Epaper – July 31 LHR 2020

Friday, 31 July, 2020 I 9 Dhul-Hijjah, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 33 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

When There is a bill There is a Way g

FATF-relATed bills pAssed by senATe wiTh mAjoriTy voTe As jUi-F AccUses pmln And ppp oF sUpporTing govT on legislATion ISLAMABAD sTaff rePorT

T

he senate on Thursday approved the much-debated legislation — United nations (security council) (Amendment) bill 2020, and Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) bill, 2020 — a day after the national Assembly passed them through a majority voice vote amid fireworks between the treasury and opposition members.

The bills were introduced by the government earlier this year in order to fulfill certain conditions of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on terrorism and bring the country out of the grey list. prior to its passage, the Unsc amendment bill was reviewed by the standing committee on law and justice. The meeting was informed that the bill aims at ensuring the effective implementation of the Unsc resolutions.

According to details, the “implementation of the obligations of the resolutions adopted by the Unsc under chapter vii of the United nations

charter are fulfilled through the United nations (security council) Act, 1948 (Xiv of 1948)”. Under the said Act, “the federal government passes orders, directing relevant authorities to implement various measures stressed upon in the Unsc resolutions, including the freezing and seizure of assets, travel ban and arms embargo”. during the meeting chaired by committee’s chairperson senator javed Abbasi, the government informed the members that the amendments in the bill were in fact demanded by the FATF. senate secretary informed the committee members that the global anti-terrorism watchdog, after assessing the country’s legal system, proposed amendments in regulations dealing with such cases. The aforementioned bills were introduced in the senate on wednesday evening, which were referred to the committees concerned after the opposition demanded that the parliamentary procedure be followed in letter and spirit.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Army called in Karachi to deal with urban flooding RAWALPINDI TLTP

pakistan Army has been called to assist the civil administration in dealing with the urban flooding situation in the business hub of the country, announced the inter-services public relations (ispr).

According to the ispr, the armed forces are summoned in the city to assist the civil administration in dealing with the urban flooding situation. in another development, national disaster management Authority (ndmA) chairman lieutenant general muhammad Afzal called on sindh chief minister syed murad Ali shah on Thursday after prime minister (pm) imran Khan tasked him to clean rain-hit Karachi.

According to the cm house spokesman, the meeting was also

attended by local government minister syed nasir hussain shah.

They discussed the situation developed in the city in the aftermath of the two-day rainfall that saw urban flooding in parts of the city. it is pertinent to mention here that prime minister imran Khan on wednesday asked ndmA to extend help in cleaning rainbattered Karachi.

Taking to Twitter, the prime minister directed the ndmA chairman to reach Karachi immediately and oversee the cleanliness drive. “i have asked the pak Army to also help in cleaning up the city,” he said. sindh minister saeed ghani at that time responded to the move saying that he does not know why the premier has asked pakistan Army to assist the cleanliness of the metropolis.

02

Friday, 31 July, 2020

NEWS

Pakistan lifts ban on PUbG after Pta meets comPany ISLAMABAD

t

STAFF REPORT

HE Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on Thursday lifted a ban on popular online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) after a meeting with the representative of the game’s data controller company.

The decision comes after a lot of backand-forth between the regulator, the courts, and the game’s fans, who expressed outrage on social media platforms.

The PTA said it met with the legal representatives of the Proxima Beta Pte Ltd (PB), the data controlling company, who apprised Pakistani officials “on response to queries raised by PTA with respect to con-

unblock the online game, insisting it was “highly addictive” and a “wastage of time” and noting that it was necessary to block the online game in the interest of public order. “The game is highly addictive, destroying youth, wastage of time and has a negative impact on physical and psychological health,” the 11-page report had read. The PTA had said it was empowered under section 37 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016 to remove or block access to information if it considers it necessary in “the interest of the glory of Islam, the integrity, security or defence of Pakistan or…public order, decency or morality”.

However, it had acknowledged that there was no exact definition of “decency” and “morality” and said it used the terms

trols put in place by PB to prevent misuse of the gaming platform”.

“The Authority expressed its satisfaction on measures adopted by PB so far, and emphasized on continued engagement and a comprehensive control mechanism.

“The representative of the company welcomed PTA’s feedback on the issue and assured that the concerns of PTA would be taken into account. In addition, the company requested PTA to unban PUBG,” the PTA added. “Keeping in view the positive engagement & response of the company, the Authority has decided to unban PUBG,” the PTA said on Twitter.

In a detailed order released a couple of days ago following a consultative meeting with citizens, government officials, and PB, the state-run authority had refused to

british airways announces resumption of flights to Pakistan British Airways has announced it is resuming flight operations to Pakistan from the UK, a statement from British High Commission in Islamabad said on Thursday, signalling the continued importance of ties between the two countries. The airline said it would start direct flights three times a week to and from Heathrow Airport and Islamabad. "The first flight will land in Islamabad on 14 August, and will be taking extra precautionary measures for the safety of its crew and passengers," the statement said. Due to Covid-19, passengers will be required to wear masks and will have access to hand sanitisers during the flight. There are also extra measures in place at airports to ensure travellers stay safe. British High Commissioner Christian Turner said this was an important moment for UKPakistan links. "The resumption of British Airways direct flights is a big boost for the hundreds of thousands of travellers who travel regularly between our two great nations, many who have had their travel plans disrupted by the pandemic. I’d like to thank to the Government of Pakistan, British Airways and my team in Pakistan who have worked hard to deliver this welcome news," he said. Meanwhile, Moran Birger, Head of Sales, Asia Pacific and the Middle East at British Airways, said, "We are pleased to once again provide a service between Pakistan and the UK. NEWS DESK

Bilawal says government making legislation unnecessarily controversial ISLAMABAD INP

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari on Thursday said that the government made some bills unnecessarily controversial despite the fact that they could easily be passed.

Addressing a press conference at Zardari House Islamabad on Thursday, Bilawal said that the government, in the garb of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), wanted to bring legislation through which it could make any citizen a missing person for six months.

“The PPP could not allow this because our stance has been for democracy and basic human rights. The government wanted to get dictatorial powers using the backdoor but PPP will never allow it to happen,” he said, adding that the government has undemocratic behaviour while the opposition was censored in the National Assembly (NA).

Bilawal said that the government is also trying to blend FATF legislation with the legislation for the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). They are two different issues. The business community had met the army chief and the government and their narrative was that NAB and business cannot go together.

“In this regard, former president Asif Ali Zardari had said a long time ago that NAB and economy cannot go

together. Now, after Supreme Court Judge Justice Baqar’s verdict, NAB and democracy cannot go together,” he added.

The PPP chairman said that the government is trying to provide relief to Kulbhushan Jadhav. “Imran Khan is supposed to become an ambassador for Kashmir but he has become the counsel for Jadhav and is trying to give him relief through the backdoor,” he alleged.

He said that the premier gave a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to himself, his sister and all his friends. “He gave an NRO to every case of mega corruption under his government, from the BRT Project to Malam Jabba as well as the sugar and wheat scandals,” said Bilawal. “Imran Khan has given NRO via amnesties and he also gave NRO to his sister Aleema Khan’s corruption. Every advisor and special assistant should also be asked to give their money trail. There has been no answer from the government about the foreign funding case. The puppet prime minister and his puppet ministers are trying to hide behind the stay order.”

“On the other hand, Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s wife is called by the FBR [Federal Board of Revenue] and asked to provide her money trail,” he added, urging that NAB will have to adopt the same process for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) which it has adopted for the opposition.

FBR exceeds July collection target by Rs57bn ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday announced that it collected Rs300 billion revenue in July 2020, over-

in a general sense and considered the “principles of ethics” and “right conduct” when deciding to ban PUBG. Last week, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had ordered the government to lift the ban on PUBG, a decision, which was joyously welcomed by the Pakistani gaming community. IHC Justice Amir Farooq had announced the decision while hearing a petition filed against the banning of the game. That decision had come a day after the regulator had announced the PUBG ban would continue.

Back on July 1, the PTA had announced its decision to temporarily suspend PUBG in Pakistan after receiving multiple complaints from different segments of society.

The authority had said it received numerous complaints against PUBG wherein it was stated that the game is addictive, wastage of time, and poses a serious negative impact on the physical and psychological health of the children.

According to recent media reports, cases of suicide attributed to PUBG game have also been reported.

shooting the assigned revenue target of Rs243 billion by Rs57 billion.

According to the revenue collection data for July 2020, the Inland Revenue overshot the target by Rs52 billion, whereas the Customs Wing exceeded the

target by Rs5 billion despite Rs25 billion relief given in customs duty. According to FBR, in order to redress the adverse economic impact of Covid-19 on businesses, an unprecedented amount of refunds amounting to Rs15 billion were disbursed

during July 2020, as compared to refunds of Rs7 billion during July 2019. Sales Tax refunds are being issued under a centralized and automated system called FASTER which is clearing refunds to exporters within 72 hours for the first time as committed by the government in July 2020. Faster clearing of refunds eases out the liquidity crunch currently faced by the exports and the industry.

Opp won’t get an NRO with its ‘blackmailing tactics’, says Faraz ISLAMABAD TLTP

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Syed Shibli Faraz on Thursday said that corrupt opposition leaders will not get a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) despite using blackmailing tactics.

Addressing a press conference in the federal capital, he said that the government is not going to give any relaxation on corruption and actions against corrupt elements will continue.

The information minister said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is an honest and hardworking leader and he will continue strict accountability. He categorically said that the government will not bow down before blackmailing tactics.

He said that the premier is using his stature for the welfare of the poor in Pakistan. “Imran Khan is a role model for our generation as he is working hard for the welfare of the country socially and economically,” he added.

Faraz said that Bilawal BhuttoZardari is levelling baseless allegations against the government and the prime minister. He said that PM Imran has pro-

vided a money trail in the court of law and the court declared him as truthful and trustworthy.

The information minister said that the people of Pakistan have elected Imran as the premier to play a positive role in the welfare of the country. He urged the nation to strictly observe the precautionary measures and follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) during Eid days to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

He added that cooperation of the nation in this regard is very essential for the complete elimination of this pandemic.

10 people killed over property dispute in Upper Dir UPPER DIR STAFF REPORT

As many as 10 people were gunned down on Thursday over a property dispute in Upper Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to the police, unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of people who had gathered for a funeral in the Cheeragalai area of Upper Dir. Ten people died on the spot, the police said, adding that five people sustained injuries and were said to be in a critical situation. The bodies and injured were moved to hospital for medico-legal formalities, police added. An investigation into the matter and police are conducting raids to arrest the attackers.

Us provides 100 ventilators to Pakistan to combat virus ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The US government, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has provided an additional 100 respiratory ventilators to Pakistan in order to cope with the coronavirus crisis. The ventilators arrived in Islamabad on July 28 and will be deployed in hospitals across the country. A shipment of 100 ventilators had first arrived on July 3 and has already been delivered to health care facilities throughout Pakistan.

“The arrival of these ventilators delivers on President Donald Trump’s promise to Prime Minister Imran Khan to stand with the people of Pakistan and bring additional critically needed supplies and support to Pakistan’s urgent response to the pandemic,” a statement from the US embassy said. “The United States is a proud partner with the Government of Pakistan to help stem the tide of this deadly pandemic and these ventilators will help with that fight,” said Ambassador Paul W. Jones.

The ventilators can also be used to provide non-invasive respiratory therapy for patients before they become critically ill and help avoid the need for more extreme care, the US embassy said. In addition, these ventilators can help treat a number of other respiratory ailments outside of the Covid-19 virus, including pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. “Through a specialized training program developed with the National Disaster Management Authority and the Federal and Provincial Ministries of Health, and with funding from USAID, Pakistan will have a stronger arsenal with which to fight Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses,” the US embassy statement said. “The United States is contributing more than $28 million in new funding so far for Covid-19 response to this vital partnership that is growing every day.”

Friday, 31 July, 2020

NEWS

rs1.37tr investment in constrUction sector to coUnter coronavirUs imPact ISLAMABAD

P

STAFF REPORT

RIME Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said the development of the construction sector could play a key role in minimising the impact of coronavirus on the national economy by creating employment opportunities.

13 representatives of the Association of Builders and Developers of Pakistan (ABAD), (comma) in a meeting with Prime Minister Imran Khan, pledged to initiate various projects in the next three to four months which would result in economic activity of Rs1,370 billion.

These projects include the construction of about 100,000 residential units.

The prime minister was chairing the weekly meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) for housing, construction, and development, at-

tended by the representatives of ABAD via video-link.

The participants reviewed the progress made by the government in the construction sector, and the incentives announced for its promotion.

The premier said that the government was providing all possible facilities for the development of the construction sector and urged upon the business community to take full advantage of the opportunity by investing.

The ABAD representatives paid tribute to the prime minister for providing historic incentives and facilities in the field of construction. They mentioned that for the first time in the country’s history, the builders and developers were being encouraged by private banks to pursue construction activities.

Simplifying the no-objection certificate (NOC) and permitting process had encouraged the people involved in the

construction industry, they added.

The prime minister expressed satisfaction over the assurance given by ABAD to take full advantage of the concessions given to the construction sector and to start economic activities worth billions of rupees.

The meeting was informed that the provincial governments of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) had set up modern portals to streamline the application process of NOCs and other approvals in the construction sector through an online system and to ensure speedy disposal of applications pending for years.

The Punjab chief secretary gave a briefing about the portal’s features, modalities, and monitoring of the entire system by the chief secretary office and also the processing of requests received from government agencies.

It was highlighted that the portal

would give a platform to developers and builders to submit online applications from their homes and offices to ensure timely decision-making.

The prime minister lauded the performance of Punjab and KP in setting up and activating the portal. He also directed other provinces and GilgitBaltistan (GB) and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) to launch a similar portal and one-window facility.

He said that the purpose of the portal, mobile application, and online system was to minimize human interference in the system and to ensure transparency and efficiency.

The prime minister was informed that e-service centres were set up in nine divisions of Punjab for the convenience of builders and developers with a onewindow facility, and by August 14, the scope of e-service centers would be extended to all districts.

Covid-19 cases likely being 'highly underreported' in Pakistan: report NEWS DESK Professor of Applied Economics at Johns Hopkins University Steve Hanke has said that Covid-19 cases are likely being “highly underreported” in Pakistan which could be the reason for the recent drop.

The country has had some respite over the last few weeks with the rate of new infections

slowing. But experts say it’s difficult to assess the path of the nation’s epidemic because its testing rate remains one of the lowest in the world.

“The significance of the drop is that cases are likely being highly underreported,” Hanke said in an email to Bloomberg.

The report cited a study by the country’s largest pharma-

Businessmen hail PM’s construction package to boost economy, provide affordable houses ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan’s construction package to enable low-income groups in the country to buy their own homes, create a large number of job opportunities and spur economic activity in construction-related industries has been hailed by businessmen in the country. As per his vision to boost the construction sector and revival of the economy, the prime minister had announced the first ever package in the country’s history for the housing sector that will not only fulfil the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s promise of building five million houses but also gear up business activity in more than 40 industries. The prime minister also announced Rs30 billion subsidies for the poor people and this subsidy would cater to the first 100,000 houses to be constructed under the Naya Pakistan Housing Programme — which means a subsidy of Rs300,000 on each house.

Those borrowing from the bank to construct their homes would get loans on a subsidised interest rate of 5 per cent for a 5-marla house and 7 per cent for a 10marla one. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and all other banks have been asked to set aside 5 per cent of their portfolio for the construction industry. To ease it further, the one-window operation, under the Naya Pakistan Housing Authority, has been launched in all the four provinces. A National Coordination Committee on Housing Construction and Development has also been set up to attend to the various obstacles. APP

ceutical manufacturer Getz Pharma which tested 24,210 people in mostly urban workspaces.

Its study then extrapolated those findings to the urban, adult, working population of Pakistan and found active Covid-19 infections would likely reach 4.11 million, which is almost 15 times higher than the current tally. “The positivity rate

for those tested in the study was 17.5%, higher than government data that shows the rate dropping to below 5% from more than 20% in June.”

RISK OF SECOND WAVE: Hanke said that the festival of Eidul Azha will draw millions of people into crowded fairs and religious and family gatherings, risking a second wave of the deadly virus which has

so far claimed nearly 661,000 lives throughout the globe.

“Masks and social distancing will be abandoned and similar to the Chinese New Year in Wuhan, Eidul Azha could become a cataclysmic event for Pakistan and the region.”

Despite the low number of cases in the recent days, the government has advised caution to the public.

03

at least two protestors killed over sudden closure of Pak-afghan border NEWS DESK At least two people were killed, including a woman, while protesting against the abrupt closure of PakAfghan bordering area, Chaman. Authorities had temporarily opened the border till Eid ul Azha last week for transit trade and allowed movement of people in and out of the country. Hundreds of people gathered to protest against the officials, during which they entered into a quarantine centre set up for Covid-19 patients and set it on fire. 20 people suffered injuries and were rushed to the nearby hospital, officials reported.

fifth attack on karachi police in July leaves sub inspector dead KARACHI TLTP

A police sub-inspector (SI) was gunned down by unidentified assailants near Super Highway in Karachi on Thursday. The deceased sub-inspector, identified as Yar Muhammad, was deputed in Gulshan-e-Maymar police station. According to police, Yar Muhammad was killed by unidentified gunmen on a motorcycle when he was driving back to his home near Northern Bypass. It is the fifth attack on police within a month. Inspector General (IG) Sindh Police took notice of the martyrdom of a police officer and summoned a report from Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Malir. Earlier in the month, Karachi police had been alerted on July 4 with directives to the cops to avoid wearing uniforms after duty-hours amid the killing of a cop in a targeted attack in the city.The standard operating procedures (SOPs) had been conveyed to police personnel, directing the officials and personnel to avoid wearing uniform and shoes while on their way to the duty and returning to home.

04

Friday, 31 July, 2020

NEWS

ANNuAl BudgEt of ldA ANd SuBordiNAtE AgENCiES for fY21 APProvEd LAHORE

t

INP

HE governing body of Lahore Development Authority (LDA) on Thursday approved the annual budget of LDA and its subordinate agencies, Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) and Traffic Engineering & Transport Planning Agency (TEPA), for the fiscal year 2020-21.

Total resources of LDA (U.D Wing), WASA and TEPA have been estimated as Rs58.61 billion out of which Rs32.45 billion have been earmarked for development works.

LDA Vice-Chairman S M Imran chaired the meeting of the governing body which was attended by members of the provincial assembly, including Sadia Sohail Rana and Muhammad Atif. Other members of the governing body, including WASA Vice Chairman Sheikh Imtiaz Mahmood, Major (r) Syed Burhan Ali, Engineer Amir Qureshi, LDA Director General

Ahmad Aziz Tarar, WASA Managing Director Syed Zahid Aziz and representatives of P&D, housing, local government, finance department, as well as Lahore commissioner, also participated in the meeting.

Total resources of LDA (UD Wing) during the fiscal year 2020-21 have been estimated at Rs39.52 billion while development expenditure during this period will be Rs25.87 billion.

This development expenditure includes Rs17.52 billion through LDA's own sources and Rs8.34 billion to be provided by the Punjab government for executing various development projects under the Annual Development Programme (ADP) and deposit works.

An amount of Rs8.74 billion has been allocated through LDA's own sources for carrying out development works in LDA housing schemes. This includes Rs400 million for LDA Avenue-I, Rs35 million for construction of road network, water supply and sewerage in Finance & Trade Centre, Johar Town, Rs8.16 billion for

LDA City, and Rs90 million as lumpsum provision for development projects in different LDA housing schemes.

A total of Rs3.43 billion has been allocated for the construction of different buildings. This amount includes Rs2 billion for construction of apartments for government employees in LDA City, Rs1 billion for construction of apartments in districts of Sheikupura, Nankana Sahib and Kasur, Rs50 million for additional construction work at Park & Shop Plaza, Moon Market and Allama Iqbal Town, Rs100 million for construction of apartments in Finance and Trade Centre and another Rs100 million for construction of official residences for LDA employees.

Rs3 billion have been allocated for other development schemes, including Rs500 million for preparation of integrated strategic master plan of Lahore, Rs150 million for improving green cover in Lahore, Rs130.62 million for development and implementation of integrated computerised systems for LDA and Rs100 million

for construction of pedestrian bridges at different locations in Lahore city. A sum of Rs310 million has been reserved for completing on-going priority works. A sum of Rs1.67 billion has been reserved for the Area Development Programme.

A sum of Rs2.11 billion will be spent on completing on-going development schemes of LDA including Rs970 million for construction of an underpass at Firdous Market, Rs333 million for the establishment of Entertainment Park in Johar Town, Rs450 million for construction of Walk and Shop Arena Johar Town, Rs200 million for construction of missing links of Structure Plan Roads and Rs17 million for remodeling of all underpasses on Canal Road.

A sum of Rs8.34 billion will be spent on projects being executed under the ADP and deposit works of the Punjab government. This allocation includes Rs80 million for the reconstruction of Aik-Moreya Pul near railway station and Rs130 million for completing 11 sports complexes in different constituencies of Lahore.

Anti-Modi slogans at funeral Financial constraints hindering of Pakistani fisherman development in KP KARACHI INP

A large number of fishermen and relatives of Abdul Karim Bhatti, a fisherman who was martyred due to torture in an Indian jail, attended the funeral prayers of the deceased in Karachi on Thursday.

After the funeral, the fishermen staged a protest, chanting slogans against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Reportedly, Bhatti went to sea for fishing six months ago and was taken into custody by the India coast guards after he crossed the maritime boundary.

Bhatti was the father of three children and fishing was his only source of income.

He was the resident of Kemari, which is a seaside municipality known for its fish trade.

India declared Bhatti a “terrorist” after arresting him. His death was reported on social media on July 1. His dead body reached Karachi from Lahore after Indian authorities handed it over through Wagah Border on Wednesday.

It is pertinent to note that fishermen from India and Pakistan frequently trespass respective national territorial waters and most trespassing is common to fishermen operating along the coastline of India's Gujarat and Pakistan’s Sindh.

Most of the violations occur due to an absence of a physical boundary and lack of navigational tools for small fishermen.

KP prisoners get 60 days remission in term on Eid PESHAWAR TLTP

The inspector general of prisons of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has granted sixty days special remission in jail term to all prisoners confined in jails, except those involved in terrorism and anti-state activities, on the occasion of Eidul Azha.

According to a statement, the special remission will be subject to usual restrictions/ limitations under the provision of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Prisons Rules, 2018. The said remission will take effect from July 30. This was announced in an official communique addressed to all superintendent jails/lockups in the KP issued by the inspector general of prisons.

ICCI hails local admin’s decision of allowing business to operate before Eid ISLAMABAD APP

Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Muhammad Ahmed Waheed on Thursday hailed the positive approach of Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat and the local administration for allowing businesses to remain open before Eidul Azha.

He said that respecting the demands of the business community of the federal capital, the Islamabad administration did not impose any lockdown in the federal capital before Eidul Azha and allowed business activities to continue with standard operating procedures (SOPs), which was appreciable, said a press release.

"With the grace of Allah Almighty and great efforts of the Islamabad administration under the leadership of Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqat, the Covid-19 pandemic was significantly controlled and the number of cases was now on the downward slide. In these circumstances, closing down businesses before Eid was not in the interest of citizens of Islamabad and the economy," the press release noted.

He also thanked Islamabad Inspector General Muhammad Amir Zulfiqar Khan who led the local police towards coopera-

tion with the traders and maintaining social distancing in markets so that the spread of virus remains under control.

The ICCI president further said that the government had imposed a lockdown to control the coronavirus, which caused severe losses to businesses and further weakened our economy. However, keeping businesses open before Eid in Islamabad provided traders a feasible opportunity to recover some of them during these days, and it also facilitated the citizens to do the shopping for Eid, he added.

He also appealed to the citizens to fully comply with the SOPs laid down by the Islamabad administration during Eid days and not develop any rush in markets and business centres that would help in controlling the spread of Covid19 and create enabling conditions for businesses to flourish.

Waheed said that restaurants, wedding halls, and marquees in Islamabad remain closed due to which thousands of workers have lost earnings, and poverty and unemployment have increased. Therefore, he appealed to the government to allow these businesses to reopen after Eidul Azha with SOPs so that business activities are restored and unemployment is reduced.

PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

Work on several important developmental projects has come to a halt in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as the provincial government had failed to release funds for the Annual Development Programme (ADP).

Sources informed Pakistan Today that due to a reduction in the federal and provincial revenue because of Covid-19 outbreak in the country, the federal government could not release funds for developmental purposes.

It is pertinent to mention here that the funds were not provided to the provincial government last year either. Additionally, the federal government made a reduction of Rs40 billion in the net profit of electricity last year, while a Rs152 billion cut in the National Financial Commission (NFC)

Award has further added to the province's financial woes.

According to sources in the finance department, this year, the provincial government is not expecting Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) funds from the federal government because due to financial constraints, the federal government has cut KP's funding.

The provincial government has so far released Rs1.33 billion for the development programmes for the current financial year. Rs354 million have been released to remodel the Warsak Canal system, Rs350 million for Billion Tsunami Tree Project, Rs161.5 million for the planning and development department, Rs82.2 million for the finance department, Rs781.26 million for the construction of roads and Rs8 million for Tehsil Kalachi’s uplift programme.

No room for corrupt in Naya Pakistan: Buzdar LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Thursday said that government is working day and night to completely eradicate corruption from the society, as there is no room for corrupt elements in ‘Naya Pakistan’. In a statement, he asserted the incumbent government has promoted the norm of transparency in government affairs and expressed the satisfaction that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) zerotolerance policy towards corruption has yielded positive results. The government has taken several measures to eliminate corruption and promote a culture of merit and transparency, he added. The credit of decreasing corruption and promotion of the culture of transparency goes to the incumbent government, the CM claimed.

During the previous tenures, corruption and plunder ravaged the country and corrupt elements took personal benefits while the country went bankrupt. It is satisfying that transparent policies of the PTI-led government are also acknowledged at the international level, said Buzdar. The CM reiterated that the PTI has come into power with the agenda of accountability of the corrupt and elimination of corruption and vowed that this will be accomplished. Pakistan will achieve such destination of progress and prosperity under Prime Minister Imran Khan which was dreamed by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the CM added. TLTP

Concerted efforts made to provide relief to masses on Eid: Shah KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Information and Local Government, Forests, Wildlife and Religious Affairs, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, has said that under a joint strategy, all concerned agencies have made concerted efforts and taken solid steps to provide relief to people on the occasion of Eidul Azha. In a statement issued on Thursday, he said that all the local body and district administration officers would be present in the field to solve the problems and grievances of the people. He said that the leaves of officers and employees of all concerned local bodies have been cancelled. Shah said that providing relief to the people is the first priority of the Sindh government. He said that the concerned staff would be on constant patrol to ensure timely disposal of the remains of sacrificed animals and the district administration would play an important role in coordination among all the concerned agencies. INP

LWMC up, alert and well-prepared for Eid LAHORE PRESS RELEASE

On the directions of the Punjab government, the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) is all set for Eid Cleanliness Operation. The LWMC has been preparing and formulating plan regarding cleanliness operation on Eidul Azha. In this regard, the department has installed 293 union council camps from where the public can easily get environment friendly waste bags, can file waste related complaint and ensure its redressal.

The LWMC MD said that department is working tirelessly and with full zeal and zest to maintain cleanliness in the city.

LWMC is well-prepared for exe-

cuting cleanliness operation on Eid, he added.

He also said that the department has already executed its preEid cleanliness operation in which all major mosques, Ei-

dghahs were cleaned, union council camps were installed, and 1.7 million bio-degradable waste bags were distributed. In the ongoing pre-Eid cleanliness operation in the city, the department

has successfully lifted more than 14,000 tonnes of solid waste in 48 hours from every nook and corner of the city, he added.

The LWMC MD said, “We would like appeal to all Lahoris regarding proper usage of waste bags and proper disposal of animals offals.”

“We will ensure unprecedented cleanliness operation during all three days of Eid and I myself will be monitoring the operations in the field and from control room,” he added.

It was clearly directed to all staff that negligence of any sort is intolerable and method of carrot and sticks will be observed.

The spokesperson of LWMC said that citizens can always dial LWMC helpline 1139 or can use mobile-based application ‘Clean Lahore’ for redressal of their waste-related complaints.

KP government imposes ban on use of polythene bags PESHAWAR APP

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Thursday directed a complete ban on the use of polythene bags across the province and ordered strict implementation of the decision by all district administrations.

He expressed these views while addressing a meeting of the provincial cabinet at Civil Secretariat Peshawar.

He directed concrete steps to control food prices and curb stockpiling in the province. He called upon the concerned agencies to be active round the clock for cleanliness, especially during Eidul Azha to avoid the possible spread of coronavirus.

“We have been quite successful in curbing

the widespread spread of the coronavirus pandemic through effective measures and public support, but we cannot afford to be negligent in this regard,” he said. Provincial ministers, provincial advisors, special assistants, chief secretary and administrative secretaries attended the meeting. The meeting included six agenda items and 12 additional agenda items for thorough debate.

The chief minister specifically directed the elected public representatives to celebrate Eid with simplicity. “We all have a role to play in addressing the potential dangers of coronavirus spread,” he said.

CM Khan directed to re-open the revenue court to focus on public welfare activities largely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, especially to address the issues facing the peo-

ple related to financial matters and ensuring strict implementation on the government issued standard operating procedures (SOPs).

“On the one hand, we have to stop the spread of the pandemic while on the other hand, we have to ensure that the problems facing the people were addressed,” the chief minister said. He also directed to ensure the release of the announced grant-in-aid for the press clubs of the merged tribal districts as soon as possible.

He directed the members of the provincial cabinet to ensure their participation in the session of the provincial assembly. He said that at least one additional secretary-level officer from all the provincial departments should be present in the assembly session along with the required information.

Friday, 31 July, 2020

NEWS

PM’s sPecial assistants cannot be disqualified over dual nationalities, iHc rules ISLAMABAD

t

staff report

he Islamabad high Court (IhC) on Thursday set aside a petition seeking removal of all of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aides with dual nationalities.

In the case pertaining to dual citizenship of the special assistants to the prime minister, the IhC remarked in a written judgement that the premier was accountable to the people and could not run the state affairs alone. “The Federal Government has made the Rules of 1973 and has described the ‘Organization of Divisions’ in rule 4 ibid. Sub rule 6 of rule 4 enables the Prime Minister to appoint Special Assistant or Special Assistants and to determine their status and functions,” IhC Chief Justice Athar Minallah wrote.

“The Rules of 1973, particularly rule 4(6) are not in conflict with the provisions of the Constitution. Special

Assistants are not members of the Federal Cabinet. Moreover, they are distinct from Advisors appointed by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister under Article 93(1) of the Constitution.

“The Prime Minister is the chief executive of one of the most important organs of the State and has to perform multiple/complex functions. A person elected as Prime Minister is answerable to the people of Pakistan and the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).

The onerous role of the Prime Minister described under the Constitution cannot be performed by the latter alone,” he added.

The IhC judge went on to say that neither the special assistants to the prime minister nor their patriotism could be doubted based on the fact that they held dual citizenship, the court ruled, and, thus, could not be disqualified either. Their appointments were the premier’s prerogative, it said, adding further that there

was no restriction on the number of SAPMs the PM could appoint.

“In order to enable the Prime Minister to transact business of the executive organ of the State, the latter ought to have the freedom to appoint officials or other persons for assistance. Rule 4(6) is one of such modes whereby the Prime Minister has been empowered to appoint Special Assistants. There is no restriction regarding the number of Special Assistants that can be appointed by the Prime Minister,” he added.

“There is also no restriction of appointing persons having dual nationality. The only restriction provided in the Constitution is under Article 63(1)(c) and it is confined to disqualification of a person from ‘being elected or chosen as, and from being, a member of the Majlis-eShoora (Parliament)’.

“This disqualification is also attracted in case of the membership of the Provincial Assembly. There are

some statutes, which prescribe renunciation of nationality of another State as an eligibility condition for employment. There is no such restriction for appointment of a Special Assistant under rule 4(6) of the Rules of 1973.

The IhC also emphasised that doubts could not be cast on any person holding dual nationalities.

“It is not fair to raise doubts or to be skeptical regarding appointment of a dual national as a Special Assistant by the Prime Minister. The importance and contributions made by dual nationals cannot be denied.

The patriotism of Pakistani citizens holding dual nationality cannot be doubted. The august Supreme Court has acknowledged the contributions of Overseas Pakistanis in numerous judgments […]. “Patriotism of a person who is a citizen of Pakistan cannot be doubted nor suspected unless the State can demonstrably and without a shadow of doubt establish otherwise.

Justice Isa’s wife accuses FBR officials of losing their credibility ISLAMABAD GHULaM aBBas

Sarina Isa, the wife of Supreme Court (SC) Judge, Justice Qazi Faez Isa, has accused the officers of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) of losing their credibility and ability to act independently.

“Clearly they are acting on instructions,” she alleged in a one-page statement issued to the press, highlighting how she personally delivered again her letter of July 21 to FBR Commissioner Zulfiqar Ahmed in reply to his “rejoinder.”

On July 21, Sarina had written a letter to the SC Registrar’s Office, wherein she stated that the FBR commissioner was proceeding in her matter with "indecent haste", despite the fact that she delivered her second reply over his rejoinder on July 21.

In the July 21 letter, she had reproduced the 12 queries she had earlier raised in her first letter on July 9. “I am still waiting for the answers,” she said in the statement, adding that he had also requested copies of her tax declarations, which she does not have as Rehan Hassan Naqvi, the person who had filed her tax declarations, had passed away.

She said that the FBR was not pro-

viding copies of her own returns, which was troubling because the tax department is referring to them and to returns which they say she filed when she had stopped working and had no taxable income. She said that this was alarming and suggests alterations.

She stated that she had also informed FBR about filing a review petition before the apex court on July 20, wherein she made serious allegations against certain officers of the FBR and members of the incumbent government, including Law Minister Dr Farogh Nasim, Commissioner (IR) Zulfikar Ahmad, Dr Mohammad Ashfaq Ahmed, Manzoor Ahmed Kayani.

These allegations comprise 18 paragraphs in the statement she submitted to the FBR on July 9, she said, adding that these paragraphs were supported with FBR’s and government’s own documents, but there has been no response.

The SC judge’s wife went on to say that she had also pointed out the obvious disparity in language between the earlier notice and the FBR’s rejoinder, both under the commissioner’s signature, which she feared were not written by the same person. “Again, no explanation is offered,” the statement said.

US urges action against killing of citizen in Pakistani courtroom NEWS DESK The United States urged Pakistan on Thursday to act over the killing of an American national in a crowded courtroom in Peshawar as he faced trial for blasphemy. 57-year-old Tahir Ahmad Naseem was shot multiple times at close range on Wednesday when he was seated in the court of an additional sessions judge after arguments in his case, awaiting to be shifted to prison.

“We extend our condolences to the family of Tahir Naseem, the American citizen who was killed today inside a courtroom in Pakistan,” the US State Department said in a tweet. “We urge Pakistan to take immediate action and pursue reforms that will prevent such a shameful tragedy from happening again.”

Witnesses and officials reported a young man pulling out a handgun and shooting Naseem in the head just as has arraignment before the judge began.

The shooter, a 19-year-old male, was arrested on the spot and the pistol used in the offence was seized.

The incident was followed with a social media outrage when a video of the deceased lying on a court bench with a pool of blood underneath went viral. The video also showed the suspected shooter police custody, claiming that the deceased was a blasphemer.

Police were interrogating the sus-

CMYK

pect to determine how he carried a pistol into the highly guarded Peshawar Judicial Complex and whether anyone had motivated him into committing the murder. A first information report (FIR) was registered against him at the East Cantt Police Station under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Section 15 of the Arms Act. The deceased had lately filed an application in the court, requesting to be allowed to recite Kalima Tayyaba in the court to show that he was a Muslim and did not belong to the Ahmadi community. After hearing the arguments from the prosecution and defence, Judge Syed Shaukatullah Shah had adjourned the hearing until October 12.

Reportedly, the deceased had been residing in the US with his family and visited Pakistan two years ago after he got in touch with some people on social media who asked him to return to his country to spread his faith. The case against Naseem was registered at the Sarband Police Station on April 25, 2018, under Sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class), 295-B (defiling Holy Quran), 295-C (derogatory remarks in respect of Holy Prophet (PBUH)) and 298 (uttering words to wound religious feelings) of the PPC.

05

When there is a bill there is a way coNtINuED oN pAgE 01 Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani chaired the session of the Upper house during which Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan presented the United Nations (Security Council) Bill 2020 and the Anti Terrorism (Amendment) Bill 2020. Both bills were passed with a majority vote as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam– Fazl (JUI-F) voiced its opposition, claiming that the point of view of its lawmakers was not heard.

“Are we enemies of the nation?” asked Maulana Attaur Rehman. Calling out the PPP and the PMLN, he said that both parties have never sided with the opposition and have supported the government. Speaking on the floor of the house, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said: “Today the Senate has proven that it is a mature forum and can work for national interest by keeping aside political differences.” he maintained that by passing the two bills, the Senate had “defeated India’s ambitions” of having Pakistan blacklisted by the FATF. “We are trying to remove Pakistan from the grey list and today you have played a part in these efforts.

“We may have many differences, but we are all one when it comes to national issues.”

Governments are temporary, he said, adding that everybody has been on both sides.

“Today the political parties of Pakistan have demonstrated maturity and this is what a statesman has to demonstrate. “I wish the JUI-F would have reviewed its position. By opposing this bill, they have given the impression that we are divided,” he said, urging the lawmakers to review their objections as the bills had to be sent to the National Assembly once again. The bills were then sent to the Lower house where they were passed with the amendments made by the Senate. Awan once again presented the bills which were passed by a majority vote. The JUI-F lawmakers voiced their opposition in NA as well. The session was adjourned till August 7.

‘SEPARATE BILLS’: Speaking at a press conference earlier in the day, former prime minister and senior Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the opposition had proposed changes to the UNSC bill which the government accepted. “We questioned the definition of ‘person’ in the anti-terrorism bill and that was also accepted.

These two bills were decided in about 20 to 25 minutes.” He added that there was a third bill concerning economic terrorism that was “more horrific than Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir”.

“We questioned the need for it and it was dropped,” he said. He said that the opposition had made it clear that the FATF and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) bills were separate, adding that it was the government that wanted to have four bills passed simultaneously. The government on Wednesday had managed to get the two FATF-related bills passed by the National Assembly amidst a noisy protest by the opposition. The bills were passed amid sloganeering from the opposition benches, mainly in protest against Foreign Minister Qureshi’s speech in the assembly on Tuesday in which he had explained the deadlock between the government and the opposition over a number of legislations. The noisy protest led the NA speaker to suspend proceedings on three occasions: twice when Qureshi refused to speak amid the opposition’s slogans and once soon after the passage of the bills.

sbP reserves fall $146m to $11.97bn KARAcHI MeIrYUM aLI

The net foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) decreased by $146 million to $11.97 billion during the week ending July 24, 2020, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday. This decrease represents the first time reserves have dipped in the month of July. Net reserves had steadily risen since the week of July 2, after hitting below the $10 billion mark during the week ending July 19. That represented the first time reserves had fallen below the $10 billion-mark since in November 2019. Net reserves have steadily risen since, reaching $12.2 billion in early May, before falling again, mostly on account of external debt repayments. As on those other occasions, the SBP said that decrease in the week ending July 24 was due to government’s external debt repayments. Net foreign reserves held by commercial banks stood at $6.93 billion. The total liquid foreign reserves held by the country stood at $18.9 billion. The SBP has received significant inflows in the two months. It received a cumulative total of $1.24 billion from the World Bank, $503 million from Asian Development Bank, $500 million from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and $1.3 billion as GOP loan disbursement from China.

These funds are critical for the SBP, as they act as an important buffer. Analysts have said that the decision to cut the interest rate by 100 basis points to 7pc in the last monetary policy meeting took into account the incoming inflows, among other factors. The country has also seen a surge in remittances.

Friday, 31 July, 2020

06 COMMENT

Marking the Abrahamic Sacrifice

SAPMs depart Dual nationality hardly the reason

s

aPms Tania aidrus (e-governance) and Dr Zafar mirza (health services) have resigned not because they had really delivered and their respective jobs were done, though ms aidrus said that she was resigning because she could not withstand the pressure put on her after her possession of dual nationality became known. The real black mark against her is said to be her association with sugar baron Jehangir Tareen, who was with her on the board of an NGO registered just before she was appointed. although Dr mirza said in his resignation letter that the recent severe criticism on the role of saPms made him resign, it was actually due to the fact that he had to take the heat for the rise in the price of medicines. it does not reflect well on the PTi to bring in nonelected persons with supposedly high qualifications only to discard them when it turns out that they have not delivered. if that rule was also to apply to elected officials, how much longer would Ghulam sarwar Khan survive as aviation minister after he brought Pia to the brink of collapse, or Usman Buzdar as Punjab Chief minister after his incompetence threatens to sink the party? They are spared because their own votes matter in the respective assemblies, so narrow are the majorities on which the PTi is operating, let alone the votes of any group they had or might have built up. There is an element of whimsy in the case of ms aidrus, who was inducted only in December, and has already been shown the door, even though much was made of her and her experience with Google. Dr mirza was actually brought in to replace an elected official. at this rate, Prime minister imran Khan may find he will start having difficulty finding people.

The dual-nationality excuse should not have been made, for it leaves open the question of what happens to the remaining saPms with foreign nationality or residency.

The Cabinet continues to be attended by persons who have a nationality or residency apart from in Pakistan, and the issue is not resolved by just these two resignations. it is ironic that the resigning pair only recently addressed a triumphant press conference about their great victory over covid-19. mr Khan should consider carefully whether he wants to leave the health portfolio vacant at a time when the country faces a second wave of infection due to Eidul azha.

at Penpoint M a NiaZi

P

arT of the muslim world is marking Eidul azha today, while Pakistan will mark it on saturday. The unity which saw the whole muslim world celebrate Eidul Fitr together has disappeared, as moon sightings and thus calendars have diverged once again. Like Eidul Fitr, Eidul azha is taking place for the first time in the shadow of the coronavirus epidemic, and has been scaled back. Governments all over the muslim world are wondering whether the Eid will prove to be the kind of superspreader event that public health authorities fear. in Pakistan, Eidul Fitr was such and event, according to the government’s own admission, and it has decided to impose what it is pleased to call a ‘smart lockdown’ on the country’s largest province. however, the event which the Eid celebrates, the hajj, has taken place. True, it has been greatly scaled back, and is not the vast concourse of the pre-pandemic era. The saudi government, which takes its duties as administrator of the hajj very seriously, to the extent that the saudi King’s official title, once King of the Kingdom of saudi arabia, is now (and has been for nearly half a century) servant of The Two Exalted harams. This was a revival of the subsidiary title of the Osmanli Caliph, which the Osmanlis had taken on when they had taken Egypt. The abbasi Caliph had let the sultan of Egypt hold this title, for the sultan had long had the control of the harmain.

The saudi government had previously allowed one percent of the population of the muslims of a country to come for the hajj. That meant a gathering of about two million at the central rite of the hajj. The hajj for most is a once-in-a-lifetime visit, so a number of nonobligatory rites are associated with it. For example, only two Umrahs are part of the hajj, and the throwing of stones at the devil, but many perform a number of extra Umras. The only really compulsory rite is the Waqoof-i-arafat, the gathering of the pilgrims in the Plain of arafat, where they hear a sermon, and pray.

They are actually free to pray for anything, but most commonly, pilgrims pray for forgiveness of their sins.

The hajj itself is a commemoration of hazrat ibrahim more than anything else. The gathering at arafat commemorates his readiness to sacrifice his son ismail. The stoning of the devil occurred on that occasion. The umrah is also about ibrahim, for it involves the circumambulation of the structure he built,

Politicking over anti-terror financing laws PTI’s tunnel vision

F

iNaLLY the amendments required in two laws by the Financial action Task Force (FaTF) have been passed by both the National assembly and senate.

While the clearance of the bills would hopefully help Pakistan, the way the bills were passed has added to the antipathy prevailing between the government and the opposition.

The Government continued to delay the required legislation till the eleventh hour. The purpose was to give as little time as possible to the opposition to expose any flaws in the bills. Finally the government brought three bills but had to withdraw one after the opposition pointed out that it was in contradiction to the Criminal Procedure Code and basic human rights. The government then reportedly agreed to some of the amendments suggested by the opposition in the United Nations security Council (amendment) Bill, 2020, and the anti-Terrorism (amendment) Bill, 2020. The opposition also wanted the government to support the amendments proposed by it in the NaB Ordinance. The next day, Foreign minister shah mehmood Qureshi accused the opposition of seeking a “package deal”, maintaining that the government told it to delink the anti-terror legislation from the NaB Ordinance in the larger national interest. Without allowing the opposition to respond, the house was adjourned.

This led to noisy protests by the opposition on Wednesday when the National assembly finally passed the two bills without the amendments agreed with the opposition. addressing the house earlier, the PmL(N)’s Khawaja asif rejected the claim that the NaB law was used as leverage to help pass the FaTF related laws.

Better sense prevailed in the opposition-dominated senate where the bill was first taken up by the standing Committee on Law and Justice. The Committee was told that the amendments made in the bills were part of the terms of the FaTF. a copy of the FaTF demands was presented to the committee members. senator Farooq Naek suggested an important amendment, which was accepted by the PmL(N) and PPP members of the Committee. The senate subsequently passed both the bills with the proposed amendment. The way the issue was resolved shows that even when the government is forced by circumstances to seek the opposition’s support in a matter of national interest, it tries its best to use the occasion to discredit the opposition.

Another Dark Day in Kashmir history MuhaMMad Zahid Rifat

K

ashmiris living on both sides of the Line of Control and all over the world along with all freedom loving people and human rights organizations have all long been observing every year October 27 as the darkest day in their history besides other occasions of protest. On this day, way back in 1947, india had sent its armed forces to Jammu and Kashmir and occupied it forciblyin total violation of the indian independence act and Partition and against the aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

From now onwards, Kashmiris will also be observing august 5 as yet another dark day in their history. it was on 5 august 2019 that the indian Government in an unexpected and conceited move revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir granted under article 370 of the indian Constitution.

That article granted special status or limited autonomy to Jammu and Kashmir. after revoking article 370 through the indian Parliament, indian Prime minister Narendra modi also imposed curfew in all over the indian-occupied territory. The complete lockdown still persists in the occupied territory though it has been widely condemned and criticized internationally. But the indian Government and its Prime minister quite shamefully continue with it.

The reaction to this revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir was also effectively reduced to complete silence because all means of communication were cut off to this day though the international community has been demanding these restrictions be lifted. The indian Government is also not providing access to foreign media to its occupied territory.

Despite all these hostile measures and dispatching addition army personnel, the indian Government has not been able to curb Kashmiri men, women, youth confined to their homes and they are continuing their protests, unarmed though, against heavily armed indian security forces , demanding their birthright of selfdetermination and voicing their aspiration to join Pakistan after getting freedom from indian occupation. according to the 3 June 1947 Partition Plan, the indian British Colony was to be divided into two sovereign states. accordingly, the hindu-majority areas were to constitute india while the muslim-majority

Arif Nizami Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

atrocities of the occupied security forces and warning about the repercussions as the Kashmir issue is a flashpoint between two neighbouring nuclear powers and the peace of the region as well as the world at large continues to be at stake.

Through their persistent and determined efforts areas of Western provinces and East Bengal were to and support of the people of Pakistan, the Kashmir be included in Pakistan. issue has been internationalized to a great extent, The indian Government had airlifted its forces in been debated in the UN General assembly and sethe Valley on the pretext of an instrument of acces- curity Council twice during last two years after the sion supposedly signed by the then ruler of Jammu lapse of55 years. and Kashmir, maharaja hari singh, in New Delhi, regrettably, the UN security Council has been where it was drafted also. unable to implement its 1948 resolutions under which it is also a bitter historical fact that the so-called the people of Jammu and Kashmir are to exercise Boundary Commission, headed by British Barrister their right of self-determination and decide whether Cyril radcliffe, which demarcated the Partition Plan, they want to join Pakistan or india. had played the main role in in the creation of the Though more and more international leaders and Kashmir dispute. had the Boundary Commission decountries are voicing supmarcated the Partition port for struggling Kashline on the established miris, they are refraining principles of justice, from exerting any diploindia would not have got matic or other pressure on The Kashmiris are bound to get the land route to enter the indian Government freedom from Indian occupation Jammu and Kashmir. But for implementing the the Commission under a pending UN sesoon with continued full support of longest conspiracy split Gurcurity Council resolutions daspur, a muslim-majorin view of their economic the civil and military leadership ity area, and handed it and other interests. india over to india, thus proand people of Pakistan and with continues with its brutalviding it terrestrial acities, oppression and supthe awakening of the international pression cess, otherwise this area of the Kashmiri had to be part of Pakfreedom struggle. conscience and their istan.

Kashmiris are sufferThe role the last ing and fighting for the condemnation of the Indian British Viceroy, Lord completion of the PakGovernment for flagrant violations istan movement, and the mountbatten, played by reportedly tampering international community of the human rights with the radcliffe should take concrete award, also left much to steps for lifting the curcondemn. few and ending illegal inin pursuance of the dian occupation of revocation of the special status of Jammu and Kash- Jammu and Kashmir. india can kill the Kashmiris. but mir and putting the occupied territory under the not their sentiments and determination. Through their longest curfew in human history, the india Govern- continued sacrifices the Kashmiris are undoubtedly ment was also resorting to other tactics obviously writting new chapters of history. a peaceful resoluaimed to change the demographic composition, not tion is key to the peace, prosperity and stability of only turning the muslim majority into a minority, but south asia. also eliminating them from the Valley at the earliest.

The Kashmiris are bound to get freedom from inThe indian Government in its latest move in this dian occupation soon with continued full support of regard has illegally and unconstitutionally, as well as the civil and military leadership and people of Pakistan immorally, granted domicile certificates reportedly to and with the awakening of the international conscience about 30,000 hindus, thus paving the way for their and their condemnation of the indian Government for moving to the occupied territory. flagrant violations of the human rights.

The Pakistan Government and Prime minister imran Khan have persistently been drawing the attenMuhammad Zahid Rifat can be reached at tion of the world at large towards the brutalities and zahidriffat@gmail.com

August 5 will be remembered along with the other dark days

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

scended through the line of isaac. The next Prophet to be raised was muhammad (PBUh), the first of the line of ismail, and destined to be the last. another and the saee, the walking between safa and marwah, major difference is that isa was given the task of commemorates the frantic running between the two preaching (yet again) to the Jews, but muhammad of ibrahims wife hajira as she sought water for her (PBUh) was sent to all mankind.

By ensuring that the hajj was observed, the saudi infant son ismail.

Where does the holy Prophet muhammad (Peace government thus ensured that the abrahamic sacrifice Be Upon him) figure in all of this? First, he is a de- was commemorated by the only event in three reliscendant of that same ismail, and the most famous gions that marks it, for even though a central event scion of the Quraish, which supervised the hajj then. in both Judaism and Christianity, neither of them acsecond, every hajji tries to follow his example in per- knowledge it in any form apart from the telling of the forming the hajj, for though the hajj was continually story in the Bible, where the son is supposed to be performed from the time of ibraheem, by the time of ishmael, through whom the Prophethood is supposed the Prophet (PBUh), innovations and incorrect prac- to descend. Christianity sees the sacrifice as prefigtices had crept in, and the way he performed the hajj uring that of the Christ. it is not as if the hajj has not been suspended becleansed it of all the accretions, restoring it to its origfore. The Qaramatian raid inal pristine state. also of in 930, in which the hijra significance is that he deaswad was stolen, about livered the Last sermon 30,000 pilgrims killed and on this occasion.

The Hajj is not cancelled, just more the Zamzam well deseit is interesting that crated with their bodies, of the two holidays prestringent travel restrictions put in led to the suspension of the scribed for the muslims, hajj that year. The absence one has been devoted to place. In a world of nation-states, of the hijra aswad did not ibrahim. Eidul Fitr can be where the Hajj is conducted by one, stop the hajj in succeeding considered the celebrayears, though it was not retion of the holy Quran, it is perhaps inevitable that a turned for 20 years. which was the crowning it was suspended by achievement of the holy government would order the Hajj, the Osmanlis in 1836 and Prophet (PBUh). how1847 because of cholera ever, Eidul azha being would also restrict it. epidemics. There were 30 classed with it shows that outbreaks of cholera the event it marks is cenamong hajis between 1830 tral to islam as well. it also goes to show that islam is very much in the abrah- and 1930, and in 1865, an international conference in mic tradition, and brings forth the message that it is not Constantinople was held which decided to set up quarantine camps for arriving pilgrims to prevent an outthe prophet that matters so much, but the almighty.

The plain of arafat is the place where adam and break during the hajj. it may be noted that cholera has Eve appeared on Earth after they had sinned, and not entirely disappeared from the arabian Peninsula, where they were forgiven. This establishes that there and resurfaced in Yemen during the civil war there.

The hajj is not cancelled, just more stringent travel is no Original sin. That is important for Christianity, for it is only with the son of God, Jesus Christ, dying restrictions put in place. in a world of nation-states, where the hajj is conducted by one, it is perhaps infor the sins of mankind, Despite all of this, there is still a great mystery. evitable that a government would order the hajj, would The other two abrahamic religions hold that the son also restrict it. But history shows that whoever conabraham was to sacrifice was isaac, the son of sarah, trolled hajj, whether it was the Qureshi of Jahilliya the child borne in her old age. This is of great signif- mecca, or the caliph, the organizer has made the rules icance for Christianity, for it is supposed to have pre- of entry. There were restrictions before on african figured the sacrifice Christ made at Calvary. Chirst, countries during the Ebola virus outbreak and the eldaccording to the Bible, was a descendant not just of erly and ill were discouraged during the Ebola outbreak. The saudis have thus come through their first abraham, but also of David. according to islam, he was not the son of God, major test since they became the organisers of the hajj. but a prophet. it is not stressed, but he was the last of The writer is a member of staff. the line of prophets that started with ibrahim, and de-

An Eid of a different kind for a constricted Hajj

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

I

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

I

Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

I

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Friday, 31 July, 2020

COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

Sacrifice your ego this Eid EiD UL aDha is famous for sacrificing animals to follow the sunnah of ibrahim a.s. it is recounted in Quran that allah appeared to Prophet ibrahim in a dream and commanded him to sacrifice his most dear possession as an act of obedience and submission. When ibrahim tried to sacrifice his animal allah saW said: sacrifice the thing you love most. ibrahim said i love my son ismail more than anything else. Then allah saW commanded him to sacrifice his son ismail. When he let the ismail know about whole story he agreed to be sacrificed. so when ibrahim took his sword and was about to sacrifice his son, allah saW accepted his efforts and suddenly replaced the ismail with sheep. thereafter it was made obligatory for all muslims to do sacrifice on eid ul adha every year to honour the ibrahim’s spirit of sacrifice . This eid, however not only taught us to sacrifice but it is about giving up something you hold dear in devotion to allah saW. as our hearts haven been filled out with hatred, greed and selfishness.. Therefore, we should learn from the incident and sacrifice our ego.

Sanaullah Kalwar KaShmorE

Utilitarian approach

India’s pipe dream of freeing Tibet India’s rivalry with China is taking it too far

SultaN M hali

I

NDia was badly mauled in 1962, after it tried adventurism against China by supporting Tibetan dissidents and granting political asylum to the 14th Dalai Lama, who fled Lhasa after a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese sovereign rule. Despite the fact that the indian Prime minister Nehru had been chanting the slogan Hindi-Chini bhaibhai (indians and Chinese are brothers), he was fomenting trouble in Tibet. india initiated an offensive Forward Policy from 1960 to hinder Chinese military patrols and logistics, in which it started sending troops and border patrols into disputed areas and placed outposts along the border, including several north of the mcmahon Line, the eastern portion of the Line of actual Control (LaC). Finally, when indian incursions into Chinese territory increased, Beijing decided to react and the People’s Liberation army gave a sound thrashing to india.

Unfortunately, New Delhi never learnt any lessons but has been intruding in various areas controlled by China and has been trying to gain footholds by building roads, airstrips and bridges for the rapid mobilization of its troops.

On 5 august 2019, New Delhi took the extreme step of annexing indian-Occupied Kashmir and Ladakh into indian Union Territory. To add insult to injury, New Delhi started constructing another illegal road in the Galwan Valley. Once again Chinese troops retaliated and beat back the intruding indian troops, causing over a score of casualties.

With its ego badly bruised, New Delhi is again contemplating mischief. This time it is dreaming of inciting Tibetans to demand freedom. Dr subhash Kapila, a former Brigadier and indian analyst, author of China-India Military Confrontation: 21st Century Perspectives has written an article titled ‘Tibet Freedom Needs To Be Pivotal Thrust Of indian Foreign Policy’.

The Op-Ed has appeared in the south asia analysis Group (saaG), a think tank ostensibly operated by the indian spy agency raW. Kapila recommends outright support of a

“Free Tibet” as a vast “Demilitarized Zone of Peace”. he proposes that “Free Tibet” should be an internationally guaranteed Buffer state keeping China and its expansionist impulses far away from heartland asia. he also malevolently surmises that “Free Tibet” as a ‘Demilitarized Zone of Peace” would in the process contribute to overall security and stability of the “indo-Pacific landmass and maritime expanse.” he conjectures that China’s expansionist impulses would stand curtailed and so also would China’s intrusive destabilizing strategies in south asia.

Kapila should be asked what is the connection between Tibet and the indo-Pacific landmass?

This is a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black. Dr Kapila has the temerity to point towards “China’s expansionist impulses”. if he had only examined india’s bleak history of hegemony. On 27 October 1947, india illegally occupied Kashmir. in september 1948, indian troops invaded the Princely state of hyderabad, which had invoked its right to be independent in accordance with the independence act of 1947.

Junagadh met the same fate after its ruler announced the accession of his state to Pakistan on 15 august 1947. manavadar did not fare better.

On 14 september 1947 the Khan sahib, Ghulam moinuddin Khanji, unilaterally acceded the state of manavadar to Pakistan. On 22 October 1947 indian forces arrested the ruler and annexed manavadar. in December 1961, indian armed forces annexed the former Portuguese indian territories of Goa, Daman and Diu. On 16 may 1975, the independent hindu Kingdom of sikkim ceased to exist and became a part of india despite protests by its citizens. in 1971, india conspired to create unrest and separatism in East Pakistan, later invading it and declaring the former Pakistani territory as Bangladesh. in 1984, indian troops furtively occupied the disputed territory of siachen Glacier.

New Delhi has been browbeating all its smaller neighbours, Nepal, Bhutan, maldives, Bangladesh, myanmar. Only Pakistan has refused to be cowed down. Now that China has reacted to indian illegal action in Ladakh, Dr Kapila is advocating “freedom for Tibet.”

The rationale he provides is at best laughable. he professes: firstly, the growing impatience of Tibet’s young generation with Chinese #of Tibet and with the Dalai Lama’s counselling patience in fighting for Tibet’s independence and settling for self-autonomy. secondly, were the 14th Dalai Lama, who is a senior citizen now, to die, Beijing would “impose” its political choice of the Dalai Lama as opposed to the centuriesold Tibetan convention of a ‘spiritual reincarnation’ of the next Dalai Lama. assuming these conjectures to be true, Kapila asks what are the indian foreign policy establishment and its higher national security organs contingency plans to deal with the turbulence in Tibet that would follow in the wake of the above occurrences. he strongly advocates india, as the Nation most impacted by Tibet’s turbulence, to mobilize its foreign policy organs to commence sensitizing global public opinion on the continued dangers of China militarily embedding itself and transforming “China-Occupied Tibet” into a vast military garrison expanse in the heart of asia, bristling with nuclear weapons and missiles en-

dangering contiguous areas of Greater south West asia, south asia and south East asia.

The misinformed pundit recommends that the indian foreign policy establishment should publicize and mobilize global public opinion against China for its “religious Genocide and Ethnic Genocide” of the peaceful and spiritually inclined Buddhist millions of China-Occupied Tibet.

The ‘tipping point’, according to Dr. Kabila, was reached in mid-2020 where China’s expansionist mood does not rest with “China-Occupied Tibet” but now transcends into nibbling attempts of indian Territory in Ladakh, sikkim and arunachal Pradesh. it also now embraces Bhutan Territory just because Bhutan tilts more towards india. Kapila lives in La La Land; Bhutan, Nepal, sri Lanka and Bangladesh have spurned india. he assumes that China’s expansionist thrusts against india are impelled by twin objectives of China’s Grand strategy primarily in 2020 as witnessed in recent military clashes in Eastern Ladakh, by military occupation of the indian territorial wedge in Eastern Ladakh that separates China-Occupied aksai Chin from Pakistan-ceded to China of Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. This indian Wedge which revolves around india’s hold on the Karakoram Pass and holding the siachen Glacial heights prevents the ultimate consummation of the China-Pakistan axis as one complete military contiguous whole on india’s crowning head.

Continuing his train of machinated thoughts, the “erudite scholar” deduces that the second Chinese objective is to dent india’s global image as an Emerged Power and its salience in global strategic calculus at the expense of China which in 2020 stands severely impacted by China (herein parroting Donald Trump’s malicious accusations) inflicting on the global community the unprecedented “China Wuhan Virus19 Pandemic.” according to him, this accounts for Chinese brinkmanship in other sectors of sikkim and arunachal Pradesh. if only Dr Kabila had taken stock of indian economy’s ignoble downfall due to bad governance, its poor handling of the covid-19 pandemic and New Delhi’s draconian laws of citizenship, which have drawn the ire of the entire world including its friends, in Kabul, riyadh, Washington DC, moscow, Dhaka and Tel aviv.

Brazenly, Kapila claims that the onus lies directly on india’s first Pm Jawaharlal Nehru. in one stroke of political timidity, Nehru facilitated Communist China’s expansionist borders to shift from thousands of miles away and rest on india’s himalayan watershed.

The ill-informed raW operative endorses the view that india needs to draw up a detailed long-range visionary blueprint towards this ultimate end aim of a Free Tibet, an over-riding strategic imperative for india’s national security.

Unfortunately, he remains oblivious to the fact that 21 indian states are on the brink of breaking off and declaring independence. in its foolhardy scheme to “free Tibet’’, there is a strong likelihood of 22 new states emerging in the south asian subcontinent after the breakup of india.

Sultan M Hali is a retired Group Captain and author of the book Defence & Diplomacy.

Currently he is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host.

aLmOsT a century old philosophical theory still possesses an impact in 21st century. We all have heard about the phrase “For greater Good” this statement shows the utilitarian approach but the question here is why i am bringing this up now? and the answer is that we all had our pause in the pandemic and as we are recovering back, we might think of fresh start. almost every country got affected by the corona and they used this opportunity to detect faults in their system, whether its political, technical, economical or transportational. They all had it and no matter how hard the decisions were, they took it and outshone like a diamond in the rough. so far the condition, we had here because of corona, was never letting anyone step out and lead but as we are recovering back with only 32000 active cases.

The government should look for new strategies to develop the economics and entrepreneurial awareness, at any cost. Thats what utilitarianism is about, getting your hand dirty now for a better future. a leap of faith should be taken for all department which are struggling now and eliminate those factors which posses a negative impact. it may sound fantasied but a hard decisions now, will save us from future regression of it. mian aizaz ahmEd miroKhan

National resources inventory ThE National resources inventory (Nri) program collects and produces scientifically credible information on the status, condition, and trends of land, soil, water, and related resources on the Nation’s non-federal lands in support of efforts to protect, restore, and enhance the lands and waters of the United states. it was initially mandated by the rural Development act of 1972 (P.L. 92-419) to conduct a “land inventory reflecting soil, water, and related resource conditions.” it requires assessments of resource quantity and quality, as well as change and trends, allowing for regular resource appraisals on the effectiveness of soil and water conservation practices, irrigation techniques, and farming technologies, techniques, and practices. The Nri is conducted by the U.s. Department of agriculture’s Natural resources Conservation service (NrCs), in cooperation with iowa state University’s Center for survey statistics and methodology. The Nri sample is a stratified area sample of 49 states (excludes alaska), Puerto rico, and the Virgin islands. its primary sampling units (PsUs) are areas of land called “segments”, within which detailed data on soil properties and land use are collected at a random sample of points. The resulting database is a longitudinal data set containing variables from 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997, and annually from 2000 through 2015. annual collections after 2000 are subsamples of about 72,000 segments selected from the 1997 iteration. Each year approximately half of those segments, called “core segments,” are included in the sample each year, while the other half are changed from year to year. haYa FaTima KaraChi

Hajj with SOPs PiLGrimaGE, a process of being forgotten from sins that have been done from birth. in saudi arabia the sacred place of muslims known as holy house of aLLah and called as KaBBa was closed only because of this corona situation, everyone was frightened that pilgrimage will not be done this year but saudi government did a great job and bucked up muslims all over the world. Pilgrimage was performed in saudi arabia yesterday, with complete follow up for sops and hygiene maintaining social distance and masks. as holy Prophet (P.B.U.h) said to his companion that “Cleanliness is half faith” . islam stresses for physical and spritual cleanliness and purification. From this hadith we take a message that the sops we follow for corona — must be used in daily life. it is a tough job for a government to handle and keep alive sops for thousands of muslims at the same time and same location. But muslims got a chance to prostrate in Creator’s holy place. hoping that this action will be continued till the day of judgement.

Suhail SaEEd Tunio KaraChi

Unemployment during corona UNEmPLOYmENT is one of the biggest problem of Pakistan. That person is unemployed who has ability to work and is willing to do work but is unable to do job opportunity. in the current situation more than 30 lac people are unemployed in Pakistan and unemployment is more than 12 percent. Unemployment is one of a major issue in our country.

Because when unemployment is high resources are wasted and people’s incomes are depressed. Even different development countries are also facing it, but in Pakistan, the situation is more serious. Each year there are about eight lac new job candidates are added into the labor force in Pakistan. main problem is generate employment opportunities for this new candidate. During unemployment, economic distress also affects the people’s emotions and family lives. arEEba Shahid KaraChi

Friday, 31 July, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

US-China Confrontation iS like nothing we’ve Seen before POMPEO’S REMARKS WERE THE LAST OF A QUARTET OF SPEECHES FROM NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR ROBERT O’BRIEN ON IDEOLOGY, FBI DIRECTOR CHRIS WRAY ON ESPIONAGE AND ATTORNEY GENERAL WILLIAM BARR ON ECONOMICS

cnbc.com

w

Frederick kemPe

E’VE never been here before. The escalating confrontation between the United States and China is so perilous because the world’s two largest economies – and the two defining countries of their times – are navigating uncharted terrain.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s landmark speech at the Nixon Library on Thursday marked the most robust call to action yet against the Chinese Communist Party. It came amid tit-for-tat consular shutdowns in Houston and Chengdu, and the Friday arrest by the FBI of an alleged Chinese military operative in San Francisco.

It’s tempting to brand this a hotter phase of a new Cold War, as this column did just last week. However, that language understates the historic novelty of what’s unfolding and its epochal enormity.

It’s a unique moment because the United States, since its rise to global power, has never confronted such a potent

peer competitor across so many realms: political, economic, technological, military and even societal.

It’s new as well because no country in modern history has risen as quickly as China, from 2% of global GDP in 1980 to some 20% of global GDP in 2019. That leaves Beijing, for the first time, confronting global challenges without the learning curve of a more gradual evolution.

It is also new because the U.S. and China, after four decades of wishful collaboration, are now locked in a contest that could define our times. It isn’t a struggle, as the hyperbole would have it, over “world domination,” which no country has ever achieved. But it could have significant impact on “world determination,” influencing whether democracy or autocracy, market capitalism or state capitalism, are the flavors of the future.

It is a unique period as well in that this unfolding contest coincides with the Fourth Industrial Revolution and an era of unprecedented technological change driven by big data, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, bioengineering and so much more.

The fact that all this coincides with the worst pandemic in a century deepens and accelerates the drama, with China being both the plague’s source and potentially biggest benefactor as the first major economy to escape its claws.

For some context to understand the dangers of our times, think of what’s coming as an updated version of the period between World War II’s end in 1945 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. It took the United States and the Soviet Union that fraught period and a near-nuclear war over Cuba before the defining relationship of that era settled into the patterns of nuclear agreements, superpower summits and mutual recognition of red lines that prevented catastrophic war.

Today’s Berlin, the deciding point in this new contest, could well be some combination of Taiwan and the South China Sea. Where the United States sees a sovereign democracy in Taiwan and the South China Sea as international waters, China sees territory and waters that are ultimately its property.

That Secretary Pompeo chose the Nixon Library for his historic speech was deft staging. Pompeo noted that next year would mark the 50th anniversary of Henry Kissinger’s secret mission to China, which began Beijing’s opening to the United States and the Western world.

“Taking the long view,” wrote Nixon in Foreign Affairs in 1967, “we simply cannot afford to leave China forever outside the family of nations, there to nurture its fantasies, cherish its hates and threaten its neighbors. There is no place on this small

Moving beyond good and evil in the Middle East

neW republic Paul Pillar

The chaotic and conflict-ridden Middle East is a scene of American failure. In recent decades, the United States has lavished more resources and attention there than on any other region. It has incurred more American military deaths in Iraq than in any other war since the Vietnam War. The current state of the region, and of U.S. influence in it, doesn’t come close to representing a worthwhile return on that huge investment.

A major redirection of U.S. policy toward the Middle East is in order, and not only in the sense of correcting the worst mistakes of the Trump administration. That administration has carried to extremes an assumption that has underpinned previous administrations’ approach toward the region. That assumption, simply put, is that the U.S. must exert its power, including military might, on the side of those in the region considered good and friendly, to secure superiority or domination over those considered evil or unfriendly.

That approach might be defensible in responding to the threat of an unfriendly power achieving hegemony over the Middle East, but no such threat exists. Iran is most often mentioned as a supposed regional hegemon, but it is militarily inferior to several of its rivals, and it has the permanent handicap of being a mostly Persian and Shia nation in a region that is mostly Arab and Sunni.

One major problem with the U.S. approach of trying to prop up good over evil is that players in the Middle East do not sort readily into good guys and bad guys. The region is a tangle of cross-cutting rivalries and conflicts—of Sunni against Shia, Arabs against Israelis, Arabs against Iranians, fundamentalists against secularists, and monarchies against republics. Trying to hammer these competing interests into a U.S.-imposed imbalance has been disastrous for human security—and ignores the regional powers’ own capacity for checking each other’s emergent threats.

Exploiting regional balances of power requires far fewer American resources than the traditional, longstanding, inadequate U.S. strategy to achieve domination. Intra-regional balancing works even among those considered adversaries of the United States. Iran and Russia are commonly put in that category, and both have helped to shore up the Assad

regime during the Syrian civil war. But they also are rivals for influence in Syria, with the rivalry working against either one of them achieving destabilizing political dominance in Damascus.

Such balancing also entails engaging diplomatically with each side of a rivalry. The U.S. administration has conducted foreign relations with one hand tied behind its back by refusing to engage with certain regimes it doesn’t like. Discarding the practice of always siding with a fixed set of presumptive friends against a fixed set of adversaries means also discarding the notion that it is necessarily a U.S. interest to support “allies” in the region—where the United States has no formal NATO-like collective security obligations. That notion turns the whole concept of allies and interests upside down. The United States should have allies to advance U.S. interests, not to define what those interests are.

Rigid side-taking has impeded the ability of the United States to explore the areas of common interest that invariably exist even with states rightly considered adversaries. The confidence among presumed friends of the United States that Washington would always back them and would not deal with regional rivals has encouraged those friends to indulge in behaviors harmful both to U.S. interests and to regional stability. Thus we have a Saudi regime that gets away with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi and an Israeli government that, with expansion of settlements and threats of annexation, is hammering more nails into the coffin of the two-state solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict.

The principle of using, rather than vainly trying to overcome, a balance of power in the Middle East is incorporated in a new report on U.S. policy toward the region from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. The report is grounded in a strict definition of U.S. interests in the Middle East, which ultimately must advance the security and well-being of the American people. The report contains a full set of policy recommendations—including an American military drawdown, support for a new multilateral security architecture, normalization of U.S.-Iran relations, and diplomatic efforts to end the wars in Syria and Yemen. Each of these is achievable, as long as the United States can get past old, stultifying, and ineffective ways of looking at power in the region.

Conventional wisdom has long held that the presence of U.S. forces in the Middle East makes America and the region more secure. This wisdom is no longer tenable, if it ever was. Given the often counterproductive effects of the U.S.’s large regional footprint, combined with its extensive arms sales and support for coercive regimes, a less militarized approach to the region is required. Avoiding hostile states from establishing hegemony in the Middle East doesn’t warrant a major U.S. military presence in the Middle East; rather, it will require a major shift of American political thought and respect for international law.

Paul R. Pillar is a nonresident fellow at the Quincy Institute and at the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University.

planet for a billion of its potentially most able people to live in angry isolation.”

Pompeo focused on this line from the article, linking Nixon’s aims to President Trump’s follow-up. “The world cannot be safe until China changes,” wrote Nixon.

“Thus, our aim, to the extent that we can influence events, should be to induce change.”

Said Pompeo: “The kind of engagement we have been pursuing has not brought the kind of change inside of China that President Nixon had hoped to induce.”

He added later, “We, the freedom-loving nations of the world, must induce China to change in more creative and assertive ways, because Beijing’s actions threaten our people and our prosperity.”

Pompeo’s remarks were the last of a quartet of speeches from National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien on ideology, FBI Director Chris Wray on espionage and Attorney General William Barr on economics.

They are intended to be read as a package.

It’s perhaps understandable that the U.S., in these early days, still lacks a comprehensive strategy for our times that has been coordinated with allies. Yet former National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley gives the Trump administration credit for sharpening the country’s focus on our new era of major power competition with its National Security Strategy of December 2017.

Hadley sees as a significant next step to-

ward a U.S. strategy this week’s little-noticed introduction of comprehensive legislation by the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Jim Risch, and other Republican lawmakers. Weighing in at 160 pages, its aim is no less than “to advance a policy for managed strategic competition with the People’s Republic of China.”

No doubt there is a domestic political element in such a significant electoral year.

Expect President Trump and his top officials to remind critics that President Reagan was vilified as he stepped up his campaign against the Soviet Union as “the evil empire.” Yet history now vindicates him. Trump will embrace that Reagan legacy and argue his electoral opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, is too weak to take on China.

Even if Trump loses in November, the architects of this more assertive approach to China hope that they have put in place a policy approach that will endure.

Hadley argues that any effective approach to countering China would have to include domestic investments in technology and infrastructure, the healing of political divisions, rallying friends and allies while refurbishing the U.S. global brand, and engaging with China on issues neither country can address alone.

“Any U.S. administration is going to need a sustained strategy for dealing with China to set up a set of norms and rules of the road without dividing the world and plunging us into a war nobody wants,” says Hadley. “It will be the work of years before we get this right.”

Frederick Kempe is president and chief executive officer of the Atlantic Council.

Moscow isn’t New Delhi’s pal INDIA HAS LONG RELIED ON RUSSIA FOR ARMS, BUT THE KREMLIN IS GETTING TOO COZY WITH BEIJING

Wall Street Journal Sadanand dhume

With border tensions between India and China at their worst in decades, Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh headed late last month to a familiar destination: Moscow. There Mr. Singh finalized a $2.4 billion deal for 33 fighter aircraft, and pressed the Russians to speed up delivery of the S-400 missile air defense system, which India bought two years ago despite the threat of U.S. sanctions.

The defense minister also watched a contingent of Indian troops—among a handful representing countries not formerly part of the Soviet Union—march in Red Square to commemorate the Russian victory in World War II. “It is a great honor,” said Mr. Singh in a press statement.

“This is a sign of everlasting friendship between the armed forces of both our countries.”

Many Indians share their government’s rose-tinted view of Russian reliability dating back to the Cold War, when officially nonaligned India tilted toward Moscow.

Though far less dominant than before, Russia remains India’s most important arms supplier: It provided almost 60% of India’s imports between 2015 and 2019, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Russian weapons in India’s armory include frontline fighter jets, naval frigates, and the country’s only aircraft carrier and nuclear-powered attack submarine.

India’s military dependence on Moscow may be explicable, but it is also unsustainable. Put bluntly, Russia’s tightening quasi-alliance with China makes the Kremlin an unreliable long-term defense partner for New Delhi.

“The depth of Russia-China relations has far surpassed what anyone thought possible just a few years ago,” says Andrea KendallTaylor, a Russia expert at the Center

for a New American Security.

“China is Russia’s most important partner. Both regimes mistrust the United States, and view democracy as a threat to their hold on power.”

Why has India maintained close military links with Russia despite drawing steadily closer to the U.S. over the past two decades? In part, it’s a historical holdover. During the Cold War, India’s politicians and bureaucrats developed a deep comfort with their Soviet counterparts.

For instance, during the 1971 IndiaPakistan war that led to the birth of Bangladesh, New Delhi relied on a peace treaty with the Soviets to ward off pressure from the U.S. and China. At the United Nations, Indian diplomats could count on the Soviet veto to quash potentially awkward resolutions on Kashmir.

The Cold War ended nearly three decades ago, but India and Russia continue to share the overarching goal of a multipolar world in which they count as important poles. India belongs to several groupings that include Russia, including BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Careful not to ruffle Russian feathers, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar participated in an online summit with his Russian and Chinese counterparts barely a week after last month’s border clashes with China, which killed 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese in brutal hand-to-hand combat. The annual Russia-IndiaChina summit ostensibly groups the world’s three most important nonWestern powers.

Russian arms remain attractive to India for several reasons. In New Delhi, Moscow is widely viewed as a trusted friend willing to provide India with cutting-edge technology, including missiles and nucleararmed submarines, without conditions. Their equipment is also often cheaper than Western gear. “Russians design for a poor country; Americans design in an expensive way,” says Manoj Joshi, a defense expert at the Observer Research

Foundation in New Delhi.

In the murky world of arms deals, the Russians may also have figured out how to line the right pockets. “You can be guaranteed that money can change hands and nobody will be the wiser,” says Mr. Joshi. “The Russians are better at this than even the French.” And Indians often find the Russian system, where decision-making is top-down and centralized, easier to navigate than its U.S. counterpart.

At its heart, though, India’s bet conceals a wish: that Russia’s past as a great power will prevent it from subordinating itself to China. This is unrealistic. Since its annexation of Crimea in 2014, Russia has increasingly turned to China for trade, investment, technology and international prestige.

India may long for it, but the odds of America engineering a Sino-Russian split, akin to the SinoSoviet split in the 1970s, appear dim. “Both countries see the U.S. posing a much bigger threat than they pose to each other,” says Ms. Kendall-Taylor. At $110 billion, Russia-China trade is 10 times as large as Russia-India trade.

Even on arms sales, India no longer occupies the privileged position it once took for granted. For instance, Russia has already supplied China with the S-400 system while India waits its turn.

As for diplomatic support, at the U.N. last year the U.S. and France stood firmly behind India when China raised New Delhi’s sudden decision to abrogate autonomy for and bifurcate the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Russia waffled. The U.S. has vocally supported India during the current crisis with China while at the same time stepping up consultations and sailing an aircraft carrier into the Indian Ocean alongside Indian naval ships. Russia has weakly urged India and China to “find the way out for mutual satisfaction.”

“When you throw out your anchor, it has to catch something and hold it,” says Mr. Joshi. “Right now India’s anchor to Russia isn’t holding on to anything.”

Friday, 31 July, 2020

BUSINESS 09

Govt to deliberate ‘tourism reopening plan’ after Eid ISLAMABAD APP

The National Tourism Coordination Board (NTCB) will submit a ‘tourism reopening proposal’ to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) after Eidul Azha holidays. The decision to this effect was taken by the NTCB, which met with Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari in the chair.

"The consultative meeting was held with all provincial/regional governments to discuss the appropriate time to reopen the country's tourism sector," according to a statement issued on Thursday. "Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister on Tourism Asif Mehmood, Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation (PTDC) Managing Director Syed Intikhab Alam and NTCB and PTDC board member Aftabur Rehman Rana were also present on the occasion."

Discussing various options for the reopening of tourism, the participants unanimously agreed that any decision in this regard should be taken by the NCOC after evaluating the ground situation of the coronavirus pandemic in the country. The meeting also deliberated on safety measures and preparedness for the reopening of tourism services. The provincial and regional governments informed the NTCB chairman that tourism-related guidelines for operators, hotels, restaurants and tourist places were ready to operate.

The participants were of the opinion that the time was ripe for the tourism sector to restart as the COVID-19 curve had started flattening across the country. However, the situation needed to be closely observed on Eid and during Muharram. The provincial and regional heads of tourism were told that necessary preparations and awareness should be undertaken so that opening of controlled tourism under standard operating procedures could be made possible after the final decision of NCOC. SAPM Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari appreciated the support extended by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to tourism businesses in terms of renewal of licenses and registration fees. He urged other provincial governments to consider similar support initiatives for tourism businesses that had suffered during the prevailing situation.

OGRA proposes Rs7 per litre increase in petrol price BUSINESS DESK The prices of petroleum products are expected to increase by up to Rs9.5 per litre next month, as the petroleum ministry has forwarded a summary in this regard to the finance ministry. According to details, the petro ministry has proposed an increase of Rs7 per litre in petrol price, Rs9.5 in diesel price, Rs6.21 in light diesel oil (LDO) prices and Rs6 increase in kerosene price. If the government accepts this suggested increase in price, the price of petrol will go up from the current Rs100.1 to Rs107.1 per litre, price of diesel will increase from Rs101.46 to Rs110.96 per litre, LDO price will go up from the current Rs55.98 to Rs62.19 per litre while kerosene oil price will increase to Rs62.06 from its current Rs59.06 per litre price. However, according to a private media report, the government is expected to increase the price of petrol and HSD by Rs4-5 per litre by bringing down the rate of petroleum levy and allow about Rs6 per litre increase for kerosene and LDO. ORGA, which was bypassed last month in petroleum price adjustments, has this time forwarded a working paper to the government to increase petroleum prices based on existing tax rates and import costs of the Pakistan State Oil (PSO), sources said.

PPE wORth $0.5m distRibutEd AmOnG fROntlinE wORkERs

t

BUSINESS DESK

HE Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation and Coordination on Wednesday distributed nine metric tonnes of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for health workers, made available through a $500,000 grant from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and technical support from UNICEF. Ten kinds of protective equipment from the shipment were given to doctors, nurses and other medical staff working in five major health facilities of the capital territory area as the country continues to respond to the Covid19 pandemic.

“We are fully committed to helping Pakistan manage the impact of Covid19 and continue to work closely with the government and development partners

HEALTH MINISTRY DISTRIBUTES NINE METRIC TONNES OF PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT MADE AVAILABLE BY ADB AND UNICEF to enable this,” said ADB’s Country Director for Pakistan Xiaohong Yang.

“The supplies distributed yesterday through our partnership with UNICEF will provide vital protection to frontline health workers and patients in their time of urgent need. We will continue to work with UNICEF to help strengthen Pakistan’s immediate public health response, address the needs of the pandemic and enable the country to move towards economic recovery as quickly and safely as possible.”

UNICEF Representative in Pakistan Aida Girma thanked the Asian De-

velopment Bank for its donation of critical emergency supplies. “It will help front-line workers deal with the pandemic and support the Government of Pakistan’s enduring efforts to reduce the transmission of the virus,” she said.

The surgical masks, N95 masks, gloves, goggles, coveralls, surgical gowns, disposable shoe covers, disposable caps, disposable gowns and face shields were distributed to staff at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Polyclinic, National Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, Federal Government Hospital and Capital

Development Authority Hospital. More will be distributed to staff working in Track, Trace and Quarantine teams across Islamabad in the coming days.

“In addition to the risk to human lives and livelihoods, the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the provision of essential services to women and children, including immunisation services and other essential maternal and children health services. UNICEF commends the leadership and the commitment of the Government of Pakistan, front-line workers and partners for the resumption, last week, of polio outbreak response activities after a four-month suspension due to the pandemic. Providing frontline workers with protective equipment not only helps reduce the transmission of the virus but enables them to provide vulnerable children with such critical services,” Aida Girma said.

MARKET DAILY

Stocks rally 422 points ahead of Eid holidays KARACHI STAFF REPORT

The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) ended the last session before Eid holidays firmly in the green, as the benchmark KSE100 index gained over 400 points by the close of trading.

Global equity markets, on the other hand, moved in the opposite direction on Thursday, whereas crude oil prices also declined from the previous close; WTI crude oil price falling 1.57pc to $40.63 and Brent crude oil price shedding 1.29pc to $43.52.

It may be noted that the benchmark index has been performing exceptionally well for the last month or so, recording a monthly (July) return of 14.05pc and a weekly (27-30 July) return of 4.38pc.

"Rally in different sectors including power, cement, pharma, OMCs, refinery and banks helped the index post decent gains by the end of the session," said a report issued by AHL Research. "Although the Privatization Commission's plan to sell the shares of OGDC and PPL brought both the stocks down, it was not enough to dent the index today."

MARKET SUMMARY: The KSE-100 Index remained in the green for almost the entire ses-

sion, registering its intraday high at 39,270.46 after gaining 434.19 points. It ended higher by 422.17 points at 39,258.44.

Among other indices, the KMI-30 Index accumulated 780.92 points to close at 63,107.65, while the KSE All Share Index added 222.73 points, settling at 27,559.26. Of the total traded shares, 211 advanced and 126 declined.

The overall market volumes contracted from 508.22 million shares in the previous session to 368.70 million shares (-28pc).

Average traded value also declined by 19pc, from $126.2 million to $102.2 million. Pakistan Int'l Bulk Terminal Ltd (PIBTL +5.83pc), TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG +6.03pc) and Pak Elektron Ltd (PAEL +0.06pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 43.31 million, 27.91 million and 18.07 million shares, respectively.

Sectors that added positivity to the benchmark index included

cement (75.11 points), banking (69.54 points) and fertiliser (54.14 points). Among the companies, Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK 36.94 points), The Searle Company Ltd (SEARL 35.06 points) and Hub Power Company Ltd (HUBC 29.99 points) remained the top contributors.

Adding 4.32pc to its cumulative market capitalization, the automobile assembling sector emerged as the session's top gainer, with Indus Motor Company (INDU 5.65pc), Honda Atlas Cars Ltd (HCAR 5.91pc) and Pak Suzuki Motors (PSMC 2.38pc) accumulating decent gains.

Meanwhile, Engro Fertilizer Limited (EFERT +2.45pc) announced its financial performance for the second quarter of FY20.

The company’s revenue increased by 32pc YoY, while selling & distribution costs surged by 55pc. Its earnings per share declined from Rs3.51 in 2QFY19 to Rs3.00 in 2QFY20.

Chinese funding increases coal-fired power generation in Pakistan to record high While other countries move away from coal-fired power due its negative environmental impact, Chinese funding has increased power generated through coal in Pakistan. According to a report published by Bloomberg, countries in the South Asian region are currently faced with the dilemma of choosing between affordable energy sources while trying to limit pollution. Demand for coal in Asia is expected to help coal as other developed countries switch towards cleaner energy alternatives. According to data provided by National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA), Pakistan’s coal-fired power generation increased by 57 per cent in FY20.

Moreover, coal made up about a fifth of Pakistan’s total output. The report further suggested that coal production and power generation might expand further as China invests in building additional power plants and additional coal mines to feed these plants in Pakistan. On the other hand, China has been cutting back on coal for its own domestic use. In the recent past, China’s overseas energy spending as a part of its Belt and Road initiative has gone down with spendings last year dropping to the lowest in a decade. China’s president had urged a move towards clean energy overseas, with China signing an agreement to build two hydropower generation projects in Pakistan. AGENCIES

Pre-Covid stabilisation measures helped cushion virus-induced economic downturn: SBP KARACHI STAFF REPORT

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday, released its Third Quarterly Report FY20 on ‘The State of Pakistan’s Economy’.

According to the report, successful stabilisation measures that had fostered macroeconomic improvement in July-February FY20 provided a valuable cushion against the downturn faced from late March 2020 onward in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak.

In particular, major progress had been made during July-February FY20 period in curbing the fiscal and current account deficits on the back of strong revenue growth, policy shift to a market-determined exchange rate and build up in foreign exchange reserves buffers.

Following this period of necessary stabilisation, there were also encouraging signs of recovery in the real economy including exports. This made the economy relatively better equipped to respond to any external shocks than it would have otherwise been.

This pre Covid-19 strengthening of Pakistan’s fundamentals and the prudent policy response to the outbreak later on

'PAKISTAN'S REAL GDP CONTRACTION IN FY20 WAS LESS SEVERE COMPARED WITH OTHER PARTS OF THE WORLD' should leave Pakistan well-placed to resume its earlier trajectory of recovery once the pandemic subsides.

As in other parts of the world, the real, fiscal and external sectors came under visible strain thereafter as Covid-19 struck the global economy, while the inflation outlook improved as a result of weaker domestic demand and lower oil prices.

The scale of the Covid-19 shock is underscored by the fact that for the first time in 68 years, as per the provisional estimates, Pakistan’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is set to contract in FY20. At 0.4 per cent, this contraction is not as severe as that expected in most parts of the world due to Covid-19.

The report emphasizes that the estimated contraction in GDP owes mainly to a decline in industrial and services sector activities.

The Large-Scale Manufacturing (LSM) posted an improvement during January-Feb-

ruary 2020, driven primarily by exporting sectors with some contribution from food and fertilizer segments. However, this nascent recovery was derailed by Covid-19 related disruptions, with LSM growth falling 22 per cent on a month-on-month basis in March.

The agriculture sector emerged largely unscathed by Covid-19 as important crops registered a turnaround compared to last year. That said, unfavorable climate conditions and pest and locust attacks prevented some annual targets from being met. The services sector felt the impact of Covid-19 acutely as evident from high frequency data.

The report documents a similar pattern in the fiscal sector, where a primary budget recorded a surplus during July-March FY20 on a cumulative basis, the first ever since 2016. However, it turned into a deficit during the third quarter due to Covid-19. On the one hand, the lockdown created a drag for revenue, with growth in all categories of FBR

CMYK

revenues turning negative in March 2020.

On the other hand, the induced slump in economic activity and rise in unemployment created a need for greater expenditures. The government announced a Rs1.24 trillion stimulus package towards the close of the third quarter of FY20, consisting of a combination of targeted handouts and sector-specific outlays for agriculture, construction and exports.

While this package is expected to give muchneeded relief to individuals and businesses, it would simultaneously contribute to a larger fiscal deficit in the near term. Regarding the external sector, the report highlights that a sharp fall in imports, healthy growth in workers’ remittances and contraction in the services trade deficit all played a part in narrowing the current account deficit for JulyMarch FY20 compared to last year.

However, the pandemic prompted foreign investors to reduce their domestic debt and equity holdings in emerging markets, including Pakistan, and growth in remittances has moderated. These factors together with government debt repayments affected foreign exchange reserves in March 2020.

Pakistan has generally been less affected than many other emerging markets and for-

eign exchange reserves of the country have since recovered on the back of multilateral and commercial inflows.

The SBP report notes that the inflation outlook improved following the global and domestic spread of Covid-19. A marked slowdown in domestic demand, stabilising food inflation and historic low oil prices led to a moderation in medium-term inflation prospects.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) responded swiftly, slashing the policy rate by a cumulative 625 basis points in five meetings between mid-March to end-June 2020.

To manage the cash flows of businesses and households, SBP allowed the deferment of principal amount and restructuring of loans. In addition, SBP launched three new refinancing schemes to support employment, new investments and Balancing, Modernization and Replacement (BMR) and improve health facilities in the country.

Together, these measures are estimated to provide a benefit of up to Rs1.3 trillion (3.1pc of GDP) to businesses and households. Together with the government’s stimulus package, these measures are expected to help cushion the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Friday, 31 July, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

RUssia beHinD spReaD of viRUs DisinfoRmation: Us officials WASHINGTON

Do passenger testing or lose 'quarantine roulette', Heathrow tells UK LONDON: Heathrow Airport, once Europe’s busiest airport, called on Britain to urgently back a passenger testing regime, warning that without one, strict quarantine rules will stop travel, stall the economy and lead to more job losses. Heathrow said that to avoid losing a game of global “quarantine roulette”, the government should cut quarantine from 14 days to around eight days for passengers who take two tests over the course of a week. The worst public health crisis since the 1918 influenza outbreak has wrought turmoil across the world and just as the travel industry restarted there are now fears of a second wave of shutdowns after Britain hastily imposed a quarantine on travelers from Spain. “The UK needs a passenger testing regime and fast,” Heathrow CEO John Holland-Kaye said. “Without it, Britain is just playing a game of quarantine roulette.” The cost of a coronavirus test at the airport would be about 150 pounds ($195) per person and the passenger would be expected to pay, Holland-Kaye told Reuters on Wednesday. While he conceded that was not cheap, he said consumers and business travelers would be prepared to pay, and it would help Britain protect its aviation industry, which has already announced over 20,000 job cuts, and facilitate trade. “We are an island nation – we cannot cut ourselves off from the world for the foreseeable future,” Holland-Kaye told the BBC. Quarantine rules are in place for arrivals to Britain from the United States, a lucrative market for Heathrow accounting for 20 percent of its traffic, as well as countries such as India and Spain. AGENCIES

R

AGENCIES

USSIAN intelligence services are using a trio of English-language websites to spread disinformation about the coronavirus pandemic, seeking to exploit a crisis that America is struggling to contain ahead of the presidential election in November, US officials said Tuesday.

Two Russians who have held senior roles in Moscow’s military intelligence service known as the GRU have been identified as responsible for a disinformation effort meant to reach American and Western audiences, US government officials said. They spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

The information had previously been classified, but officials said it had been downgraded so they could more freely discuss it. Officials said they were doing so now to sound the alarm about the particular websites and to expose what they say is a clear link between the sites and Russian intelligence.

Between late May and early July, one of the officials said, the websites singled out Tuesday published about 150 articles about the pandemic response, including coverage aimed either at propping up Russia or denigrating the US. Among the headlines that caught the attention of US officials were “Russia’s Counter COVID-19 Aid to America Advances Case for Détente,” which suggested that Russia had given urgent and substantial aid to the US to fight the pandemic, and “Beijing Believes COVID-19 is a Biological Weapon,” which ampli-

fied statements by the Chinese.

The disclosure comes as the spread of disinformation, including by Russia, is an urgent concern heading into November’s presidential election as US officials look to avoid a repeat of the 2016 contest, when a Russian troll farm launched a covert social media campaign to divide American public opinion and to favor then-candidate Donald Trump over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton. The US government’s chief counterintelligence executive warned in a rare public statement Friday about Russia’s continued use of internet trolls to advance their goals.

Even apart from politics, the twin crises buffeting the country and much of the world — the pandemic and race relations and protests — have offered fertile territory for misinformation or outfight falsehoods. Trump himself has come under scrutiny for sharing misinformation about a disproven drug for treating the coronavirus in videos that were taken

down by Twitter and Facebook.

Officials described the Russian disinformation as part of an ongoing and persistent effort to advance false narratives and cause confusion.

They did not say whether the effort behind these particular websites was directly related to the November election, though some of the coverage appeared to denigrate Trump’s Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, and called to mind Russian efforts in 2016 to exacerbate race relations in America and drive corruption allegations against US political figures.

Though US officials have warned before about the spread of disinformation tied to the pandemic, they went further on Tuesday by singling out a particular information agency that is registered in Russia, InfoRos, and that operates a series of websites — InfoRos.ru, Infobrics.org and OneWorld.press — that have leveraged the pandemic to promote anti-Western objectives and to spread dis-

information.

Officials say the sites promote their narratives in a sophisticated but insidious effort that they liken to money laundering, where stories in well-written English — and often with pro-Russian sentiment — are cycled through other news sources to conceal their origin and enhance the legitimacy of the information.

The sites also amplify stories that originate elsewhere, the government officials said.

Beyond the coronavirus, there’s also a focus on US news, global politics and topical stories of the moment.

A headline Tuesday on InfoRos.ru about the unrest roiling American cities read “Chaos in the Blue Cities,” accompanying a story that lamented how New Yorkers who grew up under the toughon-crime approach of former Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg “and have zero street smarts” must now “adapt to life in high-crime urban areas.”

Another story carried the headline of “Ukrainian Trap for Biden,” and claimed that “Ukrainegate” — a reference to stories surrounding Biden’s son Hunter’s former ties to a Ukraine gas company — “keeps unfolding with renewed vigor.”

US officials have identified two of the people believed to be behind the sites’ operations. The men, Denis Valeryevich Tyurin and Aleksandr Gennadyevich Starunskiy, have previously held leadership roles at InfoRos but have also served in a GRU unit specializing in military psychological intelligence and maintain deep contacts there, the officials said.

InfoRos and One World’s ties to the Russian state have attracted scrutiny in the past from European disinformation analysts.

US lawmakers accuse Big Tech of crushing rivals to boost profits WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Google and Facebook took particularly sharp jabs for alleged abuse of their market power from Democrats and Republicans on Wednesday in a much-anticipated congressional hearing that put four of America’s most prominent tech CEOs in the hot seat.

The chairman of the US House of Representatives antitrust panel holding the hearing said afterward that the four CEOs had acknowledged concerning behavior.

“What we heard from witnesses at the hearing confirmed the evidence that we have collected over the last year,” Representative David Cicilline, a Democrat, told Reuters.

Facebook Inc’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon.com Inc’s Jeff Bezos, Google owner Alphabet Inc’s Sundar Pichai and Apple Inc’s Tim Cook – whose companies have a combined market value of about $5 trillion – parried a range of accusations that they crippled smaller rivals in their quest for market share.

The videoconference hearing was the first time the four CEOs have appeared to-

gether before lawmakers.

Though it was Bezos’ first congressional testimony, he appeared the least fazed. Cook drew fewer barbed questions than Bezos and handled them efficiently. Zuckerberg suffered the most damage, stumbling at times when confronted with internal emails.

Pichai, CEO of both Alphabet and Google, took the most heat from conservatives on the panel and looked the worse for it, as he repeatedly told lawmakers he would be happy to look into various situations and get back to them.

The Big Tech hearing triggered scorn

from viewers over its own tech issues.

Bezos escaped questioning for about an hour in what may have been a tech issue and was caught on screen reaching for what appeared to be a snack. Poor audio, flat-screen televisions switching off, and chief executives appearing together as thumbnails on a large screen led to the mockery of the virtual set-up on Twitter. Lawmakers descended into shouting at each other at points, with a pandemic twist. One yelled: “Put your mask on!”

THEFT, COPYING, CONTENT MODERATION: Cicilline set the tone for the hearing when he began by accusing Google of theft. “Why does Google steal content from honest businesses?” he asked. He alleged Google stole reviews from Yelp Inc and threatened to delist Yelp from search results if it objected.

Pichai responded mildly that he would want to know the specifics of the accusation.

“We conduct ourselves to the highest standards,” he added, disagreeing with the characterization.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg took a series of questions about the company’s purchase of

Instagram in 2012 and whether it was acquired because it was a threat, as he dubbed it in an email obtained by the committee.

Zuckerberg responded that Instagram at the time was a tiny photo-sharing app rather than a social-media phenomenon. In one of the more notable exchanges, Representative Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat, pushed Zuckerberg on whether Facebook had ever copied its competitors. “We’ve certainly adapted features that others have led in,” he said.

“How many companies did Facebook end up copying?” she asked. “Is it less than five? Less than 50?”

“Congresswoman, I don’t know,” Zuckerberg said.

Jayapal pressed Amazon’s Bezos on whether the company used data from thirdparty sellers in making sales decisions. An Amazon executive previously had denied the practice under oath and was contradicted by a news report.

Bezos answered cautiously that the company had a policy against such actions. “If we found that somebody violated it, we would take action against them,” he said.

India opens door for foreign universities under new education policy NEW DELHI AGENCIES

India on Wednesday approved a plan to allow foreign universities to open campuses in the country as part of efforts to boost education to strengthen the economy as it struggles with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Politicians affiliated with the left as well as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s far-right party have opposed several attempts by previous administrations to open up the sector to overseas institutions.

But many government officials have been pushing the move as more than 750,000 Indian students study abroad, spending billions of dollars outside the country every year.

The government will allow “entry of top world-ranked universities to open campuses in our country”, a government statement said after a cabinet meeting chaired by Modi.

Critics said it remained to be seen

whether top-rated universities would open campuses, considering a regulatory framework that will also cap fees charged by educational institutions.

The change comes as part of a policy to increase public spending on education to nearly 6 percent of gross domestic product from around 4 percent now.

Education is among sectors Modi is aiming to reform in an effort to bolster the economy in the wake of the pandemic.

The government is seeking to expand access to higher education to 50 percent of high school students by 2035, aiming to add about 35 million new places for students, and achieve universal adult literacy before that date, Higher Education Secretary Amit Khare told reporters.

The reforms would also include directives such as making school education compulsory from the age of three and encouraging the study of Sanskrit and other Indian languages as well as the use of technology.

Nearly half of the 248 million Indian students studied in private schools in 2019, ac-

cording to government estimates, as teaching standards in the majority of state-run schools

remain low amid a shortage of teachers, poor regulation and inadequate funding.

Friday, 31 July, 2020

SPORTS 11

HAriS rAUf fiNAlly tEStS NEgAtivE for Covid-19, SEt to fly to ENglANd LAHORE

H

AGENCIES

ARIS RAUF, who had first tested positive for Covid-19 over a month ago, has returned two consecutive negative tests. It makes him eligible to join the Pakistan team in England and is likely to be flown out this week.

He had undergone six Covid-19 tests until July 20, out of which five were positive. There was one negative result, but according to regulations he needed to

successive negative results to be considered eligible to travel to join the Pakistan squad.

He remained asymptomatic the entire time.

While Rauf was struggling to clear his test, chief selector and head coach Misbah ul Haq up back. Amir had earlier pulled out of the tour due to a clash with the expected dates of the birth of his child, but made himself available after his wife gave birth earlier this month. But Amir’s presence with the side does not sideline Rauf, who remains part of the PCB’s plans for the T20I series.

He was among the ten players who for Covid-19 in the last week of June, but stayed

Newcastle takeover: Saudi Arabian-backed consortium pulls out of bid

back after the larger group flew out to Manchester on a chartered flight on June 28. The 18 players who tested negative, alongside the support staff who were tested, were the only ones to board the plane. Rauf was originally picked for white-ball cricket, but he had to play Tests. His chance to do that in England during this series was hampered by repeated positive results for Covid-19 that didn’t allow him to join the squad in time. The Pakistan management have already named a 20-man Test squad which Rauf is not a part of. He is, however, a part of the T20 set-up, with the first T20I scheduled for August 28 in Manchester.

Boxing likely to return to action in Pakistan by year end

LONDON: A Saudi Arabian-backed consortium has ended its bid to buy Newcastle United. The group, which included Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund PIF, PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers, had agreed a £300m deal to buy the club from Mike Ashley in April. The deal was still being scrutinised under the Premier League’s owners’ and directors’ test and it is understood PIF ran out of patience. PIF said that it was with “deep sadness” that it had pulled out. “With a deep appreciation for the Newcastle community and the significance of its football club, we have come to the decision to withdraw our interest in acquiring Newcastle United Football Club,” the group said in a statement. “Ultimately, during the unforeseeably prolonged process, the commercial agreement between the Investment Group and the club’s owners expired and our investment thesis could not be sustained.” As the Premier League was seeking clarification of the links between PIF and the Saudi state. PIF’s chairman is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and it appears the Premier League’s lawyers had been struggling to establish the precise links between the consortium and the Saudi government. PIF felt it had been given as many assurances as it could about an appropriate amount of distance between PIF and the Saudi state. The economic environment and prospect of a second wave of the coronavirus - and threat of limited fans in stadia - was also said to be unhelpful.

Human rights groups and the fiancee of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Hatice Cengiz, the takeover. In June, Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said he calls for the proposed bid to be blocked.

One of the issues raised by critics of the takeover was of Premier League games in the country. AGENCIES

ISLAMABAD APP

Boxing in Pakistan is likely to return to action as the Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) is planning to stage two back-to-back national championships by the end of the ongoing year. “We are figuring out our best path back to action. If the COVID-19 situation improves we’ll hold National Youth Championship in November and then we’ll hold the 38th National Boxing Championship in December,” PBF Secretary Col (retd) Nasir Tung told APP. He said the Youth Championship would be held either in Peshawar or Quetta, while the 38th edition of the National Championship would take place in Lahore. “The situation is getting better in

the world and sports activities are resuming. We are monitoring the situation as we want to resume our activities.” Nasir said holding of domestic events was imperative as it would help the federation identify talent for the World Boxing Championships, taking place in MarchApril next year.

“The World Championships will also serve as Olympic qualifiers, so it’ll be our effort to field our best lot in that event.

“We’ve some highly talented pugilists, who, we believe, have the ability to make podium finish and claim spots in the world’s prestigious sports event [Olympics],” Nasir added.

He said Pakistan’s boxers featured in the Asian Championship without any practice as the camp was not held. ‘Even then they did well. And, now as most of

the boxers from Asia have already qualified for the Olympics, there is every possibility for our pugilists to qualify for the event on continental quota.”

According to Nasir, the PBF would soon send a schedule for the camps to the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB). He asked the government to support the federation in its efforts to uplift the standard of boxing in the country. “I think we should be backed as boxing is one of the leading sports of the country where since 1948 it has claimed around 223 medals.

“Our boxers won medals at Olympics, World Championships, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and South Asian Games. Our boxers have won medals in almost every format at the events,” he added.

PCB invites former cricketers to take the field again LAHORE APP

The Pakistan Cricket Board is inviting and encouraging former cricketers to return to the field by seriously considering various roles, including as match officials in the 2020-21 domestic season. While this opens up career opportunities for retired players as umpires or match referees, this also sets a pathway for them to become international match officials by climbing up the ladder after honing their skills at different rungs of domestic structure.

Presently, only Aleem Dar represents Pakistan in the ICC’s elite panel of match officials and has grown into one of the most respected, valued and admired match officials on the international circuit. Ahsan Raza, Shozab Raza, Mohammad Asif Yaqoob and Rashid Riaz Waqar are in the ICC’s international panel. While there is no Pakistani in the ICC’s elite panel of match referees, the international panel includes Mohammad Anees and Muhammad Javid Malik. The creation of these opportunities is in line with the PCB’s strategic decision to increase the involvement of former players in the domestic cricket setup and to train and develop the local talent

in all facets of the game.

The interested candidates can send their resumes at abdul.hameed@pcb.com.pk by 10 August and the eligibility criteria is as follows:At least 50 first-class matches, Under the age of 40. The opportunities as match officials have come after the PCB recently encouraged former cricketers to apply for various coaching roles in the High Performance Programme. While the role details are available here, the PCB is looking for former international cricketers or

first-class cricketers with a minimum of 75match experience with a PCB Level-II accreditation.

Separately, the PCB is also planning to loop in former international and first-class cricketers in media roles as it is planning to live-stream and televise domestic matches. These roles may potentially include commentary and studio shows. Further details will be confirmed closer to time. Meanwhile, the High Performance department is conducting a 360-degree re-

CMYK

view of 142 match officials, which includes 112 umpires and 30 match referees.

The robust review includes analyses of reports from match referees and captains from the 2019-20 season and examination of their critical decisions.

The High Performance department will also conduct eyesight and hearing tests of these match officials after Eid-ul-Adha as part of the review process. PCB Director – High Performance, Nadeem Khan said here on Wednesday: “Pakistan cricket has produced some of the great cricketing minds and it is time we utilise them. A cricketer understands nitty-gritty of the game and with proper training can play a big role in elevating the standards as a match official.

“Our decision to invite cricketers who are under the age of 40 and have at least 50 first-class matches results from a comprehensive plan to involve more former players in the system and set a pathway for aspiring umpires and match referees to make a mark at the highest level.

“While producing top-performing athletes through our High Performance Centre, our vision also includes upskilling the match officials. For this very purpose, we are designing different coaching courses for our umpires and match referees.”

PCB expects England to ‘do the right thing’ about Pakistan tour in 2022 LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Executive Wasim Khan on Thursday said that the tour of England stand to benefit Pakistan cricket in the future as well, hoping England would tour the country in 2022. “Will that benefit Pakistan cricket in the future? Of course, it will,” he told a PCB podcast. “Have we struck a deal with them right now for them to come? ... Of course, we didn’t. Now is not the time to do that. It’s all about timing.

“Conversations will take place with ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) and they will do the right thing by us as well.” Pakistan’s decision to tour England despite the risks of travelling during the COVID-19 pandemic was not part of a reciprocal agreement but the PCB expects its English counterpart to “do the right thing” in 2022. Pakistan are the second Test team, after West Indies, to tour England this summer. They will play three Tests, the first beginning on Wednesday, and three Twenty20 Internationals in bio-secure venues in Manchester and Southampton. England last visited Pakistan in 2005 and are slated to return in 2022, but the top teams have so far declined to tour since a 2009 attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore. After years of staging ‘home’ Tests in neutral venues due to security concerns, Pakistan played their first Test on home soil since 2009 against Sri Lanka in December last year and have hosted Bangladesh this year. Khan said the PCB had put the game’s interests ahead of its own. “We are making decisions not just for what’s good for Pakistan, but what’s right for global cricket.

“Showing solidarity is absolutely the right thing for us to be doing. West Indies are doing it, we’ve done it.” AGENCIES

Andrea Pirlo returns to Juventus as Under-23 manager

MILAN: Juventus have appointed legendary former midfielder Andrea Pirlo as their new Under-23 manager. The 41-year-old, regarded as one of the finest players of his generation, has been out of the game since retiring as a player in 2017. Pirlo won 116 caps for Italy, helping them to win the World Cup in 2006.

He won Serie A four times with Juventus after joining from AC Milan, with whom he spent most of his career and won two Champions League and two league titles.

Pirlo left Juventus in 2015, finishing his playing career in Major League Soccer at New York City FC. AGENCIES

Friday, 31 July, 2020

PRAyER TimingS

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

3:45

12:09

4:59

5:18

7:00

8:32

PIlgrImS PrAy on HAjj dAy In SHAdow of coronAvIrUS MECCA

m

AgEnciES

ASKED pilgrims arrived on Thursday at Mount Arafat, a desert hill near the Holy Kaaba, to pray and repent on the most important day of the Hajj, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

The global coronavirus pandemic has cast a shadow over every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage, which last year drew 2.5 million Muslims from across the world to

Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) delivered his final sermon nearly 1,400 years ago.

This year, a “very limited number” of pilgrims were allowed to take part in the Hajj amid numerous restrictions to limit the potential spread of the coronavirus. The Saudi government has not released a final figure on the number of the pilgrims this year, but has said anywhere from 1,000 to 10,000 would be taking part. All of this year’s pilgrims are either residents or citizens of Saudi Arabia.

In past years, a sea of pilgrims dressed in

white terrycloth garments would start to gather at Mount Arafat, or hill of mercy as it’s known, before dawn and remain there until nightfall, spending the day in deep contemplation and worship. It is common to see pilgrims with tears streaming down their faces, their hands raised in worship on the slopes of the rocky hill where the Prophet Muhammad called for equality and unity among Muslims. The sliver of pilgrims performing the Hajj this year arrived at Mount Arafat before noon by bus on Thursday. They are traveling in small groups of 20, following

strict guidelines around social distancing, have undergone tests for the Covid-19 disease and were in quarantine before the Hajj.

Unlike in past years, the pilgrims are not allowed to stand shoulder to shoulder with other Muslims from around the world, all considered equal in Islam before God, seeking mercy, blessings, good health, bounty and healing. Pilgrims are wearing wristbands this year provided by the Saudi Health Ministry that are connected to their phones and monitor their movements to ensure physical distancing. After spending the day in prayer

Pakistan says India's Rafale deal will disturb balance of power ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

A day after India received the first batch of five Rafale fighter jets from France, Pakistan on Thursday expressed reservations on the deal, asserting it will disturb the balance of military power in the region.

Responding to the development in the neighbour country, the Foreign Office (FO) called on the international community to “dissuade India from its disproportionate arms buildup which could also lead to an arms race in South Asia”. “The world is already a witness to the bellicose and irresponsible rhetoric by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in pursuit of a revisionist agenda in the neighbourhood,” said FO Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui during her weekly press briefing.

Farooqui observed that “according to some former senior Indian officials and several international publications […] Rafale jets are dual-capable systems that can also be modified as nuclear weapon delivery platforms”.

The FO statement noticed that it is well-established that India continues to expand and modernise its nuclear arsenal both in terms of type and number of delivery systems. “Besides, India has nuclearised the Indian Ocean and continues to increase the readiness of its arsenal through measures such as canisterisation of missile systems.”

“It is disturbing to note that India continues to amass military capabilities beyond its genuine security requirement. According to credible and reputable international research institutes, India is now the second-largest arms importer in the world,” added Farooqui.

The spokesperson stated that Pakistan has been con-

sistently highlighting “the risks of massive Indian arms buildup as well as India’s offensive security doctrine and force postures, which are adversely affecting strategic stability in South Asia”.

According to the FO, this arms buildup is being aided and abetted through a policy of exemptions, waivers and supply of advanced equipment, technology and weapons for narrow commercial interests.

“Such arms transfers also violate the objectives of various export control regimes on preventing destabilising accumulations of arms in various regions including where there exist outstanding conflicts and disputes.”

“Transfer of advanced systems, where there is an open intention of conversion into nuclear delivery platforms, calls into question the commitment of international suppliers to non-proliferation commitments.” The FO reiterated that Pakistan remains open to consideration of measures for crisis management, risk reduction, and strategic restraint. “While remaining opposed to any arms race in South Asia, Pakistan cannot remain oblivious to these developments and remains confident of its ability to thwart any ill-considered act of aggression,” it said.

CONTINUED SUBJUGATION IN HELD KASHMIR: The FO noted that Thursday marks the 360th day of the continued subjugation and brutalisation of the Kashmiri people in Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary in Sialkot, targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-calibre mortars and automatic weapons continue unabated, recalled Farooqui.

She condemned restrictions imposed by Indian authorities on Eidul Azha prayers across held Kashmir.

PIA hires European planes, foreign pilots to restore UK operation KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Thursday announced plans to partially restore flight operations for the United Kingdom (UK). The PIA flights will be partially restored from August 14 and passengers would be able to travel via direct flights to London, Manchester, and Birmingham. According to details, the national flag carrier has hired planes from European companies along with foreign pilots to facilitate the passengers. The decision was taken after fares for UK flights from private airlines saw an unprecedented hike in the wake of the ban on national flag carrier’s flight operation. The fares are likely to return to normal after the resumption of PIA flight operations. A spokesman for the national flag-carrier said that the flight schedule for the UK flights would be announced soon after Eid-ul-Azha. The announcement of the PIA came soon after British Airways on Thursday announced to resume flight operations for Pakistan. TLTP

on Mount Arafat, pilgrims will head toward an area called Muzdalifa, about 5.5 miles west of Mount Arafat.

In Muzdalifa, pilgrims rest and traditionally pick up pebbles that will be used for a symbolic stoning of the devil and casting away of evil. This year, however, the pebbles have been prepackaged and sterilised.

The final ritual takes place over three to four days in Mina, about 12 miles east of Mecca. The final days of Hajj coincide with Eidul Azha, or the festival of sacrifice, celebrated by Muslims worldwide.

Pakistan welcomes Eid ceasefire announcement by Afghan Taliban ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has welcomed the Taliban’s announcement of a three-day ceasefire in Afghanistan during Eidul Azha, starting from July 31. The Taliban, in a brief statement issued through their spokesperson on Tuesday, had directed the militants to observe a cease-fire during the three days of Eid. Commenting upon the announcement Thursday, the Foreign Office called it a “positive development”. “We believe this is a positive development towards advancing the goal of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan,” the FO in a statement issued Thursday. The statement expressed hope that stakeholders will take steps to further implement the historic, Islamabad-brokered peace deal which ultimately led to the long-sought intraAfghan dialogue. The FO said Pakistan remains committed to a “peaceful, stable, democratic, prosperous and united Afghanistan, at peace with itself and with its neighbours”. The ceasefire announcement also earned appreciation from Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq Khan, prime minister’s special representative for Afghanistan. “Pakistan welcomes both the ceasefire announced by the Taliban for Eidul Azha and the ceasefire announced by [the] Afghanistan government in response,” he tweeted. STAFF REPORT

Trump raises possibility of delaying US election WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Thursday raised the possibility of delaying the nation’s November presidential election despite its date being enshrined in the country’s constitution, drawing immediate objections from Democrats. It was not clear if Trump was serious and any such move would require action by the US Congress, which holds the power to set the timing of elections. Trump, without evidence, repeated his claims of mail-in voter fraud and raised the question of a delay, writing: “delay the election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has cast doubt on the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, which have been used in far greater numbers in primary elections amid the coronavirus pandemic. He has also made unsubstantiated allegations that voting will be rigged and has refused to say he would accept official election results if he lost. AgEnciES

India’s Reliance takes over ExxonMobil as world’s 2nd most valuable energy company BENGALURU AgEnciES

India’s Reliance Industries has taken over from America’s largest energy company ExxonMobil as the world’s second most valuable energy company after a stock run that saw its market capitalisation rise to a record high of over $189 billion.

According to a report published by Oil Price, Reliance, an Indian multinational conglomerate saw its shares increase by 45.6 per cent in the year to date compared to ExxonMobil’s -36.8 per cent return which reduced its market capitalisation to $183.6 billion.

Reliance Industries is now India’s first company to cross a market capitalisation of $150 billion and the 46th most valuable company in the world. Saudi Arabia’s Aramco remains the world’s most valuable company with a market capitalisation of $1.76 trillion.

Currently, 80 per cent of Reliance revenue comes from its energy business. However, Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani plans to grow the company’s digital and retail arms. The company’s diversification into non energy businesses has helped it clock in a net profit of Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore. Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk

about $5.3 billion in FY19. In comparison, the secondplaced Indian Oil Corp. registered a net profit of only about $2.3 billion in FY19.

Earlier on Thursday, Reliance Industries reported that its June-quarter profit jumped 31 per cent, as the Indian conglomerate booked a substantial one-time gain from global oil major BP’s investment in its fuel retail business. Reliance, led by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, said its consolidated profit rose to 132.33 billion rupees ($1.77 billion) in the three months to June 30, from 101.04 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected 74.57 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv data. It was not immediately clear if the figures were comparable.

Reliance booked a one-time gain of 49.66 billion rupees ($663 million) during the quarter, reflecting BP’s deal to forge a fuel retailing joint venture with the Mumbai-headquartered firm last year.

However, revenue from operations at India’s largest company by market value slumped nearly 44 per cent to 912.38 billion rupees, hurt by losses in the company’s oil refining business as coronavirus lockdowns slammed global energy demand.