Epaper – March 5 LHR 2021

Friday, 5 March, 2021 I 20 Rajab, 1442 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XI No 246 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

PM laMbasts ECP, PDM for Making ‘MoCkEry of DEMoCraCy’ g

PrEmiEr says that his strugglE ovEr thE last 22 yEars has always bEEn to makE surE thosE in PowEr arE hEld aCCountablE

ISLAMABAD staff report

P

rimE minister imran khan on thursday said that the Pakistan democratic movement (Pdm) had made a “mockery of democracy” and that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had helped protected those in power who sought the secret ballot. these remarks were made during a televised address a day after the ruling Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) lost the senate seat for islamabad to Pdm joint candidate and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senior leader, yousaf raza gillani. reiterating the narrative of the Pti, Pm imran pointed out his desire to introduce a transparent system of democracy through the open ballot. as had often been said by various Pti ministers leading up to the election, the premier highlighted the fact that

the Pti had removed 20 of its members for taking bribes in the 2018 senate elections. he also reiterated that the PPP and the Pakistan muslim league-nawaz (Pml-n) had signed the Charter of democracy (Cod) in 2006, wherein they themselves had proposed the idea of open ballots. Question the state of democracy in the country, the premier said that the ECP had been “protecting those who made money by holding senate elections through secret ballot”. “we presented a bill in the parliament for open balloting in senate elections. when other parties who previously supported open balloting did not support our demand, we went to the supreme Court.” he maintained that the opposition would never receive an nro like agreement. “whether i am in the government or out of the assembly, i will not spare them,” he added. the premier highlighted that while the sC had decided it was the ECP’s responsi-

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

585,435

LAST UPDATED AT 7:18 AM ON MARCH 4, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

64

1,519

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

555,242 13,076 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

258,904

174,191

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

73,007

10,371/4,957

g

19,084 44,921

ECP takEs notiCE of PrEmiEr's addrEss, Calls EmErgEnCy mEEting bility to ensure transparent elections, the opposition had banded together to defend the secret ballot. “why do you think the same parties who wanted an open ballot now geared all their efforts to have a secret ballot?” asked the premier. Pm imran said that while the Pdm parties highlighted the importance of the Constitution whilst defending the secret ballot, they seemed to have no issue with it when signing the Cod. “i was surprised that when you’re spending money, a senator becomes a senator by giving bribes, and on the other side [are] those mPs who are selling their conscience and voting after taking money, then what kind of democracy is this? since then i started my campaign and i said since then that there should be an open ballot.” “i want to remind you that their corruption cases are old, we didn’t make them, they are since their times, in our time only five per cent cases [have been started], while the rest are all old,” he said, adding that the opposition had since then united to put pressure on the government. “all of them have one interest: to exert so much pressure on me that i raise my hands and, like gen musharraf, give them an nro and end their corruption cases.”

Prime minister imran maintained that since the first day he had come into power, running a hunt against corrupt elements within the system, the opposition had begun to panic. he added that he had predicted the union of the opposition parties on his first day, knowing that they would attempt to pressure him into giving up. he said that they “blackmailed” the government on a “rigged election” and then criticised the coronavirus response.

Pm imran also spoke of the financial action task force’s (faft) listing of Pakistan as a “grey list” country.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Bilawal dares PM to uphold promise of dissolving assembly ISLAMABAD staff report

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman bilawal bhutto-Zardari on thursday called out Prime minister imran khan to uphold his promise of dissolving the assembly if the Pakistan tehreek-e-insaf (Pti) lost the senate seat in islamabad. “the Pm had promised to dissolve the assembly if he lost the islamabad senate seat. he lost. we won. now what’s stopping him? is kaptaaan scared of elections?” the PPP chairman said on twitter. “after backtracking from the statement of dissolving the assembly, he is now creating a new drama by seeking a vote of confidence from the parliament,” he added. bilawal claimed that the prime minister was afraid of elections now that he has been rejected by his own members of national assembly (mnas) and allies. “you will not be able to escape. we will not give you an nro. and we will not spare you,” he said while addressing a press conference alongside the winner of the senate seat and PPP senior leader yousaf raza gillani. bilawal went on to say that the

HBL PSL postponed after more players test positive for Covid-19 KARACHI staff report

the 2021 Pakistan super league has been postponed due to the rising number of Covid-19 cases among the players and officials, the Pakistan Cricket board (PCb) said on thursday. “following a meeting with the team owners and considering the health and well being of all participants is paramount, the Pakistan Cricket board has decided to postpone the Pakistan super league 6 with immediate effect,” the PCb said. the decision comes after the number of confirmed cases within the Psl bio-secure bubble rose from three on wednesday to seven on thursday. the PCb “will focus on the safe and secure passage of all participants, and arrange repeat PCr tests, vaccines and isolation facilities to the six participating sides”, it added. lahore Qalandars CEo atif rana said that the decision was long overdue and that the PCb should have delayed the start of the tournament given the ongoing pandemic. “unfortunately, PCb said we should continue with the plan and other franchises supported

“incompetent, illegal government” only brought pain and suffering for the people of Pakistan and claimed that “every citizen of the country celebrated the victory of the Pakistan democratic movement (Pdm)” after gillani defeated Pti’s abdul hafeez shaikh in the senate elections. he claimed that the people of Pakistan were happy to be rid of this “puppet government.” “you will not be making decisions any more,” bilawal said to Pm imran. “i will tell you when and where will the no-confidence movement take place.” he asserted that the Pakistan democratic movement (Pdm), which had backed gillani in the elections a day earlier, would continue its battle against the ruling party, adding that no one would be able to save the Pti now. separately, bilawal on thursday contacted hamza shehbaz on the telephone and congratulated the opposition leader in Punjab assembly over the victory of the Pdm joint candidate yousuf raza gillani in the senate elections.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

more inside

PM Imran calls for enhanced cooperation between ECO member states STORY ON PAGE 03

relationship with india doesn’t affect ties with Pakistan: us STORY ON BACK PAGE the idea,” he said. the news comes just hours after PCb chief executive wasim khan had told reporters that all those within the bio-secure environment – around 300 players and support staff – had been offered Covid-19 vaccines.

PCb said that it had secured a small allocation of the vaccine after highlighting the national team’s international commitments and the reputation of the popular Psl twenty20 tournament during talks with federal and provincial governments. “while we live in these challenging times, the vaccine has

been sourced to provide an added level of protection and comfort for players and all personnel inside the [biosecure] bubble,” wasim said, adding that the players and officials were “under no obligation” to have the vaccine. the PCb did not reveal the names of all the new cases on thursday. on monday it was revealed australian leg-spinner fawad ahmed had tested positive, forcing the rescheduling of islamabad united’s match with Quetta gladiators by 24 hours.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

IHC orders removal of former spy chief from ECL STORY ON PAGE 02

imran knew he would be defeated from the very beginning: maryam nawaz STORY ON PAGE 02

02

Friday, 5 March, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

IHC orderS removaL of former SPy CHIef from eCL ISLAMABAD

I

Staff RepoRt

SLAMABAD High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the Ministry of Interior to remove former spy chief Lt Gen (r) Asad Durrani from the Exit Control List (ECL).

In 2018, Durrani, former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), landed himself in trouble for co-writing a book with Amarjit Singh Dulat, former chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), stirring controversy on a range of issues.

Subsequently, in May 2018, the interior ministry placed him on the no-fly list after receiving a letter from the Military

INTERIOR MINISTRY HAD PLACED HIM ON THE NO-FLY LIST IN MAY 2018 Intelligence (MI) recommending the same.

In October, Durrani moved the high court seeking removal of his name from the list.

During the proceedings on Thursday, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah asked Deputy Attorney General (DAG) Syed Tayyab Shah if the former spy chief’s name had been put on the list because an inquiry had been underway against him.

The court, Justice Minallah said, had examined all records against Durrani and arrived at the conclusion that there was no

formal inquiry underway against the retired general when he was placed on the ECL in 2018.

“Like all citizens, this retired three-star general also has rights,” he observed.

However, the judge offered the DAG to “give the court grounds” to keep Durrani on the list, without which “there is no basis” for such a move.

When Additional Attorney General (AAG) Tariq Khokhar, who was late to the hearing, appeared in front of the court,

Justice Minallah again asked whether Durrani was put on the ECL because of an ongoing inquiry against him.

“According to the record, there was no inquiry underway at the time [in 2018],” he pointed out.

“The petitioner is a retired three-star general and has also remained the ISI director. But now he is a common citizen and it is his right to move about with freedom.”

Justice Minallah questioned whether the federal government had “free rein to put anyone’s [name] on the ECL”.

AAG Khokhar asked the court to issue a notice to the Ministry of Defence for an answer, to which Justice Minallah said that there was “no need to call anyone”.

Imran knew he would be defeated from the very beginning: Maryam Nawaz NEwS DESk

Court extends Shehbaz’s detention in money laundering case LAHORE Staff RepoRt

An accountability court in Lahore on Thursday extended the judicial remand (detention) of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president and National Assembly (NA) Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif in a money laundering case. During the proceedings, the judge served a show-cause notice on Kot Lakhpat prison’s deputy superintendent for failing to produce Sharif in time. “A traffic line disturbed the schedule”, the official said. “Try to leave earlier if there is a traffic jam issue en route to the court,” the judge said. Medical reports of Sharif were also presented before the court.

Later, the court extended Shehbaz’s judicial remand before adjourning the hearing until March 10. The reference mainly accuses Shehbaz of being a beneficiary of assets held in the name of his family members and frontmen, who had no sources to acquire such assets. It said the family members and frontmen of the Shehbaz family received fake foreign remittances of billions in their personal bank accounts. In addition to these remittances, the bureau said, billions of rupees were laundered by way of foreign pay orders, which were deposited in the personal bank accounts of Hamza and Suleman. The reference further said that the family of Shehbaz failed to justify the sources of funds used for the acquisition of assets. It said the suspects committed offenses of corruption and corrupt practices as envisaged under the provisions of National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, and money laundering as delineated in the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.

It asked the trial court to try the suspects and punish them under the law.

Certain areas of Lahore put under smart lockdown NEwS DESk The Punjab government on Thursday imposed smart lockdown in a few areas of Lahore, which were identified as the coronavirus hotspot areas, owing to "a constant increase in the positivity rate and prevalence of Covid-19" in the province over the last two weeks.

A notification from the provincial government's health department stated that all markets, shopping malls, restaurants and offices (public and private) shall remain closed in areas, where the smart lockdown has been imposed. A complete ban on the movement of people to and from the areas in terms of public and private transport has been instilled except for "limited movement of one person per vehicle to and from the exempted facilities". The Punjab government decided that there shall also be a complete ban on gatherings of all kinds for social, religious, or any other purpose at any place, public or private, throughout the areas.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz has asserted that Prime Minister Imran Khan knew from the start that he was heading for defeat in the Senate elections, which is why he introduced ordinances and involved the Supreme Court (SC) in the polls.

Addressing a general council meeting of the PML-N, she said: “Where was your democracy sleeping, when you and your selectors rigged the Senate elections a few years ago when Bizenjo tried to become the Senate chairperson and despite opposition parties have more numbers, lost it?”

Maryam asked where PM Imran would obtain a confidence vote from when he had lost in the polls. She further said that PM Imran was seeking a vote of confidence from his party right after accusing them of taking bribes. The PML-N VP said that whenever the upcoming polls are held, the PML-N will sweep them.

She criticised the prime minister, telling him that “pride comes before the fall”.

“What did you think, that the PML-N and Nawaz Sharif are without God? Didn’t you think about karma?” she asked. She thanked her party workers for upholding PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif’s narrative and for

voting for Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) joint candidate Yousaf Raza Gillani.

“They say Nawaz Sharif’s narrative is too heavy for anyone to carry. The weight of Nawaz’s narrative was carried by the PML-N workers,” she said, adding that the slogan of “Vote Ko Izzat Do” was being accepted by people across the country.

Referring to her father, former prime minister Nawaz as a “trendsetter”, Maryam heaped praise on him, saying that whenever he decides to do something, the PML-N supremo does so. Responding to rumours of rigging in the Senate elections, Maryam in turn asked if the byelections were rigged as well. She , during the by-elections, had shared multiple videos that supposedly showed the stealing of “bagfuls of votes” and had called for recounts multiple times.

“With my head bowed in humiliation, I say that money did not prevail [in Senate elections]. Rather, the PML-N’s ticket prevailed,” a jubilant Maryam said.

Maryam said that the prime minister should not say that his lawmakers sold out, adding that everyone knew this was the first and last time PM Imran Khan had gotten elected to power. “You and your MNAs and MPAs know, you have no future and you have no party,” she said, referring to PM Imran.

Imran endorses Senate chairman Sanjrani for a second term ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Prime Minister Imran Khan has endorsed Sadiq Sanjrani, incumbent Senate chairman, for a second term at the top Senate post, Minister for Information Shibli Faraz announced on Thursday.

“Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced Sadiq Sanjrani for Senate Chairmanship,” tweeted Faraz.

In 2018, Sanjrani, then a little-known politician from Balochistan and backed by Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), beat Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Raja Zafarul Haq to become chairman of the upper house.

In 2019, he survived an unexpected no-confidence vote proposed by the joint opposition alliance, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), which holds a majority in the 104-member House.

Political pundits claim many party members did not

wish to see Sanjrani again as Senate chairman and wanted the party leadership to nominate an ideological party activist or member for the slot.

Many also believe if the PTI did not back Sanjrani, it would have run the risk of annoying the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), which is now the fourth largest party in the Senate and second-largest party after the PTI in the ruling coalition.

The announcement comes a day after Minister of Finance Abdul Hafeez Shaikh lost his bid for a Senate seat from Islamabad to former prime minister and PPP leader Yousaf Raza Gillani, a joint candidate of the 11party PDM, in a hotly-contested election.

Gillani secured 169 out of 340 votes against Sheikh’s 164 votes. While the PTI won the highest number of seats, becoming the single-majority party in a hung upper house, Shaikh’s defeat served as a setback, prompting Prime Minister Imran to go for a confidence vote from the National Assembly (NA).

“According to the record, there is no fresh inquiry against Asad Durrani [and therefore] no reason for keeping his name on the ECL,” he said.

OBL ISSUE: The 2011 US raid that killed Taliban leader Osama bin Laden is the most thorny issue covered in “Spy Chronicles”.

“The ISI probably learnt about OBL [Osama bin Laden] and he was handed over to the United States according to a mutually agreed process,” Durrani wrote.

His version contradicts the government official stance that it only knew of the US raid on May 2, which targeted the compound in Abbottabad where bin Laden was holed up after the US stealth helicopters had left its territory.

“The denial of any [Pakistani] role was because cooperating with the United States to eliminate a person regarded by many in Pakistan as a “hero” could have embarrassed the government,” Durrani has said in the book.

In an exclusive interview with Pakistan Today in 2018, Durrani said that he “has not been misquoted anywhere in the book”, whether it were his remarks on the US operation against Bin Laden or the Kargil operation.

Pashtun lawmakers of PTI vow to ensure Imran wins vote of confidence ISLAMABAD MIaN aBRaR

The Pashtun lawmakers of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday vowed to ensure presence of all party lawmakers at the National Assembly (NA) session on Saturday and vote of confidence to Prime Minister Imran Khan. An informed source told Pakistan Today that over 40 Pashtun lawmakers of the PTI gathered at Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) House to swear allegiance to Prime Minister Imran and vowed to protect their oath taken for the premier. The gathering was also joined by NA Speaker Asad Qaisar, KP Chief Minister Mehmood Khan, Kashmir Committee Chairman Shehryar Khan Afridi, Communications Minister Murad Saeed and others. The source said that two Pashtun lawmakers from Karachi including Jahangir Khan also attended the meeting convened by young lawmakers of the PTI. “At the meeting, Shehryar Afridi made a very emotional speech and clarified the situation that led to rejection of his vote and swore allegiance to Imran Khan. He said that Imran Khan was pride of every Pashtun and nobody could challenge his premiership. Others also made emotional speeches and vowed to stand by Imran Khan through thick or thin,” the source said. The source added that the lawmakers decided to form smaller groups who would contact the other party and allied party lawmakers and would urge them to ensure their participation in the vote of confidence to Prime Minister Imran at the NA session convened on Saturday. The source said that Fazal Khan from Mardan and Sher Akbar Khan MNAs also shared that they had been approached by several people who offered them bribes against their vote. The PTI lawmakers vowed to work diligently and ensure that prime minister wins the vote of confidence on Saturday.

PTI issued notices to rebel lawmakers for ‘violating’ party discipline kARACHI Staff RepoRt

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has served show-cause notices on its two legislators from Sindh on charges of violating the party discipline in the runup to Wednesday’s Senate elections.

MPA Aslam Abro and Sheharyar Khan Shar were issued the notices on March 3 (Wednesday) from the office of the party’s Standing Committee on Discipline and Accountability chairman Salman Aftab.

The MPAs were directed to explain their position for making accusations against party leadership “which went viral on social, print and electronic media”. The notification said the act was against the PTI’s policy and its constitution.

The matter has been referred to the PTI’s Western Region Standing Committee on Discipline and Accountability for action against the two lawmakers within seven days.

The notice came days after the two MPAs announced they would not vote

for the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidates in the Senate elections because they were not taken on board while awarding the tickets for the polls.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf faced several challenges to its candidates for the Senate elections. Last week, disgruntled PTI leaders from rural Sindh had approached Governor Imran Ismail, also a PTI stalwart, to express their reservations.

In a letter, the PTI officials had said they were “extremely disappointed with the entire process”

of the selection of candidates for the polls and demanded the party’s high command cancel the nomination of Abro and Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda and award tickets to “party loyalists”.

Separately, eight appeals were filed against the decisions of the returning officers over acceptance and rejection of the Senate hopefuls from Sindh.

Two appeals were filed against Abro, while an appeal was filed against the acceptance of Vawda’s nomination papers on a general seat.

Friday, 5 March, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

03

Pm ImraN CaLLS for eNHaNCed CooPeraTIoN beTweeN eCo member STaTeS

P

NEwS DESk

RIME Minister Imran Khan has emphasised taking full advantage of geographical location, economic assets and political relationships among members of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) for achieving the common goals and priorities, reported Radio Pakistan.

In his opening remarks at the 14th ECO summit held virtually on Thursday, he said that regional connectivity and integration have proven essential for growth and development.

PM Imran said that the enhanced physical structure will generate economic activity, trade, employment, mobility and cross border exchanges.

Presenting his six-point plan for securing the common objectives of the ECO countries, the premier said: “We need to recover robustly from the economic and health crises induced by the Covid-19.” He added that the countries must adopt a plan to

mazari says Senate elections a ‘decisive win’ for PTI ISLAMABAD: Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari on Thursday said that the Senate elections have been a decisive win for Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government that has emerged as the single largest party in a hung upper house. In a series of tweets, Mazari said that Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to take a confidence vote from the National Assembly “despite the fact that same house […] voted by a large margin to elect PTI’s Fauzia Arshad” from Islamabad who defeated Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) hopeful Farzana Kausar. “Certainly loss of Shaikh a setback but fact is PTI has become [a] largest single party in Senate,” she pointed out. Talking about the PML-N, the minister said the opposition party’s “sparse showing” in the elections should be a “sombre message” for it. “PDM chief MFR’s [Maulana Fazlur Rehman] brother lost his seat too!

Overall Senate elections have been a decisive win for PTI & defeat for the motley collection of money-showering PDM parties!”

“Interesting how PMLN & PPP still remain provincial parties as reflected in Senate elections! Btw those saying “if u think PTI won Senate elections”, it’s not a matter of “thinking” – numbers are there so chk results to see that PTI has emerged as [the] largest single party in Senate!” Staff RepoRt

firdous terms Imran’s decision to seek confidence vote a bold move LAHORE: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan on Thursday lauded Prime Minister Imran Khan for his decision to seek a vote of confidence in parliament. Khan’s announcement came hours after former prime minister and Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) joint candidate from Islamabad Yousaf Raza Gillani defeated Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Wednesday, receiving 169 votes to the latter’s 164. The loss represents a significant blow to the prime minister and the government because the electoral college in Shaikh’s case was the National Assembly (NA) where the PTI enjoys a comfortable majority.

“Despite the fact that PTI emerged as the largest single party in Senate, Prime Minister Imran Khan took a bold decision to seek the vote of confidence from the National Assembly,” Firdous said in a tweet. PM Imran’s decision, she said, is a challenge to the opposition, which should either show its number in the House or be ready to be held accountable for horse-trading during elections.

“Imran Khan and his party has reached a consensus decision that Imran Khan will take a vote of confidence from the parliament,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told a news conference on Wednesday evening.

Minister for Information Senator Shibli Faraz said that the move was to show PM Imran’s political opponents that he still had the confidence of parliament and it was the “sign of a brave man.” INp

REGIONAL CONNECTIVITY AND INTEGRATION HAVE PROVEN ESSENTIAL FOR GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT, SAYS IMRAN build resilient health care systems to respond to such crises in the future.

PM Imran said that they must develop an integrated transport network to facilitate both intra-ECO trade and serve as a pathway for trade between major economies of the East and the West, North and South.

He highlighted the Istanbul-TehranIslamabad commercial cargo train and proposed that Uzbekistan-AfghanistanPakistan railway links are important regional connectivity projects. In addition, he said, linking the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) with Afghanistan and beyond is vital.

The prime minister underscored that the ECO members must implement the crossborder projects already agreed under the ECO members, including the TAPI gas

pipeline and the CASA-1000, the establishment of an ECO investment agency and the organising of an annual ECO investment fair.

He said that “our mutual trade – which is just eight per cent of the total trade – could be expanded 10-fold”.

To remain competitive, he said they must promote knowledge-based economies, which needs enhanced research and development and focus on rapid digitalisation.

He lauded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the current chair, for his timely initiative amidst the Covid-19 scenario. Prime Minister Imran said that the ECO members states are severely affected by the health and economic crisis unleashed by the pandemic, with over 150 million

people hit by the virus wherein over 2.5 million people lost their lives.

He stressed that Pakistan faced challenges during the pandemic, however, it adopted a people and poor-centric approach to balance saving of lives and livelihoods.

He said that despite the financial constraints, his government allocated an unprecedented $8 billion for the poorest and most vulnerable households through small businesses and direct handouts.

He also said that the rich countries injected 20 trillion into their economies to stimulate growth, however, the developing countries do

Pakistan desires to strengthen trade ties with EU: FM NEwS DESk Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said that Pakistan desires to further strengthen trade and economic relations with the European countries.

He said this while talking to the envoys of European countries in Islamabad on Thursday. The foreign minister highlighted that there are a great number of investment opportunities in Pakistan.

He said that despite Covid-19, there has been a significant increase in the investment portfolio from European companies to Pakistan. He expressed satisfaction that bilateral trade has also improved.

The FM said that a plan is being prepared in order to make the joint economic commissioners with the European countries more vibrant and effective. He added that the government is providing every possible facilitation to entrepreneurs from Europe.

Referring to the Roshan Digital Account, he said that the expatriate Pakistanis have sent $500 million to Pakistan through this initiative in the last few months.

He also said that both sides need to evolve a joint strategy to remove hurdles in the way of bilateral trade.

He added that institutional cooperation is a must to further strengthen the bilateral relationship.

Earlier, Foreign Minister Qureshi expressed satisfaction over the Norwegian investment in Pakistan.

During his telephonic conversation with Norwegian counterpart Ine Eriksen Søreide, the FM appreciated the growing business relations between Pakistan and Norway. The foreign minister of Norway appreciated the role of the government of Pakistan in facilitating the

PAKISTAN, NORWAY AGREE TO ENHANCE TIES IN DIVERSE SECTORS

signing of a solar power project between Scatec and Nizam Energy. She also lauded the constructive role of Norwegians of Pakistani origin in the economic development of Norway.

The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on enhancing cooperation in diverse sectors such as trade, investment and clean energy. On Afghanistan, Qureshi underscored that there was no military solution to the conflict. He briefed his Norwegian counterpart on Pakistan’s positive contribution to the Afghan peace process and expressed the hope that the Afghan leaders would seize this historic opportunity to secure an inclusive, broad-based and comprehensive political settlement.

Army, intelligence chiefs discuss security issues with premier

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday, reports said.

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Faiz Hamid was also present during the meeting.

A briefing was given to the civilian and military brass

on the internal and regional security situation, people familiar with the situation said. During the meeting, professional matters pertaining to the Pakistan Army, and the external and internal security situation were discussed. Prime Minister Imran paid tribute to personnel from the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps (FC) and law enforcement agencies “who sacrificed their lives for the defence of the motherland”.

not have the capacity for fiscal space.

Pakistan is one of the founding members of the Economic Cooperation Organisation, in addition to Iran and Turkey. The organisation was formed in 1985 from the erstwhile Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD).

Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan later joined as members of ECO. As a founding member, Pakistan remains strongly committed to ECO which aims at the promotion of effective regional cooperation, with a focus on communications, trade, culture and connectivity.

The Summit is the highest platform in the 10-member ECO. The Summit meetings entail the exchange of views on regional and global issues of interest to the ECO region and a review of the progress in implementation of ECO programmes and projects.

Pakistan has been actively contributing towards the advancement of the goals and objectives of ECO, including regional economic integration.

President summons Na session tomorrow for vote of confidence ISLAMABAD INp

President Arif Alvi has summoned the session of the lower house of the Parliament on Saturday, as Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to seek a vote of confidence. According to a notification issued by the NA Secretariat on Thursday, the session has been summoned for the purpose of requiring the prime minister to obtain a vote of confidence from the National Assembly (NA) under Article 91(7) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president has summoned the National Assembly session in the exercise of powers conferred by clause (1) of Article 54 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Shaikh suffered defeat at the hands of Gilani in a major upset in Wednesday’s Senate polls as the latter secured 169 votes as against 164 bagged by the former. It has been stipulated that the rejected votes played a key role in the opposition candidate’s win as these exceeded the margin of victory. Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry announced on Twitter that PM Imran will seek a confidence vote from the lower house on Saturday after the major upset in the Senate elections, wherein Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidate and Federal Minister of Finance Hafeez Shaikh lost to Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) joint candidate and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) senior leader Yousaf Raza Gilani. Fawad added that the session will commence at 12:15 pm. In this regard, it emerged that the prime minister has barred members of National Assembly (MNAs) of PTI from leaving Islamabad. As per details, PM Imran has directed all members to ensure their attendance in next session of the NA. Chief Whip Aamir Dogar has conveyed directions of the premier to all lawmakers of the ruling party.

During a meeting chaired by PM Imran, it was also decided to summon a special session of NA on Saturday in which the premier will take vote of confidence.

Sources have further said that Prime Minister Imran has also summoned a meeting of his legal team to discuss the vote. Meanwhile, former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday has said that since Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh had lost the Senate election on Wednesday (March 3), the prime minister had lost trust of the NA, and, therefore, the only solution to defuse the crisis was holding fresh elections in the country. Talking to newsmen here along with Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Abbasi said that it was PDM’s open challenge to Prime Minister Imran Khan to face the opposition in elections. “Now the National Assembly could no more be run through ‘rigging’ and ‘intimidation’,” the former prime minister said, and added the sooner elections were held the better it was for the country. Terming the defeat of the ruling PTI’s candidate from Islamabad in Senate elections unprecedented and an expression of “no trust” in Prime Minister Imran, former prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, on behalf of the PDM, has asked the prime minister that he should resign forthwith. “As many as 17 members of the ruling PTI voted against the party lines thus showing noconfidence in the leadership of PM Imran,” the PPP leader said. A day earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, while addressing a press conference alongside senior party leaders after the election results came in, had said that those standing with Prime Minister Imran will be seen on one side and those who prefer the ideology of PPP and PML-N have every right to join their ranks.

04

Friday, 5 March, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

NAB ISSueS SummoN NoTICe To SAfdAr over ComPlAINT of ASSeTS BeyoNd INCome LAHORE

T

SHAHAB oMeR

HE National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Lahore has summoned Captain (R) Mohammad Safdar along with record of his assets and bank accounts over a complaint of assets beyond income, Pakistan Today learnt on Thursday.

According to the summon notice, Safdar has been asked to provide the record of anonymous assets, which were under his possession, including a sugar mill and a few plots in the name of his wife and PML-N Vice President

Maryam Nawaz.

The notice mentioned the assets of Safdar, his dependent family and some benamidars, and asked him to provide the details of the assets.

The notice directed Safdar to provide the details of a flour mill located at Mauza Mal adjacent to Haveli Bangarwan near Sundar Industrial Estate.

The notice revealed that a plot of 337 kanals at Mouza Mall, a 62 kanals land at Mouza Badooki Saani, 14 kanals land at Mouza Asil Lakhowal, and another 200 acres land was in the name of Maryam Nawaz. The notice further revealed that a 20 kanal land of Rana Alam at Mouza

Badooki Sani was also under the occupation of Safdar.

The notice also directed Safdar to provide the complete details of purchase of a 30-40 kanals land at Mouza Lakhowal and a 42 kanal land in Raiwind, besides information about the lands occupied at Mouza Mall, Sultankay, Kamas/Badooki Saani, Lakhowal and Raiwind, which were in the name of Safdar and his dependent family members.

According to the notice, a land of 109 acres was purchased in the name of Maryam at Mouza Sultankay while Sakka Agriculture Farmhouse and Jeewan Estate Farmhouse located at Jaati Umra Road

were also owned by Safdar.

“In addition to the above-mentioned properties, the complete record of all the movable and immovable properties, including agricultural, residential and commercial, other assets, which were owned, acquired, purchased, sold, or disposed of by you and your dependent family members, and bank accounts held by you and your family members should also be furnished by you [Safdar] in person before NAB Complaint Verification Cell Deputy Director Nirmal Hasni at NAB Complex, Thokar Niaz Baig, Lahore on March 10 without fail,” the notice said.

SC acquits man facing death sentence ISLAMABAD APP

The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan on Thursday ordered to release a person convicted of death sentence due to insufficient evidence and faulty investigation. A three-member bench of the apex court, headed

by Justice Manzoor Malik and comprised of Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Amin-Ud-Din Khan, conducted hearing of an appeal against a high court judgment in a murder case. Earlier, a trial court had awarded capital punishment to Mohammad Ishaq over alleged murder of his wife in 2008 in Layyah before a high court commuted the death sentence into life imprisonment. During the course of proceedings, the counsel for the victim said that the accused stabbed his wife to death. Accused Ishaq and Razia Bibi were married for only two months, he added. The counsel for the accused said that a false murder case was registered against the accused as Razia fell and got injured, and there was no witness to the incident. Justice Manzoor Malik said it seems that the victim's brother and father were made witnesses. False witnesses were made in such cases, he added.

Hearing in bail petitions of PTI leader Sheikh adjourned KARACHI StAff RePoRt

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday adjourned hearing in bail petition of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader and Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh in two cases. Karachi police had arrested Sheikh on February 16 from outside a polling station in Malir neighbourhood after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had ordered his expulsion from the constituency. The following day, the police booked him under sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 in a case filed at the Memon Goth police station. The other case pertains to attempted murder, interference in government duties and disruption during an anti-encroachment drive. Speaking to the reporters, Sheikh said the cases were lodged against him out of political vengeance. “The cases are aimed at muzzling my voice in the Sindh Assembly,” he claimed.

LAHORE: A view of fireworks during a spring festival at Jilani Park in the provincial capital. Zubair Mehfooz.

CJCSC, Azerbaijan leadership deliberate upon bilateral cooperation NEWS DESK Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Nadeem Raza called on Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev in Baku on Thursday. The CJCSC, who is on official visit to Azerbaijan, also held separate meetings with Minister of Defence Colonel General Zakir Hasanov and other military leadership.

During the meetings, important facets of defence and security relationship between the two countries came under discussion. Both the sides also deliberated upon various areas of bilateral cooperation and prevailing regional environment, particularly with reference to Kashmir and Afghanistan.

Raja chairs board meeting of Small Industrial Estate Jhelum THE CHAIRMAN EMPHASISES ON IMPLEMENTATION OF SAFETY SOPS AND REHABILITATION OF ROADS LAHORE StAff RePoRt

Small Industrial Estate Jhelum’s Board of Management Chairman Raja Muhammad Anwer has said that the estate has been contributing to the regional economy and the business community of Jhelum has been playing a pivotal role in the economic uplift of the

region by creating jobs, providing employment opportunities to skilled labour and producing exportable items.

Raja expressed this while chairing a board meeting of the estate.

“The strategic focus of this small industrial estate has always been overall provincial upgradation while engaging locals and producing indigenous products.

The entire estate is striving for excellence in production and it has made great strides,” he added.

During the meeting, the chairman also emphasised on launching a mass awareness drive in the industrial state. “Industrial safety is one of our primary concerns. In order to mitigate industrial hazards, we need to design and launch a special campaign. We must also ensure that all the safety SOPs are being implemented in letter and spirit. The success of any industrial estate lies in the strength and safety of its workforce,” he said.

Friday, 5 March, 2021

LAHORE

NEWS

PM lambasts ECP, PDM for making ‘mockery of democracy’ cOnTInUeD frOM pAge 01 “The sanctions mean that our rupee will fall and then inflation rises […] anything that is imported becomes expensive,” he said, counting fuel, electricity, pulses, ghee, and wheat as the commodities most affected. He highlighted that while the government was trying to meet the requirements of the FAFT, the opposition did not cooperate in this regard, and instead had used this moment of need as a bargaining chip to attempt to get the NRO. The premier maintained that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had nothing to do with the FAFT’s 27 requirements. “They have a one point agenda to pressure me to get an NRO,” he said. PM Imran underscored that the PDM had used money to bribe members of the PTI so that, when Finance Minister Hafeez Shaikh lost, it would make the party appear to be weak. The premier said that the PDM wants to hang “a sword of no-confidence” above his head.

This was the PDM’s strategy to “blackmail me so I give them [a concession under] an NRO,” he added. Maintaining that justice and order are the difference-makers between prosperity and failure, the premier said that his struggle over the last 22 years has always been to make sure those in power are held accountable. “Pakistan is not a poor country, but no country can progress when the corrupt and powerful launder money,” he said, adding that a country’s downfall comes when a country’s prime minister himself engages in corruption. He asked how the common man within a country could be expected to be honest when the leadership itself was corrupt.

He further questioned what kind of message this sends to the youth of the country. The prime minister said that when Gillani becomes a senator and “will allow corrupt practices to prevail, what example will we set for the younger generation?”

ECP TAKES NOTICE OF PM'S SPEECH: Shortly after the prime minister's televised address, the ECP took notice of his comments and summoned an emergency meeting.

HBL PSL postponed after more players test positive for Covid-19 cOnTInUeD frOM pAge 01 On Wednesday England batsman Tom Banton tested positive for Covid-19 along with a Karachi Kings staff member. On Thursday Pakistan allrounder Mohammad Faizan, who represents Lahore Qalandars, was also named as one of the players to contract coronavirus. Australian allrounder Daniel Christian withdrew from the competition over fears of catching the virus and planned to fly out on Thursday. It is not the first time the PSL has fallen victim to the coronavirus pandemic. Last year’s competition was halted at the semi-final stages in March due to the number of rising cases in Pakistan.

The games were rescheduled to November and held behind closed doors, when Karachi Kings won the title. Karachi lead the current PSL table with six points from five matches.

Oil prices rise after Saudi minister urges caution on market LONDON: Oil prices rose more than $1 per barrel on Thursday after Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman urged caution and vigilance at the beginning of a meeting of OPEC ministers and their allies about the future of supply cuts. Brent crude futures were up $1.11, or 1.7pc, at $65.18 a barrel by 1347 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose $1.07, or 1.8pc to $62.35. Ministers from OPEC members and their allies started a meeting to discuss the future of an oil output cut at 1300 GMT. Analysts and traders say a four-month price rally from below $40 a barrel is now out of step with demand and that physical sales are not expected to match supply until later in 2021. AGENCIES

05

MOIP PrOPOSES rECOrD rS6.37Bn raMzan rELIEf PaCkagE ISLAMABAD

U

GHULAM ABBAS

NLIKE previous years, the incumbent government is going to introduce a mega relief package for the holy month of Ramzan this year.

According to details, the Ministry of Industries & Production (MoIP) has proposed the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to approve a record Rs6.37 billion Ramzan relief package for 2021.

Sources at MoIP said under the pro-

posed relief package, to be offered through utility stores network, the government would give a subsidy of around Rs40 per kilogramme on sugar, banaspati ghee and wheat flour. The ECC, which would be chaired by Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, is likely to approve the historic relief package soon, they added.

As per an MoIP official, the average Ramzan relief package in the past 10 years ranged between Rs1.5 to Rs2.5 billion.

“The relief package last year was Rs2.5 billion and the average savings

for the consumers remained Rs10– Rs15 on various items. However, serious intervention will be required this year to control the prices of vegetable ghee and oil, sugar and even wheat flour,” he added.

Sources said the relief package would include reduction in prices of 14 essential items by 10pc to 15pc at utility stores, besides the sale of five items at subsidised rates.

Currently, subsidised sale of wheat flour, sugar, banaspati ghee, rice and three pulses – gram, moong and mash – was in effect since January 8, 2021,

under the special relief package announced by the prime minister.

Ghee and oil prices were ranging between Rs250 and Rs300 per kg/litre in the open market but the rates at the utility stores were Rs170Rs175 per kg/litre.

However, the government has already enhanced the rates to Rs200 per kg/litre and the new rates are likely to be implemented along with the Ramzan package.

The Ramzan relief package will commence on April 1 and continue will May 15.

CDNS receives Rs29bn in new investments ISLAMABAD APP

The Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) received Rs29 billion in new investments until February 28, through the newly introduced premium prize bonds.

It may be noted here that CDNS did not accept institutional investment as only individual investment was encouraged.

The CDNS has introduced the premium bonds after the termination of both major prize bonds of Rs40,000 and Rs25,000. The new bonds were registered by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and can only be encashed only by the registered financial institution under SBP. The federal government had recently suspended the prize bonds and had given a six month deadline for encashing their savings totalling Rs160 bn.

Speaking about the development, a CDNS official said that the government has opened new avenues for public and private investment to document the country’s economy and ensure transparency in the financial system.

In reply to a question, he said encashments worth Rs116 bn were paid by March 1 to investors against the suspension of prize bonds of Rs25,000, while the remaining 45 bn would be paid by May 30.

CDNS also compensated an amount of Rs258 bn to investors after the termination of prize bonds of Rs40,000.

Furthermore, CDNS has reached a fresh deposit of Rs540 billion during the last seven months in the current fiscal year (7MFY21). The directorate has set an annual collection target collection of Rs249 bn in the current fiscal year as compared to Rs352 bn

for the previous fiscal year to enhance savings and promote a saving culture in the country.

In regard to the current revision of CDNS certificate profit rates, the official said that the institution has maintained the same interest rate on savings certificates due to the market situation and as per Pakistan Investment Bonds (PIB) policy decision. “Interest rates were linked with the policy of PIB, set by the SBP,” he added.

The official said the rate of profit on defence saving, regular income saving, special saving has remained at 8.49pc, 8.04pc, and 7.77pc, respectively. The rate of profit on Short Term, Pension and Shuhada Welfare certificates also been retained.

Moreover, three-month certificates now carry a profit rate of 6.66pc, whereas six-month certificates carry the same rate at 6.80pc and nine-month certificates are also the same at 6.8pc from 6.2pc.

Honda's part self-driving Legend a big step for autonomous tech TOKYO AGENCIES

Honda Motor Co Ltd on Thursday unveiled a partially self-driving Legend sedan in Japan, becoming the world’s first carmaker to sell a vehicle equipped with new, certified level 3 automation technology.

The launch gives Japan’s No.2 automaker bragging rights for being the first to market, but lease sales of the level 3 flagship Legend would be limited to a batch of 100 in Japan, at a retail price of 11 million yen ($102,000).

Still, the new automation technology is a big step towards eliminating human error-induced accidents, chief engineer Yoichi Sugimoto told reporters.

The Legend’s “Traffic Jam Pilot” system can control acceleration, braking and steering under certain conditions. Once the system is activated, a driver can also watch movies or use the navigation on the screen,

helping to mitigate fatigue and stress when driving in a traffic jam, Honda said in a statement.

It can alert the driver to respond when handing over the control, such as vibration on the driver’s seatbelt, the carmaker said. And if the driver continues to be unresponsive, the system will assist with an emergency stop by decelerating and stopping the vehicle while alerting surrounding cars with hazard lights and the horn, it added. The announcement comes after the Japanese government awarded a safety certification to Honda’s “Traffic Jam Pilot” in November.

Global automakers and tech companies, including Google parent Alphabet Inc’s Waymo and Tesla Inc, have been investing heavily in autonomous driving.

Yet even as the technology advances, regulations on autonomous driving differ from country to country.

Audi unveiled an A8 sedan with level 3 technology in 2017 but regulatory hurdles have prevented it from being widely introduced.

Bilawal dares PM to uphold promise of dissolving assembly cOnTInUeD frOM pAge 01 The PPP and PML-N leaders agreed to speed up the joint struggle from the platform of the PDM. A day earlier, the PPP chief had once again called for Prime Minister Imran’s resignation.

Speaking alongside newly-elected senator, Gillani, the PPP chief had said that the former prime minister would be their candidate for the Senate chairman slot, and they would get him elected to the coveted post. In a reference to his mother Benazir Bhutto’s famous statement, the scion of the Bhutto dynasty had said that whatever injustice of oppression they had gone through, it has been proved that democracy is the best revenge. “Everyone has seen the result of no-confidence in the government’s policies,” he said, adding that the prime minister should now resign. We will now be attacking the incumbent government from every side and will send them packing as soon as possible,” the PPP chairman had said. He had claimed that “a new era is starting in Pakistan’s democratic journey”.

He thanked the PDM leadership and said that Gillani’s win was a win for all democratic forces in Pakistan. “This puppet government has lost from its own parliament and the people of Pakistan have won.” Speaking on the occasion, Gillani had thanked all parties of the PDM for supporting him in securing a win on the Senate seat. “PDM won all the Senate elections, besides also winning the key seat of Senate from Islamabad,” he had said, adding that PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif has congratulated him on the win and they would visit Shehbaz to meet him soon.

Saudi prince pushes on with $500bn megacity as US points the finger over Khashoggi killing DUBAI AGENCIES

It seems an unlikely vision, a megacity in the desert with no cars or roads, all run by machines that can recognise your face.

Yet preparations for NEOM, the $500 billion signature project in Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s drive to diversify Saudi Arabia’s economy, are well underway.

The organisation behind the development, expected to be close to the size of Belgium when it is completed, will hire 700 people this year, according to Simon Ainslie, the venture’s chief operating officer.

While NEOM is being sold as a vision of a brighter future, international investors have yet to bite.

The scale of the project is vast and the region already has well-established transport and business hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.

The development is also inextricably linked to the Crown Prince, who as de facto leader of the kingdom has drawn ire over Saudi’s war

in Yemen and his own alleged links to the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A US intelligence report released last week concluded the prince approved an operation to “capture or kill” Khashoggi, who had criticised Saudi policies in columns for the Washington Post. Saudi officials deny this and have rejected the report’s findings.

Analysts say the report is unlikely to change investor sentiment towards Saudi Arabia in the absence of US action against the prince.

“They had expected sort of a bigger push back from the (Biden) administration but if this is it then the signal is fairly weak,” said Neil Quilliam, managing director at Azure Strategy, a Middle East-focused consultancy “So I don’t see this as being a major impediment to most companies seeking opportunities in the kingdom.”

Quilliam said there was some skepticism about so-called ‘giga projects’, citing the King Abdullah Economic City project in the early 2000s, that never really took off.

The Saudi government’s media office and NEOM did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the status of NEOM in the wake of the U.S. report.

Before the report was released, NEOM said that the project had attracted domestic and international interest.

“NEOM is in discussions with several companies across diverse industries that are keen to be involved,” it said in a statement.

NEOM was publicly launched in 2017 but large-scale construction of the city has yet to begin. The project currently employs over 750 people, 500 of them hired last year.

The murder of Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul in 2018 had already caused an international outcry prompting some people at the time to withdraw from the advisory board of NEOM. The list of current members is not publicly available and NEOM declined to say who sits on it.

COGNITIVE CITY: Funding for NEOM will initially come from Saudi Arabia’s sov-

cMYK

ereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, according to two financial sources close to the matter.

“Investors will start getting interested when the core infrastructure is operating so they are not taking absolute green-field risk,” said a financial source familiar with the project. In 2017, Softbank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said the company would work with Saudi Arabia on the development of NEOM. Softbank and Son did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on what their current investment plans are for NEOM. The Saudi sovereign fund PIF has invested around $45 billion in Softbank’s inaugural $100 billion technology fund.

The PIF said in an email that its role on major projects was to act as a long-term cornerstone investor to ensure “that capital allocated to all its projects, including NEOM, generate sustainable returns that generate long-term shareholder value”.

NEOM’s flagship zero-carbon project

“The Line” envisages a city of 1 million people run by smart technology with facial recognition and 5G networks as standard.

“We’re fundamentally building the world’s first cognitive city,” Joseph Bradley, NEOM’s head of technology and digital and a former CISCO executive, told Reuters, adding that an operating system known as NEOS aimed to seek consent to use data from 90% of residents.

This year’s hiring spree will span a range of professions from lawyers, accountants and engineers, to specialist areas such as advanced robotics and adventure sports, according to Ainslie, who was hired in 2019 from Microsoft Corp NEOM officials say building would start soon on ‘The Line’, a car-free, road-free city within NEOM, without specifying a date.

NEOM said in a statement that work had begun on surveys and temporary infrastructure, and that permanent works would start this year with the first phase to be completed by 2025.

Friday, 5 March, 2021

06 COMMENT

The Upper House by secret ballot

Beginning of the end?

Uncertainties about PTI’s remaining tenure

Only Gilani bucked the predicted results

W

HATeVeR else might happen now, one thing is certain. The PTI government is going to be much weaker than before after the recent senate election. Unless it changes its holier-than-thou mindset, it will find it difficult to complete the rest of its tenure. The opposition is already baying for blood, demanding the PM’s resignation and fresh elections on the grounds that the PTI had lost its majority after 16 MNAs did not vote for Finance Minister Hafeez sheikh despite Mr Imran Khan personally campaigning for him.

Mr Khan has promised to expose those who sold their soul for money. He dare not do this because losing them would cause the PTI government to fall. The PM has decided to seek a vote of confidence which would be risky in case those who have no confidence in him decided to come out into the open. even if the PM succeeds in obtaining the vote of confidence, he would be looking over his shoulder all the time to ward off any possible stab in the back by the professional turncoats he has recruited to create Naya Pakistan. His hopes to get the upper hand in the senate have been dashed to the ground. The opposition alliance is in majority in the House of the Federation and is hopeful of getting the top offices of chairman and deputy chairman on March 12 when the elections are scheduled The PTI is blaming others for misfortunes caused by itself. It is barking up the wrong tree by accusing the election Commission of Pakistan for failing to hold transparent polls. The Commission has consistently held that the Constitution only allows a secret ballot for the senate elections. The supreme Court’s advice to the eCP is being wrongly interpreted to mean that the court had directed the eCP to hold elections through identifiable ballot.

For two years the PTI government rebuffed the opposition’s offers to cooperate with the government in lawmaking by claiming that these were in fact ploys to get an NRo. The opposition is now on the warpath. Unless the government changes its mindset, muzzles its loudmouths and the PM abandons arrogance and learns humility, he will fail to get the opposition’s cooperation during the rest of his tenure.

At Penpoint M A NIAZI

D

oes the action by the election Commission of Pakistan on the NA 75 by-election, in which the poll was countermanded and fresh polling ordered for March 8, while district and tehsil officials were ordered suspended, with the Punjab Chief sectary and IGP summoned, owe itself to the fact that the Chief election Commissioner is a former civil servant rather than a retired judge, or to the recent strictures by the supreme Court on the eCP in the shape of remarks from the bench during the hearings of the senate elections reference, on whether or not the present secret ballot should be converted to a secret ballot?

Though the Constitution has always provided for the CeC to be a former civil servant, by tradition, the position has always gone to a retired supreme Court judge. There is a certain logic in this, for the CeC does not only have to conduct elections, but has also got to decide election disputes. Those disputes are heard just as cases are, with appeals against decisions going to the regular court system. Also, like the courts, the eCP can command the government executive to execute its orders in connection with the conduct of an election.

However, the job has usually been entrusted to a retired judge. India long ago used the provision to allow a retired civil servant to hold the job. A civil servant is not only familiar with the administrative aspect of the job, but has spent a lifetime interpreting and applying rules and laws. As civil servants also hold magisterial positions, and used to serve as Returning officers of various constituencies, they were suited to the task. India has an almost unbroken tradition of civil servants being appointed to the post.

Not so in Pakistan, where former judges have long held the post.

Thus the appointment of sikander sultan Raja was something of an anomaly, as he was a bureaucrat who had been appointed in January 2020 for a threeyear tenure. He had just retired as railways secretary.

He is not expected to supervise a general election, though he is responsible for not only the local body elections that are to occur throughout the country, but also the updating of the electoral rolls that are to precede them. The eCP will also carry out the delimitations for the local councils. The delimitations of the National and Provincial Assemblies are also his re-

Israeli war crimes Time for some justice

I

NTeRNATIoNAL Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has opened an investigation into war crimes alleged against Israeli Defence Force personnel for war crimes in the Gaza strip and the West Bank since June 2014, just before the launch of savage Israeli attacks there in which 2231 Palestinians were killed, including 1462 civilians, as were 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians. Ms Bensouda has taken this step just before she leaves office in June, when Mr Karim Khan of the UK will take over. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily rejected the investigation as an anti-semitic step (thereby rejecting the Palestinians’ right to be identified as semites), and noted that it was something that was being done by a body which had been set up to ensure that the German Holocaust of Jews did not recur.

Mr Netanyahu’s outburst was echoed by the UsA. Both countries have not ratified the Rome statute, but as the alleged crimes were committed on Palestinian soil, and as it has ratified the Rome statute setting up the ICC, the ICC has decided that it does have jurisdiction. Mr Netanyahu, as Prime Minister for the entire period involved, will be a central figure in the case. It will be seen how far the international community goes prosecute Israeli individuals for the war crimes and atrocities they have committed. It could be argued that Israel’s right to exist is disputed, especially as long as it does not develop a proper solution to the Palestinian problem, but ICC proceedings will serve to highlight the fact that Israel has been committing multiple atrocities and war crimes in the course of its illegal occupation and because of its policy of illegally establishing and extending settlements.

The UsA has claimed immunity for its citizens from prosecution for acts committed while in its armed forces, and so does Israel. Thus among other things, the case will serve as a test of how far any state can claim immunity for its personnel if they commit war crimes. It will also serve the more immediate purpose of obtaining some sort of justice for Palestinians who are having their land stolen away from them apart from being subjected to atrocities.

ShAIkh Abdur rAShId

L

AsT month, reportedly an MNA in his late 50s, violating the Child Marriage Restraint Act, married a 14-year-old girl in Balochistan. The girl was not the only victim of the tradition of making girls of tender age brides of aged grooms, but many such heinous marriages occur almost every day across Pakistan.

These marriages directly or indirectly are facilitated, abetted and solemnized by some religious extremists. Unfortunately, many culprits of the crime go unpunished due to the lack of implementation of child marriage laws.

The practice of child marriage, which is incongruent with common sense and the legal system, deprives girls of the rights to a childhood, schooling, health, selection of husband of their own choice and protection from abuse, violence and discrimination.

Moreover, underage marriage has a damaging effect on girls. It makes it hard for them to stay in school. It makes them prey to domestic violence and to many health problems.

Though child marriage is a global phenomenon,

Editor Joint Editor

Umar Aziz Executive Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

The writer is a member of staff.

21 percent of the world’s child brides are Pakistani

Arif Nizami

Managing Editor

sults, had been won by the PML(N) candidate by about 3000 votes. However, the PTI candidate claimed victory, which would have raised hopes that he would make it to the Cabinet. He had won the seat in 2002 on a PML(Q) platform, and had become a minister of state. Also, even if the loss was accepted, it was a much improved result he had achieved compared to the general election, which he had lost by 40,000 votes.

The 1977 excesses are said to have been caused by the desire of individual candidates to win their contest, even if their party could afford them to lose.

Then there was the desire to cut a dash before the party leader. Both motives can be seen in Daska. Neither is of any interest to the eCP. The burden on the eCP can be seen from the fact that it has to ensure the freedom of the senate poll from corrupt practices, according to the supreme Court opinion on the secret ballot reference. Imran, the former cricketer, should be the first to realize that policing starts with practitioners. He might remember, when he began playing, that batsmen walked when they had snicked the ball to the keeper, fielders on the boundary indicated whether the ball had bounced inside the boundary for a four or over it for a six. Batsmen never walked for lbws, but otherwise players helped the umpire. Now they don’t, because of technology.

In the same way, the Punjab Assembly may have shown the way of how to achieve a political solution, with the election unopposed of senators reflecting the result if polling had taken place. The Punjab MPAs did not vote. However, there were polls in the other Provincial Assemblies, at which votes could have been sold, not that it showed up in the results.

The supreme Court has ruled that the eCP must ensure the fairness of the senate poll. Its immediate challenge will be the election of Yousaf Reza Gilani to the senate. That was the only vote that went against the apparent party positions, though it is not certain that he won because of PTI defections, because seraiki members (on the PTI ticket) voted for one of their own, or because allies chose a man who had been speaker as well as PM. That might show why the PTI is showing a lack of political maturity in its clean-up campaign. There are political reasons to explain Gilani’s win. so long as there are, its claim that there was corruption will be contested. Anyway, the PTI now has to focus more on saving its government rather than enforcing its claims.

Girls not yet fit to be brides

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Yousaf Nizami Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

sponsibility, but will only be carried out after the next census, due only in 2028, though it may go beyond that going by past precedents. Also, the CeC may find himself presiding over so many by-polls that it may look like a general election, if the opposition comes good on its promise to resign from the assemblies.

India’s civil servant CeCs winked at whatever happened, summed up pithily, even brutally by a constituency operator before the 1991 election, while explaining why the samajwadi Janta Dal would lose a particular seat: “Hum nay bola ke Pappu Yadav ko ticket do. Chaar paanch sau booth capture karega, seat jeet jayega. Unhon nay Pappu Yadav ko ticket nahin diya. seat haarainge.” India may be the world’s biggest democracy, but is certainly not its cleanest. Pakistani elections are very fair and free compared to Indian, with booth capturing not in practice. The Pakistan Democratic Movement may allege that the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) is ‘selected’, that the election was not fair, but clearly, the means of influencing the results have not included old-fashioned rigging. There may be a better award of tickets by one party, as well as a propaganda barrage against the one disfavoured, but the polling was not interfered with. There may have been dirty work in the transmission of results. But let alone 400, even one booth was not captured.

The purpose was to elect the more popular party.

There had long been allegations by losers unwilling to admit that they had been beaten. That narrative of victimhood was most recently on exhibition in the UsA, where one of the excuses for the loss were electronic Voting Machines. only a suit by the company making them stopped Republicans using eVMs as an explanation of how they were used to rig the elections. one of the things that India has pioneered is the use of eVMs, as well as a paper trail that makes it possible to check the result manually. These are being widely suggested as a way of ensuring that elections have their fairness guaranteed. No one has ever seen what booth-capturing would do to an eVM. It should be noted that NA 95 saw a return to the 1977 election, which some still remember as having been exceptionally dirty. There was widespread booth capturing claimed, and apart from ballot stuffing, there was also widespread impersonation.

The ineptness of the riggers may have been because a paucity of imagination (and hence an excess of incompetence) had led to the use of ancient, outdated methods. The motivation was the same as in 1977: the desire to win. It should not be forgotten that the disputed by-election, according to unofficial re-

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it is ubiquitous in Pakistan. According to the World Health organization report, globally 12 million girls are married annually while under 18. It means one girl becomes a child bride after every three seconds. of these girl brides, 21 percent are Pakistani.

Globally, some constructive initiatives have been undertaken to end child marriages. The global partnership consisted of over 1300 organizations worldwide, which was established in 2011 with the objective to make the world a child-marriage-free place, has made some encouraging progress.

The partnership has succeeded in bringing about a decline in the global child marriage rate. It prevented around 25 million child marriages during the last decade. The partner organizations have been making collective efforts round the clock to end child marriages and empower girls to achieve and exercise all their rights.

According to the partnership, a decade back child marriage was a taboo topic in many countries, and governments, leaders and communities could not dare talk about it. This is because of our efforts that it has now become such s prominent and significant issue on the global agenda. In 2016, child marriage was embedded in the UN’s sustainable Development Goals (sDGs). To change the lives of vulnerable girls for the better, around 193 countries have committed to achieve target number 5.3 of the sDGs that aims to eradicate all damaging practices such as child, early

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

and forced marriages by 2030.

During the last decade, Norway, Tanzania and Malawi banned child marriages. A number of states in Latin America, 24 states in Mexico and Islamic countries like Indonesia, Turkey, egypt, UAe, and Bangladesh raised the minimum age of marriage to 18.

Two years back in 2019, the Islamic religious scholars of Dakar and the Deputy Grand Imam of Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo issued fatwa against child marriage and set out marriage under 18 for both boys and girls as haram (forbidden).

But here in Pakistan the Islamic religious extremists strongly oppose the minimum age of marriage, 18, and term it a violation of sharia Law. Hence, they have been obstacles in ending the practice of child marriages. They believe that, under Islamic jurisprudence, the age of puberty (between ages 8 and 13 in girls and ages 9 and 15 in boys) is the age of marriage.

We should help girls seek a carefree life beyond child marriages. To this end, some concrete measures are to be taken to stringently and effectively implement the concerned laws to bring an end to child marriages. Further, services of the liberal-minded Islamic religious scholars of a good repute should be availed as they may convince the people to give their girls the right to consensual marriage.

We should help girls seek a carefree life beyond child marriages. To this end, some concrete measures are to be taken to stringently and effectively implement the concerned laws to bring an end to child marriages. Further, services of the liberalminded Islamic religious scholars of a good repute should be availed as they may convince the people to give their girls the right to consensual marriage

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The writer is a freelance columnist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Friday, 5 March, 2021

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

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

SC verdict AFTeR a long wait , sC has at last gave its verdict on Monday on the ridiculous reference of the government regarding open or secret balloting in the senate election.

The Constitution is very clear about the election mode and there is no ambiguity . However , that it took several days for the supreme Court to say this very evident provision in the Constitution , warrants criticism . First of all , presidential reference to the sC was uncalled for . It has wasted so many precious hours of the superior judiciary which was besieged unnecessarily in a matter of irrelevant importance , whereas it has so many other cases to decide. By the way , it is worthwhile to calculate the financial implications the nation had to bear as a result thereof , by calculating the judges hours spent on this mindless reference . At the same time , one wonders if the verdict was possible in such a clear cut case in a day or two rather than spending so many precious days and working hours of the honourable court ?

Riaz Bhutta LahoRE

Senate polls heat up

Now China-Pakistan Knowledge Corridor An integral part of the CPEC

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He academic and research collaboration between China and Pakistan have witnessed impressive growth in last few decades. With huge investment of Chinese government in research and development, more than 100 Chinese Universities are today placed in the global best 500 universities of the world, according to The Times Higher education Ranking (2021), the shanghai Jiao Thong Universities ranking (2020) and Us Necenws and World Report (2020).

While looking at the significance of intellectual and knowledge connectivity, alongside the physical routes, the Higher education Commission has been timely in establishing a CPeC centre at its headquarters. Under this initiative, a consortium of CPeC universities has been created, which is now comprised of more than 50 universities. Lately, the HeC approved a project to establish aKnowledge and Research Corridor between the two countries. The main aim of the project is to create collaboration amongst the Chinese and the Consortium Universities of Pakistan for strengthening the Chinese Road and Belt Intuitive (RBI), to exploit the opportunities of China’s appetite for the global talent hunt, and support the universities of Pakistan for human resource development, identifying the long term challenges in implementation of the CPeC and analysis of Chinese culture and history for drawing lessons for the development of Pakistan.

The components of the project are Joint Research: For implementation of these strategies, HeC has proposed some of the way forward like joint research on selected themes of joint interest, which can include climate adaptation, sustainable mountain development, food security, urban planning, water resource management, supply chain management, IT entrepreneurship, medicinal plants, gemstones and mineral resource management, among others.

Talent Cultivation and Training: This component mainly focuses on the capacity building of faculty to strengthen the academic and intellectual relations. About 400 faculty members will be trained under this component both in Pakistan and China.

Post-doctoral research: Post-doctoral research and trainings provide ample opportunities to faculty for exchange of latest knowledge, research and technologies.

Short Term Trainings: Due to shortage of qualified PhD faculty in the newly established Universities in Pakistan, it may not be affordable for them to place most of the faculty on PhD

studies or Post-Doc research. Hence a window of short term placement of 150 faculty and staff for short term trainings of two to three weeks will be provided.

Dual-degree programmes between Chinese and Pakistani Universities: Under the proposed project 10 Bs and 20 Ms students will be provided with this opportunity to complete their degrees under dual-degree programmes of Chinese and Pakistani Universities.

Conferences, Seminars, Workshops, Colloquia etc: In the current phase, about 12 International Conferences will be arranged at Pakistan and China to showcase the research in both countries, which will be focused on the challenges faced by the two countries, with special emphasis on the CPeC and the BRI. Establishment of China Study Centres: At least six China study Centres will be established across Pakistan, one each in the five provinces including Gilgit Baltistan, and in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. These centres will focus on strengthening the Chinese language teaching, cultural and history studies and act as Think Tanks for paving the way for long-term understanding about the CPeC. The Chinese New Normal of economic Development, drawn by the current Chinese leadership, is based on the one Belt one Road (oBoR), lately called the Belt and Roads Initiative (BRI). The principal and strategic component of this network is the CPeC which is part of the 21st Century Maritime silk Road. The multibillion mega projects under the CPeC are destined to usher in a new era of economic prosperity and peace in the region.

These mammoth projects in the energy sector, the strengthening of physical and telecommunication networks,the upgradation and strengthening of Gwadar port and establishment of export Promotions Zones across Pakistan, are collectively called the “Destiny Changer” in the region.

The dividends of the first early-harvest phase of the CPeC have already created trickledown effects to the masses in Pakistan.

China and Pakistan are time-tested friends with shared boundaries, culture and history dating back to the ancient silk Route. The two countries have always stood for inclusivity, peaceful co-existence and sustainable growth in the region. While inaugurating the China Pakistan economic Corridor, President Xi-Jinping said: “Friendship between China and Pakistan is based on trust and mutual support, and we have

been devoted friends through both good and hard times. our friendship is a pacesetter for amicable relations.” The unwavering support of China to Pakistan’s stance on the issue of Kashmir, China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and the enormous allocation of resources to the China Pakistan economic Corridor as part of the one Belt one Road Initiative are some of the major dividends of this friendship. To restrain the hegemonic and expansionist designs of India and its BJP government led by Narendra Modi, the need for this partnership has further intensified in the last few years.

Gilgit Baltistan is a region blessed with unique opportunities by nature. The region has the distinction of being the converging point of three of the mightiest mountain ranges in the world, namely the Himalayas, the Karakorams and the Hindu Kush. Gilgit Baltistan being a gateway to the CPeC, and the Karakoram International University being a pioneer seat of higher learning, have been connected to China both physically, historically and traditionally. The flow of services and goods across the two regions under regional trade arrangements, provide unmatched opportunities to the people on both sides of the boarder. The KIU established its Confucius Centre years back to impart Chinese language literacy to the students and youth.

All graduates of KIU are bound to learn the two levels of Chinese literacy (Hes I&II). every year more than 1000 students are taught Chinese language by native Chinese teachers. A good number of the faculty of KIU also graduated from top Chinese Universities, who have brought, their rich experience to the region for quality education and research to more than 7000 students at KIU. The faculty and students of Pakistani Universities in general, and KIU in particular, would need to draw abreast for harnessing the opportunities provided under CPeC Knowledge and Research Corridor. Drew Faust, President of Harvard University, once said: “Higher education is the strongest, sturdiest ladder for socioeconomic mobility.” The CPeC Knowledge and Research Corridor (CKRC), will enhance the intellectual capacity of the faculty and staff of Pakistani higher education institutions, which will turn the youth force of Pakistan into a growth engine, as envisaged by HeC.

The faculty and students of Pakistani Universities in general, and KIU in particular, would need to draw abreast for harnessing the opportunities provided under CPEC Knowledge and Research Corridor. Drew Faust, President of Harvard University, once said: “Higher Education is the strongest, sturdiest ladder for socioeconomic mobility.”

The CPEC Knowledge and Research Corridor (CKRC), will enhance the intellectual capacity of the faculty and staff of Pakistani higher education institutions, which will turn the youth force of Pakistan into a growth engine, as envisaged by HEC

The writer is Vice Chancellor of the Karakoram International University, Gilgit)

FeDeRAL Minister for science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Wednesday said tomorrow’s victory of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) candidates including Hafeez sheikh and Fauzia Arshad would be the last nail in the coffin of opposition’s dying politics.

Both the PTI’s candidates from Islamabad will easily win the senate elections, he said in a news conference held here. The opposition had realised that Hafeez shaikh would win and therefore started looking towards Fazl-ur-Rehman, Chief of Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazl, thinking that his followers comprised of Maddrassah students would rescue them, the minister said. Maryam Nawaz failed in her political meetings and Bilawal Bhutto in the Parliament. “The opposition has failed to sell political slogans and have now again talking about launching a long march,” he said.

Chaudhry Fawad claimed that everyone knew what the opposition parties did to the country’s economy. “The country was bearing the debt burden of Rs 6000 billion from 1947 to 2006 which increased up to Rs 30,000 billion from 2008 to 2018 during the decade of darkness”, he said.

He observed that the senate elections marked the major contest before the next general elections. “We have some 181 members on our side and this number is expected to increase tomorrow. As many as 176 of the 181 members met the prime minister at the luncheon today”, he said.

The minister asked the eCP to take notice of the brawl in sindh Assembly when a member attempted to speak. Chaudhry Fawad also termed eCP decision of conducting senate elections on the old procedure due to the shortage of time is a weak argument and stance when the government offered technological assistance to make the elections transparent. “eCP’s work is not merely limited to the distribution and collection of ballot papers but to make it transparent as well”, he observed.

The supreme Court has clearly stated that the senate election can be open for eCP to ensure transparency not the political parties. The court further suggested use of technology in the elections to bring transparency.

He said eCP should have decided to utilize the technology, which exists in our country, to ensure fair elections. “our struggle of openness and fairness in elections will continue even after the senate elections and we will start our fight for open senate elections again in the Parliament”, he said. He said that the sanctity of the upper house would be trampled because of those who would be elected in the senate on the basis of money.

The minister was of the view that the matter of bringing transparency in senate elections had been debated for the last many years. Prime Minister Imran Khan has been demanding senate elections through open ballot since the year 2013. senate elections were held in many countries through open ballot and even India and the United states had also made reforms regarding elections, he added. Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and Pakistan People’s Party signed Charter of Democracy in the past which include holding senate elections through open ballot. However now the immature leadership of both the parties backtracked from their stance and opposing it. The minister also criticized Asif Ali Zardari who could not appear before the court due to illness but reached Lahore for Yousuf Raza Gilani.

SohaiL aLi iSLamaBad

PM reacts to senate loss PRIMe MINIsTeR Imran Khan will seek a vote of confidence from the parliament after the ruling PTI lost the hotly contested senate general seat from Islamabad to the joint opposition, Foreign Minister shah Mehmood Qureshi announced on Wednesday. Addressing a press conference hours after the PTI’s upset loss was confirmed, Qureshi said it should be made clear who stood where after today’s vote. “Those standing with Imran Khan will be seen on one side and those who are not, and think they like the ideology of the PPP and PML-N have every right to join their ranks,” said Qureshi, who was flanked by several PTI ministers including Asad Umar, shireen Mazari, shafqat Mehmood and Fawad Chaudhry. He urged PTI workers to hold onto the belief that the PTI would compete with the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). “They have united but have no ideological basis for their union. They do politics of self-interest …. and want to continue with such politics but we will bury it,” he said. earlier, Qureshi started the press conference by saying that today’s events had vindicated Prime Minister Imran’s stance, adding that this was not something new, but had been happening for the past several years. He went on to count his party’s attempts to ensure transparency in the electoral process, saying the PTI had invited the opposition to move towards open ballots, but “you saw the difference between what they practised and [what they] preached.” “We informed the eCP that it is your constitutional duty to ensure free and fair elections,” said Qureshi, adding that the eCP had failed to ensure transparency. “I say this because as per our fears, a video and audio surfaced a night before the elections and Fawad Chaudhry tried to knock the doors of the eCP, but there was silence there.” The minister added that it was surprising that elections were to be held the next day but no one from the eCP was available. At this point, they had an even greater responsibility to ensure transparency in the polls. “But we did not find them up to the standard.” Qureshi said that the struggle started by Prime Minister Imran is one of “good versus evil”, adding that the premier had made uncountable efforts to change the political culture.

EhtiSham ahmad LahoRE

Friday, 5 March, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

DiTch The AfghAnisTAn experTs THE BEST THING PRESIDENT BIDEN CAN DO FOR AMERICA’S NATIONAL SECURITY AND THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF OUR TROOPS IS TO END THE WAR AND WITHDRAW OUR TROOPS, ON SCHEDULE, BY MAY 1 RCW

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daniEl davis

S President Joe Biden is coming under heavy pressure to abandon the May 1 deadline to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Afghanistan. The push to move the deadline might come from a former secretary of state, the congressionally mandated Afghan Study Group, or even NATO’s secretary-general. Opposing the pleas of these popular figures are 20 years of unbroken strategic failure. There is ample evidence to suggest that 20 more years of failure await, should the president give in to the wishes of these personalities.

In February, former Secretary of State Madeline Albright argued Biden should ignore the May 1 withdrawal date and instead

adopt a series of five new steps. The Afghan Study Group likewise advocated to abandon the withdrawal date and offered its own objectives. Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the May 1 date was a “conditions-based” deal and declared the Taliban hadn’t met the conditions, and therefore NATO should continue the war.

All of these advocates ignore that every tactic and objective they advocate has been tried over the past two decades, usually multiple times, and uniformly they have failed. when Barack Obama came into office, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Commander of U.S. Central Command David Petraeus convinced the new president that they had a better strategy than that employed

by Obama’s predecessor. They advocated for a dramatic troop increase and the adoption of a counterinsurgency strategy. Obama listened. He authorized a surge of 17,000 troops to Afghanistan in February 2009, and

The Narendra Modi cult moves up another level

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wO things that Indians may be looking forward to will now be delivered with the name or face of the prime minister. As we all know, matches in the world’s largest cricket stadium will henceforth be remembered for taking place in the Narendra Modi Stadium, which after having started life as Sardar Patel Stadium was renamed on February 24. A bowler may come running in from the Adani end or the Reliance end, but omnipresent is our prime minister, his name immortalised in his lifetime in a modern monument.

Less attention has been given to the fact that Narendra Modi’s face also graces the certificates handed down to citizens who have taken the coronavirus vaccine.

The name, age of recipient and date of the jab is recorded on what is called the Final Certificate for Covid-19 Vaccination issued by the Ministry of Health and Family welfare. On the bottom left next to an image of Narendra Modi are two lines that read, first Hindi, “Dawai bhi aur Kadai bhi” (Both medicine and firmness) and then in English: “Together India will defeat Covid-19.”

The cult of leadership and the nation embodied in one individual places a leader above the institutions that are designed to create checks and balances in functioning democracies. The personality cult around Narendra Modi has been a work in progress since he became Gujarat chief minister in 2002. In the first elections in the state after the 2002 riots, he was presented as the Hindu Hriday Samrat, the Emperor of Hindu Hearts.

In election of 2007, Modi was recast as the liberator of Gujarat and friend of industrialists, while in the 2012 polls, the motif of Swami Vivekananda was used to present the chief minister as a sort of muscular philosopher king.

A POLISHED PERSONA: Elements of the persona polished in Gujarat have been used in Narendra Modi’s national imagery too, different facets enhanced at different times: the economic liberaliser, protector of the people, Hindu ruler marking a new consciousness and all too frequently the leader removed from the earthly realm, beard currently flowing, giving sermons to

the people. An omnipotent Modi who may be descending, ascending, posing or performing has been the mainstay in the electoral arsenal of the BJP for some years now. But in the stadium and the Covid-19 certificates, we see the transition to making the elected leader the symbol and emblem of the nation-state. It is therefore a new threshold in the personality cult built around Narendra Modi.

This is a step ahead of what we have witnessed nationally for the last six years: the staged interviews, the Man ki Baat radio address broadcast on All India Radio that aired its 74rd episode on February 28 and constant live feeds of Modi’s speeches and rallies offered to television channels that have bent over to crawl when being asked to bend. There has never been the possibility of an open press conference as the traditional media is apparently useful only for amplification of the image and not for asking real questions. The “fifth estate” or independent online media is now the space for hard analysis and questions but the new Information Technology rules, 2021, certainly seek to increase government control over digital media.

The Leader, meanwhile, is only to be confronted with adulation and adoration. we have transited to a reality where even traditional middle of the road journalists do not think twice about playing along with constructed narrative of Leader worship. Take the episode that could be titled “Modi takes a Covid shot” in the serialised telling of the Many Adventures of Our PM. The media was allowed visuals and journalists given information – not possible without the Prime Minister’s Office willing it to be shared – about the social origins of the two nurses that gave him the shot. Both happened to be from electionbound states in South India. Cute or crass?

BACKSLIDING DEMOCRACY: There are excellent studies of backsliding democracies that elaborate on the manner in which popular elected leaders subvert institutions that are meant to constrain them. An extreme example is of Peru’s Alberto Fujimori, pushed against a wall by the attack of the old elite, who suspended Congress and the Constitution in 1992.

Most autocrats just learn how to bend institutions and silence opponents.

In Russia the Vladimir Putin’s regime filed cases against rich oligarchs who had media holdings or were funding opposition forces. In Turkey the Erdogan regime went after the old media conglomerates that had a secular, liberal worldview at odds with that of the president and forced them into bankruptcy even as it pursued businessmen they believed were helping opposition forces.

In India, the battle with traditional media has already been won and business is overwhelmingly on one side, making the Bharatiya Janata Party the richest party in India’s history and its election cam-

another surge of 30,000 that December.

Obama was himself unsure the strategy would work. According to Jonathan Alter, however, Obama pressed all his senior officials before making the final decision on Nov. 29 of that year, and he pointedly asked whether they could complete the mission in the 18 months they had promised. All said yes. "If you can't do the things you say you can in 18 months,” Obama demanded, “then no one is going to suggest we stay, right?"

All agreed.

And yet as I personally observed — I was one of the surge troops from 2010-2011 — it was obvious from even a cursory observation on the ground that the mission wouldn’t be successfully completed in 18 months, or even in 18 years. Instead, Obama prosecuted eight more years of inconclusive war in Afghanistan. Donald Trump campaigned on ending endless wars and won the 2016 election. Unfortunately, as president he also came under enormous pressure by supposed experts

paigns the most expensive. Yet the classic symptoms of a democracy transiting to a crude authoritarianism are also visible in the outright purchase of power and elected legislators in states, from Madhya Pradesh to Karnataka to Goa to the North East and currently in west Bengal and Puducherry.

If a co-opting does not work, then again like an authoritarian state in the making income tax inquiries are opened and criminal cases filed against opponents.

It happened in the pre-BJP era but is happening quite brazenly now on a larger scale now. This also extends to cultural figures. In the book How Democracies Die

by Harvard professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, there is an analysis of the gradual erosion of freedoms. The scholars elaborate on “cultural figures whose popularity or moral standing makes them potential threats”. They cite examples from various nations to say that regimes in the process of becoming authoritarian, try to first co-opt these cultural figures – artists, actors, writers, pop stars, athletes, intellectuals –-and failing that resort to intimidation tactics. wednesday’s income tax raids on film-maker Anurag Kashyap and actor Taapsee Pannu, both outspoken and influential figures who give solidarity to opposing viewpoints, can be seen to fit into that analysis.

This is particularly so if we recall that last year India’s top woman star Deepika Padukone, not known to a fan of many things happening in the country, was dragged into long interrogation in a spurious drugs case that went nowhere.

But for all these pulls and pushes, Narendra Modi as the Supreme Leader operates in a country way more diverse than say an Erdogan or a Putin and he has not yet come to reign over all the country all the time (in the 2019 election the BJP got 38% of the vote). But he has the services of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh that claims to be the largest cadre organisation in the world.

Here we get to a chicken and egg situation. Does the RSS see a Supreme Leader as a necessity (against their stated position about leadership cults) because he is the ends to the means of a Hindu nation where minorities are shown their place and the Savarna-ordained way of life is not challenged? Or is Modi bending the RSS to his own will and it would henceforth be an organisation that obeys leaders instead of creating them? Either way, together Modi, the BJP, the RSS and all its affiliates, have come a long way and it is mostly a happy union to all their advantage.

But the conquest of India remains a work in progress as the BJP has not been able to replicate results of national elections in the states. That is why One Nation One poll is the ideal and it would look more attainable if the BJP could dispose off all the outlier states. In that case, the Leader will not have to confront the irritant of a few regional satraps holding out and would be a Monument unto himself.

Veteran journalist Saba Naqvi is the author most recently of Shades of Saffron: from Vajpayee to Modi.

against ending the war. Then-National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster and Secretary of Defense James Mattis – both heavyweight former generals with combat experience – sought to sway Trump against following his instincts and ending the war. In August 2017, Trump announced that not only would he not be ordering a withdrawal, but he would reluctantly increase the number of troops. “My original instinct was to pull out, and historically I like following my instincts,” the president explained. The turnaround, the New York Times reported, was “a victory of sorts” for Mattis and McMaster, who had successfully pressured Trump to order the troop increase. Again the “new” strategy didn’t work, and the result was merely to add four more years to the failed war.

Now it is Biden who is coming under pressure, again by men and women that seem to have great credentials on paper, to seek yet another so-called new strategic roadmap. Again, they advocate against end-

ing the war and withdrawing. If Biden proves to be the fourth straight president to listen to these experts and choose to cancel the withdrawal and continue the war, it is likely he too will be passing off the war to his successor – as the futile and wasteful adventure reaches 24 or 28 years.

I warned in 2010 and 2012 that the war in Afghanistan was unwinnable. The fundamentals that led me to make that conclusion a decade ago have not changed. So long as Pakistan continues to secretly help the Taliban, the Afghan government remains one of the most corrupt in the world, the Taliban remains committed to fighting, and the Afghan Security Forces remain of limited capability, it won’t matter how many troops Biden orders to Afghanistan, how long they remain there, or what strategy he adopts: we will continue losing the war.

The best thing President Biden can do for America’s national security and the health and wellbeing of our troops is to end the war and withdraw our troops, on schedule, by May 1. Anything else will needlessly extend the futility into perpetuity.

Daniel L. Davis is a Senior Fellow for Defense Priorities and a former Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army who deployed into combat zones four times. He is the author of “The Eleventh Hour in 2020 America.”

Who will lead the world in artificial intelligence?

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new report emphasizes why it is urgent that the Department of Defense and Congress work together to modernize the way defense programs and budgets develop, integrate and deploy the latest technologies in support of American national security. Released by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, a federal body created to review and recommend ways to use artificial intelligence for national security purposes, the report recommends the use of AI to update America’s defense plans, predict future threats, deter adversaries and win wars.

Because AI will be “incorporated into virtually all future technology,” it is easy to recognize that national security threats and opportunities posed by AI should be a catalyst for necessary changes to defense requirements and resourcing processes. In an AI-enabled world, the Defense Department will be unable to modernize the way it recruits talent, trains the force, develops and integrates technology, and funds all of these elements without internal culture shifts and help from Congress.

“Unless the requirements, budgeting and acquisition processes are aligned to permit faster and more targeted execution, the U.S. will fail to stay ahead of potential adversaries.” This blunt recommendation to the Defense Department under the heading “Accelerate Adoption of Existing Digital Technologies” makes clear the urgency for cultural and structural updates to the way the department currently does business.

Commission members, who came principally from the academic and business communities, further noted in the report that: “The sources of battlefield advantage will shift from traditional factors like force size and levels of armaments, to factors like superior data collection and assimilation, connectivity, computing power, algorithms, and system security.”

“Perhaps the most urgent and compelling reason to accelerate the use of AI for national security is the possibility that more advanced machine analysis could find and connect the dots before the next attack, when human analysis alone may not see the full picture as clearly.” Simply put, AI will revolutionize the practice of intelligence.

The life cycle project management phases used in appropriations categories that govern the defense budget run counter to the trial and error process of AI and other software-based technologies.

Thus commissioners recommended that the Defense Department should “Modernize the Budget and Oversight Process for Digital Technologies.”

The Defense Department should commit to building budgets that invest at least 3.4

percent of the annual defense budget in science and technology and allocate at least $8 billion for research and development of “core AI.” To be able to afford the implementation of this last recommendation, the department would have to change its acquisition and resourcing approaches to get more and faster bang for its buck. The commission recognized this by proposing a pilot program to “test mission-focused budgeting and appropriations.” Ideally this would lead to the establishment of “a single appropriation and budget structure for software and digital technologies by FY 2023.”

In comparison to China’s ability to move quickly with resourcing decisions, another new report released last week about competing in time notes that the inflexibility of the Defense Department budget process, which dates back to 1961, makes it more difficult to rapidly move money to innovations that appear promising. In a good, small step in the right direction, Congress supported the software pilot requested by Defense in its 2021 budget to begin addressing this problem.

Now is the time to harness federal buying power and leverage the potential momentum of this wide-ranging report to break the mold, and (as described in the report) come to the aid of “visionary technologists and warfighters [who] largely remain stymied by antiquated technology, cumbersome processes, and incentive structures that are designed for outdated or competing aims.”

The Defense Department can do many things for itself through the use of existing laws and rules governing how it buys things.

It can also encourage and train its workforce to take risks, try new things and abandon them if they don’t work rather than wasting money to follow through on programs that will be out of date before being deployed.

The department should foster a culture of a creative “what if we…” approach to problem-solving and iteratively identify how things connect and can be used differently.

Integration and sustainment should not be acquisition afterthoughts.

Congress can help by alleviating some of the risks with recommended pilot programs to signal support for a more agile approach to both acquisition and oversight.

Policymakers and the defense workforce should be able to balance creativity, speed, transparency and stewardship.

As the commissioners concluded, “Many countries have national AI strategies. But only the United States and China have the resources, commercial might, talent pool, and innovation ecosystem to lead the world in AI.” Elaine McCusker, a former acting under secretary of defense (comptroller), is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where Emily Coletta is a researcher.

Friday, 5 March, 2021

BUSINESS 09

LAHORE

ECC lIKEly to APPRoVE RS114Bn SuBSIdy foR PowER dIVISIon

corporate corner

ISLAMABAD

KARACHI: TPL Insurance, Pakistan’s first direct insurance company, has entered into a strategic partnership with HealthSolutions, the world’s first Mobile App providing complete tele-health solutions to people from the comfort of their homes. PR

KARACHI: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) and United Bank Limited (UBL) have signed an agreement for the hosting of UBL’s primary site at PTCL’s purpose-built Tier -3 certified Data Center facility in Karachi. PR

KP govt begins construction of Balakot hydropower project PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government is all set to start construction work on the Balakot Hydropower Project, the largest hydropower project in the province, on the Kunar River in Mansehra district.

According to Cheif Minister’s Advisor on Energy, Himayatullah Khan, the power project will be completed within the next seven years with the financial support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Once completed, it will earn an annual income of Rs15 billion as well as creating employment for 1,400 people. The adviser said the issue of land acquisition for the project is being settled and special attention is being paid to protect the rights of the people affected by the project. During his visit to Mansehra, Himayatullah Khan visited the sites of both the 300MW Balakot Hydropower Project and 884MW Suki Kinari Hydropower Project. He was accompanied by the Mansehra deputy commissioner (DC) and other senior officials. The officials reviewed the progress on the ongoing work on Suki Kinari Hydropower Project, the largest project in the province. Terming the launch of the province’s largest energy project a major achievement of the present provincial government, the adviser hoped that the completion of the two projects would help stabilise the energy sector, national economy and create employment opportunities. AZIZ BUNERI

SBP reserves rise $70m to $12.98bn The foreign exchange reserves held by the State Bank of Pakistan rose 0.54pc on a weekly basis, according to data released by the central bank on Thursday. On February 26, forex reserves held by the SBP were recorded at $12,978.4 million, up $70 million compared with $12,908.7 million in the previous week. The central bank attributed the rise to official inflows of the government. Overall, liquid foreign currency reserves held by the country, including net reserves held by banks other than the SBP, stood at $20,133.5 million. Net reserves held by banks clocked in at $7,155.1 million. NEWS DESK

PIA gets Rs9.84bn to pay employees retiring under VSS scheme ISLAMABAD: The federal government has released funds to the tune of Rs9.84 billion for payment of dues to those Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) employees who had opted for early retirement under its voluntary separation scheme (VSS). STAFF REPORT

t

AHMAD AHMADANI

HE federal cabinet's Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) is likely to approve the allocation of Rs114.5 billion as technical supplementary grant (TSG) from the current financial year's power subsidy budget to the Power Division.

According to sources, out of Rs147 billion earmarked as power sector subsidy during FY21, an amount of around Rs32.50 billion has so far been disbursed.

“Now the Power Division has sought ECC’s approval to release re-

maining subsidy amount for utilization during remaining period of the current financial year,” an insider informed.

Sources said that the Finance Division usually releases subsidy under different heads after verification, and it has already advised the Power Division to approach ECC with suggested allocations against the subsidy claims for FY21 exclusively in accordance with Finance Division's disbursement guidelines.

The remaining amount i.e. Rs114.5 billion, demanded by the Power Division through TSG, would be utilized against the subsidy claims for the current fiscal year, they added.

Meanwhile, amount other agenda items that the ECC would take up on

Friday, the Power Division would submit another summary titled 'NAB investigation and information requirement regarding MoUs/agreements and financial negotiations between IPPs and Government of Pakistan (GOP)'.

During the course of this meeting (ECC), the division would to highlight its inability in making payments to IPPs, as NAB inquiry is underway. It would also plead the committee to suspend arbitration process initiated to resolve the issue of access profit of the IPPs till the time NAB gives its clearance in this regard.

Earlier, in a bid clear the outstanding dues of 46 independent power pro-

NBP to close branch in Bangladesh over failure to recover 98pc loans The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) is closing one of its Bangladesh branches after failing to recover nearly 98pc of its loans from Bangladeshi debtors, the bank’s country head has said.

The government-owned NBP has branches in 21 countries and assets worth $20 billion. It has been operating in Bangladesh as NBP-BD since 1994, with four branches in three cities, serving about 8,000 customers.

The bank ran into trouble after numerous debtors — mainly from the apparel sector — failed to meet loan obligations, Bangladesh central bank data shows. In December last year, NBP-BD’s defaults amounted to $164 million, or 97.7pc of its total loans.

“We are going to close the operations at our Sylhet branch due to an extraordinary situation,” Mohammad Quamruzzaman, NBP-BD chief executive said. “The headquarters in Pakistan has given us the approval, and the shutdown process is underway.”

In the past six years, the bank has filed 143 cases against loan defaulters, recovering about $23 million, Quamruzzaman said, adding that the bank is now trying to recover more without litigation and had suspended

loan disbursement last year.

“Our high priority now is to recover the non-performing loans. We are focusing on an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process where we sit at the negotiation table with the clients,” he said.

“The good news is that we are receiving some positive results in the ADR process where the banks offer concessions to the defaulters and they, in turn, get the opportunity to have a clear banking credit record,” he said. Without clearing their records, Quamruzzaman added, businesses “can’t avail loans from any other banks in the future.”

Manzoorul Alam, managing director of Ibrahim Composite Textile mill (ICTM), which borrowed $8.5 million from NBP-BD in fiscal year 2012-13, said negotiations with the bank are underway.

“During negotiation we offered the bank to repay around $16.5 million. We sent this proposal in December 2019 and there was no work last year due to coronavirus pandemic,” Alam said. “I had a discussion with the bank around three weeks back and they assured to resolve the matter shortly according to our negotiations.” NEWS DESK

Chinese envoy seeks foreign investment in CPEC economic zones PESHAWAR STAFF REPORT

Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong has invited investors from across the world to invest in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being established in Pakistan under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Addressing the CPEC Industrial Cooperation Investment Conference organised by the Board of Investment (BOI) in the provincial capital on Thursday, Nong Rong said that China would welcome the participation of other countries in the CPEC framework.

He said both Pakistan and China are mutually working to ensure security, visa facilitation, and other infrastructure facilities in Rashakai SEZ. "The Chinese embassy wants to work closely with BOI and any third party to promote CPEC development," he added.

Speaking on the occasion, BOI Chairman Atif Bukhari said the second phase of CPEC has just commenced and the BOI would

continue to take lead on investment promotion, facilitation, and industrial cooperation.

The BOI chairman invited the business community from not only China but also from other countries to come and invest in Pakistan’s economic sectors.

He noted that the government has already launched conducive policies such as electric vehicle policy, mobile manufacturing policy, construction sector incentives, Spe-

cial Economic Zone Regulations, 2020, and SEZ Zone Enterprise Admin and Sale/Lease/Sub-lease of Plot Regulations 2021, to increase investment in Pakistan.

“Pakistan accords top priority to the development of SEZs under CPEC,” he said, adding that currently, out of the nine CPEC SEZs, two are in advance stage of development, including Rashakai SEZ in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Faisalabad, Punjab.

Bukhari informed that attractive fiscal incentives are being offered under SEZs such as 10-year tax holiday and custom duty exemption on import of capital goods to both the developer and enterprises housed in the SEZs. KP Minister for Finance Taimur Jhagra said representatives from a number of countries including Switzerland, and Bosnia are present in the conference which indicates that a lot of countries are showing interest to join this mega multibillion dollar project. He invited the investors to also look into tourism opportunities in the province.

ducers, the ECC had approved a proposed payment mechanism under which Rs161 billion were to be released for the IPPs immediately to help ease pressure on companies and reduce circular debt. The forum had directed the officials concerned to present the same before federal cabinet for final approval.

According to payment mechanism, a payment of Rs403 billion would be made to the IPPs in two installments; first will be 40pc of said payables — to be paid 1/3rd in cash, 1/3rd in Sukuk and 1/3rd in PIB bonds at floating rate of T-Bills+ 70 bps, while the remaining 60pc amount would be paid within six months of the first installment.

MARKET DAILY

Stocks bleed 882 points as political noise amplifies KARACHI STAFF REPORT

Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) witnessed bloodbath on Thursday, as investors resorted to panic selling due to political uncertainty caused by unexpected Senate results. “The incumbent government’s defeat in the Senate elections dented the investor sentiment today, with the benchmark index plunging over 1,000 points intraday. However, recovery ensued following the PTI announcement that the prime minister will seek a fresh vote of confidence from the National Assembly,” a report issued by Arif Habib Ltd read. “By midday, prospects of redemption at mutual funds’ end brought the index under pressure again, continuing till end of session.”

MARKET SUMMARY: The benchmark KSE-100 Index started the day on a negative note, plunging 1,073.15 points to record its intraday low at 45,087.63. It settled lower by 882.25 points or 1.91pc at 45,278.53. Among other indices, the KMI30 Index dropped 1,685.61 points to close at 75,339.18, while the KSE All Share Index lost 531.19 points, ending day at 31,133.89. The overall market volumes improved from 403.69 million shares in the previous session to 441.42 million shares (+9pc). Average traded value, however, declined by 10pc, from $149.5 million to $135 million. K-Electric Ltd (KEL 4.12pc), Ghani Global Holdings (GGL +5.18pc) and TRG Pakistan ltd (TRG 3.32pc) led the volume chart, exchanging 33.11 million, 28.67 million and 25.83 million shares, respectively. Sectors that drove the benchmark index south included cement (-166.84 points), banking (-141.58 points) and oil & gas exploration (-70.98 points). Among the companies, Lucky Cement ltd (LUCK -66.50 points), TRG Pakistan Ltd (TRG -52.58 points) and Habib Bank Ltd (HBL -35.48 points) dented the index the most. Shedding 3.82pc from its cumulative market capitalization, the cement sector ended as the session’s worst performer, with Bestway Cement Ltd (BWCL -7.48pc), DG Khan Cement Company Ltd (DGKC -3.68pc) and Lucky Cement Ltd (LUCK -2.52pc) ending in the negative. Meanwhile, Systems Ltd (SYS 0.20pc) announced its financial performance for FY20. The company’s sales appreciated by 40.48pc YoY, pushing the gross profit up by 58pc. Earnings per share improved from Rs11.05 in FY19 to Rs17.66 in FY20.

Textile sector's profitability up 32pc in 1HFY21 LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Textile sector's profitability increased significantly by 32pc YoY during the first half (July-Dec) of FY21 primarily due to an increase in exports, improvement in other income, and decline in finance cost.

According to data shared by Topline Pakistan Research, the country's overall textile revenues increased 12pc YoY during the period under review, with exports rising 8pc YoY in USD terms and 13pc YoY in PKR terms.

Topline's data regarding the listed textile composite sector is based on profitability analysis of 21 companies that represent 82pc of the sector's market capitalization.

"While the backlog of orders from 2HFY20 and diversion of orders from other regional countries like India and Bangladesh amid Covid-19 lockdowns/restrictions has helped support exports, the uptick in general pricing due to commodity super cycle has also played an important part," the Topline report read.

The increase in pricing and depreciation

of PKR/USD by 4.6pc YoY helped mitigate the impact of rising cotton prices, as gross margins remained largely unchanged at 16pc.

However, gross profits increased by 9pc YoY. According to Topline Research, local cotton prices increased 7pc YoY to average Rs9,154 per maund during 1HFY21. This was mainly due to 34pc YoY decline in cotton production.

Other income of sample companies increased 22pc YoY mainly due to re-measurement gain booked on Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC) as per the IFRS,

CMYK

and exchange gain recorded on net foreign asset exposure.

Finance costs also declined 14pc YoY during 1HFY21, mainly attributable to lower interest rates as SBP reduced policy rate by a cumulative 625bps to 7.0pc.

During the Oct-Dec quarter of FY21, profitability of sample companies picked up further momentum, growing by 32pc YoY and 28pc QoQ. The uptick in 2QFY21 profits were largely fueled by better pricing as commodity super-cycle kicked in. Sales increased by

10pc YoY and 6pc QoQ, while gross margins also improved by 1.6ppts QoQ. Other income also played an important part in the improvement of profitability of textile companies, as it increased by 24pc YoY and 55pc QoQ. "We believe textile sector profits are likely to be supported by better pricing in the near-term; however, announcement of textile policy (with subsidized energy rates) will be important for sustainability of profits given the recent increase in energy prices," the Topline report stated.

Friday, 5 March, 2021

10 FOREIGN NEWS

LAHORE

myanmaR police bReak up pRotests again afteR bloodiest day since coup YANGON

p

cuss the situation on Friday (today) in a closed meeting, diplomats said.

US State Department said Washington was “appalled” by the violence and was evaluating how to respond.

The european Union suspended its support for development projects in Myanmar to avoid providing financial assistance to the military, officials said on Thursday.

The support in past years has involved more than 200 million euros ($240.7 million) in separate programmes often running for four years.

Myanmar’s generals have long shrugged off outside pressure.

The UN special envoy for Myanmar,

Christine SchranerBurgener, said on Wednesday she had warned deputy military chief Soe Win that the army was likely to face strong measures from some countries over the coup.

“The answer was: ‘We are used to sanctions, and we survived’,” she told reporters in New York. “When I also warned they will go (into) isolation, the answer was: ‘We have to learn to walk with only few friends’.”

The United States has told China, which has declined to condemn the coup, it expects it to play a constructive role.

The turmoil has alarmed Myanmar’s Southeast Asian neighbours but an effort by some to encourage dialogue has come to nothing.

Singapore, the biggest foreign investor in Myanmar in recent years, advised its nationals to consider leaving as soon as they could due to the violence while it was still possible to do so.

At least 19 Myanmar police officers have crossed over into India, fearing persecution for disobeying orders, a senior Indian police official told Reuters.

The military justified the coup by saying its complaints of voter fraud in the November 8 vote were ignored. Suu Kyi’s party won by a landslide, earning a second term. The election commission said the vote was fair.

Junta leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has pledged to hold new elections but given no time frame.

Suu Kyi, 75, has been held incommunicado since the coup but appeared at a court hearing via video conferencing this week and looked in good health, a lawyer said.

attacks. earlier on Thursday, the coalition said it destroyed an armed drone launched towards the southern city of KhamisMushait, state media reported. The Houthi’s Sarea said in a separate Twitter post that the KhamisMushait attack targeted a military site.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in

March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from power in the capital, Sanaa. The conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny being puppets of Tehran and say they are fighting a corrupt system.

AGENCIES

OlICe in Myanmar broke up demonstrations in several places with tear gas and gunfire on Thursday as protesters took to the streets again undeterred by the rising death toll in a crackdown on opponents of last month’s military coup.

The incidents followed the bloodiest day since the military overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, with the United Nations special envoy on Burma saying 38 people had been killed on Wednesday.

The United Nations human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, called on the security forces to halt what she called their “vicious crackdown on peaceful protesters”.

At least 54 people had been killed in total but the actual toll could be much higher, she said. More than 1,700 people had been arrested, including 29 journalists.

“Myanmar’s military must stop murdering and jailing protesters,” Bachelet said in a statement.

Activists said they refused to accept military rule and were determined to press for the release of the detained Suu Kyi and recognition of her victory in a November election.

“We know that we can always get shot and killed with live bullets but there is no meaning to staying alive under the junta,” activist MaungSaungkha told Reuters.

Police opened fire and used tear gas to break up protests in Yangon and the central town of Monywa, witnesses said. Police also fired in the town of Pathein, west of

Yangon, and used tear gas in Taunggyi in the east, media reported.

In Yangon, hundreds of protesters soon assembled again to chant slogans and sing.

Big crowds also gathered peacefully for rallies elsewhere, including the second city of Mandalay and in the historic temple town of Bagan, where hundreds marched carrying pictures of Suu Kyi and a banner saying: “Free our leader”, witnesses said.

Hundreds of people attended the funeral of a 19-year-old woman shot dead in Mandalay on Wednesday, who was photographed wearing a T-shirt that read “everything will be OK”.

On Wednesday, police and soldiers

opened fire with live rounds with little warning in several cities and towns, witnesses said.

“Myanmar’s security forces now seem intent on breaking the back of the anti-coup movement through wanton violence and sheer brutality,” said Richard Weir, a researcher at Human Rights Watch.

A spokesman for the ruling military council did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

‘FEW FRIENDS’: Suu Kyi’s National league for Democracy party said in a statement that flags would fly at half mast at its offices to commemorate the dead.

The UN Security Council is due to dis-

Yemen’s Houthis say they fired missile at Saudi Aramco site in Jeddah DUBAI AGENCIES

Yemen’s Houthi forces fired a missile at a Saudi Aramco facility in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea city of Jeddah, a Houthi military spokesman said on Thursday, but there was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities.

Saudi Aramco, whose oil production and export facilities are mostly in Saudi Arabia’s eastern Province, more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) across the country from Jeddah, did not immediately respond to a

Reuters request for comment.

The spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition that has been battling the aligned Houthi movement for six years did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Houthi military spokesman YahyaSarea said in a Twitter post that the attack took place at dawn using a winged missile and had struck its target, without elaborating.

He posted an image with coordinates of what appeared to be a petroleum products distribution plant in Jeddah used for domestic supplies that the Houthis struck with a missile

Roadside bomb kills doctoR in afghanistan's east JALALABAD: A roadside bomb explosion killed a female doctor in the eastern city of Jalalabad, provincial officials said on Thursday, days after three female media workers were shot dead in the same city. AttahullahKhogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province in which Jalalabad is the main city, said the doctor was on her to work in a rickshaw on Thursday morning when she was killed in the blast. A child was also wounded. Khogyani did not name the doctor but said she worked in the maternity ward of a private hospital. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. A wave of shootings and small bombs attached to vehicles or planted on the side of a road have targeted journalists, civil society workers and midlevel government employees in recent months. The government and some foreign powers have blamed Taliban insurgents for many of the attacks and say the militant group is using the tactics to instill fear while avoiding large-scale civilian casualties. The Taliban denies involvement. The Taliban and Afghan government are holding peace talks in Doha, though progress has slowed while US President Joe Biden’s administration reviews its plans for the peace process and the withdrawal of troops. On Tuesday, three female media employees of a private TV station, aged between 18 to 20 were shot dead on their way home in Jalalabad city. The attack was later claimed by the Islamic State group. Nangarhar, which shares a long and porous border with neighbouring Pakistan, has long served as the main stronghold of the group. AGENCIES

in November 2020. Aramco said then that the attack on the North Jeddah Bulk Plant hit a storage tank but did not affect supplies.

The movement, which controls northern Yemen, has struck Saudi energy assets in the past. last November, the Saudi energy ministry said a limited fire broke out near a floating platform belonging to the Jazan oil products terminal after a foiled attack using explosive-laden boats in the southern Red Sea. The Houthis have recently stepped up the cross-border drone and missile attacks on Saudi cities, mostly targeting southern Saudi Arabia. The coalition says it intercepts most

Meghan accuses Buckingham Palace of ‘perpetuating falsehoods’ LONDON AGENCIES

Prince Harry’s wife Meghan has accused Buckingham Palace of “perpetuating falsehoods” about her and her spouse, saying the royal couple would not be silent in telling their story.

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, made the comments to American talk show host Oprah Winfrey in an interview about why they quit their royal roles that is due to be broadcast on US television on Sunday.

An advance excerpt of the interview was released on Wednesday, hours after Buckingham Palace said it was “very concerned” about reports in the Times newspaper that assistants working for Meghan two years ago had been bullied by her.

Harry and Meghan issued a statement denying that she had bullied anyone.

“How do you feel about the

Palace hearing you speak your truth today?” Winfrey asks Meghan in the excerpt.

Meghan responded: “I don’t know how they could expect that after all of this time we would still just be silent, if there is an active role that The Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us.”

The Firm is the name that the British royal family sometimes uses to describe itself.

“And if that comes with [the] risk of losing things, I mean, there’s a lot that’s been lost already,” Meghan added.

The interview was recorded before The Times newspaper ran a report citing unnamed sources as saying an aide to Harry and Meghan had raised a complaint in October 2018 alleging that Meghan had reduced some of her assistants to tears and treated others so badly that they had quit.

The paper said Harry had urged the aide, who has now left their staff,

to drop the complaint, and it never progressed.

The Times said it had been contacted by former staff members who wanted the public to gain insight before the Winfrey interview aired – and that lawyers for the couple had labelled the allegations a smear orchestrated by the Palace.

Reuters could not independently verify the report.

“We are clearly very concerned about allegations in The Times following claims made by former staff of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.

The Royal Household “does not and will not tolerate bullying or harassment in the workplace”, it added.

It said its HR team would look into the allegations, and that members of staff involved at the time would be invited to participate.

‘SADDENED BY ATTACK’: A spokeswoman for Meghan said

earlier that she was “saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself and is deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma”.

Meghan and Harry, who married in May 2018, stepped back from their official duties in March last year to forge new careers and a financially independent life in California.

That decision was confirmed last month, when they also handed over all their royal patronages. They said their move was fuelled in part by intense press intrusion.

However, Meghan had also previously indicated that she felt she did not have the full support of the royal family.

In court documents submitted as part of her successful privacy action against the mass-circulation Mail on Sunday, her lawyers said she had felt “unprotected” while she was pregnant with their son Archie.

Friday, 5 March, 2021

SPORTS 11

LAHORE

PAtEl lEADS thE chArgE AgAin AS SPinnErS Put inDiA on toP AgAinSt EnglAnD AHMEDABAD

i

AGENCIES

NDIA ended day one of the fourth Test against England pretty much on the top after being 24-1 at stumps in reply to the visitors’ 205 in the first innings in Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Cheteshwar Pujara was unbeaten on 15 off 36 deliveries along with Rohit Sharma who made 8 in 34 balls at the end of the first day’s play. India lost Shubman Gill early in the first innings when he was trapped lbw by James Anderson in the very first over.

Earlier in the day, Indian spinners, led by Axar Patel (4-68), bowled England out for 205. Yet again he consistently troubled the visiting batsmen even as all-rounder Ben Stokes (55) resisted the attack quite well before being trapped by Washington Sundar.

Once he got his eye in, Stokes even employed the risky reverse sweep.

Dan Lawrence, coming out INDIA at number seven, also batted well, helping England get 24 FOR 1 TRAIL close to the 200-run mark, ENGLAND 205 with his 46-run knock.

(STOKES 55, LAWRENCE It’s only the second time in this series that Eng46, PATEL 4-68) land have gone beyond the BY 181 RUNS 200-run mark.

Had Lawrence shown a bit and Ravichandran Ashwin (3-47) more patience, it would have shared seven wickets between them, served England’s purpose even more.

For the hosts, spinners Axar Patel (4-68) while pacer Mohammed Siraj (2-45) also ac-

counted for two batsmen.

England lost early wickets, including skipper Joe Root for five, to slump to 30-3

before Stokes put on key partnerships with Jonny Bairstow, who made 28, and Pope.

Stokes raised his 24th Test fifty and sec-

Elgar, Bavuma to lead South Africa as De Kock steps aside

Pollard hits 6 sixes in an over as Dananjaya goes from hero to zero ANTIGUA

CAPE TOWN

WEST INDIES BEAT SRI LANKA BY FOUR WICKETS

AGENCIES

Akila Dananjaya went from hero to zero in the space of two overs, claiming a hat-trick before being smashed for six sixes by Kieron Pollard as West Indies beat Sri Lanka by four wickets in their first Twenty20 international at Antigua on Wednesday.

Pollard strode out to the crease in the fourth over after Dananjaya had dismissed Evin Lewis, Chris Gayle and Nicholas Pooran off consecutive deliveries to leave West Indies reeling at 52-3 in pursuit of 132.

But the West Indies skipper tore into unconventional off-spinner Dananjaya in his next over, taking 36 runs and becoming only the third man to hit six sixes in an international match, emulating Herschelle Gibbs and Yuvraj Singh.

"I felt after hitting a couple of sixes, I understood how the pitch plays, it was important to be positive and play your shots," Pollard said. "Back yourselves to clear the boundary. "A couple of things went through my mind before the sixth ball, I thought should I go for the six or take the 30 runs in the over, he went around the wicket and bowled it onto my pads, I told myself 'Wait Polly, take a chance'.

"That's how I have played my cricket all along, especially against the spinners."

Pollard was dismissed for 38 in the following over by Wanindu Hasaranga but Jason Holder and Dwayne Bravo completed the chase with more than six overs to spare. The other players to achieve the feat include Garry Sobers (1968) and Ravi Shastri

(1985) doing so in first-class games, Gibbs (2007) in a one-dayer, Yuvraj (2007) in a T20, and Ross

ond in the series with a boundary off a reverse sweep, but the left-hander soon fell to one of Sundar’s deliveries from around the wicket.

Bairstow was trapped lbw by a rising Siraj delivery and failed in a review that showed the ball would have clipped the top of middle stump.

Earlier, spin was introduced in the sixth over and Patel struck with his second ball as Dom Sibley was bowled for two.

Patel in his next over then induced Zak Crawley, on nine, to miscue tamely into the hands of Siraj at mid-off.

Bairstow, who failed to score in either innings of the third Test, tried to steady the innings along with his captain. But Siraj broke through after the first drinks interval to trap Root on the back foot with an inswinging delivery.

Siraj and Stokes were involved in a verbal duel, joined by India captain Virat Kohli, until the umpires intervened. Stokes then hit back with three boundaries off the quick bowler.

The match is being played at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the world’s biggest cricket venue, where India won the spindominated third Test inside two days.

England left out fast bowlers Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad, with off-spinner Dom Bess and Lawrence back in the team.

India are leading the series 2-1 and need just a draw to qualify for the World Test Championship final against New Zealand to be held in June.

AGENCIES

Whiteley (2017) and Hazratullah Zazai (2018) in domestic T20 games.

Opening batsman Dean Elgar will captain South Africa in Tests and Temba Bavuma in white-ball cricket after a shake-up of the leadership positions within the team, officials confirmed on Thursday.

Wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock had led South Africa across all three formats recently, and although he was expected to hand over the Test captaincy, his replacement by Bavuma in the limited overs formats is a surprise. “We are grateful to Quinton for the work he has put in as captain of the team in the limited overs formats and are indebted to him for stepping up while the National Selection Panel continued its search for the Test captain. We expect him to still play an integral role in the team’s leadership group,” South Africa’s director of cricket Graeme Smith said in a media release. “Temba has been a strong and influential voice in the team in recent times and has shown consistency on the field in all formats, solidifying his place as a leader. “(Elgar’s) role as a leader in the Test team has never been in doubt and I know that he relishes the prospect of captaining the side.

We are confident that he will bring the same grit and determination to his captaincy as he has brought to his many performances on the field over many years.” Bavuma will captain the team to the 2021 and 2022 Twenty20 World Cups, as well as the 50over World Cup in 2023. Elgar has been handed the reins for the next cycle of the ICC Test Championship that will run up until mid-2023.

PREMIER LEAGUE

United lose ground on City after draw at Palace, Burnley hold Leicester LONDON AGENCIES

Manchester United were left a huge 14 points behind Premier League leaders Manchester City as Crystal Palace held them to yet another goalless draw on Wednesday.

The stalemate at a foggy Selhurst Park was United’s third successive goalless draw in all competitions ahead of Sunday’s Manchester derby against City, who are on a record-breaking 21-game winning streak.

Elsewhere, third-placed Leicester had

captain Kasper Schmeichel to thank for a point in a 1-1 draw at Burnley. Aston Villa missed the chance to move to within two points of the top four as they suffered a shock 1-0 loss to bottom-of-the-table Sheffield United, who held on for the final half an hour with 10 men.

A point in south London left secondplaced Man United just one ahead of Leicester, with the main aim now for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side to cling on to a top-four place that will secure Champions League football next season.

“We have to do much better, we have to

risk more in attack to create more chances,” United midfielder Nemanja Matic, who almost broke the deadlock with a deflected shot, told Sky Sports.

“We are Manchester United, we have to win this kind of game. On Sunday we have a big game against Manchester City. We have to refocus for that.”

Leicester’s challenge for a return to the Champions League next season has been badly hit by injuries to key players, with Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton all able to close in on the Foxes – who have not won in their last three games – when they are in ac-

tion on Thursday.

Matej Vydra smashed home his first league goal in nearly 12 months to give Burnley the lead after just four minutes.

However, Kelechi Iheanacho’s splendid volley drew Leicester level in the 34th minute.

Schmeichel then produced two fine saves to deny Chris Wood early in the second half, parrying the New Zealander’s powerful header before getting down low to his right to turn a shot wide.

Ashley Westwood then rattled the post for Burnley, but Leicester finished the stronger.

Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers lauded Schmeichel, saying: “He’s been brilliant for me in my time here, there’s moments where it looks like it’s going to be a goal and he pulls off a save.”

BLADES HERO MCGOLDRICK: Sheffield United secured just their fourth league win of the season as David McGoldrick scored the only goal against a Villa side desperately missing the inspiration of injured captain Jack Grealish.

Although the Blades had Phil Jagielka sent off for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity when hacking down Anwar El Ghazi, ninth-placed Villa failed to make their advantage count.

The Blades are still 12 points from safety despite this win but manager Chris Wilder said: “Any result in this division is a huge result for Sheffield United.

“Obviously it was made a little more difficult going down to 10 men, but we showed good character – as I’ve spoken about all season regarding my team.”

Friday, 5 March, 2021

prayer timings

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

5:36

12:14

3:07

7:01

5:27

6:52

Pakistan slams Relationship with India at UNHCR india doesn’t affect on HR abuses ties with pakistan: Us ISLAMABAD app

WASHINGTON

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HE US State Department has emphasised that Washington’s “productive and constructive relationships” with either India or Pakistan should not “detract from the relationship” it has with the other.

“Look, I think the point we would want to make is that the United States has important relationships with India, as I said, but also with Pakistan. These relationships stand on their own in our view,” said US State Department Spokesperson Edward Price in his daily press briefing on Wednesday while replying to a question on Pakistan.

Price clarified that the relationship between the two countries is not a “zerosum proposition when it comes to US foreign policy”. “[If] we have productive, constructive relations with one [then it] does not detract from the relationship we have with the other.

It does not come at the expense of the relationship we have with the other,” he stressed.

Talking about India, the spokesperson said that the US has a “global comprehensive strategic partnership” with New Delhi.

On Pakistan, Price said that the US has “important shared interests in the region” with Islamabad. He added that the US will “continue to work closely with the Pakistani authorities on those shared interests”.

The spokesperson also addressed a question regarding the United States’ stance on Kashmir. “I think we have said from this room before, as a government, certainly as the State Department, we continue to follow developments in Jammu and Kashmir closely. Our policy when it comes to it has not changed,” said Price while referencing the previous comments on the disputed territory.

Price also welcomed the steps taken by India to restore “full economic and political normalcy” in Indian occupied Kashmir.

The spokesperson was also asked by a journalist whether the US believes that Kashmir was no longer controversial after the revocation of Article 370. But Price deflected the question and told the

journalist that the US has continued to support “direct dialogue between India and Pakistan on Kashmir and other issues of concern”.

He also stated that the US has “continued to call for a reduction of tensions along the Line of Control” and asked both the parties to return to the 2003 ceasefire.

US report drops India from list of ‘free’ nations Freedom House, a US-based government-funded organisation, has downgraded India from “free” to “partly free”, voicing fear that the country was descending into authoritarianism under hardline Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The democracy research institute pointed to mob violence against Muslims, intimidation of journalists and rising judicial interference since Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won power in 2014. “Rather than serving as a champion of democratic practice and a counterweight to authoritarian influence from countries such as China, Modi, and his party are tragically driving India itself toward authoritarianism,” the annual report published Wednesday said. “Under Modi, India appears to have abandoned its potential to serve as a global democratic leader, elevating narrow Hindu nationalist interests at the expense of its founding values of inclusion and equal rights for all.” The report also pointed to the “ham-fisted” Covid-19 lockdown ordered by Modi in which enormous numbers of workers who lacked resources were obliged to walk across the country to their villages. “The ruling Hindu nationalist movement also encouraged the scapegoating of Muslims, who were disproportionately blamed for the spread of the virus and faced attacks by vigilante mobs,” it said. With the decline of the billion-plus nation in Freedom House’s rankings, it said that less than 20 percent of the world’s population lives in free countries, the lowest since 1995. Freedom House also voiced alarm at Belarus, where strongman Alexander Lukashenko has held onto power despite protests following elections widely seen as unfair; and Ethiopia, where Nobel Peace Prize-winning Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed launched a military campaign in which rights groups have reported major abuses. The United States remained classified as free following Donald Trump’s turbulent presidency but Freedom House warned of the “parlous state of US democracy”.

It pointed to Trump’s false allegations of election fraud and the January 6 storming of the Capitol “incited by the president himself”. Freedom House also highlighted the Trump administration’s dismissal of inspector-generals tasked with looking out for government misconduct as well as “disproportionate violence by police” against anti-racism protesters last year. “The United States will need to work vigorously to strengthen its institutional safeguards, restore its civic norms and uphold the promise of its core principles for all segments of society if it is to protect its venerable democracy and regain global credibility,” it said. news desk

Bahawalpur Corps start annual winter drill: ISPR ISLAMABAD staff report

Troops of Bahawalpur Corps are practicing drills and procedures as part of an annual winter collective training exercise, “Zarb-eHadeed”, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Thursday.

According to the communique, the crops level formation was holding the exercise aimed at enhancing operational preparedness, synergy amongst various components of forces.

“The exercise area covers a vast expanse of desert and plains, where the participating units are rehearsing various response measures under testing weather conditions, challenging terrain, and actual battlefield environment,” the statement added.

The military media wing further stated that the participating units displayed a high level of synergy and professionalism during

the assembly, move, tactical combat, and fire-

power demonstration phases of the exercise.

Pakistan on Thursday slammed India during a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for its bleak human rights record, deteriorating human rights situation in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and for emerging as the largest extremist country where minorities live under constant threat.

Pakistan, during the ongoing 46th session of the UN Human Rights Council, has decried India’s massive disinformation campaign against Pakistan and drew its attention to New Delhi’s failure to respond to the widely reported Indian grave rights abuses in occupied Kashmir that evoked international condemnation.

The council is meeting in Geneva from 22 February to 19 March at the United Nations Office, an event where Pakistan showed the world the real face of India of stifling the voice of Kashmiris.

India has also unleashed a reign of terror against Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Dalits (low caste Hindus), and the list goes on.

“India has failed and will continue to fail in hiding its brutal repression of Kashmiri people behind the self-serving smokescreen of terrorism,” Junaid Suleman, a Pakistani diplomat, told the Geneva-based Council in the exercise of his right of reply after an Indian representative made oft-repeated allegations about Pakistan’s involvement in terrorism.

“As Pakistan highlights India’s atrocities in Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, which have been well-documented by the Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Mandate Holders (rights experts) and international NGOs, the Council has yet to hear any response from India- a country that claims to be world’s largest democracy but has shamelessly violated every human rights principle, norms and laws,” said Suleman, a second secretary at the Pakistan Mission in Geneva.

The Indian representative, Pawankumar Badhe, had reacted to Pakistan Ambassador Khalil Hashmi’s speech in which the Pakistani envoy had urged the UN right chief to conduct an impartial investigation into India’s multiple violations of human rights in the disputed territory.

Pakistani diplomat Suleman said that New Delhi’s “compulsive obsession with Pakistan is neither new nor surprising”, and pointed that the Indian government had deployed tools of deflection, deception and disinformation as evident from the EU DisInfo Lab’s two investigative reports and the “infamous Goswami saga”.

He also mentioned the shuttering of Amnesty International’s office last year and vicious attacks on the UN Human Rights machinery. “Yet,”, Suleman said, “India’s façade of practising democracy stands exposed today … its representative can no longer mask the facts that it is in India only where dissent is sedition, where human rights activists are branded as terrorists and where peaceful protests are treated as part of an imaginary global conspiracy against a failing State.

German envoy calls on COAS; acknowledges efforts for regional peace, stability RAWALPINDI app

German Ambassador Bernhard Stephan Schlagheck Thursday called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at General Headquarters (GHQ) and acknowledged Pakistan’s continuous efforts for peace and stability in the region.

During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, overall regional situation, bilateral cooperation in various fields and

Afghan peace process were discussed, said an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) press release.

The army chief said: “Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Germany.” He also appreciated holding of 5th round of the Pak-Germany strategic dialogue in September 2020 and expressed hope for mutually benefiting bilateral relations. The visiting dignitary also pledged to further enhance bilateral relations between the two countries.

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

The farmers in India were out in the streets and had placed New Delhi under siege for the past three months.

“From forced conversion to arbitrary denial of citizenship rights, and from state-sanctioned communal violence to apartheid policies, the BJP-RSS regime has now codified the choice between extermination or total submission for India’s minorities, he said.

“Under the leadership of Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath, the Indian state machinery has launched anti-Muslim campaigns such as ‘Love Jihad’, ‘Land Jihad’, incited public lynching and violence, and legislated mass ostracization under the patently discriminatory citizenship law,” the Pakistani diplomat said.

“With a documented history of pogroms in Gujarat, Muzaffar Nagar, Malegaon, and most recently in Delhi, many independent observers have been obliged to conclude that in India, a cow is safer than an Indian Muslim.

“No amount of empty rhetoric and dubious grandstanding can alter these hard facts,” Suleman said.

Pakistan also urged the UN Human Rights Council to step up efforts to get access for independent observers into IOK to conduct an impartial investigation into reports of multiple violations of human rights in the disputed territory.

“Failure to hold India accountable for human rights abuses in IIOJK will erode the credibility of this Council, its members, and the global human rights agenda,” Ambassador Khalil Hashmi, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, said in the 47-member body’s general debate.

He said the ‘UN Mandate Holders’ (independent rights experts) warned about continuing demographic changes in IOK on a religious and ethnic basis, as over three million illegal citizenship certificates were issued to non-Kashmiris.

Last year, he added, the UN Experts had characterized the grim human rights situation in occupied Kashmir as “in a free fall” and called on the international community to “step up”. “India continues to use torture and brute force, including pellet guns and inflict collective punishments through house demolitions as well as cordon-and-search operations in IOK.” Over a thousand Kashmiri civilians are illegally imprisoned since August 2019, the Pakistani envoy said, adding that hundreds of habeas corpus petitions were pending before Indian courts.

“Indian military and the deep State rule the occupied territory with a ‘license to kill’ any Kashmiri daring dissent.

“Such a gross, systematic and continuing violations meet all the elements of objective criteria for a human rights situation warranting the council’s attention and triggering its ‘prevention mandate’,” he said of the procedure to push for access for independent observers, accountability of perpetrators, and establishment of a commission of inquiry.