Epaper – November 22 ISB 2020

CMYK

22 November, 2020 I 5 Rabi-ul-Akhir, 1442 I Rs 25.00 I Vol XI No 143 I 44 Pages I Islamabad Edition

PM, Ministers call out oPPosition Parties for ‘reckless Politics’ aMid PandeMic

ISLAMABAD sTaff rePorT

c

rITICISINg the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for its insistence on holding a rally despite rising coronavirus cases in Peshawar, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday accused opposition leaders of “playing reckless politics with people’s safety”.

“The same PDM members who wanted a strict lockdown and criticised me earlier are now playing reckless politics with people’s safety,” the premier tweeted early Saturday.

“They are even defying court orders and holding a jalsa when [coronavirus] cases are rising dramatically,” he added.

The premier’s tweet was in response to a tweet of Federal Minister for Planning, Development, reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, who stated that Covid-19 positivity ratio was 13.39 per cent on Friday in Peshawar; total 202 patients were in critical condition and out of those 50 were on low flow oxygen, 134 on high flow and 18 on ventilators.

The planning minister, who also heads the National Control and Command Centre (NCOC) – the nerve center to synergise and articulate unified national effort against Covid-19 and implement the decisions of the National

Coordination Committee –, stated that 14 new critical patients came on Friday. “PDM response: we will be safe on the stage so who cares what happens to citizens,” Asad stated.

Soon after the premier and planning minister’s tweet, several other ministers condemned Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) for declaring that rallies across the country will be held as PDM planned until the Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) government is removed.

“The attitude of the opposition is dangerous. Playing with the lives of the people is not a joke,” the Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry tweeted.

“Tehreek-e-Labbaik also left no stone unturned in making a time bomb of the whole of Lahore and now PPP and PML-N will wreak havoc from Multan to Peshawar,” Chaudhry stated.

Federal Minister for railways Sheikh rasheed, tried to highlight double standards of the opposition parties by saying that “respect the vote but let the voter die from the corona is our [oppositions’] double standard”. rasheed maintained that “they [opposition parties] do not care if the foundations of the country are shaken by corona because their children and blood relatives are out of the country and the child of the poor is needed for sacrifice.”

coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

371,508

LAST UPDATED AT 7:53 AM ON NOVEMBER 21, 2020

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

42

2,843

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

328,931 SINDH:

161,028 KP:

43,730

7,603 PUNJAB:

113,457 BALOCHISTAN:

16,699

AJK/GB: ISLAMABAD: 5,911/4,506 26,177

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz threatened the opposition parties with legal action, saying that FIr will be registered against the opposition leaders and organisers of the rallies for playing with the lives of people.

In his tweet, the government’s spokesperson stated, “playing with the health and lives of the people for personal gain is the biggest selfishness. In case of increase in cases in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, an FIr will be registered against the opposition leaders and organisers of the rallies.” It may be mentioned here that the PDM is insisting on holding a rally in Peshawar despite Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government’s refusal to grant permission for a public meeting planned due to the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country.

A letter issued by the DC’s office had noted that the coronavirus positivity rate in Peshawar district had exceeded 13 per cent, adding that a public gathering was “likely to further increase the spread of the life-threatening virus”.

The letter went on to say that in order to “safeguard human lives [from the] potential spread of Covid-19”, the public gathering cannot be allowed to take place.

However, the opposition vowed to defy the ban, warning the district administration that use of force to stop the protesting citizens could spark street battles.

It is pertinent to mention that PM Imran had urged the nation on Monday to strictly adhere to the health guidelines to curtail the transmission of the contagion disease and announced new restrictions on public events, including the suspension of his party’s political rallies.

“We have cancelled our jalsas and will ask other [parties] to do the same because that is one place where the virus spreads rapidly,” he said, adding that the recent campaigns in gilgit-Baltistan (gB) seem to have resulted in a rise in the number of cases.

“This is the time to take precautions. If we do [adopt restrictions], we can slow down the virus. Just like earlier we were saved due to following precautions, that time has come again,” the prime minister had said in a televised address.

Fazl proposes united stand against PTI government PESHAWAR Mian abrar

In an apparent move to offer an olive branch to the military establishment, Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) President Maulana Fazlur rehman on Saturday said that the army, bureaucracy, establishment and people of Pakistan must come together on one page against what he called “the incompetent and illegal government” of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Addressing a press conference, Fazl said that the bureaucracy is incompetent, and it would distribute sweets if the government is sent packing.

“The state is facing extreme economic crisis. If those responsible for defending the state do not shun their support to the government, then we would be justified in saying that they can also prove to be a threat to the state,” said Fazl, taking a U-turn from his previous stance of blaming the military for bringing in Imran Khan to power.

He said that when the government did not find any excuse to stop the PDM rallies, it decided to use coron-

Covid-19 cases hit four-month high with 2,843 infections ISLAMABAD TLTP

The number of coronavirus cases has been increasing consistently for the last few weeks with the country witnessed the highest single-day tally in four months on Friday last, according to the data provided by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Saturday.

The NCOC said that 2,843 more people tested positive for coronavirus during the last twenty-four hours, bringing the total number to 371,508 while 42 coronavirus deaths were reported in the last 24 hours – the highest since mid-July. This brings the country’s death toll to 7,603.

A total of 42,752 tests were conducted across the country during the last twenty-four hours.

The positivity rate has increased up to 6.65 per cent in Pakistan.

So far 5,141,403 samples have been tested.

So far 328,931 patients have recovered from the virus while the number of active cases stands at 34,974. Over 17,000 Covid-19 cases have been reported across the country in the past week while more than 490 lives lost. Around 1,613 patients are in critical condition.

The number of Covid-19 patients in Sindh has reached 161,028, Punjab has recorded 113,457 cases, 43,730 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 26,177 in Islamabad and 16,699 cases have been recorded in Balochistan to date.

Meanwhile, Punjab health officials on Saturday reported 564 new cases of coronavirus in the province during the past 24 hours.

According to a spokesperson of the Punjab Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department, 15 more people lost their lives due to Covid-19 in 24 hours, surging the death toll to 2,841 in the province while the count of recovered patients in Punjab has reached 97,966 as 38 more patients recovered.

After a meeting on the coronavirus situation, Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced banning indoor weddings and large public gatherings in a televised address to the nation which came into effect on Friday.

The premier said that the government is also considering early and extended winter vacations. “If corona[virus] cases are [found] on the rise because of schools, then the government may increase the duration of winter vacations,” he maintained.

The development came on

the back of the NCOC’s recommendations to ban public gatherings exceeding 300 people, allowing outdoor dining and takeaway till 10 pm, closing down cinemas, theatres and shrines and closing markets early with “safe days”. The NCOC has also directed public and private companies to implement a 50 per cent “work from home” policy.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development and NCOC Chief Asad Umar said the body will be recommending cutting short the 2021 summer break to compensate for early and extended winter vacations this year.

“No sector comes close to the education sector in terms of the number of people attached to it. There are over 50 million students across Pakistan,” he said.

“Although children have the ability to fight the disease better, they are carriers [of the virus].”

“I think we should announce early and extended winter vacations to contain the second wave of infections,” he continued. “The summer break can be curtailed to ensure that the number of school days does not change.”

The final decision in this regard will be taken in the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers’ Conference scheduled for Monday.

avirus pandemic.

“You are talking of Covid-19 while we are referring to Covid-18,” he said in an apparent reference to the PTI government after 2018 elections. He reiterated the resolve to hold the PDM rally in Peshawar and said that the rally would prove to be a major worry for the government.

“The rulers are not public representatives, but they are representatives of a stolen mandate. At present, the PDM has also announced its main objectives and manifesto. Our points have also come to the fore and PDM organisational structure has also been formed. All the PDM parties are moving forward with full unity,” he said.

The religious leader said that the PDM would also hold rallies in Larkana on November 26 and on November 30 in Multan.

“We will also give the next schedule in next few days.

We would return the stolen mandate back to the nation,” he said.

Fazl said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) report suggests that the country’s growth rate is -4 for the first time in history.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

more inside

Eight dead, 31 injured as mortar shells hit residential areas in Kabul STORY ON BACK PAGE

Pakistan condemns attacks in Kabul, rejects Modi’s allegations STORY ON BACK PAGE

Pakistan to work closely with China to safeguard CPEC, vows Qureshi STORY ON PAGE 02 in today’s issue

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02

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

NEWS

Pakistan to work closely with china to safeguard cPec, vows Qureshi ISLAMABAD

f

MIAN ABRAR

OREIgN Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Saturday that Pakistan would closely work with Chinese government to safeguard the ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and that all projects being completed under the corridor would be completed against all odds.

The statement comes on the heels of India’s terrorism accusations against Pakistan.

However, Modi’s statement was snubbed by China the same day as Beijing rushed to shield Pakistan from Modi’s fresh allegations by recalling ‘positive contributions’ made by Islamabad against global terrorism.

“China appreciates the positive contribution by Pakistan to the international counter-terrorism cause, firmly supports Pakistan in cracking down terrorist

forces. Attempts that aim to sabotage CPEC are doomed to fail,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao said hours after Narendra Modi’s allegations. Beijing, which calls itself Pakistan’s ‘iron-brother’, has in the past also defended Pakistan against Indian allegations. Besides the strategic alliance between the two countries, Pakistan and China are together undertaking the CPEC, a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure development framework, which is also the flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

In a special statement issued on Saturday, Qureshi said that Pakistan had already presented a dosier with concrete evidence to prove how India was supporting terrorist activities inside Pakistan with a specific reference to the CPEC projects.

“We had made it clear that India has set up a special cell for carrying out sabotage and terrorism for which about Rs80 billion have been allocated,” he said, adding that the future of

PM wants early lawmaking for strict punishments to rapists ISLAMABAD TLTP

Pakistan and the region is linked with the CPEC. “We are committed to ensure security of the CPEC projects at all costs.

China also understands the importance of this economic corridor. Hence, Chinese government has given a clear message regarding the security of the CPEC.” Qureshi said that Pakistan would raise the concerns expressed in the dossier at all major international forums, including the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC).

“Pakistan is working for the stability of the region including peace in Afghanistan. India will fail to conspire against the CPEC. Pakistan will not remain silent on Indian tactics,” said the foreign minister. Qureshi said that Pakistan will take the matter to all the international forums. “India’s attitude is irresponsible. The sabotage designs of India will fail,” concluded the minister.

The federal government has decided to bring an ordinance to award strict punishments to rape convicts. The decision was taken in a session of the government’s legal team chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan on Saturday wherein he was given a briefing over the legal procedures to award penalties to rapists and regulations to protect witnesses. The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Law and Justice Dr Farogh Naseem, Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari and other concerned officials. While addressing the session, the prime minister ordered the authorities concerned to come up with a plan for curbing rape incidents. Stating that justice must be provided to the victims through the speedy trial of rape cases, the premier ordered the legal team to finalise the legislation in this regard, adding that a delay in legislation will be disastrous for the country.

Further, the legal team will present a comprehensive plan for keeping the identity of child rape victims secret to ensure their safety and future well being. Earlier in September, it was learnt that the PTI government had decided to pass a bill to penalise sex offenders and rapists with chemical castration. PM Imran Khan had approved of the legislation to castrate rapists once proven guilty whereas government bodies are expected to introduce it to the parliament soon. PM Imran Khan has vowed that sex offenders will be given exemplary punishments by the federal government.

Rana Sanaullah’s indictment in drugs case postponed ISLAMABAD INP

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)Punjab President Rana Sanaullah could not be indicted in the drugs smuggling case on Saturday as his lead counsel failed to appear in the court for being busy in the election process for Punjab Bar Council.

As a result, Shakir Hassan – the judge at a special court for control of narcotic substances, commonly known as antinarcotics courts – adjourned the hearing till December 5.

On the onset of proceedings, Farhad Ali Shah – one of the lawyers representing Rana Sana – informed the judge that Azam Nazir Tarar was unable to attend the hearing because of his engagements in connection with the Punjab Bar Council polls.

In his observations, the judge said the hearing was fixed for indictment and he should present arguments on behalf of the

accused as he was too a serious lawyer with the power of attorney.

However, Farhad said he could not proceed on a serious matter like an indictment without the approval of Tarar.

Meanwhile, Rana Sana in his statement before the court maintained that the AntiNarcotics Force only found a personal bag containing his clothes in the vehicle.

“Either I would be sentenced in this case or Shehryar Afridi would be sentenced in this case,” he remarked while expressing the hope that the court was going to provide justice to him.

The remarks about Afridi – the then minister of state for interior – came as he along with the ANF director-general at a press conference had claimed that they would provide all the required evidence in the case.

Rana Sana was arrested on July 1 last year as he travelled from Faisalabad to Lahore near the Ravi Toll Plaza on motorway with a claim that the ANF seized 15 kilogramme of heroin from his vehicle.

He spent months in prison before the Lahore High Court granted him bail.

Sindh govt decides against school closure, winter vacations KARACHI STAFF REPORT

The Sindh Education Department on Saturday decided against the early closure of educational institutions and extended winter vacations in the province despite the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic across the country.

In a meeting of the steering committee on education, Sindh Education Minister Saeed ghani informed the members about the recommendations regarding the early closure of schools. The meeting was attended by Sindh Education Secretary Ahmed Bakhsh Narejo, Sindh Colleges Secretary Syed Baqir Naqvi, senior officials of the education

department and officials of private school associations. ghani said the Sindh Education Department’s decision represented the

province’s position and that a national decision on the matter would ultimately be taken on November 23, when representatives of all provinces

are to meet and debate the matter.

He said no final decision was taken in the last meeting of the education committee.

The meeting also discussed the matter of winter breaks in schools, wherein it was decided not to close educational institutions for winter break this year. The members further decided to tighten Covid-19 related SOPs in schools, adding that the option to conduct classes online is available for all educational institutions.

In an earlier meeting of the Inter-Provincial Education Ministers’ Conference (IPEMC), provincial education ministers had opposed the immediate closure of educational institutions.

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

NEWS

Centre to allay Sindh’S reServationS on iSlandS iSSue: aSad umar KARACHI

P

STAFF REPORT

LANNING and Development Minister Asad Umar has assured the Sindh government that the federal government will extend all possible cooperation to allay its reservations on the issue of islands.

He was talking to newsmen in Karachi after inaugurating the development project of GL-16 at Numaish Chowrangi Underpass along with Governor Sindh Imran Ismail. Asad Umar also laid the foundation of GL-20 project under which 108 kilometres common corridor will be constructed at a cost of Rs2.2 billion. The project will be completed in 2022.

He said that progress has been made on all four projects of the federal government, including Karachi Circular Railway (KCR),

under Karachi package, details of which will be presented before Prime Minister Imran Khan soon.

“We want to find a permanent solution to maintain cleanliness of the main nullahs [of Karachi]. It is important to remove encroachments from nullahs, besides providing an alternative plan. The work for removal of encroachments from nullah is continued in Karachi’s Mehmoodabad.” Asad Umar recalled that the provincial government had announced the allocation of Rs700 billion funds for the metropolis. He questioned the government for not spending the funds on the development of Karachi.

While highlighting the federal government’s efforts for Sindh citizens, he said that the deserving families have been provided assistance through a relief package worth Rs200 billion.

“The federal government allocated funds worth millions for the retrieval

of illegally grabbed land in Sindh and to provide relief to the affectees despite it was the responsibility of the provincial government. It is now the responsibility of the Sindh government to retrieve the land while the Centre is ready to spend money, he added.”

To a question regarding islands, the federal minister said that talks are underway with the provincial government to resolve the issue.

Regarding the KCR project, Asad Umar said that the restoration work of the project has commenced.

Speaking on the occasion, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail said that the revenue from islands will be given to the Sindh government and that $50 billion investment is expected for the islands. He said that the government has completed a project and laid the foundation stone of another project which would be completed with the cost of Rs2.25 billion.

Govt to implement Pakistan Maritime Zones Act to ensure territorial sovereignty, security ISLAMABAD AHMAD AHMADANI

In a bid to ensure sovereignty and security, the Government of Pakistan has approved to implement Pakistan Maritime Zones (PMZ) Act 2020 under which prior permission is mandatory for foreign supertankers and nuclear-powered ships to enter into the territorial sea of Pakistan.

According to well-informed sources, the federal cabinet has given its go ahead to implement the law which was earlier approved by the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) on October 21 this year. The CCLC approved the draft bill of PMZ Act 2020 with the stipulation that section 6(c) of the proposed Act would be redrafted in consultation with the Law and Justice Division.

According to details, after the enforcement of PMZ Act 2020, foreign warships including submarine and other underwater vehicles and foreign military aircraft will not be allowed to enter or pass through the territorial waters and the airspace over such waters without prior permission of the federal government.

There will be a ban on loading and unloading of any person or currency while carrying out survey and research activities will not be allowed. In case of violation, foreign ships will be seized while there will be a five year imprisonment with heavy penalty in case the crime is proved.

According to documents available with Pakistan Today, the passage of foreign ships will be considered innocent if it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order

or security of Pakistan.

“However, such passage will not be considered innocent if the foreign ship while in the territorial sea engages in some activities including any threat or use of force against sovereignty, territorial integrity or political independence of Pakistan or in any other manner in violation of the principles of international law embodied in the charter of the United Nations,” the documents read.

The documents further state that any exercise or practice with weapons of any kind, any act aimed at collecting information to the prejudice of defence or security of Pakistan, any act of propaganda aimed at affecting the defence or security, the launching, landing or taking onboard of any aircraft of military device, the loading and unloading of any person, commodity, currency or person contrary to the customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws etcetera will be considered as violations. It was also learnt that foreign supertankers, nuclear powered ships and ships carrying nuclear or other inherently dangerous or noxious substances or materials may enter or pass through the territorial waters after giving notice to the federal government.

Sources further said that the sovereignty of Pakistan extends to its internal waters and territorial sea as on land and any person who commits an offence in the territorial sea may be arrested and tried under Pakistani laws if the offence is being committed to disturb the peace of the country or the good order of the territorial sea, or if the assistance of the local authorities has been requested by the master of the ship or by a diplomatic agent or consular office of the flag state.

Proclamation notice pasted outside Nawaz’s residence in land allotment case LAHORE TLTP

An accountability court has issued a proclamation against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif over his perpetual absence from trial proceedings in an illegal land allotment case on Saturday.

The anti-graft watchdog has pasted a proclamation notice outside Sharif’s Jati Umra residence and court office. The notice will be sent to London through the

foreign office. The accountability court had already issued arrest warrants for Nawaz Sharif in an illegal land allotment case. Sharif is facing accusations of illegal allotment of land as the then Punjab CM to Mir Shakilur Rehman. On March 12, the NAB had apprehended Mir Shakilur Rahman in a case pertaining to the illegal exemption of 54 plots in Lahore.

It is pertinent to mention here that Nawaz Sharif is currently present in London after being granted bail on medical grounds.

Arrest warrants for Nawaz Sharif’s cousins issued in loans default case LAHORE TLTP

A banking court on Saturday issued arrest warrants for Nawaz Sharif’s cousins in cases related to defaulting on bank loans worth Rs700 million.

According to the details, the court ordered authorities to produce the accused, including Shahid Shafi, Tariq Shafi, Javed Shafi, Ali Pervaiz and Ibrahim

Tariq in the next hearing on November 27.

The court has issued the arrest warrants over the continued absence of the above accused in the hearings.

Earlier on November 6, the banking court had summoned the former premier’s cousins for indicting them; however, they did not show up.

It may be mentioned here that Tariq Shafi, Javed Shafi and others had been nominated in the petition filed by the banks stating that their loans for many years.

03

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

04 NEWS

SiNdh decideS agaiNST SchooL cLoSure, wiNTer vacaTioNS KARACHI

S

STAFF REPORT

INDH Education and Literacy Department has decided against closing down schools and winter vacations but allowed administrations to move education activities online. The development came during a meeting of key stakeholders in the provincial education sector with Sindh Education Minister Saeed Ghani in the chair on Saturday.

Ghani said after the meeting that the Sindh Education Department's decision represented the province's position and that a national decision on the matter would ultimately be taken on November 23, when representatives of all provinces are to meet and debate the matter.

Punjab govt to recruit 10,300 policemen LAHORE: With an aim to further improve the law and order situation in the province, the Punjab government has decided to recruit 10,300 policemen.

The recruitment would be done in Punjab police and Baloch Levies, for which Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar gave his approval on Saturday. Vowing to recruit the policemen on merit, CM Buzdar said that 10,300 constables would be recruited in the Punjab police and 378 in Baloch Levies. The provincial government is taking every possible step to ensure law and order in Punjab, the CM said, adding that the recruitment will help improve the law and order situation in tribal areas of Rajanpur and DG Khan. Earlier this year, the Punjab government had lifted the ban on recruitments in the police department. According to details, the provincial govt had decided to recruit 300 policemen in the first phase.

The move came after Punjab Standing Committee on Finance approved a summary sent by the Home Department. INP

TikTok craze takes life of security guard in Karachi In yet another shocking incident, a security guard in Karachi lost his life while making a video for the highly popular video-sharing social networking platform TikTok on Saturday. The incident was reported in Karachi’s area of Gulistan-e-Jauhar, where a security guard accidentally shot himself dead when he was making a TikTok video while pointing out a pistol over his head. Separately, a girl allegedly set the house on fire after elders prevented her from making TikTok videos. The father of the girl, Aziz Ahmed Khilji, had lodged the first information report with the local police alleging his daughter set their house alight after he tried and stopped her from making videos for the short video sharing platform TikTok. The FIR on father’s complaint reads that upon preventing the daughter from making videos for the platform, she maligned him and then set fire to the house. Following up on the complaint made by family, local police took over and arrested the girl who is now transferred to women police stations in the locality. The TikTok craze has overtaken youth in the country and they are not even hesitating in risking their lives for the videos. NEWS DESK

Lahore likely to be bifurcated into two districts LAHORE: The Punjab government, in order to ensure better administrative facilities to citizens, has decided to bifurcate Lahore into two districts. The district administration has submitted to the commissioner Lahore a new administrative structure wherein Lahore is likely to be divided into two districts. The new administrative structure is finalised by senior Punjab bureaucrats who have been working on it for the past one year. The new structure would be presented to Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar soon, while final approval to divide the provincial capital into two districts would be given by Prime Minister Imran Khan. Lahore is the capital of the Punjab province and is the country’s 2nd largest city after Karachi with a population of over 11 million. It is the 18th largest city proper in the world. Being the regional urban centre of commercial, financial, industrial and socio-cultural significance, the provincial capital of Punjab is faced with a number of challenges including over-population, unplanned growth, congestion and pollution. TLTP

DELIBERATIONS OVER SAFETY MEASURES: The provincial education department's steering committee had met on Saturday to deliberate upon coronavirus safety measures recommended by the National Command and Operations Center (NCOC) in view of the surging new cases of Covid-19.

Setting aside the NCOC's recommendation for calling winter vacations early this year and extending them till January, it was decided by the Steering Committee that coronavirus safety standard operating procedures would instead be implemented strictly in schools to avoid a breakout of the disease among children.

All stakeholders who attended the meeting agreed on not closing schools for the time being or allow winter vacations in the province this year.

The Saturday meeting was attended by the secretary schools, the secretary colleges and the chairmen of various boards of education.

The participants discussed the various challenges put forth by coronavirus and the NCOC's recommendations regarding the same.

"The federal government wants that children are educated at home from November 25 till December 24, and then vacations are announced from December 25 till January 10," Ghani said after the meeting.

"During this period, parents will take homework from the schools on a weekly basis."

"There is no doubt that Covid-19 cases are rising and the positivity rate has gone to 3.7pc in the past few days," Ghani said.

On November 5, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training had decided not to close educational institutions amid rising coronavirus cases across the country.

Participants had agreed then that there was no need to close educational institutions in the current situation, whereas no final decision could be made to start the academic year from August instead of April.

The federal minister had said that the advisory of the Ministry of Health was their priority and that educational activities would continue until advised otherwise.

Micro lockdowns imposed in four Karachi districts KARACHI TLTP

Amid rising coronavirus cases in Karachi, the authorities on Saturday imposed micro lockdowns in four districts of the metropolis to stem a further spread of the pandemic. The restrictions will remain intact till December 5. According to details, smart and micro lockdowns have been imposed in Central, West, South and Korangi districts of the city.

The deputy commissioners, on the recommendation of district health officers, ordered that micro smart lockdowns are to be enforced in the streets/localities of the specified areas in these sub-divisions until active cases come down to zero.

A notification issued by the district commissioner Central read that smart lockdown will be enforced at specific places in 26 areas including Azizabad, Aliabad, Karimabad, Yaseenabad, Dastagir, Nazimabad, areas near Asghar Ali Shah Stadium, Shadman Town, North Karachi, Muslim Town and Firdous Colony.

Similarly, deputy commissioner Korangi also issued a notification imposing restriction on movement under smart lockdown strategy in seven areas falling under three union councils of the district.

Grocery and medical stores will remain open during

the restrictions and only a single person at a time would be allowed to leave home in the restricted areas after showing an identity card.

Furthermore, in district West, two areas have been put under lockdown, barring unnecessary movements in the areas amid rising Covid-19 cases.

Moreover, a lockdown has been imposed in the district South's upscale areas including Khayaban Moon, Khayaban Badar, Bath Island and Khayaban Ittehad. The deputy commissioner of the area said that it would remain implemented unless the Covid-19 cases witness a decline.

Karachi has reported 859 cases in the past 24 hours, according to Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah, with district South registering the most cases — 247. Meanwhile, 233 cases were recorded in the district east, 133 in West, 109 in Korangi, 105 in Central, and 32 cases were reported in Malir district, the chief minister said.

Meanwhile, Sindh on Saturday reported 1,199 new cases of coronavirus and 17 deaths by the Covid-19 pandemic in the province in the last 24 hours, according to the chief minister.

He said that overall cases of coronavirus have reached 162,277 with the addition of 1,199 new cases. In the province, 382 more patients of coronavirus have recovered and the total number of the recovered patients has now reached 145,525 in Sindh, the chief minister said.

Mehar triple murder case hearing adjourned till Dec 19 DADU TLTP

A model trial court on Saturday adjourned further hearing of the Mehar triple murder case until December 19.

Accused Sindh MPAs Sardar Khan and Burhan Khan Chandio appeared before the court in the case. Umme Rubab Chandio, who is pursuing the murder case of three members of her family, was also present on the occasion.

“Sardar Chandio has been an accused in the case but he brings with him hundreds of people, as he is coming to attend a Jirga,” said Umme Rubab while talking to the media after the hearing.

“Police have still failed to arrest absconding accused of the murder case,” she added.

Last week, Pakistan Peoples Party’s MPA Sardar Chandio, fearing arrest in the triple murder case, had approached the Sindh High Court for interim bail. In his plea, Sardar Chandio pleaded the court to grant him in-

terim bail in the case as he was cooperating in the investigation. The SHC granting interim bail to Sardar Chandio directed him to submit Rs1 million surety bond.

Umme Rubab’s father Mukhtiar Chandio, grandfather Karamullah Chandio and paternal uncle Kabil Chandio were gunned down on January 17, 2018, within the limits of Faridabad police station in Mehar taluka of Dadu district.

Recently Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh Mushtaq Mehar had apologized to Umme Rubab Chandio over the failure of police in arresting absconders allegedly involved in the murder of three members of her family.

Talking to the media after the meeting with the IG Sindh, Umme Rubab had said that the police have failed to arrest absconding culprits during the last three years period. “The IG Sindh has assured me that the police will soon arrest the culprits,” she had said and hoped that the assurances from the top cop would materialize soon and those behind the heinous act would be put behind bars.

Police recover 32 peasants from ‘private jail’ in Nawab Shah NAWAB SHAH: Police in a raid at an alleged “private jail” recovered 32 peasants languishing in detention camp on Saturday. According to police officials, the raid was conducted at a private jail of an influential landlord. The peasants recovered from the private detention camp were produced in the sessions court, which ordered the police to release the recovered persons, police officials said. In the previous month police had conducted a raid at another private detention camp in Matiari district, which was constructed over a brick kiln in the area where the suspects had reportedly detained 15 persons forcefully.

The suspects behind the private make-shift jail construction and the capture of 15 individuals fled the area, the police said. Reports about bonded-labourers camps frequently surface in the media. Bonded labour has been outlawed in Pakistan and most other affected countries in line with the UN conventions on human rights. It is a type of forced labour and according to media reports, more than four million people, including women and children, work in almost 20,000 brick kilns across Pakistan to pay off family loans taken from the business owners. TLTP

Bid to smuggle seven rare coins foiled at Karachi airport KARACHI: Pakistan Customs on Saturday announced that they have foiled attempts to smuggle goods worth Rs50 million, including rare historic coins, via commercial aircraft flying from Karachi's Jinnah Terminal airport.

Deputy Collector Customs Karachi Airport Inam Wazir said a team of Customs officials, led by Additional Collector Farah Farooq, received a tip-off regarding smuggling attempts and intercepted a parcel containing seven rare coins. The coins were being sent to Sharjah.

Wazir said that the provincial archaeological department, after inspecting the coins, verified them as 'antiquities'. In another package, the officials intercepted at least 300 narcotic tablets being sent to Hong Kong, besides confiscating other packages containing phones, precious stones and artificial jewellery. Custom officials have registered cases and have confiscated the contraband. TLTP

Punjab chief secretary orders action against flour profiteers LAHORE STAFF REPORT

On the report of a government organisation deputed to monitor price control measures, the Punjab chief secretary took notice of the sale of flour at higher than the officially-fixed price in some areas of Lahore and ordered the authorities to take stern action against those found involved in the profiteering.

He issued these directions while presiding over a meeting on price control.

With the indication of those overcharging consumers for flour in Tajpura and some other parts of the city, the CEO

Urban Unit presented the spot price survey report in the meeting. According to the report, flour is selling at the price fixed by the government in all other districts of the province.

The chief secretary said that as per the directions of the Prime Minister and chief minister of Punjab, the Special Branch, Intelligence Bureau, and Urban Unit have been assigned to monitor the prices and availability of essential commodities, especially flour and sugar. He said that like Sahulat bazaars the field officers should keep a close watch on the prices, availability, and quality of essential items in the open market as

well.

The chief secretary directed that in the light of the report of the Forecasting Committee, all the deputy commissioners prepare a list of demand and supply of essential commodities in their districts for the whole year to ensure there is no shortage of any item. “The short supply is the main reason for the increase in prices," he maintained. He asked the officers to continue overseeing the auction process in the fruits and vegetable markets to check prices.

The secretary industries briefed the meeting that due to the measures taken by the government, flour and sugar are

available in abundance in the open market and the provision of vegetables, fruits, and other items at discounted rates in the Sahulat bazaars has brought relief to the common man.

He said that according to the report of the Forecasting Committee, the prices of potatoes, tomatoes, and onions would come down after an increase in their supply in Punjab by the end of November. He said that so far 33,000 metric tonnes of imported sugar has reached the districts out of which 27,000 metric tonnes have been sold.

The additional chief secretary, administrative secretaries of food and agriculture departments, director food Punjab, special secretary of agriculture marketing attended the meeting. The additional chief secretary (South Punjab), divisional commissioners, and deputy commissioners joined the meeting through video link.

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

ThousAnds show uP For rIzvI’s FunErAl AT MInAr-E-PAkIsTAn T HOUSANDS attended the funeral prayers of Tehreek-eLabaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Khadim Hussain Rizvi, who passed away at the age of 54 on Thursday night, at Lahore’s Minar-e-Pakistan on Saturday afternoon.

The TLP chief passed away at a hospital in Lahore on Thursday after a prolonged illness, just two days after his supporters staged a forceful protest against France in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

According to the party’s spokesperson, Rizvi had been experiencing difficulty in breathing and was running a fever even as he led the protest against France.

The spokesperson added that Rizvi was at his madressah on Multan Road when his condition deteriorated on Thursday evening. He was later taken to Sheikh Zayed Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead The prayers were led by his son, Saad Hussain Rizvi.

The provincial capital of Punjab re-

mained on high alert as the funeral procession moved through Niazi Shaheed Interchange, Bund Road, Babu Sabu Interchange and finally stopped at

Scheme Mor where the late TLP chief was laid to rest.

The gathering was so large that Rizvi’s coffin could not be carried

through the crowd to the site set up for the ceremony, and had to be positioned on a nearby bridge for the prayers, a Reuters journalist said.

Similarly, traffic issues, which had begun with the news of Rizvi’s death, remained severely hampered on Saturday.

All entry points to the city and roads leading to his mosque reported long jams whereas attendees at his funeral complained about of mobile signal outages.

It may be mentioned here that Saad Rizvi, who had till now served as the deputy secretary-general of the TLP, was also nominated on the occasion as the new chief of the party by its high council.

He took oath on Saturday as the new ameer of the TLP. Speaking to the media after the funeral prayers, Saad vowed to take his father’s mission forward.

He pledged to take up the issue of blasphemous cartoons published in France and maintained that he will follow in his father’s footsteps.

Rizvi is survived by his wife, another son and three daughters.

770,000 tonnes wheat flour being wasted annually for not using quality sacks

NEWS

05

Fazl proposes united stand against PTI government continued from page 01 “If the country goes bankrupt, then the existence of the state is threatened. I also ask those institutions that consider it their duty to defend the state, not only is the enemy a threat, but also an economic decline, an economic crisis that leads to the collapse of the state is also a threat,” he said. In such a situation, he said, if those institutions support the illegitimate government and say that they are performing their duty, then it is not the duty for the survival of the state. “We will make it clear to them that you too can be a threat to the state. We are serious about saying that we do not consider anyone as the owner of this country. The owner is only our people.

If anyone tries to be a threat to state, then the people, the army, the civil bureaucracy, and the establishment will have to fight on one page,” he asserted. He argued that this division is strange as the country is going down and the army is supporting this incompetent government. He said that what else could be an example of deviation from responsibilities if (the army) does not withdraw its “support” to the government. The PDM chief said that the politics of the world have changed. “Trump is gone.

Now we need to send Trump of Pakistan in the same way. Then India’s Trump would be left but that is the problem of the people of India, not ours,” he said. Fazl said that the people of Peshawar should not ask anyone else how Pakistan is being run. “One can an easily guess by looking at the BRT buses that are burning every day.

What could be bigger incompetence than the BRT failure,” he concluded.

Ethiopia rejects African mediation, pushes toward rebelheld Tigray capital nairoBi/addiS aBaBa agencies

iSLamaBad ghulam abbas

While the country is forced to import wheat for meeting the shortage, it is wasting up to 770,000 tonnes of wheat flour annually for non-implementation of quality sacks.

According to a letter of Pakistan Polypropylene Woven Sack Manufacturers sent to the Ministry of Industries and Production, the huge quantity of wheat flour was being wasted for not using the quality sacks set by Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA).

As a mandatory certification item, PSQCA, through an SRO, has set a standard of food grade polypropylene laminated sacks for supply of wheat flour in the country.

The Pakistan Polypropylene Woven Sack manufacturers have written the complaint to the ministry of industries and the prime minister that between three to five percent wheat flour is wasted annually in the country due to packing in non –laminated bags.

The letter highlighted that despite high prices of wheat flour in the country between three to five percent of it is wasted during handling as the flour leaks through the low quality woven bags.

The manufacturers of laminated bags have also referred to a study that up to 0.5 kilograms wheat flour leaks out of 20 kg bags by the time it reaches the end destination that is the consumers’ home.

The letter also highlights that under the calculations the consumer’s loss amid 0.5 kg wastage is between Rs20 and Rs30 per purchase.

This wastage accounts for between 460,000 and 768,000 tonnes and this amounts to losses worth Rs34.56 to Rs57.60 bn per annum and loss was equivalent to 276,000 to 460,000 hectares of cultivated area.

“Just by controlling wastages during the transportation and handling the nation can save significant quantity of essential food item,” the letter highlighted, “Since the country is suffering from the wheat shortage, it is important that we remain efficient in saving as much Aata as we can for our under-nourished population as Pakistan is among those seven countries that cumulatively account for two-third of the world’s under-nourished population.”

It added that the usage of non-food grade wheat flour sacks has also been termed illegal in Pakistan as the PSQCA has already issued an SRO -PS: 3128 of 2017 for mandatory use of food grade, one side laminated and one side woven polypropylene sacks.

The letter also forwarded to the ministry of ministry of food security refers to the price difference between the non-food grade and food grade sack that is only Rs0.22 per Kg of wheat flour.

It also added that in many areas of the country mostly urban centres including Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi wheat flour and other food commodities are packed in unhygienic second hand Cement Sacks causing serious illnesses among masses because of the non-

implementation of PSQCA Mandatory Notification PS: 4877 of 2016.

This SRO was issued by the PSQCA on the direction of the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad and the NIH had referred a World Health Organisation directive over unsafe food to the Government of Pakistan.

The NIH had stated that the recycled cement bags were hazardous to human health, as the meshed cement particles remained in the news bags.

Earlier the laminated polypropylene woven sack manufacturers had also asked EPA to intervene over the subject and stop the usage of recycled material that contains exposures to health hazards.

The Ethiopian government rebuffed an African effort to mediate on Saturday, saying its troops had seized another town in their march towards the rebel-held capital of northern Tigray region. More than two weeks into Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s offensive, the government says Tigrayan forces are bulldozing roads and destroyed bridges to hold up the advance on regional capital Mekelle, home to about half a million people. The Tigrayans have promised “hell” for their advancing enemies. They have denied destroying bridges but were not reachable for comment about ploughing up roads. Hundreds, possibly thousands, have died and more than 30,000 refugees have fled to Sudan since the conflict erupted on Nov. 4. The fighting has spread beyond Tigray, whose forces have fired rockets at the neighbouring Amhara region and the nation of Eritrea, spurring concern of a wider war and the splintering of multi-ethnic Ethiopia. Abiy’s government has said it will soon reach Mekelle after taking various surrounding towns. On Saturday it said Adigrat had also fallen, about 116 km (72 miles) north of Mekelle. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) rebels said nine civilians had died among heavy casualties in artillery hits on Adigrat. The government could not immediately be reached for comment, but has previously repeatedly denied targeting civilians.

Assertions on all sides are hard to verify because phone and internet connections have been down since the beginning of the conflict and media are largely barred.

Eritrea denies TPLF allegations it has sent soldiers over the border to back Abiy’s offensive against the Tigrayan forces, who are also an old foe of Eritrea’s.

AFRICAN ENVOYS: On Friday, the African Union bloc appointed former presidents Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa as special envoys to seek a ceasefire and mediation talks. Abiy, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last year for a peace pact with Eritrea, aims to capture TPLF leaders before talking.

“News circulating that the envoys will be travelling to Ethiopia to mediate between the Federal Government and TPLF’s criminal element is fake,” the government tweeted on Saturday.

Chief Afghan peace envoy Abdullah Abdullah says US troops pulling out too soon In an interview with The Associated Press, Abdullah also described as “shocking” an Australian military report that found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners. He welcomed a decision by Australian authorities to pursue the perpetrators.

Abdullah spoke in Ankara where he sought Turkey’s support for negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban that are taking place in Qatar to find an end to decades of war. The talks have made little progress so far.

“This is the decision of the US administration and we respect it,” Abdullah said of

the US decision this week to reduce troops levels in Afghanistan from more than 4,500 to 2,500. “Our preference would have been that with the conditions improving, this should have taken place.”

Acting US Defence Secretary Christopher Miller announced that Washington would reduce troop levels in Iraq and Afghanistan by mid-January, in line with President Donald Trump’s pledge to bring US forces home.

Afghan officials have expressed concerns that a rapid reduction in American troops could strengthen the negotiating hand of the Taliban, while the militants are still

waging a full-fledged insurgency against government forces.

“It’s not like things will go as we wish,” Abdullah said, adding, however, that he welcomed the fact 2,500 troops will remain and that Nato will also retain its presence.

The chief negotiator said he was confident that the US will continue to support peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban during President-elect Joe Biden’s administration. “What form or what shape it will take that remains to be seen but they will certainly push for a peaceful settlement,” Abdullah said.

Abdullah, who shared power in

CMYK

Afghanistan’s last government as chief executive and before that as foreign minister, cautioned that “a comprehensive settlement will come as a result of the negotiation between the Afghan government and the Taliban,” regardless of any possible new input by the new US administration.

Washington signed a deal with the Taliban in February to pave the way for the Doha talks and American forces’ eventual withdrawal.

The Americans championed the deal as Afghanistan’s best chance at a lasting peace.

Abdullah’s meetings with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other Turkish officials came days after Australia revealed a

report into war crimes that found evidence that elite Australian troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and civilians.

“It was shocking,” Abdullah said of the report, but welcomed the fact that Australia had “come clear about it”.

He added: “There is the promise, the prospect of prosecution for those who have committed these heinous crimes that will count. This will help to prevent these types of crimes.” The top Afghan official also said he had asked Turkey to “re-energise” its efforts in support of the peace process, and suggested that Turkey appoint a “special envoy” to support the negotiations. agencies

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

06 COMMENT

Of law and order---the police:

Peshawar rally Govt and opposition should both display maturity

How policing can be fixed

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he PTI government has accused the opposition alliance of hypocrisy and playing reckless politics with people’s safety because its components who criticised PM Imran Khan for not ordering a strict lockdown were now holding rallies ignoring that this would spread the coronavirus far and wide. While this may be true, the PTI displayed equal recklessness when its legislators and a minister addressed big rallies, where all SOPs were violated . Again it politically suited the PTI’s Punjab government not to raise eyebrows when tens of thousands of TLP followers congregated at Minar-i-Pakistan to take part in their deceased chief’s last rites. here too, few cared to wear a mask while none maintained the prescribed six feet distance.

It now suits PDM politically to hold the Peshawar rally despite the district administration’s refusal to allow the gathering. The alliance has warned the administration that any attempt to create hurdles in the holding of PDM’s meetings could spark street battles. Unless sanity prevails, there could be bloody encounters. holding peaceful protests is a fundamental right of the people. The opposition thinks that the government is trying to hide behind the pandemic and that the opposition will not allow this.

Meanwhile Nacta has issued a terror attack alert for Peshawar. This requires the KP government to provide full security to the rally. Any negligence on its part could lead to serious consequences.

This said there is a need on the part of the opposition alliance to conduct itself responsibly. It has to ensure that its protest remains peaceful in disregard of provocations. A big rally that remains imperturbable even when under strain, has a greater impact than one which indulges in lawlessness. The PDM also needs to be seen as a conscious political force. This requires it to be fully alert to the threat posed by the second wave of the coronavirus. The coronavirus positivity rate in Peshawar district has exceeded 13 per cent. The PDM rally should not be seen to be a factor in furthering the spread of the pandemic. What one expects from the opposition alliance is that it will ensure that those attending the rally follow the Covid-19 SOPs.

Mohib AsAd “I have always believed, that to have true justice, we must have equal harassment under the law”------Paul Krassner, American author (1932-2019)

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F all state institutions, the police are the most visible, the first responders, the most hard-worked and the most vilified department all over the world. Of the four subsystems of the criminal justice system, namely parliament, police, courts, and prison, police are the most omnipresent and thus the focus of boththe citizen and the media. This body of men and women is in the eye of the storm in most public conflict situations. Needless to say, this department therefore needs to be in continuous and robust public debate.

As the coercive strong arm of the state to enable a general writ of the law, the police are often unjustly resented by the citizenry even if they are exercising moderate control within the powers given to them under the law. This is a general statement and does not excuse any single act of misuse of legal authority, for that is a criminal offence irrespective of any reason. Police brutality, which is so common worldwide, is unforgivable and must be put down by the state. Any government which relies on police brutality for political reasons is bound to be short lived.

Nearer home, let’s take a closer look at policing in Pakistan.

About a decade ago the National Police Academy decided to introduce a Command Course for District Police Officers (DPOs). A very exhaustive and inclusive Job Task Analysis was done by a donor agency which found that a DPO was required to do 93 different actions as a mandate for his post. These were then clumped in a workable course with various modules which were: prevention of crime; detection of crime; prosecution of offenders; community policing; media relations; recruitment of staff; training of staff; discipline of staff; maintenance of police buildings, wireless networks and transport; introduction of new technology; budgeting; public complaints; touring of district; and court cases.

This course has so far had a few iterations administered to senior Assistant and Deputy Superintendents of Police. My purpose in dilating a bit on this is to illustrate that policing is a very complex activity, and not really a government job but a way of life, seeing

Religious minorities in the crosshairs Rising incidents of violence going unchecked

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he brutal killing of a doctor belonging to the Ahmadi community inside his home while offering Friday prayers is another addition to the growing list of similar incidents that have taken place over the span of just the past few months. That the deceased was shot dead at his doorstep over “religious differences” with his adolescent killer displays a precariously deteriorating security situation where religious minorities are not safe even within the confines of their homes. Back in July, another teenager shot dead an under-trial prisoner accused of blasphemy inside a Peshawar courtroom, an Ahmadi who also happened to be an American National. While the US State Department demanded immediate action on part of the Pakistan government to undertake reforms that would prevent such tragedies from happening again, the boy who pulled the trigger was presented in court as a hero, surrounded by lawyers and supporters chanting slogans in support of his actions. Various other targeted killings of Ahmadis have taken place, most notably in Peshawar.

Similar to his predecessors, Prime Minister Imran Khan has expectedly refrained from condemning any of these incidents, let alone calling for measures to stop these acts of religiously motivated mindless violence. It is worth noting here that Mr Khan has twice succumbed to extremist pressure and removed Dr Atif Mian from his economic team for being an Ahmadi, despite the fact that he is a brilliant economist eager to share his ideas on how to turn around Pakistan’s ailing economy. It would therefore be unrealistic to expect this government to speak out against the rising trend of extremists ‘taking matters into their own hands’ and executing minorities, most of which is happening in a province where the PTI has been in power for the past seven years. The National Action Plan (NAP), conceived in the wake of the APS Peshawar tragedy and signed by all political parties, still remains largely unimplemented as a large section of it contains directives to curb rising religious intolerance and extremism. Non-Muslims are first and foremost citizens of Pakistan and are deserving of the same rights and freedoms afforded to Muslims under the constitution. It is the state’s responsibility and duty to ensure their safety.

Genie in the bottle It can’t be put back

RAbiA AhMed To learn who rules over you simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize─Voltaire

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F today’s world had to be defined by a single word, that word would be information. Information about places, people, things, ideas– past, present and future. And now, along with the right we have greater ability to meet people from around the word, to visit whichever place we can, use some things and adopt certain ideas– so now we need to know about them. When someone or some organisation prevents this readily available information from getting to people because they feel this information is ‘bad’– if they are right, then using their own arguments they might well be preventing those same people from seeing this ‘bad’ for themselves and reaching out and over to the good.

In such a stultifying atmosphere there would be no progress. The world would simply be a horde of human-faced sheep following each other away from the baa-ad (excuse the pun).

In today’s world, even the so called democracies and ‘free’ societies are not free from the scourge of

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

officers love this game of musical chairs. It is pathetic. Merit is the last of the considerations with a that under the law, a police officer is on duty 24/7 year CM on an ego trip. And there are always senior police in and year out. So next time you feel like cursing the officers sitting in the office of his Secretary, scheming policeman kindly recall that he or she has a tough deal. to get a colleague out of some ‘coveted’ post, if only having said this, I would also like to offer for your for a few weeks till another colleague manages to disconsideration some factors that have made the police place them. Such activity reflects the worst kind of the general whipping boy, and the removal of which governance, leading to many distortions in law enare necessary if we want a more responsive, empathic, forcement. Fourthly, modern technology paradigms designed specifically to fit our particular policing asefficient, and service-oriented organization.

Firstly, the rank structure of the police is highly pirations are the need of the hour. Luckily, Pakistan skewed; of the total strength of the service, there are now has the requisite internet network plus a huge pool of world-class IT exonly 12 percent supervisory, perts. Immediate infusion of investigative, and mid-range the political/administrative is manpower. The rest are conthe only shortfall in this nostables/head constables who brainer suggestion. do not have the powers of arThe fact of the matter is that Lastly, it is imperative rest, search, and seizure that policing is transparent, under the Criminal procedure government after government proactive, and accountable.

Code. Thus, 88 percent of all has failed to deliver quality There have to be internal uniformed police are Watch controls on illegal overreach & Ward stuff. Therefore for policing which is a by a more effective zero-tolthe next ten years, governerance attitude among superment should ban all recruitfundamental right of the visory officers; externally, ment at the level of citizen. Ridiculously, each the government, the courts, constable, and recruit two and the media should keep an Assistant Sub Inspectors successive government uses eagle eye on police excesses, against three retiring constacorruption, and brutality. bles/head constables. If they the police as its political These ills are not particular to want to improve the quality Pakistan but are observed to of policing, this is a win-win strong arm. The moot point is be worldwide, and therefore in many ways. as to who has who in its the control-on-police models Secondly, te police is adopted abroad should be horribly under-funded. The pocket! This unholy alliance looked at for effective overpresent money allocation sight of policing. goes in the high 90 percents needs public focus The foregoing just on pay and allowances. Chief scratches the surface of the Ministers never apply their law and order scene specific mind to fund policing as on a to the police. Police reform top priority; whereas in many developed countries the annual budget document in this country has been the favorite hobby of each often mention policing in the Preamble to the budget. incoming government since 1947. Commissions how many finance ministers have you heard mention and committees galore have spent billions in putthe police except in passing in their budget speech ting together comprehensive findings and suggesteach year? None? Goes to show! huge resources are ing remedial action, but report after report sits in archives gathering dust required to build a modern policing structure. And it official has to be a state policy, and not governmental caprice. unimplemented.The fact of the matter is that govThirdly, senior postings should be tenure-pro- ernment after government has failed to deliver tected. The Police Order 2002 mandated this practice, quality policing which is a fundamental right of the but provincial government in collaboration with sen- citizen. Ridiculously, each successive government ior serving police officers manages to trash this rule, uses the police as its political strong arm. The moot even in provinces which have adopted the Police point is as to who has who in its pocket! This unOrder as their basic police law. So the Chief Minister holy alliance needs public focus. keeps shunting senior most police supervisors (IG, The Author is a freelance writer.

DIG, SSP, SP) left and right at his pleasure, and the

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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posed to be a subset of the Prevention of electronic Crimes Act 2016 (PeCA).

If nothing else, such moves prove that those in censorship. To speak of societies other than our own– charge of information and technology have much to since our own seems to elicit such a response– it was learn about it. censorship and authoritarianism at its most pathetic One of the most outstanding features of inforwhen the ex-President Trump fired Chris Krebs, the mation in this age which rides on the back of elecelection security official who contradicted him by set- tronic media is that information is exactly like the ting up a website that debunked election misinforma- proverbial genie that has been let out of its bottle – tion. The interesting point is that by firing Krebs that it cannot be put back again. There are innumerable misinformation did not go back under the carpet, the ways to get around any such attempt, and users can act of firing only called attention to it. That is what mask where they live, they can change their idenalways happens. tity, they can hack sites– and in the end they will Wired reports that Krebs’ website ‘has been rap- get the information they need. It only needs one idly checking and debunking all manner of conspir- person to achieve this and the others will have it beacy theories and fore you can say ‘Stupid!’ We misunderstandings and outare now addicted to informaright disinformation circulattion. We cannot do without ing online.’

Google, DuckDuckGo, Bing, For many Americans, the Yahoo.

We need them to tell Yes, even misinformation firing might have been the first us everything about the world time they even heard of either helps us choose, to around us, the weather, its CISA or Krebs, and yet he monetary climate, its day-tounderstand and to decide day might just be the lone figure to occurrences; we need emerge from the (Trump) adthem to plan our travel, pay what to do next.

But that is ministration with a better repuour bills, talk to our loved tation than when he entered it.’ the problem, that this choice, ones and view their faces.

To go back to an almost And we need them to understanding and attempts spread prototypical example for our misinformation. how country one must revisit to decide, does not suit those would Trump tell us he won Salman Rushdie’s book The the 2020 elections without who put out ‘officially Satanic Verses which may Twitter? In the absence of the never have been read by more approved’ information and media, and then social media, than a few people had the how would we have known depend on it ultra-conservative element in that Germany and Japan are society not made such a big neighbours and that they hoo-ha about it. As it is, it was worked together to re-build snuck into the country (where the world after World War II? it was banned) in people’s suitWe would not have known eicases and widely read. And yet the powers that be ther that Jesus was not mentioned in history never fail to learn that they must not censor if only books, not ever. for this reason.

Yes, even misinformation helps us choose, to unAnd so the Pakistan Ministry of Information and derstand and to decide what to do next. But that is the Technology which moves in strange ways its wonders problem, that this choice, understanding and attempts to perform has come up with a set of rules that social to decide, does not suit those who put out ‘officially media companies and internet providers have alike approved’ information and depend on it. condemned and termed ‘draconian’.

These rules have been named the ‘Removal and Rabia Ahmed is a freelance columnist. Read more Blocking of Unlawful Online Content’ and are sup- by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Sunday, 22 November, 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

Khadim’s funeral

No shifting the goalposts The parasites having denuded the state of its potential and promise must be eliminated

Candid Corner RAoof hAsAn “Goals - there is no telling what you can do when you get inspired by them. There is no telling what you can do when you believe in them. And there is no telling what will happen when you act upon them.”

–Jim Rohn

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eIRD things keep happening.

One tries not to take notice for such things usually reflect either a state of depleting intelligence or a deepening indulgence in a world of crime so much so that it takes a firm hold to navigate along ways and paths which are better left alone. But, some people are so consumed with hatred and venom and they are hardly left with a choice but to take the poisonous route to shape a destiny that may never be.

A similar scene is being enacted in the annals of politics. There are parties which are not content with anything other than being incessantly in control of the instruments of power and using them to strangulate the fate of an entire nation at the altar of their crass motivations and motives.

But such things don’t usually happen like that. even if they were to happen, they have a short life span followed by a deluge of imponderables that may flush out the dreams altogether.

By virtue of a pre-orchestrated plan, the parties of the opposition rejected the 2018 elections.

They did not even bother to pursue the remedies contained in the system including moving appropriate petitions before the returning officers so that those could be probed. They did it because they knew that their myriad acts of criminally skinning the state to fill their personal coffers lay exposed. The shameful part was that they did not bother to negate the dominant reality and, instead, took the plea that some of the loot had also been invested in public projects. In other words, there was an attempt to legitimise the act of corruption in the domain of politics. A leader who is notorious for using religion for advancing his political objectives went to the extent of saying that corruption was not an issue for him at all. They were either being extraordinarily daring, or they were not in touch with the ground realities which came back to haunt them once the elections were held.

After the decisive drubbing on the electionday, they were in a quandary. If they accepted the results, they would have been forced to concede that corruption, in fact, was a crime and they had been punished for indulging in it. That not being an option, they rejected the results to engage in agitation that the elections had been stolen by the ‘khalai makhlooq’ (meaning the

military) and must be held again along rules ernment.

Yet again the parties of the opposition prowhich would be crafted by them. When their desire was not conceded, and when they realised claimed that the elections had been rigged and that Prime Minister Imran Khan was determined they would not accept the outcome– a sickening in pursuing cases of their corruption in earnest replay of their rejection of the 2018 election reand punishing the culprits, they resorted to sab- sults. This has now become an excessively diviotaging the working of the government in every sive and inflexible opposition narrative: that way that was within their grasp. In the process, only those results will be accepted which would they demeaned themselves by using abusive lan- declare them winners. All other results will be guage about people who were not in politics and summarily rejected. This is not how democrahad nothing to do, one way or another, with the cies work. The remedies to allegations of fraud are available within the system which should be results of the elections.

This entire hullabaloo carried one message pursued. Simply rejecting all negative results alone: forget about our corruption and we’ll stay can only create disharmony which will not conquiet. When things did not work that way and tribute to strengthening the roots of democracy.

The tragedy with the opposition leaders is some of their leaders were administered punishment by the courts while others were duly in- that, first, they gravely misread Prime Minister Khan’s resolve to uproot dicted to initiate corruption from the proceedings against country and, second, them, and when their they underestimated his clandestine contacts with There is no going back to a determination to make the military did not yield the system and instituthe desired results, they past where the word of the tions transparently funcjoined hands to initiate a movement to topple the ruler was unquestioned and the tional so that they would government. It was durinstitutions of the state were begin serving the people the country, not its ruling the course of holding controlled through telephone of ing elite alone who had rallies in major cities of the country that some of calls, or showering sacks of already indulged in stripthe state both of its their leaders, including pelf, or physical assaults to ping potential and promise. In the convict-absconder who has run away to beat them into submission. In spite of innumerable challenges along the London, used highly obspite of layers of corruption way including the nojectionable language against institutions instill remaining to be tackled, holds barred agitation the coalition of the cluding the military. the government has created by opposition parties, he reThey tried desperately to create disaffection for substantive awareness among mains steadfast in moving forth with his dream the state by pleading for people to stand guard against of helping Pakistan take an independent Baluchistan, annulling such perpetuation. Eliminating off on a irreversible trajectory of progress and Urdu as the national lanit from the system would take development. guage, dismantling the By denying their inborder between Pakistan time. For that to happen, it is dulgence in corruption, and Afghanistan and imperative that the ways to a or pleading that it was threatening the military not an issue, the parties and intelligence chiefs corrupt past are blocked of the opposition are digby name that they would effectively through a ging their graves deeper. be held to account for their actions. This gener- combination of punishment for There is no going back to a past where the word ated immense reaction the guilty and appropriate of the ruler was unqueswithin their respective tioned and the instituparties and the country acknowledgement of the tions of the state were and calls were made for the government to take honest and hard-working ones. controlled through telephone calls, or showeraction according to the ing sacks of pelf, or law of the land. physical assaults to beat It is in this excessively caustic and polarised environment that them into submission. In spite of layers of corelections were held in Gilgit-Baltistan– a highly ruption still remaining to be tackled, the governsensitive area in the context of the machinations ment has created substantive awareness among of some inimical powers to create disunity people to stand guard against such perpetuation. among the people there with the principal mo- eliminating it from the system would take time. tive to sabotage the China-Pakistan economic For that to happen, it is imperative that the ways Corridor (CPeC). During the election campaign, to a corrupt past are blocked effectively through people were incited by political leaders to rise a combination of punishment for the guilty and against the federal government. No restraint was appropriate acknowledgement of the honest and exercised in their poisonous harangues and the hard-working ones. They deserve to be boosted, government in Islamabad was dubbed an enemy not the parasites which have denuded the state of of Pakistan. In the wake of their venomous cam- its flesh, rendering it unprotected and weak.

The goalposts are dug in firmly. There is no paign spread over many months which was further accentuated by their vile propaganda during shifting them any longer. the run-up to the elections, the results were a The writer is a political and security strateforegone conclusion: another drubbing for the parties of the opposition which, among them, gist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute – could muster a paltry five seats from a total of an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: Twitter: 23 with the PTI emerging as the single largest raoofhasan@hotmail.com. party, effectively poised to form the next gov- @RaoofHasan

The funeral prayers for Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Allama Khadim hussain Rizvi, who passed away on Thursday night, were offered at Lahore's Minar-i-Pakistan on Saturday afternoon. Thousands of people gathered at the site to attend the funeral prayers with many complaining of mobile signal outages. The prayers were led by his son Saad hussain Rizvi, who has been named the new TLP chief, according to TLP spokesman Salman haider. he was later laid to rest in the courtyard of Madressah Rehmatul Lil Alamin near Chowk Yateem Khana. The city of Lahore started experiencing the impact of the death of the firebrand cleric when all entry points to the city and roads leading to his mosque faced traffic pressure, reporting long queues and jams. The pressure was set to grow today as thousands of his followers were expected to reach his funeral site and later to his burial site.

According to the Lahore chief traffic officer (CTO), five deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) and 36 inspectors were overseeing traffic arrangements in the city. In a statement, the CTO said that no point would be completely closed for traffic and diversions would be opened along the route of the funeral procession. The funeral procession will move through the Niazi Shaheed Interchange, Bund Road, Babu Sabu Interchange and will stop at Scheme Mor. Security in the city is on "high alert" on the directions of Lahore Capital City Police Officer (CCPO) Umar Sheikh with extra personnel posted at the entry and exit points of Lahore.

The TLP chief passed away two days ago at the age of 54. According to the party’s spokesperson, hamza, Rizvi had been experiencing difficulty in breathing and was running a fever since a day earlier. The spokesperson added that Rizvi was at his madressah on Multan Road when his condition deteriorated on Thursday evening. he was subsequently rushed to the Farooq hospital in Iqbal Town, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. Rizvi was later taken to Sheikh Zayed hospital where doctors pronounced him dead, said Saad Rizvi, son of Khadim hussain Rizvi. he is survived by his wife, two sons and three daughters.

Rizvi made his last public appearance at a sit-in staged by thousands of TLP followers at Islamabad's Faizabad interchange to protest the publication of blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon him) in France. The group had decided to end the sit-in on Monday after successful negotiations with the government.

EHSAn AnwAR KARAcHI

Nisha’s story NIShA Rao, 28, of Karachi, has had the honour of becoming Pakistan's first transgender lawyer. Nisha said that the brutal treatment at the hands of the police and the plight of the transgender community forced them to take up the profession of law. In an interview, he said that when they beg, the police of Karachi, intimidated them due to misconduct. his teacher then advised him to become a lawyer and overcome her fear. What made him choose this career was the thought that the police would be scared of him after he became a lawyer. he received his law degree in 2018 from Sindh Muslim Law College, Karachi. So far, he has fought 50 cases. Rao hails from Lahore but fled to Karachi after matriculation to avoid physical abuse by his family. explaining his ordeal and the most difficult battle of his life, Nisha said he used to begin the morning and continued his studies night.

"I've always had feminine habits. I used to sit in the madrassa with the girls and recite the Quran. She wore a headscarf and lipstick. Because of these actions, I was often beaten by my family. At school, children used to call me Reema Sharmili and I cried a lot, "Rao told Media Outlet. he said that when he came to the ninth grade, he realized his identity.

Rao said God has made it different. he says he was depressed at first, but now he is positive. he said that he had satisfied himself and said that he was endowed with an intelligent mind and beautiful hands, feet and eyes. Rao said he persuaded himself to do something big in his life but unfortunately his family did not support him at that time.

Rao said he started his education at Karachi University and earned a degree in international relations. The lawyer said he made good friends at university. Moreover, his fellow lawyers in the city court are also helpful towards him. They guide and help hem.

Nisha wants to serve the transgender community through his NGO. he plans to set up a helpline to guide other members of the transgender community. Also included is the creation of an old age home for transgender people.

FATImA ImAm BAKSH TuRBAT

Early marriages eARLY or forced marriages are violation of childrens' or human rights .It continues to rob millions of girls under 18 around the world and children who are not willing to marry but our society is continuously doing this dismal act .We need to make our children educated first so they will be eligible for caring a family. The underage marriage is hazardous for their health too.Because they are not able enough to give birth to a baby in a small age .Mostly this wrong decision of early marrige is being followed by parents yet their sons or daughters are school students they make them compel to leave their homes and get a family. however, children should not be forced for early marriages rather they should be motivated for educational field.Another dangerous time is pregnancy which is considered a huge risk .Girls, who are very small, are not ready for reproduction. The hard time is their delivery time so how a small age child can bear the pains and will be operated many times .And some girls can't make right decision for their lives , they are not sure about their life planning so it is the duty of parents to prevent them from hazardous decision .Due to underage martiages their education is getting disturbed because most of the girls give up their education because of changing families many will not be allowed to continue their higher education which is their civic right but being ignored by the society .The government needs to take serious steps to prevent early marriages , in order to promote the education for children .And there should be implementation of laws in our country SIdRA ASgHAR TuRBAT

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

SC WaS never perfeCT, BuT THe SignS are THaT iT iS SLipping inTO judiCiaL BarBariSm THE SUPREME COURT WAS RIGHT TO GRANT ARNAB GOSWAMI BAIL. BUT JUSTICE SA BOBDE’S REPORTED INTERVENTION, THAT THE SUPREME COURT WAS TRYING TO DISCOURAGE THE USE OF ARTICLE 32, UNWITTINGLY LET THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG

indian express

i

PRaTaPBHaNu MEHTa

N political science literature there is a familiar term — democratic barbarism.

Democratic barbarism is often sustained by a judicial barbarism. The term “barbarism” has several components. The first is the overwhelming appearance of arbitrariness in judicial decision-making. The application of law becomes so dependent on the arbitrary whims of individual judges that the rule of law or constitutional terms no longer have any meaning. The law becomes an instrument of oppression; or, at the very least, it aids and abets oppression.

This usually means weak protection for civil liberties and dissenters and an unusual degree of deference to state power, especially in constitutional matters. The court also becomes excessively concerned with its

version of lese majesty: Like a scared monarch, the court cannot be seriously criticised or mocked. Its majesty is secured not by its credibility but by its power of contempt. And, finally, there is barbarism in a much deeper sense. It occurs when the state treats a section of its own citizenry as enemies of the people. The purpose of politics is no longer equal justice for all: It is to convert politics into a game of victims and oppressors and ensure that your side comes up the winner.

The Indian supreme Court was never perfect. It has had its dark periods before.

But the signs are that it is slipping into judicial barbarism in the senses described above.

This phenomenon is not just a matter of individual judges or individual cases. It is now a systematic phenomenon with deep institutional roots. It is also part of a global trend, of a piece with developments in Turkey, Poland and Hungary, where the judiciary aids this kind of democratic barbarism. To be sure, not all judges succumb to this; there are still pockets of resistance in the system.

There will also be instances of grand pronouncement of principles on behalf of liberty, an occasional relief granted to a deserving plaintiff, to preserve a thin veneer of respectability for the institution, while its

daily practice continues to abet the rot. so what are the symptoms of judicial barbarism? The court has refused to do timely hearings of cases that go to the heart of the institutional integrity of a democracy: The electoral bonds case, for example. It is no secret that the rules for the grant or denial of bail by the supreme Court, and, correspondingly, by several high courts, have reached new levels of arbitrariness. But it is important to underscore a point here.

As any undertrial knows, encountering justice in the Indian legal system has always had an element of luck to it. But we should not mistake the distinctiveness of the current moment. Patriots like sudhaBharadwaj or thinkers like AnandTeltumbde are being denied bail. Umar Khalid was given a minor relief in being allowed to step outside his cell but the fate of so many young student antiCAA protestors remains uncertain. An 80year-old social activist who is suffering from Parkinson’s was denied a straw, and the court will do a hearing in its own time. One can’t think of a more visible manifestation of sheer cruelty. Hundreds of Kashmiris were detained without habeas corpus redress.

All of these are not isolated instances of justice slipping because of the usual institutional inefficiencies. These are directly a

product of a politics that sees protest, dissent, and freedom of expression all through the prism of potential enemies of the state.

They are not equal citizens before the law.

They are treated, without justification in many cases, as subversives, the only construct that democratic barbarism can put on disagreement. This construct is now directly aided by judicial power. And, it has to be said, the same phenomenon can be replicated at the level of states in service of a different political dispensation.

What starts as a selectivity on civil liberties will slowly creep into the ideological foundations of the state. As state after state is now contemplating legislation on “love jihad”, a communally insidious and infantilising construct, watch how the judiciary abets in legitimising this newest assault on liberty. We have gone past the stage where the highest court’s infirmities can be captured in the policy wonk-ish language of institutional reform. What is happening is more like giving judicial form to the language of democratic barbarism.

The supreme Court was right to grant Arnab Goswami bail. It has finally issued a notice to the UP government over its arrest of journalists. But Justice sA Bobde’s reported intervention, that the supreme Court

was trying to discourage the use of Article 32, unwittingly let the cat out of the bag. Article 32 is one of the glories of the Indian Constitution that protects fundamental rights. It can be suspended only in a state of emergency. In some ways, discouraging the use of this article is a perfect metaphor for our times: We don’t want to formally declare a state of emergency but we might as well act as if there is one, as and when the need arises. Discourage, rather than suspend, the use of Article 32.

The fight against this is not going to be easy. The democratic barbarism, where every issue is now thought of through the prism of partisan combat, not public reason, has now infected assessment of the judiciary partly as a result of its own inability to project that it is above the fray. so much of the public discussion is about my favourite judicial victim versus yours that it is going to be hard to get a consensus on the rule of law.

Ironically, the tradition of legal activism that is heavily invested in making the judiciary the arbiter of everything legitimises judicial intoxication. The trend still continues.

We may have our own views on the Central Vista project, for instance, but this is not the sort of issue the courts need to weigh in on. In seeking our minor policy victories from the court, we in some senses end up legitimising its major infractions on constitutional principles. Third, there is a culture in the Bar. There are a few voices like Dushyant Dave, Gautam Bhatia, sriramPanchu, willing to call out the rot for what it is; but this has still not translated into a serious professional pushback. The complex of senior lawyers and judges still willing to defer to lese majesty of the courts, and comfortable with judicial barbarism, is still way too high. This may seem like a little graceless exaggeration, but when you see creeping hues of a Weimar judiciary, grace is no option for ordinary citizens.

The writer is contributing editor, The Indian Express.

WHO advice on remdesivir is a The three messages warning for Covid-19 vaccines from Bihar’s verdict

BloomBerg TIMOTHY L OBRIEN

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ess than a month ago, the Food and Drug Administration said hospitals could use remdesivir, a drug manufactured by Gilead sciences Inc., to treat patients with Covid-19.

Remdesivir, sold under the brand name Veklury, was said to shorten recovery times and reduce the need for ventilators to facilitate breathing.

Yesterday, the World Health Organization hit the brakes: It recommended that doctors avoid using the drug altogether.

“There is currently no evidence that remdesivir improves survival and other outcomes in these patients,” the WHO noted, citing detailed studies it sponsored. “The evidence suggested no important effect on mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, time to clinical improvement, and other patient-important outcomes.”

A group of experts gathered by the WHO concurred, reporting their findings in a well-regarded medical journal. Remdesivir offers “small and uncertain benefits” outweighed by the “possibility of important harms,” they wrote. Gilead pushed back, saying it stands by remdesivir and citing other studies supporting its efficacy. speed is prized in the race to beat back Covid-19 — as it should be. The world is also fortunate to have innovative and dedicated pub-

lic and private researchers able to produce coronavirus vaccine candidates in record time. But the WHO’s thumbs-down on remdesivir is also a reminder that hasty drug development and approval is risky. It highlights why the FDA has to do more than merely rubber-stamp Covid-19 treatments in the face of heavy White House pressure to move quickly.

As my colleague Max Nisen recently observed, it’s perplexing that the FDA gave formal approval to remdesivir as a Covid-19 treatment in October. The drug was already available to hospitals and patients under a federal emergency use authorization granted in May. since then, data supporting its benefits had become murky, and an FDA sign-off was unlikely to significantly expand its use. As Remdesivir is also expensive — perhaps not as costly as other blockbuster drugs the pharmaceutical industry sells, but still expensive.

Two writers for science magazine, Jon Cohen and Kai Kupferschmidt, offered some answers to these mysteries in a deeply reported piece published late last month.

They found that the FDA and the european Union both had approved the use of remdesivir despite some glaring procedural gaps. The FDA didn’t consult the outside experts it keeps on tap to analyze approvals for complex antiviral drugs. The eU approved remdesivir’s pricing just a week before lackluster results from a major WHO trial of the drug were published — and then seemed clueless about the new data. (Gilead was aware; it had donated drug to the trial and knew the results were poor.)

The science writers pointed out that the FDA’s inaction around remdesivir “stands in sharp contrast to its handling of potential Covid-19 vaccines.” For remdesivir, the agency failed to convene an advisory to study the drug. several prominent medical researchers voiced skepticism about remdesivir in the science article, including Martin Landry of Oxford University, who said the drug was useless for treating the

sickest patients. In any case, most people with Covid-19 recover without medical treatment.

“The argument that the earlier you use it the better is great until you realize what the implications of that are: You won’t save many lives, and you’ll have to treat a lot of patients,” Landry told science. “It’s very inconvenient, and it’ll cost you a fortune.”

Perhaps it was inevitable that Gilead would receive special treatment. In May, when remdesivir was given its eUA, the company’s chief executive officer, Daniel O’Day, was welcomed into the Oval Office for a photo op with President Donald Trump and FDA Commissioner stephen Hahn. Trump, who was treated with remdesivir after contracting Covid-19 himself, has described it as one of a handful of drugs he received that were like “miracles coming down from God.” Hospitals have been less enthusiastic and have been sharply cutting back their use of remdesivir due to its expense and its value for only the most seriously ill patients — which makes the FDA’s enthusiasm for the drug and its manufacturer all the more curious. The FDA approved remdesivir based on three trials, the most weighty of which was conducted by the National Institutes of Health. Both the NIH and the FDA are housed under the Department of Health and Human services.

Perhaps it was just fine that the FDA relied on what was essentially an in-house trial to approve remdesivir and that Hahn has been unusually amenable to Trump’s demands for approving sketchy Covid-19 treatments. And perhaps it’s fine that Alex Azar, a former pharmaceutical executive and Big Pharma lobbyist who is a Trump loyalist, runs HHs and supervises Hahn.

In case any of this isn’t fine, we should bear it in mind as HHs and the FDA continue to play pivotal roles overseeing the approval, rollout and regulation of more crucial drugs: the Covid-19 vaccines that Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. have put on the table.

THE RESULTS HAVE RESULTED IN THREE HUMILIATIONS, ALL INDICATIONS THAT OPPOSITION TO THE BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY (BJP) GOVERNMENT’S HARDLINE HINDUTVA POLICY IS CRUMBLING Hindustan times

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MaRk TuLLY

He Bihar assembly election results have resulted in three humiliations, all indications that opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s hardline Hindutva policy is crumbling.

Chief minister (CM) Nitish Kumar should be able to take pride on taking office for his fourth term, a record for the state. But he is a much-diminished figure, humiliated by his partner, the BJP, the public and the press.

The public humiliated him by their hostile reaction to him at some of his rallies and by their response to his party when it came to voting. The press humiliated him by writing him off as a political force.

The BJP humiliated Kumar by not stopping, and some suggest actually encouraging, the LokJanshakti Party (LJP)’s Chirag Paswan’s entry into the polls as a distinct force.

His stated intention was to cut into Kumar’s vote.

Paswan’s LJP is a member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), small and of limited importance. so, it’s unlikely its leader would have declared open war on Kumar, the NDA’s leader in Bihar, without the BJP’s tacit approval. The

approval appears to have been aimed at reducing the CM’s chances of emerging from this election on equal terms with the BJP and, hence, with some room to act independently. As it turned out, this is precisely what has happened.

The BJP’s intention to weaken the CM is also clear by the party leadership’s decision to have two deputy CMs. One of them, Renu Devi, is from the extremely Backward Class (eBC). Not surprisingly, this appointment is being interpreted as an attempt to win over eBCs and women, the two groups Kumar has cultivated during his time in office.

He has also not been allowed to retain his deputy for many years, BJP leader, sushil Kumar Modi. The two worked so closely together that they are sometimes referred to as siamese twins.

For sushil Kumar Modi, used to dominating the BJP in Bihar, his displacement as deputy CM without, at the time of writing, being offered an alternative post in Bihar or the Centre is a humiliation. The victors are those who regard him as a relic of the VajpayeeAdvani era, too soft for the hardline party of today. He is one of the last prominent members of the old school in today’s BJP, a politician I remember for his sharp sense of humour.

And what can be said about the Congress? It has had to face yet another humiliation,

winning just 19 out of the 70 seats. As usual, the humiliation has been followed by silence from the high command and sycophancy silencing mild questions from some leaders.

This election has made it clear that the Congress does not matter in Bihar any more than it matters in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

This means the party has lost its foothold in the mostpopulous and the third-most populous states in India. Yet, Congressmen and women remain paralysed, apparently unable to do anything to stem the rot. They repeat mantra-like that the party will fall apart without the Gandhis at the helm and, at the same time, watch the party withering away under those very same Gandhis.

It is generally admitted from the prime minister downwards, that India needs better governance. so it is, to say the least, sad to see a politician like Kumar, once so renowned for effective and honest governance that he was talked about as a potential prime minister, ending his career accepting humiliating subservience as a price for staying on in office. sushil Modi’s humiliation makes it even less likely that hardline Hindutva will be questioned within the BJP. The continuing humiliation the Congress is suffering means that there is no national party to challenge that hardline or pretty much anything else.

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

BUSINESS 09

Cement AssoCiAtion terms CCP’s rAids on member oFFiCes ‘unlAwFul’

corporate corner

LAHORE

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FAISALABAD: Giving quality education to students and setting a new standard in the field of education is the top priority, said, Faisalabad Industrial Estate Development and Management Company (FIEDMC) and Alley Group of Colleges Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq meets students and faculty members during the inaugural ceremony of Alley Group of Colleges. press release

LAHORE: Nippon Paint team members pose for a group photo with AC Model Town Zeeshan Ranjha at Liberty Roundabout. press release

HassaN NaQVI

HE All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA) on Saturday took exception to the raids conducted by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) on offices of some members of APCMA and termed the raids as unlawful, illegal and blatant violation of the law.

The association disclosed that on November 19 at around 11 am, the office bearers of the CCP conducted searches at the offices of some Members of All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association in Karachi.

During the raids, the Commission officials also impounded items including personal belongings of the employees for which they had no express authority under the law or through the authorisation memo provided to the members.

A similar search was previously conducted on September 24, 2020, at the office of APCMA and a member office in Lahore.

The Association regretted that the Commission carried on searches despite APCMA collaborating with the Commission in providing all information and documents when and as requested by CCP officials.

It was further disclosed that the APCMA members

ISLAMABAD: In an attempt to improve production and export of citrus, the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) is going to hold a national conference on kinnow on December 1 in Sargodha. Growers, traders and exporters of kinnow would participate in the mega event whereas Punjab Minister for Agriculture Hussain Jehanyan Gardezi would be the chief guest on the occasion. During a recent meeting with the minister, the patron-in-chief of PFVA, Waheed Ahmed, extended an invitation for this forthcoming event that was gladly accepted by the minister for agriculture with the firm assurance that the ministry would extend full support and cooperation to make the event a success. Waheed apprised the minister of “Horticulture Vision 2030”, a road map prepared with extensive consultations of all stakeholders of all the provinces of Pakistan with a clear well-defined objective to revolutionise the agriculture sector by adopting modern techniques in general and production of fruits and vegetables in particular, which, besides ensuring food security will lead to enhancement of exports of highquality fruits and vegetable at par with international standards by adding more varieties in the existing limited fruit basket. Agriculture Minister Hussain Jehanyan Gardezi appreciated the “Horticulture Vision 2030” developed by Waheed Ahmed for the uplift of agriculture sector and affirmed his commitment to get guidance from the PFVA on research and development (R&D) for the improvement of various agri-based projects in the province. Waheed Ahmed briefed the minister about issues the industry was confronted with and the realistic solutions proposed in the Vision 2030 for improvement in supply chain management. He further shared that the objective of holding a conference on kinnow was to eliminate issues related to the production of kinnows in areas of Sargodha and Bhalwal. The conference would identify these issues and recommend realistic solutions so that the significance of kinnow in the national economy could be further enhanced. The export of Kinnow would commence from Dec 1, Waheed informed. “Due to the global pandemic of Covid-19, the demand for citrus fruits has increased considerably in the world. By meticulous planning, Pakistan can avail this unique opportunity by meeting the local demand and exporting surplus kinnow to earn valuable foreign exchange desperately needed to support the national economy,” he said. staff report

try,” the Association said.

On the other hand, as per media reports and the official statement issued by the CCP on November 19, the Commission’s raids and searches were conducted as part of an official inquiry into the alleged increase of cement prices during the month of April this year.

However, it is of a surprise to many that during the period (fourth quarter of FY 2019-20) the price hike was reported, Covid-19 was at its peak in Pakistan and the entire country was observing a complete lockdown. Business activity during this period was almost negligible and all industries including cement were incurring huge losses.

Therefore, investigating such a period raises serious doubts about the intent and purpose of the inquiry conducted by the Commission.

“The APCMA and its members have always believed in and strived for compliance with all applicable laws while conducting their businesses. However, any illegal act and open violation of the law by a federal agency shall always be highlighted,” the APCMA noted.

“The right to dignity and due process of the members of APCMA and their employees, as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan, is inviolable. It is expedient that all bodies and agencies while discharging their duties and exercising their powers, operate within the four corners of the law,” it added.

Sugar price in wholesales market drop by Rs7 in a week ISLAMABAD

PFVA to hold conference on kinnow to boost production, export

were unaware of the outcome of any investigation or review of all the documents and information gathered by the Commission during the last one year. They added that despite cooperating with the Commission, the harassment of APCMA members and their employees continued.

“The Commission illegally and unlawfully, with the support of local police, sealed the premises of APCMA members’ offices while conducting the searches and restricted the movement of employees even though no resistance of any sort was put up by the representatives of the said members,” the Association said.

The APCMA claimed that the officers of the Commission were repeatedly requested to exercise their powers strictly as per law, however, the members’ representatives were continuously harassed and threatened with arrest and imprisonment for interference in official duties.

“Such blatantly illegal and unlawful activities on part of the Commission and its authorised officers have severely damaged the confidence of shareholders of the APCMA members, a large number of whom are foreign investors,” the APCMA said.

“Such high-handedness has also damaged the confidence of the business community in general and is an act that would discourage investments in the coun-

sHaHzad paracHa

Sugar prices in the wholesales market decreased six to seven rupee in a week as the price of sugar in Jodia Bazar, Karachi fell down to Rs89 from Rs96 since November 12, whereas price in Akbari Mandi, Lahore also decreased to Rs93 from Rs100 in the last one week.

A senior government official told Pakistan Today that prices of sugar will further go down due to availability of imported sugar and the early crushing season that has commenced from November 10 this year.

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar contradicted the claim of the Pakistan Sugar Mills Association (PSMA) with re-

gards to the non-availability of sugarcane saying that there was no cane shortage in Punjab.

“The cane commissioner has estimated more sugarcane crops than last year,” he said.

In its letter to the minister on Friday, the PSMA feared that the sugar mills, because of the shortage of cane, will be forced to shut down their units within a week due to the scarcity of sugarcane.

They further claimed that the growers had not started sugarcane harvesting in most of the regions in the country despite the fact that the crushing season had commenced.

The farmers were demanding a high sugarcane price compared to the notified sugarcane price of Rs200/- per 40kg by the provincial governments.

On this, the federal minister said that the notified

price was the minimum price and if the demand and supply of the sugarcane leads to a higher price then mills can buy on that price.

“It is also interesting that when we speak to mills on high prices of sugar, they say that it’s a result of demand and supply but when it comes to the pricing of sugar cane for the farmer, then they have departed from that logic,” he added.

The federal minister also said that the mills did not intend on shutting down, and even the PSMA in Punjab was unaware of the letter sent by the head office.

It is pertinent to note that the government has not only instructed the Ministry of Industries and Production to import sugar, but also imposed a ban on sugar exports since February this year in order to control the prices, which is apparently yielding results.

Positive LSM trend a ray of hope for economic revival: FPCCI KARACHI staff report

The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has said that the positive growth in largescale manufacturing (LSM) will help achieve the annual economic growth target, besides creating jobs if the trend continues in coming months.

FPCCI President Mian Anjum Nisar, while addressing a delegation of various industrial sectors, said that the LSM output had grown 7.65 per cent in September, besides reporting a growth of 4.8 per cent in the first quarter of current fiscal year. He added that the positive growth rate of the industry had given a ray of hope for the revival of economic activities in the country, also stressing that the data of October 2020 might be critical to sustain the momentum of industrial production during the second wave of pandemic in the country.

He said that in the year 2019-20, the LSM output had fallen by 10.17 per cent which was alarming.

“The industrial production after suffering months of damage inflicted by the COVID-19 pandemic mainly in the construction, sugar, automobile, and pharmaceutical sectors is now clearly reflecting a revival in economic activi-

ties in the country,” Nisar said.

“For the current fiscal year, the government has set the economic growth target at 2.1 per cent, which will be better in the current economic situation but is not enough to create jobs for a growing population,” he commented.

Mian Anjum Nisar said that remarkable decline in interest rates and reduction in duties on raw materials were expected to further spur economic activities in the current fiscal year, as manufacturing activity showed that more than half of the sub-sectors in the LSM rose in September. The FPCCI president said that the growth had now broken a cycle of constant contraction in the past over one year.

He further said that large businesses had been bearing the brunt of very high interest rates, issues related to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and high energy prices.

According to the data, large-scale manufacturing grew 4.8 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year on the back of increased output in food, textile and mineral sectors. The LSM recorded 7.7 per cent year-on-year growth in September, which kept hopes alive for recovery after the large industrial sector contracted more than 10 per cent in the previous fiscal year.

Data shows that out of 15 major industries, nine saw a surge in production while the output of five industries showed a contraction in the first quarter compared to the same period of the previous fiscal year.

FPCCI president said that the industrial sector had a major contribution to the tax collection and the sector’s share in revenues is almost three times higher than its contribution to the overall economic output.

According to the data, 11 types of industries registered an average growth of 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.

The manufacturing of chemical products increased by almost 10 per cent, paper and board almost 10 per cent and rubber products nearly 8 per cent. The pharmaceutical sector registered a growth rate of over 13 per cent in the July-Sept period. The coke and petroleum sector output increased by 2.7 per cent.

Industries that registered a dip in manufacturing included the automobile sector which saw a contraction of 5.4 per cent in the first quarter, iron and steel production fell 8 per cent, electronics 20 per cent, leather products 45 per cent, engineering products 37 per cent and wood products 70 per cent in

the first quarter.

Sectors that posted growth on a quarterly basis included textile that grew by over two per cent and nonmetallic mineral products increased 22 per cent during the July-Sept period.

The output of power looms had declined by 50 per cent in the first quarter while the fertilizer industry showed two per cent growth whereas the food, beverages and tobacco industries recorded 13 per cent growth in the first quarter.

FPCCI chief Mian Anjum Nisar called for out-of-the-box solutions for economic growth, as COVID-19 has adversely impacted the world’s economy as well as Pakistan’s trade and industrial sectors.

He said the government had already missed its annual export target for the first two years. For the current fiscal year, the export target was reset at $27.7 billion, requiring at least 6 per cent growth.

He said that the government has to formulate long-term and consistent policies for the revival of industry and considerable improvement in exports.

“Pakistan’s exports have remained stagnant during the past 40 years, and unless attention was paid to all factors that hamper industrial and exports growth, the country might not be able to achieve desired results,” Nisar added.

Poultry producers urge govt to allow free market to determine prices LAHORE HassaN NaQVI

The Pakistan Poultry Association (PPA) on Saturday urged the government to allow the free market to operate and let the demand and supply determine the price of poultry (chicken) and its by-products.

In a press briefing, PPA Vice Chairman for the North Region Raja Attiqueur Rehman Abbasi said that the poultry sector formed about 40 per cent of the total meat consumption. Abbasi added that the country’s Poultry industry

supplies prime quality protein food in the form of poultry meat and eggs, at a very affordable price. “The country’s poultry industry has an annual turnover of over Rs800bn and provides employment to over 1.5 million people directly and indirectly,” he said.

The PPA officer bearer added that the industry was producing 1,322 million kilogramme of chicken meat and 17,500 million table eggs annually. He claimed that the industry has provided affordable meat to the masses since its establishment. Abbasi said that the rates of poultry products were based on de-

mand and supply mechanisms, and added that products being perishable items can’t be stored for long and have to be sold. “Therefore, most of the time poultry farmers have to sell their broiler below the cost of production,” he said.

PPA Regional Secretary Major (r) Syed Javaid Hussain Bukhari shared that the farmers during the last six months were selling day old chicks and broilers at an average price of Rs4-20 and Rs90-130 respectively. Whereas cost of production of day old chick was Rs45 and Rs160 of chicken meat, he claimed.

He maintained that the PPA through vari-

CMYK

ous press conferences and press releases had fully apprised the government that the situation would lead to acute shortage of poultry products as losses would result in reduction in production and that would also increase prices.

“We had advised the government that in the event of an increase in price, supply would partially but gradually increase to some extent,” Bukhari said, adding that they had strongly advised the government not to intervene in the free market mechanism.

“The governments paid no heed. Our pleadings fell on deaf ears and as a result, poul-

try farmers are bearing huge losses,” he added.

He shared that from October 20 onwards this year, the PPA had established stalls of broiler meat where a subsidy of Rs10 per kilogramme on chicken meat is provided to the customers.

“60 more such stalls were inaugurated today at Tollinton Market in Lahore where subsidised chicken meat would be sold,” he added.

The Association strongly urged the government to allow free market mechanism functions to regulate demand and supply and not to intervene in market prices.

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS

ProteStS in Brazil after SecUrity GUardS Beat BlacK man to deatH BRASÍLIA

t

AGENCIES

HE death of a black man beaten by white security guards at a supermarket sparked protests across Brazil as the country celebrated Black Consciousness Day. A video of Thursday night's incident in the southern city of Porto Alegre captured on a witness's mobile phone was broadcast on social networks and Brazilian media.

As the video went viral, around 1,000 protesters in Sao Paulo marched to a branch of the French-owned Carrefour supermarket chain and stoned the glass storefront before storming the premises, trashing and burning goods, according to an AFP photographer on the scene.

"Carrefour's hands are dirty with black blood," read one banner held up by demonstrators.

Police in Porto Alegre used tear gas and flash bang grenades to disperse a protest that had formed in front of the supermarket where the death occurred, according to local television.

Protests also broke out in the capital Brasilia, Belo

UK orders 40m doses of Pfizer vaccine; seeks regulator’s approval LONDON

Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro, where a crowd picketed a Carrefour supermarket to prevent customers from reaching the checkouts.

"Carrefour can close, it has killed our brother, it will not work!" chanted dozens of young people carrying banners and masks with the slogan "Black Lives Matter".

The video on social media shows 40-year-old welder Joao Alberto Silveira Freitas repeatedly being punched in the face and head by a security guard while he is being restrained by another at a supermarket.

A woman stands beside them, filming with her mobile phone.

The military police in Rio Grande do Sul state said the man had threatened a female worker at the supermarket, who called security.

Silveira Freitas lost consciousness during the assault and died on the spot as medics tried to revive him.

'COULD NOT BREATHE': A friend of the victim who witnessed the beating told G1 news that as the security guards were beating him, Silveira Freitas "screamed that he could not breathe," a scene reminiscent of the death of George Floyd, a black man who died of asphyxiation as a

white US police kneeled on his neck in Minneapolis last May, a killing that sparked massive protests across the United States.

Both the supermarket security guards were arrested.

One of them was identified as a member of the military police who worked part-time at the supermarket.

In a statement, Carrefour's Brazilian subsidiary deplored the "brutal death" of Silveira Freitas and promised to take "appropriate measures to hold accountable those involved in this criminal case."

Carrefour said it would cut ties with the security company that employed the guards.

In a series of tweets in Portuguese, the French head of Carrefour, Alexandre Bompard, expressed his condolences and said that the images posted on social media were "unacceptable."

"Internal measures have immediately been implemented by the Carrefour Group Brazil, principally on the question of security company contracts. These measures are insufficient. My values, and the values of Carrefour, do not allow for racism and violence," he wrote, calling for a complete review of employee training, diversity and intolerance.

Lebanese police hunt dozens after mass jailbreak

TLTP

Britain has ordered 40 million doses of the vaccine, which has been found to be 95 percent effective in preventing the spread of a virus that has killed more than 1.3 million worldwide and crippled the global economy. Britain has also formally asked its medical regulator, the MHRA, to assess the PfizerBioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for its suitability, the first step in making the shot available outside of the United States. Britain’s health minister, Matt Hancock, said the government had taken the step after the two companies applied for emergency use authorisation in the United States. “That has given us the confidence … formally to start the process here,” he told a news conference. “This is another important step forward in tackling this pandemic,” he said. “If a vaccine is approved it will, of course, be available across the UK from our NHS (National Health Service), free at the point of delivery, according to need, not ability to pay.” Hancock said Pfizer-BioNTech has already started supplying data to the medical regulator and will submit more in the coming days. Pfizer spokesman Andy Widger said that the company is continuing to work closely with the MHRA and is in the process of providing the data to allow the regulator to make a full assessment. The MHRA has launched an accelerated review of the shot, to speed up the process of approving a successful vaccine in the country, by allowing researchers to submit findings in real time, without waiting for studies to conclude. The aim of the “rolling reviews” is to speed up evaluations of promising medicines during the pandemic while maintaining the same standards of safety and effectiveness. Britain expects to have 10 million doses of the vaccine, enough to protect 5 million people, by the end of the year if regulators approve it. Health officials stressed that the MHRA was independent and highly regarded. Jonathan Van Tam, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said the MHRA would work “at the speed of science.”

Guatemalan VP urges president to resign with him GUATEMALA CITY AGENCIES

Guatemala's vice president on Friday said he had asked President Alejandro Giammattei to resign with him "for the good of the country", following the passage of a budget that has sparked outrage in the impoverished Central American nation. "For the good of the country, I asked him that we present our resignations together," Guillermo Castillo said in a message posted on social media. He also reportedly told the president that "things are not right," and admitted to tensions between himself and the head of state. Giammattei, a 64-year-old doctor, swept to power in January promising to clean up corruption and fight organized crime. But his presidency has been dominated by controversy over his handling of the coronavirus, particularly deficiencies in the country's hospitals. He has also publicly sparred with his vice president, who in May revealed the two had privately clashed over the best response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Guatemala's Congress, dominated by conservative pro-government parties, this week approved an almost 13 billion dollar budget, the largest in the country's history. Most of the funds will go to infrastructure tied to big business, sparking outrage in a country where poverty is widespread and half of children under five years old are malnourished. Analysts have also warned that a third of the budget will need to be financed by debt. The country's Congress has also approved 3.8 billion dollars to fight the coronavirus pandemic, but less than 15 percent of those funds have been invested.

Multiple activist groups are set to convene a protest on Saturday afternoon to demand the president's resignation.

Hong Kong, Singapore travel bubble popped by virus spike HONG KONG AGENCIES

BEIRUT AGENCIES

Police in Lebanon on Saturday hunted for 44 fugitive prisoners who escaped from a detention centre on the outskirts of Beirut, calling on local residents to be on alert.

Despite tight security, 69 people broke out of a detention facility near the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, a police statement said.

Five were killed in a car accident, when they lost control of the stolen vehicle as they rushed away and crashed into a tree. One other person was taken to hospital.

By early afternoon on Saturday, 15 had been recaptured, and another four had handed themselves back in, leaving 44 on the run.

"A manhunt is...underway to arrest the remaining fugitive prisoners,"

police said in a statement.

Local authorities called on residents to be on alert, with large numbers of security forces deployed searching the area.

Prosecutor Ghada Aoun has ordered an immediate investigation in the breakout. Speaking to AFP, she said she did not rule out the possibility of "collusion between the detainees and security guards tasked with protecting their cells."

Judge Fadi Akiki, a government representative at the military court, held a meeting with security officials after inspecting the detention facility and site of the car crash.

Relatives of the inmates gathered outside the detention centre, located in Baabda's Justice Palace, where some were awaiting trial.

Some asked about the fate of their relatives, while others handed their

sons back into custody, according to an AFP photographer.

They include Joumana Berjawi, whose 22-year-old son escaped after being held for six months on charges of attempted murder -- a charge she denies. "My son was among the escapees, but I brought him back and handed him over to the state," Berjawi told AFP. The jailbreak comes as detainees across Lebanon have called on parliament to approve a draft general amnesty law, that would see thousands of them freed from coronavirus-hit prisons.

Lebanon has recorded over 113,000 Covid-19 cases including 884 deaths since the outbreak began in February.

The country is currently under lockdown until the end of the month to stem an uptick in infections.

A planned travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore was scrapped a day before its launch on Saturday after the southern Chinese city announced a sudden spike in coronavirus cases. The decision is both a blow to the two cities' battered tourist industries but also for other countries who had been hoping the scheme might be a model to replicate during the pandemic. The two financial hubs have both suffered comparatively mild outbreaks with strict social distancing and border measures imposed soon after the pandemic first emerged. But with small populations and a heavy dependence on links to the outside world they have been hard hit as the global economy collapsed. Desperate to help their key tourism and aviation sectors, they came up with the plan allowing limited, quarantinefree travel between the cities as long as visitors test negative for Covid-19. The travel corridor was set to kick off on Sunday morning. But on Saturday, Hong Kong announced the scheme would have to be delayed for two weeks following a sudden rise in coronavirus infections.

Merkel, Germany's 'eternal' chancellor, marks 15 years in power BERLIN AGENCIES

In power so long she has been dubbed Germany's "eternal chancellor", Angela Merkel marks 15 years at the helm of Europe's top economic power Sunday with her popularity and public trust scaling new heights as her remaining time in office ticks down.

With the coronavirus raging around the world, the pandemic has played to her strengths as a crisis manager with a head for science-based solutions.

Merkel, 66, has said she will step down as chancellor when her current mandate runs out in 2021, and leave politics altogether.

Assuming she finishes out her fourth term, she will tie Helmut Kohl's longevity record for a post-war leader, with an entire generation of young Germans never knowing another person at the top.

Once unthinkable calls for her to stand for yet another mandate can now be heard, however, spurred by her steady handling of the Covid-19 outbreak in Germany, where

infection levels and deaths have remained lower than those of most European partners.

The vast majority of Germans say they put great stock in her "hammer and dance" strategy of tighter and looser restrictions based on infection levels, which she this month called "among the most difficult decisions of my time in office".

POLITICAL CENTRE: The brainy, pragmatic and unflappable Merkel has served for many in recent years as a welcome counterbalance to the big, brash men of global politics, from Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin, as liberals have looked to her as the "leader of the free world".

A Pew Research Center poll last month showed large majorities in most Western countries having "confidence in Merkel to do the right thing regarding world affairs".

A trained quantum chemist raised behind the Iron Curtain, Merkel has long been in sync with her change-averse electorate as a guarantor of stability and prosperity.

Her major policy shifts have reflected the wishes of a changing society -- among

them phasing out nuclear power after the 2011 Fukushima disaster -- and shifted her CDU firmly to the political centre.

Before the pandemic her boldest move, keeping open German borders in 2015 to more than one million asylum seekers, seemed set to determine her legacy.

'AUSTERITY QUEEN': Singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann said Merkel "showed the world the friendly face of human rationality" when she chose not to use "barbed wire, clubs, water cannon, machine guns and tanks to chase away thousands of desperate refugees on the German border".

While many Germans were on board, the move also emboldened a new far-right party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has upended national politics.

At the same time, hardline leaders such as Hungary's Viktor Orban accused her of "moral imperialism" with her welcoming stance.

Five years on, the European Union appears no closer to a unified policy on migration.

The woman once known as the "climate chancellor" for pushing renewables also

faces a mass movement of young voters pressing her to make Germany meet its own commitments.

She became Europe's go-to leader during the eurozone crisis when Berlin championed swingeing spending cuts in return for international bailout loans for debt-mired countries.

Angry protesters dubbed her Europe's "austerity queen" and caricatured her in Nazi garb.

'LONGING FOR FREEDOM': Merkel, now the EU's and G7's most senior leader, started as a contemporary of George W. Bush, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac when she became Germany's youngest and first female chancellor in 2005.

Merkel was born Angela Dorothea Kasner on July 17, 1954 in the port city of Hamburg, the daughter of a Lutheran clergyman and a school teacher.

Her father moved the family to a smalltown parish in the communist East at a time when most people were headed the other way.

A top student, she excelled in mathematics and Russian, which has helped her main-

tain the dialogue with the other veteran on the world stage, Russia's Putin, who was a KGB officer in Dresden when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

Merkel kept the name of her first husband, whom she married in 1977 and divorced five years later.

"My heritage shaped me, for example the longing for freedom during my life in the GDR," she said on the 30th anniversary of reunification.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Merkel, who was working in a chemistry lab, joined a pro-democracy group that would merge with Kohl's Christian Democrats.

The Protestant from the east would later be elected leader of a party until then dominated by western Catholic patriarchs.

Now, in turbulent times of multiple global crises, the post-Merkel period looks uncertain.

A leadership battle has dragged on for months, prolonged by the coronavirus outbreak, with the outcome still highly unpredictable.

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

SPORTS 11

AfriDi rePLACes sArfArAz As GALLe GLADiAtOrs CAPtAiN

P

NEWS DESK

AKISTAN cricket superstar Shahid Afridi has been named the captain of Galle Gladiators in Lanka Premier League this season, the team’s media group announced on Saturday. In a press release, Gladiators announced that the former Pakistani skipper will be leading the side in the first edition of the league which will be played from November 26 to December 16 in Hambantota, Sri Lanka.

The T20 star will be assisted by local player Bhanuka Rajapaksa as the Vice-Captain in the tournament.

Afridi replaced Sarfraz Ahmed

who was supposed to lead the side initially. The wicket-keeper batsman withdrew from the tournament to fulfill his national duty in series against New Zealand.

Nadeem Omar, Galle Gladiators’ owner, was happy with team’s decision of appointing the 40-year-old as the new captain. “Afridi is a global superstar and a great leader thus he is the perfect choice to lead Galle Gladiators in LPL,” he said.

“I believe Afridi’s experience will be great for all our foreign players and local Sri Lankan guys. I trust that he will be able to help us fight for the title and win it,” Omar added.

Gladiators have replaced Sarfaraz

Darren Lehmann urges Australia to tour 'beautiful, passionate' Pakistan NEWS DESK Australia's former head coach Darren Lehmann has described Pakistan as a "beautiful place" and urged Cricket Australia to sanction a tour to the cricket-starved nation. Lehman was a part of the Australian team that visited Pakistan in 1998, which remains their last tour of the country. The Kangaroos dodged the tour of Pakistan for the next decade due to political volatility before the 2010 attack on Sri Lanka boss put the proposition to bed completely. Over the past few years, however, the security situation in Pakistan has changed dramatically, with England signing up for a late 2021 tour recently, and Lehmann believes Australia should do the same. "Pakistan is a beautiful place to go," he was quoted as saying by Pak Passion Editor Saj Sadiq. "I really enjoyed my tour there. Their passion for the game is second to none. I can’t see why we wouldn’t go back if everything is safe, for the good of the game in their country."

Ahmad with young Pakistan batsman Ahsan Ali while West Indian batsman Chadwick Walton has come in as replacement of South African Colin Ingram, who went to play Big Bash. The team will play their first match on November 27 against Jaffna Stallions.

‘HOPING TO GET FIT’ Meanwhile, Pakistan cricket all-rounder Sohail Tanvir is optimistic about playing in Lanka Premier League after taking a second Covid-19 test on Saturday.

Talking to a local media outlet, the T20 specialist said he’s hopeful that his following test will come out negative.

Tanvir, 35, had tested positive on Friday after arriving in Sri Lanka to

participate in their domestic T20 tournament. The star all-rounder went into 10-day isolation after the news.

The Rawalpindi born cricketer has been signed by Kandy Tuskers in the first edition of the league. His return will be determined by the medical authorities in charge. Tanvir said that he was shocked to find his test result positive as he was not facing any symptoms. The all-rounder added that because he’s ‘totally fine’ and not having any fever or difficulty, he’s taken another Covid-19 test today.

The fast bowler is hoping for a favorable result this time so that he can get back in action for the T20 tournament starting on November 26.

National Challenge Cup to kick off from 30th NEWS DESK National Challenge Cup, Pakistan’s premier football competition, will start under the supervision of Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) on November 30 in Lahore. According to details, 28 teams from around the country will be participating in the event. The teams will be divided into seven groups of four each in the first round. The top two teams from each group will make it to the round-of-16, accompanied by two best-third placed teams. Following that is the knockout stage of quarterfinals, semi-finals and the final. Pakistan Army, the 2019 champions, will be defending the title. The championship comprises 58 matches that will be played at Punjab Stadium and Fame FC Ground in Lahore. PFF National Technical Director Daniel Limones said that the tournament will ‘boost the domestic football scene’ in the country, bringing back in action the best teams and players. “Men’s football activity is back. We need it.

Let’s hope that the actual world situation is also helpful to improve our system,” he said.

Australian Open crowds at 10pc capacity would be a boon, says Djokovic AGENCIES World number one Novak Djokovic said he hopes fans will be allowed to turn up in numbers for the Australian Open in January even though spectators are still barred from most stadiums amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ever since the tour resumed after the Covid-19 stoppage, the majority of events have been played in empty stadiums, with a select few allowing fans in few numbers to attend with social distancing protocols in place to curb the spread of the virus.

“If Australia happens, I’m hearing that

we are going to have at least 50% of the capacity of the stadium. That’s a lot, I think even 10% would be huge for us at this stage,” Djokovic said after moving into the semis of the ATP Finals in London.

“Just hearing the applause and hearing the fans and sensing their energy and their emotion and their kind of excitement for being there and cheering you on on the court, that’s something that I think we’re all missing.” Rod Laver Arena is the biggest at Melbourne Park with a maximum capacity of 15,000 followed by Melbourne Arena (9,646) and Margaret Court Arena (7,500).

Defending champion Djokovic, who has won the Australian Open a record eight times, said he hoped the feeling of “walking into an empty stadium” would be temporary but was glad they were able to resume the season this year despite the pandemic.

“Strange is probably the right word to describe the season, but nevertheless I still feel like we played a lot of tournaments considering we had a six-months gap in the middle of the season,” he added. “We still managed to play three out of four Grand Slams and the ATP Finals and some big Masters 1000 events like Cincinnati and Rome.”

Chelsea beat Newcastle to take top spot NEWCASTLE AGENCIES

Chelsea climbed to the top of the Premier League for the first time in over two years with a convincing 2-0 win at Newcastle on Saturday. Frank Lampard's side moved above Leicester on goal difference thanks to Federico Fernandez's first half own goal and Tammy Abraham's strike after the interval.

Chelsea are unbeaten in nine games in all competitions and haven't lost in their last six league matches.

With five clean-sheets in their last six matches in all competitions, Chelsea's third successive league victory was the perfect way to start a hectic period leading up to Christmas. Maurizio Sarri was in charge the last time Chelsea were in pole position in the Premier League in September 2018.

But Lampard's squad are more formidable than his predecessor's fragile team and a serious title challenge looks increasingly possible. Chelsea could surrender top spot before the end of the day, with both Aston Villa and Tottenham able to go above them depending on their results.

The west Londoners had won only once

in their previous seven visits to Newcastle, but for once St James' Park didn't prove a house of horrors. Lampard had complained about having to play in the Saturday early kick off when several of his players had only returned from international duty on Thursday. Thiago Silva was not even available to feature on the bench after the 36-year-old played for Brazil in a World Cup qualifier against Uruguay on Tuesday.

German centre-back Antonio Rudiger came in for his first league start of the season, while Ben Chilwell at left-back started despite limping out of England's game with Belgium due to a back injury.

CHELSEA PRESSURE: Chelsea's weary stars shrugged off their fatigue to make a strong start as Timo Werner raced onto a through ball for a low strike that Karl Darlow pushed away for a corner.

Darlow was at full stretch again when Abraham met Hakim Ziyech's cross with a powerful header that the Newcastle keeper tipped over. The Blues' pressure was rewarded in the 10th minute when a short corner caught Newcastle flat-footed.

Mason Mount whipped in a low cross and Fernandez turned it into his own net

under pressure from Chilwell at the far post.

The fifth Premier League own goal of the hapless Fernandez's career didn't sate Chelsea's appetite. With Lampard's men monopolising possession, Werner should have doubled their lead from Mount's pass, but the German forward scuffed his shot wide from 10 yards. Callum Wilson, who had scored six of Newcastle's 10 league goals this season, was missing with a hamstring injury and the Magpies were toothless in attack without their top scorer.

Chelsea had a golden opportunity to kill them off when Werner robbed the dawdling Fabian Schar and raced into the Newcastle area, but instead of shooting he played an awful pass that was easily cleared.

Blues defender Kurt Zouma headed just wide moments later before Chelsea had a momentary wobble. Isaac Hayden blazed over from close-range as Newcastle finally had a sight of goal and Joelinton curled over from the edge of the area moment later.

But Chelsea put the result beyond doubt in the 65th minute when Werner accelerated away from the Newcastle defence and slipped a pass to Abraham, who guided his shot past Darlow and in off the post.

Stoinis eager to continue floating experiment against India SYDNEY AGENCIES

Aggressive Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is confident he could become the ultimate floating batsman in limited overs cricket after a successful stint opening in the Indian Premier League.

Stoinis, who has fashioned a successful career as a hard-hitting middle-order batsman who can close out an innings, was promoted to open for the Delhi Capitals by coach Ricky Ponting on their journey to the final.

Ponting has now joined Justin Langer’s staff for the limited overs series against India that starts on Nov. 27 in Sydney and Stoinis has told the former Australia captain he is willing to continue with the flexibility experiment.

“Punter’s (Ponting) a big believer in me and wants to give me responsibility in the teams that he’s been in charge of, but I’ve got to be adaptable,” Stoinis told reporters on Saturday.

“I’m just happy to be involved wherever they feel I can have my biggest impact in the game.

“Whether that’s at the top or the middle ... and I’ve had these conversations with Ricky and said ‘just let me know and I’ll put the pads on’.”

Stoinis, who scored 352 runs in this year’s IPL at a strike rate of 148.52, added that Ponting had proven to be a major factor in helping him improve his batting while in the United Arab Emirates.

“The confidence he instils, the way he teaches you, he’s as good as you’ll get,” Stoinis said.

“I don’t think he’s in the business of changing careers but like all those good coaches you don’t really know you’re being coached until you look back and realise (what he did was) bloody important.” Australia and India play three one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches in Sydney and Canberra before a four-test series starts in Adelaide on Dec. 17.

Second phase of 5th Thal Jeep rally concludes MUZAFFARGARH APP

The second phase of the 5th Thal jeep rally concluded on Saturday in which stoke category and women vehicles competitions were held.

As many as 49 vehicles in stoke category while three vehicles of women participated in the competitions.

Tourism Development Corporation of Punjab (TDCP) Chairman Dr Sohail Zafar Cheema inaugurated the second phase.

Speaking on the occasion, the TDCP chairman said that programmes like Thal desert jeep rally were being organized to promote tourism across the province. He said the rally was held with limited number of participants this year due to coronavirus, however, the continuity of the

event was maintained despite challenges.

Meanwhile, Adviser to Chief Minister on Agriculture Abdul Haye Dasti said that tourism was being promoted across the province as per vision of Prime minister Imran Khan. He said that such events were helpful not only in providing healthy recreations to people but also in promoting local culture.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Imran Shamas said that district administration took all possible steps to make the jeep rally a success. He said that implementation on corona SOPs was being ensured while foolproof security arrangements were also made to avoid any untoward incident. Results of winners and runner-ups would be announced during a special ceremony which will be held at Faisal stadium on November-22.

Homeboy Oliveira on Portuguese MotoGP pole PORTIMAO: Miguel Oliveira will start his home Portuguese Grand Prix from the front of the grid after emerging quickest in qualifying on Saturday to claim his maiden MotoGP pole. The Portuguese KTM-Tech3 rider will be joined on the front row of the season-closer in Portimao by Franco Morbidelli and Australian Jack Miller. Joan Mir's hopes of finishing with a flourish after claiming the world title last week appear slim after he failed to make it into Q2 which determines the make-up of the front four rows. Oliveira, winner of the Styrian Grand Prix, said: "Every time I'm on the circuit I feel better and better and it's great to get my first pole here in Portugal." Sunday's race, held in front of empty stands due to the pandemic, provides Morbidelli with a chance to clinch second place in the world championship behind Mir. AGENCIES

Sunday, 22 November, 2020

PRAyER TImINGS

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EIght dEAd, 31 InjuREd AS MORtAR ShEllS hIt RESIdEntIAl AREAS In KAbul KABUL

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AGENCIES

BOUT 23 mortar shells slammed into different parts of the Afghan capital on Saturday, killing at least eight people and wounding 31 others, an official said. The shells were fired from two cars, Interior Ministry spokesperson Tariq Arian said. No one took

immediate responsibility for the early morning attack that also targeted the posh Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul, which houses diplomatic missions. At least one rocket landed in the Iranian Embassy compound. In a tweet, Iran's embassy in Kabul confirmed that a rocket came down in the courtyard of the embassy compound and “a number of shrapnel” hit the embassy's main building, causing some damage to windows and

Obama faces lawsuit for ‘humiliating’ Indian politicians in book NEW DELHI

equipment, without specifying the equipment. “Fortunately the incident has no casualty and all the staff are in good health,” said the tweet. The Taliban issued a quick statement denying any responsibility for the attack. The Islamic State group affiliate also operates in the area and has claimed responsibility for recent assaults in Kabul including two devastating attacks on educational institutions that killed more than 50 people,

ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

A lawyer in India's Uttar Pradesh state has filed a civil lawsuit against former United States president Barack Obama, claiming that he has insulted Indian politicians in his latest book.

Obama, in his memoir ‘A Promised Land’, wrote that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had picked Manmohan Singh for the post of prime minister “because he posed no threat to her son Rahul Gandhi, whom she was grooming to be her heir,” according to India Today. Gyan Prakash Shukla, national president of All India Rural Bar Association, has filed the case in a local court in UP, which is fixed for hearing on December 1. The lawyer has pleaded that an FIR be lodged against the former US president as the book “insults” the leaders and hurts the sentiments of their followers. Obama’s claims about Manmohan and Rahul are humiliating and an attack on the sovereignty of the country, Shukla said in his application. He further added that millions of supporters of the Congress leaders are offended by Obama’s remarks and they could take to the streets and stage a protest outside the US embassy if the case is not registered. Obama has remembered Manmohan Singh, the former prime minister of India, as a “man with uncommon wisdom” and he has also mentioned that Singh owed his position to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. About Rahul, Obama has written, “Rahul Gandhi has a nervous, unformed quality about him, as if he were a student who'd done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either the aptitude or the passion to master the subject.”

Pakistan has strongly condemned the rocket attacks in Kabul on Saturday, which resulted in loss of precious lives and injuries to many.

In a statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri conveyed Pakistan's heartfelt condolences to the families of those who lost their lives and prayed for early and complete recovery of the injured.

“We express our full solidarity and support for Afghanistan and its fraternal

AGENCIES Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed ways of enhancing ties with King Salman of Saudi Arabia, in a rare phone call since the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, his office said. The phone call came on the eve of the G20 leaders' summit hosted by Riyadh on Saturday and Sunday. Erdogan and the Saudi king discussed bilateral relations during the phone call and exchanged views on the G20 summit, the Turkish presidency said late on Friday. The Turkish leader is due to address the summit via video link at 1300 GMT. "President Erdogan and King Salman agreed on keeping channels of dialogue open in order for the bilateral relations to be enhanced and for issues to be settled," it added. Turkey and Saudi Arabia have long competed for supremacy in the Muslim world but the tensions between the two Sunni-Muslim regional powers have intensified since the 2018 murder of Washington Post contributor Khashoggi at the kingdom's Istanbul consulate. The case has sparked an international outcry and tarnished the global reputation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman known as MBS. Khashoggi was strangled and his body cut into pieces by a 15-man Saudi squad inside the consulate, according to Turkish officials. His remains have not been found. Erdogan has said the order to murder Khashoggi came from "the highest levels" of the Saudi government but has never directly blamed Prince Mohammed. In September, a Saudi court overturned five death sentences issued after a closed-door trial in Saudi Arabia that ended last year, sentencing them to 20 years in prison instead.

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and government negotiating teams later Saturday during a daylong stop in Doha. The Taliban have mostly ignored such previous requests. Hours before the attack rattled Kabul, a bomb attached to a car killed one member of security personnel and wounded three others in an eastern neighborhood of the capital, said Kabul police spokesperson Ferdaws Faramarz. Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in recent months with increasingly horrific attacks often claimed by the Islamic State group affiliate. Still the Taliban have been waging near daily assaults on beleaguered Afghan security forces.

There have been increasing calls for a cease-fire if peace talks are to continue. The Taliban have been steadfast in their refusal, demanding that any cease-fire be part of the negotiations.

Pakistan condemns attacks in Kabul, rejects Modi’s allegations

TLTP

Erdogan, Saudi king agree to enhance ties in rare phone call

many of them students. As well as insurgent groups, there are several heavily armed warlords with militias living in Kabul with longstanding animosities against each other. The mortar barrage comes as representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban continued to hold talks in Qatar, though progress has been slow. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is expected to press for a reduction in violence in his meetings with both Taliban

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people,” he stated.

The spokesperson said at a time when the international community’s efforts towards Afghan peace process are moving forward, it is important to be vigilant against spoilers who are working to undermine peace efforts. Chaudhri reiterated Pakistan's condemnation of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

The Foreign Office also categorically rejected as “groundless” the allegations levelled against Islamabad by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Chaudhri called it a desperate attempt to divert the international attention from Indian state

terrorism in Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and state-sponsored terrorism against Pakistan.

The spokesperson said it is evident that India has stepped up anti-Pakistan propaganda, following presentation of the dossier by Pakistan providing irrefutable evidence of India’s state-sponsorship of terrorism. He said the dossier has extensively documented India’s active planning, promoting, aiding, abetting, financing and execution of terrorist activities against Pakistan.

Chaudhri remarked that bland denials and regurgitation of old litany of charges

by the Indian side will not change facts.

Raising the ‘bogey’ of so-called ‘crossborder terrorism’ time and again does not lend any credibility to India’s false narrative.

He said Pakistan has consistently sensitised the international community about the possibility of India resorting yet again to a false flag operation, and it again forewarned the world. He said the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy by India has made it guilty under international law, United Nations sanctions regime, and international counter-terrorism conventions.

Iran slams European criticism on nuclear programme TEHRAN AGENCIES

Iran has condemned a statement by three European powers expressing concern over its scaling back of commitments under the landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

In a statement on Saturday, the Iranian foreign ministry’s spokesman called a statement by France, Germany, and the United Kingdom – together known as the E3 – “irresponsible”. Saeed Khatibzadeh called on E3 to fulfil its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers that put curbs on Iran’s nuclear pro-

gramme in exchange for the lifting of multilateral sanctions.

“The peaceful nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran are fully within the framework of international laws and completely legal and legitimate, and in line with countries’ intrinsic legal rights,” Khatibzadeh said.

The E3 said this week it remains committed to the nuclear deal, which the United States has tried to unravel since President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in May 2018 and reimposed harsh sanctions on Iran. However, the three countries said they “continue to be extremely concerned by Iran’s actions, which are hollowing out the core nonpro-

liferation benefits of the deal”.

After remaining committed to the nuclear deal for one year under new US sanctions, Iran started gradually scaling back its commitments in moves it said are quickly reversible. But the European powers said they are concerned about Iran enriching uranium above the 3.67 percent threshold set in the nuclear deal, and its continued growth of a low-enriched uranium stockpile, now 12 times the JCPOA limit according to a recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Contrary to the JCPOA, Iran is using advanced centrifuges for the production of low-enriched uranium,” the E3 said, adding Tehran is also enriching at Fordow,

Pompeo to meet Taliban negotiators in Qatar

a facility that “has no credible civilian use”. The E3 also expressed concern over Iranian research and development of several types of advanced centrifuges and feeding uranium hexafluoride to its IR2m cascade of centrifuges.

In his statement, Khatibzadeh said Iran is acting based on provisions of the nuclear deal in scaling back its commitments since the US exited the deal and Europe failed to deliver economic benefits promised after the lifting of multilateral sanctions.

“This is completely in line with the JCPOA and Iran has always stressed that if other parties fully implement the JCPOA, Iran’s nuclear steps are reversible,” he said.

Armenia PM urges stronger military links with Russia YEREVAN

DOHA AGENCIES

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Doha Saturday to meet negotiators from the Afghan government and Taliban, amid signs of progress in their talks as Washington speeds up its withdrawal.

Pompeo's visit comes in the wake of a rocket attack which struck densely populated areas of Kabul, killing at least eight people in the latest outbreak of violence in the Afghan capital.

The Taliban have denied responsibility and no group has claimed the strike. The State Department said that Pompeo will meet separately with the Afghan government and Taliban negotiation teams in the Qatari capital.

He will also see Qatar's ruler, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, and the foreign minister on his stop in Doha, the Taliban's base for diplomacy.

The outgoing top US diplomat is on a seven-nation tour of Europe and the Middle East, as President Donald Trump shores up late-term priorities.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said it would soon pull some 2,000 troops out of Afghanistan, speeding up the timeline established in a February agreement between Washington and the Taliban that envisions a full US with-

drawal in mid-2021.

Trump has repeatedly vowed to end "forever wars", including in Afghanistan, America's longest-ever conflict that began with an invasion to dislodge the Taliban following the September 11, 2001 attacks.

President-elect Joe Biden, in a rare point of agreement with Trump, also advocates winding down the Afghanistan war, although analysts believe he will not be as wedded to a rapid withdrawal.

BREAKTHROUGH? The Taliban are speaking to Afghanistan's government for the first time. The talks started on September 12 in Doha but almost immediately faltered over disagreements about the agenda, the basic framework of discussions and religious interpretations.

Several sources told AFP on Friday that the two sides appear to have resolved some of the issues, however.

Among the sticking points so far, the Taliban and the Afghan government have struggled to agree on common language on two main issues.

The Taliban, who are Sunni hardliners, are insisting on adherence to the Hanafi school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, but government negotiators say this could be used to discriminate against Hazaras, who are

predominantly Shiite, and other minorities. Another contentious topic is how the US-Taliban deal will shape a future Afghan peace deal and how it will be referred to. The Doha peace talks opened after the Taliban and Washington signed a deal in February, with the US agreeing to withdraw all foreign forces in exchange for security guarantees and a Taliban promise to start talks.

VIOLENCE SURGINGL Despite the talks, violence has surged across Afghanistan, with the Taliban stepping up daily attacks against Afghan security forces. Trump's plan to slash troops by January 15 -- less than a week before his successor Joe Biden is to be sworn in to office -- has been criticised by Kabul residents who fear it will embolden the Taliban to unleash a new wave of fighting.

Afghan civilians have long borne the brunt of the country's bloodshed.

Officials in Kabul also worry it will harden the Taliban position at the negotiating table, where the future of hard-won gains including women's rights are on the line. Saturday's strike on the Afghan capital saw a barrage of rockets slam into various parts of central and north Kabul -- including in and around the heavily fortified Green Zone that houses embassies and international firms.

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

AGENCIES

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called Saturday for greater military cooperation with Russia, a day after Azerbaijani troops began moving into disputed territory previously held by Armenian separatist forces.

"We hope we can reinforce cooperation with Russia not only in the security sector but also military and technical cooperation," he said, according to his press service. "Of course, there were hard times before the war, but the situation today is even more difficult."

Pashinyan was speaking during a meeting in Yerevan with Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, after Azerbaijani troops Friday moved into the Aghdam district bordering Nagorno-Karabakh. Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed a Russian-brokered ceasefire on November 9 after six weeks of fighting over the self-proclaimed republic. Under the agreement, Azerbaijan will regain control of three districts that have been controlled by the separatists since the 1990s. Around 2,000 Russian peacekeepers have deployed in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh under the terms of the deal and Shoigu said Saturday the troops had secured the return of 7,000 refugees back into the disputed territory who were displaced during the recent fighting.

"For us, the main thing is to prevent bloodshed," Shoigu said Saturday. He was part of a major Russian delegation in Yerevan that also included Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.