Epaper – June 7 ISB 2020

CMYK

7 June, 2020 I 15 Shawwal-ul-Mubarak, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol X No 338 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

97 dead in reCord single-day sPike cdwP cuts ml-1 as PM reiterates ‘sMart loCkdown’ cost by $2bn, seeks g g

Imran says PakIstan ‘PIoneered’ smart lockdown aPProach urges masses to adhere to soPs to contaIn covId-19 sPread

ISLAMABAD

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staff report

rIme minister Imran khan has reiterated that the only solution to tackle the covid-19 pandemic is to implement a “smart lockdown” and adhere to standard operating procedures (soPs), as the country witnessed at least 97 deaths and 4,734 new cases in a record single-day spike on saturday. “a lockdown means collapse of the economy & in poorer countries a steep rise in poverty, crushing the poor as happened in modi’s lockdown in India,” Pm Imran tweeted. “only solution as world has discovered is smart lockdown which allows for economic activity with soPs. we are amongst pioneers of this approach. I appeal to civil society, media, ulema & our tiger force to create awareness amongst the public of

covId19’s severity & the need to strictly observe soPs.” he also shared a video of a private tv channel report, depicting the dilemma faced by the federal government. “this video shows the dilemma confronting our govt today: on the one hand we have the masses who are not taking the covId19 pandemic seriously & on the other hand, understandably, we have our frontline doctors & health professionals, who are at great risk,” he said and criticised the elites for demanding complete lockdown, saying that their income would remain unaffected regardless. “some of the elite wanting a lockdown — the elite who have the privilege of spacious homes & income unaffected by fallout of lockdown.” on friday, the premier ruled out the imposition of another lockdown in the country.

“Pakistan cannot go back to another

lockdown. we can’t afford it,” the premier said in a televised address to the corona relief tiger force. “that’s why we need you [tiger force] to spread awareness [about covid-19 precautionary measures],” he added. the prime minister maintained that if the force succeeded in convincing citizens into following covid-19 guidelines, the rate at which the infection was spreading would slow down. “coronavirus will spread. you can’t stop it from spreading,” he said, adding that the lockdowns across the world had only exacerbated conditions for the poor. the prime minister also defended the government’s decision to keep mosques open, maintaining that no virus cases were traced back to them. “we were the first muslim country which said we will not close our mosques and carry on taraweeh prayers,” he said.

ASAD UMAR URGES TRADERS TO ADOPT SOPS: earlier on saturday, Planning, development and special Initiatives minister asad umar told a press conference at the national command and operation centre (ncoc) that the two most essential components to slow down the pandemic were to follow precautionary measures advised by medical experts and to bring changes in everyday lifestyle. the minister was hopeful that the nation will show the same discipline as before by taking precautionary measures and following standard operating procedures (soPs) as the country completes 100 days of virus infections.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Bilawal accuses centre of sabotaging sindh govt’s covid-19 measures STORY ON PAGE 03

ecnec’s approval

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source says govt Intends to collaBorate wIth PrIvate enterPrIses on some PortIons of raIlways track ISLAMABAD Ghulam abbas

with a major cut in the name of “cost rationalisation” for the main line-1 (ml-I) project under the chinaPakistan economic corridor (cPec), the government has revised the cost of the mega project to $7.2 billion from an estimated $9.2 billion. the reduction was made after threadbare discussion by the central development working Party (cdwP) on the project in its meeting on saturday. the revised Pc-1 features a downward revision in the overall cost. although the ministry of Planning and development has not shared the details of the Pc-1, sources claimed that the government intended to complete some of the portions of the railway line on a public-private partnership basis. “the chinese-funded mega railway project was deferred in the cdwP meeting held in april due to the ministry’s insistence to bring down the cost. the Pc-1 of the project was tabled again for discussion after reduction of at least $2bn in the original cost of the project,” said an insider. the mega railway line project is the only project declared strategically important by china and Pakistan. however, the world Bank linked the success of the project to bringing governance reforms in the railways and warned that the project’s debt servicing was not sustainable. the cdwP in its last meeting had raised serious objections over the financial and technical working of the project. according to the min-

istry, the results of the financial and economic analysis provided in the Pc-I, based on total cash flow, were misleading.

Besides, the sponsors needed to provide fresh analyses and all the required details of incremental economic and financial costs and also determine the financial and economic viability of the project.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

96,445

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

97

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

SINDH:

PUNJAB:

32,581 1,974

36,364

35,308

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

13,001 331/897

6,221

4,323

02

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

NEWS

ReHman malIK denIes ameRICan bloggeR’s ‘sHameful’ RaPe allegatIons CYNTHIA RITCHIE CLAIMS EX-INTERIOR MINISTER RAPED HER AT HOUSE IN MINISTERS ENCLAVE IN 2011 COURT SUMMONS BLOGGER, FIA, PTA ON PPP’S COMPLAINT ISLAMABAD

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STAFF REPORT

ORMER interior minister and senior leader of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Rehman Malik on Saturday denied American blogger Cynthia Ritchie’s rape allegation against him, calling it “baseless, shameful, and inappropriate”.

In a statement, the PPP leader’s spokesman said that the purpose behind the allegation was to damage Malik’s reputation.

In a video broadcast live on Facebook a day ago, Ritchie alleged that in 2011, when the party was in power, the PPP senator had raped her while two others — former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and former health minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin — had “manhandled” her at a separate occasion.

“The US woman made the inappropriate allegations against Rehman Malik upon the instigation of a certain individual or a

group,” said the spokesman.

Malik had always raised his voice against Indian atrocities in occupied Kashmir and against India’s mistreatment of its own minority Muslims, he said. The spokesman also said the PPP senator always spoke up in favour of women’s rights.

The spokesman alleged the accusation against the PPP leader came after Malik, as chairman of the Senate Standing Committee for Interior, took notice of claims made against the late Benazir Bhutto.

Ritchie’s tweets some time ago about Benazir Bhutto had not gone well with the PPP leadership, and had sparked a social media spat between her and various PPP leaders. The feud came to a head on Friday after Ritchie took to Facebook to level the several serious allegations against the party’s senior leadership.

Following the startling video, in a subsequent textual post on Facebook, Ritchie said that the alleged rape incident had occurred at

KP flour millers protest ban on wheat transportation from Punjab

the accused’s residence in Islamabad’s Ministers’ Enclave in 2011, “around the [time of the] OBL (Osama Bin Laden) incident”.

However, she said she did tell someone about the incident at the US Embassy in 2011, but “due to ‘fluid’ situation and ‘complex’ relations” between Washington and Islamabad, she said the response “was less than adequate”. In response to Ritchie’s claims about approaching the US embassy after the alleged incidents, a spokesperson for the embassy, said: “The American Embassy provides adequate services and support to all Americans in Pakistan.”

“We cannot comment on the affairs of

Photo shows ex-PM Nawaz Sharif taking stroll in park

PESHAWAR STAFF REPORT

Owners of flour mills in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) protested on Saturday a ban on transportation of wheat from Punjab. Punjab has barred mill owners from other provinces from purchasing wheat from farmers in the province since the start of May. KP flour mill owners and workers staged a demonstration over the ban in Peshawar’s Saddar area. They accused the bureaucracy in Punjab of imposing an unconstitutional ban on the transportation of wheat. The protesters demanded immediate removal of the ban. The shortage of wheat has also resulted in a hike in flour prices in KP. The price of a 20kg flour bag has gone up by Rs150 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the past week. After the increase in price, the 20 kg flour bag that used to be available at Rs920 now costs Rs1,070. KP is heavily dependent on Punjab for the procurement of wheat. The consumption of wheat in KP is up to 4,500,000 metric tonnes, according to the provincial food department. But only 1,100,000 to 1,300,000 metric tonnes of wheat is produced locally.

IHC irked over lack of implementation of court’s orders ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday lamented the lack of implementation of the court’s orders by the government. The remarks came during a contempt of court hearing for not implementing the court’s decision to end environmental pollution as officials representing the federal secretaries did not appear. Expressing the court’s anger over non-appearance of representatives of the federal secretaries, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah summoned Home Secretary Azam Suleiman, CDA Chairman Amir Ali Ahmed and the environment secretary next week. Justice Minallah said that the federal government and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) have no intention of keeping the environment clean. “Work is done for the rich and certain people,” he said, “Nothing for the common people, even if someone is dying.” The chief justice questioned the CDA representative as to why the CDA had abolished wildlife sanctuaries. “Aren’t you going to be answerable to Allah?”

Justice Minallah asked. “Which sector was created for the weaker sections in the master plan? There is nothing in this city for the labourer who built it.” The court remarked that the CDA was prevented from allotting plots.

IHC asked how many plots have been allotted so far.

Justice Minallah said that Asad Umar himself was part of the commission which prepared its report in 2015. “No ministry has talked about it to date. Whoever has done a good job in this country is of no value. Work is only done for the powerful,” the chief justice said. The court adjourned the hearing of the case till next week.

citizens located in Pakistan in a personal capacity,” added the spokesperson.

Meanwhile, responding to the allegations against him, former premier Gilani asked: “Can a prime minister ever commit such an act at the Aiwan-e-Sadr?”

“What was the lady levelling such accusations doing at the Aiwan-e-Sadr?” he continued, adding: “Who gave her the right to accuse politicians like this?”

He said responding to such statements would be “contemptuous”.

He noted that Ritchie had recently levelled several accusations at former Pakistani prime minister and late party leader Benazir

Bhutto and “no one can tolerate such accusations”. “I am not worried about what was said about me. I am more concerned about the baseless accusations levelled at Shaheed Benazir.”

“Ali Haider Gillani and Ali Qasim have approached the court in this regard,” he said.

JUDGE SUMMONS RITCHIE, FIA, PTA: Meanwhile, an Islamabad judge, who is also a justice of peace, has summoned Cynthia Ritchie, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on June 9 in relation to a complaint filed by a Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) local leader.

Raja Shakeel Ahmed, who heads PPP in Islamabad, had filed a complaint at Secretariat Police station but no action was taken, the court was told. Similarly, party officebearers from the four provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan also registered complaints with FIA and PTA. Senator Sehar Kamran of PPP had also complained to the DG FIA and asked a few questions like what kind of visa was issued to Cynthia and on whose agenda she is staying in Pakistan.

According to the CrPC, the Justice of Peace is a district and sessions judge or an additional district and sessions judge nominated by the former assigned the additional task of keeping peace in the area.

The judge “on receipt of information of the occurrence of any incident involving a breach of the peace or of the commission of any offence within such local area” will make inquiries into the matter. His powers extend to handling complaints, issuance of recommendations to the duty police officers regarding registration of criminal cases, and transfer of investigation from one officer to another.

NEWS DESK Another photo of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, this time with his son Hasan Nawaz taking a stroll in a London park has surfaced online.

According to reports, doctors have recommended Nawaz take an hour-long walk every day.

Last week a photo of the PML-N leader enjoying tea with family members outside his son’s office near Hyde

Park had gone viral. The photo, seen circulating on social media, showed Nawaz having tea with his grandchildren in the garden of Hasan Nawaz’s Hyde Park Place office.

This was the first time that Nawaz had left his apartment to go out in public after the coronavirus outbreak hit London. As soon as the photo circulated on the media, a war of words broke out between PML-N leaders and PTI ministers and advisers.

Responding to the criticism, Maryam Nawaz Sharif said that her father’s picture on social media was not meant for publicity but aimed at humiliating him and like every time the plan failed.”

Maryam said that those who could “force their way into the ICU” and try to take pictures of her unconscious mother, they can take pictures of ladies and children of Nawaz Sharif’s family. “If it was such a good deed, then why did you hide like a coward?” she asked the anonymous person who first took the picture.

Nawaz has been in London since November last year after the Lahore High Court (LHC) gave permission to the former prime minister to travel to UK for treatment.

PM admits misquoting Iqbal after social media ridicule NEWS DESK Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Saturday added to his list of gaffes, including wrong facts, attributions and geographical misinformation by misquoting national poet and philosopher Allama Iqbal which he later corrected but not before social media users noticed.

Taking to micro-blogging website Twitter, the prime minister shared an apparent WhatsApp forward image to his nearly 12 million followers.

It may be noted here that WhatsApp is notorious for the spread of false and doctored information.

“This poem by Iqbal reflects how I try to lead my life.

I urge our youth to understand and absorb the poem of the great Iqbal and I guarantee them that it will release their great God-given potential that we all possess as His great-

est creation Ashraf ul Mukhluqat,” he tweeted along with the image. Twitter users were quick to point out the mistake telling the premier to fact-check before posting anything on social media, with “Iqbal” becoming a top trend on Twitter in Pakistan. Former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani said that the quote was not from Iqbal or any of his book.

“Not every Whatsapp message is to be believed,” was the rejoinder from journalist Naila Inayat.

Journalist Hamid Mir, however, came to the rescue and pointed out that the poem was penned by Assad Maroof. It may be mentioned here that the premier has claimed that Allama Iqbal is his favourite poet on numerous occasions. After the backlash, he corrected himself saying he may have posted the wrong facts but wanted to express the same thing as the poem he posted.

'72% Pakistanis believe Covid-19 not man-made' ISLAMABAD APP

Pakistanis are the strongest believers in the world that coronavirus is not being spread deliberately, according to a survey report published in the British weekly The Economist in its latest edition and shared by President Dr Arif Alvi on his Twitter handle on Saturday. According to the survey, conducted in March this year, around 72% of the Pakistani samples believed that no foreign force was spreading the virus deliberately rather it was something that emerged naturally. Only 23% believed in the deliberate spread of the coronavirus, it added. The survey was conducted in 28 countries, representing all regions of the world, including Switzerland, Germany, the UK, the USA, Japan, India, Malaysia, Russia, France, Italy, Korea, Turkey and others. In his tweet, the president urged the countrymen to believe in and implement the anti-virus SOPs, just like the way they believed that the virus was not spread deliberately. “If we believe in reality, we must believe [and] implement [the] SOPs. Wear masks, wash hands [and] keep the social distance. Every one of us,” the president advised.

Moot stresses better training facilities for bankers KARACHI MEIRYUM ALI

More resources and efforts need to be allocated on training bankers, according to former Standard Chartered Pakistan (SCBPL) CEO and president Shahzad Dada.

Dada, who had resigned from SCBPL earlier in May, is to join as the incoming president and CEO at United Bank Ltd (UBL), with effect from 1st July 2020.

The comments were made in a webinar on the banking sector titled “Bank-

ing, Finance and Economic Growth”, organized by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).

Joining him in the discussion was Atf Bajwa, the CEO of Bank Alfalah; Zubayr Soomro, the chairman of the National Bank of Pakistan; Salim Raza, former governor of the State Bank of Pakistan; and Alman Aslam, former Citi-banker.

The talk was moderated by economist Nadeem Haque, the current vice chancellor of PIDE. “Training and development is not something that comes naturally to us, and the investment in that field has been quite

CMYK

feeble,” said Dada.

However, he did praise the SBP for attempting to focus on this problem area.

He also noted that different banks had their own training centres, which meant economies of scale could not be achieved.

Bajwa reiterated that while foreign banks had initially stood out in terms of creating talent, recent efforts to reduce costs had adversely affected training budgets.

“I don't think there is a shortage of talent…the critical factor is in retaining that talent, both domestically and over-

seas,” said Soomro.

He also said it was imperative to discourage the emphasis on dual nationalities, when it came to attracting talent, particularly for public sector banks.

Elsewhere, Aslam remarked that there was no incentive for banks to train younger people. This was true particularly for the next few years, as banks were set on making huge capital gains through their Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) portfolio. This meant that there was no incentive to build new lines of businesses, reducing the need for training.

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

bIlawal aCCuses CentRe of sabotagIng sIndH govt’s CovId-19 measuRes PPP CHIEF SAYS PM IMRAN CREATING CONFUSION AMONG MASSES REGARDING CORONAVIRUS KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Saturday held the federal government responsible for the coronavirus spread in Pakistan and said the Sindh government’s efforts in this regard were deliberately sabotaged by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership.

Addressing reporters here, Bilawal criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for creating confusion among the masses regarding the coronavirus.

“Coronavurs was deliberately spread in Pakistan. We wanted to save the people of this country from the virus but our efforts

were sabotaged by the Centre and the ruling party,” said the PPP chairperson, adding that the federal government opposed the PPP government tooth and nail through misinformation, character assassination and deliberate sabotage.

“Our PM says coronavirus has spread and we have to live with it,” Bilawal said, adding, “the disinformation is currently the biggest challenge that we are facing.”

The PPP chairman said the provincial government’s efforts were challenged at every forum and now we see that Pakistan’s per capita daily mortality rate is ahead of India. “We have more cases than China, who is responsible for this,” Bilawal asked.

While indirectly referring to a Supreme

Covid-19 recovery rate in sindh at 49pc, sC told ISLAMABAD: The government of Sindh on Saturday informed the Supreme Court that the ratio of the patients recovered from Covid-19 in Sindh has reached 49 per cent from 21 per cent.

The governments of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa submitted their replies with regard to the suo moto case in the apex court. The Sindh government assured the court regarding payment of salaries to sanitary staff in its report presented to the court. The chief minister has approved Rs140 million amount for payment of wages to sanitary workers, according to the report. Moreover, a summary of Rs239m, for arrears of salaries has been sent for approval and outstanding wages will be paid to the workers till the next hearing of the case. The sanitary workers would also be provided protective kits in the province, the report said. The report said that the ratio of recovered coronavirus patients in Sindh has reached 49 per cent with effective measures taken for the recuperation of the patients in the province. According to the report, the health risk allowance has been approved for doctors and other medical staff. The number of coronavirus patients has increased by 19,000 in Sindh from May 13 to June 03, according to the report. The capacity of ICU beds has been increased from 203 to 226, it said, adding that 67 ICU beds are still available in the province.

“Per day testing capacity of the province has increased to 8,650, while 1,500 more doctors, 2382 nurses and 500 health technicians have been recruited,” the report said. INP

Court (SC) order in which the authorities were directed to adopt a uniformed approach towards coronavirus, Bilawal said the court’s directives limited province’s freedom to take independent decisions.

“Our hospitals are now filling, someone has to take responsibility.”

Bilawal said, “they [federal government] should have listened to the doctors who are working day and night on the frontlines.”

He demanded security allowance for the doctors and healthcare professionals who are putting their lives in danger to treat the COVID-19 patients.

Hospitals in Karachi, Lahore running out of space as cases rise LAHORE ANAdOLU AgENcY

With hospitals overwhelmed and a sharp rise in the number of deaths, Pakistan’s delicate health system is bracing for an imminent peak of novel coronavirus cases.

Numbers here have already surpassed China’s, the origin of the virus.

Government officials claim the situation is “under control,” but health authorities believe the already stretched health system is unable to handle the lurking influx of Covid-19 patients. In the country’s two most populous cities of Karachi and Lahore, hospitals are already struggling because of a sharp increase in Covid-19 patients in recent weeks. Some major private hospitals are turning away patients because of a shortage of beds.

“Most of the hospital beds have already been taken by patients, limiting our ability to handle the influx of Covid-19 cases, mainly in the big cities,” Dr Faiyaz Alam, an office-bearer of Pakistan Islamic Medical Association (PIMA), a nationwide body of medical professionals, told Anadolu Agency.

In Karachi, home to more than 15 mil-

lion people, and one of the worst-hit cities in the country, 15 government, private and charitable hospitals are dealing with coronavirus patients.

The number of ventilators in those hospitals, according to official figures, are 136. Just 539 beds and 200 ventilators are available for coronavirus patients in Lahore, according to Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid.

Punjab and Sindh, which make up more than 71,000 of the country’s 95,458 cases, have slightly more than 14,000 beds for coronavirus patients at state-run and private hospitals.

“Dozens of [Covid-19] patients are contacting us on a daily basis seeking admission to the hospitals. But we cannot help them as the hospitals are already running short of beds, both in general wards and the ICUs [intensive care units],” said Alam.

“If the number of cases continue to surge at the current pace, I am afraid hospitals across the country will not be able to handle the situation,” he added.

Dr Muhammad Shamvil Ashraf, an official of the Indus Hospital in Karachi, confirmed his facility was already running at “peak capacity”.

Shibli Faraz urges political parties to act responsibly in corona fight ISLAMABAD APP

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz has urged political parties to act responsibly and avoid blame game to deal with the unprecedented challenge of coronavirus pandemic.

Addressing a media briefing on Saturday along with Minister for Communications Murad Saeed, the information minister said that the government has adopted a comprehensive roadmap to handle the coronavirus challenge which is being appreciated at world level.

The minister said despite the economic constraint, the government gave a mammoth stimulus package of Rs1.2 trillion to provide cushion and support to every segment of the society affected by the contagion.

He appreciated the role of National Command and Operation Centre, doctors and paramedics in dealing with the pandemic. Speaking on the occasion, Murad Saeed said that the PTI government is vigilant and taking allout measures to deal with the corona pandemic.

He said that coronavirus is a pandemic which has affected the whole world including developed countries and “we are fighting with it with our limited resources.”

He said the measures of the government in containing the pandemic and providing relief to the corona-affected people have been appreciated by the world community.

Answering the PPP’s leadership’s diatribe, he said that after 18th Amendment, health is provincial subject but still the federal government is trying best to facilitate provinces in dealing with the corona pandemic.

Murad Saeed said that the PTI government made all decisions keeping in view the corona-affected people’s miseries and provided a support package for industrial sector and the people who have lost their jobs.

Murad Saeed said that it is a matter of great satisfaction that the country has domestically started production of sanitizers and masks and now it can export personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks and sanitizers. He regretted that the health sector was neglected in the past but the present government has now enhanced its capacity in a short span of time.

“The number of patients are growing way higher than the number of beds.

Sometimes, we do not have space to keep the patients in the emergency [ward],” he said. “At this stage, my only advice is follow the safety guidelines because if the numbers continue to grow like this, we won’t be able to handle them.”

The country’s Covid-19 tally has reached 95,458 with 1,954 deaths, landing it at the 17th spot worldwide in terms of coronavirus cases.

Pakistan is the worst hit country by the pandemic in the region after India.

Apart from several parliamentarians, dozens of doctors and paramedics have died of the coronavirus.

But doctors, who have been opposing the lifting of a prolonged lockdown, fear the worst is about to come.

“June and July are very crucial as we expect a sharp rise in already fast-increasing coronavirus cases in the country,” according to Qaisar Sajjad, secretary-general of Pakistan Medical Association.

“I don’t foresee good days ahead visa-vis coronavirus cases. They are going to shoot up in coming weeks,” he said, cautioning that the country’s already fragile

NEWS

03

He [prime minister] never addressed concerns of those at the frontlines or those labour union leaders, Bilawal said. “They talk of labourers but only meet businessmen and industrialists.”

Taking strong exception to the Pakistan Steel Mills crisis, Bilawal questioned the rationale behind the sacking of thousands of workers during the pandemic. “How can they lay off these labourers when the Sindh government has imposed a ban on firing employees?”

The Sindh government won’t let this happen, Bilawal said.

“We will challenge this injustice,” he said, adding, “the federal government has abandoned poor labours of this country.”

LOCUST ATTACK: The PPP chairman also criticised the Centre for not helping the provincial government on locusts attacks.

“Sindh chief minister has taken up the issue but has received no response,” he said.

He said that this is a food security issue that we are facing right now in the country.

“For the first time in more than two decades, we have seen such massive locusts attacks.”

Reiterating opposition on the constitution of 10th NFC Award, he said that Sindh government has raised objections in a letter written on May 14.

“The Centre’s message to Azad Jammu Kashmir is dangerous.” He said the amendment is needed in the Constitution if GilgitBaltistan is to be given the provincial status.

health system might collapse following the expected rise in Covid-19 cases.

In addition to choking health facilities, the shortage of trained medical staff is adding to the worsening situation, Sajjad observed.

“Over 2,200 doctors, nurses, and technicians have already gone into self-isolation after getting infected by the virus across the country. Young doctors with no required experience are being pitched to handle ICUs, and ventilators in several hospitals to bridge this gap, which is not good at all,” he said.

Salman Haseeb, president of Young Doctors Association (YDA) Punjab, echoed Sajjad’s views.

“We are expecting a spike in numbers of patients in mid-June, there is a chance where we have to choose between saving the life of a patient or a doctor,” he said.

The government recently launched a mobile application that provides information about the availability of ventilators in hospitals. Dr Asad Aslam, a member of the Punjab Corona Experts Advisory Group, said the government is increasing the number of beds and ventilators in state-run hospitals following a possible spike in Covid-19 cases.

“With the increment in numbers of patients, we are increasing the ventilator capacity. “We have reserved 200 ventilators for critical patients in Lahore alone and will add 100 more by June 30,” Aslam, who is also the head of state-run Mayo Hospital Lahore, told Anadolu Agency.

WEATHER UPDATES SUNDAY

13 public transport vehicles fined, 26 impounded for violating Covid-19 SOPs RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Regional Transport Authority (RTA) Secretary Mehr Ghulam Abbas has conducted raids at various intercity transport routes and imposed fines besides impounding public transport over violation of coronavirus related SOPs. The RTA Secretary along with others officials conducted raids and inspected 39 public transport vehicles during which 13 vehicles were issued challans and 26 vehicles were impounded. He examined a number of passengers on board and forced implementation of government instructions to keep social distance during travelling. STAFF REPORT

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Opp shOuld avOid pOlitics during pandemic, says Kp cm’s adviser PESHAWAR STAFF REPORT

Advisor to KP CM on Information and Public Relations Ajmal Khan Wazir has advised opposition to stay apolitical during the pandemic situation saying that All Party Conference (APC) of the opposition parties was meant to point scoring.

He stated that the current situation demanded unity among the political parties not point scoring.

Addressing a briefing here Saturday, he said that the provincial government was taking concrete steps against coronavirus under the leadership of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan.

Responding to the opposition's allparty conference, he said that the current situation demanded national unity and not politics.

While talking about repatriation of overseas Pakistanis, he said that the

government was taking solid steps in order to resolve problems being faced by overseas Pakistanis, adding that flight operations from Bacha Khan International Airport had been resumed upon the CM’s special request while bodies of the Pakistanis who breathed their last abroad were also being brought back home for burials.

He informed that over 4,000 overseas Pakistanis were brought back to the country between the last two months on 23 special flights from various Gulf countries where more will soon return and added that 81,000 people returned to the country two months before the lockdown was announced.

He informed that passengers were screened and those testing positive were being quarantined where the rest were sent homes adding quarantine centers were established in Khyber district for Pakistanis returning from Afghanistan.

Ajmal Wazir said no one else was

more concerned about development of the tribal districts than Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, adding that the process of rapid development of merged

districts was underway under the leadership of Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.

“In the forthcoming budget, we will allocate significant amount for the development of integrated districts,” he informed.

The advisor once again appreciated the services of doctors and other medical staff by saying that doctors and medical staff were fighting against coronavirus despite limited resources.

“Doctors and medical staff are heroes and their services will always be remembered,” he said.

He said that businesses were allowed to operate under SOPs and the district administration will take action if the SOPs were violated and appealed to the business community to make sure of the implementation of precautionary measures.

He said that prime minister was always concerned about the poor and working class which is why he had relaxed the lockdown.

AJK president denies allegations of destruction of Buddhist sites in GB ISLAMABAD APP

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Saturday dismissed Indian allegations of destruction of Buddhist sites in Gilgit Baltistan (GB), saying that vicious blame game was a part of India’s attempt to divert attention from its own crimes against humanity.

“The ruling BJP has, however, pulled down the thousands of years old Babri mosque in India, reduced Charare Sharif shrine to ashes in IOK, ruined the holy Golden Temple in Amritsar and killed hundreds of innocent Sikhs, as well as destroying places of worship of Christians in different parts of India,” he reminded.

In a video message, he said that before expressing fake sympathy with the followers of Buddhism, the Indian rulers should search their souls, and must remember that the present Pakistani territory was once the abode of Buddha culture and the Buddha heritage was still preserved in Gandhara, Mohenjo-Daro, and Harappa and many other places.

“We reject BJP’s phoney concern on “Indian” Bud-

dhist heritage in GB. Pakistan has been the cradle of a Buddhist civilization for centuries. The occupier has the gall to show fake anger to hide its crimes in IOJK and destruction of Muslim heritage in India,” Khan maintained.

He asserted that the Gilgit Baltistan region was on the ancient Silk route which was the only source of trade and cultural bonds among China, Central Asia and the East Asian countries over the centuries, and added that the area was part of Jammu and Kashmir state, and the people of this region love Pakistan and are emotionally attached to their heritage. The AJK president asserted that the government of Pakistan also extends full cooperation to the people and government of GB for the preservation of ancient and historical heritage and went on to say that the hearts of the people of Azad Kashmir and GB throbs together as if they were one body.

"There is no difference of opinion between us regarding the preservation of Buddhist heritage," he added. Describing the Indian allegations of destruction of Buddhist sites as a provocation of the Indian government, the AJK president said the false allegations were designed to hide India's crimes against humanity in In-

dian Occupied Kashmir, and the hate campaign of RSS against the minorities in India.

“The BJP and RSS, the neo-fascist forces dominating India, believe that desecration and destruction of Babri Mosque, attack Golden Temple and arson of most revered Charar Sharif Shrine was an act of piety and a religious duty. They belong to the Stone Age. Civilisation has evolved,” Masood Khan added.

He said Narendra Modi's party had declared in its election manifesto that it will take all necessary measures to saffronise and impose a Hindu nationalist agenda onto Indian history and to fulfil this agenda, Modi introduced a black citizenship law in India and is also taking practical steps to turn the Muslim majority of occupied Kashmir into a minority," he added.

Sardar Masood Khan said that stiff resistance against the hegemonic moves of Modi is being offered in India and occupied Kashmir.

"India can keep on trying as they cannot create cracks in deep bonds among the people of GB and Kashmir with Pakistan, China and other nations though unfounded allegations," he concluded.

Rawalpindi Ring Road to materialise after years of delay RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) on Saturday organised a seminar in Gymkhana Club to share the proposed 'Rawalpindi Ring Road Project' with the business community, traders and other stakeholders of the twin cities. Addressing the participants, RDA Chairman Tariq Mehmood Murtaza highlighted the importance of ring road and gave the credit of the project to the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI), as the incumbent government initiated the project after a long wait.

He said after taking charge as the RDA chairman in October last year, he had put all his efforts to materialise this project, which is of vital importance for the city's growth. "In line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Rawalpindi Ring Road will set a new horizon for the city's development," he remarked. The RDA chairman said the establishment of special economic zones along the ring road would steer development and growth on modern town-planning practices, which would help change the region's skyline. "I firmly believe that the road will not only decongest the city but will also help control the unchecked urban sprawl, which has been afflicting the city for many decades," he said, requesting stakeholders to adhere to the 'land use plan' prepared for development along the road. STAFF REPORT

Inf(P) 1923/20

04 ISLAMABAD

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

NEWS

KP govt to FIrE ovEr 3,000 ContraCtual EMPloyEEs PESHAWAR

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AZIZ BUNERI

total of 3,541 employees, working on various development projects in the tribal districts for two decades on a contract basis, are likely to lose their jobs due to the unavailability of funds caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The employees are serving in different departments, such as livestock, agriculture, health, planning and development, minerals and the FATA Development Authority since 2001. According to sources, instead

of thousands of new recruitment in various departments, the provincial government is likely to lay off the existing staff.

The government has compiled lists of employees working in projects in various departments of the tribal districts. According to the list, a total of 1,855 employees are from the health department, 758 people are working on 31 projects pertaining to agriculture and livestock, 354 are employed in 20 projects regarding industry department, 315 official are part of 16 projects of planning and development department, two people are working on a maiden project of the finance department whereas

one person is part of the information department. All of them have been served one month’s notice.

Moreover, other employees who will be laid off belong to the irrigation department, local government department, mineral department, home department, FATA Development Authority, Zakat department, energy department and the sports department are being terminated.

Similarly, the closure of veterinary facilities could result in a loss of 280 employees. An employee working on the health department project told Pakistan Today that the current government had

97 dead in record single-day spike as PM reiterates ‘smart lockdown’ promised to create five million jobs before the elections.

On the one hand, the government is hiring people, on the other, it has started to fire experienced staff on a month’s notice.

“If the provincial government needs to recruit more people, the experienced people working in these projects should have been recruited on a priority basis,” he said.

According to sources, all these projects were run on federally administered funds before the integration of the tribal districts in the province. However, now after the merger, the KP government has allocated funds for the said projects.

Queen Elizabeth honours Pakistani volunteers with Commonwealth award iSLAmABAd APP

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth honoured two Pakistani volunteers with a ‘Commonwealth Points of Light Award’ during a phone call hosted by British High Commissioner Christian Turner. The award to Huzaifa Ahmad (Co-Founder and CEO Rizq) and Hassaan Irfan (Executive Director, Rizq), recognise their work in providing food security to local communities, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. “The call with Her Majesty The Queen also marked National Volunteering Week in the UK, an annual celebration of the power and contribution of volunteering,” read the official statement.

Social enterprise Rizq, which started as a university project in 2015 aimed at ensuring a hunger free Pakistan by distributing excess food to the most vulnerable. During the coronavirus pandemic and in the holy month of Ramazan, Huzaifa and Hassaan mobilised a network of over 3,000 volunteers to distribute over 2.2 million meals to across 23 cities. “Food is a fundamental need. For every human to reach his or her true potential it is important for this basic right to be accessible, affordable and available,” said CEO Rizq, Huzaifa felicitating the queen for recognising their efforts. “I would like to dedicate it to our amazing volunteers and Rizq heroes,” he added. Hassaan said: “We have more food than ever before yet more people than ever go hungry every day. We all have an individual responsibility to eliminate hunger – no one should go without a daily meal.” “This award is a tribute to the people of Pakistan, the work of volunteers in Pakistan, and our strong tradition of helping each other,’ he added. The British high commissioner said that it was an honour that the Queen Elizabeth recognised Rizq’s remarkable work to tackle food insecurity.

“Moments like this are examples of the profoundly positive relations between the UK, Pakistan and Commonwealth,” he added.

HUB: A large number of people hold a protest rally on Saturday seeking justice for Bramsh Baloch. ppi

Fazl demands larger NFC share for KP after merger of tribal areas PESHAWAR STAFF REPORT

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Saturday demanded that after the merger of the tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the province be provided a larger share of the 10th National Finance Commission (NFC) award and that the grant to provinces be more than the current 57.5 per cent.

He was addressing a press conference here after a multi-party conference.

The NFC is an economic programme whose purpose is to divide financial resources between the Centre and the provinces for five years. The 10th NFC was constituted on May 12.

The terms of reference this time include the Centre wanting the provinces to bear additional fiscal responsibilities as it fights to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

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Fazl said he “condemns the dragging in of issues like the NFC into the coronavirus response”.

“We do not accept a revision of the 18th Amendment,” he said. “A change brought to the 18th Amendment will be a threat to national unity and peace.”

He said that the current government had been “birthed out of rigging” and that it is “responsible for the spread of the virus”. Fazl said he regrets the “callousness” shown by the foreign minister toward the issues faced by overseas Pakistanis. He said all attendants of the multi-party conference demand the immediate return of bodies of the deceased awaiting repatriation abroad.

“The Peshawar airport must be opened to overseas Pakistanis and tickets that are accessible without currying someone’s favour must be issued,” he said. He also demanded that educa-

tional activities be allowed to resume.

Fazl said the province must be given Rs500bn under the AGN Kazi formula and after the merger of tribal territories, the security of people there be guaranteed. The Aftab Ghulam Nabi Kazi committee, named after and headed by the deputy chairman of the then Planning Commission, was formed in July 1985 to frame a formula for the calculation of the NHP (net hydel profit) to the provinces under Article 161(2) of the Constitution. Article 161 (2) of the Constitution states, “the net profits earned by the federal government or any undertaking established or administrated by the federal government from the bulk generation of power at hydro-electric station shall be paid to the province in which the hydro-electric station is located.”

Speaking of the Justice Qazi Faez Isa case, he said that the presidential reference is “based on ill-intent”.

ContinuEd fRom PAgE 01 He appealed to leaders of commerce chambers and markets across the country to follow SOPs. “I appeal to all people to show the same discipline as before. For several weeks we saw people showing discipline to quite an extent and following SOPs but it was set aside in last week before Eid.” “More than 1,900 precious lives have been lost in Pakistan, which shows the gravity of the situation,” he added. He also cautioned people to not forward unverified messages on WhatsApp, saying that they were “not doing anyone a favour by creating panic”.

He thanked frontline workers, including healthcare workers, policemen and staff at the Information Ministry for their services. “The government is increasing beds, ventilators, training doctors and paramedics so that our health system doesn’t collapse if cases rise.

Most of all, the government is focusing on how we can work together — all departments — to shore up our health system for best response,” Umar said. The minister said district administrations across the country have been given strict instructions to take strict action against those violating SOPs. More than 884 areas across the country have been under smart lockdown actions with more than 200,000 people impacted, the minister said.

He said work has been done to improve testing systems and now over 22,000 tests are being conducted daily. He said on February 26 when first cases emerged there were only eight laboratories capable of testing people in the country. Now, this number has increased to dozens, Umar added. He said the number of ventilators in the country has seen two-fold increases in four months. The minister said in addition scientific institutions of the country in collaboration with the private sector have started producing face masks and protective clothing.

Fawad tells Islamabad DC to refrain from spreading ‘unsubstantiated’ claims nEWS dESK Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Saturday admonished Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat for sharing “unsubstantiated information” concerning plasma donation by the recovered Covid-19 patients. The minister responded to a tweet from Shafqaat, which claimed: “If you have recovered from coronavirus you can donate your plasma at 10 day intervals. “Coronavirus patients are on ventilators. Their chances of recovery are improved by 80% with this [plasma] treatment.” Taking Shafqaat to task, Chaudhry said: “There is no such research to back your claim. [Government] officials must be very careful for making such observations.” “In Ministry of Science and Technology, we are keeping track of [international] and local research. [Such] claims are unsubstantiated,” he said. Earlier in the day, the head of the National Institute of Blood Disease & Bone Marrow Transplantation (NIBD & BMT) and hematologist, Dr Tahir Shamsi, said that plasma treatment was showing positive results.

CDWP cuts ML-1 cost by $2bn, seeks ECNEC’s approval ContinuEd fRom PAgE 01 However, during the CDWP meeting, which was chaired by Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Mohammad Jehanzeb Khan, the cost was brought down and the project was sent to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for approval.

In the past, Railway Minister Shaikh Rasheed Ahmed had claimed that the government intended to bring down railway projects’ cost to $6.2bn in the PC-1. “It’s my wish to further bring it down to $4.2bn.

I am the biggest supporter of CPEC, but I also want railways to bear minimum burden,” he had said after taking charge as railways minister in 2018.

ML-1 starts from Karachi, passes through Kotri/Hyderabad, Rohri, Multan, Lahore, and Rawalpindi and culminates in

Peshawar. The line is 1,872 km long, including the 55km-long Taxila-Havelian section and 91km-long Lodhran-Khanewal section.

The project envisages up-gradation of ML-1; the establishment of a dry port near Havelian Railway Station; up-gradation of Pakistan Railway Academy in Lahore; passenger facilities and development of important railway stations.

Meanwhile, the CDWP also approved 13 projects worth Rs36.18bn and recommended 4 projects worth Rs184bn to ECNEC for consideration.

During the meeting, two projects related to the energy sectors were approved.

The establishment of 132 kV Grid Station at Bin Qasim Industrial Park (BQIP) worth Rs1,493.10m was approved to provide uninterrupted power supply to the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Bin Qasim Industrial Park.

The second project ‘Replacement of LT Bare Conductor with ABC Cable in Peshawar, Khyber and Bannu Circle’ worth Rs2.8bn was also approved in the meeting.

Two projects related to Physical Planning and Housing were also presented on the occasion. The first project titled ‘Development of Ziarat Town, Balochistan’ was approved at Rs1.18bn. The project will focus on long term policies for planned development of the town keeping in view the current scenario and future requirements. The second project titled ‘Construction of New Campus of Pakistan Institute of Development Economics to function as an apex centre of Excellence for Research and Postgraduate Teaching Sector H-11/2 Islamabad’ worth Rs4.5bn was also approved.

Two projects related to Science & Technology were presented in the meeting. The first project titled ‘Establishment of the Uni-

versity of Turbat Phase-II’ worth Rs. 1.4bn and second project namely ‘Provision of Missing Facilities at the University of Swabi New Campus Site’ worth Rs1.3bn were approved.

In the projects related to Transport & Communications, the meeting approved ‘Construction of 10th Avenue from IJP Road to Khayaban-e-Iqbal Islamabad’ worth Rs1.1bn’.

Other projects, namely ‘Construction of Hosab-Awaran Khuzdar Section of M-8 project, Package -1 Hoshab – AwaranLenghth 146 km’ worth Rs. 26bn; ‘Construction of Peshawar Torkham Motorway Project and Link Road Connecting Motorway with N-5 and N55 as part of Khyber pass Economic Corridor Project’ worth Rs. 76bn and ‘Feasibility Study and Detailed Engineering Design of Construction of Swat motorway from Chakdara to Fatehpur phase -II’ worth Rs70bn were referred to ECNEC for further approval.

The CDWP approved five projects of Ministry of Railways which included ‘Rehabilitation and Dualization of Karachi Circular Railways’; ‘Rehabilitation of Track between Rehmani Nagar & Bakrani Road on Dadu-Habib Kot Section Sukkur Division phase -4’; ‘Rehabilitation of Track between Baruli & Sohan Bridge on Kundian Attock City Section Peshawar Division phase -1’.

It also approved recommissioning accidental diesel-electric locomotives and rehabilitation of railways track between Sama Satta Bahawalnagar on Sama Satta – Amruka Section. It also approved two projects related to Water Resources.

Secretary Planning Zafar Hasan, senior officials from Planning Commission and federal ministries/divisions also participated in the meeting while representatives from provincial governments participate through video link.

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

06 COMMENT

Cat and mouse game

PTI’s budget blues Aligning expenditure with resources

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N may 2019 the technical teams of the government and the ImF reached an agreement on a $6 billion bailout package for Pakistan. According to Pm’s Finance Adviser Abdul Hafeez Sheikh at the time, the government could not have bridged the financing gap of $12 billion on its own that he said was created by a weak economy. To get the bailout Pakistan had to agree to major conditions which dr Shaikh saw as being in the country's interest. These included aligning expenditure with resources, improving the functioning of loss-making state-owned enterprises, curtailing the subsidies available to the wealthy and tax the rich segments.

With Covid-19 emerging as a major threat, the ImF executive Board approved a US$ 1.386 billion upfront disbursement to Pakistan to provide it breathing space, while putting on hold the existing $6 billion extended Fund Facility (eFF). There are reports that the stalled ImF programme could only be revived if the government demonstrated its ability to present and pass the next budget for 2020-21 in alignment with the ImF’s envisaged macroeconomic framework.

The ImF has urged Pakistan to freeze government employees’ salaries. The Fund’s argument is unassailable: at a time when the world is facing an economic crunch, leading even the developed countries to reduce salaries, why can’t Pakistan do so when it faces greater financial problems? during the last one year and a half the common man had to pay heavily to sustain the economy. Why can’t those who are better off do their bit now?

The ImF wants a cut down of non-development expenditure. Against the ImF’s demand for the 0.4 perdent primary budget deficit, the government has proposed that the target should be 1.9 percent of GdP, or rs875 billion. The budget deficit target, as suggested by the ImF, will be around 7 percent while the federal government sees the realistic deficit target at 8.4 percent of GdP, or rs3.9 trillion.

There are serious differences between the government and the ImF. dr Sheikh considers that the $6 billion bailout is of vital importance for Pakistan. The Finance ministry is holding video conferences with the ImF staff in Washington for the restoration of the eFF. With the budget document almost ready, it still remains uncertain if it would reach Parliament in its original form.

A mockery of fair play?

aRif Nizami

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He cat and mouse game played out by the NAB (National Accountability Bureau) at the house of leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif in Lahore on Tuesday was indeed reprehensible.

Its sleuths, unsuccessful in arresting the former chief minister of Punjab, made a further mockery of the already tarnished accountability process.

Sharif is no absconder; he had returned voluntarily to Pakistan two months back from London. Since then he has already appeared once at NAB headquarters in Lahore to answer questions about his assets within and outside Pakistan.

It seems the hyperactive special assistant to the prime minister (SAPm) Shehzad Akbar is tasked with the sole purpose of hounding the opposition. Since his return, Sharif has become the flavour of the month for the PTI government’s accountability drive.

This relentless pursuit is termed by the opposition as a witch-hunt and a media trial. Akbar has held two pressers in the past few weeks levelling serious charges of corruption against the leader of the opposition.

According to the accountability czar, Shahbaz and his progenies are guilty of amassing a humungous sum of over rs 550 billion through illicit means. Sharif however claims he has all the documentary proofs to refute alleged corrupt practices of the family.

The former chief minister is a cancer survivor.

Hence, he asserts that he is likely to be exposed to the coronavirus by appearing at NAB headquarters if he is not extra careful. Since his return, Sharif has by and large confined himself to his house.

He has been criticised in the media for not attending the special NA session held recently to discuss Covid-19 that was summoned on his initiative. even some of PmL-N (Pakistan muslim League-Nawaz) stalwarts are unhappy about their leader’s consistent

Impractical initiatives The Tiger Force has been reduced to a joke

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NNoUNCed with much fanfare and hope, Prime minister Imran Khan’s ‘Tiger Force’, a collection of volunteers who would lead relief efforts amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, has become something of a joke. The name for instance, could have been framed better and rather than going with something so party-specific should have been one with a more unifying national undertone; Imran Khan has been calling his teammates ‘Tigers’ since his cricketing days. But the central problem with the ‘Tiger Force’, as with many other PTI initiatives precorona and during it, is implementation and deployment.

The force that was announced in march and was to be ‘activated immediately’ when the pandemic had taken a foothold in the country and had started to spread, was hardly visible in the field where it was supposed to raise awareness about the Coronavirus and provide food and other essentials to the poorest and difficult-to-reach areas.

Later, once the so-called lockdown was lifted, its role was redefined to ensure that the government’s SoPs were being followed in markets and other public areas.

Yesterday, mr Khan, now that cases and deaths are rising dangerously and exponentially on a daily basis, finally revisited the idea of the so far relatively redundant ‘Tiger relief Force’. That the force, according to mr Khan, will not only come handy in addressing the pandemic but will also be used to fight against natural calamities such as Climate Change and the ongoing locusts plague, reminds one of Jared Kushner. The US President’s son-in-law is in charge of some of the most complicated domestic and foreign policy issues the country faces, including but not limited to ‘peace in the middle east’ and 'ending the ‘opioid crisis’.

It can be argued that the formation of the body, with a local bodies system in place, was unnecessary. of course that would have meant coordinating with opposition parties to provide relief to even those areas that are PmL(N) or PPP strongholds, which is something the PTI is quite allergic to. The government’s uncalled-for blatant attack on Sindh’s objectively better initial response to the pandemic is a case in point. Sadly, the Pm’s Tiger Force will be placed in the ever-expanding annals of failed PTI projects that will still be defended by the party despite being indefensible.

The long road to change Can the USA surmount the challenge of race?

Rabia ahmed

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reedom, a positive change in attitude, and better laws come about neither easily nor by force, and certainly not by keeping people in ignorance of the facts. They sort of slip into place after years… sometimes generations of struggle and often an uncomfortable sort of partnership between people and their government, but a partnership nevertheless, both working towards a clearly identified goal. each side gives way gradually, often unwillingly, with concessions and conditions until the desired results are achieved. If either party digs in its heels and does not yield the result is a stagnant, unprogressive society mired in unacceptable ideas and practices.

Here’s an example. Africans first arrived in North America in 1619 as slaves, seized from a Portuguese slave ship by the British and brought to what was then a British colony. Within a period of 200 years, almost 500,000 Africans were brought as slaves to America where they laboured on plantations in the south. They were an affordable workforce; it was largely due to their labour that the colonists came to enjoy great economic and military advantages.

Several states of America became independent of the British in 1776 and the United States of America

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hibernation and aloofness. of course, Sharif should answer for all corruption charges levelled against him. But at the same time, he is entitled to a fair trial. But the manner in which NAB operates hardly comes under the definition of a ‘fair trial’.

In this case when the former chief minister had sent a written response to the accountability watchdog’s latest queries and was also willing to face his interrogators on Skype, why the urge to arrest him, come what may?

Shahbaz was previously arrested in the Ashiyana Housing scheme case in october 2018 and after being incarcerated for 133 days was released on bail in February 2019 by the Lahore high court. The court, while rejecting charges against Sharif in its detailed judgement, admonished NAB for levelling nebulous allegations against him.

Not discouraged by this strong denouement, fresh cases were instituted against Sharif. It seems that SAPm Shahzad Akbar’s job description is to harass whomsoever the state desires. mr Akbar should face a little bit of accountability of his own. How much looted money has the ArU (Assets recovery Unit) under him recovered since it was established in September 2018?

The prime minister, on numerous occasions, has unequivocally declared that he wants to cleanse the body politic of corruption as this is the corner stone of PTI’s manifesto. But unfortunately, the whole process is largely perceived to be opposition specific.

That is why it has little credibility. Nor will it have any under the present dispensation. establishing an across the board and transparent mechanism has almost become a cliché that all politicians use whether in the government or in the opposition.

Nawaz Sharif, when he was leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, shunned moves by then Prime minister Yousaf raza Gilani to change the one-sided accountability law. once being elected prime minister for a third time, him along with his party men, did not even move a finger to introduce a new consensual accountability law. of course, Sharif’s logic was simple: keep the law on the statute books lest there is need to use it against the opposition. After all, the notorious ‘ethsab Bureau’ (accountability bureau), established during his second tenure as prime minister and headed by his crony senator Saifur rehman, relentlessly pursued cases against opposition politicians, especially the PPP leadership. one of the most famous of these cases was that of SGC and Cotecna in which Benazir as prime minister and her spouse were accused of receiving kickbacks from the Swiss custom assessment company.

When the present government spokespersons

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came into being.

Slavery at the time was protected by the US Constitution, but by the early 19th century the slave states had a problem: they felt that their free slaves were organising themselves to encourage escapes and revolting against their white owners. This was when the Americans started a forced migration of the erstwhile slaves to Liberia which became an American colony.

That is a separate story.

For those who remained in America, they became safe from slavery to a limited extent when Abraham Lincoln came into power. Lincoln believed that the federal government could not legally forbid slavery, but as the Commander of the Armed Forces he could take action against the states rebelling against the limitation, an observation that can only come from a leader who understands the constitution and the law. So he took action against those states, and that was the American Civil War. After the Civil War, the 13th Amendment was promulgated which abolished slavery.

The 13th Amendment was followed by the Civil rights Act in 1866 which gave those black Americans born in the country greater civil rights. The 13th Amendment was followed by the 14th a year later which granted citizenship to black Africans in America. The 15th Amendment in 1870 allowed AfricanAmericans (men only) voting rights, after which African-American men also started looking for office work and gaining admission into schools. The fight for women’s suffrage and other freedoms is yet another separate story.

Later on that year, extremist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan also became more powerful; their terrorist activities prevented blacks from fully utilizing their newfound status as citizens. racist attitudes only become stronger in the 20th century with greater institutionalized racism and legal discrimination against black citizens.

Gradually however the Civil rights movement became stronger. Its protest mostly took the form of sit-ins, boycotts, civil disobedience, and other means of peaceful protest, and its cause was upheld by various Supreme Court judgements which was important. It all culminated…to cut a long story very short, in a black man becoming President of the country for

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claim that they have nothing to with NAB and thatiIt is an independent body whose present head justice (retired) Javed Iqbal was appointed by then Prime minister Sharif and president Zardari after mutual consultation, technically they are right.

Nonetheless, tall claims that NAB is an independent entity has little credibility. The nexus between the government and the accountability watchdog is an open secret. Whatever fig leaf of plausibility was there has been destroyed by a combination of factors.

Shahzad Akbar makes no bones about his almost quixotic pursuit of the opposition in his frequent utterances. His narrative is buttressed by various minsters and spokespersons.

Unfortunately, the level of debate is low and venomous with copious use of incendiary language. The last straw is railways minister Sheikh rashid’s narrative bordering on the absurd.

He has gained notoriety for his acerbic comments against the opposition. His prophecy during ramzan that after eid, “Tarzan will be in full swing” proved to be ominous.

The modus operandi of the government in its single-minded obsession with so-called accountability is shoddy as well. A case in point is the hearing by a full court bench of the apex court reference against Supreme Court judge Qazi Faiz Isa for allegedly having assets beyond means, instituted by President Alvi in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC). during a recent hearing, one of the members of the bench, justice muneeb Akhtar pointedly asked the government’s counsel Farogh Naseem to identify the ‘bright light’ that came up with the idea of filing a (flawed) reference against a superior court judge. He further remarked that that the said person made a serious error of judgment.

The gamut of accountability, apart from bad faith, smacks of incompetence on part of the government.

The urge to victimize is so strong that professionalism (that is in any case lacking) is thrown to the winds.

Largely owing to this attitude some observers compare NAB to a dry-cleaning machine. most highprofile politicians ultimately are granted bail from the high courts. Usually it is the end of their ordeal.

But Shahbaz Sharif who has never hidden his pro-establishment moorings is perhaps considered as a dangerman. Hence cases against him have to be taken to their logical conclusion.

If he is unable to give convincing answers to various allegations against him- no matter how frivolous they may look- his artfully created brand as a clean politician (if there is such a thing) will be inexorably tarnished.

Arif Nizami is Editor, Pakistan Today. He can be contacted at arifn51@hotmail.com.

two consecutive terms between 2009 and 2017.

It took an interaction, and an effort… not always concerted but allowed, between the superior court, the executive, the legislature and the people of the country to come to that conclusion. racism has not gone away in the USA. It is alive and well there and all over the world, and very much so in our country. If racism does not seem to be dislodge-able in the USA remember that the battle has at least begun. one day, when the present divisive and self-serving setback to the process currently lodged in the presidential office leaves, the issue may work itself towards a resolution, although it is not likely to go away until those who are the butt of racism are no longer downtrodden and weak. The best that can be done is to protect the rights of the victims of racism by means of the law, and by means of long, patient indoctrination of society… but mostly by means of laws that are firmly enforced.

Has that taken place in Pakistan? What happened to the constitution that said all citizens of the country were equal? Where does the Ahmadiyya sect stand now, the Hazaras, the Shiites? Where is the eastern wing of the country? What happened? Where were the protests, then and now? Where are the textbooks encouraging debate on what happened in 1971, where is the encouragement of debate in itself, as opposed to battle, protest as opposed to rioting? Have the superior courts of the country shown themselves to be unbiased and indeed superior? Has the battle here even begun?

There is a difference between protests and riots.

While the latter is understandable, it is often a segment of society taking advantage of the former. It is best therefore not to put oneself in a position where one can be blamed instead of attracting support. A riot does not constitute a rational standing up for rights, it is a desperate reaction accompanied by looting, destroying, and as such it gives a convenient reason for those looking to stop the process, to use violence and force to suppress the voice of dissent. This method of dealing with unrest only leads to a temporary, unsettling kind of peace which today is Pakistan.

The writer is a freelance columnist. read more by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com/

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

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

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Unsafe facemasks

Judiciary and justice Protecting corruption to hide its own

Candid Corner Raoof hasaN “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organised conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”

Frederick Douglas

I

N the labyrinth of moves and countermoves by various stakeholders, there are a couple of realities which have emerged with absolute clarity: that we are living in a system which is not just abominably non-transparent and inefficient, but rotten and corrupt to the core. The other fact is just as daunting: that it may no longer be possible to reform the existing fabrication, and a new system which may be more geared to the demands of contemporary times and the needs of the impoverished, disenfranchised and marginalised communities may have to be crafted without any further loss of time.

It is a sad reality, but we can no longer deny that the existent system has failed to deliver to the deserving people of this country who should have been its principal beneficiaries. Instead, they continue to languish under its indescribable cruelty and the increasing burden of depletion of opportunities for bare survival. A clear and horrific prospect of extinction at the hands of hunger and disease is only growing with time.

Yet, the beneficiary elite of the system continue to enjoy its lucrative largesse which they are constantly manipulating to fall into their lap.

Notwithstanding the bitter political divisions, when it comes to scavenging the illicit dividends of the system, they all converge together to reap a bounteous harvest.

It is not just the political elite that benefits from the system. There are countless mafias in the country which monopolise all echelons and avenues of financial gratification. They live off the system to their exclusive advantage and they use their vantage positions to ensure that none of it ever changes.

In this context, the judiciary has emerged as the mainstream beneficiary institution, exploiting the caveats in the system to its lopsided advantage. In doing so, it has violated its own charter by giving judgments which cannot stand the test of even the basic rudiments of jurisprudence.

The history of the institution’s complicity with dictators is rather old. Not only has it legitimised military take-overs on countless occasions, carte blanche powers have also been granted to the perpetrators to amend the constitution as may suit their fancies. Some individu-

als stand out as representatives of the deep- government and can continue to indulge its whims without a care. As a pillar of the state, it rooted corruption prevalent in the institution.

Take the case of mr Justice Qayyum from has to operate within the constitutional bounds, the olden times. He was caught on phone taking must be accountable and all its appointments dictation from the sitting ruler to adjudicate in must first be scrutinised in Parliament to ensure a certain manner, or the more recent case of that only the best get elevated to the judicial echJudge malik who was caught on camera in the elons. martin Luther King, Jr once said that “Juscompany of close relations of the principal accused while discussing matters pertaining to his tice denied anywhere diminishes justice everypending adjudication. Judgments like stopping where”. Nothing could be truer about, and more the JIT from probing the model Town massacre relevant to, the state that prevails in Pakistan: or closing the Hudabiya Paper mills case with the beneficiary elite who stand out by their reremarks that it cannot be reopened are vile trav- morseless corruption get ‘more’ justice than even ordained in the statute book, while the esties of justice.

Lest we forget, it is the same institution poor and the disempowered languish in jails for where judges ask the government to give guar- crimes they never committed. That is why there antee of the life of a criminal for a certain period is no faith in this justice system and people preof time, and where another judge allows a con- fer to invest in buying their judgments rather vict to travel abroad for treatment on the strength than waiting for the system to deliver, which it of a simple paper signed by his brother, who is never does.

In Pakistan, judiciary and justice are two also an alleged criminal. What banana land are separate things with neither flowing from the we living in?

The rot works both ways. The corrupt people other. Here, neither the judiciary is geared to decan infect an institution which, in the instant livering justice, nor anyone expects justice to case, they have. But, when an institution be- flow from it. The two have virtually become the comes rotten, no honest and decent person can antithesis of each other. This can only wreak destruction upon all pillars survive in it. This is the of the state, and eventucase with a bulk of instially the state itself. This tutions in the country, phenomenon must be most notably the judiciary scuttled. which is amply demonPrime Minister Imran Khan Prime minister strated by the contentious adjudications which its fought a battle for more than Imran Khan fought a battle for more than 20 various benches have 20 years principally for years principally for enbeen dispensing of late. suring provision of jusThe movement for an ensuring provision of justice to tice to the people of the independent judiciary the people of the country. He country. He even named was the biggest fraud party after this motto. perpetrated on this hapeven named his party after this his Unfortunately, that is not less country. We are reapthe direction it seems ing its dividends which motto. Unfortunately, that is headed in at this juncwere bequeathed upon us not the direction it seems ture. Consequently, his in the shape of mr Justice commitment to ensure Iftikhar mohammad headed in at this juncture. justice for all citizens Chaudhry– the one who would remain a was not only incorrigibly Consequently, his commitment pipedream if he does not corrupt himself, but reto ensure justice for all citizens first address the rotten cruited a crop of a similar kind to rule the roost. would remain a pipedream if judicial system which is creating further division They are all over the he does not first address the and disaffection in the place now, nibbling away country. The judicial unashamedly at the rem- rotten judicial system which is tentacles have to be nants of this country and creating further division and clipped before they have its institutions. poisoned the entire naThe malaise is deeply disaffection in the country. The tional paradigm. Given dug in. The nexus betheir current inclinatween corruption of judicial tentacles have to be tions, they look deterpoliticians and judges clipped before they have mined to eliminate the was never more visible prospect of justice altothan now. Since the adpoisoned the entire national gether from the national vent of the mr Justice paradigm. Given their current polity.

Qazi Faez Isa case, the Postscript: In spite feeble remnants of ambiinclinations, they look of my rights as a citizen guity have also disapof the state which are peared. It is no longer a determined to eliminate the guaranteed in the Consticase of this or that judge. prospect of justice altogether tution of Pakistan, if I can The entire judiciary apstill be held accountable pears to be protecting from the national polity for contempt of court, corruption to hide its why can’t the judiciary own. be held for contempt of more recently, the juits own charter as condiciary has also taken to encroaching upon the executive domain by tak- tained in the same Constitution: provision of jusing suo motu notices which, by no stretch of law, tice to all people, without any discrimination fall within its realm. So, it is not just corrupt, it with regard to their faith, status, colour or creed? is also taking steps to strangulate the system for The writer is a political and security insulating itself from any corrective action which may be contemplated at some stage. The strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute – an Islamabad-based think tank. prospect grows more gruesome as, in the abEmail: raoofhasan@hotmail.com. sence of effective parliamentary oversight, the judiciary is virtually a government within the Twitter: @RaoofHasan

While going to the market yesterday, I saw a number of people were selling face masks by roads and in streets. The sellers were hanging masks in their hands and most of the face masks were not covered by plastic shoppers. It is possible that those who were selling them might have been infected by the virus and he may further infect the large number of people that were buying the face masks. on the one hand, the government maintains the lockdown in the country in order to decrease cases of coronavirus. on the other hand, some are not taking care and potentially surging corona cases by selling infected masks to the public. Sanitizers are also very expensive in the markets. 100 ml of small bottles of sanitizers are sold for 200 to 300 hundred rupees. These small bottles of sanitizers are made for a single person. only a single person can adopt a small bottle of sanitizers while many persons use the same bottle in Pakistan. If more than one person uses the same bottle, it must be washed carefully if it is to be given to someone else. The Pakistan government must take serious measures to raise awareness among the public regarding the use of sanitizers and it must fix the price of sanitizers. The government should take actions against those who sell face masks in public without taking precautionary measures and it can also make some plan to reduce the rate of sanitizers.

Taqdees Zafar Islamabad

Online classes not accepted Sir, Being a university student I know the importance of physical presence of students in class during lectures And I know in such a country where many students belongs to lower middle class, attending online lecture is not a piece of cake. The situation right now is really hard to make right decisions But government should pay attention to issues of students Asap.

1- many students don't have enough resources to deal with online classes.

2- many areas have electric load shedding issues.

3- Government has allowed to open malls and hotels before evening so my own friends who used to do part time jobs there are now working there in morning so how is it possible for them to attend morning lectures at the same time ? How can they leave there jobs in this pandemic ?

4- universities are not giving any kind of fee concessions to the students while we are also paying van feeses for no reason and many students are facing extra expenses of internet packages too.

5- online lectures are totally waste of time, students are unable to understand the topics or make assignments out of them and are tensed about the exams that would be held after universities will reopen.

6- Giving theoretical proper exam just after attending online class is just not possible.

We STUdeNTS Are AGAINST oNLINe CLASSeS. Rutaba Shabir Islamabad

Banks and COVID-19 BANKS are the central arena of business communities. In this pandemic environment when all the departments are taking precautionary measures.

Bankers are also showing their concerns about pandemic but the steps they have taken are ridiculous. Banks have closed half of their branches due to which the number of customers has increased in all open branches although they allow only limited customers inside at a time, but the lines of customers outside are as long as china's wall. So in this crowd, the chances of infections are dominated as if one of the customers is with infection may cause infections for all, because the social and physical distance is totally ignored. In this letter, I request the bankers to immediately open all the branches to avoid overcrowding to prevent the infection of coronavirus.

Fari Ahmed, Havelian.

Fate of PSM IT is the conflicts of interest of politicians and powerful paid bureaucracy, and wrong choice of individuals placed at helm of Soe and nonmerit surplus recruitments by successive civil and uniformed regimes that have driven them to bankruptcy. despite potential for commercial viability, and no dearth of qualified talent, it is lack of political will, integrity etc, responsible for losses by PSm and other Soe. Conflicts of Interest of powerful stakeholders, within political and paid elite has prevailed over merit and commercial interests of Soes; obliging cronies and retired or serving officers. The irony is that former Chairman PSm moeen Aftab and ex-director Sameen and a contractor alleged for gross irregularities and surplus recruitment during 2008-2010 were acquitted because of lack of credible evidence by Sind High Court on 29 February 2020, although investigations started in 2010 and NAB had filed 9 corruption references.

Nawaz government, perhaps slave to their own conflicts of interest, made no effort to restore productivity, nor did Chairman Gen Javed at helm from 2012-2014 and neither did Gen Zaheer who took over in 2014 and holds that post till today. State must enforce financial and administrative discipline within its ruling elite, ensuring that every individual on its payroll confines 24/7 to the job they have been paid to perform, and not indulge simultaneously in commercial vested interests, collectively or individually. PSm foundation was laid on 30 december 1973 by ZAB in collaboration with Soviet Union, which offered technical assistance and trained qualified engineers and technicians, along-with supervisory expertise and technology transfer to build infrastructure with design capacity of 2.2 mTPY to be achieved progressively. First Blast Furnace was commissioned on 14 August 1981 and such plants require professionally qualified specialists for continuous technological upgradation, increased production etc instead of administrators.

Malik Tariq Ali Lahore

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

Iran dIsmIsses Trump’s offer for Talks

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Al-Monitor StAff

ran has shrugged off US President Donald Trump’s attempt to engage the Islamic republic into new talks with his administration for a “big deal” by renegotiating the nuclear accord signed during the term of his predecessor, Barack Obama.

Trump made the offer after the two sides implemented their latest prisoner swap deal June 4. The US president expressed his gratitude to the Iranian side for releasing US navy veteran Michael White in an exchange that also saw Iranian Dr. Majid Taheri freed from US custody.

"Don't wait until after US Election …

I'm going to win. You'll make a better deal now!" Trump tweeted, once again suggesting that the Obama-era agreement, which he has slammed as the worst deal in US history and scrapped in 2018, needs to be restruc-

US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP’S LATEST EFFORT TO GET IRAN TO RENEGOTIATE THE NUCLEAR DEAL HE WITHDREW FROM WAS MET WITH REJECTION IN TEHRAN tured from scratch.

In response, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the architect of the original nuclear deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of action (JCPOa) — made it clear that the Iranian position remains unchanged. Zarif threw the ball into Trump’s court to “fix” the accord by reinstating rather than renegotiating it. “We had a deal when you entered office. … Your advisors — most fired by now — made a dumb bet.” The top Iranian diplomat also stressed that the prisoner swap was a humanitarian deal achieved despite efforts by Trump’s “subordinates” to block it.

a hard-line media outlet run by Iran’s state-funded broadcaster attributed Trump’s move to his failure to address multiple crises at home and abroad, arguing that “he is now resorting to negotiations with Iran … which may come to his rescue.”

In the past two years, the US president has made similar overtures to Tehran, all dismissed by the Iranian leadership. Trump has also tried mediation, most notably through Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo abe, whose message delivered in Tehran was rejected by Iran’s Supreme Leader ayatollah ali Khamenei. On several occasions since, Khamenei has asserted that a

breakthrough with the current US administration is impossible. nevertheless, a tweet from the Iranian supreme leader last month suggested that he might be rethinking his rigid policy.

Khamenei lauded the “bravery” and “sacrifices” by a holy Shiite figure who “gave in to peace” with his enemies for the sake of “expediency.”

The message has been interpreted as preparation for more “heroic flexibility,” a notion Khamenei introduced in 2013. It served as the green light for Iranian negotiators to engage with Western powers including the United States in talks that culminated in the JCPOa in 2015.

Iran’s Thursday confirmation of the american prisoner’s release ended speculation that had gained momentum after Iranian scientist Sirous asgari was seen greeting his family at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International airport. Both Iran

and the United States have denied that asgari’s release had anything to do with that of Michael White.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman abbas Mousavi insisted that White was flown home in exchange for Taheri. The Iranian official also appeared to suggest that White’s release was not a swap and occurred only after he “managed to obtain the consent of the private plaintiffs … and as for other charges, he was treated with Islamic compassion,” a term recurrently used by Iranian officials in reference to parole granted to some prisoners.

The explanation was also reminiscent of the Iranian judiciary’s statements following the release last June of Lebanese national and US green card holder nizar Zakka. Back in Beirut, however, Zakka infuriated Iranian authorities by denying their side of the story and recounting mistreatment he said he had suffered while serving time in Iran.

What would a second Trump term What the five living presidents do to the federal bureaucracy? say about the protests

WAShington Monthly Francis FuKuyaMa

It has never been easy to be a public official in the United States. In contrast to other rich democracies in Europe and asia, bureaucrats are not held in high esteem. In Germany, Japan, France, or Britain, the country’s best and brightest aspire to public service, whereas in the U.S. they go to the private sector or, if they are public spirited, into the nGO world rather than government service. Conservatives in particular have long derided “pointy-headed bureaucrats” who today have morphed into a “deep state” that is seeking to subvert the personification of the people’s will, President Donald Trump. as a result, american public service is under grave threat. It has been heavily politicized during the first Trump term, and in a second may deteriorate rapidly as cronyism, corruption, and incompetence become the new norms.

This is immensely concerning. american government—indeed, all governments everywhere—depends on the efforts of competent officials who are loyal not to the politician who appointed them but to a broader public interest. This loyalty is encapsulated in the United States by the oath that higher-ranking officials take to defend the U.S. Constitution, rather than to serve the president who appointed them. While public officials do have political preferences—how could they not?—vast numbers of them go to work every day believing that they are neutrally serving the public interest rather than a particular political party. Consider naSa, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Federal reserve, the Forest Service, the Social Security administration, or the uniformed military, all integral parts of the federal government.

We may see an EPa chief who asserts that global warming is a hoax, a CDC head who claims that the new coronavirus was a Chinese plot, or a surgeon general who says the anti-vaxxers have a point.

But under Trump, no department or agency appears secure. In his first term, Trump has criticized his own intelligence community, the FBI, the Justice Department, the national Security Council, and the State Department for seeking to undermine him. The Federal reserve and its chairman, Jerome Powell, have been constant targets of a president wanting the Fed to inflate the money supply to help his reelection chances. Trump has intervened to overturn the military’s punishment of navy SEaL Edward Gallagher, and tried to influence a Defense Department decision to award a multibillion-dollar contract to Microsoft rather than the target of his ire, amazon. Even a local outpost of the national Oceanic and atmospheric

administration came under attack for disputing the president’s false assertion that Hurricane Dorian was threatening alabama. Trump’s disdain for public service is reflected in the huge number of senior positions, including ones like secretary of defense, that have been left unfilled for extended periods of time.

Perhaps the most dangerous of Trump’s interventions concern the actions he has taken toward the Department of Justice. Trump seems not to have the slightest understanding of the rule of law, believing that the law should serve his interests rather than the reverse. During the 2016 campaign he urged criminal prosecution of his political rival Hillary Clinton, and later pushed his loyal attorney general, William Barr, to investigate his own department over the Mueller investigation. Barr has questioned the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of new York for looking into the activities of Trump’s friend rudy Giuliani and the Trump Organization. Most recently, the president tweeted criticisms of the sentencing guidelines handed down after the conviction of his friend roger Stone, leading to the resignations of four prosecutors involved in the case. The deference of the senior leadership of the Justice Department to his wishes has sent shivers down the spine of every federal prosecutor in the country.

The rule of law is not some physical mechanism that limits the authority of powerful officials. It ultimately depends on the political power of other institutions in our complex constitutional system. When republicans in the U.S. Senate acquitted Trump in his impeachment trial without hearing further witnesses, they were, in effect, telling him that it was okay to use the power of the U.S. government to promote his own election chances. Since his acquittal, he has behaved more overtly like a mafia boss, using his authority to punish enemies and reward friends. If he is reelected and the republicans continue to hold on to the Senate, the hunt for disloyal officials will escalate. The president will truly feel that he has the mandate to do whatever he wishes, like having his attorney general initiate criminal prosecutions against his Democratic opponents. He will be safe in the knowledge that the Senate will not object.

It is not as if the federal government was a competent, finely tuned machine prior to Trump’s election. The Progressive Era project of professionalizing public service, begun at the turn of the 20th century, got only so far before the antistatism of american politics halted and reversed it.

Today, a change in administrations, even within the same party, leads to the turnover of roughly 4,000 political appointees, compared to the mere handful that change in European and asian parliamentary democracies. In the State Department, it is hard for a foreign service officer to rise to the rank of assistant secretary or ambassador given the number of political appointees claiming these positions.

Politicization of the government today takes many forms. Over the past decade, nearly one-third of the new hires in the federal government have been military veterans, due to the congressionally mandated Veterans’ Preference program. This policy is understandable in light of america’s wars in the Mideast, but it does not necessarily provide the best pool of applicants.

Federal contracting is subject to myriad rules requiring minority, female, native american, and small-business preferences.

One of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s relatives, for example, was the beneficiary of a native american preference, despite his extremely tangential relationship to that group.

While many americans believe that the size of the U.S. government has expanded relentlessly over the decades, we have no more full-time federal employees than we did in the 1960s, and today the government is no larger than it was 60 years ago. Both republicans and Democrats have participated in the charade that they are holding back the government’s size by replacing civil servants with legions of contractors, whose activities are far less transparent and accountable, and more costly. The long-term consequence has been the erosion of the prestige of public service and an accompanying decline in the numbers of young people willing to enter it. Paul Volcker, whose lifetime passion was promotion of public service, led two commissions (in 1990 and 2002) that documented the aging and declining morale of the federal workforce. In the time since the second Volcker Commission, the problem has only grown worse. What idealistic young person today would want to join the State Department or the EPa and find themselves working for a political operative who didn’t believe in the central mission of the agency, and was unwilling to back employees who did?

In How Democracies Die, Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt note that democratic regression today does not take the form of a military coup but, rather, unfolds as the piecemeal erosion of democratic norms over an extended period of time.

Donald Trump did not likely start out wanting to be an authoritarian leader; instead, he expected that he could run the country like a large family business. Since then he has come up against the Constitution’s checks and balances and has fought relentlessly to get around them. One of these checks is the existence of a neutral civil service. americans do not need to look far to see what Trump might do to this institution during a second term. In recent days, Trump has put in place as director of national intelligence a political supporter with no background in intelligence because he didn’t like the IC’s conclusion that russia was interfering in the 2020 election. His newest national security adviser has also publicly claimed not to have seen any information supporting this view.

If Trump wins reelection, we may see an EPa chief who asserts that global warming is a hoax, a CDC head who claims that the novel coronavirus was a Chinese plot, or a surgeon general who says the anti-vaxxers have a point. The U.S. federal bureaucracy has weaknesses: It is too rigid and too rule bound, and it fails to attract the best talent.

In an ideal world we would undertake a major reform of U.S. public administration and implement a 21st-century version of the 1883 Pendleton act, which mandated, among other things, that federal jobs be allocated by merit. But under the current circumstances, it will be enough to fight a rearguard action in defense of classic public service as it exists today, warts and all.

Francis Fukuyama is Mosbacher Director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University.

Mariah Kreutter

I HAVE TO TELL YOU, ALTHOUGH I WAS VERY YOUNG WHEN YOU HAD RIOTS AND PROTESTS AND ASSASSINATIONS AND DISCORD BACK IN THE ‘60S, I KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THAT HISTORY TO SAY, THIS IS SOMETHING DIFFERENT

as protests against police brutality and systemic racism continued across the nation last week, President Trump and all the living former presidents weighed in with their thoughts. Here are edited excerpts from statements made by Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump in the last week.

Jimmy Carter, in a statement posted Wednesday: People of power, privilege, and moral conscience must stand up and say “no more” to a racially discriminatory police and justice system, immoral economic disparities between whites and blacks, and government actions that undermine our unified democracy. We are responsible for creating a world of peace and equality for ourselves and future generations.

We need a government as good as its people, and we are better than this.

Bill Clinton, in a statement posted on May 30: no one deserves to die the way George Floyd did. and the truth is, if you’re white in america, the chances are you won’t. That truth is what underlies the pain and the anger that so many are feeling and expressing — that the path of an entire life can be measured and devalued by the color of one’s skin.

George W. Bush, in a statement posted Tuesday: The doctrine and habits of racial superiority, which once nearly split our country, still threaten our Union. The answers to american problems are found by living up to american ideals — to the fundamental truth that all human beings are created equal and endowed by God with certain rights. We have often underestimated how radical that quest really is, and how our cherished principles challenge systems of intended or assumed injustice.

Barack Obama, in a digital town hall Wednesday: The bottom line is, I’ve been hearing a little bit of chatter on the internet about voting versus protest. Politics and participation versus civil disobedience and direct action.

This is not an either/or. This is a both/and. To bring about real change, we both have to highlight a problem and make people in power un-

comfortable, but we also have to translate that into practical solutions and laws that can be implemented.

I have to tell you, although I was very young when you had riots and protests and assassinations and discord back in the ‘60s, I know enough about that history to say, this is something different. You look at [current] protests, and that is a far more representative cross-section of america out on the streets, peacefully protesting, who felt moved to do something because of the injustices that they had seen. That didn’t exist back in the 1960s, that kind of broad coalition. The fact that recent surveys have shown that, despite some protests having been marred by the actions of some, a tiny minority that engaged in violence — and as usual, that got a lot of attention, a lot of focus — that despite all that, a majority of americans still think those protests were justified. That wouldn’t have existed 30, 40, 50 years ago. There is a change in mindset that’s taking place.

Donald Trump, in a speech Monday: These are not acts of peaceful protest. These are acts of domestic terror. The destruction of innocent life and the spilling of innocent blood is an offense to humanity and a crime against God. america needs creation, not destruction. Cooperation, not contempt; security, not anarchy.

Healing the hatred; justice, not chaos. This is our mission, and we will succeed 100%. We will succeed. Our country always wins. … and in White House remarks celebrating employment gains on Friday: Equal justice under the law must mean that every american receives equal treatment in every encounter with law enforcement regardless of race, color, gender or creed. They have to receive fair treatment from law enforcement. … We all saw what happened last week. We can’t let that happen. Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying this is a great thing that’s happening for our country. This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality.

l A tiMeS

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

BUSINESS 09

KP tO PREsEnt ‘tax-fREE budgEt’ fOR nExt fisCal yEaR: ministER PESHAWAR

Committee for negotiations with iPPs notified ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI

The Ministry of Energy has notified the constitution of a five-member sub-committee to negotiate with Independent Power Producers (IPPs), asking it to recommend IPPs that could be considered either for retirement or for a detailed forensic audit. In a notification issued on 3rd June, the Power Division stated, "In pursuance of the Cabinet Committee on Energy's May 20 decision, a sub-committee has been constituted for negotiations with IPPs. Federal land Composition of Pakistan Chairman Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad will lead the negotiation committee as chairman.” As per the ToRs for the negotiation committee, the committee would engage with various IPPs to negotiate the amounts, rationale and mechanism of excess payments of the past under specific heads. The notification further stated that the sub-committee would negotiate with IPPs “the change of rate and formula of their profits, return on investment and Internal Rate of Return from USD basis to PKR basis without any USD indexation. Similarly, the committee would negotiate with IPPs on modalities and mechanism for shifting from 'Take or Pay' contract terms to 'Take and Pay' contract terms. Likewise, the committee has been mandated to negotiate with IPPs on any other terms, conditions, payments etc. as the negotiation committee deems appropriate. "The committee must coordinate with the Power Division (NEPRA, CPPA, NTDC, PPIB, AEDB etc.) for any actions that may be required from these organizations towards achieving the objective of these ToRs," it added.

K

AZIZ BUNERI

EEPING in mind the economic devastation caused by the outbreak of Covid-19, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to pay more attention to service delivery departments, especially the health department, in the upcoming budget 2020-21.

"Although the provincial government is facing a deficit of Rs100 billion, which include Rs30 billion as net

hydel profit, Rs60 billion as federal transfers and Rs10 billion in provincial revenues, no new tax will be imposed in the next financial year while efforts will be made to provide more relief in taxes to public," said KP Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra while to this scribe.

The minister claimed that the financial position of the province had improved before the corona epidemic, adding that the KP revenue authority had collected Rs5.9 billion in the first ten months of FY20, which was an increase of 73pc compared to the same

period last year.

On a query, he said besides health facilities, the government would also allocate funds for senior citizens under the next budget.

"The provincial government has prioritised the allocation of funds for ongoing projects in the next financial year's annual development programme," he said, adding that the government would not hesitate to take more loans to meet the budget deficit.

Jhagra informed that the province had received Rs294 billion from the Centre till April, while Rs14 billion

Princely jets, AGP Pharmaceuticals join hands to transport medication around Pakistan

OPEC, Russia to extend record oil cuts to end of July LONDON AGENCIES

g20 pledges more than $21bn to fight coronavirus LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Princely Jets (Pvt) Ltd, Pakistan's largest private jet charter company, and AGP Pharmaceuticals, the country's leading pharmaceutical company, have teamed up to ensure timely delivery of medication nationwide.

The initiative is part of both companies' Customer Social Responsibility (CSR) policy whereby AGP is providing an adThe Group of 20 rich and emerging economies has pledged more than $21 billion to fight the coronavirus, the group said early on Saturday. "The G20, with invited countries, has coordinated the global efforts to support the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. To date, G20 members and invited countries have pledged over $21 billion to support funding in global health," the group said in a statement. The pledges will be directed towards diagnostics, vaccines, therapeutics, and research and development, the statement added. In April the group called on all countries, nongovernmental organizations, philanthropies and the private sector to help close a financing gap estimated at over $8 billion to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. Saudi Arabia, the current G20 chair has pledged $500 million to support global efforts to combat the pandemic. It said then it would allocate $150 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation, $150 million to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations, and $200 million to other health organisations and programmes. At least 391,108 people have died globally from Covid-19 and more than 6.68 million people have been infected by the novel coronavirus that causes it, following an outbreak that started in Wuhan, China, in early December. AGENCIES

were received under the provincial revenue authority. "During the last three months, coronavirus has had a massive impact on provincial revenue."

He said the upcoming budget would a unique one in the province's history...health justice cards would be given to the entire population of the province.

The minister maintained that FY20 was a good year for KP, with the FBR's share of the province increasing by 12pc, while Rs20 billion were saved by implementing the pension reforms.

equate supply of medication while Princely Jets will handle the logistics of the operation through its network of aircraft flying domestic routes daily.

Both companies are providing their respective services free of cost. AGP Pharmaceuticals Chairman Mr Tarek Khan has committed his stock of a variety of life-saving drugs to the cause for free while Princely Jets CEO Ghouse Akbar has also agreed to charge nothing for getting the medication to wher-

ever it needs to be.

The Coronavirus Pandemic has disrupted supply chains of various industries owing to a lockdown that saw the suspension transportation by road, sea and air for some weeks. This has resulted in some crucial medicines being unavailable in certain locations across the country. The collaboration between AGP and Princely Jets aims to fill that gap and get these medications to patients as cheaply and quickly as possible.

Court orders reinstatement of former BoK managing director PESHAWAR AZIZ BUNERI

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) recently accepted the writ petition of former Bank of Khyber (BoK) managing director Saiful Islam -- who was earlier sacked by the bank's board of governors -- and issued his reinstatement orders.

A two-judge bench of PHC, comprising Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Naeem Anwar, heard the arguments. During the hearing, petitioner counsel Imtiaz Ali maintained that his client was removed "illegally" from the post, and that the bank's board had "conspired" against him.

Saiful Islam was removed through an "explanation letter" after 10 months in serve.

As per the letter, the MD had met a "hostile reporter" who had published a "negative" story on the

bank based on secret information. It further alleged that the MD had provided sensitive information to media "illegally and unofficially" with a mala fide intention to damage the reputation of the bank.

Rejecting the board's decision, Islam approached the PHC through his lawyer Imtiaz Ali as he thought he was being singled out.

"The entire process was biased, unlawful and made with predetermined intentions and vague allegations," the petitioner stated in his petition.

Imtiaz Ali argued that the allegations made against his client were entirely false and the action was taken without due process; no legal procedure was followed in this regard. He pleaded the court to declare the termination letter as illegal.

The bench accepted the petition for hearing and also ordered the reinstatement of Saiful Islam as the bank's MD.

OPEC, Russia and allies were set on Saturday to extend record oil production cuts through July after crude prices doubled in the past two months on the back of their efforts to withdraw almost 10pc of global supplies from the market.

According to a draft declaration seen by Reuters as a video conference opened, the group known as OPEC+ was set to demand that countries such as Nigeria and Iraq which exceeded quotas in May and June compensate with extra cuts in July to September. OPEC+ had initially agreed in April that it would cut supply by 9.7 million barrels per day (bpd) during May-June to prop up prices that collapsed due to the coronavirus crisis. Those cuts were due to taper to 7.7 million bpd from July to December. Global benchmark Brent crude LCOc1 climbed to a three-month high on Friday to above $42 a barrel, after diving below $20 in April. Prices still remain a third lower than at the end of 2019. “Despite the progress achieved to date, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels,” Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab, the current OPEC president, said as he opened Saturday’s talks. The draft OPEC+ declaration said a joint ministerial monitoring committee, known as the JMMC, would now meet once a month until December to review the market situation. Two OPEC sources said the group had already agreed to a one-month extension to cuts that have been made by its members. Ahead of the talks, OPEC sources said Riyadh had been considering an extension to August or even December. Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s de facto leader, and Russia have to perform a balancing act of pushing up oil prices to meet their budget needs while not driving them much above $50 a barrel to avoid encouraging a resurgence of rival US shale production. The April deal was agreed under pressure from US President Donald Trump, who wants to avoid US oil industry bankruptcies.

Trump, who previously threatened to pull US troops out of Saudi Arabia, spoke to the Russian and Saudi leaders before Saturday’s talks, saying he was happy with the price recovery.

Nigeria’s petroleum ministry said Abuja backed the idea of compensating for its excessive output in May and June. Iraq, which had one of the worst compliance rates in May, also agreed to additional cuts, OPEC sources said, although it was not clear how Baghdad would reach agreement with oil majors in the country on curbing output.

Dairy industry seeks withdrawal of sales tax in upcoming budget LAHORE HASSAN NAQVI

The country's dairy industry has stated that the withdrawal of zero-rating sales tax regime on dairy products through the Finance Act 2015-16, and 2016-17, has had an adverse impact on the industry.

Talking to Profit on Saturday, Pakistan Dairy Association (PDA) Chairman Sulaiman Mannoo explained that the zero-rating regime has a direct impact on the input cost of the milk processing industry. "Consequently, it has resulted in a sharp decline in the overall growth of the industry and has reversed the conversion of unprocessed milk into processed milk."

To make matters worse, he added, the decline in volumes and profits have severely impacted investments in the dairy sector.

"Currently, the dairy industry is operating at 50pc of its total capacity and 'needs a tax relief of about Rs3.5 billion per annum' so that it could compete with loose milk traders," Mannoo maintained.

The PDA chief explained that according to the principles of taxation, a tax policy should provide a level playing field to all players, be consistent over the long run and promote broader public policy objectives.

Unfortunately, the present tax regime does not reflect these principles, he lamented.

"Honestly speaking, reinstatement of the zero-rated sales tax regime will be a win-win

situation for both the government as well as the dairy industry," Mannoo said, adding that besides improving the industry's sales and profitability, it would open avenues for foreign direct investment.

He shared that a number of developing countries like Turkey and also developed countries like Australia and UK have in vogue zero-rated sales tax regimes for dairy products, and this has enabled their economies to earn more revenue. In short, a balanced tax regime is the need of the hour and the government must announce muchneeded relief in the forthcoming budget, he demanded.

The PDA chief said that although the packaged dairy industry has a meagre share

of 5pc in the country's total milk production, it certainly has huge growth potential.

"If we increase its share by only 1pc, the dairy value chain can grow on an enormous scale. Increase in share by 1pc has the potential to grow the rural economy by Rs35-36 billion through 600 million litres extra collection of milk, better yields, improved mechanization, increased employment opportunities and suitable practices."

According to dairy industry sources, the spillover effect of growth in the processed milk segment is approximately Rs17 billion on the allied industry, with export potential of around $12-$13 million and an eventual increase in tax revenue of up to Rs6 billion.

One per cent growth in the market share of processed milk has the potential to increase investment in the sector by $1.5 billion in the next five years, they added.

However, while speaking to this scribe, Syed Abbas Raza Rizvi, a dairy farmer and district PTI Okara president, said that dairy farms in Pakistan fall under two categories, industrial dairy farms and private dairy farms. He demanded that the machinery used in this sector should be locally produced and till that time, machinery import should be free of taxes.

"Import of milk powder should be discouraged, while herd development and high-quality semen should be catered locally," he said.

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

Brazil ThreaTens To quiT Who, Trump says us BeaTing pandemiC SAO PAULO

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AGENCIES

RESIDENT Jair Bolsonaro threatened Friday to pull Brazil from the WHO over “ideological bias,” as his counterpart Donald Trump said the US economy was recovering from the coronavirus pandemic and Europe sought to reopen its borders.

Adding fuel to the political fire raging around the pandemic, its origins and the best way to respond, Bolsonaro criticized the World Health Organization for suspending clinical trials of the drug hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19 — a decision it reversed this week — and threatened to follow in Trump’s footsteps by quitting.

“I’m telling you right now, the United States left the WHO, and we’re studying that, in the future. Either the WHO works without ideological bias, or we leave, too,” the far-right leader told journalists.

Sometimes called a “Tropical Trump,” Bolsonaro has followed a similar script to

the US president in his handling of the pandemic, downplaying its severity, attacking state authorities’ stay-at-home measures and touting the purported effects of hydroxychloroquine and a related anti-malarial drug, chloroquine, against COVID-19.

The WHO had suspended trials of hydroxychloroquine after major studies raised concerns about its safety and effectiveness against the new coronavirus — irking Trump, a fan who even took the drug himself as a preventive measure.

On Thursday, most of the authors of the studies that appeared in The Lancet and the New England Journal of Medicine retracted their work, saying they could no longer vouch for their data because the firm that supplied it refused to be audited.

However, adding to the swirling scientific and political debate, a new study from Oxford University said Friday that hydroxychloroquine showed “no beneficial effect” in treating COVID-19.

In another potentially confusing reversal, the WHO changed its advice on face

masks, saying that “in light of evolving evidence” they should be worn in places where the virus is widespread and physical distancing is difficult.

US ‘LARGELY THROUGH’: The new coronavirus has now killed more than 394,000 people and infected 6.7 million since it emerged in China late last year, the

world’s worst health crisis in more than a century. In the US — the hardest-hit country, with 109,000 dead and nearly 1.9 million infections — Trump said the economy was bouncing back after being pummeled by lockdown measures.

“We had the greatest economy in the history of the world. And that strength let us get

through this horrible pandemic, largely through, I think we’re doing really well,” he told reporters.

Trump, who is facing a tough campaign for re-election in November, reiterated his calls to further ease stay-at-home measures, after surprisingly upbeat employment numbers showed the country gained 2.5 million jobs in May. In a sign of the slow return to normal in the US, Universal Orlando became the first of the giant theme parks in sunny Florida to reopen — albeit with temperature controls at the entrance and mandatory face masks.

EU TO REOPEN BORDERS: In Europe, badly-hit countries slowly continued on a path toward a post-pandemic normal, seeking to revive key tourist sectors in time for the summer season without triggering a second wave of infections. The EU said it could reopen borders to travelers from outside the region in early July, after some countries within the bloc reopened to European visitors. In France, a top expert meanwhile said dramatic drops in daily deaths and new cases since their March peaks meant the worst was over. “We can reasonably say the virus is currently under control,” said JeanFrancois Delfraissy, the head of the government’s scientific advisory council.

SHIFTING EPICENTRE: But bleak numbers streamed in from Latin America, the latest epicenter. Brazil’s death toll rose to more than 35,000, the third-highest in the world, after the United States and Britain.

Zuckerberg promises Facebook policy review WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Friday promised to review the social network’s policies that led to its decision to not moderate controversial messages posted by US President Donald Trump.

The announcement, which came in the form of a letter to employees, appeared aimed at quelling anger inside the company that was so severe it prompted some to quit.

The outrage was sparked when Zuckerberg said Facebook would not remove or flag Trump’s recent posts that appeared to encourage violence against those protesting police racism.

Zuckerberg’s message Friday seemed to attempt to mollify that anger: “We’re going to review our policies allowing discussion and threats of state use of force to see if there are any amendments we should adopt,” Zuckerberg wrote.

This, he said, includes “excessive use of police or state force. Given the sensi-

tive history in the US, this deserves special consideration.”

Social media platforms have faced mounting calls to moderate the president’s comments, most recently because of the unrest gripping the United States in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed while ap-

prehended by police.

“The decision I made last week has left many of you angry, disappointed and hurt,” Zuckerberg said in the letter, which he posted on his Facebook page.

Timothy Aveni, a software engineer who resigned from the company, wrote on his Facebook page that the social

media platform “will keep moving the goalposts every time Trump escalates, finding excuse after excuse not to act on increasingly dangerous rhetoric.”

Zuckerberg said he is exploring possible changes on how policy decisions are made at Facebook, along with more ways to advance racial justice and voter engagement.

“While we are looking at all of these areas, we may not come up with changes we want to make in all of them,” Zuckerberg cautioned.

As per voting, Zuckerberg said: “I have confidence in the election integrity efforts we’ve implemented since 2016.”

“But there’s a good chance that there will be unprecedented fear and confusion around going to the polls in November, and some will likely try to capitalize on that confusion,” he said.

The letter also addressed employees’ complaints that minorities have not been sufficiently represented internally.

“We’re going to review whether we need to change anything structurally to make sure the right groups and voices are at the table,” Zuckerberg said.

California says film, TV production can resume June LOS ANGELES: California will allow film, television and music production to resume from June 12 if conditions permit after months of lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, the governor’s office said Friday. Film and television productions in the Golden State have been shuttered since mid-March. The reopening will be subject to approval by local health officers, the California Public Health Office said. “To reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, productions, cast, crew and other industry workers should abide by safety protocols agreed by labor and management, which may be further enhanced by county public health officers,” it said. However it is not clear if major Hollywood studios will be able to resume operations from next week because Los Angeles county is one of the main coronavirus epicenters in California, recording about half the infections and deaths in the state. To date, more than 125,000 cases and 4,500 deaths have been confirmed in California. AGENCIES

Russia sees melting permafrost behind Arctic fuel spill MOSCOW AGENCIES

An unprecedented fuel spill that has polluted huge stretches of Arctic rivers was caused by melting permafrost, Russian officials said Friday, ordering a review of infrastructure in vulnerable zones.

The spill — which has coloured remote tundra waterways with bright red patches visible from space — has highlighted the danger of climate change for Russia as areas locked by permafrost for centuries thaw amid warmer temperatures.

News of the cause of the accident came amid a huge cleanup effort outside the Arctic city of Norilsk which President Vladimir Putin said should be bankrolled by metals giant Norilsk Nickel.

A national-level state of emergency was announced after 21,000 tonnes of diesel fuel spilled from a reservoir that collapsed last Friday. Norilsk Nickel owns the reservoir through a subsidiary.

Three criminal probes have been launched, and Russia’s prosecutor general’s office said in a statement that preliminary findings indicate sagging ground as the reason for the disaster.

“To prevent a similar situation on especially hazardous structures on territories prone to melting of permafrost,” the prosecutor general has “ordered a comprehensive review of such objects,” it said.

Norilsk, one of the country’s biggest industrial centres, lies above the Arctic circle and Norilsk Nickel had already said it suspects permafrost thawing.

Other factors may be at play too: the country’s technical safety watchdog told TASS news agency that since 2016, it has been unable to check the condition of the 35year-old reservoir, because the company said it was under repairs.

The metals giant tried to contain the damage on its own for two days before specialists were called in from companies and agencies across Russia and managed to stop the spill from spreading further.

Speaking with officials at the site by video call, Putin told Norilsk Nickel chief Vladimir Potanin he expected the company to pay for a comprehensive cleanup.

“It’s necessary to carry out all the compensatory measures to restore biodiversity and the environment,” he said.

Potanin estimated that the operations would cost about 10 billion rubles ($146 million), on top of any fines.

“We will spend whatever is needed,” said Potanin. “We will return the ecosystem back to normal.”

Russia’s environmental watchdog Svetlana Radionova said the damage was being calculated and called the accident “unprecedented in scope”.

WORST SPILL IN ARCTIC HISTORY: A vast Arctic state, Russia is warming 2.5 times faster than the world average.

Sixty-five percent of the country is covered by permafrost and the environment ministry warned in 2018 that the melt threatens pipes and structures, as well as buried toxic waste, which can seep into waterways.

Northern regions have also rung the alarm, with the eastern Arctic Yakutia area

for years lobbying Moscow to pass legislation protecting permafrost.

Environmentalists said the spill was the worst such accident ever in the Arctic region and the second worst in modern Russian history.

The Ambarnaya River, which is affected by the spill, feeds into Lake Pyasino, a major body of water and the source of the Pyasina River that is vitally important to the entire Taimyr peninsula.

Satellite images released by the Euro-

CMYK

pean Space Agency and Russia’s Roscosmos show a large spot of reddish fuel had travelled over 20 kilometres (12 miles) toward the lake from the spill site.

Russia’s fisheries agency and some environmentalists have said that the floating barriers erected on the river by responders are unable to stop the majority of the pollution, which can quickly dissolve or sink.

The spill also polluted 180,000 square metres of land before reaching the river, regional prosecutors said.

The area has been pummelled by decades of pollution from metals production and other industrial activity in Norilsk, Russia’s most polluted city.

World Wildlife Fund expert Alexei Knizhnikov said local residents have long since stopped fishing in the river.

He added that despite damage to permafrost, the disaster could have been avoided if the company followed the rules, such as erecting a barrier around its fuel reservoir to contain spillage.

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

It's 2021 or never for tokyo, confIrms senIor olympIc offIcIal TOKYO

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AGENCIES

IGH-ranking Olympic official Pierre-Olivier Beckers on Saturday made plain that the delayed Tokyo Olympics "will be held in 2021 or not at all".

The Belgian was reiterating the stance put forward by Japan and International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach that next year was the last chance to hold the Games postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Today everyone is sure that they will start on July 23, 2021," he told Belgian newspaper L'Avenir.

"We are convinced that the Games will take place in 2021 or they won't take place.

"It's unthinkable to keep such a project on the go for any longer considering the enormous costs and all the thousands of people involved."

Beckers suggested it was "essential" that the traditional sporting calendar

emerges from its COVID-19 lockdown before allowing major sporting events like the Olympics to be staged.

"All the sporting federations have to adapt to the Games' postponement.

"We can't envisage a similar upheaval

Balotelli set to be released by Brescia BRESCIA AGENCIES

Mario Balotelli's ill-fated stint at hometown club Brescia appears to be coming to an end, with local media reporting Saturday his contract will be terminated after repeated absences from training. A letter notifying Balotelli of his release was sent to the Italy international by the club's lawyers on Friday, according to Sky Sport, Gazzetta dello Sport and the AGI news agency. Balotelli has reportedly missed a number of sessions since Serie A teams returned to training at the start of May. Players initially worked out individually before clearance was given for them to resume team training. The 29year-old said this week he had been sick and would send the club medical certificates as proof. Brescia coach Diego Lopez said on Friday he was "disappointed" with the forward's attitude. "Mario is training separately because his team-mates have done work that he hasn't," Lopez told Corriere della Sera. "The (individual) training sessions were optional, okay. But the group took one road and he took another. On Zoom, during the quarantine, we didn't see him. Even if he says he feels good, he's not at the level of his team-mates." Last month, Brescia president said Balotelli's "mind is no longer" with the club, who were bottom of the table and nine points from safety when the season was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.

a second time," stressed the president of Belgium's Olympic Committee.

According to Beckers a final decision on Tokyo "will be taken in the spring if questions (over the global health crisis) persist."

He said he was optimistic over the staging of the Games, rejecting any notion that it would be held behind closed doors.

In March, Tokyo 2020 was postponed one year over the coronavirus, which has killed hundreds of thousands around the world and halted international sport and travel.

Beckers heads the IOC's coordinating commission for the 2024 Games and he said he wanted Paris "to be different" to past editions.

"We want to stage Games that are economically responsible, inclusive, sustainable and useful for society.

"The IOC's desire is that the Games adapt to the needs of cities, countries, and vice versa. Paris will be the first edition that will fully fit into this vision."

"We must fight against gigantism," he continued.

"In Paris, we will return to a budget lower than that of previous editions: 3.8 billion euros for operations and around three billion for all infrastructure."

Premier League will consider pleas of Khashoggi's fiancee over Saudi deal: report LONDON AGENCIES

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters will "fully consider" calls for a proposed Saudi-led takeover of Newcastle United to be blocked, according to a BBC report on Friday.

Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has written to the league to oppose the deal, while Amnesty International said the Premier League "risks becoming a patsy" if the takeover is approved.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributor and US resident, was killed in 2018 while at Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul.

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will reportedly take an 80 percent stake in the club should the ÂŁ300m ($338 million) takeover go through.

"I assure you and your client that her representations are being fully considered in our process," Masters said in a letter to Cengiz's lawyer.

However, according to the BBC report, Masters has shunned the request of a private meeting with Cengiz "in

light of correspondence appearing in the media".

Cengiz has called on the Premier League to take a moral stand on the issue.

The deal is also being held up due to alleged Saudi piracy of a host of major sports events, including Premier League matches.

In a statement to the BBC, Cengiz said: "I'm cautiously optimistic the Pre-

mier League will make the right decision.

"I'm sure that if the Premier League follows its own rules and charter, especially the owners' and directors' test, it will block the sale of Newcastle United to Mohamed bin Salman and the Public Investment Fund he chairs.

"Until Bin Salman is held accountable for his role in Jamal's brutal murder, everyone must refrain from doing any business with him."

SPORTS 11

solskjaer backs extra subs change LONDON AGENCIES

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer believes the introduction of extra substitutions will be "welcome" when Manchester United resume their Premier League campaign later this month. The coronavirus pandemic forced the English top flight to be suspended in March.

But even though Britain's official virus death toll has now topped 40,000, 'Project Restart' is set to see the Premier League get going again, with United returning to action away to Tottenham Hotspur on June 19. United face fellow European qualification hopefuls Sheffield United on June 24, with the FA Cup quarter-final at Norwich and league match at Brighton following soon afterwards. With games coming thick and fast, Premier League clubs have agreed managers will be able to make up to five substitutions per match from an expanded nine-strong bench as a way of helping sides cope with a three-month backlog of fixtures.

"I think that's helpful because footballers, after being out for so long, going into competitive games will be a challenge for them and we have to look after them injurywise and fitness-wise," United manager Solskjaer told the club's website. "We can't just flog one player and say to them, 'you play every game and every minute' because it might be a period when we have to rotate quite often." United are currently three points adrift of a place in next season's Champions League, and Solskjaer said: "It does feel like a new season but then again, the first two games against Tottenham and Sheffield United are vital for the league standings, the table. "And it's a short season, it's only nine (league) games so can we get as many points and good performances as possible. "If we do get a good spell now, we could end up with some trophies and something to cheer about. "It's a young team with some great talent, some great work-rate, personalities... the human qualities in the group are fantastic." The enforced suspension has allowed the likes of Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford to regain fitness following ankle and back injuries respectively. But former United striker Solskjaer was cautious about their prospects of playing against Spurs. "Well, we hope everybody's going to be ready for the first game. "We've had time out so I don't think we can expect that those lads who've missed lots of the football can last the full game."

Djokovic worried by 'extreme, impossible' US Open health restrictions BELGRADE AGENCIES

World number one Novak Djokovic described the strict hygiene restrictions under which the US Open is likely to be played as "extreme" and a cap on support teams as "really impossible" on Friday.

As doubts grow over whether or not the Grand Slam event can go ahead as scheduled in New York, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Djokovic admitted the demands of organisers could create severe strain.

"Just yesterday I had a telephone conversation with the leaders of world tennis, there were talks about the continuation of the season, mostly about the US Open due in late August, but it is not known whether it will be held," the 33-yearold Serb told Prva TV television and quoted by Blic online daily.

"The rules that they told us that we would have to respect to be there, to play at all, they are extreme."

Djokovic, champion at the US Open in 2011, 2015 and 2018, described planned limits on player entourages as "really impossible".

"We would not have access to

Manhattan, we would have to sleep in hotels at the airport, to be tested twice or three times per week.

"Also, we could bring one person to the club which is really impossible.

"I mean, you need your coach, then a fitness trainer, then a physiotherapist.

"All their suggestions are really rigorous but I can understand that due to financial reasons, due to already existing contracts, organisers (want the event to be) held. We will see what will happen."

NADAL, BARTY FEARS: Djokovic was speaking a day after world number two Rafael Nadal had expressed similar reservations over the US Open, the main draw for which starts on August 31.

Nadal, who won a fourth US Open in 2019, said that if the New York showpiece was being staged this week, he would not play.

"We cannot resume until the situation is completely safe and fair in terms of health in that all players, wherever they come from, can travel and play tournaments in safe conditions," Nadal told reporters in a video conference call.

"If you told me to play the US Open today, I would say 'no'.

"In a few months, I don't know.

I hope so. We have to wait for people to return to normal life. And when it does, wait to see how the virus evolves." The tennis tour has been in cold storage since mid-March and will not resume until late July at the earliest. Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II, while the French Open has been shifted from May-June to September-October.

Earlier Friday, women's world number one Ashleigh Barty also voiced caution about resuming tennis too soon, saying she needed more information before committing to the US Open.

"It's exciting that tennis is being talked about again and things are moving in the right direction for us to start competing," she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"But I'd need to understand all of the information and advice from the WTA and the USTA before making a decision on the US events."

It is expected that the ATP and WTA will issue an update on the US Open and the rest of the season on Wednesday. Even if the US Open goes ahead, it will likely be behind closed doors.

CMYK

Sunday, 7 June, 2020

NEWS

Govt appoInts specIal envoy to afGhanIstan ISLAMABAD

t

STAFF REPORT

HE government has appointed a senior diplomat as its special ambassador to Kabul to spearhead efforts for starting intraAfghan negotiations aimed at ending Washington’s longest war in Afghanistan.

Mohammad Sadiq Khan, who has served as Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan from 2008 to 2014, called on Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi soon after the announcement of his new assignment in Islamabad, a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.

Khan, a former spokesman of the ministry, would play “an effective role in strengthening ties” between the two neighboring countries, the statement added.

Qureshi, in his remarks, said that Islamabad had sincerely played a reconciliatory role in the Afghan peace

process and would continue to do the same in the future.

Khan possesses master’s degrees in

political science from Peshawar University and International Affairs from Columbia University in New York City.

His appointment coincides with desperate attempts from Islamabad’s longtime ally, Washington, to court the warring Taliban to hold direct talks with Kabul government — a key component of a historic peace deal struck between the US and the Taliban in February.

In December 2018, Pakistan arranged rare direct talks between Washington and the Taliban, paving the way for the Doha peace deal between the two sides.

Pakistan also facilitated the landmark first round of direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Islamabad in July 2015. That process broke down after the Taliban announced the death of their long-time leader Mullah Omar, triggering a bitter internal power struggle.

Washington, other US cities gear for more protests over police brutality WASHINGTON AGENCIES

India becomes sixth worst-hit country by pandemic NEW DELHI: India overtook Italy as the world’s sixth-biggest coronavirus outbreak after it reported 9,887 new infections cases in one day on Saturday.

With its total number of cases rising to more than 236,000, India now has fewer infections than only the United States, Brazil, Russia, Britain and Spain, according to a Reuters tally. However, India’s toll of deaths from Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, is 6,642, small compared with those other countries. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, anxious to jump-start an economy crippled by the epidemic and put millions of people back to work, is easing its lockdown of the 1.3 billion population imposed in March, which the government says helped avoid an exponential rise in cases. Restrictions will be loosened from Monday but some experts are worried it is too soon. Giridhar R Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India, in particular, questioned the re-opening of religious places. “We can survive and sustain the gains without […] opening up religious places for some time,” Babu said on Twitter. Concerts, sporting events and political rallies are still banned. The World Health Organisation (WHO) said late on Friday India’s lockdown had helped it dampen down transmission of the disease, but there was a risk the cases could rise again. “As India and in other large countries open up and people begin to move there is always a risk of the disease bouncing back up,” Dr Mike Ryan, head of WHO’s emergencies programme, told a news conference in Geneva. India will throw open shopping malls, restaurants and places of worship that typically attract large crowds next week, officials said, even though coronavirus infections are rising at the fastest daily rate than at any time in the past three months. Hotel guests will be tested for fever, masks will be compulsory at all times, and restaurants will have to set tables apart to maintain social distancing when they reopen on Monday, according to rules issued by the federal home ministry. AGENCIES

Protesters streamed toward the White House and other Washington locations on Saturday for huge demonstrations over the death of George Floyd and issues of inequality for black Americans, as the movement triggered by his killing at police hands entered a second weekend.

With protests in solidarity underway around the world, from Sydney to London, police closed off a wide area around the White House, which is now behind a new barrier of black metal grates, ahead of a mid-day demonstration expected to draw tens of thousands of people on an oppressively hot and sunny day.

An even larger demonstration was underway near the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, with some protesters moving toward the massive stone memorial to civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. Protests were expected all around the nation, including in New York, Miami and Minneapolis, where Floyd was killed while in police custody on May 25.

The demonstrations in Washington were expected to be the biggest since the protests began nine days ago. Also on Saturday a remembrance for Floyd was being held in Raeford, North Carolina, the state where he was born, following an initial ceremony in Minneapolis on Thursday.

Hundreds of people waited in line there to view Floyd’s coffin, some holding umbrellas to ward off the hot sun on the steamy East Coast, news reports said. Some sobbed and many held their cell phones high in the air as a hearse arrived with the casket.

Outside the White House, protesters crowded in front of the

fences around the presidential mansion. Some attached pictures of Floyd and other blacks killed by police to the tall black barrier.

Patricia Thompson, a 55-yearold African-American who came with her niece and nephew, said she hoped this was a turning point in US history.

“I feel like we’ve been fighting, fighting, fighting, and all of a sudden, everything just broke through,” she said, referring to corporations and organizations that for the first time have taken a public stand against institutional racism.

The protests were sparked by videos of a police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes as he pleaded for his life — the latest case of white law enforcement authorities being blamed for the death of an unarmed black person.

The resultant rage has exploded into the most serious civil unrest in America since King was assassinated by a white man in 1968.

It also comes amid the coron-

avirus pandemic, in which nonwhites have died in disproportionate numbers and lost their jobs more readily than whites as the economy tanked due to lockdown measures.

Abroad, protesters echoed the rage of the American demonstrators.

Back in the US, new police excesses caused more anger.

In Buffalo, New York, two policemen were suspended without pay after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester who fell, suffered a head injury and began bleeding from the ear.

In Indianapolis, police launched an investigation after a video emerged showing at least four officers hitting a woman with batons and firing pepper balls at her on Sunday night.

And on Thursday in New York City, officers baton-charged dozens of peaceful protesters defying a curfew in the Bronx after pinning them in, leaving them with nowhere to run, several reports said.

Info extracted from devices of pIa crashed flight, airbus says ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

Airbus, the airplane manufacturing company, on Saturday said that important information about Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash has been extracted from the data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. Chief Product Safety Officer of Airbus, Yannick Malinge wrote a letter to all the airlines operating its A320 model in flights. In the letter, the company’s safety officer said that investigation is underway regarding the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) crash. The company said that the doomed flight’s data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been heard and analysed. Pakistan Aircraft Accident Investigation Board representatives are also involved in the inquiry, said the letter. Airbus said that it is completely cooperating with the investigation team.

“Currently at this stage, we do not have any special protective recommendations for the airlines,” the letter stated. On Friday, France’s Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) said that “technical work” to download and decode the flight data recorder information as well as the cockpit voice recorder data from the Airbus jet that had crashed in Pakistan is complete. It said the work was carried out at the request of Pakistan’s Aircraft Accident and Investigation Board (AAIB) and now analysis of the data will commence. According to the statement by BEA, the Pakistan investigation board “will publish at a later date a preliminary statement on the event based on downloaded data”.

Ninety-nine people were aboard the ill-fated PK8303 PIA flight when the plane crashed on May 22 in a residential area near Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport, a few moments before landing.

Except for two survivors, all others perished.

senate seeks Rs360m to build chairman’s house ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA

The Senate has sought Rs360 million for the construction of the chairman’s house in the Minister’s Enclave. According to sources, the Senate Secretariat asked for a grant of Rs360m in the upcoming budget, whereas it has sought Rs3.9 billion in total to run the operations of the Upper House. Sources also said that the National Assembly has also asked the Finance Division to allocate Rs5.5bn funds for the next fiscal year. Overall, sources said that the NA Secretariat and Senate of Pakistan have asked the Finance Division for 20 per cent increase in funds. The sources claimed that the Senate and NA were given funds more than average, but they were still demanding more. Sources said that the finance ministry has decided to discuss this issue with the PM. The senior official of NA told Pakistan Today that the lower house budget has been increased to 5.6bn for the next fiscal year and the total increase is around 17 per cent. He said more funds were sought for capacity building of the PIPS and launching of a strategic plan, a special initiative of the speaker NA which includes digitization and virtualization of committees, library and archives.

Biden formally clinches Democratic presidential nomination WASHINGTON AGENCIES

Joe Biden has formally clinched the Democratic presidential nomination, setting him up for a bruising challenge to President Donald Trump that will play out against the unprecedented backdrop of a pandemic, economic collapse and civil unrest.

“It was an honor to compete alongside one of the most talented groups of candidates the Democratic party has ever fielded,” Biden said in a statement Friday night,” and I am proud to say that we are going into this general election a united party.”

The former vice president has effectively been his party’s leader since his last challenger in the Democratic primary, Bernie Sanders, ended his campaign in April. But Biden pulled together the 1,991 delegates needed to become the nominee Friday after seven states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries Tuesday.

Biden reached the threshold three days after the primaries because several states, overwhelmed by huge increases in mail ballots, took days to tabulate results. A team of analysts at The Associated Press then parsed the votes into individual congressional districts. Democrats award most delegates to the party’s national convention based on results in individual congressional districts.

Biden now has 1,995 delegates, with contests still to come in eight states and three US territories.

The moment was met with little of the traditional fanfare as the nation confronts overlapping crises. While Biden has started to venture out more this week, the coronavirus pandemic has largely confined him to his Wilmington, Delaware, home for much of the past three months.

The country faces the worst rate of unemployment since the Great Depression.

And civil unrest that harkens back to the

1960s has erupted in dozens of cities following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died when a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air.

It’s a confluence of events that no US leader has faced in modern times, made all the more complicated by a president who has at times antagonized the protesters and is eager to take the fight to Biden.

“This is a difficult time in America’s history,” Biden said Friday night. “And Donald Trump’s angry, divisive politics is no answer.

The country is crying out for leadership.

Leadership that can unite us. Leadership that can bring us together.”

Biden spent 36 years in the Senate before becoming Barack Obama’s vice president. This is 77-year-old Biden’s third bid for the presidency and his success in capturing the Democratic nomination was driven by strong support from black voters.

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad. Ph: 051-2204545. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk