Epaper – January 04 KHI 2021

Monday, 4 January, 2021 I 19 Jumada Al-Awwal, 1442 I Rs 40.00 I Vol XI No 186 I 52 Pages I Karachi Edition

11 miners gunned down in Balochistan g

IS claImS reSponSIbIlIty for the attack

QUETTA

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stAff RepoRt

t lleast 11 coal miners belonging to the minority Shia hazara community were killed in the mach town of balochistan’s bolan district early Sunday morning after militants abducted them and took them to nearby hills before opening fire at close range, Quetta deputy commissioner murad kasi confirmed. the injured miners were shifted to mach hospital, said police. moazzam ali jatoi, an official with the levies force, which serves as police and paramilitary in the area, said that the attack took place near the coal mine. jatoi said that armed men took the coal miners to nearby mountains, where they opened fire on them. he said that six of the miners were dead on the spot and five who were critically wounded died on the way to a hospital. the official said that an initial investigation revealed the attackers identified

the miners as being from the minority hazara community and the gunmen took them away for execution, leaving others unharmed. however, speaking to reuters on the condition of anonymity, a security official said, “the throats of all coal miners have been slit, after their hands were tied behind their backs and (they were) blind folded.” television footages showed security troops surrounding a desolated mountainous area diverting traffic and guiding ambulances to pick up the bodies.

Security forces were also seen spreading out in the mountains to search for the perpetrators. prime minister Imran khan condemned the miners’ killing on twitter, wherein he said: “the condemnable killing of 11 innocent coal miners in machh balochistan is yet another cowardly inhumane act of terrorism. have asked the fc to use all resources to apprehend these killers & bring them to justice. the families of the victims will not be left abandoned by the govt”.

Speaking on the incident, balochis-

tan chief minister jam kamal expressed sorrow over the loss of life and sought a report from the concerned authorities. kamal also directed the authorities to spare no effort in arresting those responsible for the terrorist attack, vowing for the elements involved in terrorist incidents to be brought to justice. balochistan government spokesperson liaquat Shahwani said that the terrorists would be punished and condemned the loss of life. according to the official pakistan people’s party (ppp) twitter handle, chairman bilawal bhutto-zardari also condemned the incident and termed the killings of innocent labourers as the worst form of terrorism. provincial home minister mir zia langau strongly condemned the attack on workers and sought a report from the authorities concerned. “no stone should be left unturned in the arrest of the accused,” he said. “an unsuccessful attempt is being made to sabotage the peace of the province,” the home minister added.

Similarly, in a tweet, federal minister for Information and broadcasting Shibli faraz said that the external enemy is trying to destabilise pakistan and constantly attacking and expressed deep grief over the incident. he added that the foes of the country will face failure in their nefarious designs. meanwhile, human rights minister Shireen mazari said on the microblogging site: “terrorists now target poor coal miners in machh balochistan – murdering 11 & seriously wounding 4. Indian funded terrorists in balochistan getting more desperate as development comes to province.

Socio econ empowerment & Insaf for the baloch are how we will defeat the terrorists.”

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

‘Punjab ready to take back rights’: PML-N resorts to ethnic politics g

maryam nawaz SayS unleSS punjab StandS up, thIngS wIll not change BAHAWALPUR Akif RAshid

kicking off the second phase of the pakistan democratic movement (pdm) rallies, pakistan muslim leaguenawaz (pml-n) Vice president maryam nawaz took a card out of her father’s playbook and tried to rouse the people of punjab to the opposition’s side. after greeting an excited crowd of supporters on Sunday, the pml-n vice president said that punjab would be “taunted” for “not standing up for others” and other provinces would say that “unless punjab stands up, things will not change”. “well listen here! not only has punjab risen, it is ready to take back the rights it has been robbed of. and when punjab stands up, whose legs start shaking?” she asked the chanting crowd. “you know whose legs shake when punjab rises? establishment, selectors and selected all are watching that punjab has risen,” she said. this narrative is similar to the one taken by the nawaz Sharif-led Islami jamhoori Ittehad (IjI) in the 1980s, wherein nawaz had adopted the slogan: ‘jaag punjabi jag, teri pagg

noon lag gya daag’ (awaken o punjabi, your honour is at stake). the ethnic slogan had helped nawaz retain ground in lahore against pakistan people’s party’s (ppp) benazir bhutto’s seemingly unstoppable march to power at the time. after the pdm’s most recent rally took place in lahore on december 13, various media reports showed underwhelming numbers at the lahore rally. maryam appears to have adopted a similarly divisive call to action to rouse people against the ruling party. the pml-n Vp rhetorically asked what would happen if she directed the crowd towards the federal capital. She said that the number of people in the crowd shows that the ruling party’s days are numbered.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05 in today’s issue

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02

Monday, 4 January, 2021

NEWS

CoPs ACCusEd in islAMABAd youTh MurdEr sEnT on rEMAnd ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

JUDICIAL magistrate in Islamabad on Sunday approved a three-day physical remand of five officials of the CounterTerrorism Depart¬ment (CTD) on the charge of extra-judicial murder of a youth in the federal capital a day earlier.

Usama Nadeem, 21, was killed late Friday night after police opened fire at his vehicle for not stopping despite repeated signals and a long car pursuit. The shots, police said, were instead received by Nadeem who died on the spot.

The accused were arrested on Saturday following a public outcry and a judicial inquiry was ordered by Islamabad commissioner Amer Ahmed Ali to ascertain the facts.

The suspects were presented in the court of Judicial Magistrate Naveed Khan Sunday. During the hearing, the police

sought a five-day remand but the court approved only a three-day period.

In the first information report (FIR), lodged on the complaint of the victim's father, Nadeem Satti, it was claimed the youth was killed after "proper planning" which was an act of terrorism.

Satti said his son had a quarrel with officials of Islamabad police a day earlier following which they had threa¬tened him with dire consequences.

On January 2, at aro¬und 2:00 am, Nadeem had gone to drop his friend in H11. When he was returning, the police officials intercepted his car, the FIR said, adding that they then fired at him from all sides, which resulted in his death.

The case was registered under section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, and sections 302, 148, and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

According to officials at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), where the body was brought, Nadeem was

Balochistan urges ECP to postpone Pishin by-poll on security, weather issues QUETTA: The government of Balochistan has written a letter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) requesting it to postpone by-election on a provincial assembly seat (PB-20) in Pishin. The letter stated that Pishin would be experiencing severe cold conditions in January and February as the weather department has forecast snowfall in the district during this period, due to which the local administration will not be able to make arrangements for the by-election, which had been scheduled for February 16. Moreover, the security situation is unstable as the law enforcement agencies are making all-out efforts to eliminate anti-state elements, the letter said, adding the second wave of the coronavirus is also taking a heavy toll on the people and that political activities, corner meetings and rallies amid the pandemic will potentially lead to the further spread of the virus. The government, therefore, asked the commission to postpone the by-election. The ECP had last month decided to hold by-elections for all vacant seats of the national and provincial assemblies. The seats include two of the National Assembly (NA-75, Sialkot and NA-45 Orakzai) and six of the provincial assemblies (PS-43 Sanghar, PS-88 Malir, PB-20 Pishin, PS-52 Umerkot, PK-63 Nowshera, and PS-88 Gujranwala).

Earlier on December 28, Balochistan Assembly Speaker Abdul Quddus Bizenjo had demanded the postponement of Senate election on the vacant seat of late Senator Kalsoom Parveen due to the spread of coronavirus pandemic. Bizenjo wrote a letter to Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani and Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raza to demand postponement of election on the Senate’s seat which fell vacant after the death of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Senator Kalsoom Parveen due to coronavirus. Bizenjo in his letter asked how the polls for electing a new senator can be organised within 10 days. TLTP

brought dead by police officials at about 2:37 am.

During the autopsy, the body was found having 11 wounds, including six bullet injuries, the deceased's relatives said. After the postmortem, the body was handed over to the family who first took it to their home in G-13/2 and later reached Srinagar Highway where the body was placed on the road and staged a protest against the police.

MINISTERS VISIT USAMA'S HOME TO OFFER CCONDOLENCES: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed visited the house of 22-year-old Usama to extend his condolence to the bereaved family.

He prayed for the bereaved family and ensured them provision of justice in the case.

Speaking on the occasion, Rasheed assured the deceased youth’s family of the provision of justice.

The father of the deceased demanded

that a high court judge should carry out a judicial inquiry into his son’s murder.

However, the interior minister said that the government would order a judicial probe if law permits. He said that he supports a joint investigation team (JIT) formed to probe into the youngster’s murder.

Earlier, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfi Bukhari and Minister of State for Narcotics Control Shehryar Khan Afridi met with the bereaved family to offer condolences.

Taking to Twitter after the visit, SAPM Bukhari said that they met with the family of Usama on Prime Minister Imran Khan’s instructions and assured them of a complete transparent investigation into the incident.

“Usama’s services for ISF [Insaf Student Federation] will not go in vain. All departments meant for public service are answerable to people, and no misuse of authority is acceptable,” he said.

PTI govt striving hard to strengthen economy: Qureshi MULTAN APP

Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government was striving hard to strengthen the national economy, but some forces did not want to see Pakistan flourish.

Addressing a ceremony after laying the foundation stone of Madni Chowk Flyover, he said that India wanted to destabilise Pakistan by creating unrest on its soil, however, Pakistan had exposed the enemy country's nefarious designs at important international forums.

Citing the report of European Union (EU)-based DisinfoLab, the foreign minister said that India was running fake websites and non-governmental organisations to defame Pakistan through baseless propaganda.

Condemning the killing of 11 miners in Balochistan, Qureshi said that the elements behind such incidents did not wish the country to move forward on the path of progress and development. They were not the supporters of Pakistan, and the government would not only expose them but also defeat them, he added.

FM Qureshi said that the PTI government was fully focused on the economic turnaround. He said that while the textile and power loom sector are working at full capacity now, merely two years ago, all the power looms had shut down. Now Pakistan is receiving huge export orders and the textile city of Faisalabad was facing shortage of labour, he added. This was all due to businessfriendly policies of the PTI government, he remarked.

A strong economy was of vital importance to address the issue of unemployment and poverty

alleviation, he stressed.

As regards the Madni Chowk Flyover, Qureshi said that the flyover's construction was longstanding demand of the local people. The project would be completed at the cost of over Rs416 million in one year's time. It would help business activities flourish once completed, he added.

The foreign minister said that the PTI government had constructed the Surij-Kund and Sui Gas roads. The people had been demanding the building of two roads for the last 30 years.

He said that sewerage and clean drinking water were two major issues in the city, and he would get more funds earmarked from Prime Minister Imran Khan for the city's uplift.

The people of Multan district had gifted all six seats of National Assembly (NA) thanks to the PTI, he stated.

Qureshi said that Multan was one of the most important cities of South Punjab. The South Punjab Secretariat was established in the city after amendment in the rules of businesses, he said. The PTI government had laid the foundation for the establishment of South Punjab province and no one could reverse the important steps in that regard in the future, he added.

PTI's Chief Whip in the National Assembly and Special Assistant to the Prime (SAPM) Minister Malik Aamir Dogar, in his speech, thanked the foreign minister for the construction of Madni Chowk Flyover.

Qureshi also hailed Deputy Commissioner Aamir Khattak, Multan Development Authority (MDA) Chairman Rana Abdul Jabbar and director-general for their efforts for the construction of the flyover. Member of Punjab Assembly Javed Akhtar Ansari and local PTI leaders were also present on the occasion.

Karachi to continue shivering for a few more days: Met Office KARACHI TLTP

The Met Office has stated that the ongoing cold wave in Karachi is expected to last a few more days as minimum temperature was recorded in the morning on Sunday at 8°C in the city.

The metropolis recorded its coldest night in the last 10 years when the mercury dropped to 5.6°C on the new year night between Thursday and Friday. Cold and dry weather is expected in the city today as well.

Northerly/North-easterly winds are blowing in the city and the wind speed is likely to increase above 50 kilometres per hour (km/h) in next few days, according to the weather report.

Cold and dry weather is expected in most parts of the country. However, rain and snow are expected in northeast Punjab, the Potohar region, Kashmir and adjoining hilly areas while fog is likely to prevail in central and south Punjab at isolated places.

Rain and snow are also expected in Murree and Galyat during the period.

The Pakistan Meteorological

Department (PMD) has forecast the first rain/snowfall of the year in the upper areas of the country from Sunday till Tuesday. A strong westerly wave entered Pakistan on Sunday evening and is likely to grip upper parts of the country in coming days.

Based on the reports of this weather system, rain and thunderstorms with snowfall over the hills is expected in Kashmir, Islamabad, Potohar region, Gujrat, Sialkot. Narowal Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Lahore, Sheikhupura and Kasur during Sunday (evening) to Tuesday.

Rain with snowfall over the hills is also expected in Gilgit-Baltistan, Dir, Swat, Shangla, Buner, Kohistan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Haripur, Kohat, Peshawar, Kurrum, on Monday or Tuesday.

Rain is also expected in Mianwali, Khushab, Jhang, Sahiwal, Okara, Tobatek Singh, Faisalabad and Sargodha in Punjab during the period.

The met office has warned that heavy rainfall may trigger landslides in vulnerable areas of Kashmir on Monday (today) and Tuesday.

Govt to give tax relief to expats NEWS DESK The federal government may promulgate another presidential ordinance to give income tax concessions to local and overseas Pakistanis on their investment in Naya Pakistan Certificates and the real estate sector through recently launched digital accounts. Resident Pakistanis investing in Naya Pakistan Certificates through the digital accounts, the income tax rate may be reduced from 15pc to 10pc, while those who have declared assets abroad with FBR can also invest in USDdenominated the certificates. According to a report by the Express Tribune that quoted sources in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the proposal is aimed at attracting dollars from expatriates as well as resident Pakistanis who have offshore assets aimed at supplementing foreign exchange reserves. The government has also decided to incorporate Islamic Naya Pakistan Certificates Company under the administrative control of the central bank.

Further, according to another proposal, the government was also considering exempting 1pc income tax on the purchase of property by overseas Pakistanis through the digital accounts. On the sale of these immovable assets by Pakistani immigrants, the proposed rate could be 1pc to 2pc, from the existing 2pc to 4pc. Similarly, the government was also considering exempting the capital gains tax on profit made on the sale of property bought through digital accounts. The current CGT rate ranges from 2.5pc to 15pc. Moreover, another proposal suggests that gains made by non-filers by investing in the Pakistan Stock Exchange through digital accounts should also be charged at 15pc rate against 30pc current rate.

TMAs in tribal districts facing financial crisis PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

As many as 17 Tehsil Municipal Administrations (TMAs) in the tribal districts are facing a financial crisis due to insufficient funds disbursed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Finance Department. As a result of the financial crisis, employees of the TMAs have not been paid their salaries whereas local government department officials have expressed fear that counter coronavirus measures in the districts would also be affected. According to Local Council Board sources, Rs542.617 million has been allocated for ongoing expenditures of 25 TMAs of tribal districts for FY21, out of which the government was urged to disperse Rs271.39 million in the first instalment, however, the government released Rs70.4 million. “TMAs are working as the first force in the operation against the coronavirus pandemic,” they reminded, requesting the provincial government to release the remaining Rs199.8 million on a priority basis. According to sources, the board has requested the government to release Rs9 million for Navagai, Rs9 million for Wazir, Rs2.74 million for Jamrud, Rs9 million for Bara, Rs1.47 million for Dara Adamkhel, Rs9 million for Central Kurram, Rs9 million for Bethani, Rs1.47 million for Upper Mohmand, and Rs9 million for Razmak. Similarly, it has been requested that Rs9 million be released for Mir Ali, Rs9 million for Hassan Khel, Rs9 million for Ladha, Rs2.74 million for Wana, Rs9 million for Jandola, Rs5 million for Lower Kurram, Rs10 million for Upper Kurram, and Rs10 million for Miranshah.

Monday, 4 January, 2021

news

03

EduCATion MinisTErs To disCuss sChools’ rEoPEninG TodAy ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

MEETING of the inter-provincial education ministers will be held via videolink on Monday with Minister for Federal Education Shafqat Mahmood in the chair for the conference.

The forum will discuss the prevailing situation of the second wave of Covid-19 and reopening of educational institutions across the country. The meeting will also deliberate upon the beginning of the new academic session from August and reduction of

opposition tried to blackmail govt on FATF issue: Murad ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Postal Services and Communications, Murad Saeed has alleged that opposition parties want to see Pakistan on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) blacklist. In a live broadcast on Sunday, Murad said that the opposition tried to get a national reconciliation ordinance (NRO) when the government was doing legislation related to FATF laws. He said that when the government was not blackmailed by them, they came on roads to save their money and started campaigns against state institutions. He further said that corrupt opposition leaders have attacked the national institutions to take revenge for the accountability process against them. The minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has been striving hard to uplift weaker segments of the society while the opposition leaders are busy protecting their hereditary politics.

He said that PM Imran is establishing Panagahs (shelter homes) for the poor because he cares for them. The minister said that the past rulers lived in the palatial PM House, besides setting up many camp offices for themselves but never bothered for the homeless people living on the roads. He said that former president Asif Ali Zardari spent Rs3.16 billion on his camp offices while the situation was not different for former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. He said that the people of Pakistan have rejected the ill-conceived politics of the opposition aimed at safeguarding corruption of its leadership.

The minister said that the PML-N supreme leader is carrying out Indian narrative. He said that the Kashmir issue was put on the backburner during Nawaz’s tenure. STAFF REPORT

'Govt to launch digital survey to identify poor under Ehsaas Programme' ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Dr Sania Nishtar on Sunday announced that the government would launch a new survey for the precise identification of poor people under the Ehsaas Programme within the next few months.

"Data of the deserving households would be collected across the country through a computerised digital system," she said while talking to PTV, adding that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had directed to launch the survey so that no deserving citizen left out from the social welfare net. The SAPM said the government would soon set up onewindow operation centres in major cities to assist beneficiaries of the Ehsaas Programme, besides reducing the chances of duplication. "The initiative would create awareness, integrate the delivery of services under the Ehsaas umbrella, ensure transparency and improve government-to-citizen service delivery," she said, adding that opening biometric ATMs and bank branches for the beneficiaries was also a major feature of the new Ehsaas digital payment system. In reply to a question, she said that the programme was strictly monitored to ensure that funds reach deserving persons, which was all the more important in the wake of the emergency situation developed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. APP

yet another cylinder explosion injures four of family PESHAWAR: Four people, including two women and a child, were burnt when a cylinder exploded inside a house in Yakatoot bazaar of Peshawar, Rescue 1122 officials confirmed on Sunday. According to initial reports, the cylinder exploded with a big bang, injuring four of the family. Soon after the explosion, a fire broke out in a house, rescue officials said. Firefighters and four ambulances rushed to the spot and started rescue operations. The injured were shifted to the nearby hospital in an ambulance. The firefighters were successful in extinguishing the fire. APP

spring and summer vacations.

One of the matters on the agenda of the meeting is a proposal to conduct board examinations from the last week of May. The meeting is expected to discuss the national education policy. The federal government is mulling over whether or not to reopen educational institutions across the country in three phases starting from January 25. A final decision will be taken in a meeting of an inter-provincial conference scheduled for January 4. In this connection, it has been suggested that in the first phase, primary schools in both the public and private sectors should be reopened from January 25, 2021, while in the second phase, middle

Economic indicators showing positive trajectory: Faraz ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Senator Shibli Faraz has said that economic indicators are showing a positive trajectory as exports of the country are increasing swiftly due to prudent policies of the government.

Talking to a private news channel, the information minister said that the economy of the country is flourishing despite the coronavirus pandemic. He said that previous Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government left the national economy in a fragile situation, but the incumbent government has now put it back on right track.

Replying to a question, Faraz said that the opposition parties are creating instability in the country, but they will not succeed in their designs.

He said that opposition parties are criticising the national institutions as a pressure tactic against the government. He criticised the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for purported intentions of sieging public institutions.

The minister said that leaders of the opposition parties would gain nothing if they try to pressurise national institutions like the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) or the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). He demanded the opposition to tell the ECP and NAB about their assets and ill-gotten money.

Last Saturday, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood expressed his satisfaction that the exports in December last year have shown an increase of 18.3 per cent to the tune of $2,357 million as compared to $1,993 million in December 2019.

Presiding over a consultative meeting in Islamabad, he said that export figures show the resilience of the economy of Pakistan and is a vindication of the government's policy to keep the wheels of economy running despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

The previous six months performance of exports was also discussed in the meeting.

Dawood also paid glowing tributes to exporters for this performance during testing times and urged them to aggressively focus on capturing a larger share of international exports.

Claims of policy change 'hold no degree of truth', says Fazl NEWS DESK Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President and Jamiat Ulema-e-IslamFazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday said that the leaders of the alliance are united that "claims of change in policy are exaggerated and hold no degree of truth".

The above was said while speaking to media persons in Multan, wherein the JUI-F chief added that opposition lawmakers have submitted their resignations to the party. He said that the process was still underway.

Fazl said that the incumbent government had illegally occupied the federal capital and that the PDM was in the right in its struggle to get rid of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

“Islamabad is not someone's property, we are undertaking a legitimate struggle to get rid of an illegal occupation,” he stressed.

Moreover, Fazl said that Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz would host the Bahawalpur rally under his leadership, adding that it would be a historic show.

Earlier, PML-N leader Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Fazl, Maryam, and Yousuf Raza Gilani would address the rally.

The venue for the rally was decided to be the lawn of MPA Malik Zaheer's residence.

and secondary schools should be reopened from February 4. Moreover, secondary educational institutions were proposed to be reopened in the third phase. It has been learnt that decision on reopening of educational institutions will be taken on the basis of health advisory keeping in view the prevailing coronavirus situation across the country.

On November 23, the federal government had announced to shut all educational institutions from November 26 to December 24 due to a spike in Covid-19 cases. The government had also announced winter vacations in educational institutions from December 25 to January 10.

A win for PdM is also a win for PPP, says Bilawal Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari quelled any questions about dissent within the ranks of the 11-party anti-government alliance and declared that a win for the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is a win for the PPP. "Our CEC [Central Executive Committee] has endorsed every decision of the PDM," he added while addressing reporters in Thatta. He said this in reply to Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed's comments about the PDM's defeat. "I understand that PDM's win is PPP's win and PPP's win is PDM's win so we are one. When PDM wins the people of Pakistan win," he said. He said that in spite of the conspiracies of the ministers, the alliance is as strong as ever. He reiterated the decisions about the upcoming by-polls and any other elections would be made with consensus. Bilawal further said that the PDM was looking for "relief" for the people, not some NRO-like agreement. He opined that the ruling party only brought up the NRO to criticise the PDM, but added that the public could "clearly see through these tactics". The PPP chief maintained that the alliance was instead seeking "democracy, [a] level playing field, and an end to unemployment, inflation and poverty". Bilawal, while condemning the killing of 11 coal miner in the Machh area of Balochistan, said that there is no implementation of National Action Plan (NAP) since Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came into power. Rulers should immediately start the implementation of NAP, he stressed. The PPP chairman further said that such incidents could have been avoided if ministers, instead of focusing on PDM, paid attention to their job. NEWS DESK

new Covid strain has not reached Punjab: health dept Punjab Primary and Secondary Health Care (P&SHC) on Sunday confirmed that the new strain of the coronavirus, which prima facie originated in the United Kingdom, has not yet been detected in Punjab. The new strain, referred to by experts as B.1.17, is said to be 70 per cent more transmittable than the previous variants. Earlier this week, the Sindh government had confirmed the first three cases of the UK variant of Covid-19 in Karachi among passengers who had returned from Britain in the last 12 days. The P&SHC spokesperson said that the passengers from the UK underwent testing, and while one woman was positive for Covid-19, she has not yet undergone gene sequencing to confirm whether or not it is the B.1.17 variant. "It is not possible to declare which type of coronavirus [a patient has been infected with] without gene sequencing," the spokesperson said. "It isn't necessary that these people — who were affected by the coronavirus in UK and returned to Pakistan — are infected with the new strain of the virus." Meanwhile, the death rate due to the novel virus reached a high of 5.5 per cent in Punjab, which is greater than the death rates seen in other provinces. Lahore is on the top among other districts of Punjab with 1,540 deaths, followed by Rawalpindi’s 672 and Faisalabad 342. NEWS DESK

PIA resumes flight operations to saudi Arabia ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Sunday announced to resume flight operations to Saudi Arabia two weeks after the Kingdom closed its borders and suspended air traffic amid fears of a new coronavirus variant.

In a statement, Riyadh will resume entry to the Kingdom by sea land and air at midnight tonight.

A PIA spokesperson said passengers would be able to travel to the Kingdom

from Sunday (today) after a notification was issued by the country General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) allowing the resumption of flight operations.

"Passengers can contact the [PIA] call centre on 111-786-786 or visit the offices to activate old bookings or make new ones," the spokesperson said, adding that a coronavirus polymerise chain reaction (PCR) test would be mandatory for all passengers before travel.

Saudi Arabia shut its borders on December 21 and suspended

international commercial flights on a rolling weekly basis although foreign flights already in the country were allowed to leave. The ban was extended for a week on December 28. However, the measures did not affect the movement of goods.

On Sunday, the Kingdom's Ministry of Interior said the Saudi government ordered the lifting of "precautionary measures related to the spread of a new variant of coronavirus", the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saudi Arabia has recorded more than

363,000 cases, including over 6,200 deaths — the highest among the Gulf Arab states — but has also reported a high recovery rate.

In December, Saudi began inoculating its people with a vaccine, becoming the first Arab country to roll out the Pfizer-BioNTech jab. The country has so far received two shipments of the vaccine.

The health authorities asked citizens and residents to register to receive the vaccine, which they said would be given free to all in the country.

Monday, 4 January, 2021

04 NEWS

PDM’S nEgaTIvE PolITIcS rEjEcTED bY PEoPlE: FIrDouS SIALKOT

Shehbaz imprisoned for past 100 days without proven guilty of corruption: Marriyum ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Secretary Information Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday said that the party’s President Shehbaz Sharif is behind bars for past 100 days without any proof of corruption. In a statement, Marriyum said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has held Shehbaz and PML-N’s Member National Assembly (MNA) Khawaja Mohammad Asif hostage to force the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) into granting the corrupt Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) government a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO). She said, “Imran knows he is an unqualified and inept person. Due to his prejudice and insecurity, he has imprisoned Shehbaz. He is aware of the fact that Shehbaz is fully prepared, competent, able and skilled to successfully run the country. The Imran-National Accountability Bureau (NAB) alliance can illegally abduct and detain Shehbaz in fake cases, but it cannot prove a single penny of corruption on him. The fabricated and fake documentary evidence, waved around at the press conferences of Imran’s stooges, hold no value in the courts of law. This is the reason the evidence is not being presented in the courts.” The former Information Minister said after putting Shehbaz behind bars, the government is robbing public electricity and gas while hiking their tariffs beyond the reach of the people. Imran arrested Shehbaz so that no one could hold him accountable over his 100-year plan, 10 million jobs, and five million homes for the poor people. The insecure, frightened, desperate and selected prime minister wants Shehbaz to remain behind bars so that he and his likeminded corrupt politicians can get an NRO over Rs126 billion worth of potholes in the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit project.

Youth gunned down near Tharimirwah; woman electrocuted KHAIRPUR

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STAFF REPORT

PECIAL Assistant to Punjab Chief Minister on Information and Culture Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is struggling for its political survival and personal gains.

Talking to the reporters during her visit to THQ Civil Hospital in Daska, Firdous said that the PDM wanted to weaken the national institutions for its vested interests, but the people rejected the negative politics of the PDM. “The people were not ready to listen to the voice of the PDM. The corrupt elements were misleading the people through their rallies and meetings,” she said.

“The Punjab government has

launched a revolutionary programme– Insaf Medicine Card–under which modern health services of all diseases are being provided. The programme has ensured an

easy access of the best medical facilities to the poor and deserving people.”

Firdous further said the Punjab government has taken the responsibility of

Govt concentrating on speedy, sustainable uplift of merged districts: KP CM PESHAWAR APP

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has termed the accelerated and sustainable development of the newly-merged districts as one of the key focus area of his government.

He expressed these views while chairing a meeting to review the progress of the ongoing developmental schemes in the merged districts, held here at the Chief Minister's Secretariat, according to an official handout issued on Sunday.

The administrative secretaries and senior officials of Irrigation, communications and works, local government and public health engineering were present in the meeting.

The CM was given a detailed briefing regarding the ongoing and new development projects in the merged districts.

Addressing the participants of the meeting, the CM said that the provincial government is spending huge resources on developmental projects in

the merged districts with the aim to bring these backward areas at par with other developed areas of the province.

He further said that no compromise will be made on the quantity and quality of development projects in the merged districts. The developmental projects will be executed in all areas of the tribal districts on equal basis in accordance with the population and needs of the people.

The CM directed the senior officials of all the concerned departments to speed-up the implementation of the development projects and to put in place an effective mechanism of monitoring to ensure the quality of the projects.

He directed the concerned authorities to carry out regular field visits to make sure that the projects are being executed as per the fixed standards besides identifying new schemes in accordance with the genuine needs of the local people and finalising development schemes purely on the basis of merit.

Mahmood said that the merger was aimed at sustainable development and

alleviation of these areas. The government will utilise all available resources to uplift the people of these areas.

“The KP government is spending huge resources on the developmental schemes of the merged districts. It is the duty of all concerned departments to ensure that the development projects are executed as per the fixed standards and completed in time, and the benefits of projects reach to the maximum population. Any kind of negligence will not be tolerated in this regard,” the CM said.

The CM directed the planning and development department to submit a detailed report on all the development projects undertaken in the merged districts during the last two years after reviewing the physical progress and quality of works on those projects.

He also directed the public health engineering department to carry out feasibility study for clean drinking water supply schemes in Sulaiman Khel and Dotani areas of Waziristan, and Mulaguri and Shalman areas of Khyber District.

PPI

A youth was shot dead at his house near Tharimirwah while a pregnant woman was electrocuted in a separate incident on Sunday. According to the sources in rescue department, some armed persons opened fires on Qurban Lashari, aged 34, in village Lundo near Zafarabad. As a result, Lashari died on the spot.

The police reached the spot and shifted the dead body to a local hospital for medico-legal formalities before handing it over to the heirs. The police said the cause behind the murder was an old enmity. However, they have started investigations in the matter. Meanwhile, a pregnant woman was electrocuted in village Khameeso Majeedano. Koonj Majeedano, aged 21, was switching off the electric motor at her house when she received electric shocks and died. She was brought to a local hospital, where the doctor confirmed her dead

Huge cache of arms, explosives recovered in Orakzai ORAKZAI TLTP

The law enforcement agencies recovered a huge cache of arms and explosive material from an area of Orakzai tribal district on Sunday. “Four kilograms of explosives and 85 grams of explosive material, which are used in suicide vests, were recovered during an operation in Arkhi Kalay area,” the district administration said in a statement.

The security officials also recovered 436 cartridges of various bore weapons, five land mines, two batteries, 344 detonators with 87-metre detonator cord, six remote controls, 100-metre safety fuse cord, nine hand grenades, two-metre IED wire, a sub-machine gun (SMG), three

chargers and 430 cartridges during the raid.

Moreover, 13 pamphlets of an outlawed group and two wireless sets were also recovered in the operation.

Earlier on December 19, 2020, two labourers were found dead while one was reported missing in the Mamozai area of Orakzai tribal district.

According to the police officials, the locals had found the bodies lying on the roadside and informed them.

Orakzai District Police Officer (DPO) Nisar Khan had said that a faction of outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) was involved in the incident occurred in the remote area of Orakzai, which was considered a bastion of militants. He had said an operation was launched for recovery of the missing labourer.

protecting lives of the deserving, needy and poor patients. A visible change can be observed in the THQ hospital. “CM Sardar Usman Buzdar is actively working to provide quality healthcare facilities in all rural areas of the province. All institutions are busy in raising the living standard of the people under the vision of the CM. The rural population is also being provided the best medical facilities,” she added.

Earlier, the SAPCM visited the hospital and a shelter home for patients. She went to different wards to meet with the patients and checked the availability of medicines besides performance of doctors and paramedics.

She also distributed the food packages among men and women living in the shelter home after inaugurating a modern conference hall at the hospital.

Efforts made for better broadband connectivity across country: IT Minister KARACHI APP

Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque on Sunday said that his ministry has made all-out efforts to ensure better broadband connectivity across the country, particularly in rural areas, under the vision of ‘Digital Pakistan’. Speaking as a chief guest at a celebratory ceremony for the Systems Limited, who won the Forbes ‘Asia’s Best Under A Billion 2020’ award, the minister said that his ministry is also working to resolve the issues related to taxation of IT industry. “IT exports of the country were raised by 44 per cent. The ministry is making efforts for further increase in the exports of IT related products,” he said. He announced that the 5G technology would be introduced in the country by the end of 2022. Talking about the coronavirus pandemic, he said, “The ministry took the pandemic as an opportunity rather crisis. During the pandemic, when all the sectors of the country were facing downfalls, the IT industry was on the path of progress.”

“The government is making efforts to accommodate the IT graduates, who are 25000 in numbers generated by different varsities of the country annually.” Amin told the participants that he has maintained strict merit policy for all the affairs of his ministry with zero tolerance for corruption. We will soon sign a contract regarding Optic Fiber Network Projects in Sindh worth Rs3 billion. On the occasion, Member Prime Minister’s Task Force on IT Jehan Ara, Pakistan Software Export Board Managing Director Usman Nasir, Systems Limited CEO Asif Peer and some others also expressed their views.

Islamabad residents breathed unhealthy air in December last year: EPA ISLAMABAD APP

The air quality in the federal capital was recorded unhealthy throughout December last year due to high pollution level, affecting the people especially patients of lungs and heart diseases, according to a report issued by the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Sunday.

According to the report, the particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5), a hazardous ambient air pollutant which can cause chronic respiratory diseases and premature deaths, was recorded higher than the safer limits.

The PM2.5 not only exceeded the National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS) of 35 micrograms per cubic metre, but also surpassed the World Health Organization’s (WHO) standard of 20 micrograms

per cubic metre.

The report revealed that the average PM2.5 was recorded 57.66 micrograms per cubic metre whereas sulphur dioxide was recorded 34.6 micrograms per cubic metre and nitrogen dioxide was 24.19 against the NEQS of 120 micrograms per cubic metre and 80 micrograms per cubic metre respectively.

The air quality data was recorded through calibrated air quality monitors. As the monitors were both fixed and mobile, accurate air quality data was received.

The EPA official said that due to dry weather, the air quality was recorded unhealthy with the large quantity of particulate matter of 2.5 microns above the NEQS limit.

She added that it was the calculating limit of air pollutants into the atmosphere. The PM2.5 is the unhealthiest environmental pollutant and it can cause chronic respiratory dis-

eases and premature deaths as it can easily penetrate into human blood through lungs’ cells.

To a question, she said that sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide are released from industrial emissions and car engines at different concentrations, which accumulate into the ambiance causing air pollution.

The air pollution was also recorded high during the month of November last year, where the PM2.5 was recorded maximum, beyond 60 micrograms per cubic metre.

She added that the EPA is making all-out efforts to control air pollution. The industrial units and brick kilns were strictly inspected and sealed on violating environmental laws.

The health experts advised the citizens to wear face masks or coverings, avoid unnecessary prolonged exertion outdoors and immediately contact a health physician or doctor in case of serious respiratory issue.

Monday, 4 January, 2021

NEWS

05

Coronavirus kills 53, infeCts 2,272 in a day: nCoC ISLAmABAD

t

TLTP

HE coronavirus pandemic claimed 53 more lives during the last twentyfour hours, lifting the national death toll due to Covid-19 to 10,311, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday.

As many as 2,272 new cases of the coronavirus were reported across the country during the aforementioned period, pushing the national tally of infections to 486,634. According to the NCOC, a total of 44,392 samples were tested, out of which 2,272 turned out to be positive. The national positivity ratio of infections was recorded at 5.11 per cent.

There are a total of 35,663 active cases of the coronavirus while the number of recovered patients stands at 440,660. A total of 1,784

Covid-19 Claims islamabad pathologist dr burki’s life; 154 doCs die so far

MINISTRY PLANS VACCINATORS’ TRAINING; MORE PUNJAB AREAS GO UNDER LOCKDOWN patients currently under treatment in different hospitals across the country were stated to be in critical condition.

At least 17 more patients succumbed to Covid-19 in Sindh during the past 24 hours, taking the death toll to 3,611. According to Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the province reported 961 new cases as the tally surged to 218,597. As many as 753 patients recovered from the deadly disease, taking the total to 197, 430.

Punjab recorded 847 fresh cases of the virus during the last twentyfour hours. According to the provincial healthcare department, 24 people also succumbed to the virus, raising the death toll to 4,109. A total

Couple arrested for making tiktok videos in police uniform RAWALPINDI TLTP

The Rawalpindi police on Sunday arrested a couple for making TikTok videos in police uniforms. The police registered a case against the couple. Police uniforms, a laptop and mobile phone were recovered from their possession.

Rawalpindi SP Rai Mazhar Iqbal said that the suspects were arrested by SHO city and his team, led by DSP city, near Taj Company. The suspects will be fined and punished in accordance with the evidence found against them.

Last year, a TikTok star with over one million followers was arrested by the Punjab Highway Patrol Police for reckless driving. The highway police officials said that a famous TikTok star, Danyal Haider, was speeding beyond the limit near Choa Saidan Shah. In another case, police claimed to have arrested a man on the charge of torturing his mentally challenged brother and pushing him into a canal to record a TikTok video. An accomplice of the accused was also arrested and a case was registered against them.

Local police officials said Farhat Abbas, son of Muhammad Hanif, resident of Sher Nagar, along with his friend Ali Hassan, son of Allah Ditta, resident of Kot Abdul Razzaq and others brutally tortured his younger brother Jugnu alias Jugni, who is mentally challenged.

11 miners gunned down in balochistan CONTINuED fROm PAgE 01 Islamic State later claimed responsibility for the attack, through its Amaq news agency via its Telegram communications channel. The attack came after a relative quiet in nearly a year of violence against the mainly Hazara minority in the province. In April, a market suicide bombing killed 18 people, half of whom were Hazaras. Following Sunday’s attack, members of the Hazara minority in Quetta blocked the western bypass and set fire to tyres to protest against the killings. Baluchistan is the focus of the $60-billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a transport and energy link planned between western China and Pakistan’s southern deepwater port of Gwadar. Hazaras have been frequently targeted by Taliban and IS militants and other militant groups in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The attacks in Afghanistan have been claimed by an affiliate of IS. In 2013, three bombings killed more than 200 people in Hazara neighbourhoods in Quetta.

sialkot youngster develops small drone SIALKOT TLTP

A young man has developed a small remote-controlled flying machine using readily available materials in Sialkot district of Punjab. According to the details, Faisal Shehzad, who is a technical diploma holder, built the indigenous drone, F-22.

Talking to journalists, Faisal Shehzad claimed that the indigenously designed unmanned aerial vehicle can fly for over 1,000 kilometres.

ISLAMABAD: Another doctor on Sunday succumbed to deadly novel coronavirus in Islamabad after days of

of 124,461 people have recovered from the virus in Punjab so far.

So far Sindh has reported 217,636 infections, Punjab, 140,188, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 59,255, Balochistan, 18,218, Islamabad Capital Territory, 38,146, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), 8,325, and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) has reported 4,866 cases. The Punjab government imposed smart lockdown in several areas of Lahore, Gujranwala and Multan on Sunday to control coronavirus pandemic. According to a spokesperson of the provincial Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, the smart lockdown has been imposed in the areas from where excessive corona cases have been reported.

battling for his life on the ventilator, raising the death toll of doctors in the country due to Covid-19 to 154. The deceased, Dr Umar Farooq, was the former head of the pathology department at the KRL Hospital in Islamabad.

He had been undergoing treatment for the virus at a private hospital in Islamabad. He had tested positive for coronavirus on December 8, 2020. According to the Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), till now 154 doctors have lost their lives due to Covid-19 in Pakistan. During the second wave which started from November, 45 doctors have lost their lives (16 in Punjab, 14 in Sindh, 13 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two in Azad Jammu and Kashmir). Earlier, Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) warned of a more lethal second wave of the disease and appealed to the people to follow safety standard operating procedure (SOPs) against the coronavirus.

The PMA urged the government to take strict action against those not following the Covid-19 SOPs. The PMA also suggested the government to organise a mask distribution drive and ensure prices of masks and sanitisers are controlled. The PMA also sought personal protection equipment for doctors and paramedical staff from the government and demanded the release of funds promised under an already announced package.

Professor of Endocrinology Dr Rauf Niazi said that the Covid-19 is more lethal in the second wave compared to the first surge in Pakistan. Dr Niazi said that the patients received by Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) in recent times appeared to be severely ill than before. TLTP

Meanwhile, the federal health authorities have decided to train special staff for the Covid-19 vaccination in

the country. The health ministry will prepare specially trained staff in collaboration with the Expanded Pro-

gramme on Immunisation (EPI) and the National Database Registration Authority (NADRA).

‘Punjab ready to take back rights’: PML-N resorts to ethnic politics CONTINuED fROm PAgE 01 “Bahawalpur has given its verdict; this government’s days are numbered. So should [we] keep sitting in these sham assemblies or resign?” she asked the crowd, who largely responded with chants of resignation. However, the PDM has yet to make any formal announcements about handing in the resignations and have extended their deadline from December 31 to the end of this month.

“I feel your pain,” Maryam said to the people of Bahawalpur while counting the issues faced by the public due to the rising costs of electricity, gas, sugar, wheat, etc.

She said that she could not speak of chicken when people could hardly afford vegetables.

“Will the people of Bahawalpur make ends meet to feed their families, to pay their children’s fees, to pay utilities or pay for the treatment of the elderly at home?”

Maryam said that it was because she understood the plight of the common man that she wanted to send Prime Minister Imran Khan packing, remarking that he had “after two-and-a-half years has thrown his hands in the air to declare he does not know how to run the country’s affairs”. Taking a jibe at PM Imran, she asked if the “tabdeeli” he had promised was the “storm of inflation”.

“Can we call this sea of incompetence, change? Can we call this flood of unemployment, change? Can we call the selling out of Kashmir, change? Can we call the selling out of national interests, change? Can we call the putting out of the fire that lights poor people’s stoves, change?” she asked.

She said that PM Imran often said that “the army knows [Imran] is not corrupt”, but counted out the way in which the prices had risen over the past few years.

“IMF has said electricity tariffs must be increased by 25 per cent,” she said and added that under the leadership of her father, former premier Nawaz Sharif, price of wheat was Rs35 which is now available at Rs90.

Maryam said that the day the lawmakers of the PDM resigned would be the final day of the government of PM Imran. Furthermore, Maryam stated that no one from the incumbent government seems to be concerned about the Machh coal mine incident which took place earlier in the day. She also went on to lament the death of Usama Nadeem Satti, a 22-year-old student, by rogue cops of

Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).

Maryam threw accusations of corruption against the premier, stating that he takes a Rs250,000 salary, but runs a 300-kanal house. She also accused his sister, Aleema, of laundering money.

She claimed that PM Imran had used the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to regularise his house, as well as helping his “friends” escape the anti-graft watchdog and flee abroad. The PML-N leader said that “without installing a brick in the way of development”, the government has “doubled” the country’s debts. “Now the army too will say you [PM Imran] have done corruption with a lot of honesty,” she added. Furthermore, she used the example of PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah, who was on stage with her, to highlight PM Imran’s “incompetence”. During his address, PDM President and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced that the 11-party alliance would stage a sit-in in front of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) headquarters in Islamabad in protest of the delays in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) foreign funding case.

He further claimed that the reason behind the delays was because the “largest chunk of money” for the incumbent government came from Israel. The PDM head said that the alliance will continue to use it legal and constitutional right until the present government is removed from power. Fazl stressed that this country was a democracy and that without the “people’s consent”, they would not accept “anyone’s rule”.

“You cannot govern by stealing people’s vote. True representatives of the people are part of PDM,” he said.

The PDM president dismissed the rumours regarding the breaking up of the alliance, stating that while members of different parties have their own points of view, there was no disagreement over the core issues.

He boasted that the incumbent government was “mourning” after the PDM did not break up, and instead “spoke with one voice”. He said it was as if “someone had died in the government’s camp”.

He said that the PDM was struggling to bring true democracy to the country, and it would show its cards when the time was right. Fazl taunted that the government would be left “wondering”.

The JUI-F chief, taunting PM Imran, asked why the only change the country had seen was to the numerous cabinet reshuffle. Referring to the premier’s recent comments regarding learning how to lead after two years, Fazl said that Imran should have learned before he took the position. “These people do not deserve to rule,” he stressed.

He echoed Maryam’s point of view and criticised the government’s handling of the economy. Fazl pointed out that, during Nawaz’s tenure, the growth rate had been 5.5. per cent and had been projected to rise up to 6 per cent.

He pointed out that now, people resorted to suicide and infanticide due to inflation. Referring to the PTI as the “traders of Kashmir”, he accused them of having delayed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects and of having pushed the economy into the negative. He further said that the “selected” premier had prayed for Modi’s success, and now India had revoked Article 370 and changed the status of Kashmir.

He said that Iran had fallen in India’s camp and that Afghanistan did not wish to speak to PM Imran. Fazl maintained that all the countries in the region had progressed except for Pakistan.

Taking the stage, former PM and PPP leader Yousaf Raza Gilani said that he understood the plight of the people in poverty, and added that this region needed more than just “cosmetic measures”.

Gilani said that the solution to their problems was “the creation of a separate province”. He said that the ruling party had talked about establishing a secretariat in either Bahawalpur or Multan, but rejected the notion.

“We have asked for the province, not the secretariat.”

He added that ministers from the PTI would claim that this rally has failed as well, but he could see the masses which had gathered to oust the ruling party.

Furthermore, the PPP leader nearly all of the Charter of Democracy (CoD) signed between former premiers Benazir and Nawaz had been fulfilled. Speaking on the occasion, Awami National Party (ANP) leader Mian Iftikhar asked why the government censors the leaders of the PDM if “we cannot do you any harm”.

“Your days are numbered,” he said to the charged crowded, emphasising that the opposition coalition would emerge as the victors.

If Khawaja Asif was keeping wickets…

CITY NOTES M A NIAZI

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HE loss of Pakistan to New Zealand was part of the game, though it was inconsiderate, what with the kaptaan being up against it because of the PDM protests.

And when one notices that India beat Australia, one can smell a conspiracy, especially as the Indian captain, Rahane, got a century. Fawad Alam managed to score a century, presumably because of some facesaving diplomacy by the prime minister.

However, that century was not enough to prevent India scoring not just a win over Australia, but a diplomatic victory over Pakistan. And no one has computed the damage thus caused to the Kashmir cause.

Of course, Imran was probably also busy tackling the pandemic, even though it became uncomfortable this Christmas, as its death toll now includes Robin Jackman, the England pacer contemporary with Imran. He was responsible for calling off a Test in the West Indies, as one of the

countries, Guyana, refused him entry because of his South African connection, which was pretty strong, to the extent of his being more or less settled there. He was using a respirator already, having had lung cancer after having been a heavy smoker.

Imran is not a smoker, is he?

Still, the loss to New Zealand showed you can’t trust wicketkeepers with captaincy. I know, they’re a logical choice, being perhaps the most active of all fielders.

You turn to one when you don’t have any real choice. That’s how the Aussies picked Tim Paine, and you saw how he caved in to India. Just proves the point that wicketkeepers are naturally corrupt elements.

The fiction is that Imran didn’t know about Khawaja Asif’s arrest by NAB. It’s an independent organisation, you see. The arrest had nothing to do with his playing a role in the PDM demonstrations. The PDM was not that big a threat, what with its having to pull an Imran-like U-turn, after it decided to take part in the coming by-elections, as well as the Senate elections. I suppose its leaders saw that there was no point in letting the PTI get all the

CMYK

Senators elected, especially when, as in Sindh, they can elect a majority, while in Punjab there would be a number of seats that could be taken.

Was the New Year celebrated any less fervently by the youngsters of Lahore? I have heard that not all motorists had crackers flung into their cars through open car windows. That used to be the hallmark of the New Year’s celebration, based on the greater mobility of motorcycles. A real daredevil would fling a cracker into another moving vehicle from a moving one, but since this is done only once a year, celebrants usually wait until the rush has slowed down the traffic. But how to move in traffic which has ground to a halt? On motorbikes, of course. One benefit is that crackers don’t cause any accidents, because the shock to the driver doesn’t make him crash into the car ahead, or into the median wall, or the nearest convenient tree. No vehicles have ended up in the Canal either. I suspect that that’s what cracker throwers are aiming for, actually.

One of the features of last year that will carry over into the new will be the

holding of meetings. Once upon a time, quite apart from the meeting itself, you had to arrange two important features: a place, and refreshments. Sometimes, once you booked a place, you would get refreshments thrown in. Now it seems, organisers need only arrange to get people to turn up, because the meetings are now all online, and thus there is no question of any refreshments. There don’t seem to be any clothing restriction, and it seems now you don’t need to get formally dressed. You need a formal shirt, but you can have a dhoti below, and be wearing bathroom slippers, and no one will ever know. It seems though that one has to be on time, because while one could sneak late into a seminar, now one has to log in, and the administrator will know.

I suppose the old hostelite’s trick of getting a free meal (at any rate a meal better than what was being served in the mess), of getting into a suit and tie, and then going to a five-star hotel, and getting into some stranger’s wedding, will now die, not because weddings have stopped, but because now the guests have to log in.

Monday, 4 January, 2021

06 COMMENT

Contemporary Climate Change in Pakistan

License to Kill?

A young man’s killing raises worrying questions about the police

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he killing of Osama Satti, 21, in the wee hours of Saturday, by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police is a horrible enough incident, but it raises unfortunate memories of a similar shooting by the Sahiwal CTD in January 2019. This time, the incident occurred right in the federal capital, and though federal interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad made all the usual noises about ensuring justice, though a judicial enquiry has been ordered, and though five CTD policemen have been held, past experience indicates that the guilty will escape justice.

The Sahiwal killing, when a family was gunned down in cold blood by a CTD squad, at least originated in one person being suspected to be a terrorism suspect. however, in this incident, it is claimed by the murdered young man’s father, who is the complainant in the FIR, that he had quarreled on Friday with the police, which indicates a deliberation that makes the shooting plain murder. There is also a worrying sense of entitlement apparently at work, where the lives of ordinary citizens are seen as somehow worth less than the prestige of policemen. The government must find out whether this is a general impression amongst the police, or whether there is a particular impression amongst CTD personnel of some special privilege. The police supervisors, both in its own higher echelons and in the federal Interior Ministry and provincial home Departments, must also check CTD recruitment and secondment procedures to ensure that they are ending up with the most violent and vicious policemen there, men most like the militants, on the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief.

It needs to be determined if the problem is with the CTD, or the police as a whole. The extent to which the police as an institution attempts to cover up such crimes by its members must be examined. The police initially tried to palm off the incident as a robbery attempt, or a shooting on a vehicle not stopping at a police checkpost.

This action was only taken after public protests involving the victim’s body being exhibited on the Kashmir highway also indicates how difficult it is for the ordinary citizen to get acknowledgement of injustice from the authorities, let alone justice from the police.

Pakistan cannot afford to ignore the tremendous damage to it Dr Sahar Fazal, zakia BatOOl, Fizza Jamil, Farhan elahi haShmi, attia SaiF

A

WARMIng climate is taking its toll on earth from different perspectives. We have to wake up to this ferocious urgency as of now. humanity faces many threats, but none is bigger than climate change. In damaging our climate, we are becoming the architects of our destruction.

Scientific advancement and technology from the last decades have taken the world to the next level.

In the 21st century with the modernization and progress in terms of industrial revolution and technology, our planet earth is close to the tipping point where global warming becomes irreversible. The atmosphere of the planet emits radiation due to the greenhouse effect that ultimately heat-up the surface of the planet to higher temperatures. Among those, carbon dioxide plays a significant role in this context.

Recent investigations propose that the burning of fossil fuels is the main and foremost contributor to the escalation of carbon dioxide concentration. Developed countries, such as China, the UK, and some other industrially revolutionized countries, are the major geerators of greenhouse gases emission. According to the United nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an increase in the temperature of the planet will result in unusual rainfall patterns, drought, flooding, glacial melting and some other adverse effects on the environment.

Pakistan is highly vulnerable to climate impact.

It is not limited to a specific area of the country but every part, city, and village is exposed to the grave danger of climate change. Its consequences for Pakistan are manifold.

Recently in Karachi, we witnessed heavy, sudden, and unusual rainfall which will ultimately affect the annual patterns of rainfall. It paralyzes the rural and urban community’s mobility because of flooding

Going offline

Need for more multilateralism

Shutting down free WiFi cutting off nose to spite the face?

There should be less vaccine nationalism

T

he Punjab government managed to put itself on the wrong side of history by shutting down 200 free WiFi hotspots operating throughout the province, including in educational institutions, hospitals and government offices. The immediate benefit is apparently the Rs 195 million being spent on the service, while there is the political benefit of ending something started by the previous government, which it did in 2016. First of all, the Punjab government has ended a useful service, which had become all the more essential after the inception of online learning because of the covid-19 pandemic, and after the government itself began to move its operations online. Many students and government servants will now be forced to pay for their internet connections, which they can ill afford.

The facility had helped promote the concept of internet access as a public good, and thus to be provided by the government. Thus shutting down the service is like shutting down the government’s environmental protection apparatus. Free and clean air is supposed to be a public good, and the government has taken responsibility to ensure the public continues to enjoy it free of cost without it being put at risk by factories emitting noxious fumes. The government will not benefit much by this move, while students, government employees and ordinary citizens will have to bear the cost of the internet. The only possible beneficiaries are the Internet Service Providers, who no longer have a free competitor to prevent them making abnormal profits out of a facility which should be free in the first place.

The Punjab government has yet to make clear what substitute it will provide to the many who will have to choose between the sort of Internet access which might mean continuing to get an education, and that education. It has also not indicated how it will make better use of the Rs 195 million it will save; not an inconsiderable sum, but hardly backbreaking. It is a myopic step not to have been expected of a party which is known for its Internet savvy.

Dr Omer JaveD

A

T a time when one unified effort globally should have been made, to both deali with the pandemic and discoverin and making available a vaccine, the lack of a meaningful multilateral spirit has not allowed this unified effort. Instead, rich and advanced countries became a lot more inward looking to managing the issues in their home country than they should have, given the role they could have played under multilateral arrangements like the World health Organization (WhO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) for instance.

At the same time, while low and middle-income countries required more fiscal space to provide the needed welfare and health sector spending during the pandemic, the burgeoning level of debt in these countries, from months of spending during the pandemic, coupled with the already existing high debt repayment demands, have, in turn, not allowed them to provide the needed stimulus response to both deal with the recession at hand, and the overall pandemicrelated spending. Unfortunately, here too, a meaningful level of multilateralism has been seen wanting till now, whereby the creditor countries provided a significant debt relief or moratorium response to these debtor countries.

In addition, both at the stage of coming up with a vaccine, and now making sure that no vaccine inequality is witnessed in terms of rollout to countries, an effective multilateral effort is still missing. Instead, what has come to the fore is firstly, a lack of response under the WhO and WTO, for instance, to make spe-

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and food shortage. In 2015, Karachi faced heat waves that took 1200 lives there alone, and about 200 in other cities of Sindh province. In Pakistan, heat waves are common in May, June, and July.

Secondly, intense air pollution has been seen as smog. Smog is a mixture of smoke and fog. This air pollution is made up of nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, ozone, smoke, and other particulates. Seasonal crop burning during the switch from the Rabi harvest to Kharif sowing is responsible for the air pollution and formation of smog in Pakistan. Most of the smog formed in large cities is a result of traffic emissions.

Industries are also increasing smog by releasing poisonous gases in the air. Volcanic outbreak releases high levels of sulfur dioxide in the air. During smog, it is difficult for animals to adjust or live in such poisonous situations, which can kill many animal species or make them liable to illness.

Similarly, Pakistan also experiences glacier melting due to global warming. Pakistan has 7,253 known glaciers, which are a number more than anywhere in the world except Polar Regions. These glaciers are a blessing for the country as they give us almost 75 percent of the water supply in the country.

Due to global warming, the glaciers in Chitral and gilgit-Baltistan started melting slowly and gradually causing sea-level to rise, avalanches, landslides, and glacial lake outburst flood. These events happen due to landsliding and avalanches. Furthermore, recently because of glacial lake outburst Chitral experienced heavy flooding.

Lastly, if an increase of temperature at the current rate continues it will result in the elevation of the level of the sea and will eventually severely affects the coastline of Pakistan. Some other adverse effects on the environment will also be seen in the long term such as irreversible loss to biodiversity, severely disrupted ecosystems, desertification, food shortage, the spread of pandemics, and many healthrelated issues and enormous hardship for communities and societies.

The COVID-19 pandemic across the world,

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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cial arrangements to minimize the intellectual property rights or patent walls of big pharmaceutical companies during the pandemic. This could have drastically reduced the high price tags of some significant vaccines in terms of effectiveness rate, in turn reducing costs for developing countries in particular, and could have made it easier to access Covid vaccines by countries overall.

On the contrary, a neoliberal world with profitmindedness as the prime objective, has unfortunately continued to be available for these big corporations, with no special arrangements made to check this even during the pandemic. Moreover, rich nations sadly have been practicing ‘vaccine nationalism’. hence, instead of their making plans as a meaningful multilateral effort, that allows an equal distribution of vaccine among countries, one sees that the rich countries overall are mostly concerned about booking as much as possible from the pool of vaccine supply currently available, and being envisaged for 2021, for instance.

In this regard, John hopkins University’s Anthony D. So and Joshua Woo pointed out in their recently published research article ‘Reserving coronavirus disease 2019 vaccines for global access: cross sectional analysis’ that ‘As of 15 november 2020, several countries have made premarket purchase commitments totalling 7.48 billion doses, or 3.76 billion courses, of covid-19 vaccines from 13 vaccine manufacturers. Just over half (51 percent) of these doses will go to high income countries, which represent 14 percent of the world’s population. The US has reserved 800 million doses but accounts for a fifth of all covid-19 cases globally (11.02 million cases), whereas Japan, Australia, and Canada have collectively reserved more than one billion doses but do not account for even 1 percent of current global covid-19 cases globally (0.45 million cases) … This study provides an overview of how high income countries have secured future supplies of covid-19 vaccines but that access for the rest of the world is uncertain.’ hence, as reportedly pointed out by economist Intelligence Unit, developing countries like Pakistan, and mainly from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, will be able to widely receive doses of Covid vaccine most late among countries; according to them as far advanced in time as April 2022-23.

Moreover, Reuters recently pointed out in their article ‘WhO vaccine scheme risks leaving failure, leaving poor countries with no Covid shots until 2024’ the lack of a meaningful multilateral spirit, as being reportedly seen in the weak vaccine rollout response in WhO’s COVAX programme.

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caused a global health crisis, and collapsing economies, due to the strict lockdown however, the outbreak has also fascinatingly impacted the environment. The outbreak of coronavirus (covid-19) has been affecting global socio-economic and political activity. It causes a reduction in fossil-fuel-derived CO2 emissions up to 17 percent by early April 2020 compared with the mean 2019 levels. But, according to the Secretary-general of the United nations, António guterres, the threat of COVID-19 is short-term, meanwhile, the peril of droughts, floods, and extreme storms linked to climate change will go on for years and will require persistent action.

Also, Pakistan along with rising traditional security concerns of national interest should play a profitable and productive contribution in the non-traditional security like climate change for longterm benefits. In recent times the cost of the extreme weather consequences of climate change is listed at $384 million. In the past 20 years, there has been a cost of $20 million to the national economy because of the ravages of climate change.

Consequently, our attitude is what influences all our actions. Pakistan is considered to be in the zone of the most exposed country to the adverse and dangerous effects of climate change. Utmost seriousness is required in this matter. Pakistan is keen to control these climatic changes. Planting more trees is an effective way to overcome these climatic drastic changes. In recent times Prime Minister of Pakistan started the billion tree project in the whole country. Concerned authorities must take measures to reduce the number of diesel automobiles that release unnecessary carbon in the air. The visionary attitude of mainstream authorities and institutions is required in terms of policymaking and implementation.

Moreover, climatic negotiation produce international legally binding instrument for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. The Kyoto Protocol’s universal legal climatic bindings should also work on practical ground rather than only focusing on black-white documentation.

The future cost of the climate impact is estimated to $6 billion to $14 billion per year over the next 40 years. In December 2019, our government introduced an electrical vehicle policy to combat the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. For this government presented the program of Clean and green Pakistan which is worthy recovering initiative for nature.

Dr Sahar Fazal, Zakia Batool, Fizza Jamil, Farhan Elahi Hashmi, Attia Saif is freelance columnist

In this regard, they pointed out ‘The global scheme to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries faces a “very high” risk of failure, potentially leaving nations home to billions of people with no access to vaccines until as late as 2024. That is according to internal documents seen by Reuters.

The World health Organization’s COVAX programme is the main global scheme to vaccinate people in poor and middle income countries around the world against the coronavirus. It aims to deliver at least 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021 to cover 20 percent of the most vulnerable people in 91 poor and middle-income countries, mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin America. But in internal documents reviewed by Reuters, the scheme’s promoters say the programme is struggling from a lack of funds, supply risks and complex contractual arrangements which could make it impossible to achieve its goals.’ hence, given a rather poor report card of multilateralism during the pandemic up till now, the world should see an improved multilateral effort on all these counts, and more. The lead in increasing the multilateral response should be taken from otherwise highly influential countries like the USA, which have been seen to be coming short in this regard in recent years. nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, in his recent article ‘how Biden can restore multilateralism unilaterally’ underlined the need for a meaningful role of the USA, especially with regard to much needed greater issuance of SDRs to developing countries during the pandemic. he pointed out ‘The only way forward is through true multilateralism, in which American exceptionalism is genuinely subordinated to common interests and values, international institutions…

Such an approach would not be unprecedented.

After World War II, the US found that ceding some influence to international organizations like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund was actually in its own interests. The problem is that the USA didn’t go far enough. While John Maynard Keynes wisely called for the creation of a global currency– an idea later manifested in the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)– the US demanded veto power at the IMF, and didn’t vest the Fund with as much power as it should have… developing and emerging economies lack the resources for the massive stimulus programs that the US and europe have provided to their economies. What is needed, as IMF Managing Director Kristalina georgieva has pointed out, is a massive issuance of SDRs. Some $500 billion of this global “money” could be issued overnight if only the US Secretary of the Treasury would approve.’

The writer holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at International Monetary Fund. He tweets @omerjaved

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 4 January, 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

Don't Waste Muhammad Amir

Real Enemy and Deceived Enemy An analysis of Qassem Soleimani's attitude towards the enemy and the war Dr SaeeD haSSan

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T has been almost a year since the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the popular Iranian general, in a US drone strike in Iraq. This astounding incident was marked by many as a prelude to the decline of the USA’s foreign policy strategies. This event has drawn observers’ and political analysts’ attention to World War II and before the Cold War. Just hours before Soleimani’s funeral, Iran made a military response to his assassination making the majority of experts and analysist unanimous that the USA’s move was a strategic, costly, and probably irreparable mistake.It murdered one of Iran’s most pre-eminent figures at the unimaginable cost of losing its military prestige and hegemony. Iran, as a claiming power and despite a host of economic problems at home caused by US sanctions, fired over a dozen ballistic missiles at the two air bases housing US forces in Iraq and thereby indelibly damaged the prestige of the world's military superpower.

It seemed that this loss of prestige was the first move in Iran’s political chess, since no more than a couple of days later in a public speech, Ayatollah Khamenei announced that it was just a “slap in face” to the U.S. and that revenge had not yet been taken. The disclosure of the head of the IRgC Aerospace Force, of which Soleimani was himself commander, was also an evidence of this. he declared that a two-stage revenge plan had been prepared and they were waiting for the USA to respond in order to start the main operation. however, it seems that the Americans had read the Iranians’ mind and decided not to fall into the trap of the second stage of revenge, being content with losing that amount of prestige. In any case, the words of the Iranian military officials and their actions with regard to Venezuela (exporting oil as a show of defiance by two states sanctioned by the USA) showed that they were seeking to trap the Americans so that they could appease their people with a revenge, equals to the credit their commander deserves.

The key question that needs to be addressed here is why Soleimani enjoys such a widespread popularity amongst the Iranian people.

Some video clips released after his death indicates that he not only enjoyed a military charisma but ad moved beyond and developed a civilizational charisma. hence the emotional bond formed and continue to exist between him and various political parties, religious groups, and many other popular Iranian, non-Iranian, Shia, non-Shia, Muslim and non-Muslim social activists. One of these videos is a recently viral clip which reveals more about his ethics and perspectives, and perhaps is a means to understand more about his charisma. The video shows Soleimani in Al Bukamal in Syria recounting parts of a will belonging to a martyr of the IranIraq war to the fighters against ISIS. Both his way of narration and his habit of retelling the story of the lives of his comrades during the War, reveal that we are dealing with a figure who has had parts of his mind and memory left in and influenced by a particular historical moment. In this short video, he quotes some strange sentences seemingly with the intention to instill a particular viewpoint in the minds of his soldiers regarding the enemy they were facing at the moment. From the third minute of this video, Soleimani says: “Martyr Ali Mohammadi writes in his will that, ‘O Arab brother, you are stalking me and I am stalking you. If you kill and martyr me, I will intercede on your behalf in the

hereafter and pray god to forgive you…’”

This statement in a will is as strange and astonishing as it is quoted by a military general on the battlefield. In fact, if the video of this speech was not available, it could be considered propaganda by Soleimani's supporters. now that it is viral, it can be employed to further explore aspects of his moral codes and to form a better conception of the rationale behind his actions on the battlefield. The question is why a soldier named Ali Mohammadi in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war should make such a will and forgive someone who sought to attack his country and life and officially announce this pardon to make it widely known and promoted.

Soleimani's words and actions in the postwar years, however, can be illuminating in this regard. Taking an overarching look at his remarks about the Iran-Iraq war indicates that he and his comrades, like Ali Mohammadi, often considered Saddam's soldiers to be deceived people and false enemies. This is clearly reflected in Iran's post-war efforts to unilaterally release Iraqi prisoners of war.

Soleimani's speeches over the past years also show that, in his and other generals of the same rank and even his leaders, the enemies are essentially divided into two key categories: the main enemy and the deceived combatants.

During the Iran-Iraq War, they regarded Iraqi soldiers to be deceived fighters and instead took Saddam and the USA as the main enemy. This issue is frequently referred to in his words. This is also evident in Syria where Soleimani, in his speeches and heroic talks, calls Israel, the USA, and the leaders of ISIS the main enemy and the rest deceived fighters.

Analyzing the words of Iranian leaders, political officials, and military commanders, depicts that their approach to history is governed by the same logic. They have recourse to Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Imam of the Shia and the fourth caliph after the Prophet of Islam, as he did not kill any enemy in wars and during the sword fighting, believing that we should abandon these deceived people but keep a tight rein on the main enemy. It has been quoted from him that many of these deceived people, if released, will have children who will be faithful disciples of his worldview. Most Iranians also hold that Ali invited his number one enemy, Muawiyah, the son of Abu Sufyan, to a hand-to-hand battle, urging him not to drag the innocent and uninformed people into the slaughterhouse.

The recruitment of large numbers of Iraqi prisoners of war to the Iranian army during Iran’s eight-year war and the establishment of Badr Corps was a successful outcome of this strategy,

which Soleimani also implemented in Syria. Iranians, along with the history of Shia-ism and Islam, do consider a Quranic reference in this regard. They especially bring up this part of Quran which says: “If two parties among the Believers fall into a quarrel, make ye peace between them: but if one of them transgresses beyond bounds against the other, then fight ye (all) against the one that transgresses until it complies with the command of Allah; but if it complies, then make peace between them with justice, and be fair: for Allah loves those who are fair (and just)”.

From the point of view of Soleimani and other generals acting under the command of Iran’s Leader, the Quran is a book for making civilizations. This will explain why they attempt to spread their civilization accordingly, to establish and strengthen the foundations of their new civilization beyond the borders, and to treat their opposition’s fighters with due forbearance. In this way, they can both ally the deceived groups with themselves and disunite the enemy front, and highlight the borderline between the unreal and real enemies, which in their logic are the USA, Israel, and other oppressive and manipulative powers.

This video, together with Soleimani's quotes from Ali Mohammadi, show that the wanted outcome of the said strategy lies in this point that their soldiers are to fight without resentment and constantly remind themselves that the main enemy is hiding behind these deceived fighters.

Soleimani, who had a wealth of experience in the Iran-Iraq war, was well-informed about the colonial deception and staging, and for this reason and by quoting that will, he asked his soldiers to do the following: “Bury the resentments in order to find the real enemy”. he even forbids the houses and property of the opposition fighters to his soldiers. Finally, such an attitude is also traceable in exercising the “maximum attraction” policy emphasized by the Leader of Iran; a great call for a new civilization.

In any case, Soleimani's hunting by the USA shows that they, too, had become aware of this strategy and had no choice but to jeopardize their prestige and reveal its less-apparent role in order to prevent and disrupt its realization. Soleimani's strategy increased the pressure to an extent that forced the main enemy, in a rare and unique event in the history of the 21st century, to come out from behind the scene and confront Soleimani directly. This seems to have fulfilled Soleimani's wishes to the highest degree and proved his worldview to his opponents.

Soleimani's hunting by the USA shows that they, too, had become aware of this strategy and had no choice but to jeopardize their prestige and reveal its less-apparent role in order to prevent and disrupt its realization. Soleimani's strategy increased the pressure to an extent that forced the main enemy, in a rare and unique event in the history of the 21st century, to come out from behind the scene and confront Soleimani directly. This seems to have fulfilled Soleimani's wishes to the highest degree and proved his worldview to his opponents

The author is a connoisseur of music, literature, and food (but not drinks). He can be reached at www.facebook.com/hasanaftabsaeed

heROeS hold a special place in our imagination. Our players are our national heroes. We can say them our Ambassadors. Our players, Artists and Actors are our real heroes because they represent our country and nation.

Our players are our most valuable asset. We must not waste these precious assets. Legend Cricketer Muhammad Amir is one of our real heroes who made our country famous. The great cricketers of the world also appreciate the performance of Muhammad Amir. Mohammad Amir is a Pakistani cricketer who started his career in 2009. On 29 August 2010, he was arrested for spot-fixing and was given a five-year ban for bowling two deliberate no-balls.

Muhammad Amir led Pakistan to victory with his best performance in many matches. On 9 november 2009 he scored 73 runs against new Zealand which was a record for a number 10 batsman in ODI history until Ravi Rampaul surpassed that record with scoring 86* when batting at number 10 position in 2011. In that innings, with his batting partner Saeed Ajmal, Amir added 103 runs to Pakistan's chase, only to fall short by 7 runs. he impressed the Pakistan cricket team, including Wasim Akram, who took credit for discovering Amir, although Akram later commented that Amir needed to gain more weight to aid his development. Later in 2009, Pakistan toured Sri Lanka and in the first One Day International match, he shared a 62 run partnership with fast bowler Umar gul for the tenth wicket but Pakistan lost by 36 runs. he also played a game against new Zealand in 2009–2010. During a match in the third One Day International match, when Pakistan were reduced to 8 wickets for 86 runs, he scored 73 runs not out, making the highest score by a number 10 batsman in One Day International cricket and putting on a 103 runs, 10th wicket partnership with Saeed Ajmal. he was unable to get his side to their victory target of 212 runs, as Ajmal was declare out in the last over and Pakistan lost by just 7 runs. During the Test match series against Australia in 2010, at the Melbourne Cricket ground, he took his first five wicket haul, taking the wickets of Australian batsmen Ricky Ponting, Michael hussey and Michael Clarke.

Nadeem KaNdwal Islamabad

Religious extremism OUR country came into being on the name of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Unfortunately, it has been split and decoupled into many sects by the hypocrite ulemas and scholars. every ulema after getting some people in his grisp sets up his own sect and orders the masses to act upon his fixed ways of religion. every religious group thinks that all other people are wrong and only we are on the right path. The people of one sect hate the people of other groups as if they were non-Muslims, they declare the people of other cluster as Kafir and strongly abhor them. Scholars which mislead and divide Muslims among one another are the worst as Prophet (P.B.U.h) said I fear for my Ummah one thing more dangerous than the Dajjal "Misguided and stray scholars." There are hard punishments for such scholars in this world and hereafter.

Islam being the religion of peace, always emphasis on the love, unity and brotherhood. Islam never allows its devotees to break up and diverge from the right amd straight path. But we have reached to a utmost level of religious extremism where we judge one another who is praying rightly, who is on actual path, who will go to heaven and who will go to hell! We judge others as we ourselves are perfect. To be true and rightful Muslims we must get rid of religious extremism and sects and follow the god told way. holy Quran is the complete code of which will help us in this regard.

Islam being the religion of peace, always emphasis on the love, unity and brotherhood. Islam never allows its devotees to break up and diverge from the right amd straight path. But we have reached to a utmost level of religious extremism where we judge one another who is praying rightly, who is on actual path, who will go to heaven and who will go to hell! We judge others as we ourselves are perfect. To be true and rightful Muslims we must get rid of religious extremism and sects and follow the god told way. holy Quran is the complete code of which will help us in this regard.

The religious extremism leads to many evils in society. The religious extremists has pressurized the people to use arm and forces against those who doesn't accede to their views. Due to which tranny and violence has became common in our society. The reasons for religious radicalism are low litiracy rate and blind adoption of faiths. The illiterate people could be easily divided into sects for they don't perform any analysis or rational approach. On the other hand, an educated one could never fall in the hook of sectarianism. It is to say that, we should not be divided among ourselves but we should be one and united to fight against evils and those who are trying to break and puny us. Solidarity is the only requirement which can help us against havoc and wreckage otherwise we will be destroyed. muzaffar Khoso suKKur

Coal miners murdered At least 11 coal miners were killed in the Mach area of Balochistan on Sunday after armed militants kidnapped them and took them to a nearby area before opening fire at close range. Police authorities said the miners were on the way to work when armed militants kidnapped them and took them to the nearby mountains. Moazzam Ali Jatoi, an official with the Levies Force, said six of the miners were dead on the spot, and five who were critically wounded died on the way to a hospital.

Jatoi said an initial investigation revealed the attackers identified the miners as being from the Shia hazara community and the gunmen took them away for execution, leaving others unharmed.

Reuters reported that the militant Islamic State (IS) group later claimed responsibility for the attack, through its Amaq news agency via its Telegram communications channel. Dawn hasn't been able to independently verify the claim. hazaras have been frequently targeted by Taliban and IS militants and other militant groups in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. The attacks in Afghanistan have been claimed by an affiliate of the IS. According to Quetta Deputy Commissioner Murad Kaas, no case has been registered so far.

A heavy contingent of police, Frontier Corps, and district administration officials reached the site after the incident. Following the attack, members of the hazara community in Quetta blocked the Western Bypass and set fire to tyres to protest against the killings. ehtIsham ahmad lahore

Monday, 4 January, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

UNder Cover of Covid-19, Modi regiMe has stepped Up its attaCk oN iNdiaN deMoCraCy IT HAS AIMED ITS BATTERING RAM AT THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT, INDIAN FEDERALISM, THE INDIAN PRESS AND INDIAN CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS

telegraph, IndIa

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RaMachandRa Guha

020 has been a bad year for the health of indians and for the health of indian democracy too. The modi-Shah regime, which is authoritarian by instinct and belief, has used the pandemic to further undermine the processes of constitutional democracy and strengthen its hold over State and society. in pursuit of its ambitions, the regime has launched a multi-pronged attack on the indian Parliament, indian federalism, the indian press and indian civil society organisations. let us consider these in turn. in the years he was chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra modi displayed a consistent contempt for legislative procedure. A report compiled after he had been a decade in office showed that of all the chief ministers of Gujarat since the state’s formation, modi convened the least assembly sittings. months would pass in which the assembly would not meet; when it did, a day would be enough to dispose of matters at hand, with much time spent mourning members who had passed away. As is well known, apart from disregarding inputs from mlAs from the Opposition and even from his own party, Chief minister modi rarely consulted his own cabinet about major policy decisions. modi has carried this contempt for consultation with him to New Delhi. For him, Parliament is a place to make the odd stirring speech in, not a chamber for deliberative decision-making. The partisan attitude adopted

by the Speaker of the lok Sabha and the chairman of the Rajya Sabha is very much in line with their leader’s way of thinking.

Their deputies act in the same way.

Consider the manner in which the farm bills were “passed” through the Rajya Sabha, with the deputy-chairman of the House, Harivansh, violating all the rules and norms of Parliament by refusing to allow actual voting, and making the bills into law on the basis of his own sense of the House.

Of this departure from democratic practice, PDT Achary, the former secretary-general of the lok Sabha, wrote, “Parliament’s systems are designed to enable the opposition to have its say and the government to have its way. if the former is not possible, parliament as a democratic institution cannot survive for long.”

TURNING A BLIND EYE: Those who are modi bhakts, or who believe that the ends justify the means, have disregarded these violations and welcomed the bills as “historic”. On the other hand, supporters of the farm bills with more scruples and a deeper understanding of history have honourably alerted us to the awful consequences of such contempt for Parliament.

Thus, as the senior lawyer, Arvind Datar, writes, “The enormous economic loss and the dislocation of normal life around Delhi could have been wholly avoided if the bills had not been bulldozed through Parliament.

The agitation teaches us the importance of following parliamentary procedure not just in letter but in spirit as well.”

Union ministers may put the blame on urban Naxals, Khalistanis, and Opposition parties, but, as Datar points out, it is the “extraordinary haste with which the farm bills were pushed through both the Houses [that] has created the present crisis, which can only exacerbate the economic woes caused by the pandemic”. more recently, the government cancelled the winter session of Parliament citing the pandemic, even as the Union home minister

was addressing large political rallies in Assam and West bengal.

As chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra modi claimed to believe in “co-operative federalism”. As prime minister, he has sought to savagely curtail the rights and responsibilities of states. Again, the farm bill can serve as an example. As Harish Damodaran has pointed out, since the Constitution clearly places both “agriculture” and “markets” on the state list, on these matters “the Centre can encourage, incentivise, persuade and cajole states. However, it cannot legislate on its own.”

Nonetheless, through a creative (mis)interpretation of an item in the concurrent list which covers trade and commerce in foodstuffs, the Centre had these bills passed, through the dubious procedure in Parliament described above, and without consulting the states at all. The pandemic has witnessed a more general attack on the federal principle.

The powers of the Centre have been strengthened through colonial-era laws and the National Disaster management Act. meanwhile, state governments run by Opposition parties have been undermined by bribing, cajoling, or intimidating legislators to switch their allegiance to the bharatiya Janata Party.

A true marker of how much the bJP cares for power and how little for the health of indians was that the prime minister waited for the swearing-in of the new government in madhya Pradesh before imposing a draconian lockdown at four hours’ notice.

PARTISAN GOVERNORS: in its attack on federalism, the bJP has particularly targeted two large states – West bengal and maharashtra. Here, governors more loyal to the ruling party at the Centre than to the Constitution and Central investigative agencies more loyal to their ministers than to the law have been used by the modi-Shah regime to harass the non-bJP governments that currently rule these states. This intimidation has become so brazen that the bJP’s once loyal and long-term ally, the Shiv Sena,

was compelled to state: “What if our Prime minister is taking a special interest in destabilising State governments? The Prime minister belongs to the country. The country stands as a federation. Even the states which do not have bJP governments, those states also talk about national interest. This feeling is being killed.” in his years as chief minister of Gujarat, Narendra modi was deeply distrustful of even the most non-political of civil society organisations. He has carried this distrust over to New Delhi. The year, 2020, had seen a tightening of the already extensive curbs on non-governmental organisations. The new amendment to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, argues one analyst, is designed to facilitate “arbitrary, vindictive action by the authorities”. by curbing and confining NGOs, the bill shall “have far-reaching consequences on the fields of education, health, people’s livelihoods, gender justice and indeed democracy in india”.

Narendra modi has never much liked journalists who think for themselves, as his refusal to hold a press conference in six-anda-half years as prime minister shows. The year, 2020, saw growing attacks on the independence of the press in india. in the first two months after the lockdown was imposed in late march, some 55 journalists faced FiRs, physical intimidation, and arrest. The highest number of attacks on journalists were in Uttar Pradesh, indian Occupied Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh, which are all ruled or controlled by the bJP. As a report by the Free Speech Collective noted, “The year 2020 has been a bad one for journalists in india… The killing and attacks on journalists have continued unabated. While self-censorship within the media remained an open secret, the government sought to increase regulation of the media, with media policies, funding and administrative mechanisms for online media.” india now occupies the 142nd place on

‘We are leaving the club. No one asked us to go’ THE PERSONAL AND HUMAN RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN US AND OUR CONTINENTAL NEIGHBOURS ARE PRICELESS YET EVERY ABUSIVE HEADLINE ECHOES ACROSS THE CHANNEL

Independent

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Michael heseltine

limb to the gallery of the Arc de Triomphe and you will find enshrined in large black letters the words of marechal Foch in 1919 as he commented on the Treaty of Versailles that closed history's chapter on the First World War. “This is not peace. it is an armistice for 20 years” was his prophetic judgement. So sad; so true. The war to end all wars had merely created the conditions for the next one. i listened to Neville Chamberlain’s broadcast of the news that we were once again at war on that September day in 1939. i can hear the words today as clearly as i did, aged six, standing in our kitchen in Swansea.

These were some of my earliest memories.

Searchlights seeking German bombers in the nightly raids and, tear-jerkingly, the view from the Regent’s Palace Hotel overlooking Piccadilly Circus the night the Second World War ended. People, many in uniform, delirious, dancing, laughing, crying. i shall never forget the conflicting emotions. i will always remember the abiding conclusion that there had to be a better way.

You do not need a degree in history to know that britain’s story is one of bloodshed alongside, or against, our European neighbours. Against the Romans, the French, Dutch, Spanish and Germans, first on dry land, but increasingly at sea, as we created the greatest empire the world will ever see.

The 20th century brought war on a horrific scale, the slaughter of generations of young people and whole communities of civilians wiped out in a single night. How could anyone resist a fierce determination that it must never happen again?

The continental powers approached that challenge from a starting point rather different to ours. Three times, in three quarters of a century, they had been occupied, defeated, fought over. Our island fortress protected us from some of the worst excesses and made us the last hope of restored freedom.

Anyone with an interest in the conflicting political emotions surrounding the growth of European integration at that time should listen to a series of interviews by michael Charlton commissioned by the bbC, in which he interviews british politicians and officials faced with the need to decide what role we would play as the Europeans met us at messina to thrash out the terms of the Treaty of Rome.

Winston Churchill, in opposition after the war, had made a significant contribution to the post-war debate when he declared that we must create "a kind of United States of Europe".

There is controversy about whether he thought britain should be a part of it, and certainly, when he became prime minister again in 1951,

there is no evidence that he was up for the party political battle it would have involved. Rab butler, in his interview with Charlton, put it in the language of the day: "it simply wasn’t on. it wasn’t on. We were quite wrong, of course."

Churchill’s speech is important, however, in that it makes clear beyond doubt that the European movement was always political. Opponents claim they were tricked into believing that we joined an economic arrangement in 1973. The Schuman plan that regulated iron, coal and steel industries across Europe was a stepping stone to the EEC, initiated by the French foreign minister, Robert Schuman, and signed in 1950. Again, this was a political initiative to gain supranational control over the essential war making industries. Europe, from the start, was embarked on an essentially political journey and everyone knew it.

Harold macmillan faced the trauma of britain’s post-war dilemma and the political challenge of telling the truth to a nation still motivated by delusions of yesterday’s power.

The world had changed. The emergence of a European powerhouse based on German and French partnership, the preeminent American power, and the growing determination for selfgovernment across the empire, required us to redefine our destiny. macmillan took up the challenge. The winds of change were blowing in a new direction. We needed to recognise the logic of history and our geographic location. General De Gaulle doubted if british public opinion was ready. if he had lived to see the 2016 referendum, he would have said he had told us so.

Ted Heath led the Conservative Party of my generation. We understood exactly what was happening. A powerhouse of world significance was emerging from the disparate strengths of the nations of Europe. Together we would be stronger, richer, more influential and we wanted britain at the heart of it. The labour party was split and Harold Wilson opted for a referendum, thus avoiding the break-up of his party – for the time being at least. i first went to Europe with my parents in 1947. With friends, in 1954, i hitchhiked 2,500 miles down through France, up through italy, Switzerland and Germany and back across Holland and belgium. We slept by the side of the road or in hostels. That Europe has largely gone. The war damage, the demolition, the self-evident poverty. What has not gone is the pride of nation.

They have created common rules because large, competitive production lines deliver cheaper products. Together we can afford the cost of competing with America and China whose governments provide such support for their technological and industrial base. That is why i did so much to create the European Space Agency in 1973. Our desire for safety, environmental standards, and better healthcare overwhelms any trivial deviations that individual regulatory systems ever achieved. i have no problem with the search for acceptable common standards of behaviour of tolerance across Europe with sanctions imposed where they are ignored. We stood back too long, faced with the early manifestations of this, in Europe in the 1930s. by the narrowest of margins, and usually for reasons about which Europe was irrelevant, we decided by referendum to leave the European club in 2016. i deplore that decision.

However, confirmed as it was by the election in 2019, i cannot deny the democratic mandate. One day, i believe the decision will be reversed but not for some time. The present leaders of the Conservative Party have re-

the World Press Freedom index, ranking well below Nepal, Afghanistan and Sri lanka, though the fact that we are three places above Pakistan may provide some consolation to deshbhakts.

STIGMATISING MUSLIMS: Apart from attacks on Parliament, federalism, civil society organisations and the press, 2020 had also seen a further stigmatisation of india’s large and vulnerable muslim minority. This stigmatisation has been overseen by two of the most powerful politicians in india. The hand of the home minister, Amit Shah, is most visible in the bJP’s bengal campaign and in the police’s partisan handling of the Delhi riots and their aftermath and the hand of Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister, Adityanath, in the incarceration of a growing number of muslim men on charges that are shady, flimsy, or non-existent.

Notwithstanding the prime minister’s recent speech at the Aligarh muslim University, it is clearly Adityanath’smajoritarianism that represents the deep, inner feelings of the party faithful, as manifest in the eagerness of other bJP chief ministers to enact the discriminatory laws and practices adopted in UP. When the new laws regarding agriculture and labour were passed, there was a chorus of applause from free-market columnists crowing, “the crisis has not been wasted”.

The chorus was credulous, because sustained economic growth requires both a level playing field and the rule of law. Neither does, or can, exist, in the modi-Shah regime.

Capitalists who contribute more to the secretive electoral bonds scheme shall get preferential treatment over those who don’t.

Politicians who defect from other parties to the bJP miraculously have all corruption cases against them dropped. The police, the bureaucracy and even the courts allegedly act in the interests of their political masters rather than according to the law.To hold the State and the private sector accountable, one needs the transparent gaze of a free press, informed debate in Parliament, and independent civil society organisations. With what transpired in 2020, we have even less of these than previously. Finally, one cannot have social harmony if the State and the ruling party treat those who are not Hindus as inferior to those who are. For the prime minister and his party, political power, ideological control, and personal glory take precedence over the economic and social well-being of india’s citizens. They have, therefore, used, or rather abused, the crisis to weaken the institutions of indian democracy and the traditions of indian pluralism so as to further the construction of an authoritarian and majoritarian State, which they seek far more diligently than anything else.

Ramachandra Guha’sThe Commonwealth of Cricket has just been published.

versed the opinions of their post-war prime ministers. That is their responsibility. Their fault.

We are leaving the club. No one asked us to go. many of us will have made a similar decision in our personal lives. We may have left a club, a job, a team, a regiment or any other human organisation created to further our particular interests. How often does any organisation change its rules to facilitate such departure? Would you change your rules to allow a departing member to undermine your standards and thus compete more effectively? Changing the rules for one would lead to a chorus of demands from other members. How long does it take before a trickle of change swells into a flood, undermining the foundations of the structure itself?

Once the curtain that Covid-19 has drawn over so much news is lifted by the rollout of the new vaccines, the daily drip of damaging consequences of brexit will become clearer.

The lost investment, the European conferences with no british voice, jobs lost here and replaced in our former market, phone calls to other capitals that once would have come here. most damaging is the language of Euroscepticism. The personal and human relationships between us and our continental neighbours are priceless. We work in each other’s’ companies, holiday in each other’s’ resorts, marry across the frontiers and share a cultural and historic heritage beyond price. Every abusive headline echoes across the channel. if we are to have our cake and eat it, they are left with an empty plate. if britain is no longer prepared to help with the levelling up of poorer Europe, that message is clear. if European fishermen can no longer fish in our waters, why should the City of london have access to European currency markets. Every advantage we claim for brexit provokes the question at whose expense.Historians know where these arguments have led.

Michael Heseltine is president of the European Movement and a former defence secretary.

Monday, 4 January, 2021

BusiNess 09

PM OrDerS aCTiON aGaiNST FUel SMUGGliNG aCrOSS iraN BOrDer

corporate corner FFC organises corporate conversation on SDGs

ISLAMABAD

P

LAHORE: The leading fertiliser company of Pakistan, Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) organised corporate conversation on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to inspire corporate sector to embrace the SDGs. The event was held in Karachi in collaboration with Planning Commission, Government of Pakistan, United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) and Corporate Social Responsibility Centre Pakistan (CSRCP) The session also focused on Pakistan Stock Exchange minimum SDGs reporting requirement for listed companies, which will result in embedding SDGs into corporate strategy and policies for meaningful contribution towards these goals. Press release

BOP Signs MoU with NUST

staff rePOrt

RIME Minister (PM) Imran Khan has approved an action plan against 2,094 illegal petrol retail outlets in three provinces and smugglers of petroleum products at border stations in Balochistan.

The Customs Department at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will be the lead agency in the operations while the petroleum ministry will also explore the possibility of legal import of oil, high-speed diesel from Iran to bring an end to smuggling along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to a report by Dawn, the action plan includes a crackdown against illegal petroleum outlets in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Sindh wherein an FIR will be lodged against the owner, and proceedings for forfeiture of oil station and other properties of the owner in favour of the federal government will be initiated.

As per the estimates, the highest numbers of illegal petroleum retail outlets are in Punjab province at 1,317, followed by 343 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 336 in Sindh and 98 in Islamabad Capital Territory and Rawalpindi division.

Karachi has 68 illegal petroleum outlets selling smuggled petrol, followed by 55 in Peshawar. However, no illegal petroleum outlet is reported in Lahore.

According to Dawn, the petroleum outlets, especially in Sindh, are owned by bureaucrats in a few cases. The provincial chief secretaries and inspectors general police are also directed to share the actual number of illegal petroleum outlets with the Customs Department.

Further, the option of legalising import of POL products from Iran through land route will also be explored followed by the closure of entry points at PakIran border in Balochistan — Paroom, Panjgur, Basima, Hoshab, Ormara, Dasht (Mastung) predominantly used for smuggling POL consignments, thus choking the main supply routes on the international border.

FBR initiates probe into NBP president’s alleged offshore assets ISLAMABAD sHaHZaD ParaCHa

LAHORE: The Bank of Punjab (BOP) has entered into a partnership with the National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad to promote higher education, research and innovation. The agreement was formally signed on December 31, 2020 at the Serena Hotel, Islamabad by BOP President and CEO Zafar Masud and MUST Rector (r) Lt Gen Javed Mahmood Bukhari. Under the National Talent Hunt Program initiative, the Bank of Punjab will promote and finance a few brightest minds in their pursuit of higher education. The discerning feature of the agreement is the commitment by the Bank of Punjab to encourage women empowerment in the country by sponsoring female start-up projects, as well as to encourage research on topics related to banking and technology related to banking. Press release

Later, similar action will be taken against corrupt elements in Balochistan, one of the major supply routes of smuggled petroleum products for selling to end consumers.

The operation has been divided into two phases.

The first of which will comprise simultaneous action against illegal POL retail outlets in Punjab, Sindh, and KP which have already been geo mapped by customs and choking off supply routes of smuggled POL products from Balochistan to the rest of the country whereas the second phase will encompass mapping of requirements of POL products in Balochistan, planning for provision of legal retail outlets to replace the shortfall of smuggled oil and devising a strategy to curb POL smuggling at the international border of Balochistan.

According to the details, customs officials have in¬¬formed the premier that the estimated loss to the national exchequer due to the illegal selling of petroleum products is between Rs100 billion to Rs150bn per annum.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has begun investigating incumbent National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) President, Arif Usmani, for his alleged offshore assets worth billions of rupees.

Sources privy to the information told Profit that the incumbent NBP president has stashed assets worth $11,481,440, equivalent to Rs1.8 billion, in Citi Trust, Jersey which is known to be a haven for illicit money.

The tax department is probing Usmani on concealment of offshore accounts as he did not mention the details while filing tax returns for 2008 to 2012 when he was resident in Pakistan or in the tax returns for the year 2018.

In addition, sources said that Arif Usmani was also issued an overseas Pakistani card in February 2012, valid till June 2019, when his CNIC was renewed.

It is pertinent to mention here that according to the law, every Pakistani having foreign income above $10,000 or having foreign assets with a value of $100,000 had to furnish a statement of foreign income and assets under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

Further, concealment of offshore assets also falls under Section 3 (ii) of the Anti Money Laundering Act 2010 states that “a person shall be guilty of an offence of money laundering, if the person conceals or disguises

USMANI DENIES ALL CHARGES IN CONVERSATION WITH PROFIT the true nature, origin, location, disposition, movement or ownership of property, knowing or having reason to believe that such property is proceeds of crime”.

Sources said that Usmani, in response to a showcause notice in his tax returns for 2018, had said that he was a non-resident in 2018 and all offshore assets he earned were during his non-residency abroad.

However, sources said that the tax officials were not satisfied with his statement and he was asked to furnish evidence of investment in Citi Trust’s offshore bank account, along with complete bank statements reflecting dates when the amounts were credited.

The Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI) government had appointed Arif Usmani as President NBP in February 2019 for three years. Soon after taking over the charge of the bank, Usmani started hiring a large number of contractual employees in various branches of the bank in and abroad on very hefty salaries, which cost the NBP an additional Rs2.9 billion besides the profit of the bank is from treasury bills and all major functions of the group are in huge losses as per the September 2020 figures.

It is pertinent to mention here that the National

Assembly (NA) finance committee has also directed the NBP to furnish appointments details as contractual appointments are against Islamabad High Court (IHC) and Supreme Court (SC) verdicts.

It is worth noting that a petitioner has also challenged the Usmani’s appointment as NBP chief in the IHC. The petitioner has not only raised questions about Usmani’s BSC physics degree but also disclosed that he concealed four charges from the National Drug Law Enforcement Authority (NDLEA) in Nigeria from the SBP. When contacted, Arif Usmani informed this scribe that he is submitting information about his offshore assets to FBR, which were acquired during 26 years that he spent out of the country.

In response to another question about mentioning offshore properties to the SBP, he said that it was not required to declare offshore assets and he is declaring them as per the law.

About the money laundering case in Nigeria, he replied that the money laundering case was closed as it was not real. “The case was on Citibank Nigeria, not on me. My name was only mentioned because I was the bank’s CEO,” he said.

Similarly, regarding the payment of a hefty amount to M/s EY Ford Rhoades character, he replied that they are personal accountants who he pays for out of his own pocket.

LDA introduces land use regulations LAHORE sHaHaB OMer

The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has introduced the muchawaited land use regulations for allowing new business ventures to promote trade, commerce and industry in the four districts of Lahore division.

According to the spokesperson of LDA, the policy and guidelines had been provided as a result of the promulgation of Land Use Rules 2020, for permitting a change in the use of land to starting new business activities for generating job opportunities for the youth.

The spokesperson said that the business-friendly regulations had allowed a 5 per cent discount on lump sum payment of commercialisation fee, provided a facility for payment of commercialisation fee in easy instalments in three years instead of two years, and also permitted the amalgamation of equal measurement of land into a land that is already

AUTHORITY DETAILS VARIOUS DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS CARRIED OUT IN PROVINCIAL CAPITAL under use for the expansion of an existing business.

He also added that the regulations had waived off commercialisation for NGOs and charities to encourage welfare activities. “A new concept of setting up commercial zone has been introduced, under the title of Area Development Project, on an area of 24 kanals to 200 kanals,” he further added.

It may be mentioned here that under the guidance of the Punjab chief minister (CM), LDA’s initiatives had improved Pakistan’s position in the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) ranking by 54 notches, improving Lahore’s score from 58.16 to 70.4.

For speedy processing of various types of applications, counters of different relevant departments including WASA, TEPA, Town Plan-

ning and Metropolitan Planning have been set up under one roof in the e-service centre at LDA’s One Window Cell.

Similarly, Processing of applications by a private architect has been allowed for the issuance of completion certificate within 30 days and the hassle of repeated visits to the LDA office has been relieved. EKhidmat Center’s official website has provided a facility to apply for approval of building plans without coming to the LDA office and approval is given in 30 days.

Further, the LDA has allowed construction of residential and lowrise commercial buildings as soon as the building plan is submitted for approval. Residential, commercial, industrial, warehouse building plans were being approved in 30 days.

Completion certificate of the building was being issued in 30 days.

Conversion to commercial, industrial and other use of land was being allowed in 45 days. Water connection fee and time required for installation of connection had been reduced by WASA. Online fee submission would also be started soon.

Following an agreement between LDA and NADRA, the authority has gained access to NADRA’s database during 2020.

NADRA counter has been set up at LDA One Window Cell.

In order to eliminate chances of forgery and fraud, the biometric of the sellers and the purchasers of plots can be verified before processing the requests for sale and purchase of plots.

Further, the authority has also constructed the gateway to the city named as Bab-e-Lahore near Thokar Niaz Beg on Multan Road while other development works carried out in the city include an overhead

bridge for pedestrians near Jinnah Hospital, patch work of roads in different parts of Lahore including Johar Town, Gulberg, Allama Iqbal Town, Canal Bank Road, Harbanspura, Gujjarpura, Samanabad, Multan Road and other areas.

Currently, the authority is carrying out work for cleaning, washing, painting and installation of lights in 11 underpasses on both sides of the

canal on Canal Road from Thokar Niaz Beg to Jallu whereas 15 overhead bridges for pedestrians on Canal Road were also being cleaned and maintained.

Cleaning and painting work of grills on both sides of the canal was also underway, while cleaning, washing and painting of overhead bridges in various other areas of the city were also being carried out.

Bitcoin rallies above $30,000 for first time MONTREAL aGeNCIes

Digital currency Bitcoin extended its recordsmashing rally on Saturday, beginning the year with a surge over $30,000 for the first time, with ever more traders and investors betting that it is on its way to becoming a mainstream payment method.

The price of the world’s most popular

cryptocurrency traded as high as $33,099 on Saturday, with almost all other markets closed over the first weekend in 2021. It was last up about 12% at $32,883.

Bitcoin advanced more than 300% in 2020, and with the latest leg higher has added more than 50% since crossing $20,000 just two weeks ago.

The blockchain currency has only been around for a decade or so, and in 2020 it has

seen demand grow from larger U.S. investors, attracted by its perceived inflationhedging qualities and potential for quick gains, as well as expectations it would become a mainstream payments method.

Investors said limited supply of bitcoin – produced by so-called “mining” computers that validate blocks of transactions by competing to solve mathematical puzzles – has helped power upward moves over recent days.

CM YK

Some also saw it as a safe-haven play during the COVID-19 pandemic, akin to gold.

“It’s very likely that the asset will eventually pass $100,000 per coin,” Sergey Nazarov, cofounder of Chainlink, a global blockchain project, wrote in an email on Saturday. “People have been steadily losing faith in their government currencies for years, and the monetary policies resulting from the economic impact of the coronavirus

have only accelerated this decline.”

It trades on numerous exchanges, the largest of which is Coinbase, which is itself preparing to go public and become the first such platform to list on Wall Street.

Multiple competitor cryptocurrencies use similar blockchain, or electronic ledger, technology. Ethereum, the second biggest, gained 465% in 2020 and was up almost 7% on Saturday.

Monday, 4 January, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

AFTer pArdoN, BlACkwATer guArd deFIANT: ‘I ACTed CorreCTly’ WASHINGTON

e

AGENCIES

VAN Liberty was reading in the top bunk of his cell one evening late last month when a prison supervisor delivered news he had hoped for. “He says, ‘Are you ready for this?’” Liberty recalled. “I said, ‘Uh, I’m not sure.

What is going on?’ He said, ‘Presidential pardon. Pack your stuff.’”

Liberty is one of four former Blackwater contractors pardoned by President Donald Trump in one of Trump’s final acts in office, freeing them from prison after a 2007 shooting rampage in Baghdad that killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians. Even for a president who has repeatedly exercised his pardon power on personal associates and political supporters, Trump’s clemency for the contractors was met with especially intense condemnation, both in the United States and the Middle East.

Historically, presidential pardons have been reserved for nonviolent crimes, not manslaughter or murder, and the traditional process led by the Justice Department values acceptance of responsibility and remorse from those convicted of crimes. The Blackwater contractors meet none of that criteria. They were convicted in the killings of unarmed Iraqi women and children and have long been defiant in their assertions of innocence.

In an interview with The Associated Press, his first since being released from prison, Liberty, 38, again expressed little remorse for actions he says were defensible given the context.

“I feel like I acted correctly,” he said of his conduct in 2007. “I regret any innocent loss of life, but I’m just confident in how I acted and I can basically feel peace with that.”

The Blackwater rampage marked one of the darkest chapters of the Iraq war, staining the US government reputation and prompting an international outcry about the role of contractors in military zones. The guards have long maintained they were targeted by insurgent gunfire at the traffic circle where the shooting occurred. Prosecutors argued there was no evidence to support that claim, noting that many victims were shot while in their cars or while taking shelter or trying to flee.

After a monthslong trial in 2014, a jury convicted the men in the deaths of 14 civilians and of injuring even more. A judge called the shootings an “overall wild thing” that cannot be condoned.

Liberty said he understands many may view him undeserving of clemency but attributes it to what he insists is a misguided narrative of the shooting. In the interview, he maintained that he did not shoot in the direction of any of the victims. “I didn’t shoot at anybody that wasn’t shooting at me,” he said.

He said he and the others would “never take an innocent life. We responded to a threat accordingly.”

Liberty, whose 30-year sentence was cut by roughly half last year, isn’t certain how he came to be pardoned and said he has not spoken with Trump. But the group does have supporters, some with ties to the White House.

The Blackwater firm, whose name has since changed, was founded by former Navy SEAL Erik Prince, a Trump ally whose sister, Betsy

India okays AstraZeneca and local Covid-19 vaccines

DeVos, is education secretary. Their cause also was championed by Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, an Army veteran.

Trump’s approach to pardons has been heavily influenced by personal appeals from allies. Throughout his presidency, including in his most recent round of pardons, he’s wiped away punishments for political backers, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a pair of Republican congressmen who were early supporters of his 2016 campaign. Trump has also shown a willingness to intervene on behalf of service members accused of war crimes.

In announcing the Blackwater pardons, the White House cited the men’s military service, the support they received and the tangled history of a case that zigzagged for years in Washington’s federal court, turning on radically different interpretations of the shooting.

Criticism was swift. A Washington Post editorial called the pardons a “unique threat to national security” and suggested the guards had committed “astonishing acts of inhumanity.” Iraqi citizens who spoke to reporters described old wounds being reopened. Soon after the announcement, a photograph of a smiling 9-year-old victim circulated widely online. The boy’s father told the BBC that Trump “broke my life again.”

“They haven’t denied doing what they did,” said Paul Dickinson, who represented victims in a lawsuit over the shootings.

“They haven’t apologized for what they did.

They haven’t admitted any wrongdoing in what they did.”

Blackwater guards, who as State Department contractors were responsible for pro-

WASHINGTON AGENCIES

AGENCIES

A federal appeals court on Saturday rejected a Republican congressman’s bid to allow Vice President Mike Pence to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s Nov. 3 election victory in favor of President Donald Trump.

In a brief order, a three-judge panel of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge’s decision on Friday to toss US Representative Louie Gohmert’s lawsuit, which had argued that Pence had the power to invalidate Biden’s win when Congress meets to certify the results on Wednesday.

Trump, a Republican, has refused to concede to Biden, claiming without evidence that his victory was due to widespread fraud. Dozens of election officials and judges around the country have dismissed Trump’s allegations.

Under the US system, the presidency is determined by the Electoral College, which allots electoral votes to states and the District of Columbia based on congressional representation.

Two French soldiers killed in Mali PARIS

At least 70 killed in suspected militant attacks in Niger: report NIAMEY AGENCIES

Biden, who won the national popular vote by more than 7 million votes, prevailed in the Electoral College 306-232.

US law requires Congress to formally count the electoral vote on January 6.

Gohmert, a Texas Republican and staunch Trump ally, filed the lawsuit along with Republican electors from Arizona, asserting that Pence could throw out electoral votes in his role as the presiding officer of the Senate.

But US District Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee, ruled

on Friday that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue because they had not suffered any personal harm.

The 5th Circuit judges, all appointed by Republican presidents, including a Trump appointee, agreed. The Justice Department, representing Pence, had opposed the lawsuit. Some Congressional Republicans have said they will object to the electoral count, though their effort appears to have no chance of altering the outcome.

On Saturday, Senator Ted Cruz announced a group of 11 senators would challenge Biden’s tally.

At least 70 civilians were killed in simultaneous attacks on two villages by suspected militants in Niger, near the border zone with Mali, security sources said on Saturday. About 49 villagers were killed and 17 people wounded in the village of Tchombangou, said one of the security sources, who requested anonymity. A second source, a senior official in Niger’s interior ministry who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that around 30 other villagers had been killed in the village of Zaroumdareye. Niger’s government was not immediately available to comment. The West African nation has previously suffered attacks by the militants. Attacks near the western border with Mali and Burkina Faso, and the southeastern border with Nigeria, killed hundreds of people last year.

Stricter lockdown restriction likely on the way, says Johnson LONDON AGENCIES

AGENCIES

Two French soldiers died in an operation in Mali on Saturday and a third was injured when an improvised explosive device hit their armoured vehicle, the French presidency said. The soldiers were on a reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering mission in the eastern region of Menaka when the blast occurred late Saturday morning, the joint chiefs of staff said in a statement. The injured soldier’s life was not in danger, the presidency said. Less than a week ago three French soldiers were killed in Mali also by an improvised explosive device during a mission in the southern region of Hombori. Al Qaeda’s North Africa wing has said it was responsible for that attack, monitoring organisation SITE Intel reported on Saturday. The soldiers in both cases were part of France’s Barkhane military operations in Mali against armed fighters.

first-degree murder.

A fifth guard, Jeremy Ridgeway, pleaded guilty and testified against the others. He admitted firing multiple rounds into the Kia — which actually contained a medical student and his mother — but denied having seen Iraqis pointing guns or that he felt threatened. Defense lawyers sought to undercut his credibility by noting that he’d previously told a different story.

The lawyers challenged the verdict, citing in part newly discovered evidence — an Iraqi witness statement — they said contradicted what the jury was told.

Slatten’s murder conviction was thrown out but he was retried and convicted. The 30year sentences for the others were shortened after a federal appeals court said the punishments were excessive even though what happened “defies civilized description.”

After six years behind bars, Liberty had tried to not get his hopes up about a pardon.

“Dumbfounded” when the news came, he grabbed a photograph of his grandfather, a list of Spanish vocabulary he’d been studying and a motivational book on discipline, leaving the rest behind.

The New Hampshire native and Marine veteran said he is uncertain of future plans, though he’s passionate about physical fitness and interested in assisting veterans’ organizations. He says he’s grateful to his supporters and to Trump for what he calls a “second chance at life.”

“I feel like it’s my duty to go out and do something positive and live a good life because they gave me a second chance, so that’s basically my goal.”

US appeals court rejects lawmaker's bid to have Pence overturn Biden's win

NEW DELHI India authorised two Covid-19 vaccines on Sunday, paving the way for a huge inoculation program to stem the coronavirus pandemic in the world’s second-most populous country.

India’s drugs regulator gave an emergency authorisation for the vaccines developed by Oxford University and UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca and another developed by the Indian company Bharat Biotech. Drugs Controller General Dr. Venugopal G Somani said that both vaccines will be administered in two dosages. The country’s initial immunisation plan aims to vaccinate 300 million people — health care workers, front-line staff including police and those considered vulnerable due to their age or other diseases — by August 2021. The Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturing company, has been contracted by AstraZeneca to make a billion doses for developing nations, including India. On Friday, Britain became the first to approve the shot. The other vaccine known as COVAXIN is developed

by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with government agencies and is based on an inactivated form of the coronavirus. The company has completed only two of three trial phases. The third, which tests for efficacy, began in mid-November. Early clinical studies showed that the vaccine doesn’t have any serious side effects and produces antibodies for Covid-19.

India, with nearly 1.4 billion people, is the second-worst affected by the coronavirus after the US, with over 10.3 million confirmed cases and 149,435 deaths, though its rate of infection has come down significantly from a mid-September peak. An application for a vaccine made by Pfizer Inc. is still being reviewed.

viding diplomatic security, were already seen as operating with impunity in Iraq. The rampage further escalated international scrutiny of them, prompted multiple investigations and strained US-Iraqi relations.

On September 16, 2007, the guards were summoned to create an evacuation route for a diplomat after a car bomb explosion.

By prosecutors’ account, the shooting began after the guards’ four-vehicle convoy took up positions at Baghdad’s crowded Nisour Square, where the contractors launched an unprovoked attack using sniper fire, machine guns and grenade launchers.

Liberty says he fired only in the direction of an Iraqi police post; the guards had been concerned by infiltration by insurgents of police ranks. But prosecutors say he and the others fired indiscriminately.

Defense lawyers say the shooting began only after a white Kia broke from the traffic and moved toward the convoy in ways the guards perceived as threatening and a potential car bomb. In a narrative disputed by prosecutors, the guards say they fired in response to insurgent gunfire. One contractor who received immunity described hearing the incoming “pop” of what sounded like AK-47 rounds shortly before another guard fired.

The case was bitterly contested for more than a decade, with the Justice Department reviving the prosecution after an original indictment was dismissed because of government missteps and flying in dozens of Iraqi witnesses to testify. Liberty and two others, Paul Slough and Dustin Heard, were convicted of manslaughter.

Another, Nicholas Slatten, was convicted of

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that tougher lockdown restrictions were probably on the way as Covid-19 cases keep rising, but that schools were safe places and children should continue to attend where permitted.

Cases of Covid-19 in Britain are at record levels and increasing, fuelled by a new and more transmissible variant of the virus. That has already forced the government to cancel the planned reopening of schools in and around London, with calls from teaching unions for wider closures.

Much of England is already living under the toughest level of restriction set out in a four-tier system of regional regulations designed to stop the spread of the virus and protect the national healthcare system.

But Johnson, asked in a BBC interview about concerns that the system may not be enough to bring the virus back under control, said that restrictions “alas, might be about to get tougher”.

“There are obviously a range of tougher measures that we would have to consider [...] I’m not going to speculate now about what they would be.”

Johnson sets policy for England, with rules in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales set by their de-

volved authorities.

Britain recorded 57,725 new cases of the virus on Saturday, and with more than 74,000 deaths so far during the pandemic, the government’s response has been heavily criticised.

However the rollout of vaccines was set to accelerate on Monday with the first 530,000 doses of the newly approved Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines ready to be administered, Johnson said. He added he hoped “tens of millions” would be treated over the next three months.

Addressing concerns over education, and with millions of pupils set to return from their Christmas holidays on Monday, Johnson said schools were

safe, and advised parents to send their children in, in areas where rules allow it.

“There is no doubt in my mind that schools are safe, and that education is a priority,” he said.

The schools issue has split opinion, with unions and some local authorities warning against reopening and threatening to act against government advice, and others saying that closures also have a big negative impact on students.

“We must renew and maintain the consensus that children’s time out of school should be kept to the absolute minimum,” Amanda Spielman, chief schools inspector, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.

Monday, 4 January, 2021

Man City's Garcia tests positive for Covid-19 LONdON AGENCIES

Manchester City defender Eric Garcia and a staff member have tested positive for Covid-19, the Premier League club said on Sunday. "Both personnel will now observe a period of selfisolation in accordance with Premier League and UK Government protocol on quarantine," City said in a statement.

On Friday, City manager Pep Guardiola said five first-team players had tested positive for the novel coronavirus and would not be involved in their game at Chelsea. The club said last week that striker Gabriel Jesus and defender Kyle Walker had tested positive, though Guardiola did not name the other three infected players. A surge in infections at City among players and staff forced the club to lodge a request with the league to postpone Monday’s (today) game at Everton. City are eighth in the league table with 26 points after 14 games.

Nortje takes six wickets, Elgar scores 92 to put South Africa in driving seat JOHANNESBURG AGENCIES

South African seamer Anrich Nortje claimed a career-best sixwicket haul and opener Dean Elgar backed it up with an unbeaten 92 runs as the home team forged an early advantage over Sri Lanka on the opening day of the second Test. Nortje made full use of seamer-friendly conditions at The Wanderers Stadium for a return of 6-56 off 14.3 overs as Sri Lanka collapsed from 71-1 to be dismissed for 157 before tea on Sunday. Elgar then set about consolidating the advantage as he moved tantalisingly close to a century at the close of play, steering South Africa to 148 for one wicket in reply – trailing by just nine runs. Elgar, who resisted the temptation to push for his century in the final half hour’s play, featured in an unbeaten 114-run partnership for the second wicket with Rassie van der Dussen.

JAMiESoN tAkES fivE AS NZ diSMiSS PAkiStAN for 297 WELLINGTON

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AGENCIES

ACEMAN Kyle Jamieson took five for 69 as New Zealand overcame some stiff Pakistan resistance to dismiss the tourists for 297 at close of play on the opening day of the second and final Test at Christchurch on Sunday.

Already 1-0 up in the series and needing only a draw to rise to the top of the world rankings for the first time, the Black Caps won the toss and elected to field on what looked like a Hagley Oval track tailor-made for their attack. Pakistan had shown great fight at the end of their 101-run defeat in the first

Test, however, and started out delivery from Tim Southee just as they had finished at Mount after New Zealand took the secMaunganui with some batting ond new ball.

The hosts rattled off the last of real intent on a day largely uninterrupted by the two wickets in short order to bring up stumps, giving New Christchurch rain.

Azhar Ali led the way with a Zealand’s openers the night to rest up before going out superb innings of 93 but again to bat. there were also Given the cameos from MoPAKISTAN swing and seam hammad Rizwan, 297 (AZHAR 93, in the pitch, New who was again RIZWAN 61, ASHRAF Zealand’s attack forced to standhave in as captain for 48, JAMIESON 5-69) V would hoped to have the injured NEW ZEALAND got the job done Babar Azam and more quickly and it scored 61, as well looked like they as Faheem Ashraf, would when Jamieson who hit 48.

Left-arm spinner Zafar ripped through the Pakistan Gohar extended the tail with a top order to reduce the tourists 62-ball 34 in his first Test in- to 88-4 at lunch.

Bowling with real venom nings until he top edged a short

and bounce, the 26-year-old sent back opener Abid Ali, Haris Sohail and Fawad Alam in three overs, the latter with an unplayable delivery that the batsman could only fend away from his helmet with his glove.

Azhar Ali and Rizwan stalled the New Zealand attack with a partnership of 88 for the fifth wicket during which the stand-in skipper secured his fifth consecutive half century before edging a Jamieson delivery behind.

Seamer Matt Henry, brought in to replace the injured Neil Wagner, finally winkled out Azhar Ali in the final session before Faheem Ashraf departed to give Jamieson his third five-wicket haul in six Tests.

Excited about the Galle Tests: Joe Root-led England arrive in SL to resume cancelled tour COLOMBO AGENCIES

England’s cricketers arrived in Sri Lanka on Sunday to resume a Test tour cancelled in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, in what officials hope will be a “massive boost” for match-starved cricket fans.

A British Airways charter flight carrying the players and support staff landed in Mattala, in the south of the Indian Ocean island, where they underwent antigen tests.

Joe Root’s men had the small airport to themselves as Sri Lanka has closed its airspace to scheduled commercial airlines.

Only a handful of repatriation flights and charters are allowed into Sri Lanka since May under strict health controls.

“We are very excited about the Galle Tests,” Root told a small group of cameramen allowed into the terminal for their arrival.

Airport staff in white hazmat suits

sprayed the hands and footwear of the visitors and their luggage before they were allowed into the terminal for coronavirus tests.

Managing Director of England Men’s Cricket, Ashley Giles, said the team looked forward to playing at the seaside Galle stadium adjoining a colonial-era fort.

“To play in Galle will be very special –it is one of the iconic venues in world cricket,” he said in a statement. “The past 10 months have been uncertain for us all, but having international cricket returning to Sri Lanka will be a massive boost for cricket fans all over the world.”

The team will not interact with locals, but sign cricket bats which will be auctioned to raise money for two charities supporting victims of sexual violence in Sri Lanka, the British High Commission said.

Sri Lanka Cricket said the team’s hotel in the island’s southern district of Hambantota will be off limits for locals as part of

quarantine regulations.

During the quarantine period, the England squad will split into two teams in order to play a practice match, a SLC official said.

The team’s aircraft was permitted to enter Sri Lanka despite a ban on all flights and passengers from the UK following the discovery of a new, infectious coronavirus strain.

The England cricket board confirmed their players and support staff had tested negative for the coronavirus prior to leaving.

England abandoned their two-match Test tour of Sri Lanka in March on the second day of a practice match as the pandemic spread.

They will now play their two Tests starting on January 14 at the Galle stadium without any spectators.

Sri Lanka had just six reported cases when England pulled out in March, but the team returned to an island which now has over 44,000 infections and 211 deaths.

SPORTS 11 Question marks over Australia-india test after boycott threat reports SYdNEY AGENCIES

The schedule for Australia’s Test series against India was under threat again on Sunday after reports the tourists were unhappy at the prospect of re-ent ering strict quarantine for the fourth Test in Brisbane. The third Test in the fourmatch series is slated to start at Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday after Cricket Australia decided not to move the match in the wake of an outbreak of Covid-19 cases in the city’s northern beaches. On Monday, both squads will fly to New South Wales, which reported eight new locally transmitted cases of the virus and ramped up social distancing measures on Sunday. Queensland state has closed its border with New South Wales and although agreement has been reached to allow the players to fly to Brisbane for the fourth Test on January 15, they will have to quarantine having been in Sydney. “No different from anyone else, if they are coming from a declared hotspot they will have to quarantine,” Queensland’s chief health officer, Doctor Jeannette Young, said on Sunday. “That is a discussion Cricket Australia will need to have with the players.” Reports in the Australian media, citing sources within the touring party, said India’s players, many of whom have been in some form of quarantine or other for six months, would refuse to travel if they were going to be subjected to a hard lockdown. A spokesman for the India team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reports. India’s players underwent 14 days of strict quarantine after their arrival in Australia but have since enjoyed more freedom while preparing for and playing matches in Adelaide, Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne. There are still some restrictions, however, and five Indian players were placed in isolation on Saturday after a video surfaced showing them eating inside a Melbourne restaurant on New Year’s Day. The Australian and Indian cricket boards are investigating the alleged breach of biosecurity protocols with precedent suggesting the players might be fined for their actions. Sydney, which at one stage looked like losing the third Test to Melbourne, would be the most likely beneficiary if it was decided to move the fourth match from Brisbane. The acting Premier of New South Wales state, John Barilaro, told reporters on Sunday that the government was focusing on staging the third Test safely in front of a crowd of up to 20,000 fans. “We’re going to commit to the Test we have,” he said. “If an opportunity arises post that, we’ll take that opportunity then.” Australia batsman Matthew Wade rejected the idea that there was now uncertainty over the schedule. “There’s a lot of talk out there but for us as a group and me position personally, we’ll go Sydney and play the SCG and then we’ll go the Brisbane and play the Gabba,” he told reporters.

Real Madrid see off Celta to return to La Liga summit MAdRId AGENCIES

Real Madrid beat an in-form Celta Vigo 2-0 at home on Saturday thanks to a goal and assist apiece from Spanish pair Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio, putting the side above city rivals Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga.

The win took the Spanish champions to the summit on 36 points, one ahead of second-placed Atletico who have three games in hand and on Sunday visit Alaves.

Real were smarting from a surprise 1-1 draw at struggling Elche in their last match and were missing captain Sergio Ramos, who was out with a stomach bug.

But they got off to an ideal start thanks to a towering header from Vazquez, who out-jumped two Celta defenders to power home a cross from Asensio.

Vazquez returned the favour early in the second half to tee up Asensio after Madrid had recovered the ball high in Celta’s half. Zinedine Zidane’s side comfortably saw out the victory, ending Celta’s unbeaten run of six games under new coach Eduardo Coudet.

“We said before the game that after slipping up against Elche we wanted to show our usual aggression and win the ball back high up the pitch,” said

Vazquez.

“Right now every game is key, we are on a good run, we didn’t expect to draw the other day but the team is in good shape and if we keep playing like this we’ll be fighting for everything.”

Celta had won five of their previous six league games since Argentine Coudet took charge in November after Oscar Garcia was sacked, taking them from the bottom of the standings to within striking distance of the European places.

The trip to Madrid was their biggest test so far and they almost took the lead when talismanic striker Iago Aspas ran through and knocked the ball past keeper Thibaut Courtois but Real defender Nacho recovered to clear it off the line.

Madrid broke immediately with a long ball to Asensio, whose cross was nodded in by Vazquez.

Real nearly doubled their lead when Dani Carvajal tried his luck from outside the box and saw his shot whistle past the post.

Celta had failed to pull off their usual style of intense pressing and they suffered a huge blow when Aspas, La Liga’s joint-top scorer with nine goals, was forced off in visible pain with a suspected muscle injury.

Asensio’s goal moments later delivered a knockout blow and they later also lost forward Nolito to an injury.

Monday, 4 January, 2021

PRAyER TImINGS

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

5:56

12:37

4:21

7:18

5:56

7:18

thousands MarCh in Baghdad on soleiMani assassination anniversary MOURNERS HOLD A SYMBOLIC FUNERAL PROCESSION ON THE HIGHWAY LEADING TO CITY’S AIRPORT WHERE THE JANUARY 3, 2020, STRIKE TOOK PLACE

a

AGENCIES

SYMBOLIC funeral procession in Iraq marked the first anniversary of the drone strike near Baghdad by the United States that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi leader Abu Mahdi alMuhandis.

Thousands of mourners joined the march on the highway leading to the Baghdad airport on Saturday evening where the strike that killed the two men took place.

As the highway remained blocked with cars, demonstrators carrying posters of Soleimani and al-Muhandis adorned both sides of the road lined with tents that served food and drinks for those walking.

The scene of the bombing was turned into a shrine-like area sealed off by red ropes, with a photo of Soleimani and alMuhandis in the middle, as mourners lit candles. Shrapnel marks were still visible on the asphalt and walls in the area.

Soleimani headed Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force, responsible for the

Islamic republic’s foreign operations and frequently shuttled between Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. His assassination dramatically ratcheted up tensions in the region and brought the US and Iran to the brink of war.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Baghdad, said more protests are expected across Iraq on Sunday.

“The protests are focused on demanding that the Iraqi government put pressure on the Americans to withdraw the remaining soldiers from the country,” he said.

“Meanwhile, people on the streets are concerned about any potential escalation or any kind of deterioration in security of this country.”

The Baghdad procession came as Iraq’s military said explosives experts with its naval forces successfully dismantled a mine that was discovered stuck to an oil tanker in the Persian Gulf two days earlier.

The statement on Saturday said Iraqi authorities have opened an investigation into the incident. No group has claimed responsibility for placing the mine.

Tensions between Tehran and Washing-

india seeks $4bn in investments to provide security in kashmir NEW DELHI AGENCIES

India’s plans to attract investments worth up to $4 billion for Jammu and Kashmir in the next two to three years for providing security to businesses setting up shop in the insurgency-hit region, its chief said on Saturday. Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) was India’s only Muslim-majority state until August 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi carved out a Buddhist-dominated enclave and designated both as federally-administered territories. Tens of thousands of security forces guard the region where India has been fighting an armed-insurgency for decades, especially in the disputed Kashmir valley that is also claimed by Pakistan. J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said his administration was identifying 6,000 acres (2,400 hectares) of land for businesses and that they would make companies feel secure. “We have an annual budget of 1 trillion rupees ($13.68 billion) for the region and a good amount of that is being used for providing security for businesses,” Sinha told a group of journalists in New Delhi. The government was also working on organising an investment summit there after a delay due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said. “We are in touch with all big business houses,” he said. J&K is one of India’s least industrialised regions, with per capita income of 62,145 rupees in 2016/2017, lower than the national average of 82,229 rupees but higher than several other states. The government enforced the changes in the region through a harsh crackdown, deploying thousands of additional troops, imposing a communication blackout and detaining scores of people.

ton have been rising in the run-up to the first anniversary of top Iranian general’s killing.

In a letter to the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, Iran condemned US “military adventurism” in the Gulf and the Sea of Oman, and “fake information, baseless accusations and threatening rhetoric” against Tehran.

A day earlier, the US military flew two nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over the Gulf in a message of deterrence to Iran, the latest in a series of such moves in the past month.

“New intelligence from Iraq indicate(s) that Israeli agent-provocateurs are plotting attacks against Americans – putting an outgoing Trump in a bind with a fake casus belli (act justifying war),” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a tweet on Saturday. “Be careful of a trap, @realDonaldTrump. Any fireworks will backfire badly,” Zarif wrote.

With less than a month left in the White House, Trump is under pressure from key Middle East allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, to act against Iran, Danny Postel, assistant director of the Center for International and

Minister says iran will take revenge of general soleiMani TEHRAN AGENCIES

Iranian Minister of Defense Brigadier-General Amir Hatami reiterated on Sunday that Iran will take revenge of the United States’ assassination of Lieutenant-General Qasem Soleimani. Hatami made the remarks at a ceremony in a military academy in Tehran to commemorate General Soleimani. Hatami said that the Ministry of Defense is pursuing the ideas of General Soleimani in the fight against Takfiri terrorist groups. Referring to the attempts made by the enemies to undermine Iran’s regional influence, the minister said Iran’s active role in the region contradicts with the interests of some other regional players who see their interests in obeying the extra-regional powers. Hatami noted that Iran’s great revenge of General Soleimani’s blood is pushing the US forces out of the region. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Iran would cut the US legs off the region in retaliation for assassination of General Soleimani. “You cut the hand of our General and your legs will be cut off from the region,” the president said speaking during a cabinet session. The Iranian people reserve the right to take revenge of the blood of their General, Rouhani said. “As long as you are present in this region, it means we have not taken the final revenge.” Iranian Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes were assassinated in a drone attack on their motorcade at Baghdad airport on January 3, 2020.

Area Studies at Northwestern University, told Al Jazeera.

“Trump is a very wounded and very cornered animal in an end-game scenario. He’s

Afghan peace talks resume as bloodshed continues KABUL AGENCIES

A string of assassinations has sowed fear and chaos across Afghanistan as a fresh round of peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban begin in Qatar on Tuesday.

Months of deliberations between the two sides have yielded little so far, but both parties made something of a breakthrough last year when they finally agreed at least on what to discuss in the next round.

Afghan government negotiators will push for a permanent cease-fire and to protect the existing system of governance, in place since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001 by a US-led invasion in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

“The talks are going to be very complicated and time-consuming,” Ghulam Farooq Majroh, a government negotiator told AFP. “But we are hopeful to arrive at a result as soon as possible as people are tired of this bloody war.”

The Taliban did not offer any comment.

The first direct talks between the warring sides opened in September after months of delays, but quickly became bogged down by disputes on the basic framework of discussions and religious interpretations.

A concerted diplomatic effort from Washington finally led to a consensus.

The negotiations follow a landmark troop withdrawal deal signed in February by the Taliban and Washington, which saw the US pledge to pull out all foreign forces from Afghanistan by May 2021.

The talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have been marred by

an increase in violence from the start, but a new trend is a wave of high-profile targeted killings of officials, activists, and journalists.

The deputy governor for Kabul province, five journalists, and a prominent election activist have been among those assassinated in Kabul and other cities since November.

Officials blame the Taliban for the mayhem, although the militant Daesh group has claimed some of the assaults.

“The Taliban aim to divide the people and trigger criticism and frustration against the government’s security institutions with these assassinations,” Javid Faisal, an adviser to the National Security Council, told AFP. “But the killings are uniting people.”

Nishank Motwani, deputy director of the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit think tank, said the Taliban would not formally claim responsibility for the political assassinations, but nevertheless wanted to demonstrate “to its cadre that the Taliban are who they are and have not changed.”

The Taliban carried out more than 18,000 attacks across the country in 2020, Afghanistan’s spy chief Ahmad Zia Siraj told lawmakers this week.

The first nine months of last year saw 2,177 civilians killed and 3,822 wounded, according to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.

Ordinary Afghans long for better security but hold little hope for an immediate improvement despite the talks.

“We have no security at all in Kabul. For how long will we need to keep burying our loved ones?” said Jamshid Mohammad, a resident of Kabul.

got a few weeks left, and we know that he is capable of extremely erratic behaviour,” Postel, an expert on Iran and US foreign policy, said.

indian use of quadcopters along loC on the rise RAWALPINDI STAFF REPORT

The Pakistan Army shot down another Indian spy drone that violated Pakistan’s airspace by intruding 500 meters inside Pakistan’s side of the Line of Control (LoC). According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Pakistan Army troops shot down the Indian spying quadcopter on Saturday in Chakothi Sector along the LoC. Similarly, on January 1, 2021, another Indian quadcopter was also shot down by Pakistan Army in Nausheri Sector along the LoC. Earlier in the year 2020, Pakistan Army shot down 16 Indian quadcopters for violating Pakistan's airspace. In a press release issued on last Wednesday, the ISPR said that Pakistan Army troops shot down an Indian Army quadcopter in the Hotspring Sector across the LoC. The quadcopter had come 100 meters inside its own territory, the ISPR said. "The unprovoked act was responded befittingly wherein own troops shot down the quad-copter," the military's media wing said. In the wake of recent Indian provocations leading to exchanges of fire between Pakistan and India, these airspace violations through spy drones are exacerbating tensions between the two countries and raising fears of further escalation.

While such advances from India are an open violation of established norms and existing air agreements between the two countries, they are also indicative of use of the increased drone technology along the LoC. Meanwhile, Punjab Senior Minister Abdul Aleem Khan has said that India and its Modi-led government should be aware that the Pakistan Army is fully capable of retaliating against its enemy. He added that the violation by arrival of Indian spy drones on Chakoti sector is reprehensible, the continuous violation of international borders has exposed the Hindutva mentality and the Pakistan Army has once again chewed up the enemy by taking timely action. In a tweet on Sunday, Aleem said that Indian shelling on innocent and unarmed civilians is also a violation of international principles and it seems that the Modi government has not learned any lesson from the mockery of February 2019. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan's claim that the Indian Army conducts such "false operations" to cover up its internal weaknesses has proved to be correct, but it should not be misunderstood because such clever tactics are being used to divert attention from the Kashmir atrocities. He added that they cannot avoid responsibility from this long-standing issue. Aleem further said that Indian hand is also behind the anti-national activities taking place in different parts of Pakistan, especially in Balochistan, which is aimed at weakening our homeland. He said that the country is in safe hands under the leadership of PM Imran and the enemy will never succeed in its nefarious aims.

Pakistan urges UN to ensure release of detained Kashmiri activist ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Pakistan has called upon the United Nations to direct India to immediately release a woman rights activist and political leader from occupied Kashmir detained in a New Delhi prison.

Asiya Andrabi, 60, chief of a pro-freedom group Dukhtaran-i-Milat (Daughters of the Muslim Faith) was arrested in April 2018 on charges of involvement in a "conspiracy" to "severely destabilise the sovereignty and integrity of India", along with two women associates.

In August, Andrabi, who also faces accusations of sedition and conspiracy to com-

mit acts of terror, was shifted to the punishment or penitentiary ward of New Delhi's notorious Tihar Jail, where prisoners face a strict schedule, including forced physical labour. Her family has expressed fears for her safety and health.

In a statement issued Sunday, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri Pakistan has urged the UN secretary general António Guterres and the UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet to seek Andrabi's immediate release.

“It has been highlighted that Ms Andrabi’s life is in danger owing to imminent risk of persecutory conviction by a sham court on 18 January 2020,” the statement read.

It further stated that as a "champion of

human rights and an ardent advocate of women empowerment, the Kashmiri leader has worked tirelessly for social reforms and realisation of fundamental freedoms for the people of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) for over four decades".

"She founded an organisation called the Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DeM), one of the biggest women rights organisations in IIOJK, working on women’s education, empowerment, well-being and protection -- especially against sexual violence and abuse at the hands of Indian occupation forces."

The statement maintained that Andrabi has remained under on and off "illegal and inhuman incarceration for over 15 years on

fabricated charges under draconian laws aimed at further perpetuating India’s illegal occupation of IIOJK through brutalisation of the Kashmiri people".

"The Indian authorities have now put Andrabi on trial on trumped-up charges, deliberately accelerated the trial, and set aside due process, reflecting malicious intent with clear indications of looming judicial murder."

"India’s blatant attempts to portray the legitimate Kashmiri struggle as “terrorism”, and to prosecute its leaders through concocted cases, is a clear violation of the UN Charter, UN Security Council and UN General Assembly resolutions, and international human rights and humanitarian law," the

spokesperson asserted.

“Pakistan has called upon the United Nations to urge India to drop all fabricated charges against Ms Andrabi, her husband and her associates, and provide them complete legal protections, including the right to a free and fair trial; release all detainees, especially political prisoners and human rights defenders in IIOJK; repeal draconian laws such as AFSPA, PSA, and UAPA; allow UN-supervised investigations into cases of extra-judicial executions and other serious and systematic human rights violations; and fully implement all recommendations of the two Kashmir reports of OHCHR, including the establishment of a UN Commission of Inquiry.”

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