CMYK
31 May, 2020 I 8 Shawwal-ul-Mubarak, 1441 I Rs 15.00 I Vol X No 331 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition
amid soaring Cases, govt mulls oPening more seCtors g marriage halls likely to ncoc recommends keePing schools closed till august, be allowed to oPerate restaurants to remain restricted with limited number oF to takeaway service only guests, one-dish rule g govt makes wearing Face masks in Public sPaces mandatory as 78 more die oF covid-19 in record single-day sPike g
ISLAMABAD staff report
i
n order to evade a meltdown due to adverse impact of covid-19 on the economy, the national command and operation centre (ncoc) has decided to open more businesses in compliance with the standard operating Procedures (soPs) in line with the feedback from the provinces. the decision was taken in a meeting held at ncoc for analysing long and short-term strategy on covid-19 titled ‘living with the Pandemic’, chaired by Federal minister for Planning, development and special initiatives asad umar. the ncoc recommended that the educational institutes should be kept closed till august, as the summer season and pandemic would be at its peak in July. minister for industries and Production hammad azhar said restaurants under the
“negative list”, would have to remain closed; however, they could partially resume their operations, such as takeaway services. the forum insisted that the marriage halls should only be allowed to operate with a limited number of guests, one dish, and “strict” compliance of the soPs. asad umar directed the concerned authorities to calculate the economic impacts of covid-19 in the first quarter of the current calendar year. the ncoc stressed that capacity building and restructuring of the ministry of national health services, regulation and coordination should be done as per approval by the federal cabinet. the forum was also apprised that the critical care resources would be increased owing to the surging risk of the pandemic. the forum was informed that the testing capacity of covid-19 was being increased to 6,72,000 tests. Federal minister for economic affairs,
Coronavirus in
Pakistan
CONFIRMED CASES:
68,283
DAY'S DEATH TOLL:
78
RECOVERED:
DEATHS:
24,131
1,441
SINDH:
PUNJAB:
27,360
24,104
KP:
BALOCHISTAN:
AJK/GB:
ISLAMABAD:
9,540 234/660
4,193 2,192
khusroo bakhtiar said that national integrated management system should be put in place for better coordination between the federal and the provinces. WEARING MASKS MADE MANDATORY: addressing a press conference after the ncoc meeting, Prime minister’s special assistant on national health services dr zafar mirza appealed to the masses to strictly follow precautionary protocols and social distancing measures to contain the spread of covid-19. he said that wearing face masks at crowded places has been made mandatory to prevent the spread of coronavirus, which has so far infected more than 67,000 and killed over 1,400 people across Pakistan. dr mirza said that 78 people, including four health workers, died of the virus in the last 24 hours, which is the largest number in a single day in the country. he said healthcare workers were the frontline force in the fight against covid19 and the government has taken a number of measures to protect them under “we care” programme. regarding some messages circulating on social media based on disinformation, the Pm’s aide urged the opinion-makers to guide people on how to prevent the contagion instead of forwarding and promoting fake news on digital platforms. he also urged families of covid-19 patients to demonstrate patience, while interacting with health workers at hospitals, who are treating the affected people. dr mirza said that recovery rate of coronavirus patients is 36 per cent, while locally transmission rate stands at 92 per cent and despite the rise in the cases, only around 25 per cent of our health system has been engaged so far.
Javed Jabbar resigns from 10th nFc after backlash g
Former senator says any qualiFied citizen oF Pakistan is eligible to rePresent any Province in nFc, other bodies
KARACHI app
Former senator Javed Jabbar on saturday announced his resignation from the 10th national Finance commission (nFc), citing “political opposition to his nomination”. he thanked President dr arif alvi, balochistan governor Justice (r) amanullah khan yasinzai, and chief minister Jam kamal alyani for his nomination as the non-statutory member from balochistan to the 10th nFc, as notified on may 12. “any citizen of Pakistan who, in the opinion of the nominating authority and the approving authority is suitably qualified, irrespective of province of residence, is eligible, as per the constitution and law, to represent any of the 4 provinces and to serve on the nFc, or any other federal or provincial body,” Javed Jabbar said in a statement. the former senator said, “due to my long association with the great people and province of balochistan for the past 45 years in different public service capacities, including a 6-year tenure in the senate, and three times as a
Govt to file criminal cases in light of sugar probe: PM’s aide g
shahzad akbar terms sugar Probe rePort a charge-sheet against Former Pm abbasi ISLAMABAD
CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
more inside
Nawaz Sharif comes out of isolation STORY ON PAGE 02
French probe into flight data of crashed Pia airliner to start on June 2
staff report
Prime minister’s special assistant on accountability shahzad akbar on saturday said that the government would file criminal cases against the people named in the sugar probe. addressing a press conference on the ongoing sugar corruption inquiries, he targetted the opposition Pakistan muslim league-nawaz (Pml-n), saying the party “is struggling to read and understand the inquiry report”. singling out former prime minister shahid khaqan abbasi, shahzad akbar said that he has been “lying consistently” on the matter. akbar said that the inquiry commission has put out a charge sheet against abbasi with the report and he has to be answerable for that. abbasi, earlier in the day, had accused the government of supporting sugar barons and said: “[Pm] imran, [former finance minister] asad umar, and [chief minister Punjab] usman buzdar are the real culprits behind the sugar scam.”
member of federal cabinets, and in the voluntary field in the development sector, i had accepted this unsought, unexpected honour — only in order to make a humble, potentially positive contribution. “my initial view was that even though i am not a resident of the province one could use experience in aspects of political economy and familiarity with the core problems of the province to advocate the cause of balochistan. several residents of balochistan conveyed their valued felicitations and support for my nomination,” the statement claimed. however, some political opposition has been voiced within balochistan to my nomination, he said, adding that petitions have also been filed in the balochistan high court and the verdict will be announced soon. stressing that consensus is the cornerstone of nFc’s work and its declared awards, Jabbar stated: “ideally, there should also be a reasonably broad political consensus within balochistan about nominations to the nFc.
STORY ON PAGE 02
akbar claimed that according to the report, abbasi gave a subsidy worth rs20 billion within 24 hours for export. he said that this sugar was unaccounted for and was sold in the black market while carrying no taxes. he claimed that abbasi failed to provide documentary evidence to support his claims of fair practice in front of the sugar inquiry commission. the accountability czar said that 50pc of the sugarcane procured during the year 2017-19 was not declared nor the sugar produced from it was shown in
the papers. “business was done on kachi parchi in al arabia mills [owned by shehbaz sharif’s sons],” he said.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
sindh minister says Pm allowed export of sugar STORY ON PAGE 02
ECC approves disbursement criteria for Rs200bn Islamic Sukuk STORY ON PAGE 09
afghan govt says ready to start peace talks with taliban 'at any moment' STORY ON BACK PAGE
02
Sunday, 31 May, 2020
NEWS
sindh minister says Pm aLLowed exPort of sugar shah says federal govt draggiNg cM Murad’s NaMe iNto sugar probe to divert atteNtioN KARACHI
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STAFF REPORT
INDH Minister for Information Syed Nasir Hussain Shah on Saturday said Prime Minister Imran Khan gave permission for the sugar export that eventually led to a shortage of commodity in the country and a subsequent price hike. The provincial minister said that it was surprising that the price of the sugar was about Rs 50-53 when the opposition was in
power, but when the ‘self-righteous’ Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) assumed charge, the price skyrocketed to Rs80-83. He said the sugar probe commission set up by Imran stated that the permission to export sugar was given by the PM himself. “People should know that their Prime Minister Imran Khan was also carrying the portfolio of the commerce minister, as Abdul Razak Dawood was merely a special assistant to the prime minister,” he added. He said that the sugar probe commission exposed the PTI.
nawaz’s doctor heads home from London Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s personal physician Dr Adnan on Saturday boarded a flight to Pakistan at Heathrow Airport. According to details, Dr Adnan is traveling alongside Maryam Nawaz’s daughter. Dr Adnan refused to discuss Nawaz Sharif’s medical progress at the airport. He said that his journey to Pakistan was temporary and he would return to London and tend to his patient Nawaz Sharif soon. Dr Adnan is returning to Pakistan after spending six months tending to the critically ill former prime minister. NEWS DESK
sc to take up Peshawar Brt case on June 3
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday formed a three-member bench to hear the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project case on June 3. The bench led by Justice Umar Atta Bandiyal includes Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Qazi Amin. On April 25, the Supreme Court had extended the stay order against the Peshawar High Court’s ruling over BRT Peshawar project. The verdict of the PHC was challenged by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA). On Nov 14, the PHC had handed down the judgement on BRT Peshawar and directed the FIA to probe the project and submit a report within 45 days. STAFF REPORT
mob tortures 23-yearold to death in Quetta A 23-year-old youngster was tortured to death while two others received critical injuries after they were attacked by a mob in Quetta’s Brewery area. The deceased was identified as 23-year old Bilal. The locals said that the mob tortured three youths in the presence of police. The reason behind the attack remains unknown. “All three boys were taken by the mob of around 400 people and were shifted to the shop of a hair-dresser where they were tortured, resulting in the death of Bilal and injuries to two others,” a police official said. Following the incident, at least 11 people were reportedly detained, whereas the government also suspended SHO Izzatullah and three other police officials of Brewery police station over negligence. NEWS DESK
The provincial information minister said that the sole purpose of summoning Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and include him in the probe was to divert public attention. Speaking about the subsidy given to the Omni Group by the Sindh government, Shah said the Omni Group was given subsidy on sugar in 2017, adding that the time period was beyond the purview of the probe commission. The provincial minister said the Omni Group received only 15 per cent of subsidy, the rest was given to other sugar mills, including that of PTI leader Jahangir Tareen. Shah said that if Omni Group’s seven or eight sugar mills had been given the subsidy on sugar at around 15 per cent, then only one or two of mills of Jahangir Tareen got 13 per
cent subsidy. The provincial minister said that apart from this, the sugar mills of PTI minister Khusro Bakhtiar former PPP leader Zulfiqar Mirza also got the subsidy. “We have given the subsidy on sugar across the board,” he said, adding that the sole purpose of the subsidy was to benefit the farmers. He clarified that there was a big difference between the sugar subsidy given by the Sindh government and the current government. He said that when the Sindh government had subsidized sugar, there was an abundance of the commodity in the country. Referring to easing the lockdown, Shah said that whatever the federal government decided in this regard after May 31, the Sindh government would follow the lead.
Nawaz Sharif comes out of isolation NEWS DESK Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who flew to London last year for medical treatment, was spotted enjoying tea with family members near London’s Hyde Park in the cosmopolitan. According to a photograph making rounds on social media, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz supreme leader is seen taking tea with his female family members. This is reportedly the first time that the PML-N supremo has left his apartment to go out in public after the Covid19 outbreak hit London. Nawaz reportedly walked on foot from Avenfield Flats, where he resides, to Edgware Road, where he took tea. Commenting on the London picture, Nawaz’s daughter Maryam Nawaz observed that the purpose of uploading the snapshot was defamation and not promotion. In a tweet, Maryam noted that the purpose of click was not promotion but defamation which as usual did not work. Expressing her resentment, she said it was not a big deal to take the picture of Nawaz along with his female family members “secretively” for those who could forcefully get into the intensive care unit and attempt to take the pictures
MaryaM lashes out at critics over Nawaz’s photo, says bid to defaMe forMer pM ‘did Not work as usual’
of her faint mother. In June 2018, a man entered late Begum Kulsoom Nawaz’s
hospital room allegedly without permission at London’s Harley Street Clinic
french probe into flight data of crashed pia airliner to start on June 2 PARIS AGENCIES
Work on the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of a crashed Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane will begin in France on June 2, investigators said on Saturday. “The mission on site (of the crash) is about to be completed,” BEA, the French air safety investigation authority for civil aviation, said on Twitter. It added that Pakistani investigators would fly to France along with the French team. An A320 of the PIA crashed in the Model Colony neighbourhood of Karachi, while approaching for landing at Quaid-e-Azam International Airport on May 22. Eighty-nine passengers and eight crew members on board died in the crash while two passengers survived miraculously. Under international aviation rules, BEA investigators joined the Pakistanled inquiry because the 15-year-old jet
was designed in France. The 11-member team of the Airbus, the manufacturer of the ill-fated aircraft, visited the crash site on Friday while domestic investigators recorded the statement of Air controllers, who pinned the blame on the pilot. The Pakistan government had notified a four-member investigating team, headed by Air Commodore Usman Ghani. The France-based Airbus company sent a team of experts to Karachi on Tuesday. The French experts immediately started their investigation after reaching the terminal on a special flight from Toulouse. They underwent the coronavirus precautionary measures in place at the airport and were all cleared to proceed. Later, the team visited the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) headquarters where they were given a detailed briefing on the ongoing investigation by the Aircraft Accident and Investigation Board’s (AAIB) four-member investigation team.
President asks Pia to exPedite comPensation to crash victims’ heirs ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has directed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pakistan International Airlines, Air Marshal Arshad Malik to expedite the process of compensation to the families of plane crash victims. The president issued these directives while presiding over a briefing here at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Friday. He appreciated the relief measures taken by PIA and the facilities provided by it to the families of the deceased. He also directed the CEO to ensure implementation of standard operating procedures (SOPs) as PIA has resumed flight operation. The CEO PIA briefed the president about the investigation into the plane crash and the relief efforts made by the national airline. He said that 44 bodies of the victims have been handed over to their heirs so far. The CEO informed the president that SOPs for outbound international flights have already been issued according to which airlines will be required to follow the SOPs of the destination country. Additionally, disinfection of aircraft will be ensured, he added. Meanwhile, the chief executive officer visited the house of PIA airhostess Anam Khan in Lahore, who died in the plane crash in Karachi. He expressed condolences with father and other family members of the deceased. Meanwhile, all the national and foreign airlines have been allowed to resume their flight operations between Pakistan and the rest of the world as the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday last announced to lift curbs imposed on March 21 in order to stop the spread of coronavirus disease. The PIA may operate flights but resumption of international flights also depends on other countries. APP
bJp-rss ideology poses threat to world peace, says aJk president MUZAFFARABAD APP
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has said political dominance of BJP-RSS brand of Hindu nationalism has destroyed democratic and secular face of India. “Inspired by the rise of ethnic nationalism in Germany and Italy in the last century, the RSS developed an organised cadre and encouraged violent extremism and terrorism to achieve its objectives,” said the president in a recent interview. President Masood said that Hindutva doctrine has posed a serious challenge to the modern global system and a threat to the world peace. “India’s neo-fascism is more dangerous than that of
where she was being treated. The act sparked alarm among members of the Sharif family. Commenting further on Nawaz’s latest picture, Maryam questioned if the click was such a good act, why was it done in a cowardly manner. The PML-N vice-president maintained that the way the glimpse of Nawaz had startled his opponents, it had become a source of happiness and encouragement for his supporters. Maryam declared that Nawaz’s adversaries only harmed themselves by such acts and unknowingly benefitted her father. Earlier, commenting on the latest image of the PML-N supremo, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said how the people [in Pakistan] could trust the accountability system. In a tweet posted on Saturday, he said these images were making a mockery of the country’s justice system, law, administration, and judicial system. Prime Minister’s Special Assistant Dr Shehbaz Gill, said, “These people consider the nation as fool. He left for London with a false statement. The threetime prime minister lacks moral strength, they flee from the country on the basis of falsehood. Those people are pitiable who still hear their false utterances and consider them their leaders.” It is to be mentioned here that Nawaz’s doctors had advised the family to keep him in isolation in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini because of the number of its organised cadre.” Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP practices the Hindutva ideology, introduced by the world’s biggest paramilitary non-governmental organisation – Rashtriya Sawayamsevak Sangh (RSS), with an estimated six million volunteers as its members, he added. The AJK president asserted that Hindutva was not only directed against Muslims and other minorities of India but also served as a hanging sword for the so-called low caste Hindu communities. Terming Hindutva a primordial system designed to establish the supremacy of elitist, upper-class Hindus, the AJK president said some people wrongly believe that in this day and age, this primitive system would be defeated by the democratic, populist wave of our times,
powered by the information revolution, new technologies, and universal human rights movement. He said that recent times have once again demonstrated that modern global systems and polities are not immune from the serious risks of the rise of neo-fascist doctrines, masquerading as popular movements, and the manipulation of the democratic system to create political space for tyranny. In 2019, Masood said a series of steps were taken by the BJP government to further the Hindutva cause. “These steps included the February 26 attack, the use of the false claim of a successful ‘surgical strike’ to brainwash its voters to garner support, the abolition of the disputed status of the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, a skewed and biased decision on Babri mosque, and the new citizenship act against Muslims.”
CMYK
He added that earlier isolation of Indian citizens, especially Muslims, in concentration camps in Assam, and the threat of the National Register of Citizens and National Population Register – both meant to disenfranchise minorities, especially Muslims. President Masood went on to say that all these strategies were right out of the Hindutva playbook. “In the process, the death squads of the BJP-RSS regime have used mob lynching, massacres, arson, and pogroms, with a combination of unabashed flourish, cunning, and implausible deniability. Mass protests and global condemnation do not seem to have deterred them but goaded them to gloat over their achievements.” The AJK president said in their unbridled frenzy, BJP-RSS duo have left behind a trail of death and destruction, a tale of human suffering, and a saga of instability in India and beyond. The enlightened political forces and the civil society of India have opposed this onslaught on India’s overall humanitarian society and political system.
Sunday, 31 May, 2020
17 heaLthcare workers die of coronavirus in Pakistan
t
NEWS DESK
HE novel coronavirus has infected 1,904 healthcare workers in Pakistan and 17 have died since the outbreak first emerged, official data reveals. The new data provides sobering evidence that doctors, nurses, paramedics and other healthcare providers are working in high risk areas without adequate protection gear. In Sindh, 538 healthcare professional have tested positive for the coronavirus,
and eight have died, a report by the ministry of national health services dated May 29 states. Similarly, in Punjab, 341 healthcare workers have been infected to date. There have been no deaths in the healthcare sector. However, the Punjab chapter of the Young Doctors Association, the largest union of doctors in the country, told Geo.tv that seven healthcare professional have died in the province. In Balochistan, 237 have been infected and two have died, as per official data. Although, the director general health in the province told Geo.tv that
fBr needs rs372bn in June to meet revised revenue target ISLAMABAD SHAHZAD PARACHA
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) needs to collect Rs372 billion to meet the 'thrice revised’ collection target for the ongoing fiscal year (FY20). According to sources, the tax department has collected Rs3,536 billion in taxes during the first 11 months (July 2019-May 2020) of FY20. The collection in May 2020 was recorded at Rs227 billion, as against the revised target of Rs250 billion. In order to meet the revised revenue target of Rs3,908 billion for FY20, the tax authority needs Rs372 billion in the last month (June). It may be noted that FBR's tax collection target had been revised downwards for three times in the current fiscal year, form the original target Rs5.55 trillion. It was first revised to Rs5,238 billion following the International Monetary Fund’s review of Pakistan’s Extended Fund Facility. The tax target was further revised to Rs4,803 billion in February this year when the Pakistani authorities had apprised the IMF of impediments in tax collection. The IMF team had recently revised the target by another Rs895 billion in wake of the coronavirus pandemic, as economic activities had been halted around the country and the FBR was unable to collect the required amount. Sources said that the IMF team was unhappy with the performance of tax officials. On the other hand, sources reveled the government may also reshuffle the tax department in the ongoing month as the incumbent chairperson wants her own team at important positions. Sources said that the government has set the tax target at Rs5,101 billion for the next fiscal year. However, officials are requesting the government for a downward revision in this, as it is tough for them to achieve the target amid coronavirus.
gilgit to be placed under total lockdown from sunday GILGIT TLTP
The local administration on Saturday announced the imposition of a total lockdown in Gilgit city from Sunday in wake of a surge in Covid-19 cases in the city. The administration has imposed a ban on entry into Gilgit till further notice. Anyone wanting to enter the city will need to have a valid no objection certificate (NOC) to do so. A total of 32 shops and three hotels have been sealed in the city for non-compliance with coronavirus standard operating procedures (SOPs). The country confirmed 78 more deaths from novel coronavirus during last 24 hours as the nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 1,395. Till now 660 cases have been confirmed in Gilgit-Baltistan.
seven healthcare providers have died and 280 are infected. In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the largest majority, 552, have tested positive while four have died. Separately, 42 healthcare providers have contracted the virus in Gilgit Baltistan, while two have died. In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, nine have been infected. There have been no deaths reported so far. In Islamabad, 185 medics have the virus. While one death has been reported from the capital city. Pakistan reported its first doctors to
have died from the deadly virus in March, from the northern Gilgit Baltistan. The 26-year-old Dr. Usama Riaz contracted the coronavirus while screening pilgrims returning from Iran. Since then, doctors who are on the frontline in Pakistan has made repeated requests for personal protection equipment (PPEs) and other safety gear to shield them from the disease. In a series of press conference earlier this month, they have also appealed to the government to reconsider its decision to ease the lockdown country-wide lockdown.
Pakistan uses militant-tracking technology to hunt coronavirus ISLAMABAD AGENCIES
Pakistan’s intelligence services are deploying secretive surveillance technology normally used to locate militants to instead track coronavirus patients and the people they come into contact with. In a programme publicly touted by Prime Minister Imran Khan, the government has turned to the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for help in tackling the virus, which still is spreading at an accelerating rate across Pakistan. Details about the project have not been released, but two officials said that intelligence services are using geofencing and phone-monitoring systems that ordinarily are employed to hunt high-value targets including homegrown and foreign militants. A lack of awareness, stigma and fear have contributed to some people with symptoms not seeking treatment or even fleeing hospitals, while others who’ve had contact with virus patients have flouted self-isolation rules. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior security official said that agencies are now “quite effectively” using the technology to track coronavirus cases. “The government has been successful in tracing even those who tested positive but went into hiding,” the security official said. DISCREET TRACKING SYSTEM: Geo-fencing, a discreet tracking system that alerts authorities when someone leaves a specific geographic area, has helped officials monitor neighbourhoods on lockdown. Authorities are also listening in to the calls of Covid19 patients to monitor whether their contacts are talking about having symptoms. “The trace-and-track system basically helps us track
the mobile phones of corona patients as well as anyone they get in touch with before of after their disappearance,” an intelligence official said. Khan recently praised the programme, which has come up against little public debate or scrutiny over its use in the virus fight. “It was originally used against terrorism, but now it is has come in useful against coronavirus,” he said. Nearly 65,000 people in Pakistan have tested positive for the disease and more than 1,300 patients have died. But with testing still limited, officials worry the true numbers are much higher. CONCERNS: Leading rights activist and ex-senator Afrasiab Khattak told AFP that involving the ISI would spread unnecessary fear among the population. “The task of tracking and tracing the patients and suspected cases should be dealt with by provincial governments and local communities – let intelligence agencies do their actual job,” he said. Countries across the world have employed track-andtrace methods to control the virus’s spread, raising privacy concerns. Israel’s intelligence services have been using counter-terrorism technology, including tracking mobile phones, prompting the Supreme Court to raise privacy concerns. In Pakistan, authorities struggled to present a cohesive national strategy to control the coronavirus. Khan was reluctant to call for a sweeping lockdown, arguing the country could not afford it. He also largely caved to pressure from Pakistan’s powerful religious lobby, which pushed back against the closure of mosques. Many Pakistanis have simply ignored provincial lockdown orders and Khan has allowed businesses to reopen in phases, citing the economic impact on daily wage earners.
Shehryar Afridi tests positive for Covid-19 ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT
Minister of State Narcotics Control Shehryar Afridi on Saturday announced to have tested positive for the coronavirus, joining what has now become a rather long list of parliamentarians having contracted the pandemic. The minister, through a tweet, said that he has isolated himself at home on the directions of his doctor. Earlier in the day, opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) member of Punjab Assembly Rana Arif Iqbal also tested positive for the pandemic and subsequently self-quarantined at home. Reports have emerged claiming that Iqbal has passed on the virus to his wife and four children. Last month, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPA Shaheen Raza passed away two days after testing positive for Covid-19. However, Mayo Hospital Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Asad Aslam said at the time that the deceased was also a patient of blood pressure and diabetes. Pakistan’s coronavirus toll on Saturday reached 66,457 with 1,395 reported deaths. According to the national database, some 24,138 patients have completely recovered so far. According to the numbers, Sindh and Punjab account
for more than two-thirds of the country’s total Covid-19 toll with 26,113 and 24,104 cases, respectively. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan reported 9,067 and 4,087 cases followed behind by Islamabad which has so far confirmed 2,192 positive cases. The toll is lowest in Gilgit-Baltistan, which is anticipating a general poll in September this year, and Azad Kashmir that have announced 660 and 234 cases, respectively.
NEWS
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Balochistan announces ‘martyrs package’ for deceased medics, officials QUETTA: The government of Balochistan on Saturday decided to include the doctors, medical staff and government employees, who die in the fight against coronavirus, in the category of martyrs and give ‘martyrs package’ to their families. This decision was taken at a high-level meeting held at Chief Minster’s Secretariat with Chief Minister Jam Kamal Khan in the chair. The meeting decided to grant financial assistance to doctors, paramedics, laboratory technicians, security personnel and other staff of Sheikh Zaid Hospital and Fatima Jinnah Chest and General Hospital, Quetta. The decision for payment of one to three month’s additional basic pay to doctors, paramedical and security personnel in accordance with the nature of their duties was also taken in the meeting. The payment of additional payment will come into force from March 1. The meeting expressed concern over the spread of novel coronavirus due to the ‘non-cooperation of people’ with regard to following the precautionary measures against Covid-19. It was informed that no ban has been imposed for providing medical facilities in OPDs of private hospitals and registered clinics, nevertheless, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are to be followed. APP
over 20,000 overseas Pakistanis to be repatriated from June 1 ISLAMABAD: PM’s Special Assistant on National Security Dr Moeed Yusuf on Saturday said around 20,000 overseas Pakistan would be repatriated in the next 10 days from June 1 as the policy was revised to bring 2,000 passengers per day. Addressing a press conference, Yusuf said over 33,000 overseas Pakistanis were brought back to the country from 55-60 countries as 1,000 passengers were brought back per day. The SAPM said the government was focusing on bringing back stranded labourers from the gulf countries who were unable to afford the travel expense. Most of the labourers were stuck in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). “Around 8,000 passengers will be brought back from UAE and 4,000 from KSA,” he added. He noted that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had completely opened air space for outbound flights and all international airlines would be allowed to take foreigners and outbound passengers abroad. The decision was made after analyzing the least impact of outbound flights on increasing Covid-19 risk. APP
railways to ply five more trains: minister LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Saturday announced to operate five more trains in the coming days, saying all standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be implemented. Addressing a press conference, the federal minister said that Pakistan Railways has suffered a loss of Rs50 million during the last 10 days for allowing passengers under the designed SOPs. “We have decided to restore five more trains in order to avoid loss during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Rasheed, adding that Sir Syed Express, Karachi Express, Bahauddin Zakariya, Shalimar Express and Multan-Karachi railcar will resume their operations. The minister also requested Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar to inaugurate the Bahawalpur railway station. Sheikh Rasheed said that railways is not in a position to resume 100 trains due to lack of safety equipment at many railway stations. The minister said that next 90 days are important in politics of Pakistan, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan will take action against the flour and sugar mafia. STAFF REPORT
Sunday, 31 May, 2020
04 KARACHI
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CiTizenS ATTACK Civil HoSPiTAl AFTeR DeATH oF oF CoviD-19 PATienT KARACHI
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STAFF REPORT
ArACHI’S famous Dr ruth Pfau Civil Hospital also known as Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) was attacked on late Friday night as dozens of citizens took the law into their own hands by vandalising the facility and attacked doctors on duty, allegedly over "delayed handing over of a Covid-19 patient’s body". According to hospital and police officials, the patient was brought to the hospital at 2:15am on Friday but died while being treated. Samples were sent for testing as the health workers tending to him suspected that
he was a Covid-19 patient whereas the results confirmed their suspicions. However, the relatives of the deceased patient refuted the test results and alleged that doctors had declared him to be positive even though he was "normal". According to the police, a 70 people strong mob entered the hospital, took the body of the deceased from the emergency ward and subjected the medical personnel on duty to physical harassment. Videos taken of the hospital's entrance showed a large number of people removing equipment such as stretchers from the hospital premises and also breaking the sanitiser gate. responding to the allegations, CHK
Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Khadim Hussain Qureshi told a local media outlet that doctors at the hospital were only following the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the government for handling bodies of people who die from the virus. "We are government servants. We only follow what the government tells us. The patient had come to the hospital complaining of a heart problem. The doctors suspected that he had coronavirus and conducted a test. It takes time for the result to be received and we could not release the body before that," he said. “Doctors are demanding security. It’s hard for them to work under this kind of situation,” he added. Another doctor
who was on duty at the time, said the incident took place at around 11 pm. He and other doctors on duty were also tortured and abused. “It’s the third time in a week,” he claimed. The doctor also claimed that the police, deployed outside the hospital gate, did not help the medical staff while no arrests have been made as yet, leaving the doctors with not much options but to demand deployment of Sindh rangers for security. Dr Qureshi said although the doctors were able to save themselves from serious injuries, a female doctor was slapped by one of the deceased's relatives. "Doctors are already putting their lives in danger to save people; the public should
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support them. The way they have resorted to beating doctors, if doctors refuse to work, who will save [the people]? People should understand that doctors have no enmity with anyone. When a patient comes to us, we don't see their ethnicity or religion. We only want them to get better," he said, adding that citizens had displayed poor ethics. On the other hand, local media outlets who reached out to senior police officials reported that the hospital had not contacted any law enforcement agencies or the police for lodging a first information report (FIr). According to reports, police have registered a case on their own accord over charges of rioting and creating hindrances in official work in addition to asking the hospital administration to provide CCTV footage to identify and arrest the suspects. Earlier in the month, Karachi’s Jinnah hospital had also witnessed two such incidents after COVID-19 patients passed away. Doctors at Patel Hospital say they’ve been witnessing such violence from attendants regularly ever since the pandemic began.
Transporters in Karachi to resume services on Monday KARACHI STAFF REPORT
Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI) has announced that transporters will resume intra-city public transport services on Monday, bringing their vehicles, including minibuses and coaches, back on the roads. Addressing a press conference of Saturday, KTI president Irshad Bukhari warned of staging a sit-in if they were not allowed to operate, adding that they were willing to be arrested for restarting their services. He pointed out that the Sindh government had announced the lockdown on March 18 and on the orders of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, the transporters had suspended their operations. Bukhari insisted that as the drivers and fare collectors were daily-wage workers, the transporters should have been paid a relief package by the government if suspending public transport was necessary. Stressing the financial crisis being faced by transporters, he said that their families were starving. “We cannot see our children crying for food, so the CM and other ministers should not oppose our decision,” he said. He claimed that when shopkeepers were given permission to resume business, the transporters too had approached the provincial transport minister. According to him, Sindh Labour Minister Saeed Ghani had asked them to devise standard operating procedures (SOPs) for their services, upon which they told him that they would carry passengers seat by seat. Bukhari pointed out that the SOPs devised by the government were being ignored everywhere in the markets, while Qingqi rickshaw drivers overlooked all health advisories to transport up to 10 passengers at a time. He reiterated that the transporters would follow all the SOPs, including the use of face masks and sanitisers, adding that they would disown those who failed to do so. Further highlighting that they had postponed a protest scheduled for May 28 after being given assurances of decisions being made on the matter by provincial ministers, he added that all sectors across the country were now operating apart from Karachi’s transporters.
PAF officer who died in PK-8303 crash laid to rest KARACHI STAFF REPORT
Funeral prayers of Squadron Leader Zain-ul Arif Khan, who died in the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-8303 plane crash, were offered here at the PAF Base Faisal on Saturday. The funeral was attended by Air Staff (Engineering) Deputy Chief Air Vice Marshal Ahmad Hassan, Air Vice-Marshal Abbas Ghumman, air officer commanding, southern air command along with a large number of PAF personnel, civil and military officials. Later, the dead body was laid to rest at PAF graveyard, Korangi Creek with full military honour. Squadron Leader Zain was among the 97 passengers who died in the most recent PIA plane crash in Karachi on May 22. He was posted at Air Headquarters, Islamabad, and was travelling to Karachi to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with his parents. Earlier in the day, Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah said that at least 64 bodies of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash victims have been handed over to their families after identification. The chief minister, in a statement, said that out of the total, 64 bodies have been identified so far and maintained that of the 64 bodies, 25 have been identified through DNA tests. He said that the remaining bodies were kept in different morgues and their identification process is underway. It is pertinent to mention here that the investigation into the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash has entered into the final stage as Airbus experts have collected important evidence to complete their probe.
KARACHI: Police officials disperse the people visiting Seaview beach amid a lockdown imposed to prevent spread of Covid-19. PPI
Record 38 deaths take Sindh's coronavirus mortality rate to 1.7% KARACHI STAFF REPORT
Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah revealed Saturday the province's coronavirus mortality rate had risen from 1.6% to 1.7% as it registered record 38 deaths in 24 hours. The greatest number previously was witnessed a day earlier — 31. “Now, the situation is a little worrisome as 522 patients recovered and 1,247 [were] admitted. This means there is a wide difference between admission and discharge — the health system is coming [under] pressure,” Shah noted. The province along with recording 38 deaths, registered 1,247 new infections bumping the provincial death toll to 465 and overall cases to 13,623. The provincial chief said that the situation is moving from "bad to worse" as during the last two days 69 precious lives have been lost. "This is quite painful and unbearable for the aggrieved families." Shah said that 5,481 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours against which 1,247 cases were detected. “This shows a 23% result which is higher than [several] countries,” he said. He said that the province had conducted 176,703 tests so far, which "produced 15.5% or 27,360 cases". Shah said that 522 patients had recovered in the last 24 hours. The total number of recoveries so far has reached 13,272, taking the recovery ratio to 48.5%. “I am sorry to say that 310 patients [are] in critical condition while 68 of them have been shifted to ventila-
tors,” he said. “Our home isolation experience is going well and presently 12,565 patients being treated in home atmosphere, in [home] isolation," he said, adding: "127 patients were in isolation centres and 931 in different hospitals." The provincial chief said that Sindh aimed at expanding its current healthcare facilities by establishing two "coronavirus infectious disease hospitals, one at NIPA and the other opposite Karachi University”. He said "work on finishing these projects and installation of necessary equipment was going on round-the-clock". The chief minister said that out of a total 1,247 new cases, Karachi had recorded 923. Giving a district-wise break down he said: "A total of 215 were recorded in Korangi, 213 in East district, 183 in Central, 180 in South, 63 in Malir, and 69 in West." Meanwhile, 29 cases were reported in Ghotki, 24 in Hyderabad, 23 in Larkana, 22 in Jacobabad, 21 in Sukkur, 20 in Shikarpur, 14 in Jamshoro, eight in Shaheed Benazirabad, seven in Khairpur, five in Mirpurkhas, four each in Dadu and Kashmore, and three each in Badin and Thatta. Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah said that among the 97, who died in a plane crash on May 22, bodies of 68 had been identified and handed over to their heirs. He said that at present 10 bodies were in the mortuary of Chhipa and 19 at Edhi. “We have identified 29 bodies through DNA and one DNA [sample] is yet to be matched."
School association wants to reopen educational institutes from June 15 NEWS DESK The All Sindh Private Schools and Colleges Association demanded on Saturday the provincial government reopen educational institutions in the province from June 15. Haider Ali, the association’s chairman, warned that they will stage protests if the government doesn’t permit them to open educational institutions. Ali told a private news channel that the government had told them that it will decide whether to open institutions or not in the meeting of the steering committee for education but the meeting has not been held. He said that the schools can make necessary arrangements for the protection of students. The students will be made to sit at a distance of three feet from each other and timings of schools can also be reduced. The Sindh government, however, has decided against reopening schools across the province from June 1. A notification issued on Friday by the education department read that all educational institutions in the province will continue to remain closed after June 1 amid the COVID19 outbreak. It said the date of reopening of the schools will be announced considering the coronavirus situation in the province. It also said the students of grades one to eight have been promoted to their next classes.
Terrorist affiliated with Daesh arrested, arms, ammo recovered KARACHI APP
The Karachi Special Investigation Unit (SIU) and Federal Intelligence Agency (FIA) in a joint operation on Saturday arrested a terrorist affiliated with Daesh besides recovering arms and ammunition from his possession. According to a press release issued by the Sindh Police spokesman, the security forces arrested Sikandar Khan s/o Kamil Jan during preliminary investigation
whereas he has confessed to his involvement in a number of terrorism activities. He also confessed that he was earlier affiliated with banned outfit Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) before 2019. Sikandar Khan was earlier arrested from Karachi in 2013 for his nomination in numerous cases of terrorism and was later shifted to Mardan Jail. After completing his term in Mardan Jail, he joined Daesh in 2019 and returned to Karachi where he began extorting people with the help of his accomplices.
The accused also bombed Dr Siraj’s clinic in the limits of P.I.B Colony Police Station for not paying him extortion money. Similarly, he also demanded blackmailed a citizen namely Haleem within the jurisdictions of Korangi Industrial Area PS for money and was involved in various other heinous crimes in the city. Further investigations were underway and raids were being carried out to apprehend his accomplices whereas the arms recovered from the terrorist’s possession have been sent for forensic tests.
Sunday, 31 May, 2020
NEWS
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PuNJab govT DeCiDeS To FurTHer eaSe LoCKDowN LaHore
a
STAFF REPORT
MID soaring cases, the Punjab government has decided to further ease the lockdown restrictions that were imposed to contain the novel coronavirus outbreak. Chief Minister Usman Buzdar chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Anti-Coronavirus measures, wherein it was agreed that recommendations for the opening of the different
departments and institutions, according to the SOPs defined by the government, would be forwarded to the federal government. In the meeting, Buzdar said that a request would be made to the federal government to provide 1,500 ventilators. He added the instructions of the federal government regarding opening of restaurants, cafes etc, would be followed by the provincial government. The Cabinet Committee allowed the Punjab Public Service Commission to conduct interviews of one thousand lady doc-
tors. It was also decided in the meeting that the DRAP would be approached for permission to prepare ventilators and respirators at the local level. It was decided the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC ) would take final decision to reopen the parks' proposal, new working hours for the commercial enterprises and two-day holidays. It was informed the meeting that lists of plasma donors has been prepared in Mayo and Jinnah Hospitals Lahore, corona patients
can be treated with plasma under expert protocol. The decision was made that the Central Control Room for monitoring the movement of corona patients would be established in Mayo Hospital, Lahore, and Dr Asad Aslam will be the Operations Commander of Central Control Room. The meeting was informed that more than 228,000 corona tests have so far been conducted in the province. It was told that there was no shortage of beds or facilities for corona patients in Punjab and more than one
thousand beds reserved for corona patients in the province were still vacant. Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid informed the meeting that the data related to corona expenditure was available on the website of the department to ensure transparency. Provincial Ministers Abdul Aleem Khan, Raja Basharat, Mian Aslam Iqbal, the chief secretary, Senior Member Board of Revenue, additional chief secretary, IG, and other officials participated in the meeting.
Flights from Gulf states to Peshawar airport to resume from June 1: CM PESHAWAR: In order to facilitate the return of overseas Pakistanis of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) to their homeland, international flights from the Gulf States to Bacha Khan Airport have been restored whereas flights will formally resume from June 1. To this effect, the very first flight of Saudi Airlines with 250 passengers will land here on Monday. The announcement was made by KP Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan in a statement issued here on Saturday. The chief minister said as per the flight schedule, the first flight of Saudi Airline would land on Bacha Khan International Airport on Monday, June 1 and, the second flight of the same airline will arrive on June 3 whereas next flight of Pakistan International Airline will arrive on 6th June. It may be recalled here that the KP CM, during a call on meeting with Prime Minister (CM) Imran Khan, had requested for the restoration of direct flights from the Gulf States to Peshawar Airport in order to facilitate the return of KP citizens who are stuck overseas due to the prevailing pandemic. The prime minister had issued necessary instructions to the relevant quarters in this regard. Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has expressed his gratitude to the prime minister for honouring his request to facilitate the stranded Pakistanis and has also thanked Federal Minister Murad Saeed for playing an effective role in this regard. Mahmood Khan said that the government fully realised the difficulties faced by the overseas Pakistanis due to coronavirus pandemic adding that the government was taking result oriented steps to resolve their difficulties and to ensure their respectable return to their homeland. APP
KP Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra inaugurates coronavirus testing lab peSHaWar APP
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Health Minister Taimur Saleem Jhagra on Saturday inaugurated a Coronavirus Testing Laboratory in Hayat Shaheed Khyber Teaching Hospital to enhance the provincial testing capacity. Accompanied by Health Secretary Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah, Jhagra also inspected other parts of the hospital while the hospital’s staff gave them a detailed briefing in the conference room. Jhagra also directed to release Rs19.5 million meant for rehab and up-gradation of the hospital besides assuring that the IBP allowance issue would be resolved very soon and KP asked Secretary Health Syed Imtiaz Ali Shah to make ensure that the PCR laboratory is upgraded. On the occasion, he said that Khyber Teaching Hospital was the second largest hospital in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to have such laboratory facilities whereas it would be the third-largest laboratory of the province. During the briefing, the health minister was apprised of the problems faced in the hospital, including the IBP allowance issue which he assured would be resolved for all MTIs as soon as possible. Jhagra particularly appreciated the efforts of the Khyber Teaching Hospital and also praised the work and passion of the Front Line Soldiers (FLS).
Javed Jabbar resigns from 10th NFC after backlash
LAHORE: Marriage Halls Employees Union members protest against the closure of their workplaces amid the Covid-19 lockdown. STAFF PHOTO
Govt to file criminal cases in light of sugar probe: PM’s aide Continued from page 01 Akbar stated that the commission summoned Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah for inquiry, but he refrained from appearance. He said that the inquiry commission affixed the responsibility of the corruption on betting agents who have been working in collusion with sugar mills across the country. Akbar stressed that all sugar mills in the country needed to be audited on priority to see where kickbacks, malpractice, and embezzlement took place. He added that the corruption cases of the past and these new revelations differ invariably and the national accountability bureau (NAB) is independent to proceed on the report as they deem fit. SUGAR PROBE: Earlier this month, the government’s inquiry commission formed to probe the hike in sugar prices accused major sugar mills in the country of “underreported sales and fraud”. The commission found irregularities in the form of giving advance payments to farmers in the form of cash or commodity, which is akin to unregulated banking. A subsidy of Rs29bn was given to the sugar industry in the last five years, it said. “A mill called Alliance from Rahim Yar Khan — partially owned by Pakistan Muslim League Quaid
(PML-Q) senior leader Moonis Elahi — was audited. It showed that between 2014 to 2018, 11-14 per cent systematic cut was done for farmers, which translated to Rs970 million and was a huge blow to them,” Akbar had said quoting the commission. He had said that it was found that total income tax of around 88 sugar mills of the country is Rs10bn, after getting a tax refund. He had added that the mill under-reported sugar sales “for years” and sold the commodity to unnamed buyers. The report mentioned violations of the Pakistan Penal Code, he said. Akbar had also mentioned the JDW sugar mill in which PTI stalwart Jahangir Tareen owns 21 per cent shares. He said that according to the report, the mill committed “double booking, under-reporting and overinvoicing”. “The report noted that the mill under-invoiced sales from bagasse and molasses which resulted in 25 per cent cost inflation. They also committed corporate fraud whereby money was transferred from their PLC to their private company. “Forward sales, satta, benami sales have all been associated with JDW too.” The Al Arabiya mill owned by Suleman Shehbaz was also audited, the PM’s aide had said, adding that it was found to have committed fraud worth Rs400 million through informal receipts and market manipulation.
peSHaWar APP
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Livestock Department has announced a financial reward for the virus-idled public of Peshawar of `getting cash over catching stray dogs’. The department has made a public announcement through an advertisement released on May 30 that states: `Get Rs200 cash for catching a stray dog’. “The objective of the reward is to involve those who have lost livelihoods due to the coronavirus lockdown in an activity that aims at ensuring better public health and safety,” said KP Livestock Department Director Dr Syed Masoom Ali Shah. The initiative of announcing financial reward is for Livestock Department’s ongoing project of sterilization of stray dogs to control its growing numbers and to protect the public from deadly rabies disease, Dr Masoom told APP. The project to control stray dog population was launched in Peshawar in January 2020 jointly by District Administration (DC), Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP), Peshawar Development Authority and Health Department.
KP govt cancels uplift schemes for upcoming year FEDERAL GOVT HAD APPROVED RS1,247BN FOR DEVELOPMENT WORK DURING NEXT 10 YEARS
Continued from page 01 If such broad consensus does not exist, then the eventual outcome, however sincerely and competently pursued, and even regardless of the benefits accruing to Balochistan from the announced award, are likely to be rejected by some — with the complaint that more should have been secured.” “To enable representation on the basis of a broad political consensus, and to prevent prolonged opposition to the chief minister’s decision on this matter that would divert attention from the positive work being done by his government, I hereby tender my resignation from the 10th National Finance Commission with immediate effect on May 30th, 2020. “A formal letter of resignation has been electronically transmitted/hard copy despatched by courier earlier today to the president, governor, and chief minister,” he concluded.
KP Livestock Dept offers cash reward for catching stray dogs
peSHaWar
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Aziz BunERi
HE Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government on Saturday ordered all administrative departments that new uplift schemes for the next financial year are not to be introduced whereas they are to formulate a development programme worth Rs24 billion for ongoing uplift schemes in tribal districts. In this regard, reliable sources told Pakistan Today that the KP Planning and Development (P&D) Department has provided an estimate of development funds to each administrative depart-
ments. The highest fund in the annual development programme is Rs2.8888 billion for road construction while Rs2.62 billion has been allocated for setting up a development programme for primary and secondary education department. Similarly, the department has allocated Rs2.36 billion for health, Rs2.13b for transport, Rs1.87b for finance, Rs1.85b for clean water, Rs1.82b for higher education Rs1.24b for urban development, Rs2.214b, 1 billion for drinking, Rs886 million for municipalities, Rs85 million 33 for forests, Rs75 million for agriculture, Rs754 million for sports tourism and culture, Rs689 million for multi-sector development, Rs459.5 mil-
lion for rehabilitation, 426.696 million for resettlement, Rs295.45 million for industry, Rs295.4 million for buildings and Rs262.582 million for ongoing development projects of the law department. Further, the Auqaf Department has been directed to formulate a programme worth Rs131.291 million for Religious and Minority Affairs, Finance, Food, Minerals and Science and Information Technology. Similarly, a development programme of Rs984.68 million for energy and electronics, social welfare and housing, Rs656.46 million for excise and taxation, Rs328.23 million for information, labor, welfare, population and special measures during the ongoing financial year. The provincial P&D Department has also clarified that new schemes will be introduced only under the Accelerated Development Programme (ADP). It should be noted that after the merger, the federal government had approved Rs1,247 billion for de-
velopment works during the next ten years for tribal districts in which KP will provide 3 per cent of its National Finance Award (NFC). Further, the federal government has also allocated a total budget of Rs83 billion for annual development works in the tribal districts this year, of which Rs72 billion will be paid by the federal government and Rs11 billion by the KP government. In this allocated budget, only Rs32.55 billion has been released so far from which all departments have spent only Rs13 billion. According to sources in the KP Finance Department, development budget worth billions is limited to announcements only. Due to untimely release of funds for projects, the costs will increase in the next financial year and affect the ten year development targets which likely means that these projects will not be completed on time due to the non-availability of funds.
Sunday, 31 May, 2020
06 COMMENT
Flight PK 8303
The challenge and the response Covid-19 enters crucial stage
And PIA’s perennial problems
F
RIDAY was the deadliest day in Pakistan’s fight against covid-19,with as many as 81 deaths reported in 24 hours, while the number of covid-19 patients surging from 62,689 to 65,216. The decision taken at the National Cordination Committee (NCC) on May 7 to gradually relax the lockdown led to a widespread pushing and pulling in the markets for Eid shopping, followed by massive violation of SOPs that continues. Statements by Health SAPM Dr Zafar Mirza like “Pakistan's coronavirus situation is improving compared to other countries” and “Pakistan will soon start manufacturing covid-19 treatment drug” created a false perception that the pandemic was on its way out. What has actually happened is the opposite. The pandemic has entered a critical stage characterised by a galloping infection rate and a sharp increase in deaths. The PM has called a meeting of the NCC today to take stock of the situation. Many will wait for the outcome with baited breath. The biggest blunder made by the government in the early days was to take the pandemic lightly, maintaining that it would disappear with the hot weather setting in. Instead of going for a consistent national policy the government has all along indulged in kneejerk reactions. What the government needs is to work out an evidencebased national policy. Maintaining on one day that Pakistan is a special case because infection rate is low, and on another day blaming the public for not following the SOPs and thus spreading the infection, or explaining away the increase in infection rate by maintaining that this is due to larger number of tests, has to end. It was insensitive on the part of Dr Mirza on Friday to give himself a pat on the back for the situation ‘ not becoming disastrous’ due to effective measures taken by the government. The government needs to avoid making policies under pressure from lobbies and interest groups. It should display the courage to take unpopular decisions if these can bring down the infection rate. The NCOC maintains that the only successful way to fight Covid-19 is through test, track and quarantine (TTQ) strategy and smart lockdown. What has stopped the government from increasing the tests manifold?
Arif NizAmi
M
ISERIES do not come alone. As if the relentless attack of Covid-19 with all its dire human, social and economic consequences was not enough to sap the nation’s morale, the national airline’s Airbus A320 crashing into a residential area in Karachi, proved to be the proverbial last straw. The plane was carrying mostly families flying from Lahore to Karachi to celebrate Eid holidays with their near and dear ones. Except for two passengers who miraculously escaped, 97 perished in the tragedy. The mishap has raised a number of questions relating not only to the crash but also about lax safety standards of PIA (Pakistan International Airlines). A probe team mostly comprising of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) officers and headed by a squadron leader has started its work. Firstly, PALPA (Pakistan Airline Pilots’ Association) as well as the international body of pilots have objected to the composition of AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Board) having no airline pilot or technical member as its member. Secondly, critics contend that how can a board headed by a relatively junior officer, Air Commodore Usman Ghani, give a verdict that possibly questions the competence of his superior, Air marshal Arshad Malik who is serving as PIA’s CEO? A far more serious objection can be raised about the Board’s locus standi. True, air force pilots and commercial pilots belong to the same discipline. But this is where the similarity ends. Flying a commercial airliner is a different ball game from piloting and maintenance of an air force jet. Modern commercial airliners like the Airbus A320 are sophisticated machines with fail-safe safety features. Not that a modern combat jet is any less, but it is still a different animal altogether. But if something goes wrong, it’s only the pilot who goes down with it. Take the case of the type of plane that crashed. It is a fly by wire modern plane. Unlike automobiles its age (14 years in this case) does not mean it is an old plane, if it has gone through D-checks (the most comprehensive and demanding check for an airplane) and
Trump’s America Latest riots are a testament to rabid polarization
P
OLICE violence against black Americans is one of the many faces of the USA’s long, violent and troubled history of racism. From slavery to the Civil War, the Jim Crow laws, the KKK and modern-day America where the president is Donald Trump and his predecessor was the first ever black president of the country. Even in Obama’s eight years, police brutality was a perennial problem, especially considering the killing of Michael Brown Jr. by a white police officer who shot the unarmed 18-year old in Ferguson, resulting in weeks of protests and riots. George Floyd is the latest African- American victim of an unchecked culture of police highhandedness, who was choked under a white police officer, Derek Chauvin’s, knee for nearly nine minutes, lying face down on a road, in Minneapolis. Floyd had passed out by minute five and expired soon after. Nationwide protests are ongoing and the National Guard has been called in to control the situation that has deteriorated into riots, violence and destruction. The images are reminiscent of the 1992 Los Angeles riots when the brutal beating of Rodney King, a black man, by four Caucasian LAPD police officers, was videotaped and released, followed by a trial where all assailants were acquitted by the jury. President Donald Trump has not made things easy during this latest episode, not for himself nor for the various law enforcement personnel currently on the streets attempting to get a grip on the situation. His tweet quoting a racist former Miami police chief in the 1960’s, saying “when the looting starts the shooting starts” has been met with severe backlash. Twitter flagged the tweet with a disclaimer saying that it violated the site’s rules about glorifying violence. President Trump’s ability to be recklessly insensitive and offensive to a particular group of people in almost any given setting is uncanny. Perhaps he can’t help it and in normal circumstances he would have even gotten away with it quite easily, despite the national outrage at his comments. But these are not normal times. There is significant frustration and anger over his mishandling of the coronavirus that has caused over 100,000 deaths, making the USA the worst affected country in the world by a quite margin. With a presidential election months away and campaigning virtually impossible, his reaction to the Minneapolis incident is in some ways even more disastrous than the virus. Rereading one of his own tweets from 2014 during the Ferguson riots, blaming them on ‘weak leadership in Washington’ might help him understand the problem, but won’t offer any viable solutions for this mess.
Anatomy of a crime Let's do a thought experiment.
Arhum TAriq BuTT
I
am a man in an unhappy marriage. It comes to my attention that my wife is cheating on me. This probably isn't an isolated incident because she married me for my father's money and I know it very well. But this time I have concrete information. I know who the guy is and where he lives. He's younger; better looking than I am and that angers me more. My wife owns a separate 1 Kanal bungalow that's just a few kilometres away from our home. It's obvious that she uses this house for drug fuelled parties and to meet with her many love affairs. I keep ignoring it until she starts to spend more and more time at her other house. I feel useless, duped and unattractive. So I decide to act. I know where she is and I know what she is doing. I plan to raid and catch her in the act. I have with me multiple cars, gunmen and kerosene. I plan to kill
Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami
Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad
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he simply ignored the warning beeps. its parts replaced as per technical SOPs. Neither did he ask for visual confirmation of the According to PIA, the plane’s maintenance record show that, “it was technically sound. “It had logged landing wheels not being down from the control 47, 100 flight hours since entering service in 2004 and tower as per the standard procedure. After the aborted landing, the A320 was a flying coffin. Both its enhad been in operation with the airline since 2014. The aircraft was powered by CFM56-5B-4 en- gines’ vital parts severely damaged, it was unable to gines manufactured by CFM, a company jointly regain the required 3000 feet height, crashing into a owned by GE (general electric USA) and a French building near the landing sight. This is not the first time that a pilot’s phycologimanufacturer Safran France. The Airbus A320 is one of the most popular air- cal state has been brought into question by aviation liners in the world. As of mid-February this year 15, circles. A Boeing 777 belonging to the Malaysian Air522 A320 and its derivatives have been sold all over lines disappeared in March 2014 after departing from the world. It is considered a workhorse, mostly used Kuala Lampur. Its wreckage was never found to this for short and medium-haul flights. It has one of the date buried somewhere deep in the ocean. It is widely believed that the captain, Zahare Ahmed Shah, was lowest fatality rates of any airliner. In this context, the question that begs an answer heavily depressed and deliberately sent flight MH370 is what went wrong with the doomed PK 8303? Ob- into the Indian Ocean. Whatever the outcome of the probe, the crash has viously, one should wait for the probe results. According to the Aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar raised questions about the safety standards of the naKhan the preliminary report will be made public on tional airline. PIA has a spotty safety record with 20 fatal crashes since its inception June 22. But one will have to as Orient Airways at the time of wait longer for the Airbus manuindependence. facturer’s report that is expected PIA is a sad story-book of in three months. Its probe team PIA is a sad story-book of neglect corruption and cronyism. has already visited the crash site Infested with unions and associamultiple times. Rarely are such neglect corruption and tions sponsored and supported by reports open and shut. Usually it cronyism. Infested with political parties and successive is a chain of unfortunate events happening in split seconds that unions and associations governments in power, it is bereft of its past glory. With a fleet size lead to such tragedies. sponsored and supported of just 32, it has one of the highest Instead of waiting for the reratios of employees per seat. port, all kinds of speculations by political parties and But owing to the vested inare rife about the tragedy, some even at the highest level. successive governments in terests supported by political parties it can neither be downThe aviation minister has wondered aloud about why the power, it is bereft of its past sized nor privatized. Despite pilot of the doomed plane Capt. glory. With a fleet size of just having a relatively small fleet its management is top heavy, drawSajjad Gul failed to engage its landing gear. He disclosed that on 32, it has one of the highest ing fat salaries and enjoying all perks and privileges. the request of the AAIB a phycolratios of employees per seat kindsNoofwonder PIA is perenniogist and a doctor have been coally in the red, bankrolled by the opted to interview friends and state. Perhaps the only solution is family of the pilot. to bite the bullet and privatize it. Whether these are deliberate leaks or factoids to shift the blame on the pilot thus Some have suggested shutting it down. This is also absolving PIA of negligence, only the final report will one solution, but easier said than done. Neverthetell. Nonetheless, the last few minutes of the ill-fated less, having a national airline is no longer a matter PK 8303, widely reported in the media, raise some im- of national pride. Swissair privatized is now Swiss airline. Lufthansa, the second largest airline in Europe portant questions. Flying at an altitude of 10,000 feet instead of was state owned till 1994. Now it is a publicly traded 7,000 when the ATC (air traffic control) issued its company. Lufthansa has controlling stakes in Swiss first warning to the pilot to lower the plane’s altitude Airline as well as Austrian Airlines. There are numerous such examples where airis one problem. Despite being ‘hot and high’ (in technical parl- lines are either privatised or form strategic alliances ance) the pilot responded that he was comfortable. with other airlines in order to run more efficiently and When the plane was only 10 nautical miles away improve their profitability. The government will have to evolve an out of box from the airport it was precariously at an altitude of solution to privatise PIA. Merely handing out peri7,000 instead of 3,000 feet. According to reports now confirmed by the avia- odic doles from the national exchequer will not retion minister, the plane landed sans its landing gear solve this perennial problem. open with both of its engines Arif Nizami is Editor, Pakistan Today. He can be scraping the runway thrice. Perhaps the pilot was not aware that the landing gear was not engaged or contacted at arifn51@hotmail.com.
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everyone and burn the place to the ground. When I enter the house I remember that my wife is my societal anchor. My escort to weddings, formal parties, social events and the mother of my child. She may be unfaithful but she's still my wife and divorces are frowned upon. I have a reputation to protect. What will all my friends and family think if I hurt her bad enough that she leaves me? She'd a good girl, just misdirected. I can straighten her out by making an example out of this guy she was having the affair with. If I make enough of a ruckus she'll probably be scared to death and never do such a thing again. So I humiliate and torture the boy. He thought he was better than me, that he can copulate with my wife right under my nose. I felt helpless. But now I have all the control. I ask my goons to harass and assault him. Throw kerosene on him wanting to light him on fire. Even make them walk on broken glass. Drunk with power; I feel like a Bollywood villain. I can do anything; It's exhilarating! I am not worried though. He can take it. He knew what he was getting into. Serves him right for corrupting my wife. I hope this incident will set my wife straight and all such men will keep away from her now. It's the next day; I don't have any regrets. I actually feel proud of what I did. My wife is finally back. She can't maintain eye contact with me but I bet things will be back to normal in no time. I check twitter: oh no... OutcOmes Of the experiment: Firstly, as per the narration, this is a simple case of audacious criminality. Let's not turn this political or a battle of the sexes or ideology. The legal remedy available for unfaithfulness is divorce by court. The whole concept of the Rule of Law is that no one can take the law in their own hands no matter what the circumstances are. 'Zina' here is just an allegation and hence not on the table. Even if a separate FIR is lodged for fornication and adultery it would require confessions from both the parties and if done so would implicate both the parties punishing them equally so I doubt that would happen. Legally speaking, crimes are judged on individual incidents
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and not on character or a larger story line. I write this to pare the incident to the bone, strip it of all the 'brigades' and the thought police. So what would have happened to me had I done all this? Well, at first I'd probably be behind bars even before the videos hit twitter. Such incidents in posh societies are as rare as hen's teeth. Usually, internal society security seizes you and hands you over to the police themselves before the local forces have a chance to act. And I would definitely be charged with terror, torture, trespass, vandalism, possession of firearms and attempt to murder. To establish such a crime two legal ingredients are essential. Intention and the act itself; what we call 'Actus Reus' and 'Mens rea' in legal parlance. The fact that I planned all this beforehand; going in well prepared, establishes my intention to harm perfectly. It wasn't an act of passion. I knew what I was doing and what the outcome would be. I merely thought I would get away with it. Even now, as all this has been busted wide open the perpetrator in question does not deny or apologise but justifies her act by claiming this was the only way she could protect her marriage. That said, it is safe to say that the FIR registered was technically and factually flawed and was missing many above mentioned aspects of the incident. I would be naive if I didn't say the report was probably registered as a slap on the wrist expected to wither away and vanish with time; as is the norm. Finally, by changing gender-roles we come to know that such incidents are never about gender. They are about positions of power. Your darkest urges come to the surface only when you feel invincible. It is only when fear of consequences leave you that you possess the audacity of such acts. Rule of law exists to make sure that no one is invincible and that, at the back of your head there's this ever-existing voice of sanity. Such cases are a test case for the executive, media as well as the judiciary. The writer is a lawyer and a columnist. He tweets @Arhumtb
Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk
Sunday, 31 May, 2020
COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively
Investigation about plane crash in Karachi
Take a pause and think The time to befriend eternal nature is now
Candid Corner rAoof hAsAN “...and then I have nature and art and poetry, and if that is not enough, what is enough?” –Vincent van Gogh
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HE world appears consumed with the death and destruction that covid-19 has caused and the dread of bracing its possible aftermath. The World Health Organisation has warned that we may have to live with the contagion. Governments and institutions are simultaneously looking at possible ways not only to cope with the existent challenges, but also retrieve the battered economies which are on the verge of collapse, and help sustain the marginalised communities which are smitten with hunger and extinction. This is a task of mammoth proportions which shall only become more dogged with the passage of time. But, there are only a few of us who are actually contemplating the spectre of post-Corona life. In addition to focussing on the development of a vaccine, there is hardly any attention being paid to what adjustments will have to be made to stop the scourge from reappearing. This aspect becomes more gruesome in the face of humankind’s focus on material things to the exclusion of what may be so critically important for maintaining the order and balance in the universe and, consequently, our lives. As compared to when I was growing up, what I miss in today’s world is the absence of even a perfunctory engagement with the world of letters. The tablet having replaced the book, poets and artistes, too, have been consigned to the backstage. At our usual gatherings, no one seems interested in talking about the state of the arts in the society, what poets are writing about, or what painters are drawing. I hardly come across any recital sessions which were favourite occurrences in times not long ago when people would gather and read something, or listen to others doing the same which was always followed by a knowledgeable and vibrant discussion. Such engagements are now scorned at as being sheer wastage of time. One can trace the decline of civilisations and societies in numerous causes, disengagement from creative pursuits and our surroundings
being a couple of them. Unfortunately, this is others share them with us. Indulging in acts to something that is palpably visible in current decimate the lives of other living organisms is times. In the process, we have been reduced to tantamount to diminishing our chances of surresting on our past laurels alone. There is no vival in the future. The same goes for the absence of creative Manto, no Faiz, no Faraz, no Jalib, no Shakir Ali, and no Naqsh or Sadeqain. There is no Pak pursuits which help propel us into a higher diTea House and endless cups doing the rounds mension of living and introducing us to a newer among a vast galaxy of celebrities who were all purpose of life. Somehow, and quite inexplicamasters in their respective arts. We now live in bly, we have systematically deprived ourselves an environment of gross mediocrity that has dug of that finer element which would have helped its tentacles deep. Do we ever think why it has us understand things in the larger perspective come to this? Why are we afflicted with such ter- and come up with palliatives which would adrible dearth of creativity and why is there such minister a healing touch not available in the mevenomous scorn for those few who are still en- dicinal genre. Corona may be the scourge of the whole gaged in these pursuits? It is like living in a vast, world, but we also crossed a few lines which we barren wilderness with not a speck sprouting. And, why is it also that we behave with such should not have. Change is rooted in a mind-set gross insensitivity with our surroundings, with which makes us think and act in certain ways. nature that is so profusely manifested around us? That is where we have a major issue, as we have Do we ever feel a twinge of loathing while cutting been moulded through years of indoctrination a tree, or mauling a row of flowers? Do we ever focussed on our purported invincibility and the think of animals and birds as living beings who righteousness of all things that we do. In reality, we are just as flawed as feel pain at being barbarithe rest of the world. We cally chopped away? Unshould accept this so that derstandably, these are a certain margin is left to alien thoughts which do ponder the way we have not occur to us while lived against how we bludgeoning the rest of the We must remember that if the have lived. world and the habitat to cruel process of destruction should Life is all about getsuit our crude and merciting out of the block that less predilections. we have so insensitively we may be stuck in and There could be multiinitiated were to continue, caring for others like we ple reasons which brought do for our loved ones. It the onset of covid-19, but there will be nothing left to is not about monopoliswe should not try to esing the space that we cape the blame. We must care for, and nothing would may have, but manifestaccept responsibility for ing benevolence to share ravaging the habitat and be there to care for us. We it with others. At the end all other living organisms would be forsaken by our of the day, we are all in it without as much as a together, so we should passing thought. We take surroundings. Shorn of the make a collective effort spilling others’ blood as to cherish and nurture an inherent right. It is a elements around us, we the beauty and bounties different matter when it would be but hapless that nature has lavishly comes to our own blood, showered upon us. or that of the ones we hold apparitions pounding away at We must remember dear. Then it is a different rationale that we take renothingness which would be that if the cruel process of destruction we have course to– a rationale that unresponsive to our so insensitively initiated works by creating a diswere to continue, there tinction between right and pleadings. will be nothing left to wrong. Well, those carrycare for, and nothing ing a chalice of venom for would be there to care others to drink from canfor us. We would be fornot fathom the undesirsaken by our surroundability of seeking a distinctive paradigm when it comes to dealing ings. Shorn of the elements around us, we would with their own pain. We have different masters be but hapless apparitions pounding away at for different kind of tasks. It doesn’t work like nothingness which would be unresponsive to our that. Blood would be blood no matter whose it is pleadings. Remember that, in the words of Ralph that is spilled. It was Rembrandt who said, “Choose only Waldo Emerson, “Nature always wears the one master– nature”. That is critical in recognis- colours of the spirit”. Nature is our friend, an ing that we, and all that is around us, are one eternal friend. That time to actually accept it as among nature. If we kill or damage it in any way, one and handle it delicately is now. Tomorrow it’ll impact us as much as it will impact other or- may be too late. ganisms. We cannot escape the effects of cruelty The writer is a political and security stratethat we inflict upon others. So, fighting covid-19 and dreaming for the gist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute – vaccine to arrive early is all fine in our bid to an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: Twitter: continue partaking of the beauty and bounties of raoofhasan@hotmail.com. nature. But, we should also protect these and let @RaoofHasan
THE city of Karachi has been mourning for the past few days in the wake of the harrowing Airbus crash that occurred a day before Eid. Out of the 99 passengers on board, only 2 have survived, miraculously. Families of the victims remain devastated, while having to visit hospitals and morgues in order to identify the bodies of their loved ones. Some of the victims still remain unidentified. The event has been so distressing that families of 19 victims have forcibly taken bodies from Edhi mortuaries without DNA clearance, claiming that they self-identified the bodies through their personal belongings. However, authorities claim that since “the bodies were badly burnt”, it is likely that some victims are wrongly identified. Preliminary investigation conducted by the PIA and relevant associations provide contrasting accounts with the former claiming the crash occurred due to the inexperience of the pilot, evident from the fact that he had violated landing SOPs, while the latter asserted that the crash occurred because of some technical fault in the plane. An 11-member inspection team also arrived from France on Tuesday and flew back after a 16-hour investigation. According to the media, the team visited the crash site as well as the traffic control tower in order to gather comprehensive information that may provide some insight into what actually happened. As the country eagerly anticipates the conclusion of these reports, it is important that citizens support, help and empathise with the families affected by this tragedy by creating an atmosphere of comfort and sympathy in the city. ZILL-E-HumA Rawalpindi
Facing Locust Challenges THE current locust plague became as big as coronavirus. After COVID-19 the next challenge which needs to be recovered is controlling locust attacks in distant regions of Pakistan . However , The worst plague of lucusts in 70 years has already affected East Africa. . With the arrival of COVID-19 there emerged an impact on agricultural development with lack of exports which created a crisis in the country . Next the locust flood has appeared and had faced by many countries . A massive locust attack is expected too. Locusts start to fly in the morning hours after roosting the trees . The trillions locusts are swarming across parts of Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia. Gigantic new locust hit East Africa threatening millions of leading agricultural products . The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization ( FAO) estimated that up to 25 millions East Africans will suffer from food shortages later this year . Regardless in these unprecedented crisis with the arrival of pandemic the continent also experienced high levels of food insecurity . The locust flood has existed and faced by many countries and particularly the Africa . These hazardous locusts have already revaged cotton and valuable foods. As the works attempts to contain the coronavirus, India , Pakistan and a number of countries in East Africa are also battling the invasion of dessert locust . Climate change is partly blamed for the outbreak . The added threat of COVID-19 imperils a region that already was home to about 20 percent of the world's population of food-insecure people. The situation is much more serious in Pakistan . If they are not controlled they would demage food supplies and cause famine . A second wave of locust attack had also affected countries . According to the UN , the current infestations can be traced back to the cyclone season 2018-19 that heavy rains . Swarms have since spread in South Africa and East Africa . The pandemic is also posing fresh challenges for some odd workers who are battling the insects . Experts warned that the conditions would get more worsen . The desert locusts is feeding over the covers of green regions. We have not faced such a crisis for a long time and compared to today's one . We should find out the solution inorder to import the pesticides needed for aerial spraying that is called only the effective control. NAmE: BARkATuLLAH Turbat
Post-pandemic world LIKE the fall of the Berlin Wall, this coronavirus pandemic is a worldshattering event whose far-ranging consequences we will only begin to imagine today. This disease has shattered lives, destroy markets and exposed the competence of governments, it'll cause permanent shifts in political and economic power in ways in which will become apparent only later.The pandemic will strengthen the country and reinforce nationalism. Governments of all types will adopt emergency measures to manage the crisis.In short, this pandemic creates a world that is less open, less prosperous, and less free. It did not have to be this way, but the combination of a deadly virus, insufficient planning and incompetent leadership has placed humanity on a difficult and worrisome path. uSAmA SARFRAZ Rawalpindi
Banned tobacco I want to draw the attention of the concerned authority to banned tobacco in Pakistan, through the column of your esteemed newspaper.World no tobacco day is observe around the world every year on 31 May. Tobacco is second leading cause of death in worldwide.It kills more than eight million people each year ,over 7 million people each year lose their lives as a result of direct tobacco use while around 1 million people died being exposed to second-hand tobacco smoke. There are different forms of tobacco and all forms are very dangerous. Most common form of tobacco is cigarettes. Every cigarette you smoke is harmful. They harm the tissue of the lungs, impending their ability to function normally and causes lung cancer and many other diseases as well. Also cigarettes that are sold in developing countries like Pakistan usually have very low quality and a high tar content making them even more injurious to health. Quitting tobacco is never so easy but it's worth it and it can be done if we want. It's never too late to quit smoking. umEmA SHEIkH karachi
Sunday, 31 May, 2020
08 WORLD VIEW
The deaTh of GeorGe floyd, in conTexT THE LARGER QUESTION IS WHETHER THE OFFICERS INVOLVED WILL FACE ANY LEGAL CONSEQUENCES
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Jelani Cobb
wo incidents separated by twelve hours and twelve hundred miles have taken on the appearance of the control and the variable in a grotesque experiment about race in America. on Monday morning, in New York City’s Central Park, a white woman named Amy Cooper called 911 and told the dispatcher that an African-American man was threatening her. The man she was talking about, Christian Cooper, who is no relation, filmed the call on his phone. They were in the Ramble, a part of the park favored by bird-watchers, including Christian Cooper, and he had simply requested that she leash her dog—something that is required in the area. In the video, before making the call, Ms. Cooper warns Mr. Cooper that she is “going to tell them there’s an African-American man threatening my life.” Her needless inclusion of the race of the man she fears serves only to summon the ancient impulse
to protect white womanhood from the threats posed by black men. For anyone with a long enough memory or a recent enough viewing of the series “when They See Us,” the locale of this altercation becomes part of the story: we know what happened to five young black and brown men who were falsely accused of attacking a white woman in Central Park. on Monday evening, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a forty-six-year-old black man named George Floyd died in a way that highlighted the implications that calls such as the one Amy Cooper placed can have; George Floyd is who Christian Cooper might have been. (The police made no arrests and filed no summons in Central Park. Amy Cooper has apologized for her actions; she was also fired from her job.) Police responding to a call from a shopkeeper, about someone trying to pass a potentially counterfeit bill, arrested Floyd. Surveillance video shows a compliant man being led away in handcuffs. But cellphone video later shows a white police officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck for seven minutes, despite protests from onlookers that his life is in jeopardy. In an echo of the police killing of Eric Garner, in 2014, Floyd repeatedly says, “I can’t breathe,” and then, “I’m about to die.” when the officer eventually removes his knee, Floyd’s body is limp and unresponsive. A person nearby can be heard saying, “They just killed him.” Floyd was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A police statement said
that Floyd appeared to be in “medical distress,” but made no mention of his being pinned to the ground with the weight of a police officer compressing his airway. The video of Floyd’s death is horrific but not surprising; terrible but not unusual, depicting a kind of incident that is periodically reënacted in the United States. It’s both necessary and, at this point, pedestrian to observe that policing in this country is mediated by race. on Tuesday, in Minneapolis, hundreds of protesters, many wearing face masks to guard against covid-19, braved the pandemic to protest at the spot where Floyd died. outside a nearby precinct house, police cars were pelted with rocks, and officers responded by firing tear gas. But, within twenty-four hours of the video coming to light, the Minneapolis Police Department fired the officer who had knelt on Floyd and three others who had been at the scene. Mayor Jacob Frey tweeted that the firings were “the right call,” but here, too, context matters. In November, 2015, police responding to calls of a dispute between a man and a woman in north Minneapolis fatally shot a twenty-four-year-old African-American man named Jamar Clark. Police and paramedics on the scene claimed that Clark had resisted arrest and had attempted to grab an officer’s gun; bystanders claimed that he was handcuffed and on the ground when the shot was fired. Clark’s death was followed by more than two weeks of demonstrations
outside the Fourth Police Precinct in Minneapolis, led by Black Lives Matter; an attempt to disrupt holiday shopping at the Mall of America, in protest; and cascading contempt from black residents that, two years later, factored into Mayor Betsy Hodges losing her reëlection bid. In light of that history, Frey has been unequivocal about police culpability in Floyd’s death. “Being black in America should not be a death sentence,” he said on Tuesday. The larger question, however, is whether the officers involved will face any legal consequences. The Twin Cities area has been an outsized part of the dialogue about the police use of force. The year after Clark’s death, Philando Castile was fatally shot in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, by a police officer who was alarmed because Castile had a gun in his car, even though he had identified himself as a licensed gun owner. (Castile’s girlfriend recorded the aftermath of the shooting on her phone.) In 2017, Justine Damond was fatally shot by a police officer who was responding to her own call about a possible assault taking place behind her Minneapolis home. No charges were brought against officers in Clark’s death. Jeronimo Yanez, the officer who killed Castile, was fired from the department, but was acquitted of second-degree-manslaughter charges. Mohamed Noor, the officer who shot Damond, was convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter, and was sentenced to twelve and a half years in prison. The Damond case was atypical, both in that it involved the fatal shooting of a white woman by a black officer of Somali descent, and that Damond was an Australian citizen, which generated interna-
tional pressure for a conviction in the case. No charges were brought against officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, on Staten Island, whose arrest was also recorded on video by a bystander, and has been widely referenced since Floyd’s death. (He was fired from the department in 2019.) By odd coincidence, “American Trial,” a film that features a mock trial of Pantaleo for murder, was just released. The investigation into Floyd’s death also exists in the context of an ongoing investigation into the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a twenty-five-year-old African-American who was shot in southeast Georgia when two men attempted to enact a citizen’s arrest while a third recorded a video of the incident. There is yet another investigation of fatal police force in Louisville, Kentucky, where Breonna Taylor, a twenty-six-year-old AfricanAmerican E.M.T., was shot to death in her apartment by officers who were conducting a drug raid at what her family said was the wrong address. There is more to be said about the burgeoning genre of videos capturing the deaths of black Americans, and the complex combination of revulsion and compulsion that accompanies their viewing. They are the macabre documentary of current events, but the question remains about whether they do more to humanize or to objectify the unwilling figures at the center of their narratives. Death is too intimate a phenomenon to not be distorted by a mass audience. Yesterday, very few of us knew who George Floyd was, what he cared about, how he lived his life. Today, we know him no better save for the grim way in which that life met its end. Jelani Cobb is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of “The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress.”
Netanyahu is running scared NETANYAHU IS BEHAVING LIKE AN ELEPHANT IN A CHINA SHOP. HE WALKS AROUND LIKE A COWBOY WITH TWO LOADED PISTOLS, AND SHOOTS IN ALL DIRECTIONS, NOT CARING THAT INNOCENT BYSTANDERS ARE GETTING CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE Jerusalem Post
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eHUD olMeRT
HE picture of a mask-free Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing behind the speaker’s podium, surrounded by leading cabinet ministers who are all donning masks, is surprisingly similar to the picture of Al Capone as he stands surrounded by his associates, assistants and mercenaries just before his trial is about to begin. of course, this resemblance is misleading as Netanyahu is no Al Capone and his band of ministers is not a group of violent mercenaries who were connected with an organized crime boss like Al Capone. But the resemblance of the two images is uncanny. It was something about the combination of incitement, victimization, accusations, threats and intimidation that was so dominant in Netanyahu’s appearance before the opening of his trial this week inside the Jerusalem District Court, next to the Ministry of Justice. I was asked: Could I feel what was going through his mind or what Netanyahu was feeling in those moments before he strode into the Jerusalem courtroom? And in particular, did I have an inkling what he was feeling when the court clerk announced the entry of the judges and Netanyahu stood next to the defendant’s chair, so close (maybe too close for comfort?) to Noni Mozes and Shaul Elovitch and showed respect to the judges who would determine his fate in the near future. I can’t answer this question, for I am not Netanyahu. There’s no similarity between us at all. Indeed, I, too, had my time in court, and I admit it was not pleasant or easy. I stood up respectfully when the judges entered, offering them my respect. with the help of my attorneys, I attempted to present to the court and the public my arguments, answers and positions regarding my complex web of activity I engaged in over many years in the roles of minister, mayor of Jerusalem and prime minister. There was not one moment that brought me pleasure or nachas or a feeling of satisfaction during any of those many long days I spent in that very same court-
room in the Jerusalem District Court. I did experience one moment of relief when the verdict was read out acquitting me of the main charges, which were the main focus of the public and media attention. Naturally, there was much discussion of the investigations during the period preceding the trial, including my resignation from the post of prime minister, of course. one would imagine that I experienced moments of pain, discomfort, uneasiness and intense anger directed at the former state prosecutors (Eran Shender, Moshe Lador, Shai Nitzan), some of the police investigators, former attorney general Manny Mazuz, a few print and electronic journalists who were not too kind to me, and did not, in my opinion, display the correct amount of tolerance and restraint that I expected and for which I had longed. of course, there were also public figures, politicians, ministers, members of Knesset and other people I came across whose reactions, conduct, criticism and judgment of me seemed unfair, hasty and baseless. AS I detailed in my book that I wrote many years after I’d served as prime minister, after my trial was over, and after I finished serving the time I’d been given – contrary to allegations – none of the ministers, members of Knesset or partners I had during my years in politics, were part of my decision to resign from my role as prime minister. I resigned from a position that I loved so much in order to deal with the wave that threatened to drown me. I renounced the protection the status as prime minister could offer me. Surely, there were many people who yearned for me to resign, some of whom even said so publicly. But, under no circumstances did anyone have the ability or the will to bring about my resignation or to topple the government that would, no doubt, have led to a political crisis the results of which would be impossible to predict. I took this step that was in complete contradiction to what I knew was true – that I had not failed and that I was not guilty of what had been attributed to me. I deliberated and consulted with my family members, who provided me with emotional support and worried together with me, which was so very important to me.
In the end, it was clear to me that it was not a formal question. The problem wasn’t how flexible the law can be to allow a prime minister to continue to fulfill his role. The crucial question is: what is the public and moral significance of a prime minister continuing to function as prime minister, while at the same time, fighting to keep his personal and political lives intact? This is very much a conflict of interest. How can we maintain a feeling of national solidarity in fateful matters that require decision-making of the most sensitive matters of state, which sometimes involve danger for individuals and perhaps even large numbers? when this behavior is accompanied by a feeling that, perhaps, the decisions might be affected, not by matter-of-fact, sober responsible national interest, but heaven forbid, by an effort to strengthen the status of a prime minister in his fight for survival. How can one maintain proper and correct governance in such a troubled reality? This is not an objective question. It’s impossible to measure these feelings with exact figures. At the end of the day, it’s a conscientious, moral decision that no one can make unless one has been in this specific situation: the prime minister. In my case, the decision was mine to make, and I did not reach this decision easily or happily. I did not make my decision following threats made by the defense minister, warnings from the foreign minister, pressure from newspaper articles or TV broadcasts. Neither did I belittle my role in the mistakes I made. The decisive reasoning behind my decision was the feeling that if I try to postpone making a decision, in the end I might find myself in a position similar to the one we’re currently experiencing. what’s currently happening is the inevitable result of the prime minister’s decision to do everything, without a moment’s rest, with no restriction or restraint, in order to remain in power. As a result, the country has been dragged into holding three elections, which created an atmosphere of direct, almost violent, threat, initially on the prime minister’s political opponents, and later on the gatekeepers, the police chief, the prosecutor’s office and in the end, when left with no
choice, on the judges, too. when a defendant does this – any defendant – it is naturally and somewhat indifferently accepted, even if uncomfortably. when the defendant is a civil servant, the rules of game are different. For many years now, I’ve felt rage and anger burning inside of me directed toward some of the people who were responsible for making the decisions that I knew were wrong and harmful for me. I’ve harbored this anger inside of me during the entire time I served as prime minister. I knew that the use of my position, authority and power that came from my position, might be understood in a such a way as to cause a schism within the public and within the state, as well. I waited many years until giving expression to some of these experiences, which I finally did in an autobiographical book that I published in March 2018, nine years after I left the position of prime minister. All of this is the exact opposite of what’s taking place at the present time. Netanyahu is behaving like an elephant in a china shop. He walks around like a cowboy with two loaded pistols, and shoots in all directions, not caring that innocent bystanders are getting caught in the crossfire. when a prime minister stands in a courtroom and declares that the chief of police and the attorney general, who he himself appointed, set him up, and then proceeds to declare them as enemies of the state, he is inciting, causing division and disputes, and threatening the basis of the solidarity that anchors and maintains the social stability of the State of Israel. The prime minister is not trying to defend himself in court. what he’s trying to do is make sure that his political power, combined with the rebellion against the police, the prosecutor’s office and the courts, will eventually lead to the collapse of all of these institutions, without which the country will fall apart and anarchy will take over our lives. He is not the first leader of a democratic country willing to endanger its citizens’ democratic way of life in order to protect himself and his family’s personal interests. He’s just Israel’s first prime minister to do this. The conduct of the prime minister, the argumentative language, the threats on the “left-wing court” and on his political opponents, puts the Israeli public to a serious test. we are so proud that Israel, as Ehud Barak said when he was prime minister, is a “villa in a jungle.” In other words, we are the only democracy in a crowded region made up of undemocratic countries. These past few months have brought us closer – at a dizzying speed – to a reality that is different from anything Israel has ever before experienced.
we’ve survived periods of internal conflict within our public institutions. we got through a period in which our prime minister – who declared the establishment of the State of Israel – also declared an unbearable political boycott of the Herut and Maki political parties. we’ve experienced election campaigns that were saturated with negative emotions that sometimes bordered on violence. The climax was the assassination of Israel’s former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who paid with his life for the efforts he made to advance a peace agreement with the Palestinians, even in the face of incitement that spread like wildfire and in the end led to his murder. Netanyahu himself made a significant contribution to the incitement that led in the end to that terrible tragedy. It probably never occurred to him, though, that such a tragic could result from the parades in which people carried pictures of Rabin wearing an SS uniform, or a coffin on their shoulders as they protested loudly against the government and its leader while he was the main speaker at these rallies. Netanyahu must have learned a lesson from what happened; the incitement for which he was responsible in the past and in the present is the main cause of the current situation, which could also end in tragedy. The targets this time around are the prosecutor’s office and the courts. It’s okay to express your disapproval of the way certain people are handling affairs. I, too, have done so in the past, although only as a private citizen, and never when I was prime minister. Everyone makes mistakes – none of us is perfect – and we all sometimes misunderstand the various components of the complicated governmental structure and the person who stands at its head. It’s permissible for the prime minister and the ministers and members of Knesset who support him to think that certain people have made a mistake, but to incite against them is unacceptable. To send the senior ministers who are under his authority to say that the attorney general is a crook, is tantamount to declaring war on democracy, which is the base our country’s existence depends upon. what Netanyahu did, and for what he’s being tried, will be decided in the court. Until that moment, he must be presumed innocent. what Netanyahu, his family and the group of servants that he keeps around him are doing outside of the court are crimes that are potentially worse than the crimes with which he’s being charged inside the Jerusalem courthouse. The writer was the 12th prime minister of Israel.
Sunday, 31 May, 2020
BUSINESS 09
ECC APProvES diSBurSEMEnt CritEriA For rS200Bn iSlAMiC Sukuk ISLAMABAD
Chinese-funded law firm to provide legal aid to companies in Pakistan BUSINESS DESK A Chinese-funded law company, Zhongao Law Firm, has been established to provide legal services and assistance to the Chinese enterprises and citizens in Pakistan. China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic partners. Pakistan is not only an active responder to the Belt and Road Initiative, but also co-builder of its flagship project ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). However, due to the different political systems, cultural and legal systems of China and Pakistan, in terms of economic and trade exchanges and cultural exchanges, overseas Chinese and Chinese-funded enterprises urgently need legal persons who understand the laws of China and Pakistan and can effectively communicate with the parties of China and Pakistan to provide legal services. Talking to Economic Daily-China Economic Net, Zhongao Law Firm senior partner and legal representative Cheng Deyong said, “With the construction of the CPEC, we expect that economic, trade, and cultural exchanges between the two countries will become more frequent.” Cheng Deyong said in the future, more Chinese companies will go out, and the firm is willing to use Chinese, English and Urdu languages and legal knowledge of China and Pakistan to resolve legal matters of Chinese companies in Pakistan, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, serve China-Pakistan economic and trade exchanges, the construction of the CPEC and the cause of China-Pakistan friendship. To this end, in addition to the Chinese lawyers based in Lahore, Zhongao Law Firm also recruits Pakistani lawyers, introduces legal expert consultants, and cooperates with local law firms in Pakistan through various forms to provide clients, professional services in litigation and taxation. In addition, under the guidance and help of the Chinese Consulate General in Lahore, Zhongao Law Firm will establish a legal aid centre to provide a full range of legal services and legal assistance to Chinese, overseas Chinese, and Chinese enterprises in the area and play a role in rights protection, legal knowledge lectures and training. Speaking about the future, Cheng Deyong said that as a Chinese law firm deeply cultivating Pakistan, Zhongao Law Firm will use its own advantages to provide high-quality, efficient, authoritative, honest legal services, implement the Belt and Road Initiative, and jointly build a community of shared future for mankind.
Abu dhabi economy to contract by 7.5pc this year: S&P DUBAI: Abu Dhabi’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to contract by 7.5pc this year because of lower oil production and the impact of the new coronavirus outbreak, S&P Global Ratings said. The fiscal deficit of the oil-rich emirate will rise to about 12pc of GDP this year from 0.3pc in 2019, the ratings agency estimated. It added it expects smaller emirates in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to receive “extraordinary financial support” from the UAE, with the backing of Abu Dhabi, in the event of financial distress. AGENCIES
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HE Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Saturday approved the criteria for the disbursement of Rs200 billion, received through Islamic Sukuk, in the power sector. The ECC meeting was chaired by Adviser to Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, according to a press statement issued by the finance ministry. The committee decided that the energy purchase price, inclusive of gen-
eral sales tax, will be paid to ensure that maximum generation capacity was available during the next three summer months (June, July and August). The capacity payments will be disbursed to meet debt servicing and taxation requirements from June to end-August 2020, besides ensuring payments to WAPDA and nuclear power plants. The partial settlement of power import from Iran and National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) transmission charges would be disbursed separately for operational requirements of public sector plants and entities, as WAPDA and nuclear power plants com-
prise more than 30pc of the total planned generation in the next three months. However, this disbursement criteria will be followed only for funds released under Rs200 billion Sukuk. The ECC directed the energy ministry to submit a proposal in the next two weeks and set up general principles and an exact formula of payments in this regard. The chair also directed the ministry to minimise discretion in the principles/formula so that the funds may reach the maximum possible number of receivers and reduce the buildup of liabilities towards the government.
It was also directed that as soon as the payments are made, the information should also be made public through the official website of the energy ministry. Meanwhile, on a proposal of the Ministry of Industries and Production, the ECC approved the release of Rs525.858 million in favour of Azad Jammu Kashmir for disbursement among the eligible commercial and industrial consumers of electricity under the PM’s SME Relief Package. Similarly, Rs136.299 million would be provided to Gilgit-Baltistan for disbursement among the commercial and industrial consumers of electricity.
‘Liquidity constraints’: Garment manufacturers for zero-rating facility in FY21 LAHORE APP
The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) has called for the restoration of zero-rating facility of 'no payment and no refund of sales tax' for the export-oriented sectors, which have been facing severe liquidity issues due to the Covid-19 outbreak. In the association's FY21 budgetary proposals shared with Adviser to PM on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood, PRGMEA (North) Chairman Sohail A Sheikh and Chief Coordinator Ijaz A Khokhar have urged the government to release all stuck-up claims of exporters, including Drawback of Local Taxes and Levies (DLTL), Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT), Customs Rebates and Sales Tax rebates, as "liquidity crunch has become a major stumbling block in the way of exports". They said the apparel industry should be allowed to import fabric under the SRO 492 scheme since the local weaving industry is unable to fulfil the demand for fashion wear. The PRGMEA officials also requested the government to announce a 100pc drawback rate of incentive (seven per cent), without the condition of increment with a simple (paperless) procedure, for two years i.e. 2019-20 and 2020-21. PRGMEA Chief Coordinator Ijaz Khokhar suggested that the incentive amount should be directly credited to the exporter's account at the time of realization of export proceeds and the State Bank may subsequently claim the amount from the government. Moreover, he added, the last date for submission of claims of duty drawback on taxes should be extended. He demanded the government to put in place a one-window operation so that the exporters could focus on research and marketing, adding that cotton
yarn, the major raw material of apparel sector, should be exempted from all duties and taxes to encourage value addition. Khokhar further recommended the government to abolish customs duty of seven per cent on the import of polyester staple fibre, including 20pc anti-dumping duty, in order to reduce the cost of production. PRGMEA (North) Chairman Sohail Sheikh informed that exporters have only received 35pc of the claims' payment, while 65pc of the refund claims are still stuck with the government, which cumulate 12pc amount of exporters' running capital. He said availability of liquidity and smooth cash flow would encourage the exporters to enhance their exports and cement their business ties with foreign counterparts. The PRGMEA chairman sought a clear policy with regard to pending refund claims. "We request that import of fabric to be allowed under SRO 492 instead of DTRE (Duty and Tax Remission for Exporters), which is very complicated and only two per cent exporter can avail importation under DTRE facility, whereas 97pc SME sector can
be facilitated under SRO-492, which was enforced previously. To compete with Bangladesh and India, it is important for Pakistan to offer the same products as they are exporting in a large variety." Sheikh said that the incentive amount should be directly credited to the exporter's account at the time of realization of export proceeds and that the condition of "after receipt" should be abolished and prompt payment shall be made. “Since WEBOC (Web Based One Customs) system is available, why do we need to submit the hard copies to process the rebate and DLTL claims? As soon as the bank may report payment realization on WEBOC, rebate and DLTL claims should be highlighted in green,” he added. He said that one-window operation may effectively be introduced to replace the lengthy procedures that involve interaction of manufacturer with various agencies. Social security, EOBI and all other taxes should be merged and deducted at one source, he suggested, asserting that the government exchequer would receive more revenue if a reasonable percentage of realized amount is deducted.
First cargo ship under Afghan transit trade reaches Gwadar: SAPM Bajwa Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting, Lieutenant General (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa said on Saturday that the first bulk cargo ship has reached the port city of Gwadar. “The first bulk cargo ship called ‘MV Manet’ is carrying wheat and urea as a part of the Afghan transit trade,” Gen (r) Bajwa, who is also the chairman of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority, stated on Twitter. “A dream come true for the local economy as it will stimulate host of business activities.” Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Afghan transit trade saw occasional hiccups in the form of closure of the border crossings. In January this year, the Gwadar port started handling transit cargo destined for Afghanistan. BUSINESS DESK
Illicit tobacco trade and Pakistan’s revenue woes HASSAN NAQVI As Pakistan reels under a huge economic crisis due to coronavirus pandemic, the government is under immense pressure to balance the upcoming budget, mainly by generating additional revenues and plugging the already identified holes in their sources of income. While the ongoing coronavirus crisis is a huge disaster for a developing country like Pakistan, it has also brought in a golden opportunity for the government to correct some wrongs being done for long through economic reforms and ensuring financial discipline. As world marks ‘No Tobacco Day’ today, Pakistan continues to lose billions worth revenue every year due to illicit tobacco trade, high-handedness of multinational companies and loopholes in the system. According to insiders, major factors responsible for sub-optimal government revenues are three-tier tax structure and illicit tobacco trade, which fluctuates with NGO estimates of 10pc of the market to MNC’s estimates of 33pc of the market. As the federal budget for 2020-2021 is just weeks away, the Pakistan Cigarette
AS WORLD MARKS 'NO TOBACCO DAY', PAKISTAN CONTINUES TO LOSE BILLIONS WORTH REVENUE EVERY YEAR DUE TO ILLICIT TOBACCO TRADE, HIGH-HANDEDNESS OF MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES AND LOOPHOLES IN SYSTEM Manufacturers Association has submitted a plan to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to generate up to Rs260 billion revenue without increasing the consumption and rescue the struggling local industry. According to the association, the sevenyear plan, based on a detailed study, will not only help increase the revenue, but will also provide a breathing space for the local tobacco companies whose competitiveness is eroding due to high-handedness of international brands, which may not survive if changes are not made in the existing system. On elimination of illicit trade from tobacco market, the association suggested FBR to produce and validate an accurate register of domestic manufacturing locations, strict enforcement of license criteria to operate machinery, require the machinery owners/oper-
ators to accurately report monthly quantities produced of each brand as well as the quantities sold ex-factor to distribution entities. Besides the financial impacts, the tobacco trade has innumerable health hazards attached to it. According to World Health Organization estimates, 44 million children aged 13 to 15 are smoking and many more pre-teens are likely to join the number. Data from 39 countries shows that around nine percent of children aged 13 to 15 are now using e-cigarettes, as tobacco companies deliberately use ‘deadly’ tactics to target children and get them hooked on smoking. Amid Covid-19 crisis, some tobacco companies have been putting their logo on free face masks, while others have offered doorstep delivery during quarantine. In some
countries, such companies lobbied for tobacco products to be listed as ‘essential’, and the cigarette firms are still trying out all manner of ways to get youngsters lighting up. Pakistan is among the top 15 countries in the world with widespread tobacco consumption and higher rates of tobacco-related health issues. According to 2019 estimates, 19.1pc of the population, which includes 31.8pc of men and 5.8pc of women, consume tobacco in one form or another. Among these tobacco consumers, 9.6pc of the overall adult population (17.9pc men, 1pc women) are daily cigarette smokers, whereas 2.7pc of the adult population (4.4pc men, 1pc women) smoke water pipes daily. Furthermore, 7.1pc adults (10.5pc men and 3.5pc of women) use smokeless tobacco. Among the young population, 10.7pc of all youth – including 6.6pc girls and 13.3pc boys – consume tobacco or tobacco products. The tobacco industry is aggressively targeting youth, especially girls, via tobacco advertisement, product display, and sales and the organizations belonging to health, education, academia, youth development, and human rights need to get together to lobby against the
marketing strategy of the tobacco industry. For Pakistan, it is necessary to tackle the black-market sale of cigarettes for three reasons: firstly, smoking is injurious to health and strikes a huge dent to the health budget; secondly, making sure the tax increase fully reaches state coffers; and thirdly, being a signatory to the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) as well as to its Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (ITP), Pakistan requires to implement the Tracking and Tracing (T&T) system that will allow authorities to mark cigarette packs and rolling tobacco with secure, unique ID so that they can be traced from their point of manufacture all the way through the supply chain to the point where all taxes have been paid. On the occasion of ‘World No Tobacco Day’, the WHO has called on all sectors to help stop marketing tactics of tobacco and related industries that prey on children and young people. It has also called on social media platforms to ban the marketing of tobacco products, since, ‘it is the only product that if you use the right way - the way it’s intended - it will kill you’.
Sunday, 31 May, 2020
10 FOREIGN NEWS
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ACING its deepest recession since World War II and with business confidence collapsing, the coronavirus pandemic is hitting Italy’s economy hard. Business confidence in the eurozone’s third largest economy in May plummeted to its lowest level since official statistics institute ISTAT started the index in
ViruS-Battered italy faCeS worSt reCeSSion SinCe wwii
March 2005. The figure is “alarming”, said small business federation Confesercenti. “The health and economic emergency has swept businesses away, especially in shops, services and tourism,” it said. Its members are particularly concerned “by the lack of liquidity necessary to pay costs and salaries… we are close to a point of no return and that’s why the measures decided by the government (loan guarantees, SME subsidies) must be operational imme-
Brazil Covid-19 death toll hits 27,878, surpassing hard-hit Spain SAO PAULO: Brazil on Friday reached 27,878 coronavirus deaths, official figures showed, surpassing the toll of hard-hit Spain and making it the country with the fifth-highest number of fatalities. The epicenter of the South American coronavirus outbreak, Brazil saw 1,124 deaths in 24 hours, the Ministry of Health said. It also had a record number of new cases — 26,928 in one day — bringing the total number of infections to 465,166. The United States, Britain, Italy and France lead the world in coronavirus deaths. As of Friday Spain had recorded 27,121 deaths, with virus fatalities there rapidly slowing. Brazil could soon surpass France, which has seen 28,714 deaths. Brazil is second in the number of confirmed cases, though trailing far behind the United States which has 1.7 million infections. Brazil has seen 131.2 coronavirus deaths per one million people — compared to more than 300 in the United States and 580 in Spain — but the pandemic has yet to peak in the South American country. “There is no way to foresee” when the outbreak will peak, the Ministry of Health said, and experts say the number of cases in Brazil could be 15 times higher than the confirmed figure because there has been no widespread testing. AGENCIES
Bad tempered post-Brexit talks enter crucial phase LONDON: Britain and the EU will attempt to revive their imperilled trade talks on Tuesday, entering a crucial week of negotiations that could mark the final hope for a deal. Hundreds of officials will hold video talks all week from London and Brussels, the fourth and last scheduled round of negotiations since Britain formally left the EU on January 31. The previous round ended in acrimony with the EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier asking his UK counterpart David Frost to watch his “tone” in a tetchy exchange of letters. The EU and Britain have until the end of the year to reach a deal on future ties, without which trade links could be seriously compromised, even as the fallout from the coronavirus saps their economies. According to the terms of the divorce, the two sides have until the end of the month to decide whether to extend the talks by one or two years, but this idea has been rejected by Britain. June will also see a special summit to assess the talks, at which British Prime Minister Boris Johnson would work out the best way forward with EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel. This high-level meeting was foreseen in the political declaration that was signed alongside the Brexit withdrawal agreement in October, but no date has yet been set. Asked about next week’s talks, Barnier said Britain will have to reveal its true intentions. “I expect that I will find out whether the United Kingdom wants to leave the single market at the end of this year with an agreement or without one,” he told Germany’s Deutschlandfunk radio. SPHERE OF INFLUENCE: The talks have snagged on the same issues from the start. Britain refuses to make commitments to match EU standards on health, environment, state aid and other concerns in order to win the deal — something known as maintaining the level playing field. London wants a standard trade deal similar to those given to Japan, Canada and South Korea and refuses the EU’s call for a far-reaching structure that would also encompass security, research and defence. “What the EU is asking of us is unprecedented in any of the free trade agreements that they signed, or indeed contemplated signing, with other economies,” senior UK minister Michael Gove told British lawmakers. The EU wants countries it sees as within “its sphere of influence, to sign up to a higher level of compliance with EU rules and a higher level of EU supervision”, he said. The Europeans fear that a Britain unshackled from EU standards but enjoying zero-tariff trade ties could become a backdoor for companies to compete unfairly in the EU single market. And, at the urging of France, the EU is pushing hard for an ambitious deal on fishing in which EU vessels could enjoy the same access to British waters as they did before the divorce.
diately,” said federation head Patrizia De Luise. “We need to reduce bureaucracy and accelerate and simplify procedures, because if support is delayed again, many businesses will have no option but to stop,” she said. The government last week accused banks of not acting quickly enough, but they said that they had already passed on around 400,000 loan requests worth more than 18 billion euros ($20 billion) to the state-backed Central Guarantee Fund. A MILLION JOBS THREATENED: Italy was the first European country to be hit by the pandemic and imposed a strict twomonth lockdown which paralysed much of the country’s economic activity. As a result, the country is set for a drop in GDP of between nine and 13 percent, the Bank of Italy said on Friday. Data also showed that the economy
shrank 5.3 percent in the first quarter — worse than the 4.7 percent initially estimated. It had not seen such an “exceptional” decline in the first quarter since 1995, ISTAT said. This year’s losses could amount to 170 billion euros, equivalent to the GDP of Veneto, Italy’s third biggest industrial region, a Mediobanca study said. The head of the country’s main business confederation Cofindustria, Carlo Bonomi, said that up to a million jobs could be threatened nationwide. “We’re waiting for figures at the end of May but indications are that between 700,000 and a million jobs are in danger,” he said. “Jobs are only created if there is growth, innovation, investment. The car manufacturing crisis can’t be solved with subsidies or furloughing. You solve it by looking to the future, by investing in new
Canada immigration sharply curtailed by virus: study
ONTARIO AGENCIES
Canada had hoped to welcome a record wave of immigrants in 2020 but will likely take in approximately half the previously expected number of people due to the coronavirus pandemic, a study published Friday showed. In March, the government announced that it planned to accommodate some 370,000 new permanent residents this year. But according to a new study by the Royal Bank of Canada, some 170,000 fewer immigrants are now likely to enter the country. Ottawa announced its plan to allow a heightened
number of immigrants just four days before Canada implemented travel restrictions that have virtually halted immigration. In 2019, Canada set a record with 341,000 new permanent residents. “We expect immigration levels to be down sharply in 2020,” study author Andrew Agopsowicz said. “A recovery in 2021 will depend in part on the course of the pandemic.” Repercussions from the decrease will be felt throughout the economy, he said, given Canada’s dependence on foreign labor and its aging population. Some of the worst-off areas will be industries with labor shortages, urban rental and housing markets, and univer-
sities, according to the report. “Canada will need a younger and growing population to maintain growth and support the unprecedented expansion of the fiscal deficit that came in response to the crisis,” Agopsowicz said. Only foreigners with permanent resident status or a study permit approved before March 18 are allowed in the country. Already in March, 30 percent fewer people gained permanent residency compared with the previous year. “If these restrictions last all summer, we expect to see 170,000 fewer permanent residents entering the country in 2020 than planned,” Agopsowicz said.
technologies,” he said. Italy is set to be the main beneficiary of a European Union 750-billion-euro recovery plan but it still may not be enough. NO AID: Italian citizens are slightly more optimistic, but far from celebrating. The pandemic has killed over 30,000 people. Consumer confidence went from 100.1 points in May to 94.3 in March, its lowest level since December 2013. While the state has paid for furloughs or handouts for those no longer able to work, many have slipped through the net. They include Eleonora Fogliacco, 35, a fitness and swimming teacher in Lombardy, the hardest hit region where gyms were ordered closed at the end of February. “I didn’t qualify for the 600-euro monthly government handout because I earned more than 10,000 euros last year,” she told AFP.
'No decision' on next launch attempt for historic SpaceX-NASA mission FLORIDA: A final decision on a launch attempt for SpaceX’s milestone mission to the International Space Station on Saturday afternoon will take place after assessing the weather that morning, NASA chief Jim Bridenstine said Friday. Fears of a lightning strike postponed the initial takeoff attempt on Wednesday of what would have been the first crewed rocket launch from US soil in almost a decade, and the first time a commercial company has achieved the feat. “No decision on weather right now for Saturday’s test flight of @SpaceX’s #CrewDragon spacecraft. Will reassess in the morning,” tweeted Bridenstine. Earlier in the day, NASA said the chances of a Saturday launch at 3:22 pm Eastern Time (1922 GMT) were 50 percent. The weather forecast currently predicts a thunderstorm. The next window, which is determined by the relative positions of the launch site to the space station, is Sunday at 3:00 pm Eastern Time (1900 GMT), and fair weather is predicted. NASA astronauts Robert Behnken, 49, and Douglas Hurley, 53, former military test pilots who joined the space agency in 2000, are to blast off from historic Launch Pad 39A on a two-stage SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The same launch pad was used by Neil Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crewmates on their historic journey to the Moon, as NASA seeks to revive excitement around human space exploration ahead of a planned return to Earth’s natural satellite and then Mars. The mission comes despite shutdowns caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with the crew in quarantine for more than two weeks. AGENCIES
Chile, Peru secure credit lines from IMF amid pandemic SANTIAGO AGENCIES
The IMF approved a two-year $24 billion credit line for Chile on Friday as the South American nation battles the growing impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The announcement came a day after Peru secured a two-year, $11 billion credit line, and as Latin America becomes a growing hotspot for COVID-19. The Flexible Credit Line is a renewable funding mechanism granted to countries with strong economic policy track records, and Chile is only the fifth country to receive one. Along with Peru, Mexico and Colombia currently have FCLs in place. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva praised Chile for its “very strong fundamentals … and track record of implementing prudent macroeconomic policies” that have helped the country to weather the economic shocks so far. However, “Chile’s open economy is exposed to substantial external risks as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak, including a significant deterioration in global demand for Chilean exports, a sharp decline or reversal of capital inflows toward emerging markets, and an abrupt tightening of global financial conditions,” she said in a statement. The IMF has ramped up lending and rolled out a series of new financing tools to help countries deal with the pandemic, which is expected to cause the worst global economic slowdown since the Great Depression. The backstop should help to boost market confidence and Santiago intends to treat the credit line as “precautionary and temporary,” and exit the backstop after 24 months, Georgieva said.
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Peru likewise sees the program as precautionary and will consider exiting once the crisis has passed and “the insurance provided by an FCL arrangement would no longer be necessary.” The IMF chief also praised Lima’s “very strong policy and institutional frameworks” which, she said, “have helped it achieve impressive macroeconomic outcomes and reduce vulnerabilities.”
However, “The COVID-19 shock poses an extraordinary challenge, which is pushing the Peruvian economy into a recession,” she said in a statement. “The authorities have responded decisively by putting in place stringent containment measures and a large policy package to limit the socio-economic fallout.” The country has seen a surge in cases this week, with the death toll topping 4,000.
Sunday, 31 May 2020
SPORTS 11
As fooTbALL resTArTs Around euroPe, frAnce quesTions decision end To seAson eArLy ROME
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T is the land of the world champions, but is it really a football country? That is the question some in France have been asking this week while its European neighbours work to bring the sport back after the coronavirus shutdown. Debate has raged ever since the French league decided to bring a premature end to the season in late April with 10 rounds of matches unplayed. In contrast, a fortnight has already passed since the German Bundesliga restarted. On Thursday Italy's sports minister confirmed that Serie A will return on June 20, while La Liga and the Premier League both look set to be back underway by then. "Like idiots" was the headline on the front of L'Equipe on Friday, as the sports daily questioned why such a hasty decision was made by the league (LFP) to end the season. The LFP's announcement at the time was based on French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe's statement that the season "cannot restart" as the pandemic raged in late April. However, France has been steadily easing its lockdown in recent weeks and
Philippe stated on Thursday that team sports could restart after June 21. "We will be the only major footballing country in Europe to stick to this decision and to have not conditioned it to the evolution of the pandemic and the easing of the lockdown," wrote L'Equipe's Vincent Duluc.
France has officially recorded nearly 29,000 deaths from Covid-19, far more than Germany but fewer than Italy or the UK and fewer than Spain per head of population. France is not the only European football nation to have ended its season, with the Netherlands notably voiding the campaign altogether.
Paris Saint-Germain were crowned champions for the third year running. Amiens and Toulouse were relegated and those clubs have since launched legal action. However, the leading voice against the early ending has been Jean-Michel Aulas, president of Lyon. They were seventh when the season stopped in mid-March and so were denied European qualification. Neither they nor PSG will now have any competitive action before the Champions League -- in which both are still involved -is expected to restart in August. "I am fully convinced that what has happened was not for the good of the clubs or French football as a whole," Aulas told Le Parisien. ECONOMIC DAMAGE His chief argument has been economic. Earlier in May the league said it would have to take out a government-guaranteed loan of some 225 million euros ($250 million) to tide over clubs impacted by the loss in income from broadcasters because so many games were left unplayed. While France's national team won the World Cup for the second time in 2018, most of its leading players aspire to play abroad and the ongoing debate raises the uncomfortable question about whether its domestic league actually belongs in the same category
West Indies approve 'bio-secure' Test tour of England TRINIDAD
as its rivals. When it comes to talk of Europe's 'Big Five' leagues, Ligue 1 is firmly in fifth place in terms of revenue. The need to protect a more lucrative new TV deal set to kick in next season -- by not allowing this season to drag on potentially into late August -- has been cited as one argument in favour of the decision to stop. PSG and Lyon are the only French clubs in the top 30 of Deloitte's latest Football Money League. There has only been one French winner -- Marseille in 1993 -- in the 65-year history of the European Cup. That is as many as Romania, Scotland and the former Yugoslavia, and Aston Villa. While other countries that have been hit harder by the pandemic find ways to restart the football season by promoting arguments about the game's economic and cultural significance, in France there is a feeling that it just doesn't matter enough. "Other countries have had interministerial meetings with important representatives from professional clubs, and they are restarting," one Ligue 1 executive said. "In France there have been none of those meetings. From afar, you could conclude that the state is not really interested in football."
La Liga clubs to resume full training next week BARCELONA
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Tottenham's Parrott set to miss Premier League restart after appendix removal LONDON AGENCIES
Tottenham striker Troy Parrott is set to miss the restart of the Premier League season after his club said on Saturday that he had surgery to remove his appendix. The 18-year-old, who has made four appearances in all competitions this season, was suffering from appendicitis. "The young striker was found to have early signs of appendicitis after reporting abdominal pain to our medical staff," Tottenham said in a statement. "He will now undergo a period of recovery before commencing rehabilitation and returning to training later in June." Parrott, who made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland last November, was deemed not ready for regular first-team action by manager Jose Mourinho despite calls for the teenager to be given more game time following Harry Kane's injury in January. The Premier League season is set to resume on June 17, with Spurs due to play their first match following the coronavirus lockdown against Manchester United the following weekend.
West Indies cricket chiefs have given their approval to a Test tour of England where the team will stay in a "bio-secure environment". The Windies were due to play three Tests in England in June but the threat of the coronavirus has pushed the visit back to July at the earliest. "The Cricket West Indies (CWI) board gave approval in principle for the proposed upcoming West Indies Test tour of England," said a CWI statement on Friday. "The decision comes only after CWI medical and cricket-related representatives and advisors have been involved in detailed discussions with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), and their own medical and public health advisers." It added: "CWI has also received and reviewed detailed plans for players and staff to be kept in a bio-secure environment for the duration of the tour, with all matches being played behind closed doors." The ECB has proposed the Tests start on July 8, 16 and 24 at the Ageas Bowl in Southampton and Manchester's Old Trafford. Both those venues have on-site hotels. A number of West Indies players are already back in training, with fast bowler Kemar Roach saying he was looking forward to the tour. But CWI chief executive Johnny Grave admitted some players may be
more reluctant, especially from countries such as Antigua and Barbuda, which has not reported a new coronavirus case since April. "There has been some nervousness from the players and certainly here in Antigua," he told BBC Radio. "We've been very open and honest with them and sharing plans from the day we got them from the ECB. "I think that's helped players understand what this tour might look like, and from all the players that I've spoken to, there's an eagerness to go to England
and get some live cricket back on. "Certainly we won't be coercing anyone to go and play. Safety is the number one priority for us and we fully respect any individual player who may not be comfortable to travel." Meanwhile, the CWI said the touring party will use private charter planes while medical screenings and individual COVID-19 testing will take place for all players and staff. England are also scheduled to host matches against Pakistan, Ireland and Australia this year.
La Liga have confirmed players will be allowed to return to full training on Monday, giving them 10 days to work together before the season restarts in Spain on June 11. This is the final phase of La Liga's staggered training programme as teams get set to complete the remaining 11 rounds of the season, which will finish on July 19. European competitions, including the Champions League, could then resume in August. "La Liga clubs will start collective training on Monday, June 1," the league said in a statement on Saturday. "The fourth phase, which starts next Monday, is the last step in this protocol that will lead to clubs starting competition on June 11." La Liga president Javier Tebas has said the plan is for games to be played every day. The Spanish football federation (RFEF) gave its permission last week for matches to be staged on all days of the week. Players in Spain's top two divisions began training in groups of up to 10 from May 18 and then 14 shortly after, having initially begun working individually at training grounds from May 4. La Liga suspended fixtures due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 12, meaning the break between games stopping and restarting will be almost exactly three months. Matches will be held behind closed doors, with the Seville derby between Sevilla and Real Betis expected to be the first game back on June 11. Barcelona, who are two points clear at the top of the table, will resume away at Real Mallorca while their closest challengers Real Madrid are at home against Eibar.
'Am I next?' Tennis phenom Gau upset by unarmed black man's death NEW YORK AGENCIES
Rising US tennis star Coco Gauff has added her voice to those expressing outrage at the death of an unarmed black man in Minnesota who was in police hands. Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who can be seen in video kneeling on the neck of a handcuffed George Floyd for at least five minutes, was charged with murder in Floyd's death on Friday as violent protests continued around the country. Gauff, a 16-year-old African American, posted a TikTok video on her Twitter feed, juxtaposing an image of herself clad in a black hoodie with photos of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin and others. Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was killed on February 23 while running in a res-
idential neighborhood in Brunswick, Georgia. Taylor an emergency medical technician who was black, was shot and killed by police who burst into her home in Kentucky in March. Martin was a high school student when he was shot in 2012 in a killing that helped spark the Black Lives Matter movement. "Am I next?" a caption asks, as Gauff slowly raises her face and hands to the camera. "This is why I am using my voice to fight against racism," continues the caption, over a gallery of slain African Americans that also includes Breonna "I am using my voice," the caption concludes, "Will you use yours?" Gauff burst on the international tennis scene last year at Wimbledon where she came through qualifying and beat her idol Venus Williams in the first round before exiting in the round of 16.
Solid performances at the US Open and the Australian Open in January saw her crack the top 50 in the world rankings before she turned 16 on March 13. She is among the many athletes to speak out in the wake of George's death, a group that includes NBA superstar LeBron James and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick -- who was effectively ostracized from the NFL after his kneeling protests of racial injustice in 2016. As authorities sought to quell violent protests in Minneapolis, Kaepernick said Friday his Know Your Rights Camp was launching an initiative to fund the legal defense of arrested protesters. Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz decried the "institutional racism" in the United States that makes the experience of African-Americans so different from his own as a white man.
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Sunday, 31 May, 2020
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Pakistan urges un to take uP occuPied kashmir’s domicile law issue ISLAMABAD
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AKISTAN has approached the United Nations (UN) over India’s blatant attempt to turn the Muslim-majority in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) into a minority. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has written letters to the UN Security Council president and the UN Secretary General, apprising them of the latest situation in the occupied valley particularly the recent changes brought by the Modi government in domicile laws that would pave the way for non-Kashmiris to acquire permanent residence there. In a statement issued on Saturday, the Foreign Office (FO) said letters, dispatched on May 21, were part of ongoing efforts by Pakistan to keep the world body abreast of the current situation in the disputed region. The foreign minister, as per the official handout, drew attention towards the newly-notified “Jammu & Kashmir Reorganisation Order 2020” and “Jammu & Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate Rules 2020” aimed at changing the demographic structure of IOJ&K. “It has been underscored that these actions are illegal and in violation of the UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolutions and international law, in particular the 4th Geneva Convention,” the statement read. Qureshi highlighted India’s oppor-
tunistic exploitation of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic to further intensify its military crackdown in IOJ&K. While conveying serious concerns over India’s state-terrorism in the valley, the foreign minister rejected Delhi’s efforts to undermine the indigenous struggle of the Kashmiri people against illegal Indian occupation and brutalisation of Kashmiris by terming it as “terrorism.” FM Qureshi also conveyed Pakistan’s concern over the continued ceasefire violations at the Line of Control (LoC) and the Working Boundary (WB) and deliber-
ate targetting of innocent civilians by the Indian occupation forces. Rejecting the baseless Indian allegations of so-called “launch pads” of “infiltrators”, the foreign minister has reiterated Pakistan’s offer to the UN Military Observer Group in India & Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to visit the alleged sites to confirm the veracity of unfounded Indian allegations. He underlined that the real Indian motive behind blaming Pakistan is to create a pretext for a “false flag operation”, about which Pakistan has been forewarn-
ing the international community. Reminding the UN Security Council president of the Council’s primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security, the foreign minister called for urging India to refrain from: committing serious crimes against Kashmiri people; extra-judicial killings, arbitrary detentions and incarcerations; use of pellet guns and live ammunition; changing the demographic structure of IOJ&K; burning and looting of Kashmiris’ houses to inflict “collective punishment,” and end continuing military crackdown and unprecedented restrictions. As part of Pakistan’s active diplomatic outreach and taking up the Jammu & Kashmir dispute at all international fora, the statement said the foreign minister kept the UN Security Council fully apprised of the evolving situation in IOJ&K and urged the council to play its role in the maintenance of peace and security. “Since India’s illegal and unilateral actions of August 5 ,2019, the Jammu & Kashmir dispute has been taken up in the Security Council on three different occasions.” The foreign minister separately spoke to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on May 22 and briefed him in detail on the worsening situation in IOJ&K as well as regional peace and security, urging him and the United Nations to play their role in preventing any escalation and facilitating peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.
Afghan govt says ready to start peace talks with Taliban ‘at any moment’ KABUL AGENCIES
A top Afghan official appointed to lead the much-awaited peace talks with the Taliban said Saturday his team was ready to start “at any moment” with the insurgents. Abdullah Abdullah, who heads a council to represent the government in negotiations, said an ongoing lull in violence triggered by a surprise ceasefire offered by the insurgents had set the tone for launching the peace talks. “The announcement of the ceasefire, a reduction in violence and the exchange of prisoners have all paved the way for a good beginning,” Abdullah said at his first press conference since taking on the role. “The negotiating team is ready to begin the talks at any moment,” he said. However, he added that there must be a fresh ceasefire during the talks. The Taliban offered a rare three-day ceasefire that ended on Tuesday night to mark the Eid-ul-Fitr festival. Officials have blamed the Taliban for carrying out some deadly attacks against security forces since the
ceasefire ended, but also acknowledged that the temporary truce has led to an overall fall in violence across much of the country. The government responded to the ceasefire by accelerating the release of hundreds of Taliban prisoners.
The peace talks between the government and Taliban were scheduled to begin before March 10. The United States has pushed the two sides to begin negotiating with an aim to end the nearly two-decades old war in the impoverished country.
BomB attack on tV crew leaVes afghan journalist, driVer dead KABUL: Two people, including a journalist and a driver were killed, while at least six were wounded, after a private bus carrying employees of an Afghan television station was bombed in the country’s capital on Saturday, said the director of Khurshid TV. A preliminary probe showed a bomb attached by magnets to a bus used by Khurshid TV employees was blown up during the evening rush hour. No militant group claimed responsibility for the attack. “We can confirm that a journalist and a driver were killed on the spot,” said Khurshid TV’s director Jawid Farhad, but gave no further details. Last year two employees of Khurshid TV were killed and two were injured in a similar attack. Taliban and other militants have repeatedly targeted Afghan journalists, killing 15 in 2018, the deadliest year yet for the Afghan media, according to the media freedom group Reporters Without Borders. Last year the Taliban warned the Afghan media to stop broadcasting what it called “antiTaliban statements” In 2016, a Taliban suicide bomber rammed his car into a bus carrying employees of Tolo TV, the country’s largest private broadcaster, killing seven journalists. The Taliban claimed Tolo was producing propaganda for the US military and western-backed Afghan government. AGENCIES
thousands ignore minneapolis curfew as us protests spread MINNEAPOLIS AGENCIES
Thousands of protesters ignored a curfew and vows of a forceful police response to take to the Minneapolis streets for a fourth straight night, as the anger stoked by the death of George Floyd in police custody spread to more cities across the US. The Pentagon on Saturday ordered the Army to put military police units on alert to head to the city on short notice at President Donald Trump’s request, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders who did not want their names used because they were not authorised to discuss the preparations. The rare step came as the violence spread to other cities: a man shot dead in Detroit, police cars battered in Atlanta and skirmishes with police in New York City. Criminal charges filed Friday morning against the white officer who held his knee for nearly nine minutes on the neck of Floyd, a black man, did nothing to stem the anger. Derek Chauvin, 44, was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Minneapolis police said shots had been fired at law enforcement officers during the protests but no one was injured. As the night dragged on, fires erupted across the city’s south side, including at a Japanese restaurant, a Wells Fargo bank and an Office Depot. Many burned for hours, with firefighters again delayed in reaching them because areas weren’t secure. Shortly before midnight, scores of officers on foot and in vehicles moved in to curb the violence, one day after city and state leaders faced blowback for their handling of the crisis. On Thursday, protesters had torched a police station soon after it was abandoned by police and went on to burn or vandalise dozens of businesses. The new round of unrest came despite Gov. Tim Walz vowing early in the day to show a more forceful response by the state than the one Thursday run by Minneapolis city leaders. But by early Saturday morning, Walz was acknowledging he didn’t have enough manpower, even with some 500 Guard soldiers. “We do not have the numbers,” Walz said. “We cannot arrest people when we are trying to hold ground.” Walz said he was moving quickly to mobilise more than 1,000 more Guard members, for a total of 1,700, and was considering the potential offer of federal military police. But he warned that even that might not be enough, saying he expected another difficult night Saturday. The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association urged Walz to accept any help. “You need more resources,” the group said in a tweet. “Law enforcement needs leadership.” Not all the protests were violent. Downtown, thousands of demonstrators encircled a barricaded police station after the 8 pm. Friday curfew. “Prosecute the police!” some chanted, and “Say his name: George Floyd!” Some protesters sprayed graffiti on buildings. Anger filled the streets of Minneapolis. Ben Hubert, a 26-year-old local resident, said he wasn’t surprised people were breaking curfew and setting fires. “I’m outraged,” he said of the Floyd case. “But I’m also sad. The injustice has been going on for so long. It’s been swelling for years.” Chauvin was also was accused of ignoring another officer who expressed concerns about Floyd as he lay handcuffed on the ground, pleading that he could not breathe while Chauvin pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes. Floyd, who was black, had been arrested on suspicion of using a counterfeit bill at a store. Chauvin, who was fired along with three other officers who were at the scene, faces more than 12 years in prison if convicted of murder.
Trump cuts ties with WHO as Covid-19 grips Latin America WASHINGTON AGENCIES
President Donald Trump said he is severing ties with the World Health Organisation (WHO) over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, as the death toll from the disease spiked again in the United States and Brazil. Trump’s move signals an end to hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to the United Nations agency just when it needs it most, with outbreaks in many parts of the world yet to reach their peak. Countries in Latin America are bracing for difficult weeks ahead, especially Brazil, where the death toll shot up by 1,124 on Friday and there were a record number of new infections. Trump initially suspended funding to the WHO last month, accusing it of not doing enough to curb the early spread of the virus and being too lenient with China, where the virus emerged late last year. On Friday he made that decision permanent in a major blow for the UN agency’s finances, as the United States is by far its biggest contributor, pumping in $400 million last year. “Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship
with the World Health Organization,” Trump told reporters. The Republican leader said the US would be redirecting WHO funds “to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs.” “The world needs answers from China on the virus. We must have transparency,” Trump said. Beijing has furiously denied US allegations that it played down or even covered up the threat from the virus after it was detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December, insisting it has been forthcoming. ‘LIVING IN FEAR’: The pandemic has since claimed almost 364,000 lives globally and the number of cases is nearing six million. Populations are now learning to adjust to life with the long-term threat of infection as the virus continues its march around the globe and a vaccine remains elusive. As the disease spreads across South America, the poor have been hit hard in countries like Brazil, which now has the second-highest number of cases in the world after the United States. Lockdowns have interrupted the meager services many depend on, such as school lunches for hungry children and water deliveries.
“In 26 years, I’ve never seen so many people living in fear, so many people going hungry,” said Alcione Albanesi, founder of charity Amigos do Bem, which distributes supplies to communities in the hot, dry and impoverished Sertao region of Brazil’s northeast. “Everything has ground to a stop. But hunger doesn’t stop.” Chile also logged another record number of deaths on Friday, pushing its total to almost 1,000. The surge in the Americas comes as the number of infections continues to fall in much of Europe, which is pressing on down
the path to economic re-opening after months of crippling lockdowns. Italy’s iconic Leaning Tower of Pisa is set to open Saturday, cinemas will reopen in Austria, and parks are scheduled to throw open their gates in Paris. Tourism-dependent Greece said it will restart its two main airports for arrivals from 29 countries from June 15 as the summer travel season picks up. But some European nations hard hit by the virus are not on the list, such as France, Spain, Britain and Italy. In Austria, hotels were on Friday al-
lowed to take in tourists again under special guidelines, provided masks are worn. “It’s, of course, a lot more effort now. But the most important thing is that guests return,” Gilbert Kratschmann, marketing manager at the Das Triest boutique hotel in Vienna, told AFP. Turkey too moved ahead with easing its restrictions as mosques opened for the first time in months, drawing hundreds of worshippers in masks for mass prayers in Istanbul. And Denmark said it would reopen its border to visitors from Germany, Norway and Iceland from June 15, although Britain and the rest of the European Union will have to wait a few more months for access. Across the Atlantic, the US capital Washington resumed outdoor dining with social distancing precautions in place, and in New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state was “on track” to begin reopening in the week of June 8, even as the death toll in the US spiked again by 1,225 on Friday. Disney World in Florida said it will be up and running again from July 11. The economic damage from weeks of lockdowns continues to pile up, with Chile taking out a two-year $24 billion credit line with the IMF Friday to tackle the virus fallout.
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