Epaper – December 06 KHI 2020

CMYK

6 December, 2020 I 19 Rabi-ul-Akhir, 1442 I Rs 25.00 I Vol XI No 157 I 36 Pages I Karachi Edition

PM IMran hIts out at PDM, says no nro for 'crooks' g

‘ Compromise on Corruption Cases tantamount to treason against Country’

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

P

rime minister imran Khan on saturday reiterated that he will never grant amnesty to the opposition, saying that "they are wrong if they think they can pressurise me". the premier made the comments while speaking to actor Hamza ali abbasi during an interview on a private news channel that covered a myriad of topics, including his own spiritual journey and his thoughts on Western culture.

Calling the 11-party alliance “union of crooks”, the pm said the opposition parties have been blackmailing the government since day one to grant them amnesty. He maintained that the nro given to the opposition by former military ruler retired gen pervez musharraf had had disastrous effects on the country, leading to an increase in debt liabilities. "if i want to let them go, then i should open up our jails." he said, adding that he would "give up his seat but not give [the opposition] an nro".

Commenting on the pakistan Democratic movement's (pDm) upcoming rally in Lahore on December 13, the premier said that the government has decided to not grant them permission for staging the demonstration.

"Cases are increasing rapidly [...] those putting up the sound systems and chairs, Firs will be registered against them." However, pm imran made it clear that the government would not stop the opposition from participating in the rally.

"We will not stop them so that they can't [act] dramatic and assume the role of revolutionaries [and] try to become Joan of ark or Che guevara." He maintained that the government had cancelled its rallies and public gatherings after the country witnessed an uptick in Covid-19 cases.

"We have once again started stressing on standard operating procedures (sops) for curbing the spread of the virus. But if this union of crooks thinks that this jalsa will put pressure on me, then they are wrong. no one has organised rallies as big as the pti."

He added that he will leave the office of prime minister but will never betray the coun-

coronavIrus In

PakIstan

CONFIRMED CASES:

413,191

LAST UPDATED AT 8:15 AM ON DECEMBER 5, 2020

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

44

3,119

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

352,529 8,303 SINDH:

180,904 KP:

48,683

PUNJAB:

122,293 BALOCHISTAN:

17,392

AJK/GB: ISLAMABAD: 7,219/4,708 31,992

try by giving relief to the opposition.

When asked about the many issues being faced by Karachi, the premier said: "the situation with Karachi is very strange. parties win votes from interior sindh and come into power in the province. so they only focus their energies on the vote bank in interior sindh and Karachi is left behind."

He said that the federal government had announced the Karachi transformation plan to address the immediate issues being faced by the city and its residents.

"We don't have the powers. the money from the federal government goes to the province and they decide where to spend it. But the transformation plan is exclusively for the city and all stakeholders are working on it together." the premier also touched on the two biggest problems being faced by the country, namely fiscal debt and diminishing exports. pm imran said that unless we make people pay their taxes, we can never become a modern country. "We are among those nations that give the littlest amount in taxes". He said that when the government checked the data of the country's tax payers, it discovered that there are 2.5 crore people who don't pay taxes.

He added that diminishing exports were another problem the country was facing.

However, now the country's trajectory was changing due to the efforts made by the government, he said.

"For the first time now after the 1960s, we are going towards industrialisation," he said, adding that this was key to making the country stand on its own two feet. "if we just fix our tourism sector, we can earn a significant amount. our northern areas are switzerland plus," he said, adding that pakistan has more religious tourism than malaysia. "you have no idea the resources this country has been blessed with. But the problem is that we don't have any money so we have to carry out [joint ventures]". the point is that we have been blessed with so much; if we can harness this potential then we can go back to the development we witnessed in the 60s, he said.

‘Premature’ announcement of resignations may put PDM alliance in jeopardy ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

major political parties of the pakistan Democratic movement (pDm) have started to distance from each other owing to demand of resignations from assemblies, as pakistan muslim League-nawaz (pmL-n) and Jamiat ulema-eislam Fazl (Jui-F) are pushing for resignations while pakistan peoples’ party (ppp), awami national party (anp) and others are opposing the strategy. according to sources, the demand for resignations from assemblies may affect the alliance, as the ppp leadership was already unhappy over the process of decision-making in the pDm. pmL-n Vice president maryam nawaz has recently urged the party lawmakers to submit resignations from the assemblies. she was planning to announce about resignations at the pDm’s upcoming rally in Lahore on December 13. “it seems that the pmL-n lawmakers are unhappy over the resignation demand. though some lawmakers have assured to submit their resignations to the party leadership, many may refrain from doing the same. some would want wait for the public turnout at the Lahore rally while others may never submit their resignations,” a source said.

Jui president Fazalur rehman will be informed about the pmL-n's resignations at the pDm meeting, while Jui

Govt to provide satellite imagery of Billion Tree project to SC the federal government has decided to provide details of the Billion tree tsunami project to the supreme Court, including satellite imagery, it emerged on saturday. as per media reports, a meeting took place between prime minister imran Khan and special assistant for Climate Change malik amin aslam, after which the premier issued instructions for the provision of all relevant records to the court.

During the meeting, the premier decided to obtain a record of drone videos and authentic images of the Billion tree project. moreover, the federal government has requested data from all provinces following the court's orders, while suparCo has been asked to provide satellite images. in this regard, the ministry of Climate Change has penned letters to provincial secretaries of forest departments and chief secretaries asking for the project's data from 2019 to June 2020. the ministry has demanded that the provinces — along with the requested data — send pictures of the trees as well. according to geo news, 10 billion tree tsunami project Director muhammad suleiman Khan has been appointed as the chairman of the 10-member

lawmakers will also submit their resignations soon. a source added: “it is possible that members of the punjab assembly will announce their resignations in the Lahore rally on December 13. But these will be announcements only, as most of the lawmakers may not submit their resignations immediately.” earlier, pmL-n had hinted about resignations at a meeting on December 13.

However, the source said that pmL-n president mian shahbaz sharif, maryam and leader of the opposition in the punjab assembly Hamza shahbaz sharif convened a meeting on Friday to discuss about political situation and the pDm’s upcoming rally in Lahore.

During the meeting, maryam briefed shahbaz about the pDm movement and its meetings. they analyzed different aspects, including the strategy of resignations from the assemblies and long march towards islamabad. in the end, shahbaz advised maryam to stop pressing for resignations and suggested her to conduct a long march towards islamabad. ppp leadership unhappy over pDm affairs a source told that ppp leaders asif ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari were already unhappy over the process of decision-making in the pDm.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

more inside

PM to highlight climate change initiatives at global summit STORY ON PAGE 03

eu Commission removes pia from list of banned airlines STORY ON PAGE 02

committee that will submit the ministry's reply to the apex court. the prime minister has directed the ministry of Climate Change to take the sC's notice seriously. on tuesday, the supreme Court had taken notice of the Billion tree tsunami and sought all the details of the project. a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice gulzar ahmed and Justice ijazul ahsan heard the case related to tree plantation near rivers and canals. the court, in this regard, summoned the secretary of the ministry of Climate Change and issued contempt of court notices

to the sindh and punjab governments over their failure to submit a report on the matter. “there are no trees in nathia gali, malam Jabba, and even murree,” observed the top judge, questioning the Billion tree tsunami project. “the islamabad administration boasts planting 500,000 trees, but they are nowhere to be seen,” he remarked.

“Were they planted in Bani gala? there are no trees planted along the rivers from islamabad to Karachi. there are no trees in peshawar and there is deforestation going on in nathia gali.” NEWS DESK

Saudi says allies ‘on board’ for resolution of Gulf crisis STORY ON PAGE 12 in today’s issue

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Contact: 0307-7338168 irfan.farooq@pakistantoday.com.pk

02

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

NEWS

44 MoRE SUCCUMb to CoRoNAvIRUS, 3,119 NEw CASES SURfACE ISLAMABAD

t

STAFF REPORT

HE second wave of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) continues to wreak havoc in the country, as 44 more people lost their lives during the last 24 hours, said the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on Saturday.

With 3,119 new cases - the third consecutive daily rise of over 3,000 infections - the country’s tally has reached 413,191. As 44 more deaths reported on Friday, the total death toll of the country has risen to 8,303. Pakistan passed the grim milestone of more than 8,000 deaths on December 1. Punjab witnessed the most deaths as the virus claimed 22 lives across the province. At least 10 people died of coronavirus in KP while Sindh's death toll rose by eight, Islamabad's by two, and one patient passed away in AJK. GB and

POSITIVITY RATIO CLIMBS TO 7.59PC: 309 ON VENTILATORS: 13 LABS SEALED reported no Covid-19 deaths.

In the past 24 hours, Sindh recorded the highest number of cases at 1,664 while 540 new infections were reported in Punjab, 419 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 353 in Islamabad, 68 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 59 in Balochistan, and 16 in Gilgit Baltistan.

The number of active cases has climbed to 52,359 with 2,441 patients in critical care.

The NCOC data showed 352, 529 people have recovered from Covid-19 across the country so far. The country's coronavirus positivity ratio again climbed to 7.59pc, with the highest positivity ratio observed in Abbotabad at 17.57pc, according to NCOC. The ratio had decreased to around 7.2pc earlier. After Abbotabad, the second highest

SC to hear Justice Isa's review petition on 8th NEWS DESK The Supreme Court on Saturday fixed Justice Qazi Faez Isa's petition seeking an additional review of the ruling on the presidential reference filed against him on December 8. A six-member bench led by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Munib Akhtar and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed would hear the review petition. The SC judge has sought review and removal of paragraph two to 11 of the June 19 verdict.

Justice Isa has accused a number of Prime Minister Imran Khan's aides of possessing properties abroad and also sought live telecast of court proceedings. The petition stated that the ruling party PTI and its coalition partner MQM demanded Justice Isa's removal from office following the SC judgement in a case pertaining to 2017's Faizabad sit-in. In the petition, the judge has contended that government officials have launched a "propaganda" campaign against him and his family members. The judge expressed concern that a Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) report was leaked to the media, stressing that the report was not provided to him or his wife. The FBR report, much like the reference against him, was leaked to the media for misleading propaganda, the judge alleged. Justice Isa further underscored that the "independence of the judiciary was handed over to the executive" via the June 19, 2020, ruling, which he claimed was against the Constitution of Pakistan. The reason former Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa privately informed Justice Isa about the reference was to obtain his resignation, he further claimed.

positivity ratio was observed in Rawalpindi at 15.26pc, followed by Karachi at 14.31pc and Hyderabad at 12.13pc.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir has the highest positivity ratio among different federating units at 11.24pc, followed by Sindh at 10.74pc, Balochistan at 10.46pc, KP at 9.68pc, Punjab at 4.15pc and GilgitBaltistan at 3.92pc. Other urban centres of the country reported their positivity ratio as: Lahore 6.5pc, Faisalabad 2.07pc, Multan 2.06pc, Peshawar 10.63pc, Quetta 6.42pc and Muzaffarabad 10.61pc.

Meanwhile, 202 out of 309 patients were put on ventilators in different medical facilities across Pakistan on Saturday. The statistics of the NCOC stated that 202

Interim bail granted to PML-N’s Saiful Malook, Raja Arshad

Covid-19 patients are on ventilators in three provincial capitals including 84 in Punjab’s capital Lahore, 73 in Sindh’s capital Karachi and 45 in Peshawar.

Likewise, as many as 45 patients were put on ventilators in Multan, 20 in Rawalpindi and 39 in Islamabad. No patient from Balochistan, AJK and GB is on the ventilator, the NCOC said.

Moreover, the Punjab Healthcare Commission (PHC) has sealed 13 laboratories and collection centres and suspended services of another for conducting diagnostic tests of Covid-19 against rules and regulations.

According to a spokesperson of PHC Amir Waqas, due to the ongoing second wave of the coronavirus, the PHC had carried out special inspections of 115 laboratories and collection centres in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Sargodha, Sialkot and Sahiwal. Out of these, seven centres of Rawalpindi and six in Multan were closed down.

Veteran politician Sherbaz Mazari passes away LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Veteran politician and former National Assembly Opposition Leader Sardar Sherbaz Khan Mazari passed away on Saturday. He was 90.

“The Mazari family is deeply grieved to announce the passing away of our cherished elder, Sardar Sherbaz Khan Mazari,” his family said in a statement.

“A devoted and loving patriarch, fiercely dedicated to his country, loyal to his friends — he commanded respect for his unwavering integrity. He was much revered by his tribe, where his sense of justice prevailed in resolving conflict through tribal faislas (decisions),” it added.

He will be laid to rest at his ancestral graveyard in Rojhan tehsil, according to statement.

Mazari, a tribal chief from Rojhan Mazari — located in Rajanpur, Punjab close to the Balochistan border —

was the founder of the National Democratic Party (NDP).

In the general election of 1970, Mazari had contested as an independent candidate and was elected as a member of the National Assembly.

He was among those who opposed military action in East Pakistan.

Mazari served as leader of the opposition in the National Assembly from 1975 to 1977. He had played an important role in the preparation of the 1973 Constitution and later during the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD), aimed at removing the military strongman Gen Ziaul Haq from the office of president.

His autobiography, A Journey to Disillusionment, was published in 1999.

Mazari was also the brother-in-law of late Baloch nationalist leader and chief of the Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) Nawab Akbar Bugti.

In recent years, he was no longer active in politics due to old age and indisposition.

An anti-corruption court on Saturday granted interim bail to Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) leader Malik Saif ul Malook Khokhar and former MPA Raja Arshad till December 10 in a corruption and tax evasion case. The court also summoned relevant record from the Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE). The ACE had booked them over charges of corruption and tax evasion. The PML-N leader was accused of causing loss to the national exchequer due to non-payment of property tax on allotment of a plot in Nawab Town. The case against the former MPA was filed on the recommendations of the Lahore’s deputy commissioner.

EU Commission removes PIA from list of banned airlines The European Union Commission on Saturday removed Pakistan International Airlines’ (PIA) name from list of banned and restricted airlines.

However, the ban on Pakistani flights to operate in the European Union territory is intact. According to the reports, the commission’s website for mobility and transportation has removed the name of PIA from its index of restricted, embargoed, or banned airlines. The PIA spokesperson said that the PIA has marked a positive development.

Hopefully, the issue of licensing of pilots will also be resolved soon and the flag carrier will be allowed to restore operation across Europe.

“It is our priority to ensure best travel facilities to all tourists, including the facility to fly them across Europe,” the spokesperson said. He added that the commission has acknowledged PIA’s safety management system. Earlier on Friday, the commission had refused to lift the ban on the PIA to operate in EU territory due to a number of reservations. The commission had said that Pakistan’s aviation department needs to make its pilot licensing authority more transparent. There should be a fool-proof mechanism regarding issuance of licenses to pilots and the aviation’s safety procedures need to be improved. NEWS DESK

LHC approached to suspend large political meetings LAHORE STAFF REPORT

A petition seeking a ban on large political meetings and enforcement of other restrictions amid a surge in the number of fresh coronavirus infections has been submitted in the Lahore High Court (LHC).

As per details, the petition has expressed concern over the second wave of the pandemic. Noting new hospitalisations surged last month, the petitioner asserted a ban on such politician meetings was a need of the hour.

The government portal keeping track of the

contagious disease on Saturday recorded 3,119 new infections after conducting 41,115 tests — a positivity ratio of 7.59 per cent. Health authorities have time and again said that Pakistan is now in the midst of a second wave of the pandemic.

Last week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected a similar petition, observing it was not the court’s job to intervene in the enforcement of standard operating procedures (SOPs) after having passed a judgment in this regard.

The petition had said that even though there was a court judgment calling for the implementation of health guidelines during the crisis, large public gatherings

were still going on unhindered.

However, rejecting the prayer, Justice Minallah asked the petitioner to go to the parliament and the executive to resolve the issue instead.

“Judgments rendered by judicial forums become meaningless and ineffective in times of crisis when it appears that the executive authorities lack the capacity to implement them in letter and spirit,” read the verdict. “Judgments, unless respected by the citizens, state institutions and political leadership, remain unenforced and thus rule of law is undermined and consequently, it profoundly impacts the confidence of the people in the judiciary.”

Business community criticises PDM rallies, laments ‘point scoring’ amid Covid-19 LAHORE APP

Lahore’s leading businessmen on Saturday criticized Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for holding public gatherings amid coronavirus and said public’s health must not be compromised for political gains.

While talking to APP, they said that they are rendering great sacrifices by reducing their business timings according to the government’s SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) for coronavirus. Similarly, the political parties, who are holding public gatherings on various pretexts in these critical times, must prefer the people’s lives over their politics.

Though the political parties have the right to do politics, they must revisit their schedule of public meetings and renounce such activities to protect themselves as well as general public They further said that the political parties are giving a wrong message to the world by holding public gatherings amid second wave of coronavirus. These activities may also cause various economic repercussions for the country.

Meanwhile, United Business Group (UBG) Chairman Iftikhar Ali Malik, presidential candidate for the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Khalid Tawab and candidate for FPCCI Vice President Almas Haider said that the country cannot afford any sort of political

turmoil at this time of difficulty, when the second wave of Covid-19 is gripping the nation.

“We need political stability, which is a prerequisite for sustained economic growth and handling the multiple challenges in the country. Politics of confrontation and agitation has never ensured economic stability, security and development of a country, and wellbeing of the people.

The influential nations are paying more attention to financial warfare to maintain their dominance and using various techniques to weaken the poor nations. Pakistan’s economy is not strong enough to withstand economic recession,” said Ifitkhar, who is also the President of SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Khalid urged all the segments of the society, including traders, industrialists and politicians, to play a key role in strengthening the economy. He said: “Pakistan has managed to revive its jeopardized economy unlike other developed countries due to effective and feasible policies of the government. The public gatherings would definitely affect this positive economic turnaround in the country.

Our country has tremendous potential, as we have enormous talent. We just need consistency in government policies.”

“Compliance of the SOPs and less public gatherings would help in speedy elimination of the coronavirus,” Almas said.

Dr. Malik Ihsan Ullah, an expert of infectious diseases, said that coronavirus

affects the people in many ways. Most of the infected individuals suffer from mild to moderate illness and recover without special treatment. Most common symptoms of the virus are fever, dry cough and tiredness, while less common symptoms are sore throat, diarrhea, headache and loss of taste or smell.

The risks of infection are higher in crowds, where infected people spend a long time together. Adopting precautions is even indispensable. He added that the World Health Organization (WHO) had suggested some doable safety steps, which include social distancing, use of face mask, handwashing and covering coughs and sneezes. The safety steps must be followed to prevent the spread of the virus.

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

NEWS

CM BuzdAr wArnS of leGAl ACtion AGAinSt 'unlAwful' rAllieS LAHORE

P

STAFF REPORT

UNJAB Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Saturday said the provincial government will initiate and consider legal action against those involved in organising rallies that pose a risk of spreading the coronavirus.

The chief minister expressed the views while responding to a question during a press conference in Lahore. His remarks come as the 11-party opposition alliance — the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — is gearing up to stage yet another rally, as part of its antigovernment campaign, in Lahore on December 13 Speaking to the media, Buzdar said: "We all know about the orders of the courts and the National Command and Operation Centre [...] any assembly which presents a risk of spreading Covid-19 is unlawful and legal action will be initiated against it.”

He maintained that the government was not specifically targeting anyone and, for its part, had “reduced and curtailed its demonstrations and gatherings".

"All standard operating procedures (SOPs) are strictly followed at government meetings".

Earlier today, Senator Faisal Javed said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had made it clear that the PDM will not be stopped from holding their next rally in Lahore.

"However, cases will be registered

against those responsible for this illegal [gathering]. The second wave of the pandemic is very dangerous. An increase in cases due to [the PDM's] rallies is endangering the people's lives and the economy."

In a clip from an interview that will be aired later today, the premier stated the PDM will not be stopped from organising the Lahore rally but legal action will be initiated against everyone involved.

Addressing the current Covid-19 situation during the press conference, Buzdar said the infection rate in Lahore had increased from three per cent to 10pc, a situation that was "highly concerning".

Seven die, 11 injured in vantrailer collision NOWSHERA: At least seven people died when a passenger van collided with a trailer on Nizampur Road on Saturday. Rescue sources said a passenger van was heading to Nizampur from Khairabad collided head on with a trailer on Nizampur Road. As a result, seven people were killed and eleven sustained injuries. Rescue 1122 officials shifted the dead and injured to hospital. The passenger van was badly damaged in the incident. APP

Girl tortured by employers now with her parents: police A Faisalabad minor who was tortured by her employers has returned to her parents, a police spokesperson said Saturday, hours after a case was registered in the matter. The spokesperson said that the child would be shifted to the Child Protection Bureau and that she would be presented before the court on Monday. The police had registered the case on the complaint of the Child Protection Bureau. The bureau came into action after a video had surfaced of a family beating the child. Earlier, the police had said that raids were being conducted to apprehend the suspects that tortured the child. Meanwhile, Child Protection Bureau Chairperson Sarah Ahmad said that the 12-year-old is a domestic worker employed by a family. "The family members said that they were hitting the child as she is a mental patient. This is no justification for hitting her," Ahmad said, adding that having a young girl such as her as an employee was a violation of child rights.

The chairperson said that a case has been registered against the man and his wife.

Similarly, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar had taken notice of the incident and sought a report from RPO Faisalabad, a statement from the provincial government said. "The chief minister has directed to take legal action against those involved in torturing the innocent child," the statement said, adding: "Justice will be ensured to the innocent child." In the FIR registered against the suspects, it is mentioned that the incident had taken place in Faisalabad's Eden Valley neighbourhood. It further stated that the incident had taken place on December 3, however, an official from the child protection bureau had informed the police about it on Dec 5. NEWS DESK

He said in light of rising infections, more than “2,000 smart lockdowns have been implemented across Punjab while 625 smart lockdowns have been implemented in Lahore alone”.

He warned that if the numbers kept increasing like this, then the provincial government will have no choice but to take “highly stringent measures”.

He added that the situation in Lahore was very concerning. "According to the Ministry of National Health Services, Lahore is at the top of the list of active Covid-19 patients.

“If precautions are not taken, then no one can stop the spread of Covid-19,” he said, adding that it was a matter of the “nation’s health and life".

"There can be no compromise on this."

Talking about the steps taken to control the coronavirus outbreak, he said that hospitals across the province have been alerted while ventilators and other equipment was also being provided. He added that high dependency units (HDUs) at all of Lahore’s teaching hospitals had also been re-activated.

He said that the Lahore Expo Centre had also been made operational.

On Friday, the Punjab government issued directions to make operational intensive care units (ICUs) and HDUs of three teaching hospitals in Lahore and the Expo Centre to admit serious Covid19 patients.

A high alert was issued to the hospitals following a rapid increase in the number of critical patients and rising trend in death rate in Punjab. The Expo Centre, was re-activated for Covid-19 management after it was ‘closed down’ in July after the Punjab government enforced the home isolation policy.

Similarly, after a delay of months, the government allowed three public teaching hospitals in Lahore to make operational HDUs and ICUs to admit critical patients.

A notification was issued by the specialised healthcare and medical education department to the heads of Lahore General Hospital, Services and Jinnah Hospital.

The notification directed the hospitals to operationalise the HDUs/ICUs at the same level as these were during the month of June.

Cabinet to mull over diplomatic ties with France on 8th NEWS DESK Federal cabinet meeting to be headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan will take up the matter regarding formulating a policy in regard to diplomatic ties with France on December 8.

It is pertinent to mention that on October 25, Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the publication of blasphemous cartoons to target Islam and Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) in France and said that President Emmanuel Macron attacked and hurt sentiments of millions of Muslims in Europe and across the world.

Besides this, the cabinet meeting headed by Imran Khan would mull over a 14-point agenda including restructuring the boards of six power supply companies.

The meeting would be presented the names of new members of the boards of FESCO, HESCO, IESCO,

LESCO, PESCO, and KESCO for approval.

The meeting would also approve the construction of the federal courts complex in Karachi.

The cabinet would also approve the appointments of managing director of Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC), MD of the House Building Finance Company (HBFC), and executive director of the State Life Insurance Company.

The meeting would also mull over to lift certain restrictions on the export of the arms and ammunition of the prohibited bore weapons.

A joint financial statement of the Centre and provinces would also be presented before the cabinet.

The agenda of the meeting also carries the approval of the dentistry quota for the Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University in Islamabad.

The cabinet would also approve the restructuring of the Pakistan Central Cotton Committee.

03

PM to highlight climate change initiatives at global summit NEWS DESK Prime Minister Imran Khan has accepted British Premier Boris Johnson’s invitation to address the global climate change summit, scheduled for December 12, via a video link. PM Imran will highlight Pakistan’s climate change policies, including PTI’s 10 Billion Tree Tsunami project and PM’s Green Pakistan initiative. He will also talk about building national parks and the country’s renewable energy policy. The United Kingdom was to host this year’s UN’s climate change summit in Glasgow but the event was postponed to November 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres and Johnson announced to co-host a “landmark global event” on December 12.

According to the UN, the event aims to “rally momentum and call for much greater climate action and ambition”. “National governments will be invited to present more ambitious and high-quality climate plans, as well as Covid-19 recovery plans, new finance commitments and measures to limit global warming to 1.5C.” Dubbed as the “sprint to Glasgow”, the event will be held amid signs that the world is off-track to limit global temperature rise and that a carbon-free economy is long overdue. “The climate emergency is fully upon us, and we have no time to waste,” Guterres said in a statement. “The answer to our existential crisis is swift, decisive, scaled up action and solidarity among nations”. The event will bring together leaders from across all levels of government, as well as the private sector and civil society, to present new measures, boosting ambition and action.

Another KP doctor succumbs to Covid-19 NEWS DESK Another doctor died of the novel coronavirus in Peshawar on Saturday, following which the toll of virusrelated fatalities amongst doctors rose to 26 in the province. Dr Anwar Ali Shah had been receiving treatment at a private hospital but succumbed to the fatal virus today. The deceased doctor was a Biochemistry professor at Khyber Medical College. It is worth mentioning here that so far 26 doctors and 40 health workers have succumbed to Covid-19 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan has recorded 3,119 new cases and 44 deaths due to the COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

In the past 24 hours, 44 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 8,303. 2,224 patients have recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours and 2,441 patients are in critical condition including 46 reported within a day.

Dr Firdous lambasts former rulers for crippling economy, institutions LAHORE TLTP

Special Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan has said that the opposition parties that remained in power for decades have crippled the country’s economy, institutions and political system, and made the people political slaves.

Dr Awan said this on Saturday while talking to the media persons after addressing an event organised in connection with World Disability Day under the aegis of a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Firdous said that the PTI has entered into the corridors of power in a constitutional way and its government can’t by toppled by mere wishes of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Mariyam Nawaz.

She said that the entire leadership of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is morally handicapped.

These people have fallen into enmity to such an extent that they are playing with the lives of their own workers for the sake of their nefarious intentions and to save their looted money, she added.

She said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan that day is not far when institutions and people will be set free from political slavery. She said

that the government is least bothered about the threats by opposition.

The opposition should not waste its energy and precious time of the nation by holding the rallies; instead, it should adopt a constitutional way and bring a vote of no-confidence against the government, she advised.

Earlier addressing the function, Dr Awan said that it is a mission of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government to uplift the downtrodden and weaker sections of the society as all the government policies revolve around them.

She said that the Prime Minister Imran Khan has always talked about disenfranchised segments of the society. She said that respect and service to differentlyabled people is a social responsibility and obligation.

She said that it is the responsibility of the healthy people to create ease in the lives of differently-abled people.

She said that the Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar initiated different projects on the pattern of Rayasat-e-Medina and recently inaugurated Bahimat Buzurg programme for the welfare of weak and elderly people.

She said that first ever special education policy has been approved in the history of the province under which a comprehensive strategy has been evolved for

providing education, health and other facilities to differently-abled children.

She said that 585 teachers have been recruited in the special education department through the Punjab Public Service Commission. She said that the government has provided 51 buses at a cost of Rs330 million this financial year whereas 12 buses were provided last year to provide free travel facility to special students.

She said that the government has set up 9 new special education centres in Muzaffargarh, Rawalpindi, Bhakkar, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Sheikhupura, Khanewal and Layyah. Moreover, secondary schools for girls have been set up in Sahiwal and Bahawalpur and degree colleges in Sargodha and DG Khan as well. The government has also upgraded special education institutions in 14 districts of Punjab, she informed.

She said that free books have been provided in the libraries of 147 special education institutes of the province at a cost of Rs4 million. Modern courses are being introduced for special children to provide information technology and forensic science education to these children so that they may become useful citizens of the society, she added. She said that the Punjab government is providing free books to special students with a monthly stipend of Rs800, besides pick-and-drop facility, uniforms and hostel facility.

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

04 NEWS

CovId-19 fIEld faCIlIty at lahorE ExPo rEoPEns as hosPItalIsatIons surgE LAHORE

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STAFF REPORT

HE field hospital set up for coronavirus patients at Expo Centre, Lahore was reopened on Saturday after a gap of five months as new hospitalisations surged following a second wave of the pandemic.

The government portal keeping track of the contagious disease on Saturday recorded 3,119 new infections after conducting 41,115 tests — a positivity ratio of 7.59 per cent. Health authorities have time and again said that Pakistan is now in the

midst of a second wave of the pandemic.

The development comes a day after the Punjab government issued directions to make operational intensive care units (ICUs) and high dependency units (HDUs) of three teaching hospitals in the provincial capital and the Expo Centre to admit critical Covid-19 patients.

A high alert has also been issued to the hospitals following the influx of new admissions and rising trend in death rate in Punjab. The makeshift medical facility was closed down in July when the Punjab government announced home isolation policy.

Meanwhile, the provincial government

decided to curtail the surgeries and operations in the public hospitals in order to spare the teaching faculty for treatment of the Covid-19 patients only.

The government has also sought Corona Experts Advisory Group (CEAG) recommendations on the matter, a notification issued Friday said. Last week, the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department imposed a blanket ban on indoor dining in all types of hotels, restaurants and cafes of the province.

According to a notification, “in the exercise of power under the Punjab Infectious Diseases (prevention and control) Act of

Man throws four children, wife into canal

2020, Secretary retired Capt Muhammad Usman with the approval of Chief Minister Usman Buzdar banned indoor dining in restaurants, cafes, hotels, etc. Only outdoor dining, with adequate spacing between tables and takeaway shall be allowed”.

The notification further had said outdoor dining would also be allowed after implementing and completely following the coronavirus standard operating procedures issued by the government.

It said the people would have to wear masks, wash their hands, maintain social distance and also implement other health guidelines.

PATTOKI: A man killed his four young children and wife after throwing them into a canal in the Jamber area of Pattoki over a domestic dispute on Saturday, police said.

According to details, the incident took place in Pattoki, an area in Kasur district of Punjab, where an enraged father threw his four children and wife into the canal over a domestic dispute. After getting the information, rescue teams reached the spot and divers fished out bodies of two children named Nafeesa, 5, and two-year-old Muhammad. Search for other children is underway. Kasur police have arrested the accused father and are investigating the incident. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has expressed a deep sense of sorrow and grief over the incident. The chief minister has sought a report from Commissioner Lahore Division and directed him to determine the causes of this tragic incident. TLTP

Punjab governor, wife administer Covid-19 vaccine trial LAHORE: A trial vaccine of Covid-19 was administered to Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar and his wife at the University of Health Sciences (UHS) in Lahore on Saturday. Sarwar along with his wife visited the UHS and they were received and briefed about the trials of the coronavirus vaccine by UHS Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof. Dr. Javed Akram.

According to the VC, Sarwar, his wife and staff members were administered trial vaccine of the coronavirus at the university premises. Sarwar is the first prominent public figure in the country, who has received a shot of the trial vaccine of the coronavirus. Prof Akram said: “The UHS has been conducting tests of the trial vaccine since October 02. The UHS has administered the vaccine to almost 7000 people during clinical trials till now.” While addressing a separate ceremony in connection with International Volunteer Day at the Rescue 1122 headquarters, Sarwar said that the Rescue 1122 is the best rescue service of the world.

He appreciated all the volunteers and said: “We are proud of our Rescue 1122 team. Social workers are our heroes. The Rescue 1122 has provided training to five thousand community response teams at the union council level in the province. Every individual should come forward voluntarily for welfare and development of the country.” STAFF REPORT

ISLAMABAD: People buying vegetables from vendors at a local market without adhering to coronavirus SOPs. INP

‘PPP discriminating against Karachiites through quota system’ KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) has long been discriminating against urban areas especially with quota system in place wherein the government job vacancies have only a meager share for Karachiites, said Jamat-e-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Saturday. There are about 6,000 job vacancies across Sindh but the share for Karachi is a mere 343 seats, Rehman said, noting that it is the worst kind of rights violation against Karachi. He lamented that even the federal government has extended the discriminatory quota system for an indefinite period of time. This discrimination meted out to urban citizens at the hands of PPP has long been in practice, he claimed. INP

Elections for Islamabad mayor on 28th ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced to hold election for the seat of Islamabad’s mayor on December 28. According to the schedule, the returning officer will issue a public notice inviting nominations on December 9 and the nomination papers will be received and scrutinised on December 11 and December 16, respectively. December 17 will be the last date for filing appeals against acceptance or rejection of the nomination papers which are to be decided by the appellate authority by December 18. December 21 will be the last date for withdrawal of candidature and the final list of candidates with election symbols will be published the following day. Polling will take place on December 28 and the results would be announced on December 29, the ECP said. The seat fell vacant when Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Sheikh Anser Aziz, capital’s first-ever mayor, resigned in a surprising move on October 4, days after sending a summary to the Ministry of Interior proposing to hand over the functions of four directorates under the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) to the federal government. STAFF REPORT

Imran Ismail terms Gwadar port ‘a gateway to economic development’ ISLAMABAD TLTP

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail during a visit to Gwadar Port on Saturday said that efforts of the Pakistan Navy and other institutions have started bearing fruit.

The governor said that the port will definitely prove to be a gateway to economic development, adding that the port will play a greater role in the regional trade and connectivity.

He said that international transit activities have already started with the arrival of the first fish cargo at the Gwadar port for onward shipment to China. He expressed his happiness and satisfaction over the development, saying Gwadar port to have a greater role in the regional cooperation on trade and goods.

Commander West of the Pakistan Navy Rear Admiral Jawad Ahmed briefed the governor about the operational preparedness of the Gwadar Port, ongoing and future plans and other related affairs.

It is pertinent to mention that the first fishing vessel with 200 tonnes of fish arrived at the Gwadar port from international waters a couple of weeks ago. The FBR said that operations have begun at the Gwadar port.

Meanwhile, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail in a felicitation message on the occasion of ‘Sindhi Cultural Day’ has said that the footprints of culture of Sindh are found approximately 5000 years ago. He said, “We wear Ajrak to tell the world how much we are proud of our culture.”

World Bank to provide $12m for uplift of tribal areas ISLAMABAD GHULAM ABBAS

The World Bank will provide $12 million under the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) to support and assist the militancy-affected families of Pakistan’s tribal areas.

According to details, the fund will be aimed at supporting the early recovery of families affected by the militancy crisis, promote child health, and enhance citizen-centered delivery in the tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The project will enhance citizen-centered delivery through the establishment of ‘Citizen Facilitation Centers’ in population centres to serve the entire population of the tribal districts and four adjoining districts. This will be the third financing of the project after the previous financing of $15 million, which was approved in July 2019.

Selected services to be introduced at the facilitation centres include Vital Registration Service (VRS), Civil Registration Management System (CRMS) and

NADRA ‘E-Sahulat’, which will further promote access of beneficiaries to a range of public services.

The additional financing of World Bank, to be approved next month, will promote child health through cash transfers linked to attendance of health awareness sessions to incentivize demand side uptake of critical health and nutrition services. According to the project document, sixteen new facilitation centres will be established while additional services including VRS, CRMS, NADRA ESahulat platform and other services would be introduced in four districts namely Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat and Tank.

VRS will include all services pertaining to issuance or modification Computerized National Identity Cards and CRCs. Introduction of CRMS in collaboration with the local government or commissioner’s offices will enable citizens, particularly women, to receive birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates.

The project is being implemented in

all seven tribal districts of the merged areas (erstwhile FATA). Access to basic public services for citizens in the merged areas and adjoining districts remains a constraint as security and accessibility issues persist.

Accomplishment of this agenda still has a long way to go due to the complex process of integration with KP province, weak institutions and continuing security concerns. Limited accessibility and underdeveloped markets hamper livelihood options for local populations and propa-

gate extreme poverty in this region, according to the document.

Survey data revealed that families in crisis-affected areas moved out because of significant damage to infrastructure, lack of social services, and shocks such as loss of livelihood and a reduction in earnings that led to insufficient food consumption and undesirable coping strategies. Tackling malnutrition is a key aspect of the human capital challenge in Pakistan, with socioeconomic determinants playing a key role.

The stunting rate among children under 5 in Pakistan is 38pc and is much higher among the lowest quintile at 57pc.

Prevalence of polio, malnutrition, stunting, and wasting in the merged areas had made child health and nutrition a priority area for the government. Only 33.9pc of children between the ages of 12 and 24 months were fully immunized, compared to the national average of 76pc. The proportion of stunted children in the merged areas was reported as 52.3pc against the national average of 37.6pc.

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

FPCCI StReSSeS ACCeleRAtIon oF exPoRtS, ReMIttAnCeS AS tRADe DeFICIt wIDenS ISLamaBaD

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STAFF REPORT

HE apex chamber of the country has urged the government to focus on further accelerating exports and remittances with the trade deficit expanding by 14.70pc to $2.06 billion in November.

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) said that imports that were previously on a declining path have now started picking up, indicating the growing economic activities but at the same time signalling the widening of the trade deficit too which is not good for the economy.

FPCCI President Mian Anjum Nisar stated that the economic managers were boasting of their performance on the plea of current account balance, which has witnessed a surplus for the fourth consecutive month in October, rising to $382 million.

The FPCCI president was talking to

a trade and industry delegation, who met him here in his office on Saturday.

It is to be noted that back in Sept 2020 the current account had remained in surplus for the third month in a row at $73 million, making history with a 17year high surplus in the July-Sept quarter compared to a deficit of $1,492 million of last year’s same time on the back of 29Ppc rise in exports and 9pc improvement in remittances.

“But it should be kept in mind that the surplus emerged on the back of a sustained increase in remittances and a smaller trade deficit, as since the start of this fiscal year in July, the cumulative current account surplus has reached $1.2 billion, reversing the $1.4bn deficit recorded in the same period last year.

He said that the country’s current account has been helped by a significant increase in remittances during the current fiscal year. So far, in the four-month period from July to October, total inflows

India fails to end deadlock with farmers, talks to resume next week

of remittances have risen to $9.43 billion against $7.45 billion in the same period last year.

“To achieve consistency in current account surplus for a long period without compromising industrial growth the government will have to focus on increasing the exports and put the business and trade issues on priority, otherwise, the economic problems and balance of payment could further disturb with the growing trade deficit.

The FPCCI president said the government has already missed its annual export target for the first two years. “For the current fiscal year, the export target was reset at $27.7 billion, requiring at least 6pc growth,” he added.

He said that the current export portfolio is marred by a lack of diversification, as few products are exported by some exporters to limited markets. So, a major enhancement in exports requires huge and wide structural reforms.

Mian Anjum said that in 2019-20, the LSM output had fallen alarmingly by 10.17pc yearly. The industrial production after suffering months of damage inflicted by the corona pandemic is now clearly reflecting a revival in economic activities in the country. For the current fiscal year, the government had set the economic growth target at 2.1pc, which will be better in the current economic situation but is not enough to create jobs for a growing population.

He said that a quick turnaround can come from increasing competitiveness of the existing export base and demand-led production of agricultural products, especially high-value agriculture products.

The long-term strategy needs structural reforms of the entire export sector, including high tech and innovative products, value-added exports commodities and market diversification towards unexplored markets like South America and Africa.

Mass protests in Armenia demand PM's resignation over Nagorno-Karabakh

NEW DELHI AGENCIES

India’s government failed on Saturday to break a deadlock with farmers protesting over agricultural reforms and will meet again on Wednesday, the agriculture minister and union leaders said. Thousands of Indian farmers have demonstrated against the laws, which they say threaten their livelihoods, by camping on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi and blocking highways. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government says the new laws are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and give growers more options to sell their produce. “Farmers made it clear to the ministers that they want the government to repeal the laws,” Jagjit Singh Dhalewal, a senior farmers’ leader, said after five hours of talks on Saturday. Agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister Narendra Singh Tomar told reporters that talks will resume on Wednesday, adding the government is committed to farmers’ welfare and is keen to examine and consider the issues raised. Led by influential farming groups from the grain-producing states of Haryana and Punjab, the protests are a test of Modi’s ability to reform the agricultural sector. Agriculture makes up nearly 15pc of India’s $2.9 trillion economy and employs around half of its 1.3 billion people. Farmers fear the legislation will eventually dismantle India’s regulated markets and stop the government from buying wheat and rice at guaranteed prices, leaving them to negotiate with private buyers. They are calling for the government to repeal the laws and retain mandatory government purchases, among other demands.

Tens of thousands of opposition supporters marched across the Armenian capital Saturday to push for the resignation of the exSoviet nation's prime minister over his handling of the conflict with Azerbaijan over NagornoKarabakh.

In six weeks of fierce fighting that ended with a Russia-brokered peace deal on Nov. 10, the Azerbaijani army reclaimed lands that Armenian forces have held for more than a quarter-century.

Armenia's opposition parties warned Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan there would be civil disobedience across the country if he does not resign by noon on Tuesday. Pashinyan has refused to step down, defending the peace agreement as a painful but necessary move that prevented Azerbaijan from overrunning the entire Nagorno-Karabakh region.

More than 20,000 protesters rallied in Yerevan on Saturday, chanting “Nikol ,you traitor!” and “Nikol, go away!” and then marched to the prime minister's official residence.

“The seat of the prime minister of Armenia is currently being occupied by a political corpse,” Artur Vanetsyan, the leader of the opposition party Homeland and the former head of the National Security Service, said at the protest rally.

Several priests of the Armenian Apostolic Church joined the

protest, denouncing Pashinyan for allowing Azerbaijan to take over some holy sites.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a separatist war there ended in 1994. That conflict left not only Nagorno-Karabakh itself but large chunks of surrounding lands in Armenian hands.

In 44 days of fighting that began on September 27, Azerbaijan troops routed the Armenian forces and wedged deep into Nagorno-Karabakh, forcing Armenia to accept the November 10 peace deal that saw the return to Azerbaijan of a significant part of the separatist region. It also obliged Armenia to hand over all of the areas it held outside Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan completed reclaiming those territories on Tuesday when it took over the Lachin region located between the Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenia.

"Of all the players involved in this conflict, everyone benefits except Armenia,”Galia Ackerman, a Paris-based historian specialising in Eastern Europe and author of Régiment Immortel: La Guerre sacrée de Poutine (“Immortal Regiment: Putin’s Sacred War”), said after it was signed.

“Russia regains its grip on Armenia and gets boots on the ground in Nagorno-Karabakh;

Turkey strengthens its links with Azerbaijan; and Azerbaijan is because they have recovered territory that separatists had occupied for more than quarter of a century,” Ackerman continued.

Armenian opposition leaders hold Pashinyan responsible for failing to negotiate an earlier end to the hostilities at terms that could have been more beneficial for Armenia. They have emphasized, however, that the opposition wasn’t pushing for the annulment of the peace deal.

Veteran politician Vazgen Manukyan, whom 17 opposition parties have nominated as their candidate for prime minister, said at Saturday’s rally that his transition government would seek to renegotiate some vague aspects of the Nov. 10 peace deal.

Manukyan, 71, served as prime minister in 1990-91, when Armenia was part of the Soviet Union and later served as defense minister during the separatist war.

Armenia’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that at least 2,718 Armenian servicemen were killed in the latest fighting. At least 55 Armenian civilians also were killed.

Azerbaijan said this week that 2,783 troops of its were killed and more than 100 were still missing. The government said 94 of its civilians also were killed and more than 400 were wounded. AGENCIES

NEWS

05

‘Premature’ announcement of resignations may put PDM alliance in jeopardy coNtINuED from pagE 01 “Bilawal is unhappy over the way PTM leader Mohsin Dawar was humiliated in the PDM meeting by Fazal.

Now Fazal and Maryam Nawaz are trying to hijack the PDM by asserting for resignations. PPP leadership is against the strategy of resignations from the assemblies,” a source said. The source further told that the PPP leadership would take up the matter of resignations with Fazal and Maryam during the upcoming meeting. PPP and ANP are not happy over the handling of the strategy and things may get worse anytime.

First aircraft of AirSial lands at Sialkot airport NEWS DESK The first aircraft, an A-320 Airbus, of the newly established private airline AirSial on Saturday landed at the Sialkot International airport. According to reports, the airline will formally launch operations from December 9 by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan. The PM will also address a special ceremony to be held at Sialkot International Airport. Three Airbus A320-200s of Air Sial — the airline launched by Sialkot’s business community — arrived at the Jinnah International Airport, Karachi, from Phoenix, Arizona, early on Sunday morning via Egypt. The privatelyowned airline was granted permission to run its operations by the Aviation Division in 2017. It also plans to launch flights to foreign destinations.

Govt to discontinue Rs25,000 prize bonds NEWS DESK The federal government has decided to discontinue Rs25,000 denomination prize bonds. According to a media report, the move is aimed at addressing concerns of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) regarding reported failure to check money laundering and terror financing. In the first phase, the Rs25,000 denomination bonds will be converted into premium bonds with their registration to start by Decemberend. Later, the Rs15,000 and Rs7,000 denomination prize bonds will be registered. According to reports, bond holders will have to submit a copy of their CNIC and fill a form to be provided by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for encashment of their bonds. The prize on all types of denominations will not be given in cash but transferred to the holders’ account.

Trump to appear in Georgia in gamble over control of US Senate WaSHINgtoN AGENCIES

President Donald Trump is venturing out of Washington on Saturday for his first political appearance since his election defeat to Joe Biden, campaigning in Georgia where two run-off races will decide the fate of the US Senate.

The president takes the stage at 7:00 pm (0000 Sunday GMT) in the southern city of Valdosta, exactly one month before special January 5 elections.

It is just under a month since he was declared the loser in the presidential race.

Yet at a time when most defeated presidents would be working to burnish their legacy, Trump -- who has yet to concede to Biden -- has barely left the White House, sending out a stream of angry tweets challenging the result and demanding that Republicans nationwide defend him.

That includes the party in Georgia, which Biden won by a mere 12,000 votes.

The stakes in the run-off elections there are sky-high. Former president Barack Obama laid them out at a virtual rally on Friday, saying that "the special election in Georgia is going to determine ultimately the course of the Biden presidency."

If Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeat Republican senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, the Senate will be evenly divided at 50-50, meaning Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris would cast any deciding votes, as the Constitution dictates.

The race has drawn enormous attention, with donors nationwide pouring in hundreds of millions of dollars and with figures as prominent as Obama, Vice President Mike Pence -- and now Trump himself -- scrambling to boost voter turnout.

MIXED MESSAGING: But Trump has placed himself in a difficult spot. Since Biden won the November 3 election, the president has repeatedly, and baselessly, attacked the US electoral system as riddled with "fraud."

Despite an overwhelming series of setbacks in the courts, the president and his lawyers have advanced wild conspiracy theories (one involving long-dead Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez) to explain Biden's victory.

Now analysts say he might have created a political monster -- having undercut Georgia voters' faith in the election system just as he needs them to turn out on January 5.

A headline in the Valdosta Daily Times summed up the conflicted feeling among area voters: "Trump in Valdosta: S.Ga. excited, outraged by presidential visit."

VIRUS RECORD SET: Part of the "outrage" stems from the notion of yet another mass Trump rally coming on a day when the banner headline in the Atlanta Journal Constitution reads: "State sets single-day virus record."

Masks will be required and temperatures taken at the airport rally, local television channel WALB reported.

Trump's ability to excite his supporters remains powerful, and he thrives on the campaign rally setting.

CMYK

But some voters even in long conservative Georgia are expressing weariness over the constant drama surrounding the president.

Analysts said it could make a crucial difference whether Trump, in Valdosta, merely repeats his litany of election grievances or instead addresses the importance of maintaining Senate control.

"It will be good for the rally if it's about Perdue and Kelley Loeffler and how we need to go vote," Spud Bowen, a Republican businessman from Tifton, Georgia, told the Valdosta Daily Times, "but I am certainly not in the mood to hear any more name-calling."

THIN LINE: Loeffler and Perdue have walked moved cautiously, urging Georgians to vote directly challenging Trump's angry complaints.

Loeffler said she was "SO proud to have our President's support."

But Trump has not made things easier for Georgia Republicans, angrily attacking officials in his own party over his loss there, starting with Governor Brian Kemp.

"I'm ashamed that I endorsed him,"

Trump said of Kemp, furious that the governor did not denounce Republican secretary of state Brad Raffenspberger -- branded an "enemy of the state" by the president -- for certifying the election.

He tweeted against both men again on Saturday, hours before flying to Georgia, suggesting they were not true "Republicans."

It was unclear whether Kemp and Loeffler would attend the rally Saturday; a young Loeffler staff member and family friend of Kemp's, Harrison Deal, died in a car crash Friday.

For the 74-year-old Trump, who is considering a fresh White House run in 2024, the Georgia rally represents a gamble.

His performance there could boost his political chances, said conservative commentator Marc Thiessen.

But "if he lets Democrats take back the Senate because he was focused on rooting out some mythical communist conspiracy to steal the 2020 election, he will go down in ignominy," Thiessen wrote in The Washington Post.

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

06 COMMENT

Biden’s Opportunity

PDM at the crossroads Wouldn’t it be better to pause a while to rethink strategy?

Ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

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he 11 party alliance has already held five rallies with the sixth and last having been scheduled for Lahore on the 13th of this month. The PDM’s two-point agenda includes ousting the selected PM through a mass movement and an end to the establishment’s role in politics. The PDM has been successful in bringing out large crowds out despite the administration’s use of force to foil its rallies. The success has belied Prime Minister Imran Khan’s claim that people would not heed the PDM’s call. The opposition has built up a momentum over time, bringing the government under severe pressure. The alliance has also been successful in maintaining unity in its ranks.

The PDM will soon have to decide what measures it is going to take after the Lahore rally. With winter having arrived and people continuing to maintain an attitude of carelessness about SOPs, there is a worrisome uptick in corona cases. While considering the next move, the PDM has to ensure that it is not seen to be responsible for the spread of the pandemic. Thus the idea of a sit-in inside Islamabad must be rejected out of hand. The alliance has kept the option of tendering resignations from the assemblies high on its list of the next measures. Those supporting the move maintain that after the resignations, the assemblies would become defunct and lose their legitimacy locally as well as abroad, which will create a crisis-like situation in the country, forcing the government to resign. The PDM should however desist from any move that creates divisions in its ranks. It should instead maintain its unity and preserve its energies to fight another day.

The government and the establishment should avoid forcing the PDM into desperation. Keen to preserve the democratic gains made after 2008, the two mainstream opposition parties continued to avoid taking the battle to the streets until they found that there was no end to the shrinking of democratic space under the hybrid rule introduced after the 2018 elections. The demand that every institution should work in accordance with the Constitution is by no means unreasonable. Unless the issue is resolved unrest will erupt again and again which is bad for the country. It is time the need for dialogue is realised.

Dr Alon Ben-Meir

R

eCenTLY I had an opportunity to brief a group of european diplomats and journalists on a variety of conflicts, with a focus on the Middle east. During the Q&A I was asked which of the region’s conflicts Biden should tackle first. Without much hesitation I said the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, not only because it is over seven decades old, but because it is an increasingly intractable, explosive, and destabilizing situation, which reverberates throughout the Mideast, and several regional powers are exploiting it to serve their own national interests, which sadly contributes to its endurance.

It is expected that Biden will support a two-state solution given his past position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, albeit a growing number of Israelis and Palestinians no longer believe such an outcome remains viable. I disagree with this belief: the Palestinians will never give up their right to establish an independent state of their own, and the one-state solution, which is being floated as an alternative, will never be accepted by the Israelis, because that would compromise the Jewish national identity of the state and undercut its democratic nature.

Due to the interdispersement of the Israeli and Palestinian populations, the two independent states, however, will have to fully collaborate in many areas, especially on security and economic development.

This will lead to the establishment of the framework for a confederation, which will be the final outcome.

For Biden to succeed where his predecessors failed, he must repair the severe damage Trump inflicted on the peace process and restore Palestinian confidence that a new negotiation could lead to a permanent solution. For that, he must take specific measures before the start of the talks and establish rules of engagements.

Biden should allow the Palestinian Authority (PA) to re-establish its mission in Washington, DC.

Abusing judicial officers Pattoki incident is one of many

A

S if Pakistan’s judicial system did not already have a plethora of deep-rooted systemic issues, violent and abusive lawyers terrorizing judicial officers has become commonplace, adding to the inefficiency and unreliability of the judicial system. The recent incident in Pattoki, where all judicial officers of tehsil courts stopped working and applied for a 10-day leave in protest at the president of the local bar association hurling unmentionable abuses at their colleagues, is shameful. This is not an isolated incident, with various judges from lower courts across Punjab, many of them female, complaining of similar abusive behaviour by lawyers in their courtrooms. What is more, letters written to the Lahore high Court (LhC) registrar either are lost in the mail or simply ignored, as no meaningful action is taken against those responsible.

Almost a year ago, members of the Lahore high Court Bar Association (LhCBA), in what can only be described as a depraved inhumane act of hooliganism and vandalism, ransacked a hospital resulting in the deaths of three patients, over a feud with the Young Doctors Association (YDA). The fact that this despicable incident went largely unpunished, with mostly slaps on the wrists of junior members of the LhCBA, is exactly why lawyers continue to act in such a manner with impunity. The over politicization of bar associations across the country has also contributed to this behaviour, making them powerful representative bodies for lawyers that are more interested in strengthening their position in the judicial food chain rather than carrying out their primary duty of providing a good and honest legal defence to their clients.

It is unfortunate that the superior judiciary has not stepped up to the challenge to address this increasing presence of uncouth lawyers in the legal fraternity. Chief Justices of the high courts and the CJP must take note of these incidents and direct bodies such as the Lahore Bar Council and others to reprimand its members. In the absence of proper disciplinary action such as disbarment, there will be no reduction in the frequency of legal practitioners running amuck.

The press has been hit the world over. A look at our neighbour nAvA ThAkuriA

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S the year 2020, shattered by the Covid19 pandemic since March, approaches the end India finds itself in an awkward situation as it has lost over 50 working journalists to the severe health hazard till the first week of December.

Thousands of journalists, along with other media employees, got infected with the novel corona virus as they have been playing the role of corona-warriors along with the practicing doctors, nurses, sanitation workers, police personnel etc. The populous country witnessed 51 scribes losing their lives to various covid-19 aggravated ailments till date (compared to nearly 500 global media corona-casualties in 56 countries), which indicates the callous approach of editor-managements’ towards their media workers.

Most of the managements of Indian newspapers, news channels and digital news outlets are still continuing to engage their scribes to report the pandemic from the ground with little or no pre-caution and preventive measures.

“Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic is claiming more and more victims in the media. It’s a huge loss.

In countries like India, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico, the number of victims among journalists is on the rise,” said Blaise Lempen, general secretary of Press emblem Campaign (www.pressemblem.ch), an international media rights body headquartered in Geneva.

Lempen, a journalist himself, added that Peru remains the country with the heaviest death toll, where 93 media workers have died of covid-19.

India is now the second worst affected country with 51 deaths. Brazil took third place with 43 victims ahead of ecuador (41), Bangladesh (39), Mexico (33), USA (25), Pakistan (12), Panama (11), UK (10), nigeria (8), Afghanistan, Dominican Republic

Arif Nizami Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations at the Centre for Global Affairs at NYU. He teaches courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies. alon@alonben-meir.com

Corona-year takes away a half century of Indian journalists

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

This would immediately open a channel of communication central to the development of a dialogue between the USA and the PA, and clear some initial hurdles before resuming the negotiations.

Biden must restore the financial aid the Palestinians had been receiving from the USA. The PA is financially strapped. The aid given should be monitored.

Biden should inform the Israeli government that there must be no further annexation of Palestinian territories. The American embassy will stay in Jerusalem and continue recognizing Jerusalem as its capital, leaving its final status to be negotiated.

Given the intense controversy about the settlements and their adverse psychological and practical effect on the Palestinians, Biden should insist Israel impose a temporary freeze on expansion. This issue should top the negotiating agenda to allow for a later expansion of specific settlements in the context of land swaps.

The Biden administration should invite hamas to participate in the negotiations jointly with the PA or separately, provided they renounce violence and recognize Israel’s right to exist. If they refuse, they should be left to their own devices.

Unlike Trump’s envoys who openly supported the settlements and paid little or no heed to the Palestinians’ aspirations, Biden’s envoys should be known for their integrity and professionalism, and be committed to a two-state solution.

The Arab states and the eU are extremely vested in a solution. Saudi and German officials will be ideal observers. no negotiations succeed unless the parties involved agree on the desired outcome. For the Palestinians it is an independent Palestinian state, and for Israelis the security and independence of a democratic Jewish state. Before new negotiations, the Biden administration should insist that both sides unequivocally commit to a two-state outcome.

Both sides have paid little heed to the need to understand each other’s historic experiences— the holocaust for the Israelis and the Nakba (catastrophe) for the Palestinians—which they subconsciously use as protective shields. Acknowledging each other’s respective traumatic experiences would help mitigate the psychological impediments which hel cause the mutual distrust. no negotiations can be conducted in good faith with mutual public acrimony, as before always. An integral part of any negotiation is building trust.

Leaders on both sides must end acrimonious statements, as their respective publics will have no faith in such negotiations.

Both sides must commit not only to renouncing violence but to doing everything to prevent violence. nothing is more disruptive than wanton violence.

Both sides need to fully collaborate on all security matters and send a clear massage, especially to ex-

tremists, that violence will not be tolerated and perpetrators will suffer severely.

It will be necessary in future talks to commit to “bank” any agreement on a specific issue, delink it from all others, and not subject it to renegotiations should the talks stall or collapse. This would prevent the resumption of negotiations from ground zero and allow for the building blocks eventually leading to an agreement.

Five critical issues— the settlements, Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees, national security, and borders— have been rehashed ad nauseum before. The Biden team should identify any common denominator to prevent renegotiating certain elements over which both sides have already agreed.

The negotiating process must simultaneously be accompanied by a process of reconciliation. Both sides must initiate widespread people-to-people interactions.

Israelis and Palestinians should engage in many activities, including sports, performing arts, tourism, development projects, and student interactions, to foster confidence that peaceful coexistence is possible.

Given that both sides will be required to make significant concessions, it will be imperative to keep their respective publics informed. Keeping the public in the dark, as before, prevented the public from developing any vested interest in the negotiation’s successful outcome.

The failure to agree before to such rules of engagement clearly suggests neither side negotiated in good faith. The Biden administration must insist both sides accept the above rules if they want negotiations in earnest. Otherwise, the new talks will be futile.

Sadly though, the current leaders in Israel and Palestine are not in a position for serious negotiations, and must leave the political scene before Biden resumes new talks. Prime Minister netanyahu is on record opposing the establishment of a Palestinian state; is also facing three corruption charges, and despite his accomplishments, may have outlived his usefulness.

President Abbas too has taken a hard position on the settlements, Jerusalem, and the refugees, and it will be nearly impossible for him to make any significant concession and survive politically. he is also “too comfortable” in his position and does not want to leave the political scene accused of having sold the Palestinian cause. In the interim, Biden should reiterate the US commitment to Israel’s national security and his support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, giving a clear signal that only moderation will work.

The USA remains the indispensable power that can bring both sides to an enduring peace, because no other power can exert the kind of influence needed to reach a breakthrough. The Biden Administration must bring this about by advancing its own ideas and putting its foot down when necessary because neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians can have it only their way, and certainly not without direct US involvement.

As president, Biden has a momentous opportunity to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and both sides will do well to grasp the moment.

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and honduras (7 each), Argentina, nicaragua and Venezuela (6 each), Colombia, France, Russia and Spain (5), Italy (4).

PeC has identified at least three corona-deaths in nepal, Cameroon, egypt, Guatemala, Iran, and el Salvador, two casualties in Algeria, Indonesia, Morocco, Paraguay, South Africa and Sweden, and one death each in Germany, Japan, Canada, Israel, Switzerland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Austria, Chile, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq (Kurdistan), Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Zimbabwe.

India has lately lost journalist Rajiv Katara (60), who died in a new Delhi hospital on 26 november. he worked for the social and literary magazine Kadambini of the prestigious Hindustan Times group. he hailed from Aligarh. earlier, noidabased scribe Pankaj Shukla, 50, succumbed on 20 november at JP hospital. he hailed from UP’s Bareilly. he studied at Allahabad University and after starting journalism with popular hindi newspapers, later shifted to electronic platforms.

Prior to him, haryana-based journalist Rakesh Taneja, 51, who died at a Faridabad hospital on 16 november. Orissa’s television scribe Prabir Kumar Pradhan, 35, who was associated with news18, an Odia news channel, succumbed on november 5.

A video journalist from Tripura in northeast India, Jitendra Debbarma, 46, lost his battle against the corona infection on 20 October. Debbarma worked for a local Kakborok language cable channel named Chini Khorang. Mysuru (Karnataka)-based journalist Pavan hettur, 35, who worked for Kannada daily Prajavani died on 18 October at a private hospital.

Patna (Bihar)-based photojournalist Krishna Mohan Sharma, 63, who worked for Times of India, died on 15 October at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, new Delhi. The same day, veteran cricket journalist and commentator Kishore Bhimani, 81, died after contracting the virus in Kolkata.

In September, India lost 12 journalists to covid-

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19 as Ludhiana-based journalist Ashwani Kapoor, 70, who worked for the highly circulated newspaper Punjab Kesari, died at a private hospital after 29 days ill.

Assam’s Guwahati-based news presenter in All-India Radio, Golap Saikia, 52, died there on 26 September at a private hospital. Patna’s Arun Kumar Verma, 68, who was associated with various Prasar Bharti outlets died on 22 September. Indore (Madhya Pradesh) journalist Manoj Binwal, 55, who was associated with hindi newspaper Prajatantra, died on 20 September.

A day earlier, Agra-based journalist Ami Adhar nidar, 50, who worked for Dainik Jagaran, passed away with the infection. Jammu-based scribe Anil Srivastava, 68, who was associated with United news of India, succumbed on 18 September at a government hospital.The same day Madya Pradesh’s Jabalpur journalist harish Choubey, 60, who worked for Dainik Bhaskar, also expired. Aurangabad, Maharashtra-based journalist Rahul Dolare (49) died on 14 September at a government hospital. The same day, Tamil nadu’s popular journalist-actor Florent C Pereira, 67, also died.

Punjab’s Abohar-based journalist naresh Bajaj, 57, who was associated with Sach Kahoon newspaper, succumbed on 10 September. Ravinder Kumar, 30, from himachal Pradesh, who worked for Dainik Jagran, died of covid-19 on 9 September. Assam’s rural reporter Dhaneswar Rabha, 35, died at Guwahati Medical College hospital on 6 September. The next day, another Assam-based journalist Ashim Dutta, 65, passed away with the infection at Silchar medical college hospital.

It hardly needs mention that the current pandemic, besides the casualties, has also crushed the mainstream Indian media industry to a large extent.

Many print media owners have stopped publishing physical newspapers and shifted to the digital space.

Some owners even closed down their editions in different localities, reduced the number of pages, cut salaries and even laid off employees, citing the shrinkage of advertisement revenues since the pandemic hit the country.

The author is a northeast India based journalist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Sunday, 6 December, 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

No jobs for the poor

Slaves of the oligarchs It is time to sift right from wrong and true from false

Candid Corner rAoof hAsAn “I freed a thousand slaves. I could have freed a thousand more if only they knew they were slaves.” —Harriet Tubman

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eSIDeS other dependencies, slavery is also a state of mind. There are some who wear it as a badge of distinction on their lapels while others are forever beholden to the bounties from mortals who are themselves dependent on the largesse of their masters. But slavery in the annals of politics degenerates into a domain of its own.

Watching these people on television screens, shrieking incessantly without as much as a pause, is both hilarious and painful: hilarious because it actually makes you laugh at how stupid people could be, and painful because it reflects the depravity they have plunged to. Also, the ones sitting across the table, hurling soft full tosses at them by way of questions to be smacked to all parts of the ground, make a mockery of the profession they belong to. A recent comparison between this breed of jokers and those who actually practise their profession with dedication was Ishaq Dar’s massacre by Stephen Sackur in the famous BBC programme hARDtalk.

Instead of being swayed by his pretensions of innocence, the anchor put him on the mat by laying bare his lies. In the process, he forced him to make statements which were flagrantly contrary of the truth like “dozens of people have died in NAB custody”, or that “I have only one property in Pakistan or anywhere else”. In an attempt to escape a barrage of questions to which he had no answer, he attacked the state of human rights and the judicial system in the country.

Whenever the occasion may arise, these statements will not only haunt him, but provide him no cover from the way he was stripped of both his clothes and credibility.

Just a couple of days later, I was horrified to see the same Ishaq Dar sitting with two of our very own anchors of a YouTube Channel being given uninterrupted time and space to assert that, after ten minutes of the hARDtalk show, he had put Stephen Sackur under pressure. he went on to make a series of unverified and unsubstantiated derogatory claims about various people. These agenda-driven anchors had no other reason to give Ishaq Dar the luxury of time on screen except to mitigate the mammoth negative impact of merciless bashing that he had taken just a day earlier which had not only exposed the hollowness of his personal credentials, but also of his master-

in-chief who, besides being a convict, has now If that be so, where is the profession headed? It definitely is not headed in the direction of what also been declared an absconder by the court.

On the one hand, this comparison brings out may be desirable: becoming a respectable and the worst of what we call journalism in Pakistan responsible profession that could be rightly eleand, on the other hand, it gives us a glimpse of vated to the stature of being the ‘fourth pillar of how looters and plunderers should be treated the state’. The real concern is that it may actually when they are facing the cameras. They should be headed in the opposite direction.

In the process, journalism has been reduced not be allowed to sit there like some angels incarnate pontificating to the world about honesty to becoming the slave of the oligarchs who are and chastity. Instead, they should be fully ex- manipulating it through their anointed minions posed for all to see their real worth and the man- against inducements of multiple varieties. Will the ner in which they have indulged in merciless practitioners of this avowedly noble profession ever be able to cast off their pretentious apparels pillaging to strip this country of its assets.

The worst part is that when journalism be- that they flaunt in the name of ‘free journalism’, comes complicit in the crimes of its chosen mas- turning it into becoming a slave of one or another ters, it loses its stature and respect like it has brand of oligarchs whom they try to legitimise without a shade of comdone in Pakistan. As the punction? They always much-trumpeted ‘fourth remain eager to become pillar of the state’, it not a voice for the crime only has to carry forth Journalism is a profession world. But, have they the message of truth unever thought of the compromisingly, it is that is far above what it has voiceless millions, who also beholden to making been so brazenly reduced to. are locked up in dunsure that people with geons where the light tarnished careers and It must free itself of the does not penetrate, desdubious liaisons are extentacles of the few who have perate to be heard? Will posed without a shred of they ever find a place in mercy. After all, it is beexploited it cruelly to their their programmes, or cause of these charlaselfish advantage. In the will they breathe their tans that Pakistan was last in the captivity of the forced to forfeit its process, it has been rendered dark dungeons that they chances to progress that poorer. It is in times of have grown to know as came aplenty during the their homes? years of its infancy. transition that institutions Journalism is a proIn a way, this attirise to their pinnacle by fession that is far above tude is reflective of the what it has been so societal character as investing in the process of brazenly reduced to. It well which has lost the change and freeing the must free itself of the verve to stand up for the tentacles of the few who right and fight the society of the burden of a have exploited it cruelly wrong. By way of makcumbersome past. For to their selfish advaning it easier to undertage. In the process, it stand, I always say that journalism and all its has been rendered Pakistan suffers from practitioners, that time is now poorer. It is in times of two kinds of corruption: transition that institucorruption of greed and as they must elevate tions rise to their pinnacorruption of need. The themselves to helping the cle by investing in the former is the aliment of process of change and the rich and the powerstate transcend the freeing the society of the ful while the latter is impediments which are burden of a cumbersome practised by the poor past. For journalism and and marginalised who being placed in its way by all its practitioners, that are fighting for two the beneficiary elite of a time is now as they must meals a day. none is elevate themselves to forgivable, but the imsordid past helping the state tranpact of corruption of scend the impediments greed is central to the which are being placed deprivations that the in its way by the beneficountry and bulk of its ciary elite of a sordid past. people have been subjected to.

This syndrome can be undone only when inAnd all this begins with corruption of the mind which weaves reasons and rationale for stitutions of the state play their role by sifting people to indulge in grave and fraudulent ma- the true from the false. That is the only way to nipulations. The one that appears to afflict the helping a new generation of people take over journalists of a certain creed who feel no shame which would be wedded to the supreme ideal of in giving time to criminals-absconders to state doing things the right way. Otherwise, tragically, their case, even grant them respectability, is ab- we shall continue our immersion in the juices of solutely despicable. Am I, therefore, right in be- falsehood and depravities. That is when nations lieving that, by embracing such crass projects as go bereft as we have been for a while now. trying to hide the sordid truth about the ones The writer is a political and security who don’t deserve even a shred of mercy, we are digging the grave of responsible journalism in strategist, and heads the Regional Peace the country? Is it that the edifice of the ‘fourth Institute – an Islamabad-based think tank. pillar of the state’ is being bludgeoned from in- Email: raoofhasan@hotmail.com. Twitter: side by the very practitioners of the profession? @RaoofHasan

YeSTeRDAY, when I met an old age of my neighbour that showed me people’s disappointment and governments failure. he said that jobs are for the rich and the poor are born to labour only. he told me that his younger brother had done his B.e with good grades and he is still unemployed. he further told me that his brother passes written tests every time but he is dropped in interview again and again because they ask for money and we don’t have any cash to pay off, we just had been living from hand to mouth existence, that’s why my younger brother is still jobless. his words made my heart cry tears of blood. I felt shy and guilty to be part of a society where violation of merit is so common and everything is for the rich, the poor are ignored and neglected as if they don’t even exist.

Our each and every institution is corrupt and buyable. It is said that hard work pays off. nay, in Pakistan hardwork doesn’t pay but wealth does. We can see many examples around ourselves, competent and hard working students are left behind while the rich and amateurs are getting jobs easily.

There is no job in Pakistan which can’t be bought with wealth. What to talk of other professions even our politicians can be bought off. Indeed, they all are dishonest and venal. They deserve harsh punishments and vengeances. The question is that who is will bring them to book? —our whole system from a sweeper to the established government is corrupt.

A balance in society is important without fairness, opportunities will always mean for the wealthy peoples. The penniless poor will be disregard and passed over in every walk of life. And the rich will be favoured everywhere, such a society will never stand and make progress. For making advancement equality and justice is must. For the establishment of a stable society favouritism, discrimination and corruption must be wiped out.

Muzaffar Khoso suKKur

Leaderless, rudderless SInCe inception, our country has been unfortunate that our leaders remained self-centered and short-sighted. We adopted the wrong policies and did not take the right steps to lay the foundation of a strong economy.

Soon after the partition, Pakistan decided to join the America camp, isolating itself from the USSR led the communist block. The aid from the US did bring some financial benefits but it brought a plethora of problems too. The development on the back of American aid was isolated to urban centers mostly in West Pakistan. This led to a sense of deprivation among the under-developed regions, especially the east Pakistan.

Another problem we have suffered the most from is the lack of continuity in policies of national interest. every party or the person, democratic or a dictator, tried to come up with his / her own holy grail for strengthening the economy and getting the country out of misery. The result was that there was no continuity of policies that would ensure continued progress. On the other hand, our neighbor India became a member of the non-aligned movement, inter-alia establishing good relations with the USSR. India drew maximum financial and military benefits from all sides. In addition, there was a continuity of policies pertaining to the national interest in successive governments. India banned imports and took steps to develop its own industrial base. Today, it manufactures everything from cars to satellite components to sophisticated electronics. India has a strong industrial and economic base and is rising as a power on the global scene. Pakistan on the other hand is still struggling, continuing with the policy of pact-work and short-sighted initiatives.

Seventy-three years have gone by and we still are mostly dependent on foreign aid. Our industrial base is weak, and the economy is heavily dependent on imports. Whatever development we had is primarily centered around a few urban centers creating a huge divide between the rural and urban population. We fail to take advantage of the resources Allah has blessed our country with. how painful it is that we have all the resources, but we still struggle as a third world country, and our leaders still not seeing the right way to steer the country out of the mess, we are in. raja shafaatullah IslaMabad

PM defiant PRIMe Minister Imran Khan on Saturday categorically stated that he will give up his office but will not give any nRO (national Reconciliation Ordinance) to the opposition.

The premier made the comments while speaking to actor hamza Ali Abbasi during an interview on humnews that covered a myriad of topics, including his own spiritual journey and his thoughts on Western culture.

Commenting on the opposition, PM Imran said that the parties have been blackmailing the government since day one to grant them amnesty. he maintained that the nRO given to the opposition by former military ruler retired Gen Pervez Musharraf had had disastrous effects on the country, leading to an increase in debt liabilities.

“Our biggest problem is that we have debt and there is a deficit between what we earn and what we spend.” he added that the opposition wanted to be “forgiven”, but said that even the holy Prophet (peace be upon him) had said he would not forgive his daughter when it came to corruption.

If I want to let them go, then I should open up our jails,” he said, adding that he would “give up his seat but not give [the opposition] an nRO”. Commenting on the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) upcoming rally in Lahore on December 13, the premier said that the government has decided to not grant them permission for staging the demonstration. “Cases are increasing rapidly [...] those putting up the sound systems and chairs, FIRs will be registered against them.” however, PM Imran made it clear that the government would not stop the opposition from participating in the rally.

“We will not stop them so that they can’t [act] dramatic and assume the role of revolutionaries [and] try to become Joan of Ark or Che Guevara.

EhtIshaM ahMad lahorE

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

MuqTADA Al-SADr MAy be prepArIng A bID To be IrAq’S nexT prIMe MInISTer THE POPULIST CLERIC APPEARS TO BE GEARING UP FOR THE UPCOMING PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS SLATED FOR JUNE 2021 IN A BID TO WIN THE PREMIERSHIP

Al-MonItor

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omar aL-JaffaL

RAQI Shiite cleric and leader of the Sadrist movement Muqtada al-Sadr has launched what looks like an early electoral campaign in preparation for the parliamentary elections slated for June 6. Sadr had said before that he would not participate in the elections this time, but he has changed his mind and declared that not only will he participate in the elections, he also plans to win a majority required to gain the premiership.

Sadr has ordered his followers to gather

in a mass demonstration and declare unity against the opponents. This was seen as mobilization for widespread participation in the early parliamentary elections.

In the same vein, thousands of his supporters answered Sadr’s call to demonstrate in Tahrir Square in the center of Baghdad on Nov. 27, demanding “an end to corruption.”

Sadr did not attend the protests to address his supporters, some of whom were wearing army fatigues. He sent a representative, Sheikh Khudhayer al-Ansari, who tried to emulate the religious and political oratory style of Sadr and his father, Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr.

Sadr’s propaganda among his supporters is that he “does not seek to be in power” but “wants to vanquish those who want to harm Iraq.”

The top Shiite cleric tried to reassure the people and political forces that his move to win the elections will not be through “violence, killings, starting fires, blocking roads, bombing, occupation or any form of injustice.”

Nonetheless, Sadr’s supporters put on

quite a violent show in the city of Nasiriyah, capital of the DhiQar governorate, raising speculation that Sadr might resort to violence to snatch a victory in the early elections and secure the position of prime minister.On the evening of Nov. 27, Sadr’s supporters clashed with sit-in protesters at Haboubi Square in Nasiriyah, killing seven people and wounding more than 70.Protesters in DhiQar said that Sadr’s supporters wanted to take over the square and disperse the sit-in, which resulted in clashes between the two sides.

A few hours after the brawl, Sadr’s supporters set ablaze the protesters’ tents in Haboubi Square, which have been pitched since October 2019. These protesters have been calling for real reforms and holding those who killed their friends accountable.

They were not satisfied with the resignation of former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, nor with Mustafa al-Khadimi’s promises of early elections, which did not persuade them to end their demonstrations, as happened in Baghdad.The protesters in DhiQar built new tents, returned to the

square, and continue to protest.

It is true that the Iraqi cleric urged his supporters to join the October 2019 demonstrations, but he turned against the protesters months later, which prompted them to shout slogans against him in the streets. Sadr is criticized by many on the streets of Iraq. According to observers, Muqtada wants to end the protests.“Sadr got what he wanted from the demonstrations, which is a new electoral law approved by parliament,” a source in the Iraqi Communist Party told Al-Monitor.

“People in the streets are no longer sparing Sadr in their slogans and chants."

Sadr does not seem to be banking on the votes of Iraqi protesters in the upcoming elections, especially since the new electoral law divides Iraq into small electoral districts, which works to the advantage of the Sadrist movement — capable of distributing its supporters’ votes to its candidates. Meanwhile, protesters are divided and split between different groups.

Sadrist parliament members have been intensifying their television appearances on political programs in a bid to promote voting

in the elections; they're calling on demonstrators to end their protests and resort instead to elections to bring about the political change they demand.

Harith Hasan, a nonresident senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center, said the “Sadrist movement widely believes that the new electoral law would allow it to increase its seats in parliament because the seats in the new electoral law have been distributed widely in different Iraqi districts, and Sadrists believe they can gain more seats by managing their voters to vote for a specific candidate in each district."

During Iraq's three parliamentary elections held between 2005 and 2014, the Sadrist movement maintained about 11% of the seats. In the 2018 vote, however, it won about 15.8% of the parliamentary seats, making it the largest bloc with 52 parliament members.Amin Zwair, a parliament member for Sadr’s Sairoon Alliance, said, “The Sadrist supporters are ideological, and we can direct them.”He told Al-Monitor, “When we instruct our voters to vote for a candidate, they do it."

Yet it seems unlikely that the Sadrist movement will have the upper hand in the Cabinet formation, as the Iraqi political game does not guarantee a parliamentary majority for any party without having to form alliances with other political forces.

The political parties will not feel comfortable handing over the most important positions in the Iraqi government to Sadr.

In fact, the results of the elections cannot be predicted as of now, but the Sadrist movement appears to be playing its cards to try and seize a win and has already launched its electoral campaign by mobilizing people in large demonstrations in the street. Most importantly, no one can predict Sadr’s next move.

Defence bill seeks State sponsored assassinations in foreign countries are becoming the new to halt Afghanistan drawdown norm – it is simply a form of gangsterism

Independent

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Patrick cockburn

was in Israel on 4 November 1995 when a student named Yigal Amir assassinated the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin as he left a peace rally in Tel Aviv. A video shows Amir loitering by an exit to the square for 40 minutes before Rabin appears, when his killer takes out a pistol and fires two shots point blank into Rabin’s back. His purpose was to prevent a lasting peace settlement between Israelis and Palestinians by killing the man who was the most powerful protagonist of such an agreement.

The assassination was universally condemned amid plaudits for Rabin as a man and a statesman, but within a year Binyamin Netanyahu was elected prime minister and progress towards a settlement stalled and went into reverse.

Twenty-five years later almost to the day, another assassination took place, this time in Iran, of a nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, as he was driving in a car east of Tehran. He was ambushed and killed by a squad of gunmen, alleged to be Israeli, who shot him and exploded a bomb in a car prepositioned at the scene of the attack.

This time there was no international condemnation of the action of what was, going by different accounts, a death squad operating in a foreign country against a foreign citizen. This free pass was because the target was an Iranian and Fakhrizadeh had been accused by Israel of playing a leading role in a secret plan to build a nuclear device. But these allegations were unproven, mostly dated from long ago, and the current activities of the dead man are unclear. What is evident, however, is that “targeted killings” by assassins outside their home countries are becoming very much the norm as a way in which nations show their strength. The poisoning of the Skripals in Salisbury by Russian agents in Salisbury in 2018 and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by a

Saudi death squad in Istanbul the same year are good examples of this and the death of Fakhrizadeh is another.

This latest assassination was not justified primarily as an attempt to disrupt Iran’s nuclear programme, but as a legitimate and successful display of state power. The New York Times said approvingly that “Mr Fakhrizadeh has become the latest casualty in a campaign of audacious covert attacks seemingly designed to torment Iranian leaders with reminders of their weakness.”

It added that the operation confronted Iran with an agonising choice between retaliation and seeking to re-engage with the US when Joe Biden becomes president, replacing the viscerally anti-Iranian Donald Trump.

Any description of this or other “targeted killing” by Israel or anybody else should carry a health warning. Everybody involved has a reason for lying, just as they once did about Saddam Hussein’s non-existent WMD in 2003. Anything leaked by intelligence agencies to a credulous media should only be consumed with a large measure of salt. Without officially claiming the attack, Israel is sending a message to Tehran to the effect that “we may soon no longer have Trump in our corner, but we can still hit you hard”. A further motive is to sour Iran against a nuclear deal with America, embolden Iranian hard liners who always opposed it, potentially provoke self-destructive Iranian retaliation, and complicate Biden’s declared intention to return to Barack Obama’s 2015 agreement with Iran.

Notice several peculiarities about this assassination: those emphasising the enormity of the breach in Iranian security are not Israelis but Iranians, reputedly close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). These paint a rather unlikely scenario of an ambush by a dozen assassins, some leaping from a car and others arriving on motorcycles, and in case they should miss their target, there is a Fiat car packed with explosives ready to detonate.

A more likely explanation is that the IRGC, which was responsible for Fakhizadeh’s security, failed once again and is trying to excuse themselves by claiming that they were faced with an overwhelming force that nobody could have resisted. The IRGC’s reputation for competence had already been damaged in January this year when an IRGC crew manning an anti-aircraft missile battery shot down a Ukrainian aircraft over Tehran, killing 176 passengers and crew.

This disastrous mistake came in the wake of the assassination of General QassemSoleimani, the IRGC head of covert operations in much of the Middle East, by a US drone at Baghdad airport on 3 January, another sign that state-sponsored assassinations are becoming an acceptable

international practice.

How will this all play out in terms of future US relations with Iran? The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, was his chief diplomatic achievement.

Withdrawing from it in 2018 and seeking to extract better terms from Iran through sanctions amounting to an economic siege, was the most important initiative by Trump in the Middle East.

Economic warfare like this did a lot of damage to Iran but it did not succeed in forcing it to negotiate and it was never likely to do so since Trump’s strategy, if anything so incoherent deserves that name, was to force surrender or regime change on Iran. Biden says he wants to return to the JCPOA, but only if Iran is compliant, too.

There is plenty of room here for disagreement about what exactly compliance entails and a return to the old agreement will be resisted by Israeli, Saudi Arabia and its anti-Iranian Arab allies, and much of the foreign policy establishment in Washington. Iranian enthusiasm for the 2015 agreement has also ebbed since they discovered that it did not in practice end economic sanctions.

They have since found that these can to some degree be circumvented by secretly selling oil at a discounted price. All recent US administrations have come into office hoping – and sometimes declaring publicly – that they would not allow themselves to be sucked into crises and messy wars in the Middle East. Invariably they have failed because the region is where the political tectonic plates of the world meet and grind together. It is the arena where outside powers confront each other directly or through their proxies.

“Targeted killings” on an individual or mass basis may appear to be a way of tipping the balance towards whatever country has decided to go into the assassination business.

The killing of Yitzhak Rabin did matter for the future of the Israelis and the Palestinians, but this was the act of a single fanatic and not of a government. Few other assassinations in the Middle East have had much long-term impact, contrary to the cinematic view of a world where Mr Bigs, like Goldfinger or Dr No, are evil masterminds whose elimination will make a difference.

In the real world, figures like Fakhrizadeh and Soleimani can always be replaced. Generals and politicians once imagined that campaigns to kill the local leaders of insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq would open the door to victory. But they found that “night raids” enraged local communities and dead leaders were swiftly replaced by angrier and more aggressive substitutes. One such campaign in Iraq led to a sharp jump in attacks on American forces. State-sponsored assassinations employ the methods of gangsterism and discredit and delegitimise those who use them.

THE US-TALIBAN DEAL, SIGNED IN FEBRUARY, CALLS FOR A FULL US WITHDRAWAL BY THIS COMING MAY IF THE TALIBAN UPHOLDS COUNTERTERRORISM COMMITMENTS SUCH AS DENYING SAFE HAVEN TO AL QAEDA

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HE compromise defence policy bill released Thursday includes language aimed at preventing a withdrawal from Afghanistan amid President Trump’s order to cut U.S. forces there to 2,500 by mid-January.The National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) would block funding to reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan until the Pentagon, State Department and director of national intelligence assess how a drawdown would affect threats to the United States, among other criteria.The assessment would be required before troops can drop below the number there when the bill becomes law and again before troops can drop below 2,000.“The conferees reaffirm that it is in the national security interests of the United States to deny terrorists safe haven in Afghanistan, protect the United States homeland, uphold the United States partnership with the Government of Afghanistan, and protect the hardfought gains for the rights of women, girls, and other vulnerable populations in Afghanistan,” said the compromise, known as a conference report.“The administration has a constitutional obliga-

tion to provide the Congress and the American people with regular, timely and comprehensive information on the status of security operations and diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan and across the globe,” the conference report added.

In November, Trump ordered the military to cut the number of troops in Afghanistan from 4,500 to 2,500 by Jan. 15, days before he is set to leave office.

President-elect Joe Biden has said he would withdraw most troops from Afghanistan, but leave a small contingent of special forces there to conduct counterterrorism missions.

Trump has continued to push forward with drawing down in Afghanistan even as U.S. and military officials have said the Taliban has yet to meet the commitments it agreed to in February.

The U.S.-Taliban deal, signed in February, calls for a full U.S. withdrawal by this coming May if the Taliban upholds counterterrorism commitments such as denying safe haven to al Qaeda.

In addition to not yet breaking with al Qaeda, the Taliban has stepped up attacks against Afghan forces, drawing condemnation from U.S. officials.The initial House-passed version of the NDAA included language similar to what was agreed to in the compromise bill.The Senate’s version included language warning against a “precipitous” withdrawal in Afghanistan, but did not have a provision matching the House’s requirement for certifications before drawing down in Afghanistan.The Afghanistan language is among several rebukes of Trump that made it into the bipartisan NDAA.The bill includes language aimed at constraining Trump’s ability to withdraw thousands of U.S. troops from Germany.It also includes a requirement for the Pentagon to rename Confederate-named bases and excludes a repeal of a tech liability shield, both areas over which Trump has threatened to veto the bill.

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

BUSINESS 09

IRAN coNtINUeS to beNeFIt FRom PAk-AFGhAN tRADe RIFt

corporate corner

PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

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LAHORE: Pakistani venture capital firm Fatima Gobi Ventures has announced five startups that have received funding from their maiden fund, Techxila Fund I, which was announced late last year.

URDLES in Pak-Afghan trade are the biggest reason behind Iran gaining control of 50 per cent of the cement market in Afghanistan, Pakistan Today learnt on Saturday.

“Although there were several reasons for Iran’s control of over the Afghan cement market, the biggest of was impediments in Pak-Afghan border trade,” said Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) former senior vice president Shahid Hussain while speaking to this scribe.

According to Hussain, the decline in Pakistan’s cement exports to Afghanistan and the occupation of Iranian cement on the Afghan market was due to delayed clearance of vehicles at Pak-Afghan border.

He informed that it takes up to 30 days to clear a cement-laden vehicle in Afghanistan, which increases the cost of transportation.

According to the former SCCI official, cement exported from Pakistan to Afghanistan costs $35 per tonne, while Iranian cement is being sold over there at $42 per tonne.

“Factory rate for exported cement in Pakistan is $29 per tonne. Pakistani cement can be made available in the Afghan market within a month if the number of

vehicles being cleared at the Pak-Afghan border is increased and traders are given facilities,” he added.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Customs Clearing Agents Association (KPCAA) Provincial President Zia-ulHaq told this scribe that reconstruction in Afghanistan has increased the demand for cement.

Haq said before the merger, a political agent had the power to resolve problems in the Afghan trade through the Torkham border. However, after the merger, the power was given to the district police officer (DPO) instead of the deputy commissioner (DC) and now police have set up checkpoints at various places where they take bribes from commercial vehicles, due to which it takes several weeks to cross Khyber district.

Haq, however, added that problems exist on both sides. “Vehicles are not cleared on time on both sides due to which lack of transport and transportation costs have increased by 200pc,” he said, adding that the cost of a 40-foot container from Karachi to Jalalabad was up to Rs0.2 million on normal days but had reached 0.7 million due to a shortage of vehicles.

At present, the number of empty cement vehicles on the Afghan side has reached 3,000. Since cement from other countries is also available in large quantities in the Afghan market due to ease of transport, Afghanistan does not need Pakistani cement.

Furthermore, Shahid Hussain said that at present

156,000 tonnes of cement is being exported to Afghanistan every month but the delay in the construction of an NLC port at Torkham and Ghulam Khan borders in addition to security risks are harming Pakistani exports.

It may be mentioned here that due to increasing cement exports of Iran and India to Afghanistan, the cement market of Pakistan and Afghanistan is 443,000 tonnes, which was 726,000 tonnes during the same period last year, and 2 million tonnes during July-March this financial year; exports were 2.7 million tonnes during the same period in the last discal year.

Iran and India continue to export cement to Afghanistan on a large scale while illegal import of cement from Iran to Pakistan is also affecting Pakistan’s cement export to Afghanistan.

Moreover, there are 25 factories operating in the cement sector in Pakistan. Of these 12 are located in Punjab while there are seven in KP, four in Sindh and two in Balochistan.

Cement factories in Pakistan are divided into northern and southern zones. The northern zone consists of Punjab and KP and the southern zone of Sindh and Balochistan.

Factories in the northern zone mostly meet local demand for cement and export cement to nearby Afghanistan whereas most of Pakistan’s cement exports come from factories operating in the southern zone.

Pakistan to seek $153m from WB for Covid-19 vaccine purchase ISLAMABAD TLTP KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines and Askari Bank have launched one of the most promising and innovative Askari-PIA co brand credit card in a modest ceremony due to Covid SOPs.

Virgin Atlantic to start direct flights to Pakistan from Dec 13 ISLAMABAD TLTP

The British airline, Virgin Atlantic, has announced to commence flight operations for Pakistan from December 13 which will further facilitate passengers travelling from the United Kingdom (UK) to Pakistan.

The British airline will use modern Airbus A-332 aircraft to continue eight flights each week to Lahore and Islamabad. In this regard, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) released a flight schedule of the airline which stated the first flight will fly from London on December 13 and it will land on December 14 morning at Lahore’s Allama Iqbal International Airport.

A cargo plane of the Crawley-based British airline will bring staff members and the necessary equipment to Lahore on December 7 and 9. The airline had reportedly sought permission to operate flights from Manchester and London. However, Pakistan’s aviation authority did not permit the airline to operate flights in Pakistan from Manchester. It had earlier announced three routes to Pakistan from the UK including London-Lahore, London-Islamabad and Manchester-Islamabad. Other than Virgin Atlantic, British Airways had also announced plans to operate direct flights from Lahore, Pakistan to London Heathrow. According to a schedule, the airline will operate direct flights from Lahore, Pakistan to London Heathrow four days a week. Earlier in September, the federal cabinet had allowed Crawleybased British airline, Virgin Atlantic, to operate direct flights between Pakistan and London.

Pakistan has decided to contact the World Bank (WB) for Covid-19 vaccine funding.

According to the people familiar with the matter, Pakistan will seek $153 million from the WB for advance purchases of the Covid-19 vaccines. The request will be formally made by the Economic Coordination Division, said sources.

In this context, the health ministry has penned a letter to the Economic Coordination Division, advising it to seek funds from the WB for advance purchases of the coronavirus vaccines.

The funds will be requested under Credit Funding Act 6590.

The letter further said that initial talks have been done with the World

Bank for the funds via video link.

After the approval of the grant from the WB, Pakistan will purchase the Covid-19 vaccines in advance for its citizens, said sources.

Pakistan is also in direct contact with the Covid-19 vaccine producer firms and also using GAVI platform for the anti-covid vaccines.

It is to be noted that the ECC has already approved a supplementary grant for the advance purchases of the vaccines.

Pakistan has planned to vaccinate health workers and senior citizens in the first phase in a bid to save them from the deadly pandemic.

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan proposed a ten-point agenda to the world community to avert economic collapse in the developing countries due to Covid-19.

Addressing a special session of the

UN General Assembly, he called for debt suspension till the end of the pandemic for low income and most stressed countries; cancellation of debt of least developed countries; restructuring of the public sector debt of developing countries and a general allocation of special drawing rights of $500 billion.

The PM also proposed concessional financing to lower income countries through multilateral development banks; provision of loans at lower costs; fulfilment of the 0.7 percent official development assistance commitments; mobilising the required 1.5 trillion dollars annual investment in sustainable infrastructure; mobilising 100 billion dollars per year for climate action in developing countries and halting of illicit financial outflows from developing to rich countries.

TDAP to hold int’l virtual tourism exhibition NEWS DESK The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) has planned to arrange an international virtual tourism exhibition early next year.

This was stated by TDAP Islamabad DG Shehzad Ahmed Khan while addressing a webinar on Friday.

As part of TDAP’s initiative of conducting a series of webinars, the awareness webinar was conducted in collaboration with Pakistan’s Trade Missions from China, Malaysia and Thailand, on ‘The New Normal for the Tourism Sector of Pakistan: Exploring Tourist Markets with Missions abroad’.

The TDAP DG said that the authority’s efforts for the tourism sector, including the proposed virtual ex-

hibition, will lead to joint ventures and business deals among local and foreign stakeholders.

The webinar was attended by more than a 100 participants from both private and public sector organisations, including Tourism Departments from federating units, Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI), Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Pakistan Association of Tour Operators (PATO), Pakistan Hotels Association (PHA), and numerous travel and tour operating companies.

The discussion during the webinar informed tourism sector stakeholders about tapping the potential of tourist source markets of the Far East in addition to effective methods of establishing links among local and foreign stakeholders.

SNGPL reduces UFG losses by 1.6pc; saves Rs755m In a major development, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) has announced significant reduction in UFG and volumetric losses of the company. Announcing the results for first quarter of Financial Year 2020-21 of the three-year UFG Reduction Plan approved

by ECC, the company has declared 1.60pc and 1,576 MMCF reduction in UFG losses and volumetric losses against targets of 1.25pc and 1,425 MMCF, respectively. The company spokesperson said that this translates into financial savings of Rs755 million. It is pertinent to mention that SNGPL had initiated dedicated efforts for gas theft control; rectification of gas leakages; and resolution of measurement errors. In addition, special efforts were made to control the losses in areas with high unaccounted for gas (UFG) rate which affected the company in the past and contributed more than 33pc in total volumetric losses of the company. Highlighting the key achievements made by SNGPL, the company spokesperson said that average monthly gas losses in high UFG areas have been reduced by 40pc, from 1,413MMCF to 856MMCF with the help of law enforcement agencies.

The company removed 1,008 illegal taps all such areas while lodging 104 FIRs. SNGPL has also increased vigilance and consequently 14,488 gas theft cases were detected while special raids resulted in booking of 404MMCF or Rs472 million against consumers of various categories. While making best use of technology, SNGPL also detected 236,808 aboveground and 7,889 underground leakages through laser leak detectors. NEWS DESK

CDA urged to revise building bylaws to boost construction activities ISLAMABAD APP

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan on Saturday urged the Capital Development Authority (CDA) to amend its building bylaws in consultation with ICCI, developers, builders and other stakeholders.

He said that amendment in bylaws would give boost to construction activities

in the federal capital as its existing bylaws were not conducive for the construction industry to boom.

He noted that the PM’s construction package was valid up to 31st December 2020, and urged the government to consider extending it for another year so as to enable the investors take maximum benefit from the package and generate more economic activities across the country.

Talking to a delegation of Traders Welfare Association, led by its president Aftab

Gujjar, Ilyas said noted that CDA was not giving title to the purchasers of apartments and flats constructed on upper portions of commercial plots, as title was given only to the plot holders.

“Due to this situation, owners of apartments and flats are unable to avail bank financing because without title, banks are not giving them loans.”

He stressed that CDA should amend its laws to give title to the buyers of such apartments and flats.

CMYK

He further highlighted that the BCS department of CDA was issuing notices against additional storey in markets, which was a cause of great concerns. “Demolishing additional storey in markets will cause great financial loss to the investors besides affecting the business activities,” he opined.

The ICCI president emphasized that instead of considering demolition, CDA should regularize all additional storey constructions with nominal charges so that business activities could flourish.

Speaking at the occasion, TWA President Aftab Gujjar President urged the CDA to immediately install streetlights in the G11 Markaz as due to absence of streetlights, incidents of car thefts, mobile snatching and burglary in shops were on the rise in the area.

He said that the G-11 Markaz was one of the major commercial areas of Islamabad and CDA should focus on its better development in order to facilitate the growth of business activities.

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

10 foreIgn newS Turkey in weekend lockdown as coronavirus cases hit record highs

BriTish PM Johnson and EU chiEF sEEk To BrEak BrExiT iMPassE LONDON/BRUSSELS

ANKARA AGENCIES

Turkey has entered its first full weekend lockdown since May after coronavirus infections and deaths hit record highs in recent days. The country of 83 million people on Friday recorded 32,736 new cases, including asymptomatic ones, the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic in March. The total death toll rose by 193 on Friday, touching a daily record level seen earlier this week, to 14,509. Turkish television showed largely empty squares and streets on Saturday in the largest city Istanbul, the capital Ankara and the third largest city Izmir, with only a few people and vehicles out and about. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu was quoted as saying by state-owned Anadolu news agency that most people were obeying the lockdown rules. Turkey now ranks fourth globally for the number of daily new cases, behind only the United States, India and Brazil - all countries with far larger populations than Turkey. For four months, Turkey only reported daily symptomatic cases, but it has reported all cases since Nov. 25. Historical data for all positive cases and the cumulative total are still not available.

Turkey last imposed full weekend lockdowns in large cities in May. It announced nationwide weekend curfews last month, but the measures failed to halt the rise in new cases and deaths. President Tayyip Erdogan announced the full weekend lockdown on Monday, as well as a curfew on weekdays. He said measures against the coronavirus were being taken carefully to minimise the impact on the economy. The lockdown and curfews exclude some sectors, including supply chains and production. Turkey’s economy contracted 9.9pc yearon-year in the second quarter due to the coronavirus restrictions. It rebounded in the third quarter, growing 6.7pc after the restrictions were lifted. Economists expect the new measures to have a lesser impact on growth in the final quarter than they did in the second.

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AGENCIES

RITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson will speak to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday to try to break an impasse in trade talks with time running out to avoid a chaotic end to the Brexit saga. Britain left the European Union on Jan. 31 but rules governing trade, travel and business have remained unchanged during a transition period which ends on Dec. 31, when a new relationship will be established - with or without a deal.

The talks between Johnson and von der Leyen could provide the political impetus to move the sides closer to bridging their substantial differences, or highlight how the “red lines” on both sides mean a deal remains out of reach.

If the two sides fail to reach a deal, the five-year Brexit divorce will end messily just as Britain and Europe grapple with the vast economic cost of the

COVID-19 outbreak. British and EU negotiators paused trade talks on Friday to call in their leaders to try to narrow the gaps and get an agreement after a week of negotiations failed to bridge significant divergences between the two sides.

“We keep calm, as always, and if there is still a way, we will see,” EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier told broadcasters in London as he left for Brussels.

Johnson was expected to speak to Barnier’s UK counterpart David Frost and other officials on Saturday morning, ahead of the von der Leyen call.

The pause in talks on Friday was the latest twist in months of negotiations which have barely moved on the three thorniest issues - fisheries, ensuring fair competition guarantees and ways to solve future disputes.

Sources from both sides said that French demands over fishing rights in British waters remained a key issue.

However, one EU diplomat said French President Emmanuel Macron was not the only one with reservations, and several member states had also raised concerns over how far Barnier had moved on compe-

tition issues, known as the level-playing field.

“It’s not just Macron,” the diplomat said.

Britain says the EU must respect its sovereignty because the 2016 Brexit referendum result was a vote to “take back control”.

But the EU says Britain’s proximity to the bloc means it cannot offer the “Canada-style” free trade deal that Johnson had been seeking.

Neither side has walked away from the talks yet, suggesting they still hold out some hope of securing a deal governing almost $1 trillion of annual trade to avoid a disorderly end to more than 40 years of British membership of the European club.

In the absence of a trade deal, the United Kingdom would trade with the EU on World Trade Organization terms, which would lead to new tariffs and potentially significant price rises for some goods.

A no-deal exit is the nightmare scenario for businesses and investors, who say it would snarl borders, spook financial markets and sow chaos through supply chains that stretch across Europe and beyond.

Military officer elected head of Mali's interim legislature

BANGKOK AGEBCIES

French ex-president Giscard laid to rest in low-key ceremony AUTHON AGENCIES

France's former president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, credited with leading social and technological reform of the country and placing it at the heart of Europe, was laid to rest Saturday in a low-key funeral attended only by family and his close circle. It had been the wish of Giscard, who ruled France from 1974-1981 and died on Wednesday of Covid-19 aged 94, to have such a smallscale ceremony, which was attended by around 40 people. The ceremony, in the town of Authon in the Loire region of central France where he lived, contrasted with the lavish send-off for former president Jacques Chirac when he died in 2019. Chirac was given a lying-in-state with thousands paying respects at his coffin in Paris before a funeral ceremony at the Saint Sulpice church attended by all France's living former leaders. That ceremony in September 2019 was also the last time Giscard was seen in public. "The president (Giscard) wanted the funeral to take place in the strictest privacy with family," his son Henri Giscard d'Estaing told AFP on Friday. "It turns out that the circumstances (due to the pandemic) mean that there would have been no other choice. We will therefore only have family members and the people who live around us in Authon," he said. With police standing guard outside, his coffin draped in French and European flags was carried into the Saint Hilaire church in Authon, an AFP correspondent said.

Thousands pay tribute to Thai royals amid calls for reform

Mali's interim legislature on Saturday elected Colonel Malick Diaw, a member of the military junta that toppled president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August, as its president.

The 121-seat body known as the National Transition Council was meeting for its inaugural session in the capital Bamako, and is a key part of the post-coup interim government apparatus in Mali.

Young army officers in the conflict-ridden Sahel state toppled president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita on August 18 after weeks of antigovernment protests.

Under the threat of international sanctions, the officers between September and October handed power to an interim govern-

ment, which is meant to rule for 18 months before staging elections.

Figures with army links dominate this interim government, however, and anger over their prominent role is growing.

Coup leader Colonel Assimi Goita was elected interim vice president, for example, and retired army colonel Bah Ndaw was also elected interim president.

Members of the defence and security forces have 22 seats in the transition council, according to a government decree, while political parties, civil society groups and trade unions also have seats.

On Saturday, the council elected Colonel Malick Diaw as its president unopposed, accord-

ing to AFP journalists, with 111 votes in his favour and seven abstentions. Three council members did not vote.

Diaw was second in command of the military junta that took power after Keita's ouster. The junta has never formally been dissolved.

Last month, Goita was also given veto power over the appointments to the new legislature, in a move seen by critics of the interim regime as strengthening army control.

The opposition June 5 Movement, which led protests against Keita this year, said in a statement on Friday that it was boycotting the new legislature and that it would not serve as a "stooge for a disguised military regime". AGENCIES

Thousands of people gathered in Bangkok on Saturday to show their devotion to the Thai monarchy on the birthday of King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s late father, after months of street protests led by a youth movement demanding reform to royal powers. King Vajiralongkorn led a candle lighting ceremony in front of the Grand Palace in Bangkok to pay tribute to his father King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in 2016 after reigning for seven decades during which he was seen by many as a symbol of national unity. The king was joined by thousands of loyalists, wearing the royal colour yellow and waving national flags. In recent months, the monarchy in Thailand has become a target for a youth-led protest movement that accuses the current king and the government led by a former army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha of expanding royal powers to a level not seen since the absolute monarchy ended in 1932. The protesters broke long-standing taboos by openly criticising King Vajiralongkorn for taking direct control of two military units and the wealth of the Crown Property Bureau, valued in tens of billions of dollars.

Saturday’s ceremony was one of the biggest shows of royalist support since protests surged in July. “The king has always been there to take care of people’s happiness, and without the king there would be chaos,” Wanchote Kunprasert, 65 told Reuters Another man who was holding a portrait of King Bhumibol said that the respect for the monarchy is deeply ingrained in Thai culture and dismissed the protests that call for its reform. “The monarchy has been with us for centuries, how can you change that by just a few months of protests,” said Sirinan Jungwatmunee, 63.

In Iraq's Mosul, wholesale market revives trade legacy MOSUL AGENCIES

Mountains of kitchen supplies, back-to-back butchers: the historic wholesale market in Iraq's Mosul is battling the odds -- from extremists to epidemic -- to revive the city's reputation as a trading hub.

The northern city was a commercial hub for centuries, strategically located along transport routes linking Baghdad to the south, Syria to the west, Turkey further north and Iran in the east.

Thirty years ago, Mosul opened a bulk market known as "Al-Bursa," whose shops sold food, homeware and other goods directly to consumers as well as to smaller shops.

"The market raked in around 12 to 13 million dollars every month," said economist Mohammad Naef, a native of Mosul.

But those golden days came to a screeching halt in 2014, when the Islamic State (IS) group began a brutal reign over Mosul that

ended in 2017 after months of fierce fighting.

West Mosul, where Al-Bursa lies, was left in ruins -- but its entrepreneurial residents have worked hard to revive it.

The first to return was young Abdallah Mahmud, who sells cleaning supplies and is proud of Al-Bursa's heritage.

"The Bursa opened in 1990 and as the years went by, these simple little shops became the most important market in the whole province," said Mahmud, 27.

Of the 500 shops there in 2014, around 300 have already reopened with individual financing, he said.

The level of trade has made an impressive recovery but has yet to reach pre-IS levels.

"Today, Al-Bursa's monthly transactions cap at between eight to ten million, as many businessmen fled and never came back," said Naef.

'WHY THIS DESTRUCTION?' Mosul and the broader Nineveh province saw the highest rates of displacement during the war against IS.

Even after the guns fell silent, many families hesitated to return as large parts of the city still lacked key services including water, electricity or schools. Al-Bursa represents a return to normalcy.

"Residents started to return, and it helped bring life back to the whole area," said Obeida al-Aysha, another 27-year-old trader who frequents the market.

On any given morning, shoppers flood Al-Bursa on foot, in cars or by motorcycle to pick up everything from children's toys to coffee or freshly ground spices.

Customers say it's a one-stop-shop for all their needs, but wholesalers find it convenient, too.

"It saves me crazy amounts of time and tons of energy. Before, I had to go sell at each of the little markets in the towns outside of Mosul," said farmer Khalaf Oweid.

"Now, I come here early in the morning and the owners of the little shops all come to me to stock their own stalls. I don't have to

put myself out like before."

Yunes Abed, 50, shops at Al-Bursa to stock his food store in the city's west.

"I can find everything here, but some shop-owners still haven't returned," Abed told AFP, saying they were hoping to be compensated for assets lost in the war.

Mosul's residents have applied for compensation from the government for homes, cars and storefronts destroyed in fighting, but few have been reimbursed in three years.

Indeed, some 200 of Al-Bursa's original shops remain abandoned, their metal doors still blown off and pockmarked walls tagged with graffiti.

"Why this destruction?" reads one message scrawled in black on a collapsed concrete beam near Al-Bursa.

COVID TAKES A TOLL: Shopkeepers are also struggling to compete with cheaper, mass-produced imports from Iraq's neighbours, including Turkey.

IS's takeover of Mosul and surrounding

farmland in 2014 cut off farmers and local producers from the Iraqi market, creating a gap that Turkish goods swiftly filled.

"About 90 percent of the products available now at Al-Bursa are imported," estimated one of the district's businessmen, 42-year-old Ahmad al-Shammary.

And, of course, there's the economic slowdown caused by the novel coronavirus and the collapse in oil prices, which slashed the state's monthly revenues.

With government coffers drained, Iraq's four million public sector workers have seen wages delayed by weeks at a time. That has had an impact on Al-Bursa's shoppers.

"Economic activity has slowed down at Al-Bursa because of the delay in salaries," said a shopkeeper who identified herself as Umm Saad. Umm Saad buys spices from AlBursa to sell at her nearby shop.

"There are a lot of passersby, but most are just looking -- their purchasing power has dropped."

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

SPORTS 11

BoWLers push NZ to BrINk oF FIrst test vICtory AgAINst WINdIes WEST INDIES 138 (CAMPBELL 26, SOUTHEE 4-35) AND 196 FOR 6 (BLACKWOOD 80 NOT OUT, JOSEPH 59 NOT OUT, WAGNER 2-62) (F/O) TRAIL NEW ZEALAND 519 FOR 7 DEC BY 185 RUNS WELLINGTON

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AGENCIES

EW Zealand’s bowlers twice ripped through the West Indies batting lineup on Saturday and pushed them to the brink of a comprehensive first test victory at the end of the third day at Seddon Park in Hamilton.

Only some counter-attacking resistance from Jermaine Blackwood (80 not out) and Alzarri Joseph (59) took the tourists to 196 for six in their second innings and kept them from becoming the fifth team to be dismissed twice in one day.

They were bowled out for 138 in their first innings after lunch, still 381 runs behind New Zealand’s 519 for seven declared and Kane Williamson had no hesitation in imposing the follow-on.

Jason Holder’s team then slumped to 89 for six in their second innings and with wicketkeeper Shane Dowrich unable to bat due to

Wasim praises players for dealing with Covid-19 issues in NZ NEWS DESK Former Pakistan cricket team captain Wasim Akram on Saturday praised the national players for dealing with Covid-19 issues in New Zealand.

“The national players in New Zealand are really patient to remain in closed rooms,” said Wasim while talking to the media. He said the players are currently in a “difficult” situation and feared it may impact their performance in the series. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should have kept the cricketers in isolation for 14 days in Pakistan.

Wasim said the New Zealand cricket board’s statement was disappointing, adding that he would have done the same thing Pakistan captain Babar Azam did, if he were the team’s captain. Wasim was referring to Babar’s statement released by the PCB on Twitter.

On Thursday, the Pakistan captain had said that they are missing the pre-match training sessions because they are strictly abiding by New Zealand’s coronavirus safety protocols.

New Zealand’s Covid-19 safety protocols are very different from that of England and players are supporting and talking to boost each other’s morale.

The skipper had also stressed that it is an honour for the team to represent the country.

They have to face and tackle the situation, as ups and downs are a part of life.

Eight national players had tested positive for the coronavirus after reaching New Zealand for the matches. Pakistan will play three T20Is and two Test matches next month. On the sidelines, Pakistan will also play two four-day games against New Zealand A.

a finger injury, risked their heaviest test defeat. However, Blackwood, who also provided some resistance with Holder in the first innings, took every chance offered to him and combined with Joseph in an unbeaten 107-run partnership to frustrate the home attack.

The visitors still trail by 185 runs.

West Indies had started the day at 49 without loss in their first innings in response to New Zealand’s massive total and while John Campbell hit the first ball from Tim Southee to the boundary, things then rapidly went downhill.

They lost their first three wickets for just the addition of two runs, which set a pattern for their day, when they produced small partnerships only to lose wickets in bunches in the face of a disciplined and clinical bowling performance. Sensing victory later, however, New Zealand’s attack lost some of their discipline and Blackwood and Joseph, who brought up his first test half century with a six off Trent Boult, capitalised.

South Africa-England ODI series to go ahead after negative tests JOHANNESBURG AGENCIES

The entire South African cricket squad has tested negative for coronavirus, allowing three one-day international matches against England to start Sunday (today) in Paarl near Cape Town.

A Cricket South Africa statement released Saturday said the latest round of tests were done Friday and they were “pleased to announce that the entire Proteas team has returned negative results”. There had been concerns that the matches, rescheduled for Sunday (today), and Monday and Wednesday in Cape Town, might be cancelled after an unnamed South African player tested positive Thursday despite staying in a “bio bubble”.

Originally, the series was due to begin in Cape Town Friday, but the match was called off just one hour before the scheduled start after the reve-

lation of the positive test.

Two other South African players tested positive before the Twenty20 series between South Africa and England, which finished this week with the tourists winning 3-0.

The decision to go ahead with the ODI series was a relief to South African officials, who have been puzzled as to how a player became infected with the potentially deadly virus in the “bubble”.

“This (positive) test has surprised us because we had confidence in the bio-secure environment,” South African team doctor Shuaib Manjra said. “There has been some kind of breach which we have investigated in great detail to try and determine where this happened, by speaking to the player and looking at security camera footage.”

Manjra dismissed rumours that at least one South African cricketer had left the hotel without authorisation. “I

can categorically state that no player would be able to leave the hotel environment,” he said, adding that security was being controlled by a police colonel. “It is impossible to leave except in an official vehicle with an official driver.”

With both squads staying at the same hotel, close to Newlands stadium where the two Cape Town matches will be played, the tourists had expressed concern. “England is questioning the confidence they have in the bio-secure environment — and rightfully so. We respect that concern and met with the England medical teams.”

While South African players are experiencing life in a “bubble” for the first time, England hosted teams from the West Indies, Pakistan and Australia in similar environments without anyone being infected. The Paarl match will be a day game followed by two day-night matches in Cape Town.

Australia bring in Lyon, fret over Finch’s fitness against India SYDNEY: Australia strengthened their spin bowling by bringing in Nathan Lyon on Saturday but continue to fret over the availability of captain Aaron Finch in the two remaining Twenty20 Internationals against India. Off-spinner Lyon replaced all-rounder Cameron Green, who has been released from the squad to play for Australia A, according to a Cricket Australia website. Lyon has not played a Twenty20 International since a 2018 match against Pakistan in Dubai. The injury-plagued hosts will take a late call on Finch’s fitness after the skipper suffered a hip injury while fielding in Friday’s series-opening defeat in Canberra.

Australia have already lost the services of spinner Ashton Agar (calf) and opener David Warner (groin) through injuries while quick Pat Cummins has been rested. Speculation is rife over who would lead Australia should Finch fail to regain his fitness. In the mix will be former skipper Steve Smith, who is eligible to captain the side again, after having served out a two-year ban on any leadership role following a 2018 balltampering scandal in South Africa. Australia and India arrived in Sydney on Saturday to play the two remaining Twenty20 matches on Sunday (today) and Tuesday. AGENCIES

Frenchman Rozner wins maiden European Tour title in Dubai DUBAI AGENCIES

Frenchman Antoine Rozner claimed his maiden European Tour title in his rookie season by winning the Golf in Dubai Championship by two shots at the Jumeirah Golf Estates on Saturday.

The 27-year-old fired seven birdies and a landed a superb eagle on the par-five 13th hole to go ahead, before signing off with a 64 for a tournament total of 263 at the Fire Course.

Englishman Andy Sullivan, who led after the first three rounds, was ahead at the turn but only made one birdie on the back nine to finish tied-second with Frenchamn Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Italy’s Francesco Laporta and compatriot Matt Wallace.

“It means a lot,” Rozner, who began the final day four shots adrift of Sullivan, said of his maiden Tour win after 24 events. “It’s such a strange year and we’ve been through so much throughout the world.

To be able to get it done today in such a nice fashion... we knew we had to take it super deep if we

wanted to win... it’s amazing.

The first time I saw I was in the lead was on the 18th green. I didn’t really look at the leaderboards... that’s a good thing.. in the end it really paid off.”

Rozner said he was excited to compete in next week’s DP World Tour Championship on the Earth Course at the same venue. “I knew my game was there, I just didn’t know it was that good,” he said.

“It’s a good way to finish the season and to be able to play such a big tournament is a big thing for me.”

Verstappen on top as Russell has reality check BAHRAIN AGENCIES

Max Verstappen topped the times for Red Bull and delivered a reality check for Mercedes new boy George Russell in Saturday’s third and final free practice for Sunday’s Sakhir Grand Prix.

The Dutchman delivered a best lap of 54.064 seconds at the fast, short-lap ‘outer loop’ of the Bahrain International Circuit to finish ahead of Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes and Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly.

Russell, released by Williams to replace coronavirus victim and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in the title-winning Mercedes team, was unable to repeat his impressive Friday form, when he topped both sessions. He wound up seventh behind fourth-placed Esteban Ocon of Renault, Lando Norris of McLaren and Alexander Albon in the second Red Bull after swapping quickest laps with Bottas during the early part of the session.

Sergio Perez was eighth ahead of his Racing Point team-mate Lance Stroll and

Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz of McLaren.

Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and fourtime world champion Sebastian Vettel were 13th and 15th in what turned out to be a very tight and competitive session.

The session began at sunset with an air temperature of 25 degrees and the track at 30, but as night fell so did those numbers as debutant Pietro Fittipaldi, the Brazilian substitute for Romain Grosjean at Haas, ventured out. For 15 minutes, he was the only man on track. When he pitted, Norris led the rest into action, the McLaren driver going

CMYK

top before being succeeded by Ricciardo, Leclerc and Bottas. Verstappen spun into Turn Two, but recovered just as Russell, Friday’s top man, took over briefly only for his ‘black arrows’ team-mate to regain the ascendancy with two fastest laps, establishing a 0.477 gap ahead of the young Englishman.

It stayed that way until Vettel, rediscovering some form, jumped to second before the final runs with both Mercedes men switching to shiny new softs. It was but fleeting encouragement for him, however, as within minutes Ferrari announced he needed

a precautionary change of engine for qualifying –- a major task to complete in just two hours. Bottas, clearly revitalised after a dismal Friday, clocked 54.270. That flurry of action was followed by Verstappen leaping beyond them all in 54.064 to create an enticing scenario with five different teams taking the top five places and only seven-tenths of a second separating the Dutchman from 15th-placed Vettel. Much as expected, Fittipaldi wound up 19th ahead only of fellow debutant Jack Aitken, the young Briton standing in for Russell at Williams.

Sunday, 6 December, 2020

PrAyEr TImINGS

NEWS

Massive funeral held for Palestinian Killed by israeli forces RAMALLAH

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UNDREDS of Palestinians attended the funeral Saturday of a teenager killed in clashes with the Israeli army, defying a curfew imposed on the occupied West Bank to stem the coronavirus.

Ali Ayman Nasr Abu Aliya, 13, died on Friday after he was "shot with live rounds in the stomach" during clashes in the village of Mughayir, north of Ramallah, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The boy, whose death drew Palestinian condemnation and was deplored by the United Nations and the European Union,

was hit during a protest against the construction of a Jewish settlement.

A funeral cortege joined by hundreds of mourners took the body from a hospital in Ramallah to Mughayir where Abu Aliya was buried.

His body, draped in the Palestinian flag and a traditional keffiyeh headscarf, was carried shoulder high by mourners, who also waved yellow flags of the Fatah movement of president Mahmud Abbas.

The mourners defied a weekend curfew imposed by Palestinian authorities to stem the rise in coronavirus cases to pay their respects. The West Bank has recorded 71,703 Covid-19 infections, including 678 deaths, since the first cases

Kuwaitis go to polls as economy poses challenge for new emir

emerged earlier this year. The European Union delegation to the Palestinians on Saturday denounced the "shocking" killing of Abu Aliya in a tweet. "This shocking incident must be swiftly and fully investigated by the Israeli authorities in order to bring the perpetrators to justice," it said.

"How many more Palestinian children will be subject to the excessive use of lethal force by the Israeli security forces?"

UN Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov said on Friday he was "appalled by the killing" and also called on Israel to investigate the death of Abu Aliya calling it an "unacceptable incident".

The Israeli army denied live rounds

AGENCIES

Kuwaitis voted in legislative polls on Saturday with the Gulf state mired in its worst economic crisis in decades, which poses a challenge for the government’s often stormy relationship with a parliament blamed for blocking reforms. A Kuwaiti woman casts her ballot during parliamentary elections at a polling station, in Jahra City, Kuwait December 5, 2020. More than 300 candidates, including 29 women, are vying for 50 seats in the Gulf’s oldest and most outspoken assembly with legislative powers.

Critics say it has stalled investment and economic and fiscal reform in the cradle-tograve welfare state. Campaigning, which took place mostly on social media and local TV channels due to Covid-19 restrictions, has focused on the economy, corruption and demographics in a country where foreigners make up the bulk of the workforce. “Kuwait needs development. The streets are broken and there is no development and no economy ... and coronavirus has affected everything in every way,” said Ibrahim, a government employee, after voting in Kuwait city. Turnout is expected to be lower than in past elections due to concerns about Covid-19 which, along with low crude prices, has battered state finances in the wealthy oil-producing nation.

A low turnout could strengthen the hand of tribal, Islamist and other candidates who can rally supporters to head to polling centres, analysts said. “Kuwaiti opposition who boycotted (previous) polls are moving to run and vote, and this could strengthen their presence,” said Kuwaiti political analyst Mohamad al-Dosayri. Frequent clashes between the cabinet and the assembly have led to successive government reshuffles and dissolutions of parliament. Kuwait’s emir, who has the final say, picks a prime minister who selects a cabinet. The current government is due to resign after the elections. Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah took the reins as emir in September following the death of his brother.

A resolution of the Gulf diplomatic crisis is in sight, with all nations involved "on board" and final agreement expected soon, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Saturday.

In an interview with AFP conducted in Bahrain, the top Saudi diplomat also insisted that Gulf states must be fully consulted if the incoming US administration revives a nuclear deal with Iran. "The only way towards reaching an agreement that is sustainable is through such consultation," he said on the sidelines of a security conference in Manama.

Until recently the three-year Gulf dispute -- pitting a group of regional nations against Qatar -- had appeared intractable, but Prince Faisal said that a breakthrough was imminent.

"We are in full coordination with our partners in this process and the prospects that we see are very positive towards a final agreement," he told said, adding that "the eventual resolution will involve all parties concerned".

"What we envision is a resolution that covers all aspects and is satisfactory to all parties involved," he said when asked whether the dispute was headed for a full settlement.

It would happen "soon", he said.

Saudi Arabia led its allies the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt to cut ties with Qatar in June 2017, saying it was too close to Iran and funding radical Islamist movements -charges Doha staunchly denies.

They subsequently forced out Qataris residing in their countries, closed their airspace to Qatari aircraft and sealed their borders and ports, separating some mixed-nationality families. Analysts have said any breakthrough would likely only extend to ties between Riyadh and Doha, ex-

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA 4:07

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were used during Friday's protest and clashes, but said dozens of protesters had thrown rocks at security forces.

The Palestinian Authority condemned "the cold-blooded murder" describing it as "the latest episode in Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people".

The Palestinian foreign ministry said Friday it will file legal proceedings against Israel at the International Criminal Court over Abu Alya's fatal shooting, the Palestinians' WAFA news agency said.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. Excluding annexed east Jerusalem, more than 450,000 Israelis live in settlements in the territory, which is home to more than 2.8 million Palestinians.

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ZUHR 12:23

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bahrain says it won’t allow imports from israeli settlements

Saudi says allies ‘on board’ for resolution of Gulf crisis

KUWAIT CITY

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Bahrain will not allow the import of Israeli goods produced in settlements in occupied Palestinian territory, state news agency BNA reported, disavowing comments made by the Gulf state’s trade minister earlier this week.

Bahrain’s Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister Zayed bin Rashid al-Zayani had voiced openness to settlement imports, adding that Manama would make no distinction between products produced in Israel or in the occupied West Bank and Golan Heights. “The minister’s statement was misinterpreted and that the ministry is committed to the Bahraini government’s unwavering stance regarding adherence to the resolutions of the United Nations,” BNA said late on Friday, quoting an official source from the ministry of industry, commerce and tourism. Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates formalised ties with Israel on Sept 15, in a US-sponsored deal billed by the Gulf states as being made possible by Israel’s shelving of a plan to annex West Bank settlements. Most world powers deem them illegal. Under European Union guidelines, settlement products should be clearly labelled as such when exported to EU member countries. The Trump administration last month removed US customs distinctions between goods made within Israel and in settlements.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said his Bahraini counterpart, Abdullatif AlZayani, also denied the industry minister’s comments in a phone call. “The alleged comments … totally contradicted his country’s (Bahrain) supportive position of the Palestinian cause,” a statement from Maliki’s office said.

Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital, but the issue of Jewish settlements on land captured by Israel in 1967 has long been a stumbling block in the peace process, which is now in stalemate

coal mine accident in china’s chongqing kills 18 cluding the UAE which has been the most vocal critic of Qatar since the crisis began. UAE envoy to Washington Yousef Al Otaiba said earlier this month he didn't think the dispute would be resolved any time soon, and that it's "not on anyone's priority list".

Prince Faisal indicated, however, that a much broader thaw is being negotiated. "We are in full coordination with our partners, and everyone is on board for the process as it stands," the minister said, when asked if the UAE was in agreement.

Not the intended effect After snapping ties, the regional quartet issued a list of 13 demands for Qatar, including shutting down its broadcaster Al Jazeera and downgrading relations with Turkey.

But the blockade designed to choke Qatar and force it to align with Gulf interests has only made Doha more selfsufficient and pushed it closer to Iran and Turkey, observers say. It has also hurt Saudi strategic interests.

Asked whether Saudi Arabia would drop or slim the list of demands, Prince Faisal said: "The best I can say right

now, not to prejudice the ongoing discussions, is that the resolution will be satisfactory to all." On Friday there was a chorus of optimistic comments from Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, who all said progress had been made towards ending the crisis.

Kuwait, which is leading mediation efforts, said all sides had expressed keenness for a "final agreement" during recent "fruitful discussions", which have included the United States.

However, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped Washington could broker a resolution but cautioned he was "out of the prediction business in terms of timing".

US President Donald Trump's sonin-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, is reported to have raised the Gulf crisis and pushed for progress towards ending the spat during a recent visit to Saudi and Qatar.

Saudi Arabia's closure of its airspace has forced Qatar Airways to fly over Iran, Riyadh's arch-rival and longtime adversary of Washington, reportedly paying Tehran $100 million annually to do so.

BEIJING AGENCIES

Eighteen people have died after being trapped in a mine in China’s southwestern city of Chongqing, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday, the region’s second such accident in just over two months. The dead were among 24 people trapped underground by excessive levels of carbon monoxide gas at the Diaoshuidong coal mine, the agency said, adding that one survivor had been rescued while search efforts continue. Friday’s incident, which occurred at about 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) in a mine shut for more than two months as the company dismantled underground equipment, is being investigated, it added. China’s mines are among the world’s deadliest, with 16 deaths reported in late September after high levels of carbon monoxide trapped miners at the Songzao coal mine in Chongqing. Diaoshuidong, built in 1975 and run since 1998 as a private enterprise, is a high-gas mine with an annual capacity of 120,000 tonnes of coal, Xinhua said. In 2013, three people were killed and two injured in a hydrogen sulphide poisoning incident at the mine, it added.

WHO warns virus crisis not over as vaccine rollout starts WASHINGTON AGENCIES

The World Health Organization warned that vaccines were no magic bullet for the coronavirus crisis, as Russia started vaccinating its high-risk workers Saturday and other countries geared up for similar programmes.

The WHO warned about what it said was an erroneous belief that the Covid-19 crisis is over with jabs on the horizon, nearly a year after the start of the pandemic that has killed 1.5 million people worldwide. "Vaccines do not equal zero Covid," said WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan, adding that not everyone will be able to receive it early next year. "Vaccination will add a major, major, powerful tool to the tool kit that we have.

But by themselves, they will not do the job."

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also cautioned against the "growing perception that the pandemic is over" with the virus still spreading fast, putting enormous pressure on hospitals and health care workers. Health officials in Moscow said they had opened 70 coronavirus vaccine centres in the Russian capital that would initially offer jabs for health, educa-

tion and social workers.

The WHO caution came as the United States clocked a record number of Covid-19 cases for a second day in a row Friday, with the country preparing for what US President-elect Joe Biden has called a "dark winter". America's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended "universal face mask use" indoors and Biden said he would scale down his January inauguration ceremony to mitigate the virus risk. It comes as countries prepare for the approval and rollout of several vaccines that have proven effective in trials.

MASSIVE LOGISTICAL EFFORT: The WHO says 51 candidate vaccines are currently being tested on humans, with 13 reaching final-stage mass testing.

Britain on Wednesday became the first Western country to approve an inoculation, from a Pfizer-BioNTech, for general use, piling pressure on other countries to swiftly follow suit. The United States is expected to give a green light later this month. Belgium, France and Spain have said jabs will begin in January for the most vulnerable. With the imminent arrival of vaccines that need storage at ultra-low temperatures, US companies are preparing for a massive

logistical effort to aid their distribution.

Firms specializing in insulating containers are on a war footing after Pfizer and BioNTech said their vaccine needs to be stored at -94 degrees Fahrenheit (-70 Celsius). Meat processing giant Smithfield said it was ready to put the cold rooms at its abattoirs at the disposal of vaccine rollout operations. And US logistics giant UPS is producing 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) of dry ice an hour in its depots and has developed portable freezers capable of storing the vaccines at temperatures down to -112 Fahrenheit.

'FOLLOW THE SCIENCE' Standing in the way of success are growing signs of vaccine skepticism, with misinformation and mistrust coloring public acceptance of inoculation. In Russia, Levada polling agency recently found that only 36 percent of respondents were prepared to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Several high-profile figures have pledged to receive the vaccine in public in an effort to build confidence, including Biden, Tedros and former US presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. The United States recorded 225,000 new infections on Friday -- the second daily record in a row for the world's worst-hit na-

tion. Biden said the surging number of cases meant he would scale back his inauguration ceremony set for January. "We're going to follow the science and the recommendations of the experts," Biden told reporters.

CHRISTMAS SPIKE EXPECTED: More than 65 million people have contracted Covid-19 globally with the death toll from the disease topping 1.5 million since it first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. British medical chiefs said the arrival of a vaccine should see deaths reduce "significantly" by early next year but warned social mixing over Christmas could cause another spike before then. "By spring the effects of vaccination will begin to be felt in reducing Covid admissions, attendances and deaths significantly but there are many weeks before we get to that stage," they said.

Italy is seeing a dramatic resurgence of infections after it largely tamped down an earlier outbreak by enforcing a strict lockdown, while Latin America and the Caribbean region has seen an 18 percent spike in cases in a week. Other countries are als0 unveiling holiday restrictions, with Switzerland banning Christmas carolling in the streets and Madrid cancelling most New Year events in the city centre.

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