Epaper – February 21 LHR 2021

CMYK

21 February, 2021 I 8 Rajab, 1442 I Rs 25.00 I Vol XI No 234 I 36 Pages I Lahore Edition

Govt claims victory in na-75 even as ecP stoPs results susPectinG ‘falsification’ ISLAMABAD

W

staff report

hILE the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) stopped the results of a by-election to a National Assembly seat in a Sialkot constituency after it suspected that results of some polling stations had been compromised, the government on Saturday prematurely declared victory.

In Twitter statements, federal ministers Asad Umar, Shibli Faraz and Fawad Chaudhry congratulated Ali Asjad Malhi for securing NA-75 (Sialkot-IV), a seat in Daska Tehsil of the city which fell vacant after the demise of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MP Sahibazada Syed Iftikharul hassan Shah in August.

“results […] suggest we have won the election by over 7000 votes. An election we had lost by over 30000 in the last election,” Faraz said.

Umar criticised the opposition parties who he said accepted the results only when they win [the election] and reject them when they lose.

“The Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) manifesto seems to be that only those results will be accepted where they are successful. where they lose, they will start crying foul,” he said.

Chaudhry congratulated Malhi on “conquering the Daska battle” and demanded the ECP to announce the result “immediately”. on Friday, the electoral contest for the seat turned violent, leaving two people killed and three injured.

In a statement, the election commission said it received the results of the constituency with “unnecessary delay”.

It said it had tried to contact the presiding officers (Pos) several times to ascertain the situation but achieved no success.

“The chief election commissioner tried to contact the Punjab inspector general of police, commissioner and deputy commissioner on receiving information from the district returning officer (Dro) and returning officer (ro) so the whereabouts of the presiding officers concerned could be ascertained but received no response,” read a statement issued by ECP. Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan raja also contacted Punjab Chief Secretary Jawad rafique Malik

Sit in postponed as PM to meet representatives of missing persons in March g

MAzArI SAyS ThE ProCESS 'IS Now MoVINg ForwArD'

ISLAMABAD staff report

The families of purportedly missing persons, who were gathered in a camp here outside the National Press Club, have agreed to postpone their sit in on the persuasion of Minister for human rights Dr Shireen M Mazari.

Talking to APP on Saturday, Voice of Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP) Chairman Nasrullah Baloch said that a three-member representative committee would meet Prime Minster Imran Khan next month to convey their grievances to him.

Mazari would arrange their meeting with the premier, he added. he further said 13 families of the missing persons were with him and the list of 266 missing persons was handed over to Mazari so their status could be ascertained and conveyed to the prime minister.

Baloch hoped that the premier and Mazari would fulfil their demands and said in case of failure, another protest in the capital would be staged till the recovery of missing persons.

Earlier, Mazari said the premier would meet a representative committee of the families of purportedly missing persons in March.

She, in a tweet, said she met the protesting families, demanding the recovery of their loved

ones, and conveyed the prime minister’s message to them.

In an accompanying press statement, the minister said she assured the protesters of the government’s “commitment to ensure an end to this practice of enforced disappearances through legislation”.

The process, she said, “is now moving forward”.

Mazari further said the protesting families sought priority to the missing persons of the 13 families, who were present at the protest.

Independent political observers believe some missing persons may have joined militant groups, sponsored and trained by India, to promote insurgency in Balochistan, and not every person missing is attribut-

in today’s issue

able to the state.

The military in 2018 set up a special cell at general headquarters (ghQ) in rawalpindi to resolve cases of missing persons.

In September, the ministry of interior started reviewing a draft bill to criminalise enforced disappearances, with no deadline on when it will be finalised. Before that, it had been with the ministry of law and justice since January 2019 for “vetting”. on wednesday, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz, while urging the government to resolve the issue of purportedly missing persons, “appealed” to the government to “at least inform” their families, if their relatives were “dead or alive”.

Speaking to reporters at the protest site, she urged the top military leadership to resolve the matter. “I want to say this to the army chief and Dg ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence] as well. They are citizens of your country, they are your daughters, your mothers,” she had said.

“Produce people, who are alive, in courts and those are not [alive], at least tell the families that they are dead.”

At the site, Maryam also met Sammi Baloch, daughter of Dr Deen Muhammad, who was “abducted” by unknown men in 2009. For over 11 years, Baloch, now 22, gathered outside the Quetta Press Club, wanting to know who took her father.

attention Some readers have complained that they are not getting the magazine with their newspaper copy. Please call or WhatsApp us at the following number to register a complaint.

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

who assured him that the results would be sent after tracing the “missing” officers and polling bags.

But soon after, Malik too made himself “unavailable”, the statement said.

The presiding officers appeared along with the polling bags around six in

the morning, the statement said.

“The Dro and ro of the NA-75 (Sialkot) constituency informed [the ECP] that there is a suspicion of falsification in the results from 20 polling stations.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Maryam alleges rigging, demands re-election in NA-75 LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz on Saturday released several videos of alleged rigging in the NA-75 by-poll and appealed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take action against individuals involved in Sialkot by-poll rigging. Addressing a press conference, the PML-N leader alleged massive rigging in the NA-75 by-election, held on Friday, and demanded re-election in the Daska constituency. She further said, “Despite all rigging attempts made by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government, her party won all seats in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) bypolls on Friday.” staff report

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

02

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

PAkISTAN To geT 5.6M doSeS of CovId vACCINe by eNd of MArCH: NCoC ISLAMABAD

T

TLTP

HE National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday said that at least 5.6 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine will arrive in the country by the end of March.

In a statement, the NCOC said that out of the 5.6 million vaccine doses, 2.8 million from World Health Organisation's (WHO) Covax initiative will reach the country in the first week of March and 2.8 million additional doses will arrive by the second week of March. The country will receive a total of 17.1 million Covid-19 vaccine doses by the end of June.

In addition to the 500,000 doses of Sinopharm from China, Pakistan has also secured 17 million indicative doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, out of which 35-40 per cent or 6 to 6.8 million doses will be available within the first quarter of the current year.

Giving an overview of the ongoing vaccination of healthcare workers, the NCOC said at least 72,882 frontline health workers have been vaccinated across the

UNICEF TO PROVIDE VACCINE STORAGE CONTAINERS country and overall 314,500 Covid-19 vaccine shots have been provided to various parts of the country.

The second consignment of coronavirus vaccine has been provided to the provinces, as the vaccination drive for health workers is underway across the country, the NCOC said in a statement.

Punjab has been provided overall 118,000 vaccine shots, while Sindh has been given 121,000 vaccine jabs, the NCOC added in the statement.

Moreover, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has been supplied 28,000 vaccines, besides 16,000 to Balochistan, 15,500 to Islamabad, 11,000 to Azad Kashmir and 5,000 to GilgitBaltistan region, according to the NCOC. Earlier, the second consignment of coronavirus vaccine reached Karachi overnight as an aircraft carrying the vaccine consignment of Chinese Sinopharm landed in Karachi.

The director of Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) Sindh has stated that

Nawaz assures Zardari of all possible support in Senate polls KARACHI INP

In a telephonic conversation between former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari, the PML-N supremo has assured the PPP cochairman of all possible support during upcoming Senate elections. According to sources, Nawaz and Zardari discussed political situation, upcoming elections of the upper house of parliament and long march of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). The PML-N supremo also talked to former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who has been fielded as a joint candidate of the opposition alliance from Islamabad. Sources also claimed that Yousuf will also call on Opposition leader Shehbaz Sharif in jail to discuss matters of mutual interest, including the Senate polls.

Committee in IHC attack case identifies 150 lawyers ISLAMABAD

additional 37,000 doses of the vaccine have been provided to the province.

In a separate development, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) will provide free-of-cost Covid-19 vaccine storage containers to Pakistan, following a grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Sources said the vaccine storage containers are likely to start arriving in the country in phases from mid-March, which will be used for storing the Pfizer vaccines, which need ultra-low temperatures up to -70 degrees. The cold chain system in Pakistan has a capacity of -20 degrees to store temperature-sensitive commodities.

The modern storage containers will be given to the Centre and provinces in the most affected areas. It emerged that the containers will initially be given to the 15 most-affected cities of the country, sources added.

Earlier on February 13, Pakistan decided to buy 21 ultra-cold modern refrigerators with an aim to store Pfizer vaccines as the

country will start receiving doses of Pfizer vaccines from the Covax platform. Covid vaccine made by Pfizer may be stored in an ultra-cold freezer between -80 and -60 Celsius.

Shibli terms Maryam’s press conference as self-contradictory ISLAMABAD APP

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Saturday declared Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz's press conference regarding NA-75 by-poll as self-contradictory and said that she did not understand the dynamics of elections.

In a statement, the minister said that on the one hand, Maryam was praising the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by saying that the local administration was not in action but on the other hand, she was crying for rigging. "How can rigging be managed without ECP and local administration or police support?" he questioned. He said either Maryam was too naive and did not understand the dynamics of elections or she was living up to her reputation to lie and cry.

Shibli said she had made a mockery of herself in media with her claim to the famous statement about her assets in Pakistan and abroad and forgery of font by tempering an affidavit in the Supreme Court.

“She cannot have both ways as the other elections, which were won by PML-N in both the provinces, were held under the administrative control of the PTI government. This duality of purpose will not serve." he said. He added that those seats were considered as PMLN’s seats and the worrisome point for Mariam was that they had lost their big margins of winning and the PTI candidate in Daska had won as per reports.

The minister further said that bullying, threatening and making violence are the hallmarks of PML- N. “PTI’s defeat in Nowshera was bad. It was not due to loss of popularity but of loyalty. Action has been taken and the responsible persons have been punished for selling their souls. Today the institutions are free and the ECP’s statement is a manifestation of this fact, and no such examples can be given from the past. Hearing of the issue would be held at the ECP on coming Tuesday. The ECP is an independent institution and all should respect its decisions,” he concluded.

INP

A scrutiny committee tasked with probing the mob attack on Islamabad High Court (IHC) identified some 150 lawyers involved in the incident, the court said on Saturday. A three-judge bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued the order. On February 8, scores of lawyers protesting against the demolition of their chambers by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) during an anti-encroachment operation wreaked havoc on the high court’s building.

The CDA’s clearance operation against the encroachments outraged the legal community who barged into the Chief Justice Block (CJB) of the high court and broke windows. They also chanted slogans against IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah outside his chamber, leaving him trapped inside. Reports suggest Justice Minallah was inside his chamber at the time.

Initially, contempt of court case was launched against 21 lawyers involved in the attack. The court then issued notices to the lawyers involved in the attack. As many as 32 lawyers are facing contempt of court proceedings for attacking the court building and manhandling him while 36 have been booked under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Anti-Terrorism Act (ATC) for the rampage. According to the order, notices against the arrested lawyers should be sent to the superintendent of Adiala Jail.

The bench has also directed all parties to submit their written responses to the court before the next hearing.

Meanwhile, lawyers from all over Pakistan will gather in Islamabad today to devise a collective strategy to counter action being taken against members of the legal fraternity.

CAA decides to review national aviation policy KARACHI TLTP

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has decided to amend the National Aviation Policy 2019 on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

According to sources, the National Aviation Policy 2019 is being reviewed by the higher authorities, and CAA’s director of air transport has been given the responsibility to review it.

Sources said that the amendments to the policy will bring more facilities to the airlines, besides further promoting the aviation industry. After the necessary modification in the policy, the tourism sector will be benefited through addition of more airlines in the country.

The CAA director-general will send a complete report to the aviation secretary after completing the review process. Later, the draft legislation of the National Aviation Policy 2021 will be presented before PM Imran Khan for its final approval.

It emerged that more facilities and perks will be given to enhance airlines’ businesses under the new aviation policy, whereas, the federal government is also mulling over to increase the validation period of regular public transport licences.

It will also contain guidelines for the private airlines, regulations for tourism promotion, regional integration licence, airports and air navigation infrastructure, economic development and chapters of the regulatory

environment.

Earlier on Thursday last, it emerged that the aviation authorities have decided to present a summary before the federal cabinet for getting approval of a new licensing system for pilots in order to end irregularities in the issuance of aviate licences. According to informed sources, important progress was made in replacing the licensing system with the United Kingdom-like system for the examination and issuance of licences to pilots.

It has been decided to present a summary before the federal cabinet members to approve the new licensing system, sources said.

The British system for conducting pilots’ examinations and other processes will make the licences of Pakistani pilots acceptable all around the world.

Besides maintaining transparency, the new system will also assist Pakistan to remove concerns of ICAO alongside raising the standards of pilots’ licences issued by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

According to CAA, the pilots’ examination and the licensing system will be linked to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) biometric system.

Pakistan is in talks with the British Civil Aviation Authority to adopt a system to ensure transparency in licensing and examinations of pilots. Deputy Director General (DG) Regulatory Shafi Dar had held sessions via video link with the British Civil Aviation Authority where the country was assured to be provided full assistance regarding the licensing system.

Covax ensures equitable worldwide access to Covid-19 vaccines with enough doses for countries to immunise more than three per cent of their populations by the mid of this year.

SAPM Sultan registered for vaccination as 36 more die of Covid-19 ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Faisal Sultan on Saturday said he has already registered for Covid-19 vaccination and requested others above the age of 60 to do the same. “Happily, I just registered,” the SAPM, who himself is in the age group, said in a tweet. He urged others to do the same as he shared further instructions for those willing to register.

“Now that we have expected the arrival of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in early March, all those 60 years of age and older are now requested to begin registration,” Sultan said in a tweet. Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said Pakistan has recorded 36 more coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, surging the overall death toll to 12,563. According to the latest statistics, the Covid-19 has infected 1,340 more people in the past 24 hours, raising the total count of active cases to 24,081. In the past 24 hours, as many as 1,362 patients were recovered from the virus and 1,604 were reported as critical patients. According to the NCOC, after inclusion of the fresh infections in the country, the national tally of cases currently stands at 569,846. A total of 42,332 tests were conducted across the country during the past 24 hours. Overall 533,202 people have recovered from the deadly disease while 8,644,847 samples have been tested so far. TLTP

ATC sends PTI leader, aides on remand KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi on Saturday sent Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) leader and Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh and other suspects to jail on judicial remand on charges of attempted murder and hindering an anti-encroachment drive. The incident had happened on February 8 when the provincial and district administration had demolished farmhouses, belonging to Sheikh and his family, on the outskirts of the metropolis. The Memon Goth police registered an FIR against Sheikh and his 70 unidentified aides for disturbing the peace, causing financial loss to government property, assault on government officials, attempted murder, intimidation, and interference in government work. The accused were produced before the court today.

During the hearing, the defense counsel termed the addition of terrorism clauses in the police case as “cleverness”. At this, the ATC asked the investigation officer (IO) in the case why the accused were produced for the hearing. He said the police want to interrogate the accused. He said two police officials were injured during the anti-encroachment drive after being tortured by a group of men with batons and stones. STAff RePoRT

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

LAHORE

oPPoSITIoN PArTIeS do NoT wANT To SToP CorruPT PrACTICeS IN PolITICS: fM QureSHI MULTAN

l

STAff RePoRT

ASHING out at the Opposition over opposing open Senate polls, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said that those, who were chanting “vote ko izzat do” slogans, themselves ruined its sanctity.

Addressing a public meeting, Qureshi said that the Opposition wanted the continuation of horse-trading and corrupt practices in politics. “We are contesting Senate elections against mafias,” he added.

Talking about Daska incident, the foreign minister said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has

always been involved in political violence. He maintained that their fight against plunderers of national wealth will continue. The government will bring all the plunderers to justice, he reiterated.

Earlier on February 13, Qureshi had asked as to why political parties did not follow the footsteps of the PTI and took action against their lawmakers involved in horse-trading during the Senate election.

“The government wants Senate elections through an open ballot,” Qureshi had said, adding that if that happens, the horse-trading practice would die down on its own.

He had further said that the PTI was the only party that took action against 20 of its lawmakers involved in the illegal practice.

NEWS

03

border fencing with Iran to complete by year-end: rasheed TAFTAN TLTP

Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has said the border fencing with Iran will be completed by the end of this year. He made the remarks during his visit to the Taftan border on Saturday. The interior minister said that forty per cent work on the fencing has so far been completed. He said that border management on modern lines will be ensured with Iran and Afghanistan, and all resources will be utilised for external security of the country. The Interior Minister also directed the authorities concerned to further improve facilities for the Zaireen. Earlier on Wednesday last in an interview with a foreign agency, Rasheed had said, “Infiltration, smuggling and many illegal activities are taking place without any check on the Pakistani borders with Afghanistan and Iran. Now, after fencing, these things will be controlled.” He had said the government is committed to stop smuggling from Iran at all costs. “We are going to stop and close all the petrol pumps, which are using smuggled oil,” the interior minister had said. “One month back we started a drive against it and there is a very good response, but it will take some time to stop this,” he had added.

return to kashmir dialogue with Pakistan: Afridi tells Modi STAFF REPoRT ISLAMABAD

Parliamentary Committee on Kashmir Chairman Shehryar Khan Afridi has urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to listen to the voices emanating from India and Indian-occupied Kashmir (IOK) and return to dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute in a peaceful manner.

Addressing at a sports festival in Kohala, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), Afridi said that the Modi regime has lost Kashmir as even pro-Indian people are now asking India to talk to Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute. Afridi also reminded Modi the lesson taught by Pakistan on February 27, 2019, when the Pakistan Air Force shot down two Indian jets. "As February 27 is arriving, let's tell the Hindutva regime to learn from its past mistakes.

February is a month of remorse and reckoning for India. India should learn that it no more can carry forward its hegemonic designs in South Asia.

February 27 is just one example. We have defeated Indians every time they attacked Pakistan," Afridi said. He further said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has successfully raised the Kashmir issue on all international forums and the diplomatic efforts will continue until the liberation of IOK. Afridi urged the youth to rise and become voice of Kashmir. He said that youth of AJK need to utilise available social media platforms to contribute to the voices that have been gagged for 75 years in IOK. "Burhan Wani became the face of resistance while sacrificing his own life in the name of Islam and love for freedom.

The youth of AJK need to follow his legacy to help liberate IOK from the Hindutva rule," Afridi added.

NAUDERO: An anti-encroachment operation is in progress near Munshi Khuda Bakhsh Phulpoto village. PPI

foreign experts to arrive today to review PIA business model KARACHI TLTP

A delegation of four foreign experts will arrive in the country on Sunday (today) on the invitation of Special Advisor to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms and Austerity Dr Ishrat Hussain to review the business model of the national carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has granted special permission for inbound travel to the foreign experts from the United Kingdom (UK), South Africa and Portugal on the request of the PIA administration. Dr Ishrat Hussain, who is supervising the reforms and restructuring process of PIA, had invited the team of consultants to review and advise the future plan of the national carrier. According to a letter, the consultant team will undertake a business model review and also meet government officials at the finance ministry and other departments. The foreign experts including Chris Hudson and Stuart Matheson from the UK, Theunis Potgieter from South Africa and Paulo Nunes from Portugal will travel to Pakistan through a Turkish Airlines flight on Sunday (today). It may be noted here that Pakistan’s aviation authority had banned the entry of passengers among Category C countries due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Liaquat removed from KP cabinet PESHAWAR STAff RePoRT

Following a setback in the Nowshera by-poll for the Pakistan Tehree-eInsaf (PTI), the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government on Saturday removed Liaquat Khattak, the brother of Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak, from the provincial cabinet.

According to a notification, the governor of the province removed Liaquat under clause 3 of Article 132. He was holding the portfolio of the minister for irrigation.

“Liaquat was removed for supporting the PML-N candidate in [by poll],” said Special Assistant to KP Chief Minister on Information Kamran Bangash.

Bangash claimed that CM Mahmood Khan removed Liaquat after carrying out an inquiry against him.

He added that the minister was removed after taking advice from Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The PTI lawmaker had won from the PK-64 Nowshera-IV seat in the 2018 general elections after it was vacated by his elder brother. A year later in April 2019, he was inducted

into the KP cabinet as the irrigation minister.

On Friday, as per unofficial results, PML-N candidate Ikhtiar Wali Khan won the by-poll for the provincial assembly seat PK-63 Nowshera-III. The PML-N candidate was reportedly backed by all the parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) except the Awami National Party (ANP), which fielded a candidate.

The PK-63 seat had fallen vacant after the death of PTI MPA Mian Jamsheduddin Kakakhel due to Covid-19.

After the defeat, there were reports Liaquat had developed differences with his brother Pervez over the choice of the candidate for the seat. This has led to reports suggesting that the minister did not take part actively in the campaign for the PTI.

Two terrorists killed in North waziristan; soldier martyred in gunfight RAWALPINDI TLTP

The security forces killed two terrorists, including a commander, during an overnight intelligence-based operation (IBO) on a terrorist hideout in North Waziristan district, a statement issued by the InterServices Public Relations (ISPR) said on Saturday.

The ISPR said that Havaldar Shehzad Raza embraced martyrdom during the exchange of fire with the terrorists. The military's media wing said that terrorist commander Rehmat alias Khalid was an improvised explosive device (IED) expert and remained involved in different terrorist activities against security forces, extortion, kidnapping for ransom and target killing since 2009 in Malik Khel area. "During the search operation, security forces recovered a huge cache of weapons," the statement added. Earlier on Wednesday last, the security forces killed three terrorists during an overnight intelligence-based operation (IBO) in a North Waziristan district. According to a statement, the terrorists were members of Aleem Khan Khushali group. “These terrorists were involved in target killing, kidnapping for ransom, extortion, fire raid on security forces and IED explosions,” the military’s media wing had added. On February 4, security forces killed four terrorists during an operation in North Waziristan. The military's media wing had said that the operation was conducted after the security forces had observed the presence of the terrorists in a compound in North Waziristan's Mir Ali area.

04

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

Seven Lahore neighbourhoodS pLaced under Smart Lockdown LAHORE

t

INp

HE Punjab government on Tuesday imposed a smart lockdown in seven neighbourhoods of Lahore following a hike in coronavirus transmission rate there. According to a provincial Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department spokesperson, the areas put under re-

strictions include F-Block of Johar Town; S-Block of DHA, Phase 2; Asif Block of Allama Iqbal Town; ABlock of Gulshan-e-Ravi; C-Block of Service Quarters UET; Gol Bagh Road in Shad Bagh and Sultan Mehmood Road.

All shopping malls, restaurants, private and government offices located in these areas will remain closed during the period.

“There has been a constant increase in positivity

percentage and prevalence of Covid-19 in Punjab during last two weeks which poses a serious and imminent threat to public health.

Hence, it is mandatory to take all possible safety measures for prevention and control of this disease,” read a notification.

In urgent situations, only one person of the family will be allowed to use one vehicle in these neighbourhoods as all kinds of gatherings and meetings

are banned.

All medical services providers, pharmacies, laboratories and collection centres, hospitals and clinics will remain open round the clock. Milk shops, chicken, meat and fish shops, as well as bakeries, are allowed to operate between 7:00 am and 7:00 pm.

Grocery stores, general stores, flour, fruit and vegetable shops, tandoors and patrol pumps will remain open from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.

ISLAMABAD: A view of dense fog on a road in the provincial capital. INp

Court orders Meesha to attend defamation suit LAHORE

Islamabad Zoo begins ambitious makeover after Kaavan’s departure

Staff RepoRt

ISLAMABAD

Lahore sessions court on Saturday summoned singer Meesha Shafi in a defamation suit filed against her by singer-turned-actor Ali Zafar who she accused of sexual harassment in 2018.

Shafi, 39, ignited in April 2018 what many said was the country’s MeToo movement when she forwarded her claims against Zafar, 40, through a tweet. He denied the allegation and, in response, filed the suit against her and eight others, including model-turned-host Iffat Omar and social media famous Ali Gul Pir, for amplifying these claims online. Zafar said that the “baseless” allegations tarnished his image in public while his family faced agony and pain. He asked the court to issue a decree against Shafi directing her to pay Rs1 billion as damages to him. The accused were subsequently charged with criminal defamation.

aGeNCIeS

Islamabad Zoo, once home to what was dubbed the “world’s loneliest elephant” and notorious for housing animals in cramped concrete enclosures, has launched an ambitious $7.5 million makeover plan.

Animal rights activists had campaigned against the plight of the zoo’s biggest attraction — a 35-year-old bull named Kaavan, the last remaining Asian elephant in the country — who had lived alone since the death of his mate eight years earlier. Kaavan was transferred to Cambodia late last year in a blaze of publicity after his plight caught the attention of US superstar Cher, who helped raise funds for the jumbo relocation. While the elephant

now has hundreds of acres to roam alongside dozens of companions in northern Cambodia, his last years in Pakistan were anything but tranquil. Islamabad Zoo was bereft of any natural vegetation and many animals there developed classic caged behavior, such as constant swaying or repetitive pacing. Established in 1978 and eventually growing to 30 acres, keepers struggled to care for the zoo’s residents. Conditions were so bad that Islamabad High Court (IHC) in 2020 ordered it closed, and every animal to be relocated — an exercise in itself that ended in tragedy.

Two lions died during their relocation when zookeepers attempted to pry them from their pen by setting ablaze piles of hay. The climate change ministry has now taken charge of the zoo’s rehabilitation, with plans to es-

DNA test clears two suspects in Karachi suicide case: police report KARACHI Staff RepoRt

The results of DNA samples of two suspects in a young woman’s suicide suggested the men had not assaulted the victim before her death, Karachi police informed a court on Saturday. Maha Shah, a 24-yearold doctor practising at a private hospital in Clifton, committed suicide by shooting herself at her home in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) in August.

Later, police booked her friends — Junaid Khan and Waqas Hussain Rizvi and Dr Irfan Qureshi — along with two others in a case pertaining to poisoning a person to death. In January, the police informed the court that the two suspects were avoiding giving their DNA samples despite repeated notices. Citing laboratory reports, the police said Shah’s DNA does not match with the samples provided by the two men. In a report, the police said Shah had stayed at Dr Irfan’s clinic for about 3.5 hours on the day of her death. But he did not meet her due to a busy schedule. Citing the conversation between the woman and the suspect, the police said Shah had complained to him about him not meeting her. Moreover, the police probe found no evidence of any objectionable activities and drug consumption in the clinic.

tablish a vastly improved conservation center.

“We have temporarily shifted some 380 different animals — including monkeys, nilgai (antelope), zebras, and bears — to different sanctuaries within and outside Pakistan,” said Waqar Zakriya of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB).

“They will all be brought back — not to be kept in captivity but in a national park in a natural habitat.” The centre will also include facilities to treat and rehabilitate injured indigenous wildlife — the first of its kind in the country. The initiative was “brilliant and extraordinary,” said Rab Nawaz, the Director of World Wide Fund for Nature in Pakistan. Mistreatment of animals — in zoos or for entertainment — is commonplace in Pakistan, but attitudes are changing.

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

LAHORE

INCrEASE of rS48 PEr kG IN GhEE, rS29 PEr lItrE IN oIl NotIfIEd iSLamaBad

M

STAFF REPORT

ASSIvE increase in the prices of edible items at the outlets of Utility Stores Corporation (USC) was notified on Saturday after the approval of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) in this regard a day earlier.

According to the notification, the rate of ghee has been jacked up by Rs48 per kilogramme, taking the new price of per kg to Rs251. The price of cooking oil was in-

creased to Rs29 per kg. The new price of the per kg cooking oil has now been fixed at Rs273 from Rs244 earlier.

An increase of up to Rs20 has been made in the prices of shampoos, while prices of tea whiteners increased by up to Rs32.

On Friday last, the Ministry of Industries and Production presented a summary before the ECC regarding revision of subsidised prices of essential commodities by the Utility Stores Corporation (USC), in accordance with the earlier directive of ECC, dated 28 January, 2021.

The secretary industries and production presented various proposals to rationalise prices of wheat flour,

sugar and ghee in view of continuous fluctuations in international commodity prices. After detailed discussion, the ECC approved only partial rationalisation and directed to provide maximum relief to the consumers despite significant price differential between subsidised price offered by the USC and the prevailing prices in the domestic markets.

The ECC directed for providing maximum relief to the consumers despite a significant price differential between subsidised prices offered by the Utility Stores Corporation and the prevailing prices in the domestic markets.

Airbus CEO urges trade war ceasefire, easing of Covid travel bans Maryam alleges rigging, demands reelection in NA-75 continued from page 01 Levelling pre-poll rigging allegations against the ruling party, Maryam said that the ECP officials were “abducted” and the results of various polling stations were changed overnight. “The PML-N workers snatched their seats from the jaws of crocodile and everyone knew that those seats belonged to PML-N,” she said. “The government in a state of chaos resorted to firing to scare the voters away so that they could not come out of their houses to cast ballots and two innocent people lost their lives,” Maryam added while referring to Friday’s incident in Sialkot’s Daska town. Referring to the alleged rigging videos shared by her last night, Maryam said a man, who could be seen sitting in a car with a “white bag of ballots”, was a presiding officer. “The presiding officer was running away with a bag full of votes in a police vehicle and some Rangers’ personnel were also present there in Wazirabad,” she said. She also referred to the statement of ECP, wherein it had said that the results of NA-75 have been halted due to “suspicion of falsification of results” from polling stations in Daska. She asked the ECP to take action against officials involved in Daska rigging and hold reelection in the constituency. Maryam informed that she will visit the families of party workers, who were killed on the polling day as a result of violence erupted outside a polling station. Earlier, the ECP ordered to withhold the results of the NA-75 byelection as the returning officer (RO) had feared about alteration in the results of 20 polling stations.

On a plea of PML-N’s candidate Nosheen Iftikhar to withhold the results, the RO had forwarded a reference to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja.

pariS AGENCIES

The head of European planemaker Airbus called on Saturday for a “ceasefire” in a transatlantic trade war over aircraft subsidies, saying tit-for-tat tariffs on planes and other goods had aggravated damage from the Covid-19 crisis.

Washington progressively imposed import duties of 15pc on Airbus jets from 2019 after a prolonged dispute at the World Trade Organization, and the EU responded with matching tariffs on Boeing jets a year later. Wine, whisky and other goods are also affected.

“This dispute, which is now an old dispute, has put us in a loselose situation,” Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said in a radio interview.

“We have ended up in a situation where wisdom would normally dictate that we have a ceasefire and

resolve this conflict,” he told France Inter.

Boeing was not immediately available for comment.

Brazil, which has waged separate battles with Canada over subsidies for smaller regional jets, on Thursday dropped its own complaint against Ottawa and called for a global peace deal between producing nations on support for aerospace.

Faury said the dispute with Boeing was particularly damaging during the COvID-19 pandemic, which has badly hit air travel and led to travel restrictions or border closures. He expressed particular concern about widening bans within Europe.

“We are extremely frustrated by the barriers that restrict personal movement and it is almost impossible today to travel in Europe by plane, even domestically,” he said.

“The priority no. 1 for coun-

tries in general is to reopen frontiers and allow people to travel on the basis of tests and then eventually vaccinations.”

The comments come as businesses increase pressure on governments to reopen economies as coronavirus vaccine roll-outs gather pace across Europe.

France has defended recently introduced border restrictions, saying they will help the government avoid a new lockdown and stay in force until at least the end of February.

Germany installed border controls with the Czech Republic and Austria last Sunday, drawing protest from Austria and concerns about supply-chain disruptions.

Berlin calls the move a temporary measure of last resort.

Poland said on Saturday it had not ruled out imposing restrictions at the country’s borders with Slovakia and the Czech Republic due to rising Covid-19 cases.

NEWS

05

Govt claims victory in NA-75 even as ECP stops results suspecting ‘falsification’ continued from page 01 Therefore, it is not possible to release the initial results without a complete inquiry. The DRO is sending a complete report on the matter to the Election Commission.” The statement said the ECP had stopped the DRO and RO from announcing the initial results for the by-election, directing them to conduct a complete inquiry and identify those responsible for the delay. It also directed the provincial and joint provincial election commissioners to reach the office of the DRO and RO so that “[the ECP] can reach the bottom of the matter and records can be completely protected”.

“This matter looks like a weakness of the administration and law enforcement agencies.”

‘PML-N GENERATING VIOLENCE TO WIN ELELCTION’: Meanwhile, Special Assistant to Prime Minister of Pakistan on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill on Twitter claimed the PML-N was behind the death of one of the PTI workers. “According to reports, PML-N goon Javed Butt Bay shot dead PTI activist Majid and seriously injured Sajid. The PML-N is a party of thugs like Glue Butt and Javed Butt,” he tweeted. “These are criminals. Politics is just a cloak – every drop of blood will be counted,” he said on the popular micro-blogging site.” Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar also took notice of the incident and ordered the Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Inam Ghani to submit a report of the incident, and has also ordered the immediate arrest of the perpetrators, stating that no violation of the law shall be allowed. The government will take indiscriminate action against those found guilty, he had added. In this regard, he directed the regional police officer (RPO) to arrest the suspects immediately and initiate legal action against them.

Saudi Arabia to invest more than $20bn in its military industry over next decade duBai AGENCIES

Saudi Arabia will invest more than $20 billion in its domestic military industry over the next decade as part of aggressive plans to boost local military spending, the head of the kingdom’s military industry regulator said on Saturday. The Gulf state wants to develop and manufacture more weapons and military systems domestically, aiming to spend 50pc of the military budget locally by 2030. “The government has put a plan that we will be investing in excess of $10 billion in the military industry in Saudi Arabia over the next decade and equal amounts on research and development,” Governor of the General Authority for Military Industries (GAMI) Ahmed bin Abdulaziz Al-Ohali told a defence conference in Abu Dhabi. He also said the kingdom plans to increase military research and development (R&D) spending from 0.2pc to around 4pc of armaments expenditure by 2030.

The Atlantic report debunks Chinese loan trap ‘myth’ China’s extension of loans in pursuit of geopolitical influence is an experimental learning process to develop efficient business strategies as it moves towards internalisation, as opposed to the United States’ narrative of China forcing developing countries to cough up strategic and major assets in a sly manner, a report by The Atlantic said on Saturday.

The report debunks the Hambantota port case as explained in western media as a prime example of China’s modern colonialism and military interests.

According to the US narrative, Beijing extended loans and assistance to the port project even though feasibility studies said the port wouldn’t work, other frequent lenders like India had refused, and Sri Lanka’s debt that was ballooning rapidly under the Rajapaksas, terming the US narrative “a powerful lie”.

According to the report, based on a feasibility study carried out by the Canadian International Development Agency obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Beijing did not take over the Hambantota port as collateral, and that there was also

never a default.

“Our research shows that Chinese banks are willing to restructure the terms of existing loans and have never actually seized an asset from any country, much less the port of Hambantota,” it states.

The research quotes two feasibility reports carried out by leading Canadian and Danish firms in 2003 and 2006, respectively.

The study concluded in 2003 confirmed that building the port at Hambantota was feasible, and supporting documents show that the Canadians’ greatest fear was losing the project to European competitors. SNCLavalin recommended that it be undertaken through a joint-venture agreement between the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) and a “private consortium” on a build-own-operate-transfer basis, a type of project in which a single company receives a contract to undertake all the steps required to get such a port up and running, and then gets to operate it when it is, the report states.

A second feasibility report, produced in 2006 by the Danish engineering firm Ramboll, made similar recommendations to the plans put forward by SNC-Lavalin, arguing

that an initial phase of the project should allow for the transport of non-containerised cargo—oil, cars, grain—to start bringing in revenue, before expanding the port to be able to handle the traffic and storage of traditional containers.

In 2007, justifying investment in the Hambantota port that offered the potential for expansion and development at a time when the middle classes were expanding in the region, Colombo approached the United States and India but was shunned by both.

However, a Chinese construction firm, China Harbor Group, lobbied won the contract for the project and China Eximbank agreed to fund it.

The report further adds that China Eximbank offered a $307 million, 15-year commercial loan with a four-year grace period, offering Sri Lanka a choice between a 6.3 percent fixed interest rate or one that would rise or fall depending on LIBOR, a floating rate. Colombo chose the former, conscious that global interest rates were trending higher during the negotiations and hoping to lock in what it thought would be favourable terms. Phase I of the port project was com-

cmYK

pleted on schedule within three years.

All of this was in the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s civil war and worldwide financial crisis.

Two years later in 2009, Sri Lanka’s civil war came to an end and the government embarked on a debt-financed push to build and improve the country’s infrastructure. Annual economic growth rates climbed to 6 per cent, but Sri Lanka’s debt burden soared as well.

At the same time, Mahinda Rajapaksa pushed ahead with phase 2, transforming Hambantota into a container port against the Ramboll team’s recommendations. In 2012, Sri Lanka borrowed another $757 million from China Eximbank at a reduced, post-financial-crisis interest rate of 2pc.

By 2014, Hambantota was losing money.

By the time SLPA realised that they needed more experienced operators to have them jointly develop and operate the new port, the political scenario took a 180-degree turn with the Rajapaksas being ousted in 2015.

“By this time, Sri Lanka owed more to Japan, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank than to China. Of the $4.5 billion in debt service Sri Lanka would pay in

2017, only 5pc was because of Hambantota,” the report states.

The report also quotes two Sri Lankan central bank governors, who agree that Chinese finance was not the source of the country’s financial distress.

“Furthermore, Colombo arranged a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and decided to raise much-needed dollars by leasing out the underperforming Hambantota Port to an experienced company—just as the Canadians had recommended. There was not an open tender, and the only two bids came from China Merchants and China Harbor; Sri Lanka chose China Merchants, making it the majority shareholder with a 99-year lease, and used the $1.12 billion cash infusion to bolster its foreign reserves, not to pay off China Eximbank.”

The report concludes by pointing out that China, within the past 20 years, has 27 firms among the top 100 global contractors, up from nine in 2000, while Europe has 37, down from 41, and the US has seven, compared to 19 two decades ago whereas foreign firms continue to partner with it in port developments worldwide. AGENCIES

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

06 COMMENT

Education for sustainable development

All eyes fixed on ECP Mysterious disappearances in NA-75

o

F the six by-elections held over the week, the only seat bagged by the ptI with a thin margin, has been challenged. Four by-elections have been won by the opposition candidates with convincing leads . the ppp defeated the ptI in the two Sindh constituencies with a margin of over 40,000 votes in one constituency and by 19,000 in the other. on both seats the ptI got lesser votes than in the 2018 elections, indicating a reduction in its appeal. In Balochistan, the JUI(F )defeated BAp’s candidate by over 17 thousand votes. In Kp’s nowshera pmln defeated ptI’s candidate by over 7,0000 votes. that the ptI had won the seat in 2018 again indicates a reduction in its popularity.

In punjab, the pml(n) candidates on pp-51 defeated ptI by a lead of over 5000 votes. the opposition’s victories were predicable. Despite all the help provided by those who matter in the 2018 elections, the ptI managed to scrape through as the single largest party without an overall majority. By the end of half of its tenure it is nowhere near fulfilling any of its major election promises like 10 million jobs and 5 million homes. Contrarily the number of the unemployed has risen phenomenally during the last two years. What has hit the common man most during the ptI’s tenure is the unending rise in the prices of basic food items and the power, gas and petrol prices. Failing to end the endemic corruption in government offices that hurts the common man most, mr Imran Khan has reconciled himself it by maintaining that the only corruption that harms the country is by the prime minister and his cabinet members.

Keen to wrest Daska (nA-75) from the pml(n), the pm had assigned the task to his trusted lieutenant Usman Dar. Despite the incidents of firing that led to two mortalities, the unofficial results by late night indicated the pml(n)’s nousheen Iftikhar was winning by a margin of over 15,000 votes. then suddenly polling staff from 20 polling stations disappeared along with results. only a losing candidate resorts to rigging at the eleventh hour.

What is at stake now is the eCp’s credibility. one expects the commission to urgently undertake a transparent enquiry. Any perception of its yielding to pressure would cause widespread distrust.

Education is a public good, and teachers must be prepared to impart it

abid hussain RatheR

D

evelopment is usually limited only to the economic welfare of people but it is a comprehensive term and includes the social weal of the concerned people along with their economic progress. In other words big dams, tall and concrete buildings, macadamized roads, magnificent plazas and fashionable clothes are not the only indicators of a developed nation but the term development includes other social aspects also along with these economic indicators. Indian noble laureate Amartya Sen in his book Development as Freedom gives an indication that freedom of expression, freedom of thought and freedom of choice are essential for the development of a nation. So the material resources of a nation are not the only indicators of its development, but we must consider whether the people have freedom of expression, freedom of thought and freedom of choice. education and development are two interrelated and inseparable terms. the education system of a country is closely linked to its level of development. the sustainable development of a country in which both economic and social aspects are included is linked to such an education system in which both natural sciences and social sciences along with humanities are taught and are given equal preference. the dream of sustainable development can’t be fulfilled by giving importance only to natural sciences or social sciences.

When we talk about the development of a nation, it does not mean accidental or momentary development, which doesn’t last for a long period of time or which will be at the cost of our future generation, rather we mean sustainable development.

According to the World Commission on environ-

IMF’s expanding shadow

ment and Development, sustainable development is defined as the development that meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.

As such the presumption of sustainable development is impossible without an educated society.

It is education which familiarizes us with different concepts and ideologies which pave the way for sustainable development. It makes an individual creative and useful and enables him to find the creative solutions for the challenges faced by mankind in the present times. A question strikes our mind that what kind of education should it be which could be helpful in achieving the goal of sustainable development.

It is obvious that just increasing the percentage of the literacy rate can’t fulfill this dream. Rather a good and high standard of education system can play a critical role in the economic and social development of a nation. When we take an overview of the education system in our schools and colleges, we find that it has not risen above the level of transferring information.

Famous educationist paulo Freire has termed such type of education as the ‘Banking Concept of education’ where the students become silent listeners in the classrooms. the teacher transfers the information to students and they store it safe in their minds to recall it in the examination hall to get good grades. Such type of teaching learning process doesn’t develop the cognitive, creative and observational capabilities of students, rather it makes them robots without critical thinking and creative potentialities. the comprehensive concept of education includes the accretion and modification of knowledge, proficiency and attitude. the main aim of education which connects it with development is that it should embolden and nourish the critical thinking and creative potentialities and amenabilities of the students but unfortunately such type of education system is hardly found in our society. education should make students’ mind efficient enough to comprehend the learned knowledge and apply it in solving the new problems and challenges faced by mankind. It

should help them to raise their voice against the outdated rituals and traditional taboos of the society.

We need to ponder upon all those processes which can mutually bring changes in our education system to make it better and concatenate it with sustainable development. It includes proper allotment of funds to the educational sector, improvement of basic infrastructure, versatility of curriculum in accordance with the needs of modern society, modern teaching techniques and many more. All these processes are essential for improving the standard of our education. Along with all these things a teacher has a pivotal role in improving the education system of our society, so teachers should be provided with modern teaching training and techniques.

If our society wishes for an efficient community of teachers, they should be provided with the opportunities to obtain economic benefits, social recognition and reputation and professional promotions. teacher education is a must for the professional development of teachers. teacher training institutions should be provided with sophisticated and modern teaching aids and instruments to train teachers for the revival of the traditional education system of our society. It is the need of the hour to revive and reconstruct the teacher training system to make teachers proficient in the teaching process. Interdisciplinary approach should be adopted to utilize other subjects for learning and understanding some critical issues and concepts.

A close and interdependent link should be established between theoretical and practical aspects of learning instead of focusing on the theoretical part only. A teacher should use both formal as well as informal methods of teaching to bring innovation in himself and to attain mastery in the field of teaching. only a proficient and skillful teacher can provide comprehensive education to its students which can vouchsafe a society for a holistic and sustainable development.

The author is a columnist and teaches Geography at GDC, Kulgam, Indian Occupied Kashmir, and can be reached at rather1294@gmail.com)

Energy and food prices on the rise

A

FteR a prolonged suspension of close to 14 months in the International monetary Fund’s (ImF) $6 billion extended fund facility (eFF) to pakistan, a staff-level agreement to release the third tranche of $500 million was reached this week. the resumption in the facility comes after the ptI government, after having resisted at first, was forced to hike power tariffs, energy prices and taxes. the most recent increase in the power tariff of Rs1.95 per unit, a 15% increase, was across the board, which meant that for the first time in two decades even ‘lifeline consumers’, those using less than 50 units per month would be subject to the price hike. In another move that is bound to pinch the poorest the most, the federal government yesterday slashed subsidies on edible oil by nearly 18 percent, resulting in an increase of Rs30 per kg, taking the price to an eye-watering Rs 200 per kg. Although a deceleration in the general level of prices has been seen in the past few weeks, with inflation easing to 5.7 percent in January from 8.0 percent in December, prices of 25 of the 51 items recorded in the Special price Index (SpI) increased, most of which are essential food items including chicken, pulses and eggs. Simultaneously, the upcoming electricity bill for consumers of 10 ex-Wapda distribution companies (discos) is likely to go up by 93 paisa due to higher estimated power generation cost in January. petrol prices, that have been revised upwards for the past five consecutive fortnights, are likely to increase yet again in the coming weeks.

It seems the ptI, albeit reluctantly, has decided to swallow the bitter ImF pill and carry out mandatory reforms that hit the poorest the hardest, in order to remain afloat by ensuring receipt of much-needed dollars.

Sustaining this equation is going to be a herculean task for the government as ImF pressure to meet its inflationary demands is only going to increase with time. At the same time the pDm, with some fresh electoral victories in the bag, will build a narrative around how the ptI, rather than addressing the people’s problems, has exacerbated them.

Something will eventually have to give if unaffordability and unemployment continue upwards for too long.

Grammar vs context More tote learning is not needed

Rabia ahmed

Some examples are called for to illustrate the arguments that follow.

T

heRe’S the well-known story of the maulvi who performed a nikah at someone’s house and made things difficult for his hosts by insisting that everyone do things exactly as they were done in the time of the prophet muhammad (pbuh). So the bride in all her finery and her elderly parents and other relatives and guests were made to sit upon the carpet “because that is how it was done then,” and so on. When it was time for the maulvi to be transported back home, the bride’s father insisted he wait while the camel he had hired arrived to take him back, “because that is how it was done then,” and maulvi sahib missed out on an airconditioned ride home.

And there is the example of - this time a tweet by naila Inayat, in which five or six little boys aged about 5 to 7 are seen wielding homemade wooden swords.

When asked about them, they said they were doing as done by ertugrul ghazi, because they were muslims and had to behead kafirs wherever they found them.

Why? So they, the kids, could go to Jannah. no one explained ertugrul to these children in the context of the times he lived in, how ertugrul and his

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Yousaf Nizami Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad Managing Editor

Joint Editor

Umar Aziz Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

people were surrounded by the Crusaders and the mongols, who happened to belong to different faiths, who were enemies because they were trying to take over land the turks considered their own, not by virtue of their faith, and that the survival of the turkish tribes depended on defeating these enemies.

Ertugrul the television series is an excellent production, but it was best not unleashed on this ignorant country the way it has been, but it was, thanks to our pm whose understanding of things is somewhat limited.

So, well done, Imran Khan, for giving rise to a fresh generation of terrorists. these examples go to show not just that politicians need a brain, but that it requires a basic amount of intelligence to follow religion, and to understand the purpose behind its injunctions. the prophet of Islam (pbuh) died almost 1400 years ago in a land with its own culture and traditions. even though the holy book he passed on to all of us is meant for all people in all times, it is nevertheless rooted in that day and age, as were the things he said. When talking about travel he spoke of walking, of horses or camels rather than of flying somewhere or going somewhere in a car. Because of his flawed understanding of the matter our maulvi had to wait for a camel, because he was so mired in the past. he asked for it.

Just like him, we ask for all the brouhaha and confusion twice every year when we insist on seeing the moon with the naked eye before the date for eid can be announced, even now that telescopes can do the job for us. obviously, what we need therefore is a better understanding of the way of life that is Islam. Will we gain that by sitting cross legged on a carpet, riding on camels or learning the language the Arab prophet

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

(pbuh) spoke? no. And yet, the Senate in its wisdom has passed a Bill making the teaching of Arabic compulsory in schools in the Federal Capital from classes I to v, at an age when the only thing brains can encompass is the movement of marbles on the floor, the height of a ball when it is kicked, or the path of a kite as it soars over our heads on a summers day.

And then it wants Arabic grammar slung in after, FRo, class v to class XII. It is very possible that this like most of the government’s other moves, It will be ignored, but it can’t help making you wonder at the calibre of brains that come up with such ideas. many of our school children already learn Urdu and english and in only a handful of schools are these languages well taught. the children who do not learn english find themselves at the other side of a very deep gulf that divides the haves and have-nots, a gulf that is one of the biggest problems this country faces. Add to it another language, badly taught as teaching tends to be in our schools, and it bodes badly for all three languages, not to mention the fact that learning it will not help understand the religion, just as the understanding of conjunctions and adverbs fails to help explain Faiz or Shaw.

What might help– if taught properly and well– is history and the ideas behind religion, which does not mean learning by rote.

It means teaching by relating it to events and problems around us and through time, with the students being encouraged to ask questions.

Seeing that none of this is done with other subjects, what makes anyone think that the current injunction to teach Arabic is likely to produce anything other than those children who plan, in their innocence, to kill all kafirs wherever they find them, so that they– the children– can go to heaven?

Because that, most emphatically, is not what Islam teaches.

Seeing that none of this is done with other subjects, what makes anyone think that the current injunction to teach Arabic is likely to produce anything other than those children who plan, in their innocence, to kill all kafirs wherever they find them, so that they– the children– can go to heaven? Because that, most emphatically, is not what Islam teaches

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

I

Rabia Ahmed is a freelance columnist. Read more by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

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

Crusade on corruption

Human Rights, the Yemen war & the Biden Administration Ending the Yemen conflict is good for the USA too Changezi sandhu

M

oRe than two decades ago, US Secretary of State madeleine Albright termed US presence and role in regional and global scenarios “indispensable”. however, the global community is prone to use the term “incompetent” instead of “indispensable” after the steps which had been taken during president trump’s tenure under the aegis of his “American First” policy regarding foreign policy, global warming, human rights, covid-19, continuous participation in wars and conflicts in other regions, and many more decisions that collectively tarnished the repute and image of the USA. So, the Biden presidency is the hope for a revival of the US role in regional and global affairs. president Biden also intended to halt US support for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen. pro-democratic protests posed a grave threat to the sitting government of Syria in 2015 when houthi rebels took over the capital, Sana’a, and among other things, called for the end of the authoritarian regime of Abdrabbuhu mansour hadi. Ultimately, violence erupted as the result of the use of police, military, and paramilitary forces against civilians. protesters demanded the end of the hadi regime as well as of authoritarian practices. hadi extensively relied on the use of force to counter the violent mobs of infuriated protesters, which were backed by houthi rebels, who in turn had support from forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who tried to make a comeback. later on, another set of protests led to the deadliest war and humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where Iran-backed houthi rebels are fighting the Saudi-backed government. the houthis call themselves the Ansar Allah, and are Zaidi Shias. hadi is in exile in Saudi Arabia, which has launched an invasion to restore him, and has been involved in the conflict since 2015.

Currently, there are a number of factions that are being backed by Saudi Arabia, the UK, and France, Iran, Russia, and the USA to fulfill their respective regional interests. the USA was an important supporter of the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen during the trump era. In the trump Adminitration, the USA designated the houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, which fueled the fire by merely infuriating them. the global community was looking to revive US policies toward the gross violation of human rights by the Saudi-led military campaigns as over 100,000 people have been killed in the prolonged Yemen conflict. the Uno and various human rights organizations also deprecated the US support to Saudi Arabia, because it facilitates the abuse of children’s and women’s rights, especially. however, there is a dramatic shift in the US

stance after the trump era. trump supported the Saudi-led coalition, especially its bombing campaign in Yemen. With the coming of the Biden Administration,there may well be a change, because mr Biden has vowed many times to end the US support to Saudi Arabia in the civil war of Yemen. “the war in Yemen must end,” president Joe Biden opined while addressing his first speech on foreign policy. now, the most important question arises, what could possible changes be made regarding Yemen during the Biden Administration?

In fact, the US support of the Saudi-led group against houthi aggravated the situation in the region. one of the results of the announcement of the US president that the USA will not support offensive operations, even by precluding the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab emirates. It is important to mention here that the Biden Administration already put a temporary hold on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAe. Yemen is on the brink of starvation, and blatant violations of human rights can be seen. the US support to Saudi Arabia in the civil war tarnished the image if the USA not only at the regional level, but also at the global. So, president Biden intended to deal with the Yemen crisis through a new shift in US foreign policy by halting its support to Saudi Arabia.

As a result of thursday’s announcement, the USA will stop supporting offensive operations, including the sale of precision-guided munitions to Saudi Arabia and the UAe. According to the United nations, the Yemen crisis has been declared as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis with 80 percent of the population being in dire need of aid or protection. the Uno called multiple times to end the crisis to maintain peace in the region because of the severe violation of human rights in the conflict. not only Americans and human rights organiza-

tions, but also the global community welcomed the policy statement of president Biden. It is being assumed that American tilt in her foreign policy toward Yemen, and away from Saudi Arabia, will help to address the issue that disrupted the peace of the region.

Congressmen, whohad been calling for stopping US support to the Saudi-led group in Yemen also expressed positive remarks on the recent shift in US policy toward Yemen. According to Rep Ro Khanna, D-Calif, who is among the staunch advocates for the halting of US support for the bombing campaign of Saudi Arabia, “one of the reasons there’s moral urgency in the Biden administration to end this war is, I think there is a guilt.”

Represntative Khanna further opined, “We need to make clear to the Saudis that their relationship on the hill has been badly damaged, and if they have any hope of repairing it, they need to lift the blockade... and make a peace deal,” he said, referring to a Saudi-coalition blockade obstructing the delivery of food and medicine to Yemen.

Apropos to a news piece with the title, “Biden to Announce end to U.S. Support for offensive military operations in Yemen” contributed by Dave Boyer in The Washington Times. finally, president Biden decided to halt US support for the Saudi-led military campaign. this decision of the Biden Administration is being admired by Americans and the global community because the decision would secure US interests by changing public opinion outside of the USA about her tarnished image. the Uno, the USA, and the global community should also play a role to stop the violation of human rights in Yemen. It is time to make America “Indispensable” rather than “Incompetent” in dealing with global issues.

President Biden decided to halt US support for the Saudi-led military campaign.

This decision of the Biden Administration is being admired by Americans and the global community because the decision would secure US interests by changing public opinion outside of the USA about her tarnished image.The UNO, the USA, and the global community should also play a role to stop the violation of human rights in Yemen. It is time to make America “Indispensable” rather than “Incompetent” in dealing with global issues

The writer can be reached Ch.changezi.sandhu111@gmail.com

at

pRIme mInISteR Imran Khan Friday said pakistan with the grace of Allah Almighty would ultimately be the winner as the corrupt politicians had lost public support. “this is a decisive moment for the nation. the masses are on one side, while these thieves and dacoits are on the other.

Insha Allah pakistan will emerge victorious,” Imran Khan said while addressing a function after the inauguration of tree plantation drive in Ghazi Barotha under his initiative of 10 Billion tree tsunami. Criticizing the previous governments, the prime minister said during the last 30 years, big thieves and corrupt politicians had not only hurt the country economically through their loot and plunder of the public resources but destroyed the moral values as well. “they created an impression that corruption is not a bad thing.” he questioned could anybody cite an example of any country, which had achieved progress and development in an atmosphere of corruption. the prime minister said the country was not affected much due to the corruption of `patwaris’, `thanedars’ or other government functionaries but corrupt prime ministers or ministers hurt it badly. Special Assistant to the pm on Climate Change malik Amin Aslam, minister of State for Climate Change Zartaj Gul, Special Assistant to the pm Shahbaz Gill and Senator Faisal Javed were also present, besides a number of youth and notables from the area. Imran Khan said when a prime minister stole the public money, he would stash it abroad through money laundering. “Stealing the public money causes one loss to the country and the money laundering causes another big one,” he remarked.

“When prime ministers steal the public money, their children own palaces abroad and (corrupt) ministers also hold Iqamas (residence permits) of other countries, throwing their own country into a debt trap,” he added. the prime minister said when a country was burdened with debt, it had to seek foreign assistance by compromising its respect and dignity. “While those (rulers) hurt the country, they and their children, son-in-laws and brother-in-laws lead aristocratic lives abroad. “When I see Ishaq Dar and nawaz Sharif riding a Roll Royce in london, it appears that they were not born in Gwalmandi but in london,” Imran Khan remarked. About the Senate polls, the prime minister said with a market established across the country for the sale and purchase of the members of parliament, corrupt practices had been going on for the senators’ election for the last 30 years. he was critical of the opposition parties for opposing the government’s efforts for holding the Senate elections through open ballot, saying those, who were in favour of the open ballot process for Senate polls in the past, were now opposing the idea. the opposition parties, he said, had a change of mind after their failure at the minar-e-pakistan rally, during FAtF (Financial Action task Force) legislation and in other moves.

SOhaIl alI Khan ISlamabaD

Fake doctors SIR, quality doctors play a crucial role in a well establiahed society beacuae they treat the patients and secure their lives. In this prevailing era science and technolgy have developed and successfully invented new unique tools which are and feasibilile and available to treat the patients on immediate bases. It is unfortunate to utter that in pakistan doctors launching business centre in the name of hospitals for the treatment different diseases. plenty of doctors have established their clinics or private hospitals for earning money nor saving lives of people. I have noticed some doctors from Balochistan who have not graduated yet, but they have opened their own clinics like mediterranean theater of operations doctors or dispensers. Both mt and dispensers do injuct the patients sometimes the patients even don’t need it. they inject them because they take fee from them. most importantly, many doctors are using illegal tables and injection for they have dealt with some drug companies to get money from them. the companies and doctors sign an agreement where doctors are directed to sell the medecine of many fake companies. In order to get a percentage from the company, they most write the tablets of fake companies. Doctors are taking money from the both patients and companies. It is saddening to say that they are destroying the lives of people because when they inject without any propose to the patients, so the injections have a disastrous reaction in the whole body of the patient. eventually he or she dies due to chemical reactions. At the end i request to the government to not permit such doctors in our society, can their licenes since they habe disabled people.

Pervaz ahmeD maShKay, awaran

Pakistan’s corruption rates JUStICe Qazi Faiz Isa remarked during a supreme court hearing that media is not free in the nation while journalists are being thrown out of the country. he also said that the media in the court should raise their hands if they think they are free. Speaking on the report by transparency International ( tI) in which pakistan fell four places in the corruption perception Index (CpI). And Rehman even said that Imran, who once lauded the agency has now himself been declared as the most corrupt man. Justice Isa that punjab had killed democracy by dissolving the local government. And he also pointed out that local bodies have been dissolving during martial law. barKaTullah TurbaT

Emerging inflation the government has no idea about the financial condition of the citizens.

Rising inflation has a lot of effects on the citizens’ purchasing power. Since, last year was out breaking for the country’s economy and the sudden closure of 7 businesses due to covid created a lot of hurdles for the people in the country. the government launched ehsas programme to provide financial support to the people; however, this only helped a few people. there are still such families dealing with financial issues, and they don’t get any support from the government. on this Wednesday (10 Feb), the protests by the employees were a reminder for the people’s financial problems. pakistanis have been facing the worst time and they need the government to drag them out from the well. these protestors need the support of the government in one way or another. thus, it is hoped that the authorities will do something to save the country’s economy as soon as possible. murwarID nazIr ahmeD JuSaK

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

We’ll have herd ImmunITy by aprIl MY PREDICTION THAT COVID-19 WILL BE MOSTLY GONE BY APRIL IS BASED ON LABORATORY DATA, MATHEMATICAL DATA, PUBLISHED LITERATURE AND CONVERSATIONS WITH EXPERTS

WALL sTreeT JournAL

a

MarTy Makary

mid the dire Covid warnings, one crucial fact has been largely ignored: Cases are down 77% over the past six weeks. If a medication slashed cases by 77%, we’d call it a miracle pill. Why is the number of cases plummeting much faster than experts predicted?

In large part because natural immunity from prior infection is far more common than can be measured by testing. Testing has been capturing only from 10% to 25% of infections, depending on when during the pandemic someone got the virus. Applying a time-weighted case capture average of 1 in 6.5 to the cumulative 28 million confirmed cases would mean about 55% of Americans have natural immunity.

Now add people getting vaccinated. As of this week, 15% of Americans have received the vaccine, and the figure is rising fast. Former Food and Drug Commissioner Scott Gottlieb estimates 250 million doses will have been delivered to some 150 million people by the end of March.

There is reason to think the country is racing toward an extremely low level of in-

fection. As more people have been infected, most of whom have mild or no symptoms, there are fewer Americans left to be infected.

At the current trajectory, I expect Covid will be mostly gone by April, allowing Americans to resume normal life.

Antibody studies almost certainly underestimate natural immunity. Antibody testing doesn’t capture antigen-specific T-cells, which develop “memory” once they are activated by the virus. Survivors of the 1918 Spanish flu were found in 2008—90 years later—to have memory cells still able to produce neutralizing antibodies.

Researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute found that the percentage of people mounting a T-cell response after mild or asymptomatic Covid-19 infection consistently exceeded the percentage with detectable antibodies. T-cell immunity was even present in people who were exposed to infected family members but never developed symptoms. A group of U.K. scientists in September pointed out that the medical community may be underappreciating the prevalence of immunity from activated T-cells.

Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. would also suggest much broader immunity than recognized. About 1 in 600 Americans has died of Covid-19, which translates to a population fatality rate of about 0.15%. The Covid-19

Slowing the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan could bolster peace talks

infection fatality rate is about 0.23%. These numbers indicate that roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population has had the infection.

In my own conversations with medical experts, I have noticed that they too often dismiss natural immunity, arguing that we don’t have data. The data certainly doesn’t fit the classic randomized-controlled-trial model of the old-guard medical establishment. There’s no control group. But the observational data is compelling.

I have argued for months that we could save more American lives if those with prior Covid-19 infection forgo vaccines until all vulnerable seniors get their first dose. Several studies demonstrate that natural immunity should protect those who had Covid-19 until more vaccines are available. half my friends in the medical community told me: Good idea. The other half said there isn’t enough data on natural immunity, despite the fact that reinfections have occurred in less than 1% of people—and when they do occur, the cases are mild.

But the consistent and rapid decline in daily cases since Jan. 8 can be explained only by natural immunity. Behavior didn’t suddenly improve over the holidays; Americans traveled more over Christmas than they had since March. Vaccines also don’t explain the steep decline in January. Vaccination rates were low and they take weeks to kick in.

T

he United States last year signed an agreement with the Taliban that contemplated the withdrawal of all U.S. and allied forces from Afghanistan by May of this year.

At long last, it seemed that America’s longest war, which began with the October 2001 invasion, might be coming to an end.

But now President Biden and America’s NATO allies are pondering whether they might have to extend that deadline in light of the Taliban’s undermining of the agreement — and in hopes of pressuring it to engage in good-faith negotiations with the Afghan government. NATO countries have about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, including 2,500 U.S. trainers, advisors and counterterrorism forces, a small fraction of the 100,000 Americans deployed at the height of the Obama administration’s Afghan “surge” in 2010.

The issue was discussed at this week’s meeting of NATO defense ministers, though they made no decision about whether to seek to postpone the deadline.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that “there is still time to reach a political agreement to see progress before the deadline” of May 1.

That, of course, would be ideal. But the United States and its allies should make it clear that they aren’t bound by the May deadline if the Taliban doesn’t abide by its obligations under the agreement.

The case for a delay was made earlier this month in a report by the Afghanistan Study Group, a bipartisan panel commissioned by Congress to examine the Afghan peace agreement. The group cited the Taliban’s failure so far to adequately distance itself from “groups or individuals threatening the security of the United States and its allies.”

Moreover, although the Taliban has refrained from launching attacks on U.S. forces since the agreement, it has continued military operations against Afghan security forces. Not surprisingly, negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government, which were supposed to follow the U.S.-Taliban agreement, have stalled.

The study group acknowledged that “Americans generally agree that it is time

to end this war” and it said that “a real opportunity to reach a peaceful resolution exists.” But it warned that “withdrawing U.S. troops irresponsibly would likely lead to a new civil war in Afghanistan, inviting the reconstitution of anti-U.S. terrorist groups that could threaten our homeland and providing them with a narrative of victory against the world’s most powerful country.”

Some of the study group’s conclusions are debatable. For example, we question whether preventing the Taliban from capitalizing on a “narrative of victory” against the U.S. is sufficient reason to keep U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The panel was more persuasive in arguing that a “rash and rushed approach could increase the chances of a breakdown of order in Afghanistan.” But the argument that may appeal most to Biden is the panel’s insistence that America’s future in Afghanistan must be decided in collaboration with NATO allies that have also have been involved in that country. Biden has emphasized the importance of consulting with U.S. allies.

We understand that to many Americans the study group’s recommendations will sound like another appeal by the foreign policy establishment to prolong a military presence that has stretched on for decades without either a military victory or the transformation in Afghan society that some naively thought the U.S. could accomplish.

We also recognize that postponing the withdrawal of U.S. forces isn’t guaranteed to revive the peace process and that the Taliban might choose to fight on, assuming that the U.S. will leave eventually in any case.

That’s a real possibility, but for now the U.S. and its allies need to preserve the option of delaying withdrawal as a way to bring the Taliban to the table.

Biden, a skeptic about U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan when he was vice president, said during last year’s campaign that it was past time to end “forever wars.” his administration retained former Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as President Trump’s representative in talks with the Taliban. Biden can make it clear that he still supports a negotiated settlement while also making it clear that the Taliban must negotiate in good faith.

that threatens to evade prior immunity. But countries where new variants have emerged, such as the U.K., South Africa and Brazil, are also seeing significant declines in daily new cases. The risk of new variants mutating around the prior vaccinated or natural immunity should be a reminder that Covid-19 will persist for decades after the pandemic is over. It should also instill a sense of urgency to develop, authorize and administer a vaccine targeted to new variants.

Some medical experts privately agreed with my prediction that there may be very little Covid-19 by April but suggested that I not to talk publicly about herd immunity because people might become complacent and fail to take precautions or might decline the vaccine.

But scientists shouldn’t try to manipulate the public by hiding the truth. As we encourage everyone to get a vaccine, we also need to reopen schools and society to limit the damage of closures and prolonged isolation. Contingency planning for an open economy by April can deliver hope to those in despair and to those who have made large personal sacrifices.

Dr. Makary is a professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, chief medical adviser to Sesame Care, and author of “The Price We Pay.”

WHAT SCHOLARS OF THE MIDDLE EAST THINK

THE UNITED STATES AND ITS ALLIES SHOULD MAKE IT CLEAR THAT THEY AREN’T BOUND BY THE MAY DEADLINE IF THE TALIBAN DOESN’T ABIDE BY ITS OBLIGATIONS UNDER THE AGREEMENT L A Times

My prediction that Covid-19 will be mostly gone by April is based on laboratory data, mathematical data, published literature and conversations with experts. But it’s also based on direct observation of how hard testing has been to get, especially for the poor. If you live in a wealthy community where worried people are vigilant about getting tested, you might think that most infections are captured by testing. But if you have seen the many barriers to testing for low-income Americans, you might think that very few infections have been captured at testing centers.

Keep in mind that most infections are asymptomatic, which still triggers natural immunity.

Many experts, along with politicians and journalists, are afraid to talk about herd immunity. The term has political overtones because some suggested the U.S. simply let Covid rip to achieve herd immunity. That was a reckless idea. But herd immunity is the inevitable result of viral spread and vaccination. When the chain of virus transmission has been broken in multiple places, it’s harder for it to spread— and that includes the new strains. herd immunity has been well-documented in the Brazilian city of Manaus, where researchers in the Lancet reported the prevalence of prior Covid-19 infection to be 76%, resulting in a significant slowing of the infection. Doctors are watching a new strain

Brookings insTiTuTion

I

Marc Lynch and ShibLey TeLhaMi

S the Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution dead? Would a Biden administration decision to return to the JCPOA — the 2015 Iran nuclear deal — reduce the risk of Iran obtaining a nuclear bomb? how important were the Arab uprisings a decade ago, and are they coming back?

The Middle east never lacks for commentary and opinions. Several high-quality surveys regularly ask political scientists and foreign policy experts their views on U.S. policy in the region. But what do scholarly experts on the Middle east think?

Last week, we fielded a unique survey of scholars with expertise in the Middle east, the first of our new Middle east Scholar Barometer. Drawing on the membership of the Middle east Studies Association, the American Political Science Association’s MeNA Politics Section and the Project on Middle east Political Science at George Washington University, we identified 1,293 such scholars. The vast majority speak regional languages, have spent significant time in the Middle east, and have dedicated their professional lives to the rigorous study of the region and its politics. Within three days, 521 scholars had consented and responded (a 40% response rate), divided almost equally between political scientists and nonpolitical scientists.

We asked these experts descriptive questions, not what they thought should happen — or would probably happen — in the Middle east. The survey asks for their assessment of the region as it currently exists and might exist a decade hence. It did not ask about their preferences on outcomes or policies.

The results of the survey paint a fascinating picture of the Middle east, and valuable insights that the Biden administration — which has said it aims to take the views of experts seriously — might consider as it crafts U.S. foreign policy for the region.

ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS: A ONE-STATE REALITY AKIN TO APARTHEID: Perhaps the starkest finding of the survey is the collective assessment of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A strong majority, 59%, describes the current reality for Israel and the Palestinians as “a one-state reality akin to apartheid.” An additional 7% view it as a “one-state reality with inequal-

ity, but not akin to apartheid.” Only 2% describe the situation as a temporary Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza; 30% describe the current situation as semi-permanent occupation by Israel.

While the Biden administration will probably seek to kick-start diplomacy, the experts offer little hope for achieving a two-state solution. In our survey, 52% say that such an outcome is no longer possible, while 42% find it unlikely within the next 10 years. Only 6% consider it probable within the next decade.

Those expectations are especially bleak because without a prospect of a separate Israel and separate Palestine, 77% expect to see a one-state reality akin to apartheid, while another 17% expect a one-state reality with increasing inequality, but not akin to apartheid. Only 1% expect to see a single binational state with equal rights for all.

IRAN AND THE NUCLEAR DEAL: The United States returning to the Iran nuclear agreement (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) as it’s currently written would make it less likely that Iran would get a nuclear weapon within the next decade — that’s what 75% of our survey respondents say. And 21% say returning to the JCPOA would make no real difference — only 2% say a return would make an Iranian nuclear weapon more likely.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the scholars overwhelmingly oppose either military action against Iran or a continuation of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy. The primary divide was over tactics: Sixty-seven percent say the U.S. immediately returning to the JCPOA before addressing other issues would better serve U.S. interests, while 23% prefer first negotiating a grand bargain including ballistic missiles and regional policies in alignment with allies such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab emirates.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ARAB SPRING? The experts in our survey tended to disagree over the future and the significance of the 2011 uprisings that rocked the Arab world. A majority of scholars say that the uprisings remain active: Thirty percent expect another wave of mass protests within the next decade, while 46% say that the uprisings are still ongoing in different forms.

Only 7% think that the uprisings are over and gone, while 17% think they probably won’t recur for at least a decade.

But did they matter? A slim majority, 54%, describe their impact as significant, but not transformational. For 29%, the uprisings were transformational, while 17% view them as a temporary disruption with little long-term impact.

AND WHAT ABOUT THE US AND THE MIDDLE EAST? Only 3% of the scholars view the United States as stronger in the Middle east today compared with a decade ago, while 75% view the United States as weaker. Quite strikingly, only 38%

still view the United States as the single dominant external power in the region. This is not primarily about Russian competition — only 8% see a Cold War-style bipolar region. A slight majority (54%) view the region as multipolar, with a number of great powers competing for influence and power.

For those who believe in enduring U.S. primacy, these results should open eyes.

Nor do the scholars see a coming revival of U.S. primacy. Looking ahead, only 10% expect the United States to be stronger a decade from now. This doesn’t necessarily mean precipitous decline: Forty-eight percent expect the United States to be weaker in a decade, while 41% expect it to be about the same as it is now. Intriguingly, scholars do not agree on whether there has been a general decline in the importance of external countries in what happens in the Middle east: Forty-two percent say external powers have about the same amount of influence as a decade ago, 29% say they have more influence, and 28% say they have less influence.

What’s ahead for the Middle east — and the United States? The Biden administration has signaled it would listen to experts, to avoid disasters such as the 2003 Iraq War. This unique survey could help new U.S. policymakers understand the realities of the Middle east as scholars of the region see them.

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

BUSINESS 09

LAHORE corporate corner Bayer’s Berocca joins Quetta gladiators as official energy partner for HBL PsL 6 KARACHI: Bayer’s leading consumer health brand Berocca has signed on to become the Official Energy Partner for Quetta Gladiators in the upcoming Pakistan Super League (HBL PSL) season 6. A ceremony to mark the partnership was held at a local hotel, where members of the leadership teams of Quetta Gladiators and Bayer Pakistan were present. “At Bayer Pakistan, we are really looking forward to HBLPSL 6 and we are proud to be the first life science company in Pakistan investing in the great sport of cricket. Beroccais one of the world's leading vitamin and mineral supplements, and the Quetta Gladiators are some of our best athletes – it’s an excellent fit,” said CEO and MD of Bayer Pakistan, Dr. Imran Ahmad Khan, at the signing ceremony. PRESS RELEASE

PaKistan, sRi LanKa agRee to Reactivate joint woRKing gRouPs to ReMove tRade BaRRieRs ISLAMABAD

P

GHULAM ABBAS

AKISTAN and Sri Lanka have agreed to reactivate the forum of joint working groups (JWGs) for redressal of technical issues pending between the two trading partners.

The understanding was reached during the 7th session of commerce secretaries' level talks between the two countries held on February 18, a commerce ministry statement issued on Saturday read.

The meeting was held ahead of Prime Minister Imran Khan's visit to Sri Lanka on February 23-24, 2021.

According to details shared by the Ministry of Commerce, both sides have decided to conduct the next JWG meeting during the first half of 2021 so as to find ways to effectively exploit the real potential of the Free Trade Agreement signed between the two countries.

From Pakistan's side, the Pakistani delegation was led by MoC Special Secretary Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput, whereas Trade Secretary J.M. Bhadranie Jayawardhana represented the Sri Lankan side.

The delegates engaged in productive and meaningful discussions on strengthening trade ties and resolving issues impeding trade, the MoC stated.

Prospects of enhancing trade through mutual cooperation and facilitation were also discussed.

The heads of the two delegations emphasized the need to use this forum to further strengthen the existing bilateral trade and investment linkages between the two countries. They also agreed to the text of Memorandum of Understanding in the field of investment and resolved that it would culminate into new avenues of bilateral investment.

The Sri Lankan side acknowledged that Pakistan has been a longstanding trading partner and a closer ally, adding that Sri Lanka is eagerly looking forward

to the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Colombo.

Meanwhile, the prime ministers of Pakistan and Sri Lanka earlier today exchanged warm wishes on Twitter prior to Pakistan Premier Imran Khan’s visit to Colombo.

PM Imran thanked his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa for inviting him to visit Sri Lanka. In a tweet on Saturday, the PM said that he is looking forward to his visit to Sri Lanka to further strengthen the friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

Replying to PM Khan, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa tweeted, “Looking forward to welcome Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and his delegation in Sri Lanka next week.”

Rajapaksa further said, “This visit will further reinforce our bilateral relationship and pave way for joint ventures that mutually benefit both our nations.”

CM’s adviser suspends Swat hydropower project director PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

KARACHI: Brands Unlimited Pvt Ltd recently held an event toannounce the opening of its new flagship store at Dolmen Mall, Clifton. PR

LAHORE: Beaconhouse National University observed its 15th Convocation on Saturday at Tarogil Campus, Raiwind Road. The ceremony was held in strict compliance with Covid-19 protocols and in line with social distancing guidelines. PR

FBR detects 21 benami vehicles in Karachi ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has identified another 21 luxury benami vehicles in Karachi. According to sources, FBR's Anti-Benami Zone-III has identified 21 vehicles worth millions of rupees registered in the names of different people. These vehicles included Prado, Premio, Mehran, Cultus, Wagon R, Corolla, Alto, Land Cruiser and Sportage. Sources said that FBR will release a public notice with regard to these suspected benami assets that were purchased via benami transaction as defined under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2017.

As per law, an anti-benami zone can confiscate a vehicle if the relevant person fails to provide the source of income. Earlier in September 2020, the FBR's AntiBenami Zone-III had confiscated some 19 Benami vehicles, including Mercedes-Benzes, BMWs, Toyota Prados, Suzuki Mehrans, Toyota Corollas and two Suzuki Cultuses, worth Rs100 million.

Adviser to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Energy & Power Himayatullah Khan has expressed displeasure over the slow pace of work on the 84megawatt Matiltan Hydropower Project in Swat district and suspended its project director.

The energy adviser sought an inquiry report about reasons behind the unnecessary delay in the project within seven days, said a communication issued late Friday. Khan had issued these directives during his survey of ongoing energy projects in Swat district.

The adviser was accompanied by Power and Energy Secretary Muhammad Zubair Khan and PEDO Chief Executive Engineer Muhammad Naeem Khan.

During the inspection of the under-construction 84MW Matiltan Project, the adviser expressed anger over the non-implementation of instructions given to the project director four months ago.

Lamenting the slow pace of work on the project, he asserted that the provincial government would not tolerate any lapses in the completion of important en-

ergy projects. Meanwhile, the adviser also visited the 88MW Gabral-Kalam Hydropower Project, which is being constructed with the financial support of the World Bank.

The commissioner Malakand on the occasion informed the adviser that issues pertaining to land acquisition for the project would be resolved at the earliest and practical work would commence soon. He said that the construction work on the Powerhouse Colony would start from next month.

Himayataullah Khan later visited the 0.9MW mini micro hydel station in Madinah area of Swat and said that after successful completion of the first phase of the project, construction work of 672 more mini micro hydel stations would be started in the second phase.

The adviser also inspected the already completed 36MW Daral Khwar power plant in Bahrain.

Lastly, he visited solar power plants in Bandai and Derai areas; the plants provide 24 hours cheap electricity to the medical centers. He expressed satisfaction over the performance of the small project and said that the government is striving hard to transfer power generated by this project to the national grid.

PM Imran lauds FBR for achieving revenue target Prime Minister Imran Khan has appreciated the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)'s field formations for achieving the seven-month revenue target by "undertaking bold tax audit and enforcement, and countersmuggling measures".

In a tweet on Saturday, he advised the FBR officials to continue working with honesty and commitment. He also commended the FBR head office team for developing the IT-enabled Transformation Plan and

procuring the cutting-edge Track and Trace System.

The prime minister said once fully functional in July 2021, "it [T&T] will add hundreds of billions of additional revenue, curb counterfeiting and help establish rule of law".

Earlier, the premier had lauded overseas Pakistanis for a record increase in remittances in FY20-21 as compared to last year. He also noted a significant growth in the country’s industrial sector. NEWS DESK

Govt urged to help exporters tap $500bn global furniture market ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has urged the government to provide support to furniture manufacturers and exporters in organising exhibitions in foreign countries to promote Pakistan’s exports in the international market.

ICCI President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan made this demand while inaugurating the ‘Furniture and Living Expo,’ organised by the ICCI in collaboration with RF

Events (SMC-Private) Limited.

A wide variety of furniture and interior products at discounted rates are being offered at the expo that will conclude on Sunday.

Khan said that the global furniture market is estimated at over $500 billion, but Pakistan’s share in it is quite nominal. He said that Pakistani foreign missions should also explore the potential of Pakistani furniture products in their respective countries and share such informa-

tion with chambers of commerce.

He said that government’s help is needed to introduce high-tech machinery and establish more training centres to produce more skilled workers for the furniture industry that would accelerate the growth of this important sector. Khan asked the federal and provincial governments to allocate land for setting up furniture cities in metropolitans of the country that would give a boost to this sector and enhance its exports. TLTP

Moot calls for sustainable tobacco control policies to curtail losses ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

Smoking not only causes majority of deaths in the country but also dents the national kitty heavily, as Pakistan is enduring around Rs192 billion annual loss at the hands of smokingrelated expenditures. This was stated by Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) country head Malik Imran Ahmad while speaking at a two-day session on ‘Saving Youth from Tobacco Hazards through Sustainable Measures in Pakistan’, organised by the Society for Protection of Rights of the Child (SPARC). He said that smoking is costing the Pakistani nation around Rs192 billion per year. This includes direct costs related to healthcare expenditures and indirect costs related to lost productivity due to early mortality and morbidity. The CTFK chief emphasised the need for sustainable tobacco control policies to create a meaningful impact in the society. “In Pakistan, smokers on average spend 10pc of their monthly income on cigarettes. Due to this expenditure, people are left with less money available for essentials such as child nutrition and education,” he observed. Ahmad said that the ratio of deaths from tobacco-related diseases is higher when compared with HIV/Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis. Over 163,000 people died from tobacco in 2017 as per the World Health Organization report, while 1,480 succumbed to HIV/AIDS, 5,000 to Malaria and 7,000 to Tuberculosis. Around 1,200 children aged between 6 and 15 start smoking in Pakistan every year, he mentioned.

“Increasing the rates of taxes on tobacco is a proven policy to reduce tobacco consumption as per the WHO and World Bank recommendations. But unfortunately, cigarette taxation in Pakistan is among the weakest in the world, due to which the revenue loss is Rs37 billion per annum.” He urged the government to increase federal excise duty on tobacco sector by Rs30, as it will help generate between Rs22.2 billion and Rs33.3 billion of additional revenue. He also stressed the need to adopt a National Tobacco Control Policy and to strengthen tobacco control cells for effective monitoring and implementation of tobacco-related laws. Meanwhile, SPARC Board of Directors (BoDs) Chairperson Falak Raja noted that tobacco consumption among youth in Pakistan is unacceptably high and that use of this addictive product is harming their mental and physical health.

Plan for Gwadar Oil City likely to be finalised by year-end The planning process for the establishment of the largest oil city in Gwadar is expected to conclude before the end of the year.

According to the people familiar with the matter, the proposed mega oil city will be developed at an area of 80,000 acres in Gwadar district for the refining and processing of petroleum products mainly imported from the Gulf region for local and regional needs.

“The planning for the mega oil city which will host Aramco Refinery and petrochemical complex is in progress and we will take 6 to 7 months to complete the master plan,” Shahzeb Khan Kakar, Director General of Gwadar Development Authority

(GDA), told a foreign news agency.

During the 2019 visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed seven investment deals worth $21 billion that included a long-term Aramco oil refinery project, mineral development, two RNLNG power plants, Acwa Power, Saudi Fund for Pakistan, petrochemical project, and food and agriculture projects.

The $10 billion Aramco Oil Refinery with 250,000-300,000 bpd oil refining capacity is expected to take 5-6 years from its inception to commissioning. The project will have a $1 billion petrochemical complex

which will lay the foundations of the petrochemical industry in Pakistan with the production of polyethylene and polypropylene.

“Though the federal government is directly dealing with the Saudis, we will invite them after the planning is completed,” Kakar said and added: “The oil city is equally big as Gwadar. We have made the master plan of Gwadar as a smart city at an area of 88,000 acres keeping in view requirements up to 2050.”

Apart from the oil city, authorities in Gwadar are also developing an industrial zone that aims to attract big investment-which is slated for completion by 2023.

CMYK

“Industrialisation is expected to start from 2023 with the provision of basic utilities including electricity,” Attaullah Jogezai, Managing Director of Gwadar Industrial Estate Development Authority (GIEDA) said.

Keeping in view anticipated development projects backed by Saudi and Chinese investment, the GDA chief forecast that the per capita income of Gwadar would surge to $15,000 by 2050. “Fisheries, oil refinery, petrochemical complexes, shipyard, tourism industry and most importantly, the operations of Gwadar port will generate huge income and increase per capita income,” Kakar explained.

“This can be achieved by providing electricity, protection and a sound management system.”

Authorities working on a 300 MW coalfired power plant and a five million gallons per day desalination plant say both projects will be functional by January 2023. “Regulations have been framed to allocate lands in the industrial zone,” Manzoor Hussain, additional secretary of industries for Balochistan, said and added: “Now land will be allotted only to those industrialists who will set them up within the given timeframe. Our mission is to create employment in the province.” NEWS DESK

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

10 Foreign newS

lahore

Moscow courT rejecTs KreMlin criTic navalny's aPPeal againsT Prison senTence MOSCOW

a

AGENCIES

Moscow appeal court on Saturday upheld a prison sentence imposed on Alexei Navalny after he returned to Russia from Germany following a poisoning attack, shortening his nearly three-year jail term by just six weeks.

Judge Dmitry Balashov rejected Navalny's appeal of the February 2 ruling, which had turned a 2014 suspended sentence on embezzlement charges into real jail time.

The judge decided to count six weeks Navalny was under house arrest as part of the time served, meaning he will now be imprisoned for just over two-and-a-half years in a penal colony.

Prosecutors in a separate trial have called for the Kremlin critic to be fined the equivalent of $13,000 for calling a World

War II veteran a "traitor" on Twitter last year, with a verdict also expected Saturday.

Supporters of the outspoken opposition figure say the rulings and several other cases against the 44-year-old are a pretext to silence his corruption exposes and quash his political ambitions.

Navalny was given the nearly three-year sentence on February 2 for breaching parole terms of an embezzlement conviction while in Germany recovering from a poisoning attack that very nearly killed him.

That ruling stemmed from a suspended sentence he was given in 2014 for embezzlement, a ruling the European Court of Human Rights deemed arbitrary.

EUROPEAN COURT ORDER REBUFFED: The 94-year-old veteran at the centre of the separate defamation case appeared in a video that was derided by Navalny for promoting constitutional reforms that passed last year and could allow

Two killed in Mandalay city in bloodiest day of Myanmar protests AGENCIES Two people were killed in Myanmar’s second city Mandalay on Saturday when police and soldiers fired to disperse protests against a Feb. 1 military coup, emergency workers said, the bloodiest day in more than two weeks of demonstrations. Protesters took to the streets in cities and towns across Myanmar with members of ethnic minorities, poets, rappers and transport workers among those demanding an end to military rule and the release from detention of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and others. Tensions escalated quickly in Mandalay where police and soldiers confronted striking shipyard workers and other protesters. Some of the demonstrators fired catapults at police as they played cat and mouse through riverside streets. Police responded with tear gas and gunfire, and witnesses said they found the cartridges of both live rounds and rubber bullets on the ground.

“Twenty people were injured and two are dead,” said Ko Aung, a leader of the Parahita Darhi volunteer emergency service. One man died from a head wound, media workers including Lin Khaing, an assistant editor with the Voice of Myanmar media outlet in the city, and a volunteer doctor said.

Ko Aung and the doctor said a second man was shot in the chest and died later of his wound. He was identified by relatives as Thet Naing Win, a 36-year-old carpenter. “They took away the body to the morgue. I cannot bring him back home.

Although my husband died, I still have my son,” his wife, Thidar Hnin, told Reuters by phone. “I haven’t been involved in this movement yet but now I am going to...I am not scared now.” Several other injured protesters were carried away on stretchers by volunteer medics, their clothes soaked in blood.

Thai protests outside parliament after PM survives vote BANGKOK AGENCIES

Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Thailand’s parliament after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and nine ministers survived a parliamentary no-confidence motion on Saturday after a four-day censure debate. “It was a disappointment, but expected,” protest leader Attapon Buapat said. Over 1,000 protesters rallied outside the parliament gates. Organisers gave assurances the protest would not turn violent. “We want a peaceful protest,” protest leader Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul told reporters after speaking to the police. “There is no reason for police to break up this demonstration.” Earlier, lawmakers voted in favour of Prayuth and other ministers, which had been widely expected. Opposition lawmakers have taken aim at what they say is a slow government roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine and at its economic policies, vowing to continue investigating. “We’ve opened a wound and now will pour salt on it,” Pita Limjaroenrat, head of the Move Forward Party told reporters after the vote. Prayuth, a former chief of the armed forces, overthrew an elected prime minister in 2014 and stayed in office after a 2019 election that his rivals said was badly flawed. The government has said the elections were free and fair. Prayuth was expected to survive Saturday’s vote due to his coalition government’s majority in the lower house. “The debate went well, but the government must continue its work,” Prayuth said in a podcast after the vote. “I would like to ask all Thais to work together to bring the country forward.” The no-confidence motion came as pro-democracy protests returned after a lull brought on by a second outbreak of Covid-19.

President Putin to stay in power until 2036.

A series of theatrical hearings in the case ended Tuesday with Navalny asking if the judge could recommend a recipe for pickles, since it is "pointless to talk about the law" with her.

Putin came under pressure to release Navalny when he was detained on arrival at a Moscow airport in January.

The arrest sparked large protests across the county that saw more than 10,000 people detained, while the European Union threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia.

Europe's rights court ruled this week that Russia must immediately release Navalny, in a motion swiftly brushed off by the Kremlin. Navalny's allies believe Russia's non-compliance with the ruling could lead to its expulsion from the Council of Europe and exacerbate a crisis in Moscow's ties with Europe that began with the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

World tops 200 million vaccine doses as G7 boosts funding PARIS AGENCIES

The number of coronavirus vaccine doses administered worldwide passed 200 million Saturday, an AFP count showed, as wealthy G7 countries pledged to more than double aid to support access for the less well-off.

With 45 percent of injections so far among the rich club -- which accounts for just 10 percent of the global population -- the G7 on Friday said its aid to projects like the World Health Organization's Covax now amount to $7.5 billion.

The increased pledges from the US, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Japan and Canada came as permanent UN Security Council member Britain showed a draft resolution to other countries on the global body, calling for wealthy nations to share doses with poor and war-torn states.

Seen by AFP, the text "emphasises the need for solidarity, equity, and efficacy and invites donation of vaccine doses from developed economies to lowand middle-income countries and other countries in

need." Meanwhile Russia pressed ahead with its home-grown vaccination programme, saying 120,000 doses of its third authorised coronavirus vaccine, CoviVac, will reach people by March, following in the footsteps of the Sputnik V and EpiVacCorona shots.

The new vaccine, still in final stage clinical trials, was produced by the state-run Chumakov Centre based in Moscow and employed a different method of development from Sputnik and EpiVacCorona, using an inactive virus.

"Today Russia is the only country in which there are already three vaccines for the prevention of Covid infection," Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said.

And New Zealand began what director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield called a "small but important step in a long journey" by launching jabs for high risk citizens and those returning from overseas, along with border and quarantine workers.

Neighbouring Australia is set to start its own scheme on Monday.

JUMPING THE QUEUE: In Argentina, health minister Gines Gonzalez Garci resigned late Friday after

it emerged that he had been helping friends skip the line for vaccine shots.

President Alberto Fernandez called on him to quit after a 71-year-old journalist, Horacio Verbitsky, announced on the radio that his longstanding friendship with the minister helped him get vaccinated in his office ahead of the general population.

Local media reported that other people close to the government were also vaccinated at the health ministry.

In Romania, the government pushed the country's thousands of homeless people up the priority list for vaccines, placing them on a par with the elderly and the chronically ill and reaching 300 in the first days of the drive.

"These people are among the most exposed to infection risk. It's hard for most of them to follow infection control measures," junior health minister Andrei Baciu told AFP. Even as countries move forward with vaccinations, the death toll is ticking upwards, with an AFP tally reaching more than 2.45 million worldwide by 1100 GMT Saturday, with almost 111 million cases.

US unwinds Trump 'remain in Mexico' programme, mulls flights for asylum seekers SAN DIEGO AGENCIES

A group of 25 asylum seekers was allowed into the United States on Friday, a United Nations official said, the start of efforts to unwind one of former President Donald Trump’s most restrictive immigration policies, which forced thousands to wait in Mexico for their US cases to be heard.

The US government has also expressed interest in funding flights that would bring back certain people who were blocked by the Trump policy and who are no longer at the border, the UN official said in an interview with Reuters on Friday.

President Joe Biden pledged during his campaign that he would immediately rescind the Trump policy, known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), under which more than 65,000 mostly Central American asylum seekers were denied entry and sent back across the border pending court hearings. Most returned home but some stayed in Mexico in sometimes squalid or dangerous conditions, vulnerable to kidnapping and other violence.

Now they will be allowed into the United States to wait for their cases to be heard in immigration courts.

The effort started slowly on Friday at a port of entry in San Ysidro, California, where the 25 MPP asylum seekers were allowed to cross the border and will now quarantine in a local hotel, according to the non-profit organization Jewish Family Service of San Diego. Rosario, a 40-year-old Nicaraguan asylum seeker, and her nine-year-old son were among the first group to cross.

Rosario was relieved to reach the US after a 21month wait in Tijuana, where she said she was afraid

to go outside for fear of being targeted as a migrant, she told Reuters. Her son missed nearly two years of school during that time.

“When we put our feet down in San Ysidro, and we knew we had gotten there, we smiled from ear to ear,” said Rosario, who is seeking political asylum and asked to be identified by her middle name for her safety. Hundreds of migrants signed up on Friday within hours of the launch of a UN website that allows migrants with active cases to register remotely to be processed at the US-Mexico border, said Mark Manly, a representative in Mexico for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

At a migrant encampment in Matamoros, Mexico, several dozen asylum seekers lined up outside a makeshift school to register.

Sandra Andrade, a Salvadoran who has been waiting in Mexico for over a year to resolve her case, talked on video chat with her two daughters in Boston as she waited in line. “I’m going to be with you soon,” she said. “I love you!”

On the Tijuana side of the border crossing, about 300 migrants gathered in the morning, even as Mexican officials told them they would not be able to cross without registering ahead of time.

The effort will expand in the coming week to two additional ports of entry in Texas, including one near the encampment in Matamoros, according to a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokeswoman.

Advocates have pushed for the Biden administration to fly migrants in the program to the United States, which they say would be safer and faster for people traveling from Central America and elsewhere.

The United States and the United Nations are evaluating the locations of migrants and costs associated with possible flights and land transportation within

Mexico, said Dana Graber Ladek, chief of mission for the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration in Mexico.

“Nothing is in place yet,” she said. “Right now we’re still exploring all of the possibilities.”

A State Department spokesman declined to comment. Biden began overturning Trump’s hardline immigration policies on Jan. 20, his first day in office, when he lifted a travel ban on 13 mostly Muslim-majority and African countries, halted construction of the US-Mexico border wall and reversed other measures.

The Biden administration is treading carefully in its efforts to process asylum seekers, wary that the policy shift could encourage more migrants to trek to the US-Mexico border. US officials say anyone who seeks to enter and does not have an active MPP case will be immediately expelled.

The administration estimates that only 25,000 people out of the more than 65,000 enrolled in MPP still have active immigration court cases and began dealing with that group on Friday.

Biden officials say they expect eventually to process 300 people per day at two of the ports.

In a letter sent to Biden on Feb. 10, a group of Republican lawmakers said allowing asylum seekers stranded in Mexico to enter the United States “sends the signal that our borders are open.”

The United States, Mexico and international organizations have scrambled in recent days to figure out how to register migrants, transport them to the border, test them for Covid-19 and get them to their US destinations, people familiar with the effort said.

The situation has taken on urgency as a winter storm has brought frigid temperatures to much of the southern United States and northern Mexico, including the Matamoros camp.

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

SPORTS 11

LAHORE

KaRachI KIngS BEaT QuETTa gLaDIaToRS By 7 WIcKETS In PSL oPEnER

KARACHI

K

STAF REOPRT

ARACHI Kings won the opening match of the sixth edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) against Quetta Gladiators at Karachi's National Stadium on Saturday.

The Gladiators had managed to score 121 runs in 19.2 overs. The Kings started off strong by dismissing both Sarfaraz Ahmed and Tom Banton early in the game.

Saim Ayub, who made his T20 debut, fell in the eighth over, adding an equal number of runs to the scoreboard. Chris Gayle, dubbed the "T20

superstar", met his downfall in the ninth over. Gayle scored 39 runs. In response, the Kings' run chase was never in trouble. Despite losing the early wicket of Sharjeel Khan, they immediately got back on their feet, reaching their target with more than six overs and seven wickets to spare.

Babar Azam, for once, wasn't the top performer for the Kings. Joe Clarke's scintillating 23-ball 46 was the highlight of the port city team's innings. Later, Mohammad Nabi chipped in with an unbeaten 30 off 14 to get his team home.

Sharing his thoughts in the postmatch presentation, Karachi Kings captain Imad Wasim stated, "The way

we started deserves a round of applause especially Arshad. We have so many options. Nabi didn't bowl, it is good to have those options and I felt Nabi was not required on this surface."

Of his part, Gladiators captain Sarfaraz Ahmad said, "The target in our mind was 170-180. But we were not able to execute. I did open in this match but we will analyse where is my best position. The runs were too less and hence attacked with the fast bowlers."

OPENING CEREMONY: PSL kicked off earlier today in Karachi with a star-studded opening ceremony. Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ehsan Mani kicked things off by welcoming international players to the country.

"We welcome you to Pakistan and know that you will take back very fond memories of your stay here and look forward to seeing you again next year."

"This year, matches are only being played in Karachi and Lahore.

Only 7,500 people will be able to attend matches in Karachi and 5,500 in Lahore due to the coronavirus," he said, adding that he was hopeful the situation would improve and allow more fans to attend matches.

He also thanked the fans for making PSL a success, while also expressing his gratitude to the sponsors of the tournament. He added that the tournament would not have been possible without the cooperation of the provincial governments and law enforcement agencies. He concluded his speech by wishing all six franchises luck in the tournament. In his address, HBL CEO Mohammad Aurangzeb said: "We missed the fans last year and some would argue the energy associated with having a full stadium.

But from my perspective, stadiums are where the fans are, whether they are in the stands or watching from the comfort of their homes."

KaRaCHI KINGs: Babar Azam, Sharjeel Khan, Colin Ingram, Joe Clarke (wk), Mohammad Nabi, Dan Christian, Imad Wasim (capt) Aamer Yamin, Waqas Maqsood, Mohammad Amir, Arshad Iqbal quETTa GLaDIaTORs: Chris Gayle, Tom Banton, Azam Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed (capt &wk(), Saim Ayub, Ben Cutting, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Hasnain, Qais Ahmed, Naseem Shah, Usman Shinwari

Big blow for Zalmi as Wahab Riaz, Darren Sammy quarantined for breaking bubble NEWS DESK A few hours before the start of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021, Peshawar Zalmi received a major blow as their captain Wahab Riaz and head coach Darren Sammy were ruled out indefinitely and sent into isolation for breaching the league's bio-secure bubble.

Reliable sources within the team and the PSL management have confirmed Geo News that Riaz, along with Sammy, had mistakenly met team owner Javed Afridi during their practice session on Friday evening. “It may be an honest mistake and the player and coach possibly didn’t know that he (Afridi) was not a part of the bubble,” a source privy to the matter said. Zalmi will now announce a stand-in captain for Sunday's match, with Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal likely candidates. The PCB, on late Friday night, had announced that a player and an official had been placed in a three-day quarantine after coming into contact with a person outside the bubble. The two individuals will now have to take two negative tests during the three-day quarantine before they could re-enter the bubble in accordance with re-entry protocols.

India bring in rising IPL stars for T20s against England NEW DELHI: India have brought rising IPL stars Varun Chakravarthy, Rahul Tewatia, Ishan Kishan and Suryakumar Yadav into their squad for the Twenty20 series against England next month. But India will rest star fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah for the five-match series to be played in Ahamedabad from March 12.

Chakravarthy has had a rags-to-riches rise in the Indian Premier League. The architect turned leg-spinner only got a first selection with Kings XI Punjab in 2019 at the age of 27 but he gave away 25 runs in his first over, played only one match and was released at the end of the season. Given a second chance by Kolkata Knight Riders last year, Chakravarthy took 5-20 in one game and ended as one of the top 10 wicket-takers. He was called up for India's T20 side in Australia in December but had to withdraw because of a shoulder injury. Tewatia made his mark on the IPL with some spectacular batting for Rajasthan Royals, including hitting five sixes in an over against Punjab's Sheldon Cottrell.

Batsman Yadav and wicketkeeper-batsman Kishan were standout performers for Mumbai Indians as they won a fifth IPL title last year. Veteran fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar returns to the 19man squad after a long injury layoff. England have already named their T20 squad for the games to be played on March 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 at the world's biggest cricket stadium.

INDIa T20I squaD: Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, Shreyas Iyer, Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya, Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Rahul Tewatia, T. Natarajan, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Deepak Chahar, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur.

Bayern Munich crash 2-1 at Frankfurt in Bundesliga BERLIN AGENCIES

Bayern Munich crashed to a 2-1 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday in the Bundesliga as the world champions showed chinks in their armour before they return to Champions League action next week.

Robert Lewandowski netted his 26th league goal this season for Bayern, but Frankfurt deserved the win thanks to first-half goals by Japan midfielder Daichi Kamada and Amin Younes.

After their 3-3 league draw at home to strugglers Armina Bielefeld last Monday, Bayern again wobbled ahead of Tuesday's Champions League first leg tie at Lazio.

Frankfurt's win gives hope to Bayern's league rivals as second-placed RB Leipzig can cut Bay-

ern's lead to two points if they win at Hertha Berlin on Sunday. It was Bayern's third league defeat.

Their last, a 3-2 reverse at Borussia Moenchengladbach in January was followed by a shock German Cup defeat at second-tier Holstein Kiel.

In a sign of Bayern's domestic dominance, it was only the sixth defeat head coach Hansi Flick has suffered since taking charge in November 2019.

Frankfurt capitalised on Bayern's jaded form since they lifted the Club World Cup in Qatar just over a week ago.

Bayern were missing defender Benjamin Pavard plus forward Thomas Mueller, who were both sidelined after testing positive for Covid-19, and Corentin Tolisso, who is likely to be sidelined for months after injuring himself in training this week. Frankfurt's top scorer Andre Silva dropped

out before kick off with a back injury.

Just like in Monday's draw against Bielefeld, Bayern were 2-0 down at half-time after Kamada opened the scoring by tucking away a cross with just 12 minutes gone. The Japanese midfielder then set up Younes, who hit the far corner past the diving Manuel Neuer on 31 minutes.

Bayern pulled a goal back just after the break when Lewandowski fired home after Leroy Sane toyed with his marker before putting in a superb low cross. Despite Bayern's second-half onslaught, Frankfurt held on for their fifth straight league win which leaves them fourth in the table.

Elsewhere, Borussia Moenchengladbach crashed to a 2-1 home defeat to Mainz before their Champions League last 16 first-leg clash against Manchester City in Budapest on Wednesday.

GWADAR: In one of the most scenic stadiums of the world, Gwadar Cricket Ground, EBM in partnership with Aaj Entertainment hosted Sooper Hai Pakistan Cup, a vibrant event with a 20 over celebrity exhibition match between Showbiz Sharks Vs Gwadar Dolphins. Showbiz Sharks captained by Waseem Khan emerged as champions of the Sooper Hai Pakistan Cup after defeating Gwadar Dolphins who were led by Zulfi Bukhari with a margin of 12 runs.

British High Commission of Pakistan Dr Christian Turner graced the occasion as chief guest. PR

Japan's Osaka sweeps to fourth Grand Slam crown MELBOURNE AGENCIES

Japan's Naomi Osaka dismissed Jennifer Brady in straight sets to win her fourth Grand Slam title at the Australian Open on Saturday and underline her new status as the dominant force in women's tennis.

Osaka, 23, swept past America's Brady 6-4, 6-3 in 77 minutes to win her second straight major crown and extend a 21-match winning streak that stretches back more than a year.

The world number three, who will rise to second in the rankings, becomes only the third player after Monica Seles and Roger Federer to win her first four major finals.

By clinching back-to-back majors for the second time, the reigning US Open champion has won half of the Slams she has contested since her breakthrough 2018 US Open victory against Serena Williams. After a tight first set, Osaka controlled the second to win 6-4, 6-3 in 77 minutes in front of 7,381 fans at Rod Laver Arena, operating at half-capacity over coronavirus concerns.

"During my pre-season I would look at the Australian Open trophy from the time before and I would really feel inspired to try to win another one," she revealed.

Osaka, who did not play last year's French Open, saved match points against Garbine Muguruza in the fourth round and beat her idol Serena Williams in straight sets in the semi-finals.

But Osaka, a third-round loser in Melbourne last year, said she didn't expect her charmed run to go on forever.

"I don't expect to win all my matches this year," she said. "Somebody can give me a medal if I win all my matches this year, but I don't think it's possible. "I do remember what it feels like to lose a match, very vividly. I remember it here, and I remember how I was feeling and what my mindset was.

"Honestly, it still makes me said to this day, so it's quite a lingering memory."

After subduing 22nd seed Brady, a fellow big-hitter, Osaka lifted her racquet above her head in a muted celebration as the crowd roared. "We played in the semis of the US Open a couple of months ago and I told

everyone that you're going to be a problem," Osaka told Brady at the trophy presentation.

"And I was right." us OPEN REMaTCH: The Japanese survived a seesaw start to gain control, reeling off six straight games en route to the title.

It was a rematch of last year's epic, threeset US Open semi-final, described by some as the best match of 2020, but Osaka triumphed far more comfortably on this occasion. Before the match, Osaka had pinpointed her own return as the key, but she was helped out by a shaky Brady who lost her serve in the fourth game after two double faults.

But Brady, the 22nd seed, hit back with a break and she continued to pile pressure on Osaka's serve. A brilliant lob winner, showcasing her trademark athleticism, gave a pumped-up Brady a break point in the ninth game, but Osaka held on.

Brady then played a sloppy game on serve to hand over the set to Osaka, who had a 20-0 record at Melbourne Park when winning the first set.

Osaka gained a stranglehold with an early break in the second set and fired down

CMYK

KREjcIKova anD Ram WIn auSTRaLIan oPEn mIxED DouBLES TITLE MELBOURNE: Barbora Krejcikova and Rajeev Ram won their second Australian Open mixed doubles title in three years on Saturday with a 6-1, 6-4 win over home pairing Sam Stosur and Matthew Ebden. For Krejcikova it was her third Australian Open title in a row after combining with Nikola Mektic of Croatia to win the mixed doubles a year ago. She had lost in the women's doubles final with fellow Czech Katerina Siniakova on Friday to Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka, but put her disappointment behind her in just 59 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. "We had a year off as a team, but she didn't have a year off and won this thing last year," Ram said of Krejcikova at the presentation ceremony. "Three years running is an amazing job." Ram has a chance to pick up another Australian Open title on Sunday, when he and Britain's Joe Salisbury defend their men's doubles title against Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek. AGENCIES

an ace to skip out to a 3-0 lead, followed by a roar of "C'mon!".

Brady attempted a late rally, but a calm Osaka was not to be denied.

Brady's resilient run ended after serving 14 days' hard quarantine before the tournament, unlike other players who were allowed out of their hotel rooms to train.

Despite the defeat, Brady will rise to a career-high 13th in the WTA rankings.

Asked what makes Osaka special, she said: "She's just brings out her best in the big moments.

"But I don't think, you know, she's God," added Brady. "I think maybe Serena is.

Maybe she'll get there, I don't know."

Sunday, 21 February, 2021

prAyEr tImINGS

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

5:36

12:14

3:07

7:01

5:27

6:52

PM fund Case verdiCt suffers froM iMProPrieties, illegalities: JustiCe isa ISLAMABAD tLtp

W

HILe raising objection over the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict that barred him to hear cases involving Prime Minister Imran Khan, Justice Qazi Faez Isa termed the order and events leading up to it suffer from the improprieties and illegalities.

On February 11, after dismissing the plea about allegations that the PM had distributed development funds among lawmakers, Chief Justice of Pakistan Gulzar Ahmed had said in a written order that Justice Isa "should not hear matters involving the prime minister". Citing the reason of his order in the matter, the top judge had noted that since Justice Isa had filed a petition in personal capacity against PM Imran, it "would not be proper" for the former to hear cases involving the PM in order "to uphold the principle of un-biasness and impartiality".

However, in a 28-page dissenting note to the February 11 order on Saturday, Justice Isa raised objections on 20 points from the judgement, underscoring that the decision undermines the judiciary and the SC. Justice Isa pointed out that without informing the two-member bench, which was already hearing the matter, the chief justice decided to reconstitute

the bench, expand it and exclude Justice Maqbool Baqar from it.

He further said that no one had alleged bias or lack of impartiality against any judge on the bench but without consulting the bench, the chief justice “tersely announced that a judge of the SC should not hear any case involving the prime minister”.

“The honourable chief justice arbitrarily introduced a non-issue bias and lack of impartiality on the part of a judge on the bench,” the note further read.

Justice Isa further objected that the judge was not made privy to the written order and that the order was sent to a junior judge while the senior judge was bypassed. “The ‘order of the court’ was not

written and thus, not signed, therefore, there is no order of the court and the matter remains pending,” he stated, adding that the order was uploaded on the SC website before a judge had seen it”.

“The order and case file were not sent, in accordance with long-standing established practice, to the judge and the judge learnt of the order through the media,” Justice Isa said in the note underscoring that he had to later write to the registrar to seek the order and case file.

The justice further stressed that the paragraph 6 of the order is unconstitutional as it was not passed under any of the different jurisdictions of the SC stipulated in the Constitution. “Paragraph 6 of the order does not constitute a legal ‘order’ as per law and as per the precedents of this court,” he stated.

"In conclusion, I must say that it has been extremely painful for me to write this order. I apologise, if anything herein has hurt or offended as that has not been my intention. I have said what I felt I needed to say in the hope that unstructured discretion is curtailed."

“Since it has never served any institution nor the interest of the people. To end on a positive note, the most resilient and finest institutions are those, wherein there is candour, transparency and legitimate dissent,” he said adding that he prays that courts stand against all manner of constitutional violations and safeguards the people against misuse of power.

Three separate Kabul explosions kill 5, wound two: Afghan police KABUL AGENCIES

Three separate explosions in the Afghan capital Kabul on Saturday killed at least five people and wounded two others, a police official said, amid a surge in violence in the war-torn country. Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz said the first two explosions took place 15 minutes apart and a third targeting a police vehicle took place two hours later.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility.

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

569,846

LAST UPDATED AT 8:53 AM ON FEBRUARY 20, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

36

1,340

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

SINDH:

PUNJAB:

533,202 12,563

255,430 KP:

70,716

166,777 BALOCHISTAN:

18,972

AJK/GB: ISLAMABAD: 9,718/4,951 43,282

It was not immediately clear what caused the blasts. The majority of bomb attacks in the capital Kabul in recent months have been sticky bombs–explosive devices with magnets that are attached to vehicles and detonated by remote control or timer.

The second explosion targeted a car in a northwestern Kabul neighbourhood in which national army soldiers were travelling, killing two soldiers. A civilian passerby was also killed.

The third explosion destroyed a police car in western Kabul, killing two police officers. Meanwhile, the

first blast targeted a civilian car wounding both travellers inside the vehicle.

Kabul police said investigations were underway.

Afghanistan has seen a nationwide spike in bombings, targeted killings and violence on the battlefield as peace negotiations in Qatar between the Taliban and the Afghan government have stalled. The Islamic State group’s local affiliate has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks, but many go unclaimed, with the government putting the blame on the Taliban. The insurgents have denied responsibility for most of the attacks.

China shares dramatic video of mountain clash with india troops BEIJING AGENCIES

Dramatic footage released by Chinese state media purportedly shows deadly clashes between troops at the Indian border last year — a rare insight into violence at the tense, remote frontier. China's defence ministry on Friday named four soldiers killed in the brawl, in the first confirmation of deaths by Beijing from an incident that had also claimed the lives of at least 20 Indian soldiers.

Footage later released by state broadcaster CCTV appeared to show Indian troops wading through a river towards Chinese soldiers in the barren and ice-covered Karakoram Mountains, carrying sticks and shields reading “police”. A bilateral accord prevents the use of guns by either side, and brutal clashes between the two sides on the ill-defined border often involve sticks, rocks and fistfights. “They have now moved another new tent here,” one soldier says in the video, which claims the Indian side broke the consensus and crossed the line to “provoke” the Chinese soldiers. Later footage shows a large melee of troops from both sides and clashes in the dark, before Chinese soldiers are seen treating a man on the floor whose head is covered in blood. The high-altitude border battle in the Galwan valley in June was one of the deadliest clashes between the two sides in recent decades.

Beijing acknowledged that the clash had resulted in casualties but did not confirm if any Chinese soldiers died until this week. The CCTV voiceover said the Chinese soldiers were “heroically sacrificed”. Battalion commander Chen Hongjun and three other soldiers have been given posthumous awards, the defence ministry said.

State media reported that the youngest soldier to die was 19. India and China fought a border war in 1962 and have long accused each other of seeking to cross their frontier — which has never been properly agreed — in India's Ladakh region, just opposite Tibet. Beijing and New Delhi later sent tens of thousands of extra troops to the border, but said last week they had agreed to “disengage” along the border area.

Navy conducts joint drills with Russia, Sri Lanka KARACHI StAff rEport

The Pakistan Navy on Saturday conducted joint drills, Arabian Monsoon 2021 and Lion Star-II, with the naval forces of Russia and Sri Lanka respectively.

A spokesperson of the Navy said the exercises were held in the north Arabian Sea and were also attended by the aerial assets of the Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

The joint drills represent the Pakistan Navy's commitment to promote and balance a safe maritime environment in the region.

The exercises were conducted to further enhance the cooperation and interoperability with Russian and Sri Lankan navies, the spokesperson said.

Pakistan ships Alamgir and Aslat took part in the drill with ships of Russian navy, Admiral Grigorovich and Dmitriy Rogachov, in the North Arabian Sea while ship Zulfiquar conducted bilateral exercise Lion Star-II with Sri Lankan ship Gajabahu.

In the exercises, fixed and rotary wing aircraft of Pakistan Navy as well as some PAF fighters also participated. The exercises included anti-surface, anti-air warfare, manoeuvring and communication serials.

The engagements are also testimony of PN's resolve to work towards regional peace and maintain close relations with all friendly navies, the

spokesperson added.

The 7th multinational naval exercise Aman-21 was culminated on Tuesday with a graceful conduct of International Fleet Review (IFR). With

the participation of some 45 countries, including the US, Russia, China, and Turkey, the Aman-2021 drill–a biannual affair since 2007–was hosted by Pakistan from February 11-16.

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk

Significantly, this was the first time Russia joined a military drill with NATO members in a decade. The last such time was in 2011 in the Bold Monarch 2011 exercise off the coast of Spain.