Epaper – January 19 KHI 2021

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021 I 5 Jamadi-ul-Sani, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 201 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition

Govt constitutes committee to recommend action aGainst Broadsheet Beneficiaries g

Govt confirms payment of $21.5m damages to Broadsheet

Adviser to Prime Minister on Accountability Shahzad Akbar addresses a press conference wherein he shared with journalists copies of judgements against Pakistan in the Broadsheet case.

ISLAMABAD

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Staff RepoRt

EDERAL Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Monday said that a three-member cabinet committee had been tasked to furnish its recommendations about action on Broadsheet’s findings within 48 hours.

The minister, in a tweet, said the committee constituted by Prime Minister Imran Khan under the convenor-

ship of the information minister, would comprise Minister for Human Rights Dr Shireen Mazari and Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain.

Action would be taken against all the elements, who were either benifitted or had given favours to the Broadsheet in the light of the committee’s recommendations, he added.

Earlier, while addressing the Senate, Faraz endorsed the proposal of a senior legislature of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) to form a committee of

entire Senate to discuss the Broadsheet issue in detail.

“I respect the thoughts of Javed Abbasi and fully agree with his suggestion to form a committee of the whole of the Senate to discuss the issue of Broadsheet in detail, so that the nation could know the truth who actually behind it,” he said.

Abbasi had said that it would be a test case for the Senate. The nation must know the truth as to who was the beneficiary and who had done the agreements, he had said. Abbasi had also requested the Senate chairman to constitute the committee.

DAMAGE COMPENSATION: Separately, the government also confirmed the payment of $21.5 million to a UKbased asset recovery firm in damage compensation and termed the development as a “cost” of “NRO deals” offered to the Sharif family during the regime of former president Pervez Musharraf.

In 2000, Broadsheet LLC — a company registered in the Isle of Man, tax heaven in the UK, and engaged by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) — helped the government and the newlyestablished accountability agency track down foreign assets of some 150 Pakistan nationals including members of the Sharif family acquired through illgotten wealth.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Arnab leaks show Modi used ‘military adventurism’ to win election: Imran g

Transcript of leaked conversations revealed Indian anchor knew of Pulwama, Balakot episodes in advance ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that the transcript of leaked WhatsApp conversations between an Indian anchorperson and a former head of a television ratings agency showed how his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, ventured into “dangerous military adventurism” to win the 2019 general election.

The conversations between Republic TV chief Arnab Goswami and Partho Dasgupta former chief executive officer (CEO) Broadcast Audience Research Council, surfaced during the probe into a headline-grabbing television rating scam, the firebrand journalist was aware of the Indian government’s plan to carry out a strike in Balakot, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) well in advance.

Commenting on the development, Prime Minister Imran, in a series of tweets, recalled he told the interna-

tional community — in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2019 — the hardline Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had “used the Balakot crisis for domestic electoral gains”. “Latest revelations from [the] communication of an Indian journalist, known for his warmongering, reveal the unholy nexus between the Modi government and Indian media that led to a dangerous military adventurism to win an election in utter disregard for the consequences of destabilizing the entire region.” Pakistan’s “responsible, measured response”, he said, had averted a major military crisis, but that had not halted Modi’s attempts to turn his country into a “rogue” state.

“Indian sponsorship of terrorism in Pakistan, its abuses in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and a 15-year Indian global disinformation campaign against us all stand exposed,” he further said.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

02

NEWS

‘WHo Will stand WitH you WHEn you rEtirE?’ MandviWalla asks naB CHairMan

s

NEWS DESK

ENATE Deputy Chairman Saleem Mandviwalla on Monday claimed that the chairman of the National Accountability Beauru (NAB) was being blackmailed by a woman named Tayyaba, and advised him to come in front of the Senate “and tell us who is blackmailing you”.

Mandviwalla said that videos of the woman had been leaked before and further claimed and he had “seen messages and heard recordings”. He advised NAB Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal to come clean now, as once he no longer holds his

SENATE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN CLAIMED THAT NAB CHIEF WAS BEING BLACKMAILED BY A WOMAN, AND ADVISED HIM TO COME IN FRONT OF SENATE post, his situation could worsen.

“You cannot stay NAB chairman for your entire life, who will stand with you when you retire? No one, and then you will be blackmailed a lot more,” he said.

The deputy chairman, who has been running a crusade against the “blackmailing” tactics, of the anti-graft body, said that is was “interesting that until now every other person was subjected to a media trial but for the first

studEnt aCCusEd of sEnding BitCoin to is arrEstEd LAHORE: The counter-terrorism department (CTD) on Monday arrested an engineering student suspected of sending Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, to the so-called Islamic State (IS) militant group in Syria. In a press conference, CTD deputy inspector general (DIG) Omar Shahid Hamid said the police were probing the alleged terror funding for some time now.

The suspects, he said, used to send money to the IS members. Hamid said the money was deposited in Karachi and being sent to Syria by the suspect, Hafiz Umar bin Khalid, and an accomplice, Zia. He said the department has carried out a forensic examination of Khalid in detention. Meanwhile, another CTD official, Raja Umar Khitab, said the suspect made a mobile phone account to receive money. “He used to get money in this account and used to send it with an accomplice from Hyderabad,” said Khitab. Zia, he said, used to first convert the amount into dollars to purchase Bitcoins before sending it to Syria. “The suspects have transferred close to Rs1 million within a year,” said Khitab. STAFF REPORT

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

521,211

time, NAB’s media trial is taking place”.

“Politicians are smeared every day; it has no effect on us and we will face it, but people cannot tolerate. People are committing suicides, leaving the country and they are worried news about them being issued a NAB notice will be run any moment,” he said, stressing that the government needs to step in to stop the watchdog’s “mud-slinging”.

“Now we will hold the trial of every NAB officer by name in the media,” he said, adding that the more people join up against NAB, the longer the trail would continue.

Terming the fake accounts case a “big drama”, Mandviwalla questioned how an account could be fake if was opened in a bank, saying, “there can be fraud or identity theft, but there can’t be a fake account.”

Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior

HEC warns students against two-year Ba/Ma programmes

PPP, PML-N unable to decide on joint candidates NEWS DESK The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has been unable to reach an agreement with its former foe, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), in regard to selecting joint candidates for two constituencies.

PPP Punjab President Qamar Zaman Kaira confirmed that the party has yet to decide on the joint candidates proposal, which may be indicative of a lack of consensus amid the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) parties to contest next month’s by-elections jointly.

Kaira has repeatedly said since last week that the part would finalise the matter within a few days, but the issue still not to arrived at a resolution.

The last date for candidate withdrawals on January 20 and the final candidates would receive their election symbols the day after.

By-polls in PP-51 Wazirabad (Gujranwala district) and NA-75 Daska (Sialkot) of Gujranwala division are scheduled to be held on February 19. These seats fell vacant after the deaths of MNA Iftikharul Hassan alias Zahry Shah and MPA Shaukat Manzoor Cheema in June and August, respectively.

Both former seat-holders were PML-N lawmakers.

PPP leader Hasan Murtaza told a local news outlet that the PPP did not agree with the formula proposed by PML-N, adding that the PPP does "expect the PML-N to support our candidate in the area".

“The PPP never proposed to resign,” he said in regard to the PDM plan of tendering resignations, adding, “We in fact have announced to battle it out in all platforms.”

“Tendering resignations is the last option,” he added.

Reportedly, the PPP does not plan to withdraw its candidates in areas where it expects favourable outcomes in the by-polls. Furthermore, Murtaza told a local news outlet that his party would want to contest the by-election

and Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar, in reply to Mandviwala, said that only Sajjad in 2004 and Razzaq Bhatti in 2014 had died while in physical remand of NAB. “It is wrong to give the impression that something has happened recently,” he said, adding that while retired Brig Munir’s suicide was “unfortunate”, it was inappropriate to link it with NAB unless a probe established the same.

“Why are the deaths from 2004 and 2014 being made relevant now? Is that relevance because a member [of the house] was issued a notice or freezing orders were issued by the accountability court? So these things should be looked at holistically.”

in PP-51 Wazirabad.

Last week, the PML-N had announced to field candidates from its party at NA-75 Sialkot (Daska), PP51 Gujranwala (Wazirabad) and PK-69 Nowshere. On the other had, it had said that it would not to field its candidates in Sindh to back the PPP. Separately, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), while campaigning in PS-88 Malir, said the PPP was to blame for converting the fertile fields of Malir into barren land, calling the local PPP leaders as frontmen of the ‘Reti Bajri mafia’. Addressing a press conference, PTI Central Vice President Haleem Adil Shaikh said his party was not against development but it would not allow the common man to be harmed in any way for the sake of development.

A day earlier, PPP Information Secretary Shazia Atta Marri had said that Information Minister Shibli Faraz wanted to hide the “incapability and failure of this government on every front”.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan got his own illegal palace regularized in Banigala but snatched roof from the poor people in the name of encroachment,” she said in a statement.

Marri added: “Shibli Faraz instead of criticising opposition should tell the truth to the people about bad performance of the government. This incapable government has made the lives of common people miserable.”

It is pertinent to mention that the PPP went head to head with the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) the byelections on Umerkot’s PS-52 Sindh Assembly seat on Monday.

PPP leader Syed Ameer Ali Shah and GDA leader Arbab Ghulam Rahim had locked horns after the the seat was vacated by the death of former provincial minister Syed Ali Mardan Shah.

ISLAMABAD: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has asked students not to take admissions in unauthorised two-year BA/BSc or MA/MSc programmes. In a tweet, the HEC warned students, “One or two universities have announced admissions for these programmes. While it will earn money for the varsity, it will not be in the interest of students.”

“These discarded degrees will not enable students to apply for jobs or further education,” it added. Last year, the HEC abolished the twoyear bachelor’s degree programmes at universities across the country, according to which students will no longer be able to pursue two-year BCom or BSc degrees. The notification issued by HEC read, “[The two-year bachelor’s] degrees shall not be recognised by the HEC for students enrolled in these programmes after December 31, 2018.” It said that the programmes should be replaced with a single, composite BS degree. It was also decided that the last BA/BSc exam will be taken by December 31, 2020, and admissions for the last batch of MS/MSc will be taken before the date as well. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the HEC has allowed some flexibility for students, including that varsities have been given a “threemonth grace period” until March 31, 2021, to conduct exams that will be considered 2020 exams. The commission has warned that admissions in illegal and phased-out programmes will lead to a fine for students. “The HEC cannot recognise the degrees of students enrolled in conventional BA/BSc programmes after December 31, 2020, and the last date for admission in conventional MA/MSc programmes is March 31, 2021,” it said. STAFF REPORT

LAST UPDATED AT 12:03 PM ON JANUARY 18, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

46

RECOVERED:

NEW CASES:

1,920 DEATHS:

475,228 10,997 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

235,576

149,782

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

63,615

18,612

8,631 / 4,884 40,111

Cabinet likely to approve extension in application of Pakistan Essential Services Act, 1952 ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI

The Ministry of Interior has asked the federal cabinet to approve an extension in the application of Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Act 1952 on all classes of employment under Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) for a period of six months, with effect from September 27, 2020.

According to well-informed sources, the federal cabinet on Tuesday is likely to approve the extension under section-3 of the aforementioned act.

The cabinet had previously, in a meeting held on March 27, 2020, already granted similar approval and had issued notification of a six months extension with effect from March 27, 2020. This expired on September 26, 2020.

According to documents, in order to ensure

uninterrupted operation of the organization, Interior Ministry has recommended applications of the Pakistan Essential Services (Maintenance) Act 1952 on all classes of employment under PPL for a period of six months.

PPL is a public limited company incorporated under the Companies Ordinance, 1984 and is engaged in exploration and production of oil and gas in Pakistan.

PPL supplies oil and gas to different entities for onward consumption by the public at large and is playing a vital role in the energy sector of the country.

Furthermore, the federal cabinet is expected to take a decision on a summary of Interior Ministry on the reconstitution of a committee of the cabinet for the removal of difficulties in installations of new electricity and gas meters in Islamabad.

Following the judgment of Islamabad High Court (IHC) regarding the nomination of advisers to the prime minister in the cabinet committees, Ministry of Interior,

in a summary, has asked the federal cabinet to approve re-constitution of the committee with the law minister as the convener, and comprising advisers to the PM on Parliamentary Affairs, and Accountability and Interior, as well as the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman, and representatives of the Planning, Development and Special Initiative. All members would be included by special invitation.

The federal cabinet had earlier constituted a committee vide case No. 653/35/2020 for removal of difficulties in the installation of new electricity and gas meters in Islamabad.

According to documents, this committee was notified on November 29, 2020, and its first meeting was held a day later. However, in light of the decision by the IHC, reconstitution was needed as the adviser cannot be a member of the committee constituted by the federal cabinet.

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

NEWS

indian govt BEnt uPon undErMining rEgional PEaCE for PolitiCal intErEsts: fM ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

OREIGN Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan will forcefully raise the matter of India’s evil conspiracies and state-sponsored terrorism at the international level.

In a statement on Monday, the foreign minister said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in India is bent upon undermining regional peace and stability for its political interests and to divert attention from internal affairs.

He said Modi’s conspiracy stands exposed after he killed forty Indian soldiers in Pulwama to win the elections.

The foreign minister said that Pakistan has presented irrefutable evidence regarding Indian state terrorism. He said that the EU-based DisinfoLab has further unmasked the evil face of India. He urged the world community to seriously take cognisance

FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS PAKISTAN HAS PRESENTED IRREFUTABLE EVIDENCE REGARDING INDIAN STATE TERRORISM of the evidence provided against New Delhi. Referring to the situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), FM Qureshi stated that Kashmir is an internationally recognised dispute. He said that voices are now being raised against India in the British parliament.

The foreign minister maintained that Pakistan is desirous of peace in the region but India wants to stoke unrest.

He stressed that India is playing the role of spoiler in Afghanistan.

On January 16, India’s false flag operations against Pakistan were uncovered once again as New Delhi’s campaign to malign Islamabad’s reputation stood exposed before the world after a damning WhatsApp conversation between Arnab Goswami, chief editor of

grade iX-Xii students return to schools amid Covid soPs ISLAMABAD: The educational institutions from grade IX to XII reopened on Monday across the country after a two-month break under strict compliance with the coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs). The institutions were shut in the wake of the second wave of Covid-19 in November. Last week, the federal government approved a plan to resume on-campus learning to avoid further loss of education. Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas sent his best wishes to students and teachers on the first day of school after a twomonth break amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Raas urged everyone to keep their masks on at all times. He asked everyone to keep their distance from each other. "By following SOPs, we are protecting each other from COVID-19.

Be safe. My best wishes are with you," he wrote. Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood took to Twitter late Sunday evening and sent his best wishes to students.

"Tomorrow classes 9 to 12, O and A level go back to school/ college. Wish them the very best," the minister wrote. "Their future is our main priority," he added. In the next phase, grade I to VIII and higher educational institutions will reopen on 1st of February. The educational institutions have been directed to ensure compliance with the SOPs to avoid the spread of the pandemic. TLTP

fo condemns Houthi attack on saudi border city ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Monday condemned a missile attack by Houthis on a village in the Saudi Arabian border city of Jazan. Three people — a man and two children — were hurt when a military projectile hit the village on Sunday, Lt Col Mohammed bin Hassan Al-Samghan, deputy media spokesperson of Jazan Civil Defence, said. The injured were immediately taken to hospital for treatment. One of them was in critical condition while the other two were stable, state-owned Saudi Press Agency said. The shrapnel also damaged a civilian vehicle that was near the site of the attack.

“Pakistan strongly condemns Houthi militants’ terrorist attack by launching a military projectile on one of the border villages in Jazan area in Saudi Arabia, resulting in injuries to three civilians,” the FO said in a statement. “These attacks threaten [the] peace and security of Saudi Arabia, as well as the region. We call for the immediate cessation of such attacks.” “Pakistan reiterates its full support and solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia against any threats to its security and territorial integrity,” the statement said. The Houthis have been targeting Saudi Arabia, mainly its border cities, and oil installations with missiles and bomb-laden drones, since the beginning of the war in Yemen in 2015. The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the Riyadh-backed, internationally recognised government from capital Sana’a in late 2014.

Cross-border attacks by the Iran-aligned movement have escalated since May 2020 when a truce prompted by the coronavirus outbreak expired. In late June, missiles reached the capital, Riyadh. The Houthis, who control most large urban centres, say they are fighting a corrupt system. STAFF REPORT

Republic TV, and Pratho Dasgupta – the incarcerated head of rating company Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) – was made public.

FM Qureshi’s remarks came a day after Pakistan expressed hope that the international community would hold India accountable for vitiating the regional security environment after it emerged that New Delhi had staged the Pulwama attack to ensure an election win for Narendra Modi.

At least 40 Indian paramilitary troops were killed in an attack that took place in February 2019 in Pulwama just weeks before the Indian parliamentary elections. India was quick to blame Pakistan for the attack and rejected repeated offers of cooperation by Prime

Minister Imran Khan.

Just days after the Pulwama attack, India sent its fighter jets across Pakistan, for the first time since the 1971 war, dropping bombs and hurrying back after being chased by PAF fighters.

The Indian media and authorities had claimed killing 250 to 300 terrorists in the Jaba area of Balakot. But the claims were not only rebuffed by Pakistan but also international media outlets that found no such evidence. In reaction to the Indian airstrikes, Pakistan retaliated the very next day, shooting down two Indian planes of which one fell on the Pakistani side of the Line of Control (LoC). Pakistan captured the Indian pilot but freed him soon to avoid the situation escalating out of control.

former france pm balladur on trial over ‘karachi affair’ kickbacks PARIS STAFF REPORT/AGENCIES

Former France prime minister Edouard Balladur goes on trial Tuesday on charges that he used kickbacks from arms deals in the 1990s to fund a presidential bid, a case known as the “Karachi affair”, otherwise known as the Agosta Submarine scandal.

Balladur, 91, joins a long list of senior French politicians pursued for alleged financial wrongdoing, including former president Nicolas Sarkozy and his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. The conservative ex-premier will be tried by the Court of Justice of the Republic in Paris, a tribunal dedicated to hearing cases of ministerial misconduct. Also in the dock will be his former defense minister Francois Leotard, 78, though his presence at the trial’s opening is uncertain because of illness.

Balladur will appear in court Tuesday “to face his judges and answer their questions,” his lawyer Felix de Belloy said. The two men were charged in 2017 with “complicity in the misuse of corporate assets” over the sale of submarines to Pakistan and frigates to Saudi Arabia between 1993 and 1995 when Balladur was prime minister in the final years of Francois Mitterrand’s presidency. The kickbacks are estimated at 13 million francs, now worth some 2.8-million-euros ($3.3 million), after accounting for inflation.

The sum is believed to have included a cash injection of about 10 million francs to Balladur’s 1995 unsuccessful presidential campaign against Chirac.

Balladur, who also has to answer to a charge that he

TRIAL IS CONNECTED TO SALE OF SUBMARINES TO PAKISTAN, FRIGATES TO SAUDI ARABIA BETWEEN 1993 AND 1995 concealed the crimes, has denied any wrongdoing, saying the 10 million francs came from the sale of T-shirts and other items at campaign rallies. The claims came to light during an investigation into a 2002 bombing in Karachi, which targeted a bus transporting French engineers.

15 people were killed, including 11 engineers working on the submarine contract. The Al-Qaeda group was initially suspected of the attack. But the focus later shifted to the arms deal as investigators considered whether the bombing may have been revenge for Chirac’s decision to halt the commission payments for the arms deals shortly after he beat Balladur in the presidential vote. Leotard is accused of having created an “opaque network” of intermediaries for the contracts signed with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

The ex-premier also stands charged with instructing the budget ministry — led at the time by Sarkozy — to approve state guarantees for “deficient or underfunded” contracts, because of the alleged kickbacks. Investigators say that cash deposits in Balladur’s campaign fund coincided with trips to Switzerland by Ziad Takieddine, a Lebanese-French intermediary who has long been active in French rightwing circles.

03

army kills two ttP terrorists in s Waziristan ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army killed two terrorists belonging to the proscribed Tehreek-eTaliban Pakistan (TTP) during a security operation in South Waziristan, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Monday. While two terrorists were killed, another was injured during the intelligencebased operation (IBO) in the Nargosa town of the district. “Security forces conducted an IBO in Nargosa area of South Waziristan district. During [an] intense fire, two terrorists Usman Ali and Waheed were killed and one got injured and apprehended,” the ISPR said through a statement.

“The killed terrorists were active members of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Sajna group and were improvised explosive device (IED) experts, terrorist trainers, motivators, and were involved in attacks on security forces.” “Terrorist Usman was also involved in the attack on security forces on Oct 14, 2020 in which Capt Umer Cheema, two JCOs and three Soldiers were martyred while four were injured,” the statement added. The Afghanistanbased terror group is involved in a number of attacks on the army. In the October attack, a convoy of security forces was attacked with improvised explosive devices near Razmak, resulting in the martyrdom of a captain and five soldiers. The TTP had claimed responsibility for the attack. The militants, most of them are based in Afghanistan and sponsored by India, have stepped up attacks on security forces in the merged tribal districts, particularly in North Waziristan and South Waziristan, raising fears of a revival of their insurgency and a return of lawlessness as brighter prospects for peace in Afghanistan herald shifting alliances. The border region was for years a haven for militants who fled the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. But the Pakistan Army cleared out the strongholds in a 2014 offensive, Operation Zarb-e-Azb, driving most of the terrorists into Afghanistan. STAFF REPORT

PM, gB CM discuss mega project to convert region into int’l tourist destination ISLAMABAD: Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) Chief Minister Khalid Khursheed called on Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday and discussed in detail the mega project to convert the whole of GB into a tourist place of international standard. Under the project, all urban and rural areas of GB would be reorganised through a master plan. As well as the introduction of house plans, street system, sewerage, and clean drinking water, the project includes the provision of basic amenities for the facilitation of tourists at various places. Under the project, the local population would be provided basic facilities, including quality education and healthcare on a priority basis. The project, which has the potential of converting the GB tourism sector into an industry of billions of dollars, will also create ample job opportunities for the local people. The prime minister appreciated the proposed project and directed to present a comprehensive strategy in that respect by February. STAFF REPORT

details of pti’s accounts provided to ecp: farrukh NEWS DESK Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Parliamentary Secretary for Railways Farrukh Habib has said that the PTI has provided details of its accounts to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Talking to the media persons on Monday, the PTI lawmaker said that opposition parties have failed to provide any evidence regarding sources of their funding to the ECP. He alleged that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) collected funds through money laundering.

He expressed the confidence that the ECP, being a constitutional institution, will fulfil its responsibilities and bring the facts to the fore.

He said that bookkeeping and maintaining of financial records and transactions for submission to the ECP are incumbent on all political parties, and the investigations of such records concern not just the ruling PTI but all political parties.

He maintained that the matter is an “open-and-shut case” which leaves no room for confusion since under Article 6(3) of the Political Parties Ordinance and Article 17(3) of the Constitution, all political parties were duty-bound to maintain financial records and submit them to the ECP. “This is [a matter for] all political parties especially the PPP [Pakistan People’s Party], PML-N and JUIF [Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl],” he added.

'OPP HAS FAILED TO PROVIDE ANY EVIDENCE REGARDING SOURCES OF THEIR FUNDING TO ECP' He stressed that it has been four years since the formation of a scrutiny committee which has been hearing a case regarding details of the aforementioned parties’ financial records and receipts. The ECP has issued three written orders for the parties to submit their records yet they have failed to provide any, Habib said. He asked the opposition parties why they are so afraid to present their records.

The foreign funding case against the PTI was filed in November 2014 by Akbar S Babar, a founding member of the party.

The case relates to allegations of undisclosed foreign funding of the PTI. The PTI maintains it manages its funds with complete transparency. In a recent development, the party adopted the stance that if any illegal funds were collected through two US companies registered after Imran Khan’s written instructions, then the responsibility belonged to the agents managing the two limited liability companies.

Meanwhile, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan has corroborated that the PTI handed over 40,000 relevant documents and details of donors to the ECP in

connection with foreign funding case.

Babar Awan, while talking to a private news channel, clarified the legal and constitutional position of the ECP by saying that the Election Commission has no power to ban a political party in a foreign funding case.

He termed the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) a deceased alliance and said that Tuesday’s protest would be their last sob. He said that PDM’s protest outside ECP is neither political nor constitutional and they are willing to target PTI and topple the incumbent government on the basis of foreign funding allegations.

Awan said that the Supreme Court (SC) has already given a ruling in a scenario similar to the petition being raised by the opposition parties. The top court’s full bench had taken two major decisions regarding the matters related to the prohibited and foreign funding.

He added that the case against PTI revolves around prohibited funding, whereas the PDM parties are facing allegations of foreign funding.

He revealed that foreign funding had been taken for the inclusion of women and winning elections in past, whereas PML-

N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif had received funds from al-Qaeda chief and JUI-F from Libya.

Four political parties are facing the case of prohibited funding and, interestingly, PML-N gave arguments regarding the death of the man who had funded Rs100 million to it, said Awan, adding that the political party had failed to give any proof of the donor’s death.

Nawaz Sharif had transferred Rs60 million to the bank account from the funds.

The third political party is PPP who argued for not having any records, whereas JUI-F leaders have also refused to provide proof.

Babar Awan said that ECP should publicise the facts about all four political parties. He predicted that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari will not attend tomorrow’s protest of PDM. All facts have been uncovered after the Broadsheet revelations and the suspicions of Prime Minister Imran Khan have come out true.

In case of NRO, not only the looted money was lost but the assets will go out of reach from being recovered. An absconding person is propagating against the national institutions including executive authority, judiciary, armed forces and election commission, however, his statement cannot affect the national politics, said Awan. The PM’s aide clarified that Imran Khan will not give NRO to Nawaz Sharif and PDM parties at any cost.

04 NEWS

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

DeMograPhIC Changes to turn oCCuPIeD KashMIr Into hInDu state unDerway: MasooD ISLAMABAD

Coca Cola launches limited edition #KarachiIsLove cans and Karachiites are loving it PRESS RELEASE Coca Cola has propelled its special edition #KarachiIsLove cans and stole the spotlight. They have become the buzz of the town as soon as people grabbed their chilled, limited edition cans. After the heartening anthem that became the jam for all of Karachiites, these special edition cans have come as another source of joy for the people. A city that is forever going through tests, this campaign has served as a reminder that for the people who put in their assiduous efforts to make it the city of hopes and dreams. These Special Edition cans reached the streets of Karachi with the help of the Robin Hood Army, distributing it around Saddar, Empress Market, Zainab Market, Sea view, Mazar e Quaid, etc. while residents even got to grab them at the activations at malls, collages & universities. The love for Karachi lives in everyone’s hearts and comes alive at times like these – when people get to celebrate it with their fellow Karachiites. Be it spreading the love and happiness through chilled cans on a cold but sunny day, or arranging fun activities at malls and universities, the idea and energy behind the campaign has given a sense of contentment and reassurance to the people of this bustling city. With the ‘Karachi is Love’ campaign, Coca Cola has taken a great step to praise the exasperating determinations and struggles of the people of this city, and to bring a smile with a sweet can of their favourite cold beverage. The special edition cans have truly won the hearts of the Karachiites like never before.

LAHORE - Unique Group Rector Professor Amjad Ali Khan signs an MoU on behalf on the university with Rescue 1122 officials. PRESS RELEASE

rapist and killer of 7-year-old Khairpur girl identified: police KHAIRPUR TLTP

The DNA of a suspect in the Khairpur rape and murder case matched the victim's sample, the police said on Monday. The seven-year-old was strangled after being raped on January 11. The DNA tests were conducted on more than 365 suspects and a match was found with the victim's relative. Teams have been made to arrest the suspect, police said. According to Deputy Inspector General of Police Fida Hussain Mastoi, the next 24 hours are critical. He said that the accused will be traced soon and arrested. Last week, police arrested five suspects in the rape and murder case of a seven-year-old girl from Khairpur. A case has been registered against three unidentified persons on the complaint of the child's father, the police had said. The seven-year-old girl was raped and murdered after being abducted in Pir Jo Goth city of Khairpur district. Police had told media that the minor girl had been subjected to rape before being murdered. The body of the girl was found from a forest by the police officials. The incident created panic and fear among the locals, who protested the latest gruesome incident of child abuse and demanded that the rapist be arrested. Earlier in September last, five alleged culprits had kidnapped a woman with her three children and gang-raped her in Khairpur. The incident had transpired in the Sobho Dero Police jurisdiction where a woman with her three children was allegedly abducted by five culprits who then sexually assaulted her. The victim had said that other than kidnapping and gang-rape, the five alleged culprits tortured her as well.

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STAFF REPORT

ZAD Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said that the occupation authorities are using demographic changes in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) to make it a Hindu majority state.

“This is unacceptable. The people of Jammu and Kashmir have vowed they would not let this happen,” asserted Khan.

The AJK president made these remarks while addressing a webinar on “New Domicile Law in IOJK” organised by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).

The president said that India invaded and reoccupied IOK on August 5, 2019, and then illegally divided the state into two parts and annexed it to the Indian federation, against the wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Since then, he said, Indian forces have been systematically killing, torturing, forcibly disappearing and incarcerating people in the occupied territory, tar-

geting young men.

He also said that thousands of political activists have been put in concentration camps. Rape and sexual violence against women have been used as a weapon of war to punish the entire population of the disputed region in order to deter them from demanding freedom and self-determination, he added.

Masood said that since April last year, Indian occupation forces and authorities have been systematically and illegally changing the demography in the occupied territory. He went on to add that more than two million Hindus from India have been imported and transferred to the occupied territory and the Indian leadership has made it clear that they would increase this number to more than 5 million in a short period of time.

“India through these actions is violating international humanitarian law and norms of customary international law. The Fourth Geneva Convention and Additional Protocol prohibit deportation or transfer of a State’s own population in a territory it occupies while the Statute of International Criminal Court says that such transfers, directly or indirectly constitute a war

Industry can’t flourish unless labourers’ issues are addressed: Bilawal SUKKUR TLTP

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said on Monday that the country's industries cannot flourish until the government does something for the problems and woes of the nation's labourers.

Addressing a gathering in Sukkur, he said that the Benazir Mazdoor Card (BMC) would be rolled out soon, and through it, "no labourer would be left helpless during these hard times”.

Bilawal said that PPP stands like a wall against anti-labour policies, adding that the government's announcement of building houses proved to be a "conspiracy" against labourers.

"Despite limited resources, our work is in front of you," Bilawal told the gathering, adding that the Centre was "taking away gas and the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases from the province".

He further said that poor people were being left roofless in the name of encroachment — hinting at the anti-encroachment drive underway to clear Karachi's nullahs.

A day earlier, Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani had said that the provincial government would start distributing the BMC this month. According to the PPP leader, the card is the "first of its kind initiative by any province in the country for the welfare of the labourers".

Addressing a ceremony hosted by the North Karachi Association of Trade, Saeed Ghani maintained that just like the launch of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) some years back, the BMC is a

crime.” Masood maintained that several resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, United Nations General Assembly and United Nations Human Rights Commission declared such illegal transfers and “implantation of settlers and settlements” unlawful and that the State undertaking such an exercise, as well as individuals, making decisions on its behalf will have criminal responsibility.

Moreover, Khan said that Article II of 1948 Genocide Convention recognizes that a crime of genocide and it clearly depicts the situation in the occupied Kashmir. Article II, he said, defines genocide as any of the acts committed with the intent to destroy in whole or part a national, ethnical, racial or religious group. “This is what is happening in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.

Khan said that the Muslim majority of the disputed State of Jammu and Kashmir aspire to decide their political future by exercising their right to self-determination but India has chosen to crush these aspirations of the entire Kashmiri nation and is now in the process of altering the occupied territory to a Hindu Rashtra.

under-construction police check post bombed in north waziristan MIRAN SHAH TLTP

An under-construction police check post was destroyed in a village in North Waziristan's Miran Shah on Monday. The check post was destroyed by unknown attackers near the village of Ahmed Khel Babri Ada in the wee hours of Monday.

Luckily, no loss of life was reported. The attackers managed to escape under the cover of darkness.

Area officials confirmed the check post was under construction and no law enforcement personnel were present at the time of the attack. Local police have started an investigation into the incident. On Friday last, a doctor was killed by unidentified assailants in a firing incident in North Waziristan.

The doctor, who was also a professor at Bannu Medical College, was killed on Mir Ali Bypass Road. The accused, however, managed to escape.

Police officials said Dr Waliullah belonged to Hormuz village of Mir Ali and was on his way home at 10:00pm when he was targeted.

PDM destined to face failure, humiliation: Faraz

groundbreaking project initiated for the welfare of the deprived sections of society. The minister explained that the BMC would serve as an ATM, education, and healthcare card for labourers.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz said on Monday that alliance of opposition parties, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), is destined to face failure, disgrace and humiliation. In a tweet, the information minister said that the defeating elements of the PDM are again gathering on Monday to formulate a strategy to protect their politics and wealth. The minister said this alliance revolves around disagreements based on vested interests. STAFF REPORT

Sakina goes home PRESS RELEASE On January 14, 2021, Sakina Ramzan (77 years of age) (“Sakina”) was released from Women’s Prison and Correctional Facility, Central Jail, Karachi and reunited with her family after serving almost 7 years of a life sentence for transporting narcotics from Quetta to Karachi.

Her release was ordered by a threemember bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan vide judgement dated January 6, 2021.

While the backdrop of the story is a poor woman without any knowledge of the drugs she was carrying, the law on drugs and the leading of evidence in drug cases is what needs to be understood to appreciate the reasons for Sakina’s release.

Sakina was convicted under Section 6 of the Control of Narcotic Substance Act 1997 (“Act”) which prohibits the delivery and transportation of narcotics and contains punishments in relation to the quantities recovered.

While various judgments of the apex court have expanded on the application of Section 6 of the Act being connected with “knowledge” in regard to the delivery and transportation of drugs,

(as Sakina pleaded she was not aware that such items were concealed in electronic goods given to her by her employer), Sakina’s acquittal was actually as a consequence of irregularities and weaknesses in the prosecution’s case.

The prosecution must, in any criminal case, prove the culpability of the accused beyond reasonable doubt. More particularly in narcotics cases, the evidence related to the chain of custody; which begins with the recovery of the seized drugs, includes the separation of samples and ultimately the dispatch to the testing laboratory, is of paramount importance, in terms of which the prosecution must establish that the chain of custody is unbroken, unsuspicious, safe and secure.

In Sakina’s case evidence was presented before the Special Court II (Control of Narcotic Substances) Karachi where it was found that the witness testimonies were inconsistent calling into question the quantities recovered as well as the entire chain.

The apex court has also held that for the testing of narcotics to conform with and meet the threshold of Rule 6 of the Control of Narcotic Substances

(Government Analysts) Rules 2001, the report of the government analyst after the test and analysis should include a detailed plan of an experiment, procedure, test or a precise step-by-step description, including a list of all necessary reagents, and accordingly failure to demonstrate such specific detail may result in the invalidity or inconclusiveness of such test or examination.

Sakina’s story makes one reflect on the challenges faced by the underprivileged who are entangled in such situations due to lack of resources and means. Women and children of destitute circumstances are prime targets for becoming drug peddlers for the real perpetrators handling the overall narcotics network. Knowingly or unknowingly many Sakinas find themselves in situations where the law provides harsh sentences without representation or guidance, completely at the mercy of the criminal justice system.

Sakina a desecrated, underprivileged old lady was taken away from her family for almost 7 years for a crime she did not commit, a crime for which she was never afforded the benefit of the doubt (unlike the gentleman

driving her taxi who was acquitted by the trial court), a crime for which the real perpetrators are at large tasking the Superior Judiciary with the moral hazard of balancing the menace of drugs in society while exercising caution in depriving the innocent from their freedom and liberty.

Sakina will not receive any compensation by the State for her honorable acquittal nor does the law of the land offer any rehabilitation program for her.

Unfortunately, the stigma of jail, of drugs, of culpability and the darkness associated with her incarceration will stay with her.

In the last hour leading up to her release, Sakina mentioned being unable to sleep for three nights after she received news of her acquittal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. She bids farewell to her fellow inmates, her custody officers, and the superintendent of the Women’s Prison and Correctional Facility. She bears tears of joy to be united with her family once again yet the story doesn’t seem to have a happy ending. Where will she go? What will she do? How will she embrace the outside world? And how will she ever be rehabilitated?

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

News

Constitutional obligation: na falls short of required sittings ISLAMABAD

t

The lower house meT for only 23 days in The pasT five monThs while 107 days of siTTings are required before The end of The parliamenTary year

MIAN ABRAR

he federal government is in a fix over the fact that despite a lapse of around five months, the National Assembly (NA) has only met for 23 days – far short of the requisite sittings mainly due to an unprecedented closure of the Parliament house due to coronavirus pandemic and non-cooperation of the opposition.

A well-informed source told Pakistan Today that under the law, it is a constitutional requirement for the lower house of the parliament to remain in session for 130 days in each parliamentary year – starting from August 13.

“The National Assembly met for only 23 days in past five months while 107 days of sittings are required before the end of the parliamentary year on August 13 this year,” the source said requesting anonymity.

The source said that the prime reasons for the lack of sessions was shutdown of the parliamentary business due to novel coronavirus pandemic while the lack of cooperation from the opposition parties was also a major reason.

“The situation has left National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaisar in a tight corner as he has to fulfil the constitutional requirement of 107 more sittings of the house before August 13. During the last five months of the current parliamentary year, there have been only 23 sittings.”

“The speaker has made the National Assembly subject to the guidelines of the National Command and Operations Centre

arnab leaks show Modi used ‘military adventurism’ to win election: imran ContInueD froM pAge 01 “Now India’s own media has revealed the dirty nexus that is pushing our nuclearized region to the brink of conflict it cannot afford.” “I want to reiterate that my government will continue to expose India’s belligerent designs towards Pakistan and Modi government’s fascism. Int[ernationa]l community must stop India from its reckless, militarist agenda before the Modi government’s brinkmanship pushes our region into a conflict it cannot control.” Seperately, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that India stood further exposed with the leaked chats revealing a “staggering new low”. “Staging ‘false flag’ ops, stoking hyper-nationalism, unholy BJP-crony media nexus and endangering regional security. RSS-BJP rogue regime have no credibility going to any lengths to get to and stay in power,” he said.

ARNAB LEAKS: According to Indian media reports, a 500-page document detailing messages exchanged between Goswami and Dasgupta revealed damning information related to the journalist’s close ties with Prime Minister Modi and members of the government. The transcript disclosed showed that Goswami had prior information about some of the sensitive events and details including the Balakot attack, three days before it happened. The messages further indicate the Pulwama attack that killed 44 Indian paramilitary soldiers in a remote town in held Kashmir was staged to get public sympathy and votes for the upcoming general elections. India had blamed Pakistan for the attack. In one of the messages exchanged on February 14, 2019 — the day of the attack — Goswami, while referring to the incident, said: “This attack […] we have won like crazy.” he also discussed the impacts of this attack and the rise in Modi’s political stature. he further suggested that Modi’s government will take a “big step” against Pakistan and that it would be much bigger than any such attack before.

usC chairman terminated over misuse of powers ISLAMABAD TTLP

The federal government on Monday terminated the services of Utility Stores Corporation (USC) Chairman Zulqarnain Ali Khan after an inquiry proved five charges against him.

Zulqarnain Ali Khan was appointed chairman of the USC in 2018 and an inquiry found him guilty on five counts, including misuse of powers. Besides his termination, a notification for the dissolution of the board of directors of the utility stores corporation was also issued. The industries secretary has been appointed as the USC chairman for three months while an interim six-member board has also been formed to run the affairs of the corporation. The new board, which has been announced through a notification, comprises secretary and joint secretary of the industries department, joint secretary finance, DG BISP, MD Utility Stores Corporation and DG FIA. The new board will work until a new chairman is appointed by the government in three months.

(NCOC),” the source added.

In this regard, the source said, the speaker had also sought assistance from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs but to no avail.

According to a document obtained by Pakistan Today, a letter was written by the NA to the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs to convene a meeting on December 10 to seek the opinion of NCOC for convening the sessions. however, according to NA sources, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has not yet responded.

The source said that the protest rally announced by Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has outside the offices of election

Commission of Pakistan (eCP) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on January 19 has further complicated the situation.

“National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjarani also met on the issue, but no progress was made.” The source said that the speaker had convened a high-level consultative meeting of federal ministers in the context of convening a meeting of the National Assembly attended by Pervez Khattak, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Asad Umar, Shafqat Mehmood, Chief Whip Malik Amir Dogar, Minister of State Ali Muhammad Khan and Advisor to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan.

It was decided at the meeting that the prime minister would be consulted on the matter and the parliamentary leaders of the opposition parties would be consulted, the source added.

In a meeting with the speaker, the source asserted, Prime Minister Imran said that in the current situation of the pandemic, all political parties need to play a positive role with regard to the functioning of the Parliament. however, Speaker Qaiser said that a plan of action would be formulated in consultation with the opposition parties to take the legislative process forward. Federal ministers were also tasked with persuading the opposition, but they could not make a breakthrough.

govt to import sugar to stabilise price, senate told ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Upper house of the Parliament was informed on Monday that the government is taking concrete measures to bring down prices of sugar and wheat in the country.

Speaking at the floor of the house, Minister for Industries & Production hammad Azhar said that more sugar will be imported to the country to ensure its smooth and cheap supply. "In this regard, permission will be sought from the economic Coordination Committee (eCC) of the federal cabinet to import 5,000

tonnes more sugar."

The minister said to ensure adequate supply of flour, the Punjab government timely enhanced the release of wheat to flour mills; however, at the same time, the Sindh government limited the release which resulted in price hike in the province. he said for the first time in history, sugarcane farmers were being paid the real price of their crop due to the support price announced by the PTI government.

The minister maintained that petroleum prices in Pakistan were lower as compared to those in the neighbouring countries.

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar holds a meeting with Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid.

05

The source said that the speaker, in consultation with the prime minister and federal ministers, had initiated contacts with the opposition to convene a meeting of the NA this month and other opposition parties, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). however, the source said, the opposition had expressed reservations over what they called the ‘biased’ role of the speaker and non-issuance of production order of the leader of the opposition.

“The opposition had made it clear that they would not cooperate until the speaker’s attitude changed. The government had faced difficulties in completing the last parliamentary year and the National Assembly held long sessions with the opposition before the end of the parliamentary year,” the source added.

When contacted, chief whip of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Dogar, did not respond. An official at the lower house, however, said that the situation was far from worse and the Speaker would deal with the challenge amicably.

“There are seven long months of the parliamentary year and the Speaker would deal with the situation. We only have to convene the assembly for 107 days which is not difficult at all. We will make it before August 13,” the official maintained.

sngPl assures uninterrupted gas supply to export sectors LAHORE: All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) Chairman Adil Bashir has thanked the Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Ltd (SNGPL) for uninterrupted supply of gas to export-oriented sectors. he welcomed the appointment of Syed Ali Javaid hamdani as the new managing director of SNGPL and expressed hope that he would personally ensure supply of gas at normal pressure to the export industry so as to enable it create additional jobs, attract new investment and uplift exports. Bashir stated this during a meeting with the newly-appointed SNGPL managing director on Monday. APTMA-Punjab Chairman Abdul Rahim Nasir and other office bearers of the association were also present on the occasion. During the meeting, Adil Bashir highlighted the ongoing extreme low pressure of gas across Punjab, saying that the productivity of the export-oriented industry was being compromised due to this single factor. Bashir also urged the new MD to revise/withdraw the adhoc bills after verifying the actual gas consumption of those industries having switched over to other energy sources. APTMA delegation further apprised the meeting that sustained supply of gas/RLNG was essential to maintain the momentum of enhanced exports as currently, the textile industry was working at full capacity. The export orders for next six months were booked and there was a continuous upward trend despite the Covid pandemic, they informed. HASSAN NAQVI

govt constitutes committee to recommend action against broadsheet beneficiaries ContInueD froM pAge 01 The agreement was terminated by the bureau in 2003, after which Broadsheet filed a claim with the high Court of Justice, London against Pakistan, seeking the award of $28.7 million. In 2019, a separate claim filed with the high court showed the company has applied for permission to enforce its judgement that it be paid $22 million by the government of Pakistan in compensation.

The firm had also asked for an interest rate of $4,758 a day to be applied, jacking up the amount to $28.7 million. After the bureau failed to make the payment, the amount was reported to be debited from the accounts of the Pakistan high Commission in London.

however, Akbar, special assistant to the prime minister on accountability and interior, while addressing a presser said that the government “cleared the dues” on December 31. “Of the $21.5m paid to broadsheet,” he said, “$20.5m was paid because of the Sharif family — of this $1.5m was paid against the Avenfield house apartments and $19m against assets of [deposed prime minister] Nawaz Sharif.”

Akbar further said the quantum order mentioned details regarding Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz president Shahbaz Sharif, such as that he paid $7.3m to NAB and elsewhere, he took kickbacks of $160m in highway taxes. he also shared copies of ex-parte judgments against Pakistan in the case which he said was done on orders of

Prime Minister Imran Khan and was in line with his view of no accountability without transparency.

The minister declassified two judgments: one against the liability award in 2016 and the second for the quantum award in 2018. The first verdict ruled the government [of Pakistan] was liable to pay the firm and the second determined the actual amount of liability to be paid, he said. he clarified the judgments were being made public after securing written consent by Broadsheet’s lawyers to ensure there were no “reservations” about the decision.

“We represent the nation and came on this mandate [of accountability] so it is the prime minister’s stance that for transparency, everything which should be in public access, the government should do it [and make it available].”

NA body decides to take in-camera briefing on NBP president’s offshore account ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

The National Assembly's Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue has decided to take in-camera briefing from Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on issues pertaining to the offshore account of the incumbent National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) president.

The meeting of the standing committee was held under the chairmanship of MNA Faizullah on Monday.

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Member Operations Dr Ashfaq Ahmad informed the committee about media reports alleging “accumulation of offshore assets by the NBP president”.

he said that tax proceedings in the case were at an advanced stage; however, taxpayers’ information could not be shared [with any forum] as it was confidential under section 216 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

On this, committee member Naveed Qamar questioned whether the committee has the mandate to ask for personal income tax details of any individual or not.

"The [NBP] president is holding a public office and this is a public matter, so we can discuss this issue in committee meetings," he opined.

The committee secretary also told FBR officials that this forum could discuss any confidential matter as rules empowered it.

CMYK

Replying to the queries, the FBR official stated, "If we publicize the information which comes from the Organisation for economic Co-operation and Development (OeCD), then there will be serious consequences. This is a very sensitive matter which can lead to serious implications for the state," he added.

On FBR’s reply, the committee chairman maintained that the members were public representatives and the committee has the right to be briefed on classified information as well. he directed the FBR to give an in camera briefing on the issue today (Tuesday).

Meanwhile, the FBR Member Operations also briefed the committee about the position of income tax refunds from July

till December 2020.

The pending income tax refunds claims, which stood at Rs379 billion on July 1, 2020, were reduced to Rs313 billion on December 31, 2020, he stated.

"We have given Rs93 billion sales tax refunds through FASTeR and Rs6 billion through Non-FASTeR system. In addition, FBR collected Rs2,205 billion tax from July to December 2020, besides paying Rs105 billion refunds during this period.

The committee appreciated the revenue collection efforts of tax officials; however, it directed them to share a comprehensive presentation with regard to achieving the current year’s target of Rs4,963 billion.

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

06 COMMENT

Miracles, prayers, and the laws of the universe

After Broadsheet, Tethyan Miseries coming in battalions

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he Reko Diq deal signed between the Balochistan government and the Australian mining company BhP gave the latter a 75 per cent share in discoveries while Balochistan got a meager 25pc plus a mere 2pc royalty. there were accusations of corruption, though without any proof, leading the Balochistan government to cancel the deal. this led to litigation that finally reached the sC which declared the deal void.

After the 2017 ruling against Pakistan by a World Bank tribunal there was no way out but to seek an out-ofcourt settlement with the tethyan Copper Company (tCC). the PML-N government had already concluded that this was the only way to seek reduction in the whopping $6b penalty awarded to tCC. the task was made difficult because of the Pti’s relentless campaign against corruption on the part of PML-N and PPP leaders, a judiciary viewed as hostile and a vengeful NAB. Despite this the PML-N government tried in 2015 to pressurize a reluctant Balochistan administration to agree to an out-of-court deal with the tethyan. the Balochistan government was already under fire from the opposition on the issue, leading the CM to maintain that he would not “sell a stone of Reko Diq”.

Mesmerised by its own anti-corruption rant, the Pti failed to engage with the ttC. instead, PM imran Khan issued orders for the formation of a commission to investigate and fix responsibility for the penalty.

Consequently in July 2019 UN’s tribunal CsiD, awarded damages in the sum of $5.84 billion to tCC. the Pti government appealed to the CsiD for a stay on the enforcement of the massive penalty which it got in september 2020. even after the stay it made no serious effort to seek a settlement with the tCC. Now that the chickens have come home to roost, the Pti government has none but itself to blame. the British Virgin island court has decided in an ex parte case to freeze three properties of the PiA, including Roosevelt hotel in NY and scribe hotel in Paris. As the properties would yield little more than $1bn after the sale and deduction of taxes, the tCC is likely to go after Pakistan’s other assets abroad like Broadsheet. Among other things, the affair would bring bad name to the country and discourage foreign investors.

A mystery too perplexing for many

HASAN AFTAB SAEED

A

theists frequently raise this objection, but many theists too have a hard time reconciling miracles and prayers with God’s prescience and wisdom. how do miracles and prayers make sense in a world where everything happens according to God’s Will? if it is accepted that God created the universe and the laws governing it (so goes the argument) and if it is also accepted that miracles do happen from time to time, does that not mean that the laws were not perfect in the first place? Furthermore, why should anybody pray to God when a) God’s plan is perfect, and b) his Will is going to prevail anyway? science enthusiasts seem to have the greatest difficulty with miracles. they tend to reject anything extraordinary or unfamiliar by declaring it ‘unscientific’ and therefore outside the realms of possibility. While it is true that science has had spectacular success in explaining many phenomena of the universe; it is rather easy to be so intoxicated by that success as to

Gas crisis

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oLLoWiNG a major nationwide electricity shutdown that remains largely unexplained by the government, which is causing load shedding in winter of all seasons, it seems Pakistan’s energy woes are only going to get worse as the ongoing gas shortage is about to intensify in the coming months. high worldwide gas demand these winters, interruptions to supply in the three largest Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) exporting countries and increased freight prices have caused spot prices of the commodity to skyrocket. Price of LNG has nearly tripled since early November last year causing suppliers who had confirmed cargoes for February to back out. Major international LNG traders, which include staterun entities as well, are amongst the firms that have defaulted on their bids, making any legal recourse all the more complicated. the Pti, while in the opposition was severely critical of long-term bilateral contract the PML-N made with Qatar for LNG supply, terming it ‘overpriced’. since it came to power in 2018, both former Prime Minister shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his finance minister Miftah ismail have been hounded by NAB, are out on bail after being jailed for months with allegations of corruption over signing the 15-year LNG deal that ensured supply at 13.37 per cent of Brent, a price much better than what the spot market is offering at the moment. Qatar sells around 60 million tons of gas per year of which Pakistan only buys around 3 million tons; therefore, to suggest that Qatar greased the palms of certain Pakistani politicians to secure the contract is simply absurd. the Pti, consumed by its aversion to LNG, did not attempt to install any new merchant LNG terminals in the past two and a half years, which would have increased capacity to meet the rising gas demand that the current two terminals are unable to, and for this it had offers from four of the largest companies to install the terminals. While there is nothing the government could have done to control prices of LNG in the spot market, it could surely have utilized the ample time it had at its disposal to plan ahead so that the damage that this gas shortage will do to the industry and in turn an already fledgling economy, could have been mitigated.

Its adequate use can be beneficial in Pakistan

HAFiz MuHAMMAD AzEEM

‘J

URisDiCtioN’ generally can be understood as the “Power of a court to adjudicate cases and issue orders, or the territory within which a court or government agency may properly exercise its power”. however, hitherto, the most adoptive definition in Pakistan’s courts is that: “jurisdiction means the power of a court to administer justice according to the means provided by law and subject to limitations imposed by law”.

Be that as it may, in the constitution of the islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, Part Vii titled ‘the Judicature’ and Articles 175 to 212 deals with the jurisdiction of higher courts: supreme Court of Pakistan, Federal shariat Court, and five other high Courts. ergo, the supreme Court of Pakistan also has a jurisdiction that is too provided by the law and that is too subject to limitations imposed by the law: the Constitution, 1973. in the constitution, the honorable supreme Court of Pakistan has been bestowed with the following main jurisdictions to administer justice: original Jurisdiction under Article 184; Appellate Jurisdiction under Article 185, and Advisory Jurisdiction under Article 186.

Article 186 provides that: (1) if, at any time, the President considers that it is desirable to obtain the opinion of the supreme Court on any question of law which he considers of public importance, he may refer the question to the supreme Court for consideration. (2) the supreme Court shall consider a question so referred and report its opinion on the question to the President.

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solved every other problem to their satisfaction.

A Muslim therefore has no difficulty in believing any number of extraordinary things – from people waking up after sleeping for three hundred years to dead men raised back to life to a sea parting in two. in fact, the greatest ‘unscientific’ event of all: every man rising from his grave on the Day of Judgment (when the heavens and the earth will be turned into very different heavens and earth) forms an integral belief of islam. if the same Muslim does not accept some other events narrated in traditions by one or two individuals, it is not because he doubts God’s power to make them happen or because they are ‘unscientific’ but because he believes that such happenings ought to have been more widely reported than they were, given their unusual nature.

What about prayers? When a man asks something from his Lord, the very act of asking reminds him that it is God who is in charge, and that his own efforts (necessary though they are) are not sufficient to produce his desired results. Not only does this make for a seriousness of purpose on his part (in terms of his own efforts) and help him keep his feet firmly on the ground if his prayer is granted; but it also helps him come to terms with the outcome in case his prayer is not answered. Moreover, knowing that he is only responsible for his efforts (not outcomes) he does not feel compelled to resort to desperate, underhand tactics to achieve the results of his liking. As for how prayers can possibly be answered in a world run on God’s perfect laws, pray what is so inconceivable about a law that takes into consideration man’s prayers in addition to the other factors at play? there is more controversy here than there needs to be. First raised hundreds of years ago, these queries have been answered in every century. Unfortunately, these things have a way of operating in cycles where each new generation, blissfully oblivious to anything that happened before it, thinks that it is the first time anybody has ever thought of such questions.

Hasan Aftab Saeed is a connoisseur of music, literature, and food (but not drinks). He can be reached at hasanas@live.jp.

Advisory Jurisdiction of Supreme Court

Much of the government’s own making

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

start believing that every phenomenon lies inside the domain of science and therefore anything that science cannot account for must ipso facto be a fantasy. here, a rule of thumb that has served this writer well is this: the more somebody flaunts science the less he knows what he is talking about.

Reaction against centuries of poor conduct by people of faith has also produced, in large numbers, well-meaning rationalists who – very much like a pendulum swinging from one extreme to the other – have come to put their whole emphasis on works. According to them, you reap strictly what you sow and therefore prayers are meaningless. in this purely mechanical world view the only effective thing is action. this philosophy has the merit of seeing an important part of the picture; but by being blind to the complete picture it tends to overestimate man’s power, which is to his detriment in more ways than one. the same mindset is at work behind either of the difficulties. it is the insistence on reducing God to the status of a silent spectator, who in the initial creation of the universe has set everything in motion according to his perfect plan so that now the laws take care of themselves without his involvement. the problem with this picture is that it recognises God as the Creator but fails to see him as the Living sustainer. Far from being a detached reality, he is very much involved in the working of the universe. his permission is required at every moment of every event (not just the beginning), whether it is everyday occurrences like lifting cups of tea or beautiful sunsets, or the more ‘miraculous’ ones.

God is by no means constrained by his own laws. he is not subject to anything – he is the Absolute (independent of everything). it is nothing other than his Will that manifests itself as the laws of the universe. that his sunnat (characteristic way of doing things) never changes is his own choosing, not something forced on him. Miracles, from our point of view then, are not suspensions of the laws of the universe but unusual applications of them. that we tend to think that God occasionally acts in an uncharacteristic manner may simply be owing to our lack of knowledge of broader, more encompassing laws. is it that difficult to grasp? After all, it is not as if humans have

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the indian supreme also possess akin jurisdiction under its Article 143 of Constitution of india, 1950 and, to best of my knowledge, it has almost decided eleven references: re Delhi Laws Act, 1912 in 1951; re Kerala education Bill, 1957 in 1958; re Berubari Union and exchange of enclaves in 1960; re sea Customs Act, 1878 in 1963; re Keshav singh in 1965; re Presendial Poll in 1974; re special Courts Bill, 1978 in 1979; re Cauvery Water Disputes tribunal in 1993; special Reference No. 1 of 1993 (deals with Babri Mosque); special Reference No. 1 of 1998, and special Reference No. 1 of 2012.

Notwithstanding, the foremost question is: whether the supreme Court is bound to answer each reference made to it under its advisory jurisdiction? the supreme Court of india has had the view depending on the nature of the question: it may refuse to answer or to make a report on questions which are purely socio-economic or political questions and which have no relations whatever with any provisions of the Constitution—held by Das C.J. in special Reference No. 1 of 1964. Likewise in special Reference No. 1 of 1993 full bench of the supreme Court of india refused to answer a question that was based on a question of fact. however, if the reference deals with a question of law, then the wording of Article 186 (2) seems to be a mandatory provision of law: as it provides that “the supreme Court shall consider a question so referred and report its opinion on the question to the President”. the word ‘shall’ is showing the intent of the legislature to consider as a mandatory provision of law. therefore, in Pakistan, in 2005 the supreme Court of Pakistan in its full bench reference under its advisory jurisdiction has had the view that the president has the lawful authority being the custodian of the constitution and symbol of the head of federating units to seek the guidance of the court with no object except to avoid controversies and the ensure constitutional provisions. And it has also been held therein that the court would be bound to express its opinion upon any such reference, otherwise, the provisions of advisory jurisdictions will become redundant. And redundancy is a concept alien to law. the next question is whether the opinion given under advisory jurisdiction has a binding effect like other decisions? the answer is affirmative. true, that in advisory jurisdiction, it is not a decision between the two rival parties, yet it has a binding effect. it has been held by the supreme Court of Pakistan in its 2005 advisory opinion that “from the languages of Article 189 and 190 of the Constitution, it is clear that opinion expressed by the supreme Court under its Advisory Ju-

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risdiction is required to be esteemed by all the organs of the state, therefore, it would not be fair to say that the opinion expressed by supreme Court has no binding effect”. similarly, in re Cauvery Water Disputes tribunal in 1993, the supreme Court of india opined that due weightage must be given to the opinions given under the advisory jurisdiction of the court. Yet, it is not an absolute opinion, since dissenting view also exists; therefore, it is still a question of law that requires to be answered by the supreme Court, whether it has a binding effect like a precedent has under Article 189 or not. internationally the concept of advisory jurisdiction varies. in england, it has not been practiced therein for since long. in Australia, the concept has been declared ultra vires. however, in Canada, the advisory jurisdiction has been given the status of a binding precedent and a law. But in America neither any provision regarding advisory jurisdiction exists in their Constitution nor the supreme Court of America ever has allowed it. Notwithstanding, the international Court of Justice has given many important decisions under its advisory jurisdiction and played a vital role internationally through it.

Lastly, although some argue in opposition to advisory jurisdiction, yet arguments in its favour also exist. those who are in disfavour, put forth a quote by C J sir edward Coke who characterized it as “auricular taking of opinions, single and apart, was new and dangerous… ”. however, the answer to them is that: international Court of Justice has done tremendous work under its advisory jurisdiction and thus has avoided many international conflicts; without waiting for rival parties, with advance interpretation of law through the use of this jurisdiction, many future legal conflicts and discords can be avoided; through adequate use of advisory jurisdiction, litigation level can be reduced in countries like our where diversity is in abundance; without risking anyone’s life or liberty, property or rights, with ample usage of advisory jurisdiction of higher courts, bureaucratic shenanigans can be controlled, misuse and abuse of power at the hands of public functionaries can be reduced, and a layman can be saved from understanding and misunderstanding the complex and complicated interpretations of the law; lastly, where there are federating units in a country and provincial autonomy exits, conflicts of parochial and provincial in its nature can be resolved through the use of advisory jurisdiction of superior courts. And Pakistan requires it too.

The writer is an Additional District Public Prosecutor and writes on various topics. He holds an LL.M. from the Punjab University and teaches law.

He can be reached at Khokhar.azeem@yahoo.com.

His articles can be accessed on hmazeem.blospot.com.

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Tuesday, 19 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

Pakistan and terrorism WheNeVeR anything happens in the world according to attacks, Pakistan is pointed out. Firstly pakistan is an independent country, people are social, but there is a question remaining, is pakistan safe? yes pakistan is safe.

Pakistan is also named as the country of terrorist only because of being a true muslim country. the stock exchange attack is not only place attacked but seeing in the world so many countries were attacked but the attackers were non muslims and not all terrorist are muslims, each and every country contains terrorism. the attack of exchange office was very unpredictable and sudden but hats off to the brave guards. in the same way so many countries were attacked and also muslims were killed. the perfect definition of terrorism is performing voilance in illegal way. seemingly, it is consist of various types for ex. attacks against government, government attacks on a government, attacks against the country, attacks country to country and group of terrorist again the world’s law and regulations.

Nevertheless, pakistan is also rooted with this same worry, there should be a law where all countries could stand out against the killer of nations.

Suhail SaEEd Tunio larkana

Insolvable power issues

A growing economic powerhouse Peaceful rise of China and threat to the US

RAjA FuRqAN AHMED

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iNCe the birth of America, the Asian region has been considered one of the most important areas for economy and trade. history, geography, and demography also make the Us an integral part of the region. Geographically, the states of Alaska, California, oregon and Washington border on the Pacific ocean and hawaii is surrounded by it. in 1784, the Us merchant ship (the empress of China) which inaugurated America’s participation in the lucrative China trade in 1784. As Asia pacific region has its own significance so the Us always puts an eye on this region. the Us has a variety of interests at stake in the Asia Pacific region, with pressing diplomatic, national security and economic considerations, all against the backdrop of increased geopolitical volatility. the first major policy was formulated at the end of 19th century, by Us secretary of state John hay’s which was named as open Door policy toward China. the open Door Policy was a clever move on the part of the United states to create trade opportunities between the Us and China while additionally asserting American interests in the Far east. in the short term, the open Door Policy allowed the Us to expand its markets for industrialized goods. it called for equal foreign commercial access to china. the reason being that at the time only certain states were getting privileges and getting their hands on all the commercial products of china. the Us also worked to prevent the rise of a regional hegemon in Asia, whether it was imperial Japan or the soviet Union. the Us believes that they are long been a Pacific power, whose interests are inextricably linked with Asia’s economic, security, and political order.

Later on, when obama took office, he introduces new policy pivot to the Asia Pacific. the policy was shifted from the Middle east to east Asia. obama called himself “America’s first Pacific president.” he promised the nations of Asia a new era of engagement based on mutual interests and mutual respect. obama also clarified Us policy that the goal is not to counter or contain China. its goal is to make sure international rules

and norms are respected and that includes in the area of international disputes. the key areas of policy are “strengthening bilateral security alliances; deepening our working relationships with emerging powers, including with China; engaging with regional multilateral institutions; expanding trade and investment; forging a broad-based military presence; and advancing democracy and human rights.” Former secretary of state hilary Clinton’s termed the Asia Pacific as a key driver of global politics.” there are two schools of thought, liberals who believe that the rise of China will not change the existing world order. on the other hand, the realists argue that China may challenge the Us leadership and to overhaul the existing world order. Meanwhile Chinese believes that the existing world order is in favour of the Us and its allies at the expense of Beijing. however, the Us has a hidden agenda to exploit human rights and democracy to prevent China from rising to the “rightful place”, as the Us always raises this sort of slogan to interfere in other state matters. Chinese also thinks that Us-made contribution in resolving global issues but now this old vehicle has become tired and it needs reforms.

Meanwhile, if we see China it is prospering in the term of both economical and militarily. China is also developing its region such as one Belt one Road project which will bind together 65 countries (4.4 billion people) another big threat for the Us. the Us suspects that China may adopt its own “Monroe Doctrine” to enhance its sphere of influence and de-Americanize the region. this doctrine was very useful during the 19th century. the Us policymakers always highlight their fear regarding the rise of China. Former Us secretary of state henry Kissinger said that “once China becomes strong enough to stand alone, it might discard us. A little later it might even turn against the Us if its perception of its interests requires it.” on the other side, the Us is also playing its game in the Asia-Pacific region. trade in this region is stood at 3.2 trillion dollars in 2018 which includes exports 1.4 trillion-dollar and imports 1.8 trillion dollars. so economically this region play important role in the global market as well as the Us economy. America’s top trading partners also present in this region such as China itself, Japan, south Korea, taiwan, india, and Vietnam. so the UsA also want peace in this region but wants to increase its influence. Washing-

ton has been also advocating an Asia-Pacific security structure with the Us as the sole leader and with U.s.-led bilateral alliances as the backbone. the Us also faces a lot of challenges in this region such as North Korea and China which are an economic and security threat for the Us. Longstanding strategic challenges in such regions as the taiwan strait, the Korean peninsula and the india-Pakistan border is seen as relatively quiescent but far from final resolutions.

For the implementation of their policy, the Us had signed different agreements and treaties with their aliens. the United states benefited from its alliance arrangements during the Cold War era and wishes to preserve these assets in the post-Cold War world. China, on the other hand, does not have good memories of its alliance. in Asia Pacific, the majority of the states are the aliens of the UsA and also fear the uprising of China as an emerging power. this also helps the UsA for the implementation of its policies. Due to this threat, the majority of states has done several agreements with the Us such as modernizing security partnerships with allies: Japan, south Korea, the Philippines, thailand, and Australia; as well as broadening engagement with emerging partners and power centres such as indonesia, Vietnam, singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, New Zealand, the Pacific islands, and india; maintaining a positive and constructive relationship with China; and investing in the region’s multilateral institutions, including the Association of southeast Asian Nations, east Asia summit, Asia Pacific economic Cooperation, and the trans-Pacific Partnership. the UsA also signed several militaries to the military, Bilateral and Cooperation, Maritime Defense and Ballistic Missile Defense Cooperation agreement.

During the era of trump, the Us policies were diverted from the Asia Pacific such as president withdrawal from Regional Comprehensive economic Partnership which was an agreement regarding the trade tariffs and will benefit the UsA. China is focusing on the policy of Neocolonialism, which emphasises on economics, globalisation, cultural imperialism, and conditional aid to influence a country instead of the previous colonial methods of direct military control. China is developing its region as this also shows that China is rising peacefully and it will be a big threat for the Us.

There are two schools of thought, liberals who believe that the rise of China will not change the existing world order. On the other hand, the realists argue that China may challenge the US leadership and to overhaul the existing world order.

Meanwhile Chinese believes that the existing world order is in favour of the US and its allies at the expense of Beijing.

The writer is a student of International Relations and Freelance journalist currently based in Islamabad, Pakistan. He can be reached at furqanraja1122@gmail.com or @furqanraja1122 on Twitter.

it is pity that the entire government appears helpless to pinpoint the people resposible for the present electricity turmoil in Karachi which is being subjected to severe load shedding in this extreme hot & humid weather for the last several days while no immediate remedy is in sight . on Monday , 29th June , a very high level meeting comprising all important ministers, secretaries , Ke management and advisors deliberated on the causes and issues of otherwise avoidable load shedding going on in Karachi , but failed to fix responsibility for the catestrophe . the outcome of the meering was to constitute another inquiry committee to ascertain the causes of the problem without announcing any measure to end the load shedding to which the Karachites are subjected to . had there been capable and competent participants in the meeting , the responsibility of this catestrophe would have been fixed and many heads should have rolled. As the things are going , the rest of the country should be prepared for another bout of load shedding and power tariff hikes . there is a suppressed power demand at the moment due to slowing down of industrial and commercial activities . once the things become normal , load shedding is imminent. is accountability restricted to politicians. Are people responsible to manage and deliver good and efficient services to the masses in different departments out of the accountability ambit? one wonders how long the fellow citizens will have to suffer on so many fronts? one wonders how long the fellow citizens will have to suffer on so many fronts ?

Engr riaz BhuTTa lahorE

Legal aid in Pakistan A system which provides free advice about law and helping to the people who are poor or unable to afford it. Majority in Pakistan do not get proper guidance regarding justice, people are not aware of such channels which are working tirelessly to make ease on the path of justice. the legal aid is the substantive right of people under the constitution which makes it obligatory on the state to provide inexpensive justice to eliminate all forms of exploitation, people does not have firm faith in our judicial system so they avoid to go in courts instead they prefer to solve their problems on their own because judicial process is lengthy and takes plenty of time , there are many legal aid provider associations in all over Pakistan for women, children, prisoners, and this concept of legal aid can be traced back in 1944 when in Britain lord chancellor Viscount simon formed Rushcliffe committee to give legal assistance to people. Pakistan Bar Council free legal aid rules 1999 were framed to provide free legal support to suppressed masses, in pursuance of these rules free legal aid committees were constituted at federal provincial district levels. Under these rules any person desirous of legal aid submits an application to the appropriate committee. one can get legal support while suffering from financial issues. in a country like Pakistan you have to knock on the door of the court to get justice because “law aids the vigilant, not the sleeping ones”.

Sarfraz ali Soomro Tharu Shah

Fairness creams it is really senseless that people almost from entire world are using fairness creams with a concept that white is beautiful. our country Pakistan is filled with the customers of all these whitening and beauty creams. even though, our Prophet (PBUh) has cleared that skin color must not the tool to judge any soul. Yet, we can see colourism in every corner.

God has created everyone with a unique beauty. true beauty lies inside. having a fair skin doesn’t make anyone beautiful. it is disheartening to see girls advising other girls to use bleaching creams to look beautiful or for good proposals. if any marriage proposal is based on beauty it won’t last forever. Colourism is a violence towards humanity. the privilege for having a white skin needs to end along with the false concept of beauty for the real beauty lies in soul which doesn’t need any fairness cream. afroz mJ TurBaT

Reopening of educational institutes to resume education across the country the relevant educational institutes should make a clear cut strategy in order to follow standard operating procedures(soPs).the effect that the pandemic has had on education in this academic year will undoubtedly have an influence on students,but now we should enhance or extend our learning schedules in order to recover from the great loss. Although online classes are being conducted by various educational institutes, but students participation is negligible mostly from school level institution. Nothing is permanent, Pendemic time will definitely end but the modern education systems still need to improve specially in our country. We should model some striking developments in educational system, in order to combat next time trouble , as soon as possible.

SaQiB iShaQ azad kaShmir

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

Biden should end the trade war with China Project Syndicate ZHANG JUN AND SHI SHUO

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hen U.S. President-elect Joe Biden is inaugurated in a few days, he will quickly move to transform most dimensions of U.S. policy. A glaring exception is China. But if Biden maintains outgoing President Donald Trump’s confrontational approach to the world’s second-largest economy, he will come to regret it.

While Biden may be less overtly antagonistic toward China than Trump was, he has echoed many of his predecessor’s complaints about China’s trade practices, accusing the country of stealing intellectual property, dumping products in foreign markets and forcing technology transfers from American companies. And he has indicated that he will not immediately abandon the “phase one” bilateral trade agreement reached last year, or remove the 25% tariffs that now affect about half of China’s exports to the United States.

In Biden’s view, it is best not to make any significant changes to the ongoing approach to China until he conducts a full review of the existing agreement and consults with America’s traditional allies in Asia and europe, in order to develop a coherent strategy. his chosen U.S. Trade Representative,

IF BIDEN MAINTAINS OUTGOING PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S CONFRONTATIONAL APPROACH TO THE WORLD’S SECOND-LARGEST ECONOMY, HE WILL COME TO REGRET IT Katherine Tai — an Asian-American trade lawyer (and fluent Mandarin speaker), with extensive experience in China — might play an important role in the review process.

But it should not take a comprehensive examination to see that high tariffs and the phase one agreement are fundamentally incompatible. In the last two years, the proportion of Chinese exports to the United States subject to additional tariffs has soared from a nearly insignificant share to over 70%. And the share of U.S. exports to China subject to tariffs has skyrocketed, from 2% in February 2018 to more than 50% two years later.

Over the same period, the United States has implemented 11 rounds of sanctions against Chinese entities. Last month’s addition of 59 Chinese enterprises and individuals to the U.S. Department of Commerce’s list of export-controlled entities brought the total to 350 — the most for any country.

With such high costs and strict limitations on exports, China cannot possibly ful-

fill its commitment included in the phase one agreement to purchase some $200 billion in additional U.S. goods and services in 202021. Since January 2020, U.S. exports to China have fallen far short of the deal’s targets. As a result, in november 2020, China had fulfilled just 57% of its annual purchase commitment.

China’s options for accelerating progress are severely limited. The private sector — which accounts for nearly 80% of Chinese demand for U.S. imports — cannot simply be instructed to purchase American goods at such high tariffs. And forcing state-owned enterprises to pick up the slack would create its own problems.

The conclusion is clear: As long as Biden upholds Trump’s confrontational approach, the phase one accord will be fundamentally unworkable, and further progress toward a mutually beneficial trade relationship will be all but impossible. Bilateral trade could even collapse.

time to withdraw from afghanistan

But this conclusion does not mean that the Biden administration need only remove tariffs. The phase one agreement is also deeply flawed, not least because complying with it would force China to reduce imports from other countries. By giving the United States a significant advantage over China’s other trading partners, the agreement may even violate the World Trade Organization’s principle of nondiscrimination.

Other countries, therefore, are trying to level the playing field. At the end of 2020, the european Union and China concluded the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, and all ten of the ASeAn countries signed the Regional Comprehensive economic Partnership (RCeP), together with China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and new Zealand. none of the above is in America’s interest. For starters, ASeAn countries — which, collectively, form America’s fourthlargest export market — are likely to shift

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CHArLES V PEñA

n the wake of the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump, security for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden increased dramatically. Over 20,000 national Guardsmen are expected for the event. That’s more than twice as many troops as are deployed in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

So, it takes this many troops to protect Washington, D.C., which measures about 61 square miles with a population of over 700,000. Afghanistan covers some 250,000 square miles, with a population of more than 36 million. Why then do so many policymakers and pundits continue to insist that a small contingent of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will make a difference in quelling the violence in that country? It is obvious that that it won’t, and keeping troops in Afghanistan is unnecessary for U.S. national security.

The mission in Afghanistan was effectively accomplished in less than a year. Al Qaeda’s leadership was decimated or scattered into hiding, and the Taliban regime was dethroned for harboring Osama bin Laden and his followers. Instead of declaring success, the mission morphed into nation-building and counterinsurgency.

Those opposed to withdrawal from Afghanistan continue to refuse the reality that existed from the very beginning: We could never win, i.e., achieve military victory.Why? On one hand, counterinsurgency requires a military component. The history of successful counterinsurgency – largely practiced by the British – requires 20 troops per 1,000 civilians. The force requirement for Afghanistan would be 720,000 troops – certainly a bridge too far. The United States stopped tracking how much of Afghanistan was under government or insurgent control in 2019, but according to the last estimate, about 37% of the population, some 13 million people, was not under government control. That would require 260,000 troops – more than twice the largest deployment during 2010-2011.

But troop levels are not all that matters. Successful counterinsurgency often requires the use of harsh and indiscriminate military force. Again, the British offer good examples, such as putting down the Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya in the 1950s. While such action may kill the enemy, it also all too often results in killing innocent civilians. In January, a U.S. drone strike in herat targeting and killing 16 Taliban militants also killed 10 Afghan civilians. According to the most recent United nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan report, there were 5,939 civilian casualties (2,117 killed and 3,822 injured) from January to September 2020. Twenty-eight percent

Charles V. Peña is a senior fellow with Defense Priorities. He has more than thirty years of experience as a policy and program analyst and senior manager, supporting both the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security. Peña is the former Director of Defense Policy Studies at the Cato Institute and author of Winning the Un—War: A New Strategy for the War on Terrorism.

Zhang Jun is dean of the School of Economics at Fudan University and director of the China Center for Economic Studies, a Shanghai-based think tank. Shi Shuo is a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Fudan University’s China Center for Economic Studies and a visiting fellow at CERDI-IDREC, Universite Clermont Auvergne.

the pope’s latest deCree is a viCtory for CatholiC women CITING A 1994 PRONOUNCEMENT

BY THE LATE POPE JOHN PAUL II, FRANCIS HAS MADE IT CLEAR THAT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH WILL NOT FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH BY ORDAINING WOMEN AS PRIESTS

THOSE OPPOSED TO WITHDRAWAL FROM AFGHANISTAN CONTINUE TO REFUSE THE REALITY THAT EXISTED FROM THE VERY BEGINNING: WE COULD NEVER WIN of those casualties were attributed to pro-government forces. The inevitable result is alienation of the civilian population, which makes them more sympathetic to expelling the foreign occupier.

The problem in Afghanistan is that foreign military occupation, while perhaps the correct tactical military solution to counter the violence, is strategically a mistake. Foreign occupation reinforces the perception that the Afghan government is being propped up and controlled by the United States, rather than being the sovereign government of a Muslim country. The result is the occupying force in Afghanistan is a magnet for jihad.

Ultimately, successful counterinsurgency requires more than just a military solution – it requires a political solution. Again, the British experience is important, because this is the lesson of the Belfast Agreement. The Irish Republican Army was not defeated, but peace was achieved via negotiation. After more than 19 years in Afghanistan and a direct cost of $978 billion — other estimates include other costs and put the price tag at $2 trillion — it is worth noting that the British Army spent 38 years in northern Ireland. This should serve as a reality check for anyone who supports staying longer.

More important, not only can we not win in Afghanistan, but we don’t have to. The conflict in Afghanistan is not a war of U.S. national survival. The Taliban is not an existential threat to the United States.

The violence in Afghanistan flows out of a longstanding civil war within the Muslim world. It is not America’s war to fight or win. Only Afghans can determine the outcome.

We must understand that a continued U.S. military presence – however well intended and however successful at the tactical, operational level – is not the solution and is actually part of the problem. It creates resentment not just within the Afghan population, but also the broader Muslim world. Residual counterterrorism operations – which should largely be operational intelligence and targeting information – can be conducted without boots on the ground. We must be true to our own principle of self-determination and allow the Afghan government to act as a truly sovereign government and make decisions for itself – even if they are not the same decisions we would make. Our only real criteria should be that the government in Afghanistan – even if it includes the Taliban – not provide support or safe haven to terrorist groups who would attack the American homeland

more trade to their RCeP partners. The fact that the RCeP lacks the labor and environmental standards seen in agreements with Canada, Mexico and the United States will reinforce this shift.

The RCeP is also likely to increase Chinese demand for agricultural and energy exports from Australia and new Zealand. And by indirectly establishing a free-trade zone among China, Japan and South Korea — the so-called iron triangle — it will consolidate supply chains in northeast Asia and the West Pacific. This puts the United States at a growing strategic disadvantage.

Instead of upholding Trump’s confrontational China policy, Biden should accept China’s central role in the global economy, and pursue a mutually beneficial, nondiscriminatory trade agreement. China’s efforts to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership — which evolved from the Trans-Pacific Partnership after Trump abandoned it upon taking office four years ago — could provide an important opening here.

The Biden administration promises a fresh start for the United States and its relations with the world. To fulfill that promise, the next president must end his predecessor’s disastrous trade war against China.

LoS angeLeS timeS

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MICHAEL MCGOUGH

lot of American Catholics might not see the importance of Pope Francis’ declaration that women can take part in the formal ministries of acolyte and lector. After all, there have been “altar girls” in many American parishes for years.

But “many” is not “all.” Some parishes and dioceses allow only boys to assist the priest at the Mass and other ceremonies. The pope’s decree doesn’t focus on children and adolescents or require that girls be allowed to serve Mass. It says that church law will be changed to say that “lay persons” of either sex may be formally installed in the ministries of acolyte (a priest’s assistant) and lector (a reader of Scripture during the liturgy). The church already allows people of either gender who are not acolytes to be altar servers.Still, the pope’s decree sends a message to Catholic parishes and dioceses that allow only boys to serve Mass. It’s the same message that St. Paul preached to the Galatians: “There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

A “no girls allowed” policy is often a sign that a parish is uncomfortable not only with including females in prominent roles in worship but also with larger changes in the church introduced in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s. (Another tipoff is whether a parish offers the “extraordinary Form” of the Mass — that is, the Latin Mass essentially as it was celebrated before Vatican II.) Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American prelate who is a hero to traditionalists, sounded off about this subject in a 2015 interview with a representative of The new emangelization Project. (That’s not a typo; the group tries to put the “man” in evangelization.)

Burke suggested that Catholic men are reluctant to get involved in the church because it has been “feminized.” he linked this phenomenon to the advent of altar girls. “The introduction of girl servers also led many boys to abandon altar service,” Burke said. “Young boys don’t want to do things with girls. It’s just natural. The girls were also very good at altar service. So many boys drifted away over time.”

The cardinal also said that it requires a “certain manly discipline to serve as an altar boy in service at the side of a priest, and most priests have their first deep experiences of the liturgy as altar boys. If we are not training young men as altar boys, giving them an experience of serving God in the liturgy, we should not be surprised

that vocations have fallen dramatically.”

That points to another feature of traditionalist Catholicism: an emphasis on the difference between priest and lay person, a commonplace in the pre-Vatican II church. Conservative Catholics are also alarmed by calls for the church to ordain women as priests or at least as deacons, who can preach and baptize but not celebrate Mass. Against this backdrop, the pope’s action is significant. Francis explained that he was acting in response to “a doctrinal development” that “has highlighted how certain ministries instituted by the church are based on the common condition of being baptized and the royal priesthood received in the sacrament of Baptism.” So much for the notion that being an altar boy is a stepping-stone to the priesthood or the idea that serving Mass is a “manly” activity.

To be sure, Francis drew a distinction between ministries rooted in baptism and those, such as the priesthood, that are conferred by the sacrament of holy Orders. Citing a 1994 pronouncement by the late Pope John Paul II, Francis has made it clear that the Catholic Church will not follow the example of the episcopal Church by ordaining women as priests. even so, the pope’s decree means that Catholics who attend Mass will continue to see women playing significant roles in the church’s rituals, with altar girls wearing the same vestments as altar boys. In many Catholic parishes women also help to distribute the consecrated bread and wine of holy Communion, a function once reserved to the clergy.

Despite what the pope may say, such optics will make some churchgoers wonder why women who are already performing various sacred duties can’t be priests.

In 1975 the late Raymond Brown, perhaps the foremost Catholic biblical scholar of his time, advocated that women be given a range of roles at Mass. he mentioned women serving as lectors and distributing holy Communion and said that “younger girls” could serve at the altar. “When all of these things are done,” he wrote, “we may be in a better position to discuss intelligently the ordination of women priests.”

The practices Brown advocated have come to pass.

Despite what John Paul II and Francis said, the agitation for ordaining women is likely to continue. If donning vestments makes altar boys visualize themselves as priests, that idea is also going to occur to some of the altar girls serving alongside them.

Michael McGough is the Los Angeles Times’ senior editorial writer, based in Washington, D.C.

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

BUSINESS 09

CORPORATE CORNER Haleeb Foods Partners with Careem LAHORE: Haleeb Foods (HFL), the pioneer dairy and beverage company of Pakistan, has partnered with Careem to facilitate HFL employees with safe and convenient day to day travelling. A signing ceremony was held to mark the occasion at HFL head office in Lahore. Commenting on this partnership Faisal Nisar, Head of Supply Chain at Haleeb Foods, said, “Wellbeing of our employees is our responsibility at all times. Travelling in and around the metro cities has always been a challenge and this initiative is taken in order to ease out the travel related concerns. We are hopeful that Haleeb family will benefit considerably from the mobility solutions offered by Careem.” Being the oldest National Dairy Company of Pakistan, Haleeb Foods is strongly committed to providing safe and hygienic products to its consumers.

Indus Motor, PBC collaborate on National Working Women’s Day KARACHI: The Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB) - an outreach initiative of the Pakistan Business Council (PBC) - in collaboration with Indus Motor Company (IMC) recently organised a webinar in celebration of National Working Women's Day. The panelists included Anam Fatima Khan from IMC, Neelofar Hameed from HBL and Maliha Hussain from Mehergarh who shared their experiences and best practices with regards to ‘decent work’ in their respective organisations.

This included discussion on workplace stability and security, safe work environment (free from harassment, occupational and COVID safety), work and family life balance, equal opportunities and treatment and facilitation of female employees.

Route2Health® ️ awarded USP GMP Audit Certificate KARACHI: Route2Health® ️ has announced that its manufacturing facility situated at Sundar Industrial Estate, Lahore, passed a Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) audit conducted through the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) GMP Audit Program. Route2Health® ️ thus became the first nutritional supplement manufacturer in Asia to be awarded this prestigious certificate. “USP is pleased to acknowledge that Route2Health has successfully met the requirements of the USP GMP Audit Program,” said Holly Chang, Senior Director USP Technical Services. “This accomplishment demonstrates compliance with the Program’s rigorous standards and a commitment to maintaining a high level of quality at their Sundar Estate facility for manufacturing their products.”

PM for fast-tracking establishment of markets along Afghan, Iran borders ISLAMABAD

IMPoRteRS IN A FIx oveR DelAy IN ev oRDINANCe

GOVT YET TO ISSUE ORDINANCE DESPITE APPROVAL OF ELECTRIC VEHICLE POLICY BY CABINET ABOUT A MONTH AGO ISLAMABAD

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GHULAM ABBAS

MIDST delay in the issuance of an ordinance/SRO with regard to the country's first Electric Vehicle (EV) policy, importers have started importing EVs to avail tax exemptions announced under the policy. According to details, hundreds of imported electric vehicles were currently stuck at ports, as importers wanted to avail the EV policy approved by the cabinet about a month ago.

Talking to this scribe, an importer said his company had imported at least 35 electric vehicles, but was reluctant to have them cleared at ports as it wanted to avail tax exemptions applicable on Completely Knocked Down (CKD) and Completely Built Units (CBUs) under the EV policy. Similarly, some other companies/importers were also waiting for pol-

icy implementation through the issuance of an ordinance/SRO, he added.

Meanwhile, an official of the Custom Department informed Profit that the draft EV ordinance was resubmitted to the Ministry of Industries (MoI) for a review before forwarding the same to the President House for issuance of an ordinance.

"We have shared the same with the MoI for a review, as some incentives announced under the policy needed clarity," the official said, asserting that the issuance of the ordinance would not be delayed on the part of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

However, an MoI official, when contacted by this scribe, said the ministry was "unaware about any draft ordinance” sent to the ministry by FBR. "The ministry has not received any documents so far in this regard," he maintained.

Sources said apart from tax exemptions for manufacturers/assemblers of electric vehicles, the incen-

KP finance dept struggling to utilise annual development budget

MARKET DAILY

Bears pull PSX down 204 points KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Bears took charge of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on the first trading session of the week, with the benchmark index shedding over 200 points amid lack of positive triggers.

"The market moved within a narrow range today, with profit booking mainly observed in exploration & production, fertilizer, oil & gas marketing, cement and banking sectors. Regression in international crude prices became the reason for negative sentiment in E&P sector, while continuous foreign selling pulled the fertilizer stocks down. Investors, in part, also saw Election Commission’s upcoming decision regarding foreign funding case as a reason for booking profit," a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read.

MARKET SUMMARY: The benchmark KSE100 Index swayed both ways on Monday, registering its intraday high at 46,047.56 (+116.56 points) and low at 45,714.17 (-216.83 points). It finally settled lower by 204.32 points at 45,726.68.

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index plunged 789.20 points to end at 72,952.78, while the KSE All Share Index fell short by 205.76 points, closing at 31,708.83.

The overall market volumes inched up from 531.01 million shares in the previous session to

tives announced under the policy were encouraging the importers to import vehicles despite lack of charging stations and other facilities necessary for such vehicles. As per the EV policy for four wheelers, which was approved by the federal cabinet on December 22, 2020, there will be 25pc customs duty and zero per cent additional customs duty or regulatory duty on CBU imports. Besides, any company could import 100 CBUs with 50pc customs duty.

The new policy stipulated rules for electric-run four-wheelers along the lines of import and export, taxation, registration, and customs duty.

According to the salient features of the new EV policy, additional customs duty, as well as additional sales tax (AST) on the import of EV cars, would be removed. In addition, only 1pc tax will be levied on the import of EV parts for manufacturers, while registration and annual renewal fee of EVs for the ICT sector has also been waived.

PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

543.59 million shares (+2pc). Average traded value, however, increased by 21pc, from $111.3 million to $134.9 million. TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +7.23pc), Fauji Foods Ltd (FFL +6.64pc) and K-Electric Ltd (KEL -3.10pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 47.59 million, 44.62 million and 33.01 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that drove the benchmark index south included oil & gas exploration (-114.74 points), oil & gas marketing (-34.13 points) and power generation & distribution (-31.85 points). Among the companies, Pakistan Petroleum Ltd (PPL 41.86 points), Oil and Gas Development Company Ltd (OGDC -39.80 points) and Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC -33.69 points) dented the index the most.

Shedding 2.16pc its cumulative market capitalization, the oil & gas exploration sector ended as the session's worst performer, with OGDC (2.37pc), Pakistan Oilfields Ltd (POL -2.16pc) and Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (MARI -0.67pc) ending in the negative.

Meanwhile, in a notification to the exchange, Cherat Cement Company Ltd (CHCC +0.15pc) announced that it has decided to "undertake BMR for cement line 1, besides installation of a main crusher". The total cost of BMR of cement line 1 and installation of main crusher is approximately Rs3.5 billion, which will be financed through long-term loans.

Despite tall claims of good governance in the province, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) finance department was facing severe constraints in utilising its annual development budget for the current fiscal year. Sources said the provincial government had earmarked Rs3.435 billion for three finance department-related projects in the financial year 2020-21. Of the total allocated amount, Rs176.298 million was released during the first six months (July-Dec) of FY21, while a meagre amount of Rs71 million has so far been spent on the said projects.

According to documents available with this scribe, the provincial government had allocated more than Rs3.255 billion for its 'revenue collection and resource management programme' (with the help of the International Development Agency). Of the total, an amount of Rs82.298 million was released in the July-Dec 2020 period, with the department spending only Rs40.236 million so far on the project. Meanwhile, the KP government had allocated Rs167.907 million for the finance department's 'capacity building and stabilization project'. Of the total, a sum of Rs47.092 million was released for the project, with the department spending only Rs18.684 million so far. Similarly, an amount of Rs47.092 million was released for the construction of a Jama Masjid, of which Rs12.092 million has been spent in the first sixth months of FY21. Official sources informed this scribe that the department was currently facing problems in fulfilling its objectives under the annual development programme, "as it has allegedly deployed inexperienced people on ongoing projects with the assistance of international agencies".

Unity Retail raises seed round from Boston Equity Partners

APP

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday directed the officials concerned to expedite measures regarding the establishment of markets in Pakistan’s bordering areas with Afghanistan and Iran, besides formulating a comprehensive strategy in this regard. Highlighting the importance of markets for the prosperity of people residing in the merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and bordering areas of Balochistan, the PM said the establishment of border markets would not only create employment opportunities for the local population but also help check smuggling.The prime minister expressed these views while presiding over a meeting to review progress regarding the establishment of border markets along Afghanistan and Iran borders. Advisor to PM Abdul Razak Dawood, special assistants Moeed Yusuf, Dr Waqar Masood and Dr Shehbaz Gill were present on the occasion, whereas Maritime Affairs Minister Syed Ali Haider Zaidi attended the meeting via video link. The meeting was briefed about the federal and provincial level measures taken so far for the establishment of the proposed border markets, which would ensure the provision of better business opportunities to the local population at Pak-Afghan and Pak-Iran borders, and promote trade and employment opportunities for the youth. The meeting was further informed about the draft PC-1 and the progress on negotiations with Iran and Afghan authorities for establishment of 18 proposed border markets, of which four would be established under a pilot project.

THE COMPANY GRADUATED FROM THE FIFTH BATCH OF THE NEST I/O BABAR KHAN JAVED In a bid to enable merchants with fulfillment partners, last mile service providers and other value added services, Unity Retail has closed a seed round with Boston Equity Partners.

The undisclosed six-figure investment - a number north of $100,000 - is intended to help the eCommerce technology company focus on growth and product innovations, such as creating a reverse auction mechanism for determining the cheapest or proximate last mile delivery partner.

“We are keen on democratizing ecommerce for Pakistan,” said Shoaib Ahsan, co-founder and chief product officer at Unity Retail. “Our solution allows any local or international player to have out of the box access to the biggest fulfillment network in Pakistan overnight as well as realize best in the business e-commerce operations practices.”

Part of the fifth graduating batch at The Nest I/O, Unity Retail was founded

in early 2017 as a marketplace integration company akin to Technifai. As a result of enterprise customer feedback, the business pivoted towards enabling merchants with a single centralized application that integrates with their storefront to sync and process orders. This was launched in mid-2019.

“Empowering merchants to fully leverage the potential of e-commerce is at the core of Unity Retail’s mission,” said Atif Sami, co-founder & CEO of Unity Retail. “The growing interest in our platform with zero marketing spend is a testament to the market demand for our offering and we are very proud to onboard investors that share our vision of democratizing access to e-commerce.”

The business claims to be built on an artificial intelligence enabled auto pilot mode, where orders are processed for confirmation, shipment booking, tracking and cash on delivery (COD) reconciliation. To date, the company claims to have processed upwards of $90 million gross merchandise value

for businesses such as Zellbury, Habitt, Tarz, and Mumuso in Pakistan while doing so for Khaadi in Pakistan and the global market.

“Unity Retail is singularly positioned for e-commerce enablement,” said Arif Baigmohamed of Boston Equity Partners. “While the demand for the service is significant at the enterprise level, the real scale is where the platform makes it easy for SMEs and home based entrepreneurs to leverage the e-commerce opportunity to through a plug and play solution. These dynamics have been validated in other markets with players like ShipRocket in India, Easyparcel in south East Asia, and other players in North America.”

According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the eCommerce market size for the year upto Q320 was Rs96 billion, of which 60pc can be assumed to be from COD, making prepayment worth Rs 39 billion over the same period. The industry growth is fuelled by a multitude of factors such as the increasing purchasing power of the mid-

dle class, a widening range of products that can be purchased online, the emergence of new digital business models, as well as technological advancements in the delivery segments that allow for instant and time-definite delivery.

The World Economic Forum projects that by 2030, the demand for lastmile-delivery will soar 78pc by 2030, driven by 60pc of people living in cities which propels urbanization. The international NGO further predicts that by the end of 2021, over two billion people around the world will make an online purchase, with 20pc of retail sales coming from eCommerce. Additional forecasts suggest that same-day delivery demand will grow 40pc with the instant delivery market growing 10pc.

Profit speculates that Unity Retail will make technological advancements to shorten delivery times, working with automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that support the work of parcel drivers with the aid of machine vision object tracking and advanced analytics-based driver apps. The technology company may even enhance the handling of parcels in retailer or logistic company distribution centres through self-learning applications akin.

This natural progression has been reached by Alibaba and JD.com, which are investing heavily in automating the supply chain, with the former investing $15 billion in logistics automation and driverless technology over the next five years.

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

Kremlin critic navalny appears in court as calls grow abroad for his release

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AGENCIES

lExEI Navalny has appeared in court for the first time following his arrest at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport, amid growing international condemnation of the Russian opposition leader’s detention.

In a video Navalny called the court hearing “lawlessness of the highest order” and said a judge was reviewing a request from a police official to keep him in custody.

“What’s happening here is impossible,” he complained.

Navalny was arrested on Sunday evening as he returned to Russia for the first time since a suspected poisoning by the FSB last year, risking his freedom in a direct challenge to the Kremlin.

The hastily convened court hearing took place at a police station near the airport. On the wall behind Navalny hung a poster of Genrikh Yagoda, a secret police head under Stalin who organised show trials and set up the Gulag prison camps.

Kira Yarmysh, the Navalny aide who posted the video online, said that only journalists from the Kremlin-friendly outlets Russia 1 and lifenews were allowed to attend. Officials in the US and Europe, as well as prominent activists including Edward Snowden, called for Russian authorities to

POISONED RUSSIAN OPPOSITION LEADER WAS DETAINED ON RETURN TO MOSCOW FROM BERLIN ON SUNDAY release the opposition leader.

The incoming US administration was quick to condemn the arrest, showing how human rights will likely return to the agenda with Moscow when Donald Trump leaves the White House this week.

Joe Biden’s incoming national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, called for Navalny’s immediate release, adding that the “perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable”.

A Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman responded: “Deal with the problems in your own country.”

Snowden, the NSA whistleblower who lives in Russia, also tweeted in support of Navalny, calling his arrest a “repetition of mistakes made in the Soviet era”.

The outgoing US administration, which has been hesitant to criticise Vladimir Putin’s government, also condemned Navalny’s arrest later on Sunday evening.

The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, said Washington strongly condemned Navalny’s detention, describing it as “the latest in a series of attempts to silence Navalny

and other opposition figures and independent voices who are critical of Russian authorities”.“Confident political leaders do not fear competing voices, nor commit violence against or wrongfully detain political opponents,” he added.

Amnesty International quickly pronounced Navalny a “prisoner of conscience”, saying he “has been deprived of his liberty for his peaceful political activism and for exercising free speech”.

Officials in the UK and European Union also condemned the arrest, with some calling for new sanctions against Russia for violating human rights. Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said: “Russia is bound by its own constitution and by international obligations to the principle of the rule of law and to the protection of civil rights. These principles must, of course, be applied to Alexei Navalny as well. He should be released immediately.”

Navalny was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday, less than an hour after he flew in from Germany, where he had been recovering from the poi-

soning with the nerve agent Novichok that he says was ordered by Putin.

Police officers met Navalny at passport control and detained him. Navalny kissed his wife goodbye and gave her a hug. He then disappeared with the officers.

Supporters were temporary unable to find Navalny and began tweeting under the hashtag Where is Navalny to demand information on his arrest. late on Sunday evening, his lawyer said Navalny was being held at a police station near the airport and that she had not been admitted to see him.

In Russia, officials sought to play down

his arrest. Putin’s spokesman Dmitri Peskov claimed not to have heard of the arrest when reached by Russian journalists on Sunday evening: “Please explain. He was arrested in Germany? I’m not following.”

Dmitry Kiselyov, the host of a weekly news show on Russian state television, compared Navalny’s return from Germany to Vladimir lenin’s journey onboard a sealed train in 1917 in what he called a “revolutionary landing force”. Sergei lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said western leaders were trying to “divert attention from [their] deep crisis”.

Tunisian rioters clash with security forces for third night AGENCIES Clashes broke out for a third consecutive evening Sunday in several Tunisian cities, pitting stone-throwing youths against security forces despite a tight lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus.

In the working-class neighbourhood of Ettadhamen on the edge of the capital Tunis, young men hurled rocks at riot police who responded with volleys of tear gas.

Authorities said they had arrested dozens of young people during consecutive nights of disturbances in the capital and other cities, amid a nationwide anti-coronavirus lock-

down imposed since Thursday -- a decade to the day since dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled from power. But in Ettadhamen, there were no political slogans to be heard.

"These aren't protests, it's young people who are coming from nearby neighbourhoods to rob and entertain themselves," said 26-year-old resident Oussama.

"A protest would be during the day, faces visible."Abdelmoneim, a waiter at a nearby cafe, said those in the street were "bored adolescents", but blamed the violence on the country's post-revolution political class.

"These delinquents are the result of their failure," the 28-year-old said.

ECONOMIC CRISIS: From nightfall, young people gathered again on the roofs of houses to lob stones and fireworks at police and national guard officers. Sirens wailed as a police officer with a megaphone shouted "go home!" Nearby, a young man filling his pockets with rocks told AFP: "These are for our enemies." Interior ministry spokesman Khaled Hayouni said earlier Sunday that dozens of young people, mostly aged between 14 and 17, had been arrested after they took to the streets during previous evenings, to loot and vandalise shopfronts and cars.

Videos circulating on social media showed young people burning tyres, insult-

Saudis vowed to stop executing minors; some death sentences remain, rights groups say DUBAI AGENCIES

Five people who committed crimes in Saudi Arabia as minors have yet to have their death sentences revoked, according to two rights groups, nine months after the kingdom’s Human Rights Commission (HRC) announced an end to capital punishment for juvenile offenders.

The state-backed HRC in April cited a March royal decree by King Salman stipulating that individuals sentenced to death for crimes committed while minors will no longer face execution and would instead serve prison terms of up to 10 years in juvenile detention centers. The statement did not specify a timeline, but in October, in response to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), it said the decree had come into force immediately upon announcement.

The decree was never carried on state media nor published in the official gazette as would be normal practice.

In December, state news agency SPA published a list of prominent “events” of 2020 featuring several royal decrees, but the death penalty order was not included. Organisations including anti-death penalty group Reprieve, HRW and the European-Saudi Organization for Human Rights (ESOHR) as well as a group of U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns that loopholes in Saudi law could still allow judges to impose the death sentence on juvenile offenders.

One of the five has appealed and eight face charges that could result in execution, said the groups, who follow the cases

closely. Reuters established the status of three of the five individuals through HRC statements but could not independently verify the other two.

The government’s Center for International Communications (CIC) dismissed the concerns, telling Reuters that the royal decree would be applied retroactively to all cases where an individual was sentenced to death for offenses committed under the age of 18. “The Royal Order issued in March 2020 was put into effect immediately upon its issuance and was circulated to the relevant authorities for instant implementation,” the CIC said in an emailed statement.

ALL EYES ON RIYADH: Saudi Arabia, whose human rights record came under global scrutiny after the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents, is one of the world’s top executioners, rights

groups say. Its de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known internationally as MbS, enjoyed strong support from U.S. President Donald Trump. But President-elect Joe Biden, who takes over in the White House later this week, has described the kingdom as a “pariah” for its rights record and said he would take a tougher line.

Six U.S. lawmakers wrote to the Saudi embassy in the United States in October urging the kingdom to review all ongoing death penalty cases to identify individuals convicted for crimes committed when they were children, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters.

One of the signatories, Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski, told Reuters in December that if the kingdom were to follow through on the execution of juvenile offenders, “it would make it even harder for Saudi Arabia

ing the police and looting shops.

Sousse, usually a magnet for foreign holidaymakers but hit hard by the pandemic, also saw rioting. Tunisia had been under a night-time curfew even before the recent lockdown, a four-day measure meant to expire on Sunday at midnight.

A decade on from the revolution, many Tunisians are increasingly angered by poor public services and a political class that has repeatedly proved unable to govern coherently. GDP shrank by nine percent last year, consumer prices have spiralled and one third of young people are unemployed.

The key tourism sector, already on its

knees after a string of deadly militant attacks in 2015, has been dealt a devastating blow by the pandemic. Tunisia has registered over 177,000 coronavirus cases, including over 5,600 deaths from the disease.

The health crisis and ensuing economic misery have pushed growing numbers of Tunisians to seek to leave the country. In Ettadhamen on Sunday evening, waiter Abdelmoneim nervously dragged on a cigarette as youths fought police nearby. "I don't see any future here," he said. He said he was determined to take a boat across the Mediterranean to Europe "as soon as possible, and never come back to this miserable place".

to return to the kind of relationships that it wants with the United States.”

He added that Biden would be looking at the kingdom’s human rights policies “very differently to Trump”.

Biden officials declined to comment for this article, but referred Reuters to an earlier statement saying the new administration would reassess U.S. ties with Saudi Arabia.

DISPUTED FIGURES: Ali al-Nimr and Dawood al-Marhoun were 17 when they were detained in 2012 on charges related to participating in widespread protests in the Shia-majority Eastern Province. Abdullah alZaher was 15 when he was arrested.

The three, who are among the five juvenile offenders whose death penalties have yet to be revoked, were sentenced to death by the Specialized Criminal Court and faced beheading, although the public prosecutor ordered a review of their sentences in August. The CIC said the royal decree would be applied to their cases.

Their lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment. In 2018, after assuming his post in a palace coup that ousted the previous crown prince, MbS pledged to minimise the use of the death penalty as part of sweeping social reforms.

But in 2019, a record number of about 185 people were executed, according to the rights groups. Reuters could not independently confirm the figures. The CIC did not comment when asked whether this figure was accurate. In a press release on Monday, the HRC said Saudi Arabia had reduced the number of executions by 85% in 2020 compared with the previous year, noting it had documented 27.

TEST CASE? In an article published last April, statelinked newspaper Okaz confirmed the existence of the royal decree, but said that the abolishment only applied to a lesser category of offence under Islamic law known as “ta’zeer”. These crimes are not clearly defined in the Koran or accompanying Hadiths

and so punishments are left to judges’ discretion, and can amount to death.

Saudi Arabia has no civil penal code that sets out sentencing rules, and no system of judicial precedent that would make the outcome of cases more predictable based on past practice. Judges could still sentence child offenders to death under the other two categories, according to Saudi Arabia’s interpretation of Shariah: “houdoud”, or serious crimes which carry a prescribed punishment, including terrorism, and “qisas”, or retribution, usually for murder, two lawyers and the rights groups said.

Asked why the royal decree was never published and whether it only applies to the “ta’zeer” category of offense, the CIC declined to comment. Some defendants in protest cases have been prosecuted on terror charges. In a case watched closely by the rights groups, 18-year-old Mohammad alFaraj was facing the death penalty even though he was 15 at the time of his arrest in 2017 for charges including participating in protests and attending related funerals, one when he was aged nine.

Ahead of his next hearing scheduled for Jan. 18, a source close to one of the defendants in Faraj’s case said the demand for a “houdoud” death sentence had recently been withdrawn and prosecutors were instead seeking the harshest punishment under “ta’zeer”. The CIC said the royal decree would apply retroactively to Faraj’s case, a point the HRC echoed in its press release.

ESOHR expressed concern that without a published decree, the risk of capital punishment cannot be ruled out.

ESOHR said Faraj was only granted a state-appointed lawyer in October, was not brought to court and was tortured in detention, allegations the CIC denied. Since the start of the pandemic, Faraj has been allowed one weekly 15-minute call to his parents, with inperson visits cancelled, a source close to the family said. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the specifics of his case.

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

SPORTS 11

AuSTrAlIA SeT 328 for IndIA To wIn fInAl deCISIve TeST A AGENCIES

USTRALIAN cricket team set 328 runs target for India to win the fourth and final Test at Gabba in Brisbane on Monday. After bowling out the hosts for 294, midway through the final session on day four, India will now have to either bat all day for a draw or score 324 runs to win as they are four for none at stumps.

Mohammad Siraj had Josh Hazlewood caught on the boundary to end the Australian innings as rain clouds formed over the ground.

Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill then faced just 11 balls, reaching four without loss, before light rain began to fall and play was called off for the day.

Siraj and fellow quick Shardul Thakur were exceptional throughout Monday as they kept the Australian scoring rate largely

under control while taking wickets at regular of some poor bowling.

The Australian openers added 68 runs intervals. Although most of the Australian batting order got starts, only Steve Smith off 19 overs when, with the score on 89, converted and even he fell for 55 when sur- Harris fell for 38 when he tried to duck a Thakur short ball only for the ball to graze prised by a Thakur short ball. his glove on the way through to wicketAustralia needs to win to regain keeper Rishabh Pant. the Border-Gavaskar Trophy It prompted a mini-collapse but, with more rain forecast INDIA as two runs later debutant for Tuesday, India will 4 FOR 0 AND 336 Washington Sundar trapped fancy their chances of Warner lbw for 48, the Aussurviving for the draw NEED ANOTHER 324 opener´s highest they need to keep the silRUNS TO BEAT AUSTRALIA tralian score since his return from verware. a groin strain in the third India will feel they 369 AND 294 (SMITH 55, Test in Sydney. can at least save the Test WARNER 48, SIRAJ 5-73, First innings centuryagainst an Australian atTHAKUR 4-61) maker Marnus Labuschagne tack that looked fatigued in came to the crease and continthe first innings. ued to attack, blasting five boundThe visiting team claimed four wickets in the morning session to peg back aries on his way to a quickfire 25 before a flying start by the Australians with David he was straightened up by a Siraj delivery Warner and Marcus Harris taking advantage and edged a simple catch to Sharma at

Chartered flight to carry Pakistan players to Karachi

second slip. Siraj, who was expensive in his early overs, then had Matthew Wade caught behind down the leg side for a duck three balls later to leave Australia 123 for four.

Smith and Cameron Green then began to take the game away from the visitors, though both had let-offs.

Smith was dropped at long-off by Siraj

Lewandowski claims Bundesliga record

UPON ARRIVAL IN KARACHI ON TUESDAY, THE ENTIRE GROUP WILL UNDERGO A THIRD ROUND OF TESTING

MUNICH AGENCIES

AGENCIES To ensure the health and safety of the Pakistan men’s cricket team, player support personnel and their families, the Pakistan Cricket Board has arranged a chartered flight that will transport them to Karachi on Tuesday afternoon.

This group of 50 people on Tuesday will enter the bio-secure bubble in a local hotel. While the players and support staff in Karachi are already observing isolation at their homes, players from other parts of the country will arrive in Lahore later today before departing for Karachi on Tuesday where the first Test will begin on 26 January. Upon arrival in Karachi on Tuesday, the entire group will undergo a third round of testing before they are allowed to resume training on Thursday, 21 January.

Apart from members of the Pakistan squad and their families, National High Performance coaches, Mohammad Yousuf and Saqlain Mushtaq, will also travel on the chartered flight. The two will join Grant Bradburn to follow the last leg of the Pakistan Cup One-Day Tournament, which concludes on 31 January.

As Pakistan squad for the three T20I series will enter the bio-secure bubble in Lahore on 3 February, the National High Performance coaches will oversee preparations of the T20I squad until the team management assumes charge following the second Test, starts in Rawalpindi on 4 February. The visit to Karachi is part of starting the preparations well in advance so that they can make best use of the time. Meanwhile, all the players and player support personnel have cleared their second testing, while the third tests will be conducted in Karachi on Tuesday.

Robert Lewandowski set a new record for the first half of a Bundesliga season on Sunday by netting his 21st league goal of 2020/21 as leaders Bayern Munich went four points clear with a 2-1 win over Freiburg.

Lewandowski's early strike was cancelled out by a Nils Petersen equaliser before Thomas Mueller grabbed Bayern's late winner having earlier set up his team-mate's recordbreaking goal.

Bayern, the only top five club to win this weekend, ended Freiburg's five-match winning streak in the league. "We were a bit lucky, but I'm happy with the result and now we have to continue on this path against Augsburg and Schalke," said Bayern coach Hansi Flick with one eye on next week's two league games.

With a game in hand, Lewandowski has broken Gerd Mueller's record of 20 goals in 17 matches for the first half of a German league season set in 1968/69.

Lewandowski, FIFA's best male player of 2020, has now scored nine goals in his last six league games.

He is also on course to break Mueller's all-time record of 40 goals in a single Bundesliga season from 1971/72. At exactly the same point during that record season, 49 years ago, Mueller had scored 17.

Before kick-off, Bayern board member Oliver Kahn said the European champions will not sign any new players in this transfer window.

BAYERN 'WOBBLED': However, Bayern again looked vulnerable and jaded after a league defeat at Moenchengladbach and shock German Cup exit at second division

BAYERN STRIKER NETS 21ST GOAL TO BETTER PREVIOUS RECORD OF 20 IN 17 MATCHES

on 38 while Green survived a caught and bowled by the same bowler on 14.

But Siraj, who took 5-73, made amends when he got one to leap into Smith´s glove with the former Australian captain on 55, while Thakur went on to finish with 4-61 as he accounted for the wickets of Green, Tim Paine and Nathan Lyon.

South Africa’s T20I plan against Pakistan in doldrums due to Covid-19 protocols THE TEST SERIES IN PAKISTAN IS DUE TO END ON FEBRUARY 8 WITH THE T20IS SCHEDULED ON FEBRUARY 11-14 AGENCIES

Holstein Kiel. "We worked hard for that and we wobbled a bit at the end, but it's important we showed that we can fight," said Bayern defender Jerome Boateng.

"We don't have to always shine and not everything has been perfect in the last few weeks." As heavy snow fell in Munich, Lewandowski needed just seven minutes to give Bayern the lead when he fired home Mueller's pass after a Serge Gnabry run.

Leroy Sane replaced Gnabry around the half-hour mark after the Germany winger limped off with a thigh strain. Lewandowski hit the post early in the first half and Freiburg goalkeeper Florian Mueller reacted quickly with a low save to deny Leon Goretzka.

Petersen grabbed Freiburg's equaliser a minute after coming on as his low diving header hit the net

from his first touch of the game on 62 minutes. It was the 28th time in his career that Petersen, 32, has scored as a replacement. Mueller restored their lead when he side-footed Sane's attempted volley into the net for the winning goal 16 minutes from the whistle.

However, the visitors laid seige to Bayern's goal and nearly equalised when Petersen clattered the Bayern crossbar just before the final whistle.

'LIKE A HOLLYWOOD SCRIPT': Later, Real Madrid loanee Luka Jovic came off the bench to score twice in his first game back at Eintracht Frankfurt to seal their 3-1 win over bottom side Schalke.

The 23-year-old Serbia striker, who joined Real in June 2019 in a transfer worth around 60 million euros ($72 million), has been loaned back to Frankfurt for the rest of the season.

South Africa’s Test cricket squad had to fly to Pakistan on a hastily-arranged charter flight after their commercial flights were cancelled and Covid-19 restrictions could further complicate the team’s plans, it emerged on Sunday. The 21-member team and support staff arrived in Karachi on Saturday for a two-Test series against Pakistan, starting on January 26. A team spokesperson confirmed on Sunday that Cricket South Africa had to make urgent late arrangements after being informed on Thursday that Emirates Airlines had temporarily suspended flights to and from South Africa for "operational reasons". The South African players had been due to travel in groups to Dubai from the airline s hubs in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban before travelling on to Karachi. Cricket South Africa (CSA) were able to organise a charter flight to enable the team to depart as planned on Friday night, flying directly to Karachi. With Covid-19 restrictions severely limiting international travel options from South Africa, CSA now has a major logistical and cost problem if a planned Twenty20 international series, due to follow the Test matches, is to go ahead. It had been expected that an almost completely different squad would play in the three T20 matches, with the Test squad returning to South Africa to prepare for a planned series against Australia.

Misbah earns stay of execution, committee to meet again following SA tour AGENCIES Misbah ul Haq, alongside Pakistan's coaching staff, has earned a stay of execution, with the Pakistan cricket committee opting against making any changes following the disappointing tour of New Zealand, resolving instead to meet again after the home series against South Africa later this month.

The committee urged the team management to form a clearer approach to set and pursue adjectives, expressing disappointment with recent results.

The PCB's cricket committee met at Gaddafi Stadium to review Pakistan's 202021 season, with the national team's performance placed under scrutiny. Head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis were called up to debrief the committee following the tour of New Zealand, where Pakistan lost the Tests 2-0 and T20Is

2-1. Batting coach Younis Khan, who joined before Pakistan's tour of England last summer, was exempt. In the end, however, it was decided to take the unique circumstances under which cricket had been played the previous year into account owing to the Covid19 pandemic, and give the management another chance to steady the ship.

"The PCB Cricket Committee carried out a holistic but constructive, fact-based and objective review of the Pakistan men's cricket team in the past 16 months," Saleem Yousuf, head of cricket committee said.

"There is no denying the fact that we all want to see our side ranked amongst the top three or four cricket playing nations and our recent performances do justice to neither those expectations nor the talent we boast.

"Nevertheless, we also need to take into consideration a number of other factors and the committee was of the view that cricket

during the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the biggest contributing factors in the side's dismal performances. The challenges of playing in Covid-19 protocols have not only been faced by the Pakistan men's national team, but by all the sides presently involved in international cricket and these concerns have been regularly raised by the team coaches and elite cricketers."

Misbah brought up the limitations and constraints in the last seven months as a justification for some of the below-par performances, specifically prior to the tour of New Zealand, where Pakistan spent almost three weeks in quarantine in New Zealand. The team got six days of training and before the start of the series, they lost Babar Azam with a thumb injury. Before that, the Pakistani players were in a bio-bubble in England, as well as at home during the final leg of the PSL, the Zimbabwe series, the Quaid-e-Azam

CMYK

Trophy and the National T20s. ESPNcricinfo understands that the team management was unhappy with the nature of the practice pitches, which they believe were responsible for the injuries to Azam and Imam-ul-Haq. "All professional and high-performing athletes require an environment where they can prepare their best for the international stage, which was not the case for the last two tours and most definitely not at the last tour where players had been confined to their rooms for two weeks due to the policies of that particular Covid-free country," said Yousaf.

"As a consequence, Babar Azam, Imam-ulHaq and Shadab Khan were unavailable for Test selections after Fakhar Zaman had missed the flight on the day of the departure. These big losses affected the team combinations.

But the management was not completely cleared of responsibility. "Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the PCB Cricket Com-

mittee strongly believes team selections and choice of players in the playing line-ups should have been made better. The committee also believes more scientific and databased work needed to be done on the players with improved communication to not only prepare them for the bigger challenges but by also identifying players who can back their performances with other capability trades in a high-competitive environment on a consistent basis."

Misbah has a three-year contract with the PCB but his position has come in for scrutiny, often in the recent past as losses have piled up for the team. The latest review was the second in the last three months. With the next series starting in two weeks in Karachi, the committee confirmed they will sit again following the series, with the committee pointedly saying there would be no points awarded for second place.

Tuesday, 19 January, 2021

PRAyER TIMINGS

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

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ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

5:44

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7:11

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‘What kiNd of juStiCE iS thiS?’: PdM to ProtESt iN froNt of ECP today RASHEED GIVES FREE HAND TO PDM TO RALLY IN RED ZONE

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NEWS DESK

AMIAT Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Fazlur Rehman said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is the central character in the foreign funding case, which he termed as the "biggest scandal in Pakistan's political history". Fazl made these remarks after a meeting of the steering committee for the 11-party anti-government alliance, ahead of the Pakistan Democratic Movement's (PDM) march to the federal capital where it plans to hold a sit-in outside the office of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the delays in the aforementioned case.

"The PDM leadership will enthusiastically stage a protest demonstration in front of the Election Commission regarding the foreign funding case," he said.

The PDM president accused the premier of having used the illegally obtained money for election rigging and said that PM Imran took "the mother of NROs" to create political instability in Pakistan and "used funds collected in the name of charity for personal business and spreading chaos, illegally and through secret accounts".

"We will demand the ECP to immediately give a decision on the crime which has been accepted," he said, noting that the case had been filed in 2014 by a founding member of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Akbar S Babar.

He said that the constant delays were giving rise to even more doubts and suspicions. He further said that in the case of former premier Nawaz Sharif, the decision had

been reached in only six months, while this case has been pending for six years.

"What kind of justice is this?" he asked.

The PDM chief appealed to Pakistanis to participate in the protest for the sake of "national security" and against "obtaining funds from anti-Pakistan lobbies". While accusing the incumbent government of having sold away the disputed territory, he said that on Kashmir Day, the PDM will hold a rally in Rawalpindi's Liaquat Bagh where Kashmir's political parties have also been invited.

He said that rallies will also be in held in Hyderabad on Feb 9, in Sialkot on Feb 13, in Balochistan's Pishin on Feb 16, in Sardogha on Feb 23, in Khuzdar on Feb 27. Following the scheduled public meetings, the PDM will take a decision about staging a long march to Islamabad, Fazl added.

Earlier on Monday, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz said that the PDM was trapped in their own disagreements due to their own self-interest. In a tweet, the minister said that failure, disgrace and defeat were the fate of the opposition alliance.

He said that defeated elements were meeting again today to devise a strategy to save their politics and wealth.

Similarly, Special Assistant to the Punjab Chief Minister on Information Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan on Monday said that the anti-government drive has ended midway.

She termed PDM members as hypocrites who are acting against each other.

The nation has buried the PDM’s narrative based on anarchy and destroyed the negative politics of this corrupt group, she

154 parliamentarians suspended by ECP MINISTER FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FAWAD CHAUDHRY AND MINISTER FOR MARITIME AFFAIRS ALI HAIDER ZAIDI AMONG THOSE SUSPENDED NEWS DESK The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday announced the suspension of 154 parliamentarians and provincial members over failure to file the assets detail. Among the suspended are Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC) Fehmida Mirza, Minister for Maritime Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui. Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf’s (PTI) Amir Liaquat has also been suspended for failing to submit the documents. Furthermore, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Fahmida Mirza, and Senators Musaddiq Malik, Kamran Michael, and Shamim Afridi have also been suspended. The top elections body has suspended the membership of 48 Members of National Assembly (MNA), three senators, 52 lawmakers of Punjab Assembly, 19 MPAs of Sindh Assembly, 26 members of KP Assembly and six members of Balochistan Assembly. From total 1,195 lawmakers, 1,131 have submitted their declarations of assets, ECP stated. As part of an annual exercise, the ECP had asked lawmakers to submit their statements of assets for the financial year ending on June 30 with a deadline of Dec 31. The ECP seeks asset details under Section 42A of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1976, and Section 25A of the Senate (Elections) Act, 1975. Section 137 (1) of the Elections Act, 2017, reads, “every member of an Assembly and Senate shall submit to the Commission, on or before 31st December each year, a copy of his statement of assets and liabilities including assets and liabilities of his spouse and dependent children as on the preceding thirtieth day of June on Form B.” The ECP has written letters to the Senate chairman, National Assembly (NA) speaker, speakers of all four provincial assemblies and clarified that the suspended members cannot attend any proceedings.

stressed.

Separately, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that the government has decided to give a free hand to the opposition parties to organise a rally in the Red Zone, however, nobody will be allowed to take law into hands.

Talking to the media on Monday, the interior minister said that no container or hurdle will be created in the way of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) to stage a demonstration in front of the ECP. He said that ECP is a constitutional body and it is expected that the opposition will respect its sanctity.

He said the PDM should know that the Supreme Court (SC), the Parliament House and other institutions are situated on the Constitution Avenue and the government has taken all necessary security measures for their protection. The minister said that for the first time, PDM has been allowed to organise its rally in the Red Zone and the law enforcement agencies will watch whether any seminary student is participating in the opposition parties' rally.

He said that the law will take its course if anybody attempts to take law into hands.

Answering a question, Rasheed said that action will be taken if any baton or uniform clad group like Anasar-ul-Islam participates in the opposition's rally.

To another question, the minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan's party has submitted a record of 40,000 transactions to the ECP, but the opposition is unable to produce a record of just 4,000 people from whom it has received foreign funding.

Smaller parties point fingers at PPP, PML-N for backtracking on en masse resignation ISLAMABAD MIAN ABRAR

Smaller parties of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) have expressed their reservations about the role of the two major political parties in the alliance, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) for backtracking on PDM charter of en mass resignations from the assemblies. Sources told Pakistan Today that during the meeting of the steering committee of the alliance held on Monday, the smaller parties accused the PPP and the PML-N for backtracking on the PDM's charter on en masse resignation. Sources said that Awami National Party (ANP) (Wali Khan Group), Balochistan National Party (Mengal), Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, Jamiat Ulema-eIslam, National Party (Bizenjo Group), Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party and Qaumi Watan Party raised objection against the PPP and the PML-N. Sources said that during Monday’s press briefing, Maulana Fazlur Rehman's statement that "participation of any leader in the protest has not been declared mandatory, so there is no problem in non-participation" is an indication of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari’s staying away from the steering committee meeting. The sources said that the PPP, due to its 'political compulsions', was at odds with other PDM allies. Sources said that these differences could put the future of the PDM at stake, as the PDM leaders insisted that the nature of the differences in the alliance was not very serious but merely a difference of opinion.

The reason for the controversy in the PDM is its failure to field joint candidates for the upcoming elections for eight vacant seats in the National and Provincial Assemblies which will be vacated in the near future, and the Senate elections in March and resignations from the assemblies, they added.After the announcement of contesting the by-elections by the PPP, the PML-N also announced its participation in the by-elections, although Fazl and the PML-N had expressed their displeasure over the PPP's announcement. Sources said that the PPP leadership understands that by boycotting the Senate elections, the opposition parties will pave the way for the ruling party to sweep Senate elections. They said that the PPP currently has more interests in the Senate than all the parties in the coalition, so it is not ready to give up. Sources said that apart from the PPP, all other parties of the PDM are in favor of abstaining from the by-elections and the Senate elections and resigning from the assemblies as soon as possible.

Pakistan approves Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use ISLAMABAD

COVID-19 DEATH TOLL NEARS 11,000 WITH 46 MORE FATALITIES

TLTP

As Pakistan struggles with a second wave of coronavirus infections, authorities on Monday green-lighted the emergency use of the Chinese anti-coronavirus vaccine produced by Sinopharm.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has approved the vaccine for emergency use across the country. The decision was taken during meetings held between January 14 and 18 after reviewing vaccine results data submitted by the National Institute of Health (NIH). The development allows federal and provincial governments, and the private sector to import the Chinese vaccine.

In December 2020, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said Pakistan will purchase 1.2 million Covid-19 vaccine doses from China’s Sinopharm.

The anti-coronavirus vaccine is developed by China National Biotec Group (CNBG), a Sinopharm subsidiary. On December 30, Sinopharm announced that phase-III trials showed the vaccine was 79 per cent effective.

But the United Arab Emirates, which approved the vaccine for emergency use in December, said interim results of Phase-III trials showed 86 percent effectiveness. The vaccine has been approved for use in China,

Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, and Serbia.

This is the second vaccine approved for emergency use in Pakistan. Last Friday, DRAP green-lighted use of AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine. Pakistan is currently running phase-III clinical trials for CanSino Biologics’ vaccine candidate, Ad5-nCoV, led by the governmentrun National Institute of Health. The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) had given the approval for urgent-use of the British Covid-19 vaccine.

Pakistan is also running phase III clinical trials of another Chinese vaccine from CanSino Biologics’, led by the National Institute of Health.

AstraZeneca has been a British-Sweden joint multinational pharma company, which has produced the vaccine in collaboration with Oxford University.

The vaccine, approved by the British Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority, is said to be effective for people of all age groups and could be stored in home refrigerators.

The coronavirus pandemic claimed another 46 lives in the past 24 hours, surging the overall death toll to 10,997, said the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Monday.

According to the latest data provided by the NCOC, the Covid-19 tally climbed to 521,2110 after

1,920 new coronavirus cases were reported. In the past 24 hours, as many as 1,589 patients have recovered from the virus and the total count of active cases is 34,986. Overall, 475,228 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far.

A total of 2,348 patients were stated to be in critical condition. A total of 37,949 tests were conducted across the country on Sunday, while 7,405,571 samples have been tested so far.

Punjab health authorities reported 560 new coronavirus cases, taking the provincial tally to 149,782. The virus claimed 23 lives in a day and the death toll stands at 4,432.

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Monday rejected the rumours about ministers getting Covid19 vaccines and clarified that the vaccine has not arrived in Pakistan so far.

Dr Yasmin, while, addressing a press conference, said that rumours are circulating about the administration of Covid-19 vaccines to the ministers. She clarified that the vaccines have not arrived in the country so far; however, she said that the provincial government completed arrangements for launching the vaccination drive. “We would try our best to get the best vaccines for our people.”

Historic K2 team make it back safely to base camp SHERPAS REACHED TOP OF THE WORLD’S SECOND-TALLEST MOUNTAIN ON SATURDAY ISLAMABAD AGENCIES

The triumphant team of Nepali climbers who made history when they became the first to summit K2 peak in winter arrived safely back at base camp on Sunday, officials said.

The 10 climbers reached the top of the world’s second-highest mountain on Saturday, the last peak above 8,000 meters (26,000 feet) to be conquered in wintertime.

“All the 10 Nepali climbers arrived

in the base camp this afternoon. They are in good health and relaxing,” Faizullah Firaq, a spokesperson for the GilgitBaltistan (GB) government, told AFP. One of the successful climbers, Nirmal Purja, who is also known as Nimsdai, posted on social media: “The full team are now back […] All safe and sound […] It has been an overwhelming journey.”

Thaneshwor Guragain from Seven Summit Treks, a leading mountaineering company behind one of the expeditions, said more climbers are still hoping to

reach the top.

Unlike Mount Everest, which has been topped by thousands of climbers young and old, K2 is a much lonelier place. But this winter, dozens of adventurers converged on the mountain hoping to take the record.

K2 is known as the “Savage Mountain” because of its punishing conditions: winds can blow at more than 200 kilometers per hour (125 miles per hour), and temperatures can drop to minus 60 degrees Celsius (minus 76 Fahrenheit).

The descent can be just as dangerous as going up.

Saturday’s successful summit was overshadowed by the death of a Spanish climber from another team, Sergi Mingote, lower down the perilous peak.

His body was evacuated from base camp on Sunday to nearby Skardu city by an army helicopter, the Alpine Club of Pakistan’s Karrar Haidri told AFP. Mingote was at an intermediate camp and fell on his way down to the base camp, injuring his leg, according to his team. Purja said his team were “deeply saddened to hear that we have lost a friend” and added, “Rest in peace, my brother!”

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