated the educational institutions will reopen with strict SOPs. It is really surprising to see the citizens are against of SOPs as they consider the virus a rumour and a force action imposed in the country. So the educational authorities should look up to the situation and not reopen schools at this time .

BarKatUllah tUrBat

Friday, 14 August, 2020

08 INDEPENDENCE DAY

Genesis of Two-nATion Theory

T

MALik MuHAMMAD ASHRAF

HE Independence Movement for the creation of Pakistan was arguably the shortest ever struggle to throw off the yolk of subservience to a colonial power. What made that miracle to happen owes it to the fact that despite a thousand years of co-existence with Hindus in the sub-continent, the Muslims ever since their arrival in India either as conqueror or traders, maintained their distinct identity culturally and politically and were already a homogenous nationality in India before the movement to end the colonial rule in India started.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah who initially was a staunch supporter of Hindu-Muslim Unity and believed in peaceful co-existence with Hindus under a constitutional arrangement that protected the political rights of the Muslims and gave them their due share in governance — after his disillusionment with the designs of the Hindus who only wanted India for Hindus and did not acknowledge the Muslims as a separate entity — used this factor to rally around the Muslims to the cause of an independent state for the Muslims.

The process of his transformation into a supporter and leader of the Independence Movement began with his statement in 1937 that asserted “India is not a national state.

India is not a state but a sub-continent composed of nationalities, the two major nations being Hindus and Muslims whose culture, art, architecture, names and nomenclature, sense of value and proportion, laws and jurisprudence, social moral codes, customs and calendar, history and traditions, aptitudes and ambitions, outlook on life and of life are fundamentally different. By all cannons of international law we are a nation”.

The vision given by Allama Muhammad Iqbal provided a clear direction to this thought process. Pakistan Resolution was finally adopted on 23rd March, 1940, and within a span of seven years Pakistan became a reality on 14th August, 1947,

WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A SEPARATE NATION notwithstanding the fact that the Hindus and British did not want partition of the sub-continent and made several overt and covert attempts to sabotage Muslim claims to a separate statehood.

It is said that achieving independence is not as difficult as the consolidation of the gains of independence and maintaining strong connection with the ideological moorings that guide a nation towards a right path to achieve its cherished goals. Unfortunately Pakistan has failed in both these areas and consequently finds itself at the crossroads even after nearly seven decades of its independence due to the shenanigans of the political leaders and the military dictators. There was never ever a greater need to go back to the drawing board and rediscover the contours of Pakistan envisioned by its founding father and the ideology that spurred the Independence Movement.

While celebrating the independence those who have brought Pakistan to where it stands now, need to introspect their conduct with a view to retrace their steps to the path chartered by the Quaid and take inspiration from the ideological strands that wove Pakistan into reality. It is also probably the right occasion to apprise the younger generation about Pakistan ideology and the struggle that went into making Pakistan, to instill in them the right spirit behind the Independence Movement and the path they are supposed to tread as future architects of this god gifted country.

Perhaps a brief insight into the history of co-existence of Hindus and Muslims in the sub-continent is justified to make the concept of Pakistan Ideology and the TwoNation theory more clear. All historic accounts in this regard ungrudgingly concede that the differences between Hindus and Muslims were not confined to the struggle

for political supremacy, but were also manifested in the clash of two social orders as enunciated by Jinnah in his 1937 speech highlighting differences between the two nationalities.

The ideology of Pakistan took shape through an evolutionary process. Historical experiences helped sharpen its footprints making it a discernible political reality. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan began the period of Muslim self-awakening; Allama Iqbal provided the philosophical explanation and Quaid-i-Azam translated it into reality. The Muslims of South Asia believed that they were a nation in the modern sense of the word. The basis of their nationhood was neither territorial, racial, linguistic nor ethnic, rather they were a nation because they belonged to the same faith, Islam.

The Muslims and Hindus being poles apart from each other having distinct identities was highlighted by Al-Biruni as early as at the beginning of the 11th Century, a fact mentioned by Jinnah in his speeches of 1937 and 22nd March, 1940, before the passing of the Pakistan Resolution. In this speech, he reiterated that Hindus and Muslims belonged to two different religious philosophies, with different social customs and literature. They neither intermarried, nor ate together and indeed belonged to two different civilisations whose very foundations were based on conflicting ideas and concepts.

The Ideology of Pakistan has its roots deep in the history. The history of South Asia is largely a history of rivalry and conflict between the Hindus and Muslims of the region. Both communities have been living together in the same area since the early 8th century yet the two failed to develop harmonious relations. In the beginning, one could find the Muslims and

Hindus struggling for supremacy in the battlefield. Starting with the war between Muhammad bin Qasim and Raja Dahir in 712, armed conflicts between Hindus and Muslims run in thousands. Clashes between Mahmud of ghazni and Jaypal, Muhammad ghuri and Prithvi Raj, Babur and Rana Sanga and Aurangzeb and Shivaji are cases in point.

When the Hindus of South Asia failed to establish Hindu rule through force, they opted for backdoor conspiracies. Bhakti Movement with the desire to merge Islam and Hinduism was one of the biggest attacks on the faith of the Muslims of the region.

Akbar’s diversion from the mainstream Islamic ideology was one of the greatest success stories of Hindus. However, due to the immediate counterattack by Mujaddid Alf Sani and Sufis belonging to Chishtia and Suharwardia sects, this era proved to be short-lived. Muslims once again proved their separate identity during the regimes of Jehangir, Shah Jehan and particularly Aurangzeb. The attempts to bring the two communities close could not succeed because the differences between the two were fundamental and had no meeting point. At the root of the problem were the differences between the two religions. So long as the two people wanted to lead their lives according to their respective faith, they could not be one.

With the advent of the British rule in India in 1858, Hindu-Muslim relations entered a new phase. The British brought with them a new political philosophy commonly known as ‘territorial nationalism’. Before the coming of the British, there was no concept of a ‘nation’ in South Asia and the region had never been a single political unit.

The British attempt to weld the two communities into a ‘nation’ also failed. The British concept of a nation did not fit the religio-social system of South Asia.

Similarly, the British political system did not suite the political culture of South Asia. The British political system, com-

How the Pakistan Movement began

A

DR RAjkuMAR SiNgH

MONg Muslim stalwarts Sir Syed Ahmed was first to look into the problems of the Muslim society and strive hard for a solution. He led the attack on Hindu domination and asked the Muslims not to identify themselves with the Hindus, to keep aloof from the Congress movement and instead to seek their salvation through cooperation with the British and through modern education. He had to fight on two fronts, to convince his own people to change, and against the British to adopt a more liberal attitude towards the Muslims. He clearly laid down his principles distinctly, which were two in number; to the Muslims he said that they should take to Western education, and to the British he said that the Muslims were not opposed to them; that they were not their enemies no longer; a review in their policy was called for; a reconciliation with the Muslims would be in their own interests; it would win the gratitude of the largest minority in the country who could play a balancing part in politics.

Theme of his vision: Sir Syed gave new life to a dead society which, within a short period, regained its vigour and self-confidence. He urged the Muslims to believe that there was only one way left for survival, namely loyalism in politics and modernism in institutions. The Muslims were, in general, not aware how progressive the West was in intellectual pursuits in the economic sector, in military might and political shrewdness, and he urged them to know, learn, understand and then practice these arts.

He went further and said that Christianity and Islam are both good religions, although Islam is better. He believed that there could be a reconciliation between Islam and other faiths, and was convinced that Muslims must study the modern world, including the physical sciences.

For the interest of Indian Muslims, he formulated an educational scheme on the Western model and combined this with the basic teachings of Islam, more or less rationalistically interpreted. With the financial aid of the Muslim middle classes and support of the government he founded the Anglo-Oriental College in 1877, which later became Aligarh Muslim University.

The educational movements of Sir Syed had its impact on Bengali Muslims. It made them conscious of their backwardness compared to Hindus. Towards the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, Muslims in Bengal also began to send their children to English

SIR SYED AND THEN IQBAL DISTRUSTED CONGRESS schools and colleges, because they could at last realise that unless their children were educated in English, they would have no opening in government employment or other professions.

Impact on British post-Mutiny: In the postMutiny phase it was due to his efforts that the British adopted a pro-Muslim attitude or rather became in favour of those elements among the Muslims who were opposed to the national movement. British policy towards them underwent a gradual change and became more favourable. This change was essentially due to the policy of balance and counterpoise which the British government had consistently pursued. Sir Syed discouraged the Muslims in joining the national movement through the Indian National Congress, formed in 1885. Although he was not opposed to Congress because he considered it predominantly a Hindu organisation; he opposed it because he thought it was politically too aggressive, and he wanted British help and cooperation. He was in no way antiHindu or communally separatist. Repeatedly he emphasised that religious differences should have no political or national significance. Later he also supported thw Muslim League, which was founded in 1906 to divert the attention of the younger generation of the Muslims. This new political party initially had two principal objects: loyalty to the British government and the safeguarding of Muslim interests.

The frustration of the Muslim masses, and social as well as political experience of Sir Syed, found a new meaning in Dr Mohammed Iqbal, a poet, an intellectual and a philosopher.

The actual credit for conceiving the idea of Pakistan goes not to Sir Syed but to Sir Mohammed Iqbal in the true sense of the term. Sir Syed had laid the foundation and Iqbal raised the structure which was finally finished by Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Iqbal was popular especially in the younger generation, and began by writing powerful nationalist poems in Urdu and Persian. His popularity was no doubt due to the quality of his poetry, but even more so it was due to his having fulfilled a need when the Muslim mind was searching for some anchor to hold on to. The sensitive heart of the poet was much touched by the despicable conditions of the Muslims after the First World War. His intense love of Islam and the failure of the Muslims to catch the right spirit of Islam made him

reflect deeply in order to reconstruct the true Islamic thought.

Vision guided Iqbal and Jinnah: Thus, the idea of a separate Muslim State flashed, for the first time, in Iqbal’s vision, was the by-product of his sensitivity as a poet, discerning mind as a philosopher and his passionate love of Islam as a mystic. Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the chief architect of Pakistan, had traced the idea to Iqbal and said, “The idea of Pakistan it is well known, originated in the brain of the late Hazrat Allma Iqbal. He was the mouthpiece of the highest aspirations of his people.” In the then prevailing situation, the dilemma for the Muslims was that if they went too far in cooperating with the Hindus their distinctive way of life might be undermined. But if they did not participate fully in the building of the new nation, they ran the danger of remaining an isolated segment of the population which might be left behind as the Hindus moved toward a modernised society and an industrialised economy. Iqbal drew the Muslim community from this dilemma and in his Presidential address to the Muslim League convention held in Allahabad in 1930, pleaded for a separate state for Muslims and said, “I would like to see the Punjab, North-West Frontier Province, Sind and Baluchistan, amalgamated into a single state Self-government within the British Empire or without the British Empire, the formation of a consolidated North-West Indian Muslim State appears to me to be the final destiny of the Muslims at least the North-West India.”

However, with the change in the political situation, the increasing power of the Congress and the humiliation of the League leadership on the electoral front in which Congress governments were formed in a number of provinces, the idea of Pakistan was revived and made the basis of a new movement. Meanwhile, the currents of modernisation– education, concentration in urban areas, development of indigenous literature– had influenced the Muslims, raised their self-awareness as a community, and, frustrated as they became with democratic politics, accentuated their sense of isolation and separate identity.

The writer is head of the Politcal Science department, BNMU< Saharsa, Bihar, India.

He can be reached at: rajkumarsinghpg@gmail.com

monly known as ‘democracy’, gave majority the right to rule. But unlike Britain, the basis of majority and minority in South Asia was not political but religious and ethnic. The attempt to enforce the British political model in South Asia, instead of solving the political problems, only served to make the situation more complex. The Hindus supported the idea while it was strongly opposed by the Muslims.

The Muslims knew that the implementation of the new order would mean the end of their separate identity and endless rule of the Hindu majority in the name of nationalism and democracy. The Muslims refused to go the British way. They claimed that they were a separate nation and the basis of their nation was the common religion Islam. They refused to accept a political system that would reduce them to a permanent minority. They first demanded separate electorates and later a separate state. Religious and cultural differences between Hindus and Muslims increased due to political rivalry under the British rule. The Muslim ideology formed the basis of the Two-Nation theory.

As is evident the Muslim desire for a separate homeland was dictated by the historic events as well as their inner voice to fashion their lives in accordance with the teachings of their great religion. Quaid-iAzam wanted Pakistan as a democratic entity inspired and spurred by Islamic teachings but not as a theocracy ruled by priests. Our salvation, peace and progress, are therefore inextricably linked to the realisation of the vision of its founding father maintaining strong connection to the ideological moorings of the Pakistan Movement.

The journey must begin without further delay if we want to see Pakistan to become an eternal reality enjoying a respectable place in the comity of nations. The celebrations and rejoicing on the Independence Day would be meaningless rituals without the changing of our ways.

Understanding partition this independence day REHMAN ANWER ‘’Look into the eyes of Muslims that live in India and you truly see the pain with which they live.

We treat them as aliens.’’

The partition – the inconceivable division of Indian subcontinent into two separate and sovereign countries is normally associated with tragedies of mass murder, looting, plundering and forced migration of hundreds of thousands of people in the name of religion and identity politics. Such stories are substantially based on factual events and it is estimated that about 2 Million people killed and over 10 Million displaced during partition. From Karachi to Bengal and from Amritsar to Peshawar, millions suffered and had to flee the lands where they had been living for centuries. The tales of ferocity are spine chilling ranging from countless incidents of savage sexual violence to setting off villages aflame. Witnesses of those dreadful crimes describe how neighbours who coexisted peacefully for decades suddenly turned into sadistic enemies based on their politico-religious differences.

As much as these stories are heartwrenching, the assessments that suggest that the idea of Pakistan and an unprecedented struggle of All India Muslim League under the leadership of Quaid-e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah to protect the rights of Indian Muslims was somehow to be blamed for all the bloodshed and mayhem during partition are absurd and misleading. Mr Jinnah was surely the architect of Pakistan and led the Pakistan movement on ideological grounds; however, he was strenuously against the partition of Bengal and Punjab. On several occasions before the partition he warned the Congress leaders and the British authorities that dividing these provinces could lead to anarchy but his advice was always ignored. Renowned historian, Stanley Wolpert describes that when Lord Mountbatten met Mr Jinnah in April, 1947 to discuss partition, Jinnah furiously responded ‘’Bengalis and Punjabis were united by their common languages and history.’’

M. A. JINNAH IS NOT TO BLAME Moreover, in May, 1947, Jinnah again tried to clarify his idea of Pakistan and opposed the partition of Bengal and Punjab in strongest terms. ” I should like to point out that there is a great deal of confusion created on purpose. The question of a division of India, as proposed by the Muslim League, is based on the fundamental fact that there are two nations- Hindus and Muslims- and the underlying principle is that we want a national home and a national state in our homelands which are predominately Muslim and compromise the six units of the Punjab, the N.W.F.P., Sind, Baluchistan, Bengal and Assam. This will give the Hindus their national home and a national state of Hindustan, which means three-fourths of British India.

Now the question of partitioning Bengal and the Punjab is raised, not with a ‘bona fide’ object but as a sinister move actuated by spite and bitterness ..’’. In order to save India from the horrors of partition, Mr Jinnah went out of the way and even agreed to the idea of a separate and sovereign Bengal saying ‘’What is the use of Bengal without Calcutta; they had much better remain united and independent’’.

Similarly, he strived hard to stop the partition of Punjab and promised the Sikh Leader, Tara Singh of ‘’whatever he wanted’’ if he could convince the Punjab’s Sikhs to join Pakistan.

The acclaimed Pakistani historian Ayesha Jalal argues that: “Jinnah was from a province where Muslims were in a minority. He wanted to use the power of the areas where the Muslims were a majority to create a shield of protection for where they were in a minority. The possibility that the areas that became Pakistan would offer a kind of protection for Muslims living in areas which have remained in India …” Perhaps, he was able to foresee the rise of Hindu nationalism and potential issues for Muslims in the Hindu majority areas.

Friday, 14 August, 2020

BUSINESS 09

CORPORATE CORNER CPNE files writ petition against Sindh govt over non-payment of dues KARACHI: The Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors has filed a writ petition on non-payment of dues of newspapers for the period of 2019 and 2020, on which Sindh High Court has directed the Chief Secretary to the Sindh Government and the Secretary to the Provincial Information Department, issued notice seeking response till August 24, 2020. The writ petition said that due to non-payment of dues by the Sindh government from January 2019 to July 2020, the publications are on the verge of closure because of suffering from severe economic crisis and the media houses, journalists and other workers are also in dire financial straits. Secretary General CPNE, Dr. Jabbar Khattak has requested the SHC in writ petition, that to issue an order to the Sindh government for immediate payment of dues of newspapers and periodicals. Press release

Byco Petroleum rescues 23 stranded fishermen KARACHI: Byco Petroleum Pakistan Limited has successfully rescued 23 fishermen near Cape Mount, Karachi, after their boat ran into technical issues and lost power, leaving them stranded at the mercy of the ocean waves. According to the details, Maritime Security Agency (MSA) received distress calls from the stranded vessel, AlRizwana at around 10:20 AM. Due to the critical nature of the emergency in terms of time and distance, Maritime Information and Coordination Centre contacted Byco’s SPM Control Centre which has active security deployment in the area of Balochistan coastline. Byco immediately dispatched its three crafts towards the provided coordinates which included a Pilot Boat, OSR Vessel WSSII and Tug SAL. All 23 fishermen aboard the Al-Rizwana were rescued successfully. Press release

PepsiCo Pakistan distributes 10 million meals nationwide LAHORE: As part of its ‘Millions of Meals’ campaign, PepsiCo Pakistan has so far distributed over 10 million meals as part of its ongoing Covid-19 disaster relief efforts.

‘Millions of Meals’ is an inclusive, nationwide disaster relief program making millions of meals available to the communities most impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak.

The 10 million meal milestone has been achieved within four months of the campaign launch and was made possible by the on-ground support of reputable charitable organizations. Furqan Ahmed Syed, CEO PepsiCo Pakistan and Afghanistan said, “I am very proud to share that the ‘Millions of Meals’ campaign has already distributed over 10 million meals. With the help of our partners, we have ensured access to the program to all provinces and almost all the districts of Pakistan.” Press release

Soneri Bank wins big at ‘Brand of the Year Awards 2019’ KARACHI: Soneri Bank has recently been awarded “Brand of the Year Awards 2019” in the Best Retail Banking Category by The Brands’ Foundation; which has been “Accredited Permanent Observer Status” from the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the Specialised Agency of the United Nations. Brand of the Year Awards are indeed a distinctive and premier recognition for a brand considered as a champion, or best of the best, in its industry in Pakistan based on current year market-standing and consumers’ preference. Every year only one brand in each category is honoured which has led through all the levels of selection criteria laid down by “Award Accreditation Council”. Press release

LAHORE: Hashoo Group, owners and operators of the largest hospitality chain of Pakistan, signs agreement with the Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab to manage and operate a motel and resort in Nankana. Press release

KARACHI: Preparations for Independence Day celebrations are in full swing at Bahria Town’s Adventure Land, Danzoo and Carnival. Pakistani flag will be hoisted today on the world’s tallest flagpole. Press release

CABINEt CommIttEE ExPrESSES SAtISfACtIoN ovEr CPEC'S ProGrESS ISLAMABAD

t

sTaFF rePOrT

HE Cabinet Committee on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) on Thursday expressed satisfaction over the progress on CPEC projects.

The committee, which met with Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar in the chair, had also in attendance ministers and secretaries from 10 ministries.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Information and Broadcasting Lt Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa briefed the committee about the progress of various CPEC projects being executed across the country.

Later, Asim Bajwa, who is also the Chairman of the CPEC Authority, said on Twitter that as per Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision, the authority

ASIM BAJWA SAYS CPEC'S DIVIDENDS WILL REACH EVERY PAKISTANI AS PER THE VISION OF PM IMRAN would ensure that CPEC's dividends reach every Pakistani.

He said the officials from relevant ministries have reaffirmed their complete commitment to accelerating work on CPEC projects.

Also taking to Twitter, Planning Minister Asad Umar said the cabinet committee reviewed progress of CPEC projects for the financial year 2019-20.

He said in the power sector, two projects with a capacity of 1,980MW were commissioned while groundbreaking of another was performed.

"Similarly, the financial close of two projects was achieved and concession agreements of two hydel projects of

1,800MW capacity were signed."

Moreover, he informed, two infrastructure projects were completed, with groundbreaking of another one, while the planning ministry also accorded approval for three other projects.

"Most importantly, the biggest CPEC project so far and the biggest rail project in the history of Pakistan, ML1, got approval from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) to proceed further," Asad Umar said.

The minister claimed that significant progress had been achieved in the development of Gwadar port's infrastructure, which was the linchpin of CPEC. The achievements included the

MARKET DAILY

KSE-100 tanks 182 points on Supreme Court's GIDC ruling KARACHI sTaFF rePOrT

Extending the losses from the previous day, the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed the last session of the week in red, with indices succumbing to selling pressure after Supreme Court's ruling on the GIDC issue.

Global equity markets, on the other hand, mostly showed a positive trend, whereas WTI crude oil prices remained steady; WTI crude price rising 0.05pc to $42.69 and Brent crude oil price declining 0.13pc to $45.38.

"After a positive start to proceedings, the index took a U-turn as soon as the Supreme Court announced its decision on the Gas Infrastructure Development Cess, which required industries to pay Rs417bn on account of GIDC to

the government over a period of two years," said a report issued by AHL Ltd. "Although the index tried to stage recovery to erase all the losses, profit booking kept the index in the red."

MARKET SUMMARY: The benchmark KSE-100 remained in the negative zone for almost the entire session, marking its intraday low at 39,898.22 after shedding 574.96 points. It closed lower by 182.44 points at 40,290.74.

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index dropped 20.47 points to end at 64,483.33, while the KSE All Share lost 86.82 points, settling at 28,134.26. Of the total traded scrips, 161 advanced and 186 declined.

The overall market volumes contracted further from 591.11 million shares in the previous

session to 555.99 million shares (-6pc DoD). Average traded value also declined by 14pc, from $133.7 million to $115.2 million. Unity Foods Limited (UNITY +7.75pc), Hascol Petroleum Limited (HASCOL +6.38pc) and Unity Foods Limited Right Shares (UNITYR2 +32.05pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 60.27 million, 50.87 million and 50.64 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that pulled the benchmark index lower included fertilizer (202.30 points), the investment banking sector (27.23 points) and banking (19.32 points). Among the companies, Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd (FFC 114.51 pts), Engro Corp Ltd (ENGRO 44.47 pts) and MCB Bank Ltd (MCB 27.01 pts) dented the index the most.

groundbreaking of Pak-China Hospital and a technical and vocational centre.

Phase-1 of a project to supply 5MGD water from Saur Dam to Gwadar city was also completed in FY20, he added.

Asad Umar mentioned that the groundbreaking of the first CPEC Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Faisalabad had taken place in January this year, while significant progress was also made to set up SEZs in Dhabeji, Sindh and Rashakai, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

"As we move forward, the emphasis on industrial cooperation (with China) will increase."

He said two areas of emphasis and priority in the next phase of CPEC would be agriculture, and science & technology. New joint working groups had been established for both the areas under the CPEC framework, he added.

Businessmen Group sweeps KCCI polls as 15 members elected unopposed KARACHI: All candidates of the Businessmen Group (BMG) have been elected unopposed for the Managing Committee of Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry for the year 2020-22.

According to details, a total of 20 nominations from the Businessmen Group were received by the election commission. After scrutiny of the nomination papers, the commission rejected five nomination papers by declaring them “invalid”, which led to the unanimous election of the remaining 15 BMG candidates. BMG Chairman and former KCCI president Siraj Kassam Teli on the occasion conveyed thanks and compliments to the business and industrial community of Karachi for reposing confidence and trust on the Businessmen Group. He said, "By the grace of Almighty Allah, BMG has been winning all elections without losing a single seat for the last 23 years and after defeating the opponents in the 2018 election with double the votes, BMG has been blessed with another unopposed victory." He viewed the BMG's 23 years of success as an acknowledgement of the public service. This also testifies that the overwhelming majority of the business and industrial community endorses the policies of BMG, he added. The BMG chairman hoped that the newly elected members would make all-out efforts in espousing the cause of the business community as well as in enhancing the status of public service. TlTP

Sultana Siddiqui asks SECP to inquire alleged attempt to takeover Hum Network KARACHI arIBa sHaHID

President Hum Network Limited (HUMNL) Sultana Siddiqui on Thursday asked the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to inquire about an alleged attempt by a concert of parties to take over HUMNL. HUMNL following Profit Magazine’s article titled, “Is Sultana Siddiqui about to lose control over Hum TV?”, conducted an audit of its shareholding to assess the likelihood of a takeover.

As a result of the findings, HUMNL wrote a letter of complaint to the SECP regarding the illegal transfer of shares by shareholders of HUMNL. The letter has been undersigned by Sultana Siddiqui, in addition to the public notice to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) outlining the findings.

Moreover, the company also claims that the transfer of shares are in contrast with Section 29 of the SECP Act and Section 139 of the Securities Act, 2015.

The letter summarizes the details in the public notice issued on the PSX and also mentions that HUMNL had been observing unusual activity in the trade of company’s shares in the stock market, especially in the months of March and April.

The letter states: “…with huge volumes being transacted and/or traded on a daily basis and that such transactions and/or trade of shares have not been reported to the company, the PSX and the SECP.” Considering the upcoming election of directors, the company expressed its concerns over the buying and selling of HUMNL shares and feels that the voting rights of parties involved should be revoked.

“The share trading and transfer of shares between Aitkenstuart, JS Group, Munaf Ibrahim and the Kingsway Group is also in violation of Section 111 of the Securities Act, 2015. As is obvious from the facts stated above, it is abundantly clear the aforementioned parties are acting in concert with each other with a common objective and purpose of acquisition of voting shares and control of the company,” the letter fur-

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ther reads.

In addition, HUMNL has called for an investigation into the buying and selling of shares by the concerned parties considering how they did not inform the PSX, SECP and HUMNL as per the SECP’s regulations.

Who is trying to takeover HUMNL? As per HUMNL, Aitikenstuart is solely owned by OBS Healthcare Pvt Ltd and is the holding company of AGP Limited, a listed company. The company comes under the umbrella of OBS Group, headed by Tariq M Khan.

As per the letter, OBS and JS Group have a history of business connection. The letter cites excerpts of JS Bank’s annual report for the year 2015 and a testimonial by Khan.

Moreover, HUMNL points out that AGP’s initial public offering was undertaken by JS Global Capital Limited as a consultant to the Issue. In addition, Kamran Mirza, who accumulated HUMNL’s shares for Aitkenstuart has served as the executive vice president and the head of investment banking group with JS Bank.

Kingsway Fund Frontier Consumer Franchises EXTOBA is registered with the US Security and Exchange Commission and was incorporated in the state of Luxembourg. Kingsway Capital operates in London, however, details of its owners and functioning are not disclosed on its website.

The letter implies that Munaf Ibrahim and Cedar Capital are connected. However, as per Cedar Capital’s website, Munaf Ibrahim he does not run it. While Ibrahim is currently in the USA, all transactions conducted by him in HUMNL’s case however have been through Cedar Capital serving as his broker.

“Ibrahim has been a longtime employee of JS Group and has served in various capacities,” writes Siddiqui.

As per JS & Co’s website, Munaf Ibrahim is also serving as a director of the company.

As per an anonymous source close to both parties, Ibrahim has been serving JS as their main trader for at least 20 years.

But why would JS do this?

As speculated by Aqeel Karim Dhedhi of AKD securities, Jahangir Siddiqui wants to take control of HUMNL as a means to get back at his sister. However, the question remains, why is Jahangir Siddiqui so forthcoming at doing so? Why is he running transactions through companies owned by the group?

An anonymous source alleges that this might be a cover-up for money laundering or whitewashing.

The source questioned why JS Bank did not disclose the fact that it had accumulated more than 5 per cent of shares of HUMNL. He adds that as per the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) regulations, a bank needs to seek approval from the SBP prior to purchasing more than 5 per cent of a company, and in the case that it is approved, the investment is considered a strategic investment and is to stay for three years. In addition, as per SECP and PSX practices, this is to be disclosed to the public as it is a material information.

Voting rights and elections of directors HUMNL feels that due to this information being made public, Aitkenstuart Pakistan (Private) Limited, JS Bank Limited, Munaf Ibrahim and Kingsway Extoba should be restricted from exercising their voting rights in view of the voting shares acquired between the period January, 2020, to June, 2020, under Section 272(1), read with, Section 272(2) (c), Companies Act, 2017.

Moreover, out of the 15 notices of intention to contest elections as a director of the company that is to be held on the August 22, 2020; HUMNL finds eight of them to be ineligible to contest citing Regulation 11(1) and (3), PEMRA Regulations 2012, and the recent directions issued by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority to the company.

As per HUMNL, the seven directors that are eligible to contest are the current Chief Executive Officer Duraid Qureshi, Sultana Siddiqui, Mazhar ul Haq Siddiqui, Ayaz Dawood, Khush Bakht Shujaat, Mehtab Akbar Rashidi, and Muhammad Ayub. Muhammad Ayub and Ayaz Dawood have offered themselves as independent directors.

Friday, 14 August, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

US SayS Iran brIefly SeIzed oIl TanKer near STraIT of HormUz WASHINGTON

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AGENCIES

HE Iranian navy boarded and briefly seized a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the US, a US military official said on Thursday.

The US military’s Central Command published a black-and-white video showing what appeared to be special forces fast-roping down from a helicopter onto the MV Wila, whose last position appeared to be off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates near the city of Khorfakkan.

The Iranian navy held the vessel for some five hours before releasing it on Wednesday, said a US military official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public. The Wila made no distress calls before, during and after the seizure, the official said.

The Iranian helicopter involved ap-

peared to be a Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, which only Iran’s navy operates. The Iranian navy also handles all operations in the Gulf of Oman on the eastern side of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of all oil traded passes. Two other Iranian naval vessels took part in the seizure, Central Command said.

Turkey says operations against Kurdish militants in Iraq to continue

The US military officials did not offer any reason for Iran seizing the vessel.

Iranian state media and officials did not immediately acknowledge the seizure or offer a reason for it.

Officials in the UAE, a US-allied federation of seven countries on the Arabian Peninsula, did not respond to a request for

comment. The Wila’s registered owner is a Liberian firm called Bandit Shipping Co., managed by Greek firm IMS SA, according to United Nations records. Neither firm could be immediately reached.

Private maritime intelligence firm Dryad Global said it suspected two other ships had been harassed by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in the Persian Gulf over the last week as well, based on the ships’ behaviour.

As tensions between Iran and the US heated up last year over America’s unilateral withdraw from its 2015 nuclear deal, tankers plying the waters of the Mideast became targets, particularly near the strait, the Persian Gulf’s narrow mouth.

Suspected limpet mine attacks the US blamed on Iran targeted several tankers.

Iran denied being involved, though it did seize several tankers.

In July, a US-sought oil tanker was “hijacked” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates after allegedly smuggling Iranian crude oil. The vessel later ended up back in Iranian waters, suggesting Iran itself seized the vessel.

Lebanese parliament speaker urges new government after huge blast BEIRUT AGENCIES

ANKARA AGENCIES

Turkey on Thursday said it would continue its crossborder operations against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, urging Baghdad to cooperate with Ankara. Turkey has regularly attacked Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants, both in its mainly Kurdish southeast and in northern Iraq, where the group is based. In June, Ankara launched a new ground offensive, dubbed Operation Claw Tiger, that saw Turkish troops advance deeper into Iraq. On Tuesday, a Turkish air strike in northern Iraq killed two members of Iraq’s border guard and their driver, Iraq’s military said, calling the attack a “flagrant aggression”. Iraq’s foreign ministry then said Baghdad cancelled a visit by Turkey’s defence minister to the country, and summoned the Turkish ambassador to inform him of “Iraq’s confirmed rejection of his country’s attacks and violations”. In a statement early on Thursday, Turkey’s foreign ministry said PKK presence also threatened Iraq and that it was Baghdad’s responsibility to take measures against the militants, but that Ankara will defend its borders if the PKK’s presence is allowed. “Our country is ready to cooperate with Iraq on this issue. However, in the event PKK presence in Iraq is overlooked, our country is determined to take the measures it deems necessary for its border security no matter where it may be,” the ministry said. “We call on Iraq to take the necessary steps for this.” The PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, focused in southeast Turkey.

Lebanon’s parliament speaker called on Thursday for quickly forming a new government in the first legislative session since the catastrophic explosion that killed 172 people last week and pushed the cabinet to resign.

Security forces were heavily deployed in the capital Beirut, stopping protesters from reaching a conference centre where MPs convened. Many Lebanese are furious at a long entrenched political class they blame for the blast, accusing them of endemic corruption, mismanagement and negligence.

Senior U.S. diplomat David Hale is expected in Beirut later on Thursday to stress the urgent need for financial reforms, and stamping out graft, among other messages, the U.S. Embassy said.

The Aug. 4 blast at a warehouse containing highly-explosive material in Beirut port injured some 6,000 people, left around 300,000 without habitable housing and wrecked swathes of the city, which was already in a deep financial crisis.

The authorities say the blast was caused by more than 2,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate stored for years without safety measures.

Roads to the UNESCO Palace on the southern outskirts of the capital, where parliament has met during the Covid-19 pandemic, were blocked with metal gates ahead of the protest.

“They are all criminals, they are the ones who caused this catastrophe, this explosion,” said Lina Boubess, 60, a demonstrator who was trying to reach the palace.

“Isn’t it enough that they stole our money, our lives, our dreams and the dreams of our children?

What more do we have to lose.

They are criminals, all of them means all of them.”

As two cars with tinted windows passed through one of the barricades towards the UNESCO Palace, a small group of protesters hit the vehicles with Lebanese flags.

Some 30-40 people are still missing more than a week after the blast.

Outrage has fuelled protests in which hundreds of people have been injured in confrontations with security forces who fired tear gas.

Parliament approved a state of emergency declared by the now caretaker government. The resignations of eight MPs who quit after the blast was also confirmed.

State media said Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a longtime pillar of the sectarian elite, called at

the session for “speeding up the formation of a (new) government”.

But Berri also “wants to give a political message - that parliament exists - despite all this talk about early elections and the resignations of MPs”, said a senior political source.

Humanitarian aid has poured in but foreign countries have made clear they will not provide funds to help Lebanon avert economic collapse without action on long-demanded reforms to tackle state corruption and waste.

Authorities have estimated losses at $15 billion, a bill Lebanon cannot pay: it already defaulted on its enormous sovereign debt in March. Foreign reserves are critically low, and talks with the International Monetary Fund have stalled.

Politicians are in early consultations on forming a new cabinet, a complicated process in a country riven by divisions and governed by a sectarian power-sharing system.

Hale, the U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs, “will underscore America’s willingness to support any government that reflects the will of the people and is genuinely committed to and acting upon such a reform agenda”, the U.S. Embassy said.

Taiwan to raise defence spending as China details combat drills TAIPEI AGENCIES

Taiwan unveiled a T$42.1 billion ($1.4 billion) increase for next year’s planned defence spending on Thursday, as China announced details of its latest combat drills near the democratic island. China has stepped up its military activity near Taiwan, which it regards as a breakaway province. On Monday, Taiwan said Chinese fighters briefly crossed the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait, the same day U.S. health chief Alex Azar met President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei. China had denounced Azar’s trip.

Tsai’s Cabinet is proposing T$453.4 billion in military spending for the year starting in January, versus T$411.3 billion budgeted for this year, up 10.2% according to Reuters calculations. “The steady increase in the defence budget will facilitate the implementation of various military-building and war-preparation tasks ... and ensure national security and regional peace and stability,” Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said. About three hours after the budget announcement, China’s People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theatre Command said its forces had in recent days carried out combat drills in the Taiwan Strait and to the north and south of the island, implying they were aimed at Azar’s trip. “Recently, a certain large country has continued to make negative moves on Taiwan-related issues, sending serious wrong signals to ‘Taiwan independence’ forces, and seriously threatening the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait,” it said. “The theatre command’s organising of patrols and exercises are necessary actions taken in response to the current security situation across the Taiwan Strait and to safeguard national sovereignty,” the statement added. Taiwan’s Defence Ministry said the situation was normal and people should not worry. Tsai has made modernising Taiwan’s armed forces and increasing defence spending a priority. The budget must be approved by lawmakers, though Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party has a large majority in the legislature, making it unlikely to be blocked.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, and has denounced the United States for arms sales to the island.

Washington is bound by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself. Taiwan is in discussions with the United States to acquire sea mines to deter amphibious landings, as well as cruise missiles for coastal defence, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to United States said on Wednesday. Last year, the U.S. State Department approved arms sales worth US$10 billion for Taiwan. Taiwan’s military is wellarmed, but dwarfed by that of China. “Taiwan authorities are spending their taxpayers’ money on defence, but no matter how much they spend on defence, Taiwan is still a small place. Confronting the mainland is like an ant trying to shake a tree,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.

‘One of us’: South Asians celebrate Kamala Harris as VP choice CHICAGO AGENCIES

Two words summed up Tamani Jayasinghe’s exuberance for the first Indian American and Black woman to run for vice president: “Kamala Aunty.”

That title of respect that goes beyond family in Asian circles immediately came to mind when Joe Biden announced Kamala Harris as his running mate. So the 27-yearold with Sri Lankan roots tweeted it as a wink to others who understood the significance of the term.

“The fact that she is both Black and brown is what makes this so exciting. The Asian American experience is one that is complicated and nuanced and robust,” said Jayasinghe, who works in financial communications in New York. “I feel connected to that.”

Harris, the daughter of a Jamaican father and an Indian mother, often focuses on her identity as a Black woman. At times during her political career, as she ran for California attorney general and senator, some didn’t re-

alize she was of Indian descent. In her first remarks as Biden’s running mate on Wednesday, she spoke of her mother’s roots but described herself as the “first Black woman” to be nominated for the vice presidency on a major party ticket.

Still, the possibility she would be the U.S. vice president, which has already triggered sexist and racist commentary, created instantaneous glee among South Asians worldwide and put the spotlight on her as the first person of Asian descent on a major party presidential ticket.

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing racial or ethnic group of eligible voters.

More than 11 million Asian Americans will be able to vote in November, according to a May report by the Pew Research Center.

The choice — Biden and Harris made their debut Wednesday — inspired social media musings of celebrating the Hindu festival Diwali at the White House and drawing room talks about the U.S. senator’s mother’s journey from Chennai to California. Indian government officials of all parties noted the choice as historic, while actress Mindy

Kaling — she once made masala dosa with Harris — deemed it “thrilling.” A top headline in the The Times of India, one of the world’s most widely read English-language newspapers, read, “’A daughter of Chennai, Kamala blooms in US.” “She is one of us,” said Aleyamma Keny, a retired nurse in suburban Chicago.

The 74-year-old woman, who immigrated from southern India to the U.S. in the 1970s, said Harris joining the ticket felt like a family member had accomplished something. Like many others, Keny saw her own immigration story in the candidate’s mother.

Harris has called her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan, her biggest influence and frequently invoked stories about the cancer researcher and civil rights activist who died in 2009. Gopalan first came to America in 1958.

She attended the University of California at Berkeley, where she met and married Jamaican immigrant Donald Harris and had Kamala and her sister before the couple divorced.

Gopalan took the sisters to India to visit relatives and gave both, Kamala Devi Harris and Maya Lakshmi Harris, names rooted in

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Indian culture. (Kamala means lotus, Devi means goddess. Lakshmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth.)

Harris’ mother came to the U.S. at a time when Indians were scarce and raised her biracial daughters with the understanding that the larger American society would see them as Black. She took them to civil rights protests, and wanted them to become “confident, proud Black women,” Harris wrote in her 2019 book, “ A graduate of Howard University, Harris has made clear that she is both confident and proud of her Black identity. In a March 2019 radio interview, she answered a question about her identity by saying: “I’m Black, and I’m proud of being Black. I was born Black. I will die Black, and I’m not going to make excuses for anybody because they don’t understand.”

She did take steps during her presidential campaign, before she dropped out in December, to talk about her Indian heritage. Without much fanfare, she released a video via social media featuring photos of her Indian grandfather and talked of her visits as a child to see him.

In her speech Wednesday, Harris noted her parents’ heritages but ended with saying Biden is the only person “who’s served alongside the first Black president and has chosen the first Black woman as his running mate.”

President Donald Trump struggled Wednesday to define her candidacy, repeatedly calling her “nasty.” She’s already been the subject of the false notion that she’s ineligible to run because her parents were not born in America.

Harris was elected to the Senate in 2016, the same year three other Indian Americans won their first House terms including Pramila Jayapal of Washington. The first Indian American congresswoman, she and Asians also celebrated Harris as a Black woman.

“It isn’t just that we want her to be an Asian American sister for us. She really is representative, this biracial piece is representative of the experiences that so many immigrant communities have had, learning from the leadership of Black communities,” she said. “So we want her to claim all of us and we will all claim her.”

Friday, 14 August, 2020

SPORTS 11

31st Serena-Venus match heralds return of tennis Anderson strikes AgAinst PAkistAn As FAwAd AlAm's long wAit ends with A duck SPORTS DESK

SPORTS DESK England great James Anderson returned to form with two wickets against Pakistan at Southampton on Thursday as Fawad Alam's long wait for a Test recall ended with a duck.

Pakistan were 126-5 at stumps after a combination of rain and bad light cut short play on the first day of the second Test. Anderson had taken 2-35 from 15 overs to move to within eight wickets of becoming the first paceman with 600 in Tests.

All of England's four quicks enjoyed success, with only Pakistan opener Abid Ali — dropped twice in the slips — offering prolonged resistance during an innings of 60.

ARTICLE CONTINUES AFTER AD: Fawad Alam walks back to the pavilion after being dismissed on the first day of the second Test. Anderson came into this match having taken just six wickets in three previous Tests this season, at an expensive average of over 41. By his own admission, he had not been at his best with a match haul of 1-67 during England's three-wicket win in the first Test at his Old Trafford home ground last week.

But the 38-year-old denied rumours he was considering retirement, with England captain Joe Root saying on the eve of this match: “To question Jimmy's ability and his

record — do that at your own peril.” And it was not long before England's all-time leading wicket-taker struck after Pakistan captain Azhar Ali won the toss.

In humid conditions conducive to Anderson's bowling, he needed just eight balls to have Shan Masood, fresh from his Test-best 156, lbw for one with an inswinger to the left-hander.

Masood was so clearly out, he did not bother to review the decision. Pakistan should have been 7-2 but Abid, on one, was reprieved when third slip Dom Sibley dropped an edge off Stuart Broad. Azhar, under pressure after a run of just one fifty in 10 innings since becoming skipper in November, was nearly out for seven when, playing defensively at in-form all-rounder Chris Woakes, the ball trickled onto his stumps without dislodging the bails.

Woakes suffered again when Abid, on 21, got dropped by second slip Rory Burns.

Luck runs out: But Pakistan's luck ran out when Azhar, on 20, edged a full-length Anderson delivery and this time Burns held a good, low catch to leave Pakistan 78-2.

The only bowlers to have taken more than Anderson's 592 Test wickets are a trio of retired spinners. Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan leads the way with 800, while

Australia's Shane Warne has 708 and India's Anil Kumble 619. Abid completed a 99-ball fifty featuring six fours after tea.

But left-arm seamer Sam Curran, recalled in place of fast bowler Jofra Archer, had Abid taken in the slips by Burns with a ball that angled across the right-hander following a couple of inswingers.

Sibley, to his evident relief, held a slip catch off Broad as Asad Shafiq fell cheaply.

Alam, a prolific run-scorer in Pakistan domestic cricket, played the last of his three previous Tests, in which he averages over 41, against New Zealand in Dunedin in November 2009.

The 34-year-old was the only change to the side after replacing leg-spinning allrounder Shadab Khan. But Alam lasted just five minutes at the crease.

Batting with an extremely open stance, Alam was lbw for a four-ball nought to Woakes. Alam was initially given not out but an England review revealed the ball had pitched in line, with a squared-up Alam in front of his stumps.

England, as well as recalling Curran, made an expected change when batsman Zak Crawley returned in place of Ben Stokes. Star all-rounder Stokes is missing the final two matches of this series for personal reasons after travelling to New Zealand to be with his ill father.

David Silva, the Manchester City wizard who helped to redefine English soccer SPORTS DESK There’ll be no standing ovation in a full stadium for David Silva after his final appearance for Manchester City. He won’t be grabbing a microphone — Pablo Zalabeta-style — and making a triumphant speech to City’s fans, either. Not that it’s his style, anyway.

Indeed, whisper it but there’s an outside chance, if circumstances dictate, that the man might already have worn the club’s blue shirt in a competitive game for the last time.

Now, let’s take the best-case scenario: How about Silva ending his decade-long, era-changing City career by lifting the Champions League trophy as captain?

Whatever happens over the coming days during the finale of Europe’s top club competition in Lisbon, the Spanish playmaker has

already etched his name in City lore as perhaps its greatest player.

More than that, Silva has been a driving force behind the way soccer has been redefined in England, where subtlety, creativity and technical qualities are valued as much as the long-standing virtues of power and physicality.

“He’s tiny,” City manager Pep Guardiola said, “a little player, not a box-to-box player. And my image of England from the outside, I thought, ‘Maybe he’s going to suffer.’”

“Happily,” Guardiola added, “I was wrong.”

Silva’s City story began long before Guardiola arrived at Etihad Stadium in 2016 and got the best out of his compatriot. Six years earlier, in fact, when he joined from Valencia for 24 million pounds and as a newly crowned World Cup winner with

Spain.

The Premier League wasn’t the domain of the little playmaker at the time — Chelsea’s attacking midfielders were the powerful Michael Ballack and Frank Lampard, for example, and Liverpool’s was dynamic captain Steven Gerrard — though the seeds of change were there.

Luka Modric was starting to excel in a deeper role at Tottenham, Cesc Fabregas was already flourishing at Arsenal, albeit in a more boxto-box role. Deco, the Brazilian schemer comparable in style to Silva, had two fairly underwhelming seasons at Chelsea from 2008-10.

Silva’s arrival felt significant, and not just because a player who could easily have been at home in the midfield of Barcelona or Real Madrid was choosing to play his peak years at a rising upstart like City.

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Well, this sure is a fine way for tennis to herald its return after the pandemic-caused hiatus: Serena Williams vs. Venus Williams. The siblings meet each other for the 31st time when they take the court at a WTA tournament in Kentucky on Thursday.

“It’s so special,” Venus said. “Here we go again.”

It’s a chance for the two former No. 1ranked women and owners of 30 Grand Slam singles titles between them (23 for Serena; seven for her older sister) to gauge where their games are following about six months away from the sport — and a chance for tennis fans to remember what they’ve been missing while the tours were suspended because of the coronavirus.

“I haven’t played in forever, so I want to play the best players,” Venus said with a laugh, then added: “And I think I got my wish in playing Serena.” So what if there are no spectators allowed at the hard-court event because of the coronavirus outbreak?

So what if it’s happening at a low-key, brand-new tournament, where traffic can be seen driving back and forth on a street behind the court?

And so what if it’s merely in the second round, rather than with a trophy at stake?

Sure, all in all, this will be a far way from the sorts of stages that have hosted these two stars in the past, including nine Williams vs. Williams matchups in Grand

Slam singles finals, including four in a row from 2002-03.

Serena leads the rivalry 7-2 in those contests, and 18-12 overall.

“I feel like I always play Venus in every single tournament, first or second round,” Serena said after needing to put together a comeback to beat 60th-ranked Bernarda Pera 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in her opening match in Kentucky and first anywhere since February. “So that’s annoying.”

Actually, it’s been nearly two full years since the sisters’ last meeting, a thirdrounder at the 2018 U.S. Open that Serena won 6-1, 6-2.

What both they and others should remember is that there is no way to know how many more of these there will be.

Venus, after all, turned 40 in June. Serena turns 39 in September. As the Aug. 31 scheduled start of the U.S. Open approaches, this match is a chance for the two of them to test themselves and the changes they’ve been making.

These are not two people who seem as if they’re ready to stop competing any time soon. Serena has switched to a smaller racket head in 2020 because, she explained, “I wanted more control.”

She was not at her best at the outset against Pera, even getting pushed to the precipice by falling behind love-40 at 4-all in the second set after dropping the first.

But Williams steadied herself to grab that game, beginning a run in which she took eight of nine.

Friday, 14 August, 2020

PRAyER TiMingS

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

3:56

12:08

4:53

5:25

6:50

8:18

SUpreme CoUrt’S GIDC verDICt reqUIreS CompAnIeS to pAy rS417bn THE COLLECTED AMOUNT SHALL BE UTILISED BY GOVT FOR IP GAS PIPELINE, TAPI PIPELINE, LNG AND OTHER ANCILLARY PROJECTS ISLAMABAD

t

STAFF REPORT

HE Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday announced its decision pertaining to Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC), directing recovery of Rs417 billion GIDC payables from the industries.

GIDC was imposed by the government in December 2011, to raise funds for the development of gas infrastructure in the country. GIDC Act provides a legal framework which allows the government to levy and collect the cess from gas consumers other than the domestic sector consumers.

According to the Act, the collected amount shall be utilised by the federal government for Iran Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI), Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and other ancillary projects.

As for the timeline of GIDC payments, para (iii) 46 on the judgment states, “However, as a concession, the same be recovered in twenty-four equal monthly instalments starting from 01.08.2020 without the component of late payment surcharge. The late payment surcharge shall only become payable for the delays that may occur in the payment of any of the twenty-four instalments”.

Regardless, the decision announced today implies significant cash outflow, of Rs20 billion to Rs60 billion for fertilizer

companies, AKD Research estimates.

In terms of earnings impact, potential bridge financing to pay accrued GIDC payables and absence of other income may result in negative earnings impact (most significant for Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC), due to loss of other income on short term investment and Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim Limited (FFBL), due to liquidity issues and potential borrowing). Cash outflow may thus limit payout ability in short to medium term. As per an earlier agreement between the government and the CNG sector, the latter was directed to pay Rs12 billion in two equal installments within three months pursuant to the GIDC (Amendment) Bill 2018 as full and final liability payment of GIDC arrears between January 2012 to May 2015.

Similarly, the industries may also be given a reasonable timeline for GIDC payments, which will, in turn, direct the impact on the sector’s payout ability in short to medium term.

Largest cash outflow would be witnessed from fertilizer companies to the tune of Rs110 billion, concurs Topline Securities. Fauji Fertilizer (FFC) will be required to pay Rs63 billion (43 per cent of market cap) followed by Fauji Fertilizer Bin Qasim (FFBL) at Rs22 billion (109 per cent of market cap), and Engro Fertilizer (EFERT) Rs19 billion excluding Enven amount (21 per cent of market cap) and Fatima Fertilizer (FATIMA) Rs6 bil-

lion (10 per cent of market cap).

Other companies like Lotte Chemicals (LOTCHEM), Engro Polymer (EPCL), Lucky Cement (LUCK), Century Paper Board (CEPB), Gul Ahmed (GATM) and Feroze Mills (FEROZ) would also be required to submit their dues, amongst others. Most of the companies have already provided for GIDC in their accounts, hence they are expected to not take hit on their accounting earnings, a report issued

by Topline Securities said.

Fertilizer companies were sitting on huge cash amounts (excluding FFBL) and

were earning substantial amount of interest income on their amount invested in T-bills and other government papers.

Due to this decision, companies would be entitled to submit due amount to the government, which will also hurt their recurring other income. Decision on Enven (new plant of EFERT) is still unclear. If the decision also implies on Enven plant then the company may witness additional cash outflow of Rs35 to Rs38 billion (which so far has not been provided for). The company will need to raise debt to repay these government dues, the analysts report added.

HAFEEZ SHAIKH WELCOMES SC’S DECISION ON GIDC NEWS DESK: Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Thursday welcomed the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision pertaining to the long-standing Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) case, wherein the government has been asked to recover Rs417 billion of GIDC payables from the industries. The GIDC payables have been outstanding for many years. Taking to Twitter on Thursday, the adviser also appreciated the efforts of the government, especially the office of the Attorney General. “Welcoming the decision of the Supreme Court settling long-standing GIDC case, and enabling the government to recover GIDC stuck-up for the last many years. I want to appreciate the good work of the government team, especially the office of the Attorney General, and the Finance and Petroleum ministries,” he tweeted.

‘IMPORTANT MILESTONE’: Meanwhile, in another tweet, Hafeez Shaikh termed the extension in PM’s Kamyab Jawan Programme as an important milestone for the promotion of businesses and job creation. He said that the government has launched an “expanded Kamyab Jawan Programme to promote small businesses and employment”, adding that the per applicant maximum limit of loans has been increased from Rs5 million to Rs25 million while the number of participating banks has also been increased from 3 to 21. The adviser said that the initiative would generate hundreds of thousands of jobs. “Government has launched expanded Kamyab Jawan program to promote small businesses and employment. Increased maximum limit per applicant from Rs50 lacs to Rs2.5 cr and increased participating banks from 3 to 21. Will generate hundreds of thousands of jobs,” he stated.

SBP allows transfer of up to $200,000 as payment for foreign digital services NEWS DESK The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed banks to release a maximum amount of $200,000 per year as payment for digital services provided by foreign companies.

In order to ease of doing business in the country, the central bank on Thursday issued a new mechanism for payments to globally recognised digital service provider companies against the acquisition of digital services by local companies.

The SBP amended Foreign Exchange Manual and allowed general permission to banks to release foreign exchange up to a maximum of $200,000, or equivalent in other currencies, per year, for each company/ firm/ sole proprietorship incorporated/established in Pakistan on account of commercial payments, pertaining to digital services, in favour of digital service provider companies.

The release of payment is limited to foreign companies listed by the SBP, including Adobe, Affinity, Airtable, Alibaba Group, Amazon, Apple, AppLovin, Asana, At-

lassian, Box, Calendly, Coursera, Digital Ocean, DocSend, DocuSign, Dropbox, Expensify, Facebook, Figma, FreshBooks, Front, GoDaddy, Google, Hootsuite, Hubspot, IBM, Instagram, Intercom, InVision, LinkedIn Corporation, Mailchimp, Marketo, Mendix, Microsoft Corporation, Optimizely, Oracle Corporation, Pilot, Pipe Drive, Poynt, Intuit/QuickBooks, Red Hat/OpenShift, Sketch, Salesforce, SAP SE/SAP, SEMrush, Shopify, Slack Technologies/Slack, Squarespace, Tencent, Trello,

Twilio, Twitter, Udacity, Udemy, VMware, WhatsApp, WordPress, Xero, YouTube, Zapier, Zendesk and Zoom/Video Communications. The SBP said that the ultimate beneficiary of remittances should only be the company (including their affiliates or associated entities).

However, up to a maximum amount of $25,000, out of the total annual limit of $200,000, can be remitted to those digital service provider companies which are not listed in the Appendix V 147, against the acquisition of digital services. The remittances should only be made by an authorized dealer designated by the remitter for this purpose under acknowledgement to Foreign Exchange Operations Department (FEOD) SBP-BSC. No authorized dealer will remit funds under this general permission unless it has been acknowledged as designated authorized dealer by the FEOD SBP-BSC. The SBP said that the banks will ensure that it has satisfied itself with the genuineness and bonafides of the applicant, through appropriate CDD and customer risk profiling, specifically in light of AML/CFT regulations.

Asad Umar sees economic revival from next year ISLAMABAD TLTP

Planning & Development Minister Asad Umar has said that the government was committed to promoting multiple sectors so as to give a much-needed boost to the country's economy.

The federal minister said this while addressing the business community at the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) on Thursday. Earlier, a flag hoisting and cake cutting ceremony was held in connection with the 73rd Independence Day of Pakistan which will be observed tomorrow (Friday). A large number of businessmen were present on the occasion. Asad Umar noted that due to Covid-19 pandemic, the UK economy has shrunk by 20pc in a quarter while the US economy contracted by 32pc, "but Pakistan's economy did not face such a slump". He said due to the prudent measures adopted by the government, the current account deficit has come down from $20 billion to $3 billion.

"The government is focussed on promoting multiple sectors and we will be celebrating the next year as the year of growth," he said, adding that the business community had no doubt faced a lot of difficulties due to coronavirus, but better times were ahead for them. He said that a fixed tax regime for traders was currently under consideration, assuring the businessmen that a meeting would soon be held in the ICCI to resolve key issues of the business community. Speaking on the occasion, ICCI President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said the government must ensure ease of doing business as well as a conducive business environment in order to steer the economy out of current challenges.

He informed that the Covid-19 pandemic had badly hit the businesses, urging the government to take on board the private sector and form new policies to address key issues and accelerate economic growth. The ICCI president resolved that the business community would strive hard for the progress and prosperity of Pakistan. Other trade leaders said on the occasion that Pakistan was endowed with lots of natural resources and the government should cooperate with the private sector to transform the country into a rising economy.

Customers report increasing incidents with fraudulent sellers on Daraz.pk LAHORE SHAHAB OMER

Incidents of customers becoming victims of frauds done by sellers on Daraz.pk have increased amid the lack of regulation pertaining to e-commerce in Pakistan.

In one incident, Dr Adnan Nabeel, a customer of Daraz.pk, looking to take advantage of ‘Azadi Sale’ on the e-commerce portal ordered an internal hard drive for his laptop on August 4. However, in place of the hard drive, only a hard drive case was delivered to him.

“I have previously ordered many products from Daraz.pk, however most of those products turned out to be of poor quality,” he said.

The cost of the hard drive on Daraz.pk was mentioned at Rs8,426. Nabeel’s order was to be delivered at his house on a Cash on Delivery (CoD) basis. “On August 7, I was at my office when I received a message from a courier service intimating that my order will be delivered shortly at my house,” he said.

When Nabeel got home, his order (order number 118918732114613) had already been received. However, he later found out that the seller had dispatched a hard drive case instead of a hard disk. The value of the hard

DARAZ’S COMMUNICATION MANAGER SAYS SUCH INCIDENTS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED AND COMPANY WILL RESOLVE CUSTOMER'S COMPLAINT IMMEDIATELY drive case Nabeel claims would be about Rs500 as opposed to the Rs8,426 listed on Daraz.pk’s website for the hard disk.

Nabeel claims that he visited the Daraz.pk service/complaint center located in DHA Lahore to lodge a complaint regarding the incident. However, the Daraz.pk representatives refused to lodge the complaint against claiming that the order was not from Daraz.pk.

According to Nabeel, the order had been placed from Daraz.pk’s mobile application and was wrapped in Daraz.pk’s packaging which lends credit to his stance that the order was in fact the responsibility of the company.

However, after repeated arguments and insistence from Nabeel, the representatives at the Daraz.pk outlet agreed to lodge his complaint and asked him to wait for the company’s reply regarding a refund on his order.

Nabeel further complained that Daraz.pk does not list complete information of its sellers on its website or mobile application nor

does it have a clear policy for cases of fraud.

According to Nabeel he could only find the name and an incomplete address of the seller on Daraz.pk’s website. The name of the seller was stated as Waqas while his address only mentioned the word ‘Pak-Collection’.

A similar complaint was also lodged by another customer against the said seller.

The customer whose order number was 119037542690545 had also ordered a hard drive for his laptop from the Daraz.pk’s application.

“I realized from the weight of the delivered package that it did not have a hard disk so I took it to the Daraz’s customer service center in DHA Lahore. When the package was opened in front of their representative, only a hard drive case came out of it. The name of the seller who had to fulfill my order was also Waqas and his address was also stated as ‘Pak-Collection’,” he says.

The Daraz.pk’s representatives have reg-

istered the customer's complaint which is still in process.

Another individual, Muhammad Qasim, who visited the Daraz.pk’s customer care center complained that he had come to return an order which he had never placed. “Now I am being made to wait,” he said complaining regarding the customer unfriendly attitude of Daraz.pk’s representatives at the center.

A seller registered on Daraz.pk, while talking to Profit said that he had only provided his National Tax Number (NTN) number and a scanned picture of his cheque to Daraz.pk in order to get registered.

“I was told that I will receive flyers and essentials in three to four days indicating that I am registered with Daraz.pk as a seller. The quality of products that I sell is not physically checked by Daraz.pk,” he said adding that such an easy sign up procedure opens avenues of fraud for sellers.

On the other-hand, Daraz.pk Public Relations and Communication Manager Pireh Shafiq said that she is not sure if the above incidents point towards a problem at the sellers end or at the courier company’s end.

“We have a very long process to register sellers. First their bank details, NTN number and some formalities are completed and then

they are registered. We refund where such an issue arises. Training courses are also offered to sellers through Daraz universities,” she said adding that Daraz.pk has taken the seller against whom complaints were launched off of its website.

“Such an incident should not have happened at all and we will resolve our customer's complaint immediately,” Pireh said.

Moreover, an official of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) while talking to Profit said that “People in Pakistan are turning to e-commerce and are buying online which increases chances of fraud. Consumers are shown a branded mobile phone online but an unbranded mobile phone is delivered to them. The problem in Pakistan is that there is nobody that keeps a check on such online businesses. Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) regulates physical businesses but no institution has been set up for online entities.”

“We have a law and enforcement agency for such cases like FIA, but in order to allow online businesses, there must be an institution that licenses all such companies. The government should have details regarding their business volume and the amount of tax that they are pay.”

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