Epaper – September 07 LHR 2020

Monday, 7 September, 2020 I 18 Muharram, 1442 I Rs 25.00 I Vol XI No 68 I 52 Pages I Lahore Edition

on DefenCe Day, Civil, military leaDers renew PleDge to safeguarD Country g

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President alvi says no coMProMise on Pakistan’s sovereignty and security, and any Misadventure by the eneMy would be dealt with severely PM warns against Misconstruing Pakistan’s desire for Peace, says arMed forces are fully caPable of defending the Motherland coas lays floral wreath at Martyrs MonuMent, says Pakistan Must turn Peace into ProsPerity and develoPMent

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD

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staff report

he 55th defence day was observed on sunday to commemorate the sacrifices of fallen heroes during the 1965 war with india and to renew the pledge to safeguard the country’s geographical and ideological boundaries in every situation and at all costs. the day commenced with special prayers in mosques for the peace, prosperity and solidarity of the country and to pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for the protection of their motherland. the main ceremony was held in the morning at the general headquarters (ghQ) in rawalpindi, according to radio Pakistan, where chief of the army staff (coas) general Qamar Javed bajwa laid a floral wreath at the Martyrs Monument. a change of guards was also held at the Quaid’s mausoleum with air vice Marshal shakeel ghazanfar as the chief guest of the ceremony. a contingent of 46 cadets of the Pakistan air force asghar khan academy took over guard duties. a ceremony was also held at the naval headquarters in islamabad, radio Pakistan reported.

PM SAYS ARMED FORCES ‘FULLY CAPABLE’ OF DEFENDING MOTHERLAND: Prime Minister imran khan said that Pakistan’s desire for peace must not be misconstrued as its weakness, adding that the country’s armed forces were “fully capable” of defending the country. “the resilient nation and the battle-hardened armed forces of Pakistan have time and again

proved that they are fully capable of defending the country and are fully prepared to meet any kind of eventuality,” the premier said in a series of tweets. in his message, the premier honoured the fallen heroes of the war, saying that 55 years ago, the nation and the men in uniform “proved that it is not the size that matters, but it is the courage and devotion that matters the most”. “september 6 is a day in Pakistan’s glorious history that is commemorated as a symbol of courage, strong will and unmatched spirit of sacrifice by our gallant armed forces.”

‘NO COMPROMISE ON SECURITY, SOVEREIGNTY: in his message to the countrymen on defence day, President arif alvi said that Pakistan would never compromise on its sovereignty and security, making it clear that any kind of misadventure by the enemy would be dealt with severely. “it makes me happy to state that we have achieved self-re-

no politics over karachi plan, warns asad after bilawal’s statement KARACHI staff report

federal Minister for Planning and development asad umar has warned against politicising the rs1.1 trillion karachi transformation package announced by Prime Minister imran khan on saturday. the warning seemed to be directed towards Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman bilawal bhutto-Zardari, who he said was not abiding by the spirit of the agreement made between the federal and sindh governments. in today’s issue

addressing a meeting at the governor’s house in karachi on sunday, the planning minister said that the decision to invest in karachi had nothing to do with politics, and that anyone spinning it as such would be distorting facts. “the federal government and the sindh government need each other to solve karachi’s problems. but ever since the plan was announced, everyone has only been asking about how much the federal government is contributing to the plan,” he said.

liance in the defence field […] we have thwarted external aggression; we have successfully defeated terrorism and extremism, and now we are on the path towards economic prosperity.” he said the day was a reminder of the spirit and valour of Pakistan’s armed forces and the nation through which they thwarted the evil designs of the enemy on this day, 55 years ago. the president said the nation saluted the martyrs as well as their families for their fortitude as they set a great example of patriotism by sacrificing their loved ones for defence of the country. “the spirit of september 1965 still lives in our hearts and i can proudly say that because of this, we have been successful in many testing times. our armed forces’ professional excellence, combat readiness, and above all their unwavering faith in allah has made Pakistan invincible,” he added.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

CONFIRMED CASES:

298,509

LAST UPDATED AT 10:10 AM ON SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

2

RECOVERED:

NEW CASES:

484

DEATHS:

285,898 6,342

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

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Contact: 0307-7338168 irfan.farooq@pakistantoday.com.pk

SINDH:

130,483

PUNJAB:

97,166

KP:

BALOCHISTAN:

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

36,591

13,229

2,327/2,979 15,734

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Monday, 7 September, 2020

NEWS

President COnFers 70 militAry AwArds On Armed FOrCes OFFiCers, sOldiers

ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff

ISLAMABAD

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(COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Sunday called on President Dr. Arif Alvi at Aiwan-e-Sadr and discussed the matters pertaining to national security.

During the meeting, the president said that Pakistan was proud of its armed forces, which had overcome internal and external challenges being faced by the country, a President House press release said. He said that the armed forces of the country always exhibited unprecedented courage and professionalism and had foiled the enemy's nefarious designs.

The president paid rich tribute to the brave soldiers who laid down their lives for defence of the country in September 1965. APP

APP

RESIDENT Dr Arif Alvi on Sunday conferred national military awards on 70 officers and soldiers of armed forces in recognition of their meritorious services and valor they had shown to safeguard the national frontiers.

At a special investiture ceremony held at Aiwan-e-Sadr, the President conferred awards in four categories including Sitarae-Jurat, Sitara-e-Bisalat, Tamgha-e-Jurat and Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military).

The ceremony was traditionally scheduled on March 23, 2020, but it had to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Even this time too, due to the social distancing measures, it was bifurcated into two day-event for conferment of military and civil awards respectively with all the participants wearing face masks as per anti-Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs).

Besides the recipients of the awards, the ceremony was also attended by members of the federal cabinet, services chiefs, family members of the recipients also including of those who martyred in different operations to purge the country of terrorists.

The President conferred Sitara-e-Jurat on Wing Commander Noman Ali Khan, who shot down an Indian aircraft that attempted to invade Pakistan's airspace on February 27, 2019.

Air Vice Marshal Zafar Aslam and Group Captain Rana Ilyas Hassan were decorated with Sitara-e-Bisalat.

Among others who were also con-

President, COAs disCuss nAtiOnAl seCurity

ferred Sitara-e-Bisalat included Wing Commander Umar Chaudhry Shaheed, Lt. Commander Humair Iftikhar, Captain Junaid Irfan Abbasi Shaheed, Subedar Major Munawar Khan Shaheed, Subedar Munir Ahmed Shaheed, Naib Subedar Nazir Ahmed Shaheed, Havaldar Engineer Muhammad Asif Shaheed, Havaldar Abdul Naseer Shaheed, Havaldar Amir Wali Shah Shaheed, Havaldar Abdul Rehman Shaheed, Lance Havaldar Abdul Razzaq Shaheed, Naik Salimullah Shaheed and Lance Naik Nazir Khan Shaheed.

Sepoys Amir Khan Shaheed, Fakhar Abbas Shaheed, Ramz Ali Shaheed, Samiullah Baig Shaheed, Anwar Jan Shaheed, Waris Sha’ban Shaheed, Mir Alam Shaheed and Imdadullah Khan Shaheed

were also conferred Sitara-e-Bisalat posthumously.

The president decorated Group Captain Faheem Ahmed Khan and Wing Commander Hassan Mahmood Siddiqui with Tamgha-e-Jurat.

Forty four armed forces officers were conferred Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) including Lt. General Khawar Rehman, Air Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar, Air Marshal Jawad Saeed, Air Marshal Zahid Mahmood, Major General Naveed Safdar, Major General Tahir Khadim, Major General Aslam Khan, Rear Admiral Imran Ahmed, Major General Ammar Raza Hamdani, Major General Irfan Ali Shaikh, Major General Wasim Ahmed, Major General Imran Afzal, Major General Syed

Raza Jafar, Major General Tahir Iqbal, Major General Malik Mohammad Masood and Major General Ayub Hassan Bhatti.

The President also conferred the Hilale-Imtiaz (Military) on Air Vice Marshal Ahmad Hassan, Major General Hassan Akhtar Kiani, rear admirals Mohammad Shoaib, Zakaur Rehman, Naveed Ashraf, Awais Ahmed Bilgrami and Abdul Basit Butt, major generals Salman Fiaz Ghani, Zafar Iqbal, Kunwar Irfan Ahmed, Chaudhry Sarfaraz Ali, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Raza Jalil, Tahir Gulzar Malik, Saqib Muhammad Malik, Muhammad Imtiaz Khan, Muhammad Asim Iqbal, Aniqur Rehman Malik, Shahid Mahmood, Asim Malik, Rafiqur Rehman, Inam Haider Malik, Fiaz Hussain Shah, Noman Zakaria, Khalid Saeed, Sarfraz Muhammad and Shahid Nazir, besides Air Vice Marshal Muhammad Zahir Faisal.

Sheikh Rasheed marks defence day with book launch LAHORE

KARACHI: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said the Sindh government will not demolish any illegal property in the ongoing encroachment drive until the residents of the building get an alternate accommodation. The ongoing anti-encroachment drive has left numerous across Sindh on the verge of homelessness. According to Karachi Municipal Corporation’s anti-encroachment chief Bashir Ahmed Siddiqi, two of the operations will target encroachments from Café Piyala to Ziauddin Hospital and from Café Piyala to Teen Hatti. The third, he had said, will be carried out at a nullah in New Karachi. Siddiqi had, however, stressed that residents would not be displaced during the anti-encroachment drive. Addressing party workers in Karachi’s Nazimabad neighbourhood on Sunday, the PPP chief said, “We will clear the nullah encroachments but with fairness. No one’s homes will be destroyed. If a house must be demolished, people will be provided with an alternate first.” Bilawal added that it was “after 100 years” that the country had received such calamitous rains. He has said that the party would now begin work in earnest on the development of the city as the “reign of terror” in the province is effectively over. Lamenting the unprecedented destruction in the province caused by the rains, Bilawal said that his party stands by the people in these testing times and will facilitate citizens in every way possible. He acknowledged that the Green Line bus project had adversely affected the city’s drainage system. STAFF REPORT

Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed’s book ‘Lal Haveli Sey Awaam-e-Mutahidda Tak’ was launched on Saturday at a local hotel in Lahore, and the launch ceremony was attended by prominent politicians, journalists as well as others.

Punjab Governor Chaudhry Sarwar, Provincial Minister for Housing Mahmoodur Rasheed, Provincial Minister for Irrigation Mohsin Leghari, Parliamentary Secretary Punjab Nazir Chauhan, Provincial Law Minister Raja Basharat, Pakistan Today Editor Arif Nizami, journalists Mujeebur Rehman Shami and Sohail Warraich, Senator Waleed Iqbal, Inspector General Railways Police Arif Nawaz, Child Protection and Welfare Bureau Punjab Chairman Sara Ahmed, Manzoor Watto, Liaquat Baloch, Special Assistant to Prime Minister Dr Shahbaz Gill and others were present at the ceremony.

Addressing the event, Arif Nizami said that Sheikh Rasheed never got personal in any of his political endeavors. “He [Sheikh Rasheed] has handled the affairs of his party very well and I wish him more success. He has also been very active in the Islamic Democratic Alliance and still rules the hearts of the people,” he said.

“It is also his characteristic that he has never hidden his contacts with the military leadership although; he often slanders his opponents as to who has links with the military leadership and who uses the back gate of

RAWALPINDI TLTP

Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza, who is on a two days official visit to Moscow, held a meeting with General Wei Fenghe, China's Minister of National Defense, on the sidelines of Defence and Security Cooperation Conference at SCO Forum. In a statement on Sunday, the InterServices Public Relations (ISPR) said that matters related to changing geostrategic environment and further strengthening of security and defence cooperation between the two countries were discussed during the meeting.

Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to iron brotherhood and all-weather friendship with continued efforts to forge deeper strategic ties for a shared future and security vision.

Earlier on Saturday, General Nadeem Raza met with Russian Federation’s Chief of General Staff General Valery V Gerasimov during his visit to Moscow. Matters of bilateral military cooperation and regional security dynamics between the two countries were discussed during the meeting. General Gerasimov lauded the professionalism of Pakistan Armed Forces and acknowledged Pakistan’s sacrifices in fight against terrorism. The CJCSC will also attend closing ceremony of ‘International Military Games – 2020’ at Moscow. Pakistan Armed Forces have been regular participants of the said games for past three years.

First phase of Gujjar nullah anti-encroachment drive about to complete KARACHI

SHAHAB OMER

Bilawal vows to ensure alternate arrangement for encroachment drive affectees

Pak-China top generals discuss changing geostrategic environment, defence cooperation

TLTP

the General Headquarters Pakistan Army (GHQ). Sheikh Rasheed gives a very good analysis on politics and also gives news of the unseen,” Arif Nizami said, adding that harsh words can be spoken without adopting a ridiculous attitude.”

Raja Basharat, during his speech said, commended Sheikh Rasheed, saying “he had already told me about the assassination attempt on him. He has done politics not for himself but for the country. He was and will be the son of Rawalpindi. My family’s relationship with him spans half a century. It seems as if Sheikh Rasheed has the power of predicting what will happen next.”

Addressing the ceremony, Sheikh Rasheed said, “There is no stain of corruption on my career. We are the voice of the poor and not hungry for the ministries. The country will develop under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. There is a great decline in our society which I have mentioned in my book. When I became very ill, even a person like me who was minister 14 times, could not get even an injection and the army

provided it [injection] to me.”

“The army is a reality, and whenever there is a difficult time in this country, the army stands like an organization and takes us out of the difficult time. I chose September 6 for my book launch to coincide with my Army and my mother’s anniversary,” he added.

At the end of the ceremony, the Punjab governor addressed the ceremony and said that many of Sheikh Rasheed’s predictions came true. “He had predicted I would enter politics forty years ago, which came true. He should have revealed the secret of not getting married in his book. The poor man is very sincere with Pakistan. We also pay tribute to the Pakistan Army.

I will try to buy these books on my own and deliver them to the universities. The world’s largest gym is going to open in Lahore and investments has also started coming to Pakistan.

The future of the country is in safe hands under the leadership of Imran Khan.” Dr Shahbaz Gill, Sohail Warraich, Mujeebur Rehman Shami and Senator Waleed Iqbal also addressed the ceremony.

The first phase of an anti-encroachment drive has been continued for the fifth days at Gujjar Nullah, which is stretched over a distance of 13.5 kilometers. The marking and survey work to remove illegal encroachments has entered its final phase at three points on Gujjar Nullah in Karachi’s District Central. The work has been underway at Zero Point drain passing through 9000 road in New Karachi, Cafe Piala in Gulbarg area and Kausar Niazi Colony near Ziauddin Hospital. A large contingent of police has been deployed in the area to tackle any untoward situation during the anti-encroachment drive. In the first phase makeshift encroachments within 20 feet limit being completely demolished by the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) personnel which includes cattle yards, workshops, sheds and huts, etc. The area dwellers offer resistance to the anti-encroachment teams. The area dwellers said they won’t allow demolition of their homes if not offered an alternate place.

The city corporation personnel have mostly completed the anti-encroachment operation around Gujjar Nullah near Cafe Piala with the help of the district central administration and the police department. It is pertinent to mention here that most of the storm water drains in Karachi have been encroached with illegally constructed houses, shops and other structures.

These encroachments have a pivotal role in impeding free flow of the rainwater causing urban flooding and immense damage to the city, in case of a catastrophic spell of rainfall, like the one recently hit the port city. A survey conducted by Sindh Irrigation Department and the KMC a few years ago pointed out thousands of built houses on Gujjar Nullah, stretched over a distance of 13.5 kilometers.

Monday, 7 September, 2020

NEWS

tOP POlitiCAl PArties mAy nOt OPPOse duAl nAtiOnAls’ entry in eleCtiOns ISLAMABAD

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MIAN ABRAR

HE federal cabinet’s decision to allow the dual nationals to contest general elections in Pakistan may get a nod from the opposition parties as neither the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) nor the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) appear in a mood to oppose the government’s move.

However, a comment made on social media site, Twitter, by PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal on Saturday set off a storm as activists and leaders from the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and the opposition parties joined a social media battle.

“It was just a sarcastic remark on Twitter that let loose dozens of messages.

I just reminded the public that [Prime Minister] Imran Khan had taken a U-turn over his opposition to previous govern-

AHSAN IQBAL, ZULFI BUKHARI EXCHANGE BARBS ON SOCIAL MEDIA ment decision on allowing dual nationals contesting polls,” Ahsan Iqbal said talking to Pakistan Today.

He said that actually the prime minister had to reverse his decision on dual nationals when his close aide and special assistant, Syed Zulfiqar Bukhari, had refused to renounce his dual nationality.

Asked whether the PML-N would oppose the PTI’s decision to allow the dual nationals contest polls, Iqbal said that his party would take a decision when any bill is presented in the National Assembly (NA).

“We will decide when this law is tabled [in NA or Senate],” he said.

PPP veteran leader Farhatullah Babar also took to Twitter to criticise PM

Faraz condemns journalist shaheena shaheen's killing ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz on Sunday condemned the murder of journalist Shaheena Shaheen Baloch while stressing that the government believes in freedom of expression. "The tragic incident of the murder of journalist Shaheena Shaheen is very sad and reprehensible and the incident will be fully investigated," tweeted the minister. The minister said that the protection of journalists is the responsibility of the government and it would fulfil its duty. He added that the government "stands with the affected family and those responsible will be brought to justice". On Saturday, the police reported that Baloch was shot dead in the Turbat district of Balochistan. According to the preliminary police information, her husband had allegedly shot and killed her. Baloch was working with the PTV Bolan, was an editor of Dazgahar — a Balochi magazine — and was a well-known artist. According to Superintendent Kech Police, the TV anchor's husband, Mehrab Gichki allegedly fired at her with his 9mm pistol. He was said to have later brought her to the hospital, where she was declared dead. The SP said that the maternal uncle of Shaheena Baloch, Amjad Raheem, nominated the husband in the FIR at the Kech Police Station, Turbat. Reportedly Gichki fled after abandoning his wife’s body at the hospital. The police were conducting raids to arrest him. Balochistan government spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani termed the incident “extremely unfortunate” and said that the police were fully cooperating with the deceased’s family. “I had a conversation with the DPO Kech. He told me that some people had left her body at the hospital,” Shahwani said, adding that her uncle had received the body. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists also condemned the murder.

In a statement, PFUJ President Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary General Nasir Zaidi asked the provincial and federal governments, and the IG FC to take quick action for the arrest of the persons involved in the murder. We want an immediate judicial inquiry into her murder and the arrest of her murderer, the statement added.

Pmd forecast hot and humid weather, rainfall at scattered places ISLAMABAD

Imran’s decision.

“Allowing dual nationals to contest elections is a correct U turn. They are no less patriots. Imran should apologise for publicly doubting their patriotism in past.

Pakistanis working abroad no less patriots than self proclaimed patriots in high positions doing businesses abroad,” he wrote.

A source in the PPP also said that the PPP may not oppose the move as the PTI had opposed their decision to include dual nationals in the federal cabinet. The source said that though a decision may be taken once the government tables a law in the parliament but Farhatullah Babar’s tweet suggested the party may not oppose it.

It merits mention that last week, fed-

Indian envoy summoned after LoC ceasefire violation leaves one injured ISLAMABAD STAFF REPORT

The Foreign Office on Sunday summoned a senior Indian diplomat to register Pakistan’s “strong protest” at the ceasefire violations along the line of control (LoC) which left a civilian injured.

The development comes a day after a 19-year-old boy – Muhammad Tariq, a resident of the Kirni Village in the Rakhchikri sector – received injuries as a result of “indiscriminate and unprovoked firing” along the de facto border between the two neighbours.

“The Indian occupation forces along the LoC and the Working Boundary have been continuously targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-calibre mortars and automatic weapons,” a FO press release said.

The statement added that India had committed 2,158 ceasefire violations since the start of this year, which had resulted in 17 deaths and serious injuries to 168 people.

“The Indian occupation forces along the LoC and the Working Boundary (WB) have been continuously targeting civilian populated areas with artillery fire, heavy-caliber mortars and automatic weapons,” the statement said.

“Such senseless acts are in clear violation of the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding, and are also against all established humanitarian norms and professional military conduct. These egregious violations of international law reflect consistent Indian attempts to escalate the sit-

uation along the LoC and are a threat to regional peace and security.”

The statement added that India “cannot divert attention from the grave human rights situation” in occupied Kashmir by raising tensions across the LoC. The FO urged India to respect the 2003 Ceasefire Understanding and to “maintain peace along the LoC” along with investigating all such violations.

It also called upon India to allow the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its role according to UN resolutions.

LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar expressed outrage over the officials on the poor sanitary situation in a number of places across the province.

Buzdar, while chairing a high-level meeting on Sunday over Punjab local bodies, said that the fact that local body officials were not moved in spite of all the filth in their areas was displeasing. He remarked that they do not deserve to hold the posts if they are not willing to do the needful, referring to those officials. Buzdar advised officials to avoid lapses in redressing grievances of the people.

He said the local government funds have been resumed now and asserted that the provincial government

OiC condemns French magazine’s reprinting of blasphemous caricatures CAIRO: The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the Islamic world’s largest bloc, has condemned a French magazine’s republishing of blasphemous caricatures. The Jeddah-based OIC called the republication of the cartoons a “manifestation of hatred and foolish stereotyping” constituting a flagrant violation of international law of human rights, the Saudi press agency SPA reported. The OIC human rights commission expressed a grave concern over act and said that the republication of the blasphemous material has nothing to do with freedom of expression. “Mankind needs in such crucial times facing the world due to the continuation of the coronavirus pandemic to exert more efforts to achieve solidarity, tolerance and respect of cultural and religious diversity,” the commission said in a statement. It warned that such hate moves will boost extremists’ exploitation of the cultural gap. AGENCIES

torrential rains leave hundreds of villages in sindh, Punjab submerged KARACHI: Scores of villages in Sindh and Punjab were inundated with stormwater after heavy rains lashed parts of two provinces. The rise of the water level in the embankments of canals passing through Golarchi Tehsil of Badin district due to rain wreaked havoc. In several villages of Sanghar’s Sindhri Tehsil, the walls of mud houses collapsed while in Tando Muhammad Khan, victims of the floods were forced to abandon their homes after heavy downpours damaged their houses and flooded their area. More than 200 villages submerged in rainwater in Mirpur Khas District’s Digri. In Punjab’s Layyah district, 40 settlements have been flooded while rice, sugarcane, and cotton crops have been severely affected in the Khushab and Rajanpur districts. STAFF REPORT

new FAtF laws beneficial for every Pakistani: sAPm

Funds released for local bodies: Buzdar

was preparing for local body elections. “The development work on the grassroots level will be felt by people on their doorsteps,” he added. The meeting further discussed the imminent polls for the local bodies, ensuring smooth polling process, among other things.

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Overseas Pakistanis Zulfiqar Bukhari has said that the new laws related to Financial Action Task Force (FATF) action plan are beneficial for every Pakistani except those who have illegal wealth to hide. In a tweet on Sunday, Zulfiqar Bukhari termed those opposing the new FATF laws and taking it as a bargaining tool for amending the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) regulations as the enemy of Pakistan and the future generations. “Asking to change NAB laws under the cover of FATF is the worst animosity with Pakistan,” he said. It is pertinent to mention here that the federal government had decided to pass a pending bill related to FATF laws at any cost, whereas, a session of the National Assembly (NA) has been summoned on September 7 at 4:00 pm. Moreover, a joint parliament session is also likely to be summoned soon. The federal government has started contacting government and coalition lawmakers for ensuring their attendance in the upcoming session. Earlier on September 3, while terming FATF-related bills ‘matter of national interest’, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that they would get passed the bills through the Senate at all costs.

Talking to a delegation of senators belonging to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its allied parties who called on him in Islamabad, PM Imran had said that the opposition parties united only to conceal their corruption.He had maintained that they will expose those elements who were opposing the bills pertaining to the national security before the masses. The prime minister said that they will not bow down to such blackmailing and reiterated that no corrupt leader will get NRO. STAFF REPORT

Pakistan to voluntarily restore one million hectares of degraded land: Amin ISLAMABAD INP

STAFF REPORT

The weather department has forecast hot and humid weather in most parts of the country on Sunday, while likely rainfall at scattered places in the next 24 hours. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has predicted rainfall at some places in northeast Punjab, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and its mountainous areas. In past 24 hours mostly hot and dry weather reported, while maximum rainfall occurred at Okara (25mm), Lahore (City 17, Airport 02mm), Bahawalnagar (16mm) in Punjab, Malam Jabba (20mm) in KP and Islamkot (05mm) in Sindh. After a recent spell of torrential rains in Sindh, Pakistan Meteorological Department predicted dry weather in the province for the next 10 days.

eral cabinet approved a bill, seeking amendment in the Article 63 (1) of the Constitution of Pakistan, to allow dual nationals to contest polls in the country.

A sub-committee of the cabinet rejected the idea to amend the constitution to allow dual nationals to contest polls in the country. The decision was, however, reversed in the cabinet meeting on the demand of federal ministers.

The federal cabinet rejected the subcommittee’s recommendations and sent the amendment to the parliamentary affairs ministry for legislation on the matter.

The new amendment although allows the dual nationals to contest polls in the country, however, Adviser to PM on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan said that the person has to withdraw from his nationality before taking an oath of his responsibility.

“However, he will not have to leave his nationality in case of losing the polls,” he added.

03

Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Climate Change, Malik Amin Aslam has said that Pakistan has decided to enter into the Bonn Challenge 2030, a global environmental restoration endeavour under which globally 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested land would be restored by 2030 through afforestation activities.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he said that as a part of the global effort, one million hectares of degraded/deforested lands in different parts of the country would be restored. "We have decided to join the daring global movement of the Bonn Challenge 20230 and are going to offer volunteer commitment of restoring one million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes through national afforestation and environmental restoration programmes and activities," Malik Amin Aslam said.

He said that the present government is implementing world-acclaimed programmes and projects including Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme, Protected Areas Initia-

tive, Clean Green Pakistan Initiative and Recharge Pakistan, which are all together geared towards achieving Pakistan's pledge of restoring one million hectares of degraded and deforested landscaps as a part of the Prime Minister Imran Khan's vision for Clean and Green Pakistan.

The SAPM hoped that first such a national-level effort for restoring degraded and deforested landscapes would not only help stem biodiversity loss but also address various environmental challenges including land erosion, soil erosion, silting of rivers and soil infertility and contain growing food insecurity. The Bonn Challenge 2020 target of restoring 150 million hectares degraded and deforested landscapes globally was launched at a high-level event in Bonn in 2011 organized by the Government of Germany and IUCN. Later, it was endorsed and extended to 2030 by the New York Declaration on Forests of the 2014 United Nations (UN) Climate Summit. To date, 63 governments, private associations and companies have pledged over 172 million hectares to the Challenge.

The Bonn Challenge is, in fact, an implementation channel for national priorities such as water and food se-

curity and rural development while simultaneously helping countries contribute to the achievement of international climate change, biodiversity and land degradation commitments. The first phase of the Bonn Challenge 2020 has already achieved the milestone of restoring the150 million hectares of degraded and deforested landscapes throughout the world in 2017. Malik Amin Aslam, who has remained instrumental behind the global movement of the Bonn Challenge, said that restoration of 150 million hectares of degraded and deforested lands in biomes around the world under Bonn Challenge 2020 created around $84 billion per year in net benefits that brought additional income opportunities for rural communities.

Around 90 per cent of this value is potentially tradable, meaning that it encompasses market-related benefits, he added. However, achieving the 350-million-hectare goal under the Bonn Challenge 2030 aims to generate about $170 billion per year in net benefits from watershed protection, improved crop yields and forest products, and could sequester up to 1.7 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually.

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Monday, 7 September, 2020

NEWS

sindh announcEs appointmEnt of district administrators SUKKUR

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TLTP

INDH government has appointed administrators in all districts of the province after the local councils completed their mandated tenure in the province.

The local government bodies in the province had completed their four-year term on August 30. Sindh Local Government Department notified an end to the term of local councils in the province.

While talking to local media Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced that Local Government Secretary Iftikhar Shallwani will be appointed as administrator of Karachi.

Talking to journalists, the chief minister said that his government has decided to appoint Shallwani as Karachi administrator and a notification to this effect will be issued shortly.

The provincial government has now appointed Iftikhar Shallwani, a former commissioner of Karachi, as the adminis-

trator of the port city. Sindh Services and General Administration Department has issued notification for the posting.

Concerned deputy commissioners have been appointed administrators of six District Municipal Corporations in Karachi. According to the notification, Ganhwar Leghari has been appointed administrator of District Council Karachi.

Irshad Sodhar has been named administrator District-South, Saleemullah Odho as administrator District-West, Muhammad Ali Shah as administrator District-

East and Shaharyar Memon as administrator District Korangi.

Moreover, the deputy commissioners of all districts of Sindh including Hyderabad, Badin, Sujawal, Thatta, Tando Muhammad Khan, Matiari, Tando Allahyar, Dadu, Mirpur Khas, Umarkot, Tharparkar, Shaheed Benazirabad, Sanghar, Naushehro Feroz, Sukkur, Ghotki, Khairpur, Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Shikarpur and Jacobabad, have been appointed as administrators of their respective districts.

Masood urges doctors to voice concern over worst health crisis in IOK MUZAFFARABAD STAFF REPORT

spirit of martyrdom of armed forces can't be defeated: aleem LAHORE TLTP

Punjab Senior Minister Abdul Aleem Khan has said that 55 years ago Pakistan proved that its defence is invincible, adding that the whole nation salutes those who sacrificed their lives for the dear homeland.

Khan said that the young men of the Army, Navy and Air Force are national heroes and every Pakistani stands by his/her armed forces. He said that despite the numerical majority, those who gritted the enemy's teeth and tied bombs to their bodies and lay down under tanks proved that there is no substitute for enthusiasm and fervour. He said that spirit of martyrdom of Pakistan Armed Forces cannot be defeated. Aleem Khan said, "September 6, Defense Day and September 7, Air Force Day, renew our commitment to protect the beloved homeland and today every Pakistani reiterates his pledge that if ever a difficult time comes, we will all join forces with Pakistan to fight the enemy." He said that today's nuclear Pakistan is stronger than ever and a lead wall for the enemy. He added that the country is in safe hands under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan and God-willing Pakistan will be stronger in the days to come. "Today we should all pledge to move forward with mutual unity, solidarity and national unity and lay down our lives for this motherland and pay tributes to those who sacrificed themselves on this beloved country," he further said.

water inflow at tarbela drops to below the mark of low flood LAHORE TLTP

Indus River water level dropped to down the low flood level at Tarbela Dam with inflow and outflow of water recorded at 1,99,300 cusecs, a spokesperson of Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) said on Sunday. The inflow and outflow of river at Mangla Dam has been 38,500 cusecs, the Water and Power Development Authority further said in a statement. The inflow of River Indus at Chashma Barrage recorded 4,18,700 cusecs and water discharge at the barrage is 4,12,200 cusecs, the statement said. The water at Tarbela reservoir has been measured at 59,80,000 acre feet, while at Mangla reservoir water conservation has been 73,56,000 acre feet, according to the Wapda statement.

Moreover, around 32,000 acre feet water has been coserved at Chashma barrage. Overall water conservation at reservoirs has been 1,33,78,000 acre feet. Two mega water reservoirs of Mangla and Tarbela were filled to their maximum levels last week, resulting in the record availability of water in the two dams, which is being regarded a good omen for agriculture and hydel power generation in the country. The cumulative quantum of water available in Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs stands at 13.336 million acre-feet (MAF) which is a record of water availability during the last 10 years. According to the statistics, the water level in Mangla and Tarbela is 1242 feet and 1550 feet respectively above mean sea level. Water available in the two dams is 2.173 MAF more if compared with the average of the last 10 years. It is worth mentioning here that average water availability in the two dams during the last 10 years on the day recorded as 11.163 MAF.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan has urged the medical fraternity, particularly the physicians of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir, to voice their concern over the worst health crisis in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK).

"The people in the IIOJK are faced with the worst health crisis of their history as the Indian occupation forces use pellet guns as a mean of crowd control maiming, blinding, and injuring them”, he further said while addressing a gathering of over 500 doctors and senior health consultants from all the four provinces of Pakistan at an Annual Mid-Summer meet. The AJK president said that the IOK people not only suffered from grievous eye injuries but they also have been denied access to communication as well as all levels of primary, secondary or tertiary healthcare amidst year-long lockdown. The occupied territory lacks healthcare staff, drugs, surgical material and the equipment needed for healthcare, he said and cited a report published by the Wall Street Journal, which had suggested that hospitals in IOK have become graveyards because of a crisis like humanitarian and health emergency situation prevails there.

Citing another report released by Doctors Sans Frontier (MSF) compiled in collaboration with the University of Kashmir, Sardar Masood Khan said that some sort of mental distress, anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) prevails among nearly 1.8 million Kashmiri adults – 45 per cent of the region’s adult population. "Children seeing killings, physical torture, sexual

abuses and destroyed properties before them are particularly suffering from PTSD," he added. President Khan also expressed his deep gratitude to the University of Health Sciences (UHS) for granting affiliation to the medical colleges of the liberated territory and maintained that this would help AJK improve the quality of medical education being imparted to the students in the state.

Referring to the recent outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the state president said that Pakistan and AJK had risen to the occasion and responded to the catastrophe with courage and resilience. “By the grace of Almighty Allah, we have done well despite all the limitations by keeping the number of fatalities extremely low," he said.

Dealing at length with the health profile of liberated territory, the AJK president said that at present, three public sector medical colleges and one in the private sector were producing about 400 graduate students every year. It is a matter of great pride that we have good health infrastructure though it is not perfect as we still have some severe challenges, but we are doing well in certain areas as compared to other provinces of Pakistan.

He said that we have some very good hospitals in the state, but we lack the equipment, medical and technology needed to fight communicable and non-communicable diseases. However, we are gearing up to give priority to the health sector in our development activities.

The AJK president urged the doctors and medical experts to prepare themselves for embracing new technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics and cloud computing that have an impact on medical sciences to meet the challenges of the future and to compete with the world.

Only nations with strong defence can survive in history: Yasmin LAHORE STAFF REPORT

Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said on Sunday that on September 6, 1965, Pakistani armed forces wrote an epic of bravery and courage and the Defence Day "reminds us of our resolve to face the enemy with bravery and valour to save the country and the nation."

In her message on Defence Day, the minister said that only the nations who can maintain a strong defense can survive in history. She said that under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan, the political government and Armed forces are on one page. "In 1965, our armed forces and our people jointly thwarted the nefarious designs of the enemy. India never accepted Pakistan as sovereign country. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi must remember 6th September before committing atrocities on Kashmir. Pakistan defeated India despite being five times

less resourceful. Pakistan armed forces are renowned world over for their professionalism. Pakistan has the capacity to face anyone daring to harm us," she maintained.

EnragEd crowds protEst suspEctEd rapE and murdEr of 5-yEar-old girl in Karachi KARACHI: Enraged residents staged a protest after the burn body of a five-year-old girl was recovered from Karachi’s Old SabziMandi Bazar two days after she was reported missing. The five year old victim of the suspected rape and mutilation, Murwah, was reported missing from the Old SabziMandi area two days before her body was found in a trash heap on an empty plot in the same area in the early hours of Sunday morning. Initial police reports show that she was raped before being murdered. According to the postmortem, the child had been sexually assaulted before she was finally killed by blows to the head. The local SHO said that one person had been taken into custody for questioning. Meanwhile, residents of the area staged a protest on the Main University Road after her burial in the morning. Some men, carrying sticks, were seen asking commuters to take alternative routes and the main road from Hasan Square to New Town was closed for traffic. According to media reports, the SSP Investigations (East), Farrukh Ali, had spoken with the protesters, and reassured them that a man had been arrested and his samples had been sent for testing to check his involvement in the crime. The police requested the protesters to clear the area for traffic, but the angry crowd continued to mark their protest. The protesters brought up the case of Zainab Ansari, the six year old girl that had been kidnapped, raped and killed in Kasur back in October 2018. The near month long manhunt for her killer had been a time when the entire nation had come together to find the person responsible for the brutal assault and death of the child. MONITORING REPORT

punjab acE retrieves precious state land from illegal occupation LAHORE STAFF REPORT

The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE), Punjab claimed to have retrieved illegally occupied precious pieces of state-owned land in Sahiwal, Rahim Yar Khan, and Rajanpur. According to ACE officials, the department retrieved 21 kanal of commercial land whose value has been estimated at around Rs1.5 billion from illegal occupation in Sahiwal, while 322 kanal and 12 marla land was cleared of encroachment in Rahim Yar Khan. The Anti-Corruption Establishment also retrieved a piece of land worth more than Rs303 million in Rajanpur. On September 4, the ACE had claimed recovery of property worth Rs. 5.22 billion in a graft case. “The historic recovery made in the shape of land from a Dera Ghazi Khan housing scheme,” Punjab Anti-Corruption Director General Gohar Nafees said. Around 261 kanal of land was transferred to D.G. Khan Municipal Corporation from the housing scheme, the official said. The recovered land has market value to the tune of 5.22 billion rupees, Anti-Corruption DG said. The recovered land will be used for public places in the society, according to the anti-corruption official. Punjab Anti-Corruption Department was inquiring into the housing society land scam for the last two years, he added.

Ban imposed on removing sand and gravel from Hub river KARACHI TLTP

Hub district administration has imposed a ban on removing sand and gravel from the bed of river at the Hub Bridge, sources disclosed on Sunday.

The district administration has notified the constitution of a task force to halt removal of sand and gravel from the bed of Hub River. The task force comprises five members, including the SHO, according to a notification.

The National Highway Authority (NHA) had written a letter to Deputy

Commissioner Hub seeking ban on removal of sand and gravel from the river in one-kilometre area of the bridge to save the bridge structure from further damage.

“Illegal digging of sand and gravel from the place poses a serious threat to the Hub bridge,” according to the NHA letter. “The tractor mafia stealing sand and gravel from the place at largescale,” the NHA said.

Illegal digging for sand and gravel at the river has exposed the piles of the bridge, the NHA added. “The contractors in construction business remove

sand and gravel on a daily basis and with it land surface at the place going down one foot each year.”

The NHA on Saturday declared the bridge over Hub River connecting Karachi as safe for travelling after footages shared on social media highlighted its dilapidated condition.

Clarifying the matter, the NHA said that the 530-metre long bridge at Hub River was built 50 years back and has a strong structure without any technical faults. Director NHA Kashif Ali Shaikh has been reported saying that illegal digging for reti and bajri at the

river exposed the piles of the bridge and were later strengthened using RCC and steel jacketing in 2017-18. “The structures are now safe after the repair works,” he said.

He said that although the recent rains and flood in the river caused damage to the outer walls of the bridge constructed by the NHA, however, its inner structure is intact.

The NHA official said that they would carry out the repair works at the damaged outer wall of the bridge to further strengthen the piles, in order to save it from any major flooding in future.

Monday, 7 September, 2020

KP businesses voice concerns over Fbr’s new LTu modeL peSHaWaR

b

AZIZ BUNERI

USINeSS owners in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have urged the Federal Board of Revenue to review their recent restructuring, under which thousands of cases are being shifted under the jurisdiction of three newly-created large taxpayers units (LTUs) in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad.

The bid for restructuring means that the regional taxpayer offices (RTOs), with whom businesses had been dealing up until now, will only be responsible to broaden the tax base and facilitation of existing taxpayers under the new restructuring mechanism. The FBR has implemented its order by handing over 1,100 cases to LTU Lahore, 750 cases to LTU Islamabad and around 1,500 cases to LTU Karachi.

Out of the 750 cases handed over to LTU Islamabad, 128 are from KP, a move that has been vehemently opposed by businesses. The concerns were brought to light during a meeting of the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) with Dr Muhammad Ashfaq, a member of the FBR’s Inland Revenue Operation.

Instead of imposing additional burden of taxes on existing taxpayers, the business community urged the FBR to take measures to broaden the existing tax-base by bringing more people under the tax-net. Besides this, the meeting also requested a one-time tax audit instead of multiple audits throughout the year.

The general consensus of the SCCI was that there should also be deferment of turnover tax for the next one year, and reduction in the ratio of this tax. They furthermore demanded fixed tax regimes be introduced for small traders.

The SCCI has joined growing voices that are making their reservations over the new LTU structure known. earlier, ranking members from within the FBR have said that the move could be disastrous, as it will pave the way for abandoning the structure of RTOs because their collection will be much less but their fixed expenses will be on higher side. However, others have said that the new structure means that that 75 to 80 percent revenue was coming through three major LTUs so more workforce was needed to be deputed to monitor and pursue major revenue potential cases.

At the meeting, Dr Muhammad Ashfaq assured that business owners that the FBR would resolve the grievances of the business community regarding shifting cases of 128 units from RTO Peshawar to LTU Islamabad.

However, he did stick to his guns, saying that the 128 cases were shifted to LTU Islamabad to make life easier for taxpayers, not to add to their problems. He also claimed that none of the taxpayers would have to make unnecessary trips to Islamabad, since everything would be done remotely through state-of-the-art online systems.

He also said that the issue was a moot point for the time being, since the Peshawar High Court had issued a stay against the transfer of the 128 cases to Islamabad,

and the FBR would make any final decisions based on the orders of the court.

Keeping in view the reservations of the business community about the Point of Sale (POS) system, the senior official said the consultation would be made with relevant stakeholders before enforcement of the system, adding that implementation of POS system might be extended.

Following the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan, he said the FBR has so far cleared Rs120billion arrears of refunds to business community across the country during the last four months. He assured the process for disbursement of refunds before 2014 and from July 2019 to up to date will be initiated very shortly. He informed the whole system will be updated after June 2021 and the entire backlog will be cleared.

Regarding the deferment of turnover tax for next one year, the senior official replied that it is a policy matter, which would be discussed at policy level. He agreed with the appointment of independent lawyer at ADRC and gave assurance for extension in date for submission of sale tax returns. earlier, Senator Nauman Wazir, former chamber presidents, Zahidullah Shinwari, Riaz Arshad, Malik Niaz Ahmad, Sherbaz Bilour, Mujeebur Rehman, Aftab Hayat and others also spoke on the occasion.

They urged the FBR to take measures for existing taxbase, tax-reforms, besides informing about reservations/apprehensions of industrialists and traders regarding policies of the FBR.

On Defence Day, civil, military leaders renew pledge to safeguard country continued on page 01 ‘TURN PEACE INTO PROSPERITY AND DEVELOPMENT’: Later, during an investiture ceremony held at the army’s General Headquarters in Rawalpindi on the occasion of the 55th Defence Day, the army chief conferred military awards to army personnel for acts of gallantry during various operations.

“Families of shuhada/ghazis, senior serving military officers/soldiers also attended the ceremony,” according to a press release by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).

The military’s media wing said 40 officers were awarded Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Military), 24 officers and soldiers were awarded Tamgha-e-Bisalat and a soldier was awarded the United Nations Medal.

The medals of the martyred were received by their family members.

Addressing the gathering, the army chief said that Pakistan faced great trials over the last 20 years with war on the eastern and western fronts. He said that the country also faced natural disasters, such as floods and earthquakes, and the war on terror.

General Bajwa said that thousands of people got displaced and many sacrificed their lives. He also noted that the country successfully fought against coronavirus and the locust attack.

The army chief said that in all those “challenging times” the country did not lose hope and fought against the trials head-on. He said that due to these sacri-

fices, Pakistan was peaceful today.

“Now we have to turn this peace into prosperity and development. As a nation we have to fight for it,” said the army chief, adding that the country will have to adopt the principles of unity, faith, and discipline and follow Quaid-e-Azam’s directives to “work, work and just work”.

The COAS also warned the nation of the perils of fifth-generation or hybrid warfare saying that its aim is to “discredit the country and the armed forces, and to spread chaos”. “On this occasion, I would like to turn your attention to another challenge. This challenge has been imposed on us through the fifth generation or hybrid war,” said the army chief.

He vowed that the army would fight against the threat with the support of the nation and be successful against it.

General Bajwa said that Pakistan seeks peace in the region, adding that the country’s key efforts in Afghanistan were a testament to the fact.

He warned that neighbouring India — like always — has adopted an “irresponsible attitude”. He added that New Delhi took the “illegal step” of ending the special status of occupied Kashmir.

“India has once again threatened peace in the region,” said the army chief, adding that it was a fact that Kashmir was an internationally accepted dispute. He said that Pakistan does not accept “any such unilateral decision” of the Indian government.

“The founder of Pakistan had declared Kashmir as the jugular vein of Pakistan. We do not accept any unilateral

decision related to Kashmir,” he. He also warned India that Pakistan would not be “intimidated” by stockpiling of newly acquired weapons by New Delhi.

“The armed forces of Pakistan are fully equipped, vigilant and aware,” noted the army chief, adding that they would respond befittingly to any move made by the enemy with full force.

“Pakistan is a living reality; our blood, passion, action will provide proof of this on every front,” he said. He reiterated that Pakistan was a peace-loving nation but if war is imposed on it then it would give a stronger response than the enemy.

“We showed this by responding to the failed Balakot attack,” said Gen Bajwa.

The COAS said that Pakistan’s armed forces made a lot of sacrifices across the world for peace.

“The world acknowledges the sacrifices of the armed forces,” he said. He added that September 6, 1965, was an “immortal chapter” in Pakistan’s history.

The army chief said that numerous stories of solidarity, patriotism, sacrifice and bravery came to the forefront on September 6, 1965. He added that the September 6 was not just a day for Pakistan but is a “testament to our courage”. Gen Bajwa said that the day was observed throughout the country to remember the martyrs of 1948, 1965, 1971 and Kargil wars.

“This day reminds us that we defeated an enemy much bigger than us. We are ready today as well to defeat the nefarious plans of the enemy,” said the army chief.

He said that he salutes the families of

the martyrs and assured them the country will never forget their sacrifices.

“Our martyrs are our heroes,” said General Bajwa, adding that those nations that forget their heroes are forgotten in history.

‘FREEDOM IS A PRECIOUS ASSET’: The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President and National Assembly (NA) Opposition Leader Shahbaz Sharif tweeted that while the country paid homage to its martyrs, “we must invoke the spirit of sacrifice and national cohesion that marked this day to take Pakistan forward”.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said that those who “sacrificed their lives in the line of duty are the nation’s heroes” and the martyrs would remain alive in the memories of generations to come.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) released a song to pay tribute to the national heroes. According to the military’s media wing, the song “Har Ghari Tayyar Kamran” is a remake of an old patriotic song of the ’80s.

Country’s top voices, including Ali Hamza, Ali Azmat, Ali Noor and Asim Azhar, collaborated for the Defence and Martyrs’ Day. The singers paid tribute to the services rendered by Pakistan Armed Forces and its operational readiness.

The music video showcases the sacrifices of Pakistan as a nation in fighting terrorism and the evolution of our Armed Forces as a cutting-edge military structure; second to none.

NEWS

05

No politics over Karachi plan, warns Asad after Bilawal’s statement coNtiNued oN pAge 01 “i even saw a table being shared on social media that said the centre is contributing only Rs36 billion, which is completely false. But i said nothing,” he went on to say. “But then i saw a clip in which the ppp chairman complained that the Sindh government is putting forward Rs800 billion, whereas the federal government is only footing a cost of Rs300 billion.” the minister admitted that there was some disagreement with the Sindh government about who was spending what on Karachi, but that they were in agreement with the federal government that the project should be carried out for the benefit of Karachi, and not for political point scoring. “[Sindh] chief Minister Murad Ali Shah is in complete agreement on this point,” said Asad. “We have met on Friday, and are in agreement about who will implement which project other than in a couple of cases.” “due to that slight disagreement, a debate ensued over whether the federal government is spending more on the plan or the Sindh government,” he said, adding that because the matter of these projects is still not settled, they have not been revealed in the presentation given to the media on Saturday.

Stressing that the matter was not political, Asad said that this is exactly why the two governments have simply said they would work on the projects together. “We are not competing in a race to see who spends more on Karachi or who completes more projects. We recognise that we need each other if we are to fix Karachi’s problems,” he added. “i only wish that the spirit of agreement that was shown by the Sindh chief minister, is also discussed with and communicated by his leader, the party’s chairman.” “i am not saying anything against Murad Ali Shah. He has said no such thing that we would take exception to. But because the chairman of the party has spoken, we felt it necessary to lay some facts down for the record,” he told media. “i have been double-minded about whether to even say something about Bilawal’s statement, but it is important for things to be very clear from the beginning.” While he did not reveal any major details, the minister did claim that the share of the projects from the list shared yesterday had the government footing 62 per cent of the project, while the Sindh government would contribute the remaining 38 per cent of it.

However, he did go on to say that even if the provincial government spent more than this on Karachi, it would be justified given the contributions the city makes to the province and the country. “even if Sindh wants to fund the entire 1,100 billion plan, what could be nicer than that?

Karachi brings in 90 per cent of the Sindh government’s revenues, so it rightfully deserves the Rs800 billion amount being pledged by the provincial government,” he said. “But we do not want to get into this debate at all about who is doing more and who is doing less.” Flanked by Minister for Maritime Affairs, Ali Haider Zaidi, and Minister for information technology, Syed Amin ul Haque, Asad umar further explained that the plans had been in the works for a long time. “this is not a new plan announced for political gain. it has been discussed and in the pipeline for a long time, and has only not been announced up until now because funds have been scarce and decision making has been divided between the center, Sindh, and local governments,” he said.

“Because decision making is withed and sluggish, , there are impediments to work and Karachi remains deprived of its rights.”

He stressed that just because the plan had been announced, did not mean that the job was done.

Peace in the city, and growing a wart CIty NotEs M A NIAZI

T

He campaign season isn’t passing off so peacefully in the United States. First there was the shooting by policemen of a black man in Kenosha, Wisconsin, Jacob Blake, which left him paralysed from the waist down. And then, in distant New York State, bodycam footage has revealed that a black man, Daniel Prude, who had been taken by policemen was asphyxiated, though not fatally. He died in hospital. The police had been called by his family, because he had apparently been suffering mental problems.

But in Kenosha, the only victim was not Blake, but two others who were shot dead by a white person claiming to be saving his business from being burnt.

He had proceeded to get away from the scene, walking by several policemen with his rifle in his hands, but was apparently not notice.

Things are getting ugly in the US, because it seems the race thing is not going to go away. There have been Black Lives Matter protests, and some have made

much of the fact that some whites joined the protests.

Well, whites fought the American Civil War about a century and a half ago. And there are white supremacist militias out to confront the Black Lives Matter protesters too. As the white supremacists are also vigorous defenders of the Second Amendment, they’re always armed. Now the leftist militias are also bringing arms.

Is the US heading towards a new Civil War? It would require a break in the discipline of the military, I suppose, much as happened in 1861, which let Robert e Lee throw away an Army career, and head the rebel army. It couldn’t happen now, could it?

The US military is bow spread all over the world, and while it was all-white then, now it is much more mixed. Still, there’s been a new thought thrown out there: what if Trump refused to accept the election loss that seems inevitable? And then white militias came out with their weapons to support him And then leftists brought out theirs… You see what I mean?

Back home, we have other things to worry about, like the series loss against england. That was not all that negative for the government, which does not want any rival to Imran Khan developing, by the method of performances on the cricket field. Whatever you might say about Imran Khan, you can’t deny that he was a

CMYK

great fast bowler. Now nobody in the Pakistan team can claim that they were particularly outstanding or impressive in england, not in the Tests, not in the T20s.

However, that would be the future. For now, Imran Khan is not only a great fast bowler, but also PM. Today’s young guns shouldn’t worry. The very first heart-throb fast bowler, whose record of most wickets for Pakistan Imran broke, was the great Fazal Mehmood. He retired from the police as a DIG. So goodlooking fast bowlers get taken care of over here.

But there is the Nawaz Sharif issue, isn’t there?

How did he get out of the country? Because he had faked the blood samples, either by having a ringer give the sample after taking a medicine which makes the platelet count drop drastically. Of course, producing the person who gave the sample is beyond the government. Sowing anything indicating that the wonder drug was bought by anyone even remotely connected to Nawaz, is beyond the ability of Usman Buzdar. Let’s not bother Imran, who’s busy looking at the latest photos from London to diagnose whether Nawaz is sick or not.

Apparently, his sickness or otherwise is not irrelevant, for the Islamabad High Court has ordered his presence if his appeals are to go ahead. According to

a highly unreliable source, the real problem, the real reason he isn’t coming back is that he is still growing a black wart on his nose, to go along with the sky-blue kurta with yellow polka dots and black dhoti which is the accepted uniform for bail applicants.

Of course, Nawaz has to come back because he’s well. What about General Musharraf didn’t he go abroad for medical reasons? But all those making objections should know two things. First, as he himself said, but he’s a commando, and can do anything. Second, Imran was shown a photo of him abroad, and immediately diagnosed as not just unwell, but not treatable in Pakistan.

There has been a bit of good news, and that is the legalisation of hemp growth. That means that extraction the active ingredient in weed. That means that Pakistan is following the US, where marijuana is partially or wholly legalized in over 30 states.

I wonder why it had to be legalised. After all, it’s been illegal all the decades the country has existed, but its also been easily obtainable. The next step will be once again legalising cocaine. Purely for use as an anesthetic of course. Then heroin. That is how you will get real change. If you alter reality that way, you can get rid of all the corrupt elements.

Monday, 7 September, 2020

06 COMMENT

Imran builds his Ark

Another capital disappearance

Karachi has been through a deluge

‘Inconvenient’ persons disappearing

T

He disappearance of Securities and exchanges commission of Pakistan (SecP) Additional Joint Director Sajid Gondal is a mystery, especially since his wife, who filed a habeas corpus petition before the Islamabad High court on Saturday, said that he had no enmity with anyone. While such disappearances were once due to creditors taking a debtor to the tribal areas, now it is likelier that it may be a forced disappearance. Does the disappearing official’s previous work, as a journalist, have anything to do with the matter? Or did Mr Gondal go missing because of his duties as an SecP official?

The priority should obviously be to ensure his recovery, and the IHc has duly ordered the police to do so, and has ordered the federal government to act as well. It might not be forgotten that only recently, the journalist Matiullah Jan was abducted in the open, and was released by his kidnappers after a huge hue and cry. He too had been ‘guilty’ of making public inconvenient truths. Or else, the government will be forced to admit that the federal capital is now unsafe, with criminals feeling free to make abductions.

However, when those abducted are not particularly wealthy, or not likely to cough up a substantial ransom, such incidents become all the more suspicious. The government has over time developed a culture of intolerance. If it was to make plain that it would accept criticism, even if unfair, it would find that any ‘free-enterprise’ disappearances would stop. At present, not just the government escapes embarrassment by this method, but officials can also escape embarrassment too. By foregoing the option, the government would close the door to any such incidents occurring off anyone’s own bat. If the government has anything to hide, it is forced by that to become an accomplice. If it has nothing to fear, it can stop wrong from being committed.

The case of Sajid Gondal is a human one. He must be brought home to his family. If the government cannot make that happen soon, then it will have to accept the cost, of being suspected of complicity, or of being unable to keep its own officials safe in its own capital.

Humayun GauHar

O

nce upon a time, God Almighty asked his Prophet, noah, to build an ark to save mankind and many of his other creations from the coming deluge. noah did as instructed and built an ark strong enough to accommodate many species in pairs so that they could procreate. came the Deluge. And he saved them. This story is from before Biblical times but is included in the Bible and the Quran. There are people who still search for the Ark. Though being built of timber, it would be awesome if it has lasted so long.

One had been fearing the destruction of Karachi if there were a deluge. Well, the deluge came and the much neglected city nearly drowned. It came close to extinction with all services at a near standstill– no electricity, no potable water, unreliable gas supply, fallen electric wires electrifying the water and killing many, houses washed away, people washed away, roads washed away, vehicles drowned…the suffering is endless. came the moment, came the man. Prime Minister Imran Khan went to Karachi and announced a Rs. 1.1 trillion package to rebuild the city to its former glory when it was known as the ‘city of Lights.’ Karachi got electricity in 1906, some 14 years before the USA got it, which is why it was known as ‘the city of Lights.’ It was not just the city of Lights but it was also the ‘city of Life.’ Starting off as a small fishing village named after an old lady, Mai Kolachi, its name morphed, probably during the British Raj, to “Karachi.” The British made it the air transport hub of the region. There was a time when virtually all airlines of consequence would land in Karachi for refueling. Young men would venture forth to hotels and hostels where airlines stewardesses used to lay over.

This small fishing village became a cosmopolitan city after the birth of Pakistan when it was made the new country’s capital. Then disaster struck. And the beginnings of Karachi’s destruction started. The military ruler, General Ayub Khan, declared that he would shift the country’s capital some 1000km away to a place in the wilderness that he would name, “Islamabad.”

Building Islamabad was a great feat indeed and Islamabad real estate has become the most sought after in

Dengue coming back?

Suspected cases on the rise

T

He country has barely got a grip on the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, most experts would say that it has not really got a grip, because while deaths are down, a vaccine is still not available, and an array of precautions and SOPs are still mandatory, not so much to avoid the dread disease, as to palliate its worst effects. Yet with the coronavirus pandemic still far from over, there are disturbing signs that an old hazard, in the shape of dengue fever, might be rearing its head again. even though the monsoon is not yet over, there have already been 51 cases in Punjab since January, with the latest being reported from Toba Tek Singh on Saturday.

Though only one case was reported, it was amongst 630 suspected cases. There was also dengue mosquito larva found at 9271 spots in the province in the last week.

Dengue, like the coronavirus, is a viral disease, but the infection is spread by a vector, a mosquito, which transmits the virus through its bite. Dengue is a tropical disease, and has grown in Pakistan beyond its east African habitat because of global warming. The first major outbreak was in 2011, when 300 people died of it. The disease has remained as an annual occurrence, mainly because the mosquito carrying the disease has not been eradicated.

The elimination of dengue will only occur if standing water is drained promptly, before the mosquito has had a chance to breed. This implies that people will have to observe the precautions against the spread of the dengue vector, while continuing to observe the SOPs against covid-19. Another corollary is that the Punjab government must not ignore this public health threat, while at the same time, not allowing it to distract it from the covid-19 menace. The dengue fight is similar to that against malaria, another disease with a mosquito vector. While malaria has not been eliminated, it is no longer the widespread killer it was not all that long ago. Making dengue join it should not be beyond us.

Covid-19 has exposed the USA abdul raHman malik

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He Recent showdown between the People’s Liberation Army and the Indian Army has escalated the situation in the Galwan valley along the Line of Actual control between china and India. The unarmed fight resulted in the killing of 20 Indian Soldiers while the casualties on china side have not been confirmed yet.

Analysts link the fight with the unilateral Indian move on 5 August 2019, when it annexed the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh by repealing Articles 35A and 370 of its constitution. This move irked both Pakistan and china, and both raised the issue at the Un and recorded their protest against such unilateral move that was tantamount to rejecting the Un Security council Resolutions mandating a plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. Unfortunately, India has the worst diplomatic relations with its neighbours such as Afghanistan, china, Pakistan, nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It has used all its resources to destabilize neighbouring states, especially Pakistan, nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The recent clash is the first conflict after 40 years, and after both nations clashed in 1962. War clouds are looming as both nations prepar for a full-scale war that might be disastrous for the whole region. So much so that UK newspapers called it World War III as the two biggest Asian countries engaged in fighting that was a heavy blow to the fascist Indian PM narendra Modi who masterminds Muslim Massacre and Genocide.

He even linked the covid-19 outbreak with Muslims, which showed his Hindutva mindset. The Indian reaction to boycott chinese brands will cost heavily economically as world economies are already fragile owing to the twomonth lockdown. Pakistan has been watching the emerging situation after the June 15 clash, and is ready to defend its frontiers as its Forces went on Red Alert.

The high-level negotiations held to de-escalate the situation have not produced positive results and Modi's BJP is under fire internally since congress has been posing hard questions as chinese forces are present in areas

Arif Nizami Editor Umar Aziz

Asher John

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

Deputy Editor

Lahore – Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965

Humayun Gauhar is a veteran columnist in Pakistan and editor of Blue Chip magazine. humayun.gauhar786@gmail.com

China-India standoff & the emerging world order

Dedicated to the legacy of the late Hameed Nizami

Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Pakistan. It primarily houses civil servants, the naval Headquarters far away from the sea and the army in its twin city, Rawalpindi, a British garrison town, some 10km away. It was done to keep General Ayub close to his constituency, the Army. From being the premier city of Pakistan, it became the fourth most important city after Islamabad, Lahore and Dhaka. But it still remained the hub of all business and commerce for Pakistan’s one and only port at that time was in Karachi. The stock exchange was there. Many industries had sprung up. The mantra still remained: “If you want to succeed young man, go to Karachi.” And many did from all over Pakistan. It has the largest Pakhtoon population in the world, even more than any city in the KPK province. Despite its down-gradation, Karachi remains the beating heart of Pakistan and in that sense, its capital. It was a dire mistake and a great tragedy to shift the capital from Karachi.

More disaster was to strike Karachi. General Ayub begat his political son, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, on the now hapless country. Bhutto created the People’s Party.

Ayub Khan also begat a drunk and debauched general called Yahya Khan who assumed the reins of power.

A power struggle ensued between east and West Pakistan because east Pakistan’s majority would ensure that Bhutto would never come to power in an election.

And so it came to pass. Sheikh Mujeeb’s Awami League thrashed the People’s Party and acquired all the seats in east Pakistan bar one. Bhutto was all set to be leader of the opposition but this was unacceptable to him. The solution to the problem was simple for Bhutto: cut east Pakistan off from West Pakistan. no east Pakistan, no Bengali majority and Bhutto would find himself at the top of the heap. Along with the treacherous Yahya Khan, too drunk to realize the enormity of what he had taken on, he attacked east Pakistan, which gave India just the chance it had been waiting for. It intervened and conquered east Pakistan declaring it the independent country of Bangladesh.

Bhutto was now cock of the walk. Only West Pakistan was left and he declared it was a new Pakistan. It didn’t occur to him and his mindless followers that the break-up of Pakistan militated against the founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Two nation Theory. Pakistan in a sense lost its raison d’être. not that it bothered Bhutto a jot. His party had won only in the Punjab. He failed to get a majority in his home province, Sindh, nothing in Balochistan and one seat in the nWFP (which is now KPK.) But because he took over from Yahya Khan and his equally treacherous gang of generals, he assumed the title of chief Martial Law Administrator.

Imagine the man who rejoiced in the title of ‘Father of Democracy’ being the head of military rule. It was an assault on reason. He only lost the title when the Supreme court ordered the lifting of martial law but he continued to rule under emergency regulations, which he never lifted throughout his tenure. In the meantime, he packed up the governments of Balochistan and the nWFP. Beat up protesters and opponents, arrested many editors and journalists in an attempt to throttle the press, made a concentration

camp in a place called Dalai… his crimes against Pakistan were endless. essentially he became the first and the worst civilian dictator of Pakistan. And his Party was always unelected. Misreading the public mood, he called elections in 1977, which he rigged roundly. The public rose in protest and the agitation lasted for some five months before, you guessed it, the Army took over again in the shape of Bhutto’s pet General, Zia-ul-Haq. He hanged Bhutto and thus created a dynasty which Pakistan is still suffering. From his daughter to his son-in-law and now his young grandson, Bilawal, who just goes on making stupid statements as he’s probably told to.

Zia-ul-Haq let the mullah genie out of the bottle, which we are also still suffering. Suffice it to say, that Zia-ul-Haq was Bhutto’s parting kick to Pakistan.

True to tradition, Zia-ul-Haq begat the MQM and Altaf Hussain, its leader. Followed a string of heinous crimes in Karachi, which reduced the entire city to a gangland. Zia-ul-Haq also begat nawaz Sharif. Between the loot and plunder of nawaz and Bhutto’s progeny, the country was bled dry and Karachi was placed in the intensive care unit. It was a great shame. came the deluge. came Karachi’s inordinate suffering but also hopefully its salvation. I say “hopefully” because Imran Khan’s is still an announcement that he will dedicate Rs. 1.1 trillion for rebuilding the city. But a city is not just buildings and roads. It has a soul and the soul comes from its people. Happily, the people of Karachi remain vibrant, dynamic, aware and dying for the city to be salvaged. If Imran Khan can go through with his plan, Karachi will be salvaged and rise again. But he should be aware of the proverbial slip between the cup and the lip. His greatest opponents will be those dead-in-the-water politicians and political parties who will fear that Imran’s success would wrest this golden goose from their clutches. negative voices started even before the echoes of Imran’s statement died. The juvenile Bilawal said that Rs. 800 billion of the 1.1 trillion had been provided by Sindh. It begs the question, if they had, why is Karachi in this state? “Oh it’s ongoing projects!” said the People’s Party’s chief Minister of Sindh. These ‘ongoing projects’ would take 26 years to implement. What a joke! The allocation in the Sindh budget for Karachi is only Rs. 32 billion and that too they probably don’t have. We are trapped by these hollow claims of paper tigers like Bilawal J. Zardari, the J standing for ‘Juvenile.’ Like the J in Trump’s name is for “jenius.”

Yet the biggest hurdle before Imran Khan will be the system, which throws up the worst amongst us.

He will have to find a way to correct this and put the system right. It will be his greatest gift to Pakistan.

And putting the system right is not as complex as it may seem. In some later article, I will give my ideas on what the corrections ought to be. The true salvation of Karachi, Sindh and Pakistan lies in the demise of all looting plundering political parties like the People’s Party, nawaz’s PML, the MQM and the comical JUI(F) of the mullah. Hopefully only then will we get good civilian governments which will not create the bridge for military rule that will cause the army to march over and beget other demons.

I

Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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claimed by India.

There are protests in nepal against India as a newly released map reflected some disputed areas as being in India. Though India still enjoys support from US President Donald Trump, he is himself under pressure owing to his failure to manage the covid-19 pandemic. The USA has the maximum number of infections and deaths are nearing 2are nearing 200,000.

India has also close relations with Israel from which it has purchased fighter jets and other war-related items.

The recent mysterious bomb blasts targeting Iran's nuclear installations have raised serious questions on the state of Iran's internal l security measures as well as left everybody wondering who was behind them, but Iran has blamed Israel, as being the soul of the USA. The conflict will expand in the Middle east and South Asia if Iran takes aggressive action against Israel and if china and India engage in a full-scale war. The situation is getting tougher by the day as the US has been struggling to tackle the pandemic, baffling it to the extent that its power is waning each passing day and its global influence declining due to the economic crisis and resulting massive unemployment, owing to the pandemic. The pandemic has forced hundreds of companies to lay off staff as they could not afford to pay them given the lockdowns imposed by various governments as well as the sense of uncertainty gripping the enterprises and startups.

Though the health companies, pharma and tech companies, and online stores and markets are booming with profit the most profitable businesses, travel and tour, entertainment and hotel business and wedding party and event management companies, have almost been closed for an indefinite period owing to the restrictions placed by the governments to control the outbreak of covid-19.

The USA has been jolted by the pandemic and is gradually losing its hold on world affairs. On the contrary, china has been regaining control and even declared itself superpower of the world. The world order is constantly changing and china has put itself in a strong geostrategic position even in the pandemic. The recent china-Iran Pact further paved the way for the success of cPec since Iran may join cPec to make its oil available to china, Pakistan and central Asian countries.

The inclusion of Iran in cPec may further isolate India in the region since it will be surrounded on all sides

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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by china, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Pakistan may play a leading role in the region since the USA has lost a sincere ally in South Asia.

Pakistan Army and the civilian leadership played a pivotal role in Afghan peacemaking by bringing the Taliban to the negotiation table and signing the deal with the USA providing safe passage to a US troop withdrawal.

Turkey also be an emerging power with a role in the changing world order where the US and UK may fade, as some experts think the andemic has provided a golden chance to countries like china to play a leading role as US hegemony declined. The upcoming presidential elections will shape the future of America as the Trump Administration has completely failed to manage covid-19, resulting in him being under fire from his political rivals the Democrats, especially their presidential nominee Joe Biden. november is just two months away and these elections will be both violent and historical, since AfricanAmericans will increase their traditional support of the Democrats as they are fed up with Trump over racism. The Recent deal between Israel and UAe, inked with the efforts of Donald Trump, has irked both Arab and non-Arab nations as recognition of Israel will have serious repercussions on the Muslim world. efforts are being made by Turkey, Iran and Pakistan to form a new bloc, as since Independence Pakistan has a clear policy that it will never recognize Israel until establishment of a Palestinian state as per the wishes of the Palestinian people.

Though at the moment Pakistan is under pressure from the USA to recognize Israel, this will not happen any time soon. The statement of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has pressurised Pak Saudi diplomatic relations as Qureshi criticized that the OIc has not adopted a strong stance on Kashmir. Though the cOAS and ISI chief paid a fence-mending visit to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan's weak economy will compel it to bow down before pressure. china is playing on the front foot as its expedition inside Indian-controlled areas is advancing rapidly and the escalation is high. The weakening of the USA has given birth to new regional powers carving out a new world order as the USA is waning due to Trump’s wrong policies. The emerging situation is favouring china, Russia, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan.

Abdul Rahman Malik is a freelance columnist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

Monday, 7 September, 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

Shaheena’s death is the death of freedom

Sectarian divide The sectarian divide has cost the Muslims dearly kaswar Gardezi

F

OR the past 1400 years, the Muslim ummah has been divided over a number of issues. Some are fundamental, others trivial. Owing to these differences religious edicts against one another have been issued, wars have been fought, blood has been split and as a consequence, the Muslims all together have suffered.

Stirred by tipping emotions, the ummah has remained daggers drawn against one another on different pretexts. Quite often these emotions are charged up by virtue of fiery speeches by firebrand speakers playing with the sentimentalities of the common Muslim.

In spite of tireless efforts over these centuries, the Muslims have failed to resolve their differences. They have failed to comprehend the trivial nature the differences present. They have also failed to grasp the common ground which we stand upon. The fundamental beliefs remain the same, yet the ummah stands divided. certain religious practices have become the throbbing nail which pinches most.

Admittedly, certain beliefs have been different and a reconciliation in those is next to impossible. However, the differences aren’t big enough to become a cause for infighting effectively destroying Muslim unity. The only benefit derived out of these differences is for the enemies of Islam. Amidst the process, Islam suffers the most. A religion which preaches peace and harmony has somehow become one of the most violent religions of the world and has earned a reputation for professing violence.

In the Subcontinent, for the past few decades, peace and harmony have been marred by a wave of sectarian divide which has resulted into the loss of life and property within the Muslims. A Sunni-Shia unannounced war has been fought, particularly in Pakistan, in the aftermath of General Zia’s rule and has destroyed the very edifice of Muslim unity in which we took pride. Unfortunately, we have failed to uncover the conspiracies behind these differences. A united Muslim community is unacceptable to the enemies of Islam for various reasons and it is at their instigation that these cracks within are widening. Playing into the hands of others, we have become proxies amidst a power struggle and the battlefield for other Muslim powers flexing to take the forefront.

The more pertinent questions are, who adds fuel to the existing fire? Who is responsible for creating sectarian discord amongst the people? Who is to blame for glorifying the rift between the Muslims? The answer to these questions would be the speakers who have taken over the pulpit and are actively involved in issuing irresponsible statements.

A vacuum has been created by the literate class which leaves the illiterates to become religious scholars and represent their communities; though what they do is far from the

pulpit and mislead the masses, a sectarian direal representation.

Without having any semblance of vide is what we are heading towards. These knowledge, these individuals self-proclaim individuals play into the hands of a chargedthemselves to be religious scholars and up crowd without appreciating the power of rather than preaching the true teachings of social media and the repercussions their edIslam, focus on irrelevant and irresponsible ited clips will bring about later. It is unforstatements which ignite the fire within. tunate to witness such irresponsibility being Once a provocative speech is made, it re- displayed from the pulpit and in the end, we sults into more firebrand speeches against all are to blame for it.

We have emone another which efbroiled ourselves too fectively destroys the much in the worldly very core of Muslim life to care about who unity. Mostly these sits on the religious alleged religious scholars are working In order to end this sectarian pulpit. no matter what, we aren’t interon a hidden agenda divide, the people must step ested in the qualificaand are mandated to tions of a religious create discord and inforward positively. Illiteracy speaker. So long as he troduce chaos. Relisports a beard, he fulgion being a sensitive should be rooted out from fills the criteria. no subject, it perturbs one sect can be the sentiments of the the pulpits. Irresponsible blamed for creating common public who discord amongst the in turn take matters statements from both sides ranks of Muslims. into their own hands. should be avoided at all Both sides are countless examples equally to be blamed of false charges of costs. However, if one sect is though occasionally blasphemy are availone side may overable in our country willing to condemn its own step and be the one where the accused responsible for incithave been killed by a speakers issuing ing. When Yazeed mob after being inwill be praised, there cited by a local reliirresponsible statements will be a reaction; a gious leader. In most then the other should not shy strong one. chaos cases the accused will prevail when hasn’t even commitaway from criticizing the revered figures from ted blasphemy and the Ahle Bait (AS) has only been falsely praise of Yazeed. After all, it are spoken against. accused. However, As a consequence, rethe people being the is not only the unity to be marks against certain judge, jury and exeothers will be made cutioner, sentence maintained but rather, we which will hurt the them to die. have to show our faces to sentiments of others.

Similar to the In order to end above, certain beliefs our Creator. How will these this sectarian divide, are put forward by a the people must step handful of religious individuals stand before the forward positively. Ilscholars which have literacy should be nothing to do with Holy Prophet (PBUH) when rooted out from the Islam or the respecpulpits. Irresponsible tive sect they purporttheir tongues are wet with statements from both edly represent. The praise for the killers of his sides should be current sectarian rift avoided at all costs. which is prevalent in grandson?

However, if one sect the country started the is willing to condemn day a religious its own speakers issuscholar spoke against ing irresponsible the infallible Janab-estatements then the Syeda (A.S). In turn other should not shy further irresponsible statements against other revered figures were away from criticizing the praise of Yazeed. issued by both sides. So much so that cur- After all, it is not only the unity to be mainrently the Lal Masjid khateeb has gone a step tained but rather, we have to show our faces forward and has praised Yazeed. Abdul Aziz to our creator.

How will these individuals stand before alone knows which branch of Islam condones and supports Yazeed and his actions. A man the Holy Prophet (PBUH) when their who mercilessly butchered the Holy Prophet tongues are wet with praise for the killers of (PBUH)’s grandson and his family, is being his grandson? praised with the terms like “Rehmatullah AlThe writer is a lawyer and a columnist. lahe”. If this isn’t going to spark sectarianism He can be contacted at then Allah (SWT) alone knows what will.

Once we allow such illiterates to take the kaswargardezi@gmail.com

A female social activist and a journalist who is known to be shaheena shaheen was shooted at her range in Turbat area of Balochistan kech district on Saturday evening. Shaheena Shaheen, aged around 25 years, was an area anchorperson at state-owned broadcaster PTV and editor of an area magazine. She was also a student of fine arts at the University Of Balochistan. Police said unidentified suspects opened fire on Shaheen at pTcL colony of Turbat. The killers escaped unhurt from the scene. She was shifted to District Headquarters (DHQ) civil Hospital Turbat where she succumbed to her injuries. The body was left to the hospital by a her husband and so called husband run away. After her uncle received her death body. She received three bullet wounds, police official Allah Bakhsh told to DawnnewsTV. "The killing was the results of violence ," Kech Superintendent of Police najeebullah Pandrani said, adding that police were investigating the murder. He said no arrests had been made thus far . However, Shaheen's family lodged a primary information report (FIR) against her husband, whom she married five months ago. It was a court marriage.

Her body was shifted to her residence for burial, consistent with police.

Balochistan government spokesman Liaquat Shahwani and minister of finance Mir Zahoor Ahmed Buledi separately condemned the murder. They said the culprits within the case are going to be delivered to a book.

Media watchdog Freedom network during a tweet said it had been "shocked" at Shaheen's murder and called upon the Balochistan government to bring the perpetrators to justice.

MAHEEn UzAiR LAHoRE

Specialised education On 21 August , PM Imran Khan met with Federal Minister of Science and Technology, Fawad choudhary in Which the premier acknowledged that Specialised education must be delivered in 400 Higher Secondary Schools in country. Minister Fawad choudhary briefed to PM over the importance and need of Teachincal education in changing world's requirements.

The step would be Unambiguously paved the way towards prosper Pakistan both in economically and technically skilled students. In the light of the current discussion between PM Khan and Minister choudhry, Punjab Govt can easily fulfill the wish of the premier by introducing technical education in higher Secondary Schools in Punjab without any allocation of any extra budgetary for the said purpose. School education Department, Govt of Punjab has been recruited engineers of various disciplines Under Recruitment policies 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 against different cadres. These engineers have been teaching in primary , elementry and High Schools. Recently Dr. Murab Raas , Minister for Schools education initiated Good step by launching Rationalization Policy in province and same step is required by adjusting these engineers in Higher Secondary Schools for teaching "Specialised education" Under the vision of PM Khan. Which Subjects and from which class the Specialised education would be delivered is the responsibility of policy makers to design the curriculum in this manner so the School education level can be uplifted as the requirements of current era.

MAHTAB ALi KHAn BAHAwALnAGAR

No hopes for Karachi Karachiites are enjoying, though not-fully yet, the cold breeze now a days, after facing gigantic quagmires of mis-management and worst-governance for a decade. Last time when residents of Karachi were satisfied was under command of former mayor Mustafa Kamal in Pervaiz Musharraf’s era.

Since then the condition of Karachi has been gradually deteriorated. now, visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan has again showed a ray of hope for us, as he announced investment of Rs. 1,113 billion in Karachi Uplift Package.

Luckily, he has targeted several primary issues of Karachi: water supply, sewage treatment, solid waste, drainage clearance, roads, and unavoidable issue of mass transit. However, all these sectors have once again been underinvested. In Lahore for 180,000 daily commuters, according to Lahore Transport company, an Orange Line metro bus was set up which costed Rs 251.06 billion. How could be Rs 572 billion for Karachi Mass transit be enough where commuters exceeds 5.6 million per day? (Business recorder, 6th February 2019). Moreover, the least focused area in this Uplift Package is roads. For a city of area 3780 km2 only Rs 41 billion has been set aside for roads. By keeping in mind the current situation of Karachi investment announced in all other sectors seems very minute. Albeit, something is better than nothing.

MUJTABA HUSSAin KARACHi

Power problems to continue A lot has been written on the continued inefficient performance of the power sector which is eating away the national economy through ever rising circular debt , inefficiency , incompetence and corruption.

On the other hand , the public and industry are threatened with escalating cost of energy now and then . There are no signs that electricity will become cheaper and affordable at least in our life time . cheap power is the driving force of a nation's economy as its exports can become competitive in the world market. This dream will remain unfulfilled in the years to come in the wake of poor governance and lack of transparency in our decision making and foresight. It took the PM two years to find out that our purchase price of electricity is higher than the selling price , which is already the highest in the region . Under the circumstances , there is no short cut and a quick fix to the menace of power problems . You will have to live with them for a long time , even if you start taking right decisions now . As for the mounting circular debt , you need to root out corruption , inefficiency and incompetence , with an iron hand , irrespective of any political considerations and accountability be carried out accross the board . As for having cheaper electricity one day in the country , go for renewable energy generation , mainly solar , as its prices are falling sharply internationally . Simultaneously , phase out the expansive fossil fuel powerplants . Rather eliminate these completely retaining only those which are feasible .Ultimate focus should be to achieve a power system with almost all power generation from renewable sources , the solar energy being in the forefront . There are reports that the cost of solar power has dropped to 3.5 cents / kWh . That is the lowest compared to other forms of power generation which is 7 cents and upwards .

EnGR RiAz BHUTTA LAHoRE

Monday, 7 September, 2020

08 WORLD VIEW

Close the Pentagon — it’s too big of a target the us aiR foRce and defence infoRmation systems agency have initiated pilot pRogRams to conduct even classified WoRk Remotely

defence neWs

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JAMeS HASIk

N 1991, Gen. Chuck Horner showed video footage of the bombing of “the headquarters of my counterpart,” the commander of the Iraqi Air Force.

Though American forces have sometimes proved less adept at destroying mobile targets, their fixed targets do not last long.

This can go badly when targeteers misidentify a building, as during the 1999 Kosovo War, but the building is still destroyed.

In 2001, an attack against one of the five sides of the Pentagon killed 125 and forced a partial evacuation. The Defense Department showed impressive resilience: Even as one side of the building collapsed, its command center kept functioning. Conflict yet continues, in part because al-Qaida has few fixed targets to destroy. Thus for three decades, America’s wars have seemed either drive-by

shootings or questionable quagmires. The next war that matters may be neither.

Highly precise, long-range weapons are also available to America’s more capable enemies. In 2001, finding the Pentagon at 500 knots may have been challenging for the suicide pilot, but not today for a cruise missile.

In 2019, half of Saudi Arabia’s oil refining was temporarily incapacitated by a barrage of just two dozen Iranian missiles. More ominous was the total failure of the kingdom’s air defenses to defend against or even detect the attack before the first impact.

In early 2020, the present pandemic forced a more thorough evacuation. The Pentagon’s command center has functioned, but most other activities have moved offsite, and substantially to private homes. Around the military and its contractors, remote work has expanded tenfold, to about 1 million people. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has expressed surprise at how well the arrangement has been working. Peter Ranks, his deputy chief information officer, says that productivity has not suffered.

This matches a broader reality. From San

Francisco to New York City, business districts have substantially emptied. Outside Seattle, REI is attempting to sell its custombuilt but never-occupied headquarters. Many firms seem little the worse. About half the American workforce is working remotely, and remote work is becoming permanent.

For the military today, reading secrets still generally requires a trip to a mostly empty office. However, the U.S. Air Force and Defense Information Systems Agency have initiated pilot programs to conduct even classified work remotely. Information security remains vexing, but unless the Defense Department wants to rely entirely on couriers, its cyber vulnerabilities will require intense attention anyway.

Retired Adm. James Stavridis recently wrote of the value of physical proximity, as “we cannot ‘Zoom’ trust.” The safety of social distancing can lead, he argued, to the disconnection of real social distance. That sounds bad, but many people have been working remotely for much of the past 20 years with manageable difficulties. As more of the world chooses to go remote, managers

and social scientists will learn yet more about how to do it right.Indeed, these difficulties must be managed because the alternative is frightening.

Today, Russia and China have masses of cruise missiles, dozens of submarines for launching them and global navigation satellite systems for guiding them. The Russians have even demonstrated how missiles can be containerized for surreptitious launch from merchant ships. Attacking fixed targets is first a matter of mission planning, and the entire world has been thoroughly mapped. It is second a matter of avoiding air defenses, and of this there is little around North America.

In that context, contemplate the possibility of not a singular attack upon the Pentagon, but one with dozens of missiles slamming into all fives sides, and down through the “bullseye” center court.

In private conversations, former defense officials keep reminding me that our warfighting systems are too dependent on highly concentrated and easily located airfields, ports, depots and command centers. In contrast, America’s adversaries are either going mobile or deeply burying facilities. The Pentagon is neither mobile nor deeply buried.So why have a Pentagon at all? Why maintain that highly concentrated target?

It’s certainly not for recruiting and retention. In closing the Pentagon, the military could stop rotating staff officers in and out of northern Virginia. Remote work from cur-

rent stations would remove the disruptions of yet another change of station, particularly late in careers when officers’ children are often advancing through high school. It’s a slight exaggeration, but “I can’t wait to get posted to the Pentagon” probably said no sane officer ever.

It’s also not for better decision-making.

In his valedictory complaint in Wired, John Kroger, the Navy’s recently departed chief of learning, described the Pentagon as “a threat to national security.” With its concentrated culture of scripted updates, hostility to analysis and mid-century office technologies, “The Building” is much of the problem.

Emptying it permanently could help multiple, and hopefully better, military cultures flourish.

What would we do with an empty Pentagon? We have options. Arlington National Cemetery is running out of space. Perhaps a professional sports team will eventually want a centrally located venue. Northern Virginia could always use another park.

What really matters is dispersing that concentration of leadership beyond one building in northern Virginia, lest we someday lose it all at once.

James Hasik is a senior research fellow at the Center for Government Contracting at George Mason University, and a senior fellow at the Scowcroft Center on Security and Strategy at The Atlantic Council.

India should listen to Putin's advice coronavirus makes life more difficult for What Rubio is tRying to tell india is that Russia can no longeR be a capable and a Reliable fRiend of india and india should ally With ameRica to confRont and fight china

pakistan’s transgender community almost half of the tRansgendeR population in pakistan eaRn theiR living by begging, sex WoRk (9%) and dancing at Weddings (8%), While the Rest aRe associated With otheR infoRmal pRofessions

Pravda SAWRAJ SINGH

US senator Marco Rubio (Republican, Florida) is the Acting Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Co-Chair of the Congressional Executive Commission on China and a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He wrote an article in Nikkei Asian Review titled India should ignore Putin's offer to broker accord with China. He is trying to convince India that Putin is incapable of helping India, and he cannot be a mediator because he will not be neutral and will be tilted toward China. What Rubio is trying to tell India is that Russia can no longer be a capable and a reliable friend of India and India should ally with America to confront and fight China. Basically, he wants India to give up its most time tested and trust worthy friend for a country that has always treated India as a potential adversary.

Rubio reminds of the story about King Solomon when he was able to find out who was the real mother of a child whom two women claimed to be theirs. King Solomon ordered that the baby should be cut in two pieces and divided between the two women. While the fake mother said that this was a good idea, the real mother said that the baby should not be cut into pieces and the other woman can have it. Russia is trying to save India from fighting a war with China that can prove disastrous for both countries. America wants India to fight China so that America can kill two birds with one stone; weaken its biggest adversary as well as its potential adversary. Russia sincerely wants to help India, a long time friend. We can look at the history of India-Russia and India-America relations since India's independence and this will become clear that who is India's true friend.

We can look at the voting pattern in the UN and this will become clear who stood up for India and who introduced resolutions against India. India and Russia have voted on the same side about 90% of the time, whereas India and America have voted on opposite sides most of the time.

Russia had to veto anti India resolutions supported

by America. Even today, about 60% of the heavy weaponry of the Indian army is of the Russian origin.

Russia has always provided India with its latest and most advanced military technology. Whereas America has been very stringent as far as transfer of such technology is concerned.

America sent its seventh fleet against India during the 1971 Indo-Pak war. It was the Soviet Union that came in to help India. We should not forget the lessons of history, otherwise we will not be able to decide who are our time tested and trust worthy friends.

Some may argue that past history has become irrelevant and now there is a convergence of American and Indian interests. However, even today, there is a fundamental difference in the American and the Indian interests. America wants to preserve the unipolar world order that is dominated by the only superpower in the world, America. Whereas both India and Russia want

to change the present world order to a multipolar world, where no one country dominates the whole world.

True friendship can only exist among equals.

America considers itself superior to others. This superiority is practiced under different names such as American exceptionalism and America first. I have no qualms about accepting that America is a great country.

However, I feel uncomfortable when some Americans insist that America is the greatest.

When you subscribe to the philosophy that America is superior to the others, then you cannot qualify to be a true friend because you are promoting inequality.

Russia has never considered itself superior to the countries that it considers its friends. Russia has always considered India its friend.

India should listen to a true friend. India should recognize the gravity of the situation. The stakes are much higher than the 1962 war. India's survival as a country is at stake. We need all the sincere advice we can get. Instead of ignoring Putin, we should listen carefully to him and see what he has to offer. President Putin wants a trilateral meeting of the Indian Prime Minister Modi, the Russian President Putin and the Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the upcoming G-20 meeting in October. We should never shut our doors to a diplomatic solution.

Whereas President Putin, as a sincere friend of India, wants India to have a realistic understanding of its conflict with China; America and the western countries, with ulterior motives, want India to overestimate its strength and underestimate China's strength. This approach can prove very dangerous for India because it increases the likelihood of a war between the two countries that the western countries will like to see. With this purpose in mind, America and the western countries have been engaged in the propaganda that India's economy is growing at much faster rate than China and is soon going to overtake China. This may happen, but it is going to take a long time.

At present, China's economy is about five times bigger than India's. According to some military experts, the difference in the military budget is even bigger.

They feel that China spends much more in real terms than the available figures. Therefore, at present, the two countries are not exactly equal in their strength.

However, in terms of importance they are equal. China understands that America is its main adversary and a conflict with India will only strengthen its main opponent. Therefore, China wants an amicable settlement with India. President Putin is in a position to help both India and China. Russia, India and China share a common interest: to transform the present unipolar world into a multipolar world.

Internationally known and widely published, Dr.Sawraj Singh is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights.

deutsche Welle MAvRA BARI

"Things were really difficult for me during the coronavirus lockdown, and they haven't improved since the government eased restrictions. People still refuse to interact with us," Shaista, a transgender person in Islamabad, told DW. Transgender people in Pakistan mostly work in the informal sector of the economy. Many of them beg on streets or perform sex work to survive.

Cultural and institutional discrimination against transgender people in Pakistan have resulted in a lack of education and employment opportunities for them.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March has made their lives even more difficult. Social distancing measures, and the stigma that transgender people are "unclean," have deprived them of the limited means of making a living they had before the start of the pandemic.

As of September 4, Pakistan has recorded over 297,000 coronavirus cases and 6,335 related deaths. The number of positive cases has drastically decreased in the past month. Despite these positive trends, the situation for transgender people hasn't improved.

DISCRIMINATED AND DISADVANTAGED: According to a 2019 Supreme Court census, the estimated population of transgender people in Pakistan is around 300,000, although the actual number could be higher. Pakistan's population stands at roughly 212 million people.

Transgender people face various challenges in Pakistan, and they are often harassed and sidelined by society.In 2016, Alisha, a 23-year-old transgender activist, was shot seven times and rushed to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, where she died due to delayed treatment, reportedly because staff couldn't decide whether to place her in a male or female ward. Her friends blamed it on discrimination.When night falls in the city of Rawalpindi, Waseem starts to dance. The 27-year-old acts as a "hijra," the third gender. Estimates suggest thousands of them live in Pakistan. They are especially popular as dancers at weddings or baby showers because their prayers are deemed very effective. However, these are the only occasions they are truly accepted.

While constitutional and legal inroads have slowly been made into securing basic rights for transgender people, implementation has sometimes been slow.The community was only allowed to vote in federal elections in 2011. In 2018, they were recognized as a separate category in the national census.

Although constitutionally they have been granted economic rights, such as the right to inheritance, there is little evidence of those rights in practice. Even religious groups abstain from taking part in the last ritual rights of

transgender people as they are thought to be against Islam. Many transgender people in Pakistan are disowned by their families and are forced to fend for themselves.

"More than 90% of transgender people face the same problem, that their parents have disowned them. They live with their gurus (mentors)," Asif Shahzad, founder of the Gender Guardian School in Lahore city, told DW. This guru-chela relationship, similar to a master-disciple relationship, is a situation where transgender people are sheltered and supported by their mentors who take care of them and stand by them in times of crises.

VULNERABLE TO CORONAVIRUS: "Social discrimination and stigma became stronger during the pandemic. I was told to evacuate my home because I tested positive for coronavirus," Nayyab Ali, a transgender activist, told DW. Ali had to go through this ordeal despite the fact that she is one of the few transgender individuals in Pakistan who are formally employed. Recently, Ali conducted a preliminary research for the UNDP on the impact of COVID-19 on the transgender community in Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

The research revealed that transgender people are at higher risk of being infected by the virus as many of them live in groups. Almost half the survey respondents said they were unable to maintain social distancing during the pandemic. As many transgender people rely on work that requires public interaction, it is not always possible for them to follow safety procedures, Ali notes.

According to Ali's research, almost half of the transgender population in Pakistan earn their living by begging, sex work (9%) and dancing at weddings (8%), while the rest are associated with other informal professions. The study findings noted that 59% of respondents ranked public health care as their first priority as almost a quarter of them suffers from a disability or a protracted illness, making them vulnerable to contracting coronavirus. Ali said the pandemic has further reduced their access to health facilities.

GROWING FRUSTRATION: Cases of increased physical attacks on transgender people during the pandemic have also been reported by local media. Friction among the community is also on the rise in the past few months as a result of dwindling resources.

On August 10, Julie, a transgender activist, was arrested for physically attacking other transpersons. Police is reportedly holding her in the men's section of a jail in Rawalpindi.Julie's lawyer, Hassan Niazi, told media that his client is facing a "life threatening" situation in jail.Talking to DW, Lubna, who was one of the transgenders allegedly attacked by Julie, said the assault was an attempt to scare her community to stop questioning an NGO funding scam."These people use us to get money from NGOs but the money never reaches us. There has to be some accountability," Lubna said.

Monday, 7 September, 2020

BUSINESS 09

China formalises 15 national e-commerce demonstration bases BEIJING: China has formalized 15 new national ecommerce demonstration bases in efforts to foster the development of the sector. Vice Minister of Commerce Qian Keming has granted licenses to the new bases on an e-commerce session of the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services at the China National Convention Center in Beijing. The national e-commerce demonstration bases, with an aim to take the leading part in promoting the fast development of the sector, are clusters of local e-commerce companies and entrepreneurship and innovation platforms for the ecommerce industry. The new ones bring the total number of official e-commerce demonstration bases to 127. China pays high attention to the development of the ecommerce, Qian said. The sector has played a significant role in helping fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, driving consumption recovery and smoothing industrial and supply chains of foreign trade, especially since this year, according to Qian. AGENCIES

Volkswagen's labour chief rules out four-day week to save jobs BERLIN: German car manufacturer Volkswagen sees no need for a four-day week at its plants to secure jobs despite a growing shift to electric cars that are easier to build and require fewer workers, the company’s head of labour relations was quoted saying on Sunday. Germany’s largest trade union IG Metall on Aug. 15 proposed negotiating for a transition to a four-day week across industry to help secure jobs, against the backdrop of economic fallout from the coronavirus crisis and structural shifts in the auto sector. But VW labour chief Bernd Osterloh told Welt am Sonntag newspaper that VW’s existing cost-cutting plan, that includes reducing the workforce by up to 7,000 through the early retirement of administrative staff at its Wolfsburg headquarters, was enough to help it overcome the coronavirus crisis and other issues. “At the moment we are not talking about less work,” Osterloh said. “With the Golf we had the (production) levels of last year in June and July and introduced extra shifts,” he added, referring to one of the company’s most popular models. “The four-day week is not an issue for us.” Demands

by IG Metall, which represents 2.3 million employees in the metal working and electrical sectors, are potentially significant in Germany because they often set benchmarks for wage negotiations in those industries and beyond. VW in 2016 set out a cost-reduction programme dubbed Future Pact, but the company has ruled out compulsory layoffs until 2025.

Osterloh was quoted as saying in July that VW had no need for deeper cost cuts to counter the effects of Covid-19, which dealt a severe blow to car sales. AGENCIES

Amazon bans foreign sales of seeds in US amid mystery packages Amazon.com Inc said it has banned foreign sales of seeds in the United States after thousands of Americans received unsolicited packages of seeds in their mailboxes, mostly postmarked from China. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in July identified more than a dozen plant species ranging from morning glories to mustard in the bags of unsolicited seeds. It warned Americans not to plant the seeds.

According to plant experts, seeds from other parts of the world could be non-native varieties that harm commodity crops. “Moving forward, we are only permitting the sale of seeds by sellers who are based in the U.S.,” Amazon said in an emailed statement on Saturday. The company changed its policy on seed sales on Wednesday. The policy change was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The company added that sellers who do not follow its guidelines will be subject to action, including potential removal of their accounts.

According to Amazon’s policy web page, the ban extends to plants and plant products. The USDA in July said the packages were most likely part of a “brushing” scam, in which people receive unsolicited items from a seller who then posts false positive customer reviews to boost sales. In an update on Aug. 11, Osama El-Lissy, a deputy administrator for the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), said the experts analyzing some of the seeds from China found very few problems. El-Lissy added that the two countries were working jointly on the investigation. AGENCIES

ChINA lOOkS tO brOAdEN ACCESS tO ItS mArkEtS thrOUgh hONg kONg BEIJING

C

AGENCIES

HINA will accelerate the opening up of its capital markets and deepen reforms to attract more foreign investors, China Securities Regulatory Commission vice chairman Fang Xinghai said.

The regulator will expand the scope of investments allowed in the stock connect programme link with Hong Kong and allow foreign investors to trade more commodities futures products, he said at a financial forum on Sunday in Beijing as part of the China

International Fair for Trade in Services.

Officials are planning to announce revised rules on qualified foreign institutional investors as soon as possible to increase their “willingness and confidence” to invest in China, he said. Foreigners currently hold only 4.7 per cent of Chinese stocks in circulation, way below the more than 30 per cent in markets like Japan and South Korea, he said.

“There remains a huge potential” to usher in foreign capital, Mr Fang said.

China is also opening its financial markets this year to allow Wall Street giants such as Goldman Sachs Group to take full ownership of ventures in the country, counting on them to provide fresh investments and

foster a more competitive local industry.

The move comes against a backdrop of rising tension with the US over issues including trade and Hong Kong.

Weighed down by the virus outbreak, China’s economy is poised for its slowest expansion this year in four decades.

The participation of foreign investors has helped make the Chinese stock market “more rational” and valuations “more reasonable”, Mr Fang said. The long bear market sessions and short bull runs that have long plagued China are “disappearing”, he said.

China last year removed the ceiling on quotas for foreign investors to buy stocks and bonds, after also easing rules

French pharmaceutical company chief sees coronavirus vaccine priced below 10 euros PARIS AGENCIES

A coronavirus vaccine that French pharmaceutical company, Sanofi, is developing with Britain’s GlaxoSmithKline is likely to be priced at less than 10 euros ($11.80) per shot if it is approved for use, Sanofi’s chief in France said on Saturday.

“The price is not totally set.We are assessing production costs for the coming months. We will be below 10 euros,” Olivier Bogillot told France Inter radio.

Drugmakers and government agencies are racing to come up with vaccines for the new coronavirus and treatments for COVID-19, the respiratory dis-

eases it causes which has killed more than 879,000 worldwide and wrecked economies.

Asked about rival AstraZeneca, which is expected to price its shot at about 2.50 euros in Europe, Bogillot said that “the price gap for us can be that we use all our internal resources, our own researchers, our own research centres. AstraZeneca outsources part of its production.”

A Sanofi spokeswoman said in an emailed statement on Sunday that a final price would only be decided when the vaccine reaches its final testing stage.

“We anticipate being able to determine a final price at the time of our Phase III trials, when we

know more about dosing. At this stage, any figure is imprecise. Less than 10 euros is only one of the hypotheses we are working on.”

Earlier this week, Sanofi and GSK said they had started a clinical trial of their protein-based coronavirus vaccine candidate, with the ambition of reaching the final testing stage, also known as Phase III, by December.

If the results are positive, Sanofi and GSK hope to get the vaccine approved in the first half of next year.

Sanofi is also working on another coronavirus vaccine candidate with U.S group Translate Bio that will use another technology known as messenger RNA.

Evidence of further surveillance at Credit Suisse mounts up, says SonntagsZeitung ZURICH AGENCIES

Credit Suisse may have spied on more employees under its former chief executive Tidjane Thiam, Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung reported on Sunday, citing evidence of two further instances that had previously been undisclosed.

Switzerland’s market watchdog, FINMA, opened an enforcement case on Wednesday over the spying scandal to examine the bank’s culture and governance and whether management control failures allowed snooping on former executive board members.

Revelations of corporate espionage had rocked the discreet world of Swiss banking last year when it emerged that Credit Suisse had been spying on former wealth management boss Iqbal Khan, who was leaving for rival UBS, and former human resources head Peter Goerke.

The bank had hoped that the departure of Thiam over the scandal and his replacement with Thomas Gottstein, a Credit Suisse veteran, would draw a line under the affair.

SonntagsZeitung, citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, said that two further instances had come to light.

One was connected with an employee in Asia, who had made threats against other bank employees; and one was connected with a former high-level

manager and an employee with whom the manager may have had intimate relations in the United States, SonntagsZeitung reported.

The paper cited one source as saying neither the bank’s executive committee nor board of directors had been aware of the two instances.

A Credit Suisse spokesman declined to comment on the SonntagsZeitung report, referring to the bank’s statement from Wednesday which said it was cooperating with FINMA and seeking to “incorporate lessons learned”. It reiterated that spying was not part of its culture.

FINMA declined to comment on ongoing proceedings, referring to its statement from Wednesday, in which it said it will pursue indications of violations of supervisory law and, in particular, the question of how these activities were documented and controlled.

Gottstein, who stepped in after Thiam left his role at the head of Switzerland’s second-biggest bank in February, had said FINMA’s ramp-up of proceedings had been expected after an auditor visited the bank in recent months.

Credit Suisse had tried to remove the FINMAappointed auditor, Thomas Werlen, because his law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan had been involved in legal cases against it.

Its appeal of a lower court decision backing his appointment is pending in the Swiss Federal Supreme Court.

Sunny days ahead for Australia's rooftop solar industry CANBERRA AGENCIES

The coronavirus pandemic has not deterred Australians from installing rooftop solar panels in ever-greater numbers, driving what is expected to be another record year for growth in green power generation.

The increased number of people working from home, more spending on home improvement and low interest rates are encouraging households to install solar panels, the Clean Energy Regulator has said in a report, revising up its forecast for new installations by 7%. Aus-

tralia already has one of the highest rates of rooftop solar in the world, driven by falling costs, an abundance of sunshine and a surge in electricity prices over the past decade.

The country is on track to match 2019's record for 6.3 gigawatts of new renewables capacity this year, the Clean Energy Regulator said in the report, with the contribution of new small-scale solar power at 2.9 gigawatts. Around 29% of suitable households now have panels installed on their roofs, according to the report.

"Australia now has over 2.4 million rooftop solar PV systems on residential

dwellings with a combined capacity of 9.7 gigawatts," the regulator said. "While each individual system is small, together they form one of the biggest generators in the electricity grid."

Australians' embrace of solar has created headaches for energy market planners, reducing demand for traditional generation and caused bigger fluctuations in electricity use across the day.

Here are the other key findings from the CER's quarterly report: Rooftop solar installation rose by 41% in the second quarter compared with the same period a year ago, despite a na-

CMYK

tionwide lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 Large-scale renewable projects have added 2 gigawatts of capacity so far this year, with the total expected to reach 3.4 gigawatts in 2020 There were 43 projects registered under the government's Emissions Reduction Fund program in the first half of the year, already surpassing 2019's total Total emissions reduction from the Renewable Energy Target and Emissions Reduction Fund is expected to be approximately 54 million tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent in 2020, compared with 48 million tons in 2019.

in 2018. The country is pushing to increase use of the yuan in international transactions, while also attracting more foreign capital.

Yuan-denominated financial assets have grown in appeal to international investors as more central banks use the Chinese currency in their foreign reserves, Chen Yulu, deputy governor at the People’s Bank of China, said at the forum.

Foreigners’ holdings of such domestic assets jumped 37 per cent to 7.7 trillion yuan ($1.1tn) as of July 31 from a year earlier, he said. The yuan can assume “greater international responsibilities” in the future as China’s opening up deepens, he concluded.

Emirates to restore employees' full salaries from October DUBAI: Emirates has decided to reinstate full salaries of its staff starting from October after the airline took measures to preserve cash amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The move comes as the Dubai-based airline resumes passenger services to more destinations, expanding its network to 84 destinations with the restart of flights to Nigerian cities Lagos and Abuja this week. "Emirates will restore full salaries of our employees from next month," an airline spokeswoman said in an emailed statement on Sunday. The airline– like many of its global peers– took steps to slash costs and conserve cash by reducing staff wages, cutting jobs, and offering cabin crew to take voluntary unpaid leave to cope with the fallout from the pandemic. In March, the Dubai government pledged to inject additional equity into the state-owned airline that has helped transform the emirate into a global travel hub.

It did not disclose the amount of financial support. The global aviation industry is among the worst hit from the impact of the coronavirus crisis that has decimated air travel, prompting cash-strapped airlines to seek government financial rescue packages. Global airlines face a collective loss of $84 billion in 2020 as the pandemic cuts revenue by half in the worst year of the industry's history, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Global passenger traffic is unlikely to recover to pre-crisis levels before 2024, it predicted. AGENCIES

Israeli business delegation to visit UAE TEL AVIV: The heads of Israel’s two biggest banks will travel to the United Arab Emirates this month, the first such visits since the two countries agreed to normalize relations. One delegation led by Bank Hapoalim will leave on Sept. 8 and visit Abu Dhabi and Dubai, where it will meet with government and trade officials as well as the heads of the largest banks in the UAE. Hapoalim CEO Dov Kotler on Sunday called it “a unique opportunity to establish economic relations and cooperation between our countries and their financial systems, which will yield economic growth for both parties.” He added there was an “immediate bilateral desire” to establish strong economic ties. The chairman and CEO of Bank Leumi will head a second delegation on Sept. 14. Leumi said it hoped to build on the diplomatic accord by kick-starting cooperation in finance, technology, health, tourism, agriculture and industry. Israel and the UAE announced in August they would normalize diplomatic ties and forge a broad new relationship in a US-brokered deal. Last week, they agreed to set up a joint committee to cooperate on financial services, aiming to promote investment between the two countries. First Abu Dhabi Bank, the UAE’s largest lender, said last week it would open discussions with Hapoalim and Leumi. AGENCIES

Emirates brings back Nigeria to route network ABU DHABI: Emirates has announced it will resume passenger services to Lagos on September 7 and Abuja on September 9, in Nigeria. The resumption of flights to both Nigerian cities takes Emirates’ African network to 13 destinations, as the airline works hard to help its customers travel safely and confidently, implementing industry-leading health and safety measures at all points of the travel journey. Flights to Lagos will operate four times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Flights to/from Abuja will operate as a daily service. Tickets are open for booking on emirates.com or via travel agents.

Passengers travelling from both cities in Nigeria to the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific can enjoy safe and convenient connections via Dubai, and customers can stop over or travel to Dubai. AGENCIES

Monday, 7 September, 2020

10 FOREIGN NEWS Death toll in Bangladesh mosque gas pipeline explosion rises DHAKA AGENCIES

The death toll from a gas pipeline explosion in a mosque outside Bangladesh's capital has risen to 24 on Sunday while authorities were examining how a leakage caused the accident during evening prayers.

The explosion, which fire service officials suspect was caused by leakage from the pipeline in the mosque in Narayanganj district on Friday night, also injured dozens with critical burns as worshippers were about to end their prayers. Dozens were rushed to Dhaka's state-run specialised burn and plastic-surgery hospital, most of them with severe burns. Samanta Lal Sen, coordinator of the burn unit said the dead included a seven-year-old boy, adding doctors were treating at least 37 people with burns on up to 90 percent of their bodies. "I saw smoke was belching out of the mosque after the sudden explosion with a big bang and people were screaming. Some were rolling on the street as they tried to put out the flames on their bodies," Mohammad Ratan, a local resident has been reported.

Fire officials said gas that accumulated from a leak in a pipeline running underneath the mosque likely triggered the explosion. "We primarily suspect that gas leaked from the pipeline and accumulated inside the mosque since the windows were shut. When the air conditioners was turned on, due to sparks the gas could have exploded," said Abdullah Al Arefin, a senior fire service official. Local TV stations reported that because of the impact of the blast, at least six air conditioners also exploded inside the mosque.

Authorities have launched an investigation into the blast. In Bangladesh, safety regulations are often flouted in construction. Hundreds are killed each year in fires in the nation of 168 million people. Faulty installation of gas lines are often reported by Bangladeshi media, while unplanned road-digging work often leads to disasters in the country which is seeking rapid industrial expansion and economic development. During February last year, an inferno in Dhaka's old quarters killed 78 people. One month later, 25 people were killed when a blaze engulfed an office building in the city.

Turkey sanctions on table for EU meeting, France says

GErmany Ups prEssUrE on rUssia in navalny poisoninG proBE BERLIN

G

AGENCIES

ERMANY on Sunday increased pressure on Russia over the poisoning of Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny, warning that a lack of support by Moscow in the investigation could “force” Germany to rethink the fate of a German-Russian gas pipeline project.

“I hope the Russians won’t force us to change our position regarding the Nord Stream 2” pipeline being built under the Baltic Sea, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told weekly Bild am Sonntag. Maas also said that “if there won’t be any contributions from the Russian side regarding the investigation in the coming days, we will have to consult with our partners.”

He did not exclude possible punishments against Russia, telling the newspaper that “if we think about sanctions, they should be pinpointed effectively.”

However, Maas also admitted that halting the building of the nearly completed gas pipeline would harm German and European companies.

“Whoever demands this has to be aware of the consequences,” he said.

“More than 100 companies from 12 European countries are involved (in the construction), about half of them from Germany.”

The German government has come under growing pressure to use the joint German-Russian pipeline project as leverage in getting Russia to provide answers on Navalny. The Nord Stream 2 project would deliver Russian gas directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea when completed, bypassing Ukraine.

Navalny, a Kremlin critic and corruption investigator, fell ill on a flight to Moscow last month and was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk. He has been in an induced coma in a Berlin hospital since he was flown to Germany for treatment on August 22.

German authorities have said that

tests showed that he had been poisoned with a chemical nerve agent from the Novichok group. British authorities previously identified the nerve agent, developed during the Soviet era, as the poison used on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England in 2018.

“We have high expectations from the Russians to bring light into this severe crime,” Maas said. “If they have nothing to do with this attack then it’s in their own interest to put the facts on the table.”

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has brushed off allegations that the Kremlin was involved in poisoning Navalny and said last week that Germany hadn’t provided Moscow with any evidence about the politician’s condition.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Navalny’s poisoning an attempted murder that aimed to silence one of Putin’s fiercest critics and called for a full investigation. Merkel personally offered the country’s assistance in treating Navalny. He’s now in stable condition at Berlin’s Charite hospital, but doctors ex-

16 militants dead in Somalia as villagers battle al-Shabab to defend livestock MOGADISHU AGENCIES

Dozens of people have died following clashes between villagers and alShabab fighters in central Somalia, local officials said.

"We have reports that nearly 30 people, including 16 militants, [have been] killed in the Shabeelow village, where civilians took up arms [to] battle the terrorists," Osman Isse Nur, a spokesman for authorities in the Galmudug region, told the media.

Local freelance militiamen are among the fatalities, according to the authorities. "Armed villagers opted to fight militants to defend their livestock animals from the terrorists," Osman added.

Five hours of fierce battles killed 14 villagers and many others were hospitalised in the town of Galkayo, Abdi Siyaad, a local elder, said.

But local elders like Siyaad say villagers are engaging in self-defence against what he describes as "brutality" and intimidation by al-Shabab, an

al-Qaeda-linked armed group which has de facto control over large parts of south and central Somalia.

"They have been putting pressure on locals living in Shabeelow in Mudug in order to force them [to] surrender their arms and livestock animals for so-called holy war against invading infidels since many years.

Locals are tired of the group's pressure in the context of the so-called holy war," said the elder. He asked the Somali government to provide weapons so villagers can defend themselves.

PARIS AGENCIES

Turkey's escalating conflict with Greece and Cyprus will be the main subject at this month's European Council meeting, when sanctions will be considered against Ankara, France said on Sunday.

Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he and his counterparts in other EU countries had already discussed "the range of reprisals we could take with regards to Turkey". Turkey embarked on a military-backed hydrocarbon exploration venture in waters between Greece and Cyprus on August 10, ratcheting up tensions in a strategic corridor of the eastern Mediterranean. Greece responded with naval exercises to defend its maritime territory, which were later bolstered by the deployment of French frigates and fighter jets. The dispute between NATO members has underscored the rising geopolitical risks in the area as Turkey pursues more aggressively nationalist policies under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The European Union's diplomatic chief Josep Borrell has also raised the possibility of sanctions against Ankara but so far Paris has been unable to persuade other EU nations to join its hardline response. Le Drian urged Erdogan to begin talks over its Eastern Mediterranean ambitions between now and the European Council meeting. "It's up to the Turks to show that this matter... can be discussed," he told France Inter radio. "If so, we can create a virtuous circle for all the problems on the table." While he declined to specify the type of sanctions Ankara could face, he said there was an "entire series of measures". "We are not short of options, and he knows that," said Le Drian referring to Erdogan. The European Council meeting is set to meet on September 24 and 25.

Tunisian officer stabbed to death, 3 'terrorists' killed in firefight SOUSSE AGENCIES

Attackers with knives killed a Tunisian National Guard officer and wounded another Sunday before three assailants were later shot dead in a firefight, the military force said, labelling it a "terrorist" act.

The stabbing attack took place in the tourist district of Sousse, the coastal city hit by the worst of Tunisia's jihadist attacks of recent years, when 38 people, most of them Britons, were killed in a 2015 beachside shooting rampage.

A patrol of two National Guard officers was targeted in the knife attack in Sousse, 140 kilometres (80 miles) south of the capital Tunis, said National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli.

"One died as a martyr and the other was wounded and is hospitalised," he said, adding that "this was a terrorist attack". The attackers had first rammed the gendarmes with a vehicle at about 6:40 am (0540 GMT).

After the knife attack, security forces pursued the assailants, who had taken the officers' guns and vehicle, through the Akouda district of the city's tourist area of ElKantaoui, said Jebabli.

"In a firefight three terrorists were killed," he said, adding that security forces "managed to recover" the car and two pistols the assailants had stolen.

President Kais Saied, on a visit hours later to the sealed-off scene of the knife attack, said police were investigating whether the attack was planned "by individuals

or an organisation".

British ambassador to Tunisia Louise de Sousa tweeted she was "appalled to hear of the attack on a National Guard patrol in #Sousse this morning.

"My sincere condolences to the family of the murdered officer & I wish a swift recovery to the injured. #UKsupportTunisia" SERIES OF ATTACKS: Tunisia, since its 2011 popular revolution, has been hit by a string of jihadist attacks that have killed dozens of security personnel, civilians and foreign tourists.

A suicide attack against security forces protecting the US Embassy in Tunis killed a Tunisian police officer and left several others wounded in March.

2015 was a particularly bloody year, with three major deadly attacks claimed by the Islamic State group.

An attack at the capital's Bardo museum in March killed 21 foreign tourists and a security guard. Just three months later, the 38 tourists were killed in the shooting rampage at Sousse. And in November of that year, a bomb blast on a bus in central Tunis killed 12 presidential guards.

While the situation has significantly improved since then, Tunisia has maintained a state of emergency.

Assaults on security forces have persisted, mainly in remote areas along the border with Algeria.

Tunisia has been praised as a rare success story among the 2011 Arab Spring revolts that swept the region and brought down many autocrats, among them Tunisia's longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

pect a long recovery and haven’t ruled out that the 44-year-old could face longterm effects to his health.

Merkel has previously rejected the idea that the Navalny case should be linked to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

The U.S. has long opposed the project, which has been increasingly a source of friction between Berlin and Washington. In early August, three Republican senators threatened sanctions against an operator of a Baltic Sea port located in Merkel’s parliamentary constituency over its part in Nord Stream 2. The Mukran port is a key staging post for ships involved in its construction.

The U.S. argues the project will endanger European security by making Germany overly dependent on Russian gas. It’s also opposed by Ukraine and Poland, which will be bypassed by the pipeline under the Baltic, as well as some other European nations.

In addition to the security concerns, the U.S. also wants to sell more of its own liquefied natural gas, or LNG, to Europe.

1 killed, 7 hurt in late-night stabbings in UK’s Birmingham LONDON AGENCIES

A man was killed and seven people injured in late-night stabbings in a busy nightlife area of the central England city of Birmingham, police said Sunday. Police said they were searching for a lone suspect in what appeared to be random attacks. Chief Superintendent Steve Graham of West Midlands Police said detectives were still investigating the motive but “there is absolutely no suggestion at all that this is terror-related.”

West Midlands Police said officers were called to reports of a stabbing shortly after midnight on Sunday. That was soon followed by reports of other stabbings across the city center over a period of about two hours. Police said they believed the stabbings were linked and had launched a murder investigation. Graham said two of the seven injured people, a man and a woman, were in critical condition in hospitals.

Five others received “relatively minor” injuries.

The site of one attack is in the city’s Gay Village, but Graham said there was no suggestion the crime was “motivated by hate.”

Police cordoned off an area in the center of the city full of bars and nightclubs. Witnesses said they were busy on Saturday night, with many people eating and drinking at outdoor tables.

More cordons and blue forensic tents were set up about half a mile away, near the city’s Snow Hill train station. Cara Curran, a club promoter, said she saw multiple people fighting in the street. “It was one group of boys against another group of boys,” she told the BBC, adding that “racial slurs” were being thrown. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said it was “a very serious incident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.” West Midlands Mayor Andy Street urged people “to not speculate about the incident” and to “remain calm but vigilant.” Official statistics show knife crime is on the rise in the U.K., where most guns are outlawed, though the number of homicides with blades fell in 2019 from the year before. Britain has seen several recent knife attacks, including a stabbing rampage in a city park in Reading, near London, in June that killed three people. A Libyan man has been charged.

Tens of thousands join Belarus march against Lukashenko MINSK AGENCIES

At least tens of thousands and possibly more Belarusian protesters staged a peaceful new march on Sunday, keeping the pressure on strongman Alexander Lukashenko who has refused to quit after his disputed re-election, turning instead to Russia for help to stay in power.

Troops, water cannon, armoured personnel carriers and armoured reconnaissance vehicles were deployed to the centre of Minsk ahead of the march and several metro stations

were closed. Viasna rights groups said nearly 70 people had been detained in the capital.

But protesters from all walks of life, from parents with children to students and from Catholic priests to prominent athletes, came out onto the streets in a show of defiance, an AFP correspondent reported from the scene.

Many held red-and-white flags and placards while a band beat drums and played other instruments. Some demonstrators danced or walked on stilts.

Unprecedented protests broke out after

Lukashenko, who has ruled the ex-Soviet state for 26 years, claimed re-election with 80 percent of the vote on August 9.

Opposition rival Svetlana Tikhanovskaya says she won the vote but Lukashenko's security forces have detained thousands of protesters, many of whom accused police of beatings and torture. Several people have died in the crackdown.

Tikhanovskaya left Belarus under pressure from authorities and took shelter in EU member Lithuania.

Belarusians have been demonstrating

across the country for nearly a month even though the protest movement lacks a clear leader, with many activists jailed or forced out of the country.

On Sunday, the protesters marched towards Lukashenko's residence at the Independence Palace where they chanted "Tribunal" and "How much are you getting paid?"

Some participants held impromptu picnics near security cordons and water cannon close to the Independence Palace.

"I am in favour of new honest elections," said 28-year-old protester Nikita

Sazanovich.

One protester held a portrait of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who Germany says has been poisoned with a Novichok nerve agent "Please only live," said the placard, referring to President Vladimir Putin's top foe.

Navalny has been in a coma for the past two weeks as his aides suspect he drank a cup of poisoned tea at a Siberian airport.

"Sasha, have some tea. It's Putin's treat," some protesters chanted, referring to Lukashenko by his diminutive name.

Monday, 7 September, 2020

SPORTS 11

ItAlIAn GP: lewIs HAmIlton tAkes record Pole As FerrArI suFFer 36-YeAr monzA low

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AGENCIES

EWIS Hamilton claimed pole position with a new lap record at Monza for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix with Valtteri Bottas taking second place in qualifying for another Mercedes front row lock-out.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz posted the third fastest time and is joined on the second row

by Sergio Perez for Racing Point. The session proved another humbling experience for Ferrari with Sebastian Vettel going out in Q1 and Charles Leclerc, who won at the circuit last year, in Q2.

This means no Ferrari inside the top 10 at Monza for the first time since 1984.

Hamilton clocked a fastest lap in one minute and 18.887 seconds to beat Bottas by 0.069 seconds. In pure speed, Hamilton's track lap record performance produced an unconfirmed fastest lap in F1 history.

It was Hamilton's record-increasing 94th career pole position, his sixth in seven races and his seventh in Italy. It also extended Mercedes run to eight consecutive pole positions this season.

"It wasn't too bad," said Hamilton, with a hint of a smile. "It was a fantastic performance from the team -- in terms of timing, when they put us out on the track," said Hamilton, referring to Mercedes' avoidance of the jostling mass of cars seeking a slipstreaming tow from each other.

'WHAT A MESS': "It was not the easiest as you saw how close it is between us all so it demanded a really clean lap - and I felt I got that, so I am very happy."

Max Verstappen was fifth for Red Bull, Lando Norris qualified sixth in the second McLaren ahead of Daniel Ricciardo of Re-

nault, Lance Stroll in the second Racing Point, Alex Albon in the second Red Bull and Pierre Gasly of Alpha Tauri.

Bottas also broke the track record twice and said: "It was really close as I expected. I am not sure about the tow - I didn't have any until the end and I kind of felt the benefit, but then on the final lap I was on my own again. In perfect conditions, the air temperature was 28 degrees and the track 46 as Q1 began under blue skies at the Autodromo Nazionale.

Eight of the field were fresh back from a summons to the stewards following final practice, which had seen Hamilton forced to swerve onto the grass to avoid a collision with one of two slow cars running side by side on the approach to the Parabolica.

The introduction of a mandatory minimum lap time appeared to have had little effect and this continued in qualifying as, after much jostling and blocking, Ferrari's dismal run was extended with Vettel's early elimination. The German driver was trapped in a chaotic train of jostling cars which, eventually left him helpless and frustrated in P17, unable to clock an improved flying lap.

‘Keep friendships aside, be ruthless in selection’: Raja tells ‘directionless’ cricket team AGENCIES Former captain Ramiz Raja believes that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) needs to be ruthless in selection and build a younger team in order to be as competitive as Australia and England. Pakistan lost the Test series 1-0 to England, and then drew the T20 series 1-1 last month. But Raja feels Pakistan team in unsure about the direction in which they want to go at the moment.

Speaking to broadcaster Sawera Pasha on her Youtube chat show ‘Cric Cast’, Raja said: “I feel teams are fine-tuning their combination and Pakistan needs to learn. I am still saying that unless you see the combinations from all angles, it will not be a wholesome exercise for the World Cup. “England and Australia are still in the experimental stage, even though they are well-established sides. But Pakistan is trying as though they want the combination now itself and it will be seen whatever happens after 8 months. They want to make an established unit now itself and just start

winning,” he added.

“I think to get the direction, we need to be ruthless. I remember when Imran Khan had become the leader, he had a net of experienced players surrounding him.

“I don’t want to take names, but there were 5-6 players who could have played for one or two years. He got rid of all of them and just kept Javed Miandad and built a young team. We had a very young team in the 1992 World Cup,” he further recalled. “You need to be ruthless first of all in the selection and you should have a proper direction. You need to tell everyone that you are trying new players, even though you may not get the desired results immediately.

“The second thing is that you need to keep the friendships aside, people you have played together with. Selection should be only performance-based. I feel at times we think only about the present in just trying to win and don’t focus on the future.

“And there is a hotchpotch situation,

Serena Williams progressed to the US Open last 16 Saturday as the tournament endured fresh controversy after New York health officials ordered the women's top doubles pairing be withdrawn over coronavirus fears.

Williams, chasing a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title, came from a set down to oust 2017 champion Sloane Stephens 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, in what she called an "intense" encounter on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

"In that first set I don't think she made any errors, honestly. She was just playing so clean and I just said, 'I don't want to lose in straight sets,'" said Williams.

With spectators barred from this year's Flushing Meadows event due to the pandemic, second and fourth seeds Sofia Kenin and Naomi Osaka took advantage of suites they have been assigned to check out the competition.

"It's cool us players can watch each other. It's interesting, I like it," said Williams, who will play 15th seed Maria Sakkari for a place in the quarter-finals.

The Greek player, who stunned Williams at the Western & Southern Open last month, progressed with a 6-3, 6-1 dismantling of America's 22nd seed Amanda Anisimova. Off the court, number one seeds Kristina Mladenovic and Timea

Babos were yanked from the women's doubles competition after Mladenovic was instructed to quarantine for coming in contact with Benoit Paire, who tested positive for Covid-19 last weekend.

"All persons who were identified as having prolonged close contact with the infected player will quarantine in their rooms for the remainder of their quarantine period," the United States Tennis Association said in a statement. The USTA said that local public health issues had issued the quarantine notices, which prevented the players commuting from their hotel to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. "The USTA is obligated to adhere to government guidance at the State, City and County level," the body said.

The shock intervention came a day after health officials tried to prevent Adrian Mannarino, who had also been in contact with Paire, from playing his last-32 match.

Officials from New York state's department had contacted the USTA to say that Mannarino should have been quarantining in his hotel room. The match got underway three hours after its scheduled start time, after authorities ruled it could go ahead following discussions with tennis officials that also included lobbying by world number one Novak Djokovic.

Mannarino and Mladenovic were two of 11, mostly French players, put under enhanced safety protocols on Monday after

Australian pacer suspended after applying hand sanitizer to ball AGENCIES

on one side side we have made Babar Azam the captain and the on other side we have picked two individuals who are almost 40 years old. So, I am not understanding what direction we are trying to take,” Raja further opined.

“I agree Hafeez had an outstanding, I

US Open 2020: Serena Williams through to last 16 amid fresh controversy AGENCIES

"What a mess," said Vettel on team radio. Vettel was eliminated from Q1 for the first time since his home German Grand Prix last year. Also going out were the Williams pairing of George Russell and rookie Nicholas Latifi.

The messy end to Q1 thus consigned team founder Frank Williams and his daughter Claire, the deputy team boss, to seeing their cars start at the back of the grid in the final race before the Williams family breaks all ties with F1.

Hamilton topped Q1 and continued to do the same in Q2 lapping in 1:19.092 to lead Bottas by three-tenths, the two Mercedes working for each other in a demonstration of synchronised slip-streaming that kept them out of trouble.

As they did this, the stewards ruled that no further action was to be taken for the earlier fracas. "It is impossible to determine that any driver was wholly or predominantly to blame," the stewards ruled of Hamilton's near miss.

A messy end to Q2 saw Leclerc out as the two Mercedes men sealed the front row in the top 10 shoot-out.

Paire was withdrawn from the US Open on Sunday following his positive test coronavirus.

PIRONKOVA UPSETS AGAIN: The players signed an agreement with New York City authorities that allowed them to remain in the tournament under the enhanced restrictions, which involved daily testing and barred them from communal areas in their hotel.

Mannarino told reporters Friday that organizers told him that New York state authorities had taken over case from the city and ruled that he was now not allowed to play.

Following her first-round singles win on Monday, Mladenovic said she had been "living in a nightmare" following Paire's positive test result. The US Open is taking place behind closed doors because of the deadly pandemic.

Players movements are tightly controlled and everyone onsite is being tested regularly to minimize the risk of infection.

Paire, who later tested negative, exited the tournament in a huff, accusing authorities of operating a "fake bubble."

The players who were in contact with him have been told they won't be allowed to fly out of New York until next week.

Back on the court Saturday, Russian third seed Daniil Medvedev, Italy's sixth seed Matteo Berrettini and Andrey Rublev, all enjoyed easy three-set wins.

CMYK

would say honeymoon period and if he serves Pakistan like this then no one would have any problem. But pressure would get created on him eventually and if we don’t prepare his replacement, then you will again appear reluctant in blooding youth,” he signed off.

Fast bowler Mitch Claydon has been suspended by English County Club Sussex for applying hand sanitizer on a cricket ball during a Bob Willis Trophy match against Middlesex last month. The 37-year-old Australian will thus no longer take part in Sussex’s next game against Surrey. “Mitch Claydon is suspended pending the outcome of an ECB allegation of placing hand sanitiser on the ball in our match against Middlesex. There will be no further comment at this stage,” Sussex said in an official statement. The act was performed by Claydon during the first innings of the match where in which he picked up three wickets.

Earlier this year, the ICC strictly banned the use of saliva as a component to shine the ball.

Claydon is a veteran fast bowler having played 112 First-Class matches, 110 List-A games and 147 T20Is. He has 310 FC wickets including 11 five wicket-hauls and nine 10-fors. In List A and T20s, Claydon has 138 and 159 wickets respectively. Sussex is the third County team Claydon has represented.

England batsman Ian Bell to retire at the end of current domestic season AGENCIES England batsman Ian Bell on Saturday announced his retirement from all forms of the game bringing an end to a career spanning 22 years. The current county season for Warwickshire will be Bell’s last.

Bell, who represented played 118 Tests, 161 ODIs and 8 T20Is, was one of the mainstays in England’s batting line-up when they attained the No.1 status in ICC Test rankings.

The right-hander, however, had last played an international match 2015 against Pakistan.

He is also one of only three English men’s cricketers to have won the Ashes five times and only two batsmen have scored more than his 5,416 runs in ODI cricket.

Bell has spent his entire domestic career with Warwickshire and announced Saturday his decision to call time on his playing days when the team wraps up its commitments this season. “It’s true when they say you know when the time’s right, and unfortunately, my time is now. While my hunger and enthusiasm for the sport that I love remain as strong as ever, my body simply can’t keep up with the demands of the game to the standard of which I expect of myself,” said Bell.

“It’s been an absolute privilege and honour to fulfil my boyhood dream of playing for both England and Warwickshire. As a child, to play just once for either would have been enough for me, but to do so for the past 22 years is more than I could have ever wished for. “To have spent my entire career and won

trophies with my boyhood club is something both myself and my family are enormously proud of. To everyone associated with the club; the staff, players, fans and anyone I’ve worked with during this time: thank you.

“I recently signed a contract extension to continue playing for the Bears, but I couldn’t disrespect the club I love by being unable to play to the level they deserve. Farby, Stuart and the whole team have been hugely understanding with my decision and I’m very grateful of their support.

“There are too many names of people I need to thank for all the help, guidance and support I’ve received throughout my career, but I can’t finish this without thanking my amazing wife, Chantal, my wonderful children, Joseph and Jesse, and my unwaveringly supportive parents. I love you all.

“Finally though, thank you to all the cricket fans for the most unbelievable support I’ve had throughout my career.”

Monday, 7 September, 2020

PrAyEr TImINGS

NEWS

Hedge funds drop Hopes of smootH oil market recovery

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NEWS DESK

HE sluggish global oil demand recovery is putting off the point of oil market rebalancing and adding downward pressure on oil prices, writes Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com. In a doom and gloom article for the oil watchdog, Paraskova claims that at the end of the first half of 2020 in June, many analysts and experts predicted that the global oil supply-demand balance would be in a sharp supply deficit in the third and fourth quarters this year.

While there have been inventory drawdowns in recent weeks, including in the world’s most visible market, the United States, demand has failed to recover as much as analysts had predicted two months ago.

Combined with OPEC+ group’s struggles on the supply side to rein in laggards in compliance who continue to overproduce above their quotas, oil prices have struggled to break above the low $40s amid those bearish fundamentals.

Over the past month, analysts, OPEC, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) admitted that their earlier forecasts of global oil demand this year may have been too optimistic. Both the IEA and OPEC revised down their oil demand forecasts in their respective reports in August, pointing to still struggling fuel demand and continued high uncertainty about the pandemic’s impact on economies and mobility.

The OPEC+ cuts may have stabilized oil prices, but the slower-than-expected oil demand recovery continues to weigh on prices and market sentiment.

OPEC itself said after the monthly meeting of its panel reviewing the situation on the market that “the pace of recovery appeared to be slower than anticipated with growing risks of a prolonged wave of Covid-19.”

The oil futures already reflect the market’s view that rebalancing is still some time away.

In recent weeks, the contango—in which prices for delivery at later dates are higher than front-month prices that typi-

cally points to oversupply—has deepened to more than $2 a barrel for the Brent Crude futures between November 2020 and May 2021. The six-month calendar spread was in a contango of only $0.48 a barrel as of the middle of June, according to estimates from Reuters market analyst John Kemp. The contango in the Dubai crude Middle East benchmark, which appeared at the end of July, deepened in August as refining margins in the Asia Pacific region stayed weak amid a resurgence of Covid-19 cases, Argus notes.

In the WTI Crude futures, the frontmonth to second-month prices also moved to a deeper contango in recent days.

The perceived oversupply in the market and demand recovery going at a weaker pace than initially thought (or even stalled) have had money managers increase their bets that Brent and WTI will drop. Hedge funds have boosted their short positions over the past two months, Reuters’ Kemp estimates.

The fundamentals are not constructive for an oil rally right now, but prices have

Investor appetite for Gulf bonds stay resilient despite Covid-19 DUBAI AGENCIES

Appetite among investors in the Middle East for regional bonds held intact despite the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the widely considered ‘safe-haven’ asset class rode out the pandemic shock.

“Middle Eastern bond markets are included in the global emerging bond market indices and were thus exposed to the bout of capital flight experienced by this broader asset class during the Covid-19 shock,” said Dominique Maire, Head of Fixed Income at Julius Baer, according to Gulf News. “They nonetheless recovered faster than some other regions.”

By mid-June, the region’s corporate bonds denominated in US dollars had already returned to breakeven year-to-date levels and in late August they have outperformed global emerging market corporate indices by more than 2 per cent, making the Middle East the best performing region within EM corporate markets,” Maire added.

Earlier this week, Dubai re-entered the public debt market, selling $2 billion in bonds for the first time in six years, as the

Middle Eastern tourism and commerce hub sought to bolster finances amid the weak pandemic backdrop.

The debt sale comprised a $1 billion tranche of 10-year sukuk, or Islamic bonds, and a $1 billion tranche of 30-year conventional bonds, which fund managers found to be attractively priced at 2.8 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively.

The investors from the Middle East were the biggest buyers of the sukuk, which attracted $6.6 billion in orders, taking 48 per cent. UK and other European investors got just over a quarter, Asian buyers bought 16 per cent and offshore US investors took 10 per cent.

Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, has already been tapping bond markets to weather the pandemic and low oil prices.

The oil-rich emirate had most recently raised $5 billion in a three-part, 50-year bond offering, which marked GCC's longest ever dated debt issuance. Abu Dhabi had earlier raised $7 billion in April - also through a three-part bond offering and added another $3 billion to it a month later. Abu Dhabi, in its offering last week, offered a yield of 0.65 per cent on $2 billion of notes due September 2023, 1.05 per

cent for its $1.5 billion in long 10-year securities and 2.7 per cent for $1.5 billion in bonds due in half a century, which is its longest yet.

When historically weighing the attitude or perception of Middle Eastern investors towards putting money in bonds, they are “sophisticated”, Maire remarked, while adding many investors have been more recently appreciating a “solid, global diversification”.

“One of their key bond market focuses is on medium-term US dollar credit strategies. From what we observed over the last years, Middle Eastern investors have exhibited a quite pronounced home bias as they are naturally more familiar with idiosyncratic risk from their region,” Maire further added.

“Typical Middle Eastern bond investors expect attractive cash flow generation and strong risk management, and thus particularly appreciate dynamic and yield-enhanced fixed income strategies which provide diversified access to global corporate bonds as well as quality high yield and emerging market bonds.”

Middle Eastern investors tend to take a long-term view, said Maire, as he ex-

been supported by a weak U.S. dollar in some of the recent trading days.

In fact, one analyst, Vandana Hari, founder of Vanda Insights, told CNBC earlier this week that a weaker dollar was the only support to oil prices.

Later in the week, a sudden strengthening of the dollar pushed oil prices lower, adding to the general sell-off in equity markets that also weighed on commodities. “The much-needed correction following months of stale trading has been led by dollar strength, stock market weakness and a faltering Covid-19 rebound in global fuel demand,” Steen Jakobsen, Chief Investment Officer at Saxo Bank, said on Friday.

“Not helped by the fact that the US Labor Day holiday on Monday signals the beginning of the low demand period. The next levels in terms of support are the July lows at $38.75/b on WTI and $41.40/b on Brent,” Jakobsen said.

Faltering demand recovery and the resulting slower supply-demand rebalancing will continue to weigh on oil prices in the near term.

plained how this perception has certainly supported investment performance during the current market-wide shock, while further building upon the impact of Covid-19 on bond markets in the region.

Almost overnight, the global production shutdown, temporary company closures, and transport restrictions have led to the most severe economic slump in recent history.

This prompted central banks and governments worldwide to put up a colossal monetary and fiscal front to combat the economic damage wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

However, analysis indicated that the Middle East regions’ corporate bonds outperformed global emerging market corporate indices. “One of the reasons was the relative superior credit quality of regional issues as well as the higher share of quasisovereign issuers which provides confidence to investors,” Maire said.

“The region’s sovereigns were among the world’s first to make jumbo bond issues after the crisis, starting with Qatar, Abu Dhabi and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which together issued $28 billion in new bonds in early April."

Their 10-year tranches are all trading more than 10 per cent above their issue prices, illustrating renewed investor demand for the region’s bond markets, Maire further added. “It is nonetheless important for bond investors to stay diversified and differentiate also within the region, as performance can differ greatly between countries and issuers.

FAJR SUNRISE

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india reports global daily record of new coronavirus cases NEW DELHI AGENCIES

India found more than 90,000 new cases of the coronavirus on Sunday, a global daily record, data from the federal health ministry showed. There were 90,632 new cases in the 24 hours to Sunday, according to the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, while the number of deaths rose by 1,065 to 70,626. The country is set to overtake Brazil on Monday for total infections and will be behind only the United States, which has 6.4 million cases and nearly 193,000 deaths. Coronavirus cases in India have reached 4.1 million and about 3.2 million affected people have been treated so far, the government data showed. Medical experts said the country was seeing a second wave of the pandemic in some parts of the country, and that case numbers have surged because of increased testing and the easing of restrictions on public movement. The government will partially restore metro train services in the capital New Delhi from Monday.

The pandemic will not finish this year as the virus has spread from big cities to other parts of the country, Randeep Guleria, the director of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, said in an interview with India Today TV. The number of cases could continue to rise before the curve flattens out, he said. India has logged the world’s largest daily coronavirus caseload for almost a month even as its government pushes to open businesses to revive a contracting economy. More than 1 million cases have been detected in India in less than two weeks.

Authorities say India's daily testing exceeds 1 million now. Dr. Randeep Guleria, a government health expert, said India is seeing a resurgence with over 70 per cent of its nearly 1.4 billion people still susceptible to infections. "We could say that we are seeing some sort of a second wave in certain parts of the country." India's recovery rate was 77.23 per cent, leading to a decline in fatality rate to around 1.73 per cent, the ministry said. With the economy contracting by a record 23.9 per cent in the AprilJune quarter, leaving millions jobless, the government is continuing to relax restrictions except in high-risk areas.

It announced that subways will resume service on Monday after more than five months with restrictions on the number of people on board.

For Lebanese, recovery too heavy to bear a month after blast BEIRUT AGENCIES

A month after Beirut’s devastating explosion, Ghassan Toubaji still sits under a gaping hole in his ceiling — he can look up through the dangling plaster, wires and metal struts and the broken brick roof and see a bit of sky.

The 74-year-old survived the Aug. 4 blast with bruises, but his fall from its impact worsened his heart and blood circulation diseases. Between that and Lebanon’s crumbled economy, he can’t go back to work.

He used the last of the dollars his wife had been hoarding — a precious commodity as the local currency’s value evaporates — to fix the windows shattered by the explosion.

Teams of volunteers, a symbol of the help-each-other spirit that’s grown up from the failures of Lebanon’s corrupt political class, came by his apartment and assessed the damage. They put plastic on the windows and promised glass for free eventually. Four weeks later they hadn’t come back.

With a sweet patient smile, he said he appreciated how well meaning the young volunteers were. But he couldn’t wait — with humidity reaching 80% some days and the summer sun directed all day into his apartment, he had to do something.

“Our house is hot as hell,” he said, sitting in baggy shorts and a tank top as he watched the news in the room with the hole overhead.

Lebanese families are still struggling with rebuilding in the wake of the massive explosion centered at Beirut’s port. Many, already unable to make ends meet because of the country’s economic meltdown, now can’t bear costs of making homes livable. Frustration is high, with the state almost nowhere to be seen and promised international help slow in coming. With winter and the rainy season only weeks away, aid groups are concerned they may not have time or resources for the mammoth job of repairing and rebuilding.

Around 200,000 housing units, approximately 40,000 buildings, were damaged in the blast, 3,000 of them so severely they are currently uninhabitable, according to U.N. estimates. The loss of homes is just one of the indignities from the explosion, the result of nearly 3,000 tons of improperly stored and rotting ammonium nitrates igniting at the port. The blast, one of the strongest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded, killed more than 190 and injured thousands.

A month later, Beirut is still a wounded, grieving city struggling with the calamity that abruptly altered so many lives. Tall buildings still face the port with blown-up facades. Hundreds-year old stone buildings have gaping holes and missing balconies.

Features of small streets parallel to the port have been totally erased. Residents walk around with patched up eyes, bandaged arms or on crutches. Social media are still awash with people sharing their stories and videos

and recounting their persisting trauma. Pictures of the dead are plastered in neighborhoods. “He is a victim, not a martyr,” read one poster, rebuffing authorities’ attempts to give the dead that esteemed label of self-sacrifice for a cause, seen as a way to water down their own responsibility.

The United Nations appealed for $344.5 million in emergency funds to last until November, and a donor conference was cohosted by France and the U.N. days after the blast. But so far only 16.3% of the funds have been received.

Of the total pledges, $84.5 million is meant for securing and repairing shelter, but only $1.9 million has been dispersed, said Elena Dikomitis, advocacy adviser for Norwegian Refugees Council for Lebanon.

Aid groups worry the funds are not robust enough.“The cold and rain could start as early as October,” she said. “For sure, tens of thousands of houses can’t be repaired in time. That we know for sure, even with all the ongoing efforts.”

The NRC is working in two of the hardest-hit neighborhoods, Karantina and Mar Mikhail. It is targeting 12,400 people for help with shelter and 16,800 for water, sanitation and hygiene interventions before March 2021, she said.

Lebanon already has highly vulnerable populations that need help for shelter in winter, including more than 1 million Syrian refugees, the majority of whom live in sub-

standard conditions and now risk being overlooked. “On top of those people ... you also now have all the new homeless of Beirut,” Dikomitis said.

The international community, aware of public anger in Lebanon over rampant corruption, has said it would funnel money away from government institutions and work only through international organizations and the U.N. Many Beirutis say they are sick of hearing about aid on the way, as they struggle to stay above water in the financial crisis.

The currency has crashed in value to the dollar, and banks locked down dollar accounts to prevent capital flight. Prices have skyrocketed, and imports are limited in a country that imports nearly everything. Unable to access their money, even the most able are struggling to secure materials for repairs.

“Nobody has helped us with even a nail,” said Robert Hajj, owner of a scooter center wrecked in the blast. “Each day’s delay is deteriorating our companies ... Our money is blocked in the banks.”

“They made us give up,” he said.

With little to no safety net, elderly like Toubaji are hit hard.

He has no pension, no social or medical insurance, so he and his wife, both over 70, had to keep working. Toubaji worked charging fees from people to get papers signed for them at the Finance Ministry, wading through the bureaucracy. He was forced to stay home by the slump and the ensuing nationwide

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protests that began in October. His wife, a seamstress, is also virtually out of work.

They have been eating away at the 30 million Lebanese pounds in their bank account. Overnight in the financial crisis, their savings’ value dropped from $20,000 to just above $3,000. His wife had kept some dollars at home, away from the banks, but that went into fixing their windows.

“You know how much the meter of glass costs? $160,” Toubaji said.

If the ceiling is not fixed, rain will come in. Or worse — a few days ago brick from a neighbor’s damaged house hit his roof and knocked a chunk more of the broken ceiling down onto a sofa. His home’s main wooden door also remains damaged, its splintered shards glued back in place.

“I don’t have a leader that I follow to chase and secure money,” Toubaji said, referring to Lebanon’s sectarian-based patronage system that fills the place of the absent state. When the blast happened, Toubaji fell on his face, and shattered glass covered his back. He now walks slowly, worried his knees cannot keep him up straight.

He said Lebanon, too, had fallen because of violence and conflict before and every time, it managed to stand up “and good people came to help.”

This time, he is not so sure.

Politicians “have robbed the country and the banks are broke. Who would help the country get up on its feet this time?”